Fate: Nya! It's done! Hee. Hee hee hee.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh does not belong to us. "Spookshow Baby" belongs to Rob Zombie. Listen to it during the latter part of the chapter. Really.

::chapter eight::

"Oh, hell," Mokuba announced as the doors creaked open. "Where's Bak — Ryou-san?"

"In here," Bakura snapped, tapping his forehead and glaring down at Seto, who was stirring groggily on the floor. "We switched."

"Did he kiss him?" Mokuba demanded. "Dammit, niisama!" he yelled. "You should know better than that!"

"No shit," Bakura spat. "We're leaving."

Mokuba grabbed his arm. "Wait!"

"Why?" Bakura tried to tug free, looking even more irritated.

Mokuba gulped and hung on. "Please don't go. I just want everything to be explained. I want this all to be over. It won't end if you just run away."

"I'm not running away," Bakura shot back.

"Yes you are," Mokuba said determinedly. "Don't run."

Bakura went silent for a while. "Fine," he said after a long minute. "Fine," he repeated, storming out of the room. "Bloody hell!" he yelled, once out the door. Mokuba winced.

"What just happened?" Seto groaned, sitting up.

"You just took an uppercut to the chin from Ryou-san's very pissed off boyfriend-slash-yami. Don't you always tell me to never piss off the girlfriend or boyfriend if the person's taken?" Mokuba asked.

"He seemed amenable at first," Seto complained. "Agreed to ignore his yami and all."

"Did you tell him what you were planning?" Mokuba asked angrily.

"I wanted to discuss the business part of our deal," Seto complained. "And then he did some cool stuff with that necklace he had, and...and then...damn."

Mokuba looked unimpressed. "He knew that the darker one would come find him anyway. He wasn't planning on isolating him. I don't think you could. You'd have to rip off the Ring for that to happen."

"I should try that," Seto mused.

"Bad idea, niisama," Mokuba warned. "Very bad idea."

"And then I can analyze the Ring and – "

"Haven't you figured out that you're not going to get a one-night stand with this boy?" Mokuba asked, throwing his hands in the air. "Just give it up already! Play with the pretty gold thing and ignore the boy wearing it!"

"I don't give things up," Seto said icily.

"You should!" Mokuba snapped.

"Would you have preferred I give you up, all those years ago?" Seto breathed. "I don't give up on people."

"He doesn't need your help," Mokuba said, staring at the ceiling. "Neither of them need us at all."

"But I need them," Seto mused.

Mokuba tensed. "What?"

"I need them," Seto said simply. "They fascinate me and repel me all at once. I am intrigued. And I don't let go of things that intrigue me."

"They'll fight you," Mokuba warned.

Seto smiled. It was the smile of a king, the smile of a conqueror, the smile of a teenage boy who held ultimate power in the palm of his hand and had even more within his reach. "Let them."

"Yadonushi."

"..."

"Yadonushi!"

"..."

"Ryou...?"

"Go away."

Bakura sulked momentarily. He wasn't used to being ignored. He was used to being punched, having things thrown at him, and being screamed at. He welcomed these things, mostly because they led to much more interesting activities. Being ignored was boring.

"You hate me again, don't you?" Ryou finally asked.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I never hated you," Bakura said defensively.

"You treated me like a possession," Ryou said dully.

Bakura looked sullen. "That's because you belong to me."

"You shoved me into the back of my mind and did things!" Ryou protested.

"You didn't exactly fight it," Bakura snapped. "And when you did, you made life hell for me."

"But now you're going to put me away again and kill everyone and everything," Ryou predicted.

"...so you don't want me to?"

"No! Of course I don't!" Ryou yelled.

"Then what was that about threatening to have me kill everyone for you?" Bakura asked angrily. "I'm not a fucking hired killer."

"And I'm not a whore!" Ryou screamed back. "I'm not going to be pawned back and forth by you and Kaiba-sama as you fight for control of the Ring and of me!"

Bakura laughed. "As though he could control it. He'll never have you. You'll live forever with me."

"You don't know that," Ryou said softly.

"Do you doubt me?" Bakura inquired.

Ryou was silent for a moment. Then he looked up at Bakura. "Let's go out."

"...what?"

"Let's. Go. Out," Ryou enunciated. "You. Me. Slutty clothes. Skanky club. What do you say?"

Bakura glared at him. "You are not going out to a club."

"So you don't want to see me wearing the clothes that arrived about an hour ago?"

Bakura reorganized his priorities. "I get to punch anyone who hits on you?"

"You've already been doing that," Ryou said tiredly.

"Oh. That. Right. Look," Bakura said, grabbing Ryou's shoulder. "You're mine. I'm not giving you up to some idiot boy with delusions of grandeur as a bartering piece."

"Don't I get any choice in the matter?" Ryou demanded.

Bakura shrugged. "Maybe. Where are we going?"

