Notes: Yes, I *know* in Japan it's "Ryou Bakura", but in the dub it's just "Bakura" and he needed a last name, so I just reversed things here XD Therefore, no one needs to tell me I have it wrong ^__~ I know what I'm doing. LOL
"Mr Thorton!" Téa exclaimed, hurrying over to him.
"Did he faint?" Yugi wondered, knowing how high-strung the man was.
"I don't know," Téa said grimly, gently shaking him. She herself was suspecting either foul play or even perhaps a heart attack, though she hoped she was wrong.
After a moment, Mr. Thorton stirred and looked around, confused. "Oh my . . . oh gracious . . . what's been happening?!" he cried.
"We're hoping you can tell us, Mr. Thorton!" Téa retorted. "I brought as many of the others as I could get a hold of and we came over, and then we found you here unconscious!"
Mr. Thorton just blinked at her. "You did?!" His gaze took in everyone who had come with Téa. "Oh thank goodness! You're lifesavers!" Instantly his mind was back on his problems. "Can you help me figure out why the store was trashed?!"
"We're sure going to try," Yugi spoke up.
"Wonderful!!" Mr. Thorton leaped out of his chair.
Marik, who hadn't met this strange person before, raised an eyebrow. "You should really try to remember whether you fainted or not," he said. "If someone hit you over the head, they could be still be hiding out here somewhere."
Mr. Thorton looked at him in confusion. "Do I know you?" he asked.
Téa, realizing that Mr. Thorton hadn't met the Ishtars, hurried to introduce them. Mr. Thorton nodded in an absentminded sort of way, not really caring about their names once he was assured they were friends.
"I don't remember anyone being here," the man said slowly in answer to Marik's earlier comment. "I guess there could've been someone . . . but . . . with all the commotion, I just didn't think. . . ." Mr. Thorton pulled on what was left of his hair, looking highly stressed. "I'm quite sure I must have simply blacked out. My doctor says I'm prone to having fainting spells. . . ."
Rishid looked like he thought Mr. Thorton needed to take a deep breath and calm down, which he probably did.
"I'm going to have a look around," Seto announced coldly. He had other things to do today, so he wanted to get this task over with as soon as possible. Of course, he was just as puzzled by the vandalism as everyone else. If, perhaps, the jewel thieves from the past Christmas did want revenge, why did they wait a year to do it? He knew that some of them still hadn't been captured and the rumors were that they were trying to spring their buddies but hadn't yet—but they could've easily caused trouble for Mr. Thorton months ago if they had desired. Then again . . . they could have purposely decided to wait until the holidays because they knew that would put the poor guy under even more stress.
"I'll come with you, Seto," Mokuba volunteered.
Seto gave a noticeable sigh. What with the recent rash of problems, he didn't want his little brother to have to be exposed to any more of them. He really wished Mokuba had just stayed home and played in the snow.
"Aw, come on, Seto!" Mokuba sighed as well, crossing his arms. "Nothing's gonna happen!"
Seto shook his head. "Come," he said finally. Since Mokuba had insisted on coming with him to the store, he definitely would rather the younger boy stayed with him now. Quickly the two Kaibas exited to examine the storeroom.
Marik took a step forward to look at a graffiti message he'd just noticed on the wall. Instantly his legs flew out from under him and he fell down hard on the floor. "Ow!" he cried indignantly, looking to see what had assaulted him.
"Oh dear, you tripped on my jumprope!" Mr. Thorton informed him.
"Jumprope?!" Téa repeated. In her back of her mind, she was thinking, You have got to be kidding me!
Rishid moved forward to assist his brother in standing, but Marik managed to pull himself up. The teenager looked down at the jumprope, which was stretched from one leg of the desk over to the doorstop on the closet door, and then up at Mr. Thorton in astonishment.
"What, exactly, is the jumprope doing there?" Marik demanded. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was purposely put there to trip someone!" He rubbed his backside and winced, grateful that at least the floor was carpeted.
