(smirks) Peace! My 100-review quota was reached! I love you all! ^^ Once I
finish this fic, I'll be reaching into my knowledge of mythology for a
fic... But first things first!
I know I've been slow to update... It drives me crazy when other authors do that. I'm such a hypocrite... (laughs) Thank you for all being so supportive!
Anyways, this is just a friendly reminder to some people: If you're going to say you don't like my story, that's fine. Just make your criticism CONSTRUCTIVE. If it's my writing style that bugs you, tell me, and I'll try to fix it. If it's the storyline... well, then that's just tough, I'm not changing it. 100 other people don't seem to mind it, right?
I'm amazed by some of the insight you guys have! Lol... I was happy that you pointed out that Bakura would now look human, Lady Geuna! With all the things I'm trying to do with this fic, I had forgotten that this was the whole point of making Malik fix him. ^^; Keep those reviews coming, they're incredibly motivating!
Chapter 8 - Internecinus*
Yugi stared blankly out of the class window, watching the tree branches tremble under the chilly wind.
The teacher was going on about the Tokugawa period and the Meiji restoration, but he couldn't hear any of it. He couldn't hear or feel anything anymore. Yugi had tried to shake off the unrelenting numbness, but his forced smiles never fixed anything. They only stopped others from acting as if they cared.
'Why did Yami leave me?'
Two weeks. Yami had left without telling him goodbye two weeks ago. At first Yugi thought that he would be back the next morning... but when Jounouchi refused to speak to him, or look him in the eye, he knew the truth.
Yami was back in H.E.L.L., and there was nothing he could do to get him back.
'But why didn't he say goodbye?' Yugi thought to himself. 'I thought he understood how I felt about him... I was so sure.'
Questions plagued him incessantly, their weight dragging down his heart, his soul.
But even lost in his own dark thoughts, Yugi couldn't help but notice how nervous Ryou had gotten.
The normally calm boy was now fidgety, jumping at every sharp noise. But what really stood out were the dark rims under his eyes. Yugi guessed that Ryou must have barely slept for the last few weeks too.
It was strange... that they should both be like this, so unlike their normal cheerful selves. The teachers were convinced that they must both have gotten some kind of flu and seemed annoyed whenever either of them stepped into the classroom.
With a sigh, Yugi picked up his pencil and pretended to pay attention.
Absent-mindedly, he began to draw an object that he had started seeing in his dreams as soon as Yami had left. It was a strange pyramid-like shape with an eye in the middle.
He couldn't remember the colour, or the relative size of the object, but in some strange way, he was certain that it belonged to Yami. The dream never had Yami in it, but he simply KNEW that it was his.
The bell shook him out of his reverie. He stuffed the paper into his pocket and left the classroom.
Ryou was waiting to walk home with him, as usual.
The snowy-haired boy was the only person Yugi could tolerate now. Everyone else would ask questions, and ask him where Yami was. But Ryou seemed to understand. He never asked any questions. Yugi guessed that Ryou had lost something important to him too. They were the same. They both felt the same.
The wind picked up and Yugi hid deeper in his jacket. Ryou shivered, but said nothing. He was constantly looking around though. It seemed to be a nervous habit.
'Or maybe he's looking for something he lost... Ryou didn't have a pet though, did he?'
A loud crash made both Yugi and Ryou jump.
"What was that?" Yugi cried out. The sound was too close for comfort.
"It came from that alley. Maybe it was some garbage cans that fell... I don't know. Would you like to go see?" Ryou asked Yugi calmly. But Yugi could see some kind of wild hope light up in Ryou's eyes, and knew that what was just said wasn't meant to be a question.
They both rushed towards the alley, Yugi hiding slightly behind the taller boy. Even if Ryou was pacifistic, there was no doubt in Yugi's mind that Ryou was strong. The taller boy just hid it well.
Ryou looked back towards Yugi. Of course the smaller boy was scared. He was afraid himself.
He had looked everywhere for Bakura these last two weeks, without success. The guy at the address Bakura had asked him to find claimed that Bakura had yelled at him a bit then left.
The story was a lie, and Ryou knew it.
But two weeks worth of searching had yielded nothing, and Ryou was beginning to loose hope.
But now...
The boys walked cautiously into the alley, Yugi afraid of finding thugs waiting for them, Ryou afraid of finding nothing.
A glimmer of silver caught Yugi's eye, and he heard Ryou utter a strangled cry.
Everything was happening too fast.
Ryou rushed towards Bakura and enfolded him in his arms, as Yugi stood back, dumbstruck.
