Chapter Four: Unwanted
~~Bakura's POV~~
Tuesday. Mai was on a date with Joey, so I, bored tomb robber that I am, had to hang out with Ryou and friends. Oh, joy. And guess what they were playing? Monopoly. Happy day.
Apparently, though, Yugi had lost just enough of his pieces so that one of us couldn't play, and guess who had to sit out? Me. Just because of the /last/ time we played, I suspect they no longer trusted me.
Gods, I hate them. More than they hate me. I mean, if you add all their hate together and multiply it by three, you still don't have as much hatred as I do. I /hate/ them. Especially the pharaoh. Is there a word stronger than hate? If there isn't, I'll make one up. Kazoo. That works. I kazoo him.
***All that I did was walk over
Start off by shaking your hands
That's how it went
I had a smile on my face
And I sat up straight
Oh yeah yeah
I wanted to know ya
I wanted to show ya**
So there I was, sitting in a chair, pretending to read a magazine while the pathetic little mortal fools - and the pharaoh - giggled over some stupid game and some stupid paper money. I had the distinct impression that they were ignoring me.
After about three exciting games, Ryou, twice the winner, turned to look at me. "Hey, Yami," he said tentatively. "You know, if you're bored, you can go home."
"No," I objected. "This is just fascinating. It's an article about..." I glanced down. "Well, it's an article, anyway." I think I actually blushed. The content of the article just didn't bear thinking about.
"You can keep the magazine," Yugi suggested, all sweetness and light. Little faker. I had my hand in my pocket, touching the Eye, and at that moment - well, what he was thinking also doesn't bear thinking about.
"Don't let us keep you here," Tea said, also very sweetly. Pathetic bitch. She didn't give a damn if I stayed or went, she was too busy wondering what her "precious Joey" was doing with "that moron Mai." I really can't believe her sometimes. She does know that Mai let her win that duel, right? /Right/?
However, a quick scan of all of them proved that Tea was the only one who wanted me there. But not really, as she was otherwise occupied.
Naturally, I did exactly what they didn't want me to do.
"No, I think I'd better stay here," I said in the most irritating tone I could manage. "And keep the noise level from getting too loud."
They proceeded to ignore me while getting set up for Twister.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away**
One can only watch teenagers get into frighteningly suggestive poses a few times before your mind turns to other things. Namely, Shizu. And Egypt. And why I kazoo that jerk, the pharaoh.
In "The Mummy," Rick says something about blood and sand. He was more right than he knew, especially since he was an actor who has probably never been to Egypt and probably never will. Blood and sand. That's all you could see for miles, five thousand years ago. That and cats.
I like cats. In fact, I love cats. I used to have a cat, in Egypt, named Rana. I thought it was a cute name. I mean, before I wised up and discovered that cuteness simply does not exist. Then I renamed her something long-forgotten that meant something vaguely translated to "I'm going to rip your heart out, you jerk." I wish she had, but Yami is allergic to cats and she couldn't get close enough to kill him. Gods, I miss Rana. And Shizu.
I kazoo the pharaoh. I just...kazoo him. And that sounds funny. I need to find a new word again. Maybe "double-hate" would work...
Want to know a secret? Yami has serious people-issues. He wouldn't talk to anyone in Egypt. Seriously. People would come before him with their problems and he would just listen and not speak. I think they nicknamed him "the Silent One." That's different, now. Five thousand years later, he talks too much for his own good.
And he still can't manage a civil conversation with me.
**I'm so unwanted
No, I just don't understand why
You won't talk to me
It hurts
That I'm so unwanted for nothing
Don't talk words against me
I wanted to know ya
I wanted to show ya**
Three long hours and about six billion flashbacks later, Joey and Mai arrived. Joey looked utterly bored, while Mai seemed tired but triumphant. She perched on the arm of my chair while Joey enthusiastically joined in a vicious game of Scrabble. I don't know why or even how, but Scrabble is a blood sport for these kids. It's sad.
"He kissed me," Mai murmured with a goofy grin on her face. "Then we made out. We got to second base."
"I didn't need to know that," I replied as Tristan misspelled the word "medieval."
"Just acknowledge that I've won so I can freakin' break up with him!" she hissed. I think my eyes actually widened.
"What?"
