Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Naming the Flame ❯ Crookshanks, Meet Tabibito ( Chapter 5 )

Naming the Flame

Trei

Chapter Five

--DISCLAIMER: Sora and Riku are NOT my characters. They belong to Squaresoft and the creators of Kingdom Hearts. There will be no original characters taking over any part other than supporting role. Unless you count the speech impeded Heartless I was making fun of before…. =) Otherwise, the only things mine here are Taki Hi, Eien An'ya, Isis' kitten (cameo in this chapter), Ryou's sweatshirt and the plot to the story. Enjoy!--

Sometime following noon's twelfth call, Ryou closed the gap between his room and the bathroom. It was a little daunting at first, but he finally managed to assess his appearance in the mirror. In the harsh light bellowing from the ceiling fan's green-shaded lamps, his hair looked like a reincarnation of Swamp Thing. And he'd thought the spirits had bizarre hair tendencies. Heh. Ryou Bakura, meet Swamp Thing, the creature who will share your head for the next few minutes.

While he pulled and yanked tenacious knots from his hair, Ryou considered his week so far. Monday, worked on homework for vacation - finished in two hours (all three subjects). Tuesday, went to the movies with Malik, got caught by his father while making out with said Egyptian in the Jacuzzi, witnessed a catfight between Kaiba and Otogi, was warned by his sacred artifact's guardian spirit of terrible danger and was assaulted by a demon geyser. Wednesday morning, woke up on the floor in pain, was temporarily blinded by sunlight, met mother's darling and beloved nephew and his surreptitious koibito. Now Thursday, Ryou wasn't exactly hoping for any normality. The most he could hope for was breakfast before anything else decided to toy with his remaining sanity.

Ducking into jeans and his mother's old black Cambridge University (1) sweatshirt, Ryou left his hair in the same jagged mess (2) it was always in and descended the stairs. While passing through the hallway, the teen frowned adorably and tugged the long sleeves. The sweatshirt was a long way from its former glory, but it maintained most of the letters of the British college and was only tatty around the hems circling his narrow waist. And though he liked it for its ample comfort, if he'd known how endearingly and innocently juvenile he looked while wearing it, he wouldn't have worn it downstairs that morning.

While rubbing specks of sleep from his eye with a loose fist, Ryou crossed the threshold between hallway and kitchen. It was there he stopped, halted in his tracks by the unexpected presence he came upon. Sora was comfortably seated on the surface of the kitchen's mahogany island, intently watching the microwave rotate what Ryou could barely discern as a Poptart. …Didn't you use a toaster for things like that?

The floor underneath Ryou's feet creaked as he continued warily into the room. Sora looked up in surprise, snapping rapt eyes to meet Ryou's startled pair. After a second of examination, the brunet smiled gleefully and chirped, "Good morning!" Then, as an afterthought, he glimpsed the clock and amended, "Well, now it's more like afternoon."

Ryou nodded and lightly jumped onto one of the stools near the island, perching the heels of his hands on the front. He peered at Sora blankly through platinum-veined locks.

The other boy, undaunted, turned to face his koibito's cousin more fully, saying in a cheerful tone, "You and Riku couldn't be related any closer than cousins. He's always up hours before I even have the drive to get up. You're more like me. I can't wake up any earlier than noon in the summer. It just defeats the whole purpose of vacation."

Again, Ryou nodded, his eyes drifting to the attached dining room, noting the absence of his cousin. "Where is Riku, anyway?" he asked quietly.

Sora shrugged with far too much energy, hopping from the island and retrieving his breakfast pastry from the microwave. "Probably exploring your neighborhood." He smiled as he broke the Poptart in half, revealing a spread of strawberry sugar glop. Yeah, this was definitely Ryou's kitchen. "He's obsessed with seeing new places. It was all he'd talk about back on Destiny Island."

Though mostly indifferent towards his cousin and the brunet, Ryou found himself asking, "Is that your home?"

Sora smiled sadly. "Was. We haven't been back there in a while. Riku doesn't really want to go back."

"Do you?"

"Sometimes." Sora shrugged again and bit into the Poptart, his tense expression vanishing as soon as the berry syrup touched his lips. In a vastly more carefree voice, he said around the jelly, "You and Riku should spend some time together. I know he's always been curious about his father's side of the family. I think that's what your father said…your mother and his father were sister and brother, right?"

Ryou nodded absently.

Sora tilted his head curiously. "You don't talk much," he observed harmlessly.

I do when Malik's trying to get my shirt off. Stifling a snicker at that, Ryou replied out loud, "I'm sorry. I'm not much for big conversation first thing after I wake up." He yawned to stress this.

