Ryou: ^^? What now SJ?
WSJ: *pouts* I didn't do so hot in my writing competition...
Ryou: *pats her on the head* 'Tis okay. There's still other awards you can win that the judges haven't decided on yet.
WSJ: *smiles* I know. ^^ I must have really had YGO on the brain Friday, or something, because all three of the stories I wrote related to YGO in same way. The first one was about Egypt, the second was about two secret agents named Gwen and Harmony trying to outdo the evil millionaire Maximillion Crawford, and the third was about Hatred and Fate (and their sons, Death, War, and Attempted Assasination). ^^; Yup, I was hyper...
Ryou: *sweatdrop*
WSJ: :p Anyway, this chapter sets up the basis for yet another love story. Not a triangle, necissarily, but a love story nonetheless. With a very odd couple. Let's review, shall we? We've got Ryou and Serenity, who are most definately an item. Then we've got Hiro and Gwen, who are flirting shamelessly with each other. We've got Yugi and Tea and Yami, which I know I haven't talked about much but will become major later on. And don't forget the hints of Isis/Shaadi I keep throwing in, and the bit of Mokuba/Rebecca during the Christmas chapter. ^~ And we've got the whole Joey/Mai/Scott thing.
Ryou: Oo; So who's left?
Bakura & Scott: *exchange glances* Amoura.
WSJ: *grins wickedly* Brood has approved this couple, but even she thinks it's super-weird. ^^v I like it though.
Bakura: *reads ahead* o_O; You would...
Scott: *looks around carefully* SJ, I heard a rumor from Serenity a few days ago...
WSJ: *blink* What?
Scott: I heard a rumor that... *drops his voice to a whisper* I have fangirls!!!
*From far away, the sound of a sugar-high "Wai!!" is heard, and Scott ducks momentarily*
WSJ: *grins* That you do. And Jonathon too. Gee, who'd've thought. *scratches her head* Hey, I guess this'd be a good time for a small announcement. This has actually been true all along, maybe you guys just didn't realize it. As long as you ask me first, feel free to use any of my ideas or OCs in your fics. ^^v My Elements are in several stories already.
Bakura: *shudders* Negative Chaos by High Crystal Guardian...
Ryou: *gulps* Daughter of Anubis by Millenium Slinky...
WSJ: *nods* But Scott and Jonathon and Gwen and them are open for use too, just ask me first. ^^v If you haven't realized by now, Amoura actually isn't mine. She was created by a very good friend of mine named Brood. ^~ And, since I haven't been paying very much attention to her or Gwen-chan lately, they get almost the entire chapter to themselves! ^^v You get to learn about their families.
Ryou, Scott, and Bakura: >.> Freak.
WSJ: ^^v I know! On to the fic! Tallyho!!!
Ryou:....That's the last time you get sugar at 10:00 at night...
Disclaimer: I don't own Amoura, Yunet, or Lisa, who are Brood's. I do own Scott, Gwen, Hiro, Jonathon, Takeo, and several others, however. ^^; Yay me.
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Yamis of Tokyo U: Freshmen
Chapter 14: "Amour" Means Love
"This always happens when I get mixed up with GIRLS!" -Tasuki (Fushigi Yuugi)
"WHAT THE HECK?!?!"
That, of course, was Seto Kaiba's first exclamation when he walked back into his home after spending a long day at Kaiba Corp. It was two days after Christmas, the day after Mai'd been found and hospitalized. It had been a long day too, and he was glad to be home. But what a home to come back to...
/Seto, be nice! You're supposed to be me. Be nice, be nice, be nice!!/
Seto was trying to do his best to ignore his little brother's voice in the back of his mind. For once he really missed his old body. Right now he really wanted to beat something up, and Mokuba's frame was too puny to harrass a squirrel.
"Kaiba-kun!"
For an instant Seto thought it was Lisa, until he turned around. It was indeed a bouncy foreigner, just not Lisa O'Kelley. "Gwen, what are you doing back here? I thought you were up at TU with Hiro."
"Well, I was, but then I remembered that I hadn't finished decorating the mansion, and I didn't want to leave Amoura stranded here by herself, so I came back!"
