Little Moments

In Which There Is Much Discussion And Revelations Of A More Personal Nature

I borrowed Bakura's choice in music from Chapter 13 of Borath's 'Experiment'. If you like the Yami/Bakura pairing at all, I urge you to read it. Now. Immediately. Er…after you read this, anyway. :-)

Japanese

1,000 Yen is roughly equal to 10 American dollars. 100,000 Yen is about a thousand dollars
Aibou – Partner
Ano – Um…
Chichi – Father (Your Own)
Chisaii Houko – Little Treasure
Ohayo – Good Morning

Ding-Dong!

Blinking rapidly, it took Ryou a moment to realize that it was his doorbell that had made that dinging sound. It hadn't been used in so long that he'd almost forgotten what it sounded like.

Tucking his bookmark into his dog-eared copy of 'The Three Musketeers', he padded quickly out of the den, anxious to find out who was at the door. He and Bakura almost never got visitors; especially unexpected ones. Reaching the front hall, he pulled open the door just in time to see a hand reach out to press the doorbell again. When the hand stopped in mid-reach, his eyes traced down the length of arm to find that the appendage was attached to Yugi. Behind his shorter friend, he could see Yami, Joey, Tristan, Téa, and Duke as well.

"Ano… Ohayo?" Ryou said, a question in his voice. He was extremely puzzled; it had been almost two months since they'd all been together last; in the park to perform the ritual to give all the yamis their own bodies, as a matter of fact. What were they all doing here?

"Good morning, Ryou," Yugi said pleasantly. "We just wanted to come over and visit for a little bit."

And find out more about your surprisingly non-feminine yet female yami, Ryou finished in his head, surprisingly bitter. Yes, these people were his friends, but he had never been as close to them as they were to each other, as evidenced by their nonexistence in his life for the past six and a half weeks. But he supposed he wasn't being very charitable; they were probably all getting used to Yami having his own body, and helping him adjust to the modern world, and while they might have wanted to ask him and Bakura along on whatever outings they had planned, they couldn't be sure whether it would be welcome, now could they? After all, Bakura would never win the title of Miss Congeniality.

Though despite the fact that she looked nothing like Sandra Bullock, she did have a lot of her character's personality traits, not the least of which was the ability to eat five pieces of pizza and not gain an ounce. And let's not forget the dislike of any clothing that could be termed in the least bit 'feminine'…

But he was woolgathering again, and he should let the six of them in before they started to worry that Bakura had taken up her former habit of possessing his body.

"Well, I'm glad you did; it's been rather quiet around here now that school is out," Ryou said mostly honestly. "Come in; can I get you anything to drink? I bought some lemonade mix on my last trip to the store…"

They all smiled and nodded, so ten minutes later they were all settled in the den, drinking tall glasses of ice-cold lemonade.

"So…" Joey started off. "Ano…where is Bakura?" He looked around searchingly, as if perhaps the former tomb-raider was hiding behind a convenient lamp or chair.

"On the roof," Ryou answered, and a thump from the vicinity of the ceiling punctuated his statement, causing everyone to look upward briefly.

"The roof?" Duke asked blankly, green eyes blinking in confusion.

Ryou sighed and nodded. "That last big storm we had knocked a couple dozen shingles off. What with all the rain we've been getting, I'm worried that it's weakening the underlying structure and at some point in the near future I'm going to wake up in a bed full of water with a giant force-of-nature-made skylight overhead. I could have hired professionals to fix it, but it would have cost in excess of two hundred thousand yen, whereas 'Kura can do it herself for just the cost of the tiles."

"You mean to tell me that Bakura is on your roof, at this moment, nailing in roofing tiles?" Yami asked incredulously, jumping slightly as he heard another thump.

Ryou just blinked at the former spirit slowly. "That's what I said, wasn't it?" he asked, pointedly jerking his head in the direction of the sounds emanating from outside.

"Why would she do that?" Tristan asked.

"Why not?" Ryou asked, eyes squinching up in a frown. "When she found out I was planning to do it, she offered to instead. I'm glad, really; her sense of balance is much better than mine. I would have tried, and it would have been a valiant effort, but before I got any of the tiles nailed down, I probably would have slipped off the edge of the roof and broken my neck." He laughed ruefully into his glass.

Joey and Yugi tried, but couldn't hold back their chuckles. Duke quirked an eyebrow to hide his mirth, Tristan just had a completely contrived bland look of minor concern on his face, and Yami was looking upward with a worried expression.

"How long has she been up there?" Téa asked.

Turning slightly to check the large grandfather clock over in the far corner, Ryou said, "About two hours. She said it probably wouldn't take longer than three, so she should be down soon."