Sora nodded sympathetically, reclaiming his former position on the island. "So what's there to do for fun around here?" he asked.

Depends where you go, thought the tired boy with an inward grin. "There's plenty. But it depends on what you want to do. Way to waste time, hang out for a while…. Sightsee?"

Sora shook his head, grinning. "With a tour guide? Not us. Riku and I like finding out things for ourselves. Besides, if you mention the location of any metropolis larger than Domino to him, neither of us'll see Riku again until we leave." He finished off the Poptart with satisfied smacking of his jam-dabbled fingertips.

"Mmm!" the brunet purred. "What are those things?"

Ryou repressed an amused smile and said, "They're Poptarts. Didn't you have any where you come from?"

"Never!" The little flame of adoration in Sora's eyes tattled on the brunet to Ryou - Riku had competition…with a breakfast pastry.

Ryou's developing amusement at his cousin's koibito was cut short by a sudden shrieking noise in the corner. Ryou winced. Some phones have nice, melodious pealing rings…like bells. Some phones have short electronic reverberating coos. The Bakuras' phone sounded like a tonedeaf parakeet in the middle of a Mariah Carey karaoke.

Sora seemed to think along the same lines and quickly retrieved the phone, thrusting it in Ryou's face with a grimace.

Grinning apologetically, Ryou wrapped the cord around the bottom of the tabletop and nestled the phone to his ear. "Moshi moshi?" (3)

"Konnichiwa (4), tenshi," a smug voice purred. "Sleep well without me?"

Rolling his eyes with mock exasperation, Ryou answered flatly, "Konnichiwa. Could you speak a little louder next time or shall I immediately put you on speakerphone?"

Malik laughed, a sound that lifted the teasing annoyance from Ryou's face, replacing it with a fond sort of smile. "I just saw your father's car pass an hour ago," the Egyptian said, smiling through the distance between them. "He's off on one of his sand ventures?"

"Hai (5). He said he'd be back in September."

"Before or after your birthday?"

"I didn't ask. He came into my room when he thought I was still asleep and told me he was going. Seemed eager to get out of here."

"Away from you? The man's insane. Anyway, Isis is supposed to be back from Egypt today. I was wondering…. Em…."

Ryou couldn't stop the smile that heightened his already childishly adorable expression. "What is it, kichou?"

"She asked me to pick up Tabibito (6) from the kennel," the Egyptian muttered darkly.

At the disgusted tone his koibito used in reference to his older sister's beloved calico kitten, Ryou laughed with abundant amusement. Tabibito and Malik were vicious enemies, separated mostly by their vehement stubbornness. The kitten had followed Isis home from the museum one night and by morning, had earned an everlasting soft spot in the elder Ishtar's heart and the spare set of keys to Malik's motorcycle (which were yet to be found). The mischievous kitten now thought of Malik as a pushover, since the blond wouldn't dare retaliate to the antics of his sister's kitten without fear of severe pummeling. Older sisters. Ugh.

"Stop laughing at me!" Malik growled. He sounded vaguely put off, almost sulky.

Ryou bit his lip with intent and chuckled, "I'm sorry, kichou. Do you want me to come?"

"Please! It likes you!"

Ryou rolled his eyes fondly. Tabibito was just about the warmest kitten in Japan. He only disliked Malik's sour attitude toward him. If Malik could be act a little less Jack Nicholson (7) toward the poor calico, they may actually get along. "All right," he said patiently. "When should I come over?"

"I'll pick you up. Right after I find a chain to keep my keys on…."

With a grin, Ryou teased, "I don't think Tabibito's going to try the same trick on you twice, saiai."

"Even so, I don't trust that splotchy furball. Did I tell you it tried to bite my ear off last week?"

"Twice."

"It's a menace."

"Yes, koi."

"…You're grinning."

Ryou covered his tattletale mouth and giggled, "I'm not!"

"Baka no furball…. I'll be by in fifteen minutes, all right?"

"Hehe, chotto ja (8)."

"Aishiteru."

"Itsumo (9)." Ryou crossed the kitchen with a warm smile, draping the phone on its hook in a wistful manner. Was Malik only asking him to come so he would have an excuse to be around his ivory-haired kojika? Probably. Malik had yet to learn the tact of dating. …Or tact of any kind, come to think about it.

From his perch on the island, Sora grinned, "Who was that?"

Ryou jolted, having conveniently forgotten there was another presence in the room. …No wonder we were discovered, he berated himself mentally. How more obvious could I be? Caught, Ryou answered uneasily, "Um…a friend…."

