Ryou's POV
The first time going to the park without having to pretend to be a different nationality.
I hope it won't be to boring.
Oh who am I trying to kid? With Marik and Bakura, I somehow doubt boring could ever happen. Even if we want it to. Marik's idea of boring would probably be something like him sitting in the stereotypical fancy-pants living room. You know the one, a fire place, big, old, red armchair, him sitting in it in a red robe, with one of those old smoke pipe things, and with a cat on his lap whilst he reads the newspaper. The cat would probably be Bakura.
That's probably the closest he could get to boring.
In a moment of nostalgia, I decide to walk past the tree Bakura chased me up when I stole his shoe. I stop and look up at the tree. After a few minutes staring at it I decide something. I'm going to climb this tree.
I scale the tree in a matter of seconds. I just went all ninja on it.
I'm a lot higher up now than the first time, and with no shoe to provide my inevitable downfall I can actually get a good look at the park from this angle. I move some branches out of the way and gaze across the park. I can see the jungle gym, the baseball diamond, the vending machines, trees, Marik wearing a lampshade on his head, kids playing tag, the volleyball court...
I sigh peacefully. So many things. I should probably see what Marik is doing before he finds some way to electrocute himself. I see no wires... but if anybody could pull it off, it's Marik.
I start to climb down the tree. But I lost my footing halfway through and landed with a thud on my butt. That was so not ninja. Pretty sure nobody saw it, so I'm good. I'm more than good. I'm awesome. And there are no witnesses to prove otherwise.
I jog over to where Marik is. Not only is he wearing a lampshade on his head, but the lampshade is covered in stickers. Sparkly stickers. Sparkly pony stickers.
Oh Marik... Que headdesk.
"Marik? What are you-" I began before Marik cut me off.
"Ryou! Shh! Someone might see through my camouflage!" Marik whispered at me.
"What are you-" I tried to ask again before Marik cut me off. Again. Will my question never be asked?
"Quick, behind the bush!" Marik grabbed my arm and forcibly pulled me behind the nearby bush. When Marik let go the momentum made me fall right on my butt. My poor booty. So much abuse in such a short span of time.
Marik crouched and looked around as if an enemy could be spying on us. But in Marik's world, that's very possible. The toddler on the see-saw's left shoe is probably worst his enemy.
I have a feeling if I came to an all out battle between Marik and that size 5 shoe, the shoe would emerge victorious. Shoe. Singular.
I gaze at Marik from the corner of my eyes, then at the toddler's shoe.
Yeah the shoe.
I glance at Marik again.
Hands down.
"Marik, why did you-" I started before I was, yet again, cut off.
"Give me your socks." Marik ordered already reaching for my feet.
"Say what now?" I am shocked to say the least. Out of everything, this is the last thing I expected. Maybe not the last. The last thing would be something like 'I was born in Canada'. Which in itself is ridiculous. After the whole Waldo thing, even if he was Canadian he would deny every bit of his heritage. "Why do you need my socks?"
"Because my dog left a potato on the stairs, I stepped in it so sadly, my socks cannot participate in this scheme."
"Don't you have more than one pair?" I asked struggling as Marik forcibly removed my shoes.
"Those won't work."
"Why not?"
Marik paused. "We don't have time for this! If you won't give-" Marik pulled off both my socks at once mid-sentence and grinned. "Never mind."
"Marik what-" I tried to say but he cut me off again. Why won't he stop doing that? It's becoming very frustrating!
"Shh," Marik held one of his fingers in front of his mouth to signal silence. As if I couldn't understand by words alone he wants me to be quiet. "Something Fluffy this way comes."
And wouldn't you know it, it was Bakura walking down the path. He stopped and stared at the lampshade Marik had left on the bench.
When did Marik take that off anyways?
In a swift motion, Marik grabbed my socks, leaped up, and threw them at Bakura. Bakura himself, of course, didn't notice until it was to late and he had a face full of dirty laundry.
Marik's POV
Yes!
Right in the face!
Ah, the sweet smell of victory.
And based on what I know Bakura is smelling, defeat must smell like Ryou's feet.
It sorta rhymes. Meh, I need something weirder that rhymes. Maybe... nah, this is no time for poetry! I must defuse a possibly deadly situation!
Sigh.
Such temperamental kitties I have.
Always getting angry over nothing.
Bakura's POV
I was walking, I see a lampshade sitting on a bench, then get a face full of smelly footwear.
This has Marik written all over it.
"Marik!" I shout while ripping the socks off my face and tearing them to shreds. I vaguely take note of Ryou making a noise of protest. "Why? That's all I can ask! Why?"
Marik shrugged. Ryou spoke up. "Marik, what is wrong with you today?"
