Mai was worried.
O. My. God. *breathing heavily*
I have . . . 45 REVIEWS! THAT'S LIKE, 5 WHOLE REVIEWS FOR EACH CHAPTER!
*wipes tear* You guys sure no how to please an authoress, really. I feel ridiculously honored, so the least I can do is this:
- Imagine the most wonderful thing anyone has ever told you.
- Multiply that feeling, a MILLION times.
- and you have the feeling I wish to return to you ^^
thanksthanksthanks *jumps up and down*
Also, NOTE:
Okies, peeps, I STILL have my little poll going on here, so VOTE NOW, in a review or e-mail. I want a feeeeeeew more perspectives before I write the next chapter (check out chapter 9 for more details)
Thank you for reading, guys. You are so totally awesome!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
How could she not be, after rushing up here to the echo of Rei's choking cry, and finding the girl sitting and staring blandly at nothing in particular, with those tragically shadowed eyes? Her hair looked as bad as a broken bird's nest, so she offered to brush it out. She answered in a hollow 'yes'.
Mai was worried.
Even in the midst of the most stubborn of tangles, there was no further response from the girl in front of her. Ryou . . . no wait, ~Rei~ (she forced a mental reminder to not be so careless when Rei's mental state was so precarious) was still greatly resembling Yugi after his so-called "Yami" almost killed Seto Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom. Yeah, keyword: ALMOST, but still devastating. Shown in that deep and curious state of mental confusion.
Just like Yugi . . .
/Wait a second, I might be on to something here!/ she let the long mane rest in her slackened grip as she scratched her cheek with a long purple nail, and furrowed her finely tweezed brows.
So let's see . . . Yugi and Ryou Bakura . . . didn't Ryou have one of those freaky "Yamis" as well? Malik supposedly had one too, but he was SERIOUSLY nutso, and probably couldn't help in this situation. In fact, most of all their little escapades included the Yamis in some form or another, with Ryou probably mentioning a great deal more wrong with his, then Yugi ever admitted.
Rei said that she had run away that night, but failed to mention precisely what she ran ~from~. She was already a bit (talk about the understatement of the century . . . ) agitated when she showed up that morning, so this was a heightened version of her fear from before. /At least it's kinda easy to figure out what evidence we already have./ detective Mai thought as she shifted her stocking feet under her.
Yugi was lost like this, from what his posse had said, when his Yami almost killed, and being a pure Hikari soul, he couldn't handle that burden upon his fragile conscience.
"Hmph. Pure my butt." She muttered to herself, picking up the brush again, and slowly bringing it through that chaotic furball. She knew there was something seriously outta wack with that whole pure business. A supposed Hikari would NEVER be able to exist in such a corrupted world, it was impossible. The world in some ways was much better than it ~was~, sure, but certainly not better enough.
But if that had anything to do with the dilemma of the poor soul seated on the four-poster bed, then Mai was getting psyched and determined into corrupting Rei enough to handle society.
It honestly would have seemed funny, if the situation hadn't presented itself so ~seriously~.
Still, Mai was worried! Her suspicions were justified well enough to at least change ~something~, and by any god that ever existed out there, she was going to act!
/Another gal in need, is a friend indeed!/
~*~*~*~
~*SMACK*~
~*~*~*~
The sharp pain on the side of her face brought her clear out of . . . wherever she was, and brought her into eye-lash fluttering confusion.
"Wha--"
"Ha! I knew it! Well, sorta . . . " a voice cried out triumphantly sending her flying into the air with a distinct "yelp" of startle-ment. Rei whirled around in a disbelieving accusation at the smirking Mai. The girls smirk faded into a kind smile, as that bit of fulfillment wore off.
"You told me to brush your hair." She stated, motioning a bit with the brush. Little tendrils glittered as it moved it's position.
She squinted with a puzzled frown, not bothering to point out that slapping wasn't even considered in her definition of brushing hair. "W-what? I didn't say that!" Rei understood that it was impossible for her to explain the position in time and space, nor the journey in how she got there, so her brief denial seemed feeble, even to herself.
