Disclaimer: I don't own YGO!

A/N: Thanks again for all who reviewed! Thursday was Thanks Giving so I had the day off and I really should've been studying for my biology test on Friday, but instead I'm writing this.

If anyone cares 1500 yen is about $12.

Another long-ish chapter for all you peoples out there!

Please keep the reviews coming and if you haven't reviewed please feel free to do so after reading this!

oooooooChapter 4ooooooo

6.45

Yami couldn't believe that it was 6.45am on a Sunday morning and he was already up after having gone to bed late due to the guests. Yami sat on a chair by his window and looked outside at the empty streets. His dreams had been plagued by the sad, but beautiful face of the merboy form Domino Aquarium.

Why couldn't Yami stop thinking about the boy? Why did he haunt Yami when he was awake and in his dreams?

Yami gave a loud sigh; he had no other choice but to see the merboy again tomorrow. It would be the perfect opportunity since he was currently searching for a house and he might as well look at the ones for sale around Domino Aquarium.

Satisfied for the time being, Yami grabbed new clothes and went to take a long cold shower.

ooo

Yuugi opened his eyes slowly, rubbing away the soreness from the big lilac orbs. After hours of crying, the adolescent merboy had finally fallen asleep in the early hours of morning.

Yuugi cautiously peeked out of his cave and fortunately didn't see any humans. He swam to the surface, hoping to catch jii-chan before the crowd came in again.

"Ohayo, jii-chan." Yuugi said, spotting the old man with his back to the pool sweeping the garbage from the floors.

Turning around Sugoroku pulled a smile on his wrinkled face, "Good morning to you, too, Yuugi. Did you sleep well?" Sugoroku saw the need to ask this, though he very well knew the answer.

"Hai."

Well he knew the real answer.

"Today we both have a day off," jii-chan chose to ignore Yuugi's obvious lie, since his grandson was going to get a good night's sleep tonight. "It's a Sunday so the Aquarium is closed. That's why I'm here this late instead of at eight like normally."

The merboy took a while to process this data, but once he had it figured out he broke into a glowing grin that seemed to make the whole room warmer. "Does that mean that there won't be any humans in here to see me?"

"Well, not entirely…" Yuugi's face fell along with the temperature and atmosphere in the show room. "I'm here to see you, aren't I?"

The temperature rose again.

ooo

Ring ring, ring ring

"Moshi moshi, El-Beleidy residence Yami speaking."

"Ah, Mr. El-Beleidy, it's Janice Warmwater from the Real Estate Agency and I just received your request of viewing houses that reside close to Domino Aquarium." An American accent floated from the other end of the receiver.

"Hai; I put in that request this morning," Yami's heart started racing; he might get a new house closer to the merboy. "Are there any houses available?"

"Hai, there are three houses that meet your requirements. All three of them have two bedrooms, kitchen, living room, one large bathroom, medium sized garden and are in the right price range."

Yami silently cheered, "Arigatou. Is there any way to go see the houses already tomorrow?"

"Yes, the landlords are ready to have you look at the houses tomorrow. Can you be at the Aquarium at ten o'clock tomorrow morning? I'll meet you at the entrance and then show you where the houses are."

"That sounds great, Ms. Warmwater, I'll be there tomorrow at ten o'clock sharp. Thanks for calling."

"Arigatou Mr. El-Beleidy, I'll see you tomorrow."

Yami could barely control his emotions as he hung up the phone. He could go to the Aquarium early tomorrow morning, see the marine teen and go check out the houses. All in a morning's work!

And maybe after house-shopping go see the merboy again.

ooo

Yami was driving towards the Aquarium the next day at eight in the morning. This was the usual time for the Aquarium to open and he wanted to be one of the first people there.

Yami stopped at the red lights and turned on the CD player. Melanie's Disney CD was still in the slot, but Yami didn't seem to notice; he was busy thinking about the merboy he had seen on Saturday.