The American had her blond hair up in pig tails that trailed to mid-back, with a Santa hat perched slightly cock-eyed on top. She had on jeans with bells around the bottom, and a black sweater with a red and white candy cane on the front. With bells on the sleeves. It seemed that Gwen, like Mai, suffered from Jingle Syndrome. Hiro and Amoura waved sheepishly at Kaiba from behind her.
The house had been totally transformed. All the servents were wearing Santa hats (if they weren't, they had to answer to Gwen). Streamers were hanging from every conceivable place you could hang streamers from. The outside of the mansion was strung over with about fifity-thousand Christmas lights, with a giant inflatable Santa Clause in the yard yelling "Ho ho ho" in a recorded bass voice. Holly and evergreen branches were strung all up and down the banisters of the staircase, and a huge, twenty-foot Christmas tree was in the middle of the reception room. It was decorated with little ornaments that Kaiba had no idea (and didn't want to know) where Gwen had gotten.
They were, of all things, chibi Duel Monsters. They reminded Kaiba rather strongly of Toon Duel Monsters, and he twitched mentally. There were Dark Magicians and Blue Eyes White Dragons and a couple Red Eyes Black Dragons, and what had to be a giant chibi-Exodia on top. There were also a couple others he couldn't readilly identify.
Unfortunately, Mokuba was curious. "What are those other ornaments?" he asked, pointing out the few that neither Kaiba brother could identify.
Gwen grinned widely, reminding Kaiba of a certain other American, from an anime that Mokuba loved to watch. A certain American who had a long brown braid and a weird tendency to crack jokes while using a twenty-meter robot to destroy towns...
"That's Mahi Vilo, Amoura-chan's favorite Duel Monster, and that one's Hiro's, Swordstalker, and there's mine, the Witty Phantom."
This made Seto shudder and twitch again. Gods, it just had to be the Witty Phantom...
Mokuba laughed as he remembered the same thing his brother was; being trapped in Seto's virtual world and cornered by a Witty Phantom. "I think it's cute!"
//You would...// Seto muttered darkly.
Gwen laughed with him and clapped her hands. "Yay! So do I Moku-chan! Come on, supper's ready. Amoura and I cooked it ourselves."
Mokuba let his eyes widen. "Yourselves? Why? We have servents to do that sort of thing."
Gwen gave him a funny look. "I suppose. But I like cooking. To tell you the truth, back home I'd cook for my younger siblings all the time, and I really miss it."
"What, your mom doesn't cook?" Hiro asked as Kaiba led the way into the dining room.
For a moment Gwen's face went dark and she scowled. "No. Mom left us a long time ago, so it's just me and dad and the kids." If she wasn't so well-mannered, Gwen would have spat. "And every few years daddy brings home another girlfriend. And then she'll get pregnant, and some sob story will convince my dad to take the baby."
Amoura and Hiro, on either side of her, actually recoiled a bit from the bitterness in her voice, and they entered the diningroom in silence, letting the subject drop.
~*~
There was a quiet knock on the door, and Gwen looked up from where she was sitting by the vanity in the room Kaiba had loaned her (he had plenty), writing in her diary. Her long hair was up in a towel-turban from her recent shower, and she was dressed in a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, with a ratty, slightly moth-eaten bathrobe over top. Deeming herself decently clothed, she called out "Come in."
The door opened and Amoura peeked in, then smiled and came all the way in, closing the door behind her. Her long green hair was wet, but was pulled into a braid. She was wearing a long nightgown that had ruffles and lace trimming the edges. "My goodnezz Gven, iz zat 'ow all Americanz zleep?"
"What, in a pair of Spongebob boxers and a Tweety Bird t-shirt? Somehow I doubt it. Just the ones like me."
Amoura laughed and sat down on the bed, pulling her feet up under her. "Zome 'ow I doubt zat zhere are any Americanz quite like you Gven."
Gwen laughed and stood up to give a mock bow. "Merci, merci!" In the process, she dumped her diary from her lap, sending several pictures skittering across the floor. Amoura jumped to retrieve them before Gwen could. "Are zeze of your family?"
Gwen chuckled dryly and began fishing around in her bag. "That's them. I have some better ones. Here they are." She flopped down onto the bed next to Amoura, showing her the various pictures. "That's daddy and girlfriend #6. I can't even remember her name, that was so long ago."
