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Shadow Game

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CHAPTER 8:

Anzu stayed freezed in her spot. She was in his presence for the third time since she learned about his existence. She was waiting so long for this moment and now she didn't know what to say…

"Maybe a 'hi' will be good… or 'are you ok'? No! It's obvious he is not okay! Maybe a 'hi, do you remember me?' No! Why am I so nervous?!..." in an instant her head was sink in a mess of ideas… after a few seconds her thoughts were interrupted.

"Hi Anzu" he said directly looking at her blue eyes who were desperately searching for somewhere else to look instead of his sharp eyes.

"Hi" she wasn't able to say anything more and stared at the blood still on his hand. He noted it.

"Oh" he remembered what he was going to do before she arrived; he was starting to get a habit of forgetting things when he saw her. That was passing, he thought. "Could you please lend me a towel or something?" he said as politely as he could while signaling with his eyes his bloody hand.

She nodded. "What happened?" she asked while walking around the breakfast-bar to get a dishcloth out of one of the drawers in the kitchen.

He seemed to hesitate, not knowing whether to say a simple fake excuse or just avoid the subject.

"It's a long story" he chose to say while he took the dishcloth Anzu was offering him. Their hands touched a little. Both noted it. His expression didn't change.

A tinge of pink appeared on her cheeks, gladly not too much for him to see. It was a little dark in there afterall.

"Thanks" he cleaned his hand slowly. Then he heard her voice in front of him.

"I have all the night" she said and he looked up once more to see her sitting in the other side of the breakfast-bar, leaning in it with her elbows and with both hands holding her chin. A plead expression on her face and her eyes looking at him directly for the first time since they were there.

He smiled a genuine one.

"Don't you have to go sleep?" he arched an eyebrow playfully

"I have insomnia" she simply replied "So you can make use of that and tell me that 'long story'" she smiled

A loud snore was heard and they unconsciously tilted their heads towards the source of it. They saw Joey removing on the couch and Tristan sprawled on the floor with the blanket like a mess… Anzu and Yami sweatdropped

"Maybe is better if we go take some res--" he was cut off by Anzu who jumped off her seat and went around the breakfast-bar towards him while talking

"No no no! I want to know, you are telling me" she stopped next to him and grabbed his arm with both hands forcing him to seat again.

"Anz--" he was going to contradict her statement when a strong series of coughs made its way out of his mouth. It was so strong that he doubled over himself and almost fell of the seat when Anzu caught him steady on the chair "Yami!" she panicked

She saw a stream of blood in the corner of his mouth that he removed quickly with the back of his hand.

"Damn you monster…"

"My chest… hurts" he managed to say while coughing again

"I have some medicine for the pain; maybe it can help you… I'm goin--"

"Anzu" he called for her and she stared at him.

She realized that they ended kneeling on the floor; she was nearly hugging him, nearly because she had a hand on his back and the other on his chest trying to keep him steady.

"Yes?" she said so softly that it was barely audible.

He grabbed her hand, the one on his chest, and narrowed his eyes a little as soon as he felt that strange energy he had felt when he was unconscious after have saved her from the thug… He tightened his grip on her hand letting his body welcome that precious energy which made him feel better, as if it was healing him from the inside… He now understood he was mistaken when he thought Yugi was the one with that healing energy… results it was her…

"Why do you have this effect on me?..." he whispered very softly at the time he leaned forward at her moving his hand along her arms, slowly getting closer to her, searching more that energy and trying to figure out why…

Her heart almost stopped when he asked her that, she wasn't sure why he had asked, what was the meaning of that question?… she felt a chill run down her spine to see him getting closer to her at the same time he travel his hands along her arms. She felt butterflyes inside her stomach and stayed still without saying anything, anyway her voice seemed to have disappeared in that moment.

"Wh--" she tried to say at the same time she tried to think something else… but considering their closeness it was nearly imposible!

"Shhh" he mumbled, his hands had reached her shoulders and were traveling towards her back, he leaned forward and for an instant, Anzu thought he was going to kiss her… she half closed her eyes, part of her waiting for that…

He felt her rigidness and the energy started to diminish, he wondered if her emotions had something to do with it… He decided to get closer to see if he could get an answer to his question, just by touching her he could deduce if what he wondered was true…

He saw Anzu half close her eyes and was in that moment he realized he was way too close for his own comfort… He could feel her agitated breath and to see her lightly parted lips so inviting made his heart rarely beat faster…

He closed his eyes to avoid any kind of temptation and kept leaning forward his head until his cheek touched hers. In that moment, he completely hugged her.

