Me: Hello again...
'Leanne: *looks up from reading some manga* whoa...time for me to leave...
Me: huh?
Shinu: uh, why are you dressed up like a Roman senator by any chance?
Me: *sweatdrops* umm...umm... I felt the need to be all-powerful for some strange reason?
'Leanne: strange alright...
Me: ^^;; shut up, yami! Don't be mean to me... *sniff* I feel so unloved... *cries*
Shinu: *sweatdrops* what's her problem?
'Leanne: I think that she's sad because she lost her floppy disk and all her stories for almost a week, and was in complete withdrawal... *sweatdrops again* so she decided to turn the time table of fashion back a few millennia? I dunno. Don't ask me.
Me: *sniff*
Shinu: ah.
'Leanne: yeah... ^^;;
Disclaimer: All right! Now everyone who writes on these fan fiction sites must all bow to me and admit your inferiority to me! Muah ha ha ha! *points finger at random confused authors*
Warning: you know, it may just be me, but that guy is really getting on my nerves...*eyebrow twitches* maybe some angst, shonen-ai, reference to yaoi, blah blah blah... *goes off to destroy the disclaimer*
*
Ryou and Yuugi arrived home half an hour later, talking about tiny subjects, nothing really. Jumping two steps at a time, Yuugi stood behind his friend as he pounded the door with enough force to break down a prison wall. "Dammit, Bakura! Get your ass off the couch and let us in! I don't have the key with me today!" The shorter one sweatdropped at the barely-audible grunt and sudden crash and loud string of curses, Japanese and Egyptian alike.
"Fine, I'm coming, I'm coming..." The yami opened the door, exposing his frizzy hair to the world. "Yuugi?" He stated as Bakura took notice of the boy.
"Ryou invited me."
"Oh, okay." Bakura stepped back to let them enter the house and closed the door. A mischievous grin spread across his face when he saw Ryou turned around to face Yuugi.
Bakura flung himself into the two boys, knocking them down, Yuugi on the bottom. "AH! What the hell?!" Ryou steadied himself on his elbows and attempted to roll out of the human sandwich. "What was that for, Bakura?!"
He chuckled and sat up, still straddling his hikari and squishing Yuugi. "That's for forgetting your keys!" Bakura crossed his arms triumphantly.
"Uh..." Yuugi was facedown, and very embarrassed to be in such an implying position. "You couldn't move, could you?"
"Huh? Oh, okay. You can go, but I'm keeping Ryou like this." Ryou flushed twenty shades of red and Bakura chuckled again and stood up, pulling both boys by the hand with him. "Now what good deed have I done to be rewarded with the presence of the Pharaoh's twerp?"
"Baka." Ryou was still a pleasant hue of scarlet. "We have a few questions that we want answered and Yami won't."
*
Ryou and Bakura were cuddled up together on the couch with Yuugi sitting in a recliner opposite them. "So, what did you want to know?"
Yuugi asked first. "What's happening that involves you and my yami?" Bakura looked at him. "Eww, not like that, you hentai. I mean whatever happened five days ago when Yami rushed over here after being downtown?"
"Oh, that. Okay. He found an old acquaintance of Marik's and mine. Nothing earth-shattering."
Yuugi sighed. "That's not the whole story, or Yami wouldn't go out of his way to keep it from me. What's really happening?"
"Well, if you put it that way, I'm not sure."
"Something that involves Marik, I'm sure." Ryou scowled at the name like it seared his tongue at the harsh syllables. Bakura hugged his hikari to him just a bit closer.
"Why?" Yuugi cocked his head.
"You don't want to know," replied Bakura. "Anyway, we found Mae Shinu, that's her name, near a burning building and she disappeared. I mean, evaporated. I found her at the park at the lake and we talked. She's just surprised at how everyone's back, but I don't think it will amount to anything rash."
"Oh, okay." Yuugi looked downtrodden. Maybe his yami was just overreacting like when he met Bakura for the first time again. But still, then that meant that he didn't even trust him with something like this. "Well, do you know why my yami would want to keep such a trivial thing from me?"
Bakura had to think about this one. "Well, he looked pretty messed up when he got here, I think he's just overreacting." Isn't that what he thought? "But then again, maybe he just doesn't want you to get hurt in something he's not sure about. If he doesn't know the amount of danger, Yami can be very cautious. And I mean /very/ cautious. I wouldn't worry about it."
