Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Yu-Gi-Oh
Warning: Cursing can go from mild to mass amounts at times
Note: There will be blood in later chapters, mentions of sex, and possible lemons...
Keep in mind that Yami is a GIRL. So she worries about GIRLY things and has these things. Called INSECURITIES. They happen. She has them. Because she's human.
As far as the group dynamics go, by the way, things are strained and iffy and will be explained throughout the story so keep that in mind.
Chapter I: Lost Cause
"Oh please, the picture is hardly that bad."
She let out a scoffing noise, pushing the magazine away and pressing her tongue against her cheek to keep from snapping at him in frustration. "Rebecca looked better than me."
"What?"
"She actually has more boob than me in that shot."
Like the good boyfriend that he was, the small teen blinked in shock and then leveled her a curious and somewhat worried look, obviously more than a little surprised by how badly she was taking this. She didn't have to think about it to know that he hadn't really taken the time to study the images, just glanced at them, looked at hers, and then didn't bother with the articles beneath them. But now she was sitting there, next to him, with their friends around them at the table, all of them watching her as if they were waiting for her to explode.
If there was nothing she hated more than the fact that Rebecca had bigger boobs than her in that picture or losing, it was being stared at when she had no way to actively fight it off without drawing more attention to herself.
"What?"
She pushed the magazine towards him, tapping the picture as she glanced at it and felt her stomach twist; the freshman looked like she had bigger boobs and better hair and everything in comparison. She was far from the bustiest girl in the world, but she had always been able to boast having bigger boobs than the blonde.
After all, she looked twelve and barely had breasts to fill an A cup.
Not that she was much farther ahead, sitting at a weak 36B and hardly thinking that it was something worth celebrating. She was far smaller than the rest of the girls at this point; Tea, Mai, and especially Vivian proved that point pretty effectively.
Tea was a 32C, Mai a 36C and Vivian a 34D.
He finally really looked at the images, frowning at the way that the blonde really did appear to have more cleavage than the girl next to him. The bright blue of the bow that sat in the center of her shirt was somewhat raised from the push-up bra she must have been wearing, breasts pressed together and appearing far from as small as they normally were, barely noticeable and the center of teasing for the blonde. He glanced at the second picture and, where the others had cringed in sympathy, merely furrowed his brows slightly.
Well, there was an easy enough conclusion to be drawn from this photo.
She hadn't been wearing a bra in the first place, not that it meant much because her breasts were perky and fun to play with, but they were lifted or forced together by a bra and the very thing that shielded a shot of her nipples was what made them look tiny and miniscule in comparison. The thicker fabric of the pink jacket that went with the school uniform rested comfortably, the blue bow in the center of the white undershirt, and it made her chest look extremely small. Any other day, had she been wearing a bra beneath the uniform, they would have been perky and an eyeful in the picture that had been taken.
"It's still not that bad," he snorted, passing the magazine to her and glancing at her face with a slightly sharpened look that made her eyes narrow in frustration; he didn't want an argument with the statement and it wasn't as if she cared enough to do so in the first place, but she was stubborn and there was no real changing her mind.
She huffed and grabbed the magazine again, staring at the article; two weeks before, the high schools had been tested to see who ranked the highest in student intelligence as they were every year, trying to figure out which school got more money than the others to increase funding. Then three girls and three guys were chosen as the highest marks and put in the newspaper with an article about their scores, somewhat random facts about them, and how they matched up to others with their normal grades.
She, Rebecca and Vivian had gotten the highest marks in the entire school and the entirety of Japan after they had all made a bet that they were smarter than the other; how she had actually gotten drawn into that was no question. She didn't back down from a challenge, and considering that they were talking about her as if she hadn't been there had been enough to piss her off to the point of jumping into the "competition" with them. They had gotten interviews in the newspaper and Vivian and Rebecca seemed to actually know when that was going to happen because both of them looked amazing and she had literally just run from the house that day after waking up late and missing the others when they normally walked to school together.
Now that wouldn't have been a problem because she didn't care about the newspaper in the first place. She had just wanted to prove that she wasn't someone that they could easily intimidate or push around, and that was exactly why she was now featured in the school's new fashion magazine.
With Rebecca.
And Vivian.
As her "fashion opponents".
"Gods, even her hair is shinier than mine," she mumbled, tilting her head and frowning in annoyance. She wasn't superficial by default, but this was really getting under her skin for one reason and one reason only, the fact that her two rivals for her boyfriend looked better than her in these shots. By the gods, she was going to lose her mind if she didn't think about something else…
And yet there was that annoying habit of hers where she couldn't look away from something she hated because it just naturally drew her eyes to it and it was all impossible to leave alone.
The new fashion magazine had come out two years before, with Miho—Vivian's best friend and someone who was mutual with her—as the editor. While no one could claim that Miho had played preference with the article considering that she had bagged on all three of their outfits and the way they had put them together, she had definitely taken the brute force of it.
Yami Sennen, dear, dear, Yami Sennen. This was not your day. The only thing more painful than ranking this picture is having a baby vomit up on you. Then again, the vomit could have made up for the stunning lack of care you put into this. The school uniform can make anyone look beautiful so, really, the only reason you haven't dropped past an L is—well, first of all, we don't have anything ranking past L though I'm sure we could come up with something special just for this picture—because it managed to pull through for you. But it didn't help stop the fact that you look like you just crawled out of a ditch somewhere. Let's begin with your hair.
Wind-swept, stray strands, your bangs are sticking out everywhere, just everywhere, and that cute little unique look you have going with the way your hair naturally settles? No, that failed here. It seems like it has a life of its own or you crawled out of a ditch after getting too drunk to realize just exactly how badly you needed to touch up on it in the first place. Let's be honest, I've always been jealous of that head of hair you've got, because it's unique and exotic but this picture is enough to make me second guess that.
It looks stringy and gross from the wind, looks like you put your hand through it one too many times, that gold streak you have that goes through the top? Normally it's pretty enough that it would distract if you had a bad hair day, but this time it was just as scattered and atrocious as the rest of your state in this photo. Next time, try with a ponytail, okay?
Next we'll go to makeup because if I spend anymore time on that hair, this article will take a year to read. You normally don't wear it and good for you that you're comfortable enough not to, but in this photo, there is evidence that you wore it before. Now either it was the day before or you rushed through your morning ritual—bad move, by the way, always a bad move—but either way, you have smudge marks and your eyeliner looks awkward and messy. Thank god you didn't use mascara because those eyelashes are long enough as it is. They would be like a highway over your eyes if you weren't careful with that shit. Now look, no one should believe that the next-day look is as simple as wiping off a few smudges, applying fresh eyeliner or mascara and slapping on a fresh coat of foundation, but that looks like what you did here. And have you ever heard of using blush in moderation?
Yami stared at the article for a moment and then glanced at her picture, searching for this blush for a moment before realizing slowly that she meant her actual blush. She'd been so caught off-guard by the entire situation and the fact that the news crew was there at the entrance waiting for her as they had been for Rebecca and Vivian that she had ended up red-cheeked and flushed out of nervousness and absolute horror of the situation.
