Tangerine

Epilogue:

The white light blinded everyone in the room and the last thing Malik remembers thinking before the light died down was, 'Oh Ra. I know it, I just know one of them is going to go the shadow realm…! What am I going to do?' It was less than a second later when it stopped and Malik found himself in a ball on the floor. He looked up immediately and found both Marik and Bakura standing in a state of shock on either side of the sofa. Malik blinked.

"A-Are you guys okay…?" He asked, sitting up and looking at them both.

They nodded unsurely.

"Good! Because now I'm going to kill you!" Malik jumped on Marik and slammed him to the ground, yelling about how stupid he was. And when he noticed Bakura tiptoeing away, he tackled him and gave him a few lumps as well. No, neither of them escaped.

"W-Wait a minute…!" Bakura gasped holding Malik by his forearms, "If we're still here, then what the hell did we send to the…?"

Malik scanned the room and looked over by the wall, "My TV! Oh no…" He huffed at the empty space that used to harbor their giant screen television. After saying a small prayer, he whirled around, "Now which one of you sent my television to the shadow realm!"

"He did it!"

"No, he did it!"

"Are you kidding me? I didn't send the damned TV to the shadow realm! That's a beginner's mistake! And I, for one, am no beginner. That's you." Marik folded his arms and muttered under his breath, "Hikari-stealer…"

"Say that to my face, Ishtar!" Bakura called, shaking his fist at the tanned boy.

Marik strutted up to him and stuck out his tongue, "Hikari-stealer, hikari-stealer, hikari-stealer!"

Bakura grabbed Marik's tongue and began to yank on it again and again while Marik's eyes went wide and he yelled incomprehensible things. Bakura was taking delight in this as he grinned and pulled harder, "Say you give up!"

"Mmf mm mmmf!" Marik mumbled, glaring up at Bakura. He took this as a challenge and they started fighting with their fists again. Malik was biting his nails on the edge of the scene, he wasn't as scared about them sending each other to the shadow realm now, but he feared for his beautiful furniture.

"W-What's going on in here…!"

Malik, Bakura and Marik stopped in their tracks, looking around the room slowly, searching for the source of that question. Their gaze quickly landed on the front door and the pink-haired boy who was standing in the doorway, a suitcase in his hand and a confused frown on his face. When no one said anything, he repeated his question yet again, "Uh… what's going on in here?"

"RYOU!" They all yelled. Malik was the first to run over to him and tackle him in a bone-crushing hug. "O-Oh, Ryou…! Y-You have no idea how happy I am to see you… no idea!"

He caught himself before he fell back from the force of Malik's hug, "W-Well, I'm glad to see you too, Malik… But I'm also extremely disappointed in you." His soft smile changed to a look of annoyance.

"B-But what did I do?" Malik wore a smile of unbelievable innocence, though he already knew what Ryou meant by being disappointed in him, "Oh… Listen, Ryou, I know what you said about keeping the yamis separate, but you don't understand, you see-"

"Finally!" Marik was up on his feet, and brushing himself off and pointing towards the pale boy standing next to him, "Ryou, it's about time! Bakura was trying to send me to the shadow realm!"

"No way! You started it!"

"I did not, that was all you!"

"One of you sent my precious television to the shadow realm!"

"Stop it right now." Ryou said calmly and walked over to the spot where the television once was. He looked at the empty spot then back at all three of the boys. "Now, without fighting or screaming, I would like someone to tell me what has been going on in my absence. And Marik, I pick you."

He grinned and cleared his throat, "Well, Ryou… it's kind of a long story, but oh well…! See, when Malik first went over to your house, Bakura was all upset because he was lonely. Eh, so, I kinda thought it would be a cool idea if Bakura could come over to our house. I drilled through your floor and broke him out… Little did I know that he was a hikari-stealing leech that is a lousy best friend!"

Ryou blinked, "… You drilled a hole in my home, Marik?"

"Ah, well…!" He shuffled his feet, "I-I did go out a steal the money for it to be fixed."

Bakura nodded, "And that's when the construction workers came and me and Malik went to a bunch of places and Marik followed us around!"

"And then Bakura started wearing dresses for Malik and he rubbed his stomach!"

