Bakura:.......I don't want to be a girl.
LD:No kidding? Then what's up with the outfit?
Bakura:-__- You're thinking of Malik, not me.
LD: Oh yeah! By the way- glowers- what's wrong with being a girl?
Bakura:-_______________- Would you like to be a boy?
LD: O_O Point taken. I do not own anything affiliated with the original YuGiOh!
Bakura:.......That's probably a good thing. If you did, episodes would come out every two or three months instead of every week.
LD: I said I was sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Over the next hour or so, Tea learned several important facts about Malik.
One: never let him anywhere near a roller coaster, no matter how interested in them he was. They had gone by a fair set up to celebrate some tournament or other of Kaiba's(the stalls were conspicuously branded with the familiar KC logo). He did fairly well on them, but got so excited that he was liable to take twenty in one go, then stumble around like a drunk, still insisting that he was fine.
When Tea finally wearied of this behavior, she force-fed the Egyptian lad one of Mr. R's special Spicy N Greasy Megasized Tacos. Needless to say, the next ride he went on was his last.
Two: given time, he would probably be able to match her pace at DDR. Upon first having the game explained to him, he struggled to hide obvious disdain. But after watching Tea go a few rounds, he grudgingly clambered up, and after only three times was battling ill-concealed delight. His lithe body, conditioned from necessity since birth, fluidly danced with a grace even Tea slightly envied. By the time they got off, they were both sweating and laughing. Malik, unaccustomed to the exertion, had actually fallen over. The manager then requested they leave, which duly shamed both of them. But Malik whispered a crack about his bald head to Tea on the way out, and as soon as the doors shut behind them they burst out laughing again.
Three: Thankfully, he was almost as scary to fan girls as he was attractive to them. When accompanying Yugi, she always felt obligated to wear heels in case she had to kick a potential assaulter back. The innocent boy had the charm to draw attention, but no means of keeping it at a reasonable or even safe level. Surprisingly, it was even worse with Yami: he attracted more girls than Yugi did, and his strange-and messed up- honor code kept him from glaring at the firls. Although he did accidentally send a few to the Shadow realm.
Still pointing out the features of the city to Malik, Tea internally sighed as yet another pair of burning eyes fixated with murderous intent on her form. She began to wish she had brought pepper-spray, as yet another woman brushed shoulders with her, the contact containing too much force to be unintentional. Then the woman, tall and ginger-haired, snidely demanded an apology from Tea as the brunette strived to maintain her balance. A warm hand steadied her; she stared up into Malik's slightly ticked eyes.
"Say, Tea," he said loudly. "You didn't tell me that Domino had hideous, fat trolls like that stumbling around." The woman stuttered, turned an unholy red, and fled. Tea rolled her eyes. "What can I say, blondie? Every city has its dirty little secrets." She continued walking while Malik gawked at her.
He ran to catch up. "Did you just seriously call me blondie?" She laughed. Well, the fan girl situation wasn't as bad as it was with the two white haired boys. When she, on the rare occasion, strolled with Bakura, her fear for the girls themselves outstripped her concern for Bakura himself. That came from seeing him eat in the school cafeteria. BAD memories there. As for Ryou, well, she just didn't walk alone with Ryou anymore. Last time, she had almost died of suffocation under a pile of lusty girls and boys.
Four: Malik really really really liked motorcycles. If they ever got past their differences, Tea bet he and Tristan could talk for a year straight about their beloved machines. As it was, every time one of them revved by, Malik would instantaneously blurt out the model's year, fine points, and general statistics that were recondite to the poor girl's brain.
"You do realize those things are bad for the environment, right?" She asked him after a 1999 BMW roared by
"So are cars, but you still ride those don't you?" He returned.
She shook her head. "Not anymore."
"Well, for you dancing is a hobby, for me motorcycles are a hobby."
"First thing: Dancing is my future; second: at least my hobby doesn't spew noxious fumes into the atmosphere. The penguins are gonna get you for that."
He smirked. "True, but the factory your ballet shoes and attire is made at spits out a ton of pollution, so I guess the penguins will be the end of us both."
She laughed, and Malik felt a sudden tug at his heart. He frowned. That was the last time he took free samples from that store.
"Still," Tea persisted. "My hobby improves a person's long term health: It's much more exercise then some hyped up machine is."
He gaped at her, an aggrieved look on his face. "Tea, have you ever even ridden one? There is a reason not everyone rides them, you know."
She batted her blue eyes. "Besides from the fact that when your riding one, your obviously trying to compensate for something?"
He snorted. "If you intend to talk compensation, then shouldn't you be referring to Kaiba's dragon plane instead?"
She cracked up, laughing so hard she actually gasped for air. "That's true." She said between laughs.
"Still, I'll concede that dancing is much more exerting than riding a motorcycle. However," plied Malik, a dark truth in his lavender eyes. "Let me put it like this: Would you rather have Yami ride a bike to school, or dance to school in toe-shoes?"
Tea looked sick. "Unfortunately, Malik, he's already done the latter."
Malik stared at her in horror. "Are you jesting?"
"Nope, he was wearing a pink tutu and everything...."
"Oh Ra....."
A sickened silence ensued where both tried to efface from their minds the image of a blushing Yami in tights and a pink, fluffy tutu. Even Pegasus wouldn't go that far.
..................................................................................................................
Somewhere, miles away, in the middle of a nameless ocean on an island known only as F*** THAT S***YOU*******OF A ***********BORN FROM A***********, there is a very sparkly, fabulous mansion.
And in that sparkly, fabulous mansion, there are lots of bodyguards with oddly pointy hair. More importantly, there are numerous and indisputably fabulous floors.
And on the most fabulous floor of them all, there are many fabulous rooms.
And in the most fabulous room, Pegasus is very earnestly snogging his reflection.
.......................................................................................................................
In the end, Bakura rowed out of school on the back of a nameless nerd, using the principal and the librarian as paddles. Ryou sat behind him, sniffling and muttering under his breath.
Then they both got run over by penguins.
Through a darkening vision, Bakura looked up and saw Yami in all his glory, riding the head penguin and wearing a tutu.
"Ra damnn you Pharoah..." He groaned, then passed out.
.....................................................................................................................
Malik learned some things about his new friend on the trip as well: Tea was nice. She was smart. She knew where she wanted to be in life, and she was already working hard to get there. Tea knew everybody, as well as the right things to say to everyone.
Malik stared at the smoothie in his hand. A part of him wished he was more like her.
With a loud slurp, the blue-eyed brunette polished off her own smoothie. "You know", she said quietly, looking out at the people walking by them. "I respect you a lot."
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OK, so it's not quite a cliffie, but it's close.
I want to end this by thanking everybody who has been kind enough to review, even with my long abscence. You guys rule, and every time I read your comments it makes me want to run around the room twenty times with a big smile on my face. However, the only time I did that, my mom told me it was really disturbing. Oh well. Hope you like it, and as always, any comment is welcome.