Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing. I would like to say that one of the reviewers did guess the villain (Congratulations by the way) and one person who reviewed as a guest made a comment I thought was priceless. (You know, I never really considered the millennium puzzle to be a dress code violation, but you are so right. That had never occurred to me. XD) I hope you enjoy.
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The rest of the week passed almost silently. Joey and Yugi had come to a silent agreement that every morning Yugi would drag me down to where Joey and the breakfast vendor waited. We'd talk a bit before I'd send Yugi home and Joey and I would walk to school together, munching on our food. I'd always share with Yugi, though sometimes Joey would feed him. It was adorable watching the two of them communicate.
Another habit my neko had developed was wandering. He'd always go out wandering the woods while I was at school and work. Sometimes he would still be out behind the house when it was time for bed, so I'd leave the kitchen window open for him. I kept scolding him every time he did, though, that one day, some animal would get a hold of him if he wasn't careful, but he'd always just smile and promise to do so.
School ended and Joey convinced me, Tristan, and Tea to celebrate at Burger World. Unfortunately, that left Yugi at home alone. "Are you sure you'll be alright? We'll be out until about eleven."
"Yami, I'll be fine." Yugi grinned, ears perked excitedly.
I put on a leather jacket and looked in the mirror. "Hey, Yugi?"
"Hmm?"
"Do, ah, do I look alright? I mean, this is the first time classmates have asked me out. I don't want to overdress, but I also don't want to underdress. Burger World is a fast food place, so leather might be too much, but we're celebrating the end so school, so does that mean my school uniform jacket is out?" I paused. "I need new jackets."
"Yami." Yugi jumped on me. Because he was in neko form, and I wasn't expecting it, we ended up on the floor, Yugi sitting on me. "Joey, Tristan, and Tea are your friends." He leaned down so we were nose to nose, and spoke slowly, like I was three. "They don't care how you dress, or what jacket you wear. They just want to have fun with their friend."
Suddenly, a loud knocking was heard from downstairs. "That'd be Joey." I picked Yugi up and walked out of my room. By the time we'd reached the bottom of the stairs, he'd shifted to full cat.
"Hey, Yami. Ready to go?" Joey wore a green, jean jacket with a black t- shirt and old blue jeans. I sighed in relief, as I was dressed about the same.
"Yeah, almost. Come on in." I stepped aside and closed the door behind him.
"Whoa, man. Don't your parents ever clean?" he teased, seeing my living room. It was currently a mess, as Yugi and I'd been horsing around earlier, our own version of an end of school celebration.
"Sorry about the mess, by the way. And Yugi and I live alone." I sat my housemate on the couch as I passed by and refilled his water dish. Then I grabbed the mackerel flavored kitty treats, (as soon as Yugi had first had them, I could get him to do anything) and handed a few to Joey. "Play with him for a minute? I'll be right back down."
"Yeah, sure. We're running early anyway." He sat on the ground as Yugi leapt all over him, trying for his hand. Joey held it away from him, and, in a last ditch effort, Yugi pounced on his head to reach the withheld treats. "Hey. Do I look like a step stool to you?" he laughed.
Yugi meowed in response. I left the room to grab my wallet, phone, and house keys, and then headed back downstairs. "I see you and Yugi are having fun." I chuckled. Joey was flat on his back, trying to fend off the little kitten.
"Yeah, Yug's cute. Hey, were you serious when you said it's just you two here?"
"Yeah. My parents travel a lot. They send money for the house, but, really, the last time I saw them was about four . . . four and a half years ago. They don't know about Yugi, or even the fact that I have a job."
"Wow. Wait, you have a job? Where?"
"World Cuisine. I'm a waiter."
"That's that fancy place, right? I thought they only hired foreigners?"
"They prefer foreigners, but about two or three people on staff are full Japanese. I'm Egyptian, by the way."
His eyes bugged out. "Sorry. I just realized I'm the most unobservant person in the country, I seriously thought you were native." We laughed at that. "But maybe I could get a job there." He mused.
I cocked my head to the side, absently stroking Yugi, who'd calmed down a bit. "You're foreign? Really? From where?" I'd noticed that Joey didn't exactly look, or sound, for that matter, fully Japanese, but hadn't thought much of it.
"I'm half American. My dad's Japanese, while my mother's American. She raised me and my sister in Brooklyn until I was about eight, then I got sent here. I loved my family, but my mom could tell that I didn't really . . . fit in. I moved out here, and I just felt like, I dunno, I was home. Never been here before, I just knew I belonged."
