- If Tristan never said that... then... how did I know Serenity's name? -
"Well, my... my grandmother... she was a psychic... so, maybe... maybe I inherited some of her powers. You know, seeing the future and... reading minds... and stuff..." she said, slowing down at the end, realizing she wasn't making much sense and he probably didn't believe in psychics.
He just looked at her for a second, then nodded briefly. "Maybe."
They went back into the living room and took seats on the couch. The others were immersed in conversation as if nothing had happened. It seemed to have slipped by them because of Joey's outburst.
This suited Kai fine. She didn't want them to know. She refrained from putting a hand to her temple as her headache pounded. It seemed to be getting worse as the days went by. No matter what she told herself, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
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Kai rolled her head to the side, her eyes shut tight. Her head hurt but she didn't realize it. She had other things on her subconscious mind.
Her grandmother kept flashing through her mind... in front of her eyes. She could hear the song... ~ In the crystalline knowledge of you... ~ There was something wrong... but what... what was it? Something was happening... she could feel it... What was happening...?
~ You'll find out in due time, Kai. ~
"No..." Kai moaned. "Leave me alone..." Her eyes snapped open to find herself in a dark bedroom on the floor. She sat bolt upright and put a hand to the side of her head. "Why won't this headache just go /away/?" she whispered to herself.
She got up and made her way to the bathroom to get some Advil. She went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She swallowed the pills and stood in the middle of the kitchen for a second. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
"It was just a dream," she told herself. She was so tired, maybe she should go back to sleep. "Yeah," she muttered, pouring out the water and heading back into the bedroom.
She lay back down and closed her eyes, falling into a more peaceful sleep.
##################################################################################
Kai opened her eyes to find daylight pouring in through the window. Her headache nowhere near as bad as it had been during the night, though it was still there. Tea was sitting up just as she was.
"Hi, Tea," Kai said, smiling.
"Hi!" Tea said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
Kai was about to say something more when they heard a loud crash from the boys' room. They looked at each other for a second before running across the hall to see what it was.
"What happened?" Tea asked when Bakura opened the door.
He laughed. "Joey fell out of bed."
The girls laughed and entered the room. Joey was pulling himself off the floor and at the same time, yelling at Tristan.
"..The first thing I want to see in the morning is definitely /not/ your face!" he was saying.
The two boys started yelling at each other some more while the girls laughed.
"Are they usually like this?" Kai asked.
"No, today's a good day," Tea replied and they laughed some more.
A few minutes later, the six of them were in the kitchen, Kai helping Tea make breakfast. They decided to go simple today; just cold cereal.
They chatted about random things while they ate; nothing too important. There was a lot of laughing involved, though.
Kai cleared the table a little while later and soon after they were sitting in the living room talking about Duel Monsters.
"I came in second in Duelist Kingdom," Joey said proudly. "And Yugi's the best duelist in the world!"
Yami merely grinned. He felt his ego swell slightly, but pushed it away quickly.
"That's really cool!" Kai said, genuinely excited.
"I'm really only know the basics of Duel Monsters," Tristan said. "But, I'm getting better."
~ Ring ~
Kai turned towards the phone on the end table with a new expression on her face. The phone rang for the first time that day and her eyes widened slightly, her breath catching in her throat. She reached out to pick it up as a voice flashed through her mind.
She drew her hand back as quickly as if she had been bitten. She put it over her mouth and whispered, "It's Elaine." No one heard it for the sound barely left her throat.
*Ring*
"Are you going to get that?" Tea asked, giving her friend a curious look.
"Y-yeah," Kai said, trying to clear her throat at the same time. She reached once more for the phone, her hand shaking slightly. She placed her hand on the receiver and breathed slowly for a second. Then she put it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked, her nervousness clear in her voice.
"Kai? Are you okay?"
Kai nearly cried out in horror. Her eyes widened as Elaine spoke again.
"Kai? You there?"
Her heart pounding, she forced her vocal cords to work. "Yeah... yeah, I... I'm fine. Look, I... I can't talk... I have... I have to go." She put the phone back down rather hard and pulled away quickly as if it were going to bite her.
"Kai? Are you all right?" Bakura asked, seeing the look on her face.
Kai nodded, pressing a hand to her temple. Her heart felt like it was beating in her head. No... it felt like it was beating in her mind. "Yeah... I... I just need some Advil... that's all," she lied, getting up to get some.
She forced herself not to run to the bathroom, instead walking at a calm and steady pace. When she reached it, she closed the door and locked it. She turned and leaned against the door, wrapping her arms around her waist. Breathing heavily, she slowly slid to the floor.
