Ordinary Day - Chapter 1
Author's Notes: A high priestess comes to Domino City. She casts her spells on the Yu-Gi-Oh cast and sends them to another dimension, where Yuugi and Jounouchi don't know each other and everything else changes. This fic is primarily Yuugi/Jounouchi with a few healthy side dishes of Isis/Seto, Anzu/Yuugi, and Jounouchi/Malik. Now for the boring part: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, more than likely I never will own Yu-Gi-Oh, so no suing. I also hold no credit to the songs Wonderwall by Oasis and All You Wanted by Michelle Branch.
Okay, I hope this clears up any confusion. The prologue is when Aurora comes to Domino City and casts her spell. This is the first chapter that takes place after the spell is set and if I may direct your attention to the summary, under her spell Yuugi and Jounouchi never met each other and it affects everyone else's lives as well. I hope this clears some things up. And Isis was not affected by the spell, why? I'm not going to tell you because that may spoil somethings.
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Jounouchi didn't wake up until the late morning when the gray sunlight filtered in through the window onto his face. He stretched and grimaced, remembering a very nasty bruise his father had given him the night before. He rubbed his sore shoulder and looked around his room. It was a total mess with all his clothes strewn about the floor. He wondered if he should possibly clean it. If his mom was still around she would have made him clean it three weeks ago. But his mom had left a long time ago, taking his younger sister with her.
Jounouchi got out of bed and made his way into the hallway, gingerly stepping over the broken glass laying outside his door. That bottle had fortunately missed him and came in contact with his closed door instead. He made his way quietly downstairs into the kitchen, pausing every so often to listen for the sounds of his dad's snoring. He didn't hear anything, hopefully he had gotten over his hangover and made his way to work.
The mail was sitting on the table; a pile of bills with a large brown envelope sitting to the side, addressed to him. That was what Jounouchi was interested in. He knew exactly what he'd find inside: a tape from his younger sister, Shisuka. Ever since she had gone blind, this was the only way the two of them could communicate. The tapes were precious to him since he hadn't seen in her years, and most of the time his father would destroy them in a drunken rage before Jounouchi had the chance to listen to them. He eagerly put the tape in and pushed play.
"Big brother, I hope this tape finds you well. I think about you everyday and I worry about you." Jounouchi smiled; his sister was so caring, worrying about him when she was the one that was blind. "I think you need some new friends. Good ones that will really care about you." Jounouchi shook his head. She didn't understand. It wasn't easy for him to become friends with the kind of people Shisuka wanted him to be friends with. "Speaking of friends, Aurora-chan's going to Domino City for a few weeks. You should talk to her sometime. Did you know she's a star now? I'm sure you've heard her song Ordinary Day; they play it all the time on the radio. She told me there's an interesting story behind that song but she absolutely refused to tell me what it was. Strange, huh? I love you. Send something back to me soon, okay?"
Jounouchi took the tape out and put it on the counter, thinking about what Shisuka had told him. Maybe he would look up Aurora, then again, maybe he wouldn't. The mere fact that she was Egyptian seemed frightening to him, for reasons even he didn't know. Though when they were little, he didn't seem to have those kinds of problems with her. Somewhere along the road of his life he had picked up a general fear and mistrust of Egyptians and not knowing where it came from was damn disorienting. Shouldn't he know his own life?
He switched to the radio before heading back upstairs to change into, well, semi-clean clothes. Nothing ever seemed to come clean in that house. On his way downstairs the current song ended and the DJ's voice came on. "Next up we have the young Aurora's hit single, Ordinary Day."
Jounouchi stopped halfway down the stairs and listened to the song for a moment. He felt like he was remembering something forgotten long ago but then there was a flash and the feeling passed. "There has to be some really interesting story behind that song," he said as he turned the radio off and placed the tape from Shisuka safely inside his pocket.
"It's a damn shame Honda's in jail," he thought out loud when he stepped outside. He turned around and locked the door behind him. "At least then I'd have something to do." It really wasn't fair; Honda didn't even do anything wrong. It had just been a really bad case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Unfortunately, the police didn't see it that way.