Then Ryou took the opportunity to ask one of his questions after he was sure there was no response from Yuugi. "Why doesn't the link automatically stay intact?"
Bakura slouched his shoulders. "Well, it takes mind control to do so, and if you forget about it, it won't work. That's why I wanted you to keep it up in case I got in trouble. Unfortunately, I thought with Marik there, I wouldn't have to worry so much about you. Guess I was wrong." He scowled.
"Huh? What happened?" Yuugi was very confused. Wasn't Marik reformed?
Ryou averted his gaze to the carpet. "He, he tried to..rape me." Yuugi's eyes shot open three times their regular size, mimicking small balloons. Bakura had to really try to suppress a huge grin at the strange site.
"He tried to what?! Oh, Ryou! I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be. Bakura came in time." Yuugi looked relived. Now that added one more person to look out for. Ryou nuzzled himself further into his yami's side.
It was Yuugi's turn to change his line of vision to the floor. If Yami opened up once in a while and trusted him, they could be just like them... Huh? Wait, wasn't Bakura a bad guy?
"Um, Bakura? Weren't you kinda, anti-social?" Yuugi didn't want to probe into his suspicion of Bakura actually physically hurting Ryou.
"Well, I think we worked out our differences." He smiled. "D'you want to sleep over, Yuugi? It's getting a bit late." He looked out the window to the rapidly changing sky.
"Oh, okay. I'll just have to use the phone to tell Jii-san (a/n: his grandfather) I'm over here." Yuugi stood up and shuffled over to the cordless phone that had recently been thrown in exasperation onto the floor beside the coffee table. Not that either of them drank coffee, mind you.
*
Marik stood, leaning against the doorframe, staring at his other half lounging on his couch. "For the last time, Marik. I won't help you to hurt either Bakura or Ryou. I personally am happy to hear that they're together."
"Malik, this plan was long in effect before any of us were ever even thinking about the realm of Osirus or ever thought any of us would be reincarnated. He betrayed us and so I decided to make it a one-one thing. Not a one-up." He smirked seductively and drew closer to his other, swaying his hips. He would do whatever he must to put his plan into motion. "Come now. Won't you do this? For me?"
Malik gulped down a rather large lump that had been accumulating in his throat and felt his face grow hot. He thought he would be getting rid of his darker half by moving back to Egypt. Guess he was wrong. "M-Marik, please. Don't do this." He scrunched his eyes shut and silently wished for him to be out of there.
"Oh, now. Malik. Are you not used to me being so close to you anymore?" Marik pinned Malik's arms to the couch and drew a leg in between his other's.
Malik blushed and felt another lump stop him from shouting out before his mouth was covered by Marik's rough lips.
/P, please..leave me alone.../ Malik felt himself slip onto his back at the rush of heat.
//Now why would I do that? You're such a pretty thing.. Surprisingly uke, Malik. Who knew?// He dragged Malik's arms above his head on a painful angle.
Malik gasped into their kiss when he felt Marik press against him. /M..arik, please. Just, I'll do whatever you want, just please, leave me alone.../
He grinned. Mission accomplished. Pulling away, Marik stroked Malik's cheek before resuming his position at the door. "I'll hold that to you, Malik. And won't I have fun if you decide to face the consequences instead." He smirked at the flushed and abused boy heaving on the couch. He could almost say that would have been more fun then Ryou.
~Next Day~
Yuugi woke up first, wondering why he was lying in a sleeping bag on the Bakura's living room floor with them beside him. "Oh, right." Sitting up, he dragged his arms across his chest and stretched, yawing at the same time.
The younger albino cracked their eyes open slightly. "M'ornin', Yuug.." Ryou's voice cracked. "Go'od sleep?" He closed his eyes again and drew against his yami before sitting up as well.
"Yeah, I think I just needed to get away from my frustration source for a bit." He grinned. "I don't know if I'm gunna tell Yami that I know."
Neither had noticed, but Bakura had also risen and had his arms around his hikari's waist. "Well, maybe if he knows that you /already/ know, he'll be open to telling you more. Just a theory, though.
"BRRNG!!!! BRRNG!!!! BRR-" Ryou had quickly rushed to silence the noisy contraption (a/n: did I say Bakura was the one exasperated at the phone?) and scanned over the buttons looking for the 'answer' one.
"Moshi moshi, Bakura residence...speaking...yeah? Oh, okay...sure.. Yeah, I guess we'll catch the next flight...wait for the mail?... a day?... Oh, okay, then...yeah, see you..ciao to you too..." Bakura raised his eyebrow.
