Hey there, everyone. I'm sorry that it's taken so long for me to update
this. I've been rather busy. Also, thanks to everyone who's given time to
review this. It's helped out a lot.
I know you all are wanting to know what's going on with Joey. He's not in this chapter, but the next is practically dedicated to him, so hang on there. (And try not to kill me. You'll get your puppy-boy fix here soon.)
Chapter 7
Rayne, Yami, and Bakura walked along the busy street towards the nearest bus stop when Rayne began thinking about what she had before. They'd done a lot today, and who knows how many other clues this guy had left behind, so perhaps it was time to call it a day.
"You guys," Rayne began, "I think we need to call it quits."
"What?!" Yami replied. "What do you mean 'call it quits'?"
"Just for today, I mean. We've been all over the city. We're all a bit tired, somewhat discouraged and angry, and I doubt this guy's going anywhere with Joey, so I say we stop for today and get an early start tomorrow."
"Well, to be honest, I agree with you, Rayne." Bakura said. He caught the glance Yami gave him, and looked back apologetically. Yami simply looked away quickly and fixed Rayne with a somewhat icy stare.
"You said yourself that Joey's who knows where, having who knows what done to him, and you're saying we should stop?"
"Hear me out, Yugi. Like I said before. This running around having to figure out riddles and other crap has gotten us wound up so tight, we'll more than likely wear ourselves out if we keep going like this for too long. What use to Joey will we be then?"
Yami heard the reasoning in Rayne's argument, and his outrage of what she suggested subsided. He closed his eyes and sighed, then looked at Rayne and Bakura with a much gentler face than it had been not a minute earlier.
"I suppose you're right. Going at a pace like this for something this important is no good."
"Exactly. I say we just go home, have a nice meal, and try to get some sleep. We'll get up bright and early tomorrow, and start fresh."
"Yes. I say we meet at the fairgrounds at 7:00." Yami suggested to the group.
"All right. You up for that, Bakura?"
"Of course!" Bakura replied.
"Well then, it's settled. We all meet at the fairgrounds at 7:00 tomorrow morning."
Yami and Bakura nodded in agreement then sighed and lowered their heads slightly. Rayne looked at them a bit confused then gathered what the sudden depression was about.
"Look, you guys. You guys have been friends with Joey a lot longer than I have, and I know you don't want to give up looking for him that easily, but I assure you, this is for the greater good. If anything happens to him because of this, you've got permission to kill me, okay?"
Yami and Bakura looked up at Rayne with a quizzical glance, then at one another. They then smiled and looked back at her.
"We'll hold you to that." Yami said to her.
"I wouldn't doubt it. I'll see you guys later. Don't worry too much. We'll find him." Rayne said over her shoulder as she walked off.
"All right. See you later, Rayne." Yami called after her, turning to go to his own home.
"Remember, you guys! 7:00 at the fairgrounds!" Bakura told them. Both Yami and Rayne waved their hands at him in acknowledgement, and Bakura went off in another direction to go home.
As Rayne walked along the street, she thought about how hypocritical is was to give advice she herself couldn't follow.
***
Yami reached the front door of the game shop owned and run by Yugi's grandfather. He sighed, and then let Yugi return to the world.
After the short switch, Yugi hung his head sadly, and opened the door. He trudged in as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. In his mind, he did have the weight of a world on his shoulders. Joey's world. His family, all of his friends, including himself. He thought about how if anything should happen to him, he'd never forgive himself. Solomon, Yugi's grandfather, noticed Yugi come in and looked at him with a bit of playful scorn.
"Well, you're home awfully late, young man," he said. He then noticed the sad look on Yugi's face and started to get worried. "Yugi? What's wrong?"
Yugi barely noticed his grandfather speak to him, and slowly looked to him with teary eyes.
"Grandpa. Something terrible has happened."
"What? What is it, Yugi?"
"Joey. He's. He's been."
"What happened to Joey?"
"He's been kidnapped.and if I don't find him in three days.he's going to die."
