After my schoolyear ended now, I'm back! Stupid finals, really… anyways. This is a short, sweet piece of fiction, please enjoy, and excuse my long absence.

line

It was a bright, sunny Saturday morning. A young boy had just awoken by a ray of sunlight tickling his nose, causing him to wrinkle it until he sneezed. Blinking large, soft green eyes open, Ryou yawned and stretched his arms wide over his head, brushing back his milky white bangs in the motion, only to have them fall back into place, unruly over his forehead and brows as he sat up and looked around in his sunlit room. Figures, his yami probably didn't shut the blonds when he had tucked him in last night.

"Bakura, did you shut the blinds?"

"Of course hikari." A kiss to his temple made the young boy smile as he cuddled into his warm, cosy bed, having Bakura pull the blanket up to his shoulders. "Good night hikari."

"Night 'Kura."

Sigh. Ryou shook his head with a small smile; no matter how much the spirit annoyed him sometimes, it still amused him to no end that the once so feared King of Thieves would tuck his twelve year old hikari into bed with a goodnight kiss. The whitenette slid his cream-smooth legs out of bed, stretching once more, and groped next to his pillow around for the rainbow hair-tie Bakura had nicked at the store for him the other day. Of course stealing was bad, but as long as Ryou was aware of the fact that it had been the only rainbow hair tie available…that was alright. With a few swift movements of his wrist, his almost waist long hair was tucked into a messy ponytail, keeping only the bangs framing his face. His sleepy face. Darn, it was early.

Still in his nightclothes, a comfy grey t-shirt that was a few times too large for him (he had nicked it from Bakura; like yami, like hikari) because it smelled so nice, like the spirit who indeed was able to materialize out of the Sennen Ring for a few hours if he had had enough rest, and soft cotton boxers Ryou traipsed to the bathroom. Bakura always complained Ryou was small and frail enough to have him looking like that too should he come out in a solid form, so he liked to let himself age a few years. He was able to take better care of his young hikari like that, too. Now looking into the mirror, Ryou tilted his head, from one side to the other, glancing down his body, hidden in the shirt. Usually, he liked how he looked.

Not today.

As he took two hairclips to not have his bangs get in the way as he wanted to wash his face, he could only stare.

And stare.

And scream.

There, right over the graceful arch of his right, slender white brow, was a zit.

This couldn't be happening. As Ryou stopped screaming and started whimpering in shock he was aware of footsteps thundering up the stairs. Bakura would have heard his scream, and was on his way to protect his hikari from any danger that might threaten him. Said hikari did a good job jumping to the door and locking it before Bakura could enter the room.

"Hikari? Ryou, what's wrong? Let me in!"

"I … uhm … it's fine Bakura, I just saw a spider is all!" Of course, he blushed as crimson as Bakura's eyes lying to his yami.

"I'll slay it. It could eat you."

"It's just a spider!"

"So! I saw those on Animal Planet, they're dangerous!"

Ryou could almost hear the pout in Bakura's voice. He had to smile. His darkness could have easily picked the lock, or broke down the door, or dive into Ryou's mind to get in, but respected his privacy still. It was kind of cute. "It's a small spider."

"Well, if you say so … breakfast is almost done, hurry up.", he said gruffly and went back into the kitchen. Ryou had to laugh. "Okay!"

Now, back to the problem at hand… the monstrous plain on his head. The light sighed in frustration as he lifted a hand to gingerly touch it …"Ow!" Darn, the thing dared to hurt! It looked really icky too; slender pale fingers touched it again, and it spewed forth the hell-ish acid of doom! Ryou squeaked and wrinkled his nose, taking a piece of toilet paper and wiped it off, causing more to bubble out. Figuring that might help, he wiped and pushed gently until it was nothing more than a very red spot. He stuck his tongue out at the massacre on the piece of paper and flushed it down, then, finally, he could wash his face. Perfect. Although …

Being the curious, smart kid he was, Ryou had only recently found a pile of teen magazines on the attic, belonging to his late older sister. Of course, he had browsed through them, although being only a pre-teen, and of course had read something about zits … something that made his nose crinkle and he put the magazine away. Although he couldn't get out of his head now how he had to treat such a thing to get rid of it.

So, looking through the bathroom cabinet, he found what he was looking for … tooth paste. He washed his face thoroughly and brushed his teeth, then took a tiny bit of the minty paste and put it onto the red spot, yelping. It burned! Biting his lower lip, Ryou let his hair loose, brushed it properly and put it back into a ponytail, leaving his bangs to cover the blain of hell. Then, he went to breakfast.

The kiss Bakura gave his cheek made him blush, oddly, because his yami did that every morning… and he never blushed. Sitting down, he was conscious of his hair, tugging and readjusting it, so it would cover the tooth-paste-covered spot. Bakura didn't need to see it! All things could happen if he did! He could leave because it was downright disgusting, or laugh at him and tell everyone else about it…jade orbs followed the adolescent yami's every move, admiring how the muscles moved beneath the shirt he wore as Bakura took the waffles out of the iron and reached back to put the plate onto the table. Mh, sweet…

"Thank you 'Kura…"

"Yeah, no big deal hikari. What's the matter with that thing?", Bakura asked, looking back with a brow arched. Ryou sputtered around a bite of waffle. "Wh-what?"

"The spider. What's the matter with it?"

Looking at him wide eyed, Ryou nodded slowly. "It's…gone? Yeah, it's gone. It went out of the window." A long pause was between the yami and hikari, until Bakura cleared his throat with a grin. "Your bathroom has no window." Ryou blushed crimson.

In the afternoon, when Ryou came home from grocery shopping he found Bakura on the couch and jumped on it next to him, holding his arms out for a hug. Which was granted immediately of course as the yami enfolded the boy into his arms and pulled him onto his lap, a hand reaching up to brush his bangs away to deliver a kiss to Ryou's forehead. The small body tensed for a moment, but Bakura had chosen the left side of his face, so he could only hope. Snuggling back against his dark, they proceeded to watch TV…Bakura switched onto Animal Planet, a channel he loved, and went to explain the dangers of spiders to his young hikari with the patience of a mother, making the young one giggle every now and then.

And soon the dreaded bed time came again…Ryou was carried up to his room after having went to the bathroom to of course brush his teeth and hair and in addition put new tooth paste onto his spot (without looking at it; he couldn't stand it.), and the young boy was tucked into his bed like every night.

"Did you shut the blinds Bakura?"

"Of course hikari." Smooch." "Good- what?" Bakura blinked as he went to kiss the little one's forehead. "What's this?" His fingers touched the small blob of tooth paste gingerly. Ryou's eyes went wide in panic.

"Ohh, 'Kura, please don't tell anyone! I swear it's not my fault! I don't know how it got there…just, please…"

"Silly. You must have made a mess of the bathroom again, eh?", the dark mused with a smile, rubbing the paste off, gently tracing his thumb over the spot until all of it was gone, then kissed the boy's nose. "Sleep tight, young one." And as he was gone, Ryou jumped out of bed and stormed to the bathroom, lifting his brows in anticipation…

The squeal that followed made Bakura stay at his young hikari's side until he was asleep, scolding him gently for running around after being tucked in.

The zit was gone.

line

Now, I know tooth paste most of the time doesn't work, but Ry's only at the beginning of puberty…mwahah. As I said, short and sweet. Review if you read it, please.