Summary: Ever hear that old story of the monkey's paw? Yugi, while cleaning out the attic one day, discovers said fabled artifact. He shows it to his grandfather, who explains what it is and how he came by it. Yami wants Yugi to get rid of the thing, he can sense the evil leaking off the creepy dried out paw, but Yugi, excited at the prospect of four wishes, keeps it. Will Yugi be able to fix the chaos that ensues after he makes his first wish that backfires horribly?
Authoress: PaladinDragon
Warnings: Slight shonnen-ai(from that first wish that goes wrong), language(I wanted to make it teenager-y, it's nothing heavy, but I wouldn't talk like this in front of my mother.)
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Chapter One: The Monkey's Paw-Wish One: Backfires!
"Hey, Yugi, wait and I'll help you with that when I get back!" yami said as he disappeared down the ladder to the second floor. Yugi heard him run across the apartment above the Kame Game Shop for the phone. Yugi turned back to his task.
They had been at it all day, trying to get the attic clean for a promise of twenty bucks apeice and some good stories about his grandfather's travels. His grandpa had went out to pick up some food, and all Yugi had to do was set this last box on the shelf. Surely he could do that by himself?
Yami had hung up the phone and had his foot on the bottom rung of the ladder, when he heard a yell, then a loud crash followed by a string of very fluent curses. Yami hurried upstairs to find his hikari in the middle of a large pile of 'priceless artifacts' looking really ticked off. Yami couldn't help but start laughing.
"I told you to wait!"
"Yea, it's bloody well funny to you isn't it, smart ass, but you'd drop whatever you had in your hands too if you found this in a dark corner." Yugi said smartly, throwing something at Yami's head, which he caught easily. He stopped laughing and looked at the thing.
It was a dried out hand. It wasn't human, it only had four fingers, the wrist ended in a wooden stand-like piece. He could practically see the evil radiating off of it.
"Yuck, here put it away." he said, throwing it back to Yugi. He set it on the top of the other things in the box and closed the lid.
"I wonder why grandpa even has such a thing to begin with." Yugi said as they lifted the heavy box and slid it into place on the shelf.
"I don't know, but it creeps me out, lets get outta here." Yami said as he headed back downstairs. Yugi followed, grinning evilly.
"Aww, does a little souvenir scare the almighty ex-pharoah?" he said playfully.
"Yugi, you spend to much time with Ryou, his yami is rubbing off on you." Yami,smiling, shot back, trying to trip Yugi as he passed him in the hall.
"Oh, yea, that reminds me, who called?" Yugi said as they reached the kitchen.
"Iris, we're going out later." Yami said, turning on the water and letting it run over his hands.(A/N: Iris: Ira's older sister. Who's Ira? OC, read Mysterious Mystua, but it doesn't really matter, she doesn't play a big role. .)
"Oh." Yugi sighed.
"YUGI! YAMI! I'M BACK!" Yugi's grandfather yelled from downstairs. Yami ran off to help him as Yugi set the table, thinking. He wished he had someone to love him like he knew Iris did Yami.
"....so is it okay?"
"Of course." They entered the kitchen, Yami carrying two sacks. (A/N: Okay, I'm brain dead right now, cause it's after midnight, and I can't think of what they are eating, it doesn't really matter, so just assume it's something you need a plate for...Chinese? Perhaps?)
A few minutes later, they were munching(heh, what a funny word) and Yugi decided to ask his grandpa about the paw thing he had found.
"Well, Yugi that is a monkey's paw. I got it in an old shop somewhere on the other side of Egypt, I can't remember where exactly, but it's supposed to be magical. The shop owner told me it would grant four wishes to whoever held it, but it was cursed and could only bring remorse on the wisher, instead of happiness. So I put it up there and I guess I forgot all about it."
"That's neat."
"Yea, I guess. When I was bringing it home, though, I felt really uneasy around it. I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Hmm, and now thinking about it, I probably should put it in the pile to throw away. It's no good to anyone anyway."
"Can I have it, grandpa?" His grandfather gave him a look.
"Yugi, no offense, but the last thing I gave you to wish on, I ended up with a 5,000 year old spirit of a teenage pharoah."
"Hey! Ya know you love me!" Yami said, throwing his arm around his neck.
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It was 10:30 that night. Yugi lay in bed, listening to the house creak. He kept thinking about the paw. He didn't know why, but he wanted to see it again, just to see if it looked magical. He was a little intrigued by the idea of wishes. The Puzzle had given him Yami, so maybe....
Yugi couldn't stand it anymore. He slipped out of bed. His grandfather was asleep in his room down the hall, and Yami hadn't gotten back yet. Yugi snuck up to the attic and opened the box. There was the paw. He picked it up and carried it back to his room. He sat down on the edge of his bed, turned on his bedside lamp and examined the thing.
