Everything

By: ChocolateEclar

Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything that has to do with the anime/manga.

Claimer: I fully own Ichidou Yachitose and her family, Mrs. Suteki Iyashii, Suteki's deceased father and mother, Ryougi, Karei, Sumizome, Komayaka, Ke-ki and her gang, and Miss Jishi. Please don't use them in any form without my permission.

To ArtemisObscure: I agree, Isis as a grandma is a little strange. (laughs) I couldn't think of a character from the show to be her husband so he's remaining anonymous for now. - Quite a few people think it should be Isis/Seto. I don't know about you, but I just don't like that pairing. Ick.

Now that I've mentioned Seto I might as well let you know you'll see a young Seto in a flashback or something just be patient. I'm working on it for you as much as for me. Hehe.

As for Bakura, I'm working on that too. (laughs)

A/N: I'm soooooo sorry this has taken so long. I'll admit I'm lazy. I've just been so engrossed in reading other people's stories I've neglected my own. Here's the long awaited chapter 5.

Duel Four: A Dismal Horizon

"She's back." It was a simple statement that Yami only uttered to constrain the gathering silence. His train of thought didn't turn down a different lane though. He was finally jostled out of his contemplation as a peculiar feeling over swept him. Something had changed. In the next instant he realized that not only had something changed but also, there was something wrong with Ichidou. He could "feel" what she felt dimly as if by a half-forgotten link. But he had always known it was there. It was the bond between a vessel and his or her yami.

A few hours before, Ichidou had returned home after work only to change into a denim skirt and a turquoise sleeveless T-shirt and to leave the Millennium Puzzle behind. Yami had protested, claming Ke-ki and/or one of her acolytes might be at this party-thing she was going to.

"Goshinpainaku, Yami," Ichidou had replied. She appeared spruce and content, her confrontation with Ke-ki and her gang that morning seemed to be far from her mind. (A/N: Goshinpainaku=Don't worry)

'It's as if their mocking of her is just an average daily event,' Yami had realized.

"I can handle myself, remember?" Ichidou had continued, bringing Yami back to the topic at hand.

They had argued a bit more, but in the end there really was nothing he could do. He wouldn't control her as the spirit of the Millennium Ring had controlled Bakura. No, he would let her do as she pleased for now.

But at the sudden feeling of "wrongness" he was immediately at the door of Ichidou's room. The usually easily accessed, door-less room now sported a metal door a bit like his own, but it was new and shining. He tapped it with one cautious finger. It was definitely a real mind block.

"Ichidou?" he called.

No answer.

He knew more than most about mind blocks and traps and reasons for them to be put up. Still, he was very tempted to knock this one down. Instead, he vanished back inside his own soul room.


Ichidou arrived at the party cheerfully only to have her good spirits dashed. The fire in her eyes flared up in fury at the sight of her auburn-haired ex-boyfriend. Ryougi's arm was draped over Karei's shoulders. Karei was attractive with short blonde curls and large jade eyes. Ichidou ignored them both and went over to her best friends, Nenriki Tomobito and Kurisutaru Susume.

"Hi, Riki, Kuri," said Ichidou.

"Hi," said Kuri simply. Kurisutaru Susume was rarely outspoken but easy for Ichidou to talk to because she would always give her opinion honestly. Her clothes consisted of a duster and a long denim skirt like Ichidou's. Her hair was long, flaxen, and framed her face in a large heart shape. She looked quite like her tsuin, Karei, in the face but not in attire.

"Ooi, Ichidou! What's up?" queried Nenriki. His hair was brown with a few spikes on top and he was adorned in a black T-shirt and blue jeans. A bright blue eye winked at Ichidou who smiled faintly.

'Trust Riki to help ease my mood with a smile and a wink,' thought Ichidou who answered his question with a half-truth. She couldn't tell them what she was going through. She had trouble believing that Yami was real herself.

"What about you, guys?" she questioned the other two members of the trio of friends.

"Nothin' much," said Kuri.

Riki shrugged. "My 'tousan, keibo, and I went to see my great-grandparents, but that was nothing special. All we did is eat, play cards, and watch T.V," he replied.

