Youth of the Nation

By: Neko-chan



A/N: Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! The reviewers think that I forgot about your hickey, Yami. D

Yami: N-Nani?? You mean...you DIDN'T forget about it???

Heh heh heh... D Nope, I had remembered it all along... I was just waiting for this chapter to focus more on it. *cackles evilly some more*

Bakura: Onna, I have a question for you.

...hmmmm, Baku-chan?

Bakura: What is with the CHOCOLATE PUDDING?!

*pauses dramatically* Ya know what?

Yami: *sighs* What?

...the reviewers were wondering the exact same thing. You'll just have to find out along with everyone else. *cackles evilly some more* D

Yami and Bakura: NANI?!



Disclaimer: Neko-chan doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!. If she did, there would be a LOT of different changes. *kills off Weevil* Stupid little insect-obsessed worm... *mumble mumble mumble* (Gomen nasai to any Weevil fans. I just REALLY REALLY REAAAAAAAALLY dislike him. And I mean _REALLY._ [Bakura: I think the readers can _tell_ that, Neko-chan no Bakamono.] Urusei, BAKA-chan!!! [Bakura: *growls*])

WARNING: YAOI! SHOUNEN-AI!! ROMANCE! COMEDY!! FLUFF!!! If you don't like any of these things (the fluff, romance, and comedy, anyway...) go and read "What Is Forever?" Serious angst... ;_; And if you don't like yaoi or shounen-ai 1) What are you doing here? And 2) Go and read "Sands of Time." At this moment, the pairings are Yami/Yuugi and Bakura/Ryou. I WILL be adding more pairings later...just not right now. ^_^;; Ja ne!





Chapter Nine

Yuugi blinked and stepped closer to Ryou. "Ryou..." he whispered, rubbing his eyes to make sure that what he was seeing was actually happening, "why are our yamis covered in chocolate pudding and throwing it at each other?"

All Ryou could do was mutely shake his head.

Now, some of you may be wondering WHERE exactly Yami Yuugi and Yami Bakura got afore mentioned chocolate pudding. The answer? See that little kid bawling his eyes out at the street corner? And see how his Power Rangers lunch pail is broken open with his leftover food strewn all across the sidewalk? Yup, you got it. THAT'S where our two yamis got their _wonderful_ chocolate pudding.

All Yuugi and Ryou could bring themselves to do was stare at their yamis and blink wide, terrified eyes. Brown gunk was soaked into tri-colored and silver hair. War whoops and insults were shouted in what Yuugi and Ryou thought was ancient Egyptian. There seemed to be no end to the fight. It just seemed to become worse and worse each time Bakura managed to splatter chocolate pudding on Yami's leather. (Which we all know is a _very_ stupid thing to do, ne?)

"Y-Yami?" Yuugi managed to choke out as his darker part scooped up more chocolate pudding and threw it back at the Tomb Robber. Hearing his hikari, Yami paused and slowly turned around, crimson eyes widening when he finally noticed that Yuugi and Ryou were both staring at him and his...'annoyance'...with shocked expressions on their faces. Bakura noticed that something wasn't right when he threw a fistful of chocolate pudding at Yami's leather shirt and the Pharaoh did nothing to respond.

"Ummm... K-Kon'nichi wa, aibou," Yami spat out, turning a dark shade of red. 'Why, oh why did aibou have to come at this exact moment?!' he thought while shooting a nasty glare at Bakura. The Tomb Robber replied with the same--and, to top it off, he also chucked another fistful of pudding, which splattered all over Yami's face.

'Uh-oh...' Yuugi thought as he felt a wave of rage sweep through his connection with his yami. 'Bakura just did a VERY stupid thing...'

The Eye of Horus appeared on Yami's forehead, glowing with a menacing light. Bakura saw all this and tilted his head back defiantly. Yami took note of all of this and he slowly raised his hand, dark energy pulsating and gathering in strength around his form. And again, Bakura stood his ground. "MIND CRUS--"

Without warning, Bakura shot away from the VERY angry Pharaoh, grabbed Ryou, tossed him over his shoulder, and darted off as fast as he was able to. Now, it wasn't because he was afraid of Yami's Mind Crush attack. No! Of COURSE it wasn't! He just remembered that he had left the garage door open. Nooo... He had left the coffee machine on this morning. No, not that one, either....um...ummmm...he had to protect his hikari! Yeah... That was it!

"Huh. I never knew that it was humanly--or spiritually--possible to run that fast. I guess Bakura proved me wrong...again," Yami commented idly, titling his head to one side.

"Yami..." Yuugi began to scold when he noticed the huge grin flitting across his yami's face. "You and I both know that that wasn't a very nice thing to do."

The Pharaoh laughed. "Well, yes. But it WAS a very funny thing to do, however." He chuckled, snickered, and guffawed some more, slowly meandering his way back to the Game Shop, Yuugi trailing along behind him, muttering about 'mean and insensitive yamis...'