Tears of relief flooded Ryou's eyes as he clutched his dirty copy to his chest. The tears mingled with the dirt on Bakura's face, but the now flawless cyborg didn't flinch.
There was no recognition in Bakura's dead eyes.
* * * * *
Malik rubbed his temples.
"I'm feeling another major headache heading my way." He muttered.
The Dragon and the Dog were arguing with each other again. And whenever those two argued, Kaiba would get crabbier then usual and double their workload.
"This sucks." Malik sighed. He could see the peaceful afternoon walk that he had planned with Ishtar going down the drain.
He regretted not letting Ishtar kill Kaiba now. If the cyborg had been allowed to follow his murderous impulses, maybe they would both be on some sunny beach, plotting to take over the world by now. But nooooooo. Kaiba simply HAD to promise a million dollar bonus to his best scientists if they finished the Lacuna project within the month.
'Damn greed.'
Malik had thought it would have been easy. After all, he had created Ishtar (his masterpiece, fittingly named after the Babylonian goddess of beauty and war) fast enough. The Lacuna project should have been a joke compared to cloning an ancient Egyptian mummy. And for the Lacuna project, they had the whole body. Malik had only had Ishtar's head to work with.
It should have been easier.
But nooooo... Kaiba not only wanted specific memories erased, he wanted to implant memories too!
"That guy has no idea how the human brain works. He thinks we can just do the same thing as we would do to a computer. He doesn't understand that memories are formed with electrical pulses in the brain, not computer chips." Malik mumbled.
"What was that?" Kaiba snapped.
Malik jumped, startled. He hadn't heard the jerk approach.
"I'm glad that you enjoy the topic of the human brain, because you have been chosen to help fix one." Kaiba said coolly.
Malik looked over to Jounouchi, who was standing behind Kaiba.
"I'm not a miracle worker Kaiba. I can't fix what was never there." Malik replied calmly.
Jou growled and uttered a few choice insults. Kaiba had to repress a snigger.
"Not the dog. I need you to perform an eye operation on his sister. If you do this as well as complete the Lacuna project, I'll double your bonus." Kaiba stated.
Malik felt his jaw drop and his legs get weak. 'TWO MILLION DOLLARS! Forget the beach, Ishtar and I could have our own resort! Complete with those drinks with the little umbrellas in them!'
Malik composed himself. He straitened his tie and cleared his voice. "When can I see the patient?"
Jou glared at him. "Never! I'm not letting an ass like you touch my sister! Get her another doctor Kaiba, NOW!"
Kaiba ruffled Jounouchi's hair almost affectionately. "Idiot. What he lacks in personality, he makes up with in skill. Malik is the only scientist here with a 100% success rate. I wouldn't trust anyone else to take care of Shizuka."
Malik smirked at the compliment and at Jou's pout. This day was turning out better then he had expected.
"I'll be ready to start in an hour Kaiba-sama. Please inform the workers to supply my lab with the necessary equipment. I'll be awaiting the lady's presence." Malik smirked and mock-bowed, prompting Jou to growl at him again.
Kaiba eyed Malik's retreating figure with amusement. "You need not worry. When there's money at stake, Malik performs better then any surgeon in this country. He could probably even perform that miracle he was talking about earlier."
Kaiba walked off briskly, leaving Jou to stare at his back.
"That guy cant say anything to me without planting an insult into it, can he?" Jou muttered, but couldn't help smiling.
Shizuka would see again. For once, almost everything was perfect.
A small figure walked past him. His ruby eyes and king-like stature made him unmistakable. Jou's heart sank.
"Where are you heading Yami?" Jou asked.
The small figure didn't grace Jou with a glance back, but Jou know that if he had, the eyes would have chilled him to the bone.
The former pharaoh turned puppet didn't stop walking. There was the unmistakable black mini-disc in his hand.
Blood would be spilled tonight.
Jou simple blinked as the small shadow disappeared, taking along with it his good mood.
"What a mess I've gotten myself into..."
* * * * *
Wahhha!! I don't want to end it here, but if I don't, it'll ruin the flow of the next chapter! ;____;
Anyways, I'm back and kicking! Equipped with a new computer, Bat is ready to take on any challenge, ever that of trying to stop outsmarting herself! (winks)
* Latin for "deadly". To answer a question I was asked a while ago, the Latin words I get are from my English dictionary. Sometimes I think of a word that I want, and try to find it. Sometimes, like for this chapter, it just jumps out at me when I look at a random page. ^.^ I'd love to learn Latin though!
