Yuki laid on his bed in thought. Would you believe it had been nearly a week since his hastily decided escape to New York? If anyone had asked him a week ago, leaving Domino City would've been the last thing on his mind - and don't get him started on the idea of leaving Japan!
He felt such a – oh, what was the word - connection towards his new friends that he had never thought possible. Was this how true friends were supposed to be like?
A sighed escaped his lips as he thought back couple days ago. It was when he finally told his friends the truth about himself. It started out fine – alright, he lied; it started out horrible. No, they didn't yell at him, nor did they kick him out. They just listened to him, and in the end accepted his word for the truth. Oddly enough, he actually wanted them to get angry at him – was that weird? At least then he'd know what to do. He could handle being hated, being ignored, being belittled, being cursed at; that's how his life was like a week ago (and beyond).
Now? Right now, Yuki was confused as ever.
His story was as unrealistic as it could get, and what did they do? They accept his word right at that! You had to be there; not only did they spare him any accused looks, they (Genta specifically) comforted him and got mad at everyone else.
What was he suppose to do, ignore the guilty throbbing of his heart?
Even if there was a handbook for these types of situations, he highly doubted this specific case would be in it. These people enjoyed sauntering in the highly unlikely and illogical. Unlike them, his mind was not in-tuned with that.
His ever-so-logical mind – logical, but not necessary useful – gave him only one solution to relieve that heart-stabbing guilt. Just one, and that itself was hard, if not impossible to get.
Seriously, if you promised yourself you would cut off everything from your past life to start over, how would you obtain proof from it? Despite the good cause it was for.
There was no way he could show then anything! No pictures, no artifacts, no conformation from "friends", no nothing!
What could he do, mosey back to his grandpa's Gameshop to grab something? Just image what would happen if Yami was there! Oh, hi Yami. No I'm not back; just grabbing something I forgot. Oh, you want to bash my head in for leaving you all alone and not fulfilling that last request of dinner you wanted? Please don't, you don't really see me. This is just a projectile of my soul, or something; don't concern yourself about it. What are you talking about; Of course I'm not chickening out and returning home! Sure I'm home, but I'll be going soon. Yeah, I suppose this makes my note kinda useless now, doesn't it? Where was I hiding? No-where of importance … Hey, you can't stop me from going back; I liked it there! Hey, no, that doesn't give you more reason to hold me back!
Great… What an interesting conversation that would be. And perhaps his overly imaginative mind was exaggerating things, but on the other hand, maybe he wasn't; Yuki would never know.
Yuki groaned and buried his head in his pillow. He should have brought the puzzle; that thing actually gave him slight shadow powers. If not for proving to his friends, it could have been useful for protection from the strange new county. Rah knows how a kid as small as him could survive by himself.
Yuki paused. Well that was a thought.
Seriously, did he have anything for protection? He would have surely died on his own! He really did own Genta and the group a lot, didn't he?
Yuki chucked his pillow at the wall. Argh, that thought didn't help - that wasn't helping the pain! The more he thought, the greater the guilt became. He really owed the lot a lot, it seemed. And yet, he couldn't repay their kindness with something as simple as proof.
"S'well, the more the merrier." Yuki hissed out absent-mindedly as his guilt increased, yet again with another memory of their compassion.
If he could have his way, Yuki would give them all the proof they could possibly want, but how was the only question.
Yup, he was hopeless. Maybe he was a lost cause. Who could have guessed, Yami was actually right about something.
o-o
Yuki turned on his bed.
It was no use; he just couldn't sleep. His head was filled with too many thoughts, and his heart was drenched in too many emotions.
He couldn't forgive himself; it was taking too long! Maybe he was pessimistic, but obviously no one would be willing to wait forever for lil ol' him. The longer he took to confirm his words genuine, the less friendly they would be towards him throughout the wait.
Maybe he was over-reacting, but did it matter? He couldn't bear the thought of his new friends disappearing from his grasps, taking all his happy times with them. Five days worth may not seem to be a lot for some, but those five were the happiest days he could remember in his teenage life. No worry about saving the world, no pressure from duellists, no bullies, no fear for half insane evil maniacs, no hatred from so-called friends.
It had been a while since he'd felt this way.
So, alright, maybe he cherished them too much, more than how normal people would feel about losing friends, but was it –
Fwoop
- really his fault they were the best things that happened to him? It broke his heart thinking there was a chance he would loose everything because of his own –
FWOOP
- stupid mistake. Maybe he was weak, and maybe he did depend on others too much, but –
FWOOP
- he was trying his best, and –
FWOOP … FWOOP
- And what was that sound?!
What the heck goes 'Fwoop' in the middle of the night? And please don't tell me it's Kaithey.