She saw him close his eyes and she thought the impossible was going to happen but then, his face passed hers and their cheeks met. She felt him hug her completely and tightly… she slowly reacted by hugging him back, could be said a little disappointed…

"Anzu… you don't know, do you?" he whispered in her ear

For a minute, she was a little confused but then the question he had asked her early stuck in her mind.

"Eh…" she still was wondering what the meaning of that question was

"I take that like a 'no'"

He felt Anzu's energy had completely healed him, he felt he could breath normally again and the urge of cough had disappeared. Also, the energy was retreating; maybe Anzu was tired or really stressed… So he loosened his embrace on her in order to stand up and help her too (they were still knelt on the floor…) but she tightened her embrace like saying 'not yet', or so he thought she meaned.

Surprised, he stood still and continued talking in her ear.

"You have healing energy. Thanks to you I'm fine now" she was amazed

"I have… healing energy?" she whispered back in his ear, he smiled.

"Yeah! Quite a surprise!"

"Did you say… I healed you?" she asked

"Yes" he simply said

She turned to look at him. They were face to face now, but their arms wrapped still around themselves, neither of them dared to move them. It was strange. He stared at her in detail, she was really pretty, sweet and her smell was like strawberries… to his surprise he started to blush a little, and gladly it was faint….

He realized that he had gotten himself in a tough predicament without knowing. How to stay close to her without having such thougths?

He cleared his throath to break the moment and slowly leaned away from her. He didn't trust in his body at the moment, it could do something compromising… better keep some distance…

"Anzu, you should rest. Today was the day for surprises to me and I bet to you too" he said standing up and helping her as well.

Already standing she didn't let go of his hand.

"You haven't told me that 'long story', please I want to know!" she begged again, putting the best puppy eyes she could. He sighed smiling.

"If that is the only thing that could put you into bed… then ok"

They sat on the chairs and so he told her what happened since he sent Yugi to the outworld; his father lies, his now unanswered questions, and how he was able to deduce she had healing energy. She listened attentively all he said.

"… and so this 'healing energy' theme adds to my list of 'Find the Answers'" he finished

"You knew I had healing energy because…" she didn't understand that part

"I have many abilities; one of them is that, to be able to scan someone's energy. That let me know what kind of energy that person has, but I rarely use it" She nodded to let him know she understood.

"I will help you" she said in her eyes hints of determination, he remembered those words from his aibou.

"Us too" a voice from the couch said. Anzu felt her cheeks flash in red; she couldn't deduce if that was anger boiling or just embarrass.

Yami and Anzu turned to look at the source and saw Joey sat on the couch and Tristan sat on the floor, both looking at them.

Anzu exploded.

"Since WHEN have you been spying?!" she nearly yelled and begged they hadn't seen when they were hugging, Joey and Tristan could do someone's life a hell with the wrong info…

"Relax woman. We just caught the part when you asked him to tell the long story though I didn't understand the part of the healing energy…" Joey put a hand on his chin

"Joey, Yami said Anzu had healing energy by nature. And that she cured him from that attack. What difficult has that?" Tristan complained and then put a hand on his chin "Now, how Anzu did it… it's not clear..." Anzu and Yami sweatdropped…

"Well, anyway, we all are going to help you Yami, you will see!" Joey said cheerfully. Anzu smiled to see his brightness and turned to look at Yami when he spoke.

"Yes, that's what Yugi said and he was pretty sure his friends would do the same…I think he knows all of you really well"

"Welcome to the group pal!" Tristan exclaimed

Yami couldn't quite tell the many emotions that were in his heart in the moment… he never had experienced that and it felt so good. For the first time in his entire life he was happy.

"Thank you"

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The next day, they all got up late and headed for their respective houses. Gladly it was festive day, so they didn't have school. The day just passed by with nothing out of the ordinary, just studying like madman for the final exams that were tomorrow. In the entire day they didn't talk to each other, all deep in his/her own world, even Yami hadn't spoke to Yugi…

First day of school in the week came. Final Exams… shit!

Tuesday: 7:00 a.m

Inside the classroom many faces of stress and anguish could be seen among the students. This day was going to be really tough because ALL that was going to be done were exams…

Tomorrow was going to be the same thing, but a little less overwhelming. They saw a total of twelve subjects, six exams today and six tomorrow. The Thursday and Friday were for recovery if in determined subject you went really badly. Tomorrow was going to be less intense because the subjects were less hard. This was the schedule for these two days.

Tuesday: Chemistry, philosophy, math, biology, physics and history.

Wednesday: Language, drawing, music, chemistry lab, physics lab and sport.