Yami thought back to the event; he could vividly recall the merboy's every feature. The beautiful amethyst eyes that were frightened beyond belief, the smooth yet toned chest that was exposed and last, but certainly not least, the flowing cerulean tail. It was sculpted perfectly and the surface looked scaly yet smooth. The only imperfection that Yami had seen had been the scars. Where had they come from?

HONK

Yami was thrown out of his musings by the car behind him. Realising that the lights were green he shifted the gears to the first and took off flashing an apology.

The adolescent arrived at the Aquarium without any further mishaps.

As Yami walked in the first thing he noticed was the change of decoration. There were posters and signs all over the place announcing the Aquarium's rarest display animal; a mermaid.

Yami was disgusted by there posters. They said things like: 'See the world's most wondrous animal in the Dolphin Pool!' and 'Right this way guests! See a real mermaid at your very own Domino Aquarium!'

How could they treat the poor, innocent merboy like that? What had he ever done to them? And how dare they call Yami's beautiful creature an animal?

Still fuming Yami paid the lady at the register, thankful that there weren't that many people there yet. Soon, however, Yami knew that the word would spread and greedy aquarium owners from all around the globe would want to see and maybe buy the merboy.

Yami stopped dead in his tracks. What if someone buys my merboy? What will I do then? Go after him? But what if he's shipped to America or somewhere else that far and out of my reach?

The teen sighed; he would just have to cross that bridge if it came… No! I can't think like that! He will not be sold!

Arriving at the merboy's 'home', Yami was greeted with loud, angry voices all complaining about not being able see the mermaid in the tank.

The fatter of the managers was trying to calm the screaming crowd down, saying that the mermaid was still shy and that's why the prices were so low at the moment. He assured them that the mermaid would get braver as time went on, but the people would have to be patient.

Yami snorted at the whole speech. If these people said that 1500 yen was a small price then he was sure to go bankrupt in a week if they increased the prices.

Navigating through the angry mob, Yami made his way to a spot that was facing the small cave in the pool. The merboy must be in there, Yami thought. Then again I would probably be hiding too if I were taken from home and put on display.

Yami was forced to take a small step to the right to avoid bumping into someone and that's when he saw it.

The petite merboy was curled up in his dark cave, hugging his legs—or tail as Yami latter corrected himself—to his chest. Yami looked on sadly at the nymph in front of him. It didn't look like he was crying, but the young adult guessed that the aquatic teen had no more tears left to cry.

That was how Yami spent the next hour or so of his Monday morning; string at the merboy in his miserable cave. Oh how he wished that there was some way to help the poor teen. How he just wanted to take the boy home with him and tell him—

Tell him what exactly? How sorry Yami felt for him? How beautiful he was? How Yami wished for him to be back with his friends and family? How Yami didn't want him to go back, but stay for all eternity? He really had no idea what to tell the boy in the tank if he ever got to meet him.

Well, I better get going; it's almost ten and I wouldn't want to be late for the meeting with Ms. Warmwater.

Yami was about to leave when he swore that he saw the merboy shake himself. Or maybe it was just wishful thinking, for when he took a closer look the teen was still as a statue.

Shrugging off the weird hallucination, Yami made sure to mentally mark the only spot from which the interior of the cave could be seen. With one last look at the tank Yami turned about face and aimed for the door. He never noticed a pair of lavender eyes watching his retreating back.

ooo

Yuugi had been wallowing in self misery until he felt someone watching him. He could feel that the watch was not like the ones he had felt before; this one was sorrowful and the merboy knew that this was not either of the managers or an ordinary person. This one was special.

All other eyes always looked at Yuugi with greed, desire and hunger. These eyes made Yuugi shiver and sink further into his pool of misery.

Perhaps it was ironic that Yuugi was drowning while he could breathe underwater.

Yuugi shook himself from his thoughts, but froze instantly. What if someone saw? Wait, someone had seen: those eyes.

