Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi

Author's Comments: Happy Halloween! ...What do you mean it's not Halloween anymore? You have imaginations. Pretend, people! Pretend!

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On Evil Singing Store Displays and Fluffy White Revenge

Ryou had discovered some time ago that leaving Bakura at home alone was a 50/50 gamble; either he lounged around doing nothing or he broke something. So on Monday evening when he had to go shopping, Ryou took Bakura along with him. This had become a routine, every week they went shopping. Bakura hardly complained anymore. It was the beginning of another holiday season and the Halloween displays had already gone up across town.

Ryou wanted pumpkins and pumpkin filling for pie and maybe another fog machine. Bakura had overused the last one over the year and it had died. Yami had killed it. Ryou hadn't been there, but he'd heard that Bakura had snuck into Yami's bedroom and used it to convince the other that he was having a nightmare about his High Priest dethroning him and using Egypt as a testing ground for his latest self-promotion campaign. Bakura had pulled a t-shirt with Seto's face on it over Yami's head declaring that everyone in Egypt now had to wear one and his screaming had woken up Sugorouko and Yugi who had had to physically hold Yami back when he realized that it had been a trick and tried to send Bakura to the shadow realm, or at least beat the crap out of him. Bakura had been rather pleased with himself. The police had even gone out to the Game Shop when Yami had set the shirt on fire in the front yard and accidentally singed the grass.

That had been last week. Ryou was surprised that the fog machine had lasted that long, considering all that Bakura had done with it.

"Ryou are we out of steak?"

"Hmm? Yea, I think so." Ryou answered shaking his head to clear it as they passed through the sliding glass doors of Wal-Mart.

Bakura remained suspiciously quiet. They would be getting more steak tonight. Ryou wasn't overly fond of steak, mainly because it was expensive, but when Bakura got it into his head that he wanted steak it was hard to tell him no. Bakura was stubborn. The first time Ryou had told him "no, they would not be buying steak" Bakura had calmly replied "Ryou, you can buy it, or I can steal it.". Ryou had bought the steak but just the same it sometimes appeared in the refrigerator even when he didn't.

Another reason Ryou disliked steak was that it was a hassle to prepare. Every time they ate steak for dinner they would argue over how done it absolutely had to be and to cook it fully (and have Bakura eat it without complaining – yes, he ate it either way, Bakura never wasted food) it had to be perfectly seasoned which required Ryou's full attention. Despite the fact that his food may have tasted like it, Ryou had no aspirations to becoming a chef.

The one time Ryou had not prepared steak after buying it, he had found Bakura using the grill outside to house a bonfire over which he was dangling the steak like a marshmallow. Ryou wondered if Yugi ever had these problems. He doubted it.

The carts had not been taken care of yet, so Ryou stopped to take one from the entryway. Bakura waited patently, probably anticipating tonight's dinner and plotting a back-up plan to be executed should Ryou say no to the steak or run out of money.

A teenager and her three kids filed past him and Bakura backed up a step, scrunching his nose at the little brats, mother included, as she was explaining to one of them just why she was dropping them off at daddy's house that evening. Bakura was not fond of children. For that matter, he was not fond of parents who had that many kids and then told them that they were annoying and dumped them off on someone else. Bakura was surprisingly opinionated about modern society. Unfortunately, he often shared those opinions with Ryou at night when he was bored. Ryou would then calmly tell his yami that he was a hypocrite (in soothing, understanding words if he was in a benevolent mood) and if the complaining continued he would tell Bakura that he sounded like Yami which would cause a massive explosion and end the conversation immediately.

Bakura backed up another step to allow the entourage room to pass. It was at that second that Ryou happened to look over at his yami, seeing the entire horrific incident as it unfolded. Bakura had been standing in front of a Halloween display, a skeleton pirate standing against the wall, and when he backed up it was activated. Music started playing and a plastic skeleton hand moved, jabbing Bakura in the back, startling the thief. Bakura's reaction was instant. He turned around and decked the thing. Bakura yelped at the sudden noise and movement, spun on his heel and delivered a solid right hook across the poor thing's jaw. The display wobbled mid-dance, music slowing as its broken jaw swung awkwardly. Several people turned to stare at the scene in shock and Ryou blushed a deep red in embarrassment. Bakura blinked confusedly at the display wondering what had just happened. After a moment, Ryou gathered himself enough to grab Bakura and haul him inside the store, away from the eyes of the people watching them warily.