- What's happening to me? Why did I know that? I shouldn't have known that! What's wrong with me? -
Trying to control her breathing, but to no avail, she got up from the floor and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her green eyes were full of fear and her hair was falling in her face. She pressed her fingers to her temples and squeezed her eyes shut at the pain. It was suddenly searing and she was doing her best not to cry out. It dulled for a moment and she once again looked at her reflection. She was pale and she could almost see her heart beating in her chest. Her hands shook and she clenched them in an attempt to make them stop. Her eyes caught sight of her brush on the sink and she reached for it. Her hand closed around the handle and she picked it up. She ran it through her scarlet hair a few times and felt herself calming down slightly. Brushing her hair always did that. She brushed it out of her face and over her shoulders.
She set the brush back on the sink and looked at her reflection again. Some of the color had come back into her face, but she was still shaking. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and bent her head down to try to calm it. Her breathing had evened out and her heartbeat was returning to normal. Her head still seared with pain, so she reached up and pulled the mirror open, revealing a cabinet. She pulled down a small bottle. She took out two pills and replaced the bottle in the cabinet. She put some tap water in her hand and swallowed it with the pills.
Figuring she had better get back to her friends before they realized something was wrong, she took a deep breath and left the bathroom. She was still shaking, but less so than before. She forced a smile onto her face as she took her seat next to Bakura on the couch.
"Are you okay?" Tea asked, slightly concerned.
"I'm fine," Kai replied, though her tone suggested otherwise.
"Are you sure?" Yami asked, piercing her eyes with his.
"Y-yes, I'm fine," she said, looking away as the pain in her head grew stronger slightly.
- What's wrong with her, Yami? - Yugi asked through their mind link.
- I'm not sure. But I'm fairly certain it has to do with that headache. I don't think she even knows what's going on, - Yami replied, studying her face.
*Ring*
Kai snapped her head around to look at the phone. Yami watched her expression change like it had earlier.
*Ring*
"Kai? Are you sure you're all right?" Joey asked, giving her a funny look.
"Yeah," she said without taking her eyes off the ringing phone. She grabbed it and put it to her ear after the third ring. "Hello?" she asked, slightly nervous.
"Kai? What happened? Do you want me to come over or something?" Elaine was on the other end.
"No... I... I'm fine, really. Um... thanks anyway, though. What... what did you call about?" Kai asked, realized her hand was starting to hurt from gripping the phone so tightly. She loosened her grip and breathed slowly, trying to calm down. She noticed Yami watching her carefully and she felt even more nervous with the close inspection.
"Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to go on a double date," she said, going back to her cheerful self.
"Huh? Who are you going with?" Kai asked, her nervousness changing into confusion.
"Bakura of course," Elaine said as if Kai should have known that.
She laughed at her friend and got up, taking the phone with her into the kitchen. "What, and have you asked him?"
"Well, no, not exactly, but he'd say yes."
"You twit, you can't go on a date without asking your date!" she said, laughing.
"Well, you can ask yours first. And then you can ask Bakura for me."
"Oh, yeah, sure. And who's /my/ date?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip. "If you say Carlos, I swear I'll shoot you."
At this Elaine cracked up. "/Carlos/?" she cried. "Are you /kidding/? No way! I'm talking about /Yugi/! Duh!"
Kai's stomach dropped at the thought of asking Yami out. "Oh, yeah, right. That'll happen when snowballs roll uphill in the summertime."
"Aw, come on! You know you want to," she said in a teasing voice. "You're just scared."
"That may work on Carlos, but it certainly won't work with me. You should know /that/ by now, Elaine."
"Chicken."
Kai sighed. "Anyway, how would I ask him without the others knowing?"
"Um... you don't have to," she said slowly. "You'd be asking him out."
"No, I wouldn't. This is ridiculous. And I'm not going to ask Bakura out for you. Here, you do it," she said on sudden inspiration, walking into the living room and handing the phone to Bakura, Elaine protesting on the other end.
"No! It was a joke!" she cried as Bakura took the phone with an odd look at Kai.
"Hello?" he said, confused. Kai heard her cry out as he took it. She clapped a hand over her mouth as she realized her mistake.
"Um... hi," he said after he realized who it was. He was now sufficiently confused and Kai was trying hard not to laugh.
- Well, next time maybe you won't try to trick me, - she thought.
"Uh, all right," Bakura said, handing the phone back to Kai with a puzzled look. "She wants to talk to you," he said.
Kai laughed and took the phone. "Hello?" she asked.
"You idiot!" Elaine screamed. "I was /joking/! I don't /really/ want to go out with him!"
