Chapter 1
Hikari: Hello there to anyone who is reading this (most likely none of you because on one reads the author's messages... Why?)! This is my first story ever, so please read and review!
No flaming would be nice. Very nice in fact! Remember everyone; Constructive Criticism = GOOD while Flaming = BAD. I worked really hard on this, so I hope you like it!
Onward to the story!
By the way, don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Yamie: If she did, Ryou Bakura would be a main character along with Yugi! They can share the spotlight!
Key:
"Hi!" = Out loud talking
/Hi!/ = Mind link talking
_ = Time skip/Page break
"No!"
"Yes!"
"You can't make me! I'll get revenge for this! Just you wait…"
It was an unusually warm Sunday in May. The birds were singing, the flowers blooming, and two teenagers were arguing extensively, ignoring the beauty around them completely.
"Oh come on! You look adorable!"
"But Anzu…"
"You look good," the one called Anzu deadpanned. She was a tall and skinny girl with a face that meant business. Her mud-brown hair was cut in a bob style and its intensity matched her sparkling blue eyes.
"But everyone will laugh at me!" The person next to Anzu was named Yugi. He was a very short teen–barely past five feet– and walking next to Anzu only made him look smaller. He was usually mistaken for an elementary school student even though he was actually sixteen years old. He had amethyst colored eyes that bizarrely matched well with his insane hair. The boy's hair was at least half a foot tall with spiky blond bangs hanging around his face and eyes, and black spikes with red tips that defied gravity itself. The amount of hair gel needed to hold his hair that high was astonishing…
"Cut it out! Just be confident!" Anzu said in a cheery tone. She took another look at Yugi's outfit. He was in a bright yellow and orange shirt with neon green buttons in the front. His bell-bottom pants were clearly too long for him and were sky blue. His face had been painted white except for around his eyes which were wine-colored. A bright red tomato covered his nose in an attempt to look funny, and the gigantic apple-colored shoes didn't seem to help Yugi's self-esteem.
"Alright… But only for the carnival!" Yugi was talking about the annual Domino High County Carnival held every year. Each grade would volunteer to help out somewhere while other kids and their parents came to spend money that went to school funding. It was a huge deal: each grade spent weeks upon weeks deciding what to do, who would help, where their stands would be placed to attract the most people, etcetera.
Yugi, being the kind-hearted child he was, had decided to give most of his grade level a break in order for them to enjoy the fair. There were various spots each grade was required to fill, and once a schedule was made accordingly, everyone else was free to do as they pleased as long as they were in time for their shift. The problem was that the only spot one person could manage alone was the clown's position. Seeing as his hair practically qualified him to be the joker and no one had remembered to buy a silly wig, Yugi easily fit the position. Anzu pitied him, but was also excited to meet up with their friends to check out the rest of the carnival, so the thought of taking over for Yugi never even crossed her mind.
"When does your shift end?" She inquired.
"It ends at one thirty. I need to get there soon or else I'll miss the start of my shift!" With that, Yugi attempted to take off sprinting only to fall face-first into a pile of wet mud. He had tripped over his pants for the twelfth time that day.
Stifling a laugh, Anzu helped him up, brushed him off, and told him the dirt would get more kids to laugh. After a prolonged groan, Yugi proceeded to speed walk towards the school entrance. It was eleven forty five which meant that the fair would start in fifteen minutes, and Yugi was not the type of person to be late.
Kids were everywhere you looked as they entered the Domino High lobby area. Some were hanging posters, setting up games in the classrooms, or printing out flyers for future school events to give to people now. The lobby had chaos written all over it as students yelled at one another for the tape, the stapler, and so on.
The two teens hurried out of the crowded lobby and into the previously decided room where Yugi would 'perform'. His act consisted of making various balloon animals, telling corny jokes, and allowing toddlers to throw pies in his face. Basically, it was a job no one in their right mind would want to have. Yugi was too nice a person to make anyone else do it though.
Room one hundred fifteen was a very small cramped area with tables and chairs pushed out of the way to make room for Yugi's show. He and Anzu had just begun to erase the whiteboard in order to write Yugi the Clown when Yugi heard a low, whiny voice in the back of his mind.
/Hikari! What are we doing here? Why is it so loud? Why is that annoying friendship obsessed girl with you? And why do you look so ridiculous? I WANT SOME ANSWERS!/
Yugi sighed mentally. The whiner who was addressing was Yami, his other half. Yami always called him hikari (meaning light) and had named himself Yami (meaning shadow). He was really a spirit that had inhabited Yugi's body after he solved the Millennium Puzzle a few months ago, but liked to be referred to as another part of Yugi in order to feel closer to him.
Yami's appearance was almost identical to Yugi's with only a few small changes. First off, he was at least a foot taller than Yugi which he constantly teased him about. His eyes were narrower, crimson, and he had blond bangs that, instead of laying flat on his face like his hikari, defied gravity by shooting up straight in the air alongside his spiked black and red hair. Finally, his voice was deeper and sounded like he had already gone through puberty unlike Yugi's shrill voice.