Bakura pulled free of him and followed behind, brooding. As they passed by the claw machine, a little girl was pressing her hands to the glass and making whimpering noises. The claw had stopped with her prize, an orange teddy bear, over the chute and refused to let it go. Her mother was consoling her and trying to steer her away, explaining that sometimes these things happened. Bakura slammed a fist on the side of the machine and the bear fell into the chute. The little girl squealed with delight, hopping up and down but Bakura ignored her, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he grumbled to himself.

"Bakura!" Ryou hissed, under his breath when they were standing inside the doors. "Don't hit the displays!" He could not believe Bakura had done that.

"It hit me first!" Bakura returned in his defense.

Ryou ignored Bakura, steering the cart toward the deli counter. He just prayed the rest of the trip would go by quickly. The only good thing that could possibly come of this would be that Bakura would likely forget about the steak.

Ryou ordered a pound of turkey, a half pound of swiss, and a fourth a pound of roast beef. The roast beef wasn't for dinner. The roast beef was for Bakura, to keep him quiet as they walked through the store. Ryou handed Bakura his snack and put the rest in the cart, moving on to the doughnuts.

Ryou loved doughnuts, especially pumpkin doughnuts when they were in season. He took a dozen and set them in the cart.

"I want a doughnut. …For later." Bakura said when Ryou gave him a strange look.

Bakura didn't often ask for sweets. Sometimes he ate Ryou's sweets but usually he didn't ask.

"Ok." Ryou said, taking another piece of wax paper to wrap it in. "What kind?"

Bakura pointed to a chocolate doughnut with chocolate frosting. "That one."

Ryou bagged the doughnut and they proceeded down isle one.

Isle one housed the cappuccino mix they were out of. Ryou bought English Toffee mix and made it at home. Bakura never drank it, preferring black coffee when he drank the stuff at all, but every time Malik came by he and Ryou would drink together while they talked. For Malik, Ryou always stirred the drink with a cinnamon stick. When Bakura was around he would make fun of it, saying they looked like two housewife socialites and Malik would tell him off with large words that Bakura couldn't understand, laced with just enough dirty language that the point came across to anger the thief, all delivered in a horribly fake English accent that made Ryou laugh. Ryou enjoyed Malik's company. He wished Yugi would stop by more often. But then he guessed that sometimes he made Yugi nervous, or maybe it was just Bakura.

Ryou stole a glance at the former spirit and was immediately sorry that he had because apparently Bakura had gotten tired of using the meat as a snack and was now digging into the bread to make himself a sandwich. Wasn't there anyone on security duty?

Isle two was where Ryou picked up canned green beans and where Bakura decided that the sandwich he'd constructed in isle one was a little dry. Ryou hoped that people checked their seals before they bought their bottled foods.

By isle four, Ryou noticed a large steak in the bottom of the cart. He knew better than to argue.

Isle five was Halloween candy and Ryou grabbed a bag of candy corn for the candy dish at home; something for his friends to munch on, should they stop by.

Ryou stopped at the end of the isle and thought for a moment. He couldn't think of anything else they needed. He turned to head toward the checkouts.

"You're forgetting your strawberry things." Bakura said and Ryou stopped as he remembered that he was out of bagels but still had cream cheese. Why didn't they ever run out together? It was like potato chips and dip. They never ran out together either.

Ryou turned around to head back to the refrigerated section.

When they finally reached the checkout, Ryou chose the line near the Duel Monsters cards so he could chose a pack. There was already another boy there looking at the cards and Ryou reached around him for a Shadow of Infinity pack. He knew his chances were slim to none, but for even a chance at those Demon Gods, he'd be buying this pack for some time.

As Ryou was silently praying over his cards, Bakura watched the little fool in front of them trying to steel the cards from another pack. Bakura growled and finally snatched them away from the kid.

"Look," he snapped, crimson-brown eyes narrowing, "if you're gonna steal something, do it right. Punks like you are a disgrace to respectable thieves who actually know what they're doing."