Frowning worriedly, Téa asked, "It's almost lunchtime; shouldn't she take a break?"

Ryou just shrugged, unconcerned. "She knows her limits; she'll be down when she's done."

"It is awfully hot outside," Yugi put in. "I wouldn't want her to get dehydrated. Maybe you should bring her some lemonade."

Ryou seemed to actually consider this idea. "Well, I would, but for three things. One, she's got her headphones on, and probably won't hear me if I call up to her; so in order to bring her some lemonade I'd have to climb up onto the roof, and I've already mentioned the possibly of my doing that and remaining alive, right? Two, she took a thermos of ice water up there with her, so I don't think she's in danger of heatstroke; remember, she is from Egypt."

"And three?" Yami asked, removing his gaze from the ceiling, having finally decided to give up on practicing his X-Ray vision.

"Like I said before, she'll probably be done soon, anyway, so what's the point? When she comes in, I'll get her a glass," Ryou stated. "But she probably won't want it."

"Why not?" Tristan frowned. "I mean, if I'd been up on the roof fixing shingles for several hours, even with a thermos of water, I'd still be parched when I was done."

"She retains water like a camel," Ryou said. "I'll be surprised if she actually even drank half of the water in that thermos."

At that moment a final loud, 'Thump!' was heard, and a minute later the sound of something landing on the front lawn, followed by the creaking of a tree limb, and another, softer, thump on the ground.

"What was that?" Joey asked.

Ryou pursed his lips. "If I had to guess…the first thump was the last nail going in; the second was Bakura's tool belt with the hammer, the nails, the spare shingles, and the water thermos hitting the ground; and then she probably jumped onto the cherry tree in the backyard, climbed down it to the bottom branch and then jumped off. The sound of her landing would have been the final thump." Taking another sip of his lemonade, he said mildly, "But that's just conjecture on my part, of course."

Everyone stared at him for a moment, taken aback by his calmness. Their gawking was interrupted by the sound of the backdoor bursting open and then slamming shut again. A resonant hum echoed off the walls into their ears and moments later resolved into the sound of someone singing.

That someone, to everyone but Ryou's surprise, was Bakura. The thief swayed down the hall, her hips rocking back and forth to the music as she sang the words under her breath: "One look could kill. My pain, your thrill…"

She had a surprisingly melodic voice, despite, or maybe because of her choice in material.

She was wearing a dark purple leotard under a pair of ragged jeans with holes in the knees. The aforementioned toolbelt was slung low across her hips, and did, indeed, contain all of the items Ryou had listed. Combat boots on her feet, a pair of headphones on her ears, and the Millennium Ring hanging from her neck completed her ensemble.

Joey and Tristan, of course, noticed the lack of a bra right away. The Ring hung right between her breasts, emphasizing their lack of restraining devices.

Her eyes were closed as she sang under her breath, but right before she reached the doorway, she halted. Eyes snapping open, she gave them a disbelieving look before tugging the headphones down around her neck and pressing a button on the side of the CD player clipped to her waist. The discordant hum of music emitting from the earpieces stopped. "Well…if it isn't the brat pack," she snarked. She turned a dark glare on the two oglers, who immediately turned away to stare off into thin air, whistling innocently.

Yami huffed, but said nothing, for which everyone – except Bakura, most likely – was grateful.

Wiping one hand across her sweat-beaded forehead and drying it on her dusty, dirt-smeared jeans, Bakura asked, "What are you doing here, anyway?" There was nothing more than idle curiosity in her tone, not even any hostility.

Yugi frowned. "Ryou is our friend; why wouldn't we come visit?" he asked, honestly confused.

Laughing, Bakura said, "Oh, he is, is he? School has been out for almost two months. Why, pray tell, is this the first time you managed to make your way over here since we had our little spell casting jaunt in the park?"

Everyone except Ryou and Yami shifted uncomfortably.

"Ano, well…" Yugi started, before trailing off. He really didn't know what to say that was, well, tactful.

"We're all afraid of you, to varying degrees," Tristan said candidly. "Hell, my sister scares me when she's PMS-ing, and she's never tried to take over the world. We were all edging on the side of caution what with you being an unknown quantity, and all."

Duke coughed, trying to hide his laughter.

Bakura scowled. "Wimps," she pronounced. "My hikari has more spine than you lot. Hells, so does a worm, and they're invertebrates." Whirling on one booted heel, she stalked out of the room without another word.

Ryou snorted and shook his head.

Téa groaned and slouched back into the chair she was sitting in, hands coming up to cover her face. "She has a point, you guys," she said reluctantly, voice muffled by her hands.

