Tennis

By: Hyacinthus & Isis 'neechan

Dedication: I'm gonna dedicate this to all the RxB fans out there. WE LOVE YOU!!!

Rating: PG-13 for some cussing

Warnings: Shounen ai abounds.

Summary: It all started when Ryou attempted to teach his yami how to play tennis. Then it goes from there when they get challenged by the Malikses to a match. Interesting things ensue.

Couplings: RyouxBakura. More if you choose to read into it.

Author's notes: We'd just like to say that we had a GREAT time rp'ing this, and we hope that you have an even better time reading and enjoying it. Lots of LOVE!

(parados)

"Hey, watch it!" There was a pause as Jounouchi, sitting on the sidelines of the public tennis court, looked from the ball that had missed his head by centimeters to the glaring face of the white-haired yami who had just whacked the tennis ball in a completely wrong direction.

"Er, I mean, great serve, Bakura! Ryou'll have you at an expert level at this game in no time!"

Yugi giggled slightly to Jou's commentary before turning his attention back to the game. It was now Yami's turn to serve. Yugi drooled slightly when Yami lifted his arm up to slam the ball to the other side of the field, causing the bright sun to reflect off his shiny pleather midriff.

Bakura growled slightly, knowing that the ball was intended for him. The bastard of a former pharaoh saw him as a weak spot to be exploited, exactly as if in a duel. He'd show him. As the ball came flying towards him, he wondered vaguely if Yami would feel pain that his hikari did. He almost felt sorry for the drooling runt as he was about to find out and whacked the ball in Yugi's direction, sending it straight for the hikari's head.

Yugi stared with wide eyes at the incoming ball. "Move Move Move Move" he muttered, but his body refused to comply.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU BAKURA!!!!" screamed Yami rubbing the side of his head.

Apparently, the Yami felt everything the hikari felt. Bakura smirked, "It was an accident." he drawled, voice dripping with venom. It was good to see the pharaoh get his long deserved comeuppance.

Ryou glared at Bakura from across the tennis court. "That wasn't very nice!"

"And I care... why?"

Bakura grunted and turned to his own hikari, wishing that he could sometimes feel as little towards him as he felt to everyone else.

"The blonde mutt said it himself, Ryou, I'm not yet an expert in this game. However, I am a master at Duel Monsters, so if we could just.." He trailed off, seeing his hikari's head shake.

"Well, at least Kaiba thought it was funny. I bet he didn't even feel it through all that hair."

The ends of Kaiba's lips were still slightly upward as he fetched the ball to make his serve. It would be nice to beat Yami in a game once in awhile. Well.. just once. He threw the ball up into the air and smacked it. Hard. In Yugi's direction. There were other personal, more primal, satisfactions in seeing the ball bounce off the shrimp's head. Seto Kaiba was not a person to share.

"Kaiba!," Yami yelled. "I'm warning you.. Both of you!" He cursed mentally as Yami was now rubbing his head and the pathetic dog was making over his best friend as if he had permanent brain damage. Stupid alter-ego duelist couldn't even pick up the signs.

Ryou turned his Hikari death glare of doom, which was more a pathetic version of a puppy begging for food, to Kaiba. Who glared right back. Which caused Bakura to repeatedly smack him over the head with his tennis racket. "NO ONE GLARES AT MY HIKI. Y'HEAR?!"

Seto growled as he turned with his own racket and jabbed Bakura in the gut, pulling him down low and whispered to him. "Your 'HIKI' is the one forcing us to stay out here..! Listen to me. If we knock Yugi out half-senseless, then the pharaoh will be out, then we'll have uneven teams and you and your precious hikari can leave! .. I can laugh at the pharaoh."

Bakura snorted and spat. "Fine. Let's just get this over with."

It was Ryou's turn to serve.

Yugi stood on the sidelines practicing his english for his English final a few weeks away. "Hello. How you today? I is fine. What lovely day. You think?"

Ryou threw the ball into the air and hit a nice clean serve to Seto. "Ryou has nice balls." recited Yugi causing both Bakura and Ryou to choke.