The kid looked up at Bakura in shock and fear until finally he scrambled away before Bakura could kick his ass the way the look in his eyes said he wanted to. Ryou sighed and returned his attention to the line.

It was cold when they got home and Bakura was complaining. Ra's children were strong, hardened, and proud but they were not immune to the cold. Bakura hid from the snow like a child hides from monsters under the bed. All winter he would be irritable and grouchy and Ryou was not looking forward to it. He was glad he had another month or two yet before he had to deal with it. For now, Bakura could be won with hot chocolate and a heavy sweater. Normally Bakura hated chocolate and sweaters but for some reason when it was cold he never complained about having them.

Ryou sat at the table with Bakura while they sipped their drinks. Sitting at the table with Bakura when he was wearing a sweater and holding a mug of hot chocolate was probably Ryou's favorite thing to do in the world. It was strange to see Bakura, the Great Thief King, that way; modern and domestic, looking like he actually belonged in this world. It was surreal, like having lunch with a fairy tale creature or riding an elephant to school.

While Ryou was pondering this, Bakura got out his new cards and started going over them. A few he tucked away for later, but most of them he slid across the table at Ryou. Bakura never kept the cards he wasn't interested in. This reminded Ryou of his own pack of cards (bought and paid for…unlike someone's) and he took them out to see if he'd gotten anything. His rare was Goddess of Extermination – Ruin, a super rare. It wasn't a Demon God, but Ryou particularly liked it. He developed an instant fondness for that card. Maybe he could get Bakura to summon it in his next Shadow Duel against Yami. And it wasn't just alluring; it really was a good card too. Ryou loved it.

Bakura looked up, probably distracted by the sparkles dancing around his hikari's head, and leaned over the table to get a peek at Ryou's cards. He got a good look and frowned, retreating to his own seat with a thump. (He's jealous.) Ryou smiled to himself.

Ryou made the steak for dinner and afterward retreated to his room to finish his homework while Bakura watched tv. The tv seldom kept Bakura entertained for long. Bakura was the type to rather do something than watch others do it but he was content from the dinner and had deemed it too cold at 42 degrees to go outside so he settled down on the couch and started channel surfing.

At midnight, Bakura turned off the television and went upstairs. Ryou's room was on the left of the stairwell, Bakura's on the right. Ryou's light was off and Bakura knew that the other was asleep. The house was silent and dark, save for the moonlight flooding the carpet below the window at the end of the hall. Bakura turned the knob of Ryou's door, letting himself into the room.

Ryou's room was well-lit by the silver light that shone through the teen's parted curtains. Ryou was curled up under his comforter. The cats were on the bed with him. They always slept with Ryou, the Cat of Ill Omen at his feet and the Dark Cat with White Tail curled against his side. To Bakura, they were nuisances, tools born of the shadows for their master's purpose but it was not with malice that he thought these things. Bakura understood that to Ryou they were a comfort and as such, that became their purpose so Bakura did not object to their presence. The Dark Cat with White Tail raised its head, watching Bakura watch his master sleep. After a moment, Bakura turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.

Bakura entered into his own room, right next to Ryou's on the right, and turned the light on inside, closing the door behind him. Bakura's room had once been one of two guest rooms; it was slightly smaller than Ryou's and not small enough in Bakura's opinion. To compensate, the room was a mess. If one would ask Bakura why he never cleaned his room he might reply that it seemed cozier that way, more lived in, more full. If one would ask Ryou, he would say that Bakura was lazy.

Bakura stepped over the objects in his way, walking on the clothes, and arrived at the bed. Snatching the pair of black silk boxers he found tossed into a heap there and quickly changed his clothes for bed, flinging his shirt in the general direction of a half buried clothes hamper across the room and leaving the pants on the floor where they'd fallen.

Originally, Ryou had insisted that Bakura help with the laundry but that was before… the incident. After the incident, Ryou had simply installed the hamper and chosen a day to do the laundry for him. The incident was never spoken of again.

Bakura climbed under the covers and shivered. It just wasn't fair that you had to warm the blankets up before they could warm you up. He had heard once of something called "an electric blanket" that could warm itself up, but when he'd asked Ryou about it Ryou had laughed hysterically and said that the day he could open his window and catch a flying pig was when he could have one of those blankets. Bakura was pretty certain that pigs still could not fly. He frowned at the memory.