It was really tough to retain all that in two days, but the school was very exigent. No wonder why it was one of the firsts schools in the state…

"Hey, Tristan" Joey called besides him "Did you manage to study?"

Tristan looked at him. "Did you?" he asked raising an eyebrow

Joey made a frustrated expression "Are you saying you didn't? Now from whom am I going to copy?!" he exclaimed

The classroom doors opened revealing Anzu followed by Yugi and minutes later the teacher.

"Just in time!" Tristan said and signaled Anzu to seat in front of him. Joey made the same for Yugi

"We saved your seats, the most comfortable seats in the entire classroom!" Joey very proudly said, it sounded like a trader… Yugi frowned.

Anzu took the seat and then turned to face her two male friends behind her. She put a fake smile.

"Thanks! I hope this doesn't mean I HAVE to help you two, does it?" she asked in a sarcastic way

Joey and Tristan put the best puppy eyes ever made. They had been rehearsing it for extreme case like this one…

"Please?" They both said, Anzu sweatdropped

"I'm sorry but I too had trouble studying…" she said remembering yesterday when she was trying to study, her mind kept drifting back at him…

Joey and Tristan turned to look at Yugi. Yugi negated with his head.

"Same here, with all that happened, you know" he signaled the puzzle hidden inside his shirt "I couldn't concentrate well. But I did know a little of every subject… I hope that helps…" he sighed

"Anything is welcomed Yug!" Joey winked. Tristan nodded in approval.

They heard the teacher of chemistry talk. Mr Fujimore

"Ok students, good morning! I hope you are prepared for this exhausting day" he said "As you all know, since now until 11:30 is going to be the first part of the exams. The second part will be since 13:00 until 17:30"

The students let out an exasperated sigh. The teacher continued.

"Each exam will have one hour and fifteen minutes to be answered, after each exam you will have fifteen minutes to rest before the next exam begins, is all clear?" The students nodded.

"Anyway this is not new for all of you; you should be accustomed by now. Well, let's begin"

Mr Fujimore started to deliver his exam. "I put it easy"

"Yeah right" Joey murmured and saw Yugi handing him the exam. He took it and handed the next to his schoolmate behind him. He saw Tristan do the same.

"All of you had your respective exams?" Mr Fuji asked, all nodded again.

"Ok, begin now"

All the classroom was soon submerged in a dead silence, only the sound of pens writing or pencil sharpener could be heard among the sound of the ceiling fans.

All concentrated in their respective exam, except for a blonde guy.

"Psst… Trist…" Joey whispered. Tristan eyed him with a look that said 'what?' Joey let down his arm at the side for Tristan to see and extended his index finger.

"God Joey, don't you even know that?" Tristan mumbled reading the first question. It said 'What is the symbol of calcium: a) Ca b) C c) K d) Ci

Tristan let down his arm and extended his index finger. Joey caught the message.

"First question is a"and he marked it on the sheet.

Anzu was having trouble in some questions, so she first answered the easy ones and let the hard ones to the end. Yugi was another story.

He was really stressed… Of this exam depended if he passed chemistry. He really was bad at this class.

He read the questions but it was like trying to read in some unknown language… He sighed heavily, he was going to lose chemistry for sure, it was the only subject he had problems…

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Inside the puzzle, Yami woke up of his sleep. He took a seat on his bed and stood there for a minute. While his mind woke up completely he felt a stress sensation coming from Yugi. He decided to come out of the puzzle and check out the situation that made Yugi be like this…

/Hi aibou!/ Yami greeted at the moment he appeared in a ghostly figure sitting besides him on the desk

"Hi, good morning" Yugi turned to look at him and almost immediately he heard a shout of surprise and shock from his friends. Anzu, Tristan and Joey exclaimed at the same time forgetting for an instant they were in exam…

"Yami!!" they shouted with wide eyes

Yugi looked at his friends questioningly at the time Mr Fujimore spoke

"Quiet the little group in the back or I will suspend your exams!" he threatened. They just nodded. The teacher returned to read whatever he was reading on the desk eyeing in time to time from the corner of his eyes at the students.

/"They can see me, interesting"/ Yami said casually

"Can they hear you?" Yugi asked

/"Let me see"/ Yami stood up and walked towards Joey. He was closer.

Yami saw Joey was looking at him directly in the eye. No doubt he was able to see him. Yami stared at the other two and found they were looking at him directly too.

/"Can you hear me?"/ Yami asked staring at Joey again.

Joey didn't answer, just frowned.

Joey saw Yami open and close his mouth repeatedly but none sound come out. Joey shook his head and signaled with his hand his ears. Yami nodded.