"Tell me about it." muttered Bakura, who had extracted enough English from Ryou's mind to understand the potential meaning of that statement. Ryou flushed a brilliant scarlet.

A few moments later Yugi lay sprawled on the floor with yet another bump on his head. It seems that Seto has very good aim.

Seto resisted the urge to smirk and muttered his own English word from his fluent vocabulary. "Pervert.." He ignored the pharaoh that rushed to his hikari's side and was currently yelling at him, as well as the mutt. Bakura, however, he actually caught sighing in relief. He walked off the tennis court, tossing the racket to a stunned and still blushing Ryou.

Ryou, in the mean time, had walked over to Bakura. "He doesn't speak very good English, sometimes, you know.."

Bakura arched a thin eyebrow, "Sometimes? Why don't you show me your nice balls? Eh?"

It wasn't long before Bakura followed Yugi's example and was lying sprawled on the floor.

Ryou hmphed and clenched his shoulders in a flustered motion before running off to check on Yugi and a now unconscious Yami Yugi. "Jou, do you think they'll be all right?"

Jou nodded and carefully laid them down on the public benches, scowling at Seto, who was waiting for his limo to arrive, no doubt. "Eh, it's nothing more then you did to Bakura. I'd worry about him if I were you."

Jou leapt up at those words. "Yeah, I'll take you on, Mr. Big Shot! Look at what you did to Yug! What's wrong with you??"

Seto scoffed and ignored him as he seemed to go on. He also seemed to ignore a narrow-eyed, white-haired yami that was stalking up to him, rubbing the back of said yami's head. He allowed Bakura to growl all he wanted as he asked, "What is the matter with you? I thought you didn't want to play any longer? So help me, if I have to play one more round of this Ra-forsaken game because of one foolish mortal.."

Seto yawned a bit. "Ryou."

"What?" Bakura asked in confusion.

Bakura had failed to see Ryou standing right behind him.

"That's right, me," Ryou said. "Me who now knows just how much you appreciate one of my favorite games."

"OH!!! HAHAHAHAAH" Bakura let out a loud fake laugh. "APRIL FOOLS!"

Ryou glared. "It's September 7th, Kura."

"Oh yeah!" Bakura looked around for an escape route. "I meant you know the game of hitting Yugi. It's so mean how everyone picks on him!"

Ryou gave Bakura another smack on the head.

Yami slowly cracked his eyes open "Man I got a headache bigger than Khufu's pyramid. Ra..."

Seto secretly watched as Yami woke up. Yugi was slowly coming to as well, only he was being coddled by Jou. He resisted the urge to say kind words to his rival. "A headache that big, huh? Hn. Sounds almost as big as your ego. Next time, I suggest not standing in my way."

Yami glared back at Seto, resisting the urge to mind-crush him. Damnit, he was the former pharaoh. Didn't that allow him any benefits??

"When I get up, Kaiba, run. Just run. After you, I'm going after that tomb robbing jackal and apologizing to Ryou. But trust me on this, run."

Seto Kaiba sweatdropped.

"Nah, it's okay Yami." Yugi reached out a small thin hand and clutched gently at Yami's pleather outfit. Yugi laughed, "These bumps on my head feel funny!" He leaned forward to give Yami a hug.

Seto nearly slapped his forehead. "Your runt probably has brain damage. .. Well, at least we know that it wasn't caused by the tennis balls."

"Kaiba.." Yami growled.

Ryou growled, seeing his perfect tennis game gone. "All right, all right. Yami, take Yugi home to go lay down. Jou, you go with Yugi, since you're so mad at Kaiba. Kaiba, do what you want but leave Yugi alone. Bakura.." He refused to look at his yami. "Let's leave."

Bakura blinked for a moment before following the enraged hikari's instructions.

Bakura glared back at everyone else, as if it was their fault, as he followed his hikari home. "You're upset over nothing, you know."

He frowned as he still received no answer, not liking being ignored at all. He deserved attention! "Will you slow down," he snapped.

