Chapter 2: Duel Bonding

June 2002

A soft blush stained Yugi's cheeks as his amethyst eyes locked with the brunette's brilliant emerald orbs. He watched her for several long moments, trying to think of something to say. It was so easy for his brother to talk to girls; why did he have to be so shy around them?!

His thoughts were broken when he heard the brunette speak.

The girl's began smiling and gave a little wave. The other brunette girl looked at her and whispered, "Who are you waving at?"

Since his brother was seemingly stuck in a daze, Yami decided to speak up.

"Good afternoon, ladies. Don't mind my brother, he has no idea of how to talk to girls."

"Hey!" Yugi cried indignantly.

Hailey got up and went over, blushing. "Hey, I'm Hailey. What's your name?"

Yami chuckled and ruffled his brother's wild hair, smirking when Yugi slapped his hand away and scowled at him.

Yugi's gaze went from Yami to Hailey, the shy smile returning to his features. "My name's Yugi. It's nice to meet you, Hailey. Are you new to Domino?"

"Yeah, we just moved from California. That's my sister, Luna." Luna waved.

"Oh, you're sisters? That's nice. This is my brother, Yami."

"Pleasure, ladies." Yami said suavely, making Yugi roll his eyes.

"Go get some ice cream and join me at another table." Hailey offered, nodding to an empty table.

Hey, you'd leave us?" Luna complained.

"It's fine. Let these two get acquainted." Tea giggled, her azure eyes lighting up as they met with Yami's deep fuchsia gaze.

"Go ahead, squirt. I'll just be over here." Yami teasingly elbowed his brother.

"Don't call me that!" Yugi pouted, glaring at his brother.

Hailey giggled. "I'll be over there. Come over when you have your ice cream." Hailey walked over to the table, her dress hem swishing against her legs.

Yugi watched her walk away to the table, his cheeks burning with a blush. It took a pinch on the arm from Yami to bring him back to his senses. "Ow! What was that for?!"

"You were spacing out, little bro. I had to bring you back down to Earth." Yami chuckled, throwing an arm around Yugi's shoulders. "C'mon, let's get what we came here for, shall we?"

Yugi went over to the counter and ordered a cookies and cream two scoops in a bowl. "What do you want?"

Yami studied the selection for a moment, before settling on a double-dip of pistachio and butter pecan ice cream in a waffle cone.

Yugi headed over to the table. "Hey, have I seen you before?" he teased.

"You know me, silly." Hailey giggled.

"Yeah, I know. I just thought I'd try one of my brother's favorite pick-up lines." Yugi laughed a bit as he sat down across from Hailey. "So. You're from California? When did you move here to Domino?"

"We moved here from San Diego just a couple days ago. You been in Domino all your life?"

"Yep. Born and raised here."

"Cool. So what do you like to do?"

"Well, I love playing games, for one! Just ask my brother, we game competitively all the time!"

"I'm pretty good at it, too. Maybe we can duel sometimes."

"Sure! My grandpa helped me build my deck, and it's never let me down, not even once."

"Well, you haven't faced me yet." Hailey smirked confidently.

"Oh? Are you challenging me right now?" Yugi smirked as well, reaching for his pocket.

Hailey removed her own deck. "Bring it on."

Yugi started to shuffle his deck. "Oh, it's brought!"

The duel started and it was close but Hailey won. "Yes! I won, I won!" Hailey chanted.

"Okay, you won, now stop screaming it to the world!" Yugi pouted, putting his deck away.

"Sorry. I just didn't expect to beat you on my first try." Hailey said, ignoring Yami's chuckling.

"Well, you put up a good fight." Yugi praised, smiling again. "Most duelists don't play as offensively and defensively as you do."

Hailey smiled back. "Thank you. So...um...you want to go out sometime?" she blushed as she said so.

Yugi blushed, nodding shyly. "S-sure...I...I'd love to go out with you, sometime."

"While we're abandoning our friends anyway, you want to eat our ice cream outside?"

"Sure! Then I don't have to have my brother teasing me about losing to a girl."

Hailey giggled. She got up and led him out into the heat. "Whew, it's hot out here."

Yugi nodded, sitting at one of the tables. "Sure is! Was it not this hot in your old home?"

"Of course. I'll never get used to the heat though."

"You prefer cool to hot, don't you?"

"I hate cold too but warm to cool is fine."

"So as long as it's not hot or cold, you're fine?"

"Exactly."

"Well then, that's good to know! I personally prefer spring and autumn, anyways."