"Yeah, she does," Tristan agreed.

Mentally sighing at the repentant looks on his friends' – and yes, they were his friends, though maybe not as close as he might have liked – faces, Ryou said, "I understand why you didn't. In some ways, the old Bakura was scarier than the old Marik."

"Which brings to mind another point – we haven't talked to Malik since that day, either," Yugi pointed out, chagrined. "I mean, he was the one who found the spell, and aside from a, 'Yes, we want to use it,' I'm not even sure Yami or I said thank you."

"You did," Ryou told him. "I believe your exact words were: 'Yes, we want to use it; thank you so much for finding this spell.' And neither he nor Marik seem miffed that you haven't shown up lately, so I think you're off the hook there."

"Wait, you've seen Malik and Marik?" Duke asked.

Ryou blinked at him. "Of course I have. They're the only two people Bakura's managed to make friends with…well, the first two, anyway. She plays poker with them on Tuesdays."

"Ah, so you have Tuesday nights free from her?" Yami asked.

Shaking his head, Ryou said, "No; I should have said we play poker with them on Tuesdays. We go over to the Ishtars' apartment, Malik cooks dinner – always vegetarian, which Bakura complains about – and she, Marik and Malik play poker while Rishid and I – and occasionally Isis if she's free – talk."

"You and Rishid?" Téa said blankly. "What do you two talk about?"

"Egypt, what else?" Ryou said practically. "I mean, Bakura might have learned English and Japanese from our mind-link, but my hieratic Egyptian is still spotty because she wasn't completely literate. And Rishid knows lots of stories about Yami's reign; granted, most of them are folktales which probably don't have much substance in reality, but it's still interesting."

The others exchanged slightly disbelieving glances. None of them ever thought Ryou would end up friends with the Ishtars, though Bakura was practically a given.

"So, ah, what exactly was dat song Bakura was singin'?" Joey asked, valiantly trying to change the subject to something less…odd.

Ryou thought for a moment, then said, "I believe that was 'Poison' by Alice Cooper."

"Fitting," the blond pronounced.

"It's actually a love song," Ryou told him, slightly irked.

"Does she know that?" Tristan asked, looking back and forth from Ryou to the door through which Bakura had left.

Ryou just gave him an enigmatic smile.

"So, does she sing in the shower, too?" Tristan continued, bemusedly running a hand through his hair.

"Hums, actually; why, you need more information for your masturbation fantasy fodder?" Ryou asked sweetly.

Joey choked, and his face went beet red, pretty much confirming his diagnosis.

"I'd thank you to keep your puerile, perverted thoughts off my girlfriend," Ryou said firmly.

Joey gave a strangled sound of what was possibly agreement, but could also have been him choking on his esophagus. Ryou chose to take it as the former, and subsided back in his chair.

"So…girlfriend?" Duke asked.

Ryou nodded hesitantly.

"How did that happen?" the dice duelist asked curiously. "Not that I know everything that's been going on, but I was under the impression you didn't like each other very much."

Ryou shot him an annoyed look. "Things change," he said simply.

Hoping to cool down the hostilities in the room, Yugi offered, "Yami likes the shower, too. A lot. I swear he can spend an hour in there."

Yami glared at him darkly. "Aibou, if you had lived in a time without indoor plumbing, you would never take the opportunity of being able to bathe daily for granted."

"Mm-hm," Ryou agreed.

Téa just sighed inaudibly. "Boys," she mumbled, too low for any of them to hear.

"So, ano…what have you and Bakura been up to the past few weeks?" Yugi asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I mean, that invertebrate comment of hers…and the music and roofing shingles…seems like she's learned an awful lot in a short time."

Ryou shrugged uncomfortably. "Not really. She knows pretty much what I know; she learned it through our bond when we were still sharing the same body, and consequently the same brain. Like you and Yami, I would suppose."

Comprehension dawned on Yugi's face, and Yami just nodded in agreement with Ryou's statement.

"And didn't we do vertebrates and invertebrates last year in biology?" Tristan added.

"Yeah," Ryou confirmed. "But, to answer your question, Yugi, things have been pretty

quiet…comparatively, anyway."

"Well dat's…vague," Joey joked. "C'mon, Ryou, you gotta give us a little more dan dat. I mean…Bakura was almost…polite. For her, anyway."

"She isn't acting any different than she has since she got back," Ryou said, frowning bemusedly.

"She isn't?" Duke asked.

"No. Except for wanting to kill you guys and collect all the Millennium Items, she really isn't even acting much different from when she first got here," Ryou observed.

"You're kidding," Téa said.

"Nope."