Ryou whirled around furious that his yami dared to contradict him. Tears sprung to the corner of his eyes as he ranted at his suddenly frightened yami, "You are absolutely INFURIATING. I can't take you ANYWHERE. I can't do anything. Is ONE little tennis game too much to ask? Is it Yami? Can I not even have ONE Ra be damned tennis game without you screwing everything up?" Sobbing, he tore away from Bakura's comforting grasp.

Bakura blinked, absolutely stunned, watching his hikari run off, crying. He huffed and plopped down on a nearby bench, glaring after him as he ran away. One little game and suddenly Ryou was in tears. He didn't understand him at all; he might as well have been a woman. No one else understood those.. things either. He turned his back to the retreating form. Mortals were useless anyway.

Yet, sitting there the white haired spirit felt a bit uncomfortable. He picked up the racket that Ryou had thrown on the floor in his catharsis. "Ryou..." he whispered. Making up his mind, he turned and chased after his hikari.

Ryou sobbed as he ran blindly through the streets, "Damn Bakura. He doesn't understand anything." He stopped for a moment and wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes. Looking up he saw that he had run back to the tennis courts. Everyone had left and Ryou walked into the empty tennis court.

He sighed, shaking his head and longed for something, anything to kick in anger in the middle of that court. Bakura was non-understanding by choice. His yami just didn't care, and that filled him with anger that he was unaccustomed to. Whenever Bakura would do something idiotic, he was always there for him. The time he had coerced those teenagers from school to toilet paper the principal's newly-bloomed Sakura trees at night, and then had phoned the principal to alert them, and then watched and laughed as the boys were chased, and then had nearly been caught by an angry, testosterone filled mob; He had been the one to bandage Bakura's scratched face from the low-lying branches.

An hour had passed by the time that Bakura found Ryou. The hikari had passed out, exhausted from crying, the trail of tears evident on his rosy cheeks. "Hiki?" he murmured, gently stroking Ryou's white mane.

Ryou turned his head slightly and let out a soft snore. Bakura shook his head and picked up a tennis ball lying nearby. "This game can't be too hard," he muttered.

He tried to get a familiar grip on the racket and closed his eyes. Yes, Ryou had played this game at least one hundred times, while he rested in his soulroom. He had just never cared to watch him. He tossed the ball in the air and imagining his hikari, swung as hard as he could. He hit it, but without Ryou's grace. Damn him making something so stupid look so easy. He walked over to the ball and lifted it up, hitting it once more.

Ryou slowly opened his eyes, his brow furrowing. He swore he could hear the ball hitting on chainlink. The pavement had been so warm.. He remembered sitting down and then.. he must have fallen asleep and fell over, and now someone was playing tennis over him! He was so embarrassed.

Looking up, he saw his yami's brow furrowed in concentration as the Egyptian spirit attempted again and again to hit the ball and make it stay in the large green box on the other side. He giggled as every one of Yami no Bakura's balls went too far and struck the fence with a clattering noise.

Bakura, hearing the laughing of his aibou, glared at the chuckling albino. "Keh. This game isn't as easy as it looks." Ryou shook his head at Bakura's antics.

Bakura crinkled his nose as he glared at his hikari. "Well, what are you doing down there? You whine about me not playing with you, and now you're laying down when I accept? Ryou, I'm surprised at you.."

Ryou gazed at him in mild shock and got off of the pavement. "Whatever happened to 'I wouldn't play that Ra-forsaken game if you begged me all day?' I had to practically drag you out this morning!"

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Technicalities.."

Ryou laughed, "Here, let me show you how to serve." Bakura shivered when Ryou wrapped his arms around the pale haired yami. "See, you lift your hand up and you hit it like this," Ryou moved Bakura's arm with his own to demonstrate. "Now you try."

Bakura tossed the ball in the air, before drawing his hand back and slamming the ball to the other side of the court- within the green box. Bakura gaped in astonishment as Ryou cheered.
Great Job 'Kura!" he leaned over and gave Bakura a kiss, "Congratulations!"

Bakura grinned, "Will you do that each time I hit the ball correctly?"

