Kristy Selean: Hello, hello. Yes, the silliness begins in this chapter.
It might make no sense, but it's okay. If you don't like romance scenes or
just scenes that don't really add onto the plot, skip this chapter, because
that's what it's all about.
You Stay Out of This! Chapter 4
A key, scale, ring, necklace, rod, eye, and puzzle lit up as the pharoah entered his resting place. The priests nodded at each other and continued to cast their spells, this time to encase themselves within these items. A healer entered the key, a corrupted judge entered the scale, a high priest entered the rod, a goddess entered the necklace, an advisor to the pharoah entered the eye, and the last of them, a dream interpreter, was cast aside only to have a tomb robber enter the ring. Each of them closed their eyes to enter their place of contentment while only the robber was screeching to escape his fate.
*~*
Yami woke up a bit more peacefully this time. His heart seemed contented for no reason at all and he was smiling as he woke up. This dream, although mysterious, seemed comforting and peaceful except for Bakura's entrance to the ring. That was too much for comfort, but he wondered what happened to the dream interpreter. Yami checked the clock to see that he woke up right on schedule and got out of his bed to get ready for the day.
*~*
"Good morning, Yami. You seem to be feeling well today."
"I'm feeling quite well, Sugoroku. Slightly confused but still comforted."
"A strange concept, but nevertheless it does not seem to cause any harm. Are you and Yugi going to merge today again?"
"No, we have finished with that business already."
Sugoroku turned around and looked to make sure no one else was listening. He beckoned Yami closer to whisper with him. Yami being taller had to stoop to a certain extent to meet down with Yugi's Grandfather, but he already knew what he was going to ask before he heard the first word.
"Did the business have anything to do with a certain young lady who stopped by yesterday?"
"You can say that."
"Grandpa! Yami! I'm going to school!! I'll see you later!"
Yami looked up at the clock. It wasn't normal for the cheery Yugi to be running about from being later than usual. The punctual Yugi had been leaving the house later nowadays. Yami smirked when he thought of his explanation to the situation.
'He's dressing up a little more carefully and taking care of his appearance more. I wonder why...'
*~*
"Hey, Yugi!"
"Hey, Joey. Hi, Tea. Hey, Bakura, Tristan."
"You're takin' forever nowadays to get out of the house, man. What's up?"
"N-nothing! Nothing at all."
"Yugi, it wouldn't happen to have something to do with Aishana-chan, would it?"
"N-no! No, Bakura. Of course not!"
Yugi sweatdropped in panic as the others raised an eyebrow and face-vaulted on the sidewalk. They rushed to school after this little incident, hoping that it didn't cost them too much time. Just as they sat in their seats, the bell rang, announcing that they had just made it. Yugi sighed. Again, it became time for history.
'Thank goodness Yami isn't here, or I'd be sick of asking all those questions. Egypt is interesting, but history itself can be really boring, especially from this sensei.'
Teyashi-sensei started to write the day's assignments up on the board. For everything he wrote, the students cringed from the chalk screeching against the chalkboard. After finishing this, he spread out his books in silence with a frown singed onto his face. After a few minutes, he started to realize where he was and looked up at the worried and hopeful faces of his students.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
As he finished his statement, half of the students relaxed from their expressions, but there were still the hopeful students and a few worried ones who seemed to be waiting for him to mention something. Teyashi-sensei smiled after realizing what he seemed to have forgotten to mention.
"Aishana..."
As soon as he mentioned her name, all the guys including Yugi turned around from their small conversations with their buddies and focused on him completely. Teyashi-sensei smiled yet again at his class.
"If only you would listen for my lectures that closely. Well, in case you were curious about whether or not she will be staying in this class..."
Teyashi-sensei opened the door to reveal an empty hallway. The guys slumped into their chairs in disappointment while some of the girls sighed in relief. Teyashi-sensei raised an eyebrow and looked down into the hallway again just to make sure that his eyes weren't fooling him. As he leaned out, the other students didn't notice Aishana who had sneeked over to her seat. Only Yugi seemed to notice that she had sat down. The others were too busy being disappointed or were looking down the hallway with Teyashi-sensei. Yugi and Aishana exchanged a smile and it soon broke out into laughter in between the two of them. The rest of the class started to turn around and realize that Aishana was present. The girls started gossiping about how it was possible she did that, and the guys were taking note of this moment and glaring in Yugi's direction.
"Ohayougozaimasu, Teyashi-sensei."
Teyashi-sensei whirled around to find Aishana grinning in her seat. He stared at her completely confused at how she could have gotten in there without him noticing, but decided to shake it off and continued with the lecture for that day. Yugi and Aishana smiled at each other again and went back to work. As soon as Aishana turned around to go back to her work, Yugi sighed happily. Joey shook his head and grinned with an evil scheme. Time flew by until it was time for chemistry.
"Alright, class. Now, pick your lab partners. Remember, groups of two."
Tea and Bakura paired up while Tristan started to look for a lab partner. Joey headed toward the table, assuming that Yugi was behind him before he noticed that he was asking Aishana to be his lab partner. The two started heading for a table while Joey grabbed Tristan and headed toward the table next to theirs.
"Let's see. We need a drop of Strontium(II)nitrate and a drop of Sodium bicarbonate."
"Okay. Don't forget to record the data."
"Don't worry, Yugi. I've got it covered."
Tristan and Joey saw how Yugi and Aishana were getting along and decided to have a last minute fixing in their plans. The two of them held an evil gleam in their eyes as the unsuspecting Yugi and Aishana continued their experiment.
"Don't you think of keeping that up for long, Joey and Tristan!"
The two startled boys immediately got back to work while the rest of the class stared at them before going back to their own work. After the lab, chemistry was finished and the end of class was soon announced. Everyone started heading home, including the six main characters of the story. Yugi and Aishana were having a conversation while the evil gleam in Tristan and Joey's eyes was still there as they approached the two.
"Aishana, did Yugi tell you about a sleepover party tonight?"
"A sleepover?"
"It will be Yugi, Yami, us two, Bakura, Tea, my sister Serenity, and Mai. Well, technically, Yami just wants to watch most of the time and he might play a few games if he feels like it. Do you wanna join us?"
"But, Aishana, don't you have to ask your parents first?"
Aishana lowered her eyes and drooped her head while Yugi looked at her sympathetically and turned to the others who were waiting for either an explanation or an answer. Yugi sighed and got Aishana's permission before answering them.
"Aishana doesn't have any parents. She lives on her own."
"Oh..."
Joey and Tristan were taken back by the answer that Yugi had given them. They never expected such a great girl to be an orphan. Tristan and Joey eyed each other, regretful of their last comment, before they tried to ask her if she was coming anyway.
"I guess it would be fun. Besides, it would be nice to get my mind away from a lonely house full of work for a change."