Must I point out that you look like a startled cat about to get run over by a fucking truck, Yami? Look at that face and those eyes. I think you outdid how large Yugi's are with that look on your face. Regardless, that really gave you a couple of points, just because normally you can't see that much red without getting run over. No, kidding. Just kidding. No, but your choice of being wide-eyed helps a little to tear away some of the embarrassment of the rest of your photo.
Let's drop to your choice of accessory. Okay, you and Yugi, both of you have that weird little…bondage fetish, I suppose. Or you just like chokers. Good for you. Whatever. But honestly, you didn't think to take it off before they took the photo? Bad choice is bad, Yami.
Okay, so, the uniform looks great on everyone, as I said already, but I should point out that with the way that you wore it, I would think that even the dinosaurs in your…rather nonexistent wardrobe choices from your closet would have suited you better. Honestly, Yami, have you ever heard of shopping?
But Kami, what happened here? I think most guys will agree that they're total pervs and like to stare at a girl's boobs in class—yeah, looking at you, male population!—but I'm kind of questioning Yugi's sexuality after this picture. What happened? Did you forget to stuff your bra or something, Yami? Goddamn, if you want to pretend to be a girl, that's fine, but don't forget your disguise!
Yami nearly banged her head against the table; no doubt that Vivian had added to this commentary because Miho was one of her friends, even if they weren't the best, and this sounded a little too vicious to be just her. Plus, the jabs at Yugi for dating her sounded suspiciously like the brunette. She cast a small glance towards the corner of the cafeteria and stared for a long moment; the brunette was laughing and talking to someone and she had no doubt that it was about her, in all honesty.
Really, the only thing that you actually have going for you in this photo is the fact that you neither have a muffin top nor showed too much. But that still ranks you at a Lost Cause, so maybe next time you get featured somewhere, you'll actually put in some actual effort? You would honestly expect more from an ambassador's daughter.
She rolled her eyes and pushed the magazine away, leaning back in her seat and narrowing her gaze into slits; fucking harlot over there. Not that it helped much that most of the points were pretty true.
She looked so flat in the picture that it wasn't impossible to imagine that she had been stuffing her bra the entire time. Small and perky or not, they were not doing her any good in that photo and she hated that. They should have done something to appear nicer. Honestly, what was the point of boobs if they didn't even look good?
Yami let out a small huff and ignored the way that her boyfriend tilted his head and studied her at his side; he was trying to think of some way to make her feel better but when it came down to it, there wasn't much to try at. It wasn't like this was really going to matter by the time Monday rolled back around. It was just big now and she could easily twist it around and make herself look five times better if she had to…
"I swear to the gods, if one more fucking guy turns around and squints at my chest, I swear I'm going to beat the shit out of them," she snarled softly, glaring down some random redheaded guy who scrambled to turn away again immediately, the others at the table laughing at him. If it hadn't been going on all day because of the article, she would have smacked someone for doing so already.
A picture from two weeks ago that had already been featured in the newspapers and then taken—as was some kind of "law" in Domino High—for the school fashion magazine for everyone's entertainment. She was honestly a little surprised that the school didn't have a rule against the cursing and slandering that went on in it but Miho's dad was a massive beneficiary for the school as it was so it wasn't much of a surprise to her that she got away with making the magazine like this.
Yami chewed her cheek some thoughtfully; only two years ago she had started the two magazines, Gossip and Absolution. Yami and Yugi had been together since they were twelve—or six if you counted an awkward first kiss as a sign of being together—but when Miho had found out, she wanted a feature of them in Gossip which had proved to be anything but fun because she asked a million questions, didn't wait for an answer, insisted that she wanted a picture of them holding hands and kissing and then snuggling and laughing and a bunch of other things. The one picture she had gotten of them was an actually genuine one where Yugi had buried his nose in the hair in front of her ear and was whispering sweet stupid little nothings after Yami really started to lose her patience with the entire situation. They were labeled under "the cutest couple in Domino High" in Gossip but Rebecca and Vivian and even Tea had made the comment that he could do better, something that still managed to get under her skin no matter how many times she tried to ignore it.
What was worse that Tea had honestly been one of her closer friends and Yugi's best friend but since they had started going out, the brunette had grown a little distant and cold towards her while she continuously tried to point Yugi in her direction. It wasn't anything completely rude like saying she was horrible or badmouthing her behind her back but there were always moments between the three of them when they were alone where Yami just knew Tea was imagining her out of the picture and herself with Yugi.
And it wasn't like Yugi was oblivious to it all; he knew. How could he not?
He'd been the one to separate them when they started tearing each other's hair out and screaming and waging an all out war between themselves until he had talked them into calming down with Tristan's help after Joey had proven useless by cheering them on. They had settled on a loose truce that was honestly likely to blow over at any moment but for the most part they didn't hate each other nor did they really fight that often, just tended to grow uncomfortable with the obvious strain that made up their relationship now.
Rebecca and Vivian were a lot more obvious when it came to them wanting Yugi for themselves; the little A-cup blonde was always sure to greet him loudly whenever they were in the same room as her, completely ignoring Yami and occasionally being bold enough to grab his arm and drag him along after her. Vivian all but took her shirt off and threw Yugi's face in between her breasts every time they were in the same room, grabbing him and lifting him off his feet.
Yami had always been a tiny bit jealous of the fact that she had boobs she could press into Yugi's face like that but most of the time she didn't care because the teen liked to be able to cup them and snicker about "boobies" in a long drawn out murmur that always made her blush. And aside from that, from what she knew, larger boobs meant back problems later in life and she didn't need those. Plus…lower chance of cancer and all that…
Regardless, it went without saying that she wasn't inclined towards sharing, which was probably why the last time Rebecca had grabbed Yugi to lead him away, the red-eyed girl had all but grabbed her by her hair and thrown her across the room. The fight that had broken out had been Yugi literally thrown to the ground while the two of them had clawed at each other and pulled hair and screamed while the teacher had broken them up and they had both gotten suspended for a week. The fight that broke out with Vivian had been a lot more of her taken by surprise when the brunette had suddenly lunged at her and got her by the hair; it had escalated to the point that Yami had been pinned to the teacher's desk and Vivian had gotten a staple in her forehead when she wouldn't let go. That had been the only time Yugi had stayed far away from the fight instead of trying to break it up like he normally would have.
"That's it," Yami hissed, starting to get up only to have Yugi reach over and wrap his arm around her waist, pulling her into his side and refusing to let her get out of his reach. "Yugi, let go."
"Nope." The teen grabbed a piece of sushi from his tray and looked it over before putting it away again and turning to her. "If I let go you're going to go over there and pick a fight and we really don't need one."
