The Little Sprite
Chapter 36
Plan of Action
"You must think I'm such a jerk", Yami muttered when he and Yugi were sitting on the bed in his room. The crimson-eyed youth had headed there to meditate and Yugi had followed in after him, saying that it was most unbecoming of Yami to sulk like a scolded child. Which had left to Yami feeling like Yugi did not love him very much at the moment.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic", Yugi muttered and brought his arms around Yami's neck. "I know you were only thinking about me. That doesn't mean that you're a jerk; it means that you have a one-track mind." Yami allowed his smaller counterpart pull his down so that his head was resting against a slim shoulder. "Jou probably thinks you're a jerk, though. But that doesn't really matter since he has Seto to cheer him up."
Bringing his arms around his boyfriend's waist Yami breathed in the scent of his love before speaking: "And I have you to make me feel better."
"All in a day's work, love", Yugi said and Yami held him even tighter as he growled out: "Then allow me to show you my appreciation." And with that the two bodies fell down on the mattress.
&
"Seto?" Jou questioned from the brunet lying beside him on the bed. The deep blue eyes of the other teen turned to the blond's own and Seto hummed in acknowledgement. "What would have happened if we hadn't succeeded in activating Battle Level Five?"
A brief silence followed, ended when Seto finally replied: "All of our magic would have been zapped away and we would have automatically lost that battle."
Not liking the sound of that, or the thoughts of the certain scenario, Jou asked: "How did you know that it would work?"
"I felt it", came Seto's response and Jou waited for the brunet to elaborate, which he did. "The moment I started to active the battle arena, I felt a connection. I knew then, that the final battle level was possible to be activated, as long as it was you and me."
"I see", Jou mumbled thoughtfully. Finally, he smiled in satisfaction at the answer and brought his arm around Seto's hip to cuddle up to the taller body.
"What is it?" Seto questioned, his tone curious instead of angry at the affectionate gesture. Jou's smile grew even wider when he realized that and he replied in a bright tone of voice: "I just find it nice, that's all."
&
It was really a wonder how Bakura ended up falling for a person like Ryou. The two of them were complete opposite in almost everything. When Bakura had finally gotten the hang of making out in the dining room, Ryou had called it quits, saying that it was too public of a place for anything more than the kissing they had done.
Still, even though that had been a disappointment, Bakura was feeling satisfied. Ryou had finally confessed to the two of them having an actual relationship and that meant that Bakura was now free to kiss Ryou whenever he felt like it. Unless Ryou was changing clothes.
After two had gone to their room after dinner to get ready for bed, Bakura had gotten the idea to continue from where he and Ryou had left off before dining. That had not ended well when Ryou had blushed a fiery red, squeaked in a feminine manner and finally frozen Bakura's fingers with his powers. By the time the taller teen could feel his fingers again Ryou had managed to completely change his attire to his pajamas and had kissed Bakura's fingers as an apology, something Bakura had enjoyed immensely.
When Ryou had been done with his ministrations Bakura had put on his own nightclothes and had started to attempt to convince Ryou to share a bed with him.
"I think it would be a good way to explore our new-found relationship", Bakura insisted when Ryou remained sceptical. "I promise I won't grope you or anything."
"I hope you realize that if you break that promise I won't trust you in this ever again", Ryou commented and Bakura grinned widely as he questioned: "Does that mean you agree?"
"Yes", Ryou replied with a defeated sigh. "But only because it seems to mean so much to you." And with that the shorter boy climbed to bed with Bakura following eagerly after him.
"Can I at least hold you?" Bakura questioned when he lifted the blanket over his and Ryou's bodies. That finally bought a smile to Ryou's face as the smaller teen replied: "That's what I expect you to do."
Bakura threw his arm over Ryou's slim body and the shorter teen snuggled up to him, bringing his soft locks close enough to Bakura's face for the taller albino to smell their soft scent.
"This in nice", Ryou mumbled in a dreamy manner, to which Bakura replied: "Sure is", and yawned widely. There was a chuckle from Ryou, followed by the boy speaking: "Ah, Bakura?" Bakura hummed in acknowledgement and Ryou continued: "There's something I'd like to ask before we go to sleep."
"Sure", Bakura said in an offhanded manner. "Go ahead."
"I was just wondering how you and Jou became friends in the first place", Ryou commented. "No offence, but you are more the type to push people away than befriend them."
"None taken", Bakura grumbled and frowned as he thought back to his first meeting with one loudmouthed teen. "He befriended me, actually. I never thought much of it but I think I understand it now."
"What is there to understand?" Ryou questioned curiously. "You don't need a reason to become friends."
