Hello again…. Yech, Hilary Duff… *turns down radio* Wow! Eight reviews! *starry eyed* its weird… the meaner my fics get the more people read them… very strange…. Newayz im not complaining! Sorry it took so long… im wrapped up with FINALLY finishing of I'm Still Dreaming… So…. I tend to drag things on and on and on…
Yugi: yea.
Ya do.
Shibby: I take yall know yugi… he, yami, Jou, Tristan, Tea and Mandy (OC) always comment on mah fics… usually yugi/yami/jou since im ALWAYS
torturing them….
Yami: *pout*
Shibby: grow up. Ur a man.
Yami: *sigh* not you too! (an
– don't ask, joke from ISD)
Poor, poor Joey. Well, I LUUUUUUV torture! ON WITH THE TORTURE!!!!!!!!
BTW… this is good to read if your listening to "Concrete Angel" or "Hold On"… newayz…
Chapter One: Kame Game Shop
Jonouchi stared in awe and terror at the sight before him. Yugi curled up in a secluded little ball, making small, sniffling sounds. His breaths were deep, but he sounded congested, like he had been crying….
"Caro, what-" Jonouchi started, but the fair-haired beauty had disappeared. He had already forgotten her departure. Jonouchi was left with his sad friend, and looked down at him. He silently wished he could do something… Anything…
"Ano… Yugi?" Jounouchi said softly. "Can you hear me?" Yugi paid no mind to Jonouchi. Jonouchi bit his lower lip, trying to get his attention. He was scared; Jonouchi could feel the fear echoing in his heart…. His fear… His pain… Did Yugi do this to himself? Did he slit his cheek? Would he do something so foolish as to-
Jonouchi blinked as he realized something. He had done that. He had gone so far as to end his life, hoping his pain would end as well…
"What a bitch I am…." He said to himself. "Leaving everyone here…. I could have taken him on…." He stared out at the darkness of the room, the yellowed light of a streetlight flooding through the skylights into Yugi's room. Jonouchi turned to the wall the desk was against, and leaned forwards, looking at the photos tacked to the wall. Many of them featured himself, Yugi, and their friends. Jonouchi looked at each one, gently tracing the faces and outlines of his friends, now shadows of his past he was to haunt forever….
Wait…. Jonouchi thought. Am I haunting them? Or am I just watching them? Can they sense me? He stood and walked to Yugi's bedside, crouching down next to him. He shook his shoulder lightly. The sun was coming up, and soon, Yugi would have to go to school... Unless it was Sunday...
His attempts were in vain. Yugi couldn't feel his hands on his shoulders. Jonouchi frowned, angry.
"Damn it," he whispered. "Damn it all to hell..." He sat on the edge of the bed.
"Yugi... Why would you do this to yourself? Why would anyone want you to get hurt? Please...." Jonouchi covered his face in his hands, something he would never do in public....
"Ju... Jonouchi..." Yugi whispered, clutching his comforter. Jonouchi looked his way, and watched him turn onto his back. Tears silently slipped down his face. He took a deep, shuddering breath, and his face changed from peaceful to terrified.
"Jonouchi-kun...." He moaned, shivering. Jonouchi just stared down at him. He wanted so much to shake him awake, ask him what was wrong... He was dreaming.... He looked like he was in so much pain.... He turned slightly onto his other side, so he was now facing the wall. He shivered again and pulled himself tighter, his tears faster.
"Jonouchi, Please..." he said, a little louder this time. "Help me..." Jonouchi reached out, but his hand passed right through Yugi's living body. Jonouchi pulled his hand back, and just stared at Yugi. He decided he had to do something... Even if it was only making him feel better...
"Yugi-kun, I'm here," he said. "What is it? What's wrong?" Yugi's face changed, and a surprised look came over his face. Jonouchi's eyes widened in surprise.
Shit... Could he hear me? Jonouchi thought, standing up.
"Jou..." Yugi whispered. "Help me....."
"I'm here, buddy," Jonouchi said. "Tell me, what's wrong...."