Mai sighed and stood on the floor from her cross-legged position, not even bothering to express her doubts verbally. The concerned look on her face was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable, and that discomfort was considerably swelled when Rei realized she couldn't even remember the last thought she ~did~ remember. Only the cold desolation of dense sorrow.
"Why don't you just tell me?" Mai asked softly, assurance projected through her large eyes.
"Tell you what?" she asked nervously. /What is there really to tell?/
"About your Yami."
Ice.
Ice. That's just what her stomach felt like; cold and heavy.
Surely, ~surely~ she hadn't heard correctly. Yes, and besides, he was never RYOU'S Yami. Oh no, he was even addressed improperly! "Your master", or even better "the one who owns you" would have been much more appropriate . . .
And with the barrage of painful reminders that also followed, Rei was willingly drowning in an incomprehensible fear. But a rather ranting, if not cocky voice pulled her out by the scruff of the neck:
"I just ~know~ that this all has something to do with your Yami, you've got that same blank look on your face. The same blank look that Yugi had . . . "
/Yugi./ Rei breathed in quickly, now feeling a curious sensation as if a tight hand was clenched around her stomach. She hunched over a bit, further strengthening the feeling.
" . . . And--hey! Yoohoo!" Mai frantically waved her arm in front of her.
The girl gave a little tremble to prove she was listening now.
"Sorry . . . " she began.
"No apologizing." Mai reminded her firmly. "Just tell me what's wrong, and ~we'll~ get over it."
Rei's bottom lip trembled slightly, missing the peculiar addition that Mai had, well, ~added~ to her statement. The gist of it seemed to get to her, however, and the very first thing that came to mind in it's path did not reflect a promising future:
/Everything's wrong!/
"I can't tell you, Mai." She said through gritted teeth. "I would jeopardize . . . so much. ~Too~ much." /You would hate me. I'm not going to spawn any sort of painful hate./
Mai pursed her lips.
"The only thing you can jeopardize here, is myself, in some way, I guess." She replied flatly. "Have you stolen the heart of my destined love?"
"Umm, no." Rei said, unsure of where she was heading with this.
"Then trust me, you have ~nothing~ to worry about!"
She only stayed silent, rubbing a bit of her skirt fabric in between her thumb and pointer distractedly.
"Look. If it makes you feel any better, I promise not to let anything you say, ever leave this room, got it?" Mai, though always flamboyant, was well known to NEVER betray a secret. Not even Tea's not-so-little crush on both Yugi and Yami, however tempting it seemed. Sensing the tension in her slowly shaking head and pained facial expression, she ended her mini-speech with one of the most heartfelt things she could come up with:
"It's better to share your discomfort with someone else." It came out quite awkward to Mai's usual style of dialect. /Oh great, now that sure sounded smooth. Real good Mai, real good . . . /
But after another pregnant pause:
"P-prom-ise?" Rei asked meekly, looking down at her crossed legs.
"I already said--"
"Promise?!"
Mai threw a quizzical glance.
"I . . . promise."
She leapt off the bed slowly and deliberately, giving off a strange impression of great age and weariness as she stepped to the dresser. The girl behind her could only wonder when she snatched something up off the polished surface. Her eyes were tightly clamped shut as if she were having many second doubts, and she turned, holding an almost impossible amount of tension along with whatever inanimate thing happened to be in her fist.
It certainly didn't seem intimidating, so far.
Rei gulped down excess air. Not one of those comical impersonations, no, this was a real one. One that made all who listened, immediately sharing a fraction of the discomfort previously expressed. Quiet, but the grief was clear nonetheless. The same grief that had haunted her since . . . well, she couldn't remember the last time when it didn't haunt her.
Guilt.
It was common and old now. ~Ordinary~. Though still so painful.
She held out her trembling hand with a held breath.
Silence. Then . . .
"I know that thing!" Mai suddenly exclaimed. "That creep Pegasus had it for an eye!"