Mr. Thorton nodded emphatically. "It was!"
"Huh?!" Yugi stared at the strange man.
"You see, I was afraid maybe someone was lurking around," Mr. Thorton explained, "so I set that as a kind of trap. That was right before my fainting spell. . . ." He trailed off. "But I should have warned you it was there! I'm so sorry about that! Please don't sue!" He clasped his hands together in a begging manner as his gaze drifted from Marik to Rishid to Ishizu.
Marik sighed. "No damage was done," he replied. "Let's not worry about it."
Mr. Thorton let out a sigh of relief. "Marvelous!"
****
Duke was behind the counter, boredly watching out the window as people passed by his shop. It had been a rather slow day, and he had taken the time to create some last-minute new rules for an upgraded version of the Dungeon Dice Monsters rulebook he planned to release in the next few days. But there wasn't too much more he needed to add, and now he didn't have much to do at all. It's better than having shelves thrown on you by vampyres, he mused in his mind.
The electronic doors suddenly opened then and a tall, blue-haired man with glasses strolled in, looking around him with idle interest.
"Welcome," Duke said, coming from around the counter and delighted for something new. "Can I help you?"
"No, I'm just looking," was the reply. "I just got back into town and thought I'd try to find something for my son. He's into all this kind of stuff."
For the next few minutes Duke guided him around the store, explaining about the various kinds of games and asking questions about the man's son in order to help him decide the sort of thing he might like best.
"He's a great boy," the customer said proudly. "He's always very polite and kind. I know his favorite games are Monster World and Duel Monsters. I was hoping to find something along those lines."
"He sounds like someone I know," Duke remarked, it just occurring to him that perhaps he actually did know the son.
"I guess maybe you could at that." The man adjusted his glasses and looked at a Dungeon Dice Monsters booster pack. He chuckled. "Last time I went home, I walked in the door and immediately got tackled by some crazy guy who looks a lot like my son. According to him and my son, he's some ancient spirit who came out of a ring I bought for my son a few years ago. Can you comprehend?"
Duke blinked. "If you'd told me this a year ago, no, I couldn't have. But by now, I can comprehend it very clearly. Is your son, by any chance, Bakura Ryou?"
Now it was Mr. Ryou's turn to blink. "Oh . . . why . . . yes," he admitted.
Duke smiled. "I know him very well. I think I know what he would be interested in." As he spoke, he was thinking in his mind what a pity it was that the man couldn't figure out on his own what Bakura might like. Bakura had often talked about how his father was always traveling and that he barely ever saw him anymore. Duke had to admit that he hoped Mr. Ryou would stick around for the entire holiday season and beyond. Bakura needed that.
After about ten more minutes Mr. Ryou had decided on something and was paying for it at the counter. When he half-turned to take out his wallet, something out the window suddenly caught his attention and he stared, narrowing his eyes.
"What is it, sir?" Duke asked, trying to see if there was something offensive his customer was looking at outside.
Mr. Ryou seemed not to hear him. He muttered under his breath angrily what sounded like, "I can't believe she followed me here! I told her to wait at the hotel until I called!"
Then he snapped back to the present and gave Duke a smile. "Oh . . . it's nothing you need to be concerned about, young man. Thank you for your time!" As soon as he finished the transaction, he put his purchase in his overcoat and immediately stormed out the door, Duke assumed to face the "she."
"Well," Duke mused to no one in particular, "that was . . . interesting." He tried to inconspicuously come over to the window to look out. What he saw was Mr. Ryou arguing with some woman as they walked down the street. "I wonder what that could mean." The raven-haired boy had to wonder if poor Bakura was going to be in for some sort of shock.
****
Seto and Mokuba wound up not finding anything in the storeroom—or anywhere else in Toys, Etc.—and after about forty-five minutes were ready to leave.
"There's nothing more I can do here," Seto said flatly. "Whoever vandalized the store didn't want to be found out. They must have left long before you ever arrived."