"And that's bad?" asked Kuri.

"It is when your sousofu is snoring in your ear while your sousobo is boring you to death by alternating between talking about her amazing salsa recipe, how "spry" she still is, and how she remembers the first computers and dual disks," rejoined Riki.

The girls snickered and agreed with him. A light went on in Ichidou's head. Kaiba Corporation was the only company that manufactured duel disks. 'Kaiba?' she wondered. 'Seto Kaiba?' she hadn't put the old man and the company together before then, but now that she thought about it, it made perfect sense. Another question plagued her mind then. 'How did he even get the Millennium Puzzle?'

She would have to find out more later because right now she had more important matters to handle.

A bullet whizzing into a nearby wall being one.

The screams being another.

Kuri pulled her down to the floor, while Riki grabbed someone else. Ichidou looked around fearfully to see someone pointing a gun at her head. No, not her head, someone else's. She recognized the frightened face even though she had never seen it in such a way.

"'Scared, Nenriki?" inquired a cool female voice. All was silent, and Ichidou was sure she could hear her own heart beating frantically.

"Nekura, what are you doing?" asked Riki, there was no quiver in his voice, but Ichidou knew he was scared. 'Then again,' her mind reasoned, 'Anyone would be scared if someone, let alone your own ex-girlfriend, just showed up with a gun.' She was surprised her brain could still make a coherent thought let alone one like that.

Nekura Kyouran giggled, grinning at Riki viciously. Ichidou had never particularly liked Nekura but she never would've thought that a week after Riki and Nekura's break-up, she would be back with a firearm.

Beside her, Kuri was gritting her teeth. She made up her mind, jumped up, and dived at Nekura before Ichidou could protest. There was a moment of scuffing in which almost everyone, including Ichidou and Riki, helped Kuri pry the pistol out of Nekura's hands.

After the police had been called and they all had been questioned, Ichidou leaned her head against a wall and let out a long breath. 'We all could've died. Nekura was more than ready to kill us all,' she realized. The thought brought her back to that day so long ago.

'It's been ten years,' she realized, sighing. 'It doesn't make it any less painful.'


Kyouko watched her ojousan walk up the stairs in a slow pained set of motion. She was hurting, but not physically. Ichidou had told her all that had happened at the party, leaving Kyouko deeply shaken. It shook her to the core to have her darling in such danger, and she had soothed Ichidou as best as she could by hugging, kissing, and comforting her.

Ichidou reached her bedroom in silence, slowly closing the door behind her and collapsing on her bed and sobbing. She had sniffled as her okaasan had fretted over her, but she had stifled the urge to bawl uncontrollably.


"Daddy?" inquired a tiny Ichidou almost fearfully. Why was he lying on the bathroom floor? Why wouldn't he answer her? He always kissed her goodnight.

No answer whatsoever came to her query.

Ichidou tried again, tugging at her nightgown nervously. She pressed one tiny hand on the shoulder of her otousan; he didn't stir. "Daddy, wake up!" Ichidou exclaimed. She was truly frightened now. She called out his name several more times pleading with him to rouse, to yell at her for being foolish, to do anything!

But he didn't move and eventually Ichidou ran to get Kyouko. She didn't even notice the open, half full bottle of pills on the floor as her barefoot brushed it.


"But the police noticed it," muttered Ichidou. She was unaware of the fact that she was both in her bedroom and soul room at the same time.

Suicide…

Felo-de-se…

Name: Futokui Yachitose. Age: 31. Cause of death: Suicide…

She groaned and tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. Her forehead was clammy with slick sweat.


Unbeknownst to the Pharaoh himself, Yami was gradually getting more and more worried about his young aibou. He had no knowledge of what was going on behind Ichidou's soul room door, and the thought left him feeling aberrantly uneasy. They were connected after all, and the link was clearly informing him of his host's unhappiness.

Finally, he resolved to go break down the ward on the door to see what was wrong with Ichidou. So a few moments later, he appeared before the metal door, determinedly pulling his arms back before thrusting them forward, without touching the door, in a clean swoop. And with that accomplished, the door came off its hinges and fell inside with a crash.

