Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Daze of Paradise ❯ Paradise Lost - Pt. 2 ( Chapter 5 )

******************************

Warning: The usual. In this chapter: Lemon! And a not-so-wanted guest appearance…hence the title.

******************************

Chapter 5 - Paradise Lost - Part Two

******************************

The chase went on for about fifteen minutes before Yami got annoyed enough and told Marik and Bakura to do something about their hikaris or else.

Marik, who'd been busting a gut laughing the entire time, said one word, "Malik." It was all he needed to say. Malik had been about to make another comment but snapped his mouth shut immediately while Bakura grabbed Ryou and held him down in his lap for a while until he calmed down.

Yugi looked out the kitchen windows in time to spot the others coming up from the beach next door. "Hey! Here comes Joey, Kaiba, and the girls!"

Malik bounced to the glass patio doors and threw them open to admit their friends.

"Hey Malik!" Joey waved. "Everyone else awake?"

"Yep!"

Yugi tilted his head at the group as they came in. "So what shall we do, guys?"

Joey's stomach rumbled loudly and Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"Was that your stomach or a growl, pup?"

Joey gave him a short glare then ignored him. "I'm starved. Why don't we go to a restaurant or something?"

Bakura wound a lock of Ryou's hair on his finger absently. "Sure. We could use something to eat."

"Then we could do some shopping." Serenity suggested.

Kaiba looked a little pained at that, but shrugged. Everyone else made noises of agreement.

"Okay then." Kala clapped her hands and led the way to the front door. "Let's go eat!"

They trooped over to the hotel's dining room restaurant.

"Oh boy!" Malik licked his lips. "Buffet!"

Marik grinned and grabbed him before he could dash over and dive in. "Easy, hikari. Let's sit down first and order something to drink."

Bakura grinned. "Yeah. Then we can raid the food."

Ryou sighed and exchanged looks with Yugi and Yami.

Their group was led to a long table and it wasn't long before a waitress appeared to take their drink orders.

"Well, folks, what can I…ah!" She let out a squeal as she looked up from her notepad and saw whom they were. "Yugi! Joey!"

Yugi stared at the girl. {Oh, no…Yami, tell me I'm hallucinating. Please?!}

Yami had paled considerably and was glaring crimson flame at her. {I wish I could, aibou. Ra help us.}

Ryou winced at the squeal and leaned closer to Bakura, who wrapped a protective arm around his waist.

Malik was restraining Marik's hands because he'd automatically reached for the Millennium Rod when he'd heard that voice.

Mai, Serenity, and Joey had plastered fake smiles of greeting on their faces. Kaiba had muttered a profanity under his breath and slouched slightly in his seat. Kala just stared blankly at the girl then around the table at her friends, not quite sure what was wrong.

"Uh…wow! Hi, Tea." Yugi finally spoke up since no one else seemed to be able to. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just working to raise some more money for school next year." She waved that off, smiling brightly. "I can't believe you're all here! I missed you guys so much! I'm sorry I haven't called or written for a while but I've been so busy and…"

"Hey! New girl!" A voice called out from behind a partition that Yugi assumed was the back area and kitchen of the restaurant. "Quite gabbing and get back to work! We aren't paying you for nothing you know!"

Tea went red and glared at the voice. "Ah…can I take your order?" The group gave it and she ran off to get their drinks.

"Hey, Yami? How about we just…" Marik made a suggestive motion with the Rod, which Malik hadn't been able to keep him from drawing out but had managed to keep his Yami from using.

Bakura had a glint in his eyes to match Marik's. "I'm with the psychopath."

Joey shook his head. "Come on, guys. I know none of us are very fond of her after the way she was acting after the Battle City tournament, but we can't send her to the Shadow Realm. Even Tea doesn't deserve that."

Kaiba snorted. "Says you. No one would miss her."

Yami tapped his fingers irritably on the tabletop. "Personally, I agree. However…" He glanced at Yugi, who was giving him a look that said, "Don't you dare!" He sighed. "No. We'll just have to suffer through this meal and make sure we eat elsewhere from now on."