Tea glanced at them for a moment, tilting her head and really looking at them for the first time in a long while. The two of them sitting next to each other like this made the point of showing just how weird a couple they honestly seemed to be. They sat at the same height, both of them had spiky hair that was tri-colored and they both had the most unique eye colors she had ever seen. They were both skinny and with their hips pressed together and Yugi's arm around her middle, it was pretty apparent just how subtle the girl's curves were, a small tiny twist in what would otherwise be a rather "straight line" as Joey had put it before. With their shoulders pressed together, it was even more apparent just how thin and small Yami really was, the pink of her uniform sharp against the royal blue of Yugi's, the fabrics seeming to draw a rather thin but well-defined line between them, like their personalities. Yugi was sweet and kind-hearted, one of those people who would go out of his way to help someone else even without knowing a thing about them just because he could. It was in his face and his eyes and everything about him. The small teen still had baby fat cheeks that were softly rounded but had a slightly sharpened jaw that was adorable and gave him a completely cherubic effect, not that his eyes didn't do that as well. Large and innocent with a gleam that always made them look that much brighter, blue specks surrounding wide black pupils and making up the outer layer of his large irises, all framed by long black lashes that made them that much more beautiful when he really looked at you. Even with the leather choker around his neck, something that he had just randomly grown attached to when he was younger, it didn't do anything to make his image any different than being the cute boy that he was. The spikes in his hair were predominantly black with a deep blue-violet at the tips and long sharp goldenrod bangs, three of which framed his right cheek with a tiny forelock in the middle of his forehead and two bangs that shot outwards to the left, but there wasn't much difference in their hair when it came down to it. Yami's was longer and fanned out, naturally spiky and long enough that it went past her shoulders, black to until it reached the tips where bright red made up the rest of the color like vibrant flames, almost a replica of her strange crimson eyes. The long bangs were goldenrod with three to her right, all of them sharp and framing her cheek like Yugi's did while the last went a little further upwards, the bangs on her left somewhat shorter and grown outwards rather than straight down, mirroring Yugi's almost exactly. But where he had the forelock, she had a streak of gold like lightning that shot up and framed the wavy spiky of hair that curled upwards softly but still looked just as sharp as the others that cascaded down her shoulders, and two other streaks of hair fanned out and upwards to her right and left, just past where her bangs fell; when Tea was feeling really mean, she sometimes called them Yami's devil horns just because they shot out there so strangely while other times they actually seemed a little like two broken halves of a halo. Her face wasn't as soft looking as Yugi's, mostly because of how sharp and defined her dark eyes were, framed by long glossy black lashes that looked perfect even without makeup; they gave her cheeks a somewhat more pronounced look but made her ears look smaller and her neck thinner while showing off her collarbone beneath the dark gray choker resting there. The soft colors against her golden-bronze skin didn't quite do much for her complexion while the deep blue made Yugi's look a little creamier where it was normally extremely pale when he was dressed in dark gray or black. Pushed together like this, the contrasts were hard to ignore but when they were separated, it was really only Yami's proud nature and sharp tongue that really made them stand out.
"I still don't think the picture is that bad," Yugi announced, glancing at her with a raised brow when she ignored him pointedly and glared at someone across the cafeteria who Tea guessed was probably keeping up the little game they had going on of squinting at her chest and pretending that her breasts were invisible. "So I really don't see why everyone is being so bitchy about it."
Tea bit her tongue to keep from saying that it wasn't the picture itself but the fact that it was of Yami and she didn't look perfect and Rebecca and Vivian scored A's in comparison to her lowly L that made it that way. A for Absolution, L for Lost Cause.
"It doesn't matter," Yami stated softly, narrowing her eyes. "What matters is if this loser doesn't stop squinting at me, I'm going to go beat the crap out of him."
Her boyfriend rolled his eyes and pulled her closer to him, pressing his nose into her cheek and ignoring the way that she scowled at the affection; Tea had to admit that they were the strangest couple she had ever really paid attention to. That assessment didn't help with the fact that she was still a little sore over Yugi choosing to date her for two years behind their backs before finally coming out with it when Joey asked Yami out to the arcade down the street from the school. She still didn't know if it was Yugi's idea or Yami's but she was honestly willing to bet that it was more Yami's just because she seemed more likely to keep secrets than Yugi did.
They didn't really make sense, first of all because they looked so much alike; why would Yugi want to date a girl that could technically be considered his sister? Especially when he had others who had made it pretty well known that they were interested in him—herself included. And then there was the fact that Yami was a wildcard sometimes, hardly ever let herself be held down by something but somehow stayed anchored to Yugi like he was her life source. They got codependent and then so independent it wasn't even funny; Yami had a habit of striking up a demand of independence out of nowhere, wandering off on her own and doing stupid things and not bothering to explain to anyone else about it while Yugi tended to be a little too dependent on her at times, wanting her around close to constantly despite the fact that they had been dating for four years now and Yami was still as likely to wander off as ever. She didn't know what the hell kept Yugi attracted to her when she got like that, especially when she had heard him tell her on more than one occasion that he loved her while she would simply nod or kiss him once and leave it at that.
And Yami was more likely to ignore than she was to talk about something important like Yugi tended to like to do when things got stressful. She didn't talk that much to any of them but she spoke pretty openly to Yugi but she had a habit of dodging questions while they were in front of them, almost like she was reluctant to let them know anything despite the fact that they had all grown up together as best friends.
She guessed part of that behavior was her fault because when Yugi had announced that they were dating, Yami had been her best girl friend while Mai had been Yami's and she knew that Tea had been in love with Yugi since they were ten. Sure, it had been puppy love, but it had never lessened and had only grown as she had gotten older and not once had Yami told her or even hinted at the fact that she was dating him when they had turned twelve after Yugi had officially asked her out.
She still hadn't forgiven her for that, or the fact that Mai had instantly jumped up and hugged her and told her that she was so lucky while Yami had merely been staring at her the entire time around laughing at the blonde's enthusiasm. She didn't know if that was because she was sorry or if she was trying to gloat, because the red-eyed girl hardly ever really showed emotion, which was another reason that she didn't understand Yugi wanting to be with her. He showed emotion a lot and yet he dated someone who acted like there was only one setting for emotion and facial expressions and it was the default of a stare that seemed to burn your skin like someone was striking you with a white-hot fire-poker. Other than that, there was pretty much losing her temper but past that, not much more.
"It'll be over by next week," Mai said simply, shrugging a shoulder and smiling at the other girl who continued glaring and squirmed in her seat when Yugi sighed against her skin loudly. "By Monday they'll have moved on to something else."
"Yes, I know that," Yami hissed quietly. "But it is the fact that they're doing it in the first place that I hate."
"Should have looked better for the camera then," the brunette said thoughtlessly, startled out of her mind when the others all looked at her with wide eyes, Yugi's stunned while Yami merely looked thoughtful, as if trying to read her for a moment before turning away again. Joey gave her a look that said to drop it while she still had the chance and Tristan gave a sympathetic wince while Mai sported a look that said to watch her step.
"Perhaps," the red-eyed girl muttered, sounding distracted; Tea gave her a confused look, surprised by the way her voice had grown a little raspy and strange, warm, and found herself blushing when she saw that Yugi was rubbing circles over her stomach, discreet little movements of his fingers that seemed to throw Yami into a peaceful state. It wasn't anything sensual but it seemed too private to watch and Tea turned away immediately, face burning at the mere thought of having witnessed that, blinking a few times to rid herself of the heat in her cheeks.
