"The Rose Duelist"

A Yu-gi-oh Fanfic

By: Seto's Princess

Disclaimer – I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh… I simply own Maki and Mr. and Mrs. Kaichi.

Warning: This chapter is kind of sad. Sorry about this, but I had to make Maki's past a sad one. It was the only way to explain why Maki is so afraid of making friends. This never actually happened to me, I guess I just have a pretty good imagination.

Chapter 9 - Betrayal of a Friend

"What? Err… Well… Uh…" Maki stuttered. 'No… I don't want friends… I don't need friends… I've never had any real friends, and frankly, I'm better off without any…' she thought.

Flashback…

It was Maki's first day of First Grade. (She had gone to Kindergarten but she was very shy and had not made any friends.)

Once Maki walked into the classroom and sat down for her first day of school, a nice little girl of the same age in her class walked up to her.

"Hello. My name is Crystal Takinawa," the little girl said and smiled.

"Hi. I'm Maki," said girl replied.

"Do you want to be my friend?" Crystal asked.

"Well… Okay!" Maki said excitedly and the two immediately became inseparable, that is, until…

By third grade, Maki had become quite overweight and people were starting to pick on her. One person in particular was Crystal's older brother who was three years older and in the same school.

He would always pick on her and he was very cruel to her. Many times, he would snatch her book bag and run off with it. He forced her to run after him and he would always run for more than five blocks. (City blocks…)

"Please! Rick! Stop! Give..." Maki shouted after him as she tried to catch up to him, "me... back my... book bag..."

"Nope! Still got a few more blocks to go, fatty!" Rick Takinawa shouted back.

After running for three more blocks, Rick dropped the book bag and ran back to school to pick up his sister. Maki fell on her knees as soon as she reached her book bag and started to cry.

"Why is he so mean to me? Why is everyone so mean to me?" she and walked back to school, crying.

"Maki? Where were you? Your father and I were worried about you!" Mrs. Kaichi exclaimed as Maki was walking back.

Maki kept her head down so her parents would not see her cry.

"Maki? Are you alright?" her father asked.

"Yes daddy, I'm fine..." Maki tried to say in a cheerful mood as she quietly cried and her parents gave her strange looks.

Once they got home, Maki went straight to her room.

However, her parents called her into the living room a few minutes later. Maki desperately tried to dry her eyes and she stepped out.

"Happy Birthday!" her parents exclaimed and held out a cute pink cake that said the words "Happy Birthday Maki!" on it.

"Huh?" Maki asked in confusion. She had forgotten that it was her birthday.

Her parents gave her an adorable star plushie for her birthday. She instantly loved it and decided to carry it with her wherever she. Little did she know that that was not a good idea.

The next day, all the students where out in the school playground for last period. (I don't know if any schools actually do this, but just pretend…) While all the other school kids played catch, jump rope, or any of those other fun activities, Maki quietly sat in the corner of the playground holding her star plushie.

Unfortunately for her, Rick and a few of his friends walked up to her to pick on her as usual.

"Well, well... What do we have here? Miss Piggy has a stuffed star..." Rick said and took the star plushie.

"No! Give it back, Rick!" Maki shouted.

"Meh... I don't think so..." Rick said and threw the star plushie halfway across the playground.

Maki got up to get it, but the group of boys stopped her.

"Maki!" Crystal shouted and ran up to her friend.

"Crystal, please tell your brother to stop picking on me," Maki said with hopeful eyes.

"What? Rick, leave her alone!" Crystal shouted at her older brother.

"Ew... You mean to tell me that your cute little sister is actually friends with this girl?" one of Rick's friends asked him.

Unfortunately, Crystal had a huge crush on this boy. She had gotten past the 'boys are icky' stage.

"Stay out of this, sis," Rick said to his younger sister.

"No! She's my friend!" Crystal shouted.

"Hmph! I thought you said your sister was cool," Rick's friend said.

"Uh… I… But…" Crystal stuttered.

"She is… or at least I thought she was," Rick commented.

Crystal always looked up to her older brother. 'If he doesn't think Maki is cool… What should I do?' she thought.

"Hey… I wonder how she'll look once we chop off that hair of hers," Rick's friend suggested.

"Good idea, Sujiro…" Rick said and pulled out a pair of scissors.

"What-what are going to do?" Maki asked fearfully.

It just so happened that they were all in the corner that was all the way on the OTHER side of the playground so the teachers could not see them.