Solomon looked completely shocked at what his grandson just told him. Yugi then broke down completely and fell to his knees crying. Solomon walked over and put his arms around Yugi.
"It'll be all right, Yugi. Let's just go in the back, and you can tell me everything."
Solomon then helped Yugi up and took him thorough the doorway to the back, where the store turned into a house. He sat Yugi on the couch in the living room and got him a few tissues, then sat down himself and let Yugi tell him the story.
***
Night had fallen, and Yugi sat on his bed in the dark. He couldn't stop worrying about Joey. He couldn't eat or sleep. No one blamed him, not Solomon and especially not Yami.
Yami sat on the edge of the bed in his more spiritual form with his head on his clenched hands. He was thinking about Joey as well. Not only that, but he was also thinking about Rayne. Mokuba had given him a clue as to why she might be acting the way she has, but it was pretty hard to swallow. Rayne being some sort of government agent? That's absurd. Or was it? It would explain why Rayne had to make that phone call to her "parents" and how she got the blueprints for Kaiba's office. Perhaps there was something to Mokuba's claim.
Yugi looked to Yami and saw that he was deep in thought. He wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
"Yami?"
"Yes, Yugi?"
"Do you think that Joey might be."
Yugi stopped short of finishing his sentence, but Yami knew what he was about to suggest.
"No, Yugi. I don't think he's gone that far. He would keep Joey alive to get to the both of us. He plays a vital part in his plan, whatever it may be."
"But how do we know that? It could all be just some trap set for us! Joey could already be dead, and we wouldn't know it!"
Yami turned to Yugi at his sudden outburst and looked taken aback. He saw the sadness on his face and the tears in his eyes, and his features softened.
"Listen, Yugi. I know exactly how you feel. But the fact is, we don't know a lot about what's going on, or why it's happening. We just have to hope for the best. Rayne was right when she said that we would find him. We don't have to worry about that."
"It's not finding him that I'm worried about. It's how we'll find him."
Yami sighed, then rose to walk around the side of the bed.
"Yugi, you need to rest now. A good night's sleep will do you a lot of good. Sitting here all night worrying won't help anyone."
"You're right, I guess." Yugi said lying down, not even bothering to change into his nightclothes. He then yawned, and began to doze. "Sleep is the best.thing.right."
Yugi didn't even finish his sentence before he fell into a deep sleep. Yami looked down at him with a soft look in his eyes. He knew that Yugi was exhausted and needed this more than anything. He then walked over to the window and gazed out at the stars.
"I'll find you, Joey. If it's the last thing I do."
***
Across town, Rayne lying on the plush couch in her downtown apartment just staring at the ceiling, thinking exactly what Yugi had. What if the guy had already killed Joey? Yugi would be crushed. She prayed that the kid was all right. He was kind of cute, in a way. It would be a shame to lose him. Rayne shook herself. This was no time to be thinking about romantic interests. She had a job to do.
Rayne looked to her left and saw that she had the television on. She didn't even remember picking up the remote. That's when she saw her pet cat, Yue, who was a Ragdoll, sitting on the coffee table between them with the remote in front of him.
"So you're the one who turned that thing on."
Yue turned around at the sound of him owner's voice and meowed at her. He picked up the remote in his mouth and jumped off the table, coming over to the couch and putting the remote near Rayne's hand. He nudged it closer, and Rayne looked at him comically.
"You want to watch that cat show on Animal Planet, don't you?"
Yue meowed once again and began waving his tail around quickly. Rayne simply chuckled softly and turned the station. Upon seeing the show had already started, he nipped at Rayne's hand as if to say "See what you made me miss!" and returned to his perch on the coffee table. Rayne shook her head, then returned to her thoughts.
"Why would he go to the city fairgrounds to hide the clue? It doesn't make sense. His trail isn't leaving any sort of pattern whatsoever. Even the craziest guys have a pattern."
It just seemed to bug Rayne to no end. What was this all about, anyway? What had Yugi done to him that was so terrible, he'd stoop to kidnapping a friend of his and hold him hostage?
"Maybe sleep will help." Rayne mumbled.
