Yugi sighed as he stirred the soup tha was on the stove. Yami sat at the table, reading a book about Egyptian history. Every now and then he muttered about how historians knew nothing about Egypt.
Suddenly the door to the Game Shop opened and closed. Yugi froze and Yami stood quickly, ready to protect his hikari if neccesary.
"Honey," a familiar New Yorkian voice called. "I'm home!"
Yugi dropped the spoon that he had been stirring with and rushed out into the Game Shop. "Joey!" he cried. He hurled himself at this best friend and hugged him tightly. Yami followed more slowly and chuckled at his hikari. "We found you!"
Joey laughed and patted Yugi on the head. "Correction, Yug. I found you."
The Keeper of the Puzzle shrugged. "Whatever." He detached himself from his friend. "So...where were you? What happened?"
The blonde shook his head. "Can we wait til the others come over?"
Yugi nodded enthusiastically. Yami walked into the kitchen as his hikari and Joey sat down and began to talk. A moment later he came back out.
"Yugi?" he asked. "You're uh....needed in the kitchen."
Yugi looked up blankly. "What?"
"A particular food that you were making, the name I cannot remember, is boiling over and onto the floor."
The duelists eyes grew wide and Joey and Yami laughed as the boy hurled himself into the kitchen frantically.
"Ahh! The soup!"
***
He stepped into the house and closed the door quietly. "Ryou?" he called softly. He made his way into the kitchen were a note fluttered in the breeze of an opened window.
Gone to the store, be back in ten minutes.
Bakura swallowed and turned the refrigerator. He didn't have much time...
***
"Mr. Kaiba?" a doctor with brown hair and kind features poked his head in the door in time to see Mokuba leap off of a chair and land next to Seto on the hospital bed. Immediately a sheepish look spread over the young teen's* face. The doctor smiled. "May I speak with you for a moment?"
"Hey Mokuba," Seto said as cheerfully as he could in front of his brother. "There's fifty cents on the counter. Take it and go call Yugi or Tristan okay? See if they have heard anything from Joey yet."
The small black haired boy grinned and leapt of the bed and ran out of the door.
"So..." Seto turned his attention to the doctor. "How bad is it?"
He shook his head. "Not bad at all. Providing that you do not have any more...eh...complications, you can be out of here as early as tomorrow afternoon. What do you think?"
"That's....great...." the famous CEO looked up at the doctor. "But what about...my memory? When will I get it back? When will I be able to remember?"
The doctor shrugged. "I wish that I knew Mr. Kaiba, I really do, but I don't. There is no way to tell. It could be a month, it could be a year, it could be tomorrow." He shrugged again.
"Is there---"
"No. I'm sorry Mr. Kaiba, but there is no way to prematurely blocked memories. It just has never been done. The human race doesn't know enough about the human psyche to be able to perform such a miracle."
"Oh...."
"Doctor Milanawitz to the Nurse's Station!" the intercom cried. "I repeat, Dr. Milanawitz to the Nurse's Station."
The doctor smiled quickly. "I really must go Mr. Kaiba." He bowed quickly. "I'll be back later tonight. Oh and---" he winked. "Make sure your brother doesn't hurt himself jumping on everything."
He exited quickly, making Mokuba leap from his hiding spot outside of the doorway and hurtle down the hallway towards a pay phone.
***
"Joey!" Téa hurled herself at the blonde boy, the second that she saw him standing in the doorway. "We were so worried1"
Joey laughed. "So I figured."
Tristan followed slower and smiled at his oldest friend. "Hey buddy. Wanna tell us what happened?"
"Sure...sit down..."
Téa sat down quickly next to Tristan on the couch and Yugi and Joey sat in two chairs in front of the couch.
"So?" Téa asked. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Joey nodded. "I'm fine now...but last night, I was really messed up. I guess I just couldn't believe that Seto could forget me...no...I didn't want to believe that Seto could forget me. I stood in front of his door for, like, a half hour wondering what to do and...I couldn't take it anymore. So I ran off."
"Why didn't you come to us?" Tristan asked.
