Pachelbel: Well…here's Chapter Seven! *Looks at Borath* You think they're still enjoying it? Maybe they want some action! Hehe… fight scene ahead for people who love violence! (Like me…!) Let's see…Ooh, you guys will love that other part! Oh! Cliff hanger-ish ending! Do we have YAMI YUGI fans??? *Continues hyping up Chapter Seven, due to extended amounts of time around Uncle Blake who is a salesman*
Borath: (Looks at Pachelbel dubiously) Yeah kids; I'm scared too, although hype is always good. From the looks of it this ficlet it still remaining pretty much enjoyed. The lovely reviewers haven't been addressed properly yet so I have taken it upon myself to do the admin. What can I say? I was bored and there were so freakin' many!!
Okay, reviewers:
Goddess of Anime wins the award for strangest as well as longest review. Um, this is a 'semi-sequel' because here are so many sequels flying around now to 'Game Queen' that neither of us wanted 'Spawn' to be the official sequel (and thus the 'sequel'). I'm planning to do that one myself some time in the future. This is supposed to be a bit random and insane because it's *us* writing. This is our first little diddy together and we're just out for fun. Spelling and grammar mistakes? Didn't I tell anyone who pointed those out where to go in every chapter of 'Game Queen'? Yeah, same thing applies to this one. It may not be perfect but it's readable so don't anyone else start quibbling. To error is human, blah blah blah. Anything you didn't catch will either be explained in the next few chapters or you simply misinterpreted.
Moving on.
General High Thanks go to: Tine and Cheeko (for reviewing at all apparently), Lfangor (for all the effort she put into even getting to the fic), Charcoal Cat (for both praise and honest criticism), Blue September (for showing merry excitement), Logo (for encouraging further pain and insanity. Praise too ^^) and Christina (for simple praise. Gotta love that).
Phew. Not doing that again for a while. So yeah, read on and we hope you enjoy! Mucho fluff on the way. ;p
*~*~*
Ryou sprinkled grated Parmesan cheese into the saucepan simmering on the stove. He heard Bakura flipping through channels in the next room, swearing vehemently about the number and length of ads on television 'nowadays'.
Ryou looked back at the list of minerals and vitamins pregnant women were supposed to take. Iron, calcium, folic acid, vitamin C. Knowing that Bakura would not take all these things willingly, Yami had phoned him the list and wished him luck with it. The hikari had a feeling that if Bakura found out that he was filling him with these things without him knowing, he would need all the luck he could get. As it was his yami had gotten more than a little temperamental over the last two days since visiting Yami. It seemed that resigning himself to his fate had made every ache and pain running through his body a thousand times worse.
Sighing as he thought this over, Ryou grabbed a chair and pushed it under the medicine cabinet on the opposite side of the kitchen. He found that Twinkie and Saltine boxes were crammed tightly onto the lowest shelf, for easy reach presumably. "Yami!" Ryou cried, exasperated, and more than a little nervous that he would shortly have a cardboard avalanche on his hands.
He carefully reached up to the top shelf, where dozens of little vitamin bottles had been tucked away from sight. He chose the supplements that Bakura needed for the day and climbed down, gently shutting the cabinet after he'd landed.
After crushing the capsules under the flat edge of a butter knife, he put the powders into the different pots holding Bakura's soon-to-be meal. He then checked on Bakura's steak, which was raw but defrosted, just the way the yami liked it. This was one of those few moments where he wished that Bakura were more like Malik, who had sworn off meat of any description.
Satisfied, Ryou mixed the ingredients on the stovetop together and sampled. It was delicious, tangy, warm, and just right to compliment Bakura's blood-hungry appetite. If the powders had altered the flavor at all, then it was for the better. He took the red meat and poured the sauce over it.
"Lunch is ready," he said, carrying the plate out to Bakura, who was lazily stretched out on the sofa. He was balancing a water bottle on his fairly rounded stomach.
Ryou stepped to the corner of the other's vision. "I…made your favorite," he spoke softly, placing it down onto the low table. Looking to him when he got no response, he smiled when he saw that his yami was sound asleep. The fact that the bottle was still upright on him was something of an achievement then; Bakura tended to sleep like a windmill, unless he was exhausted that was then he slept like the dead.