High-pitched giggling erupted in the depths of Ryou's mind, followed hastily by nonsensical strings of ancient Egyptian. >>ANUKTET!? Amunikin kepsu kut nekentut siijek tekawep?! …Beket kab'ni setitet…. (10)<<

Which, if Ryou translated the spirit's half-depraved, half-hysterical tone correctly, probably meant, "Friend?! Such things play the role of malnourished sex kitten?! …I should get one…." Which, if Ryou wanted to maintain any of his remaining normality, would not be happening.

"A friend, huh?" grinned Sora, drawing Ryou quite willingly back to reality. "Sounds like a pretty close friend to me…."

Ryou, vaguely defensive and a little nervous, replied softly, "Like you and my cousin?" with a few traces of a grin.

Sora wasn't expecting that. Or at least, that's what Ryou assumed after a resounding THUD filled the kitchen. From the floor, Sora stared up at his koibito's cousin in shock, one hand nursing the ache in his rear quarters….

Ryou's grin widened. Now he understood Malik's fondness of besting people. It was fun in a reckless sort of way…. Definitely dating Malik too long….

"You…how did you…?" The poor brunet seemed to sink into the floor, turning beetroot crimson.

Taking pity on Sora, Ryou smiled, "I heard you and Riku upstairs last night."

If possible, which it seemed so now, the red in Sora's face tripled in darkness.

Ryou wondered for a moment why Sora was blushing. Then…oh. Oh…. OH! "I meant I heard your conversation about the Heartless!" he exclaimed quickly. Agh, Sora and his cousin and…aaaagh! His cousin!

Sora's face faltered in mortification, dipping straight into relief. "Oh…umm…so did I."

Agh! His cousin!

**

"You'll give him a heart attack!"

"Oh, come on, Ryou. He's not a cat; he's a demon menace come to reap the benefits of world hunger, pain and the eventual destruction of mankind. A little air will do him good."

Pointedly, Ryou retorted, "He's a kitten, Malik. He's not even four months old and you're going to strap him on the back of a motorcycle for thirty minutes?"

"He's not a kitten. He's a menace!"

Ryou's expression held no restraint, only pure sarcasm. "Yes, Malik, his sole activity in the kennel was plotting against you. And as soon as you let him out of his cage, he'll tear your face off with those terrifying centimeter-long claws."

Malik made a face, folding his arms over his chest with a potent air of obstinacy. "Isis left the twerp at the kennel for a reason, kojika," he said, leaning on his motorcycle and resting his arm on the pet carrier strapped to the back.

"Yes, she did," said Ryou with an exasperated look. "So you wouldn't try to pull an all-out assassination on her kitten."

"She likes that cat more than she does her own brother," sulked Malik under his breath.

Smiling, Ryou pushed an adamant lock of gold from Malik's petulant features. The Egyptian turned lilac eyes from the concrete, pouting vaguely. "You're not jealous of Tabibito, are you?" smiled Ryou.

"Jealous!?" shrieked Malik. "Of that hairball!?"

Ryou nodded.

"…Yes, now get on."

This, however, was far too rich a situation to ignore and let pass by. Thus, Ryou crumbled into fits of giggles. "You can't be serious, kichou!"

Malik made a face of strong annoyance and climbed deftly atop his bike. There he waited semi-patiently while Ryou emptied the entire contents of his amusement at his koibito's expense. Malik drummed his fingertips on his folded arms, striving to remain pissed while listening to the endearing sounds of Ryou's laughter. Now…why did he date the adorable one? Oh, right; everyone else thought he was psychotic. Elitists. Hmph.

"Ryou," he finally growled, "it's not funny."

No reaction.

"Fine, then, I'll leave you here with your hentai cousin and his koibito," the Egyptian threatened, revving the engine forebodingly.

A halved second later, he heard all sounds of laughter entirely diminished to nothing and felt Ryou behind him, his arms latched around his chest. Malik smirked. Oh, the power of abandonment.

The kennel was, in reality, only fifteen minutes away. But the ride was more than a little hectic with Malik driving, though Ryou suspected the Egyptian of being a twinge more careful with his ivory-haired koibito at risk. He wasn't worried now. What he was concerned about was what Malik's driving would be like once Tabibito joined their number. This thought in mind, Ryou tightened his grip on Malik's chest doubtfully.