"I never did get why she wanted all da Millennium Items in da first place," Joey complained. "I mean, I heard somptin' about all of 'em together givin' a person da key ta some dark power, but I asked Isis, and she said only da Pharaoh coulda used it."

"She probably just didn't want me to have the power, which was why she went after them," Yami tossed off.

Ryou looked at them, puzzled. "No, that's not it," he said.

"Then why?" Yugi asked.

Carefully setting down his glass of lemonade on a convenient coaster, Ryou gave them all a measuring look. "Well, now, you remember the story of Kuru Eruna, right?" he asked. Proceeding before any of them had a chance to respond, he asked Yami, in a conversational tone, "How does it feel to know that your Puzzle was created by burning the bodies of hundreds of innocent live people, and then boiling their blood in the gold?"

Yami blanched. So did Yugi and Tristan. Téa flinched and looked like she might faint, Duke's eyes went wide, and Joey just looked disgusted and faintly sick.

Ryou sighed. "Look, Bakura lost her whole family to make those items; she is, and was, the last remaining inhabitant of Thief's Town. To her mind, all the Millennium Items belong to her because she has a blood bond with them. And the fact that she ended up inside the Millennium Ring only cemented that thought in her mind."

"Wha…what does the Ring have to do with…this?" Yami asked, after shaking off his shock. He'd heard the story of Kuru Eruna, of course, but he'd never thought about what that would mean in such…blatant terms.

"One of the Ring's powers is the ability to locate other Millennium Items," Ryou reminded him. "It must have seemed like divine justice, for her to be trapped inside the one Item that would allow her to find the others."

The group contemplated that for a moment, before Yugi finally got up the nerve to ask, "Does she still want them?" He fingered the Puzzle around his neck, an exact duplicate of the one around Yami's neck. Each yami/hikari pair had ended up with doubles of their Items as part of the spell; they were Millennium Items in their own right, but both drew upon the same well of magic, so it wasn't like the power had been doubled, just that there were two means of using it.

"I don't think so," Ryou said, after mulling the question over for a moment. "The seven items together are the key to a dark power, and Isis was right about only the Pharaoh being able to use them for that purpose – but there is a second use for all seven Items."

Yami started. "There was? Is?" he corrected himself.

"All seven Items together would grant the bearer one wish," Ryou said simply. "When Bakura first woke up here, she forgot about the second power that the Items held. All she remembered was that her goal was to collect all of the Items; she didn't remember why. So she went after them because of the first power, since it was all she did remember."

"What wish would she have made, though?" Duke asked. "To be rich?"

Ryou slowly shook his head. "No. She wanted to wish that the Items had never been made."

Yami's intake of breath was loudly audible. "But that would have changed the course of history over the last five thousand years!" he exclaimed, appalled.

"Back when she started her quest it would only have changed the events of a decade," Ryou pointed out. "Temporal paradox would indicate that her wish wasn't possible, but then, temporal mechanics are science, while wishes are magic, so…" Giving Yami a beseeching look, he said, "She was hurting, and trying to fix everything that had gone wrong in her life the only way she knew how. I agree her methods weren't the best, but they were all she had. Can you really blame her for what she was trying to do?"

Yami let out a shuddering breath. "I…no, Ryou, I cannot," he said at length, conceding that he had been wrong; in this situation, at least.

They all fell silent, just trying to take in what they'd learned so unexpectedly. Téa, surprisingly, was the one to break the silence.

"So, Ryou," she started. "You never did tell us what you've been doing these past few weeks. Besides going over to the Ishtars' for dinner on Tuesdays, anyway."

"Nothing much. 'Kura and I spent the first week getting one of the spare rooms habitable again. Would you believe there was a raccoon living in the attic, and I didn't even know it?" he asked, nose wrinkling up.

"No way," Joey said, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.

"Yes way," Ryou retorted. "I couldn't figure out how to get it to leave and was about to call an exterminator. Luckily, Bakura knew how to set up a snare."

"A snare like you'd use when camping to catch dinner with?" Tristan qualified.

"You didn't…eat it, did you?" Duke asked worriedly, nose wrinkling at the thought. He was a borderline vegetarian on a good day, but to eat a wild raccoon? The thing was probably disease-ridden.

"No." Ryou rolled his eyes. "Bakura wanted to, but I pointed out that I didn't know how to either skin or cook a raccoon, so we let it go in Domino City Park. I think it took up residence in a large sycamore tree."

"So after you got rid of the rodent…" Yami prompted.

"Well, actually it took another week before we evicted it; in the meantime we went shopping," Ryou told them.

"Shopping?" Joey asked.