At some point Bakura had fallen asleep, curled in on himself to fight the cold that didn't really exist. Perhaps the temperature had fallen slightly outside but only someone with cold-paranoia could claim that they felt that in the house. He looked rather like his light in that position, like a child, and only the faint evil grin tugging at his lips betrayed the image.

Bakura was dreaming of Yami.

The former Pharaoh was on his knees before the Great Bakura, who stood over him laughing at the image of his victory. Yami, his body adorned with golden bangles and framed in tight leather pants (for it is a common element of dreams to combine such things) raised his hands to his better, admitting defeat. "You have finally beaten me, Bakura. I admit my defeat. You have won all seven of the items, you have ultimate power now and I could never stand against you."

Ryou appeared, dressed in white and holding a red cushion, atop which was a large, regal crown. Ryou bowed before Bakura, who accepted the crown with an evil laugh. Suddenly he was dressed in black, a long dark cape billowing out around him as he sat on a large throne. Seto Kaiba and Yami bowed before him, now wearing the clothes of peasants and offered him a drink and food on a silver tray. In his hand he held a golden chain and at the end of it was the dragon Osiris, collared and restrained. Malik and Marik approached his throne to deliver a report, led to him by Ryou who was now dressed in silver bracelets and fine silk. Mokuba entered the room dragging a case with the letters B.C emblazoned on it in red.

In his bed, Bakura rolled onto his back, chuckling in the dark. A pair of eyes widened slightly at this, an amused grin spreading across a shadowed face.

In his dream, Ryou's cats jumped down onto the arms of his throne. They rubbed against him, nuzzling his arms and face. But something was wrong. They smelled strange. Something tugged at Bakura's consciousness as he tried to place that smell that should not be there. It smelled like … roses and flowers. Roses and flowers? Bakura turned to look at one of the cats only to find that it was now pink. And the other cat was pink too. Bakura panicked.

In his bed, Bakura's smile vanished, replaced by a disturbed frown.

Seto's hair was pink too, and Ryou's and his throne and his clothes. Everything was pink! And flower petals had started to fall from the ceiling. They were covering the floor and the sun was shining. Malik was wearing a dress! Marik was playing the piano. And there were bunnies, bunnies everywhere. Ryou was petting them and squealing and Yami picked one up, holding up to Bakura's nose.

Bakura's eyes flew open, heart racing, panting in terror, only to find the bunny was sitting on his chest, staring back at him, wiggling its nose at him. A CUTE LITTLE FLUFFY WHITE BUNNY! STARING RIGHT AT HIM!

Bakura screamed.

Ryou bolted up at the sound of screaming coming from the next room. He wasted no time, scrambling out of bed, tripping on his way to the door and stumbling to Bakura's room. Ryou threw the door open, slapping the light switch on the wall.

The first thing Ryou noticed were the bunnies. There were fluffy white bunnies everywhere but mostly they were in Bakura's bed.

The second thing Ryou noticed was that the room had the overwhelming smell of roses, like someone had dumped a bottle of rose-scented perfume on the carpet.

And the third thing he noticed was Yami, standing at the foot of Bakura's bed, laughing his head off. Bakura probably hadn't noticed him yet as he was still screaming in horror. A terrified bunny was sitting on his chest paralyzed with fear at the noise.

Ryou giggled, he couldn't help it; he broke out into laughter at the sight as Bakura screamed on his bed. Eventually the screaming stopped and Ryou went to Bakura's bed to retrieve the bunny as Bakura huffed and gasped for air.

Bakura watched Ryou collect the animal and that was when he noticed Yami, still trying to get over his laughter at the foot of his bed.

Ryou casually stepped out of the way as the situation began to sink in and Bakura turned murderous eyes on the former pharaoh.

"Got'cha." Yami declared simply when he'd caught his breath and then he slowly backed himself toward the door and waved goodbye as he disappeared into the hallway.

Bakura leaped after him, disturbing the bunnies on the bed, and promptly tripped over a game system that he'd left in the middle of the floor, sending him sprawling across the rose-smelling carpet.

