"Okay." Yuugi sat down at the table with Malik. Maybe having a little kid around the house wasn't so bad after all. Five minutes later, he was reconsidering that decision as he watched Malik bounce around on an incredible sugar high, melted ice cream residue and chocolate still smeared across his face.

" 'nother one, Uncle Yuugi?"

"NO."

"Please??"

"No."

Malik bounced where he stood as he tried to think of a way to persuade the older boy to allow him some more ice cream. "Then can we go to the park?"

"It's dark already."

"So? There's streetlights." Malik added, jumping onto a chair.

"It's raining."

"So? That's better."

Yuugi sighed. He wasn't going to get any peace. "Tell you what, I'll sit by the door and do homework while you go and run up and down the street a couple times. Sound good?"

Malik looked a little crestfallen. "You won't run with me?"

"No."

"All right then. Let's go!"

"Wait! What about a coat…" But Malik was gone.

By the time Yuugi got to the door, the younger boy was already running up and down the street, laughing as the rain spattered on his face and clothes. He hadn't bothered to put on his shoes, and instead let his bare feet splash superbly in the puddles. Yuugi sighed and watched from the doorway, half wishing he were young enough to join Malik instead of reading up on the sentence structures of the English language.

He watched as the little one experimented with the various types of splashes he could make depending on the angle with which he came down on the water. He couldn't help but smile as the youngster overdid a rather extreme jump and ended up sitting suddenly and ungracefully in the middle of a rather large puddle. He got up again immediately, of course, soaking wet and with smears of dirt all over. He shook himself once and bounced off to another puddle.

Suddenly, all at once, two brilliant white swords of light slashed through the rain and whipped about the corner. The car came in a blur, speeding down the road in front of the game shop in some unknown race. Malik stood staring as it approached, unable to move.

Yuugi's English book fell to the floor as he jumped up. "MALIK!!!!"

The car passed and screeched around another corner, vanishing from sight.

Standing out in the rain now, Yuugi frantically scanned the concrete and asphalt. For an instant, he saw nothing but water and the dead hardness of the road. The streetlight flickered momentarily and he thought he saw a body in the street, but it was only shadows. Then he saw him, crouching on the sidewalk-not the road, his hands over his head.

Yuugi raced over to the boy and found he was shaking uncontrollably. "The…the car…" whimpered Malik.

"I know, I know…I saw it. You're not hurt, are you?"

Malik shook his head. "It didn't touch me…but I saw something all the sudden. I saw the front of a car rushing towards me, I thought I saw you standing in the road…I thought I was going to die!!" He buried his face in his hands, shivering but not crying.

"Maybe…maybe you should come inside now."

Malik's lip trembled. "It's…c-c-cold…"

"You're all wet, that's why. Come on."

They walked in together, and Yuugi was very glad that the store had tile instead of carpet on the floor. He made sure Malik got a hot shower and changed into dry clothes (the kid demanded the dark magician T-shirt again). They sat by the window afterwards, wrapped in blankets and watching the rain while sipping hot chocolate. Malik was quiet, poking silently at the marshmallows with a careful finger before picking them out and eating them.

"Are you okay?" asked Yuugi finally, to break the silence.

Malik nodded. "Yeah. Why?"

Yuugi shrugged. "You just seem really quiet. Are you thinking about something?"

Malik nodded again. "Lots of things, really." He took a sip, slurping a little. "Yuugi, what is my sister like?"

Yuugi thought about that for a while. "It's hard to say. She's more than she seems at first."

The little boy cocked his head. "But, Uncle Yuugi, isn't everyone?"

Yuugi smiled slightly, surprised by the insightful comment. "I guess so. She was nice, not given to a lot of talking. She was kind of cautious sometimes, and at other times ruthless…like in duels. She almost beat Seto once."

"Seto?"

"Kaiba Seto, the one who was camping with us when we found you."

"With the whitish-purple hair that stuck out everywhere?"

"No, that was Bakura. Kaiba has brown hair…he's Mokuba's big brother."

Recognition dawned on Malik's face. "Oh, him! He was kind of grumpy."

Yuugi shook his head. "He's not that bad, really. I just suppose he didn't like sand crabs landing suddenly on his shirt."

Malik shook his head, spraying droplets of water from his hair. "I don't see why not. It didn't pinch him.