"Well, while I'm perfectly willing to share my clothes with Bakura, now that she's not sharing my body they don't really fit anymore," Ryou pointed out. "She's three inches taller and twenty pounds lighter than me, for starters. If it wasn't for Téa's help, I think the both of us would have gone crazy trying to figure out what size she is."

"Bakura…in a mall…shopping for clothes…" Yami said slowly, a wondering, slightly horrified look on his face.

Ryou nodded sagely. "Yes, one of the seven signs of the Apocalypse, or so I'm told," he stated matter-of-factly.

Joey and Tristan snorted, and even Yugi had a hard time holding back his giggles. Duke chuckled lowly and Téa just rolled her eyes, thankful she'd managed to help Ryou and Bakura without having to join them on their shopping expedition.

"Actually, I think Bakura hated clothes shopping more than I did," Ryou reflected. "Four hours in the mall…" Joey and Tristan's eyes went wide and they both faked dying. Duke shrugged as if four hours were nothing. Téa shook her head witheringly and Yugi laughed at their antics. "I didn't think my feet would ever be the same, but Bakura was starting to look downright twitchy after the third store. I swear, I feared for the clerks' lives."

"The clerks?" Yami asked worriedly.

"They kept coming up to us, asking us if we needed any help," Ryou said exasperatedly. "If we had, then I would have asked; as it was, they were a complete intrusion. In every store we went to, two or three of them would approach us, one after the other. By the time I sent the eighth one away, I thought for sure Bakura was going to send the next one to the Shadow Realm. Hell, I wanted to send the next one to the Shadow Realm. I never want to do that again." He ran a hand through his hair raggedly, as if remembering the chaos.

"I'm afraid you'll have to, at some point," Téa pointed out. "Clothes don't last forever, you know."

"Uh-uh. We're living the Internet Age; there isn't anything, including clothing, that you can't order online," Ryou corrected tiredly.

Ticking the points off on his fingers, Yugi said, "Okay, so you fixed up a spare room, went clothes shopping for the first and last time, and evicted a raccoon from your attic. What happened after that?"

"Malik and Marik showed up," Ryou recalled. "On the second Monday after we did the spell. Apparently Isis had gotten conned into hosting some sort of luncheon for the Museum patrons, and neither of them wanted to stick around."

"So this was the start of your Tuesday night dinners, then?" Yami asked.

Ryou looked thoughtful. "Well, I wasn't here when they first showed up, so I don't know exactly what happened. But they and Bakura talked; I don't know what about, but I'm pretty sure it had something to do with Marik saying something along the lines of men being better fighters than women."

"Why do you think that?" Téa asked, as if afraid of the answer.

"Because when I got back from the grocery store, I found them all in the living room, Malik nursing a sprained wrist, and Marik yelling for Bakura to let him go," Ryou returned dryly. "She had him pinned against the wall with one arm, and he couldn't move."

"One arm?" Duke asked, frowning. "But he should have been able to get out of that."

Ryou scratched the side of his nose, hiding a smile. "True, except Bakura's other arm was holding a knife to a…sensitive part of his anatomy. As long as he didn't move, he wasn't in danger of losing it."

Everyone else except Téa flinched and unconsciously covered their midsections.

"What makes you so sure dat Marik started it, though?" Joey finally asked.

"You remember what he said to her when we were all last together, right?" Ryou reminded him.

"Yeah, but dat don't necessarily mean…" Joey started.

"And then, of course, there was the fact that I came into the room in time to hear him finally give in and apologize for calling her a 'weak woman who couldn't fight if her life depended on it,'" Ryou quoted.

"He didn't," Tristan commented, laughter and shock vying for domination on his face.

"He did," Ryou replied dryly. "And once he apologized, she put the knife away and let him go. Marik's never done anything that stupid since. Well, to Bakura, anyway."

Remembering one of the minor details of Ryou's riveting story, Téa asked, "What happened to Malik's arm? You said he sprained his wrist?"

"Ah, yeah, Malik told me about that," Ryou said, trying and failing to repress soft sounds of mirth. "Apparently Marik insulting Bakura didn't come until after he bullied Malik into challenging her to an arm-wrestling match. Malik wasn't really into it and he only gave a half-hearted effort at best; he wasn't prepared for how strong Bakura is, and his wrist got twisted when she slammed it against the table. I ended up wrapping his wrist in an Ace bandage for him before they went back to their apartment, and he invited us over for dinner as a combined thank you and apology. And now we get together every week to break up the monotony."

"And they say nothing interesting ever happens in Domino City," Duke said dryly.

"Outside a' duels, or stuff involvin' ancient Egypt and dark spirits, anyway," Joey concluded.