She rolled her eyes as she opened her locker, huffing in annoyance as her nail caught on the handle for a split second before quickly releasing again. She looked it over for a moment, found that it wasn't broken, and turned back to pulling her door open and going to grab her notebook for the next class, stopping short when she saw a small thin pink index card with bright blue ink, freshly printed with cursive lettering.
She glanced around slowly and raised a brow in confusion before frowning slightly when she turned back and flipped the card around twice, trying to find first a name to say it was actually meant for her and hadn't been placed in her locker by accident, but found nothing.
Yami cast one more glance around, curious and more than a little aware of the fact that no one was in the hallway with her at the moment. The card felt cold and stiff in her fingers when she flipped it over again and decided to read it, see if there was a message to give her a hint at who it was actually meant to be for because surely it wasn't meant for her, right?
I don't think you're an L, you're still an A.
Red eyes narrowed in surprise and curiosity burned at the edges of her mind, insanely aware of just how strange a message that was when she flipped it over again and found that the PS, it's so not Yugi she expected to be there was nonexistent.
She was used to him doing something stupidly sweet like this when she was having a bad day, little cards or texts, sometimes reaching over in the middle of class and stealing her work to draw on it and then hand it back. When he left messages in her locker, there was always a PS, it's so not Yugi on the back because it was stupidly cute and she had to admit that she liked laughing at the sweet little note.
Now, however, the tag wasn't on there and the card seemed awkward and cold in her hand as she realized it wasn't from Yugi at all. She went to slide it inside the small metal folder rack she had put on the door, freezing in place when she found a perfectly bloomed bright red rose sitting inside of it instead. The red petals seemed shiny under the fluorescents and the dark green of the stem was so deep that it looked painted but the veins said that the flower was completely real. She glanced around a couple more times and then slowly turned back, furrowing her brow as she dragged her eyes up and down the long stem to the perfect bloom.
She hated roses.
Not that there was anything truly wrong with them, but something about them just always made her hate them. This rose, she liked, but not enough to really want to touch it or know what to do with it.
She glanced at the card again, stared at the bright blue cursive writing, and then looked back slowly; what the hell was she supposed to do with these? They weren't from Yugi and it felt wrong to keep them but at the same time, she had to admit that she was flattered that someone had done it, though it creeped her out at the same time that they had managed to get into her locker.
Maybe it was an apology from Tea?
She nearly laughed at herself. That made no sense. Tea wasn't going to apologize for that, not after she had been giving her the thawed-but-still-very-cold shoulder for the past year and a half. The brunette was still so mad about the way that they had run around behind their backs and she herself hadn't been all too happy about doing it in the first place, but at the same time, maybe they could have announced it at a better time and place. Or not at all…
Maybe if she had gotten the chance to talk to her alone before it happened she would have been able to explain exactly what had happened between her and Yugi and why, but now it was a moot point and she didn't really care for it when Tea was playing the passive-aggressive card with her.
She looked the rose over, raking her eyes along the stem and finding that the thorns had all been removed, completely clipped. Vaguely she wondered at the odds of a student putting it in here because that made just as little sense as the Tea thought had. Honestly, how would they have known her combination or to have the rose, that the magazine would be out that day?
But they had to be a student, didn't they?
They knew the ranking standards for Absolution…
Besides, the idea that it was someone older than her grossed her out a lot. Especially because the first thought that came to mind was, of course, faculty, and that was something that she couldn't really wrap her head around. She thought she would vomit if she found out that it was a creepy old dude who had left his for her.
Then again, she probably wouldn't find out who it was because it didn't matter in the first place, did it?
Yami looked at the card, at the signature that said Your Secret Admirer, and raised a brow. She didn't want an admirer. Especially if they were too scared to show their faces in the first place. While she liked the idea of someone liking her, she didn't see the point in encouraging it while she was with Yugi.
She'd have to wait to dispose of the rose and the card because she didn't need Yugi to get jealous over some nameless person who had a small crush on her. She understood the sentiment of being afraid to talk to her but the idea of leaving messages like this with the obvious conclusion of hoping to meet her and show himself was not something she wanted to happen anyways.
She cast a glance around and then turned away again, frowning as she dropped the card into the little folder pocket with the rose, and grabbed her books, swapping them for the ones she had balanced in her hands and wandered back to class again.
Yami slipped the rose and card into her messenger bag, prepared to toss them the moment she got home; she wasn't going to encourage some kind of secret admirer. If he wanted to meet her, he could do it without stupid little notes.
She cringed a little, not at the idea of throwing them away, but at the thought of actually putting it into action. It wasn't something that she was accustomed too; growing up, she had always been told that gifts given to her were meant to be kept. It didn't matter what it was or why they gave it to her, just that they had meant for her to have it and it was rude to ignore something like that.
But wasn't it ruder to keep them if it meant that she had to keep it away from Yugi?
Besides, she didn't want an admirer and encouraging them by keeping the items was like leading them on and she refused to let that happen. She didn't want someone else when she was happy with Yugi.
And as long as her dad didn't know about it, he couldn't lecture her about the fact that gifts were given for a reason and she should be grateful for everything given to her.
"Yo, Yami, you coming?"
She clicked the straps on her bag and zipped the pockets, turning around immediately to face the blond, nodding with a quiet, "Yeah."
"You still down about the picture? It's not worth this much attention," the tall boy announced, throwing his arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer to him; if he wasn't Yugi's best friend and she wasn't well aware of the fact that he was head over heels for Mai and didn't like her more than a friend anymore, she would have snapped at him to let go of her but with all of that in the equation, she didn't mind it.
"No, I just got stared at a lot again. Squinting and stuff like that," she stated, shrugging; she didn't mention that one guy had turned to her in the middle of class during a movie and pushed at his chest saying that he had more boob than her and asking what she stuffed her bra with. She also didn't mention that she slapped him so hard that the movie's thunder clip fell short of covering it and the boy fell out of his seat while the teacher yelled at her to get in the hallway before going out there and giving her a high-five for apparently putting him in his place.
Yeah, he didn't need to know just how awkward a class last period had been.
Besides Joey acted like her older brother sometimes and got riled up whenever she wasn't one hundred percent okay with something. If someone said something wrong about her, he was likely to fly off the handle at them. Yami had always liked but hated that trait in him, especially when it got Yugi in that same mood and he got just as hotheaded as the blond next to her.
Mai came around to her other side, ruffling her hair and sifting her fingers through the strands with a wide grin. "Well, no worries, by Monday it'll be a completely different conversation going on. Hell, who knows, maybe that picture got you an admirer or something?"
