Wow! I didn't expect I'd get any reviews on this story! And I didn't
expect I'd be going on with it, either.
Yami: seems to want to see me.
Yami Zera: Precisely. Yami Bakura and Sotachii's demon soul.or whatever you plan to call it.have gotten more publicity time in this story than him!
Yami: All that's shown of me is small references like being called a "dark- voiced freak." That I do not appreciate.
Zera: Fine. I'll give you more lines.
YZ: He never had lines to begin with.
Zera: . .Oh! I never made a disclaimer for this story! First off, Yu-Gi-Oh! and the characters are property of Takahashi-san. I claim no right to them, nor do I claim right to the character Megumi Nekoi-she belongs to my friend Yukie. ^^
Yami and YZ: *rolls eyes*
Zera: Linkin Sotachii and Kiichana are my characters, however. Now, with no further delay, I give you Chapter 4! R&R, please!
Chapter 4: Yami's Plan
"It was all a trick. Kiichana had sabotaged this duel."
Yugi looked up, not the least surprised to see the slightly faded image of Yami, his spirit partner. The tall spirit was looking back at the arena they were walking away from.
"I can't believe I fell for it!" Yugi clenched his fist. "Yami-sama, why didn't you warn me?"
"I'm sorry, Yugi. She had distracted me as well, so I did not see who had managed to slip the cards onto the deck."
"I'm guessing it might've been Mokuba. Kiichana said he had helped as well, and he made a big deal of wandering off with Kiichana and Serenity."
Yami was about to respond when a loud crash came from behind them. The spirit disappeared, switching physical places with Yugi. He spun around to face the figure that appeared before them.
"Sotachii?"
"Hand it over!" hissed the silver-haired teen. "Give me the Puzzle!"
"He's never acted like this before!" Yugi thought. "Kiichana was right! He has changed!"
"We have to open his mind!" Yami looked at Sotachii. "This may sting a bit." He held up a splay-fingered hand, palm pointing at Sotachii. "MIND CRUSH!"
At once, Sotachii flew back down the hall a ways, only to rise back to his feet. A smirk appeared on his face as he wiped at his lower lip with the back of his hand.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asked.
"Impossible!" Both Yami and Yugi were surprised. "That always works!"
"You leave me with no other choice, Sotachii." Yami bolted forward and swung at Sotachii with a hard right to the face. The silver-haired duelist flew back again, tumbling along the floor. "Cleanup on Corridor Five." He turned back to the direction they were originally going and ran out the door.
***
"So you just left him there?" Kiichana stared up at Yami. "The least you could've done was bring him home!"
"I'm sorry, Kiichana. However, I saw your father in the hall and told him what happened."
The purple-eyed girl turned away. "Which means you told him something far from the truth."
"Your father."
"You know, if you told him the truth."
"Guard or not, I had harmed his son! There is no way he would let me get away with something like that!" Yami closed his eyes. "I did feel sorry about doing that to your brother, however."
"But Yugi.I mean, Yami." She sighed. "I want to help him. I want him to see that power is not the greatest luxury in the world!"
Yami nodded. "I can help you with that, Kiichana. Once before have I dealt with a problem like that." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "But you will have a part in this as well."
"I will?"
"Yes." He sat on a chair. "I will buy you a starter deck so you can duel him yourself."
"But."
"I will teach you how to play the game. It is difficult, but you will catch on soon enough." The Millennium Puzzle flashed, and soon Yugi was standing where Yami had.
"Trust him, Kiichana." The teenaged duelist smiled slightly. "He's well- known for bailing people out of tight spots. He'll help you out of this."
Slowly Kiichana nodded. "Feel free to come over tomorrow. The only people that will be here are me and Mr. Honda."
Yugi was about to ask a question when Tristan made his way up the path to the house. "Bad news, Kiichana," he said. "Mr. Sotachii told me that your brother's off work early complaining of a headache. If he sees me here, I'm pretty much screwed." His frown soon turned into a slight smile. "However, your father gave me the name of a temporary replacement."