"Look, the bet was for me to win him back. I did, and now I don't want him anymore, so let's just call it quits."
I rolled my eyes. "Mai, dear, just look at him now. Five minutes after he's done with you, he's already hugging Tea."
"Because he got a triple-word-score on 'brownie,'" she said, as though it should be painfully obvious.
"Notice the simple joy they're taking from ignoring us," I said in the same tone of voice. "Yugi hid the Monopoly pieces so I couldn't play."
"No, he lost those last week," she said.
"Actually, he lost those after the first game he ever played with me."
Ryou glanced up. "Mai, don't you want to play?"
"No thanks," she replied, giggling and then inexplicably looking shocked.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away
Make me go away**
After the others begged for nearly ten minutes straight, Mai joined them, sitting in between Joey and Tea and snuggling up to him as much as possible. It was very difficult not to see the looks she kept shooting at me. We actually held a "conversation" while she played. I expect it helped a great deal that I had my hand on the Eye the whole time.
'What did I tell you? This kid adores me.'
'Oh, really? Looks to me like he adores the points Tea's racking up. Or maybe it's just her rack.'
After a quick glance to her right: 'What? She doesn't even have one.'
'Maybe he appreciates the understated.'
'No, he adores mine. He has nicknames for them.'
'Can we get back on the subject?'
'This /is/ the subject.'
'I'm not speaking to you!'
'Then shut up already!'
Yami, being the all-seeing freak he is, followed the conversation fairly well and jumped in.
'What does this have to do with anything?'
'It doesn't, now go away, jerk.'
'Why don't you go away?'
**I tried to belong
It didn't seem wrong
My head aches
It's been so long
I'll write this song
If that's what it takes**
We didn't get home until after eleven. I barely noticed, too annoyed with the world in general to notice.
"Ryou," I said sweetly as he started up the stairs.
"Yes, Yami?"
"Can you just give me the damn Ring and let me get out of here already?"
"No! You would just try to take over the world or something." He grabbed protectively at the Ring, which he always wore under his shirt now, regardless of where I was or what I was doing.
"Ryou," I said calmly, "there is only one thing I want, and that's revenge on the pharaoh."
"He hasn't done anything to you!"
"Recently. You weren't there, five thousand years ago, so you wouldn't get it."
"I hate you!"
"I kazoo you, too."
The boy got that adorable, confused frown on his face. "What do you mean?"
"Go to bed, Ryou."
He stormed off, and I vaguely heard him slam his door.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away**
I collapsed on the couch and glared at the unoffending ceiling. "This is all your fault," I informed it. I think it actually managed to give me a bewildered look.
The phone rang, startlingly loud in the silence. I grabbed at it, debated letting it ring just to annoy Ryou, and finally picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey," Mai said. "Can we talk about the bet?"
"Oh...that. Uh, sure, if you really want to."
"I've been thinking, and the whole thing is kind of juvenile. And we're not little kids anymore, so we should try to resolve this on a more adult level."
I sighed. "Mai, dear, you lost. Just give up already."
"But I never lose anything! Except, well, the occasional duel with Yugi and company. And that Eliminator guy on the island. And that contest in eighth grade...okay, so I lose plenty of things. But the terms aren't fair."
"Yeah, I'll say. I have to change if you win, remember, and all you have to do is...well, I don't think we spelled any of that out."
"No, we didn't. We rushed into all of it, which is why I think we just need to chill out and forget it."
I ran my hand through my hair. "Mai. Just listen to yourself. You're panicking over - what? A stupid bet? Fine. We'll call it quits. You can break up with Joey, I can stay just the way I like it, and nobody loses anything."
"Yeah. Um, thanks. Bye."
"Bye," I whispered, hanging up and flopping back onto the couch. "I hate you," I said to the ceiling. "No, I kazoo you. I double-hate you."
I wasn't even sure who I was talking to.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away
Make me go away
Make me go away**
I couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried, so I snuck into Ryou's bedroom and scared him half to death by jumping onto his bed and screaming, in Egyptian, "The roof is on fire!"
"What the hell do you want?" he shrieked.
I bounced on the bed, doing my best to sound nonchalant.
"Can we get a cat?"
