Summery: Yugi and the gang discover an abused orphan that bares a remarkable resemblance to Yugi, and decide to take him away from his abusive foster parents, but they all begin to find out that the orphan has an awkward past with a few secrets of its own….
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Warning: This fic contains signs of abuse, so if you dont like, then dont read!
Chapter One: Finding The Abused
"Hey, Yugi! Wait up!" Joey called.
Yugi turned, to see Joey, Tristan and Téa running towards him. He smiled as they reached him and caught their breath.
"What do you say about us comin' over this afternoon?" Tristan asked.
"Sure, why not?" Yugi replied with a nod. The group began walking, and then decided to head for a shop to by drinks on the way home.
"We should take a short cut through that street," Téa said as she pointed. "It'll be quicker than going round."
The gang began walking along the street, taking in the clean-looking houses. Each one had bright windows and pale yellow doors.
Joey whistled. "Has anyone been in this street before?"
"I hardly come this way." Yugi replied. "It's been a few years since I last came down here." He suddenly lifted his head with a puzzled look on his face. "Hey, wait a minute, what's that sound?"
The group stopped and listened. Once they had grown quiet, they could hear a faint sound. It sounded like screaming.
"Is that someone screamin'?" Tristan asked.
Joey shuddered. "Maybe this is the kinda place where people get murdered."
"Don't be silly, Joey." Téa said. She took a few steps forward, listening carefully. "It's coming from that house."
The group looked, to see a house that looked just as clean and welcoming as all the others. Except this one was where the screaming was coming from.
"It sounds like a boy." Téa said. "What's going on?"
The group listened for a few more minutes, as they heard a male voice shouting along with the screaming.
"Shut up, brat! One more sound out of you and I swear I'll kill you!" It yelled.
Suddenly, the screaming was cut short. Silence followed.
"Oh, my gosh." Téa said quietly.
"Maybe we should check it out." Yugi suggested.
Joey looked at him. "Are you kiddin'? For all we know, there could be a mad person in that house, just waitin' for us."
Téa turned to face him. "You heard that voice. Whoever was screaming may be hurt. We can't just walk away, not after hearing that."
"But we can't just walk in there and see." Tristan said. "Maybe we should wait to see who comes out."
Yugi nodded. "Good idea."
"All right, all right." Joey relented. "And what do we do when they come out?"
"I don't know." Yugi replied, shrugging. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
The group fell silent and waited. About half an hour passed, and the front door of the house began to open. The gang quickly ducked down behind a big hedge to avoid being seen. As they watched, two people came out of the house and towards a blue car. One was female, with blonde hair and wearing a stylish red evening gown, and the other was a male, wearing a snazzy suit. They got into the car and then drove off, turning the corner and going out of sight.
"Well, now what?" Joey said.
Téa rose from her hiding spot, staring at the house. "Let's go see who they left behind."
"What?" Joey asked as the others stood up. "Are you serious?"
"Yes." Téa replied, walking towards the house. "That screaming sounded young. Not that young, but not an adult. They must have left someone inside."
Yugi nodded. "I'm with you, Téa. And besides, even if everything is okay and we just got the wrong end of the stick, it still wouldn't hurt to make sure."
Joey reluctantly followed the group as they approached the house. They knocked on the front door, but there was no answer.
"Let's look around the back." Tristan suggested.
"You do realise that this is trespassing?" Joey asked.
No one answered, as they quietly crept around the side to the back of the house. As they passed a window, Téa looked inside.
It was a mess. There was a chair lying on its side and a table pushed against the wall, and Téa was sure that there was a tiny puddle of blood near the corner of the room. There were also a few shattered plates and glasses on the floor.
Suddenly, something moved! A shadow in the corner of the room suddenly made a dash for the door, disappearing from Téa's sight but not before she could identify it.
"There is someone in there." She whispered. "I saw someone move."
The others nodded as the group reached the back garden, which was beautifully decorated with roses and other flowers. Téa crept over to the back door and gripped the handle, and then became surprised.
"It's not locked." She announced.
Yugi and the others walked over to the door, and then to their surprise Téa slowly opened the door and peered inside.
"We shouldn't go in there." Joey hissed. "What if those two people come back?"
Téa looked at him. "They were dressed for a night out, so they won't be back for a few hours yet. Let's go."
Joey groaned, but he followed the rest of the gang as they crept into the house. They found themselves in the kitchen, which was decorated with white tiles. The group walked out of the kitchen, into the room that Téa had seen, and surveyed the mess.
"Man, something sure happened here." Tristan said.
Téa walked over to a corner and knelt down. She slowly pressed her fingers on the floor and then looked at them, to see fresh blood smeared on her fingers.
"I thought so." She mused as the group walked over to her and saw the blood.
Before anyone could say anything, a loud thud appeared to the left, through the door where Téa had seen the shadow run to. Immediately after that, they heard the sound of hurried footsteps, heading up a set of stairs.
"Let's get outta here." Joey pleaded. "Someone knows we're here."
Téa ignored him and walked towards the door. "We can't go."
Yugi, Tristan and Joey followed Téa as she walked through the door. The front door was there, and a set of stairs was directly opposite it. A coat rack lay on its side on the floor, clearly the source of the noise.