Yami leveled her a stare, questioning her but not bothering to speak out loud out of fear that Joey would hear; the blonde gave her a wink and the red-eyed teen frowned before fumbling with the idea of Mai knowing the person who put the card and rose in her locker. Odds were, she had helped because Mai and Yugi were the only two who could get into her locker after she gave them the combination a few weeks before. Mai liked to put things in her locker when hers got full with some of Joey's and Yugi just liked being able to steal things from hers and put them in his when she couldn't object. So far, he'd stolen two of her binders and made her chase him around all day to get them back. He had also sack-napped her canvas bag and taken off running when she wasn't looking during break and she had stolen his gym clothes and put up a picture in his locker of him asleep in Kuriboh pajamas with a Marshmallon pillow and Dark Magician blanket while snuggling a Dark Magician Girl doll. Yugi had spent three hours trying to figure out how she had managed that in Photoshop but had given up after a while and called for a truce.
It was like having Mai as her straight girlfriend and Yugi as her thieving boyfriend, something that wasn't really uncommon a joke because Joey and Tristan had both commented one time that they would love to see the two of them make out on video for them.
Yugi popped out from the other hallway, Tea at his side; if she had been so insecure about the blue-violet-eyed teen she would have worried about them coming over to them alone like this. But Yugi was nothing if not loyal and aside from that Yami trusted him wholeheartedly, just like he did with her.
The thought made her flinch inwardly. The strap to her backpack weighed a little more all of the sudden, the rose and card that much heavier. She had to get rid of them when she got home. She'd burn them or something, but she would do it. There was no question about it.
She wasn't going to keep them.
"Hey," Yugi said immediately, slipping in between her and Mai almost effortlessly, the blonde wandering to her boyfriend's other side while the small boy took Yami's hand and twined their fingers together. He didn't have to think about it to know that Tea had fallen to step on his other side but she was watching them from the corner of her eye and he felt a little bad but not enough that he was going to mention it out loud.
"Hey," Yami replied, looking slightly troubled but not enough to speak when Yugi gave her a subtle tilt of his head in question. The red-eyed teen turned away immediately again and squeezed his hand but was now listening in on Joey and Mai's commentary about watching movies as a double date.
Yugi turned away again, glancing at Tea from the corner of his eye like he knew she was doing to him, and tucked his left hand in his pocket to keep from having to touch the back of her hand with his again; he honestly wasn't sure what it was that had made her seek him out after class and talk to him about his relationship with Yami, as if she had a say in it in the first place. He wasn't really sure what was going on with them, but it'd been going on for two years now and it wasn't new but it still got on his nerves every now and then, especially since every time he asked, Yami dodged it and circled the conversation around and around until he couldn't remember what he asked in the first place or just said he would drop it and they both started in on another conversation altogether.
He hadn't been oblivious to her crush on him. It was impossible to be, in all honesty; when they were younger, she had always made them play this game called Marriage and they would all pick a partner to marry. She was almost always the wife so she always picked him and Yami would go on protest the moment that happened, Mai would end up snickering and Joey and Tristan would just awkwardly stand with him while he watched Tea try to talk Yami into playing again and Yami would wander off to play on the swings instead, ignoring her and her pleas. It only ever happened when Yugi was picked, however. If Tea chose the others, the second that happened, Yami would play the part of the maid of honor but if it was Yugi, she was a fireball of protests and refused to so much as be in the same place as them.
He had always loved that about her. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself and argue even when the others groaned and complained and told her to just go along with it. Even back then she was a spitfire and it had only grown as she had gotten older.
He honestly didn't really remember the day that he developed the crush on her, just that he had teased her into kissing him when they were six and then she had snapped at him that he had better not have infected her with cooties before wandering off again. And since then he'd pretty much been chasing her like a puppy.
At ten he had managed to kiss her again when they play true or dare and at twelve he had finally asked her out like he had been dying to do for years, too scared to ask until then and feeling incredibly worried what she would say…
"Hey, let's go to the arcade!" Joey exclaimed, excitement leaking into his voice and startling the smaller teen who jumped slightly and made Yami's head snap around to stare at him in alarm, scanning him to make sure he was okay before giving him a soft huff that he blushed and smiled awkwardly at.
"I don't know if I can," Yami said, turning back to him and blinking once. "I have homework."
"You can finish it when you get home after the arcade," the blond said, not about to let it go at all; Yugi had to admit that they hadn't been to the arcade in a while and it was normally the place that they all hung out.
"Yeah," Tristan commented as he hurried to catch up with them; the red-eyed teen turned around, curious about how long he had been there in the first place. "You can finish it after we hit the arcade."
She rolled her eyes and shook her head, sighing softly. "Yeah, yeah, fine, after the arcade," she agreed in feigned exasperation. "I will do my homework after the arcade."
Yugi grinned the smallest bit; maybe he could get her to sit and make out with him again like he had the last time they were there. He chewed his cheek to keep from thinking about it because he didn't have to think about it to know that it would lead him down a much darker path—his favorite path—and Yami wouldn't find it nearly as funny as he would if that really happened.
Joey led them down the street and over to the arcade while Yugi trailed after Yami and Tea after him with Tristan at her side; occasionally Mai would turn around and glance at them and then turn back again and Yugi was growing a little curious about that but he didn't ask and Yami didn't offer an explanation.
The red-eyed girl squeezed his hand once and then led him along to the booths in the side near the window, taking a seat while Joey and Tristan ran off to play some fighting game and Mai and Tea eventually found their way over and sat with them. Yugi didn't like the way that Tea was watching Yami or the way that Mai was watching him or the fact that Yami officially refused to look at him now.
"You know, we should all go to the mall sometime," Mai commented, looking at Tea as the brunette looked ready to open her mouth and say something to the red-eyed girl diagonal her. The blue-eyed girl blinked and stared at her for a moment before glancing at Yami again and finally looking back at the violet-eyed girl, chewing her cheek for a split second.
"Yeah, that sounds fun. What do you think, Yami?"
"Sure," she muttered, not looking away from the window.
Yugi gave her a worried look and moved his foot to rub over her shin, the red-eyed girl smiling slightly but not turning to him for a long minute.
"Just us?"
"Well, yeah, girl's day."
Yami nodded slightly and let her eyes drift over to Joey and Tristan who were now snapping at each other that they won by chance, sneering and laughing before starting to play again; she turned her head, staring out into the street with narrowed eyes. There was something off, something that felt extremely wrong and it was starting to freak her out because it had only started up after they had wandered out of the school and now she was starting to feel like someone was watching her.
Of course she could have just been paranoid because of the card and rose in her backpack. They made her feel guilty even when she wasn't; just because they even existed she felt guilty…
Because, why exactly would anyone be following her in the first place? That made no sense to her. It wasn't like she had a million guys interested in her at school or anyone who cared so much as to break her and Yugi up in order to have her for their own. Unlike with Vivian and Rebecca, she didn't have guys who wanted to get between her and Yugi and win her through hurting and putting him down until she finally chose them.
"Hmm…I'm going to go get a soda. You guys want anything?" the blonde asked, getting up and looking at each of them; Tea shook her head and Yugi mumbled a "No thank you" while Yami got up with "Here, I'll come with."
Yugi sat up a little straighter; was something wrong with her?
