Chapter Two: Salty Shrimp and Punch
Me: Well, it's time now for . . . chapter two! No running this time for the cast, though. Using this cheap-looking chunk of gold *holds up the Sennen ring and pulls a card out of her pocket* Mirror Force!
Yami Bakura: Hey! You're the one who stole it from my trailer!
Yami Malik: I told you it wasn't me!
Me: Hee hee, yeah. Personally, if I could have one of the Sennen items, it would definitely be the ring. You have to admit how cool it is; it brings cards to life, can instigate a shadow game, can do some pretty wacky things to other people's minds, and you can't loose it! That's a nice bonus.
Ryou: *bitterly and totally OOC* Yeah, well, you also get a defective yami as part of the deal. You can't loose him either.
Yami Bakura: Hey!
Me: *glomping YB* But that's the best part! *whines* IWANNAYAMI!!!
Malik: You can take mine; the last time he went on a mad killing spree, I was held for questioning at the police station for a week, even though over 15 students and teachers swore up and down that I had been in school at the time. *glare*
Yami Malik: So that's why you insisted I go to school! You mean bullies aren't picking on you?
Jounouchi: Have to be one helluva suicidal bully.
Me: Well, we all know what time it is now! Mai-san, why don't you read the disclaimer this time?
Mai: Does that mean that I don't get a role in your fanfic either?
Me: Anou . . . I'm not authorized to reveal that at this moment.
Mai: Authorized? AUTHORIZED? You're the frickin' authoress! Who's gonna be more "authorized" than you?
Me: Hey! Do you want to read it or not?
Mai: Fine, fine. *ahem* The exalted authoress would never even try to convince the world that Yu-Gi-Oh is owned by her or is of her creation. There are two reasons for this: 1) no one would even for a second begin to pretend that they believed her and 2) she respects the even more exalted Kazuki Takahashi much more than to try and plagiarize his work.
Me: Very true. So sit back, eat some mint chocolate chip ice cream, and enjoy the story! Besides, you don't have anything better to do until you mom takes those Yu-Gi-Oh DVDs out of the closet she locked them in, right? (my mom keeps threatening to do that until I catch up in my AP Lang class . . . so of course I squander my limited storage of writing ability on this, ne? ~_^)
Yami Yuugi: Oh, and if the authoress ever refers to someone named "Yami," it's whichever Yami is involved in the situation. Example: if Ryou and his yami are having a conversation, "Yami" obviously means Yami Bakura. It just prevents redundancy, that's all.
Yami Bakura: And sometimes, I'm referred to just as "Bakura." Again, it prevents redundancy and some characters (like the Kaibas) don't call us Yamis anyways.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mokuba opened the door to find a disgruntled pair of yamis and a slightly embarrassed pair of hikaris.
"About time you answered the door," Yami Malik grumbled. "What are you doing here? Where's your wanna-be duelist brother of yours?"
"Nii-sama's getting ready; after all, you guys are kinda early," Mokuba replied with a surprising about of cheer.
"He kept insisting that it was past seven," Malik said bitterly, "because _someone_ thinks the position of the sun is more accurate than a mechanical clock."
"Renouncing your Egyptian heritage already, are you?" his yami replied cynically.
"Hey," Ryou interrupted cheerfully, "I'm surprised you don't have stronger security around your house, Mokuba."
"We do," Mokuba replied with a confused look, "at the beginning of the driveway. How did you get through the locked gate anyway?"
"So that's what that was," Yami Bakura mumbled.
"What did you do to their security system?" Ryou exclaimed, "is that what made that loud explosion? I really can't leave you alone for thirty seconds, even to park the car, can I?" His yami wrapped his arms around Ryou's neck, placing the palm of one hand on his hikari's soft cheek.
"Nor do I want you to," he replied seductively. Sobering up a little, he turned back towards Mokuba. "Now what was I seriously supposed to do? It kept telling me to enter a password, and then a camera jumped out of the wall . . . attacking it was just an automatic reaction I picked up; it's really hard to drop habits you've had for 3000 years." He unwrapped his arms and waltzed arrogantly through the front door, slightly shoving Mokuba out of the way.