Upon reaching the right avenue, Ryou quickly pointed out their destination, a small building identified as "Yume no Neko (11)" by a pastel, paw print-bedecked sign in the front lawn. Leaving the Egyptian's motorcycle in the front driveway, Ryou and Malik unhurriedly walked toward the house to retrieve Isis' infamous calico kitten.

A buttery compilation of delicate chimes announced their entrance and alerted the kennel's owner, who appeared to be singing a rather smug-looking Persian to sleep in the back room. Malik made a face and turned its glory on Ryou, who merely giggled in reply and shook his head. Isis spared no expense for her cherished Tabibito, that was for sure.

"Hello?" called Malik, sounding more than a little desperate. The bountiful array of crayon-sketched pictures of orange stick figures hugging smiling purple kitties was enough to make even the most successfully rehabilitated villain blanch.

The owner, a woman looking to be in her late twenties, snapped her attention from the Persian and whispered loudly, "Shhh! I'll be with you in a moment!"

Malik's face paled a few shades more at the mere thought of being in this place longer than he needed to be. "Ryou, if I don't make it out of here, make sure my bike gets a good home," he whimpered overdramatically.

Rolling his eyes, Ryou laced a hand around the Egyptian's, murmuring, "If anything hisses at you, don't hiss back."

Malik turned a deadpanned, but suffering Look on his koibito.

Ryou giggled again.

Finally, the dim noise of bass purring replaced the owner's quiet humming. The owner, pleased with her victory, rose from the chair seated beside the lavishly ornate enclosure and approached the pair. Shutting the door to the long line of cages behind her, she asked, "What can I help you with, boys?"

Malik tugged his hand loose of Ryou's and leaned his arms on the front desk nonchalantly. "I'm here to pick up my sister's demon."

The woman's eyebrows arched.

Ryou, arms crossed in a pensive air, said, "His name is Tabibito. He's a calico - "

" - Demon."

Ryou glared halfheartedly.

The woman ignored their banter with a patient shake of her head and said, "Yes, I know the kitten you're talking about. Tabi's getting to be quite the lady's man around here." She smiled with amusement and studied Malik. "I can see where he got the encouragement for it."

Ryou's shoulders arced possessively, a slight frown crossing his gentle features.

Malik smirked over his shoulder. "Hear that? I'm a lady's man," he teased.

Ryou wished for a moment that he had claws and an excuse like PMS to use as a defense when the police asked him why he'd sent his saiai to the hospital in ribbons.

"Wait here," said the woman with a smile thrown at Malik. She disappeared into the back room.

As soon as she'd gone, Malik idly toyed with a kitty fish-shaped treat. "So, Ryou…. What do you think of the kennel lady? Sexy legs, don't you think?"

When the woman returned with a sleepy Tabibito contentedly purring and nuzzled into her careful embrace, she was met with the scene of Malik choking laboriously while Ryou sat on the edge of the counter, swinging his legs absentmindedly and innocuously smiling. The owner, concerned, frowned and asked Ryou, "Is he all right?!"

Ryou nodded calmly, fondly tousling his hacking koibito's hair. "He tried to eat one of the fish treats."

**

Yugi Motou was used to the exceptionally bizarre. In fact, he now viewed normality as the truly bizarre. School was becoming awkward for him, too, as whenever the words "Egypt", "monster" or "cards" were dropped into casual conversation, the tricolored teen would yelp and run in the opposite direction. If he'd been picked on by bullies badly before, he was officially a bully magnet now. One would think he had a cologne that attracted pain and weirdness.

Or maybe he was just doomed.

The cause of his nervousness when it came to Egypt and Sennen Item topics might have been due to the stress of owning several Millennium Items, including the Puzzle, Tauk and Rod, and the god cards Malik had given him. Still, the spirit of the Rod was banished to the Shadow Realm, the spirit of the Ring was laying low and no one had tried to kill Yugi for his shiny triangle lately. Life wasn't good, but it was about as close to it as he was going to get. After all, when one still has one's hair drenched in lavatories, one doesn't commonly describe one's life as "good".

Yet, though Yugi's position in school hadn't changed from "kick me, I'm diminutive", he always had the spirit of the Puzzle to keep him company. Okay, so the former Pharaoh was a little on the crazed side (12), but he was better company than the school toilets.

Until he'd informed Yugi that his life was now once again bizarre. Up until ten minutes ago, Yugi had believed Yami no Malik to be sealed forever inside of the Shadow Realm. But in fact, not only was Yami no Malik not in the Shadow Realm, he was gaining on the distance between Domino and wherever he was terrorizing now. But what was confusing were the spirit's motives. From what the Pharaoh had managed to learn from the Ring's guardian (by means of diplomacy, he had insisted), Yami no Malik wasn't coming after Yugi, the Pharaoh or anything shiny or golden. In fact, the Pharaoh suspected not even Yami no Bakura knew what the Rod's former guardian was up to.