Mai studied her nails. "I agree with that. Besides, there are plenty of other restaurants here that we can try, too."

Kala leaned over to ask quietly, " Why doesn't anyone like this Tea person, Kaiba?"

He glanced at her and smiled - just a little wickedly, too. "She's extremely annoying. I'll tell you about it all later."

They were all supremely relieved that the restaurant got very busy just then. It meant that Tea couldn't bother them much because she was too busy serving the other tables.

It also helped that they stuck to the buffet.

After they'd finished, they had a short discussion about what to do next. It was eventually decided that they would just go to the shops within walking distance and leave the malls and everything else for days when there was more time to explore.

While the girls dashed into a small store selling authentic Hawaiian hula skirts and other female clothes, Joey, Yugi, Yami, and Kaiba went into a bookstore to browse, leaving Bakura, Ryou, Marik, and Malik to decide on where they wanted to look first.

Ryou and Malik whispered amongst themselves for a moment before grabbing their yamis' hands and pulling them into a men's clothing store.

"Hikari, what are you up to?" Marik asked, eyeing the shirts as he was dragged past.

"Ryou, love, I don't think so." Bakura was backing away from his hikari, hands held out defensively. "No way in all Hell will you get me into one of those eye-sores."

He was referring to the brightly coloured, highly over-decorated palm tree Hawaiian shirt Ryou was holding.

"Come on, 'Kura! You can't go to Hawaii and not buy one of these! Malik and I are getting one too!"

Marik paled and tried to escape but couldn't because Malik had grabbed him by the waistband of his cargo shorts and held on tight. "Oh no you don't. Lighten up, you guys. It's not like we're going to make you wear them to a club or something when we get home."

Bakura and Marik exchanged pitiful glances of defeat and were dragged back to the change rooms by their hikaris.

Meanwhile, in the bookstore, Yugi, Yami and Joey were going through the magazine section looking for Duel Monsters magazines and copies of the latest issue of Joey's favourite manga - which the bookstore apparently didn't carry.

Kaiba was on the other end of the store, thumbing through the business section.

Yami left his hikari and Joey quietly arguing over an American entertainment magazine and wandered over to Kaiba, curious about what the CEO was looking at.

Kaiba glanced at him then went back to browsing. "Something on your mind?"

"No. I was just curious to see what sort of books you were looking at."

Choosing another, rather thick book off the shelf, Kaiba scanned the leaflet absently. "I'm just looking." He snorted indelicately at the book and put it back. "Useless. Maybe I should try a new section." He faced Yami with a raised eyebrow. "Have you ever considered catching up on your own reading? There are five millennia or so worth of reading material out there, you know. If you want to get better acquainted with the present, reading an assortment of literature from different eras would be a step in the right direction."

Yami studied him with surprised ruby-red eyes. "Well. That is certainly very wise advice, Seto."

Shrugging, Kaiba moved along the rows of books until he reached a small history section. "Not really. If you're just interested in pure history, though, there's always history books like these." He frowned at a book about ancient Egypt. "Excluding most books about home, of course."

"Of course."

Joey and Yugi appeared at Yami's side just then. "Hey guys! Did you find anything good?" Yugi inquired.

"Yugi, love, would you recommend something good for me? I have an awful lot of reading to catch up on." Yami took Yugi's hand and followed his eager, helpful hikari to the literature section, leaving Joey and Kaiba behind.

"So…" Joey shuffled his feet nervously. He didn't know how to act around his arch nemesis anymore and hadn't since their duel in Yami's palace. "Did you find anything interesting?"

Kaiba sighed and glanced at the blonde. Ever since that duel he'd been forced to re-evaluate his opinions about Joey. And he still had yet to make up his mind. "No. I haven't." Frowning slightly, he noticed Joey was hiding something behind his back. "What's behind your back, pup?"