"Honda-kun," Yugi said, louder this time. "Jou, help! Help me! He's coming... H-help... HELP!" Yugi's eyes opened instantly, scaring the hell outta Jonouchi. Jonouchi jumped backwards, temporarily forgetting that Yugi couldn't see him. Yugi was shaking terribly hard, his face white, tears mingling with sweat on his face. Jonouchi could see a reflection of the rising sun bouncing off his cheeks, they were so wet....
Loud, raucous footsteps sounded in the hallway, and the door burst open. Mutou Rachel was standing in the doorway, wearing a nightdress with a cloak thrown over it. She saw her son, sitting in his bed, whimpering and sweating.
"Oh, Yugi," she said, running over. She sat down and put her arms around him, and he leaned on her, his breathing loud and heavy. Small sobs emitted from him.
"Shh, shh, it's alright, Yugi-chan," Rachel murmured. "Shhh, please, don't cry..." Yugi sat back, wiping his tears away. Jonouchi was just standing in the room, waiting to hear what he had been dreaming about.
"Mom... It was h-horrible...." he said, shaking still. "I dreamt that.... That I was in danger, and no one was there... I c-could see... Jonouchi... h-he was trying to save me, but he couldn't.. He was trapped in a glass b-box... Th-they were... s-stra..." he couldn't get the word out. He began to cry again, pulling his knees up to his face, burying his tears in the softness of a down comforter. Jonouchi just stared.
"I know what you're danger was, Yugi," he said softly. "It was your friends... Wasn't it..." Yugi looked up for a moment, looking around the room, surprised.
"There it is again..." he muttered.
"There's what, sweetie?" Rachel asked, watching his every move. Yugi's eyes darted around the room.
"That.... Feeling...."
"Feeling?"
"While I was dreaming, I heard... Jou-kun.... I heard him calling... And I think I just heard him again... Not really hearing, but I felt him...."
"Oh, Yugi..." Rachel said, shaking her head. She put her hand on Yugi's shoulder.
"Yugi," she said softly. "I know this feeling. You feel like everywhere you go, you can feel Jonouchi... I had the same feeling after your father died, Yugi..." Yugi shook his head.
"No, I.... It was real..." Rachel sighed, standing up.
"Go back to sleep, tenshima, [1]" she said, smiling at Yugi's eye roll.
"Mo~om... Why do you still call me that?" Rachel smiled, and closed the door to her son's room. Yugi sat there, fiddling with his hands, apparently deep in thought. Jonouchi wasn't quite sure what he should do; should he say something else? Or keep his mouth shut?
Jonouchi sat down in Yugi's desk chair. He stared out the window, the sun nearly all the way in the sky now.
"Just another hour or so...." Jonouchi whispered.
"Then it'll be time for school," Yugi finished. Jonouchi stared at him. Yugi was kneeling on his bed, twisting his sheets into an unshapeable mass, staring out the window as well. He stood, stretching a little, and walked to his desk, leaning against it. Jonouchi instantly jumped up, then suddenly remembering that he was a ghost of some sorts. Yugi sat down and leaned forwards, staring intently at the photo's tacked to his wall. He reached out, and touched one, the one Jonouchi had scrutinized.
"Jou-kun...." Yugi whispered, tears welling in his eyes. Jonouchi leaned close to his friend, listening intently.
"....save me..."
~Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not. [2]~
Jonouchi didn't really want to follow Yugi to school. He was more interested in the activities of his mother, who didn't seem to give much of a damn about her only son. After he left, she took of her suit jacket, and began chatting on the phone with some.... guy. And Jonouchi had the feeling that Yugi didn't know about him.
"...Yeah, he's great," Rachel was saying. "Such a pain in the ass though, teenagers, especially one as sad and as pathetic as him.... Yeah, his father was like that too at his age.... Then, of course, he changed... God I loved that man..." Jonouchi was satisfied to hear she at least loved someone in the Mutou family, besides herself.
Mutou Sugoroku had passed away a little over a year ago, and, from the looks of it, it seems like the only person in the entire shop who seemed to care about Yugi was the old man. Rachel crossed her legs and twirled the phone cord. Jonouchi sat there and wondered why they had such an old phone... He stared at her, as hard and as maliciously as he could, trying to make her feel... uncomfortable.... Scared, even....