Amoura looked at her in surprise. "Number Six (read: sees, the French number six) and yet it vas zo long ago you can't remember 'er name?!"
Gwen shrugged, picking at a loose thread on the blanket. "Mom left a long, long time ago. My next-youngest sibling, my brother Josh, who's fifteen, is actually the only full-blooded sibling I've got. The rest are all half-siblings from dad's various 'girlfriends' and 'passtimes'. His girlfriends are somewhere up in the twenties now." She rolled her eyes and sighed. "And, invariably, he gets someone pregnant at least once or twice a year. See,"
Here she pointed at the pictures Amoura was holding again. "That's Josh there. And that's our next-youngest half-sibling, Kristen, who's..." Gwen paused in thought. "Fourteen. I think. Maybe only thirteen. And there's Andy, who's twelve, and the girl beside him is Molly, who's ten. Micah's seven, Shayla's four, and I got a letter last week telling me about Jake, who's a newborn." She made a face. "I only know about half of them very well."
Amoura's eyes were huge as she counted heads. "Four girlz and four boyz?! 'Ow do you ztand it?!"
"That's the point." Gwen said, sighing. "I don't. That's three-quarters of the reason I really pushed to come to Japan for college. I still can't wait to visit them this summer though." She grinned. "Josh and Kristen are probably the only ones who'll have missed me, but I don't mind. I know this sounds evil, but I really miss my home, California, more then I do my family. Surfing, sunning, and warm climates. Japan's way too cold in the winter." She cocked her head curiously at her green-haired companion. "What about you? Do you miss France?"
"Oh oui, oui, I do," Amoura said. "My family iz vonderful. My little brozzer muzt be getting zo big!" She smiled. "He iz duce," she explained, holding up two fingers. "Two. Mama and Grandmama muzt be 'aving a 'ard time without me zhere." She laughed, and her eyes sparkled in thinking about it. "Grandmama was going to come and live with Mama while I am away, but I do not know if zhe can ztand it! Julien, my brozzer, iz very... 'Ow you zay? Hippie?"
Gwen blinked a few times. "Oh! Hyper."
"'Iper, oui. He iz very 'iper. And zen zhere iz Franz, and Annalee, and Jacques, who are all like part of zee family anyway-"
"Slow down!" Gwen insisted, holding up her hands. "Let me get this straight. You have a mother, and a grandmother who lives at your house while you're gone, and a two-year-old brother. Got that. Now who are those other people?"
Amoura grinned at her. "You vant me to go zlower? But Gven, I kept up with your family, and it iz much bigger."
Gwen snorted again. "Really? Then which of my half-siblings is four?"
"Uh..."
"See?"
".....Oui. I vill go zlower zen. Franz iz our butler. Zometimez I think he'z older zen my Grandmama, but vee vouldn't trade 'im for the world. Annalee iz our maid, and zhe iz only a little older zen me. We are good friendz, like you and I. Jacques iz our cook. Oh Gven, you vill 'ave to come vizit me in France zome time! Jacques iz a mazter vith food!" Amoura licked her lips and pantomimed rubbing her belly. "Very very good! You 'ave no zerventz?"
Gwen coughed. "First off, I live in America, where slavery and serventry are outlawed unless you become a maid or a cook or something by choice. Second, we're too dirt poor to afford any servents. What about your dad? Is he around?"
Amoura looked down, one tear leaking out of her eye to splash against the comforter. "No. He died about the time Julien was born."
"Oh..." Gwen looked down too, and then, with a sudden, perky change in direction said "Well, now we know about each others' families. What do you think about love?"
Amoura looked up, blinking away a few more tears. "Love?"
"Yeah, sure," Gwen said. Amoura realized that changing the subject, grinning widely, and talking brightly were Gwen's ways of saying she cared. She was trying to cheer her up. Amoura smiled gratefully, and Gwen flashed a returning grin before continuing. "Like, how old do you have to be before you're allowed to date, what kind of guy do you go for, do you believe in true love, ect, ect, ect."
"Oh," Amoura said. "Vell, my name, Amoura, is taken from the French word for love, amour. Zo I guezz my very name meanz love..."