"Mrow?" Yue turned slightly as he heard his owner's comment. Yue had always had good ears.
"Nothing. Just make sure you turn off the TV tonight. You know you left it on last time."
Yue's ears drooped slightly at her remembrance of his all-night "Felix the Cat" marathon on Cartoon Network the other night, and looked a bit sad for a moment. Then his favorite Whiskas commercial came on and he forgot everything Rayne had just said. He loved seeing the human eating cat treats. When Rayne first saw it with him near by, she swore it was the closest thing to a cat laughing she'd hear in her life.
"Cable junkie," she said it loud enough so that she made sure he heard it.
"Meow," he replied.
Rayne got up from her spot and began to walk to her room.
"I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late. You know how you get all grouchy."
"Mrow!"
"Oh, yeah."
Rayne stopped short and went to the kitchenette. She pulled out a large bag of Whiskas dry cat food and refilled Yue's food bowl, along with putting some fresh water in his water dish. She then gave a sort of salute to her long time pet, and trudged off to bed.
Rayne quickly took a shower and slipped into her Badtz Maru nightshirt, then proceeded to collapse into her giant, fluffy bed.
"There are perks to being an Interpol agent. You get the most comfortable beds."
She then closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but she kept tossing and turning.
"And I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Dammit."
Rayne slipped her hands behind her head and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling again. She was worrying about not just Joey now, but Yugi as well.
"And just as there are a bunch of perks to this, there's just as many pitfalls."
She sighed as she thought about Joey and imagined his face as she remembered. Red from blushing, probably because of her, and kind of shy looking, but happy.
"You've got to be all right, Joey. You just have to."
***
YaBakura sat on Bakura's bed, thinking hard about the day's events.
"There's so much that girl is trying to keep hidden. Mokuba's claim that Rayne could possibly be involved with the government doesn't seem entirely farfetched. The way she's been acting is rather strange."
YaBakura fell back on the bed and sighed slightly.
"All I know is this is just another opportunity to get the things I want."
He then smiled slightly as he thought about something that had crossed his mind earlier in the day.
"Both of them."
I know you all are wanting to know what's going on with Joey. He's not in this chapter, but the next is practically dedicated to him, so hang on there. (And try not to kill me. You'll get your puppy-boy fix here soon.)
Chapter 7
Rayne, Yami, and Bakura walked along the busy street towards the nearest bus stop when Rayne began thinking about what she had before. They'd done a lot today, and who knows how many other clues this guy had left behind, so perhaps it was time to call it a day.
"You guys," Rayne began, "I think we need to call it quits."
"What?!" Yami replied. "What do you mean 'call it quits'?"
"Just for today, I mean. We've been all over the city. We're all a bit tired, somewhat discouraged and angry, and I doubt this guy's going anywhere with Joey, so I say we stop for today and get an early start tomorrow."
"Well, to be honest, I agree with you, Rayne." Bakura said. He caught the glance Yami gave him, and looked back apologetically. Yami simply looked away quickly and fixed Rayne with a somewhat icy stare.
"You said yourself that Joey's who knows where, having who knows what done to him, and you're saying we should stop?"
"Hear me out, Yugi. Like I said before. This running around having to figure out riddles and other crap has gotten us wound up so tight, we'll more than likely wear ourselves out if we keep going like this for too long. What use to Joey will we be then?"
Yami heard the reasoning in Rayne's argument, and his outrage of what she suggested subsided. He closed his eyes and sighed, then looked at Rayne and Bakura with a much gentler face than it had been not a minute earlier.
"I suppose you're right. Going at a pace like this for something this important is no good."
"Exactly. I say we just go home, have a nice meal, and try to get some sleep. We'll get up bright and early tomorrow, and start fresh."
"Yes. I say we meet at the fairgrounds at 7:00." Yami suggested to the group.
"All right. You up for that, Bakura?"
"Of course!" Bakura replied.
"Well then, it's settled. We all meet at the fairgrounds at 7:00 tomorrow morning."
Yami and Bakura nodded in agreement then sighed and lowered their heads slightly. Rayne looked at them a bit confused then gathered what the sudden depression was about.