So, with his best friend in jail, Jounouchi had nothing better to do during the day than wander aimlessly around the streets. It wasn't too bad. He had discovered that wandering around without purpose could generally produce the best results.
Though it wasn't much fun when the sky was overcast and the whole world seemed dark and dreary. Jounouchi didn't mind it too much though; anything was better than sitting around at home all day. Maybe he should keep an eye out for Aurora. Talking to someone might just help him forget about all his problems at home.
It wasn't long before he ran into an Egyptian, though it wasn't the one he was expecting. This one had dark hair, eyes that were constantly changing like the sea and she looked like she had stepped out of a book on Ancient Egypt. Her outfit was exactly like the ones the Egyptians used to wear. What she said to him though was even more surprising. "Jounouchi!" she exclaimed when she saw him.
He took a step backwards, keeping a wary eye on everything around him. He had never seen this woman before, even if she did look vaguely familiar. Maybe she resembled someone in one of those strange dreams he had been having recently. All the more reason to be careful around her. "Who are you and how the hell do you know my name?"
"Jounouchi," she said, blinking a few times, quite obviously confused. "Jounouchi, it's Isis. Remember?" He only continued to stare at her in response. "I'm Malik's sister," she continued, hoping that something would get through to him. She highly doubted it.
"Who the hell is Malik?"
Isis sighed. It was pointless to try to get across to him. "Never mind. Where's Yuugi?" she asked. With any luck she'd at least be able to get the answer to that question from him.
"Yuugi?" His expression turned from wariness to confusion. Who was this Yuugi she was talking about? Why did that name sound so familiar?
"Yuugi," Isis said again, feeling a chill dread taking hold in the pit of her stomach. If she couldn't find Yuugi, she didn't know what she was going to do. "Your cute little friend with the spiky hair and the purple eyes." She got no response from him, only a small shake of his head.
Jounouchi felt sick. The more he thought about what she as saying the more confused he became. Did she say Yuugi was his friend? Jounouchi didn't have many friends, so he definitely knew all their names. He didn't know this kid Yuugi, did he? His head was really starting to hurt. Someone he thought he possibly recognized came up behind Isis and placed a hand on her shoulder. That face seemed so familiar to him. "Isis, what are you doing? Are you trying to make new friends?"
"Seto, it's Jounouchi," she said angrily, pushing his hand off her shoulder. Jounouchi suddenly realized why the guy looked so familiar. The guy standing in front of him was none other than Seto Kaiba, the rich, young CEO of Kaiba Corp. He had probably seen him on TV or some other promotional tool before.
Kaiba looked over at Jounouchi, passing over him with a critical eye. "Looks more like a mangy mutt to me," he muttered before turning his attention back to the young Egyptian woman. Jounouchi bristled at the remark. Who did that rich bastard think he was anyway? "Isis, are you feeling okay?" Kaiba asked her, placing the back of his hand on her forehead and completely ignoring Jounouchi. "You feel a little warm."
He brought both of his hands to her shoulders and she sighed. "I told you before. I'm feeling perfectly fine."
Jounouchi couldn't shake the odd feeling that something about this scene just wasn't right but he couldn't quite figure out what it was. "Are you sure?" Kaiba asked her, clearly concerned. "You've been acting really strange all day." Kaiba pulled her closer to him and kissed her on the top of her head. "I think I should take you home," he whispered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. She looked up at him as if she were about to protest but apparently thought otherwise and hung her head, nodding slightly.
They walked off leaving Jounouchi standing there all alone in stunned silence. That had to have been one of the oddest confrontations he had had in his entire life. He shook his head as he walked off in the opposite direction. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't forget the strange woman's words. 'Yuugi, your cute little friend with the spiky hair and purple eyes.' Her words weighed heavily on his mind. He was positive he didn't know anyone like that, wasn't he? And how did Isis know his name in the first place? Jounouchi had a sneaking suspicion that Kaiba's girlfriend was slightly insane and that had caused her to say the things that she did. That had to be the reason. There wasn't any other possibility, was there?
