* * *
"Home sweet, home," murmured Mai obdurately as she dropped her car keys on the kitchen counter. She looked at Yugi, who was awfully quiet. "Yugi, would you like something to eat, or drink?"
"No . . ." Yugi stared around the apartment, awed and enchanted. Everywhere he looked, he saw . . . peacocks? Canvass paintings of peacocks, clay sculptures of peahens, silver peachicks and more were scattered about in the apartment.
"I guess you want to know what all the peacocks are doing here . . . " Mai watched Yugi with appeal as he stroked the statues and portraits with care, as if they were slivers of delicate glass and staring at them with a fond interest.
"Yes . . . " Yugi was almost wordless. He ran his fingertips upon the head of a fake peacock gently, his fingers trailing across is short under feathers.
"The name I choose . . . Kujaku Mai, it means 'Dancing Peacock' . . . I loved those kind of birds ever since I could remember . . . " A faint smiles played her lips at the thought.
Yugi stopped petting the stuffed animal. "What is you're real name?"
The smile abruptly vanished. "Just call me Mai, ok?"
"Can I call you mom?"
Mai was silent for awhile before breaking off the hesitation and mumbling," What ever you're comfortable with." She tore her gaze from him and looked away for a brief moment. "Yugi . . . your room is across mine, which is just to that corner. I'd advise that you don't rummage through the locked room adjacent to the bathroom." Her catlike eyes seemed to glow and sent shivers running down his spine.
"Why?" He whispered.
A subtle smile arose," It's a closet filled with my old things and is jammed full of some cleaning equipment," she purred. " I wouldn't want those things to fall on you."
Yugi trembled slightly. How strange she acted now. He averted her cool gaze and nodded lightly.
Mai stared at him," If you change your mind, you can look around in the refrigerator for something to eat . . . I'll be in my room . . . It's been a long day." She bid him goodnight, and turned and disappeared.
Yugi licked his lips, staring at the closet Mai had forbid him to open. Somehow, he felt that she wasn't telling him the whole story. He forced him self to go to his room and not think about the prohibited wardrobe.
* * *
Yugi tossed and turned restlessly. He just couldn't seem to get the closet off of his mind. Maybe Mai was hiding something she didn't want him to see in there . . . maybe something about his father. Yugi's chest tightened with excitement at the thought.
Without further ado, he swung his legs over the bed, debating on whether to take a look and see, or to stay in bed. His head warned him to stay, and his feet begged him to move. His feet won.
* * *
Yugi bit lower lip as he ran his fingers through his thick hair, making it stand up in spikes even more. His feet softly padded down the polished hallway floor. In his small hands, he clutched one of Mai's hairpins. Joey had taught him all he needed to know about opening locks and he was glad that those kinds of skills would help him later on.
He stopped at the unauthorized closet door and stared at it for a long time. Taking a deep breath, he steadied the gleaming knob as he jammed the pin into the keyhole. After a few sharp twists, he heard a slight click. Relived, he smiled as he jerked the pin out.
He sucked up a quick breath of air and shut his eyes tightly as he yanked the door open. He looked inside. Mai was right. The closet held tons of cardboard cartons filled with old debris and cleaning solutions. Yugi's heart sank, but forced a little ray of hope and searched the boxes thoroughly.
He finally felt his hand hit something in one of the boxes. His fingers traced it. Smooth and rectangular, it felt as if it were a flat book. He dug it up from under the layers of items until he finally retrieved it.
Yugi held it in a dim, puddle of moonlight to read the title. In bold letters, it stated," My Diary." He turned it over and found a small, rusty lock that was clearly broken and was handing on a hinge. He flipped it open carefully and quickly skim-read through the first few pages, the soft sound of rustling papers filling the still hall.
It seemed like it was a normal diary for a fifteen-year-old girl. In elegant, cursive writing, it was full of crushes, dances and dreams.
Suddenly, a shadow fell upon him. He closed the diary hastily and looked up in horror. Mai loomed over him, her face abashed and angry. She looked like a ghost in the light of the moon with her silvery nightgown fluttering at her knees, pale skin and flowing locks of snaky hair.
