Time Cross

Chapter Two:

Something exploded.

Seto didn't want to know, he really didn't.

But when another…something flew only inches away from his left ear trough the air and nearly sailed straight into Obelisk's eye, he slowly turned around.

There they sat, the siblings of doom, how Seto had secretly named them.

Ishizu in an ordinary, light-brown skirt that reached her ankles and her psychotic brother, thankfully with a shirt that covered his belly. At the moment they were glaring at each others, Millenniumitems shining and mini-explosions erupting in the air around them.

If Seto would have been able to make his choice between sitting way too near to the Ishtar siblings and having dinner with a starved lion, he would have chosen the later.

"I think I know what happened!" Ramseus said cheerfully.

Yami didn't even turn around and everybody expect Bakura only stared tiredly at him.

"Somehow my power knew that they would try to slit each other's throats and so it made them a little calmer. The spell will wear off when they are away from each other.

Now, am I good or am I good?" Ramseus beamed at Bakura due the fact he was the only one really paying attention to him.

"…"

"I knew it! Now, how about some cookies as a reward?"

"…You are kidding me…"

The green-eyed kid looked innocently at Bakura. "Why?"

"First: Without you TRYING TO COME INTO THIS REALM, THIS WOULD HAVE NEVER HAPPENED! SECOND: WE DON'T EVEN KNOW IF YOU ARE RIGHT AND YOU WANT A COOKIE FOR SUCH A LOUSY THING? Third: We don't have any cookies here."

"Aha." Ramseus looked, with an understanding expression plastered on his face, at Bakura while he nibbled on one cookie with a cookie box in the other hand.

Beside the fact that Seto nearly killed them all by summoning Obelisk too early back into his card when they only saw a glimpse of Domino on the horizon, the landed safely and unharmed on the roof of Kaiba Corp.

Useless to say, Yami and Bakura were already waiting for them, together with some slightly frightened Egyptians.

Bakura seemed ready to cry because of immense frustration, Yami was paler than usually and Seto and Ishizu meet their past-selves in all their glory for the first time. Disaster stroke.

Bakura

Stupid little, freaking kid which claims to be a god.

Stupid Pharaoh.

Stupid Kaiba who nearly shoved his own past-self from the roof of his company.

Stupid Marik, crackling evilly and having one of his world-domination moments again.

Not to forget, stupid thief aka myself, trying to find out if Ishizu was really real.

Those are moments when I wish I had a body on my own so I could ran far, far away and hide in the deepest hole I could find. But because this body is still Ryou's, I only can try and drag the stupid Priest away from himself, stop Marik waving around the Millennium rod and bash in some heads and take away the cookies from Ramseus before he gets on a sugar high.

KAWUMM

Oh, too late.

Kido took things in his own hands.

We lay scattered around on our backs and stare at a nice, black hole in the middle of the roof.

Ramseus stands impatiently taping with his foot beside it, cookie box under one arm and crumbs on his cheeks.

"NOW, after you have stooped examining each other, I want to make a suggestion. How if the Bakuras stay together, Yami takes Atemu home with him, Isis and Mana stay with the Istars and Seto shelters Seth?"

He smiles sweetly at us, like he just offered us tons of ice-cream for free. And if we dare to say no, he would slam a lot of bricks down on us. And that would fucking hurt a little bit too much for my liking, so I nod carefully.

"Great, I knew you were one of the intelligent ones, 'Kura-chan!" He giggles and one of my eye-browns twitches.

I.hate.nicknames! With a fiery passion!

And with an even fierier passion I hate the looks I get for said nicknames. Besides getting beaten by the Pharaoh…s. Now that there are two of them I think I will retreat back into the ring on my own and won't come out for the next 3000 years. But then I would have to leave my hikari in their clutches and all my training to get him tougher would go to hell… Life sucks.

So, after the rest agreed as well, Ramseus hops down from the roof with a hearty "We will see us again when I figured something out!" (And no, he doesn't end up as a puddle on the pavement; that would just be a ridiculous way to die for a god.) So after the sixth store he just vanishes and we are left figuring out how to get ourselves home without causing too much damage.

I lean against the counter in the kitchen and listen to myself ranting about idiotic little kids which get in my way to kill the idiotic Pharaoh.