Marik tilted his head in thought before speaking, "Well-"
-"I mean, not that something is wrong with you everyday, there defiantly is don't get me wrong, but you seem especially... odd today." Ryou cut Marik off looking very pleased with himself. I wonder what Marik did that would make cutting him off a huge achievement for Ryou.
It didn't phase Marik in the slightest, which seemed to take away some of Ryou little satisfaction. Marik began speaking, "I didn't get my Flintstones vitamin!" Marik's expression turned sour as he pouted. "All because of that accursed child-proof cap!"
Ryou and I sighed in unison.
Just then, a red rubber ball came flying out of nowhere and hit Ryou square in the face, with that delightful sound rubber makes when it does indeed hit somebody square between the eyes might I add, sending him crashing to the ground. The ball bounced off him and rolled to Marik's feet, all of it's momentum lost.
Marik picks up the ball with a childish fascination like it didn't just attack his friend. "Oh lookie! I guess it must me mine!"
I though about that for a second. Doesn't make sense. "How do you figure that?" I ask, half talking to him, half watching Ryou recover. Ryou has the most wonderful red circle on his face now. Ah that takes me back to simpler times, back when the dodge balls in gym class were rubber.
"You that old saying, 'If you love something set it free, and if it comes back to you, it is yours'." Marik quoted motioning to the ball. "Well, it came back to me! So it must belong to me."
"But you never released it." I said pointing out a major flaw in his argument.
Ryou piped up at that moment also, "It attacked me!" We paid him and his ramblings no mind.
A group of kids run up, "Hey mister, can we have our ball back?" The first kid said pointing to said ball in Marik's hands.
Marik shrieked like a young girl, dropped the ball, dove behind the bench while crying out, "Stranger Danger! Stranger Danger!"
I shake my head in exasperation, "Yeah, it's all yours. It's probably for the best Marik doesn't have it."
The children looked shocked, disturbed, and confused but took their ball and ran away regardless.
After Marik was sure they were gone he whispered, "Are they gone?" Without waiting for an answer he walked back around from his shelter-safety-zone-delusion bench. "Why were those tiny, strange children after me?"
"A little conceited to think they were after you, isn't it?" Ryou said.
"But what else could they have been after? If I hadn't taken shelter when I had, they would've captured me!"
"Oh I don't know, maybe they wanted the ball that you were holding?" Ryou said sarcastically.
"Now who's conceited? Just assuming that I had the ball." Marik countered.
"How is that?-" Ryou spluttered. "How is that conceited? I saw you with it!"
"I don't know Ryou," I said in a knowing tone. "You had just gotten hit in the face, you could've been delusional." I paused. "Or after the ball for revenge..."
Marik gasped, "That's why you did it? How could you Ryou? How could you side with the tiny people?"
"They aren't that small! They must only be a few years younger than me!" Ryou said.
I'm surprised and it must have shown on my face. "Really?"
This seemed to get Marik on a whole new topic, as all signs of emotions he had previously been showing vanished and he took on a curious tone. "Ryou, what grade are in anyways?"
Ryou's POV
"I'm going to be a freshman." I answered.
Bakura and Marik exchanged a look. Bakura asked, "What school are you going to?"
"Um," I started not completely sure. "I'm transferring, and I kinda forgot the name of the school." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.
Bakura and Marik exchanged another look and chorused an 'uh-ooooh' as an added bonus.
"What? What's wrong with being a new kid freshman year... oh." I said coming upon the realization that I was going to be a new kid. Freshman year. I hung my head in despair. "I'm dead aren't I?"
"No," Marik said. "There is one way to survive." I looked up in hope.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yep."
"..."
"..."
"...Are you going to tell me?"
"Nope."
"What?" I exclaimed. "Why not?" How could he make me so hopeful just to smash my hope? What did hope do to deserve being crushed? That's just rude.
"Because I don't know it." Marik stated like it was common knowledge that he didn't know and I should have known that he didn't know.
"Then who does?" I asked. I hope he isn't going to say something like he doesn't know anybody who actually does know. The cruel jerk probably will.
"Fluffy knows!" Marik pointed a finger towards said white haired teen.
"You do?" I managed to sound not so hopeful so he won't think I'm desperate (no matter how desperate I may actually be) and try to trick me. Although, if it does sound suspicious, I could always talk Marik into doing it first...
"Yeah, so on the first day of school, go to the lunch room-" Bakura started but I cut him off.
"We have open campus."
"... Go to the lunch room." He said firmly.
"Okay."
"Sit with the toughest kid in the school. Grab you lunch tray, and-." Bakura was cut off yet again by me.
"The trays are styrofoam."
"Uh, grab your chair-"
"The chairs are attached to the table."
"A really big text book? Or do you not have those?" Bakura is visibly getting frustrated.
"We have those." I confirmed.
"So take the book and whack him upside the head."
I paled. "Uh..."
"And when you get out of your coma, you will be cool."
THE END