Her Sweetness: "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest from home I've ever been." Sam, Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring.

I can totally relate, boy.

A Tale of Two Idiots

Chapter 23:

The broken streets glowed dangerously. At this time of day, no one was in this part of the city, the Outer Limits. As the golden gate surrounding the Inner City grew smaller and smaller in the distance, it dawned on them now that they hadn't really been here since the palace was built. Old memories seemed come rushing back as they looked upon the streets of old.

Now, as deserted as the aged neighborhood appeared, they knew better. They may have lived the high life, above everything petty for the past three and a half weeks, but they were told of things that went on down here in the slums. Drug dealers hid in the shadows of torn buildings and murderers watched curiously from the safety of under large oak trees, long leaves and branches hiding their satisfied smiles.

From inside of the leather interior of the limousine, a young Pharaoh looked out into the night, the full moon hovering just above a few houses to the left, and although they were moving at a good pace, the moon kept up with him, keeping it's vigil eye on any and every mishap or slip he might make this night.

Yami turned away from the darkness, over to the tinted window separating him and his hikari from the driver. He leaned to the side, pressing a button on the side of the door and spoke into it, "How much longer until we arrive?"

"U-Uh, not much longer now, Pharaoh. As a matter of fact, it's just around the bend, here…"

"Good." The button was tapped yet again as he turned to Yugi who was on the other side of the seat, starring out of his own window, "Yugi."

"Huh?"

"We're making this a quick in and out trip. We go in, up the stairs, into the bedroom and get the rings, get it?"

"Got it."

"Good."

"…" Yugi looked back from his yami and out through the window, pausing for a moment before speaking again, "You know, Yami, I don't know why we have to go do this. You've got to admit, this is servant's work."

"Oh, hell, no. Haven't you learned anything from today? These people just can't get it right. Putting this kind of thing in their hand is like dooming it from the start."

He blinked and nodded in agreement.

Soon, the limo came to a slow halt and a voice from the speaker on the side of the car door told the Pharaohs that they had arrived. As the chauffer came out of his seat and opened the door on Yami's side, he and his hikari stepped out onto the broken pavement. Right in front of them was a house that used to be alive with people running in and out, sometimes a few arguments could be heard through the open windows, or Ryou's pleading with Bakura to let him brush his hair. Now all those things seemed so far away as one of the shutters for a top floor window broke off and fell into a bush, scarring away a rabid squirrel.

Yugi cringed, "Ugh… Y-Yami, I think-"

A foreign finger coming up to his lips and then Yami's order for the driver to quickly open the front door silenced him. He did so in a hurry and bowed as the two boys made their way up the driveway and through the rickety old threshold. As they entered the living room, it didn't surprise them the entire house was covered in dust and most of the furniture was either broken or stolen.

They walked through the living room, servant in tow, "Yami, didn't Ryou used to have a karaoke machine?"

"Well, yeah. But, much like his aromatic machine and cappuccino machine, they were put on the Black Market and sold for parts of a nuclear bomb."

"… How do you-"

"Don't ask. It involves a lot of bloodshed and monkey tongues."

"…"

The conversation was little to none until they reached the upstairs bedroom. Of course, the upstairs still looked mostly untouched. Most of the criminals that enter the houses so close to the gate are usually in a hurry and don't bother with the upstairs. On the bed was, as expected, the white comforter from Yugi's imagination.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Yami sighed and got down on his hands and knees and knelt on the right side of the bed, as did Yugi on the left. They lifted the bed sheets simultaneously, looking underneath.

"What do you see?" Yugi asked, head all the way under.

"Um…" Yami moved a few clothes out of the way, to see deeper, "Some underwear… a CD…"

"I found a pair of sunglass."

"Here's a camera."

Yugi was feeling around with his arm and pulled out a can. "… This is whipped cream."

His yami and stopped his searching and peeked over the edge of the bed, looking at the white can that Yugi was shaking. They both were silent for a moment before going, in unison, "… Hmm."

The can was discarded to the other side of the room and they continued their search. After five minutes of finding everything that could possibly be under a bed, everything from candied yams to the lyrics to Louie Louie to small bags of sand. Finally, as soon as the boys were about to call it quits, something shiny caught both their eyes.

"… Yami? Do you see what I see?"

"I do, Yugi! The rings!"

They reached for each one at the same time and pulled back, out from under the bed. Moonbeams coming from the open window hit each object and sent a golden glow bouncing off the gray and dust-covered walls. The millennium eye on each ring starred up at the Pharaohs, as they grinned back.

"Perfect…"

Somewhere, riding on the moon-covered sands of Egypt, were four boys; two of them had previously been feeling rather low and bothered about a recent death of a friend of theirs. But their troubles were soon forgotten when Marik suggested that maybe the radio would shut them up for a few minutes. They were now happily singing along with the song that, according to them, was the story of their lives.

"Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I'm home bound!" Malik sang from the backseat, as Ryou chimed in for the next bar.

"Starring blankly ahead, just making my way, making a way through the crowd!"

And they continued to sing rather off-key to the sounds coming from the speakers in the front seat. Since both young hikaris were in back, their yamis were in front; grave frowns chiseled on their faces as if someone had told them some very depressing news.

They sighed in unison as the chorus came on again.

"I can't take it anymore!" Marik shouted. He'd had just about enough of this torture that had been going on for the past hour or so. Since he'd been the only one driving he thought that he, of all people, shouldn't be burdened with bad singing. He really preferred no singing whatsoever.

"'Cause everything's so wrong and I don't belong living in your precious memories!" The boys screeched in unison, hitting a note that could break glass if there was any around.

Bakura shuddered.

"Hey!" Marik whipped his head around, "One more peep out of you two and I'll crash us into a ditch!"

