…
And I forgot what they were about…
Tangerine
Care and Raising of a Yami:
"Five thousand dollars? You've gotta be kidding me!"
It was Monday, around noon or maybe a little after and Malik was on the phone in the kitchen. He'd been calling contractors all morning long to get someone to fix Ryou's living room before he got back. Five thousand dollars was the lowest price that he'd heard yet, but it was way too much for his budget. But of course, he did have to find some way to pay for it. After all, he could just expect Ryou to come home and shovel out five grand for what his yami had done.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Ishtar, but that is the price for what you've described." Came the man's voice from the phone.
"Ugh… well, okay. I'll take it. When can you come out?"
"Let me see…" Papers were heard and muffled voices, "Is Wednesday too late?"
"No, that's fine… Thank you." The line went dead and Malik sighed. It had only been a day taking care of Bakura and already he was in debt. He really didn't expect this till the fifth day.
"Bakura, will you come here, please?" Malik called standing up from the table. There were two voices in the living room and they sounded frantic. Then a bang. And at last, Bakura came stumbling out, his hair messy and he was sweating. "What were you doing?"
"Thumb wrestling." Bakura said, smiling, "I won."
"You did not!" A voice called.
Malik rolled his eyes, "Anyway. I've called a contractor and he said he'd be able to come out and fix the mess at your house on Wednesday. Since you can't go back to your house until Wednesday, I guess you'll just have to stay here… But only till Wednesday, alright?"
He nodded enthusiastically.
"Besides… this might work out for me too. I mean, I wont have to walk down the street just to give you water and pat you. This way you're close by."
"Ugh! Y-You know, there's more to the care and raising of a yami than giving us water and petting us! I mean, there's… food, love, attention… I dunno, we're not pets!"
"Food, love, and attention? You know you just described how someone takes care of a cat or a dog. And besides that, don't tell me how to raise a yami! I mean, look at me, I have Marik and he's doing just fine!"
"Just fine? Look at how screwed in the head he is!"
"He came that way, it wasn't me!"
"Stop talking about me!"
Malik groaned at his yami's hearing of their conversation. He then smiled at Bakura, holding up a small round can that said 'Pretty Kitty Food', "Lookie, here. I have something just for you…!" He said in a singsong voice.
"C-Cat food!" Bakura looked pale.
"… What? You don't want any?"
"NO!"
He shrugged, "You're just strange you know!"
"And you know nothing about taking care of someone!"
"You're five thousand years old! You should know how to take care of yourself, you big kid!"
"Stop all this yelling!" Marik popped his head in, scowling, "I can't even hear SpongeBob! And you all need to - Ooh! Pretty Kitty Food!" He trotted over to Malik and snatched the little can away, going back into the living room with heart bubbles floating around him.
Malik looked back at Bakura, "In your face!"
"…"
The younger of the two grinned, watching as the other's face fell. He hummed to himself, going into the living room after his yami. Bakura followed, halfway sulking and halfway in shock that his best friend actually enjoyed cat food. When they got into the room, all the lights were off and Marik was sitting on the left side of the couch, chugging cat food.
Bakura sat on the other side, not wanting to get spayed by the bits of cat food that were flying around. Malik, naturally, sat in the middle.
"What are we watching?" Bakura asked, looking at the television and not recognizing the show. It looked odd, a yellow square who was singing and giggling, "… And why are we looking at dancing cheese?"
Marik tilted his head, "Mmf mmm? Mm mmf mfm, mmm! Mm?"
"Swallow the damn cat food, first!"
He blinked then swallowed, "I said, it's not cheese. For Ra's sake, haven't you ever heard of SpongeBob?"
"No. I only watch things like Silence of the Lambs. That's a good movie." Bakura nodded, smiling to himself, "That and Blood Bath 5. But don't go see Blood Bath 1, 2, 3 or 4, they all suck."
Malik sighed, "Um, okay, Bakura… Oh, I almost forgot. Marik, I found a contractor for Ryou's house. He's coming out on Wednesday."
"… And I should care, why?"
"B-Because! The whole thing will cost more than a house payment and it's all your fault! So, I've decided that you will be the one to come up with money for it. In total, it's going to cost $5,000. And that's why you should care."
Marik dropped his cat food can, "And how am I supposed to get all this money?"
"Oh, stop it." He sighed, "Just use the normal way we get spending money. The only change is, you will probably have to be on the streets all day to get that much."
"Isn't it your turn?"
"Yeah, but I did it last time. And besides, I hate doing that… It's awful and disgusting. You always have fun though, cause you get more people than me."
By this time, Bakura's jaw was on the floor. Being the kind of sick minded guy he was, he was thinking all kinds of things as this conversation continued on. Images ran through his mind and as weird as this all sounded to him, he really didn't mind the images.
"Um…" He decided to say something, "Y-You guys… do that? Walk the streets, I mean… for money…?"
Marik blinked, "Well, yeah. I thought you knew? It's a lot of fun, you should try it."
"Uh…" Bakura winced.
Malik growled, "It isn't fun. It's a pain in the neck to go out there every time we need money! And I always have to have the old people."
"Because that's all you can handle!"
"Is not!"
"Hold on! Wait a minute!" Bakura stood up, his eyes bugging out of his head, "You go out and… and do that with old people? Old ladies? Old guys? Oh, that's absolutely disgusting! Even for you!"
Both Marik and Malik starred at him, oblivious confused looks on their faces. All of a sudden, after a moment of silence, Marik shouted, "Oh! I get what you're talking about, Bakura…! No, we don't do that!"
Malik looked at his yami, "What's he mean?"
Marik whispered it in his hikari's ear, the Light's eyes rounded when he was done. He stood up and cried out, "Bakura! That was NOT what we were talking about! What do you take us for…? We were talking about going out and robbing people on the street as they passed us!"
Bakura slowly sat back down and sighed, halfway laughing out of relief, "… Wow. Oh Ra, I thought you meant…"
"No!" Marik began to laugh as well. Malik didn't find this funny in the least. It made him worry about the things they actually did. What did people think when they saw himself and Marik standing on a street corner almost everyday?
As Malik contemplated this and the laughing died down, Marik went back to watching SpongeBob, and a little light went off in Bakura's head. He made a little whining noise in the back of his throat and Malik gave no notice. Bakura then nudged the Light's arm with his head and Malik looked down at him. He had positioned himself so that his head was on Malik's lap.
"W-What are you doing?" Malik squealed.
Bakura gave him surprisingly large eyes, starring up at him. "…"
Malik tilted his head, thinking of what he could possibly want. "… Oh no! Bakura, you said it yourself, you are not a cat! There's no way in hell that I'm going to do something like… rubbing your stomach!"
"Ryou gave you instructions, right? C'mon, then…"
"Ha ha ha! Yeah, Malik," When Malik turned around, Marik was right there, grinning and trying to hold in his obvious laughter, "You should do it if Ryou told you to. And don't you want to make Bakura happy?"
He didn't even finish that sentence with a straight face.
Suddenly, both Bakura and Marik busted out into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. Malik bit and ran out of the room, upstairs, "You both are such losers, I swear!"
When he left, Marik calmed down, saying to Bakura, "Man, you're a real weirdo…"
"Tch! So are you."
He nodded, "I guess."
They sat in silence for a moment, until Bakura turned to his friend, "So, does that mean you'll do it instead?"
"What? NO!"
"… Aw, man…!"
