Author's Introduction:
Thanks to all those who reviewed the first chapter! *^_^* It was so nice to have feedback on this story--I was a little nervous about sending poor Yami-girl out into the world! But now she's a little more comfortable, and so she's back for another game…
Some things you should know:
This chapter is based on the seventh duel of the manga…I needed to skip a few in the middle since it would just be Yami by herself, and there's really no room for character development. However, this chapter DOES have room for character development--give it up for Tristan, because he's in this one. *^_^* I have to say, I feel that he's treated like a bit of a goof in the anime, so I tried to give him a sharper edge here. What do you think?
This chapter contains the first of many homages to "Naruto", one of my favorite manga stories. I don't own it, or "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Anything else I need to tell you…? Hmm, I don't think so! In that case, play on, Yami-girl! *^_^*
**
The Weaker Sex
**
Chapter Two, Seventh Duel: Riot Girl
**
Christina wouldn't want to meet her
She hates you Britney so you better run for cover
My girl's a hot girl
A riot girl and she's angry at the world
Emergency call 911
She's pissed off at everyone
Police rescue FBI
She wants to riot
She wants to riot
(Riot Girl)
(Good Charlotte)
**
Yami Motou had been in Domino High School for three weeks. So far, she'd had seven detentions. Four were for the blue coat, until the principal realized she wasn't going to budge on that issue and washed his hands of the whole affair. One was for accidentally breaking another classmate's lamp in shop class when she and Joey were reenacting the shinobi test from that month's issue of "Naruto". One was for skipping math to smoke with Joey in the quad. And one was for telling Ms. Chono that she wore too much makeup.
As long as none of the detentions were for fighting, Sugoroku didn't care. He was proud of his independent-minded granddaughter. Unfortunately, Ms. Chono was not, and homeroom soon became a nightmare.
She looks like she's been made up at clown school, Yami pouted, yesterday's detention still fresh in her mind. You'd think someone in the teacher's lounge would have clued her in to how bad she looks.
Chono was tall and blonde, and her red lipstick was the color of fresh blood. Every so often her eyelashes would stick together, and yes, there was a pale line above her collar where the base had not been blended in.
The bell rang. All right, Yami thought happily. One whole day without getting detention. New record. She walked out into the afternoon sunlight, humming to herself.
"We can ask Yami! She's a girl, she'll know!" A voice said. "Hey, Yami! Wait up, biatch!"
Yami chuckled. "Hey, Joey! You heading home?"
"Yeah," Joey said, smiling. Yami's smile faded at the sight of Tristan Taylor standing next to Joey, glaring down at her like an angry, slim messenger of doom.
Oh, no, it's Tristan, Yami thought. He hates me.
But Tristan remained silent. The glitter in his amber eyes was not friendly, but he didn't speak or move towards her in a threatening manner.
It could be argued that Tristan Taylor basically was a threatening manner--he was tall, with dark eyes glaring out of a dark face. His hair was buzzed short on the sides, long on top, but gelled carefully so as not to obscure the hateful stare. He was slim and lanky, but it did nothing to make him look less tough.
And still he did not move. Yami blinked, finding this to be a rather anticlimactic letdown.
"I'm glad you're here, Yami," Joey said. "We've got an idea to discuss with you!"
Tristan's eyes went wide, the first show of expression since he'd shown up. It was weird for Yami to see his eyes at their normal size and not slitted in anger. "Joey! You're not going to ask Yami!"
"Sure I am," Joey said. "Relax."
"You're kidding! Not Yami!" Tristan howled. "She'll tell everyone!"
"Take it easy!" Joey protested. "You said you'd leave it to me! Yami's a girl, and she'll know what to do! She's cool, I promise!"
Yami put her hands on her hips. "What's going on?"
Joey smiled. "You'll keep it a secret, won'tcha, Yami? Just the three of us."
"True's you live," Yami swore, holding a hand up. "I won't tell."
Joey chuckled. "Truth is...Tristan's in love!"
"Aaaarrrghh!" Tristan howled--the sound of his pride being bruised. He slapped his hands over his eyes as if that would stop Yami from seeing him in a gooey, emotional state.
"Oh, how sweet!" Yami said with a smile, unable to help being pleased. "Who's the lucky girl?"
Tristan uncovered his eyes; apparently it wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting.
"It's Miho Nosaka," Joey said. "The student librarian?"
"Ribbon Nosaka?" Yami asked. "I know her. Everyone calls her 'Ribbon' because she always wears a yellow one in her hair."
Tristan sighed. "Ahh....beautiful Ribbon..."
"You want to get Ribbon's attention?" Yami asked.
Tristan nodded, flushing. It was like a complete one-eighty for Tristan--Yami had never seen him act like he could even stand anyone, least of all crushing on a girl.