"Do you . . . do you know what happened to Pegasus?" she was trying to remain as calm as possible, but it was a futile attempt, she knew.
"Naw." She looked behind her in recollecting thought "No one does. He shut himself out from society, ever since--"
"Duelist Kingdom." Her eyes were wide in an attempt of explanation. "Ever since the eye was stolen! 'Shut himself out from society' . . . he's dead, Mai. Millenium item holders either go depressively insane, or die once their items are taken without their consent."
Mai stared, speechless at the raw bluntness.
"S-so, why would you have it?" Mai ventured, shifting a bit.
Rei allowed the bedpost to relieve some of her weight, as she stared at the ceiling with impassive eyes, but trembling lips. "I found it in my pocket."
"Why in your pocket?" Mai asked slowly, and dileberately.
She breathed deeply.
"Because, he was the one who killed him. He is me . . . I killed Pegasus. I never knew, but," she looked down at her hands "my hands were the ones who destroyed his sense of being."
"No!" Mai yelled, standing up herself "That wasn't you, your Yami did!"
"~My Yami is me~" she repeated to her.
"~No he's not!~" she pressed on "Just regretting it, something that you CAN'T regret, because you didn't even do it, shows anyone that it wasn't you. Don't you ~ever~ blame yourself.
"We are going to forget this shit and move on, Rei. We are going to go shopping, and ~god-dammit~, we are going to have a good time living our lives!"
She was now the one who was staring. How could she just say to 'forget it', like that? This was the most unforgivable crime, and yet . . .
. . . She was being forgiven.
"Hold on a sec, let me go get some make-up, and we'll be off." Mai gave her a saucy wink (that might have been hiding a tremble), before bounding off into the hallway.
Rei said nothing. It was so confusing in comparison to emotional values, but now she realized all of those definitions were utterly impractical. Mai was right.
Even if it seemed difficult to accept.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Woohoo, another one DONE. Tell me what you think!
. . . and don't forget to VOTE (chapter 9, okay?)
O. My. God. *breathing heavily*
I have . . . 45 REVIEWS! THAT'S LIKE, 5 WHOLE REVIEWS FOR EACH CHAPTER!
*wipes tear* You guys sure no how to please an authoress, really. I feel ridiculously honored, so the least I can do is this:
- Imagine the most wonderful thing anyone has ever told you.
- Multiply that feeling, a MILLION times.
- and you have the feeling I wish to return to you ^^
thanksthanksthanks *jumps up and down*
Also, NOTE:
Okies, peeps, I STILL have my little poll going on here, so VOTE NOW, in a review or e-mail. I want a feeeeeeew more perspectives before I write the next chapter (check out chapter 9 for more details)
Thank you for reading, guys. You are so totally awesome!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
How could she not be, after rushing up here to the echo of Rei's choking cry, and finding the girl sitting and staring blandly at nothing in particular, with those tragically shadowed eyes? Her hair looked as bad as a broken bird's nest, so she offered to brush it out. She answered in a hollow 'yes'.
Mai was worried.
Even in the midst of the most stubborn of tangles, there was no further response from the girl in front of her. Ryou . . . no wait, ~Rei~ (she forced a mental reminder to not be so careless when Rei's mental state was so precarious) was still greatly resembling Yugi after his so-called "Yami" almost killed Seto Kaiba at Duelist Kingdom. Yeah, keyword: ALMOST, but still devastating. Shown in that deep and curious state of mental confusion.
Just like Yugi . . .
/Wait a second, I might be on to something here!/ she let the long mane rest in her slackened grip as she scratched her cheek with a long purple nail, and furrowed her finely tweezed brows.
So let's see . . . Yugi and Ryou Bakura . . . didn't Ryou have one of those freaky "Yamis" as well? Malik supposedly had one too, but he was SERIOUSLY nutso, and probably couldn't help in this situation. In fact, most of all their little escapades included the Yamis in some form or another, with Ryou probably mentioning a great deal more wrong with his, then Yugi ever admitted.