"That's nice..." Gwen said. "Gwendolyn means 'new moon.' Huh, right..." She rolled over onto her back, tucking her arms behind her head and closing her eyes. "What I believe about love... Someday, I'll meet just the right man, and we'll fall in love. It'll be just like Cinderella..." She giggled. "You do know who Cinderella is, right 'Moura?"
Amoura snorted. "But of course. You forget zat Zinderella vas a French fairy-tale first. You zay just zee right man... 'Ow do you know vhen you meet 'im?"
"Weeeell..." Gwen scratched her head. "I think, somehow, you just know." She smiled faintly, her eyes still closed. "He's the one who will be your friend when no one else will, who will defend you when no one else feels like defending. He'll come in and sweep you off your feet, and I don't mean that literally. And then he'll bundle you up, and carry you off into the snowfall- er, I mean sunset."
Amoura grinned, rather amused. "Zure Gven, vhatever you zay. May I guezz zat you 'ave your eye zet on Hiro Kavigami?"
Gwen blushed slightly. "Oh, oh, you've got me 'Moura. But he's soooo perfect! He's handsome and smart and funny..."
"Doez he know you feel zis vay about 'im?"
"Weeeell..."
"Gven!"
"........ I'll tell him eventually........"
Amoura threw her hands up in frustration.
Within the next week, everyone drifted back to Tokyo U from vacation, including, of course, the gang from Domino. The week after school started up again, Mai was released from the hospital. But there was a problem. She'd been told to stay in bed for at least three weeks. At least. She'd be well enough in time for the play in the middle of April, but there was no way she'd be able to go to practices all through January and February. She talked to the director and resigned from playing Elsa, since she wouldn't have enough practices to learn her lines and blocking. Of course, the director wasn't very happy with this, but there wasn't anything she could do.
After one practice about a week-and-a-half after school started again, which the cast had stumbled through without their Elsa Von Scriber (Mai), most of the cast and the director were hanging around, trying to figure out what to do about that. Amoura, Malik, Ishtar, and Ryou were also there, the latter three because they were helping out back stage, and Ryou because he'd come to walk Serenity back to her car, much to Joey's dislike.
They were all sprawled out on the front few rows of seats, Scott and Joey and Serenity, Yugi and Yami and Tea, Bakura and Ryou and Malik and Ishtar, Gwen and Hiro and Amoura, Mokuba and Rebecca and Lisa, Takeo and his little cousin Rhian. The director was pacing back and forth, running her hands through her hair. Finally she turned back to Scott and Joey. "You're sure she can't get well sooner?"
"We're sure," Joey said for what seemed like the tenth time. "We need a new Elsa."
"But there is no one else!" the director said, still pacing. "What we need is a miracle..."
"What about Amoura?" Gwen asked, motioning to the protesting girl. "She's a great actress! I don't know why she didn't get a part in the first place."
The director stopped, and a strange expression flickered across her face. "...Could you do it?" she asked Amoura after a moment. Reluctantly, the green-haired girl nodded. The director looked thoughtful for a moment. "Okay then, we'll try it. Joey, Scott, on stage. Does anyone have a script Amoura can borrow?"
Someone did, and the director gave her the page. "Righ then, Captain, you've just come home, and you've brought Elsa and Max, two dear friends of yours, with you. Maria and the children have just exited, and Max and Elsa, you've just entered. You're arguing about where the Captian's property line ends, and he points it out to you through the window. Ready? Go."
"I know I'm right Max," Amoura said, coming onstage with Joey behind her.
"We'll see," Joey supplied his line.
"Zhere he iz. Ghey-orge," Amoura stumbled through the Austrian name and pronunciasion. "'Ow far down the mountain doez your property go?"
Scott stood up from where he'd been sitting on a chair onstage and pointed out toward the audience (eg, out the "window"). "You see that stone wall, way down there? That's the property line."
"You zee Max?"
"I didn't argue," Joey protested.
"I know. I 'ate winning vithout a fight."
All through this dialogue, a series of strage expressions were flickering across the director's face. Finally she stood up and waved the clipboard around. "Enough! Enough! No one told me Amoura had an accent!"
Amoura stiffened slightly, and bit her lip. "Vas I no good?"
"No good?" The director snickered, turning to look at her. "You were terrible! Elsa's supposed to be Italian, not French!"