&-&-&-&
Yuugi sighed as he looked up towards the gray sky. He didn't know why he felt so out of sorts; he didn't have any reasons to be anything but happy. Besides, if Anzu caught on to his mood she might think he was unhappy from being around her. And nothing could be farther from the truth. However, she may not believe him if he told her that.
Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was missing. He tried consulting his other half on the issue but he had seemed moody and distant all day. Which meant Yuugi had to solve this problem all on his own. Anzu was staring at him from across the table with a concerned look on her face. "Yuugi, are you okay?" she asked.
Yuugi tried smiling at her to reassure her but it just didn't work. "I'm sorry. I haven't been feeling right all day."
Anzu nodded; she always tried to be so understanding. "Maybe he's starting to rub off on you," she suggested. Yuugi looked at her puzzled, not quite understanding what she was saying. "You haven't had a duel in weeks. No doubt that's really irritating him and maybe his moodiness is affecting you."
"Maybe," Yuugi said thoughtfully. For some reason this seemed to be much more than a simple lack of duels. Even though his amount of duels was steadily decreasing; nobody wanted to challenge you when you were the undisputed champion.
"You should see if Ryou's up for a friendly duel, just so he won't be so moody," she suggested cheerfully.
Yuugi smiled. It was a tentative solution to his problem and hopefully it was the one he was looking for. "Let's go ask him," he said, standing up and going outside. Anzu was right behind him.
Anzu looked up towards the sky as they walked along, noticing the dark clouds. "I sure hope it doesn't rain."
Yuugi followed her gaze and figured that it would more than likely rain before the day was out. With any luck, it wouldn't start until nightfall. They seemed to be the only ones outside and the rest of the world seemed eerily quiet. Yuugi was actually relieved when he saw somebody walking towards them. The blonde boy didn't even look up as he shuffled passed them. Yuugi couldn't help but let his gaze follow him; there was just something about him. "Yuugi, be careful," Anzu warned, bringing his attention back to the sidewalk in front of him.
Jounouchi stopped, the strange Egyptian's words coming back to him. 'Where's Yuugi?' Was this some really odd coincidence? No, the Yuugi he just passed had to be a completely different one. Besides, Kaiba's girlfriend really did seem a little off the wall to him. He shrugged the strange feeling off and continued walking.
Jounouchi hadn't walked very far before he heard a familiar singing voice up ahead. He hurried towards the sound, arriving just in time to hear Aurora finish her song. She smiled at him as the people around her thanked her for performing for them. She graciously accepted all the thank you's as the small crowd began to wander off.
After the last one had gone she ran up to him and gave him a hug. "'Jounouchi-kun! Long time no see!" He smiled at her as she backed away to take a good look at him. "And you've gotten so handsome, too," she continued, laughing just a little.
She had always been like that, complementing someone every chance she got. Of course, she generally had other hidden motives. "You haven't changed a bit, Aurora-chan. You're still trying to charm your way through life and you still suck at it."
"Hey!" she said, playfully punching him on the arm several times. "Just for that, I condemn you to go shopping with me!"
He let her pull him along towards the shopping district. Things really hadn't changed between them despite the years. She had a playful glint in her eyes as she dragged him along and that was when Jounouchi noticed the eagle charm around her neck. The emerald eye had a glint in it similar to her own. It seemed a bit odd to him at first but then he figured it must have something to do with the lighting. After all, there was no such thing as magic. After a few minutes he finally asked her, "Where are we going?"
She paused and looked towards him with a thoughtful expression on her face. "I'm looking for a shop that sells Duel Monster cards." She looked around them. "You wouldn't happen to know where one is at, would you?"
"Duel Monsters?" He had heard of the popular game before but he had never really gotten into it. The truth was he played once and discovered he was so bad that no amount of training would ever make him even a semi-decent player. "No, why?"
