Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Admit It ❯ One of Those 24-Hour Things ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Oh, and I forgot, I have the soundtrack too! The series and the movie! And speaking of soundtracks, everybody should go out and get the Freaky Friday soundtrack; it's really good... Okay, okay, Yu-gi-oh isn't mine; it's Kazuki Takahashi's. There, I said it. Happy now? ... Oh. Freaky Friday isn't mine either; that belongs to Disney. And I don't know who Kingdom Hearts belongs to, but it's not me. Nhh...

A/N: Hmm, what to say about this chapter... Fluffy-ness! And I'm drinking hot chocolate :) Yummy chocolate... I like the powder that comes in the cans better though; they never put quite enough of the chocolate in the packets, but two packets wouldn't mix in... Trust me, I've tried O.o ...Yeah, this thing was supposed to be for my thoughts on the chapter, and it turned in to my thoughts on hot chocolate O.O Typical...

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Chapter Five: One of Those 24-Hour Things

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When they went to Kaiba's place on Thursday, they were greeted by a servant. "Where's Mokuba?" Bakura asked, noting the butler's worried appearance.

"He is visiting with his brother," he informed them. "The elder Master Kaiba has taken ill, I'm afraid."

The couple exchanged surprised glances. "Can we go see them?" Ryou asked. The man nodded, and led them up to Kaiba's bedroom.

The room was a mess, as usual. Mokuba greeted them with a small smile and a quiet `hello.' Bakura leaned over the bed to get a closer look at Kaiba.

"Dear Ra; you look horrible!" he commented.

Kaiba glared weakly. "Well, you're not exactly a sight for sore eyes," he snapped hoarsely.

He grinned. "Good; you can't be that bad then."

"What does he have?" Ryou asked worriedly.

"Some kind of cold," Mokuba explained. "The doctor said it's just one of those 24-hour things, but that it'd be bad while it lasted."

"Is there anything we can do to help?"

//Ryou! Why do you always go and volunteer us for stuff?//

He sweatdropped. /Because it's good for you./

"Well," Mokuba said thoughtfully, "I guess you guys could stay in here and talk to him. And someone needs to make sure he takes his medicine at the end of this hour." Kaiba groaned, and his little brother giggled. "And make sure there's nothing he wants and stuff..."

Kaiba groaned again. "I'm not the one who needs a babysitter here," he commented, then broke down into a coughing fit.

Mokuba grinned. "Then they can take turns; I don't need two babysitters!"

Ryou nodded. "Sounds good to me," he agreed, absentmindedly handing Kaiba a drink. "So, what would you rather do, yami-kun? Take care of Kaiba-sama or Mokuba-chan?"

//You mean which do I not want to do less?// "I guess I'll deal with Kaiba," he grumbled.

Mokuba beamed. "All right then!" He grabbed Ryou's wrist and started to drag him out of the room. "Come on, Ryou! Help me beat the next level of Kingdom Hearts!"

Kaiba finally managed to stop coughing, and he glared at Bakura again. "What's this `deal with' thing?"

Bakura chuckled, pulling up the desk chair without waiting for it to be offered. "Sorry; couldn't resist."

He stared at the ceiling, looking annoyed. "You know, this is probably all you and Ryou's fault. I'll bet I'm sick because of the beach yesterday."

Bakura scoffed. "Yeah, but you had fun, didn't you?"

Kaiba shrugged. "I guess."

"So what's there to gripe about? If it hadn't been for us, you wouldn't have gotten to go swimming, which would have been boring, and if that's the reason you got sick today, then without us you'd be working today. And whatever you may say, that can't be that much fun. You need to lighten up; I may be a sadistic lunatic, but even I know how to have fun."

The brunette rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for fun," he said icily. "Do you know what would happen to my company if I was absent for a whole day? Neither do I, but I guess I'm going to find out. All the people who work there have the intelligence of ferns..."

Bakura stared. "You mean to tell me that you've never taken a full day off before?"

"Of course not! Yesterday I was just taking the afternoon off, and even then I got some work done over the internet until Mokuba came home. I've always gone to work when I was sick until now; I think I'm going to fire this new doctor..."

The spirit, who was really starting to warm up to this doctor, rolled his eyes. "Do you know how bad working like that is for you? You could die at forty-five, and then your company would be in the hands of the fern-minded employees seven days a week!"

Kaiba moaned. "Now if I could just fire you," he said under his breath.

Bakura shook his head in annoyance. "Oh, go to sleep."

"I would if I could, but I keep coughing," he said, in a tone that suggested automatic irritation at being ordered to do anything.

"I could magic you to sleep, you know," Bakura offered, gesturing at the Ring.

The CEO eyed it uncertainly. "Okay, I guess... But if you can put me to sleep, can't you just heal me?"

He shook his head. "No; it's better to let it go away on its own. But at least I can do this. Sweet dreams..."

Kaiba looked dazed for a moment, then his eyelids fluttered closed. Bakura allowed a small smile to grace his features; he certainly did look peaceful when he was asleep... Abruptly he felt himself blush, and he looked away.

What was it about Kaiba that made him feel so awkward, anyway? he wondered irritably. He couldn't figure it out... Oh well. It was a good thing he hadn't given Kaiba much time to think about his question; because the truth was that with a little effort he could heal the whole sickness. But after such a procedure the one who had been healed really ought to rest, and Bakura knew that the first thing he would do would be to run off and make sure no one had blown up his precious Kaiba Corp. That man really needed to take better care of himself...

