Disclaimers: (Putting this up before my A/N rants? Wow, this takes me back to my SW-writin' days!) I, Silver Wilson who is also known as Pachelbel on the Internet, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Or any of the characters. Don't know WHO owns them, but I wish them happiness and cats with their loads of money. Even though I'm jealous. Very jealous.
Author's Notes: This is going to be a short fic. It's un-betad, so pardon any errors. As always, I'm using the American names. It's just easier on me. As for this, I was in a serious mood and had to get it out of my system before I continue with my diaries. So, I thought I'd Yami-fy something that actually did happen to me. Hehe. Anyway, this has (like a lot of my YGO fics) probably been done. That's A-Ok with me, cuz it hasn't been done in this way. *sniffle* Just hope I have some loyal readers who will read this anyway. Especially since the plot is SO not what the title implies.
The music pounded through the large room, causing the sticky metal support beams to shiver noticeably. Strobe lights flashed, blinding white and eery; fog machines were working hard to cover and obscure the hundreds of patrons in the club.
Yami took this in and fought back the uneasy feeling it gave him. He looked down at Yugi, who grinned broadly and nodded towards the dimly lit bar on the opposite side of the room. "Let's go wait over there." Yami frowned but nodded and followed his young friend.
The going was slow; as soon as they stepped out onto the concrete warehouse floor, it seemed as if everyone they came close to had to move directly into their path, boxing the two newcomers in. The strangers laughed and spoke to them, though words were lost to the deafening music. A girl laughed and wrapped her arms around Yami; looking around sharply for Yugi, he found the smaller boy surrounded by people, all of them touching and hugging him.
For the third or fourth time, Yami cursed himself for allowing Yugi to talk him into this. Jerking away from the girl, he grabbed Yugi's arm and hauled him off towards the bar.
The air was thick and hot, and it left Yugi panting for breath. Yami at last let his arm go and leaned against the glass counter. They were left more or less alone here, thankfully.
"Well," Yugi said, sounding more optimistic than Yami thought he should be. "I warned you people get touchy at raves."
"When will Tea get here?" Yami was studying the list of beverages in front of him - bottled water, flavored water, carbonated water - but when Yugi didn't respond after a minute, he had to check to make sure the teen hadn't run off on him.
"Uhm...she's not actually coming," Yugi said. "She doesn't go to raves."
"Neither do you! This is your first time, is it not?"
"Yes," Yugi answered slowly. "But they sell some drugs here and Tea doesn't want to associate herself with that."
Yami had suspected as much about the drugs. The spirit's sharp eyes had caught, amidst the flashes and crowd, people passing small packages to one another. He trusted Yugi, so he wasn't at all worried that his charge would get into trouble. And even if the boy tried, Yami was prepared to take over and get them back home.
"So who exactly are we waiting for?"
Yugi blushed, making Yami suspicious despite how adorable the hikari looked. "Uhm...hrnamiz nbls..."
"I'm sorry? I can't hear you."
Yugi bit his lip, blushing more furiously. "Her name is...." he hesitated another moment and finally blurted out, "Nipples."
Yami stared at Yugi, mouth dropped a bit in shock. "Her name is...?"
Knowing that the spirit had, in fact, heard him quite clearly, Yugi rushed to explain, "I don't know her real name. That's just what everyone calls her." He looked around as if searching for something that would inspire a change of subject. "I don't know if she knows we'll be back here; let's split up for a bit. You look enough like me that it'll be like being in two places at once."
"All right, but if she hasn't found us in twenty minutes, meet me back here." Feeling more than a little protective now, Yami watched Yugi carefully in hopes of having some idea of where to find him should danger present itself. It was no use; the crowd was too thick and moved far too much for him to keep a firm eye on anything.
Resigning himself to the grabbing hands of the party, Yami walked off in the direction opposite of Yugi. He opted to move closer to the speakers and the disk jockey, since the groups hanging around there were lounging on velvet bean bags and seemed more relaxed than the rest of the room.
He was turning away when someone came full on at him, leaping on him and wrapping both arms and legs about him. "Yugi!"
Yami staggered backwards, partly from surprise and partly from the collision. Grimacing, he craned his neck to get a better look at his 'attacker'. "Nipples."
