Disclaimer, I do not own the songs in any way.
The morning rays of the sun tugged at my eyelids, cajoling them to open and for me to wake up. I slowly opened my eyes and found myself nestled against Joey, warm and comfortable. I could hear music playing from Yugi's room. I smiled and looked down at Joey, the song that always made me think of him came on. It was by S-club 7, and I listened intently as the chorus of it came on.
"I never had a dream come true
till the day that I found you…"
I didn't think the whole song was for us. Just those couple of lines. It was still a beautiful song. I slowly got up, gently setting Joey's head against the pillow. I started cooking breakfast. Belgium waffles, I knew Joey would like that. Yugi yawned and came into the room, followed by Joey who was sniffing the air and following his nose.
"Mmmm somethin smells real good!" Joey said, looking at the waffle iron and rubbing his hands together.
"They'll be done in a little bit Joey don't worry." I grinned and assured him as he sat down with Yugi.
"Hey, why don't we invite Tèa and Tristan over too?" Yugi suggested.
"How bout it Jade, you feel up ta cookin more a these giant waffle thingy's?" Joey asked and grinned.
I gave them the thumbs up sign and Yugi began calling Tèa and Tristan over. "Hey you guys." I smiled as Tristan and Tèa walked in the door.
"What's up guys?" Tristan asked sitting down.
"Good morning." Tèa said brightly.
"Good morning Tèa, Tristan." Yugi smiled.
I began serving the waffles, which were gobbled up in a random swirl of hunger.
"Yo Tristan, where yah been all week pal? Been tryin ta call yah but your neva home." Joey asked.
Tristan blushed, rubbed the back of his head and began making excuses. "I…er… had to do a lot of chores this week. For my grandma who broke her hip." He said.
I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing at the poor guy. It would be an extremely funny day when Joey found out about all the "visits" Tristan had been paying to Serenity. "Oh yeah Tristan by the way, do you have the money you owe me?"
"Uh sure." Tristan said, fishing around in his pockets.
"Wait a second here, why does Tristan owe yah money?" Joey asked suspiciously as Tristan handed the bill to me.
"Oh look at the time, didn't you say you had to meet Bakura at the park today Jade? I'll give you that ride on my motorcycle I promised you." Tristan said in a very hurried voice as he grabbed me by the shoulder and shoved me out the door.
"Uh that's right see you guys later bye!" I cried.
Tristan breathed a sigh of relief as he slumped to the ground. "That was a close one." He said, picking himself up and walking over to his motorcycle.
"Come on Tristan, you gotta tell him sometime, sooner or later he's going to find out anyway."
"Better later than sooner." Tristan answered. "I'll tell him some time." He got on the motorcycle, put on his helmet and started the engine.
"Tristan I'm serious, I think he knows, or at least suspects something." I answered, climbing on the back of the motorcycle behind Tristan.
"I'll tell him when the moments right." Tristan answered.
I nodded, hoping that Joey wouldn't blow a gasket when he heard.
"Hang on tight cause here we go!" Tristan cried. I held onto his waist and we zoomed into the street.
Tristan popped a tape into his portable cd player in his jacket pocket and blared up the music. It was "Born to be wild" by Stephen wolfe.
"Woooooohooooo this is sooo classic!" I cried happily. Tristan grinned and revved it up, doing a wheelie. We rode on for a while and Tristan dropped me off at the park. "See yah later Tristan!" I waved as he began riding off.
He gave me the thumbs up sign and drove away. Probably to visit Serenity again. I hoped that Joey wasn't going to be too mad about that… Oh well, couldn't worry about that now, had to go find Bakura.
"Hey Bakura where are you?" I called out walking through the park, looking for the white haired boy.
"Over here." I heard a muffled whisper coming from an alley near a shop.
"Bakura, what are you doing over there, I thought you had a project due?"
He shook his head as I stepped into the alley with him. "What's going on?" I whispered.
"I wanted to talk with you today because I've been feeling… a presence lately." Bakura told me.
"What kind of presence?" I asked him, fearing the worst.
"A dark ancient presence, one that doesn't feel so good to me. I fear an ancient evil much like the spirit from my ring is here and plotting something."
"Do you know who it is yet?" I asked, fear lacing my voice. I had someone in mind that would fit his description but wasn't sure if I was right or not.
Bakura shook his head. "I don't know but I'm sure the evil will be after the Millennium Items, including your key, I've already spoken to Yugi, and we must be on our guard."
I nodded, clutching the millennium key in my hand. I opened my hand and gazed at black cat with the golden collar around it. The cat's eye was the eye of Horus, which all the Millennium items had on it. It contained great power and even though I used it for myself and hadn't saved the world with it, I still wouldn't let it fall into the wrong hands.
"You can count on me Bakura, but what can we do if this evil decided to show itself and steal the items?"
Bakura shrugged. "Can't tell now, guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."
"Is there anything else to know Bakura?" I asked.
He nodded. "Watch out, I fear his agents of evil are everywhere." Bakura told me as we began walking out of the alley.