It wasn't that Yami wasn't helpful at times or willing to help others out when she thought they needed it, but he was starting to wonder if he had done something to make her flee. He had touched her and now she was running off with Mai. Normally she would have started playing footsies with him under the table, maybe giving him coy little smiles and winking every now and then.
She cast him a small glance and then followed the blonde immediately; Yugi leaned back in his seat to look over Tea's shoulder, tilting his head and giving into his momentary thoughts of staring at her ass as she walked. While the school uniform's pleated design kind of made it more or less almost impossible to really see a girl's ass while she was walking, Yugi knew Yami's body well enough to imagine it…
"God, you look horrible. What just happened to you?" Mai asked, confused as Yami narrowed her eyes and put her hands in her jacket pockets, looking extremely small and unnerved for a second.
"The admirer thing, do you know who he is?"
"What? No, I was teasing. Why? Wait, oh my god, you got an admirer?"
Yami narrowed her gaze into slits and glared, giving her the clear warning to shut up before someone heard them; just like that, her initial excitement was gone and the violet eyes were wide and alarmed.
"What? What's wrong?"
She hesitated, unsure of herself. Was she supposed to tell her that she had the sudden fear that someone was following her? That there was really someone watching her? How paranoid would she found if she did? She had only gotten a rose and a card and now she was convinced someone was following her around…
"Nothing. I guess I just figured that you could tell me so I could set the record straight."
"Set the record straight?"
"Tell him that I'm with Yugi. I don't want to lead anyone on."
"Oh! Oh, please, honey, everyone knows that you're with Yugi," she laughed, smiling and shaking her head as she inserted a coin into the vending machine to get a soda. "I'm sure whoever it is already knows that. Probably they just wanted to make you feel better by giving you that little card so that you wouldn't feel so bad about the picture."
Yami bristled slightly; she didn't need someone looking out for her feelings like that, especially with stupid little flowers and cards. She was overreacting to her reassurances but it was because of the stress, the feel of someone watching her. She had actually been feeling that way for a week prior, since a day or two after the newspaper article had come out, and it wasn't at school but now there was that stupid note and rose in her backpack that seemed to have grown heavier to weigh her bag down and make her feel terrible. And the question was really, if they were a student, why wait so long? Most of the kids at Domino High had grown up with her, with everyone else. They had all grown up friends or mutual acquaintances, everyone knew each other's name unless they had just transferred, and this was just too surreal.
"Right," she muttered stiffly, swallowing roughly and grinding her teeth for a second. "That's always a possibility."
"Yeah, come on, let's go back over to the table, okay? Yugi keeps looking at you and I'm totally convinced that he's going to jump out of his seat and come running over any minute. Of course, he'd have to knock Tea on her ass, but that's easily done, right?"
"Mai," Yami stressed, shaking her head. "Don't do that. We're all…well, we're supposed to be friends."
"Oh yeah, we're friends, don't worry. Just come on."
She rolled her eyes. Mai and Tea had some kind of argument that she had never walked in on or been a part; both of them were frigid about the other, pretty much to the point that they might stab each other if they got the chance. Yami had never understood it and she was hoping she wouldn't have to at any point because if they wanted her to take sides, they would be sorely disappointed.
Yugi gave her a concerned look when she took her seat in front of him again; she started to open her mouth to ask him if he felt strange as well but shook it off in order to grab his foot from under the table and wink before turning to stare out the window again.
She frowned when she got to the door, staring at the single little white rose on the ground, tilting her head in confusion and then glancing around slowly; this person knew where she lived. Not that she had really done anything to attempt even hiding that in the first place. But either way, if it was someone from the school then it was pretty obvious how they knew where she lived; most of the buses passed through the area while dropping students off so that wouldn't have been much of a surprise.
But now she was staring at this rose and something was off about it even without her attempting to think about it and it was starting to make her skin crawl. She couldn't pin it down even as she stared at it and felt like her eyes were going to burn from the effort of trying to find this one little error that her mind was trying to point out that she didn't recognize.
Yami cast a small glance around and chewed her cheek; halfway through their time at the arcade, the feeling had vanished but now that she was back at her house, all of her instincts said to run and she couldn't figure out why. She crouched down and picked the rose up slowly, straightening and staring in confusion. It looked…almost as perfect as the red rose but something was still off in her head and so the image was wrong even without her knowing why.
She moved her hand to reach out and grab the card that lay at her feet. Pain laced through her finger for a split second and she dropped the flower, confused before she spotted the thorns that came out of the sides of the stem. How she hadn't noticed that in the first place was a mystery but now that she was looking at it, she could see her blood on the end and a droplet had splashed on the petals, painting them red as well.
She looked at her hand; her finger was really bleeding.
Thorns shouldn't have drawn that much blood.
She stuck her finger in her mouth, sucking and pulling it away to peer at the wet, momentarily clean skin. It was a little longer than she imagined the tip of a rose's thorn to be, a little knick that looked awkward and bled so quickly it made her stomach twist in shock.
Droplets of her blood kept falling and she awkwardly stuck her finger back in her mouth, snatching the card out from under the rose without touching the flower, flipping it over and staring at that impressive cursive writing in the shape of the message Every rose has its thorn.
"Cliché much?" she snapped around her finger, rolling her eyes at herself and shaking her head; he couldn't hear her and she was still pretty sure that thorns weren't supposed to be like that…
Yami grabbed it from the bottom and pulled it upside down, surprised when she noticed the bright red hue of one of the petals, eyes widening as she recognized her blood. Shit. She shook her head and worked the key into the door, hissing in pain as her fingertip stung with the mixture of air and pressure at the task of moving the metal to undo the lock. Her finger was bleeding everywhere.
What the hell?
The key was soaked in it and she refused to put it back into her pocket; the uniform cost too much and with her luck the blood would somehow leak through the thick material and it would be permanently stained.
Yami let out a soft huffing noise and scrambled for the kitchen, tossing the rose onto the table and turning on the faucet, throwing her finger under the water and shifting through the contents of the cabinet to grab the bandages.
Why was it bleeding so much?
She glanced at the small dots of bright red that made up her walk back into the house to the kitchen. The counter was covered in it…
Last time she checked, she wasn't anemic.
She pulled the paper strip off the adhesive side and dried her finger with a spare paper towel next to the sink, applying some pressure before quickly wrapping it with the band-aid, frowning at a strange buzzing noise that hit her ears.
Her phone was ringing from inside her backpack. She could see the light through the fabric and the way that it was vibrating.
Yami let out a soft sigh and looked at the bandage; she could already see the blood welling up underneath the cotton but she was pretty sure that it was safe to say it wouldn't be bleeding too much more. The red-eyed girl wandered over to her bag, flipping it open after undoing the locks and pulled the phone out of its little solitary pocket.
Yugi.
She hesitated for a moment; did she tell him about this? It would only worry him and she hated the idea of doing that. Besides, it was her fault for even picking it up in the first place when she knew she shouldn't have. Her own fault that her finger was bleeding. It was okay anyways…
The phone stopped buzzing and she winced; she'd missed his call.