Without a word, she pried the book from his reach and stonily walked away to the living area. She glanced at Yugi, her eyes hidden in the shadow. "I'm so sorry, Yugi," she whispered." But you can't know." She ripped page, by page in her diary and fed it to the paper shredder nearby.
Satisfied, she stared at the torn wreckage of paper in the bin. She dropped the cover of the diary into the wastebasket and breezed past Yugi and went to her bedroom.
Yugi knelt at the heap of destroyed paper with sadness. It could've clued him into the truth about his father. A crazy idea sparked his interest. He fetched sheets of paper and an ink pen and started to scribble nonsense words in cursive, trying to forage Mai's handwriting. He dumped the diary bits out onto the coffee table, making sure that he didn't lose a piece. He finally dropped the pages he wrote, into the paper processor to take the place of the diary paper.
Cautiously, he cupped his hands around the fragments of precious paper and went to his room to figure out how the heck he was going to tape everything together.
* * *
Yugi awoke to the stream of sunlight filtering from his window. He shook away the sleep and rubbed his eyes. Yawning, he rolled off of the bed and fell to his knees. After pawing the underside of the bed, he finally felt what he was looking for. He brandished a small shoebox and opened the lid.
He had completed a few pages with Yami the entire night, piecing the puzzle together. It was definitely harder than doing the Millennium Puzzle. The pages they had done together were few and unimportant, but Yugi had put together a special word. It was the name of a hospital in Domino, close to were Yugi lived and he had hoped that he was born there and if he was, then he would get control of his birth certificate and find out who his father was.
Yugi remembered getting a hold of his record when he was young, maybe in kindergarten for school. He was too little to read his parents' names and now wished that he wrote them down later on. He knew that his Grandpa kept a copy in his bank deposit and would refuse to let him take a look at it, so he decided to take a chance and go to the hospital, though the odds of finding it were against him.
He finished a couple of words before pushing the box back under his bed and going into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Yugi found Mai sitting at the table, watching the news while eating a slice of toast and tea. Her liquid eyes clouded over as she saw him, boring into his as she greeted him with a donut and tall glass of milk.
She stared intently at him from the rim of her teacup as she took a rather long sip. "So, do you have any plans today?" she asked cheerfully.
"I think I might go over to Joey's house," lied Yugi. "And then a movie. You?"
Mai looked at him for the longest time, knitting her brows together as if arguing with herself on whether he was telling the truth or not. "Alright," she said slowly." As for me, I'm going to friends' house. I might not be home until very late."
It was now Yugi's turn to see if she was lying. She checked out okay. Her face was screwed up in such a serious and calm way, it was hard to tell if she was or wasn't telling the truth. "Okay," he murmured. They ate their breakfast in silence and dared not to look in the other's eyes in fear that the truth would be revealed.
After Mai left, Yugi changed and set off to the hospital on foot. It was a pretty long walk since Mai's house was far away from where he lived, but he'd rather have blisters and find out who his father was instead of having nothing at all.
Yugi arrived at the hospital a little after twelve, tired and hot. He found the receptionist's desk and waited as she finished talking on the phone. When she finally looked up at him, she smiled brightly at him. "Hi, how may I help you?" she chirped.
" Um . . . I'm looking for my birth certificate," he mumbled. "I need it for . . . a summer project."
The girl flashed him another dazzling smile," No prob. What's your name?"
"Yugi Motou," he replied without hesitation.
"Yugi Motou, Yugi Motou," repeated the receptionist thoughtfully as she thumbed through a fat file cabinet, chewing her lip. She stopped and shook her head. "I'm sorry. There is no one name on Yugi Motou in here."
"Do you have any other Yugi's?" he asked, trying not to give out all hope.
The girl did a double check. "Nope, sorry."
Yugi looked down hearted. "I could've sworn I was born here," he muttered.
She shrugged," You may have. A few years ago, this facility had a fire that had wiped out a lot of special documents. We've spent years trying to recover them, but there just isn't enough time."
Yugi thanked the girl and was about to leave when he saw Mai a few yards away. He ducked, but kept an eye on her. She rushed past him. As he caught a quick glimpse of her, he noticed that her eyes were unusually moist. She disappeared into the crowds and Yugi slowly stood up, racking his brain, trying to solve what he had seen. What was going on?
