Lisa: Happy late Halloween! *Munches on a lollipop and gives chocolate to cat*
Zorc: Meooow! *purrs and starts licking candy*
Sorry the chapter was late… I've been getting really bad about that. *Snatches candy away and glares at her yami*
Lisa: Ya think? You probably made them mad too.
Yeah.. sorry! As much as I hate using excuses, I have to explain why this chapter was late. It all began—
Lisa: Spare us the life long story already! They don't need to know every detail!
.. Fine. Homework, projects, writers block, and being stupid. There, those are my excuses…. Which they are all true. :/
Lisa: That isn't what I meant, stupid.
HEY! No need for name calling! But, homework and projects were a minor problem, fyi. Writers block was a good part of why the chapter took forever. I just couldn't figure out what to write… and then, as I got ¾'s done with my chapter, I ended up losing my flash drive. It somehow fell out of my pocket… And don't worry, I decided that if I get another one, I'm going to somehow attach it to my…
Lisa: Sounds painful.
Not that way! Just like attach it to my keys! I ended up having to re-write the whoooole thing… :/ But, I think I'm happy about that; this chapter is waaay better than the first. Enough of my chatter and on to the pain-in-my-butt chapter!
Disclaimer:I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Just my own characters!
Chapter Nineteen:
"Chokichi, my man; you're back!" A rather cheery voice rang out in the quiet building, getting a few annoyed looks from people who were not morning people.
Said name looked from his newspaper and faked a smile as he descended away from the elevator he had just gotten off of. "Morning, Charlie." He politely greeted his co-worker and continued on his way to his office cube to get his day started. That and he could set his belongings down so he could get a cup of coffee. He was in dire need of one.
Charlie quickly set the lid back onto his own coffee cup and exited the break room so he could follow his colleague back to his desk. "Man, where have you been? It's been boring without you here, even though when you are, you don't really interact with other people," he said, blabbering on like every normal morning. "What I mean is, it's just been different with you not here because it's not the same, get my drift?" He asked as he met up with Chokichi at the man's desk. He leaned against the wall of the office cube and took a sip of his drink.
Chokichi raised an eyebrow like he was paying attention when really, he was trying to think of a way to get rid of this twenty-six year old. He sat his bag on the ground and his newspaper on his desk. He reached down and pushed the button to turn his computer on.
"Sure," he grumbled, when Charlie paused for a minute to see if he was paying attention.
Satisfied with the answer, he continued on, "Well, you didn't really miss anything while you were gone. Well, maybe a few phone calls… and a meeting, but that wasn't really important, so I wouldn't really be worried about it." He took another sip and watched the older man get situated at his desk. "You did get this call from a chick who you tried to contact before you left. I was the one who took the message so the information is in your drawer."
Chokichi nodded and opened the drawer of his desk to find a random piece of paper with stuff written on it. "Was there any other phone calls?" He asked as he closed his desk and set the paper next to his phone for later use.
"Um… Not that I can recall, but you might want to speak to Danzo or Tyran; they were the ones who took most of your calls." He said. "Anyways, what were you doing? You just one day never showed up and we thought you gotten sick and forgot to call. We went over to your house and found out the place was empty."
Getting slightly annoyed from all of the talking, Chokichi said, "I went-," He was cut off by someone new.
"Wow, it's not even eight and you're already bombarded with questions," the two looked over and found Danzo West depositing his belongings in the office cube diagonal from Chokichi's before walking over to them. Danzo was a well-build man for being in his late thirties. He was six foot one and had the build like a football player, even though he had never played football other than throwing the ball for his second son. He had light brown, military cut hair and a well trimmed beard with some white hairs appearing in some places. People say it was from all of the stress he endured with by raising two teenagers -a boy and a girl- and a ten year old while others just made fun of his because he was getting old. He hated dressing in suits for work, even though it was his uniform, but he got away with wearing a nice polo shirt and a neck tie.
"Hey, Danzo," Chokichi greeted him, but more out of friendliness. They two were close friends ever since the beginning of working here when they got hired at the same time. Some would say they were even best friends since they always shared everything together like information, beers and other stuff. And whenever one was gone, the other would take his place just like he had always been doing that particular job, without even having to be asked or told.
Said name walked over to the cube and leaned against the other wall, stifling a yawn from the early morning. He acknowledged his co-worker, Charlie, with a nod of his hand before asking, "So, why did you just suddenly leave without telling us?" He asked. "You missed the guys' night out with Tyran, me, Charlie and a few others. It was one hell of a night." He grinned, showing that there was a great story that was to be told later on.
Chokichi shrugged, "It's nothing important," he said, though with his own smile, the two could tell it was.
"C'mon, you know it is."
"Alright, it was, but you're probably not interested in it." He turned to his computer, noticing that the Log-In page was up. He quickly typed in his password and waited for it to bring his belongings up before turning back to the co-workers.
Danzo rolled his forest-green eyes, "C'mon, man; spill. I want to know every detail on why you were gone."
Charlie frowned at the two. It sounded like they were both in high school, gossiping about the latest news. Or in a guy's case, brag about something he did or got over the weekend. 'Sometimes, I just don't understand old people." he thought and took another sip of his beverage, staying quiet as he listened.