Mr. Thorton moaned loudly. "Oh, it's so horrible! What shall I do?!"
"We'll help you clean it up, Mr. Thorton," Téa told him. "If you don't want to call the police, then that seems like the best thing to do right now."
"Oh, thank you, Téa," the man smiled. "After we do that, I . . . I believe I'll close up shop for the day. . . . I'm supposed to go to my sister's home for Thanksgiving anyway. . . . No sense staying here much longer. . . ." Téa hoped that a visit to his sister's would do Mr. Thorton a lot of good.
Over the following hour, she and the others worked to help get the shop back in order. Once all the shelves were picked up and the merchandise piled back on it, Mr. Thorton was satisfied to leave it like that until Monday.
"Then you'll be starting your holiday job here, Téa, and we can work on getting everything back on its proper row," Mr. Thorton said after thanking her and the others profusely for coming.
Seto—who told himself he'd stayed because Mokuba had wanted to help—gave a curt nod now and left with his brother. The others then left as well, after making certain that Mr. Thorton truly was leaving and not planning to stay there all alone for the rest of the day. Of course the high-strung man had no intention of doing so, and he turned off the lights and brought the metal grate down before following them all out.
****
"This has been such an odd day," Marik sighed as he and his siblings arrived back at their home. He didn't voice it aloud, but he was listing the reasons in his mind. They had a new strange mystery to solve, Mr. Thorton was so absentminded it almost seemed unreal, and the new neighbors—at least the one boy—had taken an instant dislike to him.
He could see the boy across the street now, along with someone else who was probably his brother. They had erected a snow fort and were throwing snowballs at anything and everything that came by.
"Hey, that girly-boy came back!" the second one called.
The first one, the one who had thrown a snowball at Marik's window, now aimed at Marik himself. "Heads up, Girly-boy!" he yelled.
Marik reached out and caught the snowball in his hand, not looking pleased. "I'm not going to put up with this!" he told Ishizu and Rishid before crossing the street. Carefully he set the snowball down on top of the boys' fort.
"Now see here," he said, keeping his voice calm, "what is the meaning of this?"
"Aww, we're just having fun, Girly-boy," the first child replied. "You look like you've probably never seen snow before!"
Marik had, actually, but he felt that was beside the point. "And so you decided to hit me with a friendly snowball to teach me about it," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Sure, why not?" the second one smirked. "Girly-boy."
"I don't appreciate that name, either," Marik said sternly. "There are many cultures other than the one you are familiar with, and they do things differently in many of them. In my culture, it just so happens to be perfectly normal for the males to have long hair and wear jewelry."
The children cracked up. "There's a whole culture of girly-boys?" the first one snickered.
"That's enough!" Rishid thundered, suddenly appearing beside Marik. "As long as you will be living here across the street from us, I expect you to treat my brother—and our culture—with respect! Marik does not deserve your rude remarks. He has done nothing to either of you!"
The two boys looked up at Rishid, seeming a bit intimidated by his towering stature and the heiroglyphic tattoos on his face.
"Uh . . . okay," the first one squeaked. "We didn't mean any harm. . . ."
The second one, however, gave Marik such a nasty look that the teen was certain that he wasn't going to be left alone or respected.
And he was right. As soon as he and Rishid turned to leave, a snowball pelted Marik on the back. The teen froze and then turned around, but the two boys had already run off laughing.
"Rishid," Marik said then with a sigh, "those boys don't like me."
Rishid sighed, his temper greatly shortened. "They have just not been taught well enough," he said. "I am certain it isn't you personally they don't like."
Ishizu was waiting for them back at their driveway. As they walked in the house, she vowed that she would have a talk with the boys' mother when she got the chance.
****
Bakura was waiting right by the door when his father came home. Happily he sprang into the man's arms, so glad to see him again. "Father, I've missed you so much!" he declared.
Mr. Ryou hugged his son tightly. "I've missed you too," he said. With a chuckle he asked if Yami Bakura was around.