For his part, Yugi was a little miffed. He wasn't supposed to face the same villain twice! That just wasn't the way organized evil worked! He defeated Yami no Malik, so…so…there!

Unfortunately, the Pharaoh informed the holder of the Puzzle that his logic may not be as powerful to the ears of Yami no Malik - especially not if Yugi kept sticking his tongue out.

Yugi hopped onto the foot of his bed and folded his legs underneath him neatly. Yami no Yugi remained standing near the door, arms crossed over his phantasmal chest. It was a little unnerving at first to see the Pharaoh in surroundings of reality, since the spirit, when not connected to Yugi, was exactly that - a metaphysical shadow of his former self. Well, in more truthful terms, it had been downright creepy. Not only did Yami no Yugi look like him, but he was also a great deal darker and more menacing. It reminded him of the time he'd spilled paste all over his Uncle Akumu's six-thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle. …Puzzle? Yugi blinked. Well…isn't that ironic?

"Yugi? What's wrong?"

Yugi shook his head free of distracting thoughts and grinned up at the Pharaoh. "Nothing. How much did the spirit of the Ring tell you about Yami no Malik?" he asked.

The Pharaoh shook his head in an air of frustration. "Hardly anything useful to us. The tomb robber speaks in riddles - I fear he is too far off of the spectrum of common sanity to be anything but tiresomely perplexing."

Yugi nodded, having expected a report of this pallor. After all, Yami no Bakura had spent thousands of years trapped into a pen of solitude. It was only understandable that most of his remaining sanity had been drained by the excruciating sentence. Sometimes Yugi wondered why the Pharaoh had bothered to lock the tomb robber's soul away if he hated him so much. Because of his former actions, the Pharaoh was now responsible for squelching the tomb robber's indiscreet displays of madness and violence. If the Pharaoh had wished to chastise the Ring spirit, there were only so many other ways to do it…. Why eternal damnation in a sacred artifact?

Yugi, the bright lad, suspected ulterior motives.

"He did say this, however," continued the Pharaoh in a meditative voice. "He said, 'the abstract form of Yami no Malik has been shone upon by the moon, releasing his darkened soul into veracity. He is no longer the Darkness…and neither am I.'"

Yugi looked alarmed by the enigmatic conundrum, violet eyes wide with trepidation. "What does it mean, mou hitori no boku (13)?" he asked, using his moniker for the Pharaoh absently. "Hasn't he always called himself the Darkness?"

The Pharaoh nodded. "It appears the tomb robber knows a great deal more than he's willing to share with me." He frowned darkly and muttered, "Though it would be for his benefit if he did."

Yugi, sensing a Pharaoh bitchfit, chirped, "What should we do?"

The Pharaoh tilted his head and thought the question over with scrupulous detail. At length, he said, "Until we know the true motives of Yami no Malik, we can do nothing but observe."

Yugi nodded. He'd expected as much. "So…what now?"

The Pharaoh smirked. "Now you finish your summer homework."

"B-but - ! What?!" cried the younger boy indignantly. "What about Yami no Malik!? I can't just do math homework knowing he's terrorizing innocent people!"

Yami no Yugi patted his charge's shoulder with a formless hand, more for solace than for actual contact. "Then rest assured…he will be watched." Then, with an infuriating grin, the spirit vanished from Yugi's bedroom.

…"When I die, you're in so much trouble, mou hitori no boku!"

**

Ryou asked Malik to stop by his house so he could check on his cousin and Sora, but found the house to be vacant. Shrugging, Ryou locked the front door and closed the garage absently, which had been open when he arrived. Suspecting that Riku and Sora must have found some other way to amuse themselves, Ryou pocketed his keys and walked back to the bike.

When he reached the curb, he caught Malik taunting the spitting kitten in the carrier. "Not so vicious now, are you, youkai?" he was hissing through the crossbars.

Ryou folded his arms and cleared his throat, making a show of tapping his foot against the pavement with vivid annoyance. Malik's eyes hit the sidewalk and slowly trailed up to meet Ryou's eyes. The younger boy said sharply, "Stop calling him a demon, Malik. And stop tormenting him, or I'm telling Isis what means of transportation you chose to deliver him home."

Malik blanched slightly. "She doesn't scare me," he said in a wavering tone.