***
"Home sweet, home," murmured Mai obdurately as she dropped her car keys on the kitchen counter. She looked at Yugi, who was awfully quiet. "Yugi, would you like something to eat, or drink?"
"No . . ." Yugi stared around the apartment, awed and enchanted. Everywhere he looked, he saw . . . peacocks? Canvass paintings of peacocks, clay sculptures of peahens, silver peachicks and more were scattered about in the apartment.
"I guess you want to know what all the peacocks are doing here . . . " Mai watched Yugi with appeal as he stroked the statues and portraits with care, as if they were slivers of delicate glass and staring at them with a fond interest.
"Yes . . . " Yugi was almost wordless. He ran his fingertips upon the head of a fake peacock gently, his fingers trailing across is short under feathers.
"The name I choose . . . Kujaku Mai, it means 'Dancing Peacock' . . . I loved those kind of birds ever since I could remember . . . " A faint smiles played her lips at the thought.
Yugi stopped petting the stuffed animal. "What is you're real name?"
The smile abruptly vanished. "Just call me Mai, ok?"
"Can I call you mom?"
Mai was silent for awhile before breaking off the hesitation and mumbling," What ever you're comfortable with." She tore her gaze from him and looked away for a brief moment. "Yugi . . . your room is across mine, which is just to that corner. I'd advise that you don't rummage through the locked room adjacent to the bathroom." Her catlike eyes seemed to glow and sent shivers running down his spine.
"Why?" He whispered.
A subtle smile arose," It's a closet filled with my old things and is jammed full of some cleaning equipment," she purred. " I wouldn't want those things to fall on you."
Yugi trembled slightly. How strange she acted now. He averted her cool gaze and nodded lightly.
Mai stared at him," If you change your mind, you can look around in the refrigerator for something to eat . . . I'll be in my room . . . It's been a long day." She bid him goodnight, and turned and disappeared.
Yugi licked his lips, staring at the closet Mai had forbid him to open. Somehow, he felt that she wasn't telling him the whole story. He forced him self to go to his room and not think about the prohibited wardrobe.
* * *
Yugi tossed and turned restlessly. He just couldn't seem to get the closet off of his mind. Maybe Mai was hiding something she didn't want him to see in there . . . maybe something about his father. Yugi's chest tightened with excitement at the thought.
Without further ado, he swung his legs over the bed, debating on whether to take a look and see, or to stay in bed. His head warned him to stay, and his feet begged him to move. His feet won.
* * *
Yugi bit lower lip as he ran his fingers through his thick hair, making it stand up in spikes even more. His feet softly padded down the polished hallway floor. In his small hands, he clutched one of Mai's hairpins. Joey had taught him all he needed to know about opening locks and he was glad that those kinds of skills would help him later on.
He stopped at the unauthorized closet door and stared at it for a long time. Taking a deep breath, he steadied the gleaming knob as he jammed the pin into the keyhole. After a few sharp twists, he heard a slight click. Relived, he smiled as he jerked the pin out.
He sucked up a quick breath of air and shut his eyes tightly as he yanked the door open. He looked inside. Mai was right. The closet held tons of cardboard cartons filled with old debris and cleaning solutions. Yugi's heart sank, but forced a little ray of hope and searched the boxes thoroughly.
He finally felt his hand hit something in one of the boxes. His fingers traced it. Smooth and rectangular, it felt as if it were a flat book. He dug it up from under the layers of items until he finally retrieved it.
Yugi held it in a dim, puddle of moonlight to read the title. In bold letters, it stated," My Diary." He turned it over and found a small, rusty lock that was clearly broken and was handing on a hinge. He flipped it open carefully and quickly skim-read through the first few pages, the soft sound of rustling papers filling the still hall.
It seemed like it was a normal diary for a fifteen-year-old girl. In elegant, cursive writing, it was full of crushes, dances and dreams.
Suddenly, a shadow fell upon him. He closed the diary hastily and looked up in horror. Mai loomed over him, her face abashed and angry. She looked like a ghost in the light of the moon with her silvery nightgown fluttering at her knees, pale skin and flowing locks of snaky hair.