"He's here somewhere," Bakura replied, glancing about. "I'm not sure where, though. Probably anywhere to hide from the snow." A smile drifted across his face as he recalled the tomb raider's earlier comments.
Oreo meowed loudly, announcing her presence.
Mr. Ryou blinked. "When did we get a cat?"
Bakura blushed and scratched his cheek. "Well . . . Yami and I . . . sort of found her in San Francisco," he replied. "She was a stray and we just had to bring her home."
"Well . . . that's fine," Mr. Ryou said after a moment. "The thing is . . . I, erm, I have a surprise as well."
Bakura blinked. "You do, Father?"
"Yes . . . she's right outside, actually. . . ."
"'She'?!" Bakura gasped.
Mr. Ryou nodded slowly. "You see, Bakura, the thing is . . . I found someone on one of my trips. I never thought I could love anyone as much as your mother, but . . ." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Now I do."
Bakura just stared. "You . . . have a girlfriend?!" he cried, dumbfounded.
"Fianceé, actually," Mr. Ryou said, realizing how hard it would be for Bakura to get used to this. "But please try to understand. . . ."
For Bakura, it wasn't the fact that his father was engaged that especially upset him—it was the fact that he hadn't even bothered to tell him before! "How long ago did you get engaged?" he asked.
"Two months ago," Mr. Ryou told him.
"Two months???!" Bakura wailed. "Father, you've been engaged for TWO MONTHS and you never even thought it important to tell me???!!"
Mr. Ryou winced, but then stood up and faced his son. "I just assumed you'd meet her when I came back and brought her with me."
"But . . ." Bakura just stared at him, tears in his eyes. "Don't I have a right to know, Father?! How could you just think that it would be alright to suddenly come home and say, 'Oh, Bakura, guess what? I'm engaged!' and think that I can abruptly adjust?!"
Mr. Ryou sighed. "I should have told you. But I didn't . . . and she's here, waiting outside in the car. I hope you'll be nice to her."
Bakura looked away, blinking back the tears. "I'll be nice to her, of course," he said quietly. "Of course I will."
"Mr Thorton!" Téa exclaimed, hurrying over to him.
"Did he faint?" Yugi wondered, knowing how high-strung the man was.
"I don't know," Téa said grimly, gently shaking him. She herself was suspecting either foul play or even perhaps a heart attack, though she hoped she was wrong.
After a moment, Mr. Thorton stirred and looked around, confused. "Oh my . . . oh gracious . . . what's been happening?!" he cried.
"We're hoping you can tell us, Mr. Thorton!" Téa retorted. "I brought as many of the others as I could get a hold of and we came over, and then we found you here unconscious!"
Mr. Thorton just blinked at her. "You did?!" His gaze took in everyone who had come with Téa. "Oh thank goodness! You're lifesavers!" Instantly his mind was back on his problems. "Can you help me figure out why the store was trashed?!"
"We're sure going to try," Yugi spoke up.
"Wonderful!!" Mr. Thorton leaped out of his chair.
Marik, who hadn't met this strange person before, raised an eyebrow. "You should really try to remember whether you fainted or not," he said. "If someone hit you over the head, they could be still be hiding out here somewhere."
Mr. Thorton looked at him in confusion. "Do I know you?" he asked.
Téa, realizing that Mr. Thorton hadn't met the Ishtars, hurried to introduce them. Mr. Thorton nodded in an absentminded sort of way, not really caring about their names once he was assured they were friends.
"I don't remember anyone being here," the man said slowly in answer to Marik's earlier comment. "I guess there could've been someone . . . but . . . with all the commotion, I just didn't think. . . ." Mr. Thorton pulled on what was left of his hair, looking highly stressed. "I'm quite sure I must have simply blacked out. My doctor says I'm prone to having fainting spells. . . ."
Rishid looked like he thought Mr. Thorton needed to take a deep breath and calm down, which he probably did.
