DISCLAIMERS: Yu-Gi-Oh and all it's characters do NOT belong to me, Seto would be far away from all my enemy fangirls if it were so...o3o.
Teri, Anuki, Misa, Akane ARE MINE. THANK YOU.
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"Teri?" A loud knock came at the tightly closed door. "Are you awake, sweetie?" The door forced its way open, shoving papers and books out of its wake, and a frail woman peeked inside. "Oh dear Ra, Teri. Your room's a disaster!" The woman shuffled her way across the paper-strewn floor, picking up a few dirty clothes and upended books on her way to the even messier bed. "Why couldn't you be a little more like Ryou...?" She finally reached the be and gently shook a pile of blankets she assumed was her sleeping daughter. "Teri. It's 7:00. You have to get up and go to school." The woman shook the pile a little more roughly, and a mumbling groan came from beneath.
"Mmmmnnnnn..." A few strands of red hair peeked out from under the blanket fortress. It lay still for a few more moments, then eventually, the girl's head popped out, eyes still closed. "What.." The girl yawned. "...Did you say?"
"You need to get up and get ready for school, for one. But you also need to get this mess cleaned up!" Her mother made a wide gesture to the floor.
"Aww...come on..." Teri threw off her mountain of warmth and crawled out of bed. "I hate cleaning..." she grumbled on her way to the bathroom.
"Your breakfast is sitting in the kitchen when you're finished, okay?"
The bathroom door flew open. "YOU DIDN'T PUT THE MILK IN MY CEREAL, DID YOU?" Teri shouted.
"No...but I will and let it get soggy if you don't hurry up." Her mother giggled.
"AGH! NO!! I'll hurry!! Please don't!!" The door shut again, and Teri hurriedly brushed her teeth.
At that moment, the telephone rang. "Hello?" Her mother answered. "Yes, this is Akane Tozokuoh..." A few minutes passed, and the previously grinning face turned dour. "Oh...I see. Ah...yes. Mm-hmm." She nodded her head in disappointment. "Now? Tomorrow?! But what about...oh. Ryou. Yes...well. I'd have to make sure...I'll be sure to talk to him. Alright. Thank you. Good-bye." Tears welled in her eyes as she hung up the phone.
"Mom? What's wrong?" Teri walked into the kitchen, struggling to fit her sweater over the top of her head without messing up her hair.
"Uh...Now's not the time, Teri. Eat your breakfast and finish getting ready to go." Teri's mother picked up the phone again and dialed.
"Oh...kay..." Teri took her bowl of cereal from the counter and went out into the living room to eat.
That was odd...I wonder what the matter is...
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"Ryou? Oh, thank goodness you're not at school. I need to ask a huge favour of you."
"Huh? What do you mean, mom?" Ryou sat down in the chair, worried at what had happened.
"Well...to put it simply, I need you to have Teri come up there and live with you, at least for a little while."
"What? But why? I mean..I can't just tell the apartment lady that my sister is coming and I have to let her stay with me right now...she's very fussy."
"Ryou, I'm sorry I'm putting you through this, but you have to. The doctors called this morning, and I'm going to have to stay at the hospital for a while. And they don't want me to have to worry about taking care of Teri. Please Ryou, you have to. She has no where else to go."
Ryou paused for a moment. "She doesn't have any friend's house she can stay at?"
"No. Misa is an exchange student, and she's really the only friend Teri has. Misa is going back to Japan next month as it is..."
"Oh." Ryou sighed. "I'll try to convince the apartment lady...I can't promise anything though. I can see if any of my friends can put up with her until I get my end figured out if anything comes up though."
"Oh, Ryou. Thank you...so much. But tell me if she's staying with one of your friends, okay?"
"Of course. But...what about school? She'd have to go to my school. It's the only public one in Domino."
"I'll take care of that. Choji-sensei is the one I need to talk to, right?"
"...yes. Choji-sensei. She's not fun to deal with though..." Ryou flinched a bit, reliving some bitter memories.
"Oh, I'll be fine. She'll be going on a flight tomorrow morning, 8:00 our time."
" But...I'll be in school! Who's going to pick her up?" Ryou stopped. "Unless you are going to try and get Choji-sensei to let me skip class to go get her..."
"Yes, Ryou. I don't know anyone else in Japan who I can trust with her, okay?"
"Ugh...Fine...But I have to get going now if I'm ever going to get Morita-san to let Teri in here..."
"Okay, honey. I'm sorry. I love you! "
"Yeah, bye mom." Ryou hung up the phone with a sigh.
-
"Teri?" Akane walked out into the living room, where Teri had just finished eating her cereal. "Can I talk to you, sweetie?"
"Yeah, what's the matter?" Teri followed her mother out into the kitchen and set her bowl in the sink. "You seemed kinda upset over the phone call..."
"Well..." Akane stumbled over the words in her mind. How can I tell her?! "The doctor called this morning...and...I'm not doing as well as they'd hoped."
"What?! But, I thought they put you on different meds! I thought they were supposed to be working!" Teri's bright purple eyes grew big in horror. "Are they sure? Did they double-check!?"
"Yes, honey, they did. And it's not going to get any better." She kissed the top of Teri's head. "You'll be going to school in Japan with your brother, Ryou, starting Friday."
"Japan!?" Why?! I can run the candy shop by myself!" Tears formed in her eyes and created shiny trails down her sun-kissed cheeks.
"It's only until the doctor says I can come home. I have to stay at the hospital so they can monitor my condition and make sure it doesn't get worse. I'm so sorry, sweetie." Akane ran her fingers through the loose strands of her daughter's hair. "But that's just how it has to be for right now." She took Teri's chin in her hand and gently lifted it to face her. "Now finish getting ready. Misa will be here soon."
Teri released herself from her mother's arms and walked angrily back to her room.
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Kitsu: Aww...What's gonna happen now?!
Teri:(
Kitsu: Sorry, Teri-chan. -hugs- Well, hope you enjoyed, and REVIEW!!