Chapter 2 – On the Second Day of Christmas – Two Worried Lights
Yugi walked into the house quietly, carefully stashing the bag of Christmas gifts he had bought in the hallway closet before making his way into the living room where he could hear the TV humming quietly. He was glad that the others had invited him to go shopping after school . . . his dark was notoriously curious when he had to go out from the house, and he would never have been able to get out the door without telling his other where he was going. Of course, he was also very late . . . much later than he had expected to be, and he was surprised Yami hadn't tried to contact him through their link.
Now that he really thought about it though, Yami had been keeping his distance lately. Ever since the events in America, where his soul had been taken by Dartz to feed the great beast, he and Yami's relationship had been somewhat strained. He cared about his dark . . . there was no doubt about that . . . but at the same time, he was slightly in fear of him as well. He was old enough and wise enough to at least admit that, but he knew he'd tried to hide that from Yami. Tea had told him how devastated Yami had been after that fateful duel, and Yugi had no wish to add to that burden of guilt . . . but he suspected that he hadn't done nearly as good a job as he would have liked. The former Pharaoh was too perceptive by far . . .
He smiled as he came into the living room, only to find Yami draped over the couch, unconscious. His duel deck lay on the coffee table next to him, as did the Millennium Puzzle, and Yugi wondered what Yami had been up to. His dark easily got bored . . . had he been dueling? But who had he been dueling against . . . all of their friends had been with him at the mall. He glanced back towards the door, and amethyst eyes finally settled on the wet boots that Yami usually wore. So he had gone somewhere to duel . . . probably Kaiba Land.
Shaking his head in amusement, he wondered how many people his dark had trounced this time around. It was no mistake that Yami was a fierce duelist . . . he'd earned his title of King of Games back in Egypt the hard way, and in this time it was no different. He thoroughly enjoyed a good game, especially when no one was in danger, as was usually the case in their lives. He frowned at that thought, his mind returning to his former thoughts.
How could he go about repairing their trust in each other? He missed Yami . . . missed the comforting presence of his dark on the other side of their link at all times, day and night. There was also loneliness that he'd sensed in his other lately . . . a longing for something more, something that Yugi couldn't give him. Yes, he loved Yami . . . but it was the love for a brother, guardian, and close friend. Yami needed more than that, but Yugi had no idea who could give that to his dark. Certainly not Tea . . . while his friend was highly attracted to Yami, his dark wasn't even remotely interested in her other than friendship, and even that wore out at times when Tea got into one of her friendship speeches. And Mai was with Joey, so that wasn't an option . . .
His thoughts flickered to Bakura before he laughed mentally at himself. What a ridiculous thought . . . the Tomb Robber and the Pharaoh getting together! Yeah, right . . . the two of them hated each other passionately! Besides, he didn't even know if his dark swung that way! Still . . . such utter hatred had to stem from something . . .
Shaking his head at his own idiotic thoughts, he pulled a blanket off the back of the chair nearby and draped it carefully over his dark, leaving Yami to sleep where he was. His dark wasn't exactly a cheerful person when awakened against his will, and Yugi was more than willing to leave the questions as to where he had been until tomorrow morning. Smiling down at his sleeping other, loving the way Yami's features smoothed into peacefulness when he was asleep, he shut the TV off silently, and made his way upstairs to go to bed. He had school tomorrow, after all . . . he didn't go on Christmas vacation until the seventeenth, and that was three days away. After that, he had all the time in the world to work on his relationship with his other . . . right now, he needed sleep.
He dropped into his bed wearily, falling asleep quickly as the snow once again began to fall outside, blanketing the world in another layer of comforting, cold white.
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The phone ringing early in the morning awoke both Yugi and Yami with its shrill peel. Yami staggered upright, groaning as his spine popped from spending another night on the couch, before Yugi called down that he was going to get it.
Yami tried not to sigh in relief at hearing his aibou's voice from upstairs . . . he'd fallen asleep waiting for the youth to come home last night. He reminded himself to ask Yugi where he had been . . . before calling himself to task for such idiocy. His aibou was a teenager . . . what right did he have to ask for an account of his actions? If he was going to show Yugi that he trusted him, perhaps the best way to start was to allow him to make his own decisions. Yawning, he made his way into the kitchen to begin fixing breakfast for him and his young hikari . . . if he left it to Yugi, the boy would merely grab a slice of toast as he rushed out the door, late for school as always.