"Ciao?"
Ryou rolled his eyes. "That was Malik. He wants us to fly to Egypt once the tickets he sent through express gets here." Yuugi's mouth dropped.
"So that's it? Someone wants you to fly across the planet and you decide to leave a day before? No plans with school? No.." He smiled devilishly. "Chaperones?"
Ryou blushed. "Well, no..my father just left studying there for Eastern Africa. Unless of course, you wanted to come with us. We can just ask the teachers to write a journal or something, instead of the missed assignments." Bakura pulled a fake and extremely disturbing pout.
"Aww, I was gunna have fun..." Both lights sweatdropped.
Ryou blushed even darker and pretended to pinch his yami. "Well, Yuugi? What about it?"
"Umm, well, I'd have to ask Jii-san of course, but I'm not sure if Yami would let me..."
Bakura spoke up. "Oh, screw him. Don't let him ruin your fun. C'mon. Come along so Ryou doesn't have to come up with excuses why he didn't have time to write his 'journal' thing." His smile reached from ear to ear, but was quickly put out when Ryou's face might have resembled a well-ripened tomato and pinched Bakura for real this time. "Ow! Hey!"
"Urusai, Bakura." A mushroom-breath came out of Ryou's mouth as he sighed. "Well, would you consider it? I'm sure we'd have tonnes of fun!" He smiled his cutest smile.
Yuugi scratched his cheek, debating whether he should or not. "Umm, okay then. Sure!" He immediately picked up the phone and dialled his home number and put it on speakerphone.
"Moshi moshi, Mutou residence. Who's calling?" The wavering tone of Sugaroku met everyone's ears.
"It's me, Jii-san."
"Oh, hello Yuugi." He paused. "Am I on speakerphone?" The room sweatdropped.
"Uhh, yeah. Is that okay?"
"Oh, yes yes. What are you calling for? I was expecting you to call around six for a ride home."
"Well, Ryou got a call from Malik and he wanted us to fly out to Egypt." There was a fairly long pause. "Jii-san?"
"Oh, yes. I'm here. Sure. When is it? Two weeks from now?"
"Um, it's tomorrow..." Yuugi blinked.
"But didn't you have exams?"
Yuugi sweatdropped. "No..it's the weekend. We get four days off next week, anyway. I wouldn't miss too much. Don't worry about that."
"Oh, in that case, I'll pick you up now so you can pack. Be in the driveway, alright?"
"Oh!! Domo arigato, Jii-san! You're the best!" Yuugi beamed and hung up. "Yay!" Bakura snickered at the young boy's antics. "Okay, I'll get my school stuff together and wait outside for him. See ya soon!"
"Okay. Here, I'll help." Ryou left his yami's warm side and bent over to retrieve a notebook lying in the middle of the room for no particular reason.
When everything was shoved into Yuugi's shoulder bag, the ecstatic boy bowed and ran outside to a light humming in the driveway.
"Well love, I guess we should get our stuff together, too. I don't think you'd like to show up with one pair of clothing once we're several continents away from Japan." Bakura stood up and much to Ryou's surprise and delight, he picked him up in his arms and carried him upstairs to their room.
~Two hours later (10:45) ~
"Ugh." Ryou flopped back onto the bed. "I've had enough packing to last me a lifetime. We've gotta have everything by now..." Bakura looked over at him through several piles of clothes from the closet.
"Yeah. Let's take a break then." His face lit up. "Can we have ice cream, Ryou? Please??" Bakura shoved the piles down and helped Ryou up by his arms.
"Sure." He was too tired to protest, anyway. His yami had spent the entire time pointing out things they needed, leaving Ryou to shovel through all the clothes.
"Yay!" He rushed downstairs and came back up to kiss Ryou's cheek before speeding out to visit the nearest freezer in the kitchen. Ryou sweatdropped.
~Ten minutes later~
They were both sitting on the roof slowly licking their Neapolitan ice cream. Bakura finished his first and attacked Ryou's ticklish sides for his.
"Wha! Hee hee, B-Bakura, take it th-then! Hahahaha!" Ryou grinned automatically and thrashed his arms to try and throw off the yami. Chucking it at his head, Ryou watched as Bakura leapt after it.
After he had inhaled the remains of that one as well, Bakura sighed and leaned on his arms. Ryou snickered and leaned against his yami's side. There was hardly any shadow due to the fact that it was just past noon.