"Who?" Kiichana all but jumped into Tristan's arms. "Is it Mr. Krokei?"
"Well, no." He laughed nervously as he stepped aside and pointed to the figure at the end of the walk. "True that Krokei is one of the people your brother won't verbally or physically attack, but she's the other."
The woman walked up to the small group. "This better be worth my time, Tristan," she said. "I really had other plans for this evening."
A smile appeared on Kiichana's face. "Mai!"
Mai looked down as the young girl laughed. "Babysitting?" She looked at the brown-haired teen. "Is that what you want me to do?"
"Just for today, Mai. Her brother doesn't know that I'm her real babysitter."
"He'll find out, though. Now's as good a time as any." She started back down the walk.
"Please, Mai?" Kiichana dashed up to the woman. "It'll be just us girls until my brother gets home!"
"Kid, you're hyperactive, naïve, and probably don't have a single clue about true beauty. I'd be wasting my time." While Tristan and Yugi sweatdropped, Mai laughed. "But my other plans were simply to sit around and figure out strategies for my Harpies." She flicked a hand toward the two teens. "Now run along, you two, before her brother gets home."
As soon as the teens were gone, Kiichana pulled Mai into the house. "Can I see your cards?" she asked. "I really want to build my own deck, and I wanna see what some of the other cards look like."
"Sure. You look as though you're very into Duel Monsters."
"I have to be if I'm going to beat my brother in a duel!" Kiichana held up the five Exodia cards. "I'm basing my deck on these cards, and Yugi's going to teach me how to play!"
Mai smiled. "Who better than the King of Games himself?" She held up a small group of cards. "Harpie Lady and Harpie Lady's Sisters are the cards I based my deck on."
The young girl was awestruck. "Harpies.I think I saw a card with an almost similar name." She ran up the stairs and grabbed the remaining cards from the five packs. As she came down the stairs, she found the card she was looking for. "Harpie's Brother. Have you ever heard of it? The only thing special about it is that it's stronger than Harpie Lady."
"Stronger than Harpie Lady, huh?" The blonde duelist looked at the card Kiichana held. "I might have a card with me that I'd be willing to trade you."
***
"Head.throbbing." Sotachii sat on his new hovercard as it lazily floated down the street. "I'm in so much pain I can't seem to stand going fast. Just hope Megumi doesn't decide to take this moment and."
The sound of a whining moped engine caught his attention. He groaned just as said moped zipped by him, skidding to a stop a few yards down the street. Soon after, his board's sluggish pace brought him up to the small bike, which held two all-too-familiar figures.
"Tomo-tachi!" announced Megumi. When he ignored her and continued down the street, she and Bakura dismounted the moped and walked alongside him. "What's your problem? You don't seem to be riding at breakneck speed."
"You wanna keep the volume down? Your shouting doesn't seem to be helping my headache."
Almost immediately after Sotachii's comment, Bakura's hair stuck up in slight spikes as his Yami self took over. "You sure have gotten weak, Sotachii," he teased. "Even I can withstand a simple headache!"
"Well, do your headaches feel like someone threw you back several feet then punched you in the head and leave you tumbling across the floor?"
"Sounds more like you were fighting." Megumi smirked. "Then I guess we'll leave you on your way home to pull a Joey."
Anger flashed in Sotachii's eyes. "I do not find that the least bit funny."
Yami Bakura faked a slightly wheezing cough that sounded like "Wheeler." Understanding what he said, Megumi laughed.
"I'm just going to ignore that and go home." His attention was turned toward the row of houses to his left. He easily spotted his house amidst the group and veered toward it. In the window, he noticed two figures laughing. "Is that.?"
"So after I realized that he was a teenaged boy, I just couldn't help but laugh! I mean, no guys I know have long hair and wear jewelry! And if he uses perfume as well, then I guess that's his problem."