"I'm going to have a look around," Seto announced coldly. He had other things to do today, so he wanted to get this task over with as soon as possible. Of course, he was just as puzzled by the vandalism as everyone else. If, perhaps, the jewel thieves from the past Christmas did want revenge, why did they wait a year to do it? He knew that some of them still hadn't been captured and the rumors were that they were trying to spring their buddies but hadn't yet—but they could've easily caused trouble for Mr. Thorton months ago if they had desired. Then again . . . they could have purposely decided to wait until the holidays because they knew that would put the poor guy under even more stress.
"I'll come with you, Seto," Mokuba volunteered.
Seto gave a noticeable sigh. What with the recent rash of problems, he didn't want his little brother to have to be exposed to any more of them. He really wished Mokuba had just stayed home and played in the snow.
"Aw, come on, Seto!" Mokuba sighed as well, crossing his arms. "Nothing's gonna happen!"
Seto shook his head. "Come," he said finally. Since Mokuba had insisted on coming with him to the store, he definitely would rather the younger boy stayed with him now. Quickly the two Kaibas exited to examine the storeroom.
Marik took a step forward to look at a graffiti message he'd just noticed on the wall. Instantly his legs flew out from under him and he fell down hard on the floor. "Ow!" he cried indignantly, looking to see what had assaulted him.
"Oh dear, you tripped on my jumprope!" Mr. Thorton informed him.
"Jumprope?!" Téa repeated. In her back of her mind, she was thinking, You have got to be kidding me!
Rishid moved forward to assist his brother in standing, but Marik managed to pull himself up. The teenager looked down at the jumprope, which was stretched from one leg of the desk over to the doorstop on the closet door, and then up at Mr. Thorton in astonishment.
"What, exactly, is the jumprope doing there?" Marik demanded. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it was purposely put there to trip someone!" He rubbed his backside and winced, grateful that at least the floor was carpeted.
Mr. Thorton nodded emphatically. "It was!"
"Huh?!" Yugi stared at the strange man.
"You see, I was afraid maybe someone was lurking around," Mr. Thorton explained, "so I set that as a kind of trap. That was right before my fainting spell. . . ." He trailed off. "But I should have warned you it was there! I'm so sorry about that! Please don't sue!" He clasped his hands together in a begging manner as his gaze drifted from Marik to Rishid to Ishizu.
Marik sighed. "No damage was done," he replied. "Let's not worry about it."
Mr. Thorton let out a sigh of relief. "Marvelous!"
****
Duke was behind the counter, boredly watching out the window as people passed by his shop. It had been a rather slow day, and he had taken the time to create some last-minute new rules for an upgraded version of the Dungeon Dice Monsters rulebook he planned to release in the next few days. But there wasn't too much more he needed to add, and now he didn't have much to do at all. It's better than having shelves thrown on you by vampyres, he mused in his mind.
The electronic doors suddenly opened then and a tall, blue-haired man with glasses strolled in, looking around him with idle interest.
"Welcome," Duke said, coming from around the counter and delighted for something new. "Can I help you?"
"No, I'm just looking," was the reply. "I just got back into town and thought I'd try to find something for my son. He's into all this kind of stuff."
For the next few minutes Duke guided him around the store, explaining about the various kinds of games and asking questions about the man's son in order to help him decide the sort of thing he might like best.
"He's a great boy," the customer said proudly. "He's always very polite and kind. I know his favorite games are Monster World and Duel Monsters. I was hoping to find something along those lines."
"He sounds like someone I know," Duke remarked, it just occurring to him that perhaps he actually did know the son.
"I guess maybe you could at that." The man adjusted his glasses and looked at a Dungeon Dice Monsters booster pack. He chuckled. "Last time I went home, I walked in the door and immediately got tackled by some crazy guy who looks a lot like my son. According to him and my son, he's some ancient spirit who came out of a ring I bought for my son a few years ago. Can you comprehend?"