She started walking again and he followed her. "I'm trying to perfect my deck. I want to be known as the one who beat Yuugi."
There was that name again. What the hell was going on here today? Couldn't he go for half an hour without hearing that name? "Yuugi?"
Aurora turned around and blinked at him a few times as if it should be obvious who it was she was talking about. "Yuugi, the duel monsters champion of the world? I hear he's never been defeated."
And she wanted to challenge him why? It seemed like an idiotic move to Jounouchi, but then again, what did he know about the game? But still... "What makes you think you can beat him?"
There was a deep glint in her emerald eyes, one that made Jounouchi want to run and hide. The eagle's eye reflected the glint perfectly. This was starting to get really freaky. "Because I have the perfect strategy." For some reason her voice sounded like it wasn't hers. The glint left after that and she smiled at him, though it didn't make him feel any better. "This place looks good," she said, crossing the street.
The shop she entered was kind of small, but it was obviously centered around the duel monsters game. And elderly man stood behind the counter. "May I help you?" he asked as they walked in.
Aurora looked around for a few seconds before approaching the counter; Jounouchi stood where he was by the door watching everything. The place seemed familiar to him somehow. "Hai," Aurora said cheerfully, bowing slightly to the old man behind the counter. "This seems to be quite the wonderful shop and I was wondering if you could help me. I've been working on perfecting my deck for some time now and I've been looking for a Red Eyes Black Dragon. You wouldn't happen to have one you could sell me, would you?" she asked hopefully.
Jounouchi leaned up against the wall, wondering how long this was going to take. He also wanted to know what was so special about this "Red Eyes Black Dragon" card that made Aurora want it so much. "You happen to be in luck," the old man said, turning around and searching through the drawers. "I just got one this morning. Ah, here we are." He turned around and gave her the card in exchange for her money. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, young lady."
Aurora placed the card in her deck and bowed to him again. "Thank you very much, sir. Ready, Jounouchi-kun?" she asked, joining him at the door.
He nodded and they walked out into the dreary streets of Domino City. "Aurora-chan, can I see that card you just bought?"
She gave him a puzzled look but she handed him her deck. "It's the one on top," she said as he took it from her.
Jounouchi hesitated before flipping the card over. What exactly was he expecting? He wasn't sure. He felt as if he had been transported to another world. The images he saw were all blurred together, but they were images of people dueling. Above the chaos he clearly heard his voice saying "I play the Red Eyes Black Dragon." The images cleared and he saw himself dueling, a black dragon out on the playing field.
He turned the card over and the vision abruptly ended. He looked down at the card he held in his hand; it was exactly the same as the one he had seen himself playing. "Marvelous creature, isn't it? There are some who call it the dragon of friendship."
He looked at her, desperate for some sign of normalcy after that strange vision. Those dreams were really getting disturbing. "Why?" he asked, giving her her deck back.
She shrugged as she put the cards away. "I'm not sure though I bet there's an interesting story behind it."
There probably was and Jounouchi couldn't shake the feeling that he should know what that story was. The card was calling him, calling him back to that strange world of dreams. Wait, did she say interesting story? Shisuka! "Aurora-chan?"
"Hmmm....." The eagle's eye was shining again.
Great, was he sure he even wanted to ask the question? But Shisuka really wanted to know and that made up his mind for him. "Shisuka said you told her there was a really interesting story behind your song Ordinary Day. What is it?"
She appeared thoughtful for a moment, pressing a finger to her lips. "I don't think I should answer that question right now. Ask me again in a few weeks. Maybe then you'll be ready to know." Jounouchi nodded dumbly as Aurora's cell phone rang. "Give me a sec. Hello? What's up?" She nodded a few times. "Seto Kaiba? Really? All right, I'll get back to the hotel as soon as possible." She put the phone away and give Jounouchi an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, Jounouchi-kun. Apparently Seto Kaiba wants me to perform at his house tonight. Something about it might be soothing to his girlfriend." She shrugged. "Maybe I'll catch you some other time."