Joey scowled at the name, but didn't deign to comment. "Nothing."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Wheeler. I can tell you've got something there. What is it?"

"It's just a book I thought might be worth reading sometime. What do you care?"

"I don't. Just curious what it could be that you feel the need to hide it from me."

Joey snorted. "Typical Kaiba. Fine. Here, take a look." He held out the book to the CEO and Kaiba took it.

" 'How to draw animation characters.'" He read aloud, surprise edging his voice. He looked up and raised an eyebrow. "You draw?"

Joey grinned cheerfully. "Nope! But I thought I'd give it a try. You know...develop a hobby that doesn't involve cards, monsters, or Millennium Items."

"I suppose I can understand that." Kaiba handed back the book. "Where'd you find that?"

Joey blinked then remembered what classes Kaiba was taking (and that the Duel Monsters world champion didn't know he knew). "Uh…over here." Joey led him to the shelf full of 'how to draw/paint/whatever' books. Slyly, he asked, "What would you want with one of these?"

Kaiba stiffened slightly and blurted out the first thing he could come up with. "Not for me. For Mokuba. Yeah."

Joey had a hard time trying to keep from laughing at the slightly flustered brunette. They were both saved by the arrival of Marik, Malik, Bakura, and Ryou.

Both Joey and Kaiba stared in shock and a whole lot of amusement at the two yamis. Marik was wearing a bright purple Hawaiian shirt with little hula dancers all over it and Bakura was wearing a bright green Hawaiian shirt with little palm trees all over it. Both were blushing and looking vaguely annoyed.

Their hikaris, however, were beaming happily, either oblivious or just ignoring it.

"Nice shirts." Was all Kaiba said, snickering. One set of hard purple eyes and one pair of dark burgundy eyes locked onto him and the look therein spoke of instantaneous death if he said even one more thing.

Joey, wisely, kept his mouth shut. Instead, he nudged Ryou and leaned over to ask quietly, "What'd you have to do to get them into those shirts?"

Ryou went very red. "Um…we have to let them dress us up in leather sometime. All their choice, too." He gave Malik a small glare. "Though I suspect it doesn't really worry Malik much."

"I wouldn't think so." Joey nodded his agreement.

Yugi and Yami joined them and anyone buying something did so quickly before the group of boys went to grab the girls and head back to the hotel.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So what do we do now?" Serenity asked.

"Well, we've got that beach out there." Kala glanced out the glass patio doors. "Why don't we all go relax in the sand and sun for the rest of the day?"

Malik bounced up and down from his spot on Marik's lap. "Yeah! I could go for that."

"Hikari, as much as I like that…" Marik winced and grabbed Malik by the hips to hold him still.

Everyone rolled their eyes.

"I think I could go for a swim." Ryou nodded his agreement. Bakura ruffled his hair.

"I hope you've got lots of sun-block, little light." He rubbed a thumb over Ryou's cheek. "I don't want you to burn that beautiful skin of yours."

Ryou smiled angelically.

"Awesome idea, Kala! I'm in!" Joey dashed for the stairs. "I've gotta go get my swim trunks." Mai smiled at his enthusiasm and followed.

"Yugi, do you wish to go to the beach?" Yami inquired.

"Sure!" Yugi smiled then looked to Kaiba. "Did you bring your deck, Seto?"

Kaiba folded his arms across his chest and snorted. "Of course, I did. My deck goes everywhere with me."

"Wanna have a duel?"

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Why not? I could use the practice."

Kala sighed and headed for the stairs to go change, Serenity right behind her. "Duelists." She muttered.

Everyone else went to their cabin/rooms to get changed into their beach wear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yami stretched out on a beach towel, slipping his sunglasses on and propping his head up with his hands folded behind his head. He had the urge to purr as he thoroughly enjoyed the heat of the sun gently warming his skin, already golden due to his ancient origins.