Review onegai-shimasu!
I know I've been slow to update... It drives me crazy when other authors do that. I'm such a hypocrite... (laughs) Thank you for all being so supportive!
Anyways, this is just a friendly reminder to some people: If you're going to say you don't like my story, that's fine. Just make your criticism CONSTRUCTIVE. If it's my writing style that bugs you, tell me, and I'll try to fix it. If it's the storyline... well, then that's just tough, I'm not changing it. 100 other people don't seem to mind it, right?
I'm amazed by some of the insight you guys have! Lol... I was happy that you pointed out that Bakura would now look human, Lady Geuna! With all the things I'm trying to do with this fic, I had forgotten that this was the whole point of making Malik fix him. ^^; Keep those reviews coming, they're incredibly motivating!
Chapter 8 - Internecinus*
Yugi stared blankly out of the class window, watching the tree branches tremble under the chilly wind.
The teacher was going on about the Tokugawa period and the Meiji restoration, but he couldn't hear any of it. He couldn't hear or feel anything anymore. Yugi had tried to shake off the unrelenting numbness, but his forced smiles never fixed anything. They only stopped others from acting as if they cared.
'Why did Yami leave me?'
Two weeks. Yami had left without telling him goodbye two weeks ago. At first Yugi thought that he would be back the next morning... but when Jounouchi refused to speak to him, or look him in the eye, he knew the truth.
Yami was back in H.E.L.L., and there was nothing he could do to get him back.
'But why didn't he say goodbye?' Yugi thought to himself. 'I thought he understood how I felt about him... I was so sure.'
Questions plagued him incessantly, their weight dragging down his heart, his soul.
But even lost in his own dark thoughts, Yugi couldn't help but notice how nervous Ryou had gotten.
The normally calm boy was now fidgety, jumping at every sharp noise. But what really stood out were the dark rims under his eyes. Yugi guessed that Ryou must have barely slept for the last few weeks too.
It was strange... that they should both be like this, so unlike their normal cheerful selves. The teachers were convinced that they must both have gotten some kind of flu and seemed annoyed whenever either of them stepped into the classroom.
With a sigh, Yugi picked up his pencil and pretended to pay attention.
Absent-mindedly, he began to draw an object that he had started seeing in his dreams as soon as Yami had left. It was a strange pyramid-like shape with an eye in the middle.
He couldn't remember the colour, or the relative size of the object, but in some strange way, he was certain that it belonged to Yami. The dream never had Yami in it, but he simply KNEW that it was his.
The bell shook him out of his reverie. He stuffed the paper into his pocket and left the classroom.
Ryou was waiting to walk home with him, as usual.
The snowy-haired boy was the only person Yugi could tolerate now. Everyone else would ask questions, and ask him where Yami was. But Ryou seemed to understand. He never asked any questions. Yugi guessed that Ryou had lost something important to him too. They were the same. They both felt the same.
The wind picked up and Yugi hid deeper in his jacket. Ryou shivered, but said nothing. He was constantly looking around though. It seemed to be a nervous habit.
'Or maybe he's looking for something he lost... Ryou didn't have a pet though, did he?'
A loud crash made both Yugi and Ryou jump.
"What was that?" Yugi cried out. The sound was too close for comfort.
"It came from that alley. Maybe it was some garbage cans that fell... I don't know. Would you like to go see?" Ryou asked Yugi calmly. But Yugi could see some kind of wild hope light up in Ryou's eyes, and knew that what was just said wasn't meant to be a question.
They both rushed towards the alley, Yugi hiding slightly behind the taller boy. Even if Ryou was pacifistic, there was no doubt in Yugi's mind that Ryou was strong. The taller boy just hid it well.
Ryou looked back towards Yugi. Of course the smaller boy was scared. He was afraid himself.
He had looked everywhere for Bakura these last two weeks, without success. The guy at the address Bakura had asked him to find claimed that Bakura had yelled at him a bit then left.
The story was a lie, and Ryou knew it.
But two weeks worth of searching had yielded nothing, and Ryou was beginning to loose hope.
But now...
The boys walked cautiously into the alley, Yugi afraid of finding thugs waiting for them, Ryou afraid of finding nothing.
A glimmer of silver caught Yugi's eye, and he heard Ryou utter a strangled cry.
Everything was happening too fast.
Ryou rushed towards Bakura and enfolded him in his arms, as Yugi stood back, dumbstruck.