The pale teen wanted, no needed to see the eyes of the one he felt so connected to. But, as luck would have it, the minute Yuugi gathered up the courage to look up from his 'knees' the person was already walking away. Yuugi felt a strong urge to swim after him, to pound on the glass of the tank and demand that the human take him away from this hellhole.

The small boy's fear, however, held him back. There was no way he was going to leave the safety of his small, but homely cave just to go after an illusion.

Yeah, that's it, it was only an illusion. I'm in desperate need for comfort and I just imagined the person staring at me. He probably didn't even see into the cave…

With that last miserable thought, Yuugi lie on the floor of the cave and fell into a sleep that was plagued by prodding and pointing humans. And, of course, the eyes.

ooo

Yami had been to all three of the houses and the last one seemed perfect.

The minute Yami stepped inside the small, but homely house he knew that Yuugi would love to live there.

The house was just like the merboy that seemed to follow Yami everywhere; small yet it seemed to be perfect in size, pure and perfect. Even the walls in the living room and connected kitchen matched the small teen in the dolphin pool at Domino Aquarium, as they were painted a pale, almost white, beige colour.

Yami discussed his interest in the house and Ms. Warmwater looked through all of her files.

"It seems that there are no other people interested in this house, so unless we get a client, the house is yours Mr. El-Beleidy."

"Arigatou gozamaisu, Ms. Warmwater."

Yami watched as the American woman drove off and, with one last look at his soon-to-be house, he got into his car and started the engine. That house will be perfect for the merboy! I'm sure that he'll love it! Yami stopped before leaving for the main road. Wait a minute, why do I keep thinking that the merboy could live with me? There is no way that I could buy him from the Aquarium and even if I could I don't have a tank or pool to keep him in…

Yami sighed as he left the driveway of the house. There was no point in dreaming if there was no way for the dreams to come true.

Why am I so attached to the boy anyway? I don't even know him… Yami parked the car in the parking lot of Domino's only aquarium and aimed for the main doors.

Once inside, a light bulb went on above Yami's head. 'That's it' was his only thought as he headed for the manager's office instead of the dolphin pool.

ooo

For the first time in his life Yami was happy to get out of bed at six in the morning. He showered, ate and brushed his teeth with a smile on his face.

The eighteen-year-old ran down the stairs and kissed his mother on the cheek.

"Ohayo, okaa-san and otou-san." Yami's father, Heba, nodded to his son in greeting.

Megumi smiled at her son's happiness. "Ohayo Yami-dear, may I ask why you are so happy this morning?"

"I just got a new job, which I'm sure that I'll love!"

"Really?" Heba asked with a raised eyebrow. "And what would that job be?"

Yami hesitated for a while, "Well there was a free opening at the Aquarium and I went in for an interview the day I took Melanie there."

"That's great, Yami!" Megumi said before Heba could note that Yami never answered his question. "But what are you going to do about your other job? You aren't quitting, are you?"

"No, okaa-san, I'm not. I already arranged the work hours so that they wouldn't interfere with my other job and the manager was fine with that."

"Hmmm," Heba hummed returning to his newspaper. "I've heard that the manager isn't too nice of a person. Why would he let you work less?"

Yami was putting his shoes on at this point, not wanting to be late least he get fired before he could meet the merboy personally. "I'm just going to be helping an old man with his job, since he apparently needs some help with his duties. I would love to stay and talk, but I really have to go now."

With a final bye, Yami slammed the door shut and ran to his car. Maybe he could go see the teen before he had to clean something with the old man. Yami hadn't been told where he would be working, but anywhere was fine by him—even cleaning the bathrooms—as long as it was in the same building as a certain half-fish boy.

ooo

Sugoroku Motou was worried.

He was supposed to get some help to clean out the pool area and he wasn't too fond of other people around his grandson. What if this new guy hurt Yuugi? Sugoroku knew that he would be no match against the new kid if he tried anything funny.