"Don't worry." I said and smiled. "I can take care of myself."
Bakura smiled too. "I know. Let's stop the depressing chat and talk about something a bit more up. How are you, have you heard from Mako lately?"
I laughed. "I'm fine, Mako came back actually, had a sea snake bite but I got him to the hospital in time, he's such a sweetheart."
"So, now that Mako has returned, the old feelings haven't crept up on you have they?" Bakura asked.
"No, not really, I mean I still love them both but…" I started to say. "Sometimes I feel tugged at yah know? And I'm worried about Joey. He's been taking a beating from his father lately and I tried to help him but he wouldn't let me and I feel just awful about leaving him there Bakura…I didn't know what else to do. He told me to leave and let him deal with it, so I did."
Bakura put his hand on my shoulder. "You respected his choice though Jade and I'm sure that's what Joey wants."
I sighed. "But when Mako needed me, he let me help him." I said.
"Yes but that was life or death." Bakura answered.
"So's this though, if his dad keeps on drinking the way he does."
"We'll all do our best to help Joey, but we can't force him to do anything, Joey will handle this on his own until he decides to ask our help." Bakura told me.
"I guess your right Bakura, you always are." I answered and smiled. "On a lighter note, I got to help Kaiba pick out a date gift for Isis."
"Kaiba's dating Isis Ishtar?" Bakura asked in surprise.
"Apparently." I said and laughed. "The thought of ANYONE going out with Kaiba just makes me laugh, and he didn't even know what to get her so I picked out this really cool dress."
"That must have been quite a date." Bakura laughed. "I'm glad Kaiba finally found someone to open his heart to."
"Yeah, I'm interested in knowing how the date turned out."
Bakura and I got up and started to walk together, just chatting when I felt a cold wind blow through my hair and ruffle my kerchief.
"We're not alone…" Bakura muttered. We began walking a little faster. "Don't look back." Bakura told me.
"What do we do?" I whispered.
"Run mate, and get out your key in a hurry." Bakura said and then we began running. Many footsteps could be heard in the background as we raced down the street.
I did happen to glance behind me and saw many cloaked figures chasing us. "Rare hunters…So it is him." I muttered to myself, Millennium key in hand. Bakura stopped so suddenly that I crashed right into him and we toppled head over heals to the ground. We both groaned and got up slowly. "Sorry about that…" I told him.
"Save the apologies for later mate, we've got trouble now." Bakura answered. I looked around and cringed. We were surrounded on all sides by cloaked rare hunters.
"Well, well, well, looks like I've got two millennium items within my grasp." One rare hunter said, stepping forward. His voice sound familiar and I felt Goosebumps cover my entire body. Not the good kind either. "I Malik Ishtar will be Pharaoh once I posses all the Millennium items as well as the three Egyptian god cards!"
"I knew it was Malik." I muttered. "The completely cool yet completely evil guy who wants to take over the world, second on my bad guy list only to Bandit Keith."
"What in the world are you talking about?" Bakura said, looking at me and blinking.
"Nothing." I muttered. "You're not getting our items Malik, and any way, doesn't ancient scripture say that you have to duel us for them anyway?" I said to the one who had stepped forward. He was very much taller than me and I thought I recognized something about his dull and darkened features. But I wasn't thinking about that right at the moment, because Malik was using him like a puppet again to talk to Bakura and me.
"Oh, I will have your items alright. My millennium rod will see to that. As well as duel you for them. With Bakura's item, I'll be able to track down the others and with yours; I'll be able to travel there in an instant and not only rule the earth, but also the universe!"
"Yeah, if other planets were inhabitable." I muttered.
"I tire of your cobra tongue, relinquish your key to me!" Malik cried out in anger. "You haven't even realized its true awesome potential power yet! With it under my control, I would use it to its full power and rule as pharaoh over all!"
At that moment, Bakura actually jumped into the air and kicked out at two of the hunters, punching two others, grabbed my hand and ran like heck.
"Wow Bakura, you just kicked some serious a.." I exclaimed.
"No time for talk now run and use your key!" Bakura interrupted me just in time.
"Right." I said and stopped. The rare hunters were closing in on us as I concentrated and a door appeared. I practically jammed the key inside, turned the knob and jumped inside with Bakura behind me. We hurriedly closed the door just when the rare hunters had reached us. The door disappeared as I gasped and breathed deeply. We were back in my room at the Moto apartment. I wobbled over to my hammock to collapse in it, missed but was content to just lie there on the floor.
"That was a close call." Bakura commented, sitting down on the floor beside me.
"I'll say." I answered. "Now what are we going to do."
"I don't know really." Bakura said. "Keep in touch, and we'll think up something together." He got up and was about to go out the door when I had to ask him one thing.
"Hey Bakura, where'd you learn to fight like that anyway?" I said and laughed. Bakura could seem gentle, but I bet those rare hunters had gotten a few bruises from him.
Bakura smiled, blushed and rubbed the back of his neck out of embarrassment. "I er… took self defense classes shortly after I moved here." He answered.