"Yup, you said it-Hey!" she dropped off of him, brilliant pink strands of hair falling over her eyes which she hastily pushed back. She glared at him with red-and-gold eyes, obviously contact lenses but a creepy effect nonetheless. "You're not Yugi."
Feeling his own confidence return because of her surprise, he nodded slightly. "I am Yami. Yugi's...older brother." He could think of no other way to explain their likeness, and found that claiming Yugi as his sibling warded off questions.
"Ohh! Tea talks about you all the time. So where's the mini man, anyway?"
"I'm not sure. I suggest we wait for him."
"Sure. Lead the way," Nipples said brightly, looping her arm through his. "Here's some candy for ya. I don't just give it out for free, either, so be grateful." She snatched his free hand and slid a plastic-beaded bracelet onto his wrist.
"Candy?"
The girl laughed at him. "Yeah."
Yami could sense his other half at the bar already; Yugi knew through their bond that Yami had found their 'host'. Nipples half-dragged him through the audience as soon as Yugi was in sight.
"Hi!" Yugi said, avoiding the use of her nickname. "I see you met Yami."
"Yeah. Here's a present. Merry Christmas," she said adorning him with the plastic jewelry in the same way she had Yami. "Did you get your buddies to come along?"
Yugi shook his head. "No."
"Pussies. Oh, well, we can still have fun, right? Come on, I'll introduce you to some people." She led them through a tour of the rave, stopping to talk to various people, or to dance to a 'favorite' song along the way.
Yami grew bored with it long before Yugi would. The light shows were, from a distance, impressive; up close, however, the pharaoh found it distracting and irritating. He told Yugi, as quietly as he was able given the thunderous music, that he preferred to sit for a while and take in the sights.
"All right, Yami," the boy managed to get out before he was dragged off to continue the tour.
Spot, as he was known to his friends, had also been known as Timothy Gregory before he graduated from school the year before. Since then he had left home and now, when he wasn't in prison, lived in a car with his girlfriend and two of their other friends. And a few kittens they'd found; three or four now, assuming one of them didn't get stolen tonight. They'd even had a rabbit once, but it died a few days ago.
He had one of the kittens propped up against his legs now, almost asleep despite the noise and chaos of the rave. This was certainly not the kitten's first outing, nor would it be the last. Spot rubbed its belly, not noticing how coarse its fur had become over the weeks since he had begun taking it with him to parties.
"What'd you do to its whiskers?" one of his friends asked.
"Nothing! They just came out," Spot shrugged, looking down at the kitten as if to confirm it for himself.
"Yeah, well she looks like shit. Let me see her," Ditzy, his little sister, said and scooped the kitten into her arms.
Spot laughed. "She's lost her teeth, too. Sprite has had to start feeding her licorice and bread."
"Can't you just get her some canned cat food? Or tuna. Lazy ass."
"You've really dirtied up your mouth," Spot grumbled, not so much because of the words as the fact that she was swearing at him.
"She's all depressed!" Spot's girlfriend Amanda said, appearing as if by magic out of the din. "Here, baby. Let me see her."
Ditzy reluctantly gave her the kitten. Amanda flipped the furry creature onto its back and, with help from a friend, pried its mouth open and stuffed a pill down its throat. She held its mouth shut, murmuring about how money couldn't be wasted and it was best to just swallow.
"Stop talking to the cat," Spot groaned. "It's not like she can understand you."
Yugi stared in disbelief. Nipples caught his expression, and after following his gaze to Spot and Amanda, she explained, "They always bring their pets here."
"But they're...they're giving it drugs!"
The pink-haired girl nodded. "I know, they always do. They don't even live anywhere; if they'd stop buying drugs, they could get jobs or something. Or at the least if they didn't always give the drugs to their pets they could become dealers."
Behind Yugi, Yami stood quietly watching the scene. It had been a very long time since he had given cats much thought, but in Egypt they had been revered and worshiped; though dimmed by time, his memories of those beliefs were still there. It turned his stomach to see the tiny creature being abused in such a way; the feeling was intensified by Yugi's disgust over the ordeal.
Quietly, the spirit stalked over to the group. Yugi was struggling to call him back through their bond, but Yami restrained himself only enough that he did not hit the girl when he took the kitten out of her arms and, grabbing Yugi by the arm as he passed, moved quickly to the exit.
TBC at a later date.