The Japanese Jekyll

Chapter 2

"Going Into Shock"

"Hey, Yuge," Jonouchi nudged, waving his hands in front of Yugi's listless face. "Earth to Yugi. You in there?"

The younger boy blinked, shaking his head to clear his daze. He clenched his hands, digging his nails into his palms in order to keep them from shaking.

He wasn't afraid of Jonouchi. In fact, over the past few weeks they'd become close friends. The ordeal with Ushio had been a silver lining after all, he'd once thought. And while Ushio's absence didn't solve all of the boy's school troubles, he was all too glad to see him removed from the picture. One less worry. No one quite knew what had happened to him - not even Yugi. But he and his classmates had all watched as doctors pried him away from that tree, and into the back of an ambulance.

"You alright, pal?" Jonouchi asked, leaning down to Yugi's eye level. His brown eyes shone with concern, and it felt like they pierced straight into Yugi's soul. "You look pale. Er, paler than usual."

Yugi plastered a smile onto his face, and chuckled quietly. "I'm fine, Jou. Just didn't get much sleep last night."

"Again?" Jonouchi cocked his eyebrow. His loose, blonde bangs shifted so they fell over his eyes, shading them from view.

"Yeah," Yugi sighed, running his hands through his spiky hair. He stole a sidelong glance down at the puzzle, his mouth flinching ever so slightly. "But I'm sure it's just restlessness. Eager for summer to start, you know?"

"Got any big plans?" Honda jumped in, grinning widely. "Me, I'm going to ask Izumi out. Maybe hit up the beach or some museums. The world's our oyster."

"Don't get ahead of yourself," Jonouchi teased, "She has to say yes to your ugly mug first." He playfully patted Honda's cheek in mock pity, before reaching up to tousle his perfectly coiffed bouffant.

"Don't you dare!" Honda yelped, twisting away from Jonouchi's grasp. "You know how long I spend on my hair every morning."

A small, genuine smile twitched across Yugi's lips as he watched his friends bicker. He rested his cheek against his hand as he admired their goofiness.

"You should ask Anzu out," Honda smiled, turning the attention onto Yugi. "It's certainly been long enough."

Yugi's cheeks burned, no doubt flushed a vivid red, as her face popped into his mind. Porcelain skin, feathery brown hair, and the brightest, sky-blue eyes he'd ever seen. His heartbeat quickened and a lump formed in his throat as he stole a glance her way.

She stood near the front of the class, surrounded by other female classmates. Sweeping loose strands behind her ear, she was effortlessly social with everyone. Like the sun, she radiated warmth, positivity and enthusiasm, immediately putting those around her at ease. She had an attraction, like a magnet, that drew people to her.

Yugi had been charmed by that allure, even when they were children. Always the shy outcast, he stood apart from everyone, while Anzu collected acquaintances. And although he was shy, Yugi was no exception. She had stomped up to him in elementary school, dressed in her little blue romper, and demanded he play games with her. With no choice but to oblige, Yugi shared a game with her, watching with careful interest as she struggled with it.

In the end, she broke it - her determination and strong grip splintering one of the wooden pieces. If it had been anyone else, he might have been upset about it. But instead he just laughed, and brought her a new game the next day. He admired her energy and perseverance, and fell a little more in love with her with every day they spent together.

Now that they were in high school, the torch he held for her had grown into a bonfire. Sparks and embers flew between them as he silently pined for her, grimacing from the shadows as more handsome and athletic boys made advances. And while they maintained a close, special friendship, Yugi knew he had little hope of ever getting his chance with her.

"You know that's never going to happen," Yugi mumbled, tracing the grains of his desk with his index finger.

"Why not? You think she's too good for you?" Honda pressed, breaking free from Jonouchi's chokehold. The two boys pulled chairs from the other desks, whipping them around to face Yugi's.

"Honestly man, you have a chance," Jonouchi nodded, stroking his chin. "I mean, yeah, she's hot...but you have the home field advantage. You've known her since you were kids."

The blush grew hotter, creeping up Yugi's neck and warming his ears. Even when his friends tried to be encouraging, it felt like everything they said was piteous.