"Yugi! Come on, you said you would help me! I'm not doing all the work here you know," Anzu, unbeknownst to Yugi's predicament, had begun to get impatient with his spaced-out eyes. She couldn't hear Yami speaking because they were talking through a special mind link that only they shared.
"Huh…? Oh, I'm so sorry Anzu! I was just talking to Yami and he–"
"He's here? Oh my goodness, how do I look? Where is he? Does he want to come out and go to the carnival with me? Will he marry me at last? He knows I love him, right?" Anzu uncontrollably bubbled.
/How can she possibly not realize how much I despise her? Do I have to walk up to her and spit in her eye? No, she'd probably think it was a present and run around bragging about it like the time when I poisoned your breakfast so you'd puke in her salad… Wait… Did she even know it was me?/
/That was you who poisoned me? Never mind Yami, just watch your attitude. You know she's my friend./
"He's gone. Sorry Anzu," Yugi lied pathetically to save his other half.
Anzu looked crestfallen. "Oh… Well… Oh! It's noon! It's time for your shift to begin, right?"
"Yeah, but you can stay if you want to." Yugi hoped desperately that she'd stay and help him with the toddlers. He had a sinking feeling that something bad was going to happen as soon as she left. It would involving hair pulling, screaming, and pie. He imagined lots and lots of pie down his shirt, up his nose, in his eyes...
"Yugi! Anzu! Oh wow… Yugi!" Two boys had barged into the room and proceeded to point and laugh at Yugi's crazy get up. The one on the right looked like a stereotypical dumb blonde, and acted the same way. The one on the left had dark brown eyes, and dark brown hair that looked like it was cosplaying a unicorn's horn. The amount of hair gel that kid must use seemed like… At least half of what Yugi currently used!
"Shut up Joey," Yugi addressed the blond.
Anzu joined in too. "You should be ashamed too Tristan! Making poor Yugi feel worse that he already did! If you were true friends, you'd always stay by his side through thick and thin!"
As Anzu began a seemingly endless friendship speech, Joey and Tristan shot apologetic smiles towards the tri-colored boy.
After ten straight minutes of ranting, Joey bravely interrupted her. "Anzu… I hate to interrupt, but the fair has begun and that clown over there has some pies needing to be thrown and jokes to tell. Let's head over to another station, and we can come back when his shift ends."
"Okay! Let's go to the cake walk! Maybe they'll have a wedding cake I can win for Yami and me!"
/Oh god… Can I please mind crush her? It won't hurt! Well, it won't hurt me…/
/Forget it. She's leaving now anyway./
Yugi looked over at his friends dragging Anzu away from him. As soon as they left, Yami materialized next to him in a transparent form only Yugi could see and hear.
/If she says one more word about marriage, she will receive a mind crush no matter what you say./ Yami was fuming at this point, his fists clenched until veins popped out of them.
"Calm down already! At least she notices you…" Yugi was about to pour out his feelings about his secret love for Anzu to Yami when he was cut off by a shrill-voiced scream.
"MOMMY, I WANT TO SEE THE CLOWNY NOW!"
And so the torturous hour and a half began.
"So… Many… Pies…" It was one fifteen, and business was slow at Yugi's station. He was currently twitching and muttering to himself about 'demonic' pies trying to rule the world. Yami on the other hand had it easy since no one but Yugi knew he was there. He had allowed himself to watch what seemed like thousands of kids pelt his poor hikari with pies. Not one kid had asked for a balloon animal or listened to the jokes Yugi has rehearsed all last night.
/Then again, if I took over Yugi's body and went to a carnival that had a clown, I'd throw pies at him too…/ He muttered, entranced in his thoughts.
Yugi, finally regaining his sanity, snorted at this remark. "I should have had you take over for me!" By this, he meant for Yami to seize control of their shared body as he did so often with children's card games.
/Not on your life./
"You're so useless sometimes!"
"Me?" Anzu had walked into the room and now looked flabbergasted.
"No!" Obviously. "It was…"
/Don't you dare say I'm here! Or else I won't help you cheat at the carnival games!/
"…No one."
Anzu was crestfallen for the second time that day.
"Where are Joey and Tristan?" Yugi decided to try to distract Anzu from the dark cloud growing over her head.
She proceeded to groan before replying. "Joey forgot his money, so he tried to steal tickets. He was caught stealing them from the ticket booth, so now he's in the detention center. Tristan followed him trying to prove he wasn't taking anything even though the teacher running the booth happened to get a video of it. I'm so bored! Thank goodness your shift is over! Let's head over to Ryou's station! I heard he's running the knock over the milk bottles station."
She then began dragging Yugi out of the room while he yelled at her. "At least let me change first!"
After he changed into his crisp leather navy blue school uniform–which he wore everywhere he went for reasons unknown– and cleaned off his clown make-up and pie-covered face, the two teens were off to find their friend Ryou's station in the massive halls of the school.
