Chapter Fifty-Two:

Yami paused as he headed across the parking lot to the hotel. Joey's car was sitting in its assigned spot, but it was only three in the afternoon on Saturday. Joey and Yugi weren't supposed to be back until dinnertime tomorrow. The car had been left at the airport. Why were they home?

Yami hurried forward, but he couldn't show them his bag. He didn't want them to know he was still helping Kaiba and especially didn't want to show them the bloody, torn pajamas still in there. He went to the stairs and went up, tossing the bag down behind one of the decorative potted plants, shoving the Ring beneath his shirt and the Rod into his belt at his back beneath his jacket, before going down the walkway to the door. He pulled out his keycard and slid it through the slot, opening the door.

He knew immediately something was wrong. Joey and Yugi were both sitting on the couch, looking in different directions, Yugi looking sad and Joey looking pissed-off. His arms were folded over his chest, brown eyes glaring a hole into the wall.

"What's going on?" Yami asked.

Yugi looked up dejectedly. "Hi, Yami."

He looked tentatively at Joey and Yami realized with a shock that Joey was angry at Yugi. What on earth had happened?

"Joey?" he prodded, since it seemed Yugi was too nervous to address him himself. "Um...how was the wedding?"

"Don't know," Joey snapped. "It's going on now in Greece."

"Joey, what happened?"

"It was fucking horrible!" Joey exploded, surging to his feet. Yugi winced and Yami stared at him in surprise. "You want to know what happened, Yami? My sister lied to me. My mom didn't invite me at all."

"Oh, no," Yami said, catching on immediately.

"Yeah." Joey laughed bitterly. "So imagine her surprise when I showed up yesterday morning. She didn't seem overjoyed, so I asked what was wrong and she flat-out told me I wasn't invited. We put two-and-two together and knew Serenity had lied just to get me there. Mom went off on her, shouting at her that she had no right to invite me, that she didn't want me there, and she made Serenity cry. So I went off on her and told her not to yell at her and the whole damn rehearsal dinner blew up. Her fiance told me to back off and shoved me, so I slugged him and we ended up rolling around on the floor. Mom threw me out so we jumped on the next damn plane home."

Yami didn't know what to say to that. That was horrible. But why was Joey mad at Yugi?

"I said I was sorry, Joey," Yugi said plaintively.

"Yeah, but you know what, Yug'? You should have just stayed out of it. It wasn't your business when I didn't want to go and it wasn't your business when we were fighting and it certainly wasn't your business to ask me to go back and try and make up."

"I was just trying to help," Yugi whispered.

"I know you were, Yug'. But you went too far." Joey turned, glowering at Yugi. "I'm sorry for you, you have no idea how sorry I am about your family, but my family isn't like yours was. My family sucks and I'm done with them and just lay off, all right?!"

Yugi flinched. "Joey, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you are." Joey yawned, suddenly, looking all the angrier for it. "Look, I'm beat. I'm going to bed for a bit."

He turned and walked into the bedroom, slamming the door shut. Yugi slumped on the couch, looking miserable. Yami sighed and walked over, sitting down and putting his arm around Yugi's shoulders, pulling his hikari against him and resting his cheek against the top of his head.

//Aibou, he didn't mean that.//

/I know. But he did mean it, sort of./ Yugi sighed and closed his eyes, leaning closer to Yami. /I messed up./

Yami stroked Yugi's shoulder, not really able to refute that. He knew Yugi had meant well, but apparently Joey didn't see it the same way. And he did know that Yugi had tried to get Joey to take the chance with patching things up with his mother because he was missing his own family. It had not gone as planned and really the blame lay with Serenity for lying, but she had clearly felt the same as Yugi, that on this big day for their mother Joey should have been there to support her. It was a pity it had not gone well, but both would have to learn to live with that.

//He'll get over his anger, Yugi,// Yami said finally.

Yugi sighed again, even more deeply. He suddenly pulled away, opening his eyes and getting to his feet. "I'm going for a walk, okay?"

Yami hesitated. "That's not wise."

Yugi stopped in mid-step, then slowly turned back. His face was tense and emotional. "I've been walking for weeks now. I'll use the elevator instead of the stairs, but I can walk."

Yami studied Yugi's face. He could see the strain there, the stormy look in his eyes and the temper that was ever closer to the surface than before. Yugi was upset he'd hurt Joey and wanted to walk off some steam. He gave in.

//Promise me you'll stay close.//

/I promise,/ Yugi said in aggravation. Then the tenseness left and he bent down to hug Yami. /I promise,/ he repeated more softly.

