Motel 37

Chapter 17:

It didn't take that long for the police to get to the area. About fifteen minutes or so. Since there was no crime or call for help, the only real reason they came was to beat up on whoever it was who started the explosion. Their police station had been destroyed due to a large chunk of the motel's roof flying away and crashing into it. Of course, when they got their to find the boys and Grandpa, the decided it would look good on their record if they figured out what happened.

Yami and Marik tried to explain it to him but when they got to the 'talking building' portion of it, the policemen almost died of laughter. They checked this off as the work of a few fraternity boys and their aged leader. Grandpa, of course, took a bit of offense to this. When everything was explained and the police still didn't believe them, the hikaris took it upon themselves to just tell the police it was all a mistake and they just needed a ride home, seeing as how their car was scattered over a ten-block radius.

They called out and had another rented car brought out to them. This one was a van and ugly, the dealership didn't trust the boys with anything pretty or expensive. They were on the road in less than an hour with Grandpa behind the wheel and a lot to sort out.

"There's no way you won, Bakura, there's just no way!"

"Oh yeah? Tell that to the old guy up there who happened to fall asleep on the toilet!"

"Alright, now cut it out!" Malik shouted impatiently. His yami and Bakura had been going at it for the past five minutes. About what, no one knew. But Malik wanted to find out and put an end to it, "Bakura, what did you win?"

He grinned and inched closer to the Egyptian, "Heh. Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Uh…"

"Stop that, Bakura!" Marik growled and pulled Malik over near him.

Grandpa looked up from the road and into the rearview mirror. He'd been happily humming to his beloved golden oldies but now it seemed like he couldn't hear them quiet as well due to Marik's shouting, "Oh, hey hey! You boys, stop fighting. Marik, it's okay, it's true after all. I did fall asleep in the bathroom."

Marik blinked, "Y-You did…?"

"Yup." He said happily and continued his driving.

"B-But that means-"

"That's right…!" Bakura chirped and slid Malik next to him, "I get your hikari…"

Ryou and Malik were both highly confused and Yami sensed it, "You guys, Marik and Bakura made a bet that if Grandpa was in the bathroom when we thought he was dead, then Bakura would get Malik. If he was dead at the bottom of a stairwell, then Marik would get Ryou."

"Oh!" Ryou looked at his yami, horrified, "Bakura, how could you do such a thing to me!"

"Relax." He grinned, smugly, and brought one arm around Malik and the other one around Ryou. "Heh heh. Now I have two…"

Malik blinked, "Uh…"

Ryou growled and pushed Bakura's arm away. He slid to the other seat and leaned on Marik, who was kind of in shock, "… You do not have two hikaris, Bakura, you have one. Which is Malik, because I have transferred myself over to Marik. So there." He punctuated his sentence with a raspberry, blown to his former yami.

"What!" Bakura shouted, "That's not fair!"

Marik grinned, "And, oh yeah, Bakura. Remember that other bet that I won? Meaning I get Ryou's clothes, so if you please…"

Ryou nodded, knowingly and sighed, "If that's the bet…" He began to take off his shirt, slowly and before he even got to his belt, Bakura was shaking his head and screaming, "Ryou, cut it out! Okay, okay! All bets are off!"

"Thank you!" Marik called, dragging Malik back over to him. Ryou stayed in his spot and ignored Bakura's pitiful whines and pleas for him to come back. Of course he wasn't too mad at his yami, and decided to wait until Bakura couldn't handle the rejection anymore and got on his knees, kissing Ryou's toes for forgiveness. The way things were going, the toe-kissing would commence in about five minutes.

"Oh, stop your whining, Bakura." Marik said, leaning back, "If anything, I should be the one who whines. I was nearly killed!"

"No one was gonna kill you, you baby… Without your darkness, you'd probably end up like the Pharaoh. A goody-goody with spiky hair."

"When you say it that way, it sounds like Yugi."

Both Yami and Yugi glared at the two. Of course the glare Yugi was giving Marik really didn't look that dangerous with a little kitten sitting on his head. At first, Yami had thought that his hikari had used an extra glob of hair gel and it just happened to purr from time to time. But sitting right next to him, he figured out that it was an actual cat.

"Um… Yugi, I was just wondering why there was a… furry animal atop your head?" Yami sent a questioning glance towards the kitten.

"Oh, Yami! This is our new pet, he's named after you. His name is Little Fruitcake."

Marik and Bakura looked at each other for a moment, and then busted out in uncontrollable giggles. "Ah ha ha…! Oh Gods! H-He's named… Little Fruitcake…! Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha…!"

Yugi winced and turned to Marik who was currently on the floor in hysterics, "You have no room to talk… Biscuit Head."

"Gah." Marik looked back at his other half who shrugged.

Bakura was now the only one red in the face due to laughter. But that quickly ceased when Ryou yanked on the collar of his shirt and brought him up to seat with him. "Not now, 'Kura-Kat."