He slowly walked through the door. Kiichana looked up, almost surprised. "Bro!"
The woman with her looked back, fully surprised. "Sotachii?"
Sotachii's jaw dropped. "Mai, what are you doing here?" He dramatically reached up and cradled his head. "I mean, ohhh." To add to his act, he stumbled through the door. "I'm so glad you're here, Mai. This headache just won't go away."
Mai crossed her arms. "Well, don't look to me for ideas. I'll just make your headache worse."
A nervous grin appeared on Kiichana's face. "Um, bro, Mai's my babysitter. Father hired her."
"What do you need a babysitter for? From what I've gathered, Mokuba's the same age as you and Kaiba leaves him alone." As an afterthought, he added, "And the little punk's rich!"
"But."
"Oh, well. At least it isn't one of those twerps, like Honda."
Mai and Kiichana exchanged a nervous glance while his back was turned.
***
"But, Grampa, I."
Soguroku shook his head. "Out of the question, Yugi. I need you here after school to help out in the shop; I'm sure your friend will understand that." He turned around and returned his attention back to stocking the shelves.
Frustrated, Yugi trudged into the back of the game shop and slumped down onto the couch. "Just my luck. Kiichana's going to be angry with me, too."
"She'll get over it," answered Yami's reassuring voice. "You only need to tell her what happened. She'll probably be a little annoyed."
"I'll be lucky if that's all she is."
"Here's a simple solution for you, Yugi. Just give the cards to Tristan. I'm sure he'll be more than glad to give her the cards."
Yugi suddenly laughed. "You're right, Yami-sama! Tristan's her babysitter, so he'll surely go over there today." He jumped to his feet and grabbed both his backpack and the small bag holding Kiichana's starter deck. With almost no farewell to his grandfather he bolted out of the game shop, down the street, and up to the school.
"I think Megumi would be jealous of you if you keep up speeds like that." Bakura gave a friendly smile to the panting teenager.
"I thought maybe he was practicing for this afternoon when I hunt him down for the embarrassing defeat he gave me the other day." Sotachii stood nearby, his face set in his typical glower. He sneered at the teens, cracked his knuckles. "I'm sure your grandfather won't mind if you arrive home with that stupid puzzle of yours imprinted on your face. In fact, I think it would be very becoming."
"Enough, Linkin."
Surprised by the voice, Bakura and Yugi turned around. Kaiba stood just behind them, arms crossed.
"I'm afraid I don't let people simply threaten others for their personal pleasure. It is not suiting."
Sotachii snirked. "Kaiba, I thought you and Mutou were rivals. Why the hell are you standing up for this twerp? Let him fight his own battles!"
As the older teen started forward, Yami took control. "Stand down, Sotachii," he commanded. "I don't wish to fight you."
"You sure didn't seem hesitant when you planted your fist in my face the other day! I'm perfectly ready to personally give you the same treatment!"
"Knock it off!"
Fist cocked and ready to swing, Sotachii paused at the sound of the voice. He looked toward the other side of the street. Suddenly, his expression softened as he grinned stupidly. "Mai! So glad you could come! I really needed to talk to you anyway." His voice faded out as he crossed the street.
Bakura shrugged, then looked at the bag Yugi held. "What's in there?" he asked curiously.
"A starter deck. I need to give it to Tristan so he can give it to Sotachii's little sister." At the sound of a simple "hmph," Yugi looked to the brown-haired teen. "What?"
"Linkin surely doesn't like you. How can he stand Honda?"
As they walked into the school building, Yugi explained the situation to Kaiba.
"Well, it's nice to know that his father is more confident than he is." Kaiba grabbed his book from his locker. "No matter. I trust that you'll be teaching her how to play, right?"
"Yes."
"I know for certain that there is more hope for her now than there was for Joey when he first started. And since she's learning from the best, then I trust she will finally end her brother's arrogant reign."