"Then he tore off MY dress!"

"He sent the television to the shadow realm!"

"S-STOP!" Ryou cried, waving his arms about to get their attention, "Please… I don't think I quite understand… This is all so confusing."

Malik shook his head and bit his lip, "Ah… Okay, Ryou, let me have a go at it. You see, ever since I let Bakura stay over here, due to a little accident… They've been at each other's throats. And today, they almost sent each other to the shadow realm because Marik said Bakura was replacing you with me."

Ryou raised his eye brow at the silver-haired yami, blushing furiously, "Oh, I understood that for sure. Um, Bakura…? Is this true that you intended to replace me with my best friend?"

"Ah… NO! That's not true, Ryou, I missed you was all…" He finished lamely, glaring at Marik who was laughing at him. "Shut up…"

"Oh. Is that so, 'Kura?" Ryou sauntered over to his yami, a sickly-sweet smile on his face, "Well, if you missed me so terribly bad, then why didn't you just CALL! YOU BAKA! I'VE BEEN AWAY ALL WEEK, STUCK AT SOME TERRIBLE CRUMPET PARTY AND I THOUGHT YOU'D FORGOTTEN ALL ABOUT ME!"

Bakura quickly hid behind Marik and started to whine, "B-But, Ryou…!"

"Harsh." Marik and Malik said in unison.

Ryou turned on Marik, "And you! What's all this about drilling a hole in my floor? I-I mean, I guess you've fixed it by now, but… Stealing? And if I know you, it would've been from old women, am I correct?"

"Don't get your panties in a bunch." He huffed, "I did it for you, you should be excited that someone would waste a perfectly good Tuesday afternoon stealing five thousand dollars from the elderly. Ungrateful British…"

Bakura growled at him, "Watch it…"

"Oh, so now you're sticking up for THAT hikari, are you? You are such a fickle person. Which one do you want? Malik or Ryou? Well, I'll tell you one thing, if you're going to take Malik, I'm gonna take Ryou off your hands."

"You will do no such thing!" Bakura ran over to Ryou and picked him up. "Not a soul is taking my hikari away from me! Uh… Malik, I didn't try and take you away from Marik, but you were my bab… yami-sitter and I was making sure you didn't forget it!"

Ryou sighed, tired of all this arguing, "… Well, I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. As for you Malik, as far as I'm concerned, this was your fault. I told you not to put them in the same house…"

"But, I-"

"Aw, it's okay. But I'm not going to pay for you lost television…!" He called back before Bakura dragged him out of the door, slamming it behind them. When they were gone, Malik turned to his yami who was whistling innocently, trying to sneak into the kitchen.

"Marik…!"

"Uh, yes, Malik?"

"Golden Girls comes on in five minutes and you're going to go into the shadow realm and retrieve it!"

"Aw, what!"

Meanwhile, on the street, Ryou and Bakura were walking down the side walk and were almost to their house. Ever since they'd left Marik and Malik's house, they'd been walking in silence, side by side and in a minute, Bakura looked over at Ryou, who had initiated the silent treatment.

"… Ryou…! Stop ignoring me, you're acting like Malik…"

He turned away, "From what I've heard, Bakura dear, Malik has done everything but ignore you."

"But I just missed you was all. I wasn't thinking clearly. It's not my fault and Marik was mean to me after all." After receiving a troubling glance, Bakura amended, "Okay, okay… Maybe he did have a reason, but he was still overreacting. And Ryou, I did miss you a lot! Can you blame me if I wanted Malik to be my friend?"

He raised an eyebrow, but it had no effect. "Alright, Bakura. I forgive you, just this once. And I suppose having Malik for a friend isn't so bad… But I'm warning you Bakura. If you ever so much as look at another hikari, I'll…! Humph! I brought you into this world and I'll take you out."

"…! Uh, excuse me?"

.THE END….

Her Sweetness: Thank you, thank you. .:bows:. My next fanfics will be coming soon. Yes, I have chosen out of about ten ideas… And I had no help! Oh well. Thus is the woes of a fanfics writer and I'm sure you all know those woes.

Please wait for my next fic, I'm dieing to show you! .: Chibi smile:.