"Hey, look whose back!" Another voice sounded. Instead of everyone looking to see who it was, he came over to them, his belongings still in hand. Tyran came over, grinning. Unlike Danzo, he looked like an average man. He had broad shoulders, a hell of a tan, and stood around five foot nine, five foot ten. He went to the gym three times a week, though it didn't show, not unless you challenged him to an arm wrestle or a fight. He had short dirty-blond hair that fit his baby-blue eyes and narrow chain. He was in his early forties, but with his blond hair, you couldn't tell if he had any gray's or white's. He wore a suit everyday and didn't really complain about it.
"What's been shakin', Chokichi?" Tyran asked.
"Not much, Tyran." Said name replied. "You?"
He just shrugged, "Same old same old. So, what happened? Did you have some kind of emergency you had to tend to without even tellin' us, your closest friends?" He asked, giving a mocking sad face.
"That's what we were trying to find out," Danzo said in a joking way, "before you came and interrupted him from spilling." He playfully shoved his co-worker away, but luckily, Tyran was expecting it and stepped out of the way and grinned at him, mockingly.
The two returned their gaze back to the elder man, waiting for an explanation like a mother whose child stayed out to late.
Chokichi only rolled his eyes, "You guys," he sighed with a smile but started off anyways, "I had to go to Japan and it was a last minute ordeal. I didn't have any time to explain myself to y'all, only our boss."
Danzo raised an eyebrow, "Japan? What the hell was in Japan that you had to leave in a hurry?"
"My family." Chokichi said and grinned at his friend's reactions. All three of them were shocked, but more so on Danzo and Tyran. Before he gave them time to ask questions, he explained himself, "I had called my wife a day or so before I actually left and we ended up talking for a few hours. What it mostly came down to was that she wanted to come live with me so we could be a family, along with my son." He lied with ease. He felt bad that he had to lie to his closest friends, but he couldn't tell them the truth; only bad things would happen.
They stared at him, astonieshd. Danzo had his mouth opened in the shape of an 'O' while Tyran's eyebrows were up in the air in amazement. Charlie, on the other hand, looked like he was thinking on something, something that caused him to really think because he had creases form on his forehead.
"Hold the bus. You're saying that you and your wife made up after several years and that you left to go pick her and your son up to bring them here?" Tyran asked and Chokichi nodded." Now y'all are living as a family?" He nodded once again. "Dude, that's awesome!" He grinned real big.
Danzo recovered and smiled along with his co-worker. "So when are we gonna meet them?" He asked. "I'm kind of curious on what kind of woman fell in love with the likes of you." He joked and gave a wink.
"I don't know on the meeting part," Chokichi said, ignoring the last statement made, "But hopefully soon. They're trying to get settled in with the jet lag and stuff."
"Aw, we'll meet them this Saturday," Tyran shrugged to show that it was no big deal. "You know, when we go out drinking. Or, are you gonna bail on us again?" He raised an eyebrow, playfully questioning the elder man.
"Psh, I don't know about you," he said, "but I am in dire need of a drink. You can count me in on Saturday." The three started to laugh.
Charlie looked around before the thought finally came to him, "Wait," he said, stopping the guys good time. "You said your son came with you, right?" He received a nod and then ignored Danzo rolling his eyes. "So, he now lives in Texas? At your home?"
"That's what I meant, Charlie." Chokichi said, trying to show that he wasn't getting annoyed. For a twenty-six year old, he wasn't always the brightest.
Suddenly, that twenty-six year old eye's brightened like a little kid. "So you're saying Yugi Mutou is now in Texas?" He tried to hide his excitement as it dawned on him. The other three looked at him a little lost. "Yugi Mutou." He said, "You remember, the King of Games? He's really famous!"
Danzo finally figured out who he was talking about, "Oh, that guy. The one that keeps getting into the papers, right?" He looked to one of his closest friends. "I forgot he's your son."
"Oh, my gods! Yugi Mutou is in Texas!" Charlie felt like yelling but knew better and kept it in his normal pitch. "Can I meet him?"
Tyran turned to look away to keep from snickering, but to no avail. Danzo and Chokichi rolled their eyes at the youngling's excitement.
"I guess," was what he said. "But you'll have to come by this weekend; he'll be busy with starting school."
"Oh, that's alright with me!" Charlie said, now overly excited that his coffee wasn't in need anymore. "But oh, I can't believe I'll be meeting the King of Games! And not to mention, he's your son! Oh my! I've heard and read so much about him! I wonder if he'll play a game with me? I used to be good with it; always being challenged by my younger siblings." And he started back up with his normal blabber.
Tyran looked like he wanted to say something when he collected himself back up, but he looked at his wristwatch on his wrist for the time and almost yelped. "Oh, well, I'll talk to you guys later. Maybe over lunch?" He didn't even look up with the last bit he said as he scurried away from Chokichi's office and to his own where he sat his things down and left for the break room.
Chokichi rolled his eyes as Danzo said, "I'm wondering how much longer before he asks her out. It's been what, four months now that they've been flirting?"
"More like five," Chokichi corrected. Their friend had been flirting with one of their co-workers; a pretty brunette girl that was only a year younger than him. She had been single for quite some time now, and everyone in the office knew that they had a thing going on with one another, but they wouldn't do anything about it. Even their boss, Mr. Maxwell knew about it.