~~Bakura's POV~~
Tuesday. Mai was on a date with Joey, so I, bored tomb robber that I am, had to hang out with Ryou and friends. Oh, joy. And guess what they were playing? Monopoly. Happy day.
Apparently, though, Yugi had lost just enough of his pieces so that one of us couldn't play, and guess who had to sit out? Me. Just because of the /last/ time we played, I suspect they no longer trusted me.
Gods, I hate them. More than they hate me. I mean, if you add all their hate together and multiply it by three, you still don't have as much hatred as I do. I /hate/ them. Especially the pharaoh. Is there a word stronger than hate? If there isn't, I'll make one up. Kazoo. That works. I kazoo him.
***All that I did was walk over
Start off by shaking your hands
That's how it went
I had a smile on my face
And I sat up straight
Oh yeah yeah
I wanted to know ya
I wanted to show ya**
So there I was, sitting in a chair, pretending to read a magazine while the pathetic little mortal fools - and the pharaoh - giggled over some stupid game and some stupid paper money. I had the distinct impression that they were ignoring me.
After about three exciting games, Ryou, twice the winner, turned to look at me. "Hey, Yami," he said tentatively. "You know, if you're bored, you can go home."
"No," I objected. "This is just fascinating. It's an article about..." I glanced down. "Well, it's an article, anyway." I think I actually blushed. The content of the article just didn't bear thinking about.
"You can keep the magazine," Yugi suggested, all sweetness and light. Little faker. I had my hand in my pocket, touching the Eye, and at that moment - well, what he was thinking also doesn't bear thinking about.
"Don't let us keep you here," Tea said, also very sweetly. Pathetic bitch. She didn't give a damn if I stayed or went, she was too busy wondering what her "precious Joey" was doing with "that moron Mai." I really can't believe her sometimes. She does know that Mai let her win that duel, right? /Right/?
However, a quick scan of all of them proved that Tea was the only one who wanted me there. But not really, as she was otherwise occupied.
Naturally, I did exactly what they didn't want me to do.
"No, I think I'd better stay here," I said in the most irritating tone I could manage. "And keep the noise level from getting too loud."
They proceeded to ignore me while getting set up for Twister.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away**
One can only watch teenagers get into frighteningly suggestive poses a few times before your mind turns to other things. Namely, Shizu. And Egypt. And why I kazoo that jerk, the pharaoh.
In "The Mummy," Rick says something about blood and sand. He was more right than he knew, especially since he was an actor who has probably never been to Egypt and probably never will. Blood and sand. That's all you could see for miles, five thousand years ago. That and cats.
I like cats. In fact, I love cats. I used to have a cat, in Egypt, named Rana. I thought it was a cute name. I mean, before I wised up and discovered that cuteness simply does not exist. Then I renamed her something long-forgotten that meant something vaguely translated to "I'm going to rip your heart out, you jerk." I wish she had, but Yami is allergic to cats and she couldn't get close enough to kill him. Gods, I miss Rana. And Shizu.
I kazoo the pharaoh. I just...kazoo him. And that sounds funny. I need to find a new word again. Maybe "double-hate" would work...
Want to know a secret? Yami has serious people-issues. He wouldn't talk to anyone in Egypt. Seriously. People would come before him with their problems and he would just listen and not speak. I think they nicknamed him "the Silent One." That's different, now. Five thousand years later, he talks too much for his own good.
And he still can't manage a civil conversation with me.
**I'm so unwanted
No, I just don't understand why
You won't talk to me
It hurts
That I'm so unwanted for nothing
Don't talk words against me
I wanted to know ya
I wanted to show ya**
Three long hours and about six billion flashbacks later, Joey and Mai arrived. Joey looked utterly bored, while Mai seemed tired but triumphant. She perched on the arm of my chair while Joey enthusiastically joined in a vicious game of Scrabble. I don't know why or even how, but Scrabble is a blood sport for these kids. It's sad.
"He kissed me," Mai murmured with a goofy grin on her face. "Then we made out. We got to second base."
"I didn't need to know that," I replied as Tristan misspelled the word "medieval."
"Just acknowledge that I've won so I can freakin' break up with him!" she hissed. I think my eyes actually widened.
"What?"
"Look, the bet was for me to win him back. I did, and now I don't want him anymore, so let's just call it quits."
