"WHAT???" Yuugi jumped up, and everyone raced into the kitchen. Smoke drifted from one of the upper cupboards. As Jounouchi and Honda ran to get pots of water, Yuugi turned to Malik. "You were in the cupboard where I keep the matches, weren't you?"
"Matches?"
"The little sticks of wood that ignite when you rub them against the box."
"I…ignite?"
"Go BOOM!" put in Jounouchi, dousing the small fire.
"Well, catch fire is more like it."
Realization dawned on Malik's face. "Those! Yeah!"
Yuugi sighed. "Okay. One of the first things you should learn, Malik, is 'never play with matches.' It's dangerous."
Malik shrugged. "Fire is pretty."
Yuugi blinked a couple of times. "But you could hurt somebody! Look!" He gestured to the blackened spot on the shelf.
Big tears welled up in Malik's large violet eyes. "I'm sorry…" he sniffled.
"Yuugi!" chided Honda as the tears trickled down Malik's face, "you made the kid cry!"
Yuugi took a deep breath and counted to ten. "I'm just trying to teach him…"
Anzu picked up Malik and rocked him comfortingly. "There, there…"
Jounouchi leaned on the counter. "Well, that was exciting. Hey…here's the cookies!"
In an instant, Malik had shot from Anzu's arms and snatched the cookie jar out of Jounouchi's reach. "Mine!" he snapped, scowling and completely back to his old self.
Honda shook his head. "Don't worry, Yuugi. I think he'll be fine."
Yuugi put a hand on his forehead. "What about me? If it takes ten years for Isis to come and get him, I'll be old way before my time."
At that moment, Sugoroku walked in. "Is something burn-ah! Yuugi! How many times have I told you not to play with matches??!"
"I didn't…" Thoroughly annoyed, Yuugi stalked from the kitchen. He was a little more forgiving, though, when it came to homework. It was the next evening, in fact, that Yuugi found himself killing his brain over algebra while Malik bounced on the bed and tried to touch the ceiling. "Are you done with your homework already?" snapped Yuugi in disbelief.
"Yep. I finish' a while 'go."
"Then come over and help me!"
"Kay." Malik slid off the bed and walked over to the desk. "Hmmm… It's because you distrib'ted the fraction power over these…"
"So?"
"Canna…they're in p'rentheses, and they're 'ddition. Only with timesing."
"Multiplication."
"Yeah. Then do this…" Malik grabbed the pencil and scribbled some numbers and functions down "…and this…and this…and your answer's simple!"
Yuugi blinked a few times. "H…how did you do that??"
"Just work it out," said Malik, scampering off.
Yuugi shook his head and went back to staring at the problem. Five seconds later, he heard a series of thumps reminiscent to a drum roll and then one final crash. He leapt up to investigate and found Malik lying in a peculiar position at the bottom of the stairs against the wall. Several paperback books had tumbled off the shelf above and now lay scattered about and on the child. "Malik! What on earth…"
Malik stood up tipsily. "I…I was going towards the stairs, and I saw my favorite pencil on the floor, and I bent to pick it up, but I forgot to stop running, and then I was right here!"
"You fell down the stairs."
"No! I was going towards the stairs, and I saw my favorite pencil on the floor, and I bent to pick it up, but I forgot to stop running, and then I was right here! I didn't fall." He rubbed the back of his head. "And I have a bump…"
Yuugi put his hand where Malik indicated and found a large goose egg indeed. "Come on," he sighed. "Let's put some ice on that." The walked to the kitchen, where Yuugi rummaged through the freezer. "So you've got a favorite pencil already, huh?"
"Yep. It's purple with a sort of gold-ish color-"
"Figures."
"-and it has Hello Kitty on it."
Yuugi hit his head on the freezer shelf above the one he was searching. "Itai!" he yelped, clutching the sore spot.
Malik grinned. "You need ice too, now?"
"Did you say HELLO KITTY???"
"Yeah…so…"
Yuugi shook his head. "You've changed a lot."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Hey! Ice cream sandwiches! Can I have one?"
"Um…I guess…"
"Yay! You don't need to get me ice, ya know."
"But…"
"Oh, have an ice cream sandwich too! Forget about the other stuff."