She quickly scrambled to call back, tapping the icon a little hard in an attempt to make it work faster, surprising herself with the force of it. For a moment she only got a ring and then Yugi's voice murmured, "Aibou?"
Yami stared at the rose on the table and the card that sat there; was she supposed to tell him?
"Hi, koi, sorry. I was washing my hands," she muttered, trying not to sound distracted and hoping for a second that she hadn't heard her own voice wrong because it honestly sounded as if she were paying attention to him.
"Oh. Okay, so, hey, what are we planning to do for our anniversary?"
Yami tilted her head and furrowed her brows, looking at the phone in her hand for a moment and then glancing at the white rose, the way that her blood had painted some of the petals with bright red…
"Hmm…I don't know yet," she admitted, looking at the card on the table and narrowing her eyes into slits; her skin was starting to crawl, head snapping around to stare out the window. No, there was nothing there, but that feeling was back.
She shivered slightly.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes," she murmured immediately, nodding despite knowing that he couldn't see her. "Yeah, koi, I'm okay."
Yugi stayed quiet for a moment and Yami could just imagine the million and one scenarios that went through his head about how to approach the subject; he didn't know if he should ask further or not because the situation was so strange and they had never exactly been in it before.
"Okay then…"
"Hmm, so, our anniversary," the red-eyed girl said softly, leaning forward and smiling slightly as she rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet. "Let's see, our anniversary. Why does there seem to be something else to that date?"
"Oh, what? You want to celebrate your birthday and our anniversary? Uh, no, how about one or the other?" the boy snorted in her ear playfully, easily dismissing his worry in favor of making her feel better; she wondering if it was in her voice or if he understood her well enough that he knew even through the phone just how unhappy she was at the moment.
Did she tell him?
She glanced out the window, searching for a moment.
"Well then, if you can't celebrate two things on one day, I'm not sure that we should be together," she teased, scanning the woods behind her house and feeling sick to her stomach. There was someone out there; she knew there was. But they were hiding and they were watching her and she had no idea where the hell they were.
"Wow, women are so demanding."
Yami laughed quietly and shook her head, turning away and deciding to leave it for the moment; she would go and search later, but for now it was good to just be inside, on the phone, listening to Yugi talking to her softly.
"Sexist much?"
"No! Of course not!" he scoffed, huffing and clearing his throat. "Uh…maybe a little?"
"I knew it," she muttered. "Well, at least you have more balls than the rest of your gender."
"Sexist much?"
Yami laughed and scoffed, "Uh, now about no? I'm a girl. We don't admit to being sexist. We just make guys feel bad about it."
"So that's what that is!" Yugi laughed, voice fond. "I knew there was a reason you guys always wind up winning arguments."
"No, that would be because we like to argue and when we argue, we win because we're like mind ninjas," she corrected him, stiffening and looking out the window again, resisting the urge to snarl under her breath; who the hell was watching her? "We plant a little bomb in your head and then it stays there until a few minutes later and when it explodes, you guys are just too wounded to keep arguing anymore."
"Is that what it is? You guys are a bunch of ninjas, huh?"
"Damn straight."
"Hmm…"
He was purring softly now and Yami shifted awkwardly at the low, deep noise in her ear; she loved that sound almost more than she loved any other. But nothing topped the way his voice rose and fell and leveled out and dropped when he told her he loved her; that was her number one…
"I should try to figure out how to diffuse those sometime, huh?"
"You can try, but you won't figure it out," she stated simply, bristling at the feel of their stare but growing weak from the purr in her ear; that sound was always enough to bring her to her knees.
"We'll see about that, won't we?"
"Girls rule, boys drool."
"'You better not have given me cooties'," Yugi suddenly murmured in a loud high-pitched girly tone that made her cheeks turn red.
"Oh my god, Yugi, I was six!" she muttered, blushing hard. "Don't even tease me with that! You ate an ant!"
"Joey dared me to."
"Well…you shouldn't have forced me to kiss you."
"Forced? There was no force! You just can't say no to a challenge," Yugi laughed in pure delight. "And you got pissy when I told you that I knew how to kiss better than you did."
"I was six!" Yami whined, ducking her head and turning away from the window; they were out there and they were watching but they didn't get the right to spy on her doing something that only Yugi was allowed to see. "You…Shut up! I was six, okay? And I'm competitive so just…You're so mean!"
Yugi laughed softly in her ear. "Really? I'm mean? Here I am asking about what you want to do for our anniversary and you're trying to milk in two celebrations instead of one! I'm not made of money, aibou!"
"Really? I thought that was what guys were made of…"
"Smartass."
"I wasn't aware your intentions were to flatter me."
Yugi purred loudly and breathed out a low, "I'd love to flatter you sometime."
Her cheeks burned but she didn't plan to lose. "Really? You think you could flatter me, Yugi Motou?" she purred in response, pressing her weight against the table and laying her cheek on her arm; the thorn in the rose's stem stared back at her and her stomach twisted for a small moment, blinking as she tried to focus more on Yugi than on the sensation of being watched some more. "There's only ever been one person in my pants before. He kind of weaseled in there and camped there for a month or two. I'm kind of ashamed to say he wasn't that great and you probably aren't either. But try to flatter me anyways."
Yugi snickered softly. "Not that great, huh?"
"Nope. Not at all. It was a very disheartening venture in my life," she commented, smirking when her boyfriend huffed a little. "Such a disappointment. Like the first time—"
"You guilt-duced him into sex with you and then when you guys did, you start screaming and crying like someone had stuck a hot rod in you," Yugi said quickly, cutting her off as her face lit up. "And then you psyched him the fuck out because you started laughing when he was freaking out and you were all shits and giggles and 'I was joking, Yugi!'"
Yami couldn't help but laugh. "What the fuck is guilt-ducing?"
"The act of guilt-duction."
"Well, what's that?"
"Seduction by guilt."
"What? You cannot be serious! I never guilted you into—"
"Oh my god, yes you did!" Yugi laughed loudly. "Don't even pretend you didn't! Just turned fourteen and you're over here all 'So, uh, Yugi, have you ever wondered how hard it would be to go through high school if you were the last of your friends to lose your virginity?' and crap like that until I finally agreed!"
"I…Fuck you too then!" Yami snorted, laughing. "Hey, at least you get to brag that you lost it on your birthday and only twenty minutes after you ate your birthday cake, asshole."
"Oh please, no one wants to brag about a girl freaking them the hell out by screaming and sobbing and then laughing when they try to check on them!" he scoffed. "You ruined that experience for me!"
"Well…you ruined two months of camping for me!"
"I made it fun."
"You were horrible and your moves suck. Just saying."
"Yeah, well you smell bad."
"You're small."
"Oh hell no!"
"Hell yes."
"Well then it matches your boobs, doesn't it?" Yugi huffed.
Yami furrowed her brows slightly and straightened her shoulders before glancing out the window again; she could feel his eyes on her somewhere. Where the fuck was he? It was a guy, right? It had to be a guy…right? She didn't swing that way and it being a girl would just be so awkward…
Like, how would she even explain that to someone?
