Drabbles the Fifth

Joey Revealed

"So, Yugi," Atem started, casually leaning back in his chair. They had finally finished the month-long project. "Do you have any idea what's up with Joey?" Yugi stiffened slightly and Atem immediately caught on to the fact she was going to lie about it. He had been hinting about wanting to know for the last two weeks and she had avoided the subject expertly, so he decided to ask straight-out and see what happened.

"U-um, up? I haven't noticed anything," she replied, not looking Atem in the eyes. In fact, she was focused completely on the computer. Which was off. Atem raised an eyebrow.

"Aibou, you really shouldn't lie to your soul mate," he said, looking smug when Yugi's cheeks tinted red.

"I don't know if I should tell you..." Yugi muttered indecisively, turning her eyes to the only slightly more finished golden puzzle sitting across the room. The box was still opened, as they had discovered that only Atem could open it for some reason. "It's not my business..."

"Will it hurt someone if you tell me?" He asked, staring seriously into her eyes. She had looked at him, and that was her first mistake.

"W-well... technically not..." She mumbled.

"Good! Then what's the harm? I'm her friend too, am I not?" That was a low blow and Atem knew it, but hey, he was the dark half for a reason. All he wanted to know was why Joey was so obsessed about keeping her tattoos secret even though they already knew she was a Hikari, and if it was something they would need to help her through. See? Good intentions, and the end justifies the means and all that.

"I guess... if you promise not to tell Joey or anyone else, especially people who would tell Seto," she replied, suddenly very determined.

"I promise, but what does this have to do with Seto?"

"So," Bakura started nonchalantly as he walked down a suspiciously convenient empty hall lined with empty classrooms, "you know why Joey's hiding her tattoos." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. Ryo slowed to a halt, looking at him with confusion and suspicion.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because she's a friend!" Bakura did his best to look morally insulted. Despite what many thought, he actually did like the idiotic blond. She was the most amusing Hikari he had ever met, and she actually gave him a run for his money when he was pick-pocketing. He cared!

Plus, he wanted some dirt in case Joey ever felt the need to squish him again.

Granted, mostly the second.

He had been onto Joey from the beginning, noticing that she was hiding her tattoos before anyone else in their group (other than maybe Marik), but he hadn't asked Ryo before now because he thought she knew as much as he did. And he would probably still think that (Ryo was very good at avoiding topics as well as other things) had she not slipped up that morning; she shook her head in exasperation when Joey inadvertently made a big deal of keeping her tattoos covered.

Ryo gave him a smile that said "I don't believe you so I'm not going to answer, but you can go ahead and dream on." He hated that smile. And she still looked so darn Hikari-like with it on too, as if she wasn't basically telling him to go screw himself.

He scowled. Then, he gave her a grin as evil as the one she was giving him and hers disappeared into a look of worry.

She opened her mouth to caution him against trying anything but, before she could so much as squeak in surprise, he had shoved her into an empty classroom, walked in behind her, closed the door, and locked it.

"Swiped them off the janitor," Bakura said nonchalantly at Ryo's puzzled look. He didn't find it important to mention that he knew Tristan was the janitor; he thought everyone knew already. "Now, neither of us are leaving this room until you tell me," he stated, grinning as he settled himself on a desk and proceeded to stare her into submission.

Ryo shifted uncomfortably; she knew there was no way she was getting out with him in here, and she couldn't trick him into opening the door again.

"Class will be starting soon..."

"Then I suggest you answer quickly."

.

.

.

RIIIING!

Ryo jumped at the sound of the bell and gave Bakura a panic-infused look that would have made anyone else open the door in a heartbeat. But Bakura just laughed.

"We have to get to class!"

"Then you should probably tell me quickly."

Ryo shifted, glancing at the door in subdued panic.

"O-okay, but you have to promise you won't tell anyone!"

"That was impressive." Marik noted as he observed Joey doing something like a triple backflip handspring across the street in a fit of panic. She was trying to keep Kaiba from seeing her tattoos.

"Do you wanna know why she goes through so much trouble?" Malik asked without a second's hesitation. Marik grinned.

All three Hikaris drew in a breath to impart their blond friend's most fiercely-kept secret.

"Joey is Seto's soul mate."

A Gift, Huh?

"Hey Yugi," Malik, who was sprawled unceremoniously an said Hikari's bed, called as she spotted something in Yugi's room that she had never seen before. "What's this?"

The tri-colored girl glanced over from where she was sorting through her cards (she had been doing her math homework, but even studious Yugi had to take break from parabolas every once in a while) to see Malik turning over the three connected pieces of the gold puzzle in her hands. Yugi had only found one match since she had received the puzzle, but she saw that as a great leap because the three made what looked like a corner, maybe of a pyramid, and now she and Atem had some idea of how it would look when finished.

"Oh, um, it's a puzzle. Atem gave it to me."

Malik halted in her examination, head snapping so as to look at her shorter friend as one of her eyebrows rocketed upwards.