Ryou hopped off the curb and grabbed Malik's collar, dragging the older teen down to his eye-level. "Pester the animal again and the only action you'll be seeing will be in movies," he said, dangerously close to the other's lips.

A wash of pure, absolute fear captured Malik's face. "You wouldn't dare," he whispered.

"Push me and find out," Ryou murmured back, kissing his koibito's forehead. "I'm only quiet until I see bullies like you beleaguering helpless animals like Tabibito."

Malik sulked, wrenching his shirt from Ryou's loosened grip. "I'm not a bully," he pouted dramatically.

Ryou smiled, though he tried valiantly to hide it, and leaned over the back of the bike, fiddling with Tabibito's carrier.

"Hey," said Malik, straining to look over his shoulder, "what are you doing?"

Ryou turned and nimbly stepped up onto the curb, a mewling ball of fur writhing in his arms. At Malik's perplexed look, Ryou said, "You've gotten your fun scaring the living spirit out of him. I'm going to carry him the rest of the way."

Malik's eyes widened. "Ryou!" he protested. "It's eight blocks to my house!"

"So?"

"So…." Malik struggled with his next words. Yeah, Malik, a voice (thankfully not from any kind of golden object) asked, so?

A light sparkled in Ryou's eyes. "You're really jealous of him, aren't you, kichou?" he asked warmly.

"I'm not jealous of that hacked up hairball!" I just don't want you paying more attention to him than to me! …Wait, that's jealousy.

Ryou rolled his eyes and leaned out dangerously, pecking the Egyptian on the cheek sweetly. "I'll meet you at your house, all right?"

Malik grumbled and revved the bike's engine. "Isis is coming home at six - try to be back before then." With a last suffering look at Ryou and a poisonous glower at the jade-eyed kitten, he tore down the street and disappeared 'round the corner recklessly.

Tabibito craned his neck and watched Ryou shake his head fondly. "Mrew?" he inquired in a tiny voice.

Ryou smiled and ran ginger fingertips behind the kitten's part sooty part tangerine ear. To the kitten's closed-eyed look of pure content and cozy purring, Ryou answered, "Yeah, he's a little difficult sometimes, but he's got a good heart."

Tabibito licked Ryou's hand in agreement. Open, trusting bottle green eyes smiled up at the ivory-haired teenager.

Ryou returned the silent smile and gently repositioned the Tabibito so the kitten's spine rested on his arm and his little back legs bent into the air, kicking at a stray thread from Ryou's sweatshirt.

"How can Malik call you a demon?" Ryou wondered, catching a finger between Tabibito's front paws. As the kitten playfully tried to bite through the nail, his back legs clawed at the teen's wrist without malice. It was all fun to him. He looked sweet and he pretended to be a pest, but he was really a soft-hearted kitten. Ryou hid a smile. Tabibito and Malik had more in common than either might have willingly assumed.

**

Isis was unpacking her clothes into her corner dresser when the front door opened sullenly. She smiled slightly and called, "Why the sulk, brother?"

The door slammed with more force than necessary and Isis continued folding clothes. A moment later, the astonished face of her brother appeared in the doorway, accompanied by the rest of his shock-rigid body.

With a maternal "tsk", Isis threw a rolled-up pair of socks at her brother's partially revealed bronzed abdomen and teased, "You still wear that?" When her sibling merely maintained his stare, she continued, "Do you think I'm the only one who knows you've had that sweatshirt for five years?"

"Why are you home early?" the youngest Ishtar asked in a monotone.

Isis folded a particularly pesky sweater and set it gently into the third drawer. "Most people probably think you bought it like that - like you mean to boast half of your torso to the world."

"You were supposed to be home at six."

"I wonder what they would think if they knew it shrunk in the wash?"

"Isis!"

Laughing at her brother's cross expression, Isis replied, "I managed to reserve an earlier flight. I just arrived home a half an hour ago."

"Oh." His question answered, Malik leaned against the doorframe and studied his sister's actions. "You missed me that much?" he teased. "Why, Isis, I'm touched."

Isis smiled, pausing her unpacking to approach her brother and hug him tightly. "Yes, I missed you, you idiot," she said warmly, ruffling the back of his hair.

Malik jerked out of her embrace, blushing violently. "Isis," he groaned, "please. I'm not five years old anymore."

"A pity, that," sighed his sister, resting her palm on Malik's cheek. "You were an adorable child."

Malik's blush deepened. "Older sisters bite," he grumbled.

"And younger brothers are maddening pests," Isis teased, returning to her previous task.

Malik set to work fixing his hair into its former organized chaos.