Ryou just smiled secretively, thinking about the impulsive kiss. "Well, if you think you can hit the ball in the green box by yourself... "

Bakura watched his hikari carefully. Oh, he was good. He was practically being bribed into hitting the ball. But he supposed that he had had worst ways to spend his time in the past, and here, he would get another sort of treasure just for hitting a measly ball. "Of course I can hit it! Give me that.." he fumbled on the words, trying to think of what to call that metal contraption, "thing."

"Hahaha, It's called a racket, yami." Ryou gave him the racket and plopped down to get a good view of Bakura's shots. Again and again the sound of clattering metal filled the court.

He couldn't help but chuckle, immediately quieting only out of courtesy, when his Yami looked over his shoulder to glare at him, and then back at the racket. The former-tomb robber regarded the racket as if it was the treacherous former-pharaoh, himself. "Damn you.." He threw up the ball and in one moment of anger, hit the ball so hard that it bounced off of the chainlink and bounced into the green. "Ha! I did it," Bakura smugly stated, "It's in the green, you see."

Ryou frowned. "That's no fair!" he muttered.

The king of thieves stood, watching Ryou expectantly. "I'm waiting."

Ryou glared before conceding. Standing up, he leaned over to give Bakura a small peck, before biting down- HARD, causing the yami to yelp.

He almost felt sorry for his cheating yami, who thought he was so clever, and was now cradling the injury and glaring at him as if he was in a conspiracy with the racket. Bakura simply kept his eyes narrowed and watched his hikari warily. He was obviously not to be trusted. "Next week, I'll cry my eyes out and see if you want to play with me. Oh, yes, and then I'll bite you." Growled Bakura.

Ryou placed a calming hand on Bakura's cheek. "Do you want me to kiss it and make it better?"

Bakura raised an eyebrow, "Oh, this is hurting so bad. I think I'll need several kisses to make it better."

"Then."

Kiss.

"Don't."

Kiss.

"Cheat."

Kiss.

"Next."

Kiss.

"Time."

Bakura gave Ryou another devious smile, causing the owner of the Sennen Ring to smack him over the head, "No, I will not kiss you again if you cheat!"

"Ahh!" Bakura took a step backward, accompanied by a glare to the back of his hikari's head. He couldn't believe the false image that people had about him. Once, when he had been coerced into making conversation with those idiotic group of friends Ryou had, they had all told him that he shouldn't worry Ryou so much, and that he was very lucky to have such a docile hikari that never bothered anyone. If only they could see how wrong they were! Sweet Ryou, his ring! It was Ryou, the tyrant that appeared as gentle as a rabbit to everyone else, but beat him senseless!

Bakura gave Ryou a challenging glare- which Ryou returned, full force. "Let's try it again, yami," he sighed. Walking forward, he wrapped his arms around his yami and proceeded to go through the motions of a serve again. "There, now you try."

Bakura picked up the racket wearily. "Hey Ryou! Bakura!" a loud voice called from behind them. He turned to see Marik and Malik walking up to the court, rackets in hand.

Ryou smiled brightly, once again, gentle around others, but the glint still in his eye from the unspoken challenge between he and his yami. He would never tell Bakura, but he did like working with him, very much, whether it was just Bakura dueling by himself, or when his yami would make idle comments when he, himself, dueled, and the spirit had nothing better else to do than eavesdrop on his match. And here were Malik and Marik, and his chance to work in sync with him once more. He good-naturedly called out to them, secretly wanting more than anything to show his yami his love for the game by helping and teaching him to beat an opponent thoroughly "Over here!" He waved to them. "We can play two on two!"

Bakura snorted, "No thanks, I'd rather not be embarrassed." He glared at the two Egyptians, who walked confidently onto the field.

Yami no Malik laughed, "What's the matter, is the the King of Thieves scared?" He leaned over, and stroked Ryou's cheek. "MmmMm. How about we play for this delectable prize?" the yami was so busy staring at Ryou that he failed to note the three rackets coming at very high speeds toward his head.

"You're going down Marik," swore Bakura.

Ryou had done his best to stumble backward in surprise and revulsion at Marik's proposal, as Malik threw up his hands in exasperation, stating that despite the fact that Marik was a part of him, the hentai propositioning had completely come about on its own.