"He gave you this? Just gave it to you?" She asked, sitting up. Yugi nodded, confused as to her friend's reaction. "This? The solid gold ancient box that contains a solid gold legendary puzzle?"

"Legendary?" Yugi asked, completely lost. She'd never heard of the puzzle before. She knew it was old, and the hieroglyphics that were too faded for her to read told her it was Egyptian (it hadn't occurred to Yugi to ask her grandfather what they said; with his many years of practice he would have been able to extrapolate what the glyphs said through the halves he could still make out), but since gramps was such an Egypt buff, a trait that had been passed at least through knowledge to Yugi, she would have thought if it were really famous she would have at least heard about it.

"I'm not sure exactly what's so important about them," Malik admitted, now holding and examining the box, "but Ishizu says that any golden, ancient Egyptian item with the eye of Horace on it holds great power. And she had that weird necklace of hers, so I figure she knows what she's talking about..." By this time, Malik was speaking more to herself than to Yugi, but Yugi was listening to her every word anyway.

"What necklace?" Yugi asked, leaning forward in anticipation.

"Golden, ancient, eye of Horace. She covers it whenever she goes out in public for some reason, but I've never seen her take it off. She probably wears it in the shower."

"But what- Ah, wait!" Yugi cut off her own question when she noticed Malik closing the box so as to more easily examine the outside without spilling the contents.

The box shut with a small click, leaving Yugi sighing quietly and Malik looking at her with a puzzled expression.

"Only Atem can open it," Yugi explained, almost pouting at the idea that her newest and most perplexing puzzle being locked out of her reach until Atem found the time to visit once more.

"Really?" Malik asked, eyes flicking between Yugi and her golden box intermittently. "Weird..."

Critical Fail

Joey sat at the table in the park, for once wearing short sleeves. Her denim jacket was lying a little ways away on the table. She was painting for a school art project and she didn't want to get her clothes dirty; she didn't have an unlimited supply. They were supposed to be drawing a place that they went to relax, and while most teenagers would probably say their room Joey preferred the park. She could have painted the tree house, but that was a secret between her, Serenity, and Tristan. It wouldn't be a secret anymore if she did that.

She was almost done too; she had the field, the trees, the other kids playing, and the children's play set she sometimes played on with the little kids if there were no teens around. They reminded her of Serenity. Besides, no normal teenager that knew her reputation would want to be anywhere near her, and she didn't want to ruin her reputation by being seen playing with three year olds.

All she had left to paint was the sky.

She looked up to take a break for a moment, and almost choked. Walking into the park, towards her, was Seto Kaiba. She looked down. Hikari tattoos. Tattoos that matched his. Crap. Why was she so freaking bad at actually visiting Ishizu?

She couldn't let him see them!

Freaking out as Kaiba walked closer, Joey did the first thing that came to mind.

And no, it wasn't calmly putting on her jacket.

Seto raised an eyebrow as he arrived at the table Joey was sitting at in the park. She was watching him come with what he thought to be an annoyed look. Maybe it was because she knew he would comment about the blue paint completely coating her forearms and palms. There was also a small blue streak on her forehead and some more on the parts of her upper arms that were exposed.

"The art project is to paint a paper, not yourself." He stated. Joey scowled. She knew he was gonna say something like that.

"No, da project is ta paint ya favorite place, and my favorite place is wherever I am!" She retorted, feeling extremely proud of herself for coming up with such a snappy comeback.

"Then what is that?" He asked calmly, pointing out the painting of... an abstract version of the park, maybe? Or it could've been an upside-down green elephant singing ring-around-the-rosie. He was inclined to believe the first; Joey was definitely not the sharpest tool in the box but he was fairly certain she didn't do drugs.

"You come just ta insult me, Money-bags?" She sneered. He rolled his eyes.

"Someone asked me to give you this." He said, pulling out a letter and placing it on the table. Usually he wouldn't have delivered anything, but he knew how much Joey hated those letters. He started walking away in time to hear Joey groan about "another one!"

Ignoring that, he pondered Joey's weird paint job. It couldn't have been an accident; her arms were covered completely and the paint on her palms suggested she had used them to spread it. Come to think of it, he had never seen her tattoos, only the end of one for just enough time to notice that it was green. Was she hiding them? Why?

The fact that she didn't want him to see them only made Seto curious. And he was going to find out.

Back at table, Joey dropped her head into her hands, realizing a second too late that it would cover her face with paint.

Factoid #27: You'll notice that Bakura notes that Ryo's smiles mean different things (eg: excitement, anger, annoyance) while everyone else is just like "well, she's still smiling." This is because it really is only Bakura that notices the difference, very subtle as it is.

It's been noted that only Atem can open the box, but this seems to show that only Yugi can solve puzzle. Strange, isn't it? I'll give you a hint: it has to do with them being soul mates. This will be expounded on, but feel free to guess.