"Oh," said Isis suddenly, glancing up. "Where's Tabibito? Did you pick him up yet?"

Malik blanched. There goes distracting her…. "I…uh…not…yes?"

Isis frowned at her brother's stammering. "Where is my Tabibito, brother?"

"…Funny thing, that…."

Isis crossed her arms, her frown growing threatening. "Intrigue me."

"Um…." Thinking quickly, Malik did the first thing that bubbled into composition in his mind and ran for the stairs - not to mention his life.

"Not so fast, Malik!" Isis tore after her brother, wielding a menacing-looking hairdryer. "Where is Tabibito?!"

Malik flew down the stairs three at a time, grabbing the ornate fixture at the bottom rail and veering into the living room. "Check the interstate!" he shouted over his shoulder with a thriving cackle.

"I'm going to tear you apart!" screamed Isis, vaulting over the back of the couch and hurling a fairly new book on Egyptian Pharaohs at her brother's head. "He's just a baby!"

"He is not!"

"He is - !"

SLAM.

Isis dashed through the kitchen and latched onto the knob of the basement door. Locked. "Malik, you intolerable brat! What have you done to my neko saiai!?"

"Your 'beloved cat'?!" Malik yelled through the door. "That thing is a demon!"

"You're just jealous!"

"I am not!"

"You are so!"

"Not!"

"I'm not playing this game with you, brother! Open the door!"

…Malik's laughter leaked through the doorjambs. "You can't get in!" he taunted in a singsong voice.

Isis growled. "And you cannot get out!" To emphasize this point, she grabbed a chair from the table and roughly slammed the back under the knob.

The laughter stopped, shortly followed by urgent shaking of the doorknob from the other side. "Isis! You can't do this to me!"

Isis smirked. "Oh, but I can." And with that, she walked away.

Which clearly proves that the Ishtar siblings were very loving and dear to each other. Except when they weren't.

**

As soon as Tabibito's cavernous eyes zeroed in on the Ishtars' charming little domicile, the calico screeched a feline battle cry and abandoned Ryou's arms in favor of the front lawn. Thinking the kitten was trying to escape, Ryou darted after him.

"Tabibito!" he called. The kitten leapt agilely and caught his terrifying centimeter-long claws into the soft wood of the backyard's fence. In a few moments, he had squirmed his way to the top and wobbled uncertainly. "Tabibito!" Ryou coaxed, skidding to an abrupt halt before the gate. The kitten, mischievously, turned his head and gave a solitary war cry before diving into the backyard.

Cringing, Ryou imagined for a moment what Isis would say if she ever found out he'd lost her cat. Malik, naturally, would be overjoyed and would probably worship his koibito for the rest of his juvenile life. Isis, though….

With a resigned sigh, Ryou fastened his hands at the top of the gate and with some effort scrambled to the lip. Jumping off the gate, Ryou landed rather gracelessly on the lawn below, tinting his knees with bruises and his jeans with grass stains. Isis better adore this cat, he thought with a grimace.

Tabibito was happily bounding across the lawn, his mottled ginger, ivory and ebony fur gleaming like wrinkled river water in the noonday sunlight. Ryou was after him in a flash, ignoring the friendly reminders of abject pain in his knees. "Tabibito!" he called.

The kitten hesitated and swiveled his furry head to glimmer knowing irises at his pursuer. "Mreow," he chirruped cheekily.

Ryou rolled his eyes and scooped the kitten into a no-nonsense embrace, continuing his trek for the porch. Tabibito pushed his muzzle into Ryou's upper arm, his ears flat against his ivory head and his eyes closed with content. Yep, definitely comparable to Malik. Just as just as difficult to predict and just as annoying.

Unconcerned with creating too much of a stir, Ryou pushed the back door open with a resounding screech. "Malik!" he called, shutting the door behind him. The house was silent. "Malik?"

No response. Ryou "hmm"ed and turned his gaze on the ball of fur staring up at him questioningly. Ryou shrugged. Then like an orchestra made solely of stampeding iron-shoed mammoths, the staircase of the second floor began to thunder and bellow. Ryou, eyes wider than coffee saucers, took a recoiling step back.

Isis landed on the first floor platform, her eyes wild and frantic. "TABIBITO!" she cried, running full-out at her brother's koibito and the fluffy cherub mewling in his arms.

Ryou, thoroughly terrified of the feverish Egyptian woman, reeled back, holding the kitten at arm's length. In a moment Tabibito was torn from his shaking hands and drawn lovingly into Isis' arms. "Oh, my little Tabibito! My beloved wanderer! Where were you? Did that jealous sprite hurt you?"