I rolled my eyes. "Mai, dear, just look at him now. Five minutes after he's done with you, he's already hugging Tea."
"Because he got a triple-word-score on 'brownie,'" she said, as though it should be painfully obvious.
"Notice the simple joy they're taking from ignoring us," I said in the same tone of voice. "Yugi hid the Monopoly pieces so I couldn't play."
"No, he lost those last week," she said.
"Actually, he lost those after the first game he ever played with me."
Ryou glanced up. "Mai, don't you want to play?"
"No thanks," she replied, giggling and then inexplicably looking shocked.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away
Make me go away**
After the others begged for nearly ten minutes straight, Mai joined them, sitting in between Joey and Tea and snuggling up to him as much as possible. It was very difficult not to see the looks she kept shooting at me. We actually held a "conversation" while she played. I expect it helped a great deal that I had my hand on the Eye the whole time.
'What did I tell you? This kid adores me.'
'Oh, really? Looks to me like he adores the points Tea's racking up. Or maybe it's just her rack.'
After a quick glance to her right: 'What? She doesn't even have one.'
'Maybe he appreciates the understated.'
'No, he adores mine. He has nicknames for them.'
'Can we get back on the subject?'
'This /is/ the subject.'
'I'm not speaking to you!'
'Then shut up already!'
Yami, being the all-seeing freak he is, followed the conversation fairly well and jumped in.
'What does this have to do with anything?'
'It doesn't, now go away, jerk.'
'Why don't you go away?'
**I tried to belong
It didn't seem wrong
My head aches
It's been so long
I'll write this song
If that's what it takes**
We didn't get home until after eleven. I barely noticed, too annoyed with the world in general to notice.
"Ryou," I said sweetly as he started up the stairs.
"Yes, Yami?"
"Can you just give me the damn Ring and let me get out of here already?"
"No! You would just try to take over the world or something." He grabbed protectively at the Ring, which he always wore under his shirt now, regardless of where I was or what I was doing.
"Ryou," I said calmly, "there is only one thing I want, and that's revenge on the pharaoh."
"He hasn't done anything to you!"
"Recently. You weren't there, five thousand years ago, so you wouldn't get it."
"I hate you!"
"I kazoo you, too."
The boy got that adorable, confused frown on his face. "What do you mean?"
"Go to bed, Ryou."
He stormed off, and I vaguely heard him slam his door.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away**
I collapsed on the couch and glared at the unoffending ceiling. "This is all your fault," I informed it. I think it actually managed to give me a bewildered look.
The phone rang, startlingly loud in the silence. I grabbed at it, debated letting it ring just to annoy Ryou, and finally picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey," Mai said. "Can we talk about the bet?"
"Oh...that. Uh, sure, if you really want to."
"I've been thinking, and the whole thing is kind of juvenile. And we're not little kids anymore, so we should try to resolve this on a more adult level."
I sighed. "Mai, dear, you lost. Just give up already."
"But I never lose anything! Except, well, the occasional duel with Yugi and company. And that Eliminator guy on the island. And that contest in eighth grade...okay, so I lose plenty of things. But the terms aren't fair."
"Yeah, I'll say. I have to change if you win, remember, and all you have to do is...well, I don't think we spelled any of that out."
"No, we didn't. We rushed into all of it, which is why I think we just need to chill out and forget it."
I ran my hand through my hair. "Mai. Just listen to yourself. You're panicking over - what? A stupid bet? Fine. We'll call it quits. You can break up with Joey, I can stay just the way I like it, and nobody loses anything."
"Yeah. Um, thanks. Bye."
"Bye," I whispered, hanging up and flopping back onto the couch. "I hate you," I said to the ceiling. "No, I kazoo you. I double-hate you."
I wasn't even sure who I was talking to.
**You don't know me
Don't ignore me
You don't want me there
You just shut me out
You don't know me
Don't ignore me
If you had your way you'd just shut me up
Make me go away
Make me go away
Make me go away**
I couldn't sleep, no matter how hard I tried, so I snuck into Ryou's bedroom and scared him half to death by jumping onto his bed and screaming, in Egyptian, "The roof is on fire!"
"What the hell do you want?" he shrieked.
I bounced on the bed, doing my best to sound nonchalant.
"Can we get a cat?"