Duke blinked. "If you'd told me this a year ago, no, I couldn't have. But by now, I can comprehend it very clearly. Is your son, by any chance, Bakura Ryou?"
Now it was Mr. Ryou's turn to blink. "Oh . . . why . . . yes," he admitted.
Duke smiled. "I know him very well. I think I know what he would be interested in." As he spoke, he was thinking in his mind what a pity it was that the man couldn't figure out on his own what Bakura might like. Bakura had often talked about how his father was always traveling and that he barely ever saw him anymore. Duke had to admit that he hoped Mr. Ryou would stick around for the entire holiday season and beyond. Bakura needed that.
After about ten more minutes Mr. Ryou had decided on something and was paying for it at the counter. When he half-turned to take out his wallet, something out the window suddenly caught his attention and he stared, narrowing his eyes.
"What is it, sir?" Duke asked, trying to see if there was something offensive his customer was looking at outside.
Mr. Ryou seemed not to hear him. He muttered under his breath angrily what sounded like, "I can't believe she followed me here! I told her to wait at the hotel until I called!"
Then he snapped back to the present and gave Duke a smile. "Oh . . . it's nothing you need to be concerned about, young man. Thank you for your time!" As soon as he finished the transaction, he put his purchase in his overcoat and immediately stormed out the door, Duke assumed to face the "she."
"Well," Duke mused to no one in particular, "that was . . . interesting." He tried to inconspicuously come over to the window to look out. What he saw was Mr. Ryou arguing with some woman as they walked down the street. "I wonder what that could mean." The raven-haired boy had to wonder if poor Bakura was going to be in for some sort of shock.
****
Seto and Mokuba wound up not finding anything in the storeroom—or anywhere else in Toys, Etc.—and after about forty-five minutes were ready to leave.
"There's nothing more I can do here," Seto said flatly. "Whoever vandalized the store didn't want to be found out. They must have left long before you ever arrived."
Mr. Thorton moaned loudly. "Oh, it's so horrible! What shall I do?!"
"We'll help you clean it up, Mr. Thorton," Téa told him. "If you don't want to call the police, then that seems like the best thing to do right now."
"Oh, thank you, Téa," the man smiled. "After we do that, I . . . I believe I'll close up shop for the day. . . . I'm supposed to go to my sister's home for Thanksgiving anyway. . . . No sense staying here much longer. . . ." Téa hoped that a visit to his sister's would do Mr. Thorton a lot of good.
Over the following hour, she and the others worked to help get the shop back in order. Once all the shelves were picked up and the merchandise piled back on it, Mr. Thorton was satisfied to leave it like that until Monday.
"Then you'll be starting your holiday job here, Téa, and we can work on getting everything back on its proper row," Mr. Thorton said after thanking her and the others profusely for coming.
Seto—who told himself he'd stayed because Mokuba had wanted to help—gave a curt nod now and left with his brother. The others then left as well, after making certain that Mr. Thorton truly was leaving and not planning to stay there all alone for the rest of the day. Of course the high-strung man had no intention of doing so, and he turned off the lights and brought the metal grate down before following them all out.
****
"This has been such an odd day," Marik sighed as he and his siblings arrived back at their home. He didn't voice it aloud, but he was listing the reasons in his mind. They had a new strange mystery to solve, Mr. Thorton was so absentminded it almost seemed unreal, and the new neighbors—at least the one boy—had taken an instant dislike to him.
He could see the boy across the street now, along with someone else who was probably his brother. They had erected a snow fort and were throwing snowballs at anything and everything that came by.
"Hey, that girly-boy came back!" the second one called.
The first one, the one who had thrown a snowball at Marik's window, now aimed at Marik himself. "Heads up, Girly-boy!" he yelled.
Marik reached out and caught the snowball in his hand, not looking pleased. "I'm not going to put up with this!" he told Ishizu and Rishid before crossing the street. Carefully he set the snowball down on top of the boys' fort.
"Now see here," he said, keeping his voice calm, "what is the meaning of this?"
