Mao placed a small pile of cheese sandwiches that she had made on a plate and carried them out of the kitchen, hoping that Bakura, who had told her his name before she gone to make the lunch, actually liked sandwiches.
After he had asked her about her cat ears, she had panicked, realising that if she told him that she was wearing a headband like she did with other people then it probably wouldn't work, she spent several minutes spluttering and pulling anxiously on her left ear before she came up with a decent excuse, but by the time she had finished blurting it out, he had fallen back to sleep.
Walking through the dimly lit hallway, she wondered how long he would be staying there for, she wanted it to be a long time for some reason, though she wasn't sure why, they had only met a few hours ago, and most of the time she had known him he had been sleeping. She scratched her ear absentmindedly and almost dropped the plate when she was left carrying it with only one hand.
A few seconds later she was opening the front door to her bedroom and walking in.
The first thing she saw was Bakura, sitting on her bed and staring in obvious disgust at a pink care bear that her aunt had sent her for Christmas the previous year.
She blushed. "Ah, um, that-" she started to talk but was cut off by Bakura.
"What the fuck is that thing?" he asked, sounding repulsed.
"Um, it's, em, something I got for Christmas..."Mao responded, continuing to blush.
He turned his head away from the bear, as if looking at it was causing him pain. "Its absolutely hideous." He grinned slightly, suddenly finding something funny.
"Huh? What?" asked Mao, confused by his change of attitude.
"Its just so perfectly horrible." he replied, still grinning. He turned his head to look at Mao, and for a second she thought she could see something moving behind his chocolate coloured eyes, but she blinked, and he looked normal again.
"What?" he asked. "Am I really so beautiful that you have to stare at me like that?" Despite the fact he was still joking about, his grin had vanished, his expression becoming more serious, he did not seem to like the way she was staring at him.
"I, um, no, I was, just, um, would you like a cheese sandwich?" She thrust the tray towards him hastily, blushing.
"No, I wouldn't." he replied, sounding faintly annoyed for some reason.
"Ah, okay then, are you-" she stopped talking when the telephone started ringing and rushed back out into the hallway, returning several minutes later wearing her coat.
"I'm going to have to leave you here for a while, okay?" She said, worried that he might wander off while she was out. "I need to get some shopping done for my mum."
"No, your not going to have to leave me here." Bakura said, standing up."I'm coming with you." The last part was a statement, not a request.
"Um, okay!" Mao said, surprised by his decision , but pleased as well. "Would you like to borrow a coat? Its freezing out there, and you might have already got a cold from being out there in the garden earlier."
"I'll be fine." he replied, walking out of the door ahead of Mao, who hurried after him.
Nearly three quarters of an hour after they had left the house they were standing at the checkout while the girl at the counter added up the prices of their things. Shopping seemed to take much longer with Bakura around, Mao thought, placing the groceries in bag without really concentrating on it, but still, it was much more interesting than when she went alone.
She looked up when the girl told her the cost of what she had bought and stared at her in confusion for a couple of seconds before giving her the money, she had shopped here for supplies lots of times before and she could swear things didn't normally cost that much.
On the walk home she saw Bakura shivering slightly and offered to let him wear her coat, but all she got in response was a glare which, for a few short seconds, she returned, annoyed at him for being perfectly capable of carrying some of the shopping bags but still refusing to help.
Half an hour later Mao ran back into her room and and stopped right in front of Bakura, looking extremely annoyed.
She had just found out the reason for the shopping being so expensive while she was unpacking the bags.
"You could have at least asked if we could get them!" She said, so loudly she was almost shouting.
"Well isn't it your own fault for not looking at what you were buying?" Bakura replied, a slightly mocking grin spread across his pale face and his long white hair bouncing up and down on his shoulders as he jumped swiftly up onto Mao's bed.
"Look, that cost a lot, and what are we going to do with all of it anyway?" She said, thinking of the large amounts of cakes, chocolate, and other sweet food that she had discovered. She still sounded angry, although her voice had become quieter, she wasn't used to shouting.
He rolled his eyes. "Eat them, what do you think? It is food isn't it?"
"Its an awful lot of food, you'll get sick from eating all of that!" She felt slightly ill herself imagining eating all of the things that had been accidentally bought all in one night. "I mean, its all sweet foods and cake and stuff!"
"Well, it won't make me sick." He stated confidently. "And who says I'm eating all of it? You'll be helping."
"What? Who decided that?" Mao spluttered, tugging agitatedly on her ear.
"I did." His brown eyes were closed and he was now leaning back on the bed, his hands behind his head.
Sighing, she gave in, arguing with him seemed pretty pointless, he just stated things, not doubting that people would agree, convinced that he was getting his way, and well, to be honest, he was right. "Okay, I will eat them with you, but don't do stuff like that again, please."
"Again?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Am I always shopping with you now then?" He raised his feet onto the bed, getting mud on the blankets, he hadn't bothered removing his shoes.
"I, um, well, I meant, if you do shop with me again, um, don't do that." She said nervously, having not thought about the fact he was likely to leave and go home soon. He said nothing in response, which Mao was glad of, of he had spoken he might of told her when he would be leaving, and she preferred not knowing, then it seemed like there was a chance he would stay longer.
They both just sat there for awhile, well, Mao sat, Bakura continued lying down on her bed, but after awhile they heard the door opening as her mum returned from work and she dashed off towards the kitchen to hide the things that Bakura had put in the trolley.
That night, she slept on the floor, as Bakura had fallen asleep on her bed earlier and she couldn't manage to move him. Just as she was about to drift off, she remembered the strange look in the pale boys eyes she had seen earlier, but before she could wonder about what it could have been, she was sleeping.