It was wrinkled, dry, and cracked with age, and to tell the truth, looked as if it would fall apart with the slightest inkling. The four fingers stood straight out, and moth eaten fur clung desperately to the small wrist.
Yugi was fascinated. It was such a weird thing, probably hundreds of years old, thousands of wishes made upon it by superstitious people. Suddenly, he wanted to add his own wish to the pile, just to satisfy his curiosity. Nothing would go wrong, right? No, of course not, nothing would happen anyway.
Now all he had to do was decide what to wish for. Iris and Yami suddenly popped in his mind. Yugi was lonely, no matter how hard he tried to forget it. After Battle City, it seemed like everyone had someone but him. Joey and Mai, Tea(once she got over Yami) and Duke, Tristan and that girl from chemistry, Yami and Iris, Ryou and his yami, even Seto Kaiba and Serenity Wheeler. He sighed.
"I wish I had someone that would love me as a boyfriend." he whispered sadly. The hand moved, Yugi yelled and dropped it, running to the far side of the room. He stood staring at it for a while, gathering his courage. When he saw it wasn't showing much sign of coming to life and trying to strangle him(A/N: He watches to many movies, like me.), he walked cautiously back over and picked it up again.
It was just a dead, lifeless as it had been, but now Yugi noticed, the last finger on it was turned down against the palm. Thoroughly frightened, he shoved it in the last drawer of his dresser all the way in the back, and lay down again. He didn't think he could sleep, but he fell into a restless slumber a few minutes later.
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Yugi was pulled from his sleep by someone kissing him. Whoever it was was really good at it too. Yugi smiled a little as the person continued to kiss him. Yugi remembered his wish then, and thought 'That thing really worked!' but all of his enthusiasm died when that person pressed against him. It wasn't a girl.
Yugi's eyes flew open, and he found himself staring into a pair of familiar crimson eyes.
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Paladin: Can I stop there?
Yugi: No!!
Paladin: I'm tired Yugi! It's late!
Yugi: You should have thought of that before you started.
Paladin: Aww, crap. Fine then, I'll ruin my perfect little cliffie. I am going to attempt to use what little Japanese that I do know, if I mess something up, please, somebody let me know!
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"Yami!!" Yami smiled.
"Yugi-chan, what's wrong? You look, surprised."
"I-I...Am." he said shakily.
"At what?" he said, moving to kiss him again, but was startled when Yugi turned his head. "Koibito, what's wrong?"(A/N: Awwwww....)
Yugi opened his mouth, then closed it again. What was going on? He wished for someone, but he really meant someone as in Ira, not his own yami! 'Maybe I should have worded my wish a little differently, but that's not fair! It wasn't my official wish, I was just thinking out loud, and who would have thought it would work anyways!' Wait, he was supposed to be out with Iris tonight...
"Where have you been?"
"I was down in the shop, closing up, you knew that, I told you I'd be up after I was finished."
"But, we don't stay open this late, and what happened to Iris?"
"Iris, who's that?"
"Your girlfriend." Yami snorted.
"Ha! Girlfriend? Yugi, you know I only have eyes for you." (A/N: Again, Awwww....)
"But..." Yami moved towards him, and he backed away, right off the bed. He landed on the floor hard.
"Damn-it!" He yelled before he could stop himself.
"Yugi! Keep it down!" Yami hissed as he offered his hand. Yugi didn't take it, instead he pulled open the drawer on his dresser, and started rummaging around for the paw. He was going to fix this mess before it got out of hand.
He only started to panic when he realized it wasn't there.
"Whereisitwhereisitwhereisit????" Yugi jumped up and ran out of the room, a worried Yami following. Yugi ran up to the attic, finding everything how they had left it. Yugi began searching through the boxes frantically. Yami had just decided his little hikari had gone crazy when he gave a triumphant yell and held something up.
"That Ra-damned monkey's paw! Yugi! I thought your grandfather told you to throw it out."
"He did, but not before I wished on it." Yugi said sheepishly, figuring he could tell Yami of all people. "That's why your in love with me."
"What? Yugi, I have loved you ever since I met you, and you said you did me too." Yugi blanched, he loved Yami, but it was a brotherly love.
"I...." Yami looked crestfallen.
"You what?" he asked.
"I don't...love...you like that." Yami's mouth fell open.
"You mean all those times...they meant nothing to you?" he said softly. Yugi hated when he talked like that, it always made him feel guilty, even if he hadn't done anything wrong.
"Yami, I don't know what you're talking about, you just started acting like this after I made my wish." Yami scowled.
"Ya know, if you don't want to be with me anymore, you should just say so instead of blaming it on some stupid paw. You can be such a jackass sometimes Yugi." He said as he climbed back downstairs leaving Yugi thinking he probably just made things a lot worse.
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Paladin: There, happy Yugi?
Yugi: No! Yami called me a bad name!! (sniff)
Paladin: Oh, shut up, I'm going to bed. R&ZZZzzzzzzzzzz.....