Half an hour later, Yami was in the bathroom, a dark purple towel wrapped around his waist, trying to get the chocolate pudding out of his hair. (A/N: Ne...hmmm...is it a bad thing to somehow or other manage to get the yamis either naked or in a towel?? Should I be worried about my mentality state? *ponders) Unfortunately for him...the pudding wasn't coming out anytime soon. BUT, luckily for him, he had managed to strip out of his clothing except for his neck buckle, which he couldn't undo because the chocolate pudding made it too slippery.

After trying to unbuckle it for ten minutes, Yami finally gave it up. He couldn't do it by himself. But he _wasn't_ alone... "HIKARI!" Yami yelled.

Yuugi poked his head into the bathroom, wincing at the loudness of Yami's yell. "Hai?" he asked, looking at his yami curiously.

Yami sighed in a defeated sort of way, then growled at his reflection in the mirror. "Can you help me, aibou? I can't get this blasted thing off. The chocolate pudding makes it too slippery."

Yuugi giggled and wandered deeper into the bathroom. "Well, that's what happens when you decide to have a food fight with Bakura...AND wear way too much leather than what's good for you."

The Pharaoh shot a dark look at his hikari out of the corner of his crimson eyes. "Just take the blasted thing OFF, Yuugi." Grinning wickedly ('I am _seriously_ starting to think that Yuugi is spending more time around Bakura than what's good for him...' Yami thought worriedly when he spotted the grin), Yuugi stepped closer to his yami and quickly unbuckled the neck buckle...

...revealing the dark reddish-purple bruise underneath.

"What's that?" Yami asked curiously, staring at the red bruise on his reflection. Yuugi's eyes bugged out and he choked, trying to sputter an answer. 'Oh, Kami. Oh, Kami. Oh, Kami. WHY didn't it go AWAY?!' the smaller boy thought desperately to himself. He took a deep breath and decided to answer his yami's question.

"I...It's a hickey, Yami. People get hickeys when someone sucks on the skin so hard that it bruises. The most common place for hickeys is on people's necks. There are other places, too..." at this, Yuugi's face flamed red. "But...ummm...never mind about that."

Yami blinked and looked from the bruise shown in the reflection to Yuugi's face reflected by the mirror. He paused for a moment, letting the information told to him by Yuugi sink in. He knew what this 'hickey' was now. Back in Egypt, they were referred to as 'love bites.' It was a high honor when one lover gave another a 'love bite.' And the only person who could have given Yami this...this...'hickey'...was Yuugi himself.

Yami smiled.

Turning around, he stood up, letting his height and aura overwhelm his hikari. Slowly, he reached up and traced Yuugi's lips with a delicate golden chocolate-splattered finger. Start at the corner...curve...end at the second corner...do it again. "Yuugi..." Yami whispered. Slowly, Yuugi's dark purple eyes fluttered shut. "Yuugi... Do you know who gave me this...'hickey'?"

Yuugi swallowed audibly. "N-No..." he whispered. He knew that he was lying. Yami knew that he was lying. But...what was there to do? Tell Yami the truth and have his darker half hate him forever? No... Anything was better than that. _Anything._

"Oh..." Yami said softly, taking away his finger.

The tension in the air was almost a physical thing. The bond between the two boys seemed to weave them closer and closer together; neither could do anything about it. ...did they even WANT to do anything about it? The answer was simple: No.

"I...I have to go and do my Calculus homework..." Yuugi managed to whisper around a closed throat. Ever so slowly, he backed out of the bathroom, practically running when he was past the doorway.

Yami watched his hikari go and sighed. Then, he returned his attention to his hair. "Damn chocolate pudding..."



A/N: Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!!! An ALMOST-kiss scene! D

Yami: NEKO-CHAN!!! You're EVIL!

;-D Yup. That's why I don't need a yami! I'm a yami AND a hikari all rolled up into one! *cackles evilly* Anyway, I'm happy because I get to do the dance scene within the next three chapters. AND...there finally WILL be some Yami/Yuugi and Bakura/Ryou interaction! *does a happy, hyper, genki dance*

Bakura: Damn. Whenever she does that dance, one of the YAMIS always suffers.

LOL! Well, what do you _want_ me to do? Pick on the poor, defenseless _hikaris_?

Bakura and Yami: *share a Look* NO!

D Heh heh heh... Yeah, thought so. Anyway, read, review, and make Neko-chan a VERY happy cat-girl! *Mwa!* ^_~



Translations:

ja ne: See you later!

urusei: Shut up!

kon'nichi wa: Hello.



Thank-Yous:

Asian Angel 12, Silver Dragon, NC, violettegal345, Neko Oni, loanshark, Rogue Agent, Lirial Raito, saki, Wanita, Promise, tenshimagic, Sage of Zelda 64, firedraygon97, Mijikai, Shay & Sai, Teb Teb, AngelicMouseGirl, krisnkriss, Tranquility Moon, Demonic Angel, Takato, Burning-Yami-Rain, agentpudge, difinity, Itoshii-chan (Thank you soooo much for the e-card! I love cats! [Which is one of the reasons why I picked Neko-chan as my pen name. It means either cat-girl or cute cat in Japanese.] Thank you soooo much! I loved it! Adorable-ness...*glomps*), and dark_hilde. You guys all rock! ^_~