CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! =D Even though it's very very very very very late… Ah well, I COMMAND YOU TO RELIVE CHRISTMAS FOR THIS CHAPTER! (it's so long...)
Chapter 22: Christmas Party
Marik and Bakura were lounging around the living room, Bakura was reading another one of his vampire novels, and Marik was trying to do more research about the Millennium Items. Trying, trying and failing horribly. His mind wasn't focusing on the words, instead it was tormenting him, much like Bakura's own mind does most of the time. But not now, he was too deep in the story for his mind to bother him at this moment.
Anyway, Marik's mind kept directing his thoughts to the fact that he still did not have Bakura's Christmas present, even though Christmas was less than two weeks away. He just had no idea what to get him! I mean, what do you get a former Thief King for his birthday? Besides something stolen… Actually, that's not a bad idea…
'That's a horrible idea!' Marik's mind put in.
But I don't have a better one!
'Just get him chocolate or something.'
Yeah, cause that's creative.
'Why do you care so much anyway?
I don't know! All I know is that Bakura already has my gift and it bothers me that I don't have his yet. Marik rolled his eyes, remembering Bakura going on and on about how Marik would absolutely love his gift and that it was the "perfect present." This had annoyed Marik and also worried him. What the hell had Bakura gotten him? Marik couldn't think of anything that Bakura could think of. Knowing Bakura and his tormenting ways he probably got him a case of beer.
Marik ground his teeth and put his researching papers away, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to pay attention to whatever he read. He stared at Bakura wanting to test a theory he had. He kept staring at Bakura until the he glanced up from his book.
"… Exactly how long have you been staring at me?"
"Less than a minute," Marik answered.
"… Why were you staring at me for less than a minute?"
"'Cause you always seem to hate it when I take your picture and I wanted to test that "know when someone's looking at you" theory."
Bakura closed his book, "What do you want then?"
"I'm hungry," he said simply, but inside he screamed, I want to know what the hell you want for Christmas!
Bakura sighed, "Marik, you need to learn how to cook."
Marik grinned, "But that's why I have you."
Bakura rolled his eyes and was about to retort, when just then their doorbell rang. Marik got up and answered it so that Bakura wouldn't be able to respond to his statement, and he found Yami at his door. You could only tell it was Yami and not Yugi because he was slightly taller and his eyes and face kind of looked different, more manly, whereas Yugi's face was still like a little kid's. A cute little kid's nonetheless.
"Hey," he said, "Can I come in?"
"I don't know, can you?"
Yami laughed and walked inside. "Sorry to barge in, but I'm just here to invite you to a Christmas party."
"A Christmas Party?" Marik said, excited already. He loved holidays.
Yami smiled, "Yup! Anzu and Yugi decided to hold a Christmas party before they go on their "vacation." More like a honeymoon if you ask me but, whatever." Yami grinned mischievously.
Bakura raised his eyebrow, curious, "What do you mean?"
Yami smirked, "Well, they don't want me to tell you this but, they're going to drive about an hour away, rent a hotel and," his smirk deepened, "Well… They said they'd see from there. I may be from olden days, but I think I know what that means."
"What about your tour around the world?" Marik asked, desperately wanting to change subject.
Yami sighed, "Yugi says I should earn some money before I leave. "For experience" he says. I think he just doesn't want to be stuck here knowing his other half is off having the adventure of a lifetime," he smiled, "or two."
Bakura chuckled, "When's the Christmas party?"
"Next week. Anzu's house. Be there!" he bellowed the last part.
"What time? And what date exactly?" Bakura specified.
"The 23rd, 7:00PM till whenever," he smiled, "Just for you vampires." Bakura rolled his eyes, making Yami laugh, "There's going to be some other people there though. Some of Yugi and Anzu's friends from high school. You don't have to buy gifts, but Anzu wants to try this thing called a "Whit Elephant." At first, I thought they were going to rent a white elephant for us to ride or something, but apparently it's a thing where you wrap up stuff around your house you don't use anymore and don't put who it's to or who it's from and then people pick the presents that the others brought. Honestly, it doesn't make much sense to me, why call it a "White Elephant?" You might as well call it a "Blue Camel" by that logic."
"Don't ask me, it's the first I've heard of it," Marik said.
"Blue Camel?" Bakura said with a smirk.
Yami shrugged, "Yup. In fact, that's what I'll call it from now on. I wonder if Anzu will get mad… Ah well, she's not my girlfriend," he smirked, "Unlike Yugi seemed to think."
"How are the two love-bird's doing?"
"Fine fine. As fine as they can be anyway. Oh yeah! Anzu would appreciate it if you'd bring some food."
"Food?" Bakura asked.
"Yeah, you know, some dip, some drinks, or some cookies and cakes -"
"We'll bring cookies," Bakura said.
"Great, Anzu sucks at making cookies, even Yugi agrees. Er, don't tell her I said that, she's really sensitive about her cooking ," Yami shivered slightly, leaving Marik and Bakura wondering what the heck he was thinking of. Yami gave a big smile, "Well, see you there then. I've gotta go - I wanna check out this place downtown before I go back." He opened the door and showed himself out, slamming the door behind him.
Bakura stood up and clapped his hands together, "Well it's decided - the first thing you shall cook will be cookies."
"But I'm hungry for actual food, not cookies," Marik complained.
"Fine, we'll make sandwiches, and then you'll make cookies."
"Bakura, I'm pretty sure that I'll burn the house down if I touch the stove."
"How about we test that theory?"
"No thanks."
"Come on! Don't be such a wimp."
"I'm not a wimp!"
"Yes you are."
"No I'm not!"
"Yes you are - you won't even try cooking, and you're afraid of heights."
"Hey! I have a valid excuse for being afraid of heights!"
"Fine, but you still need to learn how to make food to live."
"Easy for you to say! All you have to do for food is bite someone and drink their blood like they're some walking blood pack!"
Bakura froze. "Marik," he said slowly, "Never use the term 'blood pack' in that context again."
"Why not? It's true."
"Just don't!" Bakura yelled. Marik stared at him, wondering why Bakura was so angry about this.
"What's wrong?" Marik asked, concerned for his friend.
Bakura sighed, "Nothing. Just forget it."
Marik began to feel anger bubble inside him. Bakura still won't tell him what the heck's wrong with him? Which reminded him… "Hey Bakura?" he asked.
"What?"
"You know when you gave Yugi that one potion? That separated Yami from him?"
Bakura froze, he had been expecting this question sooner or later, "Yeah… What about it?"
"Why didn't you use it for yourself?"
Cause I'm kind of in the same position Yugi was in… Bakura thought (1). "I didn't think it'd actually work - Pegasus gave it to me," Bakura lied.
"…Oh… So then why give it to Yugi?"
Bakura shrugged, "Why not?"
"Hm… fair enough. I'll tell you what."
"What?"
"You stop lying to me and tell me what's really going on, and I'll cook."
"What are you talking about?"
"Come on Bakura!" Marik said, frustrated, "I'm not an idiot - say one word and I'll kill you - I can tell when you're lying. I just know, and I want to know what your deal with the term 'blood pack' is too."
Bakura stared at Marik. Hm… so he can tell when I'm lying? That's not good… Bakura hid his thoughts and shrugged, "All right, you cook first and I'll tell you."
"Seriously?" Marik said surprised, "You're not going to deny that something's wrong? You're not going to lie?"
Bakura sighed, "I suppose not."
Marik crossed his arms. That was probably as close to a promise as he was going to get. "Fine. Let's get cooking."
"Okay," Bakura said, "First off, what cookies do you want to make?"
"I don't care." Marik had just finished eating his ham sandwich and now Bakura was getting utensils, bowls, and cooking ingredients out of various cupboards and drawers.
"Well decide, we can't start cooking until we know what we're going to make."
"Ugh, just make some peanut butter ones or something."
"How many?"
"As many as we can make."
Bakura reached into one drawer and took out a pure white apron and a matching chef's hat. He folded the apron over in his hands, and then threw it at Marik. "Put this on," he said as he fit the hat over his head.
Marik stared at it, "Why?"
"It's good for beginners to wear aprons."… But it's so clean! Did Ryou even use it?"
"He used it, just never got it dirty. Put it on."
"No thanks," Marik threw the too-clean apron back at him.