"Ahem," the boy responded, his right hand outstretched, "your Sennen item . . . nii-sama insisted that I check them at the door." Yami Bakura growled at the boy, but reached into his pocket and withdrew the gold ring he always carried with him. He grumpily shoved it into Mokuba's hand and attempted to walk past him. "Bakura," a stern voice scolded him, "your _real_ Sennen item. I'm not that gullible; I know you carry a fake." Ryou quickly reached around his yami's neck and lifted the ring out from under his shirt before Yami Bakura could seriously hurt the boy.
"Gomen, Mokuba-kun," Ryou apologized as he handed it over. Mokuba nodded in thanks.
"You too, Malik," he insisted.
"You wouldn't have made Pegsy give up _his_ Sennen item," Yami Malik grumbled as he handed over his rod and entered the house.
"So which way to the grub?" an unnaturally bouncy hikari asked from behind him.
"This way!" Mokuba proudly exclaimed as he led them down the hallway to the ballroom. He was delighted by everyone's surprise and appreciation of his decorating skills. Not to mention, of course, the great gadgets that screamed "play with me!" Mokuba hopped up to the D.J. seat behind his large stereo system setup and, pressing a few buttons, made the room light up in a fantastic display of color and sound. He programmed a play list and light show (wisely putting a password on the controls) and stepped down from his seat. "I'll be waiting at the door to invite the others in" he informed the foursome, "so you can serve yourself dinner over there. And," he added, sensing a mischievous aura, "don't bother trying to operate the stereo; it's password protected!" He winked and walked down the hallway.
While Yami Bakura was stuffing his face (Ryou was being a little more polite about it; at least he used a plate and utensils), Malik and his yami exchanged grins. They reached into the pockets of their pants (both wore identical cargo pants; very ancient Egyptian, ne?) and pulled out a large, plastic sheet, a piece of cardboard with a pinned-on spinner, several handfuls of faked duel monster cards, and a variety of other game pieces. Ryou looked over at the pile in astonishment.
"How do you fit all of that in your pockets while still keeping such a slim figure?" he asked, rather femininely he realized on retrospect. The twins just grinned.
"Wouldja believe us if we said it was magic?"
Yami Bakura walked over, wiping salmon eggs from his mouth, and stared at the various objects. "What the hell are these supposed to be?" he asked.
"For school, we had to research games from other cultures," Malik replied, "and since a certain spiky-haired couple had already stolen the topic of Egyptian games, we researched American party games." He picked up a dart and fingered its sharp tip. "Some of them sounded pretty fun, so we brought the pieces needed. Let's see how grand the 'King of Games' is at these!"
"Particularly since his Sennen puzzle will get checked at the door too!" his yami cackled. He picked up the game pieces and shoved them in a corner for later use.
The doorbell rang again shortly after, and in strode Jounouchi and Honda, followed shortly after by Anzu. Jounouchi and Honda alone practically devoured the remaining food and the table along with it, while Anzu immediately picked up on the music and began to dance in rhythm, her shiny black shoes and sequined dress reflecting the lights like a disco ball. Yami Bakura, meanwhile, had been spending a suspicious amount of time leaned over the various food items. The Maliks, meanwhile, appeared to have disappeared entirely from the scene.
With a flutter, Kaiba also entered the room. Let's just say he looked kinda shiny in his outfit, composed of some material he probably invented himself. He stepped calmly into the room, suppressing with remarkable control his anxiety, and walked up to his brother, who had returned from his hosting duties at the front door. After checking that nothing had really happened yet, he sat himself down in one of the chairs his brother had set up and pulled out his laptop. Soon, he was typing busily, while still glancing up and scanning the room for suspicious activity every few moments. Although the loud music was a bit distracting, he refused to sacrifice any more time due to this vexing event.
"Kaaaaaaaaiba-kuuuun!" Yami Bakura shouted mockingly from the refreshment table. Kaiba pretended to have not heard him over the loud music and kept tapping his fingers on the keyboard. "Kaaaiba!" He yelled again, and, not getting a response, walked up to where Kaiba sat and slammed the laptop shut on his fingers.
"What do you want," Kaiba hissed at him, his icy eyes flashing like blue flames in the strobe lights. Bakura didn't show any hint of intimidation.