Yami: seems to want to see me.
Yami Zera: Precisely. Yami Bakura and Sotachii's demon soul.or whatever you plan to call it.have gotten more publicity time in this story than him!
Yami: All that's shown of me is small references like being called a "dark- voiced freak." That I do not appreciate.
Zera: Fine. I'll give you more lines.
YZ: He never had lines to begin with.
Zera: . .Oh! I never made a disclaimer for this story! First off, Yu-Gi-Oh! and the characters are property of Takahashi-san. I claim no right to them, nor do I claim right to the character Megumi Nekoi-she belongs to my friend Yukie. ^^
Yami and YZ: *rolls eyes*
Zera: Linkin Sotachii and Kiichana are my characters, however. Now, with no further delay, I give you Chapter 4! R&R, please!
Chapter 4: Yami's Plan
"It was all a trick. Kiichana had sabotaged this duel."
Yugi looked up, not the least surprised to see the slightly faded image of Yami, his spirit partner. The tall spirit was looking back at the arena they were walking away from.
"I can't believe I fell for it!" Yugi clenched his fist. "Yami-sama, why didn't you warn me?"
"I'm sorry, Yugi. She had distracted me as well, so I did not see who had managed to slip the cards onto the deck."
"I'm guessing it might've been Mokuba. Kiichana said he had helped as well, and he made a big deal of wandering off with Kiichana and Serenity."
Yami was about to respond when a loud crash came from behind them. The spirit disappeared, switching physical places with Yugi. He spun around to face the figure that appeared before them.
"Sotachii?"
"Hand it over!" hissed the silver-haired teen. "Give me the Puzzle!"
"He's never acted like this before!" Yugi thought. "Kiichana was right! He has changed!"
"We have to open his mind!" Yami looked at Sotachii. "This may sting a bit." He held up a splay-fingered hand, palm pointing at Sotachii. "MIND CRUSH!"
At once, Sotachii flew back down the hall a ways, only to rise back to his feet. A smirk appeared on his face as he wiped at his lower lip with the back of his hand.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" he asked.
"Impossible!" Both Yami and Yugi were surprised. "That always works!"
"You leave me with no other choice, Sotachii." Yami bolted forward and swung at Sotachii with a hard right to the face. The silver-haired duelist flew back again, tumbling along the floor. "Cleanup on Corridor Five." He turned back to the direction they were originally going and ran out the door.
***
"So you just left him there?" Kiichana stared up at Yami. "The least you could've done was bring him home!"
"I'm sorry, Kiichana. However, I saw your father in the hall and told him what happened."
The purple-eyed girl turned away. "Which means you told him something far from the truth."
"Your father."
"You know, if you told him the truth."
"Guard or not, I had harmed his son! There is no way he would let me get away with something like that!" Yami closed his eyes. "I did feel sorry about doing that to your brother, however."
"But Yugi.I mean, Yami." She sighed. "I want to help him. I want him to see that power is not the greatest luxury in the world!"
Yami nodded. "I can help you with that, Kiichana. Once before have I dealt with a problem like that." He placed his hand on her shoulder. "But you will have a part in this as well."
"I will?"
"Yes." He sat on a chair. "I will buy you a starter deck so you can duel him yourself."
"But."
"I will teach you how to play the game. It is difficult, but you will catch on soon enough." The Millennium Puzzle flashed, and soon Yugi was standing where Yami had.
"Trust him, Kiichana." The teenaged duelist smiled slightly. "He's well- known for bailing people out of tight spots. He'll help you out of this."
Slowly Kiichana nodded. "Feel free to come over tomorrow. The only people that will be here are me and Mr. Honda."
Yugi was about to ask a question when Tristan made his way up the path to the house. "Bad news, Kiichana," he said. "Mr. Sotachii told me that your brother's off work early complaining of a headache. If he sees me here, I'm pretty much screwed." His frown soon turned into a slight smile. "However, your father gave me the name of a temporary replacement."