"Well, I'll talk to you at lunch," Danzo said, "I got to start my work before the boss makes a random check-up on things." He rolled his eyes.
Chokichi bit his lip, "Hey, I won't be at lunch with you guys; I have to get home because I told Miyuki that I'd be there to check up on them." He looked apologetic towards his friend who just shrugged.
"Ah, no big deal, man. I know the lady comes first." He winked before turning around to head back to his office to start his daily work.
All that was left was Charlie who had gone quiet before Tyran left. Right now, he was looking at his phone, checking for messages from his girlfriend. Chokichi waited for him to look up, but after a minute and he didn't, he made a noise in the back of his throat to get his attention.
"Ahem."
The younger of the two looked up and looked a little sheepish as he slipped his cell back into his pocket. "Ah, sorry, just texting my girl." He said. "She's an early riser," he explained when he received an confused look. "She works at the elementary as a teacher so she has to be up early. But, anyways, I really look forward to meeting your wife and son." He said, his excitement seemed like it had vanished altogether. But, if you looked really closely, you could see that it all had disappeared to his eyes.
"Ah, cool." He said. "And yeah, just come by Saturday and I'll introduce you to them, along with everyone else." He smiled.
Charlie nodded his head. They stood (or in Chokichi's case, sat) in an awkward silence for a minute or two before Charlie decided to nod his head once again and state, "Well, I'll be heading to my office now; a lot of work to be done."
"Alright."
"So, see you around," He started walking away. Chokichi gave a huff, thankful that he could finally get to work on today's work. He didn't have any catching up to do since he did all that he could while he was gone, so all he had to concentrate on was today's work. He turned around in his chair to face his computer but didn't get very far when Charlie called out to him, "Oh hey, Chio, you should try bringing your son to work one day." He said, using a nickname he had made up for Chokichi when he first started working here. He could never say the Japanese word so he created a simpler one so he could start remembering the real one. Chokichi looked over his shoulder to find the youngling walking backwards as he spoke. "'Bring your kid to work' day is coming up real soon, maybe in like two weeks or somethin'. You should try it. I'm sure Yugi doesn't even know where you work at and it's a great time to bond more with him." He just shrugged and turned back around, heading over to his office now.
Chokichi rolled his eyes and returned his gaze back to his computer screen that was waiting on him to do something. He clicked on a few files and started his work. The idea of bringing his son was running through his brain, him thinking upon if he should do that or not.
XxxxX
Yugi stared at his wall without moving as the morning sunlight filtered his room. He had a rough night last night from not sleeping to some nightmares he had. The first nightmare was filled with gore and people getting hurt. He didn't know why he had that dream since it was filled with people he didn't know, it was more like it was a re-run of some horror movie. He also had another nightmare about Atem slowly freezing to death. That one was a weird one, especially when Yugi got a chance to explore his others soul room in the dream.
Atem's room had changed from being a maze to a normal kids room, minus it looking like it belonged in Ancient Egypt. It look like a mini melting pot in his room from being mixed with the Egypt and Japan culture. The floor of his room was sandy and it was warm like the sun was blazing down upon it, even though there was no sun in his soul room. The walls weren't really walls, they were more like a 3-D background of Egypt; of the pyramids and the palace he grew up in. The Nile also shown on the wall, which was cool to watch. It was like being there in Egypt, watching people three thousand years ago going on with their daily lives. Though, if you tried to join them by touching the wall, you only came in contact with a firm, solid brick wall. Among the rest of the room were artifacts from Egypt but also from modern day Japan like a dueling disk and other's. His room was just filled with interesting things that reflected his being.
But, when Yugi had visited it during his dream, his room was like being in the Arctic. The room was covered in a thick layer of ice and snow and it felt like the winter had over taken the nice warm room. Ice sickles hung from the ceiling in thick forms all around the room. For some reason, it scared him so much because it reminded him of his own room in how his own soul room had been burning up because Atem wasn't with him to tame his Light with his Dark. he didn't know why he connected it with his own past experience, but he just did.
'I'll just ask Bakura about it when I see him later today,' he thought as he blinked his heavy eyes. Every time he did so, his eyes felt like closing so he could fall asleep, but it never worked; he would just lay there with his eyes closed, giving himself a huge head-ache.
There was a soft knock at the door before it opened and a soft voice called into the room, "Honey, are you awake?"
Yugi turned over on his bed and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Yup," he answered in a groan. "Have been basically all night."
His mom walked into his room, tightening her bathrobe around her like she was cold. She sat down on the edge of his bed and gently smiled, "Same here. It's going to take some time to get use to this time change." Like her son, she had bags under her eyes and had a rough night.
Yugi nodded. "What time is it?" He asked and let out a small yawn.
"A little after nine thirty." She answered him. "Chokichi left a couple of hours ago to go to work. I heard him leave and then I found a note on the counter."
"What did the note say?"
She shrugged, "Just what he told us last night about not leaving the house under no circumstances and not to call anyone because if we do, he will know. I don't really know how, but I rather not test that statement." She gazed around the room for a minute before turning her attention back to her son. "Are you hungry? We have full access to whatever is in the pantry."
