Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Admit It ❯ Rest and Relaxation ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: Well, I now own five of the mangas, as well as anywhere between 500 and 1000 cards... Is that still not good enough for you? (sobs) Fine, it's not mine; (sticks tongue out at lawyers)

A/N: I'm back! Shocking, ne? I'll bet ya'll thought I'd abandoned you. No such luck; sorry ^_^ It's been... hmm... over three months, hasn't it? (sweatdrop) Yeah, I suck, I know. But I'm gonna make it up to ya'll! I'm going to post all the rest of the chapters of this fic, probably what I should have done in the first place, partially `cus it's one of the very last things I have to re-post and I'd really like to have this all done with, thank you very much. [shakes fist at Tribunal] Right, well, enjoy :)

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Chapter Four: Rest and Relaxation

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As they walked to Kaiba's the next day, Bakura noticed that Ryou seemed deep in thought.

He shoved him playfully. "Talk to me."

Ryou grinned sheepishly. "Oh, gomen... It's just, I was thinking about Kaiba-san."

His companion raised an eyebrow. "What about him?"

"Well... Isn't it sad? I mean, about how he has no friends, no one at all to care for him except Mokuba?"

Bakura shrugged. "That's how he wants it, you know. You're sweet, hikari, but I'm sure he isn't any more interested in being our friend than he is in being Yugi or Jonouchi's friend."

Ryou sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right..." And he changed the subject.

When they got to the mansion, Mokuba let them in. He looked even more excited than usual - if that was possible. "Hey guys, guess what? We're going to the beach! And Seto-kun said you could come!"

Bakura heard the quietist of `hmph!'s, and glanced up to see Kaiba leaning against a banister at the top of the stair case that was directly in front of you as you came in the house. The spirit grinned, and looked away.

Ryou hadn't even noticed him. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. /A beach? Bakura, you aren't having dirty thoughts, are you?/

//Always, love.//

"We don't have any swim trunks, Mokuba," Ryou finally pointed out. /Don't say it.../

"Oh, that's okay. You can just borrow some of Seto-kun's." Bakura heard a second, slightly more audible `hmph.'

"Well, if you're sure it's all right," he said reluctantly. "Why are you two going to the beach on a weekday, anyway?"

"Oh, Seto's doctor said he needs to rest more," he explained. "He has all this vacation time and he never uses it, so the doctor said that this year he has to use every day of it." Mokuba giggled. "Seto's not too happy about that."

Another `hmph.' Bakura glanced up again. "Seto-san, you aren't coming down with a cough, are you?" he asked, a picture of innocence.

Kaiba looked startled, then annoyed. To the yami's infinite amusement, he stalked off.

/What was that about?/

//Oh, he's been up there `hmph'ing at everything you two were saying. He's so much fun to play with...//

/Honestly.../

So before they could get their swim trunks, they had to track Kaiba down. When they found him Mokuba ran off, and Kaiba led them to a room. To Bakura's surprise, it wasn't his bedroom, but a somewhat smaller room that contained several chests of drawers, a couple wardrobes, and a full-length mirror.

//A room entirely dedicated to clothes... For Ra's sake...//

/Well, when you have this many rooms, I guess you have to do something with them./

Kaiba tossed Ryou a light blue pair of swim trunks and Bakura a dark green pair, then briefly explain where the nearest bathroom they could change in was and which cabinet the suntan lotion was in. Ryou thanked him and took off, but Bakura hesitated.

/Are you coming?/

//Yes, but there's something I need to take care of first. I might be a minute; go ahead.//

"What are you going to wear swimming, Kaiba?" Bakura asked nonchalantly.

"Not that I see why you should care, but I wasn't planning to actually swim," he snapped.

Bakura sighed in exasperation. "Can't you lighten up, Kaiba? Do you hate me so much just because I know your secret? Big deal. I'm not going to tell anyone and I don't think any less of you for it." Kaiba gaped at him. "Anyway, you're not going swimming because of your scars, right? I can fix them."

The brunette looking even more surprised. "How?" he asked warily.

Bakura tapped the sennen Ring he wore around his neck. "Magic. It won't hurt; I've done it on myself and Ryou plenty of times. You could go swimming with the rest of us."

Kaiba hesitated. "You know I don't believe in all this `sennen magic' you and Yugi are always going on about, right?"

Bakura grinned. "Then give me a chance to prove its existence to you."

He paused a moment more, then shrugged. "Alright, fine," he agreed, and pulled his shirt off over his head.