Without a word, she pried the book from his reach and stonily walked away to the living area. She glanced at Yugi, her eyes hidden in the shadow. "I'm so sorry, Yugi," she whispered." But you can't know." She ripped page, by page in her diary and fed it to the paper shredder nearby.
Satisfied, she stared at the torn wreckage of paper in the bin. She dropped the cover of the diary into the wastebasket and breezed past Yugi and went to her bedroom.
Yugi knelt at the heap of destroyed paper with sadness. It could've clued him into the truth about his father. A crazy idea sparked his interest. He fetched sheets of paper and an ink pen and started to scribble nonsense words in cursive, trying to forage Mai's handwriting. He dumped the diary bits out onto the coffee table, making sure that he didn't lose a piece. He finally dropped the pages he wrote, into the paper processor to take the place of the diary paper.
Cautiously, he cupped his hands around the fragments of precious paper and went to his room to figure out how the heck he was going to tape everything together.
* * *
Yugi awoke to the stream of sunlight filtering from his window. He shook away the sleep and rubbed his eyes. Yawning, he rolled off of the bed and fell to his knees. After pawing the underside of the bed, he finally felt what he was looking for. He brandished a small shoebox and opened the lid.
He had completed a few pages with Yami the entire night, piecing the puzzle together. It was definitely harder than doing the Millennium Puzzle. The pages they had done together were few and unimportant, but Yugi had put together a special word. It was the name of a hospital in Domino, close to were Yugi lived and he had hoped that he was born there and if he was, then he would get control of his birth certificate and find out who his father was.
Yugi remembered getting a hold of his record when he was young, maybe in kindergarten for school. He was too little to read his parents' names and now wished that he wrote them down later on. He knew that his Grandpa kept a copy in his bank deposit and would refuse to let him take a look at it, so he decided to take a chance and go to the hospital, though the odds of finding it were against him.
He finished a couple of words before pushing the box back under his bed and going into the kitchen to get some breakfast. Yugi found Mai sitting at the table, watching the news while eating a slice of toast and tea. Her liquid eyes clouded over as she saw him, boring into his as she greeted him with a donut and tall glass of milk.
She stared intently at him from the rim of her teacup as she took a rather long sip. "So, do you have any plans today?" she asked cheerfully.
"I think I might go over to Joey's house," lied Yugi. "And then a movie. You?"
Mai looked at him for the longest time, knitting her brows together as if arguing with herself on whether he was telling the truth or not. "Alright," she said slowly." As for me, I'm going to friends' house. I might not be home until very late."
It was now Yugi's turn to see if she was lying. She checked out okay. Her face was screwed up in such a serious and calm way, it was hard to tell if she was or wasn't telling the truth. "Okay," he murmured. They ate their breakfast in silence and dared not to look in the other's eyes in fear that the truth would be revealed.
After Mai left, Yugi changed and set off to the hospital on foot. It was a pretty long walk since Mai's house was far away from where he lived, but he'd rather have blisters and find out who his father was instead of having nothing at all.
Yugi arrived at the hospital a little after twelve, tired and hot. He found the receptionist's desk and waited as she finished talking on the phone. When she finally looked up at him, she smiled brightly at him. "Hi, how may I help you?" she chirped.
" Um . . . I'm looking for my birth certificate," he mumbled. "I need it for . . . a summer project."
The girl flashed him another dazzling smile," No prob. What's your name?"
"Yugi Motou," he replied without hesitation.
"Yugi Motou, Yugi Motou," repeated the receptionist thoughtfully as she thumbed through a fat file cabinet, chewing her lip. She stopped and shook her head. "I'm sorry. There is no one name on Yugi Motou in here."
"Do you have any other Yugi's?" he asked, trying not to give out all hope.
The girl did a double check. "Nope, sorry."
Yugi looked down hearted. "I could've sworn I was born here," he muttered.
She shrugged," You may have. A few years ago, this facility had a fire that had wiped out a lot of special documents. We've spent years trying to recover them, but there just isn't enough time."
Yugi thanked the girl and was about to leave when he saw Mai a few yards away. He ducked, but kept an eye on her. She rushed past him. As he caught a quick glimpse of her, he noticed that her eyes were unusually moist. She disappeared into the crowds and Yugi slowly stood up, racking his brain, trying to solve what he had seen. What was going on?
***