Yami watched Yugi grab one of the key cards, stuffing it into his pocket before putting on his jacket and leaving the hotel room. Yami waited a little while before going out and retrieving his bag, feeling ridiculous and guilty for sneaking around like this, and returned to the hotel suite. He unpacked and threw away the ruined pajamas, putting the rest of the clothes into the laundry basket. He walked over to the bedroom door and tried the knob. Joey hadn't locked it and he slowly opened the door, peering inside.

Joey was sprawled out on his back awkwardly across his bed, his jacket and shoes tossed haphazardly onto the floor, belt undone but otherwise still dressed, snoring loudly. He'd fallen asleep quickly. Yami looked at him for a long moment, but he couldn't be angry with him. He'd yelled at Yugi, but he had a valid point, from his side.

Yami slowly closed the door and went into the kitchenette to get himself something to eat. He didn't think that Joey would stay angry at Yugi for long. No, the real problem lay with Yugi. He was having more trouble dealing with this than Yami had thought. He'd focused all he had on getting better and learning to walk and now that he had, all he had left was the deaths of his family.

But what could Yami do? Yugi was hurting, but there was little more Yami or Joey could do to comfort him other than be with him. He would have to deal with it on his own from here on and he didn't seem to be doing that. Yami knew Yugi was strong, but this was something one did not normally have to face. He worried about him, but neither he nor Joey could really understand what he was going through.

Yami glanced at the clock. It was a little before four and he was due at the Fire Room at five for his evening shift. He would have to leave in a little while in order to walk there and he really wanted to be at the hotel to make sure Yugi made it back safely.

Still, if he didn't make his shift, he'd get fired. Finally he did what he knew he had to and left a note for Joey to call him if Yugi wasn't home by six, wondering if he'd even wake up before that. It was strange that Joey was so tired while Yugi wasn't. They'd been on the same long flight. But then Joey was prone to naps on Saturdays, so he didn't put much thought into it.

He gathered his jacket and headed downstairs to the main office. The day manager looked up and smiled. Yami felt a little guilty he could never remember her name and surreptitiously checked her name tag as he came up.

"Good afternoon, Patricia."

"Hi, Yami. Come for your messages?"

She rummaged on the untidy desktop and picked up a small notebook, flipping through the pages. The long-term-rental hotel had all calls come into the central office, the phones in the rooms only for pages to the maintenance office, room service, maid service, and 911. Patricia fielded all the calls for the eighty-two rooms and somehow managed to keep it all straight.

"Um, The Ridge called yesterday. You're all set up for your new apartment." She looked up and made a pout. "Aw, you're leaving."

Yami smiled at her and she turned back to the notes.

"Annie wants to see you Wednesday at four for your interview. Should I tell her that's good?"

Yami had a shift at that time, but he'd get it changed. If he had to, he'd do the dishonorable thing and skip it if it meant getting a new job and being able to get out of being a stripper. He nodded.

"Absolutely, thank you. And thank her for me, please."

"Can do, sweetie. Oh, um, two more. Someone named Serenity called for Joey to apologize." Yami nodded, knowing he'd have to pass that on. However mad Joey was, his relationship with his sister would never be ruined. "And the last one is from the Shintaka Center. Dr. Ashford wants to set up an appointment next week for Yugi's check-up."

"Thank you, Patricia, I appreciate all your help."

"You're welcome, honey."

Yami turned and headed out the door, knowing he'd have to walk quickly to make his shift. But he managed it and entered into the dressing room with a couple of minutes to spare. Derek glanced up, then looked away. He hadn't really said anything to Yami at all since he'd told him that Joey was with Yugi. Technically that wasn't true then and it wasn't true now, but Yami wasn't about to let Derek know that.

Yami got dressed in the outfit he was supposed to wear that night. Seeing Roger's choice, he knew in an instant he was going to skip his Wednesday shift. Gods, how humiliating; he was supposed to be dressed like a biker with a V-necked, sleeveless, zippered vest, skin-tight leather pants with chains and zippered cuffs, steel-tipped boots, spiked collar, and a leather cap. Looking at the ridiculous outfit, he wondered if it would be immoral to send his boss to the Shadow Realm.

He got dressed, but couldn't find the second of the fingerless gloves that were supposed to complete the outfit after spending nearly all his remaining time trying to get his spiky hair to flatten beneath the stupid hat.

"Here, you're standing on it."

It was Derek, nudging his left foot with his own. Yami glanced down and removed his foot, bending down to pick up the lost glove, feeling silly for having stood on it. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He hesitated and looked at him. "I can see how much you hate it, but you look really good."

"Thank you, Derek," Yami said cautiously.

"I hear...Joey quit," Derek said.