Maybe I should really start to think of us as two different persons or I will have a major headache at the end of the day. If we have still some Aspirin left? I would have to go looking later or maybe I would simply ask Ryou. The kid knows astonishing much about his flat. Or I just never pay attention where I leave things. I am a tomb robber and an evil being, did you really think I am neat? Evil beings are always untidy.

I got of topic, didn't I? Ok, back to myself…I mean my God damned past-self, you morons, not really myself like in me myself!

…

Yes, I am perfectly aware that that was…confusing.

He is still rambling about certain ways to kill a certain Pharaoh but after the fifth thousand "I will kill him!" even I have enough and stalk out of the kitchen to get myself…er, I mean him some clothes, the skirt is barely able to cover his thighs.

So after some rummaging in my closet I come up with a simple T-shirt that had been always too big for me and some knee-length trousers. And I had been barley able to set my toes back into the kitchen and all of a sudden the great King of Thieves is on me and tackles me to the wall.

For a moment I have a very strange experience. Stranger as the usual strange experiences. It is like having strong hands around my throat, squeezing, then it is like I have two throats and on both is the same pressure. And then something crashes into me and send me flying into the table.

Ignoring the pain I shoot up and nearly trample Ryou in the progress of getting my feet back on the floor.

Big, brown eyes blink back at me while my hikari takes the situation in.

"Oh." He finally mumbles and helps himself off the floor. A quick glance shows me that my past-self lies unconscious beneath the table and after a moment I gradually turn my face back to Ryou.

Who stands in all his naked glory in front of me and looks a bit dazed.

"Ryou…" I say slowly while I bring my hand up to cover my eyes. "Please put something on."

Despite my eye-cover I can nearly see how his eyes get wide and he looks down and notices his lack in the cloth department. With the speed of light he is out of the room.

I swear, if there are any more surprises today I will die of a heart-attack.

Or because of my super idiotic past-self that grabs me this moment, shoves me on the top of the table and snarls menacingly down at me.

Ok, time for Shadow power.

The dark mist lifts him of me without problem and I glare unhappy at him from where I stand, back on my own feet. He just glares back and shows me his sharp canines.

After ten minutes of a stare-down Ryou comes back and stops in the doorway.

"Uhm…yami, who is that?" He asks, uncertain if he should be here or hiding in his bedroom.

"Ryou, my past-self. Past-self, Ryou. And if you don't stop snarling right now I will leave you hanging there till Christmas, for God's sake!"

For a moment he actually stops scowling and a puzzled look flashes over his tanned features. Then he starts again, only ten times harder now.

"Okay…I will leave you to…yourself." With that Ryou retreats as fast as he can.

Smart boy.

Back to my problem at hand, myself.

Hopefully the Pharaoh has as much FUN as I.

Yami

We have spent two hours sitting in the living room and talking; me explaining the TV set and things like that to Atemu and he telling me about the life in ancient Egypt.

I would have never guessed that people back than had such good manners. If Bakura's past-self is as civilised as Atemu? He looked quite rough but I shouldn't make guesses on first sight.

"Do you want some more tea?" I ask politely.

"Yes, please." Atemu responds friendly.

Bakura

Destiny seems only to exist to piss me of.

It was evening, the stars shined down together with the moon like the evening when Ramseus started his time travel –and yes, I let down my past-self from the ceiling.

But why am I furious as hell, stomping down the hallway of Ryou's apartment and wanting nothing more than shove a sharp object down my past-self's throat?

Maybe because said past-self was uncooperative as hell, tried to strangle Ryou when the boy approached him and refused to wear anything else but the fucking red coat he stole from the Pharaoh. And now he –I told Ryou we would name him Akefia because Touzoku-Oh was a little bit too long- is sitting in the living room, gaping at the radio and ready to slice it in half if it jumps him. Like that would happen. Not even I was that stupid when I came out of the ring after 3000 years.

The memory of my first peak in the world of the living and my first thoughts and what caused it back then (HOLY SHIT! I'M BLIND!) makes me chuckle now but the still bubbling frustration and growing anger in me reminds me of my dark mood.

Stupid tomb robber.

And stupid Pharaoh. I can blame nearly everything on him. Isn't that a happy thought? (Insert dripping sarcasm here, please.)

Not to forget that Ryou told me with one of his scarier-than-thou stares that Akefia had to crash in my room or we would wake up to some corpses the next morning.