Bakura sighed. He unfolded it all the way and then put it on Marik and tied the strings before he could complain. He stood back to look at Marik, and had to refrain from smiling. But his mouth couldn't help but turn into a smile, and eventually he just started laughing.
"What's so funny?" Marik demanded as he tried to untie the strings on his back.
"N-nothing. You just look so… so…"
"So what?" Marik demanded.
Bakura was laughing so hard that these words came out of his mouth before he could stop them, "So cute!"
Marik stopped reaching for the strings and instead tried not to blush. Bakura, not noticing what he just said made Marik blush, patted him on the back and said, "Okay, let's make some cookies!"
"Fine, what do we do first oh great chef?"
"Firstly, we need to see how much peanut butter we have," Bakura said as he opened the refrigerator and grabbed the peanut butter jar. "It feels pretty full, I'd say about two cups worth - at least." Marik stared at him. "There's no way you could guess that by just holding it," he challenged.
"Wanna bet?" Bakura asked with a smirk.
"… No, just measure the dang peanut butter."
"Give me the measurer," Bakura extended his hand. Marik looked on the counter and picked up a glass cup with a handle and red lines with little numbers on it. "This thing?" he asked.
"Yes, that thing. You don't even know what a measurer is?"
"Is that what it's actually called?" He handed Bakura the red-lined cup.
"I'm pretty sure, get me a bowl."
"What size?"
"Medium." This went on for a while, Bakura asking for ingredients and Marik simply handing them to him. A few times, Marik thought about just leaving, but decided against it. He didn't want Bakura putting something into the cookies.
After a few ingredients had been added to the medium-sized bowl, Bakura took out what he called a "mixer." It was a white machine with a handle and two metal things sticking out of it. The metal things twisted around to form a sort of mushroom shape. Bakura called them "beaters." He plugged the machine into the wall and handed it to Marik. "You use this to mix the ingredients. You flip this switch," he pointed to a green, rubbery switch with numbers from 1 to 6 next to it, "to control how powerful it is. Get mixing, I'll measure the flour." Marik took the machine and turned it on to setting one. The beaters started to turn and Marik smiled, so that was how the thing worked. He put it into the bowl, but then the beaters stopped turning. Marik stared at it before turning it to setting two. He could feel the vibrations, so he knew it hadn't just magically broken when he put it into the peanut butter. He turned it up to setting four and watched as it started to turn again. Now that he had the hang of it, he started mixing the bowl, but soon, the mixture started flinging out of the bowl and all over the walls.
"Stop!" Bakura said when he saw the dirty walls. Marik flipped the switch off. Bakura sighed, "Hold it like this," he said as he put his hand around Marik's and flipped the switch back on. Marik found his face slowly turning red, and he could feel his heart start to beat faster. He found it hard to concentrate on anything except for the fact that their hands were touching. His ears started ringing and he barely even heard when Bakura said, "You have to hold it up straight or else the batter will get everywhere," his ears were ringing so loud. This went on for a little bit, then Bakura said, "Got it now?" He had realized that he was touching Marik's hand and it felt…
"M-hm," Marik managed to mutter. Bakura released his hand and went back to his flour, biting his bottom lip. Marik found that he had been holding his breath and he released it slowly as Bakura poured a little more flour into the measurer before handing it to Marik: "Pour this in." Marik took the cup and dumped it in. "Not all at once!" Bakura said, but too late, Marik poured in all the flour and the spinning beaters made it explode into a cloud of flour, covering their faces with the white dust. Bakura looked at Marik, who smiled back sheepishly and then started to laugh. Bakura looked so funny with his face covered in flour, but the funny thing was that it seemed as if it actually gave him color his face was so pale already. Bakura closed his eyes and sighed. "I'll get more flour," he said as he walked over to the sink and started wiping the puffy powder off his face with a wet dish towel. Marik tried to control his laughing as he kept mixing the bowl, which proved a difficult task.
After Bakura was done wiping all the flour off his face, he started rinsing the flour-caked towel. He smirked as an idea popped into his head. He wrung the towel and then walked over to Marik.
"Marik," he said so that the tan boy would look this way. Bakura cupped Marik's chin with his hand so he couldn't moved his face and then started wiping the flour off. He chuckled as Marik's cheeks started turning a shade of pink. Marik reached up and grabbed the towel from Bakura, "I can do that myself!" he said, cheeks now a light shade of red.
"Fine," Bakura released Marik's chin and went back to his flour. After Marik was done cleaning his face he threw the towel back at the sink and went back to mixing. He kept mixing and this time he put in a little flour at a time so that they wouldn't be encased with flour again, and when everything was done being mixed, they started forming the dough into smaller round balls, put them on a cookie sheet, and then put the cookie sheet into the oven.
He didn't try to take off the apron during that time either.
"Ugh, when will they be done?" Marik asked for about the millionth time.
"I told you, in about five minutes."
Marik groaned, "I can't wait another five minutes! They smell so good…"
Bakura chuckled, "Just keep rinsing the dishes." They were at the sink right now, washing all the bowls and other utensils, including the beaters, which Marik was surprised to find out that they could come out of the machine. It amazed Bakura how much Marik didn't know, he should try teaching Marik how to cook something else later. They cleaned on in silence for a while, then Marik asked, "Are you going to tell me about your deal with blood packs now?" Bakura almost dropped a spoon the question surprised him so. He covered the spoon with the wash towel and said, "I just don't like you to use that term."
"But why though?"
Bakura took a deep breath and exhaled. "Because, the term 'blood pack' means something different to a vampire," Bakura blinked as he realized something, "Hey, shouldn't you know about it?"
Marik shrugged, "We don't know everything, if we did, vampires would be extinct right now. What does 'blood pack' mean to a vampire?"
"Er," how should he explain this? "A Blood Pack is…" Bakura searched for what to say next. A Blood Pack is your perfect match. Bakura ground his teeth. No way in hell was he saying that. "A Blood Pack is… well… to put it simply, a Blood Pack is a human where if a vampire drinks their blood, they can heal all the vampire's wounds. And if the human was injured, the drinking of their blood could heal all their wounds too."
Marik thought about this for a minute, then realized something, "Wait, so when you healed my finger and my chest wound, that means that, I'm a "Blood Pack?" "
Bakura took a deep breath, "Yes, but you're only one to me. There's one Blood Pack per vampire."
"Oh, I see. So you don't like the term 'blood pack' because it… Wait, I still don't get it, why don't you like the term?"
Bakura felt frustrated, "Because! Not everyone finds their Blood Pack so easily. You actually came to me."
"No I didn't. You were hunting me, so technically you came to me."
"But you were looking for a vampire, so you came to me."
"True, but I probably wouldn't have found you if you hadn't tried to drink my blood in the first place."
"But you had the Millennium Rod, so it could have just led you to me."
"Well…" Marik tried to think of something else.
"Ha! You have no comeback," Bakura grinned in triumph.
Marik rolled his eyes, "So basically, if you or I get hurt, then you could just drink my blood and we'd both be fine?"
"Basically, yes."
"That's cool! Is there anything else about Blood Packs I should know about?"
"Uh, Well… No, not really." Marik looked over at Bakura, he could tell that Bakura was holding out on him, but he figured it had already taken a lot for Bakura to tell him this much.
"All right, so why did you give that potion to Yugi instead of using it?"
Bakura stared at a dish he was washing, "I'm just, not ready yet I suppose…"
"What do you mean?"
Bakura looked over at Marik, "You know when you're young and you have an imaginary friend? And when you get older, you know you should get rid of him but you just don't because of some reason or another?"
"… I kind of know what you mean…"
"It's kind of like that."
"Oh, okay. You're not going to tell me what your "some reason or another" is are you?"
"Nope," Bakura said right before the oven timer beeped signifying that the cookies were ready.
"Finally!" Marik exclaimed, "Take them out so we can eat them!"
"I am, be patient," Bakura said as he dried his hands.
"Oh, like you're ever patient."
"I didn't say I was," Bakura said as he took the cookies out of the oven and put them on top of the stove, "I'm simply telling you to be so."
"Whatever," Marik walked over and took a cookie from the still-hot tray and shoved it into his mouth. "Hot," he said with his mouth open, "Hot!" He walked over to the fridge and drank directly from the milk carton.
"Hey!" Bakura protested, "I drink that too you know!"
"Huh, funny, I never took you to be afraid of germs," Marik said as he swallowed his milk drenched peanut-butter cookie.