"Great! You can come over any time you like. Actually, you don't know the way to Yugi's house, do you?"
"Wait, Tristan, then we can have one of us follow her there."
"Yugi will have to go home to get things ready and the rest of us are going to get our stuff too. I doubt that we could do that unless one of us live nearby."
"Aishana, where do you live?"
"I live about a block away from Yugi's house so I can walk."
"You know where he lives?"
"I guess you could say that we talked it out."
"You mean to tell me that Yugi already told you about it?!"
"Something like that."
Joey and Tristan gave each other a boy-do-I-feel-stupid look with sweatdrops running down their faces. After the decision was made, Aishana and Yugi caught up with their bus while Tristan, Joey, Bakura, and Tea "suddenly" decided to walk home that day.
*~*
"Hm... I'm going to need clothes, tooth brush, tooth paste, all the hygiene things, I already finished my homework so there's no worry. Maybe I should bring a book just in case. I guess I'll bring a flashlight too."
Aishana started packing her things. It was a small bag with just the vital necessities and a book and a flashlight. Aishana ran downstairs to turn on the answering machine before coming back upstairs to put everything away. She checked her belongings one more time before deciding that she forgot something.
"Now what do I need?"
Aishana scanned her room again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed like it was needed for an overnight sleepover. Then again, something sparkled in the light and caught her eye. It looked like golden ball of some sort. However, regardless of its pure gold color, it seemed to be clear as well. Another strange thing about it was there was an eye of horus on it. Aishana grinned as she picked it up and packed it away.
"Can't forget about you, can I? Yugi Motou is in for a big surprise."
*~*
It seemed like a lonely evening. Yugi had just finished his homework and his preparation of the room for the sleepover party. His house wasn't gigantic, but it was roomy and had a lot of space. In the living room, the carpeted floor was only covered by a tv in the corner and the couch that was aligned on the opposite side of the room, leaving plenty of room for some people to sleep on the floor. Yugi smiled at his handiwork just before the doorbell rang.
"Come in! The door's open!"
"Sheesh, Yug. Did you want to get robbed or something?"
Joey, Tristan, Mai, Serenity, and Tea entered the open front door while Yugi finished putting away the last of the things that were on the floor. Just then, Yami chose to come downstairs.
"Yugi, remember what Sugoroku said about leaving the door open?"
"What? It's not like you didn't do it a few times."
"That's because I didn't know what I was suppose to do!"
"Well, would you lock the door when you know your friends are coming over?"
Yami sighed and shook his head while Yugi still waited for a reply. They weren't fighting as in they were ready to tear each other apart, but it was more like a battle of mockery. Yugi waited with a smile for Yami's answer, which was seemingly covered in silence. Yami smiled as he raised his hands in defeat.
"Is Aishana here yet?"
"She's in the kitchen. Grandpa asked her for help on something. Where's Ryou?"
(In case you guys didn't know, Ryou is the good Bakura and Bakura is Yami Bakura or the evil spirit Bakura that lives inside the ring.)
"Oh. He and Bakura will be coming in a few minutes. They got in trouble with old man Tallye again."
"What happened this time?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that Bakura got pretty pissed off at Ryou's teasing and kicked the old guy's cat, which went screaming across the lawn until it knocked over a few garden decorations, I might add."
"Ouch. That's gotta hurt Ryou's allowance."
Suddenly, the doorbell rang and the gang ran over to answer the door. Ryou was found with a frown on his face as he held on to Bakura by the ears. Ryou dragged him inside along with their luggage as everyone stared at them in wide-eyed shock.
"He threatened to kick the cat again."
While Aishana was still working in the kitchen with Sugoroku, the others decided to finish their homework, considering that Aishana was done with hers and none of them had started theirs. After they were finished, Yugi decided to "assign" rooms for everyone since Aishana was done.
"Okay, let's see. We're going to have Tea and Serenity in Grandpa's room, Aishana and Mai in my room, Yami's going to stay in his room, and the rest of us can sleep down here."
"Why is Yami the only one not sharing, I wonder?"
"Eh... The king of games is being his usual self."
"I heard that, Tomb raider."
"Listen all you want, Pharoah."
"Aww, come on, you two. You don't want to spoil a good party, do you?"
"Yeah, why dont you guys geddit ova with duel monsters er somethin'?"
"That's a good idea, Joey. I challenge you to a shadow game, Tomb Raider."
"I accept, FORMER Pharoah."
Yami and Yami Bakura started a shadow game with a contest of glaring, only there would be energy beaming out of their eyes which were used to fight with. Both of their wills were pretty strong, no doubt, so it stayed at a tie until...
"All right, that's enough. If you two are going to keep fighting, take it outside!"
Yami and Bakura stopped their bickering and muttered all the way to the doorstep while Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Aishana, Mai, and the rest of the gang stared at Ryou. It wasn't like him to yell back at his own yami after all, let alone the pharoah of ancient Egypt who was known for being the king of games. Ryou started to turn red when he realized all the attention he was getting, then shrugged.
"Hey, you get used to it when they're always threatening to tear down your house."
Everyone nodded and waited for the two to finish their shadow game. They didn't feel like reminding themselves that they could get killed if they tried stopping them on their own, or even worse: be thrown into the shadow realm for life. It wasn't even a minute by the time the two came stomping back into the room. Bakura was still alive, and Yami still had his puzzle, which made it even more confusing as to who won.
"So, uh, eh, who won?"
"We decided that we're going to settle our game with whatever game you mortals have to offer."
"Well, Yug?"
"Um... I was planning on video games. Does that satisfy anyone? If not, we could just have a duel monsters tournament here."
"Ok, duel monsters it is. What's the prize?"
Everyone sat still in silence. Yami just smirked. After all, it was his specialty as the king of games to win, well, games. And duel monsters was his ultimate specialty. After silence for a few minutes, the outcome was that if Yami or Bakura won, they could have the bragging rights, and if any of the others won, they could have the cake that Aishana and Yugi decided to make in the kitchen during the tournament.
"Cake and bragging rights of beating the king of games? This I gotta win!"
"Good luck, Joey."
"Yeah, you're gonna need all the help you can get."
"Hey, shut-up, Tristan! At least I know how to play!"
"Who said I didn't know how to play?"
"We'll see if you really learned."
"You're on!"
Everyone except the two had a big sweatdrop on their face. Tristan and Joey, oblivious to everything else around them, continued sparing in their glaring contest until Yami cleared his throat loud enough for them to hear over their continuous bickering. So it was settled. Everyone paired off and started to play: Joey vs. Tristan, Tea vs. Ryou, Mai vs. Yami, and Bakura vs. Grandpa. After what happened to be about an hour of dueling, the tournament was over, and the victor was...
"I won!"
"I can't believe he actually won. Yami, I thought you would win."