Memo to myself: Lock the door and take everything dangerous away from Akefia plus restrain him with something heavy, likewise my cupboard.

I come to a stop in the doorway from the hallway to the living room and scowl at the form on the couch.

While not very informative himself, Akefia seems to be personally offended if I or maybe even Ryou ignore him or don't answer his questions properly. I haven't even the slightest idea from which point in the past he was transported in the future and no, not even the threat of being send to the Shadow Realm makes him more talkative.

"Hey, dumb ass!"

And there comes the radio flying.

I throw one of Ryou's lexicons in return and I can tell you, they are not what you would call light. I swear Ryou secretly trains his arm muscles only by hauling them around and damn; his hits are hard despite his cute-sweet-and-innocent appearance.

However, I think I hit Akefia hard enough to knock him from the couch.

Just when I am about to leave the security of the doorway and step into the living room, he resurfaces and tosses…where did he get a golf ball from?

The white ball hits me right on the forehead and World War III breaks out. Our munitions are based mostly on lexicons, school-books and a growing number of balls of all sorts. Volleyballs, golf balls, footballs, basketballs, baseballs…

When this is over I have to talk to Ryou about his habit of collecting balls. That could become very dangerous very soon with such lunatics as Akefia and me around.

What? I care about the shrimp, and? Besides, nobody wants to gain more than 50 dislike-points on Ryou's scale -that ends you in the hospital. Believe me; he has his brain and muscles not just for show. And he is overprotective of the ones he likes and thinks of as "family". Try to knick as much as a hair of his father and you will wake up in the Intensive ward.

Back to our private little war.

A football hits Akefia in the head and thanks to a well-aimed lexicon I nearly lose one eye.

Soon insults are added and it won't take much and we will be rolling over the floor, fighting like ten-year olds over a toy. I would be happy if we had at least such a stupid reason. But no, I only address him with "dumb ass" and now look at us: One 3032 years old ring ghost (Yes, I kept track of the years, now and back in the past.) and a merely 20 years old tomb robber flinging heavy books at each other and trying to defeat the other with evil little white and especially hard balls.

"WHAT DID YOU TO MY LIVING ROOM?"

I knew I forgot something.

Ryou stands with a look of absolute horror in the door frame and has to grip the wood for balance while he survives the damage. Now would be a very good time to sneak away and hide in the basement.

Because I shared a body with Ryou this far I never felt his wrath but now that there are two of me…I really want to be far, far away.

Akefia doesn't seem to understand the seriousness of the situation (Or he just doesn't understand Japanese, now that I think of it. Crap.) and throws one last lexicon. It hits me with its sharp edge right in the temple and here I come, unconsciousness.

Marik

Isis and Ishizu sit -with their hands folded neatly in the laps- at the table, a cup of steaming tea in front of each of them.

They make polite small talk mixed with serious topics and I am bored out of my mind already. Malik stands hidden in the shadows and watches them trough the door. I yaw and contact him after I weighted my opportunities. Talking with Malik beats staring at two nearly perfect doubles by miles.

/Let me guess: You just don't want to reveal yourself to them because this Mana girl will likewise jump you. Again./

/Shut up, yami, this might be important./

/You say it; might! And besides: Do you understand even half of the politic strategies they are discussing/

/…/

/Thought so./

/…/

/Trying the keep-quiet-till-he-gets-tired-of-his-own-voice again? That's pathetic. Even you could come up with a new idea by now./

/…Shut up./

/Oh, joy, it is alive after all/

Mokuba

It is…funny watching your elder brother move out of the room trough one door and a nearly exact clone walking in trough another. Somehow I think this will get interesting. Seto has already snapped at Seth for stabbing a lamp and Seth nearly hit him with his rod when he insulted his priest's robe and made a comment about "weirdos running around thinking they are the sons of gods". I think Seth doesn't take it lightly if somebody insults the Pharaoh.

However, it's getting thrilling, now that Seto has set his mind on getting Seth into new clothes and said priest is absolute un-cooperative.

I will just sit back and watch them trying not to go for each other throats. Little brothers aren't known for their ability to sort out arguments and make peace, so don't look at me like that!

Bakura

My head hurts and when I open my eyes everything is groggy. My field of vision clears a little bit and there is one pair of violet eyes staring down at me, framed with white hair-strands. Akefia. Oh joy.

And I drop right back to unconsciousness.