Tears of relief flooded Ryou's eyes as he clutched his dirty copy to his chest. The tears mingled with the dirt on Bakura's face, but the now flawless cyborg didn't flinch.
There was no recognition in Bakura's dead eyes.
* * * * *
Malik rubbed his temples.
"I'm feeling another major headache heading my way." He muttered.
The Dragon and the Dog were arguing with each other again. And whenever those two argued, Kaiba would get crabbier then usual and double their workload.
"This sucks." Malik sighed. He could see the peaceful afternoon walk that he had planned with Ishtar going down the drain.
He regretted not letting Ishtar kill Kaiba now. If the cyborg had been allowed to follow his murderous impulses, maybe they would both be on some sunny beach, plotting to take over the world by now. But nooooooo. Kaiba simply HAD to promise a million dollar bonus to his best scientists if they finished the Lacuna project within the month.
'Damn greed.'
Malik had thought it would have been easy. After all, he had created Ishtar (his masterpiece, fittingly named after the Babylonian goddess of beauty and war) fast enough. The Lacuna project should have been a joke compared to cloning an ancient Egyptian mummy. And for the Lacuna project, they had the whole body. Malik had only had Ishtar's head to work with.
It should have been easier.
But nooooo... Kaiba not only wanted specific memories erased, he wanted to implant memories too!
"That guy has no idea how the human brain works. He thinks we can just do the same thing as we would do to a computer. He doesn't understand that memories are formed with electrical pulses in the brain, not computer chips." Malik mumbled.
"What was that?" Kaiba snapped.
Malik jumped, startled. He hadn't heard the jerk approach.
"I'm glad that you enjoy the topic of the human brain, because you have been chosen to help fix one." Kaiba said coolly.
Malik looked over to Jounouchi, who was standing behind Kaiba.
"I'm not a miracle worker Kaiba. I can't fix what was never there." Malik replied calmly.
Jou growled and uttered a few choice insults. Kaiba had to repress a snigger.
"Not the dog. I need you to perform an eye operation on his sister. If you do this as well as complete the Lacuna project, I'll double your bonus." Kaiba stated.
Malik felt his jaw drop and his legs get weak. 'TWO MILLION DOLLARS! Forget the beach, Ishtar and I could have our own resort! Complete with those drinks with the little umbrellas in them!'
Malik composed himself. He straitened his tie and cleared his voice. "When can I see the patient?"
Jou glared at him. "Never! I'm not letting an ass like you touch my sister! Get her another doctor Kaiba, NOW!"
Kaiba ruffled Jounouchi's hair almost affectionately. "Idiot. What he lacks in personality, he makes up with in skill. Malik is the only scientist here with a 100% success rate. I wouldn't trust anyone else to take care of Shizuka."
Malik smirked at the compliment and at Jou's pout. This day was turning out better then he had expected.
"I'll be ready to start in an hour Kaiba-sama. Please inform the workers to supply my lab with the necessary equipment. I'll be awaiting the lady's presence." Malik smirked and mock-bowed, prompting Jou to growl at him again.
Kaiba eyed Malik's retreating figure with amusement. "You need not worry. When there's money at stake, Malik performs better then any surgeon in this country. He could probably even perform that miracle he was talking about earlier."
Kaiba walked off briskly, leaving Jou to stare at his back.
"That guy cant say anything to me without planting an insult into it, can he?" Jou muttered, but couldn't help smiling.
Shizuka would see again. For once, almost everything was perfect.
A small figure walked past him. His ruby eyes and king-like stature made him unmistakable. Jou's heart sank.
"Where are you heading Yami?" Jou asked.
The small figure didn't grace Jou with a glance back, but Jou know that if he had, the eyes would have chilled him to the bone.
The former pharaoh turned puppet didn't stop walking. There was the unmistakable black mini-disc in his hand.
Blood would be spilled tonight.
Jou simple blinked as the small shadow disappeared, taking along with it his good mood.
"What a mess I've gotten myself into..."
* * * * *
Wahhha!! I don't want to end it here, but if I don't, it'll ruin the flow of the next chapter! ;____;
Anyways, I'm back and kicking! Equipped with a new computer, Bat is ready to take on any challenge, ever that of trying to stop outsmarting herself! (winks)
* Latin for "deadly". To answer a question I was asked a while ago, the Latin words I get are from my English dictionary. Sometimes I think of a word that I want, and try to find it. Sometimes, like for this chapter, it just jumps out at me when I look at a random page. ^.^ I'd love to learn Latin though!
Review onegai-shimasu!