"One problem, Joey. You see, Tristan hasn't dueled long enough to come up with strategies on his own. So, technically, he had no strategy, which makes it impossible for skilled duelists to beat amateurs."
"Sure, Pharaoh. Just make up some excuses. Some king of games!"
"Need I remind you, Bakura, that I at least made it to the finals? Besides, it's better than losing to an aged grandfather! No offense, Sugoroku."
"No offense taken. Besides, seeing that you and Bakura are way older than me, counting the Egyptian years..."
"Sugoroku!!!!"
*~*
"Yep. That's it. Then just stir it up until there are very few bumps."
"The batter's really thick, Aishana."
"Maybe you put in too much sugar, Yugi."
"Aww."
Much to Yugi's despair, Aishana was right about the too much sugar thing. Yugi found that it was very hard to stir the batter that was sticking to everything it touched. Yugi groaned and struggled with the sticky substance while Aishana just giggled. Just as he was giving up hope, a gentle hand poured some water into the concoction and took Yugi's hand as well. Yugi blushed when he realized that Aishana was holding his hand and stirring the batter with him. He noticed that his hand was sweating from his nervousness (if that's a word) and swallowed, trying to make the lump in his throat go away, not that he enjoyed the feeling of being close to her.
"Got it?"
"Huh? Um... yeah, sure."
Aishana went back to her mixture while Yugi continued the motion that Aishana had set for him. His hands were still sweaty from the previous actions, but he wasn't doing such a bad job. When he thought it was ready, Aishana poured their batter into separate pans and started baking them in the oven. After setting the timer, they started washing all the utinsels they used.
"Here, let me get that."
"It's okay, I got it."
The two piled the bowls and things that were used into the sink. Two hands reached out for the same faucet handle to turn on the water when they touched. Yugi and Aishana jerked back, both surprised and embarrassed from the moment.
"Are you two done with the cake yet?"
Aishana gasped while Yugi yelped and tripped over a bowl that was on the floor, both from their surprise. Bakura raised an eyebrow at them while Yami just sighed and shook his head before waving it off, dismissing it as though it were a common case.
"Are you okay, Yugi?"
"I'll be fine as soon as the birdies go away."
*~*
Delicious aroma entered the living room from the kitchen. The cake was taken out of the oven, and its scent had already filled the living room, along with the sound of rumbling tummies. The cast eagerly rushed to the kitchen to find three cakes on the table.
"All right! I wonder which one's mine."
The rest of the cast immediately became disappointed. Not only was the aroma alluring, but now they had to deal with Tristan's bragging rights. Joey's eyes immediately watered with disappointement while Yami and Bakura kept up their glaring contest in the background. Yugi and Aishana were washing the dishes, side by side, which is exactly why the girls were watching them with contentment.
"Come on in! Tristan, you get to chose which cake you want."
There were three bundles of joy on a table. Tristan had to choose which cake he wanted without looking. After he gave it some hard thought (yeah right!) Tristan ended up choosing Yugi's batch. Yugi looked up expectantly as Tristan took a bite, but Tristan didn't respond.
"What's wrong, Tristan?"
"I think he's teeth are glued together with all that sugar, Yugi."
"Great! Now he'll learn to shut up!"
"Aww, Joey!"
Tristan headed over to get some water in hopes of loosening the sticky cake from his teeth while Yugi slunked down into a chair. He was pretty disappointed after all the hard work he had put in to it.
'Besides, I thought I could impress Aishana...'
"Ah, young Yugi. You didn't have to put in that much sugar in it to prove how sweet you are. It's where your heart was when you made that cake that counts."
"Thanks, Yami."
"Great. Now I can't tell who the hikari is, the pharoah or the game freak."
"Bakura!"
Ryou snapped at his yami who immediately shut his mouth. Everyone raised an eyebrow at this, but decided to leave it alone. Ryou was a really nice person, but when he's on his bad side... you just don't want to know.
"Well, why don't we lighten up the mood? Let's go to the living room and play truth or dare!"
A few of the members shifted nervous glances at each other while Sugoroku retired to his room for "confidential" reasons and also from "old age." Yami didn't like the sound of the game and decided to retire as well. The rest of the cast were stuck having to play the game. Yugi brought an empty water bottle from the kitchen and then havoc began.
"Oh, Ra, why did I even bother to play this game?"
The bottle was pointing at Bakura while Ryou smiled from the other end.
"Hm... Bakura, I dare you to... go up stairs and hug Yami."
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me."
"And if I refuse?"
"Oh, there will be a penalty of course. Hurry up Bakura. Would you rather do this or keep hearing from the pharaoh that you couldn't take your own hikari's dare?"
Bakura grumbled as he went upstairs with Tea following them with a video camera. Bakura whined all the way, but decided to get it over with. Just as he opened the door (Yami: What the!) Bakura hugged Yami really fast before running back out. Yami just stood there and shook his head.
"Baka."
Bakura grumbled all the way down the stairs while Tea giggled full of laughter. Tea backed it up and let everyone watch what happened. It wasn't long before the whole group was on the floor, laughing.
"Okay, okay, let's get this over with."
Bakura spinned the bottle until it pointed to him and Yugi. Yugi gulped nervously as Bakura grinned evilly, thinking of an evil scheme to do to Yugi.
"I dare you to grovel at my feet."
"Wha??"
Yugi looked around in disbelief while the others gave him compasionate looks. Yugi sighed and shook his head before performing the task that was at hand. Yugi got down on his knees, bowed once and then retreated. Bakura was the single soul who was laughing.
"Don't you all know humor when it comes?"
The others ignored Bakura while Yugi spinned the bottle. It landed on Joey and Ryou. Ryou became happy that he could do two of these already.
"I'm picking truth!"
"All right, Joey. Hm... Is it true that you didn't use all of the money from the duel at Pegasus' corp to take care of Serenity's surgery?"
Every eye turned to Joey. He was looking around nervously for an answer and then sighed.
"Well... no. I bought another shirt before I used the rest of the money for her surgery..."
"Oh..kay..."
Joey grabbed the bottle and spinned it. It then landed on Mai and Serenity. Mai grinned at Tristan as soon as she noticed the outcome.
"Well, Serenity?"
"I guess I'll pick dare."
"Hm... I dare you to slap Tristan on the head."
"Hey!"
"She heard me."
Serenity nodded before heading over to Tristan and whacking him on the head before sitting down. Tristan clutched in pain, but it wasn't his head he grabbed.
"Oh my broken heart..."
"Eh, shut up with the hysterics already."
Joey elbowed Tristan before they went on with it. Serenity spinned the bottle and next it landed on...
"All right! Thanks sis!"
"Hold it! We should change the rules. From this point on, we'll all take turns doing truth or dare, but whoever the bottle points to, those two have to do the dare or truth, alright?"
"Hey, thanks, Tea. Now I get to bug Yugi and Aishana."
"Great..."