After a moment's deliberation, Ryou decided that sleep was more important than food at this exact moment and picked up the plate to put it in he fridge for later. As an afterthought, he took the bottle off of Bakura's stomach and screwed the lid onto it before replacing it. No sense in him getting wet when he woke up later.
*~*~*
Pain was the first thing that registered, an ache that ran up and down the length of his spine congregating at the base and spreading up around his neck. Opening his eyes, Bakura groaned in agitated dismay when he realized that he couldn't actually move. He'd been in the same position for far too long, something that he certainly had not planned.
Bloody hikari.
"Damnit, Ryou!" he shouted after trying again to at least sit up, a futile effort. At least the baby was happy. His long period of stillness had sent it into a quiet, drifting state with obvious contentment.
Ryou all but sprinted into the room at the call, standing in front of Bakura, mildly surprised that he was still there. It had been three hours since he last checked on him and he'd assumed that his yami had gotten up some time ago. Apparently not.
"Why didn't you wake me?" Bakura bit out with a glare, squirming slightly as he tried to get the most painful vertebrae into a better position. It took a bit of effort before it no longer felt like it was on fire and merely a smoldering ache.
"You looked tired. I-I didn't want to disturb you," Ryou replied trying to plead his case.
The baby had come out of La-La land now, apparently having picked up on Ryou yet again. This was proving to be a very long day and it was only just noon. No, it was noon the last time he looked before he nodded off, so… By Ra he'd become one of those people he hated; he'd slept for most of the damn day!
Not feeling up to an argument, Bakura mentally logged away this as an excuse to do something wretched to his 'Helpful Hikari' later. Shaking his head, he unfolded his arms from across his chest to give off a slightly less threatening visage. Not that he was exactly threatening at the moment, but he was happy in his denial so screw appearances.
"Whatever, just forget it. My back's seized up now, thank you very much, and I don't want to be lying here next week." Bakura left the rest out, not willing to admit that he needed help.
Knowing what he was being asked to do, Ryou reached out to take off the bottle that was, by some miracle, still balancing on Bakura's stomach. He froze when Bakura jerked suddenly and snatched out to grab his wrist.
"What is it?" he asked with concern, watching patiently when he saw that Bakura wasn't paying attention to him. In fact he seemed to be listening to something, staring at his stomach intently.
The neck of the bottle still in Ryou's fist, Bakura waved his Hikari's hand over his abdomen before making a pitiful sound and all but shoving him away. "That's settled; I'm throwing you out of the house when it starts kicking. I'd rather not have it beating the Hell out of my innards every time you breathe."
That had Ryou lost. "What?"
Bakura glared up at him as if it were all his fault. "It's bigger now and not only does it get all happy when you're near, but it starts jumping around when you get too close."
Putting the bottle down, Ryou took hold of Bakura's forearm and started to pull him into a sitting position. "That's impossible. I doubt it *can* move, let alone you being able to feel it. You might just be imagining it."
Twisting to get his legs over the edge of the sofa, Bakura put a hand to his back and tried to work out the ache with his fingers. "Perhaps, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to feel it when it *really* starts moving." Knowing that it was being talked about, the baby decided that it had been too long since its father had eaten and started prodding for food. Bakura only saw it as a distraction that he could indulge.
Ryou backed away as he finally stood, hissing slightly with a grimace as he did so and starting to make his way into the kitchen. He watched him retreat sympathetically. "Maybe you should lie down for a while, on something more comfortable I mean," the hikari offered quietly.
Bakura turned to face him, looking genuinely surprised, his weight resting through his hand on the doorway, consequently taking some of the pressure off of his spine. "You know, you'll never cease to amaze me with your stupidity."
Not bothering to wait for a reply, he stepped into the kitchen to get a glass of water before he started foraging for something to eat. Whatever was readily available in the fridge sounded good enough. The smell from he pot of soup was simmering on the stove caught his attention before he could open the door, obviously Ryou's intended supper. Well, it was in the house and therefore fair game. The smell was faint enough that he hadn't noticed it from the living room, but tantalizing enough that for once he and the baby agreed that this would be a good thing to eat.