Yuki closed his eyes as he leaned by the window to listen more closely.
FWOOP … FWOOP … FWOOP
It was so familiar, but he just couldn't place a finger on it. So familiar, almost nostalgic in a way. … what was it?
Yuki skidded to a stop in the kitchen in his attempted to find out the source of the noise.
No, the disturbance wasn't coming from here, but instead, he found Kaithey with her ear pressed on the floor. Yuki bit his lip and gave her a nervous smile like he had for the last couple of days.
Kaithey, of course, just grinned at him. "Hey, Lu, you hear that too? You think what I'm thinking? We've finally got proof of radioactive altered rats under the house!"
"Oh?" His lips quirked involuntary. "But I think it's coming from outside."
"Really?" She went over to the window by the sink and nudged it open. The sound got louder. "Hey, what do you know?" Kaithey mimicked Yuki's action from upstairs by closing her eyes and leaning in to the sound. "I bet I know what this is! Finally too! Seriously, I was wondering how long it would take before aliens decide to invade us!"
" 'kay," he agreed, deciding he wasn't feeling up to pointing out the absurdness of that situation.
He watched as Kaithey suddenly dashed to the bottom of the stairs and back, sending the twins who were coming down back up.
"Hinto squared went to wake Genta up. She'd probably have the best idea as to how to deal with aliens."
"'Wake Genta up'," he parroted back to himself meekly, thinking of the brave task the twins had to accomplish. They were sure damn courageous to accept that mission.
Why were they still here anyways?
o-o
As descending footsteps filled the house, Yuki looked over towards the stairs. Genta, who was coming down behind the twins looked surprisingly fine despite being roused in the middle of the night.
"Kaithey, I do hope you're not behind that insufferable noise, or so help me god, you'll never see the light of day again. The second after I fall asleep I'm awaken by that noise, and a second later, I have two twins jumping on my bed like it's Christmas, shouting about incomprehensible things and alien landings."
"We've got extraterrestrials in our backyard! That's the sound of their ship landing!" Kaithey all but squealed in delight.
"I bet it's small and round," said a twin.
"The ship, I mean," finished the other, "you naugh'y, pervy people."
Genta raised an eyebrow, "I assure you, Antonio, you were the only one thinking perverted things." She glanced over at the laughing Kaithey, "And, perhaps Kai. And seriously, considering the noise it's making, it's got to be huge."
"No way, something small can be noisy too, you know. Like your hair-dryer, Genta, that thing's freaking LOUD!"
"No, Kai, if you didn't come flying to my door like a fly to honey, every time I turned it on, you wouldn't be able to hear it."
"Regardless of Genta's girly hair-dryin' needs," Matthew interrupted, "it coul' be alien te'nology they're usin'."
"Oh really now, Mat, but in case you've never heard, every place you look, people are saying that alien technology is more advanced than ours. And unless you're trying to prove thousands of people wrong, there is no way improved technology is noisier than old ones."
"'ey, they could be deaf, you kno'." He retorted back.
"Ohh; that's so true," Kaithey chimed, "I mean, I've never seen any pictures of aliens with ears!"
"Oh yeah, well – "
As the sound grew louder, indicating it was getting closer, their voices started to get drowned out. Even so, the four of them never stopped talking. Yuki, standing by the side watching them, was seriously wondering about their mental health. Would it not be better to go and see what the problem was instead of arguing about it? And since when were they such alien fanatics?
"Can we go and see the situation, now?" Yuki asked.
"Hey, great idea, Shorty; why didn' you thi'k of that, m'lady?"
"Because, twin number two," She snarled, "Whenever you open your mouth, everyone's intelligence level drops a pint."
"Cool, I'm like a pokemon! Hey, Matt'ew, use 'howl' to increase your attack power before you use 'talk' to lower eve'one's intell'gence level!"
"Can we just go?" Yuki interrupted, pointing at the back door.
As the ship, which Yuki now identified as Kaiba Corp's personal helicopter, with its large recognizable 'KC' logo on the side clearly shown, landed in Kaithey's backyard, he drew back, hoping Kaiba wouldn't be on it, and wouldn't drag him back to Domino City.
As the latch of the helicopter opened, Kaithey stepped forward to greet them, "Greetings, extraterrestrials, we are humanoids, and happy to comply with your every wish and command!"
The twins, who were surprisingly standing in the back, even behind him (were they afraid of aliens?), cried out, "Just no anal probes; I don't want to loose my virginity to a stick, alien technology or not."
"Choose the girls," the other yelled, "just not us! They've probably lost theirs to their tampons already."