"Well, truth or dare, you two?"
"Truth." "Dare."
The simultaneous answer caused the two to stare at each other. Aishana whispered to Yugi that Joey couldn't come up with good dares anyway so it was better to do that. Yugi agreed, leaving Joey to think up a dare for the two of them.
"Hm.... I, uh, dare you to, uh, not eat until the game is done!"
"Joey, couldn't you have at least come up with something half decent?"
"Oh well... Too late."
Everyone sighed at Joey's stupidity and went on with the game. It was Bakura's turn again. He seized the bottle and spinned it until it pointed at Yugi and Tristan.
"Ahha! One annoying brat plus a short vessel of the pharoah."
Everyone groaned. It was going to be another one of those dares...
"I dare you to..."
"But we didn't get to pick..."
"Silence you fool! I dare you to... kiss the one you like, and don't tell me you can't because I know they're here in this room!"
Yugi and Tristan blushed and stared at their lap. They seemed to find a suden interest in their knees while everyone else waited for their answer. Bakura sat until five minutes later, he started to lose his patience.
"If you tomatoes are done cooking your faces, I'll have everyone close their eyes while you do it. Fair enough?"
Yugi and Tristan agreed, very hesitantly while the others closed their eyes. Bakura smirked as he took Tea's camera and set it on next to him.
'This is going to be a very good blackmail one day.'
Tristan crawled over to Serenity and planted a kiss on her cheek. Serenity instantly turned crimson red while Joey responded equally with anger from his overprotective awareness for his sister. Before Joey could act, Serenity already slapped Tristan who slumped back in to his seat, dejectedly. Now it was Yugi's turn, and he went rigid from fear. Before Yugi could clear that lump in his throat, Aishana took his hand.
"Yugi, don't worry. Everyone here respects you enough to refrain from slapping you. I promise. Don't be afraid of rejection. Just do what your heart tells you to."
"Thanks..."
Yugi became nervous all over again. As Aishana turned back, Yugi slipped away her hand, kneeled, and kissed it. Everyone smiled at Yugi and his blushing beauty while Bakura shook his head.
"You only kissed her hand."
"But you never said where, Bakura."
"Dang it! It's all the pharoah's fault."
"I heard that."
Yami was smiling from the top of the staircase. Everyone turned to pounce on him in order to bring him into the game, but he ran back and locked the door to his room.
"This sucks... Oh well. Let's keep on playing then."
Yugi spinned the bottle and it landed on Tea and Mai. The two smiled, thinking that Yugi will let them off easily... Boy, were they wrong.
"Dare."
"I dare you two to... not talk for the rest of the game."
"What?! But what if we have our turn?"
"You still can't talk, unless someone is making you do truth."
"Aww... Yugi."
"Finally, no more friendship speeches and shopping items."
"We heard that!!!"
Joey backed into a corner...
*~*
Finally, the truth or dare game was over and everyone started to go to bed. It was around midnight when they finished the game and now it was 1 in the morning. Yugi got out of his sleeping back and wandered to the kitchen. He noticed that he was pretty hungry, even though it wasn't very long since the game. Then again, they did have dinner in the middle of the game so he and Aishana had to starve through it all. Just as Yugi took out one of the cakes, he heard footsteps through the doorway. Aishana was there too.
"Hungry?"
Aishana nodded. The two grabbed two forks and settled down on the floor to eat for no particular reason. Suddenly, Yugi had an idea.
"Hold on a sec, Aishana. Let's play a game."
"Aww, Yugi, do we have to?"
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
"Well, fine. What kind of game?"
"Here's how it works. We'll do rock, paper, scissors, and whoever wins gets to take a bite."
"Must we?"
"Aww, come on. Please?"
"Okay, fine."
The first time they did it, Yugi had won. He took a bite from the cake before they did it again. This time Aishana won. For the next five turns, though, Yugi kept winning.
"I wonder why I came down here if I'm barely going to eat anything?"
"Oh, Aishana. Here. Eat."
Yugi held up his fork with a new scoop of cake on it and offered it to Aishana. She only shook her head, letting her untied hair dance freely around her shoulders.
"I didn't earn it."
"It's out of my compassion. Come on, Aishana."
"Oh, all right, but only because you insist."
While the two were having their cake fiasco with a competitive game of survival, little did they know that Yami was watching them in the shadows. He smiled at how adorable they were until...
"Oh, Aishana, you have a crumb there."
"Where?"
"Here, I'll get it."
Yugi's contact with her face made them both freeze a bit. They were acting pretty nervous from that moment. Yami, on the other hand, didn't seem comfortable either.
'Why am I acting this way? I should be happy for him, shouldn't I? Unless... No, I can't like her. Aishana needs to go with Yugi. Besides, look at how happy they are together. I'd better go.'
But Yami couldn't move. He kept watching them from the shadows. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was jealousy. Something bit the arrogant pharoah, causing him to linger in the darkness to watch them. Yugi and Aishana put the pan and the forks in the sink before retiring to their rooms.
"Well, goodnight."
"Aishana..."
"Hm?"
He watched her sapphire eyes glisten as she waited for his answer. Yugi was desperate to say anything that would keep her in his company just a while longer. Yugi didn't know what to do, but decided to follow whatever his heart told him to do. Yugi kneeled in front of the stunned Aishana who watched him get into such a strange position.
"Aishana, will you go out with me?"
*~*
'Nice going, Yugi.'
Yami smiled at his love struck friend who had finally said something about how he likes her, but frowned knowing that he had probably asked too soon.
*~*
Meanwhile, Yami wasn't alone in watching Aishana and Yugi. Tea and Joey just happened to be hiding in the opposite corner where Yami was.
"What's he doing?"
"He's kneeling in front of her? Whoah! Talk about determination."
"Sheesh! If he's kneeling in front of her for a date, what's he gonna do for a proposal?"
"Who knows..."
*~*
"No."
Yugi was stunned. He was also pretty embarrassed and disappointed, along with being sad. Aishana could sense his disappointment, but told him that she hadn't finished explaining.
"I want to get to know you better as a friend before that, okay, Yugi? If you want to know if I'm interested in you in that way at all, then yes, but I'm not ready to go out yet."
"Okay. Thanks for letting me know."
"Don't mention it. Just go to bed and be all right, okay, Yugi? Don't feel bad about this. It's not you. I just don't think that I'm ready for it. Good night. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night."
Yugi then went to his sleeping bag. He didn't really feel sad about the whole thing. He was actually happy, happy to know that he actually stood a chance and it just might work out in the end.
*to be continued...*
Kristy Selean: Yep... It was pretty long... Hey, I did take a long time after all, but, I hope this was worth it... Okay, please tell me what you think, and I still didn't have any pairings yet. I will accept B/YB and Y/Y if that's what you want. Please, let me know!! Oh yeah, and I've decided on Joey + Mai as one of them.
