Well, this took ages. Firstly because I changed so much of the plot in the previous chapter, and secondly because I was never happy with this chapter to begin with (there were too many plot holes and character defects.) So, after much long and prolonged binging on sweet milky tea and Terry Pratchett, managed to write this out.
P.S to explain the reference to"a sod of a day" later on: Sods law is that if the day starts out wrong, and you think that things can't get any worse... they get worse and worse and worse. Some days you wake up and they're just sod days. Not fun.
Please like, comment and review! And as always, enjoy the chapter! *bows and exits before tea goes cold*
How can it have only been a week?
A week since Ryou kissed you, a week since Sio met Marik, a week since school began, and yet... it feels as though you've been a part of this for years. This country, there s school, this way of life are all different...
But then again, so am I. You hug your books to your chest and bend your head down, smiling slightly at the thought. The smile fades. And now I'd better get to class before Ryou's fan girls find me again...
The bell rings. The school day starts.
...And ends.
Sionnach rushes to her locker, slamming it open and shoving all her books in before yanking her bag out and stuffing it with homework, unable to stop the crazy smile from spreading across her face.
The idiot finally did it! She crows in her head. Finally!
Zipping it shut, she swings it onto her shoulder and speedwalks out. Her face goes from happy to bored, pretending to dig in he pockets for her iPod and headphones. Just like any other student at the gate.
Waiting to be spotted.
An arm slips around her waist. Inside, she grins. Result.
"Hello, gorgeous," Marik purrs beside her ear, deftly leaning in and kissing her once on the forehead. Sionnach glares at him before it breaks into a smirk and she pulls away from his grasp, eyes gleaming.
"Goodbye, pretty," she winks, and heads towards the gate. Marik grabs her hand and pulls her to a halt, smirking back.
"I thought we were going to tell (Y/N) that we're going out now though. What happened to that plan?" He steps in closer, lowering his voice to a murmur. "Unless you want to do something else this evening..."
"Ugh, no! I thought i told you, no sex," she grumbles, but then he smiles at her and she can feel her cheeks turn red.
"I was only playing with you... verbally," he adds. She slaps his hand away and starts to walk in the direction of Domino High.
"G'way outta that now!" But he just laughs and catches up with her, easily falling into step with her long strides.
"So? What's the plan?" He asks, tugging lightly at a lock of her hair. Sionnach just smiles.
"You'll find out when we get there."
"Ryou?"
"Yes?" He's waiting for you to pack your books into your bag, his own on the floor beside his feet. You will probably never find out the mystery of his super fast bag packing. Honestly, it's a miracle of nature the way he's already ready and waiting by the door with his bag on his back while you're still trying to find room for your pencilcase, even though you were both in the same classroom at the same time.
Finally, you close your full to maximum capacity bag and heave it onto your shoulders with a huff. "Why is Kaiba such a dick? The first time I've ever seen him in school, and he just sits there and types stuff on his laptop." You fall into step with each other easily now that the schoolyard rush is over. "And then the one time he says something to me is to comment on how much of a lowlife I am because I don't make time to play Duel Monsters."
"Hes had an sort of hard life," Ryou admits, glancing down at you. "His parents died, so his relatives spent all the money they were left with and shoved them into an orphanage. Then he played a game of chess to get himself and his little brother into a rich home, the Kaiba family. He was forced into rapid learning by Gozaboro on business, game strategy, maths, languages... from what Mokuba hinted at, he had to wear a collar and was whipped repeatedly."
"Huh." Ryou frowns slightly at your reaction, not ready for what comes next. "Makes me realise how lucky I was to live the lifestyle I got." Looking up, you smile. "Hey, Sio. Hey, Marik."
"Hey," Sionnach replies, shouldering her own hefty school bag on to her other shoulder. Marik gives her an odd look and a little hand signal, clearly a "come on" gesture. She ignores it, and instead takes the lead with the Egyptian. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that there is chemistry going on between them.