He couldn't recall ever doing such before, and he wondered how upon the Gods' might he knew how, but that was just another mystery of his past. He stepped into the room and immediately noticed the changes in the atmosphere of the room. The blue décor was shadowed in half-darkness. No one seemed to be present except for the King of Games, but he knew it couldn't be so. The soul room had the air of being occupied by its owner.

He searched the floor and walls for a clue as to the whereabouts of his vessel and soon came upon the faint outline of a door in the wall farthest from the entrance. It was the same color as the walls and as such was nearly undecipherable in the gloomy surroundings. His violet eyes exposed it after several examinations of the room, and he stepped up to the door.

With a touch of his hand, the door was replaced with a dark void of the same rectangular shape. Inside, a child sat on the dark floor and was hugging her legs to her chest, rocking back and forth. She was whispering something, her green eyes glazed over. The girl was adorned in a white nightgown and had coffee-colored curls.

Yami attempted to step inside only to be violently pushed back. The girl looked up fiercely and was suddenly much older and wearing a skirt and tank top. "Ichidou," insisted Yami, trying to get inside again.

"Go away," snarled Ichidou, she looked feral with angry flecks of gold mingling among the emerald depths of her eyes.

Yami pushed against the invisible barrier to no avail. Ichidou's mind was stronger than he had thought. The barricade just wouldn't budge. "Ichidou!" he repeated loudly.

Ichidou grunted and instinctively squinted her eyes at Yami. The Pharaoh was shoved back so firmly that he landed on his back. He gradually got back to his feet, brushing a bit of flaxen bangs out of his face. Surprise and indignation were evident in his conduct, but he showed known of these on his face.

Ichidou was surprised herself, both at her ability to do such to Yami and at how she could read the enigmatic Pharaoh. Her ire only faltered for a moment before she was back on track and yelling, "I WANT TO BE ALONE! YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND THAT, YOU ASS! YOU'RE SHUT UP IN YOUR SOUL ROOM ALL DAY!"

"You think this has just to do with you?" inquired Yami in a perfectly composed tone. "I'm afraid it doesn't. Why do you think you can feel my current emotions? It's because we are linked through the Millennium Puzzle. We feel each other's emotions as long as it is near you."

"Is that the only reason you wanted to bother me? So you could feel better?" muttered Ichidou, staring at the ground.

Yami let out a noise between a grunt and an exasperated sigh. "If that's what you think then I suppose you can't read me as well as I can you," he said seriously.

"What makes you think you're any better at reading me" snapped Ichidou, looking up sharply.

Yami stared back at her sturdily. "Hmm, I have quite a bit more experience than you," he replied. "'By a good many years."

Ichidou grumbled and turned away. With a deft flick of her right hand, the barrier was gone, and Yami followed her into the depths of the endless darkness. Before long Ichidou stopped, once more a little girl in a nightgown.

At her feet was the limp body of a brunette man decked in jeans and a T-shirt. A tiny container of pills lay beside his right wrist and his chest wasn't moving with the steady breathing of a living being.

It was Ichidou's father as the ti-n'e-ja remembered him last.

Behind Ichidou was an enraged teenage girl decked in leather and pointing a pistol at Nenriki Tomobito. Only two things connected both events.

Ichidou herself and people she loved whether inadvertently or not.


A/N: Here are all the translations sorted into words and name meanings:

Goshinpainaku=don't worry, never mind

Tsuin=twin

'Tousan=informal way of saying father

Keibo=stepmother

Sousofu=great-grandfather

Sousobo=great-grandmother

Ojousan=daughter

Otousan=father

Names:

Nenriki=will power, faith

Tomobito=companion

Kurisutaru=crystal

Susume=recommendation, advice, encouragement, suggestion

"Kuri"=chestnut, Kurisutaru Susume's nickname

"Riki"=strength, Nenriki Tomobito's nickname

Nekura=dark-natured, introverted, dour, moody, insular

Kyouran= fury, frenzy, madness

A/N 2: Please review!!!

Iyami: (sigh) Pathetic.

Choccy: (ignoring her yami) Bye!