"Heh heh…"

"Shut up, Biscuit Head."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Both of you shut up."

"Why don't you? Fruitcake!"

"Be SILENT!" All hikaris yelled at them, causing a group 'meep'. Not a sound was made for the next minute or so. Of course that was because of the obvious tension between Yugi, Ryou and Little Fruitcake. Ryou was glaring daggers at the boy who made a smug face at him and petting Little Fruitcake.

Malik groaned, "Alright, you two, stop it! It's just a cat, for Ra's sake."

Little Fruitcake gave him a glance, 'Who are you calling just a cat?'

"It was MY cat, Malik!" Ryou broke down and sobbed, taking comfort from his yami. Bakura grinned, thinking he'd won his hikari back. Little did he know that he was just the rebound and Ryou really wanted Little Fruitcake. "I saved him when we were out in the rain and no one else wanted him…!"

Yami scratched his head, "Y-Yugi, is it really Ryou's cat?"

"W-Well, I-I dunno…!" Yugi began to sob as he held onto Little Fruitcake, "All I know is that we love each other…!"

"B-But I love him, too…!"

Now, two of the hikaris were crying their eyes out, Marik and Bakura were trying to go to sleep and Yami and Malik were trying to moderate. Malik patted Ryou on the back, "Um… Ryou, think about it… You can't have Little Fruitcake live with you anyway. Bakura eats cats."

Ryou blinked, "…"

Bakura grinned over at Little Fruitcake, who shuddered. Malik nodded knowingly and said, "Ryou, if you really love Little Fruitcake, you'll let him go."

Yugi nodded as well, "Uh-huh!"

"Oh… okay. But…" Ryou got on his knees in front of Yugi and Little Fruitcake. He held the kittens paws in his hands and looked straight into those large, brown eyes, "L-Little Fruitcake… I know you can't come home with me, m-my yami eats cats, and you'd be in great danger. And I can't allow that. So, you have to go home with Yugi and Yami. You'll be safe there… I will miss you, Little Fruitcake. You have made me so happy in the little time that I've known you. You've awoken feelings in me that I thought were dormant… You may not understand this right now, Little Fruitcake… but I love you."

Malik was crying on his yami's shoulder, who was doing his best not to break down into tears. Yugi and Yami's eyes were wet and glistening and Bakura was becoming a bit jealous.

Little Fruitcake blinked and purred. Which, any other way, would've been translated into: 'Aw… Ryou, that's so sweet. I love you too. Be happy and maybe I'll see you when you come to visit.'

Yugi nodded, slowly, "T-That was beautiful… Ryou, I swear, I'll take good care of him."

A little later on, when Grandpa had pulled into the driveway of the Game Shop, it was about five o' clock. He was too tired to go drop everyone off at their homes and, frankly, everyone else was too tired to go anywhere. So, they decided to crash at Yugi and Yami's place. Of course, Ryou made no objection, he'd get to spend a little more time with Little Fruitcake.

Grandpa had gone to his bedroom to take a nap and the boys were in the living room, watching television. They had been watching a Lifetime movie, but now a commercial break had started and Malik told Yami, Marik and Bakura to go make popcorn. (And no butter because Malik and Ryou were on a joint diet.)

"I really don't think it was all the bad…" Yugi mused, "I mean… Sure, Marik was almost drained of darkness and people were killed and Grandpa fell asleep on a toilet… But, we did get to stay on our vacation longer."

Malik snorted, "Yeah, but it was too close."

Before Ryou could say anything, he heard something in the kitchen that sounded like Marik and Yami having a war with the microwave and a bag of popcorn exploding. Confirming his suspicions, a stream of butter began to flow onto the carpet of the living room, staining it.

"It wasn't me!" Bakura called.

"Yes, it was!" Two other voices called.

"Ugh…" Yugi sighed and turned back to the TV screen, "Oh, wow! Hey, you guys, look at this."

Malik and Ryou noticed what Yugi was talking about. An advertisement for a 'Wonderful vacation to the Antarctic. Snowmen and penguins await those ready for a weekend of pampering and winter loveliness.'

They squealed, "Ooh, that sounds wonderful!"

Yami, Bakura and Marik had peeked in through the kitchen door. They looked at each other as the hikaris tried to call in to win the tickets.

"… Oh no."

THE END…

Her Sweetness: Boom, baby! Oh, I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it! Well, there we have it. The end and I'm so glad to be typing it. Well, you can expect my next fic's first chapter with the next 36 hours.

… Too long?

Okay, I'll see what I can do. Oh, and I have a bit of a Contest for you guys! For those of you who have read my other fics, that is.

My next fic will be a sequel. But to which one? You guess. One guess per reviewer and the person who gets it right, first, will have a cameo roll in it!

Goodbye and Goodluck!