"Ryou, why does it feel like something's gunna happen soon?"
"I dunno. But I do know that a postman is carrying a package and heading into the driveway. Go down and meet him. I'm too tired."
"Oh, fine." Bakura stood up and slid down to the edge and jumped off, landing like a cat.
The startled postman looked up from reading the address to the albino who had landed right in front of him. "Oh! Hello, there. Do you know a Bakura Ryou that lives here?"
"Sure do. He's on top of the roof right now." Bakura stood up and pointed to the roof.
"Uh, well, could you give this to him, then? It's from someone named-" He paused to look at the return address. "Ishtahl Malik." Bakura raised an eyebrow for the second time that day.
"Malik? Oh, that must be the tickets then." The postman handed him the small parcel, bowed and left. "Hey Ryou! Get down here!"
The hikari stood on the edge and looked over. "Bit far..." He closed his eyes and jumped off, landing on his butt. "Ow!"
"Come look, Ryou." The yami shoved the tickets under Ryou's nose and allowed him to inspect them.
"The idiot booked us for the nine o'clock flight! We'll have to leave here at seven!"
"Why seven?"
"Because we have to be there an hour earlier and we still have to pick up Yuugi."
"...Who's driving?"
"Um...taxi?" Bakura rolled his eyes and then headed inside to resume the gruelling task of packing again.
*
This time, Ryou made Bakura collect things they didn't have packed yet, and lay on his back on the bed. "-and just one more pair of jeans. That should pretty much do it."
"Fine. That's good, because there's one more in the bottom, here." Bakura bent over and picked up the final piece of clothing. Bakura held it by the top to shake of any wrinkles when a silver blade fell from its folds to the floor. "What?" Picking it up, he discarded the garment and inspected it closely. "Ryou..."
The hikari sat up on the bed. "Yeah?"
The yami felt his heart wrench at his soft voice, and looked back to the knife. "Why, why do you have a knife?" Ryou jerked at the mention of his former tool for pain.
"Bakura..." He knew he was growing light-headed. He totally forgot about cutting once Bakura saved himself from his deep depression. "I.."
"Dammit, Ryou! Why do you keep a knife?!" Bakura turned around and clutched the weapon tightly in his hand. Was he contemplating suicide, or something? A wave of short breaths numbed his voice. "Why?" His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I...I, didn't know any other way to relieve the emotional pain that you put me through then. I never once thought about killing myself." He lowered his head and his voice soon matched the volume of his other. "I'm sorry..."
Bakura was speechless. He had been the source? Momentarily closing his eyes to collect his remaining strength, the dark dropped the knife and walked sullenly over to Ryou's side and held him in an impossibly tight hug. A hot tear rolled down his face.
Ryou pulled away and shod his long-sleeved shirt, exposing his pale scars even though some were still a bit inflamed and looked red. Bakura ran his fingers gently over each one. "Don't be..." His voice was still shaky.
The two talked awkwardly for the next hour or so, making plans for what they would do once they arrived in Egypt.
*
Shinu walked the long and dusty streets of one of her previous life's homeland. Funny, how every time she was reincarnated, she had the same name. She had warped here about an hour ago and was now trying to find the small international airport she would be meeting the albino pair at tomorrow, and was wrapped up in memory. Ones that concerned her 'mystery' past life she didn't bother to tell anyone about. The one were she was taught compassion, love and respect. She was actually born into a loving family and found a lover, but even still, all of them eventually died, and never came back for her.
A hot tear rolled down her sunburned cheek.
"Jenkai..why did you choose to die? I could have saved you..." The lonely girl shoved her hands into her over-heated pockets and continued her search, her hair rolling in the wind.
*
Me: whew...that one took me a while to end... See, I wrote most of it in one night, but hit writer's block around the end, therefore delaying the update by at least a week. Gomen! ^^;;
'Leanne: yeah, right. Excuses excuses...
Bakura: ...
Ryou: ...since when do I cut?...
Me: umm, well, y'see...
'Leanne: what she's trying to say is, if you read the first chapter again, you'd remember that Ryou had been thinking about his knife when he was in his room before Yuugi came. Y'see?
Me: ...yeah...
Shinu: aww, Jenkai...is that my 'lover?
Me: um, yeah. Is that okay?
Shinu: *all smiles* then that means I'm not totally insane and heartless! Yay! Ja, mina! r/r!!
