A/N: As I didn't do this last time, another big thank you to Asiera, mystic48138, Holy Metal Muffin of Death, LeaMarie F. Metallium, Journey Maker, Grass stained Umbrella, AnimeLoverAngel, Vaseshipper, and –PsyhoBunny- for your reviews!

Chapter 3

Malik sat reclining on Ryou's sofa for a while, the whole time wondering what he could do to best get under Bakura's skin. It wasn't until his stomach growled that he struck upon an idea.

"Tomb-robber, I'm hungry," he complained.

Bakura stirred in the armchair he was resting in and sighed. "If you want something to eat, you're making it," he said, settling back down again.

Malik shrugged and made his way to the kitchen. "What do you have to eat?" he shouted.

"Pick something!" the spirit yelled back, coughing slightly when the action irritated his throat.

The Egyptian rummaged through the cabinets, making as much noise as possible to further worsen Bakura's migraine. Each time he finished with a drawer, he let it slam shut, and every crash caused Bakura to cringe.

"Break anything and you'll have Ryou to answer to!" he yelled again.

Malik snickered to himself, causing one final crash as he grabbed a flat skillet. He then took a slice of cheese, some bread, and a spatula and went to work on the stove. Fairly quickly, the smell of toasted bread and melted cheese filled the apartment, and Malik sauntered back into the front room with his grilled cheese sandwich.

"Mmm…this smells good, doesn't it, Bakura?" he asked, eyes glowing at his meal.

Bakura sniffed pitifully and glared, unable to catch the scent of the sandwich. Not that he was particularly hungry, but the snack looked so good…

He watched as Malik took a bite of his sandwich and licked his lips. "Ah, it tastes just as great, too!" he sighed. Finally, the thief couldn't take anymore; he wrenched himself up off the chair and stumbled to his room, curling up under the warm covers.

Malik chuckled again as Bakura left, congratulating himself on having the upper hand. He had known the tomb-robber to be irritable when they were stuck in Ryou's body together, but this was just comical. He needed to loosen up a little bit!

Malik took just a little longer to finish his meal and waited a while before following the other boy. Deep down, he knew he shouldn't be so mean, but where was the fun in that? Besides, he could always work being annoying another way by being nice…and shifting the blame. A new plan set, Malik soon arrived in Bakura's bedroom.

"Hey, Bakura…wake up! Hey…" he whispered, shaking the napping spirit gently. Closed eyes opened to dark slits and Malik tried again. "Um, I really shouldn't have done that to you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Bakura rolled his eyes, even though he knew Malik couldn't see it. "Yeah, you can leave me alone," he suggested.

Malik acted as though the spirit had hurt him with his words and tried the sympathetic approach. "You might not believe it, but I know how you're feeling."

"And how is that? You've probably never had allergies in your life! So go away…" Bakura growled, his voice growing hoarser by the minute. He was fairly certain he would lose it soon.

Malik scoffed. "Did you hear me during Battle City? I had them so bad I could hardly breathe!"

"So what happened to them? Why don't you have them now?" the thief wheezed, unknowingly taking the other's bait.

The Egyptian's eyes widened in mock surprise. "You mean Ryou didn't tell you?" he gasped.

"Tell me what?! Ryou…?"

Hiding within the Millennium Ring, the addressed boy cringed, but relaxed as Bakura didn't push the issue and instead turned to Malik for the answer.

"Before I got here, Ishizu bought some medicine that helps with my allergies…I can't believe Ryou didn't do the same for you…" he replied, feigning innocence. "You know what? While you talk with your hikari, I'll go out and get you some medicine, alright?" Bakura nodded angrily and called Ryou out to "talk." Once the conversation was started, Malik slid carefully off the bed. Once he had escaped the apartment, he shook his head. "Fool…" he muttered, and burst out in hysterical giggles.

"Hikari, why didn't I ever hear about this so-called 'medicine'?" Bakura asked, a dangerous edge to his raspy voice.