Oh yeah, there was once this girl who said she was my secret admirer and spied on me and…
Yami left that rest of that thought alone because if she went any further, she was going to end up thinking a million and one different scenarios and none of them were going to end well at any point. She tilted her head, staring at the trees and searching; he was there somewhere…
"Aibou?"
The red-eyed girl blinked and felt her face drain of color; oh gods, now he was worried about having hurt her feelings. She admitted she got sensitive every now and then but that was just ridiculous. She swore Yugi was five times as worried as he should have been when it came to keeping her happy.
"Sorry, I got distracted for a second. Nightshade needs to be fed…"
"Oh, okay."
Yami rolled her eyes, smiling a little, at the relief in the boy's voice; Yugi was too sweet for his own good and he always worried far too much when it came to her.
Which…was exactly why she wasn't going to tell him about what was going on.
"Anyways, back to the point—"
"I win, I knew it," she snickered.
He huffed softly. "No you didn't, we're just…shut up," he mumbled. "Anyways, as I was saying, do you want to do anything different this year? Because I was thinking if you did, there's that new restaurant that's going to be opening up and we could go there…?"
"How about the new restaurant on your birthday but ours on our anniversary?"
"Oh, thank the gods, you made a choice on what we're celebrating."
Yami snickered as she glanced around the room at the clock; she had about five hours to do her homework and get dinner going so she could eat and then relax a little.
"You're so mean."
"Says you!"
"I'm the only opinion that matters," she purred softly.
Yugi breathed a little too sharply and she burst out laughing at the sound. "Goddamn it, shut up," he hissed, chuckling. "God, you're just so mean. Why the hell are we dating anyways?"
"I'm not sure I like your tone." Yami wrinkled her nose and leaned against the table with a glance at the birdcage in the corner of the living room, watching the raven as he picked at a feather and shook his wings out. "I might just have to break up with you over it."
"And I'm the mean one."
"You're only letting us celebrate one special occasion!"
"You want to go through this conversation again?"
"…Hmm…good point."
"I know it is. I just won an argument."
Yami snickered softly. "Maybe just a little."
"I'll take it."
Her skin crawled; she could literally feel his eyes on her skin and it was driving her insane…
"Good, because that'll be the only one you get for the next twenty years."
"Shit," Yugi cursed. "Do I still have those coupons around the house?"
"You better," Yami laughed. "You only get those on your birthday!"
The other teen let out a noise of surprise and complaint before she could hear him running up the stairs loudly. "Oh my god, where are they?"
"Just for that, no more sex for you."
"…How long does that stay in effect?"
"Forever."
Yugi choked loudly. "What?"
"Find the coupons," Yami snickered, clicking her tongue. "Find them, Yugi. Find the coupons so you can have sex again!"
"I'm actually picturing you leaning over and clapping your hands on your thighs while you're saying that," the boy laughed, making her giggle. "Found the coupons!"
"…Wait, there are actual coupons?"
"Not for what you're thinking! Geez, such a sex addict," he teased playfully. "No, uh, pizza coupons. I don't want to make dinner and they're going to be here in a few minutes, maybe ten."
"Oh…" She trailed off for a second. "Okay then. Wait, are the others over there with you?"
"Hmm? No, Joey and Tristan left."
Yami stayed quiet.
Yugi sighed and groaned, "Yes, Yami, Tea is still here." He paused and the red-eyed teen looked out the window for a second before turning back to the phone. "Her mom is going to come pick her up later."
"You don't have to explain it to me," she replied. "I just wanted to know if you were going to eat a whole damn pizza. God, Yugi."
He sighed softly. "I know, sorry. I just…I don't know. Something's been weird with her lately and I guess it's just starting to stress me out a little."
Yami stayed quiet for a moment and ground her teeth together; Tea had been paying attention to how weird she had been acting lately. She was probably going to talk to Yugi about it or something. Maybe try to make a move on him or something…
She shook her head. Tea wouldn't do that and even if she did, it wasn't like Yugi would go running into her arms or anything. She would point that she was acting weird and Yugi would be his Yugi self and disregard it.
Because Yugi relied more on his heart than his head when it came to his life.
Yami wished she could do that too sometimes.
"Yugi?"
"Yeah?"
She hesitated, looking out the window and then turning back. "Have fun, okay? Don't worry about it so much. I'm sure Tea is fine, koi."
He sighed softly and she closed her eyes; she wasn't going to tell him. He'd get drawn into it and she didn't want him to get hurt. She shivered slightly.
"Yeah, okay. Are you sure you're okay? You sound really tired…"
Yami smiled a little. "Yeah, I'm okay, Yugi. It's just been a long day. A lot of squinting at my chest and all that." She paused. "That should be a code phrase or something."
"For what?"
"I don't know! God, Yugi, get your shit together and become creative, damn it! I can't be the only one in this relationship!" she cried loudly.
"Oh my god," he snickered.
"Go and talk with Tea already."
"…So the same restaurant then?"
"Yeah, same one. Like we've done for the past four years," she laughed. "I mean, honestly, Yugi, get your shit together."
"Oh my god, this is why I shouldn't listen to people saying that women like change," Yugi sniped. "Bullshit, absolute bullshit!"
Yami snickered and straightened, heading over to where the birdcage sat, glancing at the raven that plucked another feather and watched her with its head tilted and its eyes on her. "Of course it is. God, I don't even know why you try."
"I don't know either."
For a moment Yami could hear Tea calling out for him, telling him that the pizza was there, and her boyfriend sighed softly.
"Okay, I'll call you later tonight," he announced unhappily.
"Sure, koi," she murmured.
"…Bye."
"Bye."
She waited, nodding the seconds out until Yugi huffed and cried, "Why don't you ever say it first?!"
"Because it's cuter when you're frustrated and you say it first," she said immediately.
"Goddamn it, Yami!"
"Goddamn it, Yugi!"
She grinned at his laughter.
"Fine, bye."
"Bye."
He waited a second and then sighed, "I love you, Yami."
"I love you too, Yugi," she laughed, listening to him huff about how she was so mean to make him say it each time before hanging up; she looked at her phone for a second before pocketing it in her jacket and looking at the raven for a moment.
The black bird was only a bit larger than a crow but that was good enough for her because she hadn't wanted a massive bird for a pet, just something small and different. And he wasn't really that much of a pet. The reason they had him was because he had permanently broken his wing two years back when she had found him. He'd gotten roughed up by a cat and the wing wouldn't heal even with veterinary assistance. She hadn't really paid attention to the bigger details, just the fact that he was pretty much defenseless and would have been put down otherwise.
The raven clacked his beak loudly and Yami stared for a moment, watching him curiously before that strange pitch came forward out of his mouth, loud and guttural as he formed her name. "Yami."
"Say it again," she instructed, clicking her teeth at him.
"Yami."
Yami grinned and clicked her tongue at him until he finally growled out, "Evermore."
And THAT is the first chapter of Umbral Oath. Just note that the story is probably going to get confusing at times but it'll be for a reason. Anyways, feel free to ask questions or tell me how I did. Because female Yami is not a common thing so it feels a little strange xD