"Look, you guys. You guys have been friends with Joey a lot longer than I have, and I know you don't want to give up looking for him that easily, but I assure you, this is for the greater good. If anything happens to him because of this, you've got permission to kill me, okay?"
Yami and Bakura looked up at Rayne with a quizzical glance, then at one another. They then smiled and looked back at her.
"We'll hold you to that." Yami said to her.
"I wouldn't doubt it. I'll see you guys later. Don't worry too much. We'll find him." Rayne said over her shoulder as she walked off.
"All right. See you later, Rayne." Yami called after her, turning to go to his own home.
"Remember, you guys! 7:00 at the fairgrounds!" Bakura told them. Both Yami and Rayne waved their hands at him in acknowledgement, and Bakura went off in another direction to go home.
As Rayne walked along the street, she thought about how hypocritical is was to give advice she herself couldn't follow.
***
Yami reached the front door of the game shop owned and run by Yugi's grandfather. He sighed, and then let Yugi return to the world.
After the short switch, Yugi hung his head sadly, and opened the door. He trudged in as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. In his mind, he did have the weight of a world on his shoulders. Joey's world. His family, all of his friends, including himself. He thought about how if anything should happen to him, he'd never forgive himself. Solomon, Yugi's grandfather, noticed Yugi come in and looked at him with a bit of playful scorn.
"Well, you're home awfully late, young man," he said. He then noticed the sad look on Yugi's face and started to get worried. "Yugi? What's wrong?"
Yugi barely noticed his grandfather speak to him, and slowly looked to him with teary eyes.
"Grandpa. Something terrible has happened."
"What? What is it, Yugi?"
"Joey. He's. He's been."
"What happened to Joey?"
"He's been kidnapped.and if I don't find him in three days.he's going to die."
Solomon looked completely shocked at what his grandson just told him. Yugi then broke down completely and fell to his knees crying. Solomon walked over and put his arms around Yugi.
"It'll be all right, Yugi. Let's just go in the back, and you can tell me everything."
Solomon then helped Yugi up and took him thorough the doorway to the back, where the store turned into a house. He sat Yugi on the couch in the living room and got him a few tissues, then sat down himself and let Yugi tell him the story.
***
Night had fallen, and Yugi sat on his bed in the dark. He couldn't stop worrying about Joey. He couldn't eat or sleep. No one blamed him, not Solomon and especially not Yami.
Yami sat on the edge of the bed in his more spiritual form with his head on his clenched hands. He was thinking about Joey as well. Not only that, but he was also thinking about Rayne. Mokuba had given him a clue as to why she might be acting the way she has, but it was pretty hard to swallow. Rayne being some sort of government agent? That's absurd. Or was it? It would explain why Rayne had to make that phone call to her "parents" and how she got the blueprints for Kaiba's office. Perhaps there was something to Mokuba's claim.
Yugi looked to Yami and saw that he was deep in thought. He wondered if he was thinking the same thing.
"Yami?"
"Yes, Yugi?"
"Do you think that Joey might be."
Yugi stopped short of finishing his sentence, but Yami knew what he was about to suggest.
"No, Yugi. I don't think he's gone that far. He would keep Joey alive to get to the both of us. He plays a vital part in his plan, whatever it may be."
"But how do we know that? It could all be just some trap set for us! Joey could already be dead, and we wouldn't know it!"
Yami turned to Yugi at his sudden outburst and looked taken aback. He saw the sadness on his face and the tears in his eyes, and his features softened.
"Listen, Yugi. I know exactly how you feel. But the fact is, we don't know a lot about what's going on, or why it's happening. We just have to hope for the best. Rayne was right when she said that we would find him. We don't have to worry about that."
"It's not finding him that I'm worried about. It's how we'll find him."
Yami sighed, then rose to walk around the side of the bed.
"Yugi, you need to rest now. A good night's sleep will do you a lot of good. Sitting here all night worrying won't help anyone."