They just saw him, couldn't hear him.

/"Comfirmed aibou, they can't hear me"/ Yugi nodded.

"Ok" he said and returned his attention at the exam in front of him. A huge frown adorning his face

Yami walked back at Yugi's desk, took a seat on the table and crossed his legs supporting them on the seat Yugi was in. He crossed his arms around his chest. In that position, he was giving the back at the teacher and facing Yugi's friends and some classmates.

/"Why are you so stressed? What's that?"/ he asked signaling the sheet in front of Yugi

"This is an exam. And if I fail, I will reprove chemistry! I can't let that happen, my grandpa is going to be really mad if I fail!!" Yugi complained "I suck at this subject… I'm going to fail for sure…" Yugi sighed defeated.

Yami listened quietly, putting a hand on his chin. He glanced at the sheet and saw it was empty, all the question were unanswered… half the time had passed, twelve questions, twelve huge questions…

/"Is it… really important for you?"/ he asked tentatively. Yugi looked at him and nodded.

/"Where are the answers?"/ he asked again at the time he stood up of the desk and put his hands inside his pockets.

"What are you going to do?" asked Yugi staring at his eyes trying to foretell the plan

Yami glanced back at his friends, and saw in all of them frustrated expressions. He saw Anzu look at him, preoccupation showed in her blue eyes. Yami stared then at the teacher, who was pretending to read something but he could tell he was alert at any kind of movements…

/"I'm going to help you, just don't get too used to it. Now, where are the answers?"/ he asked again without tearing his eyes from the teacher.

"The answers are--" he was cut off

"Mr Moto are you finished? If you are so distracted that means you finished already, don't you?" the teacher said standing up of his desk and walking towards him.

Yugi went rigid and stammered. "Eh- N-no, Mr Fujimore, I-I'm not done yet" he stared at the teacher who slammed his hand in the desk and examined his exam. Yugi's heart was beating fastly; he didn't want his exam to be nullified.

"You are in blank! Little time is left so get to work or I should save you the annoyance of writing and put a 'cero' right away?!" the teacher threatened infusing fear in him

Yami frowned and cracked his knuckles. Then raised his right hand and extended his index and middle finger forming a kind of sharp point, like if he was holding a dagger with just the two fingers, then aimed at the teacher's throat.

/"No one threats aibou when I'm around, I don't care who"/ he hissed and was going to attack him.

"Yami don't! What are you doing! He is the teacher!" Yugi screamed in his mind stopping Yami in mid attack.

Joey, Tristan and Anzu saw Yami was going to attack the teacher. Joey grinned.

"Go, Yami! I support you!" Joey thought "Yes! Do it!" thought Tristan

"Yami can't handle someone threat Yugi, he is so protective of him…" Anzu thought sighing dreamily

/"This guy pisses me off"/ he argued and started his attack again

"No! Stop!" Yugi argued again

Yami stopped again and let down his hand defeated.

/"I don't care if he is a teacher or whatever! He is a mere mortal to me"/ he exclaimed staring with hate at Mr Fujimore

"Yes, I understand but he is the one who can pass me in chemistry! And if you kill him, then I will reprove because this exam will not enter in the notes!" Yugi exclaimed. Yami seemed to think about it.

/"Then I will not kill him, yet"/ he concluded

"No, Mr Fujimore. I will do my best" Yugi answered quickly and the teacher snorted. He walked back at his desk, and stared at Yugi hard.

"Now he is staring at me intensely… I need to copy from someone!" he thought. Yami heard him.

/"Where are the damn answers aibou?"/ Yami was pissed at this moment; he wanted that teacher grounded…

"They are at his desk, I suppose…" Yugi said and saw Yami walk directly at the teacher's desk

"Don't do anything to the teacher please!" Yugi pleaded

/"I can't guarantee anything"/ he replied and stood in front of him, face to face. He wanted to use some shadow magic experiments he was developing on him but Yugi would be mad, so he restrained himself with effort. Instead, he concentrated in searching these damn answers in all the papers on the desk.

The students were so concentrated that didn't notice the papers flying and falling of the desk madly. The teacher was giving the back at the desk so he could not see the mess Yami was doing.

"Did you find them?" Yugi asked, his head was bury in the sheet so the teacher couldn't suspect anything of him

Anzu, Joey and Tristan seemed to get what was Yami doing on the teacher's desk.

"Psst… Yug" Joey whispered leaning slightly at Yugi and hiding behind him so the teacher couldn't see him.