Yugi nodded, feeling his stomach twist at the thought of food. "Yeah, I didn't really eat anything last night."
"Same here," Miyuki agreed. She leaned forward and kissed his forehead and as she was pulling back, said, "How 'bout you go change, take a shower or whatever you need while I make us some breakfast. Scrambled eggs sound good?" She stood up and started to make her way out of the room. She looked over her shoulder and received a nod.
After his mom left the room, Yugi looked around the room, wanting to lie back down but knew he needed to get up. When he did, he walked over to his dresser and pulled out fresh clothes and quickly got dressed. He wanted to take a shower, but he didn't have toiletries he needed and he guessed that his father didn't have spare in the bathroom across from his bedroom.
Once he was dressed, he looked in the mirror on the wall and bit his lip. His appearance looked a little depressed with the lack of sleep showing and the way he held himself up. He was slouching a bit and his shoulders stumped. But the dreams -or nightmares- made a big dent on him.
He ran a hand through his hair and muttered to himself, "I just hope my dreams meant nothing. I already have enough things to worry about here. Just please, be alright, Mou Hitori no boku." With a small sigh, he turned around and exited his room.
XxxxX
After channel surfing for five minutes, Miyuki finally decided to click on an American movie called Shrek. (1) She tucked her feet underneath her on the couch and quickly glanced to her son lying in a ball next to her. His head was resting on the couch's arm-rest and his eyes were glued to the TV screen as the movie had just begun. She smiled and returned her gaze back to the screen.
As the grandfather clock in the office had just stroked eleven-thirty, Yugi let out a yawn. He started to nod off to sleep, but then he would quickly jerk himself back awake. This happened a few times before he felt a hand rubbing his back.
"If you're tired, why don't you just go to sleep?" Miyuki asked.
Yugi didn't take his eyes away from the screen. They were just at the part where Shrek and Fiona were telling each other that they loved one another at the church were Fiona and Lord Farquaad were supposed to get married. "I don't want to miss anything."
"And what would you be missing?" She lightly laughed. "There's not much going on around here."
He just shrugged, knowing that he couldn't tell her that he needed to stay awake so he wouldn't miss his father getting home and then leaving. He had decided that after his father had left to go back to work, he would wait for a few minutes before telling her that he had to go meet Bakura somewhere in town.
Just as he was thinking of something to say, a soft noise of key's jingling caught his attention. He moved his head away from the TV and looked in the direction of the door just as those key's started to unlock it. Miyuki did the same.
The door opened and Chokichi entered. He had his cell phone squished in-between his shoulder and his ear as one hand was holding a brown paper sack and his other hand was busy getting the key's out from the door. He was talking softly into the phone, not paying any attention to the people slowly sitting up on the couch.
"Yes ma'am," he said, talking into his phone, "I'll have that faxed to you as soon as I get back to my office. Uh huh... You too. Have a great day, Mrs. Prie." He closed the door with his foot and grabbed his phone with his hand that held his keys, to close it. He still didn't pay any attention to his family as he slipped his shoes off, placed his phone into his suit's pocket and started to walk towards the kitchen. As he was passing the small table with picture frames on it, he placed his keys down there.
"So, I see your both still here." He finally said to them as he laid the bag on the counter and started to take things out.
Miyuki slightly glared at her husband as she and Yugi walked into the kitchen, but not before Miyuki turned the TV off. "And where do you think we would go?" She asked as casually as she could with a hint of sarcasm in it.
Chokichi shrugged. "A lot of places. It's just nice to see that someone can follow rules when they are given."
Yugi didn't flinch, even though he knew that statement was intended for him. He just leaned against the table with his arms crossed and stayed quiet.
The woman of the house didn't understand what he had meant by that, but knew better and kept quiet.
Satisfied that neither one talked back, Chokichi continued, "Well, I brought some Take-out home for lunch. I don't have much to eat here, as you can tell, but that will be changed later tonight. I get off at five and when I get home, we'll all be going to the store." He said and looked up on the word all.
Miyuki walked around her husband over to the counter that held the plates and cups. It took her half the morning to get used to where everything was, and then the rest of the morning to memorize it. She opened the cabinet up and took down three plates and then three cups. She closed the cabinets door and opened the drawer right below. In the drawer, she took out the needed silverware and placed them on the plates. Without even needing to ask her son to set the table, Yugi was already walking over to grab the plates just as his mom started to fill the cups with ice and water from the tap.
As Yugi set the table and Miyuki filling the cups, Chokichi brought the food over to the table. Once everything was done, they gathered at the table and started to eat in silence.
XxxxX
"Remember, do not leave this house or I will know." Chokichi said for what seemed like the millionth time that day. "I have my ways," he added when he saw his son open his mouth to give a smart remark.
Yugi frowned and said nothing as he closed his mouth again.
Lunch was done and all the dishes were washed and put away. Chokichi had to get going or he was going to be late for work. He had slipped his shoes back on and grabbed his keys and was talking as he walked out the door.
"No using the phone or computers. Just find some way to entertain yourselves whether it be reading or watching television or play some games which are in the hallway's closet." He said. Miyuki watched him go and nodded her head to show she was paying attention. He opened the door and took a step out. "I'll be home in a couple of hours." Was his last comment before he closed the door and locked it behind him.
