Chapter 3: A Friend Who Knows (2,340 Words)
Yuugi sat at the library for the second time in a row that week. He withheld a rude sigh as Ryou flipped through yet another textbook. With Joey, all Yuugi had to do was make sure that it was C-grade material, but Ryou wanted to get the best grade possible. Not that I'm complaining, Yuugi mused sullenly. I did agree to help him after all. He glanced over to the librarian who sat behind her desk.
She was watching the two of them with tired eyes. She was obviously displeased at them being there so close to closing: They closed early every Thursday. Yuugi gave Ryou's arm a little nudge, and the white-haired boy looked up with a confused expression on his face. "Maybe we should just check these books out and continue this at my place," Yuugi offered. He motioned towards the librarian to see that she had turned off her computer and other electronics. Ryou saw this and sent her an apologetic smile.
"That seems like a good idea," Ryou said and began to build a pile of textbooks. He hauled them over to the librarian's desk, and she checked them out quickly. Yuugi packed up their stuff and moved to stand behind Ryou as he finished checking them out.
"I'm sorry we kept you," Yuugi offered with a smile before giving the lady a wave and walked through the door. He caught up to Ryou who was waiting for him patiently a few meters down the sidewalk. As Yuugi half-ran half-limped to catch up, Ryou finally saw that his friend was hiding a limp to his gait.
"Yuugi," he began softly, "What happened to your foot?"
"What?" Yuugi questioned, but then he remembered. "Oh, that." He gave Ryou a sheepishly innocent smile. "I only tripped down some stairs yesterday." He had decided earlier that day when Joey asked him about it that he'd keep the story he had created last night.
"Stairs? You didn't hurt anything else did you?" Ryou asked. His sweet voice was touched with concern for his friend, but Yuugi sensed that he didn't truly believe in his story.
At Ryou's question, Yuugi remembered Yami's words. "Nothing has been broken, but your foot will be sore from kicking Gilfred. Expect some scratches on your back from the wall as well." Yuugi smiled at the memory but then remembered Ryou's question. "No, I'm fine except for the few scraps on my back that don't really hurt anymore."
"I could give Melvin a call and have him pick us up?" Ryou offered politely.
"No, it's alright. I don't think he'd take it well if you told him that he had to attach the sidecar to his motorcycle." They both laughed at the thought.
"Yeah," Ryou mused aloud with a fond smile. "He would be really pissed off."
"Besides," Yuugi said, "It's not that far of a walk to the game shop from here." Then he thought, Although, it felt like an eternity last night.
"Let's get going before it gets dark," Ryou said, and the two began to walk. "Melvin would kill me if I stayed out too late."
Yuugi laughed. "Yeah, then Bakura would bring you back to life and go after Melvin for harming his little brother."
Ryou giggled, and a smile came upon his face. "Then I would have to stop him."
The conversation was lost as they simply enjoyed each other's company. Cars went by as they walked down the sidewalk. People walked in and out of stores just going about their daily lives. The wind rattled the leaves on the nearby trees, and Yuugi was enjoying the atmosphere. It wasn't until they approached the alleyway that he had been attacked in last night did he say something.
"Can we cross the road?"
Ryou looked at him with a puzzled expression. "Pardon?" When Yuugi repeated the question, Ryou simply nodded. He didn't know why his friend had asked him that, but he knew by the way Yuugi was fidgeting with his sleeve that something was bothering him. Once they had crossed the road and gone a block or two, they returned to the side from which they were originally walking down. "Is everything okay, Yuugi?" Ryou asked upon hearing him sigh in what Ryou could only assume to be relief.
"It's nothing," Yuugi assured him with a smile.
Ryou nodded, but he was suspicious nonetheless. Why would someone avoid one specific section of sidewalk? He glanced over his shoulder to give the sidewalk a questionable look over. Nothing seemed out of place. His brown eyes looked among the buildings and alleyways. Then it dawned on him. He looked down to Yuugi's foot and then back up to the street. He remembered Joey saying something about staying out later than usual last night, and he knew Yuugi had been helping him with his project. Was Yuugi attacked last night? He decided to press a little further.
"Were you attacked last night, Yuugi?" Ryou decided not to beat around the bush with it but realized too late that that was a mistake. Seeing his friend freeze and stop dead in his tracks only confirmed his thoughts. Yuugi's eyes were hidden behind his bangs, and his lips were pressed into a fine line. "Yuugi?" Ryou asked softly and reached out to touch his friend's shoulder. He failed to hide the pained expression that crossed his face when his friend flinched away from him.
"S-Sorry," Yuugi said quietly.
"No, I'm sorry, Yuugi. I shouldn't have pressed like that. It was insensitive of me."
"No, no," Yuugi said and shakily looked up at his friend. "I shouldn't have lied to you, but I didn't think you'd believe me if I told you and everyone else what had happened…" He trailed off and looked down as if in shame.
"Yuugi, we all know you're not a liar. Why wouldn't we, your friends, believe you?" Ryou reached out and ran his hand through Yuugi's hair in a comforting way. He tried not to pull away when the boy whimpered.
"Last night, I was attacked by… vampires."
To Yuugi, it seemed like the entire world stilled at his statement. Silence rang throughout his head as he saw Ryou's face twist into one of immense confusion. "Vampires? Are you sure you weren't just hallucinating?"
Yuugi sighed in exasperation. "See? This is exactly why I didn't want to tell you!" he exclaimed. "No one believes in that supernatural crap anymore! I didn't want to go spouting on about it only to be put in some kind of mental institution!" Yuugi had a frantic look in his light violet eyes, and he knew it by the way Ryou was looking at him.