"It's not that…" Yugi whispered, staring down at his hands. Although his skin had been scalded and scrubbed clean, he still could see the blood clotted around the lines on his palm. Could feel it there, his forgotten sins clinging to him like static.

His watery violet eyes slid back up towards his friends. He wanted so desperately to tell them. To let them know about the nights he'd blacked out. About the shadow that followed him. But part of him worried that they'd think he was crazy.

No, maybe more than a part. Until recently, Yugi himself would have laughed the story off. Ghosts, demons, the supernatural...they weren't real. Sure, he scared easily...but when things went bump in the night, he knew they had a logical source. As moonlight filtered through the trees outside his window, they cast eerie dark shapes on his walls. Whenever loud noises jolted him from sleep, it was because the wind blew over the trash cans on the curb.

No matter how much he'd wanted life to be more extraordinary, it just wasn't.

And now that it was...he began to regret his wish.

"I-" he started to say, but found his voice caught in his throat. His throat, his tongue stopped moving, as if paralyzed. Though his breathing didn't arrest, something kept his diaphragm from allowing the quick, hyperventilating gasps he wanted to take.

His flushed cheeks and rapid heartbeat were a siren's call. Every time he felt any strong emotions - mostly fear or rage - the puzzle around his neck activated. Physiological response seemed to be the tripwire, from the little he could surmise from his fragmented memories.

A shiver rattled up his spine, as if a pail of freezing cold water had been dumped over him. A withered moan echoed through his ears - a dying man's last breath. Yugi's eyes widened as he felt the sensation of bony, rotting fingers crawling over his shoulder. Every hair stood on end, as if touched by a live wire, and he could feel the blood draining from his face.

"Hey man, are you ok?" Jonouchi asked, but Yugi could barely hear him. A pounding pulse beat out his friend's voice, muffling it. His vision began to dim, swimming and rolling like ocean waves.

Yugi struggled to fight through the fog. Something inside him threatened to bubble to the surface, like vomit rising up his esophagus. It wasn't a pleasant feeling - one that ached with an overwhelming sense of sadness and anger. Strange, powerful, raw emotions that felt like they could tear him inside out. Although these feelings weren't tangible, Yugi tried to grab hold of them, to force them back down.

He had to try. Who knew what would happen if he blacked out here, at school, with his friends to bear witness. Or be the victims.

Yugi's hand crawled forward across the wood grains of his desk, until his fingers hooked around the edge. He gripped it with all his might, watching as his knuckles turned white. The sharp corner cut painfully into his skin, but it kept him on the edge of lucidity.

"Jo...nou...chi," Yugi managed, barely choking out the syllables of his friend's name. Although his jaw was frozen, he still maintained a small level of control over his tongue and lips.

The puzzle didn't like that.

A numbness flooded through his oral nerves, flushing through his teeth and cheeks until it felt like his mouth was full of cotton.

Honda grew more and more anxious, as he watched Yugi's face. "Jou, I think he's going into shock. He's diabetic, isn't he?"

Realization dawned across Jonouchi's face, as he rushed to kneel by Yugi's side. Brushing aside his uniform jacket, he pulled Yugi's shirt up to reveal his glucose sensor.

Jonouchi flinched as he registered the purple and yellow bruises that peppered Yugi's back. Some were dangerously close to the sensor, and a stronger red color...no doubt places where the sensor had been when he was punched.

A thin, plastic tube ran from the small electrode on his lower back to the electronic monitor in Yugi's front pocket. Jonouchi carefully fished it out, trying not to disconnect it as he brought it closer to his face. He didn't have much experience in the diabetes department, and the readout only confused him further.

"Dude, I don't know what any of this means," Jonouchi frowned, passing it to Honda.

"Ok, then go find something with sugar. Candy, mints, anything…I'll take care of this."

As Honda started plugging away at the monitor, Jonouchi jumped over to the ladies huddle in the front of the class.

"Any of you girls happen to have some chocolate or somethin'?" Jonouchi pleaded, "We think Yugi's got low blood sugar."

Anzu's eyes widened, blinking into comprehension. Wordlessly departing from her group, she shrugged her backpack off and approached Yugi's desk.

Jonouchi chased after her, "Uh, Anzu…He-"

But she ignored him. Placing a hand to Yugi's forehead, she swept his dampened bangs aside. His whole body shook beneath her touch, and her eyebrows knit together in concern.