The two waited for a moment. Within a couple of seconds, they heard the car's engine purr to life, even though they were inside and the car was out. The car backed out of the driveway and zoomed off. But the two still stayed where they were, not daring to move.
After a moment, they both relaxed their tense postures and looked at one another.
Yugi waited for a minute as he stayed leaning against the couch's armrest, half sitting on it. His arms were crossed at his chest. He was wondering how he should tell his mom that he needed to leave. But, leave it up to mother's to always be a step ahead.
Miyuki sat down on the edge of the couch and looked at her son, "So, who are you going to be meeting and for how long?" She casually asked.
He looked a little dumbfounded but quickly recovered, "H-how did you know I was going to be leaving?"
"You've been tense and quiet all morning," She chuckled and rolled her eyes. "And for one, you're dressed like you normally do when you go out." She said, referring to his black jeans, white T-shirt and socks on his feet. His hair was straight, not a single strand out of place, and he wore his double looped belt around his waist. Not something you really want to wear if you were just going to be at home all day.
Yugi looked down at his attire before saying, "Oh... Well, I'm going to meet up with Bakura somewhere in town." He said and looked back up. "You're not going to make me stay here and follow orders, are you?" He bit his lip, wondering what the answer was. He never snuck out of the house with a parent knowing he was going to, so he had no idea.
"As long as you're not gone that long. I don't know if Chokichi will check up on us or if there really is someone watching out for us to make sure we don't leave. I can't tell if he's bluffing or not." She answered him. "But, do you know where you're going to meet Bakura at?"
He shook his head. "Bakura doesn't know anything about this place and neither did I when we were talking. All he said was he would meet me somewhere in town. I would call him, but dad... took my phone up." He pouted a bit at the end.
Miyuki nodded. "I would give you my cell, but I left it back in Japan." She then stood up and walked to her son until they were face to face and looked him straight in the eyes. She grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it. "You're going to have to be quick about this. I don't exactly know how I'll stall, but I'll try if Chokichi decides to come back early." She kissed his forehead and asked in a soft voice, "Oh, where did my baby go? Last time I saw him was when he was wrestling with his brother. Instead of acting all grown up and mature." She faked a tear in her eyes.
Yugi rolled his eyes, "I'm still here, mom." When she pulled back, he smiled. "I've just grown up and taking things into my own hands so nothing happens."
"I know." She released her son's hand and stepped back. "I suggest you wait a few minutes before you leave, just in case."
He nodded. "Alright, but I'm going to put my shoes on."
XxxxX
He never realized how big the town was until now. Yugi had been roaming it's streets for half an hour now, barely even covering half the place. He only managed to walk down the streets he had seen the previous day when he was in the car heading towards his father's house. The school, the library, a few buildings on his right that looked abandoned, and the park. Right now, he was wandering along the outskirts of the grassy fields, looking around.
'Forget trying to be quick about this,' he grumbled in his mind. 'I'll never be able to find Bakura, that is, if he's even here.' He still had no clue if his silver haired 'friend' was here. For all he knew, he could be walking around aimlessly. That would probably explain some of the weird looks he was receiving from people walking by, going the opposite way.
He crossed the street to where the City Hall was and all the other important buildings every city/town had. As he was passing by, a lone figure was leaning against the wall, his eyes closed, head tilted down, and his arms crossed at his chest. Before Yugi could even call out his name, he said, "'Bout time you got here, Mutt."
Ignoring the name, Yugi shrugged, "My father didn't leave until eleven to go back to work."
"Well, you could have at least called me." He snorted and looked up.
"He took... my phone away." Yugi admitted in a soft voice. "Didn't want me calling anyone."
Bakura rolled his eyes. "Okay, whatever. But c'mon, there's a cafe or bakery or whatever the hell it's called, the next street over and I'm starving." He pushed against the wall and started walking in the direction Yugi had been walking in.
Quickly, Yugi followed him. "Didn't you eat anything?"
"No."
"And why not?"
Bakura glanced over, his face imitating that he was getting annoyed with all of the questions. "Didn't have time. When I finally found a hotel this morning, I came straight here because of this damn head-ache. And by the way, you're paying for my meal."
Yugi frowned and protested, "What? I'm not going to pay for your food! Buy it yourself!"
"With what money?"
"Oh... I really, don't like you." Yugi muttered and shook his head in annoyance. Luckily though, he had decided to bring his wallet and had left over money from when he and Tea had gone out on a date last weekend. Just thinking of his girlfriend brought a ache to his chest.
The thief grinned. "Ryou says the same thing."
"I wonder why..." He said, sarcastically.
In ten minutes tops, the two had turned down the street named Ranchway and walked down it for a while until they came to a small bakery called Tasty Treats. It had a little patio with chairs and tables out front. A few people were eating outside either talking with someone else, reading, or on their computers. The boy's went inside and Bakura ordered a sandwich and an ice tea and Yugi ordered himself a water. They ate outside, in a little corner.
"So," Yugi started off as Bakura took a big bite of his ham sandwich. "You never did tell me why you're here in the first place." He said, referring to be in Texas.
"And why do you want to know?" He questioned, his mouth full of the sandwich. He quickly chewed his food before taking a gulp of his beverage.