"I'm not afraid of germs, but it's just common courtesy to not drink straight from the carton," Bakura explained as he took the milk out of Marik's hands and put it back in the fridge.
Marik rolled his eyes and took another cookie from the tray. This time he blew on it before stuffing it in his mouth. His eyes went wide, "These are delicious!"
"Wow, you just realized that?"
"Sorry, I was too preoccupied on making sure my mouth didn't burn up to notice how good these things are! Are you sure Ryou wasn't a pastry chef?"
"I'm sure, unless he runs a business in his sleep."
"Anything's possible," Marik reached for another cookie, but got his hand slapped away by Bakura. "These are for the party! Don't eat them all, or maybe you want to make another batch by yourself?"
"No thanks." Bakura opened a cupboard and grabbed a plastic container to put the cookies in, while his back was turned, Marik grabbed another cookie and shoved it in his mouth. Bakura turned around, looked at the cookie tray, and then looked at Marik, "You took another one didn't you?" Marik nodded. Bakura sighed before he started putting the rest of the cookies in the container. "Could you finish the dishes?"
Marik swallowed his cookie and turned to the sink, but then a thought came to his head, "Hey Bakura, do you know who Santa Claus is?"
"Santa Claus?" Bakura echoed, "I've heard of the guy, he gives toys to kids right?"
"Yup! He flies around in a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer and gives toys to all the children of the world!"
"… Marik, I'm pretty sure he doesn't exist."
"What? But Isis always talked like he was real! And mom too, although, we couldn't talk for long, dad hated Santa."
"Why'd he hate Santa?"
Marik shrugged, "I don't know, the man's insane. Actually, he always tried to tell me Santa wasn't real, but I just didn't believe him. I hope he's real, it gives you hope that maybe the world isn't so horrible after all."
Bakura was silent, who was he to ruin someone's hope? Besides, Marik had a good point, the world was a pretty gruesome place. Murders, suicides, terrorism, child abuse, abductions, rape, no wonder people want to believe in Santa Claus. People want to believe that the world isn't as horrible as it really is, and who better to prove that than a magical person who gives children toys for no good reason other than the fact that they were good?
Bakura dumped the cookie tray into the wash basin, "I hope he's real too."
Marik started cleaning the tray, "What age do you think Santa stops giving toys to people?"
Bakura thought about it, "Probably when you stop believing."
"Looks like I'm safe. You not so much."
Bakura stuck his tongue out at Marik, who chuckled and put some soap suds on Bakura's nose. Marik laughed more when Bakura went cross-eyed trying to look at his nose. Bakura growled, wiped the suds off his nose and put some on top of Marik's head. Marik just kept laughing, and soon Bakura started laughing too; after all, laughter is contagious. Marik put the tray into the rinse water and started drying his hands. He looked at the clock. Yikes! He had to get to work or else he'd be late.
"Hey, I think I'll walk around town for a while," Marik said as he put the towel back on it's hanger.
"I'll come with you," Bakura said as he put the cookie tray in the drying rack.
Marik froze, "Um, you don't have to."
"I know, I want to. It's boring here."
"What about your book?"
"It's boring too, not at all what I expected," that wasn't true, it was a very interesting book, but a little too heavy on the romance. "Forbidden love" and all that.
"What's it about?"
Bakura shrugged, "Some girl who's a vampire and she lives in a castle with a pet dragon and she's fallen for this one human but there's all these things getting in her way and blah blah blah blah blaaaah. It's her fault in the first place."
"That doesn't sound boring."
"You want to read it?"
"Maybe I will later, see ya!" and with that, Marik walked through the front door, slamming it behind him.
Bakura stared at the front door, was it just him, or did it seem Marik didn't want him to come along? Bakura tapped his foot on the wooden floor as he thought about what action to take next. Hm… how annoyed would Marik be if he followed him? Probably a lot. Bakura walked into his bedroom door and grabbed his trench coat. He put it on, then took it off and put it on the bed. He stared at it and thought about what Marik could possibly be doing that he wouldn't want him to know about it. All sorts of ideas popped into his head - some not so great - and with that he put on his trench coat and walked down the hall and through his front door, locking the door behind him.
Marik was running through the streets, narrowly missing people and almost getting hit by a car - the man driving the car flashed him a very nasty sign to which Marik copied back to him - to try to get to work on time, he hadn't been late yet (which was surprising, usually he was always late, just ask his sister) and he wasn't planning on being late today. Honestly, he didn't want to go to work (hello, who did?) but it felt good to be making his own money instead of relying on Bakura all the time. He was living in his house and eating his food (even though he didn't eat), he should probably be paying rent, but he wasn't going to say anything. It didn't seem like Bakura minded much anyways.
He ran into his workplace, "Burger World" - using the back entrance - and went straight to the back room to change into his work clothes. He picked them up from his locker with disgust, they were so ugly (this coming from a man who wears purple).
The uniform consisted of a light green collared shirt with the establishment's logo (a burger with the top bun being yellow and the bottom bun being green with a purple patty in the middle) on the front, a red bowtie that looked like it was orange from far away (for boys) or a yellow kerchief and bow (for girls), and dark green pants or skirt (2). They looked absolutely horrible on him. He was sure they looked perfectly fine on other people, but not him. The restaurant itself looked pretty nice, a luscious red carpet, red cushioned chairs around wooden tables fastened to the walls so that the guests legs wouldn't bump the table legs, and orange and tangerine striped walls with many windows.
Marik walked into the kitchen to start his shift.
"Marik!" he heard a female voice call.
Marik turned, "Hey Nosaka-san, what's up?"
Nosaka-san pouted, "I told you, call me Miho-chan, it's much cuter!"
Marik sighed, "Fine. Hey Miho-chan, what's up?"
"I just wanted to say, 'Hi!'" Miho was a skinny girl with green hair and acted very dumb but was a very nice person when you got to know her. And she actually made the uniform work. Usually Marik had fun and laughed with her, but he wasn't in the mood right now, and it still felt weird calling anybody with an honorific of "chan." Imagine if he called Bakura that? Bakura-chan. Marik grinned as he thought about it.
"Hi to you too, I've got to go start my shift now, so we'll talk later?"
"Sure!" Miho agreed before walking off with the smile she always wore.
Marik chuckled before checking in with the manager.
"Almost late there," his boss said.
"Sorry Kacho(3), won't happen again."
The boss smiled, "Don't worry about it, just get working."
Marik bowed quickly and walked to go get a notepad and paper to start taking orders.
"Welcome to Burger World! I'll seat you in just a sec!" he heard Miho say to whoever entered the restaurant. Marik breathed a breath of relief. He was glad he didn't have to greet the people who entered, he didn't think he could act happy like that all day, and you also had to do this pose where one of your legs was in the air… Yeah, not for Marik.
Anyway, after he grabbed the pencil and paper he walked over to his area of the restaurant to start taking orders. He walked up to one table that looked bored stiff and ready to order and they acted kind of rudely towards him, but he didn't care. He just wished he could have been rude right back.
He took orders for a while, sometimes happy to do it, sometimes surprised by how impolite some people were, sometimes laughing at what the little children asked and yelled about and sometimes laughing harder when the parents tried to silence their children without just yelling at them in a public place. He kept walking, and he arrived to one table with a smile on his face.
"Hello, what would you like to eat today?"
"You. With extra blood."
Marik snapped the led of his pencil. "B-Bakura?"
"In the skin," our pasty-faced vampire smirked.
"W-what are you doing here?"
"Getting a bite to eat." He didn't elaborate, instead he just leaned back and put his hands behind his head.
"… Okaaaaay, can't be more cryptic than that. What would you like to eat?"
"I already told you. Do I need to talk to your manager?"
Marik ground his teeth, "I'm sorry, that's not on the menu. Can I offer a burger as a substitute? You know, since this is called Burger World?"
"Easy on the sarcasm there waiter.
"Oh like I'm going to listen to you about -"
"Marik!" Marik's boss said. The tan boy's eye started to twitch as he turned around.
"Yes Kacho?"
"You can't be rude to the customer!" before the boss could go on a tangent, Bakura said: "It's not his fault sir, I'm just harassing my friend."
The boss looked at him, "You two are friends?"
Bakura nodded.
The boss smiled, "I get it. Well then, have fun, but get back to work soon okay?"
Marik nodded, "Yes sir." The boss disappeared.
"You got in trouble," Bakura tormented.