"Yes, he did. He got another job."

Derek nodded, toying with the tie he'd taken off. He'd been dressed like a regular businessman for his dance; Yami had heard the raucous cheers and whistles of the crowd's approval when he came in. Derek lifted his eyes to his.

"You're going to be next, huh?"

Yami finished adjusting his hat from where it had slid when he'd bent down and which he knew wasn't going to keep its precarious perch for long. "I plan to quit, yes. I have an interview on Wednesday."

"Oh. Well, good luck."

"Thank you."

"Tell Joey I said hi, okay?"

Yami nodded a trifle impatiently. He understood Derek's feelings, but he'd been informed that Joey was spoken for and that should be it. Derek gave him a slight smile and turned away, beginning to put away the businessman costume, already dressed in his street clothes. His shift was over.

Yami sighed as the music started for his dance. He stepped through the curtains and onto the darkened stage, which lit up almost immediately. Gritting his teeth at the catcalls he got, he started his dance.

'Only two more to suffer through,' he thought to himself.

His hat almost immediately slid off when he started to dance. He caught it in mid-air, but threw it off the stage in irritation, not seeing where it landed. More cheers and whistles that he ignored, running his hands along his chest over the vest as he walked down the length of the stage. He reached the pole and grabbed it, whirling around it before raising one leg up parallel to the pole and swinging back the other way. The drunken come-ons made him grip the pole until his knuckles were white. He supposed it was a good thing he wasn't allowed to wear his Puzzle while performing, he'd probably lose control and Mind Crush someone without trying to.

Lowering his leg and turning his back to the pole, he bobbed up and down against it a couple of times with his hands still holding it above his head. Leaving it, he walked up the stage a little before sliding the zipper down his vest. He let it slide slowly down his arms before tossing it to the back of the stage. Revolving in place to the pulse of the music, he caressed his chest a couple of times before unbuckling his belt and pulling it from the loops. He cracked it like a whip over his head before flinging it towards backstage.

The lights suddenly turned from white to blue, but he ignored that, bending forward until his hands were flat on the stage before straightening up with a roll of his body. He unbuttoned his pants and pulled down the zipper before strutting down the stage back to the pole. He rubbed against it a few times, before turning his back to it and putting his hands to his pants, working them off while rocking his hips from side to side and slowly sinking to his knees at the same time. He rolled onto his back and pushed the pants all the way off, climbing lithely to his feet and throwing the pants to backstage.

Now in only his boots, underwear, and gloves, Yami's attention was drawn to someone waving wildly from the audience. It was just one of the businessmen, but he now saw that the man was holding the hat he'd thrown. The man threw it towards him like a discus and Yami caught it. Sighing to himself, Yami indulged the patron and put it back on his head, holding it there with one hand while he went back to dancing, flexing his body in random patterns. The cheers were almost loud enough to drown out the music.

Yami finished his act sliding down the stage a little on his knees before settling back on his haunches, still holding the hat to his head with one hand and the other resting on his thighs, striking a brief and flirtatious pose.

Mercifully the music ended and the stage went dark. Yami climbed to his feet and walked back towards backstage, sliding between the curtains and gathering up the clothes he'd thrown. The hat fell off again and Yami kicked it in a temper.

"You know I pay for that myself," a surly voice said.

Yami glanced over, seeing Roger walking towards him. "Sorry," he said sullenly.

"You know, now that there's only one half of the White-Hot Duo left, I'm starting to lose some of my business. There were some people who only came for you two as a pair."

Yami frowned slightly. "And?"

Roger glared. "You're costing me money."

"I don't remember when it became you who decided what employment Joey and I may have."

Roger suddenly reached out and grabbed Yami's wrist. Yami dumped his stage outfit on the floor and growled, trying to jerk back. "Release me."

Roger hauled on his arm and swung him around in an arc, slamming him back against the row of lockers dancers stored their personal belongings in. There were two others in the backstage area, both dancers Yami didn't know very well and they both looked up, but then looked quickly away, clearly choosing not to get involved. Roger leaned close, snarling in Yami's face.

"I don't like being talked to like that by some nobody stripper. You were pretty desperate when you first got hired on here and I don't like the uppity attitude you've suddenly got because someone else hired your asses. I've had enough of your smart mouth and no one takes a good moneymaker away from me. So here's--"

Tired and angry and more than a little sick of being manhandled because people assumed he was too small to defend himself, Yami struck back. He was a Pharaoh and back in his day, kings were warriors. Yami punched Roger across the face with his free hand while twisting his arm forward, putting pressure on the relatively weak area between the thumb and other fingers, forcing Roger to let go of him. He grasped Roger's arm with both of his hands and twisted it savagely behind Roger's back, putting strain on the pressure points. Roger yelped and sank to his knees as Yami forced him down.