"I told you my story, now you should tell me yours; it's only right."
Bakura just rolled his eyes, muttering why he was always stuck with the annoying ones, under his breath before saying, "I have some friends down here and we decided to hang out." He took another bite.
Yugi looked a little curious. "Friends? How'd you make friends all the way down in Texas when you and Ryou live in Japan?"
"It was a year or two ago," he impatiently stated, "Nothing important you need to know. Back to the question on hand; I'm hanging out with friends."
Yugi ignored how he basically just repeated himself and continued on, smirking, "Why did you want to come to a cat convention? I mean yeah, if it was in Japan, I'd understand, but it's in a whole different country. Why waste money on something like that?"
Bakura stopped in the middle of taking another bite of his sandwich and said in a cold voice, his eyes narrowing dangerously, "I wasted no money. I spent it wisely, just like how you would buy duel monster cards. Don't ever insult something like that again while I'm around."
"But I didn't even-," Yugi started to say but was cut off.
"And I'll have you know, this convention is one of the biggest out there. They sell stuff other conventions, like the one back home, would never dream of selling." He chomped down on his food. "And I swear to Ra and all of the other god's combined, you tell anyone the reason why I was here, I swear that I will make your life a living hell by physical and mental torture."
Yugi slightly shivered at that. He had been life threatened by many of people before, but he had to agree that Bakura was really the only one he was scared of. He knew that this thief would do any to everything possible. He lived for this kind of stuff.
"I never even said I was going to tell anyone…"
"Good." It was quiet for maybe two seconds before he cleared his mouth and asked, "So what exactly are you going to do about your father? You don't seem like the kind to do much except let things go on like it has a purpose." He took a sip of his tea and watched his adopted Light play with his water.
"Exactly what I told Atem and everyone else; I have no idea. I really want to know why my father suddenly just showed up one day and then brought me here. He hasn't explained himself yet and it's driving me up the wall." He said. "I'm just really waiting and when I do find the answer out, I'll start forming a plan."
Bakura nodded. "Have you thought of any possibilities on why you're here?"
"I have some, but I really doubt they're right…"
"Alright, spill; what are your thoughts?"
Yugi looked up with a frown. Bakura sure did like to change his personality a lot. (Though he's not by-polar.) "Well… at first, I was thinking it had to do with work. Like he needed someone to show off."
"Yeah, right." Bakura snorted. "He could just easily pick someone off the street, giving him nice clothes and then make up a story for him. I mean, why the hell would he fly all the way to Japan? Next."
"Alright… the other was before, when I had asked him, he said it was because it was for personal business."
"And…?"
"Well… I had a suspicion it had to do with money. I mean, why else would my father come to me?"
Bakura devoured the rest of his sandwich and thought about that statement. As he chewed, Yugi took a sip of his water.
"Do you even have money?" He asked when he swallowed.
Yugi nodded. "I have a lot of prize money from duels I have won over the last year. You won't remember since you were never here, but I had played against Kaiba a few times. Each time, he said that if he lost, he would give me so much amount of money… and well, let's just say I have a lot of money in my account." He grinned. "I also have many scholarships for colleges I won from other duels."
"That could be a reason." Bakura agreed. "Have you been through his mail yet? That will tell you if he's in debt or something."
"What? I don't snoop through other people's things." Yugi said, a bit insulted.
He shrugged, "Well, it might be the only way you will know why you're here." He took a sip form his drink and looked at his wrapper, kind of sad that he had finished his sandwich, even though he was a bit hunger still.
Yugi shook his head. "I'm not going to go through his things. And besides, I think he keeps all of his mail in his office. Well, probably all of his important things."
"And why do you say that?"
"Because I'm not allowed in there. He deliberately told me and my mom not to go in there."
"Sounds like he's hiding something."
Yugi looked at his drink and shrugged. "Everyone hides things so it's not really something new."
The two remain quiet for a minute, thinking things out. Without knowing, Bakura was watching his for-the-time-being Light with a scowl on his face. He could tell something was on the runts mind, be he didn't know if he was wanting to ask about it since he knew it was probably something worthless. But, what did he have to lose?
"Alright, what's wrong, Mutt?"
Said name looked up. "What do you mean?" He asked, a bit confused.
"What's on your mind? My damn Light does the same thing and it's annoying."
"Nothing's on my mind," he lied even though he was thinking about his dream about his brother's soul room freezing. He had just started thinking about it, wondering how he should ask Bakura when it was Bakura who was wanting to know.
Bakura rolled his eyes, "Alright, that's fine with me." And he took a sip of his drink, taunting the kid to see if he would take the bait. His own hikari was a sucker and always ended up talking about whatever he needed to get off his chest.
And Yugi took the bait. "Fine. It's about Atem; I'm worried about him."
"Last time I looked, he was old enough to take care of himself and isn't a runt like you."
He ignored that insult and explained himself, "That's not what I'm worried about. I had a dream last night about his soul room."
Bakura looked up, this time, he being the one confused. "You can still go to his soul room?"
"No," he admitted, "I haven't been in his soul room since before I sent him to the Afterlife. I'm not allowed to enter it at all." Bakura nodded, satisfied. "And anyways, it was a dream I had, so I can't really count that as entering his room.