"You'll see," Ryou said with a smirk. "Your stuff's behind the bed. I'll be right back," he announced, sauntering out of the room.

Yes, ladies and...ladies, Bakura is the luckiest person in the world, with the possible exception of Ryou.

"Nii-sama."

"Yes?"

"I'm going out."

"Where?"

"...a club?"

"Wait, what?!"

"They went out to a club," Mokuba said patiently. "Left a note and everything."

"How did they get out?" Seto demanded, throwing himself to his feet and clutching his head.

"We need some new guards. And we have lots of little plastic dolls now," Mokuba explained.

"...oh." Seto's eyes narrowed. "You know where you're going?"

Mokuba nodded. "Yes."

"I'll let you take care of things. I may go, but I won't interfere," Seto said.

Mokuba smiled. "I won't fail you." He turned and stalked out of the room. I won't fail him again! I won't let them go...I told him not to go...

"Hey, gorgeous, can I buy you a drink?"

Ryou looked up at the redhead leaning on the bar next to him.

"Sure you can...and get me one too," Bakura said, sliding up behind Ryou and slipping his arms around his shoulders.

The girl smiled. "I'm a lady, of course I will."

Ryou blinked. "You're not hitting on me?"

"Unless you do threesomes?" the girl replied. "Nah. You're just too pretty to pass up the chance to try out that line. Oi!" she called, waving a waitress over. "Give these pretty boys whatever they want for a next round, it's on me. Ja ne!" she said, walking off. Meeting up with a dark-haired, slender boy, she vanished into the crowd.

"That was weird," Bakura said.

"People do that to me all the time," Ryou said with a shrug. "Free beer, you know."

"Only beer?"

"It's hazardous down there," Ryou said, nodding at what could very loosely be termed a dance floor. "You need to have at least some coordination."

"Works for me," Bakura said. "Let's go."

Ryou grinned as the songs shifted and the pair was sucked into the dancing crowd.

Oh, high noon, dead moon a hangin' all over you, yeah...devil man, yes I can...cut a little piece of you, yeah...

Mokuba quietly surveyed the crowd from above, looking for the two spots of white. They'd separated upon entering the crowd but didn't seem to care, dancing alone easily. He couldn't tell them apart at this distance. Their features were too blurred.

He knew which was which.

She's a killer, she's a thriller...spookshow baby! She's a killer, she's a thriller...yeah, spookshow baby...

/Yami,/ Ryou called teasingly. /You ditched me./

::Yeah, and?::

/Why don't you come get me?/ Ryou inquired.

::Why rush fate?:: Bakura replied. ::You're mine. Forever. I don't need to look for you.::

/Aw, but I want to dance with you./

::Aren't you the one who should be telling me to be patient?::

Ryou thought about it. /Nah. Screw patience. I want you./

He felt Bakura smile. ::Mmm. We'll see.::

"Bright glove, mad love, a movin' all over you, yeah, psycho man, yes I can...do it all over for you, yeah..."

Bakura looked up as someone's arms snaked around his waist, the whispered lyrics echoing in his ear. "Oh, there you are."

"Hello," Ryou said with a grin.

"Did you call me a psycho man?"

Ryou's grin morphed into a smirk. "Hmm. Yes."

Bakura smiled even more widely and grabbed Ryou, running fingers up his spine and into his hair. "How accurate of you."

"Isn't it, though?" Ryou inquired.

Bakura nodded, his eyes drifting closed. "Very."

"C'mon. Dance with me. We can forget everything that way," Ryou breathed.

"...yeah."

She's a killer, she's a thriller...spookshow baby! She's a killer, she's a thriller...yeah, spookshow baby...

Mokuba watched as the vocals faded and the two white-haired creatures dancing melted together and moved like one person.

Smiling wryly, he shut his eyes briefly, then opened them and looked thoughtfully at his drink. Then he shook his head, passed one hand over his eyes, and slumped back in his chair.

It was going to be a long night.

Fluffy: Yes, that was Ruoko and Lupita you saw. We're lazy with making up random club characters. Quite lazy. Now go read Unrequited if you don't know what's going on.

RunningInCircles: Thanks!

Higashikaze: You need to read Fairydust and Look the Other Way by Pikachumaniac. Really, you do. It's what introduced me to this whole world. Mwaha.

Liviana: Laziness is god. I still owe you a fic and a cameo. Email me or something? (go. read torikorosu, space podlings!)

YamiKatie: Sankyuu!

Kitten: Here you go!

SweetMisery: ;; Thanks...I think?

Psychopathic Sixth Grader: then!

Inuko Millennium: I like your name. Thanks for all the reviews!

Jargonelle: I got the idea from trying to figure out the flaws behind the security system in the Tomb Raider movie. I am a geek. I figured – well, you'll learn about it later.

Don't you think?

ElleFaTe2x1: Please do! And yes, he is being a bit of a stubborn idiot. He does that a lot in the manga, I've noticed. He's a strange one.

Duel: Yay! More please!