Bakura stared for a moment. "Am I that ugly?" Kaiba demanded.

Bakura started to work on his right arm, his long hair once again hiding the fact that he had turned red. `How is it that he can make me blush?' "No, you're not ugly at all; you're beautiful. You have nothing to be ashamed of," he said quietly.

"Shut up," Kaiba muttered, and Bakura rolled his eyes. He hoped his hikari wasn't offended that he had called another man beautiful, but seeing as he hadn't gotten any telepathic messages he supposed he was in the clear. For all his cold outward demeanor, Kaiba actually seemed to have major self-esteem problems; he could use the complement. And it was certainly true...

Bakura blinked. Was it now? It made him feel vaguely uneasy, noticing things like that about Kaiba, so he shrugged the thought off.

Once he was done, Kaiba looked himself over in the mirror. He didn't say anything for a moment, but the spirit could tell from his face that he was very pleased. "Thank you," he finally said, gruffly.

Bakura grinned. A thank-you from Seto Kaiba? That had to be a first... "You're welcome," he replied simply, and went off in search of the bathroom.

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Eventually, he found it. Upon entering, the spirit was pleasantly surprised to find that Ryou had already changed into his borrowed swimming trunks. "They look good on you," he commented, grinning.

Ryou just laughed, and leaned up to peck him on the lips. It turned in to a bit more than a peck, of course, but eventually they had to pull apart.

"What have I taught you about knocking?" the lighter of the two asked in a scolding tone, though he was smiling.

"You've taught me that it's much more boring when I do," Bakura replied solemnly.

Ryou rolled his eyes. "Could you help me put suntan lotion on my back?" he asked. "I figured we'd better put it on now since it takes half an hour to work, but I can't reach very well; I'll probably get it in my hair."

Bakura smirked. "I'd be glad to."

So he gathered up Ryou's hair and threw it all over said hikari's shoulder, before starting to massage the pale lotion into his skin. Bakura grinned again when his koi let out a little sigh of pleasure; over the time they'd been together he had gotten quite good at giving massages.

"Ryou-kun?" he said abruptly.

He blinked in surprise. "Yes?"

"You don't mind... what I did for Kaiba... do you?" he asked uncomfortably.

Ryou laughed. "Of course not! I think that, whether you actually realize it or not, you'd like to be his friend too."

"What makes you say that?" he demanded, shocked.

"Oh, come on," he said matter-of-factly. "Just look at how much you've been trying to help him. For most people it wouldn't be that remarkable, but in your case it's pretty impressive!" Bakura `hmph'ed. "Now look who's doing it!" he added mischievously. "I was just kidding, you know."

"Well, I don't know about wanting to be friends..." he started loftily, then sighed, "but I do want to help him, I guess. Someone ought to."

Ryou shook his head in amusement. "You really are a nice person, yami-kun," he said quietly.

Bakura choked. "Me? Disgusting! I am *not* *nice*!" He abruptly went from massaging to tickling, to prove his point.

Ryou giggled, escaping to the other end of the bathroom. "If you say so," he teased.

Bakura growled in frustration, suddenly moving in. He pinned the other to the wall, kissing his neck. "I... say... so," he said firmly, between kisses.

/You're nice to me, you know./

//Well, you're an exception.//

"B-Bakura," he stuttered, as the yami moved down towards his chest. "We shouldn't be doing this... in someone else's bathroom..." He could feel Bakura smirk against his skin, and that was all the response he got.

"Are you guys making out in there?"

Ryou squeaked, and Bakura jumped. "Mokuba!" Ryou said weakly.

On the other side of the door, Mokuba snickered. "I'm not *that* little, you know," he said. "And if you're not making out, then hurry up! Are you gonna be in there all night?" They heard him run off again without even waiting for a response.

Ryou grinned sheepishly. "I guess I should let you change," he said reluctantly.

Bakura kissed him briefly. "I suppose," he sighed. "Remember where we left off." Laughing again, Ryou slipped on his t-shirt and stepped out in to the hall.

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Mokuba was an amazing taskmaster; he even managed to get Kaiba to hurry up. In no time at all, they were piling in to the car. Mokuba sat in the front passenger seat while Ryou and Bakura squeezed into the back; `squeezed' because instead of the usual limo, Kaiba had decided to ditch the chauffer and drive one of his sports cars. Both yami and hikari got the feeling that the CEO was embarrassed to let any of his staff see him taking a vacation, doctor's orders or not.