"Elsa's not supposed to have blond hair with blue streaks either, but you cast Mai." The speaker of that accusation was, of all people, Bakura.
The director waved him off. "Hair can be hidden, voices can't."
"So?" Bakura asked, jumping to his feet. "Joey's got a brogue, and yet you cast him as Max. I'm semi-British, and you put me as Franz. No one's supposed to be Japanese, but we all are. We've got five Japanese kids and the sixth and seventh are American, while they're all supposed to be Austrian. So what's wrong with a French Elsa???"
The director eyed him. "Joey's brogue and your British can be hidden. Amoura's accent is too heavy."
"Now you're contradicting yourself," Bakura challenged. "I thought you said voices couldn't be hidden."
"Slight accents can. Not hers." the director waved her clipboard at Amoura. "I'll bet she can't even sing..." This was mumbled half under her breath, but both Amoura and Bakura heard it. Amoura ran off stage in tears, and Bakura growled low in his throat. In all of two seconds, he had the director by the collar and was lifting the shorter woman off the ground. "Take. That. Back."
"Oh, I'm sorry," the director sneered at him. "Did I insult your girlfriend?"
Bakura bit his tongue to keep from cursing. Afraid he'd slip back into his old ways and severely harm her (although he didn't think anyone would blame him), he dropped her to the floor and turned his back on her. He started for the doors Amoura had run through, then turned back one more time. "Oh yeah, I quit. Find yourself a new butler." Then he turned and ran to find Amoura.
Everyone else was sitting frozen, and as the door slammed loudly behind Bakura, they began to shake themselves out of it. "Yikes..." Yami muttered. "Director-baka's lucky to be alive..."
Gwen stood up and made as if to go after Bakura and Amoura, but Ryou put out a hand to hold her back, a funny look on his face. "No Gwen. Let them be." Gwen stared at him a moment, then shrugged and sat back down beside Hiro.
"Hey Director-baka, now we're down two actors!" There was general laughter all around as the nickname, which literally meant 'idiot director' caught on.
The director gingerly stood up, retrieving her clipboard. 'Director-baka. Wonderful. It could be worse, I suppose. It could be a mutiny.'
~*~
"Amoura?" Bakura asked quietly, kneeling down next to where the French girl was curled up in the corner of the girls' restroom and crying. Normally, he wouldn't even dare go in there. But since it was after hours and no one was likely to come in, and since he couldn't find Amoura anywhere else, he'd chanced it. "Are you okay?"
Amoura babbled something in rapid-fire French, then sniffled and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "Vas I vreally zat bad?" Her accent was a lot heavier, due mostly to the anxiety, and Bakura had to concentrate to make out her words. Then he said reassuringly, "No, of course not. The director's just an idiot." He added a couple explenatives onto the end to emphasize it.
Amoura giggled quietly through her tears and then hiccuped. "Merci boucoup, but you don't have to lie to me."
"I wasn't!" Bakura said. "You're a great actress! Where did you get skills like that?"
Amoura shrugged one shoulder. "Oh, 'ere and zhere. But vhy did you devend me? I didn't zee anyvone elze jumping to my rezzque."
Bakura smiled lopsidedly. "Oh, I'm just quicker on the draw then anyone else, I guess. I heard what the director was saying, and just lost it. Sorry if I embarrassed you."
"Oh no!" Amoura looked shocked. "Never!" All at once she threw her arms around him in a hug, her face buried in his shoulder. Bakura stiffened, and for a moment there was hot sun at his back, and scorching sand beneath his feet, and he was holding his lover and tomb robbing partner in his arms. But just as quickly, he was back in Tokyo U, crouched in the corner of the girl's bathroom, and the woman in his arms was French.
~*~
In the auditorium, not caring at the strange looks he received, Ryou threw back his head and laughed in pure joy of the happinesses that would be, which he could clearly see.
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WSJ: *snickers evilly*
Bakura: Oo;;;;;
Scott & Ryou: *laughing their butts off*
Chapter 15: Director-Baka casts Amoura as Elsa (or risk the rest of the cast quiting like Bakura had). Opening night draws ever closer, and Ishtar begins to come up with the Ultimate Panty-Raid.
God bless minna-san!