"It's your fault!" Marik turned on him, but then smiled, "Well, one good thing came from that."
Bakura raised his eyebrow, "And what's that?"
Marik smirked, "You finally said we're friends."
Bakura was silent.
"What changed your mind? 'Kura?" Marik put extra emphasis on the " 'Kura."
Bakura shrugged, "We live in the same house. If we weren't friends that'd be kind of sad."
Marik chuckled, "Do you even want a burger?"
"Not really, but I'm already here."
"Why'd you come here anyway?"
Bakura's smile turned evil, "Why, to torment you of course. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't make fun of you at your job?"
"Um, a good one?"
"Exactly, can't have that now can I?"
Marik sighed, "One burger coming up." He turned his back on Bakura.
"Wait." Marik stopped. "Why are you working here anyway?"
Marik smiled and said behind his back, "Because I totally dig this uniform," and then walked away, causing Bakura to smile.
"I. Can. Not believe you stayed until my shift was over."
"I had nothing better to do."
"Then go to the library!" Marik and Bakura were walking down the street, it was starting to snow, and there was a light dusting of snow all over the city. It was absolutely beautiful, but it was lost on them.
"Good idea, let's go now."
"I don't want to go to the library! You should've went earlier!"
"Fine, where do you want to go Mr. Perfect."
"The mall."
"The mall?"
"Yes, the mall. Got a problem with that?"
Bakura shrugged, "No, but why there?" Marik mumbled something that even Bakura couldn't hear. "What?" he asked. Marik said the thing a little louder, but he still couldn't hear. "Say it one more time."
Marik got frustrated, "Because I still have to get your Christmas present!"
Bakura was trying (and failing) not to smirk. "You have no idea what to get me do you?"
"No! I have no freaking idea! Do you have any idea how hard it is to shop for you?"
Bakura laughed, "Just get me a book."
"But that's so lame! Compared to you, Mr. "I-got-you-the-perfect gift!" What the hell did you get me anyway?"
"Now Marik, you have to wait until Christmas to find out."
"GAH! You aggravate me."
"What else is new?" They walked in silence for a while. "Why are you working there?"
"Huh?"
"I mean, why did you decide to work at Burger World of all places?"
"I needed the money."
"You should've gotten an illustrating job."
"What?" Marik looked at him like he was crazy.
"I wasn't lying when I said you're art was good. You should subscribe to a publisher or something."
"My art's not that good, it's just something I do when I'm bored."
Bakura rolled his eyes. Either Marik honestly didn't think his artwork was any good, or he was just trying to see how far Bakura would go.
Bakura smirked, "So let me get this straight, you only draw because you're bored?"
"That's what I just said, yes."
"Hm, I see, and you draw me when you're bored?"
"…"
"Well?"
"Okay, yes, sometimes I drawn you when I'm bored. Where are you going with this?"
"Well, to me it just seems odd that you're bored so much, concerning how many pictures you have in your journal."
"What the hell is your point?"
"My point is, if you're bored so much, send some of your artwork in."
Marik was about to retort, when he thought of something, "Wait, if you're point was to send in my artwork, then why'd you bring up that I draw you?"
"That was just for hilarity purposes."
Marik's eye started twitching, which made Bakura laugh. They walked on in more silence for a while, then Bakura asked:
"Who was that girl?"
"Who?" Marik asked.
"You know, the one with the green hair, works with you."
"Green - oh, you mean Nosaka - er, I mean, Miho-chan?"
"… You call her "chan?" " Was it just Marik, or did Bakura sound, hurt? No, that wasn't it… curiosity? A mixture of the two? Marik disregarded it and sighed, "Only 'cause she makes me. She claims it's cuter."
"Oh. I see."
"What about her?"
Bakura shrugged, "Just wondered who she was. You two seemed close."
"She's okay, I just wish she wouldn't act so dumb. I can tell she's smarter than she acts."
"How can you tell?"
"I don't know, I just can."
"How?"
"It's the look in her eye, it's the look of an intelligent person. I don't know why she acts so dumb all the time, it drives me nuts. I mean, she's nice, but why doesn't she act smarter?"
Bakura paused before saying, "… Maybe, she has a reason for hiding her true self." Marik looked at Bakura. "You never know what people go through, you can't criticize them because they do weird things. I'm sure she has a good reason for acting dumb."
Marik blinked and looked back ahead of him. Was Bakura defending Miho? Or was he talking about himself in a weird way? It seemed that Bakura had a lot to hide, was he telling Marik not to question his weird behavior anymore? Marik's head started spinning.
"… What do you want for Christmas?" Marik asked to break the silence.
Bakura's smirk was back in place, "Oh, anything's fine."
"I hate you, you know that?"
"I know."
"C'mon, I don't have a clue."
"Then I can't wait to see what you get me."
Marik ground his teeth, but by then they arrived at the mall.
"I'll be at the book store," Bakura smirked, "You can go and buy me something pretty."
"Bastard!" Marik called after Bakura's retreating and laughing figure.
Marik walked away grumbling to himself. He didn't know that Bakura found it absolutely hilarious (and adorable) that Marik was getting so upset over his Christmas present. He didn't know that all Bakura wanted for Christmas was to be with Marik, no matter how corny that was and no matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise (he was still a little bit in denial).
I wonder how Marik would react if he knew how I feel… Ah well, I can't wait to see what he gets me, and where's the damn bookstore?
"So, what'd you get me?"
"Not telling you."
"Aw, come on."
"Bakura, you can keep asking me all you want, but I'm not going to tell you, just like you won't tell me what you bought."
Bakura pouted, which caused Marik start cracking up, which made Bakura join in. Marik had walked into the bookstore with a huge smile on his face and holding a blank white plastic bag. No store logo, no nothing. The bag wasn't even see through! The bag appeared to contain a small box of some kind, but he couldn't tell what was inside the box. It had driven Bakura crazy, and he wanted to know what was in there. Marik had simply said, "Your Christmas present."
Now he knew how Marik felt.
Bakura tried to look inside the bag, but then Marik closed it and held it to his chest and smirked. "Nah ah ah, there's no way I'm letting you see this after all the crap you gave me about 'waiting till Christmas.' "
"I'll tell you what I bought you if you give me the bag."
Marik bit his bottom lip, the offer was tempting, but… "No."
"Oh come on!" Bakura was exasperated.
Marik smirked, "I am so happy I found this. I've never seen you so upset."
"I just want to make sure it's not perfume or something girly like that."
"… Wait, so you didn't want perfume?"
"Marik, if you bought me perfume you better turn around right now and return it."
"Relax, I didn't get you perfume..."
"Thank heavens."
"… I got you something much more girly!"
Bakura groaned; something told him that Marik wasn't lying, or maybe he's just a really good actor? Bakura made another swipe for the bag, but Marik moved to block him just in time. By now, snow was everywhere and the sun had left, leaving the bright city lights and the cheery Christmas lights the only thing guiding their way.
"Did you get me a necklace?"
"No."
"A bracelet?"
"No."
"Make-up?"
"No."
"Oh god, please tell me you didn't get me a purse?"
"No, but that's a good idea."
"What the hell did you get me?"
"Now you know how I felt!"
Bakura sighed, "Ah well… Say, what should we give for the White Elephant thing?"
"Don't you mean the Blue Camel thing?"
Bakura smirked, "Yeah, that."
"I'm sure you have something, did you buy anything off of e-bay lately?"
"Hm… Not lately, but I have a bunch of old toys I don't use anymore. We could stuff them in a box and say it's a present."
"Really? You haven't bought any necklaces lately?"
Bakura glared, "No, I have not bought any necklaces lately. But apparently, you just bought something girly, so what is it?"
"Not. Telling. You."
"Fine! I'll find out somehow."
"Come in, come in!" Anzu was saying. Before they knew it, December 23 had arrived, and they were walking inside Anzu's house for the party.
"Merry Christmas!" they both said.
"Here's the cookies -" Bakura said.
"- and here's the present!" Marik finished as they handed the items to her.
She took them, "Thanks guys!" The two characters walked inside and Anzu closed the door behind them. "It's been snowing a lot huh?" she asked since Marik and Bakura were both covered in puffy white flakes.
"I'll say, I hate the cold," Marik said.
"Yesterday he wrapped himself in ten blankets just to watch TV," Bakura input.
"Well sorry. Not all of us are impervious to the cold like you!"
"Still, ten? I'm surprised you didn't start sweating."