"Aww, we're just having fun, Girly-boy," the first child replied. "You look like you've probably never seen snow before!"
Marik had, actually, but he felt that was beside the point. "And so you decided to hit me with a friendly snowball to teach me about it," he said, raising an eyebrow.
"Sure, why not?" the second one smirked. "Girly-boy."
"I don't appreciate that name, either," Marik said sternly. "There are many cultures other than the one you are familiar with, and they do things differently in many of them. In my culture, it just so happens to be perfectly normal for the males to have long hair and wear jewelry."
The children cracked up. "There's a whole culture of girly-boys?" the first one snickered.
"That's enough!" Rishid thundered, suddenly appearing beside Marik. "As long as you will be living here across the street from us, I expect you to treat my brother—and our culture—with respect! Marik does not deserve your rude remarks. He has done nothing to either of you!"
The two boys looked up at Rishid, seeming a bit intimidated by his towering stature and the heiroglyphic tattoos on his face.
"Uh . . . okay," the first one squeaked. "We didn't mean any harm. . . ."
The second one, however, gave Marik such a nasty look that the teen was certain that he wasn't going to be left alone or respected.
And he was right. As soon as he and Rishid turned to leave, a snowball pelted Marik on the back. The teen froze and then turned around, but the two boys had already run off laughing.
"Rishid," Marik said then with a sigh, "those boys don't like me."
Rishid sighed, his temper greatly shortened. "They have just not been taught well enough," he said. "I am certain it isn't you personally they don't like."
Ishizu was waiting for them back at their driveway. As they walked in the house, she vowed that she would have a talk with the boys' mother when she got the chance.
****
Bakura was waiting right by the door when his father came home. Happily he sprang into the man's arms, so glad to see him again. "Father, I've missed you so much!" he declared.
Mr. Ryou hugged his son tightly. "I've missed you too," he said. With a chuckle he asked if Yami Bakura was around.
"He's here somewhere," Bakura replied, glancing about. "I'm not sure where, though. Probably anywhere to hide from the snow." A smile drifted across his face as he recalled the tomb raider's earlier comments.
Oreo meowed loudly, announcing her presence.
Mr. Ryou blinked. "When did we get a cat?"
Bakura blushed and scratched his cheek. "Well . . . Yami and I . . . sort of found her in San Francisco," he replied. "She was a stray and we just had to bring her home."
"Well . . . that's fine," Mr. Ryou said after a moment. "The thing is . . . I, erm, I have a surprise as well."
Bakura blinked. "You do, Father?"
"Yes . . . she's right outside, actually. . . ."
"'She'?!" Bakura gasped.
Mr. Ryou nodded slowly. "You see, Bakura, the thing is . . . I found someone on one of my trips. I never thought I could love anyone as much as your mother, but . . ." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Now I do."
Bakura just stared. "You . . . have a girlfriend?!" he cried, dumbfounded.
"Fianceé, actually," Mr. Ryou said, realizing how hard it would be for Bakura to get used to this. "But please try to understand. . . ."
For Bakura, it wasn't the fact that his father was engaged that especially upset him—it was the fact that he hadn't even bothered to tell him before! "How long ago did you get engaged?" he asked.
"Two months ago," Mr. Ryou told him.
"Two months???!" Bakura wailed. "Father, you've been engaged for TWO MONTHS and you never even thought it important to tell me???!!"
Mr. Ryou winced, but then stood up and faced his son. "I just assumed you'd meet her when I came back and brought her with me."
"But . . ." Bakura just stared at him, tears in his eyes. "Don't I have a right to know, Father?! How could you just think that it would be alright to suddenly come home and say, 'Oh, Bakura, guess what? I'm engaged!' and think that I can abruptly adjust?!"
Mr. Ryou sighed. "I should have told you. But I didn't . . . and she's here, waiting outside in the car. I hope you'll be nice to her."
Bakura looked away, blinking back the tears. "I'll be nice to her, of course," he said quietly. "Of course I will."