"Even though he hasn't got a snowball's chance in hell," Joey chuckled. "We were thinking he could give her a present. Your store sells all sorts of weird stuff, right?"
"Our store sells games..." Yami said. "I guess we could try it..."
She led the way to the game shop. Tristan complained the whole way there. "Joey, this is a waste of time," he groaned, to which Joey responded, "Shaddup."
Yami opened the door, the tiny bell ringing. "Grandpa? I'm home!"
"Hello, Yami! Have you got company with you?" Sugoroku was behind the counter, leaning his forearms onto the wood.
She smiled and displayed the boys to him. "Yes, actually. These are my friends--Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor. Joey, Tristan, this is my grandfather, Sugoroku Motou."
"Pleased to meet you both," Sugoroku said.
"You remember me, don'tcha Gramps?" Joey chuckled. They shook hands.
Yami hopped up onto the game counter, her favorite perch in the store. "We need help, Grandpa. Tristan needs a romantic gift to get his girl's attention."
Tristan started to complain again, but Sugoroku interrupted with a grin. "Have I got something for you!" He turned around and reached onto a shelf. "I haven't told Yami the story, but this was how I got her grandmother!"
"Really, Grandpa?" Yami kicked her feet.
"Are you sure about this, Joey?" Tristan murmured. Joey elbowed him.
"This is just a blank puzzle, Grandpa!" Yami said, opening the box.
"Exactly!" Sugoroku explained. "You write down your feelings, then break it up and send it to her. As she puts it together, your words appear! Isn't that romantic?"
Silence from the three teens; Yami looked at the puzzle, doubtful of its powers to have won her grandmother's heart.
Joey snickered, then finally gave up and laughed full-out. "Oh man, Tris! I can't imagine you with this!"
Yami went to close the box, looking sheepish, but Tristan snatched it out of her hands. "No, it's perfect! I want this!" But his excitement was short-lived. "But what should I write? I've never written a love letter..."
Tristan's amber eyes scanned the shop, and suddenly landed on Yami. His thoughts seemed to be broadcast like subtitles beneath his face. Yami=chick=GIRL!
"Yami--you write it for me!"Tristan suddenly grabbed Yami's hand and held it to his chest, surprising the tiny brunette. "Feel that, Yami? Feel how hard it beats! I need you to take this beat and put it into words! You're a girl, and you'll write something she'll like!"
He must have sensed Yami was about to protest, because he left quickly. "Bring it with you tomorrow--and it better be good!"
The little bell rang above the door as Tristan retreated, leaving behind a wide-eyed Yami and Joey, and a chuckling Sugoroku.
Yami hopped off the counter, then turned to Joey and punched him in the arm. "Idiot! What do *I* know about love letters?"
Joey coughed. "Whoa! Relax! I'll help you, Yami!"
"You damn well better," she said, heading up the stairs to her room. "If this doesn't work, Tristan'll hate me!"
"Don't worry!" Joey crowed, following her. "You've got Joey Wheeler, the master of romance, working with ya!"
Sugoroku roared at Yami's response. "We're trying to make her swoon, Joey, not puke."
**
Yami and Joey were yawning as they got to homeroom the next day. Yami had never received a love letter, and Joey had never written one, so it had taken them all night to come up with the simple message, My beloved Ribbon, I've admired you from afar for so long. I love you more than anything in the universe. From Tristan Taylor. Yami had better handwriting than Joey, so she had carefully copied the message onto the blank puzzle, which Joey had then broke into pieces. Yami had wrapped the box with a bow, and they'd brought it to school with them the next day to meet Tristan.
After throwing out a couple of plans--one of which had borrowed heavily from that month's "Naruto"--the three of them sneaked into homeroom early, and Joey slipped the puzzle into Miho's desk.
"All right!" Yami cheered, but it was interrupted by a yawn. "We did it."
"If this goes well, it's hamburgers on me!" Tristan promised, and then the bell rang, sending everyone to their designated chairs.
If Miho Nosaka had only turned around and looked a little to the left, she might have been able to guess Tristan was up to something, because he couldn't seem to sit still as soon as he reached his chair.
"Look at 'im!" Joey chortled. "He can't take it!"
"He must be sweating bullets," Yami snickered, watching Tristan smooth his hair for the fiftieth time.
Yami and Joey amused themselves for the next fifteen minutes watching Tristan squirm every time Miho turned his way.
"This is great!" Joey exulted. "Everything's going according to plan!"
"...except that she's not noticing the puzzle," Yami added with dismay.
Joey blinked. "Oh. Right."
Ms. Chono had another talent besides applying too much makeup-she'd expelled fifteen students in a six-month period, earning her the name, "The Wicked Witch of Expel". And unfortunately for our heroes, she was having a bad day.
"All right, everyone!" she announced cheerfully, ready to blow off some steam. "Time for a routine inspection! Everyone empty the contents of your desk and bag onto your desk!"
