And Then There is Chaos

:xXx:

Disclaimer: I do not own yugioh.

Title: And Then There is Chaos
Fandom: yugioh
Rating: 'T'
Genre: Action/Adventure; Romance
Brief Summary: Takes place after-series. Yugi and Kaiba get invitations to a strange dueling tournament. They go, but find that they're the only ones with invitations. The man who arranged the whole thing-- whose idol is Pegasus--kidnaps one of their comrades, and sets the rest of the gang to a trek through his jungle. Will they rescue their unfortunate friend? Will Yugi find the strength to duel? Will they ever get off the island?

Date Posted: January 4, 2007
Chapter: One- Intervention
Rating/ Warnings: 'K'
Notes: This is pretty short. Still not to anything really important yet.

A/N: I'm sorry that this took so long! I actually tried to post the first part of this a lot earlier, but for some reason it didn't take - though I didn't realize that for about three weeks. Heh. By that time, I just decided to wait. Heh - I had no idea that the wait would be this long. Well, enjoy!

: Chapter One :
The tournament was being held in a week, and Yugi was still determined not to take part in it. He hadn't given any explanation, just smiled and politely told his friends that he had no interest in attending.

That clinched it, of course– they were making him go.

It wasn't as though Yugi was truly different, but he had certainly been acting strangely. He had been changed by his experiences, and he wasn't taking the necessary steps to heal. He wasn't making any effort to heal, at all! He ignored his own changes, pleading distraction or boredom. Though he claimed he no longer dueled because he had beaten the game completely– mastered it fully, with no challenges any longer– they all knew it was because it was too painful for him to do so.

An intervention was needed. And Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu were exactly the people to pull Yugi out of his unfortunate slump.

The elder Mutou was consulted as soon as it they found a convenient time.

Jounouchi explained to him Yugi's sudden change in behavior; Honda elaborated in length on the upcoming tournament; and Anzu voiced the trio's worry. If Yugi wouldn't deal with the hurt, how could he possibly recover from it?

The old man was silent as he absorbed the information they had given him. "You're right," he said finally, his voice deliberate. "Yugi's not the same. Did Egypt affect him that much?"

The three all threw a glance back and forth. "I think," Anzu said at last, "that it was losing the pharaoh more than anything. Yugi shared his body with the spirit– they dueled together, they fought together, they were closer than anyone could possibly comprehend. I'm not sure he can cope with the loss."

"Well, yeah," Jounouchi said quickly, a little embarrassed at his loud outburst but purposeful all the same. "It's that definitely, but... Well maybe he just feels like he's not ready for all the memories. I mean..." He squirmed a little, trying to voice what he felt in his heart. "Yugi's a good guy, right? And he loves dueling. He should be glad that the pharaoh's in the uh... Well that he's dead. Or... more dead. Or whatever. The point is that maybe there's something more. You know, something that we're not seeing."

"What?" Honda rolled his eyes. "Jounouchi, I don't understand what you're trying to say. Do you think Egypt and the pharaoh don't have anything to do with it?"

"Well... I mean, I'm sure they have something to do with it, but..." He looked at the elder Mutou. "Maybe he really is just tired of dueling. I mean it is possible, right?"

"You're a duelist," Anzu said softly. "Would you get tired of it?"

Jounouchi lowered his head. "I... Can't really imagine that I... that I would."

Anzu nodded, more determined than ever. "Then we have to help him! Maybe he just needs a little push in the right direction. After all, he's our best friend. If he's really lost his love for dueling then we'll leave him alone, but I think this is just his way of grieving. And we need to help him move on."

She looked to Honda, then Jounouchi, then Yugi's grandfather. "Are we all agreed?"

The three men thought for a moment. She was right; Yugi was one of the most important people in each of their lives. And it couldn't hurt to try, as long as they weren't too adamant. He did need to move on if he was still grieving– Yugi hadn't been vocal about how he was feeling, so his friends weren't sure exactly how far along he was in the healing process. If he was holding on, trying to keep himself in the past... Or if he was ignoring how he truly felt...

They were worried. Dueling was the one thing that had kept them together no matter what. And they weren't going to let Yugi throw that away.

The confrontation came sooner than anyone would have liked. Yugi came home from grocery shopping one day, only to find Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu all sitting around his living room with grim looks on their faces. He was confused for a moment, before his grandfather put a wrinkled hand on his shoulder. "Yugi," he said quietly. "They're here to talk about that new tournament."

Yugi shrugged his grandfather's hand off and frowned at his friends. "What's this about?" he asked warily. "I told you all - I've decided not to go. Jounouchi-kun, you can have my invitation if you haven't gotten one yet. And I'll accompany you if you want should you decide that you're going, but..." He took a deep breath and looked around the room sternly. "I will not be dueling."

Anzu stood up. "Yugi-kun, we... We're concerned."

"Concerned?" Yugi scoffed. "I promise you, there's no reason to be concerned."

"Then why won't you duel?" Honda asked. "It's been a part of your life for years - it used to be one of the things that mattered most to you. If you're telling us suddenly that you just don't want to, how can we help but be concerned?"

Jounouchi nodded. "Yeah, bud - you have to understand that we're thinking of you here. After..." He cleared this throat and rubbed the back of his neck in a fit of sudden awkwardness. "Well after you went through some stuff, you never seemed the same. Are you..." He looked at his short friend. "Are you still not over that?"

Yugi immediately stiffened. "There was never anything to get over, Jounouchi. I was happy - glad, even honored - to let Atemu go. I miss him still sometimes, but there is nothing to get over." He looked around the room. "Is that what the rest of you thought? That I still hadn't gotten over letting him go?"

They all nodded reluctantly.

His eyes narrowed and his mouth set in a thin, stern line. "Well I'm afraid you're all wrong. I accepted his fate - and our separation - as inevitable a long time ago, and I'm happy he's finally at peace. But it doesn't have anything to do with dueling. I want you to - "

"To what?" his grandfather asked. "Leave you alone, and watch you stay unhappy? Always wonder why you changed so abruptly? We can't. We care about you, Yugi, that's all this is. We want you to be happy."

"I'm fine."

"No," Honda said quietly. "You... You're not."

"We just want you to try this one tournament," Jounouchi said. "It could help."

"He's right." Anzu looked at him pleadingly. "You never know - it could help. And if there's really nothing wrong with you, then at least it would get us to leave you alone." She looked to the others for confirmation. "Right?"

Jounouchi and Honda nodded, and the elder Mutou put a hand on his grandson's shoulder. "Right."

Yugi sighed, seeing no way to escape from their concern, and no way to please them without giving in. His wishes didn't matter - he was already defeated. "I do not want to do this," he told them, his voice ripe with surrender, "but if I have no other choice..." He sighed again. "If you're all that worried, then I'll enter the tournament."

Anzu ran up to him and threw her arms around him. "Thank you, Yugi! Thank you so much."

Sugouroku handed him the phone. "Here. They're going to want to know you've changed your mind."

: end chapter one :
End A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I hope everyone enjoyed this! I know it was really short, and it was a LONG time in coming, but... heh. At least it's something! I'm hoping that I can get the next chapter written much sooner. Thanks for the reviews for the prologue! Hopefully, this might get some reviews, too. Eh? (looks hopeful) Heh. Well, that's it! Til chapter two!

Shameless Self-Promotion: If you like my writing, or just azureshipping in general, don't forget to go check out "Sevenfold". I have bits 18 and 19 up! (That's Yellow: Avarice and Yellow: Lust.) Bit 20 is half-finished, so it should be up soon, too! Maybe you'll enjoy that, too!