"I couldn't...." he shook his head. "No offence guys, but you all remind me of Seto more then anything. I mean with everything that's happened to all of us, you guys are just reminders of him and....right then I just couldn't deal with any memeories at all. So...I ran."
"To Mako's," Téa filled in.
Joey smiled. "So you figured out the last place that you'd ever find me..."
"I personally thought that it would be at Mai's...." Tristan muttered and Joey laughed.
"Yeah...I went to Mako's...Did you know that he found his Dad?" Joey asked. The three friends gasped.
"Really?" Téa cried. "When?"
"A couple on months ago...anyway....I couldn't stay there for long with his and his dad's strong bond and all....so again I left..."
"Still wearing Mako's clothes...I hope..." Tristan muttered indicating to his friend's kimono.
Joey laughed again. "Yeah. So now I'm---"
His story was cut off by a high shrill ringing. The phone. Yugi leapt up and held it gently to his ear.
"Hello?"
***
Ryou opened the door and closed it again. He sighed and made his way into the kitchen, ditching his thin jacket and keys to the house along the way.
The moment that he stepped into the kitchen, he realized something was wrong. The door to the refrigerator was hanging wide open and a body was passed out in front of it....a liquid seeping around him....
"Bakura!" the albino cried and knelt by his yami's side. "Bakura," he whispered shaking the spirit. "Are you alright?"
"I'm sorry Ryou..." came the drunken and gargled reply. "I tried....I really did...but..."
"Tried what?" Ryou asked. Then he noticed the beer bottles smashed around his yami and the beer all over the floor. "Bakura?"
"I tried to get rid of it all...but..."
"Oh Bakura..." Ryou hugged his darker half tightly to him. "I didn't even expect you to.....to even try...." he tightened his grip around the drunken spirit. "Bakura...."
Had he looked only a few feet away to the answering box he would have seen it blinking, indicating a message. Had he pressed the small triangular button, he would have heard Yugi's excited voice announcing that they'd found Joey.
***
"Hello is Yugi there?"
"Speaking."
"Yugi, it's Mokuba!" the boy was speaking quickly and glancing around him. He'd sworn that the doctor had seen him lunge from his hiding spot...
"Oh hey Mokuba, how's your brother?" the short duelist asked.
"Alright...I think." The boy paused. "I mean he'll be out of here by tomorrow afternoon and all but....he might not remember for a really long time and...he needs to Yugi."
"You mean---"
"When you find Joey, he needs to see Seto and tell him just what he said that night, whatever it was. Okay Yugi?"
"I'll talk to Joey. We found him..."
"Please Yugi," Mokuba begged. "For my brother...for Seto I am begging you."
"Okay Mokuba," Yugi whispered, clutching the phone tightly and turning to his ear. "Okay..."
***
/Then maybe you'd better stop drinking!\
He tossed and turned, his hikari's words haunting him.
/You know what Bakura? I'm tired of this. Let it go.\
No....Ryou....
/--go back to being the person that you were in Egypt.\
Egypt...
/It is destroying you Bakura!\
No....Wait! His eyes snapped wide open to find that he was staring at the stained ceiling of his bedroom. He had passed out or something....oh yeah...
It all came flying back.
/--go back to being the person that you were in Egypt.\
//Ryou?// he asked hoping that his lighter side had not permanently severed the connection between them.
/Oh hi Bakura! I'm making some lunch of you'd like it. There is dip and---/
The thought of food began to turn the yami's stomach turn. //No Ryou...but how did you know what I was like in Egypt?//
/What are you talking about Bakura?/
//You said that I should go back to being the person that I was in Egypt. But how did you know what I was like in Egypt. I certainly never told you. So?//
/Well..../ Hastily Ryou put a pan down. /Ya see that's a funny story.../
//I'm listening.//
***
"I'm just going to go home to get some clothes and then I;ll be back, okay Yugi?" Joey smiled confidently at his shorter friend.
"Of course," Yugi smiled nervously remembering the last run in he'd had with Joey's father. It hadn't been pretty.... "And then you'll be back and in the morning we'll go to see Kaiba right?"
Joey nodded his shaggy head. "Right."
If only that had been true....