Yami and Joey exchanged identical horrified looks, then turned as one towards Tristan--who was too distracted by Miho to notice the trouble they were about to be in.
Chono walked the rows, snickering. "What do we have here? Cigarettes? Lipstick? Condoms?" she murmured to herself as the student's secrets spilled onto the desk like so much trouble. Chono's heel clicked sharply as she stopped in front of Miho's desk, causing the Cup of Death to float in front of Yami and Joey's eyes.
"Well! Miss Nosaka! Would you like to tell me what this is?" Chono picked up the puzzle box from Miho's desk.
As one, Yami, Joey, and Tristan froze.
"I-I don't know," Miho stammered. "It was in my desk." She was blushing furiously.
"Well, let's find out, shall we?" Chono ripped the paper off the box.
"Chono. That bitch," Yami hissed.
"It's a jigsaw puzzle!" Ms. Chono announced, leaning over her desk to put it together. "What fun! You put it together and a message appears!...'My beloved Ribbon...I've admired you from afar for so long!' What a silly message!"
"Hey, we worked hard on that!" Joey hissed.
"Who gave this to her?" Chono demanded. "I want the sender to stand up now!"
Tristan steeled himself to lose Ribbon forever, and slid his chair back--but someone beat him to it.
"Well-the funny thing is, Ms. Chono, I wrote the words onto the puzzle! That's my handwriting! See?" Yami had jumped out of her chair and held up her notebook, where you could see her name and a scrap of song lyric by Yellowcard on the cover. All that I wanted to hear from you, something of value but something untrue...
"Yami??" Tristan asked.
But Joey was standing up too. "But I put it in her desk, teach!"
Tristan sighed and stood up, feeling braver now that he had support. "Thanks, you guys, but that's enough. Ms. Chono, it's my message that's in that puzzle."
Yami and Joey were surprised. "Sit down, moron," Yami said at the same time Joey said, "You idiot!"
"Why are there three of you?" Chono was confused. "One of you is guilty. The other two are lying."
Yami shook her dark head. "No, Ms. Chono. None of us is lying. We're all telling the truth. I wrote the message."
"Because I asked her to," Tristan protested, and was kicked by Joey.
"And I put it in her desk," Joey repeated.
"That's enough!" Chono said, her voice a whip crack. "I don't need to hear the lies again. I just need to finish this puzzle! The last pieces will tell me the guilty one's name!"
Everyone's eyes were glued to the front of the room, so no one saw Yami's head drop suddenly, her dark hair hiding her face. When she raised it again, her crimson eyes were angry. The Millennium Puzzle seemed to catch the sunlight from the windows, but she was too far away for that...
Only Joey and Tristan were close enough to hear her say, "Oh, no, you don't," and see her raise her left hand towards Ms. Chono threateningly.
"Yami?" Tristan whispered. "You okay?"
But their eyes were torn away from her. Something was happening at the front of the room.
"I have the name!" Chono announced. "And you're expelled, Tr--"
Before she could say the name, a sound like breaking glass was heard, and suddenly the teacher's face had become hideously ugly, revealing her true nature--every ridge, blemish, and fang she'd earned by her wickedness showing to a roomful of young, attractive teenagers.
Homeroom, Yami's nightmare, had turned into Ms. Chono's personal nightmare.
"Whoa!" Someone pointed. "Look at her face!"
"No way!" Someone else said.
"Holy cow! Put that away!" Joey roared, covering his eyes.
Chono's hands flew to cover her face, all thoughts of expulsion forgotten. "Class dismissed!" she said hurriedly, running out of the room.
Tristan couldn't believe his luck, or his eyes. "Joey...did you see her face?"
Joey wiped the perspiration from his forehead. "Yeah. That was close! Good thing she went bipolar, huh Yami?"
Both boys turned to the girl, who was looking around dazedly. "Huh?" she said. "Is class over already?"
**
The next day, Tristan was walking out of the school building like a man who had lost his will to live. He'd screwed up his courage and asked Ribbon out directly, and she'd shot him down.
"It could be worse," Yami soothed.
"Of course it could be worse," Tristan answered. "I could have gangrene on my face."
"Cheer up, man, I'll buy you a burger," Joey said, clapping his friend on the back.
Tristan sighed. "Thanks for standing up to Chono for me, you guys."
"All in a day's work. I'd pick that over writing love letters any day!" Yami laughed.
Tristan actually smiled. "Yeah, that letter you guys wrote was pretty bad!"
"Ay!" Joey snarled. "We did the best we could on short notice! You think you coulda done better, Romeo?"
"Really!" Yami agreed. "Next time you want to write a love letter, copy something out of Cyrano de Bergerac!"
**
Author's Note:
Mmm…filler. And so now, they are three! *^_^* I love the early manga, and I hope this is at least a decent homage. What do the readers think? Yami-girl would love to know. *^_^*