"So, did you ask him, or did he ask you? It was probably him, to be honest, you and asking is an unconnected circuit in this brain," you say, casually, and by the way Marik stiffness up, you know you've hit the right target. Bingo!
"How did you-" Marik begins to splutter, but Sio just grins and glances back over her shoulder.
"Same night as you two, of course. We went out to lunch on Saturday, and by then it was a done deal." Grinning back at her, you punch her playfully in the arm, delighted with her success.
"And here was me thinking that you were as cold as ice, you sly thing, you."
"How do you know that I'm not still the Iron Woman? I could be just stringing this poor fecker along to break his heart," she retorts, turning to face the front. From behind, you can see Marik's arm slyly slip around hers. She doesn't push it away.
Yeah, right, Sio. You like him, you yell in your thoughts, a small smile on your face. But then Ryou twines his fingers around yours and pulls you back to let Sionnach and Marik go on ahead.
Looking up, his eyes are worried. "Do you mind if I ask you something? In private?" He asks, and you nod. Acid nerves churn in your stomach. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," he reassures you, running his hand through his hair distracted and looking away. "It's just...(Y/N), would you mind if this Saturday I took you somewhere?"
On a date? He added in his thoughts, a silent plea that he desperately wanted her to say yes to.
His eyes are worried, but also hopeful, and you blink at the question and turn away, blushing. On a date? But I've never been on a date, ive barely ever been out to town with anybody other that Sio! What if I mess things up? What if...
What if it happens and he sees me?
"(Y/N)?" She's biting her lip. A good sign or a bad sign? But then she looks at him from under her eyelashes, stepping closer and squeezing his hand.
"It'd have to be early evening, and last sign-in before curfew is eleven-thirty," she warns him, and they both start walking again. Ryou breathes an inaudible sigh of relief. Yes. But he tenses up again when her voice asks him, confused, "but why are you asking today? It's only Monday.. Saturday is ages away still."
"I'm visiting my mother and my onechan for a few days... from tomorrow until late Friday evening I'll be gone." He pulls his hand away. "Besides, I was afraid... you'd refuse..."
Because I'm not good enough.
Because of him.
To Ryou's surprise, she starts to blush. "I'd never refuse my first date." Smiling, she leans up and pecks him on the cheek. "Especially since it's you who's asking, Ryou."
"So... it's a yes?" He presses, as the block of flats draws closer.
Looking up at him, you grab his face and pull him in for a proper kiss, right there in front of the rest of the world, twisting your fingers into his hair while his arm tightens around your waist and his hand cups your cheek, holding the kiss in place. He sighs as you part, eyes full of wonder. "It's a yes," you whisper.
He walks you to your apartment and hugs you goodbye.
"Well, it took him long enough," is Sio's only comment when you tell her that evening over dinner, Marik having gone home hours earlier. "Did he tell you whether it was a formal or an informal?"
"Eh... no..." You say, slowly. "Should he have?"
"So it's probably going to be rather informal. Jeans and a t-shirt or something." Sionnach shovels another forkfull of food into her mouth. "Please come home in one piece, I don't want to be stuck doing the washing up for a month."
"What makes you think that I won't?" Offended, you glare at her lowered head. Ryou's not like that! The worst that could happen is that we both faint from all the blood rushing to our cheeks!
But... he's like that...
"Call it a hunch. Anyway, come on," and with that, she picks up her plate and cutlery, dumping them into the sink. "We need to do our homework."
Grumbling inside, you follow her example. You miss Ryou already.
"You and Ryou are going out officially? (Y/N), that's awesome!" Tea claps her hands together in delight before winking at you. "I told you he liked you, didn't I?"
"Yeah, you did," you laugh, before sobering up again. The trip to school had been lonely without him beside you. "But not until Saturday, he's gone to visit his mother and his little sister for a few days."
"Really? Lucky guy." Joey scratches his head and nudges Yugi. "Wouldn't mind getting off school myself for a few days, what about you, Yug?"