Upstairs, Yugi had scrambled across the room for the phone, leaving a trail of blankets and his pillow in his mad dash to reach the ringing item.
"Hello, Motou residence," he said into the handset.
"Yugi," a soft British accent replied. "I'm sorry to call so early, but I wanted to catch you before you began the whirlwind." Yugi chuckled slightly, dragging the phone back to his bed and crawling back under the covers before talking. He was notorious among his friends for his morning ritual . . . which usually included dashing around like a chicken that had its head cut off in the attempt to get ready and out the door on time for school. It wasn't his fault that he hated mornings almost as much as his dark did!
"Good morning, Ryou," he said. "Don't worry about it . . . this just means I get a head start on my day. Are we still meeting at the park to walk to school?" He heard Ryou sigh, and tilted his head curiously, burrowing further underneath his blankets. Why did his room always seem so cold first thing in the morning?
"Actually, that's what I'm calling about," Ryou murmured. "I'm not going to be at school today . . . Bakura's sick. Could you pick up my school work and bring it over after school? I have to stay home and take care of him . . . he's in pretty bad shape."
"Sure," Yugi replied. "But . . . how did Bakura get sick? What happened?"
"I don't know," Ryou said softly. "I came home last night and found him in a shivering heap in the living room. The strange thing is, he had pine needles all over the place and kept going on about Yami and weird feelings." He paused for a moment, and Yugi could practically hear the gears turning in his head. "Do you think maybe Yami knows what might have happened?" Yugi shrugged before he remembered Ryou couldn't see him.
"I don't know, Ryou . . . I'll ask him," he said. "Hold on a moment." Yami? he called through their link.
Yes aibou? came the reply. What's wrong?
Nothing . . . but Bakura's sick. Ryou said he was muttering something and mentioned your name . . . you wouldn't happen to know why, would you? He felt amusement suddenly, and then froze as Yami sent him a series of images before starting to giggle. Oh my, he replied, unable to keep the laughter out of his mental voice. That must have been priceless . . . do you mind if I tell Ryou? He felt his other's compliance and smiled slightly.
"Ryou, you're not going to believe this," he said. "Apparently, Yami found Bakura stuck in a tree on his way to Kaiba Land last night. He helped him get down. Yami won't tell me why he was up in a tree in the first place, but there's your answer to the pine needles." He listened to Ryou laugh slightly on the other end of the line.
"No wonder he was swearing about Yami," Ryou finally said, once he'd gotten his breath back. "I'll bet it just kills him to have been found in such a predicament by your dark." There was a shout in the background, and Ryou sighed again. "He's in pretty bad shape, Yugi . . . I'd best get back in there and make sure he doesn't try to get up. I swear, if he were any more stubborn . . ."
"Okay, Ryou. Good luck with Bakura . . . I'll swing by after school with your homework," Yugi said before they both hung up the phone. Sighing, Yugi cuddled up further under the blankets, unwilling to move just yet. It was nice and warm under here . . . he began to drift back off to sleep before he remembered that Yami was already awake. If he knew his dark right, the former Pharaoh was already cooking breakfast . . . and there was still the questions Yugi was sure he was going to be asked about his whereabouts of yesterday evening.
Muttering under his breath, he climbed back out of the blankets and assembled his school clothes, slipping into the blue slacks, white shirt, and blue overcoat before belting his choker into place around his neck. Socks came next, and then he ran a brush quickly through his hair before making his way down stairs.
"Good morning, Yami," he said as he walked into the kitchen. Yami turned from the oven, and Yugi stifled a giggle at the speck of flour adorning his dark's nose. "About last night . . ." He stopped in surprise when Yami raised a hand, waving it absently as if moving the words aside.
"Don't worry about it, Yugi," he replied, turning back to the pancakes so that he wouldn't burn them . . . again. "So, why was Ryou calling so early in the morning?"
Yugi was stunned for a moment . . . Yami wasn't going to ask him where he had been last night? Amethyst eyes narrowed thoughtfully, staring at his dark's back for a moment, wondering what was going on. With a shrug, he settled at the table. If something was going on, Yami would tell him soon enough, he supposed.
"Ryou's staying home to take care of Bakura," Yugi said. "He asked me to bring his school work to him after school." Yami turned from the oven, flipping the pancakes onto a plate before looking at Yugi.
"I figured he would get sick," Yami muttered. "Stupid thief." He paused before continuing. "Should Ryou really be missing school? Don't you have those things you call 'finals' coming up for the semester?" Yugi sighed, and nodded unhappily.