'Leanne: *looks up from reading some manga* whoa...time for me to leave...
Me: huh?
Shinu: uh, why are you dressed up like a Roman senator by any chance?
Me: *sweatdrops* umm...umm... I felt the need to be all-powerful for some strange reason?
'Leanne: strange alright...
Me: ^^;; shut up, yami! Don't be mean to me... *sniff* I feel so unloved... *cries*
Shinu: *sweatdrops* what's her problem?
'Leanne: I think that she's sad because she lost her floppy disk and all her stories for almost a week, and was in complete withdrawal... *sweatdrops again* so she decided to turn the time table of fashion back a few millennia? I dunno. Don't ask me.
Me: *sniff*
Shinu: ah.
'Leanne: yeah... ^^;;
Disclaimer: All right! Now everyone who writes on these fan fiction sites must all bow to me and admit your inferiority to me! Muah ha ha ha! *points finger at random confused authors*
Warning: you know, it may just be me, but that guy is really getting on my nerves...*eyebrow twitches* maybe some angst, shonen-ai, reference to yaoi, blah blah blah... *goes off to destroy the disclaimer*
*
Ryou and Yuugi arrived home half an hour later, talking about tiny subjects, nothing really. Jumping two steps at a time, Yuugi stood behind his friend as he pounded the door with enough force to break down a prison wall. "Dammit, Bakura! Get your ass off the couch and let us in! I don't have the key with me today!" The shorter one sweatdropped at the barely-audible grunt and sudden crash and loud string of curses, Japanese and Egyptian alike.
"Fine, I'm coming, I'm coming..." The yami opened the door, exposing his frizzy hair to the world. "Yuugi?" He stated as Bakura took notice of the boy.
"Ryou invited me."
"Oh, okay." Bakura stepped back to let them enter the house and closed the door. A mischievous grin spread across his face when he saw Ryou turned around to face Yuugi.
Bakura flung himself into the two boys, knocking them down, Yuugi on the bottom. "AH! What the hell?!" Ryou steadied himself on his elbows and attempted to roll out of the human sandwich. "What was that for, Bakura?!"
He chuckled and sat up, still straddling his hikari and squishing Yuugi. "That's for forgetting your keys!" Bakura crossed his arms triumphantly.
"Uh..." Yuugi was facedown, and very embarrassed to be in such an implying position. "You couldn't move, could you?"
"Huh? Oh, okay. You can go, but I'm keeping Ryou like this." Ryou flushed twenty shades of red and Bakura chuckled again and stood up, pulling both boys by the hand with him. "Now what good deed have I done to be rewarded with the presence of the Pharaoh's twerp?"
"Baka." Ryou was still a pleasant hue of scarlet. "We have a few questions that we want answered and Yami won't."
*
Ryou and Bakura were cuddled up together on the couch with Yuugi sitting in a recliner opposite them. "So, what did you want to know?"
Yuugi asked first. "What's happening that involves you and my yami?" Bakura looked at him. "Eww, not like that, you hentai. I mean whatever happened five days ago when Yami rushed over here after being downtown?"
"Oh, that. Okay. He found an old acquaintance of Marik's and mine. Nothing earth-shattering."
Yuugi sighed. "That's not the whole story, or Yami wouldn't go out of his way to keep it from me. What's really happening?"
"Well, if you put it that way, I'm not sure."
"Something that involves Marik, I'm sure." Ryou scowled at the name like it seared his tongue at the harsh syllables. Bakura hugged his hikari to him just a bit closer.
"Why?" Yuugi cocked his head.
"You don't want to know," replied Bakura. "Anyway, we found Mae Shinu, that's her name, near a burning building and she disappeared. I mean, evaporated. I found her at the park at the lake and we talked. She's just surprised at how everyone's back, but I don't think it will amount to anything rash."
"Oh, okay." Yuugi looked downtrodden. Maybe his yami was just overreacting like when he met Bakura for the first time again. But still, then that meant that he didn't even trust him with something like this. "Well, do you know why my yami would want to keep such a trivial thing from me?"
Bakura had to think about this one. "Well, he looked pretty messed up when he got here, I think he's just overreacting." Isn't that what he thought? "But then again, maybe he just doesn't want you to get hurt in something he's not sure about. If he doesn't know the amount of danger, Yami can be very cautious. And I mean /very/ cautious. I wouldn't worry about it."
Then Ryou took the opportunity to ask one of his questions after he was sure there was no response from Yuugi. "Why doesn't the link automatically stay intact?"
