MilleniumGirl: Hi! Because I feel like it, I'm putting responses to all of the AWESOME reviews I got last chapter!
Maruken–Thank you for the compliment! And about Stan... Heh, I made him likable so it would come as a shock when I KILLED HIM! I mean, um, yeah...
Blue-Eyez-White-Dragon – Lolololol!!!!
DreamingChild – That would be smart, no? But still, if he sold the house I couldn't have a dramatic ending!
Jedi Spiderfan – Thank you, and it will be about the same length, I think, maybe a chapter or two more...! O.K., so it will be longer.
lilmatchgirl – Heheheh... yes, it was!
Rowan Girl –Ok! I'll put these out as fast as I can!
yla/all4him– Thank you!!!
Chibii-chan– THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! Reviews DO make me happy!!! And don't worry, there's more story on the way!
PotatoDragon– Yes, at least they haven't been hurt... yet... But don't worry!
crystal crittenden– Thanks! Good words... well, I'll update again soon, hopefully!
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Ryou's first reaction was to freak out. "Stan? STAN?" he screamed pointlessly to the tree. "STAN, ARE YOU..."
"Ryou! Stop screaming!" Bakura said, dragging Ryou away from "Stan." "It won't help. Nothing can help."
Ryou began to shake. "But what... how..." he said, confused and frightened.
"He's dead," Bakura said, forgetting to be comforting. Ryou yelled again and leapt farther away from the rosebush. Bakura wasn't upset a great deal over Stan's death... He was only another foolish mortal, after all. Then he looked to his frightened little hikari. He is just a mortal...
The rosebush may want him next.
Bakura shook his head angrily at such thoughts. The rosebush would be dead in a matter of minutes; there was no chance of it killing anyone else. Stan was a great man who left behind great things...
Bakura grabbed the syringe full of plant poison. Ryou fell silent. Bakura advanced toward the bush with his weapon out like a lance. He was about to strike the bush when he felt himself being pulled backwards.
"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Ryou yelled. "Do you want to be turned into a tree? Don't get near it! There's got to be another way to kill it!"
Bakura laughed and pushed Ryou off. "It can't hurt me! This is me we're talking about!"
"Right, and so you can fight off whatever that bush did to Stan? You can stop that from happening if that horrible plant leaks that black blood on you? Well, if you think you can, go right ahead. But if it turns you into a tree I won't be able to hold a funeral for you, because I will be locked inside the house," Ryou panted.
Bakura raised an eyebrow.
"Oh..." Ryou said. "I'm sorry, that just came out..."
"No, you have a point. You would lock yourself in the house..." he murmured.
Ryou exploded. "But... Of course I would! There would be two dead... tree things in the backyard and a homicidal... well, it can't be homicidal, but, a MURDERING ROSEBUSH, and that wasn't even my point..."
Bakura rolled his eyes and let Ryou talk himself out. He had dropped the syringe. His hikari was right; there was probably a better way to kill the thing without putting himself in danger. Of course, there were probably more ways to put him in danger then he knew about.
In an act of anger to the rosebush, Bakura picked up Stan's box and threw it at the rosebush.
The bush split in two, revealing a large mouth like that of a venus fly trap, except with longer, more deadly spikes and a blood red tongue the size of an elephant's trunk. The mouth opened and the box fell in. The tongue then wrapped itself around Stan and ripped him out of the ground with ease. The mouth swallowed Stan. Then the bush promptly closed itself back up.
Ryou had stopped talking.
Bakura took two large steps backward. "Damn," he muttered under his breath.
Ryou was too shocked to yell. He inched behind Bakura and whispered, "What is this thing?"
"THAT MAN'S FAULT, that's what it is!!!" Bakura yelled, leaping up so fast that Ryou fell over behind him.
"Whose fault?" Ryou said shakily, remaining on the ground.
"The idiot who gave it to us!" Bakura said, picking Ryou up by the scruff of his neck. "He must have done something to it!"
"No, 'Kura..." Ryou said thoughtfully, rubbing his neck. "He was scared of it too..."
The bush rustled a little, causing Ryou to yelp and run behind Bakura.
"So you mean that bastard gave it to us because he wanted to get rid of it?!?" Bakura said angrily.