He found he eyes staying back to Kaiba's face. His features were still hard and determined, even softened with sickness and sleep. Delicate feather-like eyelashes... One of his eyes, though, was partially covered with the tuff of hair that always hung down into his face. Bakura wondered vaguely if that ever got annoying, but it looked nice so he supposed it was a good thing he put up with it...

He went even redder than before, mentally slapping himself. And what was this fascination with Kaiba's body? His eyes, his face, his... chest... Bakura ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Ra damn it all... `Okay, fine, so he's a very attractive guy,' he thought, trying to be reasonable. `End of story. Good. Okay. I really need something to take my mind off of this...'

//Ryou!//

/Waahhh! Gods, are you trying to give me a heart attack? Everything okay?/

//Yeah, it's fine. Sorry; I just wanted something to do.// He hesitated for a moment, trying to sense what his hikari was doing. He was playing that game Mokuba loved so much, but he was starting to lose now. Multitasking could be hard sometimes. //I guess I shouldn't bug you right now.//

/Well, if you're really bored.../

//Nah, I'll just borrow one of Kaiba's books.//

But this was easier said than done. The guy didn't seem to have any books that you read for fun, manga or otherwise. All the books in his room were techno-type stuff, and he didn't have a TV either. There was his laptop... Bakura debated long and hard about whether using it was worth the risk to his life, only to discover that said laptop was password protected. So in the end he wound up staring at Kaiba again, trying not to think.

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After about an hour, Ryou came in. He glanced at Kaiba, seeing that he was sleeping, and whispered, "Mokuba said it's time for his medicine. I'll take over for a while, okay?"

Bakura smiled, standing up to give him a quick kiss. "Thank you," he said softly. "How's Mokuba?"

Ryou shifted uncomfortably. "Well... Just don't let him talk you in to giving him any pocky, because he's already had some."

Bakura grinned. "Will do," he replied. His hikari's presence was... so reassuring. This thing with Kaiba must just be one of those passing interests... Suddenly he laughed. Yeah. One of those 24-hour things.

"What's so funny?" Ryou asked quizzically.

"Nothing," he said simply. "Well, have fun; I'm sure your job is much less dangerous than mine at this point. Oh, and I have a sleeping spell on him; I guess I'd better take that off..." Kaiba's eye started to open as he walked out the door.

The CEO shot the other boy a calculating look. "You're Ryou, aren't you?"

Ryou giggled. "Yes," he agreed. "Funny; as long as we keep our mouths shut no one else can tell us apart."

Kaiba shrugged. "It's something about the eyes..."

Ryou busied himself with the medicine jar sitting on the nightstand. "Wow, this stuff smells awful!" he commented, handing a cup of it to Kaiba.

"Believe me, I know," he said moodily, drinking it a fast as possible - though that was nothing to downing the whole glass of water in one gulp. Ryou raised an eyebrow.

"You know, if you didn't over-work yourself so much you probably wouldn't get sick as easily," he said conversationally, sitting down.

"And tell me, how does opening you mouths help people tell you and your yami apart?" Kaiba asked dryly. "Does he tell you everything I say, or what?"

He blushed. "Well, not exactly," he explained. "You see, we sort of have a mental link, through the Ring. I can hear what he's thinking, when I want, and he can hear what I'm thinking."

Kaiba blanched. To have someone able to look in on your thoughts at any moment... "Doesn't that get, well, annoying?" he asked weakly.

Ryou laughed. "No... I suppose it seems like it would, doesn't it? But no, it doesn't."

He shook his head in amazement. "You two must really like each other a lot to not be bothered by something like that," he muttered.

Ryou smiled a little sadly. "Haven't you ever been in love, Kaiba-sama?"

He shrugged. "Never had time. And stop calling me `sama;' that's what my workers call me. It gets annoying."

"Okay," he said cheerfully. "And I know that between yami-kun and I this must be getting really annoying, but you should make time. Why do you work so hard, anyway?"

"To make sure I'll always be able to provide a good future for Mokuba and myself," he said matter-of-factly. "Why else?"

"But you've been doing that for years, haven't you?" he asked. "So just when do you plan to start taking it easy and enjoy this future you've set up?"

Kaiba had no answer for that one. "Just drop it," he snapped.

Ryou simple smiled. "Whatever you want," he said complacently. They were silent for a moment. "Do you want something to do?"

"No," Kaiba replied. "I think I'll just go back to sleep." And with that, he closed his eyes.

Ryou watched him as his breathing gradually slowed, having an inner debate with himself. Finally, after making sure his mind was closed off, he leaned forward and gently kissed Kaiba on the lips.

After he pulled away, he stared at the other's face a moment more. He felt bad about having done that... but not as bad as he thought he would have. He couldn't hide from his feelings forever, and he suspected that Bakura wouldn't be able to either.

Ryou sighed. `Oh well... I guess I'll just have to see what happens.'

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A/N: (google eyes) I have NO idea where that came from... But I think it worked out well, ne? Bad Ryou! Bad! Would you believe I wrote this whole chapter in one morning? No joke. I'm so proud of myself ;) Well den... R&R!!!!!