Rei said that she had run away that night, but failed to mention precisely what she ran ~from~. She was already a bit (talk about the understatement of the century . . . ) agitated when she showed up that morning, so this was a heightened version of her fear from before. /At least it's kinda easy to figure out what evidence we already have./ detective Mai thought as she shifted her stocking feet under her.
Yugi was lost like this, from what his posse had said, when his Yami almost killed, and being a pure Hikari soul, he couldn't handle that burden upon his fragile conscience.
"Hmph. Pure my butt." She muttered to herself, picking up the brush again, and slowly bringing it through that chaotic furball. She knew there was something seriously outta wack with that whole pure business. A supposed Hikari would NEVER be able to exist in such a corrupted world, it was impossible. The world in some ways was much better than it ~was~, sure, but certainly not better enough.
But if that had anything to do with the dilemma of the poor soul seated on the four-poster bed, then Mai was getting psyched and determined into corrupting Rei enough to handle society.
It honestly would have seemed funny, if the situation hadn't presented itself so ~seriously~.
Still, Mai was worried! Her suspicions were justified well enough to at least change ~something~, and by any god that ever existed out there, she was going to act!
/Another gal in need, is a friend indeed!/
~*~*~*~
~*SMACK*~
~*~*~*~
The sharp pain on the side of her face brought her clear out of . . . wherever she was, and brought her into eye-lash fluttering confusion.
"Wha--"
"Ha! I knew it! Well, sorta . . . " a voice cried out triumphantly sending her flying into the air with a distinct "yelp" of startle-ment. Rei whirled around in a disbelieving accusation at the smirking Mai. The girls smirk faded into a kind smile, as that bit of fulfillment wore off.
"You told me to brush your hair." She stated, motioning a bit with the brush. Little tendrils glittered as it moved it's position.
She squinted with a puzzled frown, not bothering to point out that slapping wasn't even considered in her definition of brushing hair. "W-what? I didn't say that!" Rei understood that it was impossible for her to explain the position in time and space, nor the journey in how she got there, so her brief denial seemed feeble, even to herself.
Mai sighed and stood on the floor from her cross-legged position, not even bothering to express her doubts verbally. The concerned look on her face was beginning to make her feel uncomfortable, and that discomfort was considerably swelled when Rei realized she couldn't even remember the last thought she ~did~ remember. Only the cold desolation of dense sorrow.
"Why don't you just tell me?" Mai asked softly, assurance projected through her large eyes.
"Tell you what?" she asked nervously. /What is there really to tell?/
"About your Yami."
Ice.
Ice. That's just what her stomach felt like; cold and heavy.
Surely, ~surely~ she hadn't heard correctly. Yes, and besides, he was never RYOU'S Yami. Oh no, he was even addressed improperly! "Your master", or even better "the one who owns you" would have been much more appropriate . . .
And with the barrage of painful reminders that also followed, Rei was willingly drowning in an incomprehensible fear. But a rather ranting, if not cocky voice pulled her out by the scruff of the neck:
"I just ~know~ that this all has something to do with your Yami, you've got that same blank look on your face. The same blank look that Yugi had . . . "
/Yugi./ Rei breathed in quickly, now feeling a curious sensation as if a tight hand was clenched around her stomach. She hunched over a bit, further strengthening the feeling.
" . . . And--hey! Yoohoo!" Mai frantically waved her arm in front of her.
The girl gave a little tremble to prove she was listening now.
"Sorry . . . " she began.
"No apologizing." Mai reminded her firmly. "Just tell me what's wrong, and ~we'll~ get over it."
Rei's bottom lip trembled slightly, missing the peculiar addition that Mai had, well, ~added~ to her statement. The gist of it seemed to get to her, however, and the very first thing that came to mind in it's path did not reflect a promising future:
/Everything's wrong!/
"I can't tell you, Mai." She said through gritted teeth. "I would jeopardize . . . so much. ~Too~ much." /You would hate me. I'm not going to spawn any sort of painful hate./
Mai pursed her lips.