"Who?" Kiichana all but jumped into Tristan's arms. "Is it Mr. Krokei?"
"Well, no." He laughed nervously as he stepped aside and pointed to the figure at the end of the walk. "True that Krokei is one of the people your brother won't verbally or physically attack, but she's the other."
The woman walked up to the small group. "This better be worth my time, Tristan," she said. "I really had other plans for this evening."
A smile appeared on Kiichana's face. "Mai!"
Mai looked down as the young girl laughed. "Babysitting?" She looked at the brown-haired teen. "Is that what you want me to do?"
"Just for today, Mai. Her brother doesn't know that I'm her real babysitter."
"He'll find out, though. Now's as good a time as any." She started back down the walk.
"Please, Mai?" Kiichana dashed up to the woman. "It'll be just us girls until my brother gets home!"
"Kid, you're hyperactive, naïve, and probably don't have a single clue about true beauty. I'd be wasting my time." While Tristan and Yugi sweatdropped, Mai laughed. "But my other plans were simply to sit around and figure out strategies for my Harpies." She flicked a hand toward the two teens. "Now run along, you two, before her brother gets home."
As soon as the teens were gone, Kiichana pulled Mai into the house. "Can I see your cards?" she asked. "I really want to build my own deck, and I wanna see what some of the other cards look like."
"Sure. You look as though you're very into Duel Monsters."
"I have to be if I'm going to beat my brother in a duel!" Kiichana held up the five Exodia cards. "I'm basing my deck on these cards, and Yugi's going to teach me how to play!"
Mai smiled. "Who better than the King of Games himself?" She held up a small group of cards. "Harpie Lady and Harpie Lady's Sisters are the cards I based my deck on."
The young girl was awestruck. "Harpies.I think I saw a card with an almost similar name." She ran up the stairs and grabbed the remaining cards from the five packs. As she came down the stairs, she found the card she was looking for. "Harpie's Brother. Have you ever heard of it? The only thing special about it is that it's stronger than Harpie Lady."
"Stronger than Harpie Lady, huh?" The blonde duelist looked at the card Kiichana held. "I might have a card with me that I'd be willing to trade you."
***
"Head.throbbing." Sotachii sat on his new hovercard as it lazily floated down the street. "I'm in so much pain I can't seem to stand going fast. Just hope Megumi doesn't decide to take this moment and."
The sound of a whining moped engine caught his attention. He groaned just as said moped zipped by him, skidding to a stop a few yards down the street. Soon after, his board's sluggish pace brought him up to the small bike, which held two all-too-familiar figures.
"Tomo-tachi!" announced Megumi. When he ignored her and continued down the street, she and Bakura dismounted the moped and walked alongside him. "What's your problem? You don't seem to be riding at breakneck speed."
"You wanna keep the volume down? Your shouting doesn't seem to be helping my headache."
Almost immediately after Sotachii's comment, Bakura's hair stuck up in slight spikes as his Yami self took over. "You sure have gotten weak, Sotachii," he teased. "Even I can withstand a simple headache!"
"Well, do your headaches feel like someone threw you back several feet then punched you in the head and leave you tumbling across the floor?"
"Sounds more like you were fighting." Megumi smirked. "Then I guess we'll leave you on your way home to pull a Joey."
Anger flashed in Sotachii's eyes. "I do not find that the least bit funny."
Yami Bakura faked a slightly wheezing cough that sounded like "Wheeler." Understanding what he said, Megumi laughed.
"I'm just going to ignore that and go home." His attention was turned toward the row of houses to his left. He easily spotted his house amidst the group and veered toward it. In the window, he noticed two figures laughing. "Is that.?"
"So after I realized that he was a teenaged boy, I just couldn't help but laugh! I mean, no guys I know have long hair and wear jewelry! And if he uses perfume as well, then I guess that's his problem."