"Yes..." Ryou said cautiously. His yami was not in the best of moods. Bakura uttered a long string of cuss words and almost tried to kick the bush, but Ryou was on him in seconds.
"Wait! I've got an idea!" Ryou said finally, now having retreated to the far side of the yard.
"What? Hide inside the house?" Bakura said, entertaining himself by throwing rocks at the bush. The mouth would swallow anything he threw at it.
"'Kura, don't do that. My idea is to have Malik come... you two could work together to... I don't know, send the bush to the Shadow Realm or something..." Ryou said, fiddling with his hair and longing to go inside.
Bakura whipped around so fast he missed the rosebush with the rock. "What? So know you're saying I have to 'work together' to do something I'm fully capable of doing myself?"
"No, I'm just saying it would be more effective it both of you used shadow powers against the bush..."
Bakura thought for a moment. "Fine. Go in and call him. And if you don't come back out I'll stab the rosebush with the syringe."
On the other side of the yard, the tongue protruded from the bush and took the syringe back inside to the mouth.
"I don't think the poison hurts it at all," Ryou said, pausing on the steps back inside the house.
"No, really? I would think if it swallowed that whole box of poison I threw at it, it wouldn't be hurt by poison," Bakura said dryly.
Ryou said, "Oh," in a defeated tone of voice and ran the rest of the way inside the house.
Bakura threw pinecones into the bush's mouth until one of the pinecones came soaring back at him and hit him in the face.
"DAMNNIT!" he yelled as Ryou walked into the backyard. "THE BUSH SPIT THE PINECONE AT ME!"
"That's why I said not to throw stuff at it. Malik said he'd be right over," Ryou said, trying to pry Bakura's hand off his face to inspect the damage.
A loud crash from inside the house signaled that Malik had showed up. He walked into the backyard, followed by Marik, who was looking at the bush in awe.
"Malik," Ryou said angrily, "Please use the door next time, O.K.?"
Malik snorted.
"Whoa," Marik said, inching toward the bush a little. "That thing's way bigger than when I first saw it. And the roses are different, aren't they?"
"Watch what it can do," Bakura said, tossing a rock at it. Marik and Malik witnessed the bush's eating habits with wide eyes.
"'Kura, it'll spit at you again, and I wouldn't encourage it to open its mouth so much," Ryou said fearfully.
Bakura rolled his eyes. "I'm not worried. It doesn't scare me. Hikaris are paranoid, aren't they, Malik?"
Malik nodded. "So, can we send it to the Shadow Realm now? I love it when things go to the Shadow Realm..."
Malik and Bakura laughed.
Marik laughed a little. "Don't worry, it looks like they've got it under control."
Ryou relaxed slightly. "Yes... it ate someone, did I mention that? He was really nice, too..."
Marik's eyes widened. "No kidding? Man, that is one freaky plant... I wonder what made it like that..."
"Who cares? As soon as its gone, I won't have to think about it anymore," Ryou shuddered.
The hikaris watched as their yamis concentrated on the bush. There was a dim light coming from each oh them. Then, the bush exploded into blackness. Bakura and Malik laughed as they watched shreds disappear into nothingness.
"All gone," Malik said happily. "Do I get paid, or..."
His joke was cut short when both yamis whipped around again, clutching their hands over their ears.
"What is that sound?" Bakura said, peering at the spot where the bush had been.
Ryou and Marik could hear nothing. They could only stand and watch, confused.
"THE BUSH HAS REJECTED THE SHADOWS!" Malik yelled over the noise only he and Bakura could hear.
Then, as if in reverse effect to the explosion that had taken place, pieces sprang out of thin air and bound themselves together.
A larger, more ominous rosebush with pitch black roses and a clearly visible mouth, now wide open as it took a breath of air, was standing where it had been moments before.
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MG: Heheheheheheheh...
DisclaimerBot: PROCESSING... PROCESSING...
MG: (fwaps DisclaimerBot) Well, there's a chapter! Oh yes, I am so evil...
DisclaimerBot: PROCESSING...
MG: (sighs) BIG EVIL PLANT ROSEBUSH THING?
Rosebush: (eats DisclaimerBot)
MG: Thank you!
Rosebush: (tongue reaches out toward MG)
MG: Um... heh... oh, please review and make sure you come back for the next chapter, or two, or whatever... (runs away)