Chapter 17

"He's not the type to get mad because of something like that. He'd only get mad if you look at him wrong. Not because you glomped him."

"Yeah..." Yugi agreed, "Not like Marik."

"I've always thought..." Ryou interrupted them gently, "That the three of them... Yami, Marik, and Bakura. They fit together, you know?"

"Um, no?" Yugi looked over at him in confusion. "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"Well," Ryou began, "It's just a theory, but... I think of Yami and Marik as two opposites. If you think about it, Yami's practically a hikari himself, and Marik's the epitome of darkness and evil."

"That's for sure," Malik agreed. "He's the most evil person in the world."

"As you say. But anyway, if Yami's good and Marik's evil, what's Bakura? He's not really evil, and you definitely couldn't call him good. I'd say that he's the one in the middle. I think he's the one holding the group together. If he wasn't there Marik and Yami would be at each other's throats. Neither of them really likes each other even now, although they're getting along better now. But Bakura likes them both and because of him they're a group. You see?"

"Yeah, it makes sense," Yugi agreed. "They all felt sort of left out of things back home though and I think that was a major motivating factor for them to get together as a group but Bakura's really the reason why they've stayed as one. That and all of us living with Isis helped too."

"Hey," Malik interrupted, "Speaking of Isis did you know she's got a boyfriend?"

"Nooo," And they settled in for a cozy session, talking together.

Marik shook his head in amazement. "I can't believe it. First chance in months they have to talk to each other and their topic is Isis' boyfriend!"

"Hey!" Bakura interrupted angrily, looking up from his food, "You didn't tell me Isis had a boyfriend. What's he like? Who is he? Where did she meet him?"

"Yeah," Yami agreed, "You can't keep news like this to yourself! It's unfair. Come on, tell us everything."

"All right, all right, whatever." Marik agreed. "There's not really much to tell though. Isis just wrote to say that when she was looking for new artifacts for her museum she met this boy, Bill I think his name was and that they're going out. I don't think she wanted me to know anything more than that. If she knew Malik was going to see her letter she would have written more I guess, but anyways, why are they talking about her and not about how to get rid of us or something?"

"Perhaps because they're not stupid?" Yami suggested caustically, "They know by now that they can't get rid of us. And I don't think Yugi would want to get rid of me anyway. We're still friends no matter what."

"Yeah well, that's you." Marik sneered, "I'm not that soft."

"No, you're that stupid," Yami retorted. "Hey, where's Bakura?"

"What do you mean?" Marik looked around frantically, "Where's he gone? And why should he leave now?" His shoulders slumped, "Oh well, it's not as if we're going to be able to find him anyway so... I'm not stupid, you're a soft old fool!"

"Oh yeah?"

"I'm starving." Malik complained. The three hikaris were sprawled out over the tower, which was littered with candy wrappers.

"That's good," A cold voice commented and Malik sat bolt upright, eyes wide and fearful. Ryou scrambled to his knees and Yugi tried hard to be invisible. "You don't have to be so scared." Bakura continued. "I just brought your lunch." He set a tray on the low wall and turned to go down. "Oh yes," he added, turning back, "And you might want to clean this place up a bit before lights out. We certainly don't want to have to wait while you do." And with that he was gone.

"That was nice of him," Yugi commented, opening the first of the containers on the tray. "Mmm, this looks good."

"Give me some," Malik demanded and they were soon arguing over who got what. There were twenty cream puffs on one plate and both Yugi and Malik exclaimed in surprise over this. "Why would anyone want cream puffs?" Malik demanded.

"They're mine. Leave them alone." Ryou grabbed the plate and began to stuff himself with them. "And don't insult my favorite food!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Um, Ryou? When you said that cream puffs are your favorite food what did you mean?" Yugi asked carefully.

"They're my favorite food!" Ryou replied cheerfully. "And it's the one thing Bakura will always do for me. I get my cream puffs no matter what!"

"...whatever." Malik muttered.

"That's sweet of him though," Yugi said thoughtfully, "Why would he do that? It doesn't make sense. He's not the kind of person who... Ryou? Are you okay?"

"Yeah... I'm fine," Ryou said shakily, "But he says that if you have a question you should ask him rather than going behind his back. And I was just sort of worried that he'd get mad at you."

"And is he?" Malik looked terrified.

"Not really, just sort of annoyed. I don't think he'll mention it to anyone if that's what you're thinking. You should be fine." Ryou smiled. "He wouldn't be that cruel without a reason."

"Yeah... you're lucky." Malik trailed off, staring into the sky. "I wish my yami were like yours."

"I'm not sure if you could handle it." Ryou replied, smiling happily. "I love having him around as long as he's not hurting me, but I'm not sure you could stand the attention. He seems to like having me around. Like his cat."

"His...cat?" Yugi repeated, "You're saying that you're like his cat?"

"Yup!" Ryou agreed, smiling happily. "I'm his other pet!"

"Okay..." Yugi sweatdropped. "That's just... weird."

"Not really." Malik put in. "I think I understand. He likes having you around as a pet right? Has he ever compared you to a pet or anything like that?"

"Um... he said once that I made a pretty pet." Ryou replied, blushing slightly, "But I don't think he meant anything by it."

"No," Malik agreed, "I wouldn't think so. But it makes sense. You know how Bakura is always possessive of anything he owns?"

"Yes..." Yugi admitted, "But I don't see how that relates to the idea of Ryou as a pet."

"I'm thinking that Bakura might think of Ryou as a possession. You know, not as a thing, but like... like a pet, sort of. Does that make sense to you?"

"It sounds awful." Yugi stared at him. "What do you think Ryou?"

"More a slave than a pet." Ryou replied softly. "But yes, it does make sense, if you make that substitution. You know that slavery was common in Egypt when he was alive. Maybe that's why Yami doesn't mind what Marik does. He probably thinks of Malik here as a slave."

"That would explain a lot." Yugi agreed. "But I don't see how he could."

"Maybe the old Yami couldn't, but we have to remember; this isn't the old Yami." Marik told him gently. "I know you still like him, and he's still the same basic person, just with his memories, and a few different beliefs. If you grew up with slavery as a child what would you think?"

Yugi just stared at him. "I... don't know..."