He grabbed a bowl from the cupboard, and began filling it with the thick red--ugh, it was *tomato*. Bakura almost dumped the contents of the bowl into the sink, but a trickle of curiosity came through into his mind.
"You won't like it," he grumbled, hoping that he was right as he seriously did not want to even taste this. The baby wasn't to be deterred, though. Having picked up on something of interest, it's feelings become more adamant to the point where Bakura *had* to give in. The ache in his back took away his will to fight with Ryou, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe that he had no chance against his own child.
Returning to the cupboard, he grabbed a handful of Saltines and crushed them into the goop to make the contents of the bowl more palatable. "With any luck you'll hate this as much as I do." First Twinkies and now tomato soup. Ra, he was getting too soft for his own good.
Bakura stopped moving when he felt hands firmly but gently rubbing his sore back. The pain slowly melted away into the soothing, rhythmic circles…. He turned, determined to see who this was before he started purring.
Malik smiled lazily at him. "Who are you talking to?"
Again the odd sensations of distrust and longing for the other 'father' filtered to him from the child. Swallowing hard against the anxious feeling *he* was suddenly struck with, Bakura answered, "No one."
Malik pulled him away from the stove and pushed him against the fridge, arms still looped in a loose embrace around Bakura's waist as he stepped up against him. "Good news! I did it!"
Sincerely hoping it wasn't what he thought it was, Bakura asked, "You skinned a dog?"
Malik's nose wrinkled. "No."
"Blew up the ducks?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Malik lightly smacked Bakura's forehead, something the Tomb robber did not particularly like. "I found a spell to reverse your idiotic mistake. We're saved! We can screw again!" He glanced at Bakura's stomach. "And you can stop looking like a flunky from plumber's school."
"I'm *not* going to 'screw' with you after that remark," Bakura snapped, wrenching away from the Egyptian.
Malik shrugged. "I don't really want to bed you while you're so…flabby, anyway. It'd probably kill you."
Bakura's glare turned deadly. "Get out."
Ignoring the order, Malik held up a bottle of liquid, blue of course. "Less talk, more spell-casting. Here's the potion; I did the rest already, so drink up and breathe the free air!"
A general panic burned its way through Bakura's mind, and he hated to think that it might not be the baby's alone. He turned his face away from the offered liquid just in case Malik lost his already meager patience and tried forcing it down his throat, bottle and all. "No. I mean it. Get out."
Malik's lavender eyes narrowed with suspicion. "What do you mean? Drink it!" He grabbed Bakura as the paler spirit tried to step away from him, turned him around sharply and pinning him to the fridge with more force. "Are you trying to *keep* him?"
Bakura's eyes widened at that, easily picking up on Malik's utter disbelief of the statement. He had never thought of the child in terms of 'him' or 'her'. It had been easier when he'd tried to rid himself of the pregnancy to call the baby 'it', or something a little more colourful when the mood took him. Malik's callousness shouldn't have been a shock, but because it was directed towards something inside of Bakura that the two of them had unwittingly created, it was deeply unsettling.
Bakura's fist flew backwards across Malik's jaw and the blond was knocked away from the spirit, his hold on him broken. Yami Malik was out in an instant, and he naturally went straight for the knife drawer. He seemed to have an internal magnet that directed him to blades; he had never before seen where they were kept in this house.
The first movement of the blade neatly sliced open Bakura's shoulder. He ducked away from the next strike, grateful that he was still at least fast enough to protect himself. He landed a hard blow to Yami Malik's ribs, then kicked the heel of his foot into the back of the other yami's knee, sending him down.
Halfway through the fall, Yami Malik lashed out sideways and narrowly missed burying the knife into Bakura's thigh. Bakura took the opportunity whilst Yami Malik's arm was outstretched to get the weapon. He grabbed his opponent's wrist, securely closing his fingers in a tight grip to ensure that the knife wouldn't be dropped until he wanted it to be.
Yami Malik only tightened his fist around the handle. With his free hand, he grabbed the loose cloth at the inside of Bakura's thigh and gave it a sharp pull, hauling him backwards and sending him rolling head first into the wall. However, this pulled Yami Malik with him, and Bakura's shoulder landed hard on their clasped hands, causing both to lose their grip.
