QoH: hey people ^_^ for those who skip author's notes... THIS IS IMPORTANT, SO PLEASE READ! so far, ive been doing this mostly from Serenity's POV, but she's gonna be a lil "incapacitated" soon enough... *hint, hint* so i need to switch this over to 3rd person, rather than 2nd. oh, this fic's really startin to pick up... *rubs hands in glee* :D
*Yugi to Yami*
**Yami to Yugi**
~~~~ (beginning/ending of a letter)
Chapter 17: New And Old
Serenity yawned and rubbed her eyes, kind of amazed at how refresh she felt. That has to be the best night's sleep I've gotten in about a week. Yet, as revitalized as she was, she had any intention of moving. This is nice; a pillow where there's no danger of smothering myself in. Hm, I wonder when they replaced it... She stretched a little and wrapped her arms around it, snuggling comfortably as birds twittered outside the window. Aw, who cares. I'll just snag a few more minutes...
She smiled in her half-sleep when she heard Yugi's soft voice say her name just above her head. Wait... just above her head? Oh, sweet Kami. Her body froze of it's own accord (even though she dearly wanted to sink into the floor) as the memory of last night returned to her with a thud she swore could've been heard in Jersey, particularly the part with her literally sobbing in his lap.
He chuckled and lifted her chin to meet his smiling gaze with gentle fingers, "Morning."
Serenity started, her paralysis broken so suddenly that she toppled backward off the bed to land on her backside on the linoleum. Blushing furiously, she cast a sheepish grin at Yugi, who'd tried to catch her on the way down, despite the restraining IV tube in his arm.
"Are you all right?" Yugi asked, his brows raised in concern as he rearranged the various monitoring systems so he could swing his legs over the bed to help her up.
"Uh, yeah, s-sorry about that. I..." she stammered as she stood up, shifting from foot to foot, "I gotta go."
He cocked his head and blinked up at her, perplexed, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm OK. I hope you feel better soon, Yugi." With that, she spun around and bolted out the door.
Yugi stared after her, wondering if he did something he shouldn't have, somehow. He frowned and sat back on the bed, his fingers absently toying with the Puzzle.
**Poor Serenity.** Yami's mental voice observed thoughtfully, as though to himself.
He closed his eyes as he always did when he wanted to talk "face to face" with the spirit, as it were, *Care to explain that comment, Yami? I'm worried about her, even if she won't tell me what's going on. First last night, and now this? I don't get any of it.*
The pharaoh smiled enigmatically and shook his head, leaning against the wall next to his door, **My apologies, but I'm under an oath of secrecy of my own choosing concerning this matter.**
*Wonderful,* he replied, making a face, *And in the meantime, there's nothing I can do to help her.*
**I know you're frustrated, but you must trust her to be able to handle it on her own.**
*Frustrated? That's an understatement.* Yugi slammed his fist against his own door in a rare show of temper, *One of my very best friends is so troubled over whatever it is that she cries herself to sleep in my arms, and all the while I feel as though I'm out of the loop on something very important and that all of it's connected!*
Yami sighed, straightening to walk over and look into his partner's eyes seriously, **All will become clear soon, my friend. There are reasons why it has to be this way. Trust Serenity, as you would me.**
He nodded wordlessly before opening his eyes again to the outside world, picking up his book. I do.
****
Breathing hard, Serenity ducked into the nearest women's restroom, locked the stall and collapsed on the toilet. She let her head fall back against the tile wall as she closed her eyes, calling herself sixteen different kinds of fool. Way to go, girl. If he didn't think something was wrong before, he sure as heck does now! Stupid, stupid, stupid!
She groaned and sat up, running both hands through her hair, "It's useless to berate myself over something that's over and done with, but still, how can I possibly face him again? I don't think I'll be able to look anybody in the eye for a month."
"Perhaps I can solve that problem for you," answered a voice right outside the door to where she sat, one she'd prayed she'd never have to hear again.
She set her jaw and came out glaring at the smirking spirit of the Millennium Ring, who was obviously not impressed by her show of bravery, "What are you doing here, and in a girl's bathroom, no less?
He gave her a dangerous grin and leaned close, daring her to back away, "What do you think?"
Refusing to cower before him, Serenity stared him down with disgust practically written in neon on her face, "Come to think of it, I'm sure I don't want to know."
"Oh, but you will, my dear..." a low chuckle escaped him as he put both hands on the plastic doorway, effectively blocking her way out, "and what you want has nothing to do with it."
****
"You know I'm as eager to find the punks who jumped Yugi and Serenity as you are, bro," grumped a tired, irritated Tristan as he trudged after his best friend, "but come on! A break would be good before we drop of exhaustion."
Joey, who was showing no signs of being even winded despite having walked for two hours straight, scowled over his shoulder, "Do what you want, but I'm not gonna stop 'til I get to the funuke who calls himself their 'leader.' If that means I hafta walk up and down every single street and back alley of Domino to find 'em, then that's what I'm gonna do."
He rubbed the back of his neck and dropped his hand in defeat, sighing heavily, "Fine. We're looking for a warehouse that probably hasn't been used in a while, right?"
"Yeah, that's what I'm thinkin.' What about that one over there?" he nodded at a large, dilapidated building off to their right, "Judging from the look of the place, I'd say it's been deserted for some time."
"Can't hurt, I guess." Tristan shrugged as they started for the dented aluminum entryway, then stopped, frowning, "Hey, what if they're there? We'd be walking right into the middle of them on their own turf. We should try to find another way in, at least."