"Um…well…" Ryou stuttered. He couldn't quite get his brain to process the excuse he was trying to come up with.

"Yes?" the thief prompted impatiently.

Ryou fidgeted in front of Bakura's unyielding gaze. Even sick, he was still a dominating presence! "I wasn't really sure how it would affect you, and it's really better to just let it go away on its own…"

"Don't you think I should have at least heard about it and decided for myself if I wanted to try some of it?" Bakura reasoned.

"Well, I did tell you to pay more attention to the world around you. I really don't see how this is all my fault…" the British boy objected.

"Did you want to see me suffering…?" At Ryou's silence, the spirit glared even more. "You did, didn't you?!"

"No, not 'suffer' exactly; just learn a little lesson…"

Bakura's jaw dropped as he regarded his defiant light. He quickly regained his composure and snapped.

"Ryou! You have a whole lot of explaining to do!"

"Eek!"

--

Malik slowly worked his way through the aisles at the pharmacy, picking up different medicines and placing them back once he determined if they were what he was looking for. Finally, he found the liquid medicine. He grabbed one, checking to see if it took care of allergies, or at least some of the symptoms. He then examined a few others before taking them up to the front counter to ask which one was best.

"Excuse me, could you help me with these?" he asked the cashier.

The cashier looked at the cache of bottles before her and then back at the Egyptian. "What do you need to know?"

"Which of these would be best for allergies?"

The young woman picked out two of the bottles, one with purple syrup and the other with a shining crimson liquid. "These are the ones specifically for allergy symptoms. They have pretty much the same active ingredients and should help significantly. There's really no difference which one you choose."

Malik considered that for a bit before asking, "Which one tastes better?"

The cashier held up the bottle filled with the purple medicine. "It's grape flavored," she explained.

"Ohh, alright. I'll take that one then," he said pointing to the other bottle, causing the cashier to look as though she clearly thought the boy had lost it. "My sister always says the worse it tastes, the better it is for you," he covered. Pulling out some change, he paid for the medicine and left before the woman could say anything else.

Once he was back at Ryou's home, he entered the tomb-robber's bedroom to find an extremely disgruntled Bakura lying with his back against the head board, staring into empty space. He uncapped the bottle, poured some into the measuring cup and held it out for Bakura to take. "Just swallow it," he ordered.

Bakura carefully took the tiny cup and drained it in a single gulp, gasping slightly as it went down and nearly choking. "What was that?!" he forced out. It burned like alcohol on the way down, but didn't taste good at all!

Malik laughed until he couldn't stand anymore and collapsed onto the edge of the bed trying to catch his breath. "That was medicine!" he replied, still snickering. "It's not supposed to taste pleasant!"

"You knew that and didn't warn me? You're even worse than Ryou!"

"Of course I am; Ryou wouldn't hurt a fly!" Malik didn't seem to realize the danger he was in until a swift smack in the back of the head caused him to look up. Bakura was leaning over him, eyes blazing and teeth bared.

"Get out of my apartment."

Malik cocked his head to the side in a silent question.

"You heard me. Get out, now."

Pulling away, Malik appeared to be sad, but a sarcastic smile snuck onto his features as he left. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'it was worth it!'

Bakura once again burrowed under his blankets, waiting for the medicine to take effect. After that, he would be perfectly fine.

--

"What do you mean he kicked you out?"

Malik shuffled his feet as he explained the situation to his older sister. "He had allergies, and I couldn't resist giving him a bad time!"

Ishizu sighed, holding her head while she tried to figure out what to do with her brother. "I thought you were going to try to get along with the spirit of the ring…"

Letting out a small sigh, he chuckled. "After that, I don't think it's ever going to happen…"

The End

A/N: After receiving a 95% on my Composition I essay for the second time in a row, I was inspired to write! That and there's nothing better to think about during math…Yay, probability!
-.-'

Thank you to everyone who has read this far; you have no idea how much it means to me! I hope it wasn't too bad. What's really sad is that I started out planning for it to be a one chapter one-shot! Please review and I'll see you later!