"Hold still. We just want to give you a nice little haircut," Rick said with a playful smirk as he held up the scissors.

Maki eyes started to heat up. She was about to cry. Rick and his small group of friends crowded around Maki, who was sitting on the ground.

"Crystal, please help me," Maki said with hope. It was pointless. Crystal just stood there, unsure of what to do. If she helped Maki, her brother and his "cute" friend would think she was lame. On the other hand, if she did not help Maki, she would lose a friend.

"Crystal, please!" Maki exclaimed.

The four boys picked at her hair as Rick randomly cut off big chunks of it. Maki fought back the tears. She stared at the ground as the boys tortured her. (Boy, kids can be so mean!)

After what seemed like years, they boys let go of her hair and looked at her head in admiration.

"Well, at least people will stare at her head now, rather than her fat," one of the boys said.

"You should be thankful, Maki. We just did you a favor," Rick said and smirked.

The four boys laughed and walked off in all their malicious glory.

Maki looked around her. She was covered in hair – her hair. She touched her head to feel the remains of the boys' wrongdoing. There was hardly anything left. It looked like a boy haircut.

Crystal stared wide-eyed at the sight. There was hair all around. She spotted Maki's star plushie and she went to retrieve it.

"Um… Here you go Maki," Crystal said and held out the star plushie.

Maki looked up, her eyes shining with tears. She took the star plushie, clutched it tightly and put her head down.

"Maki, are you okay?" Crystal asked.

Maki screamed out in sadness and started crying loudly.

"Uh…" Crystal trailed off.

"Why didn't you help me?" Maki asked, but it came out muffled.

"What?" Crystal asked. She did not hear what Maki had asked.

"YOU DIDN'T HELP ME!" Maki shouted as her head shot up, tears streaming down her face.

"I… uh…" Crystal mumbled.

"Why Crystal? WHY? I thought you were my friend! WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP ME?" Maki screamed. She looked so unnatural. She was so angry and upset at the same time. She never cried like this before. This was the last straw for her. Crystal was her only friend, and she just stood there while her brother tortured Maki.

"Maki, I'm sorr-"

"NO! DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU! NEVER! I HATE YOU! LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU'RE NOT MY FRIEND ANYMORE!" Maki screamed angrily and cried loudly.

The teachers all heard the commotion and were on their way to see what had happened. They all gasped in horror at the sight. They saw the hair spread around the ground and chunks of it on the poor child that was crying in the corner that they could not identify anymore.

"Crystal?" one of the teachers spoke up. "What happened here? Who is-Is that Maki?" the teacher asked.

Crystal nodded, her own eyes filling up with tears from what Maki had just shouted at her.

Maki continued crying loudly; it took the teachers quite a while to get her to calm down. In all their efforts to stop her crying, she would not stop. She quieted down, but she did not stop crying. She had to stay in the guidance counselor's office until her parents could pick her up.

Crystal continued crying softly to herself. She was also in the guidance counselor's office. She could not bring herself to look at Maki. She felt guilty. She had let her friend down. Crystal was Maki's only friend, and she let her down.

End Flashback…

'It's been a while since I thought about that… It was such a long time ago, and yet, it still hurts… I will not let myself be betrayed again. I refuse to make any friends. I have learned my lesson. I was meant to be alone…' Maki thought to herself and tightly clenched her fists as if she wanted to punch something. She wanted to hurt something, anything as long as she could get rid of that horrible memory.

"Maki? Are you alright? Maki?" her mother asked.

"Hmm… Is it just me, or does she tend to space out often?" Mai asked.

"It sure looks like it," Yugi stated.

"Maki? Maki! MAKI!" her father desperately shouted into her ear.

"GAH! Huh? Oh, dad. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to space out on you like that," Maki replied and forced a smile.

Everyone looked at her with concerned faces.

"Are you alright Maki?" Serenity asked.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" Maki trailed off, shook her head, and forced another smile.

"So… Are these friends of yours Maki?" Mrs. Kaichi asked again.

Maki's smile faded. 'What should I say? I can't say that they're my friends. I don't want any friends! But… what can I say? Damn it, Maki, think! Think!'

TBC…

Well, I guess you all didn't expect THAT did you? Don't think so. I can relate to some of this… I can't tell you what, but I have an idea how Maki feels. Anyway, Please Review. This is my most cherished story even if it isn't the most popular. I'm already thinking up ideas for the sequel. Well, bye!