Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Haunting
Characters: Daitokuji, Satou
Word Count: 2,346||Status: One-shot
Genre: Supernatural||Rated: PG
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section D, #42, write in the supernatural genre; Written for the GX Non-Flash Bingo, prompt #083, Professor Daitokuji.
Summary: It's so boring while Juudai and his friends are off looking for Johan. Daitokuji isn't certain if he wants to talk to anyone, but he might need to, just so he can get some sleep.
All things considered, Daitoukuji liked being dead. He didn't have to worry about teaching classes or if he were going to die and he very much didn't have to worry about Kagemaru and his orders anymore. So he slept a lot inside of Pharaoh's stomach and didn't think about what it might be like to one day move on to the next world.
One thing he'd noticed had changed from before – he didn't want to think about it as being 'alive' – was that he could hear things he never had before: such as spirits. Most of those were Duel Spirits, and he marveled at how many of those lurked around the school. At least a dozen students had partners of some kind, whether or not they could see them.
But sometimes he heard other spirits, other voices. Those disturbed him on a different level and he always made certain to keep himself hidden within Pharaoh when he heard those. Without Juudai around, he didn't want to think about what could happen to stray spirits.
He didn't know how long Juudai and his friends had been gone on their search for Johan, but it had to have been days. Maybe even a couple of weeks. But one of those afternoons, the ghostly professor found his napping interrupting by a low, pained moan that did not at all sound as if it were coming from anything mortal or human.
It didn't sound angry or scared at all. What it sounded like more than anything to him was the sound of something lost and hoping to find a friend, or at least someone that could give directions.
He rethought his opinion a few seconds later when the moan came again, and this time it formed a single word: Juudai. Not many spirits called for him by name, not even here, though in Daitokuji's opinion, they all knew him in some fashion or other.
It wasn't easy to get Pharaoh to go where he wanted him to sometimes. If the cat wanted something to eat, it could be done much more easily than if he wanted to nap, and right now, Pharaoh wanted to nap. Daitokuji nudged and nudged at him to at least open his mouth; he could travel over most of the island, so it wouldn't be too hard to find this stray spirit, whoever it was, and let them know that Juudai wasn't around and likely wouldn't be for some time to come.
Odd, though. There was something familiar about the voice, though Daitokuji couldn't recall at all where he'd heard it from. It just sounded as if he'd heard it somewhere before.
Pharaoh kept on napping, no matter how hard his deceased owner tried to wake him up, and the more time passed, the more intense the pain in the other's voice became. It was as if only Juudai could possibly answer its agony, and Daitokuji hoped that wasn't so. With no idea of how long it might be until Juudai and his friends returned, the ex-professor did not relish the thought of that howling going on relentlessly.
"Pharaoh!" Daitokuji shouted at the top of lungs he no longer had, bopping against the inside of the cat's stomach. "Let me out! Just for a little while!"
Pharaoh never had liked it when he'd gone off somewhere without him, and it had just gotten worse now that Daitokuji lived inside of him on a more or less permanent basis.
Despite not needing to breathe at all, the ghost still let out a sigh of relief when Pharaoh finally yawned wide, and he took the chance to dart out as quickly as he could. Rising up high, he surveyed the area.
Where? Where is it? Where is he? It was a he, he could tell that, and once he had a sense of where the howls were coming from, Daitokuji zoomed off that way with all due speed. Pharaoh would come looking for him, he knew that for certain, and he wanted to get this done before then, if he could.
Of all the spirits that could've wandered the island, Daitokuji truly hadn't expected to see Satou Kouji there, transparent as a soap bubble, misty eyes full of confusion as he moved in an aimless search. Satou had just reached the sidewalk in front of the main building, where students came in and out on a regular basis, but none of them noticed the two ghosts.
What happened to him? He hadn't even known his fellow teacher had died. Juudai hadn't said anything at all about that.
"Ahem." He moved closer to the other ghost, assuming his human form instead of continuing as a sphere of gold. "Do you need any help?" That likely wasn't the best question that he could've asked, but starting conversations with the dead wasn't his strong point, even though he himself was 'living impaired'.
Slowly Satou turned toward him. Some of the confusion faded from his eyes as he focused. "Daitokuji?"
"Yes." The former alchemy teacher nodded politely. "I heard you calling for Juudai-kun?"
The other blinked; having someone to speak to him seemed to give him more of a focus on reality. As much reality as two ghosts would ever experience, Daitokuji mused.
"Yes. I wanted - " The other ghost shook his head, as if uncertain of what he wanted. "We were dueling and I lost."
Daitokuji's lips twitched a small bit. "That happens quite a bit with Juudai-kun." He'd done it himself, after all. He could count on the fingers of one hand those who'd defeated the Osiris Red.
"I know." Satou's eyes narrowed. "He wins too easily. He puts no effort into what he's doing. And the students love him so much for it. They want to be him."
Daitokuji knew Satou wasn't the only person to feel that about Juudai. Chronos had expressed much the same feelings in the early days of the brunet's stay here at the school. "Why were you dueling him?" He wasn't going to get into that argument himself. As Juudai's former dorm head and quasi-companion for the last two years, he didn't feel he could be objective enough on the matter.
Which was probably why neither Chronos nor Satou had ever approached him about it to begin with.
"To help Professor Cobra. He needed me to distract Juudai for a time." Satou's words came slow and cautious, as if he were trying to remember what had happened himself. Daitokuji thought that likely; it had taken him a while to get his wits together when he'd first found himself completely deceased.
Satou frowned, forging his way through memories as misty as he was. "Where is Juudai?"
"I don't know." Daitokuji sighed. "He and several of his friends left to search for Johan-kun. They haven't been back since."