Yami returned to the doorway, holding up a camcorder and waving it tantalizingly in front of him. "Happy Halloween, Bakura." he said with a grin before leaving with a satisfied smirk.

Bakura screamed out in rage from his position on the floor.

"You f...ing #&$()! When I get ahold of you I'm gonna #$&$$&$#!

And Bakura scrambled to his feet, chasing down the hallway after Yami.

Ryou sighed as he heard the crash of his other tripping down the staircase in his haste. "And where are you going to sleep tonight?" Ryou asked the bunny, holding it up to look at. The bunny twitched its nose and flicked its ear in reply.

Bakura never did catch Yami. The next day, Ryou returned the bunnies and argued the tape off Yami. It wasn't fair after all – Bakura didn't have a tape of Yami screaming like a girl with a Seto t-shirt on. Ryou let Bakura destroy the tape with a smile. He'd tucked away a copy of it for later.

And the roses smell never did wash out of the carpet – which severely pissed Bakura off as it was the first time he'd taken the effort to clean his room and it had all been in vain. No, the smell had to wear out. After about two days Bakura became desperate and started burning incense but the result was always the same: dragon's blood and roses, black magic and roses, desert sands and roses… One night he simply abandoned the room entirely for the couch in the living room and it was two months before he went back.

Ryou hosted a party for Halloween. Yami came as a vampire.

Bakura set his cape on fire.

Ryou had lost track of the score. But he thought maybe Bakura was ahead.

At the end of the day, Bakura, slumped into the kitchen chair, the beads in his hair clinking as they swung against each other beneath the bandanna covering his hair. Ryou smiled as he placed a mug of hot chocolate in front of his yami and sat down with one himself, adjusting his wings; light and dark; against the back of the chair.

"Bakura?"

Bakura grunted back, burying his nose in the steam from his mug.

"What were you dreaming about when Yami showed up that night?"

Bakura frowned and Ryou, who was observing the other carefully, swore a faint blush had colored his cheeks as well.

"I don't recall butting in on your dreams, hikari."

Ryou smiled. "All out of swear words for the night?"

Bakura sighed. "I could go upstairs and find some more in my carpet."

Ryou giggled. "I kinda liked the expression on Yami's face once his costume was put out. It was kinda purple."

Bakura snickered. "Yea, it's what he gets for smelling up my room like that."

Ryou let that hang in the air as he finished his hot cocoa. He'd overheard Marik at the party, talking about getting in on Bakura's "game". Things were about to get interesting. He hoped Marik wouldn't go after Yami, it would seem like they were ganging up on him. If things got too bad, he might have to switch sides for a while. But that was ok. That's just how things went.

Ryou stood, straightening his dress, and gathered the cups to fill with water in the sink.

Bakura started pulling the beads from his hair. Halloween wasn't so bad, probably his favorite of Ryou's holidays. Maybe next year he would go as a dark king. He could summon Duel Monsters as his servants. Bakura grinned evilly, plotting his setup for next year.

Ryou sighed again. Whatever Bakura was planning he hoped it wouldn't interfere with Christmas. Christmas was Ryou's favorite holiday and if he had to tie Bakura to the tree and decorate it around him, he would have a merry Christmas.

Bakura noticed Ryou's determined expression and wondered just what his hikari was planning. Normally that look on Ryou's face meant bad news for him.

"Is it cold in here?" Bakura asked, distracted suddenly by a chill.

Ryou looked out the kitchen window. "It's snowing."

Bakura growled and rose from his seat. "I'm going to bed."

Ryou smiled at his retreating form and turned back to the snow, welcoming it. They'd made it through another Halloween. Ryou was glad. There were seldom dull days living with Bakura and Ryou was thankful for it – even if they did have to get the fire extinguisher out every now and then.

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Post Comments: Ra, that was long! I never meant for it to be that long. And it's late, yes, incredibly late. Oh, well. If you enjoyed it, please review. And don't forget to look up my other stories! And B.C. stands for Bakura Corp., if anyone missed that. Bakura's got high aspirations. Not that he would ever really care to run a company but ... it's the conquest that counts. ...Did I remember everything? If you have any questions, just ask. No flames. Ja!