Syaoran

Chapter 2-Yugi

I had no idea what Yami saw in him. He did see something none of us saw. He was a handsome boy, as Kaiba had said, very cute and very sad.
" I'll take him upstairs." Seto offered. " That way he'll rest a bit. Come along," He took the child's hand and led him inside.

" What's up with that kid?" Honda asked. " He's so quiet and all, and only talks to Mokuba."
" Un, I know." Jou turned to look at the house. " Very weak, poor kid. He's all thin, a thin little shaver. He didn't sleep very well, if he slept."
" He slept, you baka. Just woke up." Anzu answered.
" Hai, that's what Ryou said." I nodded. " But...he didn't look too good Anzu."
" He didn't." Yami materialized next to me. " His eyes are strong," He whispered.
" Ooh, great Pharoah is shakened by a kid." Jou laughed.
" Shut it." I snapped. " He hypnotized you?" I asked Yami.
" Hai." Yami nodded. " No one was ever able to do that. It was always the other way."
" Amber eyed kid. No wonder Ryou was so dizzy over the color of his eyes." Jou looked at the house, where Seto was now coming out. Mokuba had went in. " They seem almost golden. Is it just me, or do they glow?"

We ignored him. " How is he Seto?" I asked.
" He seems very shakened. He muttered something about Black Magic. Black Magic...coming from the Millenium Items. Something about Black Sun Magic. Then something about...Undead?"
" What the heck is he talkin about?" Jou asked. " Black Magic?"
" He means my magic, Jou." Yami suddenly spoke. " My magic is the magic of the Shadow Realm. He was able to sense it better then the rest of us, other than Ryou, perhaps, because he possesses magical powers too."
" Come again?" Jou blinked.
" So that was what he was talking about." Mokuba started. " When he said Magic when Seto asked about the sword..."
" Something like it." Yami took the sword from Mokuba. " Oh..."
" What's wrong, Yami?" I asked.
" This...he's..." Yami blinked. " He's a sorceror. And this sword-this sword says he's the wielder of the elements..."



" Duel Monsters?"
" Hai. These are the cards."
" The people in Tomoeda don't play."
" I know." I sighed. This kid never even heard of Duel Monsters. He's even worse than Jou.
" Come along. Hey, Seto!" I called. " You lend Syaoran your deck."
" Why?" Seto came over. " Oh, you're teaching him Duel Monsters. This should be fun."
" Take out your Blue Eyes White Dragon, Seto." I smiled. " Wouldn't be fair."
" Hey, he's a beginner."
" But I'll have to play rough on him if he has better cards, Seto."
" Right."
" Exodia." Syaoran was looking at two of my cards.
" Oh, hai, I lost the rest." I took the cards back.
" Lost?" Syaoran blinked. He held out his hand, and then it started to glow.
" What's happening?" Seto blinked.

Out flashed several brilliant cards, and the remaining Exodia was in his hand.
" Alright," Yami began, " That was...interesting."
" I didn't know I could do that." Syaoran said in a matter of fact tone. He handed the cards to me.
" Alright...so I'll take out my Exodia as well..." I handed them to Yami. " We shuffle, place them here, to the right. Or to the left, it doesn't matter, just away from the center field. The attack mode is like this, the defense mode is like this. These are examples of trap cards," I showed him two cards, one of which is Negate Attack, another I don't remember. " We start out with two thousand life points. You are able to make a move whenever it's your turn, and you can place a trap card as well as summon a monster whenever it's your turn..." And all the jibberish of the rules.

" Alright," Syaoran eyed me warily. It was the second day. He was still nervous around us. " It sounds quite simple...but if it can make Kaiba so rich then I suppose there's more to it than just...cards."
" Of course." Yami smiled. " It's a type of war."
" Okay. Do you want to try?" Seto asked.
" Hai..." Syaoran said hesitantly.
" Don't worry." I smiled. " I'll go easy on you."
Syaoran didn't answer to that. " You make the first move."
" Smart." Yami smiled.
" I'll start out with...oh shoot." I sweatdropped. How am I supposed to lose with this deck? " The Summoned Skull...in attack mode?"
" Oh come on Yugi, surely you have a lesser card in...your...hand..." Seto sweatdrop. " Tough luck for the child."
" I'll counter with...this centaur." Syaoran blinked. " What the-what is this word?" He asked.
" That's Gaea."
" This guy is a knight?" Syaoran asked.

We began to realize that this child is a little too technical to play very well.
" I thought this guy-oh, he is a knight." So slowly the game of dueling became a game of which is which. He couldn't read the words very well, maybe because they were a little too blobby or he needs glasses or something. Syaoran invented a whole lot of funny names-Silver Wolf, which was close, Bear guy, which was not. Blue Elf woman, which could be acceptable, Red guy in a dress, which would make Joey really angry. Half angel demon or Cupid's wife, much to Ryou's distress. Sakura, wonder where he got that from. Anzu didn't mind really. She actually liked the nickname. Syaoran had said it in a sad way, almost. Purple Eriol or Purple Knight, which is probably true, although I didn't really like it. He also sounded mournful. Maybe Sakura and Eriol were his relatives. Blue fish headed dragon, although Seto probably had a hard time dealing with it. It was his best card, after all. Gunned Surgeon, Honda didn't like it. He did like the Cyber Commander. It was his favorite card, after all. Blossom Cannibalistic Plant, Mokuba's first card when he dueled with me. Syaoran wasn't taking the game too seriously. Skeleton armor, none of us liked it. Slanted faced Clown, Seto's weakest card, so Seto didn't really mind. The clown's face was slanted, after all. Hawk woman, Mai was decent enough to let it go. Toy robot. None of us liked it because Joey did defeat Mai with that card. Baby Dragon, which was probably the only one he got right. I forgot already. Ugly Fossilized Dragon, which was the Red Eyes. None of us liked it.