"Yeah . . . but there's nothing else he can do. Someone has to take care of his yami." He glanced up at Yami as some strange emotion flickered through their link, raising an eyebrow in curiosity at the thoughtful look on his dark's face. "Yami? What are you thinking?" He watched as the former Pharaoh brought the plate of finished pancakes over to the table before returning to the stove to shut it off.
"If Ryou should not be missing school," he said after a moment, "Then perhaps there is someone else who could stay with his dark." He sighed. "I can go over there for the day . . . I suppose I can deal with a sick thief. Ryou should not have to suffer in his school work for his yami's stupidity."
Yugi stared at his dark, completely caught off guard by the suggestion. Yami was willing to go over there and spend the day in the same house as the Tomb Robber? Amethyst eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"You aren't going to do anything to him, are you?" he asked. Yami actually turned around, looking rather offended by the suggestion.
"Aibou, do you really think so little of me that I would kick the thief when he is down?" he asked. Yugi was instantly sorry . . . of course his dark wouldn't do such a thing. He rose and strode over to his other, wrapping his arms around the lithe figure in an apologetic hug.
"I'm sorry, Yami," he murmured. "I know better than that . . . you wouldn't do anything to Bakura unless he did something first. I shouldn't have said anything." He stepped back, staring up into the crimson eyes solemnly. "If you're really willing to do that for Ryou, let me go call him and let him know." Yami nodded, and he slipped into the living room to use the phone, all the while wondering what was going on. Yes, his other was willing to do anything for his friends . . . but to deliberately submit himself to putting up with Bakura for an entire day? That was going a little far, even for the former Pharaoh. But he wasn't about to say anything more about it
"Hello?" Ryou answered the phone quietly.
"Ryou, hi," Yugi said in response, "Hey, I've got a strange proposition for you. Yami said he'd come over and take care of Bakura so you don't miss any school." There was a shocked silence on the other end of the phone . . . if it wasn't for the background noise of the television, he would have thought they'd been disconnected somehow. "Ryou?"
"Yeah . . . I'm here," Ryou murmured finally. "Yugi, are you sure that's such a good idea? I mean . . . they don't exactly get along well . . ."
"Yami's the one that suggested it," Yugi replied. "If he's actually willing to do it, who am I to argue?"
"That's great, Yugi," the white haired youth said. "I really don't want to miss school with finals this Friday. If Yami's willing, sure . . . come on over. We can walk to school together from here." Yugi glanced at the clock.
"Okay . . . give us about thirty minutes," Yugi said. They said goodbye and hung up with each other, leaving Yugi to stare down at the phone thoughtfully. Something important was happening . . . he just wished he could figure out what. He had this feeling that there was a major change just around the corner . . .
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Ryou met the two tri-haired men at the door, putting a finger to his lips to signal for quiet as he shut the door behind him.
"Bakura's sleeping," he said, buttoning up his jacket. "He's been terribly grouchy all morning." Yami looked at him steadily.
"When isn't the thief a grouch?" he asked, causing Ryou and Yugi to chuckle slightly.
"You've got a point there, Yami," Ryou said after a moment. "But at any rate . . . I've given him some cough medicine, although I had to practically force it down his throat because of the taste. Otherwise, he's pretty weak right now . . . he barely had the energy to move from bed to the couch. So you shouldn't have too many problems with him. Just try not to let him get on your nerves." Yami smirked slightly.
"When does he NOT get on my nerves?" the Pharaoh murmured. "But I promise, I won't send him to the Shadow Realm unless he really starts pushing his luck." Yugi shook his head, putting a hand to his forehead in disbelief as amethyst eyes closed wearily. Somehow, he suspected this day was going to be more nerve wracking than any other in his short life. "At any rate, the two of you had better get off to school. I will watch over the thief . . . although he really does deserve this, for getting stuck up in a tree." Ryou snickered slightly as he and Yugi began to move off.
"You really do have to tell me all about that, Yami," he called over his shoulder. "That must have been quite a sight." Yami merely shook his head, his own smirk curving his lips slightly before he turned to walk into the house.
The interior of the house was neat and orderly - just like Ryou to keep a perfect house. He could hear soft snores from the living room, and chuckled slightly as he left his coat and shoes beside the door before walking further into the house. He slung the book bag he had brought with him off his shoulder, setting it into one of the overstuffed chairs before going to check on his 'charge' for the day.