"Hmm" Yugi mumbled

"Is Yami doing what I think?" he whispered almost in Yugi's ear

Yugi just nodded. "Can you pass the answers?" Joey asked hopefully

Yugi negated and whispered "He is watching me intensely… I think I can't pass you the answers"

"Tell Yami to do it, no one can see him" Joey whispered back.

Both heard the teacher clearing his throat and they went immediately in silent.

/"Aibou, copy as I said"/ he instructed and Yugi nodded

/"a,b,c,b,a,d,d,c,b,a,c,d"/ he said

Yugi copied at the same time Yami talked.

"Got it. Thank you my friend!!" Yugi smiled

/"No problem aibou, now, when can I kill him?"/ he asked hopefully raising his hand again. Yugi stopped him.

"I said No!"

/"Damn, ok!"/ Yami sighed defeated again and turned to walk back with the sheet of the answers in his hand

"Why are you carrying the sheet? Drop it or they will see that strange…"

Yami arrived besides Joey who looked back at him and dropped the sheet in his desk smiling. Joey nodded and started to copy like a madman so he could pass the sheet to Tristan and then to Anzu.

/"I heard when Joey was asking for help"/ he simply replied

"You heard? From so far?"

Yami just shrugged.

Yugi stood up with his exam and handed it to the teacher. This gave the distraction Joey needed to pass the exam at Tristan. It was easy for Tristan to tell Anzu because he was behind her and she covered him with her back so the teacher couldn't see him telling her.

"So Yugi, you manage to answer heh?" he laughed

Yami growled.

"Yes Mr Fujimore, See you!" and Yugi walked rapidly out of the classroom towards the cafeteria before Yami could do something at the teacher. He wasn't sure if he could be able to stop him again, so better is avoid troubles.

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Minutes later he met with his friends at the cafeteria. They seated in a nearby table drinking some juice.

"That was awesome! JeJeJe, could you tell Yami do it again for the rest of the day?" asked Joey laughing.

Yami appeared besides Yugi, crossed arms around his chest. He raised a hand and moved his index figer from left to right repeatedly.

"Aww man, come on!"

Yami negated with his head.

"That's cheating he said" Yugi said voicing what Yami was saying so his friends could understand "He won't do it again, that was just one favor"

Anzu punched Joey on the head "Stop it already. Thanks to Yami we already passed the hardest subject, you should be happy"

"Yes, I am happy!" Joey exclaimed

"Well, we should be able to pass the rest of the subjects. Good luck to all" Tristan said at the time the bell rang signaling the next exam will begin.

"Here we go again" Joey sighed

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And so the day passed slowly, hopefully Yugi and crew were doing fine in all the exams. Yami just decided to amuse himself seeing the efforts Joey and Tristan were doing to copy between them or with other classmates…

Finally the end of the day approached, and the last exam of it. History.

The bell rang, the students approached their seats and the teacher entered. Mr Shadi. They never knew his last name; he was a mysterious guy and a freak some students say.

Yami was distracted talking to Yugi about how Joey almost fall of the seat trying to get an answer from Tristan when suddenly he fell silent narrowing his sharp red eyes. Yugi looked at him strangely.

"What's wrong?" Yami didn't respond immediately. Just frowned more

/"I feel a strange power… I'm not sure of the source"/ then all of the students heard the teacher spoke

"Well students, let's begin the exam" he had already passed the exams and the students were passing it among themselves.

Yami turned to look at the owner of the voice and his red eyes locked with purple emotionless eyes. He stood there like in trance staring at him and it seemed like the man was staring back at him slightly shocked, though he dissimulated it very good.

"Yami, what's wrong? Tell me!" Yugi exclaimed

/"I felt… like if… I had see him before…"/ he reply without tearing his gaze away from him

"You mean the teacher Shadi?" Yugi asked looking at the teacher who was strangely looking at Yami too. Yugi frowned.

/"Shadi… I don't remember that name…"/ he mumbled almost like talking to himself

"Can he see you? Because he is staring at you directly, like if he can!" Yugi pointed out

One of the students made Mr Shadi snap out of his trance.

"Can we start now? I want to go to my house soon…" one boy said. Shadi nodded.

"Yes you can begin"

The students started his exam, and Mr Shadi turned to seat at his desk glancing from time to time at Yami.

/"I'm going to take a closer look; I want to scan his energy. I don't feel comfortable and that is a bad sign"/ he said to Yugi

"Ok, I will finish the exam as soon as I can. Any thing, you tell me okay?" Yugi asked

/"Ok, don't worry. I won't take too long"/ he said and walked towards that strange man with all the intentions of find out who was truly this men…

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Please review!!! I love you!!

Shine Angel