"Yuugi," Ryou began but was cut off by Yuugi. He gave a sideways glance at the few people who were littered around them. "Please quiet down."
Yuugi slammed his hands into his pockets. He felt irritated by the fact that Ryou didn't believe him. I have no reason to make up such a lie, Yuugi thought heatedly. "I'm not lying. Didn't you just say that you trusted me?"
"Yuugi," Ryou began again. His brown eyes met with Yuugi's violet ones. He could see the fear and pain behind his friend's eyes, but Ryou knew that vampires didn't exist. He also knew he was about to make Yuugi very upset if he wasn't already. "I think you just think that you saw vampires, Yuugi. They don't actually exist."
Yuugi gave his best scowl. "Then how did I get this?" He went to reach into his uniform's breast pocket, but he found nothing there. He looked down to confirm his fears. The handkerchief that Yami had slipped to him was gone! His eyes widened as he frantically looked around the sidewalk for the cloth.
"How'd you get what, Yuugi?" Ryou asked curiously despite being genuinely scared for his friend's mental well-being.
"No," Yuugi whimpered. He helplessly looked back down the street that they had come down. "It's gone…"
Ryou came to stand beside his friend. "What's gone?" His eyebrows creased as he frowned.
"The handkerchief that Yami gave me. He was the vampire who saved me last night." At Yuugi's honest, and quite heartbroken, reply, Ryou began to doubt that the boy was lying. The broken and scared look in his eyes couldn't be faked easily, and everyone knew Yuugi was a terrible actor. "Wait a minute, Yami must have taken it this morning."
"Pardon?"
Yuugi turned towards his friend. "Yami came and helped me out this morning when Ushio and his gang were going to hurt me. He had to of taken it when we hugged."
"Wait," Ryou said. He was struggling to keep up with Yuugi's rambling. "If what you say is true and there are vampires out there, why the bloody Hell did you hug one?" At that moment, it was the sole thing Ryou could focus on, and he was getting a headache to top it off.
Yuugi blinked and gave him a look that said, 'Seriously? It's obvious.' "He's the one who saved me Ryou. Twice! If he had wanted to kill me or something, he could have done just that last night. But no, he killed the other vampires AND got rid of those bullies!" He crossed his arms and looked pleased as he finished defending Yami.
By now, Ryou was holding his head up with his hand. He was definitely getting a headache. Yuugi suddenly asked him if he thought that Yuugi was still lying. "No, no," Ryou said after a moment of gathering his scattered thoughts, "There's no way you'd come up with a lie with that much detail. That and Ushio was yelling at Bakura today because Ushio thought that Bakura had finally killed his so-called 'friends'. They are missing."
They probably won't be found, Yuugi thought. He thought back to when Yami had come to save him that morning. The vampire was angry for a reason Yuugi couldn't place:
/Yuugi felt a rumble in Yami's chest and realized that the vampire was growling. "You'll regret threatening something that belongs to me," Yami snarled. The dark light that surrounded them both suddenly burst towards the six students. It hovered around them, not quite touching them like the light would do with Yuugi, in a threatening display.
Yami's sweetly undead breath ghosted across his cheek as he whispered into Yuugi's ear. A shiver shot down his spine at the strange feeling. "Close your eyes, little one." Yuugi didn't hesitate to do so and clenched his eyes tightly shut. He felt Yami move his hands to cover his ears, and he heard nothing for several seconds. He pressed himself closer to the vampire to assure himself that Yami was still there. Yuugi didn't know what was happening or about to happen, but he was pretty sure he didn't want to know.
As soon as everything happened, it was over. Yami removed his hands from Yuugi's ears, and Yuugi felt brave enough to open his eyes. They widened when he didn't see any trace of the six bullies. He turned in Yami's now gentle grip to stare up at the vampire. His eyes had returned to their dark violet color, and the anger that had been there before was gone. Yuugi could only see amusement mixed with a hint of concern in the violet pools./
He couldn't help but be disappointed by the fact that Ryou had to rely on secondary information, from Ushio no less, to believe his story. He sighed wearily and ran a hand through his thick hair. At least he believes me now, he thought gratefully. He could see that Ryou was thinking it over in his head, so Yuugi gently grabbed his arm to guide him towards the Kame Game Shop. Although, if Yuugi was to speak honestly, he really didn't want to do anymore Chemistry work.
Yami watched from the roof of a nearby building as Yuugi pulled the white-haired boy across the street in an effort to avoid the alleyway from the night before. It appears he is still afraid, Yami thought in anguish. He didn't want his little one to be frightened of him or of vampires.
He watched as the pair walked a little ways before crossing the street again. It was then that he was able to overhear the conversation between Yuugi and the white-haired boy who had been dubbed as Ryou. He nearly jumped down from the building when he heard their little argument and the emotion laced in Yuugi's words. Yami wasn't pleased that Yuugi had told Ryou about the attack, but he knew that it would've happened eventually. He absentmindedly fingered the handkerchief that was in his pocket.
When Yuugi went to show Ryou the handkerchief and found it missing, Yami's heart clenched at the lost and sorrowful tone in Yuugi's voice. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it. As if Yuugi had read Yami's mind, Yuugi then exclaimed that he knew Yami had to of taken in during their brief contact that morning.
The vampire couldn't help but smirk at Yuugi's intelligence and the happiness and relief that could be found in his voice. He enjoyed the next few minutes of conversation in calm amusement as Ryou gradually began to believe Yuugi's tale. He watched with bloody red eyes as his little one dragged Ryou along towards what he knew to be Yuugi's home.