On Exhibitions

By: Nodicehoney

Pairing: Nekozawa UmehitoxBakura Ryou

"Boring, aren't they?"

Nekozawa Umehito's nodding head shoots up in surprise in the dark corner he'd been hiding in, looking wildly around him for the source of the voice. A small chuckle and a pair of deep brown eyes halfway-covered a fringe of snow-white hair come into view, and Umehito breathes a slight sigh of relief in recognition. Bakura Ryou has been his friend for quite some time now- the exact span of time escapes him, but he knows it goes back as far as when Beelzenef had been a stuffed animal and not just a puppet.

"Certainly not as entertaining as other things I could be wasting my time on- like homework," he replies dryly, taking a sip from the champagne glass in hand.

Bakura Ryou laughs, a sound as gentle as its owner looks, and motions for Umehito to follow. The blonde does, bemoaning the lack of his usual dark wig as his natural golden-hued hair draws eyes to him as they make their way to a (mercifully) darker part of the museum.

"I remembered what you said about your family's history with cats and the supernatural, so I thought you'd like to see these," Ryou says, leading the way into a closed-off exhibit.

There are still displays being constructed around the gleaming glass cases, but the gleam of dim candle light off of slightly-burnished gold catches his eye in the nearest display and he's pulled toward it like a magnet, eyes widening in surprise. A large golden cat mask stares back at him, the slitted holes for eyes empty and dark without someone to wear it. Beside it, a statuette in slightly better condition, the same shade of gold with eyes of inlaid emerald, and then a bracelet engraved with figures of cats in different poses. He moves to the next case, then the next, and yet another as he realizes everything in the room is in some way related to felines.

"Father also recently unearthed a previously-unknown temple to the Goddess Sehkmet, but he decided that opening both exhibits at once would be far too much to deal with, so this one was put on hold for a while," Ryou explains, voice sounding faintly amused at Umehito's awe. A brief pause and then- "I knew you'd appreciate this better than the rest of those neophyte would-be Egyptologists." Umehito turns, surprised at the tone, and catches the look in Ryou's eyes as he looks at a small obsidian statuette, inlaid with gold and amber, and then turns back to Umehito, the perpetual gentle smile back in place. "...I'd like you to have this one," he says, motioning to the black and gold-hued figure.

"Wh-what? But I-!"

"I insist..." A small, devious smile. "Father won't even know it's gone."

And Umehito suddenly gets the feeling that perhaps Professor Bakura didn't even know it was there to begin with, and nods slightly, though not without a stubborn look at Ryou.

"Is there... anything you'd like in return?"

The smile returns, and the blond has the overwhelming sense of a trap being sprung.

"Oh, I could think of a thing or two."

Twenty minutes later, Umehito stumbles outside and into the back of his limo, tie slightly cooked and hair mildly mussed, clutching that small jet-black statuette of Sehkmet and already anticipating the next exhibit Professor Bakura invites his father to.