"Yeah... Hold on a sec, will ya?" She covered the mouth piece and looked around suspiciously.
"I know you're watching me.... Whoever the hell you are...." she said in a somewhat scared tone. She had been talking to this guy for over an hour now, and Jonouchi was getting fed up.
"Umm, Jon? I have to go to work..." She hung up right after that, standing up. Jonouchi got the feeling people could sense him, so he glared at her until she left, leaving the Kame Game Shop empty and lifeless.
*
Sob, sob, sob...
Drip, drip drip...
Yugi was standing at the kitchen sink, gently dabbing his shoulder with a damp cloth, tears streaming down his face. Jonouchi noticed that Yugi had been doing a lot of crying lately... To add to the gash on his cheek, he now had a nasty scrape on his shoulder, one that looked like it had bled a lot. His shirt shoulder was stained dark red, and dry blood lines decorated his shoulder and arm like a strange, exotic tattoo or henna. He turned off the running water and sat down at the table, gently dabbing the open wound. Jonouchi was almost sick by just looking at it…
"Ow, ow…." Yugi muttered. He put the damp cloth down and pulled his knees up to his chest, staring at the floor.
"Yugi…" Jonouchi said softly, sitting down next to him. Yugi closed his eyes and leaned back, to reveal a large bruise on his lower neck…
Oh God, Jonouchi thought. What's happening to him? Jonouchi was dumbstruck, at a loss for who would want to hurt him… Yugi opened his eyes again, and began…. Talking to himself.
"I don't know why he's doing this…." He said to no one, subconsciously grabbing the chain that hung around his neck. Although the Pharaoh was long gone, he still wore the Puzzle because it gave him comfort, something that linked them all back two years… Yugi's eyes filled with more tears.
"H-he d-didn't mean it… I swear to God he'll stop…" He curled up smaller. "Please make him stop…" Jonouchi was sitting closer to Yugi, waiting for Yugi to blurt out who the bitch was who was hurting him…. Yugi stood up, dumping the cloth in the sink, then grabbing his bag and heading to his room. Jonouchi sat there, still waiting, trying to grasp onto Yugi and yell at him "WHAT'S WRONG YUUUUGIIIII!!!!" Yugi paid him no mind, just sitting down in the living room and dumping his bag on the floor next to him.
"She's not here… She never is…." Yugi said, lying down on his back on the floor. He closed his eyes. Jonouchi's heart sank as he watched him.
He knew.
He knew everything. He knew that his mother was showing him false love, that she could really care less for her only son, the only tie to her past….
Maybe that's why she hates me, Yugi would think. I'm the product – the reminder – of a relationship that wouldn't have worked anyway…. Even though his parents were still married when Mutou Jonah died sixteen years ago, he knew that his father's constant traveling, and the way he made promises, but never intended to keep them when he did…
Jounouchi stared at his friend. Yugi lay there, breathing deeply, his mind wandering. Yugi wondered if he would end up like those Egyptian twins he learned about in History, thousands of years ago…
"Maybe I could live with Togos and Tages, [3]" he joked. He rolled onto his side, slowly dozing off. "I could worship that cow god with them…. Get money…" His breathing deepened and he fell into another world, full of exciting dreams, endless possibilities, and friends and family who loved him.
Jonouchi sat down next to Yugi, and put his hand on his tiny shoulder.
"Yugi," he whispered. "Tell me who hurt you…. Please don't tell me…" He closed his eyes and sighed.
"….don't tell me it was you…"
*
Mutou Rachel slammed the kitchen door late that night, dropping her keys on the table.
"Yugi!" she called. She got no answer. She sighed and opened a can of soda.
"Maybe he's gone and killed himself," she said with some amusement. "Heh, that would be a laugh…" she drank from the can heavily, then tossed it aside. She saw the bloody cloth in the sink, still wet from that afternoon, and she faltered.
He didn't…. she thought, fear rising in her chest. Even if she didn't really, well… Care for him that much, she didn't expect such a timid boy to go hurting himself like that…
"Yugi?" she called, a little more fear to her voice. Yugi was still asleep in the living room, and he woke up, groggy from his rude awakening.