"Still arguing over everything I see…" Anzu said with a sweat drop on her head. "I'll put these in the kitchen," she said before walking away.
Marik and Bakura walked into the living room. "Hey guys! Glad you came!" Yugi said.
"Welcome to the Blue Camel party!" Yami exclaimed.
"White Elephant!" Anzu's voice from the kitchen called in annoyance.
"I told you to stop calling it that!" Yugi chastised.
"Sorry, sorry. Hey, sit down! You make me nervous just standing there like that."
Marik and Bakura laughed and took a seat on the couch. Anzu had set up foldable chairs everywhere along with the couch so that more people could sit down. There was no TV, she had moved it to make room for the chairs, and she probably didn't want any distractions either.
Ding-dong!
"I got it!" Yami called before standing and answering the door, "Come on in! The Blue -"
"WHITE ELEPHANT!"
"… The White Elephant party is right this way."
"Hey Yug, did you get taller or something?" a slightly accented male voice said.
"Yeah, you look older," a young boy voice said.
"You two are idiots, that's the other Yugi," a mature woman's voice said.
"It's nice to see you again Yugi!" a young female voice said.
"Please, come in! We have much to tell you," Yami said with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
In stepped a tall, young, shaggy-blonde-haired man, an even taller and skinnier man with brown hair that curved upward, an older and more mature-looking woman with wavy blonde hair and bright red lipstick on, and a young girl with long, straight brown hair and a cute face.
"Oh good, we're not too late," the blonde haired man said.
"Hey, who's that?" the brown haired man said, pointing to Yugi. Everyone turned to look at Yugi. The blonde haired man started spazing out, "Woah! Two Yugis? How is that possible?" He made dramatic faces and poses - they were hilarious and made the two Yugis, Marik and Bakura burst into a round of laughter.
Yugi smiled, stood up, walked over to his Yami and put his shoulder around him. "Well, you see, we're long-lost identical twin brothers!"
"WHAAAAAATTT?" Everyone said with shocked faces.
"It's true!" Yami jumped in, and then hugged Yugi, "And to think, I was living my entire life without my twin brother…" he put on a sad face, "I always knew something was missing… I never thought I would go from an only child to having a twin brother!"
Everyone was shocked and had their mouths hanging opened, and the two spiky-haired tricksters burst out laughing.
"We're just kidding, this is the other me!" Yugi said after he calmed himself down.
"Y-yeah, I finally have my own body," Yami was having a harder time controlling his laughter.
"B-but, I thought the other Yugi was inside the Puzzle…?" the blonde-haired man just noticed something, "Hey! Where is your Puzzle Yug! You're not wearing it!"
Yugi smiled, "I gave it to Bakura."
"Bakura…?"
Yami sighed, "We have a lot of explaining to do…"
"Let's wait until everyone else gets here to explain," the young girl said.
"Good idea sis," the blonde haired boy said, "hey, where's Anzu? The vampire of the night?"
"I told you to stop calling me that!" Anzu said as she walked inside, "Hello everyone! It's so good to see you again, how long has it been? A couple of years?"
"Has it really been that long?" blonde-haired man said before the doorbell rang again.
"Coming!" Anzu said before hurrying off.
"So," the woman said to Bakura, "you're Bakura? Anzu says you saved her life."
"Really?" Bakura said surprised.
"Oh yes!" the brown haired man said, "She says that if she hadn't read your book, she would've killed herself."
"Seriously?" Marik asked.
"I felt bad when I found out," the young girl said, "We didn't know what was going on, so we couldn't help…" she walked up to Bakura, "Thank you for helping her, I appreciate it a lot."
"Uh… no problem… But, that wasn't me."
Everyone was confused. "It wasn't you?"
"No, um, I'm like the Pharaoh."
"The Pharaoh?" The woman said.
"Yeah, you know, the other Yugi?"
Everyone was even more confused, so Bakura said, "I'll explain when they explain." Just then, Anzu walked in with Miho-chan.
"Miho-chan?" Marik said.
Miho looked up, "Marik-san?"
"What are you doing here?" they said in unison.
Anzu looked from person to person, "You two know each other?"
"Yeah, we work at the same job, Burger World."
Anzu's jaw dropped. "He was the hot new worker you were telling me about?"
Miho blushed, "Um… yeah…"
Marik felt uncomfortable. No one had ever called him "hot" before, how was he supposed to react? "So… didn't expect to see you here!" he said to bypass his awkwardness.
"Me either!" she was obviously grateful for the change in subject. She looked at everyone else. "It's good to see you all again though!"
Everyone smiled, then the woman said, "I'm afraid we've never met, I'm Kujaku Mai, and you are?"
Miho put on a huge and cute smile, "I'm Nosaka Miho! But you can call me Miho-chan!"
Mai smiled, "It's nice to meet you Miho-chan," her eyes widened in realization. She turned to Marik and Bakura, "You don't know who we are do you?"
The two young adults shook their heads. The blonde-haired man stepped up and put his arm around Yugi's shoulder, "I'm Jounouchi Katsuya! Yugi's best friend since high school. Mai is my wife."
Marik was startled, "You two are married?"
"Yes," Mai said, "Why?"
"… It's just, I don't know, you don't seem like you're married."
"I know right?" the brown haired man said, "They fight more than any other couple I know! My name's Honda Hiroto by the way, nice to meet you!"
"Same to you," Bakura answered.
The girl stepped forward, "I'm Kawai Shizuka. Katsuya's sister."
Marik was confused, "Why do you two have different last names?" Marik's eyes widened, "Are you married too?"
Shizuka laughed, "No no! We were just separated during our childhood. But we're still very close."
"Oh, I'm sorry…"
"Don't be, it's understandable." The doorbell rang once more and Anzu left to go get it.
"How many people are coming?" Honda asked.
"This is the last one," Yugi responded.
"Who is it?" Jounouchi asked as he scratched his chin.
"Why, none other than me Jounouchi!" in walked a very tan man with spiky black hair and wearing a red-and-black headband and dice earrings. To put it simply without going on a tangent, he was every girl's dream.
"Otogi Ryuji(4)!" Jounouchi exclaimed. Marik turned, he had heard that name before.
"In the flesh, how's it hanging everybody?"
"Who invited you?" Jounouchi seemed severely pissed off.
"I did," Yugi said, "He's our friend Jounouchi!"
"He's not my friend!" Jounouchi said as he stepped forward. Honda had to hold Jounouchi back: "Cool it dude!"
"I will not cool it! I am going to rip his head off! He can die in a pit of beauty products for all I care!"(5) it was then that Marik and Bakura noticed that Otogi did wear a lot of make-up, he probably used a ton of hair gel too.
"Oh come on, you're still like this? After all these years?"
"I'll kill you!" Jounouchi yelled as he tried to get himself out of Honda's grasp by flailing his arms about him wildly.
"What's with those two?" Bakura whispered to Yugi.
"Jounouchi and Otogi… don't get along very well…"
"Why not?" Marik asked.
Yugi sighed, "Because, Jounouchi's really protective of his sister, and Otogi…"
"Say no more," Marik and Bakura said in unison.
Anzu stepped up and pushed Jounouchi so that he'd sit down on the couch, "Stop it this instant! You are not going to ruin this party by being rude to Otogi! Do I make myself clear?"
"But -!"
"Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?" Anzu was using her angry voice, and Jounouchi knew that she had super human strength because she was a vampire, so he grumbled a "Yes mom," and looked away from Otogi.
Shizuka walked right up to him, "Hello Otogi, how have you been doing lately?"
"Pretty good, the game business is a good one these days - hey, I know you!" he looked at Marik, "I met you on one of my business trips in America, what are you doing here?"
"Gees, this guy knows everybody!" Honda complained.
"How do you know him Ishtar-san?" Anzu asked.
"I met him in America," Marik said.
"You were in America?" Yami asked, "How is it there?"
"Hey, wait a minute!" Otogi said as he realized that there appeared to be twins at this reunion, "There's two Yugis! What the heck?"
"I got my own body!" Yami said with a smirk.
"W-what?" Otogi was shocked, "But, but how?"
"Looks like it's explanation time…" Yugi said.
"Woah…" Jounouchi said. Marik, Bakura, Yugi, Yami, and Anzu had just finished explaining how they had all met, what they were trying to do, and about what they knew of the Millennium Items. Bakura and Marik even told what happened at Pegasus' castle. They explained why Yugi doesn't have his Puzzle anymore, and they explained how Yami got his own body. Then Bakura explained that he too had another soul inside his body, and that he was actually the intruder.