You Stay Out of This! Chapter 4
A key, scale, ring, necklace, rod, eye, and puzzle lit up as the pharoah entered his resting place. The priests nodded at each other and continued to cast their spells, this time to encase themselves within these items. A healer entered the key, a corrupted judge entered the scale, a high priest entered the rod, a goddess entered the necklace, an advisor to the pharoah entered the eye, and the last of them, a dream interpreter, was cast aside only to have a tomb robber enter the ring. Each of them closed their eyes to enter their place of contentment while only the robber was screeching to escape his fate.
*~*
Yami woke up a bit more peacefully this time. His heart seemed contented for no reason at all and he was smiling as he woke up. This dream, although mysterious, seemed comforting and peaceful except for Bakura's entrance to the ring. That was too much for comfort, but he wondered what happened to the dream interpreter. Yami checked the clock to see that he woke up right on schedule and got out of his bed to get ready for the day.
*~*
"Good morning, Yami. You seem to be feeling well today."
"I'm feeling quite well, Sugoroku. Slightly confused but still comforted."
"A strange concept, but nevertheless it does not seem to cause any harm. Are you and Yugi going to merge today again?"
"No, we have finished with that business already."
Sugoroku turned around and looked to make sure no one else was listening. He beckoned Yami closer to whisper with him. Yami being taller had to stoop to a certain extent to meet down with Yugi's Grandfather, but he already knew what he was going to ask before he heard the first word.
"Did the business have anything to do with a certain young lady who stopped by yesterday?"
"You can say that."
"Grandpa! Yami! I'm going to school!! I'll see you later!"
Yami looked up at the clock. It wasn't normal for the cheery Yugi to be running about from being later than usual. The punctual Yugi had been leaving the house later nowadays. Yami smirked when he thought of his explanation to the situation.
'He's dressing up a little more carefully and taking care of his appearance more. I wonder why...'
*~*
"Hey, Yugi!"
"Hey, Joey. Hi, Tea. Hey, Bakura, Tristan."
"You're takin' forever nowadays to get out of the house, man. What's up?"
"N-nothing! Nothing at all."
"Yugi, it wouldn't happen to have something to do with Aishana-chan, would it?"
"N-no! No, Bakura. Of course not!"
Yugi sweatdropped in panic as the others raised an eyebrow and face-vaulted on the sidewalk. They rushed to school after this little incident, hoping that it didn't cost them too much time. Just as they sat in their seats, the bell rang, announcing that they had just made it. Yugi sighed. Again, it became time for history.
'Thank goodness Yami isn't here, or I'd be sick of asking all those questions. Egypt is interesting, but history itself can be really boring, especially from this sensei.'
Teyashi-sensei started to write the day's assignments up on the board. For everything he wrote, the students cringed from the chalk screeching against the chalkboard. After finishing this, he spread out his books in silence with a frown singed onto his face. After a few minutes, he started to realize where he was and looked up at the worried and hopeful faces of his students.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
As he finished his statement, half of the students relaxed from their expressions, but there were still the hopeful students and a few worried ones who seemed to be waiting for him to mention something. Teyashi-sensei smiled after realizing what he seemed to have forgotten to mention.
"Aishana..."
As soon as he mentioned her name, all the guys including Yugi turned around from their small conversations with their buddies and focused on him completely. Teyashi-sensei smiled yet again at his class.
"If only you would listen for my lectures that closely. Well, in case you were curious about whether or not she will be staying in this class..."
Teyashi-sensei opened the door to reveal an empty hallway. The guys slumped into their chairs in disappointment while some of the girls sighed in relief. Teyashi-sensei raised an eyebrow and looked down into the hallway again just to make sure that his eyes weren't fooling him. As he leaned out, the other students didn't notice Aishana who had sneeked over to her seat. Only Yugi seemed to notice that she had sat down. The others were too busy being disappointed or were looking down the hallway with Teyashi-sensei. Yugi and Aishana exchanged a smile and it soon broke out into laughter in between the two of them. The rest of the class started to turn around and realize that Aishana was present. The girls started gossiping about how it was possible she did that, and the guys were taking note of this moment and glaring in Yugi's direction.
"Ohayougozaimasu, Teyashi-sensei."
Teyashi-sensei whirled around to find Aishana grinning in her seat. He stared at her completely confused at how she could have gotten in there without him noticing, but decided to shake it off and continued with the lecture for that day. Yugi and Aishana smiled at each other again and went back to work. As soon as Aishana turned around to go back to her work, Yugi sighed happily. Joey shook his head and grinned with an evil scheme. Time flew by until it was time for chemistry.
"Alright, class. Now, pick your lab partners. Remember, groups of two."
Tea and Bakura paired up while Tristan started to look for a lab partner. Joey headed toward the table, assuming that Yugi was behind him before he noticed that he was asking Aishana to be his lab partner. The two started heading for a table while Joey grabbed Tristan and headed toward the table next to theirs.
"Let's see. We need a drop of Strontium(II)nitrate and a drop of Sodium bicarbonate."
"Okay. Don't forget to record the data."
"Don't worry, Yugi. I've got it covered."
Tristan and Joey saw how Yugi and Aishana were getting along and decided to have a last minute fixing in their plans. The two of them held an evil gleam in their eyes as the unsuspecting Yugi and Aishana continued their experiment.
"Don't you think of keeping that up for long, Joey and Tristan!"
The two startled boys immediately got back to work while the rest of the class stared at them before going back to their own work. After the lab, chemistry was finished and the end of class was soon announced. Everyone started heading home, including the six main characters of the story. Yugi and Aishana were having a conversation while the evil gleam in Tristan and Joey's eyes was still there as they approached the two.
"Aishana, did Yugi tell you about a sleepover party tonight?"
"A sleepover?"
"It will be Yugi, Yami, us two, Bakura, Tea, my sister Serenity, and Mai. Well, technically, Yami just wants to watch most of the time and he might play a few games if he feels like it. Do you wanna join us?"
"But, Aishana, don't you have to ask your parents first?"
Aishana lowered her eyes and drooped her head while Yugi looked at her sympathetically and turned to the others who were waiting for either an explanation or an answer. Yugi sighed and got Aishana's permission before answering them.
"Aishana doesn't have any parents. She lives on her own."
"Oh..."
Joey and Tristan were taken back by the answer that Yugi had given them. They never expected such a great girl to be an orphan. Tristan and Joey eyed each other, regretful of their last comment, before they tried to ask her if she was coming anyway.
"I guess it would be fun. Besides, it would be nice to get my mind away from a lonely house full of work for a change."
"Great! You can come over any time you like. Actually, you don't know the way to Yugi's house, do you?"
"Wait, Tristan, then we can have one of us follow her there."
"Yugi will have to go home to get things ready and the rest of us are going to get our stuff too. I doubt that we could do that unless one of us live nearby."