Jonouchi was busily swearing under his breath, half at the ungrateful mother in the kitchen, the other half at his supposed 'friend'…
It was Honda.
All him.
Using some kind of dream-psyche, he was able to get the truth out of Yugi. Honda was beating him up; Honda shoved him into the pavement that morning; It was Honda Yugi was trying to protect.
For some unexplainable reason, Honda was hurting Yugi… and hurting him badly. Not only that, but his so-called mother seemed to hate him so much… Rachel sighed as she saw him.
"Did you finish your homework?" she asked, kicking a drawer shut in a table. She knelt down and locked it tightly, shoving the key back into her pocket. Yugi looked up at her, then stood up.
"Yea, yea…." He said, even though this wasn't true. Jonouchi couldn't believe it.
Are their lives really this terrible without me? He thought.
No, came the all-too-familiar voice of Caro, the beautiful angel who had greeted him. Their lives were like this before. Now, with a loss of one of their friends, their idles, they are just letting their lives slip away…
"No!" Jonouchi yelled, but no one could hear. Yugi flopped down on the couch, massaging his shoulder. Rachel retreated to the kitchen. Jonouchi couldn't believe what he was witnessing.
This
whole time… he
thought. Caro, why am I here? Why am I watching this….
Because,
she said. Someone needs to know.
But there's nothing I can do!!
Not now…. Just trust me, Jonouchi… Your presence will help greatly to improve them….
But she was wrong.
So wrong.
Yugi retreated to his room, and threw himself onto his bed, tears flowing freely. He screamed into his pillow, fed up with everything. His shoulders shuddered heavily, and Jonouchi watched, broken-hearted, knowing that if one of his friends was like this, then the others were bound to be just as bad…
"I just…. Want to die…" Yugi whispered. Jonouchi gasped and looked up, a look of horror on his face.
"No! Yugi!" he cried. "Don't please! Don't die! You can't! You can pull out of this! I know it!" But it was useless. Yugi closed his eyes.
"At least then… I would be with Jonouchi…"
"NO YOU WOULDN'T!" Jonouchi screamed. "Yugi-kun, I'm right here! Please, here me! Tell me what's wrong! SUICIDE IS NOT THE GOOD WAY OUT! IT'S PAINFUL AND IT HURTS EVERYONE!"
But the suicide way out looked pretty good to Yugi right then, as he fell asleep in his bed, his tears staining his pillow.
[]~[]~[]~[]~[]
*~Footnotes*~
[1] tenshima: "pure angel"
[2] quote: said by Epicurus
[3] Togos and Tages: Egyptian twins who's father was killed by their mother, and their mother fell in love with a greek guy. She kicked them out of the house after the attempt to kill them failed, and they became worshippers of a dead bull guy. They got money and stuff for it… this was thousands of years ago, way back in the Greco-Roman period of Ancient Egypt….
*~End footnotes*~
Reviewz:
ArrowSphere: well uhh…. I dunno, actually^^ I just typed it like that….otogi was happy that his friend wasn't suffering anymore.
Una1: whoa… ur reviewing my fic? And you like it? *is honored* whoa… like I said above,
otogi is happy for his friend, that he isn't
suffering at the hands of that SOB anymore….
YumeTakato: ALMOST cried. ALMOST!! ^_^
Angels, Demons and Plushies: well….glad ya liked it^^ and I hate him too… when I first saw him in
the manga I was like YOU B****!!!!
Rekkaboziegirl: ok ok
here's the update!
Brodie and Casey: AHHH! TOO MANY
PLEASES!!! *dies* Yugi: 0.0;;; Shibby: newayz….
totalyfab: okay. I continued.
Anonymous: dude, you need a name…hmm, well, thankies!
~* Next Chap *~
Jonouchi is sent to honda's place to find out WHY he's hurting yugi! And… whats going on with his friends lately… they all seem… so… dead… well, anzu, Honda, yugi, Shizuka,… even mokuba… something's really wrong here…
~**~
Bye~
Shibby-One