So we had a hard time teaching Syaoran the game. He couldn't even get the names right. Sometimes I wonder, was he doing that on purpose? Perhaps. Maybe he was just bluffing. Or maybe he couldn't read? But he does know how to read.

" You have another Blue Eyes?" Syaoran glared at Seto, who sweatdropped and took his card.
" How many do you have?"
" Three."
Syaoran put down two cards face down. He's really beginning to overuse the trap cards.
" I'll use my turn with the Mystic Elf in defense mode." I said. It was, according to Syaoran, the Blue Elf Woman.

Something happened after that. I forgot how, but he won. He muttered something about Lao Mao liking the game, which we found out was actually Mao Zedong, the Chairman of China during the laissez-faire Communist years if there is such a thing. That statement I would agree; it is, as Yami had said, a war game, and military leaders would like it, especially with a real field.

Jou teased me a little, since even when Jou was playing me the first time I didn't let him win. The truth is I didn't know how to deal with Syaoran. If he's like Jou, well, him losing would be good. If he's sensitive like Mokuba or Ryou, it wouldn't be a good thing. Confidence is really important.

But all in all, in the first few weeks Syaoran wasn't really interested in the game, win or not. Instead he was more interested in Yami and Ryou, and seemed to like Mokuba. Since it was already made clear that Yami and I are two different people, he paid little attention to me. But I guess he didn't know where the other yami was and was trying to find him.

To which, of course, we couldn't let him. We all forgot about Ryou's warning about martial arts. But we got a good nasty reminder one time when we went over to Kaiba's place, Anzu, Mai, and Syaoran were cooking while Kaiba was trying to get his brother under control. For some reason Mokuba is very interested in everything about Syaoran-maybe because of the age thing. By this time-about two weeks after we met him, Syaoran got very comfortable with us, although he still likes to hang out with Mokuba and Ryou more, and sometimes seems to think Seto is his brother although he never said it. Sometimes I think he wants a brother and Seto just happened to be more mature than Jou. He did look at Anzu as a sister and Anzu didn't mind, really. Mai is a little too concerned about her looks to be of much use to him. He still studies Yami-but Yami was quite fond of him so he didn't mind.

Well, back to the cooking thing. It was a Sunday, I believe. I went into the kitchen to find Mai and Anzu stopping their work to stare at Syaoran.
" What's going on guys?" I asked. Maybe I should have left out the " guys" in there.
" Look at him." Mai wrinkled her nose. " I've never seen anything like that before."
" Huh?" Syaoran turned around. He was already half finished and he only started a minute ago. " Oh, hi Yugi. What's wrong?"
" Did you see that Yugi?" Anzu asked. " I mean, he went like chop chop chop! With his knife. He went like five hundred chops a second. How did you do that?"
" Oh..." Syaoran blushed. He looked very cute when he does that. " Ano...I..just do it I guess...nothing much really. It comes with kung fu."
" It does..." Mai covered her mouth. " Well, quite convenient. Aren't you afraid your hand will get chopped?"
Syaoran ignored her. Instead, whack! On the chopping board.
" What was that for?" I asked. " You might have chopped off that thing by the force you're using."
" Oh." Syaoran laughed nervously. " Just the fly that kept on flying around my face while I was working." He was sweatdropping. He lifted the knife as if to chop my head, but it was only for me to see the body of that fly of his, squished on the edge of the blade.
" Ew! Gross!" Mai cried. " Why do you need to use a kitchen knife for that?"
" To practice aim, that's what. Why do they invent arrows?" Syaoran was a little annoyed. He didn't like Mai too much. " But it gets even better." Syaoran smiled at me.
" How? What? What's goin on here? Why's Mai gaggin?" Jou popped in.
" He sliced a fly in half with his knife." Anzu answered in a matter of fact tone.
" Yuck! But cool man!" Jou shot a thumbs up at Syaoran, who blinked. " You said something about getting better. What gets even better?"

Syaoran hesitated. " Chopsticks come just as handy." He replied. " But I won't show it here. Anzu, can you move out of the way so I can clean my knife?"
" I'm not going anywhere near that thing until you clean it." Mai held her hands up. " No way."
Syaoran giggled. Of course, if I told him that he'll say ' I don't giggle!' but the truth is, if that's not giggling I don't know what it is. Ryou entered the room, very tired of course.
" Hey Syaoran. How are you?" He asked. " Feeling alright? Did Seto tease you?"
" He did once." Syaoran chuckled. " Just once. But that was all, since he still has Mokuba to deal with. Isn't that kid just cute?"
" How old are you?" Ryou suddenly asked.
" Oh, me?" Syaoran blinked. " I just turned eleven...oh my god..." He swallowed.
" What's wrong?" Ryou asked.
" Today's my birthday." Syaoran answered simply.

We all stopped what we're doing.
" Did someone say today's their birthday?" Honda popped in with Seto and Mokuba.
" Today's Syaoran's birthday." Ryou blinked. " How come you never told us?"
" Wake up!" Syaoran replied, rather rudely, because he was equally shocked himself. " I didn't know until you asked. Today's July thirteenth, hai? That's my birthday. Don't worry about it. Birthdays are just like any other day. The world goes on and you have to follow it."

He brushed past us. Seto tried to catch him but he was too fast.
" I think he meant more than he just said." Jou said softly.

We were silent.