"Where's the bathroom?" He asked.
"Three doors straight down the hall on your right." Kaiba replied coldly, opening his laptop again. Bakura slammed it down again.
"All the doors down that hallway are locked," he stated triumphantly. "Not a door in this entire house, in fact, is without a lock."
"So I wasn't just being paranoid," Kaiba muttered.
"Hey, a good tomb raider always explores his environment to search for all escape routes, traps, and secret entrances," Bakura replied, feigning slight offence. Kaiba just muttered and returned to his work. "Kaiba! Aren't you going to unlock it for me?"
Kaiba grumbled but realized that in his haste he probably _had_ locked the bathroom door along with the others. Obviously he hadn't meant to do this, and Bakura's request _was_ reasonable, so he sighed, rose from the chair with his laptop safely tucked under his arm and walked down the hall towards the locked door. Just as he left the room, the Maliks ran out from the shadows with two paper bags and identical maniacal smiles plastered on their faces. No one paid much attention to their mischief, though, because at that moment the doorbell rang.
"Must be Yuugi," Mokuba said as he scurried towards the door. A few moments later, he returned followed by the two spiky-haired boys. Jounouchi whistled at their attire.
"Wow," he commented, "not only do they have taste, they also possess the incredible ability to put on such tight outfits. I seriously would have thought it physically impossible to fit into those." Honda nodded in agreement.
"Thanks guys!" Yuugi replied cheerfully. He and his yami joined everyone at the food table where they were all gathered, drinking punch.
"How's the punch?" Yami Yuugi asked, pouring himself a glass.
"Quite refreshing," Honda informed him, "the food was great, talk about delicacies, but way too salty." Anzu and Ryou nodded in agreement.
"Oi, Kaiba" Jounouchi called out as Kaiba reentered the room. "I'd never had guessed that the filthy rich ate sodium-saturated food like we poor people do. Couldja have possibly added any more salt?"
"That's weird; I know I specifically requested low-sodium dishes," Kaiba said, confused, "the catering service I use knows that many of my guests cannot tolerate much salt." He walked over to the table, picked up a sushi roll, and popped it in his mouth. He quickly spat it out. "What the hell," he muttered as he bit into a shrimp which he too spat out. "Even the shrimp's literally blanketed in salt!" Upon hearing Yami Bakura's delirious laughter Kaiba realized the identity of the culprit and arrogantly turned and headed back to his chair. Just as he was sitting down Yami Malik grabbed his laptop from under his arm and with a flash of light it was gone. "Goddammit!" Kaiba shouted menacingly, "what the hell did you do to my computer?"
"Two words for you," Yami Malik replied with a grin, "shadow realm."
"But you can't send things to the shadow realm without your items," Mokuba interjected. Malik reached into his pocket, withdrew his rod, tossed it up like a baton, and caught it with a loud "swipe."
"We found them," he replied, tossing the Sennen ring back to its owner. "And guess what else we found with them?" Kaiba, with a horror-stricken face, turned to Mokuba.
"Where did you place the Sennen items," he asked slowly. Mokuba looked down ashamed.
"In the kitchen cabinet . . . next to the sake."
"I thought the punch tasted suspicious," Yami Yuugi said, glancing at the Maliks.
"Hey," Yami Malik replied, "it's a sophisticated American tradition to 'spike the punch.'"
"That's a prank you moron!" Kaiba shouted in frustration. He slapped himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand. "Exactly how much punch did you guys drink?" he asked.
"Lessie," Jounouchi replied, "the food was really salty, so I had," he started counting on his fingers.
"Oh joy," Kaiba muttered to himself, "now they're all drunk. Just what I needed." Remembering his abducted laptop, he twirled back towards Yami Malik. "You've had your fun, now give me back my laptop." Yami Malik shook his head with a "tsk."
"Do you seriously think we're going to get it back that easily? It's a party, and parties are supposed to have games. Win three separate games and we'll return your computer. Everyone, of course, can play too."
Yami Yuugi's ears immediately perked up at the mention of "games." A pleased grin spread across his face and his eyes narrowed into competitive mode.
Kaiba didn't like the concept of walking into a challenge he knew nothing about, but it was a challenge, and he couldn't back down, especially not to Malik.