"Well, Marik was a dark spirit, so I don't really think your qualifier works, Joey," Ryou chided him gently. "In any event, it's certainly a lot less quiet around here than it has been in…well, since chichi and I moved in."

"How so?" Yugi prodded.

After thinking for a moment, Ryou said, "Well, they get together on Thursday nights to play darts – the Egyptian way."

"How's that different from the regular way?" Tristan asked.

"There were no darts in ancient Egypt, so people used knives," Ryou explained. "Marik doesn't like it all that much; he has terrible aim. Malik is pretty good at close range, but as far as I know, Bakura is the reigning champ."

Visions of bloody, severed body parts dancing through her head, Téa shuddered. Eyes wide, she asked, "Isn't that dangerous?"

Ryou shrugged. "Not very. They play outside – they've set up a board on a tree in the backyard."

"What else do those three get up to?" Yami asked, almost afraid of the answer.

"Well…" Blowing his bangs out of his face with a heavy breath, Ryou said, "I wasn't there for most of this, so I'll tell you what 'Kura told me. But apparently, Marik wanted to learn how to drive a motorcycle, and somehow managed to talk Malik into teaching him. Bakura came along in case someone needed to call for an ambulance. Thankfully, one wasn't needed, but Malik refused to ever let Marik near his bike again, so that put an end to his lessons. Bakura managed to convince Malik that she could manage to drive the motorcycle without trying to run over birds–"

"Birds?" Duke broke in.

Ryou nodded tiredly. "Yes, birds. Malik was giving the lesson in Domino Square; you know, basically one big cobblestone parking lot with a few trees and statues?" When they all nodded, he continued, "And you know that statues attract pigeons, right?" Again waiting for their nods, he finished, "Well, according to Bakura, Marik thought it would be fun to try and see how many pigeons he could hit, and he was so focused on the birds that he almost ran into a statue of the Cat in the Hat."

"I take it they were practicing near the Dr. Seuss exhibit?" Tristan asked.

"You got it, Tristan," Ryou confirmed. "Anyway, so Malik gave in, and 'Kura refrained from making kamikaze raids on poultry, and now they meet every Thursday and Sunday afternoon in Domino Square so Malik can teach her how to drive a motorcycle." He looked slightly bemused. "It's a useful skill, I suppose, if one overlooks the fact that other than you and Kaiba, Malik is the only person we know who even owns a motorcycle, so she won't get much chance to use those skills. My father leaves his car in the garage when he's off on digs, but I won't be able to get my license for a while yet, and driving a car is just a little bit different from driving a motorcycle."

"Well, it's keeping her busy and out of trouble," Yami proclaimed. "That's the important thing."

"Well, no," Ryou disagreed. "I think the important thing is that she's enjoying it."

Before another fight could start, Yugi asked, "So what about you? You've told us how Bakura's keeping busy, but what have you been doing, Ryou?"

"Reading, mostly." Ryou gestured to the paperback he'd left on the side table. "Which is one hobby that Bakura and I share, apparently."

"Really?" Téa asked.

"Yes; despite all evidence, magic and dark spirits to the contrary, things are normally very quiet in Domino City," Ryou said. "Bakura only spends a small portion of her time with Malik and Marik, and she doesn't like television. I suggested she read my old school textbooks so she could learn more about the modern world; she finished them in less than three days. Then she started in on chichi's college textbooks, and the few novels we have lying around, but those didn't last much longer."

"A fast reader, then?" Yugi asked.

Ryou nodded in agreement. "She practically devours the words. She went through everything in our library that she deemed 'interesting' in less than three weeks. She got so bored she actually read my father's copy of War and Peace," he said. Turning reflective, he added, "I don't think he's ever read it, though."

"You're kidding," Joey said, nose wrinkling at the thought of that much reading.

"No," Ryou laughed. "She said it was mildly interesting, but as dry as the dust in a hundred-year abandoned tomb. When she was starting to eye the encyclopedias, I dragged her down to Domino Library and got her a library card. She goes there two or three times a week."

"Two or three times a week?" Yugi echoed.

Ryou shrugged. "There's a maximum allotment of how many books you're allowed to check out; six books per visit. She would steal extras sometimes, but she said that got old after the first few times she did it. It wasn't a challenge." He conveniently left out the part about the first book he'd made her check out being one of those he'd talked to Téa about. He'd never seen Bakura blush before, but it had been gratifying to see she could turn as red as he did, despite her tanned skin. Thankfully, she did read it – and so did he, actually, to brush up on a few things – though ever since, she'd seemed on tenterhooks around him when it came to anything having to do with their relationship's physical aspect.