"So… You're like Yugi?" Jounouchi asked.
Bakura nodded, "Yup, but don't worry, Ryou's just sleeping." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Marik roll his eyes - he knew that Ryou was not "just sleeping."
"Wait…" Duke said, "You're trying to gather all of these, what were they? Millennium Items? And then wish that vampires aren't hunted or feared anymore?"
"Yup," Marik said.
"Good luck with that."
"How the heck can you work with a vampire?" Jounouchi asked, "I mean, weren't you raised to kill them?"
"I just don't think they deserve to be hunted for living."
"… I guess that's a good point, but still…"
"I don't get how you think the complete opposite of your parents," Mai said, "Unless you're just very rebellious?"
Marik smirked, "Oh yeah, I'm very rebellious." Bakura noticed a glint in Marik's eyes, was there something more to his "ran away from home" story?
"So you still haven't found a cure yet Yug?" Jounouchi asked.
Yugi sighed, "No, I still can't believe it! I've been searching for so long…"
"Hey, don't worry about it man," Honda said reassuringly, "I'm sure you'll find it in no time! You're really smart!"
Yugi smiled, "Thanks."
"Well, Yugi's going to take a break for a while," Yami interrupted, "He and Anzu are going to rent a hotel and, well, they won't say."
"Ooh la la!" Jounouchi said, "Yugi! You bad boy, didn't know you had it in you."
Yugi and Anzu's face were both very red. "It's not what you think!"
"Uh huh, sure it isn't," Honda said, smiling naughtily.
"It's really not!" Yugi said.
"We decided not to… um, get physical… until we were married!" Anzu said, her face getting redder with every word.
"Ah, you're finally using what I've taught you," Mai broke in, " 'Always keep them wanting more.' "
Anzu sweat dropped, "… That's not it either…"
"If you guys must know, Anzu has an audition for a play in a few days."
"Audition?" everyone echoed.
"Yes, that's why we're driving away and renting a hotel. Okay? So enough with the sex jokes."
"Sorry Yug," Jounouchi said, "But you gotta admit, boyfriend and girlfriend, renting a hotel…" Jounouchi immediately got his with a pillow.
"Sorry, sometimes my hands act on their own," Anzu said with a smile.
"Hey!" Otogi said, "Let's play Spin the Bottle -"
"No way!" Jounouchi denied.
"Ah, come on, why not?"
"Gr," Jounouchi looked very pissed off again, "Isn't it obvious? Mai is my wife, and HELL if she's kissing anybody but me, Anzu is Yugi's girlfriend, and I doubt she'd kiss anyone except Yugi, Shizuka is my sister, and no freaking way is she kissing anybody while I'm around, that just leaves Miho! And the rest of us are dudes!"
Otogi shrugged, "I can swing both ways."
Jounouchi pounced on him, reaching for the throat, "I'll kill you you sick bastard!"
"It was a joke - a joke! I was just kidding!" Otogi assured as he fended off Jounouchi. Everyone else, except Marik and Bakura, went to pry Jounouchi off, but nothing can stop Jounouchi's rage.
Marik and Bakura just sat on the couch laughing at the fight, but Bakura asked, "Hey, how do you know that guy?" in a whisper.
"Who? Otogi? My family thought he was a vampire."
"Really? Why?"
"Well, he liked to take 'night walks' and he just studied and did other things in his house during the day, it seemed as if he had a bunch of female slaves following him around."
"Why were the slaves accusatory?"
"Some vampires are able to control people."
"Really?" Bakura asked - he was shocked, he had not read that anywhere.
"Yeah. You know how a vampire can erase their victim's minds? Well, some vampires can completely mind control anyone they take blood from, but it takes a very skilled vampire to do this, not many have achieved it."
"So, you thought he was a mind controlling vampire?"
"Yes, but then he went to the beach one day, so we stopped investigating," Marik chuckled, "You should've seen Isis' face when she saw all those girls were willingly following him; she said those girls had no morals and she felt sick for the rest of the day. Oh Isis," Marik had a faraway look in his eyes.
Bakura looked at Marik, "You miss your family, don't you?"
Marik sighed, "Just a little…"
"Dang it Jounouchi," Honda's voice carried over to the two young adults, "We don't have to play Spin the Bottle, relax!"
"Yeah!" Yugi said, "Calm down Jounouchi!"
"Fine!" Jounouchi sat down grudgingly and with his arms crossed.
Otogi sat back up, "Okay, so Spin the Bottle's out, how about Truth or Dare?"
"What is with you and all the slumber party games?" Jounouchi asked angrily.
Otogi smiled, "Fine then Jounouchi, what do you wanna play?"
Jounouchi got a look of deep concentration on his face. "… I don't know…"
"Ha! So, let's play Truth or Dare -"
"No!" Jounouchi objected.
Everyone sighed, "Jounouchi," Yugi said, "why don't you want to play?"
"Because! The cocky jerk will just dare my sister to kiss him!"
Otogi looked offended, "Why Jounouchi! I would never do that!"
"Yeah, sure you wouldn't, just like I wouldn't shove my fist right up your -"
"Jounouchi!" Mai scolded. Jounouchi cut his sentence off and replaced it with an eye twitch. "I think Truth or Dare is a wonderful idea! And dang it, you can't be so protective of your sister all the time!"
"But -!"
"No buts! Anzu, truth or dare?"
Jounouchi opened his mouth to protest, but Anzu said, "Truth."
"Okay. How fare have you and Yugi gotten?"
Both teens who's names were mentioned blushed deep red, Anzu muttered something under her breath.
"What was that hon? I can't hear you."
"She said 'making out,'" Bakura spoke up. Everyone looked at him. "Vampire hearing."
"Oooooh," everyone said.
"M-Miho, truth or dare," Anzu asked to get the subject off of her.
"Hm, Miho chooses… dare!"
"Okay… um, I dare you to do your Burger World pose." Miho stood up and put one arm in the air, and put the opposing leg in the air as well, she even completed it with, "Welcome to Burger World! We'll seat you in just a sec!"
Everyone laughed.
"Miho-chan," Honda said, "You look so cute when you say that!"
"Thanks Honda-kun!" she turned to Marik, "Truth or dare?"
"Uh…" could he pick neither? He really didn't want to play this game… "Truth…"
Miho smiled, "I was hoping you'd pick that one! Do you like me?"
"Hm? Do I like you? Sure."
Everyone was shocked, but Bakura most of all, his eyes went wide, and he had an un-denying urge to kill Miho.
"Really?" Miho asked hopefully.
"Yeah, you're a good friend." Everyone stared at Marik before sweat dropping.
Marik looked from person to person, "What?"
Bakura sighed, "You idiot, she was asking if you liked her."
"What?" Marik answered back confused, but then he got it, "Oh…" his face went red and he looked at Miho, "Oh. Sorry no. Not-not that way… Sorry…" Bakura felt elated to hear Marik say that, he even had to try not to smile.
Miho laughed it off, "No, it's okay…" Her voice just had a little bit of hurt feelings in it.
Marik felt horrible now, but he decided he should continue the game, "Otogi, truth or dare."
"Dare; cause I'm a daredevil," he winked at Shizuka, which made her giggle. Anzu and Mai's hands immediately reached out to hold Jounouchi back.
"Okay, um…" What was a good dare? He was drawing a blank, "Um… I dare you to… Gees, I don't know…"
"Just think of something."
Marik sighed, "I dare you to… take all of the hair gel out of your hair."
Otogi paled just a little bit, "What are you talking about?" he said nervously, "This is natural."
"Yeah right!" Jounouchi cut in, "That hair's as natural as a flying pig! What's the matter? You're the one who wanted to play this stupid game to begin with!"
Otogi sighed, "Okay, I'll be right back…" he walked away, and soon you could hear a faucet running for a very long time. When Otogi came back, his hair wasn't spiky anymore, it was straight. Completely and utterly straight. It went down all around him in a rich dark pool of silkiness, but since his hair was cut weirdly to get the spiked shapes, his hair was layered wrong, so it looked like a kindergartner had cut his hair. Everyone burst out laughing.
"It's not funny!" Otogi said, "Jounouchi! Truth or dare!"
"Dare. I'm no coward."