Bakura was out cold on the couch, his pale face flushed with fever, white hair limp with sweat. Yami stared down at him for several moments, surprised by the change the thief's features took on in sleep. Resting, the white haired man was rather beautiful . . . the pale features were angular, long charcoal lashes lying against the raised arch of cheek, lips smoothed into a kinder expression than the usual sadistic smirk that twisted them out of shape.
Shaking his head at his own thoughts, Yami returned to the over-stuffed chair, moving his bag to the floor before curling into it comfortably and digging a book he was reading out of the depths of the item to distract himself. The fact that he found Bakura rather attractive when he was sleeping was disturbing . . . the man had been a pain in his ass five million years ago, and he'd only gotten worse with time. Finding him to be 'cute' was not exactly a comfortable thought.
He lost track of time easily with his nose buried in a book on Egyptian history, and it wasn't until the thief moaned and coughed harshly that the crimson eyes arose from the pages, only to meet stunned red-brown across the charcoal grey carpet.
"Pharoah!" Bakura said, his voice hoarse. "What the hell are you doing here? Where's Ryou?" Yami rolled his eyes and carefully put the book down so that he could focus all his attention on the volatile thief.
"Your hikari went to school . . . he has those 'final' things this week, after all. I volunteered to come over and keep an eye on you." Bakura snorted, and then coughed raggedly, drawing in a deep breath as the spasm finally passed.
"You mean to torture me," he snarled weakly. "Laugh it up, Pharaoh . . . enjoy it while you can." Yami sighed, leaning forward in the chair so that he could meet the annoyed gaze head on.
"Believe it or not, as you will, Tomb Robber, but I did not come to irritate you. I would rather not be here . . . I had to leave the store closed today to do so. But I have been sick, and I know how it feels . . . you will need someone to help you." Bakura growled at him, turning his face away so that he was staring up at the ceiling. He nearly started out of his skin when the aquiline features hove into view, just before Yami lay a cool hand upon his aching forehead.
"You still have a temperature, I see," he murmured. "You will have to have more of that 'medicine' Ryou showed to me." The thief smacked the hand away angrily, trying to ignore the tingling sensation Yami's touch had left on his skin.
'I'm losing it,' he thought grouchily, shoving the feeling out of his head. 'Five thousand years, and now I'm starting to fall apart.'
"I am not taking that shit," he growled, struggling to sit upright. "Bad enough Ryou managed to force it down my throat this morning . . . I will not willingly submit to that torture again." Yami smirked, and he suddenly wanted very much to rip that grin off the Pharaoh's face. How dare he smile at his complaint!
"I have to say I agree with your assessment on the taste of modern medicine," Yami said lightly, standing up and heading for the kitchen. "However, it works, so you will simply have to deal with it, thief." Bakura snarled at his back, finally achieving some semblance of elevation before collapsing against the arm of the couch weakly. He waited for Yami's return with something akin to dread . . . he'd been unable to keep Ryou off of him this morning, and he had even less of a chance against the Pharaoh. But he'd be damned to Maat before he took that foul tasting concoction again!
"I am not taking that shit," he repeated as Yami came into view, bottle and spoon in hand.
"Fight all you want, thief," the former spirit replied, smiling slightly. "It might actually be amusing." Bakura had the sinking feeling that Yami was actually looking forward to him fighting . . .
'This . . . is the pits of hell . . .' he thought to himself. 'And I'm stuck in it.'
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Yugi sighed, staring up at the clock and wishing it would go faster. It wasn't even lunch time yet, and he was already worried about Yami. His yami and Ryou's didn't exactly get along . . . hell, they had been enemies for over five thousand years! He hoped there was still a house for Ryou to go home to when the day ended.
"I'm sure they're fine, Yugi," Ryou whispered from the desk next to his. "Bakura couldn't even hold me off this morning . . . Yami will be more than a match for him." Yugi shook his head.
"That's what I'm afraid of," he admitted dryly, amethyst eyes glancing sideways to meet the chocolate gaze of his friend. "I can't help but wonder why Yami so readily offered to watch over him for you today. You do have to admit, it's kind of suspicious." Ryou smiled and shrugged slightly.
"Maybe they've finally stopped hating each other," he replied hopefully, drawing a snort from the smaller duelist.
"Yeah, right," Yugi said. "And maybe people will stop coming after the Millennium Puzzle and trying to take over the world." Ryou sighed, but had to give him the point. The likelihood of Bakura and Yami ever getting along was about as much as that of Kaiba and Joey ever stopping their incessant fighting.