"Hmm? Oh, no, I wouldn't..." Yugi wakes up from staring into the inside of his head. You frown.
Seems he's been doing a lot of that lately, run your thoughts. And its funny, but I haven't seen his floating spirit friend either...
"Okay class, settle down, settle down!" The teacher knocks on his desk for order until everyone goes to their places. He coughs once everybody is silent and attentive, announcing, "So, we have a new student with us here today, and I want you all to give a very warm welcome to..."
But then he steps into the room, and the teacher's words are lost to your ears. It's him! Yugi's friend!
Proud. Handsome. A smirk dances around his lips as he takes in the classroom, softening slightly as he sees Yugi and the gang. From beside you, you can see Tea give a little wave.
So they all know him... probably no room for me in the clique anymore. Inside, under your bored exterior, your heart is beating a sickening thud, thud, thud that you're all too familiar with. I thought that I'd made friends... but never mind. Ryou will be back in a few days. He'll be back soon. A few days, that's all...
Over and over this mantra is repeated inside your skull to drown out the sickening sinking feeling of your heart. It also means that you fail to notice the way that Yami is looking at you intently, as though trying to place you from days long lost.
"Excuse me, sensei," Yami interrupts the teacher's flow of introduction, "but would you mind if I were to sit next to Yugi? He and I know each other of old."
The teacher sags, but nods and waves a hand as consent. As Yami's long, lanky frame prowls between the desks to his seat beside Yugi, you lower your head and close your eyes.
This is going to be the worst day in Japan...
You walk into the cafeteria on your own. The gang are chatting excitedly to Yami at their usual table, and laughing together. For the millionth time that day, you feel the pang of envy in your chest. I wish I had friends like that here... for when Ryou's away...
You get your food and start heading towards their table. The effect is instantaneous; silence spreads from the centre out, so that the sound of your tray on the table makes a loud clack. "Mind if I sit here again?" Mind if I interrupt your private conversation and make your lives a living hell?
"No, (Y/N), it's fine if you do." Tea smiles a bit, but it's sort of forced. No, (Y/N), now fuck off so that we can get back to whatever we were doing before you came here, you translate in your head. Silently, you begin to eat, keeping your head low and your eyes averted from everyone else.
Be small, be invisible, don't be a burden. Be silent and a mere face in the crowd. Be forgettable. Don't interfere with anything. Be polite. Better still, don't be there to be polite. Hide. Run away from all this. The world is not for you, it is for someone else. You are lower than the mud in the fields. The voice jeers on and on, repeating the same stuff over and over again. Loner. Nobody likes you.
Shut up.
Make me.
"So, what happened after you... left your home?" Joey asks Yami, being careful to speak in code. You can practically feel his eyes flicking towards you. "Did you just hide out at Yugi's?"
The spirit laughs. Pretty voice, at least. "Yes, and I nearly gave grandpa a heart attack every time I walked into the kitchen. But he eventually got the enrolment sorted out, as you can see," his hands gesture expansively over himself. You can see them even with your head down.
Then his voice changes slightly, becoming almost as if he was reading a script. "What I would very much like to know is who you are, miss...?"
Your hands tighten around your knife and fork as you keep your voice friendly. "Well, you were there with the rest of them when Ryou introduced me last week, spirit. Is your memory so bad that you don't recognise me, or could you just not see me?"
Tea, Joey and Tristan gasp. Yami chuckles, all pretence of acting gone. "So you really could see me... how intriguing." His chair creaks. He must be leaning forward. His voice turns persuasive. "Can I at least see your face properly when I talk to you, miss O'Hara?
Ignoring him, you continue chewing the food in your mouth, waiting for a few minutes before swallowing and saying, "no, for two reasons." You start loading your fork with more food. "One, because you wanted to see how much I knew before making conversation with me, and two, because I know that the moment I look at you, I'll punch that smug smirk off your face and see how pretty you look with a broken nose."