Bakura was just beginning to think that this would be a boring trip, when he noticed something that made his eyes light up. "Hey, you've got one of those radion things!"

"Radio, yami-kun," Ryou said automatically. "Hey, what're you- ahh!"

Bakura (who was sitting behind Kaiba) had reached up between the front seats and pushed a random button. An oldie of the pop-rock-ish variety suddenly blared over the speakers.

Kaiba shot him a death glare, and switched the radio off. "Ask before you touch anything in my car, understand?" he snapped.

Bakura frowned. "That was a good song... Okay, fine. Can I touch the buttons on the radio?"

"No."

"Fine." Suddenly, the radio came back on, apparently of its own accord.

Kaiba jumped, thankfully keeping control of the car, and Bakura dissolved into a fit of laughter. "Millennium magic is a wonderful thing. I didn't have to touch it, Kaiba; you can't deny that."

"..." Kaiba said, as he switched it off again.

Mokuba giggled. "You two are like an old married couple," he declared.

This time Kaiba almost did briefly lose control of the car, and Bakura shot a glance a Ryou to see what he thought of that remark. Said hikari was laughing.

"Hey!" he said irritably, tickling his koi again, though secretly he was relieved. He supposed he was just being paranoid; Ryou wouldn't be jealous just because he was being friendly with someone - though Mokuba was right, this was friendly for him. Kaiba was the only other one he seemed to be able to be himself around; he had an image to keep up with Ryou's friends. He *knew* Ryou would be happy if he made a friend he could be close with like Ryou was close with the pharaoh, so why did this worry him so much?

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Thankfully, they reached the beach in less than an hour. Bakura played with Mokuba while Ryou went off swimming by himself for a little while. Glancing toward the beach, Ryou caught sight of Kaiba walking along the edge of the water. He decided he looked lonely, so he swam back to the shore.

"Hi," he said, catching up. Kaiba just looked at him.

Inspiration struck. "Hey, this is a nice beach. Why aren't there any other people here?"

The taller of the two smirked slightly. "I called ahead and told them to clear the beach by the time we got here. Thankfully they complied."

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "It must come in handy, being rich and famous and everything," he observed.

Kaiba shrugged. "If you like headaches and dealing with mindless office drones all day, it's wonderful."

He couldn't help but smile. Ah, Kaiba was opening up about his job - not an everyday occurrence. Maybe there was a chance yet. "Say, aren't you going to go swimming? My yami didn't take care of your scars for nothing, you know."

He looked startled for a moment, then rolled his eyes. "I guess I should have known that he'd tell you about all that, since you're together," he commented.

"You don't mind, do you?" he asked sheepishly.

Kaiba shrugged again. "I suppose not."

"How about us being together; does that bother you?"

He glanced at him, startled. "No."

Ryou beamed. "Oh, good! Now then, you're not getting out of swimming by changing the subject, I'm afraid." Kaiba winced. "The water feels good, honestly."

He shook his head firmly. "Sorry, but I'd rather stick to swimming pools. Salt water isn't my thing."

The white-haired boy grinned. "You can swim, right?"

"Of course I can! I have an indoor pool at home," he said indignantly.

"Then get in!" Ryou said, giving him a playful shove.

Unfortunately, the brunette tripped - and fell in to the water with a splash. A particularly large wave carried him past Ryou a short distance, where he came to a sputtering halt.

Ryou blinked. "Oh dear... Um, sorry?"

Kaiba carefully pushed his hair out of his eyes. Then, to Ryou's infinite surprise, he laughed. He actually sounded amused, too; it wasn't his usual heartless laugh. "You're going to get it for that," he said, grinning.

His laughter was contagious; Ryou couldn't help but snicker. "You have seaweed in your hair, Kaiba-sama," he said, then took off into the water at top speed. Once he was out a safe distance, he turned and waved. "You're gonna have to swim if you want to get me now!"

Kaiba smirked. "Be that way," he called back simply - and started swimming in his direction, with much more grace now that he was actually doing so on purpose.

Ryou blanched. `What have I done?' he wondered, then laughed softly and started swimming away as fast as possible.

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A/N: Bwuha! Isn't the image of Seto in a swim suit just lovely? [sparkly eyes] Also as lovely as Ryou and Bakura in swim suits... [evil grin] Who'd have thought Bakura liked oldies, huh? Sorry; I just couldn't resist. Oh, and did I mention that, despite the fact that I'm posting a whole bunch of chapters at once, I wouldn't think you were weird in any way if you just *happened* to want to review each of them...? [huuuuge grin]