It didn't matter to Bakura though. If he stunk, which he hated to admit that he did, at this ridiculous game.. Yes, that was it. No wonder he was no good, the game was pointless! But if he wasn't any good, then he knew Marik had to be terrible. "Scared?" Bakura just laughed darkly, vowing to use all of his skills to win this match. "I take you up on your offer! The winner of this match does take that delectable prize. After all, we all know who's going to win."

"Let's go!" yelled Ryou, dragging Bakura to the opposite side of the court, "you guys can serve first."

Bakura laughed, "Yeah, you losers are going to need it."

Slightly amused by his yami's comment, Ryou smiled, "I wouldn't be saying that if I were you, Malik is really very good, and no doubt he rubbed off on his yami."

Bakura arched a thin eyebrow, "As if I'm going to lose to Marik?"

Ryou whistled, "You never know."

Marik smirked, unable to prevent himself from eavesdropping. "I'd say your pretty hikari is right." Bakura's eyebrow stayed in its perplexed condition at Marik's rambling, the other yami never noticing his own hikari, Malik, exasperated and sneaking up on him with his own racket. Oblivious, Marik continued. "When we win this match, Ryou and I," he smirked, "well, let's just say we'll-" and he never got to finish as Malik's racket came crashing on his head. "You and my friend will what, Yami?"

Glaring at Marik's twitching body, Bakura muttered, "Why don't we put that to the test Ishtar? I can kick your ass anyday."

Marik stood up, rubbing his sore head, "I am getting you back for that Yami no Bakura. You're going to regret that you ever started playing this blasted game, when I kick your ass deeper into the shadow realm than Ra can reach."

"Shall we make this a shadow game then?" Bakura's eyes glittered with anticipation.

Ryou looked at Malik, who looked at just as much of a loss as he was. Ryou sighed.

"A shadow game, Bakura?" He almost regretted asking when his yami turned, a cold precision in his eyes that was usually reserved for playing Duel Monsters.

A dark chuckle followed that was more directed at Marik than anyone else.

"Of course a shadow game. You've never played this game of yours, Ryou, like we're about to now. We'll just see who can outlast who."

Marik scoffed, "Of course we already know who can outlast who, tomb robber." Malik placed a hand on his yami's shoulder, temporarily pacifying him.

"We'll see about that!" Bakura drew back his arms and concentrated on his millennium ring.

"Oh no we won't!" Ryou furiously threw his racket at the back of Bakura's head. Bakura was making very good friends with the ground.

Marik could barely contain himself from an outright cackle at Bakura's situation. "Well, it looks like that Ryou unconsciously wants to help me win, sabotaging you and all!"

Bakura simply growled, bracing his arms on either side of him as he proceeded to pry himself from the ground.

Ryou frowned deeply and glared at Marik, followed by Malik, who began speaking quietly to his yami, unwilling to make another large scene.

"What's so macho about a shadow game? I know you both. You'd probably find some way to use sennen magic to your advantage. What's the matter, Yami? Can't you just play the game with me against Ryou and Bakura that way? I think that making a bet on Ryou is childish and a stupid attempt to anger Bakura into playing poorly." Malik made a face, "Ryou and I worked hard enough without you two being too chicken to play on solid ground!"

The tanned Egyptian turned, to find the Bakurae turned in their direction attempting to hear what they were whispering about. "Ready?" Ryou gave Malik a knowing grin.

"You Bet." Malik threw back his head and laughed, "Bring it on!"

Malik palmed the greenish yellow ball in its hand, feeling the warm fuzz and bounced it idly, earning a look of slight apprehension from the yamis, before they both began to stare each other down again.

"So, Ryou," he breathed, "Which one of us would you like to serve? Afterall, you've waited a long time to get Bakura out here.."

"Hahaha, If you think you need the advantage of serving first, go right ahead, Malik." Ryou laughed, caused Malik to pout lightly.

"Fine, have it your way." Malik threw the ball in the air and slammed it into the court. After bouncing once on Bakura's side of the court, it flew towards him and the frightened yami ducked.