Bakura slouched his shoulders. "Well, it takes mind control to do so, and if you forget about it, it won't work. That's why I wanted you to keep it up in case I got in trouble. Unfortunately, I thought with Marik there, I wouldn't have to worry so much about you. Guess I was wrong." He scowled.
"Huh? What happened?" Yuugi was very confused. Wasn't Marik reformed?
Ryou averted his gaze to the carpet. "He, he tried to..rape me." Yuugi's eyes shot open three times their regular size, mimicking small balloons. Bakura had to really try to suppress a huge grin at the strange site.
"He tried to what?! Oh, Ryou! I'm so sorry!"
"Don't be. Bakura came in time." Yuugi looked relived. Now that added one more person to look out for. Ryou nuzzled himself further into his yami's side.
It was Yuugi's turn to change his line of vision to the floor. If Yami opened up once in a while and trusted him, they could be just like them... Huh? Wait, wasn't Bakura a bad guy?
"Um, Bakura? Weren't you kinda, anti-social?" Yuugi didn't want to probe into his suspicion of Bakura actually physically hurting Ryou.
"Well, I think we worked out our differences." He smiled. "D'you want to sleep over, Yuugi? It's getting a bit late." He looked out the window to the rapidly changing sky.
"Oh, okay. I'll just have to use the phone to tell Jii-san (a/n: his grandfather) I'm over here." Yuugi stood up and shuffled over to the cordless phone that had recently been thrown in exasperation onto the floor beside the coffee table. Not that either of them drank coffee, mind you.
*
Marik stood, leaning against the doorframe, staring at his other half lounging on his couch. "For the last time, Marik. I won't help you to hurt either Bakura or Ryou. I personally am happy to hear that they're together."
"Malik, this plan was long in effect before any of us were ever even thinking about the realm of Osirus or ever thought any of us would be reincarnated. He betrayed us and so I decided to make it a one-one thing. Not a one-up." He smirked seductively and drew closer to his other, swaying his hips. He would do whatever he must to put his plan into motion. "Come now. Won't you do this? For me?"
Malik gulped down a rather large lump that had been accumulating in his throat and felt his face grow hot. He thought he would be getting rid of his darker half by moving back to Egypt. Guess he was wrong. "M-Marik, please. Don't do this." He scrunched his eyes shut and silently wished for him to be out of there.
"Oh, now. Malik. Are you not used to me being so close to you anymore?" Marik pinned Malik's arms to the couch and drew a leg in between his other's.
Malik blushed and felt another lump stop him from shouting out before his mouth was covered by Marik's rough lips.
/P, please..leave me alone.../ Malik felt himself slip onto his back at the rush of heat.
//Now why would I do that? You're such a pretty thing.. Surprisingly uke, Malik. Who knew?// He dragged Malik's arms above his head on a painful angle.
Malik gasped into their kiss when he felt Marik press against him. /M..arik, please. Just, I'll do whatever you want, just please, leave me alone.../
He grinned. Mission accomplished. Pulling away, Marik stroked Malik's cheek before resuming his position at the door. "I'll hold that to you, Malik. And won't I have fun if you decide to face the consequences instead." He smirked at the flushed and abused boy heaving on the couch. He could almost say that would have been more fun then Ryou.
~Next Day~
Yuugi woke up first, wondering why he was lying in a sleeping bag on the Bakura's living room floor with them beside him. "Oh, right." Sitting up, he dragged his arms across his chest and stretched, yawing at the same time.
The younger albino cracked their eyes open slightly. "M'ornin', Yuug.." Ryou's voice cracked. "Go'od sleep?" He closed his eyes again and drew against his yami before sitting up as well.
"Yeah, I think I just needed to get away from my frustration source for a bit." He grinned. "I don't know if I'm gunna tell Yami that I know."
Neither had noticed, but Bakura had also risen and had his arms around his hikari's waist. "Well, maybe if he knows that you /already/ know, he'll be open to telling you more. Just a theory, though.
"BRRNG!!!! BRRNG!!!! BRR-" Ryou had quickly rushed to silence the noisy contraption (a/n: did I say Bakura was the one exasperated at the phone?) and scanned over the buttons looking for the 'answer' one.
"Moshi moshi, Bakura residence...speaking...yeah? Oh, okay...sure.. Yeah, I guess we'll catch the next flight...wait for the mail?... a day?... Oh, okay, then...yeah, see you..ciao to you too..." Bakura raised his eyebrow.