Otogi smirked evilly, "I dare you to let me kiss your sister. On the mouth," he turned to Shizuka, "if it's all right with you of course."
"WHAT?" Jounouchi shouted as he stood up in a fighting stance.
Shizuka stood up and put her shoulder on Jounouchi, "Can I talk to you for a minute Onii-chan?" she said before dragging him by the ear in the kitchen. You could hear nothing but whispering, except for Jounouchi's occasional outbursts: "But -!" "No way!" and "WHAT?" Eventually, they came out of the kitchen, and Shizuka walked right up to Otogi and pecked him on the lips. "My Onii-chan is okay with it now."
"No I'm -!" Mai quickly poked Jounouchi in the ribs with her elbow to silence him.
Otogi smiled, "In that case, would you like to go out this Saturday?" Mai quickly put her hand over Jounouchi's mouth.
"I'd love to," Shizuka said with one last glance at her brother.
Otogi smiled, "Okay, we can stop playing this game now if you guys want."
"But I never got a turn!" Honda complained.
"Honda, truth or dare," Jounouchi asked still upset that his baby sister was going out with Otogi Ryuji of all people. Why him?
"Truth!"
"Dang it man! I'm no good with truths! Um… have you ever beaten someone up?"
"Yeah. Once in high school. Was that all you had Jounouchi?"
"Yup, sorry man, now ask someone else their stupid question." So they continued playing truth or dare until everyone had had their turn, they asked or dared the first thing that came to their mind. But instead of telling you what happened, I'll just let you guess and imagine for yourselves. Have fun with that!
"This is delicious!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he took a bite of his food, "It's amazing!" Everyone had just finished opening their Whit Elephant (or Blue Camel, whichever you prefer) gifts, and they had gotten some pretty cool stuff. Yugi ended up getting some of the toys Bakura stuffed into a box, Anzu got a blue Beanie Baby, Jounouchi got moisturizing cream (which he immediately handed to his wife), Mai got an old T-shirt that said, "Yes, this tan is natural," Shizuka got some candle holders, Honda obtained a stuffed, pink bunny (which he gave to Miho-chan and which she hugged tightly), Miho got flowery paper pads, Otogi ended up getting the rest of the old toys Bakura stuffed in a box (that gift was supposedly from Marik), Bakura ended up with a massive pen, and Marik got an old, dusty, rusted, plastic model airplane with a few parts missing/torn off.
After everyone made fun of their gifts, they had started eating, and now Jounouchi was praising his food like he hadn't eaten in three days.
"I've never tasted anything like it!"
Anzu rolled her eyes, "You're just saying that so you'll get seconds."
"So? I still like the food. Why would I want seconds if I didn't?"
"Good point, but get it yourself."
"But I'm a guest!"
"And you almost tried to kill someone. So you get your own food."
"It makes sense if you think about it," Bakura commented.
"Yeah, if you try to kill someone, you get your own food. That's totally fair," Marik added.
"I get it okay!" Jounouchi said, "I'll get my own dang food! You guys don't have to join in too! Gees…"
Everyone laughed, but then Shizuka noticed Otogi staring up at the ceiling.
"What's wrong Otogi?"
"Mistletoe…" he said. Everyone looked up at where the mistletoe was hung.
Directly over Marik and Bakura.
Everyone got goofy grins on their faces. "Mistletoe!" Otogi said again.
Marik and Bakura were confused, "What's mistletoe?" they asked.
Everyone stared at them blankly. "… You don't know…?" Mai said. They both shook their heads.
"… Oh, um, never mind then…"
"No, now you have to tell us. What's the deal with mistletoe?" Bakura asked.
"You really don't know? Is that possible?" Jounouchi asked.
"Wait, what is the deal with mistletoe?" Yami joined in.
Yugi looked at him, "You don't know either?"
"Yugi, I was cramped up in a puzzle for a very long time, I barely understand anything in this time."
Bakura closed his eyes, "And I faintly remember hearing about mistletoe, but I didn't pay close enough attention."
"And my dad hated anything that had to do with Christmas," Marik explained.
"What?" Jounouchi said, "How can you hate Christmas?"
"You haven't met my dad," Marik said, his voice sounding depressed.
"So what's mistletoe?" Yami asked again.
Everyone was silent, then Honda smirked and said, "I think it would be best to give a demonstration, don't you guys?"
Everyone gave general head nods and more smirks, making Bakura wonder if he even wanted to know what mistletoe was.
Mai stood up, "Get up Jounouchi! We're demonstrating."
"Okay!" Jounouchi said back.
"Oh I get it," Otogi broke in, "So you can kiss anyone you like, but your sister can't, I see how it is Jounouchi."
Jounouchi glared at him, "We're married! That's different!"
"Uh, huh, whatever you say, Onii-chan. You don't deserve that title."
Jounouchi ground his teeth, it looked as if steam would come out of his ears, he opened his mouth to start yelling his head off, but then he took a deep breath and let it out slowly. He looked at Shizuka. She was smiling meekly, and Jounouchi sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Go ahead," he said.
Everyone was silent.
"… What?" Otogi asked.
"Go ahead," he repeated. He looked at Shizuka, who was smiling. She stood up and kissed her big brother on the cheek, "Thank you, Jou-onii-chan," she said, playing around with his name. Jounouchi smiled, and then sat back down, Mai sat back down too and put her arm over Jounouchi's shoulder. "It's okay Jounouchi, you'll be fine," she whispered.
Otogi was grinning like an idiot as Shizuka walked up to him. "I don't know what you said to your brother in the kitchen," he said, "but I'm glad you said it."
Shizuka laughed. Otogi looked at Marik and Bakura, "This is what you do if you're under the mistletoe." He reached up and gently caressed Shizuka's cheek, leaned in, and kissed her.
It looked so sweet, two people who obviously loved each other, kissing passionately under the mistletoe…
The kiss lasted about five seconds before Jounouchi stood up lightning fast and put his hand on Otogi's shoulder. "That's enough Otogi…" he said like a creeper, his hair was blocking his eyes, so all you could see was his twisted smile.
He looked absolutely terrifying.
Otogi jumped back, "Uh, right! Right! … I'm sitting down now…" Otogi sat down and Jounouchi walked like a zombie back to his place next to Mai. When he sat down, he glanced up and glared at Otogi, sending shivers down his spine. Jounouchi could be very scary when he wanted to be.
Meanwhile, Marik and Bakura's faces were both very red, and they were grateful for the distraction. However, after everyone laughed at the zombie Jounouchi, they turned their attention back to them.
"… Uh, I'll pass…" they said in unison as they held their hands up. Everyone burst out laughing. Marik and Bakura glanced at each other, noticed that the other's face was red, and looked away quickly. Now don't get Bakura wrong, he wanted to kiss Marik, it actually scared him how much he wanted to, but not in front of everyone like that! And because of how much he wanted to, he couldn't help but wonder why Marik's face was red. Could he maybe…? But surely that would be too easy…? Bakura's head started spinning with possibilities. And Marik, well… He had no idea how he felt. He just knew he did not want to kiss anyone in front of other people. That might be a problem on his wedding day… And he also wondered why Bakura's face was red, but he just couldn't come up with a solution.
Marik and Bakura both growled, "It's not funny!" they said together, causing everyone to laugh harder. They looked at each other, "Stop copying me!" they said in unison again. They both let out agonizing screams, stood up and walked to opposite sides of the room. They sat down; Bakura next to Anzu, Marik next to Otogi; and crossed their arms, glaring at each other. Everyone was silent, then Anzu said, "… Who wants eggnog?"
"I'll get it!" Jounouchi said, a mischievous glint in his eye. He walked into the kitchen, grabbed the eggnog, poured it into a bowl he found sitting on the counter, and then put the ladle into it. Then he took a bottle out of his coat, uncorked it, and poured the liquid into the eggnog. "This should liven up the party…" Jounouchi muttered to himself. He stirred the eggnog together, and brought the bowl into the living room. "Here's the eggnog!" did no one see the glint in Jounouchi's eye? Everyone took their empty cups (or if they weren't empty, gulped the rest of their drink down) and each poured eggnog into their cups and started drinking.
"This is good eggnog!" Honda said.
"Miho-chan thinks so too!"
"Woah!" Marik said, "This stuff is really good! What is this again?"
"Eggnog," Anzu said.