"The only thing you can jeopardize here, is myself, in some way, I guess." She replied flatly. "Have you stolen the heart of my destined love?"
"Umm, no." Rei said, unsure of where she was heading with this.
"Then trust me, you have ~nothing~ to worry about!"
She only stayed silent, rubbing a bit of her skirt fabric in between her thumb and pointer distractedly.
"Look. If it makes you feel any better, I promise not to let anything you say, ever leave this room, got it?" Mai, though always flamboyant, was well known to NEVER betray a secret. Not even Tea's not-so-little crush on both Yugi and Yami, however tempting it seemed. Sensing the tension in her slowly shaking head and pained facial expression, she ended her mini-speech with one of the most heartfelt things she could come up with:
"It's better to share your discomfort with someone else." It came out quite awkward to Mai's usual style of dialect. /Oh great, now that sure sounded smooth. Real good Mai, real good . . . /
But after another pregnant pause:
"P-prom-ise?" Rei asked meekly, looking down at her crossed legs.
"I already said--"
"Promise?!"
Mai threw a quizzical glance.
"I . . . promise."
She leapt off the bed slowly and deliberately, giving off a strange impression of great age and weariness as she stepped to the dresser. The girl behind her could only wonder when she snatched something up off the polished surface. Her eyes were tightly clamped shut as if she were having many second doubts, and she turned, holding an almost impossible amount of tension along with whatever inanimate thing happened to be in her fist.
It certainly didn't seem intimidating, so far.
Rei gulped down excess air. Not one of those comical impersonations, no, this was a real one. One that made all who listened, immediately sharing a fraction of the discomfort previously expressed. Quiet, but the grief was clear nonetheless. The same grief that had haunted her since . . . well, she couldn't remember the last time when it didn't haunt her.
Guilt.
It was common and old now. ~Ordinary~. Though still so painful.
She held out her trembling hand with a held breath.
Silence. Then . . .
"I know that thing!" Mai suddenly exclaimed. "That creep Pegasus had it for an eye!"
"Do you . . . do you know what happened to Pegasus?" she was trying to remain as calm as possible, but it was a futile attempt, she knew.
"Naw." She looked behind her in recollecting thought "No one does. He shut himself out from society, ever since--"
"Duelist Kingdom." Her eyes were wide in an attempt of explanation. "Ever since the eye was stolen! 'Shut himself out from society' . . . he's dead, Mai. Millenium item holders either go depressively insane, or die once their items are taken without their consent."
Mai stared, speechless at the raw bluntness.
"S-so, why would you have it?" Mai ventured, shifting a bit.
Rei allowed the bedpost to relieve some of her weight, as she stared at the ceiling with impassive eyes, but trembling lips. "I found it in my pocket."
"Why in your pocket?" Mai asked slowly, and dileberately.
She breathed deeply.
"Because, he was the one who killed him. He is me . . . I killed Pegasus. I never knew, but," she looked down at her hands "my hands were the ones who destroyed his sense of being."
"No!" Mai yelled, standing up herself "That wasn't you, your Yami did!"
"~My Yami is me~" she repeated to her.
"~No he's not!~" she pressed on "Just regretting it, something that you CAN'T regret, because you didn't even do it, shows anyone that it wasn't you. Don't you ~ever~ blame yourself.
"We are going to forget this shit and move on, Rei. We are going to go shopping, and ~god-dammit~, we are going to have a good time living our lives!"
She was now the one who was staring. How could she just say to 'forget it', like that? This was the most unforgivable crime, and yet . . .
. . . She was being forgiven.
"Hold on a sec, let me go get some make-up, and we'll be off." Mai gave her a saucy wink (that might have been hiding a tremble), before bounding off into the hallway.
Rei said nothing. It was so confusing in comparison to emotional values, but now she realized all of those definitions were utterly impractical. Mai was right.
Even if it seemed difficult to accept.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Woohoo, another one DONE. Tell me what you think!
. . . and don't forget to VOTE (chapter 9, okay?)