The ex-teacher made a noise that Daitokuji could only translate as pure frustration. He drifted back and forth, looking around. "Where did they go?"
"Another world." Daitokuji paid attention when he heard the other teachers talking about who had vanished. Principal Samejima fretted over the disappearance of Professor Chronos, Edo Phoenix, and Marufuji Ryou as well. No one knew if they'd gone on purpose with Juudai and the others or if they'd simply vanished alongside of them somehow, but they were gone as well.
Satou tilted his head. "What do you mean?"
"I told you. They went to look for Johan Andersen-kun. When they returned from that other world, he didn't come back with them." Daitokuji hesitated, choosing his words, hoping that they would somehow soothe this worried spirit. "Juudai-kun seemed to think it was his fault."
Satou smiled. Daitokuji couldn't decide if it was a smile that he liked or not. "He did?"
Daitokuji nodded, a hint of a frown on his own lips. "I am not certain of why, though." He'd heard a little of what Samejima fretted to himself about, since the principal wasn't aware of his continued existence, and had more than once unburdened himself to Pharaoh. Something to do with a duel spirit from Juudai-kun's past, though the whole details still escaped him.
"I don't care." Satou smiled more and now Daitokuji knew for a fact that he didn't like it. It rang of a smile of satisfaction and pride, but it still wasn't a nice smile by any means. Not that Satou had ever had any such smiles, from what the alchemist remembered. He'd always tried so hard, but he'd never quite been able to spark his students' desire to learn. "He is taking responsibility for something that he's done."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Daitokuji asked. He had never fully understood his fellow teacher. Perhaps as ghosts he could do what he hadn't when they'd both been alive?
"Because someone like him should take responsibility for what he's done and can do!" Satou flared. "What use is all of his power and skill if he lazes his way through life and ignores what is important? Ignores a duelist's burden?"
Daitokuji hmmed a little. In some ways he could see what Satou meant. Juudai did have a great deal of skill and every year he'd been faced with some kind of problem that only he seemed capable of solving. And yet he still took every chance that he could to slack off from his work and enjoy himself whether or not the world was in imminent danger of being destroyed. Perhaps learning a little responsibility wasn't such a bad idea. And he did seem to be on the way to doing so, with his going in search of Johan.
More importantly, at least for what Daitokuji himself could do now, Juudai's acceptance of responsibility had another meaning behind it.
"That's why you stayed here, isn't it?"
Satou's gaze drifted back to him but he said nothing at all. Daitokuji kept on going.
"You wanted to know if he'd learned anything from what happened." Sometimes one had to be very patient with the dead.
Satou slowly nodded, his eyes moving past Daitokuji to the trail that lay behind him, which ended at the Osiris Red dorm. He likely would've ended up there sooner or later, instead of almost in front of the main building. The flow of students had dried up a little as the next class began, though there were still a few taking their time. Those, however, tended to be Obelisk Blues, enjoying the privileges of rank.
Daitokuji made certain to keep Satou's attention at least somewhere centered on what passed for their reality. "Since he has, then you don't have to stay here." Some ghosts could be very territorial. Daitokuji didn't think he was one of them, but he still didn't think a ghost should stick around without some kind of reason. Unfinished business and all of that.
He'd never prodded too closely into what his own unfinished business might be. Even in death, he didn't like to look too much at his reasons for doing anything.
Satou, for his part, seemed to consider what he said. "Where would I go?"
"Whatever lies beyond." That was something Daitokuji himself had never investigated too closely. In fact, he'd made a point out of never trying to find out. He'd never been very religious, but most of the ones he'd encountered over the years indicated there was judgment by various types of beings, ones that knew everything you did and why you did it in the first place. That was a situation he was not prepared to face. He didn't think he ever would be.
At least living in Pharaoh's stomach was comfortable, and he still got to take part in interesting matters now and then. He wouldn't be able to do that if he crossed over to find out what else the afterlife held.
Satou mused over those words, then took a sharper look at Daitokuji. "You're dead. You've been dead for over a year."
"Yes, I know." This kind of circling dialogue wasn't unusual for ghosts. Daitokuji found himself grateful that he'd slept through most of his adjusting time, which meant once he'd begun to get out more, he hadn't had to put up with it. "And so are you, now."
It seemed to sink into Satou this time as he looked down at himself, seeing grass poke up through his feet and passing his hand through one of the stray students, none of whom had stopped or even noticed that two ghosts stood there having a conversation for the last few minutes.
"Dead," he murmured, a sudden hint of satisfaction there. "I'm dead."
"And you should probably go check out the afterlife," Daitokuji urged. "I'm certain it's fascinating."
Satou glanced toward him again. "Why don't you come too?"
"I think I'd rather stay here a while." Daitokuji shrugged, then twitched at the familiar sound of Pharaoh racing toward him. "Pharaoh wouldn't like it if I left him."
"Of course." Satou turned away, lifting his eyes. "If Juudai-kun has learned to see the trash, then I think I do need to leave."
That didn't mean very much to Daitokuji, but if it meant Satou would be on his way to his reward – if he'd earned one – then so be it. "Best of luck," he said, though from the way Satou now stared at something only he could see, he didn't know if the other could hear him or not.
Not that it mattered. Not so long as he went where he needed to go. And as Satou faded away, a faint glow surrounding him for a few seconds, Daitokuji thought that he had.
Maybe one day he'd take that last step. But that day was not today. Today he slipped back to his sphere form and let Pharaoh engulf him once again. It was time for another nap. He hoped Juudai-kun and the others returned home soon. And that Juudai-kun really had learned responsibility.
It did look as if he had, though, going after Johan-kun. So Daitokuji took comfort from that, and went back to sleep.
The End