Yugi plopped down next to him with a grin, his own sunglasses glinting in the sunlight, along with the Millennium Puzzle that lay on the sand between them protectively. {Enjoying yourself, love? You look right at home lying there like that.}

{Hmm…we need to do this more often, aibou. It's very relaxing here, isn't it?}

"Yep!" Yugi agreed cheerfully. "Do me a favour and put this on my back, Yami?" He dangled a bottle of sun block in front of his soul mate.

Yami took the bottle and studied it. "What is this for?"

"It protects your skin from the sun."

The ancient King of Egypt sat up and eyed his hikari over the top of his sunglasses with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask, "What the hell for?"

Yugi sighed at the look. "It may not bother you much, oh Pharaoh, but in case you hadn't noticed, I'm not as gorgeously tanned as your Egyptian self. I burn easily." Yugi raised his own eyebrow at Yami. "You wouldn't want me to be red like a lobster, would you?"

Yami blinked and opened the bottle, squirting some lotion into his palm without another word, and began applying it to Yugi's back and shoulders.

Ryou was on his stomach nearby on his own towel, really enjoying his yami's full attention as Bakura massaged sun block into the fair-haired hikari's ivory skin. When he'd finished, they traded places and Ryou rubbed lotion into his yami's fair skin - though he really didn't need it, being a spirit.

On their other side, Malik and Marik were arguing over the towel, not bothering with sun block at all. After all, they were Egyptian and quite used to the sun.

Kala, Mai and Serenity were stretched out on beach chairs they'd found on the deck of their cabin wearing their swimsuits and soaking up sunshine. Joey was sitting on the sand on a towel in front of them, digging through a cooler full of ice-cold cans of soda.

Kaiba was the last to join the group, settling down in a beach chair of his own and flipping open his new book. He didn't even look up when Joey appeared at his side and offered him a drink.

"Want a soda, Kaiba?"

"Cola?"

"Yep. There's a few of those in here." Joey handed him one from the cooler…and scowled when Kaiba didn't even thank him.

"Gee, Mr. Money-bags! You're welcome!" He snapped grumpily and stalked off to the girls.

At his annoyed voice, Seto blinked and looked up in surprise, not sure what he'd done this time. He noticed Yami and Yugi looking at him and shaking his head.

{What did I do?}

{You could have at least been polite and thanked him, Seto.} Yugi answered in his gentle voice, softening the reprimand. {But don't take his temper to heart, either…} Kaiba frowned when Yugi glanced over at his best friend sadly. {His father wasn't the nicest person in the world.}

Seto's frown deepened at the cryptic comment, not sure why he seemed to feel a bit guilty or why he even cared at all. He went back to his book, his thoughts running through all the possible reasons for it - missing the twin expressions of sly knowledge passing over the royal pair's faces.

"Hey, Yugi! Wanna build a sand castle?!" Ryou inquired.

"Ooooh! Good idea! Hey, Malik! Come help us!" Yugi and Ryou dashed eagerly toward the water.

"A sand castle? What's that?" Malik followed, sitting next to them on the sand as they prepared to dig in. He stared back blankly when they just stared at him in shock.

"You've never made a sand castle before?" Ryou finally exclaimed.

"Well…we'll just have to do something about that." Yugi picked up a handful of sand and let it slowly pour out of his hand. "Rule #1: dry sand doesn't hold a form very well. We need wet sand."

"And some sort of containers…" Ryou jumped up. "I'll go see what I can scrounge up in the cabin." The white haired hikari dashed off.

The three yamis sat back and watched in curious amusement as Yugi used his infinite patience to teach Malik the art and science of building sand castles, since they'd never done that either.

The hikaris ended up competing against Joey, Serenity, and Kala for the best castle well into the evening.

The group finally got hungry and decided to order out for supper from the hotel, rather than going out somewhere.

No one, however, was expecting the person who delivered the food.

*************************************

Authoress' Notes: I'm so bad. *scowls* Caitlin's laughing at me and calling me a 'chibi yami.' Whatever. I know it's been forever since I updated this fic. Trust me! I intend to finish this one this time! I swear! Please R/R!