Téa looked up the stairs, and then began to walk up them, followed by the rest of the group. They got about halfway up when they caught sight of a door just as it closed.
"I guess whoever's here doesn't want to talk to us." Tristan said.
Téa sighed, and then she got to the top of the stairs and walked to the door. She turned the handle to find that it was unlocked, and then she slowly pushed the door open. The room within looked like a bedroom that a teenager would have. The walls were painted blue, and the bed looked ruffled.
"Okay." Téa said in a soft whisper. "Joey, you stay by the door so whoever is in here doesn't get out. We'll look around – he has to be here somewhere."
Everyone nodded, and then began to look. Yugi checked in a closet, but found only cardboard boxes. Tristan looked under the bed, but only found cobwebs, and Téa looked in all the corners, but also found nothing. Then, a faint bump alerted the group towards the wardrobe on the far side of the room. Yugi, Tristan and Téa walked over to it, and then Tristan, being the biggest, reached out and pulled open both doors. He, Yugi and Téa then became surprised at what they saw.
Inside the wardrobe were the usual things – clothes and a pair of shoes, but also something else. Trying to hide in the corner of the wardrobe was a young boy, about the gang's age, but to the surprise of the group he looked very similar to Yugi. He was about half a foot taller than Yugi, and his hair stood up intensely in the shape of a star. The bulk of his hair was black, with crimson around the rims, and a long golden bang shot up each arm of the star, while two longer golden bangs hung down each side of his face – the two to his right pointing straight down, and the two to his left whipping past his ear. Basically he looked like a more intense version of Yugi, and his crimson eyes were a little more intense but also fraught with fear. He was wearing a dark blue sweatshirt and a pair of black tracksuit trousers, but they didn't hide the bruises on his hands and face. Also, the youth had a conspicuous scar running down the right side of his face, starting above his eyebrow and ending just at his upper jaw, going over his right eye on the way. Each time he blinked, which was rather frequently, his right eyelid would also show the scar.
"Whoa." Tristan said.
Téa took a step forward towards the youth, who tried to huddle into the corner of the wardrobe a little more. "Hey, are you okay?"
The youth didn't reply, and instead began to tremble.
"Hey, what's goin' on?" Joey asked from the other side of the room.
Yugi turned his head to look at him. "We've found someone, but he's scared out of his wits, and heavily bruised."
"It's okay, you can come out." Téa said gently to the youth.
"We're friends, we won't hurt you. We came because we were worried about you."
The youth gave a faint look of confusion, but then he shuddered and tried to get further away from the group.
Téa, refusing to give up, slowly held out her hand. "I promise, none of us are going to hurt you."
The youth watched Téa move her hand towards him, considering his options. After all, she had promised not to harm him, so he resisted the urge to move away. Téa noticed this and slowly moved closer, and then she gently placed her hand the youth's shoulder. The youth winced faintly, but didn't pull away.
"There you go." Téa said. "Now, can you come out of there?"
The youth looked at her for a long moment, and then he slowly nodded. Téa pulled away as the youth slowly and stiffly made his way out of the wardrobe, but he still held on to the door for either comfort or support.
"Are you okay, bud?" Tristan asked. The youth shuddered again, but didn't make a verbal response.
Téa slowly put her hand on his shoulder again, but then she noticed a bloody mark in the wardrobe. She looked down, to see that the youth was barefoot, and his left ankle had a cut at the side. The wound was trickling blood, slowly but evenly.
"Hey, you're hurt." She said. "Who did this to you?"
The youth again didn't reply, but he seemed a little more relaxed around the group. He leaned against the door a little more and closed his eyes, once again showing the full length of the scar on his face.
"So now what do we do?" Joey asked.
Téa gazed at the youth, and then glanced at his wound. "Well, I think we should take him with us. It's obvious that he isn't safe here."
"Too right." Yugi agreed, and then he looked at the youth. "Do you want to come with us? You'll be safer."
The youth blinked at Yugi's question and gazed at each of the others in turn, and then he met Yugi's gaze once more and nodded.
"But what about those guys?" Joey asked. "Won't they wonder where he is?"
Téa looked at him, and then at the room. "To be honest, I don't think they'd care."
The youth slowly knelt down, took the shoes out of the wardrobe, and slid them onto his feet, doing so gingerly with his left foot.
"Okay." Téa said. She reached out and gently took hold of the
youth's left arm, and began to lead him towards the door, but then the youth stopped and pulled out of Téa's grasp. He looked thoughtful for a few moments, and then he limped over to the bed and picked up the pillow. As the group watched, the youth dug his hand into the pillow for a few moments, and then pulled out something. It was some kind of pendent, shaped like an upside down triangle, with an etching of a bird of some sort on it. The youth gazed at it and then put it around his neck.
"I guess that's pretty special to you." Yugi said. The youth nodded.
Téa glanced out of the bedroom window, looking at the street, but saw no sign of the blue car. "We'd better get going. There's no telling when those guys will be back."
The group and the youth left the room and made their way down the stairs, and then Tristan opened the front door. The youth looked outside with a puzzled look on his face, which the gang noticed.
"I take it you didn't go out much?" Téa said.
The youth looked at her, and then shook his head.
"Well, don't worry." Joey said. "You're safe with us. We'll take care of ya."
AN: Well, there you have it! Good, bad or in the middle? Please let me know with a review!