"But you need one to try and make contact with someone", Bakura insisted. "I was an outcast and Jou has never been able to fit in either, at least not in his mind."
A thoughtful hum came from Ryou, followed by the boy speaking: "I supposed knowing that you're a different species can do that."
"Jou's always been loud and rude. I guess that was his way of keeping people from getting too close", Bakura explained and snorted then. "I should know, I do it enough. And yet he approached me, and it was because we were the same in a way." Bakura grimaced in displeasure. "I have taken him for granted all these years. I should do something."
Ryou's hand caressed the bottom of Bakura's chin, offering companionship and understanding. The taller albino's eyes slid shut as he merely enjoyed the feeling, almost missing Ryou's small piece of advice: "I think saying 'thanks' might be a nice start."
&
A sensation of hunger woke Jou up from his peaceful rest against Seto's side. Not about to simply lie there with his stomach rumbling the blond climbed out of the bed carefully. He moved as silently as he could so that he would not wake the still slumbering Seto and made his way out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen in a search for something small to eat.
The blond ended up leaning against the table in the kitchen while he chewed at a bun. He heard the barely noticeable scuffle of footsteps from right outside the kitchen doorway and immediately recognized the footfalls in question to belong to a certain person.
"Yo, Bakura", Jou greeted and turned his head to see that his guess had been right as Bakura entered the kitchen with a shake of his head and a mumbled: "How the heck do you do that?"
"Easy", Jou replied with a cheeky grin. "You sneak around like a burglar. No one else in this house does that." The blond actually snickered at the outraged look on Bakura's face but stifled the sound by bringing the soft bun to his mouth again.
"What did you come here for?" Jou questioned after a moment while Bakura leaned against a wall that faced him. "Why are you even awake at this hour?"
"I was sort of hoping that you would come down for a midnight snack since you did not eat dinner", Bakura confessed and crossed his arms, trying to appear nonchalant. "I sort of wanted to talk to you."
"Go ahead and talk", Jou replied as he munched on his snack some more. There was a long silence as Bakura apparently thought about what to say and just when Jou was about to make a remark the albino spoke: "I just wanted to say thanks."
Blinking in surprise Jou looked at the other teen in confusion as he questioned: "Whatever for?"
Bakura turned his face to the side, refusing to meet Jou's eye, as he grumbled: "You didn't have to befriend me that time and I never thought much about it."
"…Okay", Jou breathed out slowly, scratching the back of his head. He felt both confused and embarrassed and that was probably why he blurted out: "Are you feeling alright, Bakura?"
There was a humiliated flush on Bakura's face as the albino snapped his head to Jou's direction and snarled: "I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" The teen stuffed his hands into his pockets almost violently and Jou actually felt a bit sorry for reacting the way he did. So, he tried to make things better by speaking out: "You're welcome."
With those words Bakura's gaze turned to the floor while Jou could not help but smile at the white-haired teen's antics. The blond then questioned: "Could you help me with something?"
Bakura lifted his gaze up curiously and Jou started to explain: "There's something that I need to do but I'm going to need help. I don't think anyone here would agree with me but I though that maybe…" Jou trailed off at the end, unsure of how to continue. Bakura seemed to get the main idea, though, and hummed in an amused manner before replying: "Look, Jou. You've helped me drag a whole pot of that horrid breakfast porridge the cafeteria serves through the entire school. You even helped me set the trap that poured the stuff all over our meditation teacher." The albino flashed Jou a grin that was all teeth. "I think it's safe to say that I am in on it, whatever it is."
"I guess this in my turn to say thanks, then?" Jou spoke with a wide grin. The blond released a brief chuckle before continuing: "I also sat the detention with you, you know."
"Don't remind me of that", Bakura grunted. "I'm trying to forget that part of the story."
"I get what you mean", Jou said in an amused manner. "Doing the whole thing was almost enough fun to make it worth that detention, but only almost."
A nod came as a response from Bakura, followed by the albino starting in a slow drawl: "So…" He looked at Jou with interest. "What is it that you are going to need my help with?"
Deciding that it would be better to simply get this over and done with Jou went straight to the point. Despite their previous light conversation it was with a perfectly straight face that he replied simply: "I'm going to buy my sister back from Mai."
&
Bakura stared at the blond for a while, certain that he had heard wrong. Finally, he managed to blurt out: "Say what?"
"I said that I'm going to buy my sister back", Jou replied in an irate manner. "I won't have her get in the middle of our fight with Mai. I wouldn't put it past that witch to use her against us. I won't let that happen." That last bit was spoken with such conviction that Bakura immediately knew that there was no way he could talk Jou out of this.