"Well, how was I supposed to know?" Kai asked with an evil grin. "Next time you might think twice before playing with my mind."
"Oooh," she growled. "If you /ever/ do that again...!"
"You'll what?" Kai challenged.
"I'll... I'll tell Carlos how you feel about Yugi," she said defiantly.
Kai got up and went back into the kitchen. "What, I think of him as a friend? Ooh, now I'm scared."
"Yeah, right. I'm sure Carlos would love to know where you were before you passed out at my house," she said.
Kai froze a second. She'd never hear the end of it from Carlos if he knew. Not that Elaine would either, but somehow when Carlos teased it was worse. "I was just showing Yugi something," she said.
"I'm sure," Elaine said with a laugh.
"No! Elaine, get your mind out of the gutter! A /place/! I was showing him a /place/!" Kai said, not wanting her to know exactly where she had been.
"Okay, whatever you say. But, if you decide to ask him out or kiss him or something, you will let me know, right?"
"Elaine!" Kai cried, making her friends in the other room give her odd looks. She saw them raise their eyebrows and she grinned sheepishly and blushed. "Great, now you've got the gang looking at me like I've gone insane."
Elaine started laughing so hard she could barely breathe. "Oh, yes! Blame it all on me why don't you?"
"I'm hanging up now. Good bye," Kai said with a mock smile.
"Oh, hey! Wait a sec..." Elaine was cut off by the click of her friend hanging up the phone.
Kai went back into the living room and sat down next to Bakura again. "Elaine was just being weird again, sorry. And Bakura, exactly what did she say to you?" she asked, grinning.
"Uh, she just said to give the phone back to you. What was that about?" he asked, confused.
Kai laughed and said, "Nothing. We just like playing jokes on each other, that's all."
"Oh," he said, giving her a funny look.
"Oh, rats!" Kai exclaimed, picking up the phone again. "I forgot to tell Elaine to tell Carlos he has to fix my drawer." She quickly dialed her friend's number and gave her the message.
"He'll be over about five, is that okay?" she asked her friends when she got off the phone.
"That's fine with me," Joey said and the others nodded.
"Cool," Kai said, happy once more. The memory of what had happened earlier was temporarily driven from her mind.
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a/n: All right. This is just the beginning. You just wait. There are many more chapters left and once they get going, you won't want them to end! So, review and I'll post more!
"Well, my... my grandmother... she was a psychic... so, maybe... maybe I inherited some of her powers. You know, seeing the future and... reading minds... and stuff..." she said, slowing down at the end, realizing she wasn't making much sense and he probably didn't believe in psychics.
He just looked at her for a second, then nodded briefly. "Maybe."
They went back into the living room and took seats on the couch. The others were immersed in conversation as if nothing had happened. It seemed to have slipped by them because of Joey's outburst.
This suited Kai fine. She didn't want them to know. She refrained from putting a hand to her temple as her headache pounded. It seemed to be getting worse as the days went by. No matter what she told herself, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
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Kai rolled her head to the side, her eyes shut tight. Her head hurt but she didn't realize it. She had other things on her subconscious mind.
Her grandmother kept flashing through her mind... in front of her eyes. She could hear the song... ~ In the crystalline knowledge of you... ~ There was something wrong... but what... what was it? Something was happening... she could feel it... What was happening...?
~ You'll find out in due time, Kai. ~
"No..." Kai moaned. "Leave me alone..." Her eyes snapped open to find herself in a dark bedroom on the floor. She sat bolt upright and put a hand to the side of her head. "Why won't this headache just go /away/?" she whispered to herself.
She got up and made her way to the bathroom to get some Advil. She went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She swallowed the pills and stood in the middle of the kitchen for a second. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.
"It was just a dream," she told herself. She was so tired, maybe she should go back to sleep. "Yeah," she muttered, pouring out the water and heading back into the bedroom.
She lay back down and closed her eyes, falling into a more peaceful sleep.
##################################################################################
Kai opened her eyes to find daylight pouring in through the window. Her headache nowhere near as bad as it had been during the night, though it was still there. Tea was sitting up just as she was.
"Hi, Tea," Kai said, smiling.
"Hi!" Tea said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed.
Kai was about to say something more when they heard a loud crash from the boys' room. They looked at each other for a second before running across the hall to see what it was.
"What happened?" Tea asked when Bakura opened the door.
He laughed. "Joey fell out of bed."
The girls laughed and entered the room. Joey was pulling himself off the floor and at the same time, yelling at Tristan.
"..The first thing I want to see in the morning is definitely /not/ your face!" he was saying.
The two boys started yelling at each other some more while the girls laughed.
"Are they usually like this?" Kai asked.