He slowly walked through the door. Kiichana looked up, almost surprised. "Bro!"
The woman with her looked back, fully surprised. "Sotachii?"
Sotachii's jaw dropped. "Mai, what are you doing here?" He dramatically reached up and cradled his head. "I mean, ohhh." To add to his act, he stumbled through the door. "I'm so glad you're here, Mai. This headache just won't go away."
Mai crossed her arms. "Well, don't look to me for ideas. I'll just make your headache worse."
A nervous grin appeared on Kiichana's face. "Um, bro, Mai's my babysitter. Father hired her."
"What do you need a babysitter for? From what I've gathered, Mokuba's the same age as you and Kaiba leaves him alone." As an afterthought, he added, "And the little punk's rich!"
"But."
"Oh, well. At least it isn't one of those twerps, like Honda."
Mai and Kiichana exchanged a nervous glance while his back was turned.
***
"But, Grampa, I."
Soguroku shook his head. "Out of the question, Yugi. I need you here after school to help out in the shop; I'm sure your friend will understand that." He turned around and returned his attention back to stocking the shelves.
Frustrated, Yugi trudged into the back of the game shop and slumped down onto the couch. "Just my luck. Kiichana's going to be angry with me, too."
"She'll get over it," answered Yami's reassuring voice. "You only need to tell her what happened. She'll probably be a little annoyed."
"I'll be lucky if that's all she is."
"Here's a simple solution for you, Yugi. Just give the cards to Tristan. I'm sure he'll be more than glad to give her the cards."
Yugi suddenly laughed. "You're right, Yami-sama! Tristan's her babysitter, so he'll surely go over there today." He jumped to his feet and grabbed both his backpack and the small bag holding Kiichana's starter deck. With almost no farewell to his grandfather he bolted out of the game shop, down the street, and up to the school.
"I think Megumi would be jealous of you if you keep up speeds like that." Bakura gave a friendly smile to the panting teenager.
"I thought maybe he was practicing for this afternoon when I hunt him down for the embarrassing defeat he gave me the other day." Sotachii stood nearby, his face set in his typical glower. He sneered at the teens, cracked his knuckles. "I'm sure your grandfather won't mind if you arrive home with that stupid puzzle of yours imprinted on your face. In fact, I think it would be very becoming."
"Enough, Linkin."
Surprised by the voice, Bakura and Yugi turned around. Kaiba stood just behind them, arms crossed.
"I'm afraid I don't let people simply threaten others for their personal pleasure. It is not suiting."
Sotachii snirked. "Kaiba, I thought you and Mutou were rivals. Why the hell are you standing up for this twerp? Let him fight his own battles!"
As the older teen started forward, Yami took control. "Stand down, Sotachii," he commanded. "I don't wish to fight you."
"You sure didn't seem hesitant when you planted your fist in my face the other day! I'm perfectly ready to personally give you the same treatment!"
"Knock it off!"
Fist cocked and ready to swing, Sotachii paused at the sound of the voice. He looked toward the other side of the street. Suddenly, his expression softened as he grinned stupidly. "Mai! So glad you could come! I really needed to talk to you anyway." His voice faded out as he crossed the street.
Bakura shrugged, then looked at the bag Yugi held. "What's in there?" he asked curiously.
"A starter deck. I need to give it to Tristan so he can give it to Sotachii's little sister." At the sound of a simple "hmph," Yugi looked to the brown-haired teen. "What?"
"Linkin surely doesn't like you. How can he stand Honda?"
As they walked into the school building, Yugi explained the situation to Kaiba.
"Well, it's nice to know that his father is more confident than he is." Kaiba grabbed his book from his locker. "No matter. I trust that you'll be teaching her how to play, right?"
"Yes."
"I know for certain that there is more hope for her now than there was for Joey when he first started. And since she's learning from the best, then I trust she will finally end her brother's arrogant reign."