"Still up to her thieving ways, I see," Yami said disapprovingly.

Ryou shrugged. "She wants to keep her skills sharp. Why else do you think she broke into Kaiba's place?"

Joey coughed. "She stole somptin' from Kaiba? And she's still alive?"

Ryou grinned modestly. "He called here last week; I think he asked her to help him redesign his security system. Besides, she gave the disk she stole back, Yami, you saw her."

Yami dismissed that with a wave of his hand. "You sound like you're proud of her," he stated, appalled.

Ryou didn't so much as blink. "I am," he said simply.

"For being a thief?" Joey exclaimed.

"For being a great thief," Ryou corrected. "It's not any different than your being proud of Yugi's dueling skills," he directed to Yami, "or all of us being proud of Téa's dancing abilities, or Duke's game. Bakura is a fantastic thief, and while that may not be a vocation that people put much stock in, there's no reason I can't be proud that she's good at it. Besides, she broke into the Kaiba mansion and got out of it without anybody knowing the wiser. Not even Pegasus' goons managed that, though granted they weren't trying to remain undetected."

"But she gives the stuff back, you said?" Téa asked, trying to dissolve the tension that had built up in the room.

Ryou rubbed the back of his neck, discomfited. "Most of it, I think. Kaiba's CD, the library's books… I think she might have stolen the roofing nails from the hardware store. It's never anything big; at least, I've never found anything."

Yami opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by the return of Bakura. She stuck her head around the doorway, and her eyes widened fractionally before the rest of her body followed her into the room.

"What, you're still here?" Bakura asked in genuine surprise.

"Yes, we're still here, tomb-robber," Yami gritted out. He obviously wasn't pleased that she'd kept up her larcenous activities, no matter how harmless.

"Aw, you sure know how to make a girl feel loved," she said in a bored, sarcastic tone. When Yami huffed and settled back into the couch next to Yugi, she turned to Ryou. "Are they staying for lunch, aibou? Because I don't think we have enough bread to make sandwiches for them all, especially since the Human Stomach is with them."

Joey glowered at the nickname, but didn't say anything. It was true, after all. He did, however, elbow Tristan in the ribs when the brunet started chuckling under his breath.

"I don't know," Ryou told her, before turning back to the group and asking, "Do you want to stay? I could order pizza, or something."

"I have a dance class in two hours, and I promised my mother I'd help her make brownies for our new neighbors before then," Téa declined.

"Joey promised to help me fix my motorcycle," Tristan begged off. Ryou was okay, but he really wasn't ready to spend so much time with Bakura. Besides, he and Joey hadn't spent much time together lately. "Since he's the one who scratched it up in the first place," he added irritatedly.

"I did not!" Joey shot back.

"I have to get back to my shop," Duke said. "The summer help are all rookies and I'm afraid they'll break something."

Yami's glare silenced the bickering duo, and they subsided. "We promised Grandpa we'd watch the shop this afternoon," Yugi said regretfully. "Maybe some other time?"

Bakura smirked. "They could join us on Tuesday; I'm sure the Ishtars wouldn't mind." There was a calculating gleam in her eyes that Ryou knew well; if any of them showed up to play poker, they'd quickly find themselves relieved of all their money.

Tristan was quicker than most people gave him credit for; he knew what that look meant as well. "More sheep to fleece?" he drawled.

Bakura barked a laugh at his perception. "Like lambs to the slaughter, Taylor, the lot of you."

"I don't really like poker," Yugi said, not wanting to out-and-out refuse the invitation.

"My old man never gave me much good advice, but he did say never ta bet anything ya weren't willin' ta lose," Joey said succinctly. "An' I ain't about ta gamble wit' da t'ree 'a ya, sorry."

Téa shrugged. "I'd go along with it, but I probably wouldn't last very long."

"Well, why don't you call me sometime tomorrow, and maybe we could arrange to go see a movie this weekend?" Ryou said, unwilling to let this opportunity to spend time with his friends slip through his fingers. He wasn't a very outgoing person; the odds he'd ever manage to make friends outside of this group were slim. Besides, it was nice not having to hide anything having to with Egypt, yamis or magic.

"That sounds good," Yugi agreed happily, and was quickly echoed by the rest of the group.

After that, there didn't seem to be much left to say, so they all took their leave after promising to stay in touch more over the summer. Téa gave Ryou a hug and told him to call her in there were any 'problems' – i.e., girl type questions – she could help with. Yugi and Yami were the last to leave, because Yugi wanted to invite Ryou and Bakura to join him, Yami and his grandfather on their trip to the beach later in the summer. He'd been planning to ask everyone, but wanted to make sure the other yami and hikari pair knew they were invited.