Malik and Ryou blinked. Ryou whined finally at the tanned yami, "But, Marik, we have to sing! It frees our souls."

"Yeah, well, you're killing mine."

Malik huffed, "Marik, you're just jealous, that's all."

"Jealous? Of what! Of the power to cripple people with my voice?"

"Can't we just have some quiet?" Bakura glared at them all and without another word, he turned off the radio along with Vanessa Carlton and both his hikari and Malik groaned. Though, after having sang for the past hour, relentlessly, the boys were rather tired and settled down, merely whispering to one another on occasion.

Bakura had been eerily silent just about the whole trip, which was oddly uncharacteristic. About fifteen minutes or so from the turning off of the radio, he began to get restless as well.

"…" He looked at Marik, whose eyes were on the sand as they drove on. He turned to the rearview mirror and saw Malik and Ryou half asleep, leaning on each other's shoulders. He sighed in boredom, "… Hey, Marik, are we there yet?"

"… No." Marik glanced at him, and then turned back to the wheel.

"Oh…"

It was about a moment later before another question was asked, that seemed familiar.

"… We there yet?"

"No."

"…"

"…"

"How about now?"

"No!"

"What about n-"

"No! Bakura! Just go to sleep or do something quietly. When we get there, you'll know, okay?"

He rolled his eyes, "Oh really? Well, I'm pretty sure that if I go to sleep, I'll be the last to know."

"Jeez! Fine then, if you don't think I'm going to tell you, then… I dunno, you'll see some kind of sign or something… Good grief…"

"… Fine." He crossed his arms, looking upwards, the full moon starring right back at him, "A sign…"

The sky was unbelievably clear this night. It was probably the brightness of the moon, reflecting on all the stars in the sky and came back to the two beings flying no higher than fifty feet above the ground. The white wings of the small bird flapped up and down faster than they ever had before, and harder too. The cargo it was carrying was no small feat for such a small creature, a 92lb boy, that is.

Actually, if anyone thought that it should be the bird that was complaining, it wasn't. Mr. Dove's rather small talons were clutching the boy's shirt collar and practically strangling him, his face had been a nice blueberry color for the past hour and a half now.

"Ack! Uh… M-Mr. Dove? D-Do you think you could loosen your grip for just a bit? I-I'm dyin' here!" Mokuba managed to choke out, looking up at the dove with wide, pleading eyes.

'It's not my fault. This was your idea and what a stupid one it was, too. A dove carrying a 12-year-old boy, have you ever heard of such a thing? Why can't you carry yourself?' Mr. Dove was just about fed up with all this whining.

"Uh, gee, I don't know. Maybe it's because I can't FLY!"

He scowled, 'You'd better hope I don't drop you. Who do you think you are, talking to me like that?'

"I think I'm Mokuba Kaiba, heir to the Kaiba Corporation! And if you don't watch your tone, I'll have my brother roast you and feed you to Joey!" Mokuba folded his arms, mumbling, "Stupid… dove… should have never brought him…"

Without another word or thought, Mr. Dove turned his head away and opened his claws, letting go of the boy who was soon freefalling and screaming adult words at the bird who flipped him off and headed for Bermuda.

"… Hey, you hear that?" Bakura turned his head around. Suddenly, he'd heard something faint, but now it was gone altogether. He looked back at Marik who shot him a confused look. Bakura reiterated, "Did you hear that sound?"

"No, what did it sound like?"

"I dunno. Like someone in pain or something."

Marik blinked and looked in the rearview mirror, seeing that the hikaris were sleeping peacefully. He glanced back at his friend, "You're hearing things. No one's in pain." He thought about that for a moment and reached under the seat, soon handing Bakura a disposable camera, "But if you see anything cool, snap it and we'll have a laugh later."

As Bakura took the camera and tucked it in his back pocket, a scream reached his ears, as well as Marik who turned to his fellow yami, identical looks on their faces. The scream came closer and closer until it ended in a 'oomph' and a rather small being landed in Bakura's lap.

"Ahhh!" Both yamis screamed and Marik swerved the jeep to an abrupt halt, which shook the hikaris awake.

"W-What's going on?" Ryou questioned, rubbing his eye with the back of his hand.

"Yeah…" Malik yawned, "I was having my favorite dream… The one where I'm riding a black stallion into the sunset and the stallion is wearing all my clothes."

Bakura had been sliding back into his seat, scooting whatever had fallen on him to the floor, "Jeez! What the hell is going on!"

Marik noted the boy who uncurled from the ball he had rolled himself into on the way down. He nodded to Bakura, "It seems to be raining boys."

"… so, is this my sign?"

"No!"

"Hallelujah!" The boy stood up and cheered, grinning from ear to ear, "I'm alive! … A-And I found you guys! Ha ha, oh yeah! I knew I could do it!"

Malik blinked, "Mokuba? Is that you?"

"You bet your dirty buttons it is!" He nodded proudly and sat back down in Bakura's lap though he was unwelcome. "Me and my dove flew all the way here to find you guys and see what was taking you so long."

Ryou whispered to his yami, "Do you see any doves, 'Kura?"

"Nope," He whispered back, looking up, "I say this kid's gone nuts, let's eat him before he eats us."

Mokuba smacked him, "No! You don't understand!"

"Look, Mokuba," Malik explained, "We were on our way back to Domino but we have to get back to Happy Chicken first for some faster transportation."

He blinked, and undid Bakura's seatbelt then redid it around both himself and Bakura, for safety's sake. He pointed northward and shouted, "Hurry it up then, Marik! We've gotta get back to Domino! I'll give ya all the details on the way but just drive! Drive like the wind!"

"…" Marik frowned and turned back to the wheel, shifting the small jeep into drive and they started to slowly drive off, going about five miles an hour.