The sound of a ball violently hitting chain-link was heard again, and Bakura glared as he stoop up on now-steady legs, glaring at the shorter Egyptian "I call a foul!"

Malik could barely hear over his yami's continuous laughter but was unbelieving. "What? You can't do that! I hit the ball, and it's not my fault you ducked!"

Bakura growled. "It's not my fault you slammed the ball in my direction on purpose. I can damn well call a foul if I want to."

"Uhh Bakura... There's no fouls in this game." Ryou scratched his head. Marik howled in laughter. Bakura blinked.

"RA DAMNIT!! FUCK THIS STUPID GAME!" Bakura picked up the ball and chucked it at Malik. "YOUR RA DAMN SERVE."

"Ahh!" could be heard as Malik bent backward, nearly falling to the pavement as the ball whizzed over his own head, his own yami catching him.

"Now I see why Ryou just started to teach you, you're a stubborn jerk!" Malik yelled, as his yami helped him up and glared daggers at Bakura.

He picked up the ball and tossed it to Ryou, who seemingly effortlessly caught it. "Ryou, show him how it's done."

Ryou picked up the ball and tossed in the air, swinging his racket down he made an effortless serve to the other side of the court which Malik parried and Ryou returned.

"Keh. That's easy," Bakura intercepted the ball, before picking it up and lobbing it towards Marik on the other side. Marik drew his racket back and swung. Meanwhile, the ball hit the fence with a clatter.

The soft words of "good job," were sweet victory to Bakura's ears as Ryou commented on his serve. He was slowly gaining confidence and sure he could take the other yami and affiliated hikari down. He took his turn to flash a confident grin at Marik.

"You're in trouble now. Swinging a little weak, aren't we?"

Malik shook his head and spoke soothingly to his yami, picking up the ball again. He tossed it over to Bakura, who once again lobbed it to Marik, who promptly slammed the ball- which flew over the fence. "HOME RUN!" cheered Marik.

"Out." Malik responded flatly.

"That's the wrong sport, Marik" called Ryou, attempting to calm down the furious spirit.

Malik grasped his yami's forearm with both hands, nearly being dragged as the taller Egyptian moved ominously towards a laughing Bakura. "Temper, Yami, temper.."

Ryou frowned. "It really was a good hit, just a little lower next time."

This seemed to soothe the seething taller man and he let his arm drop and smiled at Bakura, who was now half-heartedly glaring at his hikari for nearly congratulating Marik.

The ball went back to Bakura, who hit the ball towards Marik once again. This time, Marik hit the ball gently. Moments later, Yami no Bakura was once again laughing his ass off when the ball hit the net.

"I QUIT!" screamed a furious Yami no Marik and promptly burst into tears. "'ikari!!! YOU SAID I WAS GOOD AT THIS GAME!!!"

While Bakura felt no sympathy for the yami or hikari at all, it was disheartening to see a confident Marik break down in the possibility of defeat. He was usually so damned confident at duel monsters.

"Marik.." The smaller Egyptian took his Yami into his arms and cooed soft, Egyptian phrases to him, fingers trailing through his spiky hair. "You are good, very good. It's just that Bakura is learning as well and you have a rival, you know.. just as in Duel Monsters?"

Marik sniffed. "Duel Monsters..?"

Malik nodded. "Just like that." He turned and glared at Bakura. "It's a wonder that Ryou likes you as much as he does."

The comment elicited a humph out of the pale haired yami who promptly replied with, "It's cause I'm so irresistable." His modesty was rewarded with a racket to the head.

"Irresistable my ass." Ryou grumbled.

"Hmph," was Malik's audible reply as he took Marik's hand and racquet in his own hands. "We're going home, Ryou. It was nice to play against you and see that you have a partner.. No matter how crude he can be."

Ryou sighed but gave Bakura an encouraging smile. "You see, you can play!"

"Wusses.." muttered the yami.

Ryou bent down and kissed Bakura. "C'mon Kura, let's play. Winner calls TOP!"

"No fair!" Bakura pouted, "You've been playing for longer!"

Needless to say, it was awhile before Bakura had a chance to be seme again.

(exodus)

R/R Please!

We'd love ya forever!