Sighing, the old man splashed the water around in the tank—Yuugi's cue to come up.

The little merboy heard the noise and went up to greet the bandanna-wearing old man with one of his bright smiles.

"Ohayo, jii-chan. It's a lovely day, isn't it?" Yuugi said absentmindedly, looking out of the many windows that surrounded the pool.

"I don't know, my boy." Sugoroku hated being the bearer of bad news, but it had to be done. "Today I'm getting a young man to assist me with the cleaning of this place."

Yuugi beamed, "That's great! This way you won't have to do as much!"

"No, Yuugi, this is not good." Yuugi's face fell immediately. "What if he hurts you? We don't know anything about this boy and I would hate it if something bad happened to you."

"Well you could get to know him first and see what he's like. If he's horrible then I can just stay in the cave the whole day and only talk to you when he's not here."

Sugoroku smiled at the brilliance of the simple plan. "That's perfect, but remember not to come out if he splashes the water's surface. I'll splash five times, ok?"

Yuugi nodded, but before he could say anything the door opened and a young male walked in.

"Um, hello I'm Yami and I'll be working here from today. I just dropped by to see the merboy." Yami was a bit hesitant, for he saw that this man did not like outsiders near his pool. "I hope that it's okay with you."

Sugoroku was cautious, but the fact that this 'Yami' had called Yuugi a merboy was getting him on the old man's good side. Sugoroku followed him to the lower floor and watched as Yami moved to the mentally marked spot on the floor.

This boy must actually care; he doesn't think that Yuugi is a thing, but a person and he wanted to see Yuugi so badly that he memorized the only spot that has a view of the inside of the cave. Maybe it won't be so bad working with this boy, but I will have to keep an eye on him for a while…

Work was almost staring so Yami thanked the old man (who had told him that his name was Sugoroku Motou) and left to meet the manager.

ooo

Sugoroku had just started his shift when the large doors opened again. He turned to greet Yami, ready to make a comment about the luck that they were working together, when he froze.

This new guy was not Yami.

Maybe he wasn't here for the job.

"I'm here for the job, you old coot."

Thank you, Lady Luck.

ooo

Yami had lied.

He didn't think it was fine to be cleaning the bathrooms even if he was in the same building as his prescious merboy.

Yami silently thanked Ra for lunch breaks.

ooo

Sugoroku sighed in irritation. The new guy didn't do any work; he just sat by the pool splashing the water's surface, hoping that Yuugi would come up.

As lunch came around he left early muttering something about a stupid mermaid.

Yuugi had lots of visitors so it wasn't safe to talk to the small boy. He sighed again, wishing that there was someone to talk to besides the broom stick.

"Is everything alright, Motou-san?" A friendly voice asked from behind the old man.

"Ah, Yami-kun," Sugoroku turned to him and patted the spot next to him in the stands. "Have a seat. How is your job coming along?"

This time it was Yami's turn to sigh. "It's not really; there's nothing exciting about cleaning the bathrooms of this place."

"I, too, am having a horrible day work-wise. I received a new assistant, who I thought would be you after you came to see me this morning. However, it turns out that the young man was just someone who is after Yuugi."

Yami perked up at this. "Who's Yuugi?" Was that the name of the lovely merboy just over ten metres below them?

Sugoroku stilled for a moment until he decided that now that the harm was done there was no way to undo it. "Yuugi is the name of the merboy…" He hesitated for a second, "I gave him that name when he came." A little white lie never hurt anyone.

"Oh, I see." Yami had no reason not to trust the old man, so he was still oblivious to Yuugi's communication abilities. "Do you mind if I call him Yuugi? It's a beautiful name and it really seems to suit his innocence."

Purple eyes smiled at the young male sitting next to him. "I thought so, too. And hai, you can call him Yuugi."

"Arigatou."

oooooooChapter 4ooooooo