"Aishana, where do you live?"
"I live about a block away from Yugi's house so I can walk."
"You know where he lives?"
"I guess you could say that we talked it out."
"You mean to tell me that Yugi already told you about it?!"
"Something like that."
Joey and Tristan gave each other a boy-do-I-feel-stupid look with sweatdrops running down their faces. After the decision was made, Aishana and Yugi caught up with their bus while Tristan, Joey, Bakura, and Tea "suddenly" decided to walk home that day.
*~*
"Hm... I'm going to need clothes, tooth brush, tooth paste, all the hygiene things, I already finished my homework so there's no worry. Maybe I should bring a book just in case. I guess I'll bring a flashlight too."
Aishana started packing her things. It was a small bag with just the vital necessities and a book and a flashlight. Aishana ran downstairs to turn on the answering machine before coming back upstairs to put everything away. She checked her belongings one more time before deciding that she forgot something.
"Now what do I need?"
Aishana scanned her room again. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Nothing seemed like it was needed for an overnight sleepover. Then again, something sparkled in the light and caught her eye. It looked like golden ball of some sort. However, regardless of its pure gold color, it seemed to be clear as well. Another strange thing about it was there was an eye of horus on it. Aishana grinned as she picked it up and packed it away.
"Can't forget about you, can I? Yugi Motou is in for a big surprise."
*~*
It seemed like a lonely evening. Yugi had just finished his homework and his preparation of the room for the sleepover party. His house wasn't gigantic, but it was roomy and had a lot of space. In the living room, the carpeted floor was only covered by a tv in the corner and the couch that was aligned on the opposite side of the room, leaving plenty of room for some people to sleep on the floor. Yugi smiled at his handiwork just before the doorbell rang.
"Come in! The door's open!"
"Sheesh, Yug. Did you want to get robbed or something?"
Joey, Tristan, Mai, Serenity, and Tea entered the open front door while Yugi finished putting away the last of the things that were on the floor. Just then, Yami chose to come downstairs.
"Yugi, remember what Sugoroku said about leaving the door open?"
"What? It's not like you didn't do it a few times."
"That's because I didn't know what I was suppose to do!"
"Well, would you lock the door when you know your friends are coming over?"
Yami sighed and shook his head while Yugi still waited for a reply. They weren't fighting as in they were ready to tear each other apart, but it was more like a battle of mockery. Yugi waited with a smile for Yami's answer, which was seemingly covered in silence. Yami smiled as he raised his hands in defeat.
"Is Aishana here yet?"
"She's in the kitchen. Grandpa asked her for help on something. Where's Ryou?"
(In case you guys didn't know, Ryou is the good Bakura and Bakura is Yami Bakura or the evil spirit Bakura that lives inside the ring.)
"Oh. He and Bakura will be coming in a few minutes. They got in trouble with old man Tallye again."
"What happened this time?"
"Oh, nothing. Just that Bakura got pretty pissed off at Ryou's teasing and kicked the old guy's cat, which went screaming across the lawn until it knocked over a few garden decorations, I might add."
"Ouch. That's gotta hurt Ryou's allowance."
Suddenly, the doorbell rang and the gang ran over to answer the door. Ryou was found with a frown on his face as he held on to Bakura by the ears. Ryou dragged him inside along with their luggage as everyone stared at them in wide-eyed shock.
"He threatened to kick the cat again."
While Aishana was still working in the kitchen with Sugoroku, the others decided to finish their homework, considering that Aishana was done with hers and none of them had started theirs. After they were finished, Yugi decided to "assign" rooms for everyone since Aishana was done.
"Okay, let's see. We're going to have Tea and Serenity in Grandpa's room, Aishana and Mai in my room, Yami's going to stay in his room, and the rest of us can sleep down here."
"Why is Yami the only one not sharing, I wonder?"
"Eh... The king of games is being his usual self."
"I heard that, Tomb raider."
"Listen all you want, Pharoah."
"Aww, come on, you two. You don't want to spoil a good party, do you?"
"Yeah, why dont you guys geddit ova with duel monsters er somethin'?"
"That's a good idea, Joey. I challenge you to a shadow game, Tomb Raider."
"I accept, FORMER Pharoah."
Yami and Yami Bakura started a shadow game with a contest of glaring, only there would be energy beaming out of their eyes which were used to fight with. Both of their wills were pretty strong, no doubt, so it stayed at a tie until...
"All right, that's enough. If you two are going to keep fighting, take it outside!"
Yami and Bakura stopped their bickering and muttered all the way to the doorstep while Yugi, Joey, Tristan, Aishana, Mai, and the rest of the gang stared at Ryou. It wasn't like him to yell back at his own yami after all, let alone the pharoah of ancient Egypt who was known for being the king of games. Ryou started to turn red when he realized all the attention he was getting, then shrugged.
"Hey, you get used to it when they're always threatening to tear down your house."
Everyone nodded and waited for the two to finish their shadow game. They didn't feel like reminding themselves that they could get killed if they tried stopping them on their own, or even worse: be thrown into the shadow realm for life. It wasn't even a minute by the time the two came stomping back into the room. Bakura was still alive, and Yami still had his puzzle, which made it even more confusing as to who won.
"So, uh, eh, who won?"
"We decided that we're going to settle our game with whatever game you mortals have to offer."
"Well, Yug?"
"Um... I was planning on video games. Does that satisfy anyone? If not, we could just have a duel monsters tournament here."
"Ok, duel monsters it is. What's the prize?"
Everyone sat still in silence. Yami just smirked. After all, it was his specialty as the king of games to win, well, games. And duel monsters was his ultimate specialty. After silence for a few minutes, the outcome was that if Yami or Bakura won, they could have the bragging rights, and if any of the others won, they could have the cake that Aishana and Yugi decided to make in the kitchen during the tournament.
"Cake and bragging rights of beating the king of games? This I gotta win!"
"Good luck, Joey."
"Yeah, you're gonna need all the help you can get."
"Hey, shut-up, Tristan! At least I know how to play!"
"Who said I didn't know how to play?"
"We'll see if you really learned."
"You're on!"
Everyone except the two had a big sweatdrop on their face. Tristan and Joey, oblivious to everything else around them, continued sparing in their glaring contest until Yami cleared his throat loud enough for them to hear over their continuous bickering. So it was settled. Everyone paired off and started to play: Joey vs. Tristan, Tea vs. Ryou, Mai vs. Yami, and Bakura vs. Grandpa. After what happened to be about an hour of dueling, the tournament was over, and the victor was...
"I won!"
"I can't believe he actually won. Yami, I thought you would win."
"One problem, Joey. You see, Tristan hasn't dueled long enough to come up with strategies on his own. So, technically, he had no strategy, which makes it impossible for skilled duelists to beat amateurs."
"Sure, Pharaoh. Just make up some excuses. Some king of games!"