"How do I know that you haven't given yourself some sort of advantage?"
"Oh, that's easy," Malik asserted, "they're all American games that none of us, I'm sure, has ever played before, so no one has an advantage." Kaiba hesitated for a moment, but seeing no other way to save his laptop (which had billions of dollars worth of information stored on it) he knew he hadn't a choice in the matter.
"All right, I accept. What's the first game?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sennen _____ : that refers to a millennium item (sorry, probably should have stated that in the first chapter)
Gomen: I'm sorry
Gomen nasai: I'm sorry in a more respectable way
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Me: bwah! Another chapter completed! Here's to productivity. My goal here is to make each chapter at least 2,500 words (because short chapters annoy the heck out of me and I've noticed that if not monitored, my chapters become embarrassingly short embarrassingly fast).
Chibi Ryou: As always, reviews are really appreciated! Random comments or indications that people actually care are good, criticism is better, and ideas about where you want this story to go (such as what games they should play and what couplings you want to see) are best.
Yuugi: The authoress is trying to update as frequently as possible (of course), but distractions such as school, track, more school, sleep, and ten DVDs that are sitting by her television on loan kinda slow down the process a bit.
Yami Yuugi: Not to mention how much she loves other fanfics too! It's causing her mental health to deteriorate. I keep trying to tell her that there is such a thing as too much angst.
Anzu: Not to mention she's gotten to the point where she sees shounen-ai relationships everywhere . . .
Mokuba: Of course, that just makes life all the more fun for us, ne?
Kaiba: Gak! Not you too! Not yet! YOU'RE ONLY TEN!!!
Me: Don't worry, he's safe in my fic at least (Mokuba x anyone relationships kinda disturb me . . .)
Jou: Oh Seto, you're such a hypocrite. *snuggles up and purrs*
Anzu: Like I was saying . . . *sweatdrop*
Me: Heh. I think I'm corrupting my fifth-grade sister . . . or you could see it as I'm making her more accepting of others' life-choices. Yeah, there's a bright side to this! Anyhoo, review and keep an eye out for the next installment. Ja ne!
Me: Well, it's time now for . . . chapter two! No running this time for the cast, though. Using this cheap-looking chunk of gold *holds up the Sennen ring and pulls a card out of her pocket* Mirror Force!
Yami Bakura: Hey! You're the one who stole it from my trailer!
Yami Malik: I told you it wasn't me!
Me: Hee hee, yeah. Personally, if I could have one of the Sennen items, it would definitely be the ring. You have to admit how cool it is; it brings cards to life, can instigate a shadow game, can do some pretty wacky things to other people's minds, and you can't loose it! That's a nice bonus.
Ryou: *bitterly and totally OOC* Yeah, well, you also get a defective yami as part of the deal. You can't loose him either.
Yami Bakura: Hey!
Me: *glomping YB* But that's the best part! *whines* IWANNAYAMI!!!
Malik: You can take mine; the last time he went on a mad killing spree, I was held for questioning at the police station for a week, even though over 15 students and teachers swore up and down that I had been in school at the time. *glare*
Yami Malik: So that's why you insisted I go to school! You mean bullies aren't picking on you?
Jounouchi: Have to be one helluva suicidal bully.
Me: Well, we all know what time it is now! Mai-san, why don't you read the disclaimer this time?
Mai: Does that mean that I don't get a role in your fanfic either?
Me: Anou . . . I'm not authorized to reveal that at this moment.
Mai: Authorized? AUTHORIZED? You're the frickin' authoress! Who's gonna be more "authorized" than you?
Me: Hey! Do you want to read it or not?
Mai: Fine, fine. *ahem* The exalted authoress would never even try to convince the world that Yu-Gi-Oh is owned by her or is of her creation. There are two reasons for this: 1) no one would even for a second begin to pretend that they believed her and 2) she respects the even more exalted Kazuki Takahashi much more than to try and plagiarize his work.