"I love eggnog!" Marik said before gulping the rest of his drink down. Bakura stared into his cup. It looked to thick for his tastes, and he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the eggnog… He sipped his. Dang it, it is good… curse you eggnog!
"I always love Christmas time, don't you?" Shizuka asked no one in particular.
"It's official," Yami said, "This is the best thing I have ever tasted!"
"It can't be that good, it's just eggnog," Anzu said staring at the bowl, "Actually, most people don't like it. She watched Marik get a second cup warily. Yugi drank some of his, and noticed that it had a weird aftertaste, not like eggnog, it was like something else… "Anzu," Yugi said, "What kind of eggnog did you buy?"
Anzu scrunched her eyebrows together, "I just got some eggnog from the convenience store… It shouldn't taste this great," she drank some of Yugi's eggnog. Her eyes went cloudy as Marik finished his second cup and went for a third. He really liked eggnog.
"Jounouchi," Anzu said slowly, "Did you put something into the eggnog?" Everyone turned to Jounouchi who smiled guiltily.
"What?" he said, feigning innocence, "Why would I do such a thing?"
"Jounouchi!" Mai said, clearly shocked.
"Why would you do that Onii-chan?" Shizuka asked sadly, "You should've at least warned us."
Bakura's eyes went wide, he looked at Marik, who was draining his third cup and going for more. Bakura grabbed Marik's wrist. "No more eggnog for you."
Marik turned to Bakura with a goofy grin on his face and a haze over his eyes, "But eggnog is so goooood!"
Bakura swore, "Great! He's drunk now! Thanks a lot!" he said glaring at Jounouchi.
"What? But I only poured a little in! He can't be drunk already!" Jounouchi protested.
"So you admit you did it," Anzu mumbled under her breath.
"Marik doesn't have much liquor tolerance. Any actually," Bakura stopped Marik from drinking more and took the glass out of his hands.
"Oh man, sorry, I didn't know…"
"A little late for that!" Bakura held his hand out of reach as Marik made a grab for it. "No more for you!" he told him, much like a parent does a child.
Marik pouted, "Why not?"
"Because you're drunk!"
"No I'm not, I'm just a little drunk. Tipsy, if you will," he had said 'tipsy' in English, so only Bakura understood what he meant.
"Whatever, you're not drinking anymore."
"Aw, you never let me do anything," Marik whined, there was just the hint of a slur in his voice.
"What are you talking about?" Bakura said, outraged, "What about Pegasus' castle? What about that idiotic vampire movie you took me too? And may I remind you whose fault is it that I have paint all over my wall? And I never let you do anything?"
Marik stared at Bakura, "You don't have to get so mad 'Kura…"
Bakura sighed, "Don't call me that…"
"Why not?"
"Just don't."
Marik blinked blankly before smirking, "'Kura," he said, "'Kura, 'Kura, 'Kura, 'Kura, 'Kura, 'Kura, 'Kura!"
Bakura's eye started to twitch, "What part of 'stop' don't you understand?"
"'Kura-kitty!"
"I am not a kitty!" Bakura yelled.
"Yes you are," Marik objected, "Turn into a cat!"
"No."
"Aw come on, please?"
"No."
Marik stared at Bakura, then got an even wilder smirk on his face. He whispered, "What if I kiss you, will you turn into a cat then?" into his ear. Bakura's face turned into a tomato. "N-no!" he stammered.
"You hesitated! You hesitated!" Marik sang, the essence of happiness.
"What did you say?" Jounouchi asked. Bakura's face turned even redder as he realized that everyone had been watching their little exchange.
"I said -" Marik's mouth was quickly covered by Bakura's hand.
"Do excuse us, but I believe it is Marik's bedtime, isn't that right Marik?" Marik nodded. Bakura thanked the heavens that he was playing along, "So, it was nice meeting you guys, bye!" Bakura and Marik walked out of the door, Marik waved before the door slammed, leaving everyone else just standing there.
"Anzu!" Honda said, "You know what Marik said right? Vampire hearing and whatnot?"
Anzu smiled mischievously, she had heard. "Oh, I'll never tell…"
"Aw, come on!" Jounouchi said.
"Sorry, but that's one secret you won't find out from me." For a long time, everyone tried to get Anzu to reveal what Marik had whispered into Bakura's ear, but she wouldn't give in. And there was also some very good news:
Honda had talked to Miho, and asked her out on a date. Miho had agreed immediately, and then Tristan said to her, "And Miho? You don't have to act dumb for me to like you, I like you just the way you are. Don't change." He was referring back to high school, when Miho hadn't acted dumb, when he had fallen in love with her. He had still loved her all these years, and admired how cute she was, but wished she would just act like herself. Seeing her tonight had convinced him that he should tell her how he felt, and he did just that. Miho had hugged him, and a single tear had escaped her eye. She had only been acting dumb because it seemed as if that was the only type of girl boys would date. She actually felt a little jealous of Anzu. She acted just like herself and she had possibly the best boyfriend in the world, at least for her. But now that someone liked her for who she was, she didn't have to pretend anymore. And for that, she was happy, and she had always kind of liked Honda.
Also, there was good news for the Pharaoh. Jounouchi brought up that he was going on tour because of his pro wrestling career (He was a championship kick-boxer) and asked if any one wanted to come. Yami had asked right away, and he left in a week. First America, and then, the rest of the world. Yugi had tried to come up with reasons why he shouldn't leave yet, but Yami was adamant. He was going on that trip and that was final.
Mai also announced that she was pregnant.
That was all anyone could talk about for the rest of the night.
(1): Anyone know what Bakura's implying here? If you don't it's this: He's jealous of Ryou. I tried to portray that on the boat trip, but I'll try to make this more evident later on if no one got it.
(2): I went through so many uniform and job ideas before deciding to just copy Anzu's job at Burger World from season 0 XD Here were some of the ideas:
~~The uniform was a bright green shirt with bright yellow trims with black pants.
~~The uniform was a light blue shirt with blinding yellow trims and red pants.
~~The uniform had a picture of a red chicken on the breast pocket of a black shirt with black pants with a red chicken shaped hat on the top.
Just imagine Marik wearing each of these uniforms. Go ahead, I dare you.
(3): Meaning 'boss' in Japanese.
(4): Simply because I feel it needs to be said: This is Duke Devlin's Japanese name. My friend absolutely loves him =)
(5): My brother came in at this time and told me that Jounouchi should say that; I agreed ^^
I hope you all liked that chapter! I certainly did XD There's another Christmas chapter (that's right, I'm sitll not done with Christmas~~~) after this one, and I think you'll like it ^^
~~~{REVIEW REPLIES!}~~~
Bec: I'm also happy the Anzu/Yugi issue was finally resolved, it's finally off my shoulders. And yep. I'm a tricky one I am ^^
At first I was like, "WHERE CAN YOU WORK WITHOUT WINDOWS?" Then my mom told me that we might watch the new Narnia movie later and I was like, "Movie theatre…"
I had trouble figuring out what Bakura would do to comfort someone, he's not really the 'comforting' type, and if he is comforting you it's in a way where it doesn't seem like he's comforting you, know what I mean?
And thanks for catching my error… I completely forgot that Yugi didn't have the Millennium Puzzle anymore… ^_^" It's just, whenever I hear "Yugi" I think of him wearing the Puzzle. Thanks for telling me about that though! I fixed it ^^ 'cause that was a major plot-hole right there. Maybe when I finish the story I'll review it and fix all of the other things too… For now, this story keeps going - mistakes and all. Unless they're major ^^"
That's What Cheese Said: Oooooh, they're spazzy noises! That makes sense, and you made me laugh SO VERY HARD with your "ram your head against the keyboard like a madman" thing XD That's so funny! The thought of Yugi eloping with Yami and moving to a deserted island was funny as well XD
Maybe I'll put in a Thiefshipping fic where 'true love's kiss' is the answer… that would be funny, and a challenge… And let's be honest, who doesn't love Ryou?
And the thought of Bakura giving Marik a llama named Doctor Coconut made me laugh, did you copy that from Phineas and Ferb? Lol, Carl.
I also wonder how your homophobic classmate would react if he found out he's benefiting yaoi fan fiction XD Maybe you should tell him and find out ;)
And you can type spazzy things, I'll know what they are now.
Swirly: Lols, Bakura is grumpy isn't he? And I picture Bakura as being a closet-nice person, know what I mean? Glad you liked the chapter ^^