"I was born in Egypt, but my parents immediately moved us to India for their travels. I don't even remember all the countries I visited before I started school. They tried to move me to another school every time we were in a new place, but after six different kindergartens, they settled in Japan for a few years until I was old enough to stay home alone. Then they want right back to exploring the world. So I guess I'm a bit of every country. But both my parents are fully Egyptian. They wanted me to be born in their home country." We sat there in silence for a minute, until a toy mouse sailed between us and hit the clock on the table.
"Ah dang! We're going to be late! Thanks, Yugi!" Joey called, already running for the door.
I followed, stopping just long enough to tell Yugi, "Don't get into trouble without me, alright?"
He grinned. "Mew."
Reassured, I shut and locked the door, then caught up with Joey, who was pretending to pull away from the curb. I jumped in and we headed off.
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The werewolf crouched up a sturdy oak tree. 'Don't bite it,' had been his orders. 'just capture it and bring it to me.' He snorted. His master never liked to lose at anything, and being the only butler in the house, he'd known this for years. He was used to all sorts of orders. And because it was his job to follow each and every one without question, he was now seated fifteen feet off the ground, waiting for the neko boy to appear. He'd long since followed his scent to the house, and discovered his love for exploring the woods, but his master had told him to wait. Wait, because, on the off chance that he got away, there would be someone in that house to help him. But he himself had watched the car drive away. He was alone.
*Snap*
He focused in on the sound. Soft footsteps were heading in his direction. A snarl formed in his throat, but he forced himself to remain silent. He wouldn't alert his prey to his presence. Not yet. He could see him now, just going for a walk.
The werewolf pounced, claws tearing into the flesh of the neko's back. It screamed underneath him, flailing its own claws, but failing to do much damage. He tried to quiet it, but claws tore at his throat. "You're coming with me!" he growled, slashing at the closest arm. The neko was on its back now, silent. They stared at each other. Thinking he'd won, the werewolf moved his paws, attempting to grab it's wrists. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't fast enough. The raked his claws across his eyes as viciously as h could, then ran. He ran like the devil himself was after him. Which, in his eyes, he was.
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"What do you mean you 'lost it'?" His boss yelled, furious.
"I-I'm terribly sorry, sir." The werewolf stuttered, eyes closed. That neko had done a number on them, and he wasn't able to open them yet, to see if he'd been blinded or not.
"I don't want to hear your pathetic excuses." Boss growled, his lone eye flashing dangerously. "You had it! It was injured! And yet you not only let it get away, you allowed it to injure you as well! You're a disgrace!" He stopped pacing long enough to think. "Since what has happened cannot be changed, we might as well find a way to make it work for us."
"Sir, as soon as they find it wounded, they'll go get help from others."
"Exactly." The werewolf shuttered at the grin he knew was on his boss's face.
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Sleep. That's all I wanted. To just close my eyes and drift off into sweet oblivion.
"Yami. Wake up. I'm not carrying you inside" I jumped as Joey shook me.
"Hmm? Oh *yawn* sorry. I'm not used to staying up this late."
"Well, you did have fun, right?"
I yawned again. "Defiantly." I smiled as I got out of the car. "Thanks for the ride, by the way."
"No problem." He drove away and I went inside.
"Yugi, I'm home!" I called. No answer. Walking into the kitchen, I was greeted to the sight of the window still open. I groaned. Yugi always remembered to close the window when he returned, so this meant that he was still out. 'Oh, well. I'll just have a word with him tomorrow.'
Not bothering to do anything to get ready for bed outside of removing my shoes and jacket, I flopped down and was out before my head hit the pillow.
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When I woke up, the sun was already shining, and birds were awake and singing. I rolled over and looked at my clock. 9:23 am. I was too alert to fall back to sleep by this point, so I sighed and got out of bed to meet Joey at the vendor's for breakfast. I showered, changed, and brushed my teeth, then headed downstairs to where Yugi was waiting for me. Or, where he was usually waiting. Today, all I saw was an empty living room, still messy from the day before.
"Yugi?" I called, beginning to get worried. Absently, I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling a slight breeze. 'Wait, breeze?' I thought. 'That means . . .' My eyes widened, and I spun around. 'No!' The window was open. Yugi never came home last night.
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And that's the end of this chapter. I also have a contest for you all. My 50th reviewer will be given the option of choosing which of a few characters will be appearing in the future. I will PM them a brief description of the part they appear in, and it is up to them to decide who the person is.
NEXT CHAPTER: Yami needs help finding Yugi, but that won't cause more problems, will it?