"Well, during my dream, I was in his soul room and… it was different."
"Duh it'll be different; he's his own being now." Bakura rolled his eyes.
Yugi shook his head, "Again, that isn't what I meant. I know it's different, but it was different by ice."
"Ice?"
He nodded. "There was ice everywhere and his room was cold. His room was always either warm or hot because it represented Egypt. I don't know… It was just really weird and reminded me of…" He trailed off, kind of scared to say his thoughts out loud.
"Kind of like how your soul room was in flames?" Bakura asked. For some reason, he was the expert on soul rooms and hikari's/yami's. If you ever had a question concerning one of those, just ask him, he knew the answer.
He nodded again.
"Well, I wouldn't be too surprised if his room was engulfed in ice."
Yugi looked up. "W-what?"
The old tomb robber leaned back in his chair and brought his leg up to rest on his knee. His narrowed maroon colored eyes were on Yugi's amethyst colored ones when he said, "You're the exact opposite of Atem; you're the Light and he's the Dark. That's why you complete each other, even now. When the baka pharaoh left, he left you with only your Light and what happened after a few months? You're soul room caught fire from your Light. With him, since he's all Dark and not Light, his room will be consumed in anything cold. Kind of like the ice age." He said, matter of factly. "But, if I were you, I wouldn't worry on it too much."
Yugi looked wide-eyed and horrified, but he managed to say, "W-why not?"
"He went to the After Life where he gained his own Light." He said. When his other frowned at him, he gave an annoyed sigh and explained, "When you leave for the After Life, you don't need Light and Dark anymore because the After Life will supply it for you. Being on earth, you need both. For us, we had both; yami and hikari, even though it wasn't in the same body. As long as we stayed near the other, we were fine. You understand that, don't you?"
"Y-yes…"
"Good. Since he left the After Life, he had to have both Dark and Light in him to live here. He probably doesn't know it, but he does have Light. All in all, he doesn't need you to supply him Light but you do need him to supply his Dark. Understand?"
He nodded, trying not to show it, but the words Bakura had just spoken hurt a little. Atem didn't need him because he already had his own Light. But, he (Yugi) just had to be a burden because he didn't have his own Dark and Atem had to supply him his.
"I highly doubt that baka even knows he has his own Light." Bakura said, almost reading Yugi's mind. "So you don't have to be down about it."
"How do you even gain your own Light or Dark?" Yugi asked, quietly.
He shrugged. "I know getting your own Light is really hard. I haven't heard anyone succeeding at it yet but as for Dark, Ryou managed to get his own."
"That's because of you." Yugi rolled his eyes. "He would still be innocent if you weren't being all evil."
Bakura smirked. "That's because I wanted him to get his own Dark. I didn't always want to have to be around him like now, for instance. I am my own being, I didn't want to always be glued to my hikari's side. Do you know how annoying that would be?"
"Whatever."
"Anyways, if you want to be able to get your own Dark, you have to stop being a punk and get some balls." Here he goes with that saying. "Stop acting all nice and friendly and be like your annoying friend's or something." he said, reffering to Joey and Tristan and how they could beat anyone up.
Yugi held up his hand to stop him from going anywhere else with that. "Please, I don't want to take lessons from you about this." He said, not knowing whether to laugh or groan. To be honest, he liked the way he was, even if that meant not exactly being able to stand up to bullies. "I'll just stay as I am…"
Bakura shrugged. "Fine, whatever."
At least Yugi felt a little better about his brother. He might not have to freeze to death if he knows he has Light in him. "Wait," He said, just now thinking of something else, "wouldn't Ryou be able to help supply Atem of his own Light if he didn't know he actually had some?"
"Well, yeah. It'd be just like what I did for you." He said. "All they would have to do if have contact with one other."
"Just like how you touched my forehead..." Yugi muttered under his breath but Bakura heard him.
"Yup."
As they were talking, someone noticed them and frowned. He started to make his way over to the teens, growing suspicious on why they were out here at a time like this. Ooh, they were in trouble.
When he reached the table, unseen by the two teens, he crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "Aren't you two supposed to be in class? You know the rule about skipping."
Yugi looked up, his eyes widen in fear for a second but then it quickly disappeared when he noticed it wasn't his father. Instead, it was a man dressed in blue with badges and patches all over his shirt. On his left shoulder was a walkie-talkie and around his waist was a belt that contained a gun, hand-cuffs, and many more things. On his head was a blue hat with a badge symbol on it along with the words, 'Breaksville, Tx Police'.
"We ain't skipping," Bakura rolled his eyes, annoyed that someone had interrupted him. He slightly glared up at the officer while staying slouched in his chair.
"Oh, well I suppose y'all are just taking the day off then, hm?"
Unlike his other, Yugi straightened in his chair a little and slowly shook his head. In a small but confident voice, he politely explained, "No sir. We haven't been enrolled in school yet." He received a raised eye brow from Bakura about the 'we' but he ignored it.
The officer raised an eyebrow, "Haven't been enrolled yet, hm?" He shifted his weight to lean on one side before adding, "You kids are just trying to think of new ideas, aren't you?"
"I'm sorry, sir?" Yugi was slightly confused, having no idea what the officer was talking about. Ideas? What ideas?