"Ciao?"
Ryou rolled his eyes. "That was Malik. He wants us to fly to Egypt once the tickets he sent through express gets here." Yuugi's mouth dropped.
"So that's it? Someone wants you to fly across the planet and you decide to leave a day before? No plans with school? No.." He smiled devilishly. "Chaperones?"
Ryou blushed. "Well, no..my father just left studying there for Eastern Africa. Unless of course, you wanted to come with us. We can just ask the teachers to write a journal or something, instead of the missed assignments." Bakura pulled a fake and extremely disturbing pout.
"Aww, I was gunna have fun..." Both lights sweatdropped.
Ryou blushed even darker and pretended to pinch his yami. "Well, Yuugi? What about it?"
"Umm, well, I'd have to ask Jii-san of course, but I'm not sure if Yami would let me..."
Bakura spoke up. "Oh, screw him. Don't let him ruin your fun. C'mon. Come along so Ryou doesn't have to come up with excuses why he didn't have time to write his 'journal' thing." His smile reached from ear to ear, but was quickly put out when Ryou's face might have resembled a well-ripened tomato and pinched Bakura for real this time. "Ow! Hey!"
"Urusai, Bakura." A mushroom-breath came out of Ryou's mouth as he sighed. "Well, would you consider it? I'm sure we'd have tonnes of fun!" He smiled his cutest smile.
Yuugi scratched his cheek, debating whether he should or not. "Umm, okay then. Sure!" He immediately picked up the phone and dialled his home number and put it on speakerphone.
"Moshi moshi, Mutou residence. Who's calling?" The wavering tone of Sugaroku met everyone's ears.
"It's me, Jii-san."
"Oh, hello Yuugi." He paused. "Am I on speakerphone?" The room sweatdropped.
"Uhh, yeah. Is that okay?"
"Oh, yes yes. What are you calling for? I was expecting you to call around six for a ride home."
"Well, Ryou got a call from Malik and he wanted us to fly out to Egypt." There was a fairly long pause. "Jii-san?"
"Oh, yes. I'm here. Sure. When is it? Two weeks from now?"
"Um, it's tomorrow..." Yuugi blinked.
"But didn't you have exams?"
Yuugi sweatdropped. "No..it's the weekend. We get four days off next week, anyway. I wouldn't miss too much. Don't worry about that."
"Oh, in that case, I'll pick you up now so you can pack. Be in the driveway, alright?"
"Oh!! Domo arigato, Jii-san! You're the best!" Yuugi beamed and hung up. "Yay!" Bakura snickered at the young boy's antics. "Okay, I'll get my school stuff together and wait outside for him. See ya soon!"
"Okay. Here, I'll help." Ryou left his yami's warm side and bent over to retrieve a notebook lying in the middle of the room for no particular reason.
When everything was shoved into Yuugi's shoulder bag, the ecstatic boy bowed and ran outside to a light humming in the driveway.
"Well love, I guess we should get our stuff together, too. I don't think you'd like to show up with one pair of clothing once we're several continents away from Japan." Bakura stood up and much to Ryou's surprise and delight, he picked him up in his arms and carried him upstairs to their room.
~Two hours later (10:45) ~
"Ugh." Ryou flopped back onto the bed. "I've had enough packing to last me a lifetime. We've gotta have everything by now..." Bakura looked over at him through several piles of clothes from the closet.
"Yeah. Let's take a break then." His face lit up. "Can we have ice cream, Ryou? Please??" Bakura shoved the piles down and helped Ryou up by his arms.
"Sure." He was too tired to protest, anyway. His yami had spent the entire time pointing out things they needed, leaving Ryou to shovel through all the clothes.
"Yay!" He rushed downstairs and came back up to kiss Ryou's cheek before speeding out to visit the nearest freezer in the kitchen. Ryou sweatdropped.
~Ten minutes later~
They were both sitting on the roof slowly licking their Neapolitan ice cream. Bakura finished his first and attacked Ryou's ticklish sides for his.
"Wha! Hee hee, B-Bakura, take it th-then! Hahahaha!" Ryou grinned automatically and thrashed his arms to try and throw off the yami. Chucking it at his head, Ryou watched as Bakura leapt after it.
After he had inhaled the remains of that one as well, Bakura sighed and leaned on his arms. Ryou snickered and leaned against his yami's side. There was hardly any shadow due to the fact that it was just past noon.