Closing the door behind them, Ryou sighed in relief as he leaned back against the door.

"Glad they're gone?" Bakura asked, an odd note to her voice.

Ryou glared at her. "I never should have told you that I could read lips. You were having entirely too much fun at my expense."

Bakura grinned widely – a real grin – and said with faked innocence, "What? Me?"

"Yes, you," Ryou growled. "You kept mouthing the words to that song. If you'd gone on much longer I probably would have embarrassed myself by jumping you right then and there."

Chuckling softly, Bakura started singing the words she'd previously only whispered. "Your mouth, so hot. Your web, I'm caught. Your skin, so wet. Black lace on sweat…"

"Ohhh…" Ryou groaned, head falling back against the door as his eyes closed. "Are you trying to kill me?" he asked in an almost conversational tone.

"No, little treasure; I'm trying to turn you on," Bakura said bluntly, pleased with the flush she got in response. Striding forward, she came to a stop in front of her boyfriend. "And it seems as if I've succeeded," she added, one hand coming up to cup the front of his tented khakis.

"Ah!" Ryou squeaked and instinctively arched into her caressing hand. "Bakura, what…? What brought this on?" he asked breathlessly, body heating up in response to her ministrations. Bakura had never been this forward before. Since she'd first solidified in the park, they hadn't gone much beyond kissing, Bakura seeming reluctant to move forward. Ryou was fine with that – for the time being, anyway, especially since he'd never done the relationship thing before – but he had wondered why she seemed so nervous about getting more intimate. That nervousness was definitely not apparent now.

Bakura blinked and her hand stopped its motion, almost as if she hadn't realized what she was doing. She backed away, abashed, the lustful look on her face giving way to poignant tenderness mixed with…shame? Through their mind-link, he felt how confused she was. It was like an emotional war was waging inside her: what her body wanted versus what her heart was ready for. The funny thing was, it didn't seem like her thoughts were as conflicted as he would have expected.

It was several moments before her thoughts gathered enough to answer. "I realized that I'd been avoiding this. Avoiding…you," she said plainly. "I was…afraid." Her head ducked as she said this last softly, as if she had a hard time admitting to the weakness.

Slight worry and anxiety caused Ryou to let the circumstances of their proximal positions fade into the background as he asked softly, "Afraid of what, 'Kura?"

"Of…myself." This admission was said even more softly than the previous one had been. "I…" She took a shuddering breath. "I don't want to hurt you, Ryou," she said baldly. "I don't want to force you into anything, and I don't want to push you away. But I don't know how to go forward from here…how fast to go, how slow to go, what to do…and I'm afraid I'll end up hurting you anyway, without meaning to."

Brow furrowing in thought, Ryou mulled over her words. Okay, judging from her actions, this obviously has to do with sex…and judging from her words, she's afraid she'll push me – either into something I'm not ready for, or away from her by trying not to push me. So, how to reassure her…?

Moving into her, Ryou let his arms slip around her hunched shoulders. He looked up into her eyes and, arching into her now-still hand, said, "There isn't anything that you could want from me that I wouldn't want to give you."

Her eyes dilated as he moved against her and she gasped, "Are you sure?"

"I'm always sure with you, Bakura," Ryou told her, before reluctantly pulling back. "But are you sure?"

She shook her head slowly. "I'm sure about you," she assured him. "I just…I'm having a hard time compromising."

"Compromising?" Ryou asked, confused.

"I want you," she stated plainly. "But I'm…afraid of wanting you. Afraid of what I feel for you; that I won't be enough for you." She ducked her head at this admission. "I don't know how to reconcile those opposing feelings. And I really don't know what to do next…how to have a relationship. I'm flying blind here, Ryou."

"And you think I'm not?" Ryou asked wryly. "I don't have any idea what I'm doing, either."

She looked startled and slightly relieved at this, but still wasn't reassured. "I've always known what to do before," she griped softly. "Being unsure is…nerve-wracking."

"And scary as all hell, too," Ryou agreed.

"I don't have a fucking clue what I'm doing here," Bakura chuckled, rubbing the back of her neck uneasily.

Snuggling closer to her, Ryou said, "But that doesn't mean we're going to mess it up."

"It doesn't?" she asked, and there was a slightly plaintive tone to her voice.

Ryou shook his head, holding her gaze steadily. "No, Bakura. As long as we talk to each other, we'll be okay. We can work out any problems we might have before they get too big."

"All right, chisaii houko," she said at length. "I trust you."

And as she pressed her lips to his, Ryou couldn't help but think that sometimes those three little words that meant so much…weren't always 'I love you.'