"Need I remind you, Bakura, that I at least made it to the finals? Besides, it's better than losing to an aged grandfather! No offense, Sugoroku."
"No offense taken. Besides, seeing that you and Bakura are way older than me, counting the Egyptian years..."
"Sugoroku!!!!"
*~*
"Yep. That's it. Then just stir it up until there are very few bumps."
"The batter's really thick, Aishana."
"Maybe you put in too much sugar, Yugi."
"Aww."
Much to Yugi's despair, Aishana was right about the too much sugar thing. Yugi found that it was very hard to stir the batter that was sticking to everything it touched. Yugi groaned and struggled with the sticky substance while Aishana just giggled. Just as he was giving up hope, a gentle hand poured some water into the concoction and took Yugi's hand as well. Yugi blushed when he realized that Aishana was holding his hand and stirring the batter with him. He noticed that his hand was sweating from his nervousness (if that's a word) and swallowed, trying to make the lump in his throat go away, not that he enjoyed the feeling of being close to her.
"Got it?"
"Huh? Um... yeah, sure."
Aishana went back to her mixture while Yugi continued the motion that Aishana had set for him. His hands were still sweaty from the previous actions, but he wasn't doing such a bad job. When he thought it was ready, Aishana poured their batter into separate pans and started baking them in the oven. After setting the timer, they started washing all the utinsels they used.
"Here, let me get that."
"It's okay, I got it."
The two piled the bowls and things that were used into the sink. Two hands reached out for the same faucet handle to turn on the water when they touched. Yugi and Aishana jerked back, both surprised and embarrassed from the moment.
"Are you two done with the cake yet?"
Aishana gasped while Yugi yelped and tripped over a bowl that was on the floor, both from their surprise. Bakura raised an eyebrow at them while Yami just sighed and shook his head before waving it off, dismissing it as though it were a common case.
"Are you okay, Yugi?"
"I'll be fine as soon as the birdies go away."
*~*
Delicious aroma entered the living room from the kitchen. The cake was taken out of the oven, and its scent had already filled the living room, along with the sound of rumbling tummies. The cast eagerly rushed to the kitchen to find three cakes on the table.
"All right! I wonder which one's mine."
The rest of the cast immediately became disappointed. Not only was the aroma alluring, but now they had to deal with Tristan's bragging rights. Joey's eyes immediately watered with disappointement while Yami and Bakura kept up their glaring contest in the background. Yugi and Aishana were washing the dishes, side by side, which is exactly why the girls were watching them with contentment.
"Come on in! Tristan, you get to chose which cake you want."
There were three bundles of joy on a table. Tristan had to choose which cake he wanted without looking. After he gave it some hard thought (yeah right!) Tristan ended up choosing Yugi's batch. Yugi looked up expectantly as Tristan took a bite, but Tristan didn't respond.
"What's wrong, Tristan?"
"I think he's teeth are glued together with all that sugar, Yugi."
"Great! Now he'll learn to shut up!"
"Aww, Joey!"
Tristan headed over to get some water in hopes of loosening the sticky cake from his teeth while Yugi slunked down into a chair. He was pretty disappointed after all the hard work he had put in to it.
'Besides, I thought I could impress Aishana...'
"Ah, young Yugi. You didn't have to put in that much sugar in it to prove how sweet you are. It's where your heart was when you made that cake that counts."
"Thanks, Yami."
"Great. Now I can't tell who the hikari is, the pharoah or the game freak."
"Bakura!"
Ryou snapped at his yami who immediately shut his mouth. Everyone raised an eyebrow at this, but decided to leave it alone. Ryou was a really nice person, but when he's on his bad side... you just don't want to know.
"Well, why don't we lighten up the mood? Let's go to the living room and play truth or dare!"
A few of the members shifted nervous glances at each other while Sugoroku retired to his room for "confidential" reasons and also from "old age." Yami didn't like the sound of the game and decided to retire as well. The rest of the cast were stuck having to play the game. Yugi brought an empty water bottle from the kitchen and then havoc began.
"Oh, Ra, why did I even bother to play this game?"
The bottle was pointing at Bakura while Ryou smiled from the other end.
"Hm... Bakura, I dare you to... go up stairs and hug Yami."
"WHAT?!"
"You heard me."
"And if I refuse?"
"Oh, there will be a penalty of course. Hurry up Bakura. Would you rather do this or keep hearing from the pharaoh that you couldn't take your own hikari's dare?"
Bakura grumbled as he went upstairs with Tea following them with a video camera. Bakura whined all the way, but decided to get it over with. Just as he opened the door (Yami: What the!) Bakura hugged Yami really fast before running back out. Yami just stood there and shook his head.
"Baka."
Bakura grumbled all the way down the stairs while Tea giggled full of laughter. Tea backed it up and let everyone watch what happened. It wasn't long before the whole group was on the floor, laughing.
"Okay, okay, let's get this over with."
Bakura spinned the bottle until it pointed to him and Yugi. Yugi gulped nervously as Bakura grinned evilly, thinking of an evil scheme to do to Yugi.
"I dare you to grovel at my feet."
"Wha??"
Yugi looked around in disbelief while the others gave him compasionate looks. Yugi sighed and shook his head before performing the task that was at hand. Yugi got down on his knees, bowed once and then retreated. Bakura was the single soul who was laughing.
"Don't you all know humor when it comes?"
The others ignored Bakura while Yugi spinned the bottle. It landed on Joey and Ryou. Ryou became happy that he could do two of these already.
"I'm picking truth!"
"All right, Joey. Hm... Is it true that you didn't use all of the money from the duel at Pegasus' corp to take care of Serenity's surgery?"
Every eye turned to Joey. He was looking around nervously for an answer and then sighed.
"Well... no. I bought another shirt before I used the rest of the money for her surgery..."
"Oh..kay..."
Joey grabbed the bottle and spinned it. It then landed on Mai and Serenity. Mai grinned at Tristan as soon as she noticed the outcome.
"Well, Serenity?"
"I guess I'll pick dare."
"Hm... I dare you to slap Tristan on the head."
"Hey!"
"She heard me."
Serenity nodded before heading over to Tristan and whacking him on the head before sitting down. Tristan clutched in pain, but it wasn't his head he grabbed.
"Oh my broken heart..."
"Eh, shut up with the hysterics already."
Joey elbowed Tristan before they went on with it. Serenity spinned the bottle and next it landed on...
"All right! Thanks sis!"
"Hold it! We should change the rules. From this point on, we'll all take turns doing truth or dare, but whoever the bottle points to, those two have to do the dare or truth, alright?"
"Hey, thanks, Tea. Now I get to bug Yugi and Aishana."
"Great..."
"Well, truth or dare, you two?"
"Truth." "Dare."