Ryou Bakura was a new transfer student who just came to Domino High a few months ago. He was more similar to Yugi that the majority of the students knew. In fact, only Anzu, Joey, Tristan, and a few selected others knew about Yugi and Ryou's shared secret. Ryou possessed the Millennium Ring which also held a spirit within it that had inhabited his body. Unlike Yami though, Ryou's spirit–self-named Bakura– was purely evil. While Ryou had soft crystal-white hair, mocha eyes, and a stunningly adorable and innocent smile, Bakura had dark blood-colored eyes, spiky ghost-white hair, and a trademark smirk on his face. The only thing that they shared was their ghostly pale skin. In short, Ryou was a great friend while Bakura was someone you wanted to avoid at all costs. They truly were opposites.
After a few minutes of walking, they heard a deep voice yelling at what seemed like a mere child.
"Look brat, you knocked down zero bottles, so you get ZERO PRIZES! No go dig yourself a hole and die in it! Unless of course you want me to take this handy knife and stab it through your heart instead. I'll always comply with seeing more blood in this world. Are you still here? SCRAM!"
Yugi walked up to the brightly-painted station cautiously with Anzu doing her best to hide behind the short boy. They were both saddened to see that it was Bakura who had taken possession of the shared body. They were hoping to hang out with Ryou instead.
Bakura turned around and took notice to the teens. "Oh this is just great! The friendship hag and the stupid pharaoh have decided to play a round. Go on pharaoh-boy, show me what you got."
"Why are you running a carnival game Bakura? That seems a little out of character…" Yugi asked uneasily.
Bakura seemed unaffected by this as he replied, "Are you kidding? I get to rig the game, make small children cry, and pick-pocket from stupid parents trying to calm their young ones. Best of all, I can blame all of it on Ryou! It's perfect!" This was his usual ploy. He caused havoc, and Ryou would be blamed for it.
Yugi tried to ignore this as he fished out a dollar from his pocket and shoved it into Bakura's greedy palm. He knew that getting involved at this point would only cause an unwanted scene. He would deal with this matter later…
"One dollar means three balls. Good luck and all that crap I'm supposed to say."
Yugi, already knowing the object of the game was to knock over all the bottles, threw the first two rock-hard balls as hard as he could at the edges of the bottle pyramid. However, none of the bottles so much as twitched. He threw his third ball, which hit square-on, but there was no movement whatsoever.
"Sorry. No bottles equals no prizes. Now get out of here so I can continue to torment little kids."
Anzu nudged Yugi with her hip. "He rigged the game, remember? He probably glued the bottles to the table."
Bakura gave her a sly grin. "You read me like a book. Now scram! I have other customers! Don't you have to get back to the Dumb Blond and Unicorn Horn?"
Anzu, starting to feel nervous around Bakura, told him what had happened to them.
"You have got to be kidding me! This is hilarious!" He had doubled over in laughter, tears streaming down his face. "Look, if you're going to steal something, do it right! Mortals are so pathetic… It makes me sick! Leave before I regurgitate on your little slut outfit!"
The two teens sprinted away from the booth and out of the room that they had wandered into about as casually as a bull in a china shop. Yugi was thinking about doing something about the fact that Bakura openly admitted he rigged the game, but ended up stopping himself. At least Bakura was getting the much-needed cash for their school. He decided to overlook the problem and instead focused on where he and Anzu would go next.
"Yugi, wait for me!"
Both Yugi and Anzu turned sharply to find Ryou standing before them. No one could mistake his aura of innocence with Bakura's aura of hatred.
"Can I come play some games with you two?" He asked shyly. It was unclear if Ryou realized that Bakura had just taken over his body and insulted them a minute ago. That was the problem with Ryou. Unlike Yugi, he had no communication with his other half, which made tons of difficult and awkward situations.
Anzu spoke before Yugi could even process the fact that this was in fact Ryou speaking to them. "Of course you can! You didn't even have to ask! We can all go to the cake walk and try to win my wedding cake for Yami!"
Yami seemed to jump back into the conversation after this remark. /I know! I'll drown her in pig's blood! Bakura will help me… I hope... Torturing people is his forte after all…/
Yugi sighed before muttering a response quietly enough so his friends didn't hear him. "I thought you hated Bakura. He's tried to steal the Millennium Puzzle more times that you can count. Is revenge on Anzu that important to you?"
/You better believe it./
Yugi checked his wristwatch. It was one thirty five. This was going to be a long day…
Hikari: Poor Yugi! Will he survive the dreaded cake walk?
Yamie: Unlikely ;) And what else awaits him?
Hikari: I'll give you a hint... Nothing good!
Hikari: I already started chapter 2, and I can say that there are a few YGOTAS references. :D
If you've stuck with me this long, you get a free cyber pie! (And no, I will not get toddlers to throw it in your face.) If you review, I'll get the toddlers to bake you a cyber pie of your flavor choice!
~midknightXXX