"No, today's a good day," Tea replied and they laughed some more.
A few minutes later, the six of them were in the kitchen, Kai helping Tea make breakfast. They decided to go simple today; just cold cereal.
They chatted about random things while they ate; nothing too important. There was a lot of laughing involved, though.
Kai cleared the table a little while later and soon after they were sitting in the living room talking about Duel Monsters.
"I came in second in Duelist Kingdom," Joey said proudly. "And Yugi's the best duelist in the world!"
Yami merely grinned. He felt his ego swell slightly, but pushed it away quickly.
"That's really cool!" Kai said, genuinely excited.
"I'm really only know the basics of Duel Monsters," Tristan said. "But, I'm getting better."
~ Ring ~
Kai turned towards the phone on the end table with a new expression on her face. The phone rang for the first time that day and her eyes widened slightly, her breath catching in her throat. She reached out to pick it up as a voice flashed through her mind.
She drew her hand back as quickly as if she had been bitten. She put it over her mouth and whispered, "It's Elaine." No one heard it for the sound barely left her throat.
*Ring*
"Are you going to get that?" Tea asked, giving her friend a curious look.
"Y-yeah," Kai said, trying to clear her throat at the same time. She reached once more for the phone, her hand shaking slightly. She placed her hand on the receiver and breathed slowly for a second. Then she put it to her ear. "Hello?" she asked, her nervousness clear in her voice.
"Kai? Are you okay?"
Kai nearly cried out in horror. Her eyes widened as Elaine spoke again.
"Kai? You there?"
Her heart pounding, she forced her vocal cords to work. "Yeah... yeah, I... I'm fine. Look, I... I can't talk... I have... I have to go." She put the phone back down rather hard and pulled away quickly as if it were going to bite her.
"Kai? Are you all right?" Bakura asked, seeing the look on her face.
Kai nodded, pressing a hand to her temple. Her heart felt like it was beating in her head. No... it felt like it was beating in her mind. "Yeah... I... I just need some Advil... that's all," she lied, getting up to get some.
She forced herself not to run to the bathroom, instead walking at a calm and steady pace. When she reached it, she closed the door and locked it. She turned and leaned against the door, wrapping her arms around her waist. Breathing heavily, she slowly slid to the floor.
- What's happening to me? Why did I know that? I shouldn't have known that! What's wrong with me? -
Trying to control her breathing, but to no avail, she got up from the floor and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her green eyes were full of fear and her hair was falling in her face. She pressed her fingers to her temples and squeezed her eyes shut at the pain. It was suddenly searing and she was doing her best not to cry out. It dulled for a moment and she once again looked at her reflection. She was pale and she could almost see her heart beating in her chest. Her hands shook and she clenched them in an attempt to make them stop. Her eyes caught sight of her brush on the sink and she reached for it. Her hand closed around the handle and she picked it up. She ran it through her scarlet hair a few times and felt herself calming down slightly. Brushing her hair always did that. She brushed it out of her face and over her shoulders.
She set the brush back on the sink and looked at her reflection again. Some of the color had come back into her face, but she was still shaking. She wrapped her arms around her stomach and bent her head down to try to calm it. Her breathing had evened out and her heartbeat was returning to normal. Her head still seared with pain, so she reached up and pulled the mirror open, revealing a cabinet. She pulled down a small bottle. She took out two pills and replaced the bottle in the cabinet. She put some tap water in her hand and swallowed it with the pills.
Figuring she had better get back to her friends before they realized something was wrong, she took a deep breath and left the bathroom. She was still shaking, but less so than before. She forced a smile onto her face as she took her seat next to Bakura on the couch.
"Are you okay?" Tea asked, slightly concerned.
"I'm fine," Kai replied, though her tone suggested otherwise.
"Are you sure?" Yami asked, piercing her eyes with his.
"Y-yes, I'm fine," she said, looking away as the pain in her head grew stronger slightly.
- What's wrong with her, Yami? - Yugi asked through their mind link.
- I'm not sure. But I'm fairly certain it has to do with that headache. I don't think she even knows what's going on, - Yami replied, studying her face.
*Ring*
Kai snapped her head around to look at the phone. Yami watched her expression change like it had earlier.
*Ring*
"Kai? Are you sure you're all right?" Joey asked, giving her a funny look.
"Yeah," she said without taking her eyes off the ringing phone. She grabbed it and put it to her ear after the third ring. "Hello?" she asked, slightly nervous.
"Kai? What happened? Do you want me to come over or something?" Elaine was on the other end.