Ryou assumed she meant Malik. …Speaking of Malik. "Um…Isis?"

The raven-haired mystic brought her eyes to meet Ryou's and without warning smothered the ivory-haired teenager in a vertebrae-cracking hug. "Oh, Bakura-kun! Thank you!"

Outright mortified, Ryou mumbled, "Y-you're welcome."

The eldest Ishtar drew back and smiled kindly. Since the beginning of their relationship, Isis had been quite fond of her brother's choice of koibito - which was only made stronger when Ryou proved to be a reliable advocate on the topic of Tabibito. "I assume you saved Tabibito from my demonic sibling's hands?" she asked with her usual breath of calm and composure. There was no sign of her previous hysteria. Some people were just plain…weird about their pets.

"RYOU!"

Alarmed, Ryou scoured the living room for the source of the familiar voice. "Malik?"

Isis smiled enigmatically and brushed a renegade strand of snowy hair behind Ryou's ear, gesturing to the basement in the same motion. "He's in there," she said, turning toward the kitchen. Now addressing Tabibito, she cooed, "You must be starving, my little wanderer. We'll just give you Malik's dinner."

Tabibito caterwauled in protest. Ryou could understand his horror - Malik was a painstaking vegetarian.

To the sounds of arguing meows and coaxing persisting in the kitchen, Ryou moved the chair aside from the basement door. "Malik?" he called, opening the door warily -

- THUD.

Ryou's back hit the wall opposite the basement door, compliments of the force titled Malik Ishtar the Meticulously Impatient. Encircling his arms around his startled koi's neck, Malik purred, "Remember when I asked you if I'd ever given you the impression that I'd try to throw you off a cliff?"

Ryou, intimidated by the dark look in his saiai's eyes, nodded meekly.

The older teen nuzzled a soft kiss into Ryou's lips. "Don't worry about it," he said with a wink. "I'm saving it for my sister."

Ryou relaxed against the wall, driving a slow breath of relief through his nearly crushed lungs. Malik chuckled and kissed him again, eliciting a delighted smile from his tenshi koibito.

SPLIIATTTESHH.

"AAII! MALIK!"

Letting loose into feral laughter, said future convict grabbed Ryou's wrist and dragged him out of the house frenziedly.

"What did you do?!" Ryou cried as they reached Malik's motorcycle.

Malik turned a quick look over his shoulder. "Set up a volcano bomb in my dinner."

"Why?!"

Malik shrugged. "I've done that since I moved in with her, but she's never triggered it before. She seems to think it's clever to put food dye or hot sauce in my food." He grinned. "Not that she ever finds my food. There's another refrigerator in the basement…but she doesn't know that…."

Ryou rolled his eyes as he was pulled onto the bike. "That doesn't sound like Isis," he commented skeptically.

"So I might have done one or two things to make her angry…."

As the bike's engine growled to life, Isis Ishtar stormed from the ajar front door cloaked in pasta and unidentified vegetables. She was screaming now, but neither Malik nor Ryou could hear over the pulsing rumble of the glimmering motorcycle. Then a misshapen puddle of egg yolk and verdant pulp with a tail of celery plodded straight into Isis' ankle, apparently blinded by a rather large sprig of broccoli.

To avoid future confrontation with Isis, Ryou turned his head and muffled his laughter in Malik's shoulder. "What exactly did you make that bomb out of?" he shouted to his koi.

"Nothing special," Malik yelled back, heaving away from his and Isis' block. As they swerved 'round the corner, Ryou thought he heard Malik's voice cackle, "Besides a few quarts of vinegar and baking soda…."

To be Continued…

1 - According to the manga (which I'm using as a guideline), Ryou is a transfer to Domino from another city in Japan. Only in the American dub is he British. I just decided to give him ties to England by having his mother go to college at Cambridge.

2 - Not that anyone finds it anything but adorable, of course…. ;)

3 - Moshi moshi (Hello?) {used on the phone}

4 - Good afternoon

5 - Hai (yes)

6 - Tabibito (wanderer)

7 - Think The Shining

8 - Chotto ja (see you in a moment)

9 - Itsumo (always)

10 - Once again, not real ancient Egyptian. Just made it up.

11 - Yume no Neko (Cat's Dream)

12 - Going by the manga…where Yami no Yugi ain't exactly the picture of sweetness and sanity.

13 - Mou hitori no boku (the other me) - what Yugi called Yami no Yugi in the original.

14 - Which are a few lovely ingredients of homemade volcanoes. Hehe.