Disclaimer. I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
The Junky Scorpion store owner smirked to himself, holding a pair of shoes. Which happened to be Jonouchi's newly bought and stolen shoes. 'Heh. Man those guys are right for the job. They steal the shoes, bring them back to me, and then I sell them again!' He laughed out loud. "Bwahaha! All the more money for me!" Suddenly, the door slammed open, wind howling into the store. The man turned around, stiffening at the sight of a crimson eyed man smiling the smile of death.
Yami glanced at the shoes in the store owners hand, then glared at the conniving man. "So. Those shoes are a way to make money huh? That's not very nice you know." He taunted. The store owner blinked. "Huh? These shoes? Aha...I don't even know how they got here. You must be mistaken." Yami snarled. "Don't mistake me for a fool. I know what you've done." The man laughed. "What do you mean?" Yami stared at him.
The man frowned. 'Hmm, I can't let him go with my secret. I should trick him. Heheh.' The store owner walked over to a glass cage, unnerved by the fact that he could feel an intense fiery red stare burning into his back. The man reached into the cage, picking up a scorpion and dropping it into one of the shoes. The scorpion clacked it's claws, displeased with the treatment. Grinning, the store owner turned around, offering the shoe to the mysterious stranger.
Yami blinked, unimpressed. 'Does he seriously think I didn't see that? How much of an idiot is he?' He looked at the shoe, hearing the angry clatter of scorpion claws. Yami dug in his pockets, rummaging around. 'Yugi's got to have some sort of change in here.' His nails struck metal and he smiled. Forming a fist around the coins, he brought his hand out, bringing it near the shoe. The store owner watched in anticipation. 'That's it...a little closer...huh?' He frowned in confusion as the stranger dropped some coins in. "Hey? What are you doing?"
Yami pointed at the shoe. "Let's see...how about we take turns taking one coin out of that shoe. The one who has the most in the end wins. Sounds good?" Yami grinned at the store owner, knowing he was unsettling him. The man sweated. "Alright. Let's do it!" The shoe stealer picked one coin out of the shoe, sweating as he heard a hissing sound. But he got the coin out safely. Yami reached into the shoe, calmly taking one coin, looking at the store owner expectantly. Suddenly he felt dizzy. Yami put a hand to his face, sweating in discomfort. 'Again? What's happening to me?' He blinked, hearing the store owner clear his throat. "Ahem. It's your turn."
Yami straightened, hiding his unknown pain with a forced smile. "Ah. Yes. Of course." As the challenge went on, the store owner grew more and more impatient. 'This is taking forever.' He brought out a knife. "How about this?! I shall take all the money in one go!" He thrust the knife into the shoe, grabbing the money and attempted to take his hand out. "Ugh, why can't I take my hand out?" Yami shook his head. "Hm. You got too greedy and tried to take all the money at once. And is the scorpion that you tried to kill really dead?" The man stared down at the shoe. There was a clatter. Then a hiss. Suddenly the man screamed in agony, taking out his hand with the scorpion hanging off. The scorpion jabbed its tail again, and the man collapsed onto the ground, whimpering.
Yami stood over him, scowling. "Tch. Disgraceful. If you had any love toward the scorpion or those shoes maybe this could have ended differently." He picked up the shoes, walking out the store as the ambulance arrived. He spotted Jonouchi and his eyes, he released a sigh and switched back to Yugi. Yugi blinked, stumbling a bit as his vision blurred. Jonouchi ran up to him, Honda close behind. "Hey Yugi! Where did you go?" Yugi smiled. "Uh...well. I went to get your shoes back! I don't know why but there's a hole in one of them. Oh. And the Junky Scorpion store owner is being taken to the hospital for a scorpion sting." The blonde smiled. "Thanks for getting my shoes back. I don't care about the hole, it'll be my battle scar!" Honda nodded approvingly.
Yugi smiled faintly, right before his eyes rolled up and he collapsed onto the ground. Jonouchi and Honda ran over to his side. "Hey! Hey! Yugi? Are you okay? Hey! Wake up! What happened?"
Yami jumped straight up, his arm hairs standing on end. One word flashed through his mind. 'Yugi.' He walked out of his confusing labyrinth of a room and strode over to the closed soul room of Yugi. He placed a hand on the door, taken aback by what he felt. 'Sickness. Hot feverish sickness. What happened to you Yugi?' Yami glanced around agitatedly. 'I need to get him in here.' He could just hear Jonouchi and Honda, shouting in confusion and worry. Yami concentrated hard, and managed to speak through Yugi.
Jonouchi shook his friend's motionless form, calling out his name. Honda squatted by Yugi's head, patting his cheek. Suddenly, and very quietly, Yugi spoke. His voice sounded strained. "J-Jonouchi...take me home. Hurry." The blonde picked Yugi up. Honda helped Yugi onto his back, and together they started for home.
Satisfied, Yami then concentrated on bringing Yugi's soul into their shared mind. Without much effort he succeeded. Yugi appeared next to his soul room door, panting and wheezing. Yami knelt beside him, worried. "Hey, can you hear me?If you have enough strength to talk then tell me what's wrong. Please." Yami said calmly. But it was hard for him to do so. In truth, he was panicking. But freaking out wouldn't help Yugi remain calm. Yugi attempted to speak, but coughed and sputtered before he could. Yami clenched his fists. /Hey. Can you talk now?/ His charge twitched, a sign that he heard him. /Y-yeah, I think so./ Yami smiled, slightly relieved. /What happened to you? I need to know./ Yugi glanced up at him weakly. /You didn't see but...when that gang attacked us and I went to stop them, the one that pushed me injected some sort of fluid in me./ Yami stiffened. /Was it poison?/ Yugi shook his head.
Yami sighed. /Good. So, then what kind of injection was it?/ Yugi closed his eyes, sweating. /It was probably just something to subdue me. Although, I'm assuming it took longer than usual because you were in control./ Yami frowned. /Hm. Interesting./ He glanced at Yugi only to find that he had passed out. Standing up, Yami gently lifted Yugi up, opening his charges soul room door. He walked in, setting Yugi on the bed and pulling the covers up over him. Then he pulled a chair over and sat down, opting to stay with him, a comfort to both him and Yugi.
Jonouchi and Honda reached the kame game shop, slamming the door open. Sugouroku appeared, startled. His eyes went straight to the poor little bundle on Jonouchi's back. He rushed forward. "Dear me what happened?" Honda shrugged. "I don't know he just collapsed." Sugouroku frowned. "Put him in his room. He needs rest. We'll talk about what happened after." Jonouchi nodded and went upstairs, going into Yugi's room and placing the motionless form onto the bed. The blonde sighed. "Get better Yugi. If you don't you'll pay!" Turning away, he walked downstairs, joining Honda and Sugouroku at the table.
End of Chapter 8 part 3