There was, however, those disturbing mumblings of his dark's this morning, after he had fallen asleep. He'd been muttering about a tree, and some stupid guards, and all of the sudden he'd started talking about Yami. And not the usual 'I hate that stupid Pharaoh' rhetoric that he spouted constantly. Something about Yami's touch, and stupid feelings had popped into the mix, and it left Ryou wondering. What exactly had happened between the two spirits yesterday?
"Yugi," he said after several moments, "Did Yami mention anything strange about yesterday's encounter with my yami?" Amethyst eyes glanced at him, confusion evident in their glittering gaze.
"No . . ." he replied slowly. "Why?" Ryou shrugged slightly, chocolate eyes examining the desk in front of him as he thought.
"I don't know," he murmured softly, the British accent rounding the words in gentle consonants. "It's just . . . five thousand years is a long time to hate a person, don't you think? What if . . . what if that hatred is just a cover to something else?" He shrugged again, white bangs covering his eyes from sight. "Bakura's had some really weird dreams of late . . . and through most of them, Yami's name has come up. I'm just . . . I wonder if maybe he doesn't hate Yami as much as he wants us to think he does."
Yugi sat back, considering the soft words carefully, mulling them over silently in his mind. Ryou did have a point. Yami had been acting strangely as of late as well . . . whenever Bakura's name came up, he was quick with his dislike of the former thief, but often the emotions didn't match the words. And then there was his strange reaction this morning to the news of Bakura being sick . . .
"It's possible, I guess," Yugi said finally. "But I sure would pay to see it if it's true."
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Yugi was relieved when school finally let out for the day. His link with his dark had been silent all day, which made him wonder just exactly what was going on over at Ryou's house . . . or rather, if there was anyone left alive over there at all. He waited for Ryou near the front door, anxious for his white haired friend to show up so they could get to his house.
When Ryou did finally show up, he practically dragged him out the door.
"Yugi, goodness! What ever is the rush?" Ryou murmured, struggling to keep up with the half-jogging Yugi as they headed through the park towards the house Ryou shared with Bakura and his father when the man was home.
"I just . . . oh, I don't know, Ryou," Yugi said, finally slowing down to a walk. "I guess I'm just worried that something might have happened. My link with Yami has been awfully silent all day today . . . have you heard anything from Bakura?"
"Only a small grumble about his medicine and the taste," Ryou replied. "Other than that, nothing." The house finally hove into view as they walked in silence, and their pace picked up again with the promise of warmth in sight. Ryou unlocked the door and ushered Yugi in ahead of them. The two boys hurriedly discarded their jackets and shoes before walking into the living room . . . and freezing in the doorway at the bizarre scene before them.
"Yami!" Yugi gasped, stunned at his dark. Yami was currently sitting on Bakura's chest, his legs pinning the Tomb Robber's arms to the couch, a spoon filled with medicine held in one hand, the other clamped over the thief's nose. Bakura was turning a rather spectacular shade of bluish-purple, brown eyes glaring up in mute defiance and anger as his lips pressed against each other so tightly they were white.
Yami glanced over his shoulder at Yugi's gasp, but otherwise made no move to let the Tomb Robber go. The thief had been stubborn about taking his medicine earlier in the day, and Yami had been forced to beat him in a Shadow Game to get him to take it that time. This time, the thief wasn't being nearly as stupid as to accept his challenge, so he'd had to resort to more physical means. But he would be damned if he let the thief get away with not taking the damn medicine, no matter how bad its taste.
It wasn't that he cared about the thief . . . rather, it was the fact that Bakura hated the stuff that made him so determined to make him take it. Or at least, that's what he kept trying to tell himself.
Ryou stood, trying to decide whether he should laugh at the ludicrous situation or rescue his dark. Laughter won, bubbling up within him as Yugi stepped toward his other.
"Yami . . . what in the world are you doing?" he asked incredulously.
"He has to take this medicine, young one, or he will not get better. But since he is . . . disinclined . . . to do so in a calm and courteous manner, I've had to resort to forcing him. This is the only way I could think of to do so." Bakura growled underneath him, and he turned back to his captive. "You are not getting anywhere with this, thief," he murmured. "You might as well just take the damn stuff and be done with it." If looks could truly have killed, he would have been dead ten times over at this point, as he well knew by the hard, murderous glint in the brown eyes.