Me: Very true. So sit back, eat some mint chocolate chip ice cream, and enjoy the story! Besides, you don't have anything better to do until you mom takes those Yu-Gi-Oh DVDs out of the closet she locked them in, right? (my mom keeps threatening to do that until I catch up in my AP Lang class . . . so of course I squander my limited storage of writing ability on this, ne? ~_^)
Yami Yuugi: Oh, and if the authoress ever refers to someone named "Yami," it's whichever Yami is involved in the situation. Example: if Ryou and his yami are having a conversation, "Yami" obviously means Yami Bakura. It just prevents redundancy, that's all.
Yami Bakura: And sometimes, I'm referred to just as "Bakura." Again, it prevents redundancy and some characters (like the Kaibas) don't call us Yamis anyways.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Mokuba opened the door to find a disgruntled pair of yamis and a slightly embarrassed pair of hikaris.
"About time you answered the door," Yami Malik grumbled. "What are you doing here? Where's your wanna-be duelist brother of yours?"
"Nii-sama's getting ready; after all, you guys are kinda early," Mokuba replied with a surprising about of cheer.
"He kept insisting that it was past seven," Malik said bitterly, "because _someone_ thinks the position of the sun is more accurate than a mechanical clock."
"Renouncing your Egyptian heritage already, are you?" his yami replied cynically.
"Hey," Ryou interrupted cheerfully, "I'm surprised you don't have stronger security around your house, Mokuba."
"We do," Mokuba replied with a confused look, "at the beginning of the driveway. How did you get through the locked gate anyway?"
"So that's what that was," Yami Bakura mumbled.
"What did you do to their security system?" Ryou exclaimed, "is that what made that loud explosion? I really can't leave you alone for thirty seconds, even to park the car, can I?" His yami wrapped his arms around Ryou's neck, placing the palm of one hand on his hikari's soft cheek.
"Nor do I want you to," he replied seductively. Sobering up a little, he turned back towards Mokuba. "Now what was I seriously supposed to do? It kept telling me to enter a password, and then a camera jumped out of the wall . . . attacking it was just an automatic reaction I picked up; it's really hard to drop habits you've had for 3000 years." He unwrapped his arms and waltzed arrogantly through the front door, slightly shoving Mokuba out of the way.
"Ahem," the boy responded, his right hand outstretched, "your Sennen item . . . nii-sama insisted that I check them at the door." Yami Bakura growled at the boy, but reached into his pocket and withdrew the gold ring he always carried with him. He grumpily shoved it into Mokuba's hand and attempted to walk past him. "Bakura," a stern voice scolded him, "your _real_ Sennen item. I'm not that gullible; I know you carry a fake." Ryou quickly reached around his yami's neck and lifted the ring out from under his shirt before Yami Bakura could seriously hurt the boy.
"Gomen, Mokuba-kun," Ryou apologized as he handed it over. Mokuba nodded in thanks.
"You too, Malik," he insisted.
"You wouldn't have made Pegsy give up _his_ Sennen item," Yami Malik grumbled as he handed over his rod and entered the house.
"So which way to the grub?" an unnaturally bouncy hikari asked from behind him.
"This way!" Mokuba proudly exclaimed as he led them down the hallway to the ballroom. He was delighted by everyone's surprise and appreciation of his decorating skills. Not to mention, of course, the great gadgets that screamed "play with me!" Mokuba hopped up to the D.J. seat behind his large stereo system setup and, pressing a few buttons, made the room light up in a fantastic display of color and sound. He programmed a play list and light show (wisely putting a password on the controls) and stepped down from his seat. "I'll be waiting at the door to invite the others in" he informed the foursome, "so you can serve yourself dinner over there. And," he added, sensing a mischievous aura, "don't bother trying to operate the stereo; it's password protected!" He winked and walked down the hallway.
While Yami Bakura was stuffing his face (Ryou was being a little more polite about it; at least he used a plate and utensils), Malik and his yami exchanged grins. They reached into the pockets of their pants (both wore identical cargo pants; very ancient Egyptian, ne?) and pulled out a large, plastic sheet, a piece of cardboard with a pinned-on spinner, several handfuls of faked duel monster cards, and a variety of other game pieces. Ryou looked over at the pile in astonishment.
"How do you fit all of that in your pockets while still keeping such a slim figure?" he asked, rather femininely he realized on retrospect. The twins just grinned.
"Wouldja believe us if we said it was magic?"