"You're right, I guess." Yugi said lying down, not even bothering to change into his nightclothes. He then yawned, and began to doze. "Sleep is the best.thing.right."
Yugi didn't even finish his sentence before he fell into a deep sleep. Yami looked down at him with a soft look in his eyes. He knew that Yugi was exhausted and needed this more than anything. He then walked over to the window and gazed out at the stars.
"I'll find you, Joey. If it's the last thing I do."
***
Across town, Rayne lying on the plush couch in her downtown apartment just staring at the ceiling, thinking exactly what Yugi had. What if the guy had already killed Joey? Yugi would be crushed. She prayed that the kid was all right. He was kind of cute, in a way. It would be a shame to lose him. Rayne shook herself. This was no time to be thinking about romantic interests. She had a job to do.
Rayne looked to her left and saw that she had the television on. She didn't even remember picking up the remote. That's when she saw her pet cat, Yue, who was a Ragdoll, sitting on the coffee table between them with the remote in front of him.
"So you're the one who turned that thing on."
Yue turned around at the sound of him owner's voice and meowed at her. He picked up the remote in his mouth and jumped off the table, coming over to the couch and putting the remote near Rayne's hand. He nudged it closer, and Rayne looked at him comically.
"You want to watch that cat show on Animal Planet, don't you?"
Yue meowed once again and began waving his tail around quickly. Rayne simply chuckled softly and turned the station. Upon seeing the show had already started, he nipped at Rayne's hand as if to say "See what you made me miss!" and returned to his perch on the coffee table. Rayne shook her head, then returned to her thoughts.
"Why would he go to the city fairgrounds to hide the clue? It doesn't make sense. His trail isn't leaving any sort of pattern whatsoever. Even the craziest guys have a pattern."
It just seemed to bug Rayne to no end. What was this all about, anyway? What had Yugi done to him that was so terrible, he'd stoop to kidnapping a friend of his and hold him hostage?
"Maybe sleep will help." Rayne mumbled.
"Mrow?" Yue turned slightly as he heard his owner's comment. Yue had always had good ears.
"Nothing. Just make sure you turn off the TV tonight. You know you left it on last time."
Yue's ears drooped slightly at her remembrance of his all-night "Felix the Cat" marathon on Cartoon Network the other night, and looked a bit sad for a moment. Then his favorite Whiskas commercial came on and he forgot everything Rayne had just said. He loved seeing the human eating cat treats. When Rayne first saw it with him near by, she swore it was the closest thing to a cat laughing she'd hear in her life.
"Cable junkie," she said it loud enough so that she made sure he heard it.
"Meow," he replied.
Rayne got up from her spot and began to walk to her room.
"I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late. You know how you get all grouchy."
"Mrow!"
"Oh, yeah."
Rayne stopped short and went to the kitchenette. She pulled out a large bag of Whiskas dry cat food and refilled Yue's food bowl, along with putting some fresh water in his water dish. She then gave a sort of salute to her long time pet, and trudged off to bed.
Rayne quickly took a shower and slipped into her Badtz Maru nightshirt, then proceeded to collapse into her giant, fluffy bed.
"There are perks to being an Interpol agent. You get the most comfortable beds."
She then closed her eyes and tried to sleep, but she kept tossing and turning.
"And I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. Dammit."
Rayne slipped her hands behind her head and lay down on her back, staring at the ceiling again. She was worrying about not just Joey now, but Yugi as well.
"And just as there are a bunch of perks to this, there's just as many pitfalls."
She sighed as she thought about Joey and imagined his face as she remembered. Red from blushing, probably because of her, and kind of shy looking, but happy.
"You've got to be all right, Joey. You just have to."
***
YaBakura sat on Bakura's bed, thinking hard about the day's events.
"There's so much that girl is trying to keep hidden. Mokuba's claim that Rayne could possibly be involved with the government doesn't seem entirely farfetched. The way she's been acting is rather strange."
YaBakura fell back on the bed and sighed slightly.
"All I know is this is just another opportunity to get the things I want."
He then smiled slightly as he thought about something that had crossed his mind earlier in the day.
"Both of them."