"Now you listen to me," Yami said dangerously, too low for the wide-eyed gawkers at the end of the stage room. "I am not bound to you by any definition and if you dare to lay a hand on me again...I'll kill you."

Putting his foot against Roger's back, he let go of his arm and kicked out, shoving Roger hard to the ground. He glowered down at him, tense for a reaction, but to his satisfaction Roger remained where he was. Yami turned his back on him because he had to to get his things from his locker, but he kept his attention to any sounds of Roger getting up. None came and Yami turned back around to face him, keeping his eyes on him while he got dressed.

Sliding the chain of his Puzzle over his head and letting it hang comfortably against his stomach, Yami gave Roger one last fierce glare.

"As I'm sure you realize, I quit."

Smirking with self-satisfaction, Yami turned and strode to the stairs leading down to the side door, further gratified when the two other dancers scrambled out of his way. He threw open the door and stepped out into the main room of the club, his eyes taking a moment to adjust to the gloom.

He found his way blocked. Looking up, he felt his heart sink as he realized Sentoryou was standing in front of him. The older man looked down at him as if unsure of what to say. Yami started by him only to have Sentoryou reach out and stop him. But because the man's touch was light and more of a nonverbal request than a command, Yami didn't resist.

"Please, listen to me a minute, Shadow Flare," Sentoryou said huskily. "What happened in Hong Kong...I didn't realize that was going to happen."

"Yes, I'm sure you didn't."

"Please, believe me, I had nothing to do with that. If I had known Buck intended to hurt you, I would never have followed you to your hotel. Are you all right?" Sentoryou's eyes flicked to the half-healed line on Yami's bicep.

"I'm fine."

Yami searched his face. Sentoryou was a damn good liar if he was lying. He looked earnest and upset. The problem was, Yami just didn't know whether he was lying or not. It seemed like an awfully suspicious coincidence. And yet, it was not a surprise Sentoryou was in Hong Kong the same time they were. Buck was his nephew and he'd gone to help him. Sentoryou had mentioned that he didn't like Buck but that he looked after him for the sake of his sister, whom he did seem to care very deeply about. And he realized that Sentoryou had mentioned he was going to the airport the very day he'd rescued Yami from Kato's thugs. So that situation had its solution. And he could suppose Sentoryou would have known nothing about Buck being intent on killing he and Kaiba. After all, as far as Sentoryou knew--if he was indeed ignorant of Kaiba's problems with Takanawa--Buck was Kaiba's friend and Kaiba had gone to Hong Kong to get him out of jail.

There were a couple of holes in that theory, however. Did Sentoryou not wonder how Kaiba managed to get Buck released from the Chinese prison or why Yami was there? Did he not wonder why Buck had tried to double-cross and kill them? At the very least, he should be curious as to Buck's behavior in their presence when Yami had used his magick.

"I left Buck in Hong Kong," Sentoryou said abruptly. "I love my sister, but that boy is no good. I didn't really believe the charges against him, for her sake, until he tried to put a bullet in you. He's back in Chinese custody where he belongs. I'm sorry, Shadow Flare. I never meant for you to get hurt."

Yami hesitated, torn. Sentoryou seemed so sincere and distraught, but if he was a good actor, forgiving him good be dangerous. On the one hand, what would garnering Yami's forgiveness get him? If he intended to hurt him, he could have done it on numerous occasions before now. He could just be an innocent bystander. On the other hand, if he was in fact not who he said he was, he could be intending something. But what?

Perhaps to use Yami against Kaiba. In a way, that would fit. Yami had access to Kaiba, as they figured it, and if Yami could be turned, then it would be easy for Takanawa to use Yami to kill Kaiba. It would be effecient and safe for Takanawa since he wouldn't be directly guilty of the crime. After all, Kaiba had been planning that very thing with Buck.

Sentoryou was staring at him with an increasingly glum expression. "I'm sorry," he repeated lamely.

Yami was usually a good judge of character. He'd had centuries to practice sensing darkness in others. People like Marik and Bakura fairly glowed to him with their evil intentions. Sentoryou, on the other hand, had never been this way. People could lie and hide their emotions, but they couldn't hide their natures from Yami. Bakura was the only person who had ever tricked him and that was because he was Ryou's darkness and could hide within Ryou's soul in the same way Yami had been able to do with Yugi. Sentoryou was just a man.

And Yami sensed no adverse purpose with Sentoryou.

He allowed a small smile on his face. "I believe you, Sentoryou."

tbc…