Fishing fruit gummies out of the front pocket of her backpack, she offered them to Yugi in the palm of her hand. His dulled, pained eyes shifted to look down at her palm, but he dared not let go of the edge of the desk. Noises escaped his mouth, but none were coherent.

"Open," she commanded, pushing one of the gummies to Yugi's lips. He struggled to oblige, and she pushed it through the small crack between his teeth. "Chew."

Some of the numbness subsided, and he woodenly bit down on the fruit snack. As his mouth flooded with sweet, cherry flavor, he could feel the pressure of the ghost's grip loosen. He could still sense it behind him, hovering just out of view. But he fixated on Anzu's sparkling, brilliant blue eyes, allowing his body to relax as he got lost in them.

As the sun set behind Domino High School's clock tower, it chimed a cheery tune to signal the end of the day. Orange permeated the darkening blue sky, staining the clouds that streaked the horizon.

Yugi watched it all from the rooftop - the private hideaway he shared with his friends. Leaning against the chain link fencing that encircled the space, he drank in the heavens with a big sigh.

He heard a heavy metal door open, the one that connected the roof to the stairwell. Light footsteps approached, and he shut his eyes, trying to muster some control.

"How are you feeling?" Anzu asked, taking a seat beside him. "You really scared everyone this morning."

Yugi drew his knees to his chest, hugging them anxiously. "I'm doing better." It wasn't the truth, but it wasn't a lie either. He buried half of his face behind his knees, hiding the grimace that twitched across his lips.

"Something's bothering you." She shifted so she could look him dead-on, her gaze intense. "I can always tell, Yugi."

He shrugged, drawing further into himself. It was a familiar pattern, curling around his true feelings and hiding them from the world. It felt safer if no one knew what was really going on inside his head.

"If it's Jonouchi or Honda…" she started, slowly proceeding. But Yugi was quick - perhaps too quick - to cut her off.

"No, it's not them," he interjected. It was an uncharacteristically loud outburst. But he followed up with a quieter, "They're fine."

"Then what it is? I want to help."

When Yugi met her eyes, he saw steely determination. It was the look that she got in her eyes when she wanted to prove herself. To prove she was a good friend.

But then he remembered the face in the mirror last night, his own eyes full of fire and rage and blood. Like a storm in the heart of a sun. He remembered blood mixing with water in his bathroom sink, and the dark shadow that haunted his dreams. The cursed puzzle was a force to be reckoned with, and he didn't want her anywhere near it.

"Believe me. There's nothing you can do."

Hurt flashed across her face, if only for a second. "You won't even let me try?"

"Anzu…" he sighed with a hint of exasperation. Keeping an even keel was proving to be difficult.

"I feel like I don't know what's going on with you anymore. We haven't talked in weeks." As she spoke, her voice trembled. "Ever since you solved that puzzle, and Jou and Honda started hanging around...it's like you're a different person."

Yugi's heartbeat picked up pace, thumping irregularly. His breaths became more shallow, as he tried to will it to slow down. But that familiar, bubbling sensation came over his whole body, drowning him in a stranger's rage and despair.

No, not here. Not in front of her.

He clutched his arms as he scooted away from her, trying to put as much distance between them. The Millenium Puzzle activated, glowing brightly against his stomach as he scrambled to get to his feet. A high-pitched, keening white noise filled the air, and he stumbled, falling to his knees.

"Yugi, what-" Anzu called, moving towards him. But he held out one of his hands in a staying motion.

As he moved his hand, he saw Anzu fly backwards towards the stairwell exit, as if pushed by an unseen force. Her feet left the ground as something invisible carried her, putting more distance between them, and she slammed against the metal door.

His heart skipped a beat when he heard her cry out in pain.

"Get out of here!" he shouted, gripping his head with his free hand. His shadow stretched, expanding beneath him and creeping up the adjacent building wall. It peeled away from the stone with ease, drifting towards him in snaking, black tendrils.

Anzu felt the back of her head, staring at her shaking fingers in horror when they came back bloodied. She stood frozen, her mouth falling open in fear and disbelief, before glancing back up at Yugi.

"RUN!"