Ryou rushed in having heard the commotion, freezing at the sight before him with no idea as to what to do. Staring in horror, he settled for shouting, "Yami! Malik, don't! He's pregnant!"
Not even glancing at the teen, Yami Malik scrambled for the knife. Bakura grabbed it first with his top hand, and forced it deep into the Egyptian's shoulder. Well, as deep as he could, given his awkward position.
"Something that can be easily fixed, I assure you," Yami Malik growled at Ryou as he twisted his body sharply, forcing Bakura to release the blade but opening the wound even more in the process. Pulling it out, he backhanded the spirit beneath him to daze him before raising the knife, fully intending to puncture Bakura's stomach.
He would have done it too, had a boiling hot saucepan not smashed into his head from behind. Having about enough time to register the colours that flashed in his vision, and the fact that the pot itself had been thrown at him by a pull of magic suspiciously originating from Bakura's stomach, he blacked out, returning to the Rod and leaving Malik slumped unconscious on the floor over Bakura's chest.
Bakura shoved the dead weight off of him to get a breath into his body, closing his eyes to make sure that the scuffle hadn't done any damage to the baby. The amount of relief he felt when he found it unharmed caught him off guard, putting a hand over his stomach as he tried to sooth away the frantic barrage that was slamming into his mind. He felt another hand move over his and he snapped open his eyes in response.
Seeing Ryou watching his anxiously, he muttered a quite 'thanks' before using the wall behind him to get up, although he did not entirely refuse the help his hikari was offering him. Straightening, he almost laughed to feel that the brief fight had actually gotten rid of some of the kinks in his spine, although the wound in his shoulder was throbbing terribly. Sending some of the Ring's energy to numb the wound and close it, he looked down at the body sprawled on the floor.
The phone started ringing before he could finish contemplating what *exactly* to do with Malik. Glancing at Ryou as he walked off to answer it, Bakura gave his instructions. He knew he couldn't exactly lift the teen with his shoulder like this so it was going to have to be Ryou handling all the fun. "Dump that outside with the trash and shove that damn bottle up his nose or something."
Leaving Ryou to it, Bakura picked up the phone and held it between his shoulder and ear as he used his hands to pick out the shredded cloth from the wound so that it didn't heal with the material inside of it. "What?"
"Bakura? I need a favor." It was undoubtedly Yami's voice and Bakura could only groan in exasperation. Yami had said that he would phone to arrange a 'meeting' for them to continue what they had started before. Now was just a *dandy* time for it too.
"Well, you can go somewhere else for it because I've got my own problems, namely Malik trying to kill junior here."
"What? Are you alright?"
"Fine, Ryou's dumping him outside now. What did you want again?"
He could practically hear the Game King's headache in his words. "I need someone to look after Kiara and Kiseki tomorrow. I thought it would be good for you considering."
"You are *not* leaving me alone with them. No way."
"You won't be alone, I'll be there. I just can't get up at the moment."
Bakura brought a bloodied hand to his face at that, groaning a little. "Look Pharaoh, I *never* wanted to know about your escapades with Kaiba before and I don't want to now."
There was a growl of irritation down the line. "No, you stupid Tomb Raider. Kiara threw a tantrum this morning and sent part of the Dueling Arena into my legs. Seto is flying to a country I can't pronounce the name of tonight, and both Mokuba and Yugi are sick. I wouldn't trust Joey when she's wielding Shadow Magic like this because she doesn't like him anyway. You're the only one who can handle her at the moment."
Bakura frowned a little, although he was quite enjoying being Yami's 'only hope' right now. "Why don't you just fix yourself with the Puzzle."
"I already said that Yugi and Mokuba were sick. What do you think it's doing right now? Look, just come over tomorrow. You don't even have to consider it a favour; just think of it as practice for a few months' time."
Weighing it up in his mind, Bakura decided that he'd rather not have to put up with Malik trying to pull another stunt like he did just now tomorrow, particularly now that the Egyptian was going to be even more pissed as they had pretty much broken up now. It *would* be a good bit of practice that he would sorely needed, and it would put Yami in his debt which was always good.
"Fine. I'll be there at Eight."
*~*~*
Borath: Ah, the joys of baby-sitting. Someone may die next chapter. Any bets? Review please and bring us joy. ^^