Genta's eye visibly twitched, "If you two twits say another word, you'll wish you – "
"I'm sure," a voice cut in snidely, "you all enjoy discussing this on an everyday basis, but I'd rather not hear it."
Yuki shrank back at the voice. Bland and monotonous – remind you of anyone?
"Kaiba."
"Mutou," Kaiba acknowledged with a nod, "Glad you haven't conveniently forgotten about me."
"Hey, it's tall, dark, mysterious, rich, and handsome!" Kaithey cheered, as Genta, the only one as tall as the man moved in front of the boys protectively.
"Kaith, I think the normal phrase is: 'tall, dark, and handsome.'"
She shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm just quoting the magazine I read. And I'll have you know, I omitted a lot of words already."
"You read magazines?!"
Kaiba stared at the two doing what he decided to label as 'a sad attempt at a two-person comedy routine'. In other words, it was a sad attempt at distracting him from the boys the tallest girl was trying to protect, while they tried to figure out his motives for being here.
But just because he figured out what they were doing didn't mean he had to play into it. Instead, he ignored the girls and focused on his goal.
"Look who we have here." He smiled predatorily at the quivering boy. "I have half a mind to pull you back for leaving me with that annoy Geek Squad and running away like a puppy with his tail between his legs."
Yuki's face flushed as Kaiba insulted him in English, purposely allowing his friends to understand the conversation as well. Of course, they also knew Japanese, but Kaiba didn't know that.
"You seriously think with that timid attitude of yours, the same thing won't happen again? Jumping in a new life won't solve anything if you don't change. If it were me, I'd force them away, but no, you had to give in like a coward and let someone take over your life."
"That's not –"
"Not true?" Kaiba snarled, "Right, because you didn't run away, and you didn't give up your old life to that Yami."
"I –" Kaiba was right. What could he say; he did run away like a weak-minded child after all.
"You what; deny your foolish behaviour and horrid judgment of people?"
Yuki looked away. What did Kaiba want from him? Rub it in his face that he was a wuss, pathetic, and stupid?
"I have just about enough of you bad-mouthing him!" Genta yelled, "I don't care what you think, but Yuki here's one of the kindest people I've ever met, and the hell with anyone who wants him to change!"
The twins shoved Yuki behind them, "We do'nt care if you're a mul'i-millionaire, Kaiba man, but that doesn't give you the rig't to diss our lil Shorty like that!"
"And this is my property, so I'll have to ask you to leave now. You've overstayed your welcome here. Just because you're rich doesn't mean I won't call the police on you." Kaithey glared at the man.
Mokuba, who was watching from the helicopter, flew out to his brother's defense. "Don't hurt Seto; he didn't mean it!" he yelled, in perfect English. What would you expect from the education of the brother of a multi-millionaire?
"Mokuba," Kaiba admonished.
"I'm sorry, big brother. But don't get mad at him," he continued towards the group, regardless of his brother's reprimand, "Big brother was worried for Yugi too! He spent a long time looking for him! He came here to make sure he was doing fine and not hurt all alone!"
Kaiba grabbed his brother by the collar of his yellow vest, "That's enough out of you, Mokuba." He ignored the smiles sprouting on the other's faces, "Do you attract freaks, Yugi? This crowd's just slightly less annoying than the last."
Yuki grinned. If he looked below the surface, he suppose this could be Kaiba's way of saying he trusted them more than his former friends.
"Slightly!?"
"Offended, are we? I'm so sorry." Kaiba sneered sarcastically at the much-too-colourful girl.
"Hell yes, who wouldn't be? I'm so angry I could die."
"Well I guess you'll have to cry yourself to sleep then. Better yet, might as well die and get it over with."
"I'm afraid you misunderstand, Mr Kaiba," Genta cut in, hitting Kaithey on the head to make her stop talking, "I'm quite certain Kaithey's not offended because you called her annoying, but rather 'slightly' annoying."
Kaiba eyed Kaithey distastefully, "You're saying she's offended because I don't think she's more annoying than the last batch of freak gathering? I sincerely hope you get that so-called brain of yours checked. Last I looked, the ability to annoy is not a useful career trait."
Kaithey gave a snort, "And here I am with a (kinda) stable career, and you're stuck with the task of finding stray rats."
"Rats … right," Kaiba muttered with an eyebrow raised, "I'm glad we see eye to eye about one thing."
"So why are you here collecting rats, Mr Kaiba?" Genta asked. He was a multi-millionaire, for god's sake, and a world-wide famous one too, mind you. He could have easily hired someone to do the job for him.
"It's not my fault no one else is capable of finding a pesky vermin like this, and sp –"
"While," Yuki yelled over Kaiba's voice, "I'm glad you're all getting along and having fun calling me a rat, but do you really have to do it to my face? 'Yuki' works just as fine."