"Okay", Bakura said in defeat. "How do you plan to accomplish this?" That was something he really wanted to know. It was not that Jou was an idiot per se; it was just that the blond hardly ever thought anything through that might result in him creating more problems than he manages to fix with his actions.
"I'm going to offer myself to her in Shizuka's place", Jou replied and must have noticed the outraged look on Bakura's face when he continued: "I know that this sounds crazy but I do know what I'm about to do."
"Fine", Bakura growled, deciding to give his friend the benefit of the doubt. "What are you about to do?"
"I'm going to trick her a bit", Jou said in a manner that had Bakura thinking back to all the pranks they had done at school. They had only left a couple of days ago and yet those days felt like they were from a different life entirely.
"The plan is to make the deal sound like Mai is going to be getting more than she will be losing", Jou continued. "We need to make sure that she has a disadvantage in the next battle since she is very likely to make herself stronger after losing yesterday."
"How the heck is trading yourself for your sister going to give Mai a disadvantage?" Bakura argued. "I think it's obvious that you are the stronger one of you two."
"The point is not in the strength of our magic", Jou insisted. "If Mai acts like I expect her to, then it doesn't matter how strong I am."
"Look, Jou, you sound really certain about this but this is a really important matter. If your plan fails, the results won't be pretty", Bakura spoke, trying to reason with the blond. Jou did not seem to care about his objections, though, when he continued on: "Seto gave me the idea, you know. Seto doesn't make mistakes so there's nothing to worry about."
"Stop being such a fan boy", Bakura snapped angrily. "If you care so much about Kaiba, then why are you risking the chance of ending up fighting against him?"
"Because that's where you come in", Jou replied simply and made his way over to Bakura. He grabbed the albino's arm and started dragging him out of the kitchen and into the entrance hall. "We need to get going before anyone hears us."
Bakura did not say anything after that and it was when the two of them had closed the front door behind them and started to walk through the village that Jou started to speak again: "Mai is very likely to use me as her partner so I need to you to make sure that our opponents are Yami and Yugi, despite what anyone else might say."
"I'm pretty sure that Yami is going to insist on getting to pound Mai but how do you plan on coming out unscratched?" Bakura queried.
"I might end up with some bruises but it will be worth it if we can render Mai defenceless", Jou replied. "I'm sure that once that time comes, Yami and Yugi will know what to do to make Mai free all of her prisoners."
"Okay, I understand what you want me to do now", Bakura spoke right as the two made their way through the village barrier. "But why am I accompanying you on this trip? And how do you plan on finding Mai?"
"You're going to take Shizuka safely back to the village", Jou replied and removed the magical pendant Sugoroku had given him from around his neck. "You'd better take this so that Mai won't use it to get to the village."
Bakura accepted the item and stuffed it away into a pocket before directing his attention back to Jou and speaking out: "And what about Mai? How do you plan on contacting her?"
"She knew when we were outside of the village", Jou replied. "That's the only way she could have known when the arrive here. I think she has a way of watching the forest and knowing when there's someone moving around here."
"Sound plausible", Bakura confessed and nodded his head in agreement. "So, what do you plan on using as your extra edge to get Mai to want you instead of your sister?"
"You'll see soon enough", Jou replied and Bakura saw the blond shift before his eyes and a moment later the blond was on eye-level with him. Jou's dog-ears twitched a bit, as if listening to their surroundings. Bakura did not doubt that Jou was doing exactly that and followed dutifully after his friend as they wondered around in the night.
It did not take long as a brief shimmering light caught their attention and the two boys turned their heads just in time to see a woman materialize to their left. She had tan skin and long black hair and Bakura recognized her to be part wolf.
"You two are clearly looking for trouble, wandering around during nighttime alone", the woman commented in a calm tone of voice. "What are you up to?"
"We need to talk to Mai", Jou spoke out. "Bring her here."
"Why should I?" the woman questioned. "I don't need to take orders from you."
"I have a deal for her", Jou replied. "I think she might be interested in what I have to offer."
"Very well", came the response then and Bakura was actually surprised to have things go their way so easily. "The mistress has agreed to hear you out." With that the woman shimmered away and Jou shot Bakura a nervous grin.
"It's showtime."
To be continued…
Ending Notes: Guess what time it is? It's the time for the amazingly complicated and difficult to follow phase which will eventually lead to the end of the story but only after a long series of tedious plot twists and turns. And I have a feeling everyone is going to hate me for it…
On another note: Yugi is uncomfortable with having sex with Yami in his grandfather's house. Because of this he and Yami only made out in Yami's bed despite everything else it could have been used for.