"Ryou . . ." Yugi began, seeing the alarming shade of deep purple that the white haired yami was slowly becoming, "Shouldn't we stop this?" He turned to his friend, startled to see that the boy was doubled over in silent laughter, his shoulders shaking as he tried to keep the near hysterical giggles from escaping.
Bakura wiggled one hand, wishing desperately that he could get to a knife or some kind of sharp object. Unfortunately, the Pharaoh had him thoroughly pinned, and he was starting to see dark spots swim before his eyes with a lack of oxygen. But he would be damned if he let the Pharaoh shove that vile concoction down his throat again! The stuff was absolutely horrible! Then there was the rather unpleasantly pleasant feeling of Yami pressed against him, even in such an uncomfortable predicament. That was only serving to make him angrier by the moment, and more unlikely to take the shit, just to spite the bastard.
Yami sat, poised like a Viking god, simply waiting for the moment when Bakura would open his mouth in order to breathe. He was slightly tempted to let the thief go . . . he was turning a rather bad color, if what Yugi had explained to him about health was true, but he was not going to let him get away with not taking this damn medicine. He glanced back over at Yugi, checking to see that his aibou didn't think him completely nuts, when the body beneath his suddenly went limp.
"Bakura!" Yugi said, hurrying forward as the thief passed out from lack of oxygen. "Yami, get off him!" Yami arose, but not before he had forced Bakura's mouth open and dumped the spoonful of thick, syrupy purple medicine down his unconscious throat.
It seemed that it had an instant, and altogether unpleasant, reaction on the former thief. He jolted awake, sitting up and sputtering horribly as the taste made him gag. The sudden upright motion threw Yami off balance as he was rising, and he staggered backwards, hitting the wall with a dull thud and a grunt of pain. That was the least of his worries, however . . . Bakura was up off the couch in a flash, and heading straight into an attack.
Luckily . . . or unluckily as the case could be argued . . . the former Tomb Robber was still weak from illness and his swing went wild, throwing him off balance and sending him crashing into Yami. The Pharaoh barely had time to catch him before they both went down in a heap, a tangle of arms and legs as both hikari's finally gave in and began to laugh hysterically. It was all simply too much, and too bizarre, to take anymore.
Crimson eyes stared up into red-tinted brown from where he lay beneath the pale thief, feeling Bakura's legs entwined with his own. The slim form was pressed tightly to him, his arms wrapped around the trim waist where he had tried to catch the sick former spirit before they had both fallen. He felt a flush creeping up his cheeks at the other's nearness, and it disconcerted him greatly. What, by all the gods, had gotten into him?
Bakura was having a similarly disconcerting experience of his own, his reasons being much the same. The feel of Yami beneath him was wreaking havoc on his already over-tested libido, and the firm lips right below his were slowly becoming much too tempting to ignore. Having already spent an entire day in his nemesis company . . . company which had not been all that unpleasant, if he was honest with himself . . . he had already been having thoughts he wasn't pleased with.
He sighed, his breath puffing against those soft looking lips, staring into the widened crimson eyes before a slight smirk crossed his features. What better way to torment the Pharaoh . . . and make him taste the lingering vile concoction he called 'medicine' for himself? With a weary and not altogether feigned slump of his shoulders, he pressed his lips to the Pharaoh's, and tried to ignore the jolt of pleasure that shot through him at the contact.
Yami gasped at the caress of Bakura's lips against his own, unintentionally allowing the thief to plunder the inner recesses at will. He was torn between two reactions . . . on the one hand, he was tensed and ready to shove the thief off of him and gag, and on the other hand he simply wanted to relax into it. Throwing the thief off won when he remembered his aibou was in the room, however.
"Gah!" He tore his mouth away, gasping for breath as he planted his hands on the other man's shoulders and shoved . . . hard. The Tomb Robber rolled off of him easily enough, still weak from being sick, but the grin on his face was enough for Yami to suddenly remember just how much he hated the former thief. "If you ever do something like that again, I will make sure you spend the rest of eternity being culled . . . with a spoon," he spat, scrambling to his feet before dragging the back of his arm against his lips. He wasn't sure just exactly why he was mad . . . was it because he had enjoyed the brief contact, or because it looked like Bakura had merely been toying with him? He glared as Bakura chuckled, and strode from the room like a brewing thunderstorm.
Ryou and Yugi watched him storm out of the room, astonished at the entire incident. After exchanging a quick glance, they promised to call each other later and ran to attend to their yami's, pondering the strange turn of events they had just witnessed. It had definitely been . . . unexpected.