The simultaneous answer caused the two to stare at each other. Aishana whispered to Yugi that Joey couldn't come up with good dares anyway so it was better to do that. Yugi agreed, leaving Joey to think up a dare for the two of them.
"Hm.... I, uh, dare you to, uh, not eat until the game is done!"
"Joey, couldn't you have at least come up with something half decent?"
"Oh well... Too late."
Everyone sighed at Joey's stupidity and went on with the game. It was Bakura's turn again. He seized the bottle and spinned it until it pointed at Yugi and Tristan.
"Ahha! One annoying brat plus a short vessel of the pharoah."
Everyone groaned. It was going to be another one of those dares...
"I dare you to..."
"But we didn't get to pick..."
"Silence you fool! I dare you to... kiss the one you like, and don't tell me you can't because I know they're here in this room!"
Yugi and Tristan blushed and stared at their lap. They seemed to find a suden interest in their knees while everyone else waited for their answer. Bakura sat until five minutes later, he started to lose his patience.
"If you tomatoes are done cooking your faces, I'll have everyone close their eyes while you do it. Fair enough?"
Yugi and Tristan agreed, very hesitantly while the others closed their eyes. Bakura smirked as he took Tea's camera and set it on next to him.
'This is going to be a very good blackmail one day.'
Tristan crawled over to Serenity and planted a kiss on her cheek. Serenity instantly turned crimson red while Joey responded equally with anger from his overprotective awareness for his sister. Before Joey could act, Serenity already slapped Tristan who slumped back in to his seat, dejectedly. Now it was Yugi's turn, and he went rigid from fear. Before Yugi could clear that lump in his throat, Aishana took his hand.
"Yugi, don't worry. Everyone here respects you enough to refrain from slapping you. I promise. Don't be afraid of rejection. Just do what your heart tells you to."
"Thanks..."
Yugi became nervous all over again. As Aishana turned back, Yugi slipped away her hand, kneeled, and kissed it. Everyone smiled at Yugi and his blushing beauty while Bakura shook his head.
"You only kissed her hand."
"But you never said where, Bakura."
"Dang it! It's all the pharoah's fault."
"I heard that."
Yami was smiling from the top of the staircase. Everyone turned to pounce on him in order to bring him into the game, but he ran back and locked the door to his room.
"This sucks... Oh well. Let's keep on playing then."
Yugi spinned the bottle and it landed on Tea and Mai. The two smiled, thinking that Yugi will let them off easily... Boy, were they wrong.
"Dare."
"I dare you two to... not talk for the rest of the game."
"What?! But what if we have our turn?"
"You still can't talk, unless someone is making you do truth."
"Aww... Yugi."
"Finally, no more friendship speeches and shopping items."
"We heard that!!!"
Joey backed into a corner...
*~*
Finally, the truth or dare game was over and everyone started to go to bed. It was around midnight when they finished the game and now it was 1 in the morning. Yugi got out of his sleeping back and wandered to the kitchen. He noticed that he was pretty hungry, even though it wasn't very long since the game. Then again, they did have dinner in the middle of the game so he and Aishana had to starve through it all. Just as Yugi took out one of the cakes, he heard footsteps through the doorway. Aishana was there too.
"Hungry?"
Aishana nodded. The two grabbed two forks and settled down on the floor to eat for no particular reason. Suddenly, Yugi had an idea.
"Hold on a sec, Aishana. Let's play a game."
"Aww, Yugi, do we have to?"
"Come on, it'll be fun!"
"Well, fine. What kind of game?"
"Here's how it works. We'll do rock, paper, scissors, and whoever wins gets to take a bite."
"Must we?"
"Aww, come on. Please?"
"Okay, fine."
The first time they did it, Yugi had won. He took a bite from the cake before they did it again. This time Aishana won. For the next five turns, though, Yugi kept winning.
"I wonder why I came down here if I'm barely going to eat anything?"
"Oh, Aishana. Here. Eat."
Yugi held up his fork with a new scoop of cake on it and offered it to Aishana. She only shook her head, letting her untied hair dance freely around her shoulders.
"I didn't earn it."
"It's out of my compassion. Come on, Aishana."
"Oh, all right, but only because you insist."
While the two were having their cake fiasco with a competitive game of survival, little did they know that Yami was watching them in the shadows. He smiled at how adorable they were until...
"Oh, Aishana, you have a crumb there."
"Where?"
"Here, I'll get it."
Yugi's contact with her face made them both freeze a bit. They were acting pretty nervous from that moment. Yami, on the other hand, didn't seem comfortable either.
'Why am I acting this way? I should be happy for him, shouldn't I? Unless... No, I can't like her. Aishana needs to go with Yugi. Besides, look at how happy they are together. I'd better go.'
But Yami couldn't move. He kept watching them from the shadows. Maybe it was curiosity. Maybe it was jealousy. Something bit the arrogant pharoah, causing him to linger in the darkness to watch them. Yugi and Aishana put the pan and the forks in the sink before retiring to their rooms.
"Well, goodnight."
"Aishana..."
"Hm?"
He watched her sapphire eyes glisten as she waited for his answer. Yugi was desperate to say anything that would keep her in his company just a while longer. Yugi didn't know what to do, but decided to follow whatever his heart told him to do. Yugi kneeled in front of the stunned Aishana who watched him get into such a strange position.
"Aishana, will you go out with me?"
*~*
'Nice going, Yugi.'
Yami smiled at his love struck friend who had finally said something about how he likes her, but frowned knowing that he had probably asked too soon.
*~*
Meanwhile, Yami wasn't alone in watching Aishana and Yugi. Tea and Joey just happened to be hiding in the opposite corner where Yami was.
"What's he doing?"
"He's kneeling in front of her? Whoah! Talk about determination."
"Sheesh! If he's kneeling in front of her for a date, what's he gonna do for a proposal?"
"Who knows..."
*~*
"No."
Yugi was stunned. He was also pretty embarrassed and disappointed, along with being sad. Aishana could sense his disappointment, but told him that she hadn't finished explaining.
"I want to get to know you better as a friend before that, okay, Yugi? If you want to know if I'm interested in you in that way at all, then yes, but I'm not ready to go out yet."
"Okay. Thanks for letting me know."
"Don't mention it. Just go to bed and be all right, okay, Yugi? Don't feel bad about this. It's not you. I just don't think that I'm ready for it. Good night. I'll see you in the morning."
"Good night."
Yugi then went to his sleeping bag. He didn't really feel sad about the whole thing. He was actually happy, happy to know that he actually stood a chance and it just might work out in the end.
*to be continued...*
Kristy Selean: Yep... It was pretty long... Hey, I did take a long time after all, but, I hope this was worth it... Okay, please tell me what you think, and I still didn't have any pairings yet. I will accept B/YB and Y/Y if that's what you want. Please, let me know!! Oh yeah, and I've decided on Joey + Mai as one of them.