Yami Bakura walked over, wiping salmon eggs from his mouth, and stared at the various objects. "What the hell are these supposed to be?" he asked.
"For school, we had to research games from other cultures," Malik replied, "and since a certain spiky-haired couple had already stolen the topic of Egyptian games, we researched American party games." He picked up a dart and fingered its sharp tip. "Some of them sounded pretty fun, so we brought the pieces needed. Let's see how grand the 'King of Games' is at these!"
"Particularly since his Sennen puzzle will get checked at the door too!" his yami cackled. He picked up the game pieces and shoved them in a corner for later use.
The doorbell rang again shortly after, and in strode Jounouchi and Honda, followed shortly after by Anzu. Jounouchi and Honda alone practically devoured the remaining food and the table along with it, while Anzu immediately picked up on the music and began to dance in rhythm, her shiny black shoes and sequined dress reflecting the lights like a disco ball. Yami Bakura, meanwhile, had been spending a suspicious amount of time leaned over the various food items. The Maliks, meanwhile, appeared to have disappeared entirely from the scene.
With a flutter, Kaiba also entered the room. Let's just say he looked kinda shiny in his outfit, composed of some material he probably invented himself. He stepped calmly into the room, suppressing with remarkable control his anxiety, and walked up to his brother, who had returned from his hosting duties at the front door. After checking that nothing had really happened yet, he sat himself down in one of the chairs his brother had set up and pulled out his laptop. Soon, he was typing busily, while still glancing up and scanning the room for suspicious activity every few moments. Although the loud music was a bit distracting, he refused to sacrifice any more time due to this vexing event.
"Kaaaaaaaaiba-kuuuun!" Yami Bakura shouted mockingly from the refreshment table. Kaiba pretended to have not heard him over the loud music and kept tapping his fingers on the keyboard. "Kaaaiba!" He yelled again, and, not getting a response, walked up to where Kaiba sat and slammed the laptop shut on his fingers.
"What do you want," Kaiba hissed at him, his icy eyes flashing like blue flames in the strobe lights. Bakura didn't show any hint of intimidation.
"Where's the bathroom?" He asked.
"Three doors straight down the hall on your right." Kaiba replied coldly, opening his laptop again. Bakura slammed it down again.
"All the doors down that hallway are locked," he stated triumphantly. "Not a door in this entire house, in fact, is without a lock."
"So I wasn't just being paranoid," Kaiba muttered.
"Hey, a good tomb raider always explores his environment to search for all escape routes, traps, and secret entrances," Bakura replied, feigning slight offence. Kaiba just muttered and returned to his work. "Kaiba! Aren't you going to unlock it for me?"
Kaiba grumbled but realized that in his haste he probably _had_ locked the bathroom door along with the others. Obviously he hadn't meant to do this, and Bakura's request _was_ reasonable, so he sighed, rose from the chair with his laptop safely tucked under his arm and walked down the hall towards the locked door. Just as he left the room, the Maliks ran out from the shadows with two paper bags and identical maniacal smiles plastered on their faces. No one paid much attention to their mischief, though, because at that moment the doorbell rang.
"Must be Yuugi," Mokuba said as he scurried towards the door. A few moments later, he returned followed by the two spiky-haired boys. Jounouchi whistled at their attire.
"Wow," he commented, "not only do they have taste, they also possess the incredible ability to put on such tight outfits. I seriously would have thought it physically impossible to fit into those." Honda nodded in agreement.
"Thanks guys!" Yuugi replied cheerfully. He and his yami joined everyone at the food table where they were all gathered, drinking punch.
"How's the punch?" Yami Yuugi asked, pouring himself a glass.
"Quite refreshing," Honda informed him, "the food was great, talk about delicacies, but way too salty." Anzu and Ryou nodded in agreement.
"Oi, Kaiba" Jounouchi called out as Kaiba reentered the room. "I'd never had guessed that the filthy rich ate sodium-saturated food like we poor people do. Couldja have possibly added any more salt?"