"Ryou, why does it feel like something's gunna happen soon?"
"I dunno. But I do know that a postman is carrying a package and heading into the driveway. Go down and meet him. I'm too tired."
"Oh, fine." Bakura stood up and slid down to the edge and jumped off, landing like a cat.
The startled postman looked up from reading the address to the albino who had landed right in front of him. "Oh! Hello, there. Do you know a Bakura Ryou that lives here?"
"Sure do. He's on top of the roof right now." Bakura stood up and pointed to the roof.
"Uh, well, could you give this to him, then? It's from someone named-" He paused to look at the return address. "Ishtahl Malik." Bakura raised an eyebrow for the second time that day.
"Malik? Oh, that must be the tickets then." The postman handed him the small parcel, bowed and left. "Hey Ryou! Get down here!"
The hikari stood on the edge and looked over. "Bit far..." He closed his eyes and jumped off, landing on his butt. "Ow!"
"Come look, Ryou." The yami shoved the tickets under Ryou's nose and allowed him to inspect them.
"The idiot booked us for the nine o'clock flight! We'll have to leave here at seven!"
"Why seven?"
"Because we have to be there an hour earlier and we still have to pick up Yuugi."
"...Who's driving?"
"Um...taxi?" Bakura rolled his eyes and then headed inside to resume the gruelling task of packing again.
*
This time, Ryou made Bakura collect things they didn't have packed yet, and lay on his back on the bed. "-and just one more pair of jeans. That should pretty much do it."
"Fine. That's good, because there's one more in the bottom, here." Bakura bent over and picked up the final piece of clothing. Bakura held it by the top to shake of any wrinkles when a silver blade fell from its folds to the floor. "What?" Picking it up, he discarded the garment and inspected it closely. "Ryou..."
The hikari sat up on the bed. "Yeah?"
The yami felt his heart wrench at his soft voice, and looked back to the knife. "Why, why do you have a knife?" Ryou jerked at the mention of his former tool for pain.
"Bakura..." He knew he was growing light-headed. He totally forgot about cutting once Bakura saved himself from his deep depression. "I.."
"Dammit, Ryou! Why do you keep a knife?!" Bakura turned around and clutched the weapon tightly in his hand. Was he contemplating suicide, or something? A wave of short breaths numbed his voice. "Why?" His voice was barely above a whisper.
"I...I, didn't know any other way to relieve the emotional pain that you put me through then. I never once thought about killing myself." He lowered his head and his voice soon matched the volume of his other. "I'm sorry..."
Bakura was speechless. He had been the source? Momentarily closing his eyes to collect his remaining strength, the dark dropped the knife and walked sullenly over to Ryou's side and held him in an impossibly tight hug. A hot tear rolled down his face.
Ryou pulled away and shod his long-sleeved shirt, exposing his pale scars even though some were still a bit inflamed and looked red. Bakura ran his fingers gently over each one. "Don't be..." His voice was still shaky.
The two talked awkwardly for the next hour or so, making plans for what they would do once they arrived in Egypt.
*
Shinu walked the long and dusty streets of one of her previous life's homeland. Funny, how every time she was reincarnated, she had the same name. She had warped here about an hour ago and was now trying to find the small international airport she would be meeting the albino pair at tomorrow, and was wrapped up in memory. Ones that concerned her 'mystery' past life she didn't bother to tell anyone about. The one were she was taught compassion, love and respect. She was actually born into a loving family and found a lover, but even still, all of them eventually died, and never came back for her.
A hot tear rolled down her sunburned cheek.
"Jenkai..why did you choose to die? I could have saved you..." The lonely girl shoved her hands into her over-heated pockets and continued her search, her hair rolling in the wind.
*
Me: whew...that one took me a while to end... See, I wrote most of it in one night, but hit writer's block around the end, therefore delaying the update by at least a week. Gomen! ^^;;
'Leanne: yeah, right. Excuses excuses...
Bakura: ...
Ryou: ...since when do I cut?...
Me: umm, well, y'see...
'Leanne: what she's trying to say is, if you read the first chapter again, you'd remember that Ryou had been thinking about his knife when he was in his room before Yuugi came. Y'see?
Me: ...yeah...
Shinu: aww, Jenkai...is that my 'lover?
Me: um, yeah. Is that okay?
Shinu: *all smiles* then that means I'm not totally insane and heartless! Yay! Ja, mina! r/r!!