Malik: MD apologizes profusely for the late arrival of this chapter. But, she was out of town, the new YYH and RK graphic novels came out, ff.net sent her one of those temporary suspension things, and then-

MD: Damn the computer technician. DAMN THAT BASTARD TO HELL!!

Malik: O__________________O She never swears that much in an entire fic, much less in one sentence.

Ryou: She's got every right. Fool deleted all her stories.

MD: *wails* 36 chapters Ryou-chan! And my school projects too! *glomps*

Ryou: *hugs hesitantly* Shh, it's okay MD.

Malik: *grin* I'm getting pictures of this.

Q&A:

Shadow's Girl12:

CYD: Why…You…TELL ME! *brings out shadow magic* Or I'll duel you for the answers. *Marik-like grin*

MD: This could get ugly. Wanna stop 'em, SG? Or shall we watch?

Mavelus:

CYD: *growls* My friend. Not yours.

MD: A little possessive there, yami?

CYD: *blush* NO!!

Lady Silver Dragon I:
MD: Yesh, write chibi, draw chibi, read chibi. A bit sad. I use full figures and such for my manga though.

Autumn Ann Star:

MD: Nice name.

CYD: *plays with blades* Ooh, sharp. Good.

MD: *plays with staff* Oh. Darkness, fire, yay.

Ryou: It's hard to tell who's the yami sometimes.

DarkFlame136:

MD: Yesh, Seito and Yami really are cousins. Strange but true!

Plushies to whoever knows the meaning of Ryou's new nickname! And yes, I like Shadi/Isis! You have to admit, they are a lot alike.

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Family Problems

After the disastrous incident at the first house, Malik came to a conclusion: stores. Stores had candy, right? Now, consider that sentence. Then consider that it was Malik who thought of it.

Malik walked out of the store somewhat disappointed, several bags of candy under his arms and Marik tagging along behind him. "That place is pathetic! A cute chibi, disable a few alarms, they might as well have a sign that says 'please, steal from us!'"

"You're not supposed to steal from them!" Yugi said indignantly.

"You're not?"

"You have problems Malik."

-----------------------------

Ryou chewed his finger, turning restlessly in his chair. He had a problem. And no, it wasn't that his yami was four years old. No, our favorite bishounen was worried because his father had called a few weeks ago.

Why did he have to call NOW?! I definitely don't need this. What was he supposed to say anyway? His father had been gone for so long. Always away, never bothering to visit, or even call every now and then. It was like that since his mother and Amane had died. His father had shut himself off from the world, forgetting about his living son while he mourned for his wife and daughter. Ryou was sure he didn't even know about Bakura. He could just imagine how explaining that would go:

Hi dad! Guess what! Remember that ring you gave me for my tenth birthday? Well, it turns out that it actually contained the spirit of an ancient tomb robber who I'm the reincarnation of! And, through of a series of events involving magic spells, I've fallen in love with him! Yeah, I thought I was straight too.

No, that would never work. That would probably just give his old man a heart attack. Ryou sighed, disheartened. The tiny pat-pat of feet jerked Ryou from his depressing thoughts. Even now, Bakura had pretty much mastered the art of stealth, moving gracefully and silently through the house.

"What is it Kura?" He asked dully.

"What's wrong Ryou-chan?" He asked, noting Ryou's dulled eyes and tone.

"Not much Kura, just a little family problem."

"Oh. Hey Ryou?"

"Hm?"

"Can I call you koi?"

Ryou fought a loosing battle against the blush spreading rapidly across his cheeks.

"Kura," he said hesitantly, "do you know what that means?"

Bakura shook his head vigorously. "Nope. But it sounds right."

Okay. So he didn't know what it meant. "Well, I, guess so."

The conversation was interrupted by a steady bang, bang, bang in the next room.

Ryou looked over at Bakura. "What do you say we check it out?" Nothing like an adorable chibi to cure a bad mood.

Bakura nodded agreeably. "Okay koi."

The source of the banging was, as Ryou had suspected, Malik. This always seemed to happen when things went wrong. He'd left a large dent in the wall doing it after the Battle City fiasco.

"So, what's wrong?"

"My *whack* life *whack* is *whack* officially *whack whack* over."

"Explanation, please."

"Shadi *whack* proposed *whack* to Isis. *whack whack whack* They're *whack* coming back *whack whack* for Christmas. *whack* (A?N: Once again, don't know if it's celebrated in Japan. Just work with me here.)

"Well, that's not so bad, is it? I thought your sister liked him."

"Sure, she couldn't be happier. This, however, poses danger to my sanity and survival."

"Come on, you don't think all of that would be a factor now, do you?"

"Are we talking about the same Shadi?"

All this was said with Malik continuously banging his head against the wall, leaving an ever growing dent to rival even Battle City's. Malik did have a point. Shadi was the one who had set said Battle City incident, first giving Malik the M. Rod and then appearing and telling Malik that Yami was to blame after Marik killed Malik's father. It was always a good idea not to bring that up with Marik, however. Things tended to get very ugly, very fast.

"Not to mention now I'll be related to the psycho!" Malik continued.

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad."

"Hey, Ishitar, you're going to kill what few brain cells you have if you keep that up!" This was Seto's own unique way of showing concern.

Yugi giggled. "Kind of makes you glad to have a normal family, huh, Yami." Yami looked questioningly up at him, giving up on playing with to him was just a very shiny, but very small pyramid hanging around his neck. "Well," Yugi continued, "as normal as things can be with you around."

Yami frowned slightly.

"Aw, don't cry Yami. I wouldn't trade you for any sort of normal family." Yugi hugged his smaller counterpart and went back to watching the melodrama playing away across the room.

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MD: *bows low and repeatedly* I'm soorrrrrrrrryyyyy! Here! Take my apology! Hands out Christmas YuGiOh plushies* Look on the bright side! This means Christmas fluff! ^______^

Malik: That girl has a fluff obsession.

MD: Yes, yes I do. Anyway, one more thing. I might put up a little collection of Ryou n' Bakura songfics soon. I'd appreciate it immensely if you'd check it out.

Please please please review!