Missing

by Taitofan

Rated PG-13 for yaoi and implied activities

Disclaimer- Well, considering there's no yaoi and Ghost is dead and not the main character, I think it's safe to say that I don't own Yugioh...

Author's note- Thanks goes to Snopes dot com and their confirmed or disproved rumors for inspiring me to write this. Yes, it's based upon one of the stories about a guy's mother putting a soup ladle in his roommate's bed to see if they were sleeping together. I just tweaked it and added a few more things. A bit of OOCness, and a (gasp) yamixhikari pairing. Not one of my usual unusual couples, but I still love this one and it fit.

Japanese lesson- Kami-sama is God, yami is darkness, and hikari is light.

Flames don't bother me, as usual. I have a good laugh at them. CC is always appreciated though. Please read, review, and enjoy! Finished 07-18-04

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It wasn't until Bakura obtained a separate body from his lighter half that Ryou ever had any worries. It wasn't because he was afraid that his yami would murder anyone or anything to that effect. In all honesty, he loved that Bakura was separated from him physically, because it made being together in a more intimate kind of physical way much easier. After all, it was rather hard to carry along a relationship with a spirit who lives in your mind.

No, there was only one problem with Bakura having a corporeal body, and that was when it came to Ryou's father. It had been easy enough to pretend Bakura didn't exist back when he was confined to the Sennen Ring in the previous visits the boy's father had made, but now that Bakura was capable of being seen... Well, that was the problem.

Ryou's father didn't know his son had an ancient spirit known as a yami living with him, and he certainly didn't know that his son was involved with a man. To his knowledge, Ryou just hadn't found the right girl yet and ancient spirits didn't exist. So when Ryou received a letter explaining that his father would be arriving for a short visit in a week, Ryou couldn't help but wonder how he was possibly going to explain everything...

Luckily, Bakura was in a particularly clever mood at the time, and assured his nearly-frantic lighter half that the solution was actually quite simple. They'd tell Ryou's father that Ryou had gotten lonely by himself and took Bakura in as a roommate. They'd fix up the spare bedroom, call it Bakura's, and the old man would be none the wiser.

Needless to say, Bakura was aptly rewarded that night for his stroke of genius.

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Approximately one week later, Ryou's father arrived as planned and immediately believed the story the two males told him, because why would Ryou lie to him about it?

Well, he believed it until later that night at least. During dinner he couldn't help but notice that his son and "roommate" were awfully close... And as the night went on, he became even more suspicious. Ryou had never been one for physical contact, yet he never batted an eyelash when Bakura would "accidentally" brush against him. And Ryou's eyes always seemed to sparkle when he looked at Bakura... Had he pegged his son's sexuality all wrong? Was Bakura far more then Ryou's roommate?

That night Bakura went into the spare room as planned. Yet Ryou's father was sure that he heard movement in the hall later that night and early in the morning, both times Ryou would have expected him to be asleep. Had Bakura been sneaking into Ryou's room? Were they using the other room as a decoy? When he'd walked by it earlier, it had seemed to be rather sparingly furnished, though he'd dismissed it at the time. But now that he thought about it, Ryou's room did seem to have things in it that were very un-Ryou like. Take the daggers and lock-picking tools for example. He doubted very much that they belonged to his son...

Ryou's father was determined to find out the truth about Ryou and Bakura's true relationship with each other. And after only a few minutes of scheming, he knew the perfect way to do so...

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It was a few days after Ryou's father had returned to Egypt (and Bakura moved back into Ryou's room) that Ryou noticed that his favorite tea cup was missing.

"Bakura," he asked his lover, "do you know where my tea cup is? It's the blue one with the little white stars on it." Bakura shook his head.

"No, I haven't seen it since your dad was here. He used it the last day he was here and I haven't seen it since." Ryou nodded and pondered that information for a few moments.

"You don't suppose," he began hesitantly, "that he took it, do you?" Bakura shrugged.

"I don't know; he's your father after all. Is your dad a klepto?"

"No!" Ryou exclaimed, trying his best to glare at his darker half (which made him look more cute then threatening). "I'll write him a letter though. Maybe he put it somewhere we just haven't checked yet..."

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A few weeks later a new letter arrived from Egypt from Ryou's father. Ryou was very relieved to finally receive the letter, hoping that this would shed some light upon the whereabouts of his missing tea cup. He and Bakura had searched almost the entire house, yet the porcelain item was still only Kami-sama-knew-where. Or only Ryou's-father-knew-where as the case may be. Ryou was about to find out.

Bakura watched with an amused expression settled on his face as his hikari ripped open the envelope and quickly read the letter. He was puzzled when Ryou's normally pale face suddenly resembled a cherry tomato, but all his questions were answered when Ryou silently handed him the letter. Curious, Bakura accepted the letter and read.

Dear Ryou,

Had Bakura been sleeping in his own bed, you surely would have found the tea cup by now. Next time you want to hide something from me, you'll have to be a bit sneakier than that.

Love, your father, who isn't as ignorant as you may think.

PS- Tell Bakura "Welcome to the family."

All Bakura could do was laugh at the absurdness of it all. Ryou watched his cackling yami and smiled despite his embarrassment. At least this way he didn't have to come up with a "Dad, I'm gay" speech...