"No... I... I'm fine, really. Um... thanks anyway, though. What... what did you call about?" Kai asked, realized her hand was starting to hurt from gripping the phone so tightly. She loosened her grip and breathed slowly, trying to calm down. She noticed Yami watching her carefully and she felt even more nervous with the close inspection.
"Well, I was going to ask if you wanted to go on a double date," she said, going back to her cheerful self.
"Huh? Who are you going with?" Kai asked, her nervousness changing into confusion.
"Bakura of course," Elaine said as if Kai should have known that.
She laughed at her friend and got up, taking the phone with her into the kitchen. "What, and have you asked him?"
"Well, no, not exactly, but he'd say yes."
"You twit, you can't go on a date without asking your date!" she said, laughing.
"Well, you can ask yours first. And then you can ask Bakura for me."
"Oh, yeah, sure. And who's /my/ date?" she asked, putting a hand on her hip. "If you say Carlos, I swear I'll shoot you."
At this Elaine cracked up. "/Carlos/?" she cried. "Are you /kidding/? No way! I'm talking about /Yugi/! Duh!"
Kai's stomach dropped at the thought of asking Yami out. "Oh, yeah, right. That'll happen when snowballs roll uphill in the summertime."
"Aw, come on! You know you want to," she said in a teasing voice. "You're just scared."
"That may work on Carlos, but it certainly won't work with me. You should know /that/ by now, Elaine."
"Chicken."
Kai sighed. "Anyway, how would I ask him without the others knowing?"
"Um... you don't have to," she said slowly. "You'd be asking him out."
"No, I wouldn't. This is ridiculous. And I'm not going to ask Bakura out for you. Here, you do it," she said on sudden inspiration, walking into the living room and handing the phone to Bakura, Elaine protesting on the other end.
"No! It was a joke!" she cried as Bakura took the phone with an odd look at Kai.
"Hello?" he said, confused. Kai heard her cry out as he took it. She clapped a hand over her mouth as she realized her mistake.
"Um... hi," he said after he realized who it was. He was now sufficiently confused and Kai was trying hard not to laugh.
- Well, next time maybe you won't try to trick me, - she thought.
"Uh, all right," Bakura said, handing the phone back to Kai with a puzzled look. "She wants to talk to you," he said.
Kai laughed and took the phone. "Hello?" she asked.
"You idiot!" Elaine screamed. "I was /joking/! I don't /really/ want to go out with him!"
"Well, how was I supposed to know?" Kai asked with an evil grin. "Next time you might think twice before playing with my mind."
"Oooh," she growled. "If you /ever/ do that again...!"
"You'll what?" Kai challenged.
"I'll... I'll tell Carlos how you feel about Yugi," she said defiantly.
Kai got up and went back into the kitchen. "What, I think of him as a friend? Ooh, now I'm scared."
"Yeah, right. I'm sure Carlos would love to know where you were before you passed out at my house," she said.
Kai froze a second. She'd never hear the end of it from Carlos if he knew. Not that Elaine would either, but somehow when Carlos teased it was worse. "I was just showing Yugi something," she said.
"I'm sure," Elaine said with a laugh.
"No! Elaine, get your mind out of the gutter! A /place/! I was showing him a /place/!" Kai said, not wanting her to know exactly where she had been.
"Okay, whatever you say. But, if you decide to ask him out or kiss him or something, you will let me know, right?"
"Elaine!" Kai cried, making her friends in the other room give her odd looks. She saw them raise their eyebrows and she grinned sheepishly and blushed. "Great, now you've got the gang looking at me like I've gone insane."
Elaine started laughing so hard she could barely breathe. "Oh, yes! Blame it all on me why don't you?"
"I'm hanging up now. Good bye," Kai said with a mock smile.
"Oh, hey! Wait a sec..." Elaine was cut off by the click of her friend hanging up the phone.
Kai went back into the living room and sat down next to Bakura again. "Elaine was just being weird again, sorry. And Bakura, exactly what did she say to you?" she asked, grinning.
"Uh, she just said to give the phone back to you. What was that about?" he asked, confused.
Kai laughed and said, "Nothing. We just like playing jokes on each other, that's all."
"Oh," he said, giving her a funny look.
"Oh, rats!" Kai exclaimed, picking up the phone again. "I forgot to tell Elaine to tell Carlos he has to fix my drawer." She quickly dialed her friend's number and gave her the message.
"He'll be over about five, is that okay?" she asked her friends when she got off the phone.
"That's fine with me," Joey said and the others nodded.
"Cool," Kai said, happy once more. The memory of what had happened earlier was temporarily driven from her mind.
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a/n: All right. This is just the beginning. You just wait. There are many more chapters left and once they get going, you won't want them to end! So, review and I'll post more!