He nodded. "Good luck, Aurora-chan." She smiled and waved before hurrying back to her hotel. Jounouchi smiled and headed off in the other direction. Now was as good a time as any to get home. Maybe he should clean the house a little before his dad came back. At least then his dad couldn't use the messy house as an excuse to beat him that night.
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Isis rubbed her forehead as she sat on the couch by the fireplace running the events of the day over in her mind. So, Jounouchi did not know who Yuugi was and she was supposedly Seto's girlfriend. This wasn't the way things were supposed to be, was it? She could have sworn that things were different but she seemed to be the only one who thought so.
She wished she knew where Malik was hiding out at. The problem was every time she mentioned her brother to Seto he promptly changed the subject. She hoped he wasn't dead. I was a horrible thought but it wasn't impossible. She missed her brother.
She wished she knew what was going on. Everything was so strange, so different from the way things should be. For one thing, she shouldn't have woken up next to Seto this morning. Sure, she had always been attracted to him but she had never told him that. According to him, they had been going out for a year now. Also, the fact that Jounouchi didn't know who Yuugi was highly disturbing. They had always been the best of friends. Now she wondered that if she went to talk to Yuugi about all this if he would think she was going insane like Seto had.
Seto walked into the room, Mokuba following close behind him. Even Seto seemed different, so much more pleasant and outgoing. He sat down on the couch next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and planting a kiss on the side of her head. Mokuba found himself a seat on the floor. "Are you feeling better?" Seto asked her.
"A little," she lied. The truth was she had been feeling fine all day, well, until she got that headache from thinking about it too much. Seto thought she had been sick because she hadn't known what was going on since that morning. She really couldn't blame him; she had practically flipped out on him when she woke up.
"Wonderful. I've hired the singer Aurora to give us a private performance tonight. I hear she's quite good," he murmured in her ear.
"Sounds great," she said, snuggling closer to him. The rest of the world had gone crazy, that's all there was to it. "When's she coming?"
"She's already here. She should be up here any minute."
They didn't have long to wait. An Egyptian girl carrying a guitar case came walking into the room a few minutes later. She bowed slightly as she entered. "May I say, sir, you have a nice house here. I'm Aurora, the singer."
Seto nodded at her. "Thank you. I'm Seto Kaiba, this is Isis, and that's my younger brother Mokuba," he told her, indicating the other two as he spoke.
Aurora smiled at them. "What a lovely family you have. Are there any requests or should I just play anything I want?"
"Play what you want." Aurora shrugged and pulled her guitar out of its case. Isis rested her head on Seto's chest. Things could only get worse from this point on. Maybe Seto loved her enough that he wouldn't care how crazy she got. Not likely.
"Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you.
By now you should have somehow realized what you gotta do.
I don't believe that anybody feel the way I do about you now.
Backbeat, the word was on the street that the fire in your heart was out.
I'm sure you're heard it all before but you've never really had a doubt.
I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding.
There are many things that I would like to say to you,
but I don't know how.
Because maybe, you're gonna be the one that saves me.
And after all, you're my wonderwall."
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Jounouchi decided that the best place to be when he dad come home was hiding out in his room. So, he had locked himself in there for the past few hours while his dad was busy getting drunk downstairs. He sat on his bed staring out the open window and down at the streets below. He wondered briefly where he would go if his father became too much for him to handle that night. Maybe he could go to the park and sleep on a bench or something. Anything was better than staying at home when his father was in a real drunken rage.
Sometimes Jounouchi wished his life could be different, more like his life in the dream world. Even though all the images were blurred, he got the impression that he was happy there. Which meant he probably didn't have to deal with his dad in the dream world. He wished he knew that secret cure now.
He wished... he wished he had somebody around that really, truly cared about him. Someone who could help him forget the pain by simply appreciating him for who he was. Was there anybody out there like that? Maybe a true friend like that was something people made up to make themselves feel better. People that cared about you unselfishly didn't exist. That was something that only existed in dreams.