"Yuki?" Kaiba repeated.
"Yugi, I mean." It was one thing to give yourself a new name, but another for people you've known for a long time to know about it. Frankly, it was embarrassing.
"I like it, it fits you," Mokuba grinned, "Right, 'nii-san?"
Seto Kaiba's face, however, was impassive to all lookers. There was, however a twitch of a smile, but that might have been of Mokuba's sudden switch to Japanese to call him ''nii-san' instead of 'brother', which was honestly quite cute.
Inwardly, Kaiba actually agreed with Mokuba's outburst. 'Yugi', meaning 'game' didn't suit him at all. When one thought of games, duel monsters, being so popular in Japan, immediately came to mind. Yuki, now wanting nothing to do with that world, obviously needed something else. 'Yuki' fit him just fine. Not only similar to his original name, but also described his current predicament. He could easily imagine a blizzard of snow covering the view of Yuki's past, hiding it under layers of snowfall, frozen and forgotten in the white wonderland, with a new civilization built overtop of it.
"Now that I see you're alive and cheekier than ever, cutting me off and all, I'll take my leave. And you'd better hope that -" he paused to recall a name, "that Pharaoh doesn't piss me off, or I won't be held responsible even if I have to launch a nuclear missile to your dear Gameshop, whether he or your Grandfather is in there or not."
He spun on his heel to turn around, only to be stopped with a 'wait' from the oldest girl.
"Yes?"
"You're as good a source as any." She started, "Pharaoh, you say? You see, Yuki here's been trying to find proof for this spectacular story he told us about. Would you like to fill in that role?"
Did he? Well… "No, not really." He continued towards the copter.
"Oh, come on!" Kaithey yelled, "It'll take like two seconds, and like calm everyone's soul, especially Yuki, that fretter."
Kaiba growled, "Fine, if it's about that Shadow magic stuff and reincarnations and magical artifacts, then it's all true, but you didn't hear that from me. Seriously, that kid can't lie." He said, walking towards his helicopter, "come on, Mokuba."
With a wave from the side window from Mokuba, the ship took off back to Japan.
o-o
"Well that was fun and informational." Kaithey grinned.
Yuki smiled, a weight lifted from his shoulders. It seemed like he still had someone left after all. He'd always considered Kaiba as a friend, and for once, he had confirmation Kaiba felt the same way. Any other day Kaiba would be snubbing him, and now, with it possible, he did the opposite and took the time to find out where he was hiding instead. That guy was so illogical, and yet, probably one of his truest friends.
Yuki chuckled. Was illogicality a criteria they all required or something to become a friend?
Kaithey gathered the group in a group hug. "See, Lucy, you've got your proof!" She gave him a noogie, "Now stop acting so damn embarrassed in front of us; I miss my dissing target."
Genta gave Kaithey a glare and fixed Yuki's hair, "We sure were lucky to get a visit from Kaiba. Who would have guessed we would be in the presence of a multi-millionaire?"
Matthew snorted and Antonio feigned gagging. "Good god, we lef' Japan to get away f'om that guy, but no, he had to come 'ere too."
"Eh?" Yuki looked over to them, "What do you have against Kaiba?"
"Wit' him being so successful in Japan, there was no way we cou'd beat him."
The other twin took over, "We had to move to the good ol' USA to mak' sure our -"
Matthew cut him off, "- Band beat him, But fran'ly his inf'uence reaches here too."
"There's no way a band of ours in Japan can be successful wit' him in the pic'ure." Antonio finished.
"What? Don't you mean business corperation?" Yuki asked, bewildered. He was certain Kaiba didn't have a band. He was a businessman, not a singer or gutairst.
The twins dismissed the matter, "Same diff'ence."
"So this band was originally created in Japan?"
Genta shook her head, "No, we started it here. That was when we met the twins. They, despite what you would think, are band fanatics. Apperently it was their life's dream to be in a band."
"Good times, right Hinto?"
The twins grinned, "Yup,"
Kaithey sighed happily, reminiscing the past, "I remember it like it was yesterday …"
"Care to share, Kaithey?"
She gave a wide grin pointing to the house, "Prepare the cocoa, Gen, we're having story time in the living-room! Follow me!" She marched inside with the rest of them following behind.
As they settled in the couches with a hot mug in each of their hands, and bodies wrapped in fluffy blanket, Kaithey sighed giddily again.
"The story of how the band met," She began with a smirk, "Oh, what great times those were." She looked at Yuki directly in the eye, and switched to her story-telling tone, "It all began twenty years ago …"