"That's weird; I know I specifically requested low-sodium dishes," Kaiba said, confused, "the catering service I use knows that many of my guests cannot tolerate much salt." He walked over to the table, picked up a sushi roll, and popped it in his mouth. He quickly spat it out. "What the hell," he muttered as he bit into a shrimp which he too spat out. "Even the shrimp's literally blanketed in salt!" Upon hearing Yami Bakura's delirious laughter Kaiba realized the identity of the culprit and arrogantly turned and headed back to his chair. Just as he was sitting down Yami Malik grabbed his laptop from under his arm and with a flash of light it was gone. "Goddammit!" Kaiba shouted menacingly, "what the hell did you do to my computer?"
"Two words for you," Yami Malik replied with a grin, "shadow realm."
"But you can't send things to the shadow realm without your items," Mokuba interjected. Malik reached into his pocket, withdrew his rod, tossed it up like a baton, and caught it with a loud "swipe."
"We found them," he replied, tossing the Sennen ring back to its owner. "And guess what else we found with them?" Kaiba, with a horror-stricken face, turned to Mokuba.
"Where did you place the Sennen items," he asked slowly. Mokuba looked down ashamed.
"In the kitchen cabinet . . . next to the sake."
"I thought the punch tasted suspicious," Yami Yuugi said, glancing at the Maliks.
"Hey," Yami Malik replied, "it's a sophisticated American tradition to 'spike the punch.'"
"That's a prank you moron!" Kaiba shouted in frustration. He slapped himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand. "Exactly how much punch did you guys drink?" he asked.
"Lessie," Jounouchi replied, "the food was really salty, so I had," he started counting on his fingers.
"Oh joy," Kaiba muttered to himself, "now they're all drunk. Just what I needed." Remembering his abducted laptop, he twirled back towards Yami Malik. "You've had your fun, now give me back my laptop." Yami Malik shook his head with a "tsk."
"Do you seriously think we're going to get it back that easily? It's a party, and parties are supposed to have games. Win three separate games and we'll return your computer. Everyone, of course, can play too."
Yami Yuugi's ears immediately perked up at the mention of "games." A pleased grin spread across his face and his eyes narrowed into competitive mode.
Kaiba didn't like the concept of walking into a challenge he knew nothing about, but it was a challenge, and he couldn't back down, especially not to Malik.
"How do I know that you haven't given yourself some sort of advantage?"
"Oh, that's easy," Malik asserted, "they're all American games that none of us, I'm sure, has ever played before, so no one has an advantage." Kaiba hesitated for a moment, but seeing no other way to save his laptop (which had billions of dollars worth of information stored on it) he knew he hadn't a choice in the matter.
"All right, I accept. What's the first game?"
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sennen _____ : that refers to a millennium item (sorry, probably should have stated that in the first chapter)
Gomen: I'm sorry
Gomen nasai: I'm sorry in a more respectable way
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Me: bwah! Another chapter completed! Here's to productivity. My goal here is to make each chapter at least 2,500 words (because short chapters annoy the heck out of me and I've noticed that if not monitored, my chapters become embarrassingly short embarrassingly fast).
Chibi Ryou: As always, reviews are really appreciated! Random comments or indications that people actually care are good, criticism is better, and ideas about where you want this story to go (such as what games they should play and what couplings you want to see) are best.
Yuugi: The authoress is trying to update as frequently as possible (of course), but distractions such as school, track, more school, sleep, and ten DVDs that are sitting by her television on loan kinda slow down the process a bit.
Yami Yuugi: Not to mention how much she loves other fanfics too! It's causing her mental health to deteriorate. I keep trying to tell her that there is such a thing as too much angst.
Anzu: Not to mention she's gotten to the point where she sees shounen-ai relationships everywhere . . .
Mokuba: Of course, that just makes life all the more fun for us, ne?
Kaiba: Gak! Not you too! Not yet! YOU'RE ONLY TEN!!!
Me: Don't worry, he's safe in my fic at least (Mokuba x anyone relationships kinda disturb me . . .)
Jou: Oh Seto, you're such a hypocrite. *snuggles up and purrs*
Anzu: Like I was saying . . . *sweatdrop*
Me: Heh. I think I'm corrupting my fifth-grade sister . . . or you could see it as I'm making her more accepting of others' life-choices. Yeah, there's a bright side to this! Anyhoo, review and keep an eye out for the next installment. Ja ne!