The rain that had been threatening all day finally came in a torrential downpour, blocking his view of the outside world. He turned away from the window. Shisuka had once tried to convince him that when it rained the angels were crying for the poor souls on earth. At the moment it seemed all too true. Jounouchi turned his radio on softly so there was less chance of his dad hearing it. As was usually the case anymore, the station was playing one of Aurora's songs.
"I'm sinking slowly so hurry hold me
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on
Please can you tell me
So I can finally see
Where you go when you're gone."
Once again the dream world threatened to take over. He didn't even think about fighting it this time; he simply gave it control. There wasn't anything to be afraid of. All it did was make him miserable by showing him things that would make him happy. Things that could never possibly be. Not for him anyway.
This time when the darkness cleared he saw him standing on a dock, dueling that little kid Yuugi. The same one who's name had been haunting him all day. Their ankles were attached to an anchor and Yuugi... Yuugi was crying. Why?
"If you want to
I can save you
I can take you away from here
So lonely inside
So busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares."
The sound of someone pounding on his door pulled him sharply back into the real world. He quickly turned the radio off. Shit! What did he do now? "Katsuya? I know you're in there, you worthless boy, now open this door!" Great, not only was his dad pissed off but he was already drunk. Jounouchi opened the door only to be pulled outside by his dad. His dad clutched the collar of his shirt tightly, nearly choking him. "Where the fuck have you been all day, boy?"
"Looking for a job with Aurora-chan," he managed to choke out. Damn, he could hardly breath and his dad expected him to answer.
"Don't you fuckin' lie to me boy!" he yelled, slamming Jounouchi against the wall. Jounouchi grimaced as the impact jarred his shoulder which was stilled bruised from the night before. "Now, where were you?"
Jounouchi figured he had two choices: stay here and get killed or get the hell out. Getting out seemed the better option; he wasn't ready to die just yet. He kicked his dad hard before he kneed him in the groin. When his father let go of him momentarily, Jounouchi used that as his chance to escape. He raced down the stairs and out the door, a stream of his father's curses following him. He ran until he was well out of the neighborhood, in fact he ran until he reached the park.
That had been a very unpleasant experience and one he hoped he wouldn't have to relive anytime soon. The problem with that was the had been through that same scenario numerous times before. In fact, he had spent several nights sleeping out on the streets as a result. He found shelter in one of the gazebos, huddling in a corner for warmth. His dad would probably have forgotten the entire incident by tomorrow. He normally did.
Though he was shivering and completely soaked, he eventually fell asleep.
"If you want to, I can save you
I can take you away from here.
So lonely inside, so busy out there
And all you wanted was somebody who cares."
This dream was different from the rest; he was lost, wandering alone through an endless sea of darkness. It was cold as well, terribly cold. All he could feel was the dull pain of loneliness. "Poor Jounouchi. Poor, poor Jounouchi, he's all alone."
He looked around, searching for the source of the voice. The voice was female, that much was certain. All he found when he looked around was the eternal darkness. "Who are you?"
"All you need to know is that I am a high priestess, or the personification of your worst nightmare. Whichever you prefer. Poor Jounouchi. You feel so horrible and lost now, and you don't even realize what it is you're missing." He could hear the smirk in her voice and decided he liked the description of worst nightmare better. "How amusing. Jounouchi, wasn't there somewhere you used to go when your father became too much for you to handle?"
Jounouchi hesitated before answering her. Was it really a wise idea to answer a strange omnipresent voice in a dream? He felt he couldn't resist, something was compelling him to answer her. "No, I've always been alone."
She laughed. "That's what you think." Now Jounouchi was really confused. He knew his own life so what was she talking about? "Poor Jounouchi, don't worry about it. You'll learn what I'm talking about in good time. And once you learn the truth, you'll want to kill yourself before it's all done." Jounouchi felt a chill of dread, like an icy grip upon his heart. "This is my world now, Jounouchi. And I'm the only one who sets the rules."
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