"(Y/N)!" Tea scolds as you pop the food into your mouth, but then Yami interrupts her.
"Its alright, Tea. She's probably just a little... wound up at the moment."
You place your knife and fork down neatly, side by side, not looking up. How dare he, that bastard! How dare he?
Low, quiet, dangerous is the tone of your voice. "You insult me."
"Do I?" He's not playing games any more. Shoving your chair back, you stand up, leaning your hands on the table, still looking down.
"You know full well that you do. Pharoah," you spit out, screaming inside. Your hands turn to fists. "I'll leave you all in peace to talk if you'll just fucking ask." But the bell rings just then, and you finally glance up and meet him, eye to eye. "Go n-eirí an t-ádh leat," you whisper, smile bitterly, and walk away before they can see your tears.
As usual, Sionnach and Marik are waiting at the gate for you at the end of school, you having rushed out and done a Ryou bag pack before the others could find you and try to talk to you. Sionnach looks up and smiles, but the smile turns to a frown and her eyes narrow.
"Hey," you greet her, failing at an attempt to smile. She glares back.
"You're crying. You've been crying. Who made you cry? What did they do to make you cry? What happened?" She grabs your wrist and your face crumpled up with the effort of not letting the tears escape. "Oh, Christ, (Y/N)..." she mutters, pulling you in for a hug and shoving your head onto her shoulder where the tears soak into the fabric of her jumper. "You must have had a real sod of a day."
"Poor thing," Marik murmurs in agreement. It's all you can do to concentrate on breathing instead of sobbing like a child.
But then their voices can be heard across the schoolyard, calling out to you, and you tighten your vice like grip on Sio's shoulder. Oh shit, not them again...
Unfortunately, Sionnach hears them too.
"OI!" She screams at them, yanking you closer posessively. Oh, deeper Shit. "What the fuck have you lot done to her? She hasn't been like this since Prissy died, four years ago! Come over hare an' oi'll bate the crap outta yez!"
"Came to-apologise-" you hear Yami pant, out of breath. "Didn't know-Ryou -explained-"
"So you basically left her as a loner while ye all had a grand aowld time? Some friends you lot are." Sionnach snorts. "It'll be up to her to decide whether or not to accept it, and that'll surely take her a while for the state she's in. Lave her alone till tomorrow."
"I need to talk to her about something though." Yami sounds desperate, not helped by being winded. "Alone."
"Tomorrow, spirit! Can you not see that she's off her head!" Sio snaps. Time to come out.
"Sio, it's f-f-fine," you manage to sob out, pulling yourself up off her shoulder and trying to wipe away the tears with your sleeve, unsuccessfully. "Let him s-say what he needs to."
Sionnach glares at Yami before muttering under her breath. Marik touches her arm, gingerly. "I know the pharoah from a while back, foxy, he's trustworthy. Let him have his say and then we can all go home, yes?"
"Fine." She stalks off just far enough to be unable to hear, but close enough to still be able to see. Yami stands there, watching you with sad eyes. You hate him for it.
Reaching out, he hesitates and places his hand on your shoulder. "I'm sorry. I was afraid that you were unable to see me, and that it was all an error." He gulps and presses on. "Please do not be upset at the others either; they were merely trying to protect us. You are, after all, only just known to them. It we to be suspected that you were unaware -"
"How?" You half hiccup, half growl out. "I'm going out with someone who has a psychopath stuck in their body with them, did you suspect that maybe, just maybe, he might have forgotten to mention your history?"
"I was afraid!" Yami bursts out, his face suddenly passionate, taking his hand off of your shoulder, only to grab your hand in both of his. You jerk at the contact as he keeps going. "I was afraid that you were not who I remembered you to be, that you were just a lookalike for who you really are, that it was all my fantasy that you could see me. I was so afraid... " he lifts your hand up and kisses it, his eyes meeting yours over your knuckle. "My queen."