"I need to see some kind of ID for confirmation that you aren't supposed to be at school." He held his hand out, waiting. He looked a little smudged, thinking that he had caught the two skipping.
Yugi started to reach into his back pocket for his school ID even though it was all in Japanese. Bakura remained the way he was, just glaring at the cop.
"Here you go," Yugi said and handed him his ID after he pulled it out from his wallet.
The officer took the card and glanced at it before looking up to say some smart remark when he frowned and did a double take at the ID. Then a triple take. "Is this some kind of joke?" He demanded and flipped the card in his hand to check if it was.
"No, sir." Yugi politely responded. "I just… moved here from Japan and won't be enrolled in school until tomorrow." Which he wasn't looking forward to.
The cop nodded and then turned to Bakura who hadn't made a move at all. "Your ID too, kid." He held on to Yugi's and held his other hand out near Bakura.
"Okay, for starters," Bakura said in a bored voice, "I don't have to give you anything. Second, I don't have an ID. And third, go fuck off; I'm here with him." He nodded his head in Yugi's direction whose eyes widen just a tad. Leave it to the tomb robber to insult a cop.
Before giving the cop any time to speak, Yugi quickly said, "Uh, please excuse my… cousin, Officer…" he looked at the small name tag on the cop's shirt before looking back to the cop's eyes. "White; he doesn't like cops." Yugi sent his 'cousin' one of those looks that was supposed to mean 'be nice' but Bakura just grinned, meaning he wasn't going to.
Officer White narrowed his eyes, "Uh huh, I can see that."
"My cousin left his ID back in Japan, thinking he wouldn't need it." Yugi tried to explain, just saying whatever came to mind. "He's had… bad history with cops, that's why we moved here." He gave a small smile, hoping that sounded convincing.
"Hm… What are y'all names?" He asked, first looking to Yugi and then to Bakura.
"My name is Yugi Mutou, sir." Yugi said.
"Bakura."
Officer White frowned, "What's your first name?" he pointed the question to the silver haired teen.
Bakura did the same and frowned, which came out more of a scowl. "Bakura." He answered again in annoyance.
"Bakura Bakura?"
Yugi, seeing the problem, tried to clear things up, "Oh, his name is Darrel." He said and both males turned to him. "In uh… Japan, our family only calls him Bakura because they don't see a point in using his first name." He hoped the officer didn't notice the sweat forming on the back of his neck.
The cop looked at Bakura for confirming who was glaring at Yugi now. But he nodded his head.
After examining Yugi's ID one more time, finding it a bit fascinating even though he didn't understand anything on it, he handed it back and puffed his chest out, trying to look imitating, though it didn't work. "Alright, I'll let you boys off the hook this once, seeing as how y'all are new to this place. But for the future, don't try skipping school because you will be caught." He tilted his hat in farewell before leaving them.
"What the hell was that?" Bakura asked when the cop was out of sight.
Yugi turned to him and frowned, "What was what?" He stuffed his ID in his wallet again and then placed his wallet back into his pocket.
"Darrel? Was that supposed to be an insult?"
It took the teen a minute to understand what he was talking about, even though he had just said it not even five minutes ago. "What? You needed a first name. People in America use both. And since you don't have both, I had to think of something."
"Really," Bakura said in a tight voice before getting to his feet.
Yugi quickly got to his feet, startled by the sudden movement, "Where're you going?"
They both left the safety of the bakery and now walked down the street.
"I need to get back to the hotel and get some stuff done." He said without looking over his shoulder to Yugi who was trying to catch up with him but was having a bit difficulty. "And since you don't have a plan yet to go back, there's no point in trying to stay here."
Yugi nodded. "Alright." He managed to walk besides the albino but had to basically speed walk to continue to keep up the pace.
"I'll meet you here over the weekend." He announced. "I'll be busy Saturday, but Sunday, meet me at the place we were just at around ten."
"In the morning?" Yugi asked, trying to clarify.
"In the evening, dumbass." He shook his head in annoyance. "We'll talk more then. Now you better get home before something else happens, something worse than a stupid officer catching you."
Yugi stopped walking and watched at Bakura continued until he turned a corner and was out of eye sight.
"I am still asking myself why I'm asking him for help," he mumbled under his breath as he turned around and started walking in the direction he had just came in. "What good can he do?" He shook his head and made his way back to his father's house by memory, taking his time. It wasn't like he was needed there.
XxxxX
Till next time! Wow… that was a long one! Hope that makes up for my absence!
Lisa: Well, it doesn't.
Who says?
Lisa: I do.
Well, don't flatter yourself; you don't count.
Lisa:… Meanie'
You. ^^ Well, one quick announcement before I say my goodbyes! On my profile is another poll! For an FYI, I'm like nowhere near done with this story. I still have soooo much planned for it.
Lisa: Like more than ten chapters. (Maybe, just a rough estimate)
Yup. Well, the poll is what I should write to next. I'm having difficulties because I have so many ideas in mind. The summaries are also on my profile. You don't have to vote now, it'll be up until I'm done with story, so please, don't feel like I'm demanding a vote. If you just want to have a say on the next story, please feel free to vote!
1 - I don't know, I just love adding movies/books to my stories. I guess it just gives my stories that realistic feeling.
Byes!