I walked him to the door. "Well, be careful Bakura, those rare hunters are probably still looking for us…and kick them hard if you find them go for the pancreases and give em one for me!"
Bakura assured me that he would and walked out the door.
I sighed and began doing the chores I was supposed to do earlier. I hoped gramps wasn't too cross with me.
After I was finished, I decided to go out and try to find Yugi. I had to warn him about the rare hunters running around. I swear I could have searched the entire domino city and still no trace of him or the others. I wonder where they had gone. I could have used the limo or the Millennium key to find them, but I didn't want to invade their privacy and I could search everywhere without having to worry about stopping and parking the limo. I leaned against the wall of a shop and sighed. "Where could they have gone, it's like I've searched everywhere."
I felt a strong hand get placed on my shoulder and whirled around prepared to defend myself, assuming it was a rare hunter. Fortunately, it wasn't. "What's the matter my friend, you look like you've seen a great white at feeding time."
I smiled and sighed with relief. "Mako!, oh you won't believe what happened." I said as he pulled me into one of his tight hugs. "I was walking with Bakura and we got chased by these guys in cloaks called rare hunters and and… hey your out of the hospital!" I said in a rather fast voice.
"Hahaha!" Mako laughed. "I felt as strong as a killer whale today and had to stretch my legs. I felt too cooped up at that hospital and they said I was good to go so I went out hahaha!"
I smiled and patted his arm, "I'm so glad Mako." I said and blushed, noticing that he was wearing an almost skin tight white muscle shirt and his wave bandana. I loved it when guys wear bandanas and muscle shirts… We began walking together and talking. I felt safe with Mako near me. I knew he'd always be there for me no matter what. I smiled brightly for no particular reason. I guess Mako had that effect on me, I just couldn't help it.
We sat down at the edge of a hill, amidst a field of wildflowers overlooking a lake. Even though it wasn't totally isolated, kids played Frisbee with their dogs, old people walked hand in hand, mothers walked their baby carriages, etc, and it still felt nice and peaceful. Mako plucked a small water Lilly from the lake and brought it back to where I was sitting. He tenderly set it in my hair.
"Thank you." I said and smiled.
"You're welcome." Mako replied. I plucked a nearby dandelion that was white with seeds and gently blew it across his nose and giggled playfully. Then I took a handful of grass and instigated a grass fight by sprinkling it in Makos hair!
"Hahaha don't think I'll go easy on you my friend!" Mako cried with a devilish gleam in his eye. We began running around throwing grass at each other and wrestling down the hill. "Oh come on hahahahahahahahahaha no faahahahahaahahahaaair! Mako laughed as I began tickling his ribs without mercy as he laughed and laughed.
Then he turned the tables on me, I begged and pleaded for him to stop tickling under my arms but he showed me about as much mercy as I had shown him, none hehehe. We tumbled and laughed until we both fell into the lake, laughing at each other until our sides ached.
"Well doesn't this picture look absolutely delicious?" I heard a familiar voice. Mako and I waded to shore to see Joey and Mai coming up to greet us.
"Hey, how you guys doin?" Joey smiled.
"Hello Mai, Joey." I said civilly.
"Nice to see you again Jade, even when your positively soaking wet, but what's this, are you with uh…whats your name again?" Mai asked looking at Mako.
"I am Mako Tsunami, duelist extraordinaire of the seven seas!" Mako told her. "And er…no we are just friends."
"Oh that's right, I think I remember you from the last duel monsters tournament, so, who knocked you off?" Mai asked nonchalantly walking closer and closer to him. I began feeling my face grow hotter even though I had just come from the freezing water.
"I er… didn't get knocked out of the tournament; I just didn't win enough star chips in time to make it to the finals." Mako answered, blushing.
Mai picked up the water Lilly that had fallen out of my hair and placed it in her own hair. "I just had the greatest idea. Why don't we double date Joey? You with your little girlfriend here and I could go with muscles." She said stroking his now skin tight muscle shirt and smiling that beguiling smile of hers.
I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes; it took all my strength not to drown the little hussy right then and there.
Joey smiled and looked at me expectantly and my death glare softened. "Dat sounds like a great idea Jade, how bout it?"
I had no choice but to nod. Mako did the same; we shared a glance with each other but said nothing more.
"Great, we could eat at burger world first then go ta a club or sometin aftaward!" Joey exclaimed. I thought he looked especially chipper today, I wondered what had happened, and why he was with Mai at the moment.
"Hey Joey, where were you today? I was looking all over for you." I asked as all four of us began walking back. I almost giggled because Mako was walking on my right side, as far away from Mai as possible as she blew kisses and winked at him. All he could do was blush and smile politely.
"I'll tell yah later." Joey said as he and Mai split off into a different direction. "See yah tommorra around 5."
"Don't be late." Mai added. I resisted the urge to pull her long blonde hair, cut it and make a wig out of it making her completely bald. I sighed. It was going to be an interesting double date…
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