The blonde gave him a look and gestured to the high, scummy windows, "Be my guest."
He narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms, "Since we've got bigger things worry about right now, I'm going to resist the urge to deck you. For the moment, anyway."
"Gee, I'm so relieved." Joey drawled sarcastically, then grabbed the collar his friend's jacket and dragged him toward the side of the building.
"Hey, easy on the leather, man!" Tristan protested, brushing his hands away to straighten his prized possession meticulously. (A/N: ok, so i don't know just what his prized possession is, but he wears that jacket a lot, so... *shrugs*)
Joey rolled his eyes and put his ear to the cold metal door, muttering in a low voice, "I don't hear anythin.' If they're there, they're passed out drunk or something.'" He eased the door open as silently as he could, just enough so they were able to slip through before shutting it again. The two paused for a moment, their ears tuned for the slightest noise as their eyes adjusted to the drastic change in lighting. A faint rattling issued off to their left and startled them into defensive positions, expecting to be surrounded at any moment. When nothing more happened, they glanced at each other and shrugged, figuring it to be a rat or some other animal rummaging for a meal somewhere among the roughage that littered the majority of the concrete floor. Deciding to investigate anyway, they crept deeper into the darkened wasteland after the noise.
"Yo, Beavis, Butthead, over here." The voice called from the shadows, even as its owner emerged. And yet, though he did so, he still looked as a part of the night as a vampire, only with a tan. Clad entirely in clothing in a deeper-than-midnight that matched his unruly hair, the newcomer leaned against the remains of a robotic car door installer.
"What're you doin' here?" Joey retorted and glared at him, his fists up.
"I might ask the same of you," he answered, a vague accent putting a certain drawl to his words as his dark brown eyes surveyed them calmly, seemingly unconcerned in face of the aggressive stances the other two took.
Tristan eyed the stranger warily, noting that he didn't seem worried about being outnumbered in the least. Could that mean he's got others hiding, surrounding us? He glanced quickly around and returned his gaze, "We're looking for a gang who beat up a friend of ours, and held another friend," he nodded at Joey, "his sister, captive for an unknown amount of time."
"Yeah?" The foreigner raised his brows, interested now, "Now, there's a coincidence. That's why I'm here, too. Are you, by any chance, talking about Yugi Motou?"
The two looked at each other in shock, then back as they demanded in one voice, "How do you know Yugi?"
"Oh, of course, I get it now! You must be Joey and Tristan! I didn't recognize you in this lighting," his entire demeanor changed, the wariness melting away to reveal a huge, kid-like grin as he stuck out his hand, "I'm Daniel Rodriguez, DJ for short. Nice to finally meet you. Sorry about the name-calling thing. I thought you were part of the gang."
Joey tilted his head, a doubtful expression evident on his face as he crossed his arms, Tristan watchfully silent beside him, "S'ok about that, but we've never heard of ya."
DJ gave an exasperated sigh, digging in his back pocket to produce a folded sheet of paper, "Yugi may scalp me for letting you see it, but here, read this."
Tristan took it and read to himself, Joey looking over his shoulder.
~~~~
Hey, DJ,
How are things going in San Antonio? From your last letter, it sounded pretty good, with your having gotten into college and all. That picture you sent of you and your friends goofing off in the dorm room was hilarious! I had no idea you could build a replica of the Roman Colosseum entirely out of popcorn. (How many bags did that take, anyway?) Boy, I wish I could've been there to see it in person. It must've been great!
Things are all right over here, I guess. The gang's basically the same, except we've got a new member now. Remember Serenity, Joey's little sister? I know what you're thinking, "Oh, no, it's Joey Jr!"
Said mop-head scowled moodily at DJ over the top of the letter and got a slightly sheepish grin in return, along with the words, "Keep reading."
Serenity's actually a good bit like Bakura, though. They both keep a lot of what they think and feel inside, preferring to be a spectator among so many "active participants," so to speak. That's how it seems on the surface, at least. Once I got to know her better, I found out she likes a lot of the same things I do! How cool is that? I took her to that garden I showed you a picture of, and she was absolutely wonderful. I hardly had to tell her anything at all; it was like she knew exactly what I meant before I even said. For someone who was nearly blind only a couple months ago, she's pretty observant of her surroundings. She has this quiet understanding about the world that constantly surprises me. I've never met any girl like her. (And, just between you and me, I think Bakura has noticed her as much more than a friend. He'd freak if he had any clue that I know about this, and Joey would go ballistic, so I plan on keeping this little conversation very secret, if you don't mind, DJ.)
Both Tristan's and Joey's brows shot past their hairlines at this.
A couple of things are bothering me, however. Both Serenity and Tea are acting very oddly, especially around each other. I don't know, do you think Tea feels threatened by her? I know she wasn't too fond of Mai at first, either. Is this just a girl thing I should stay out of? But then, how would that explain Tea's attitude even before that? I've sensed a change in her over the past several months, a subtle one, true, but something's different. I hope everything's OK. Her house burnt down not long after Serenity came, and her mom was hurt rather badly. Do you think that has anything to do with it? (Don't worry, Mrs. Gardener's doing fine now, but she was in a coma. I'm just glad she came out of it.)
Well, I'd better go to bed now. Grandpa wants me to open the shop tomorrow while he goes to a convention, so I want to be awake early and set up. Yami will get his way about the "early to bed, early to rise" thing, for once. Maybe he'll stop harping on me about it for a while. Not likely, according to him. Rats. Ah well, talk to you later.
Pals forever,
Yugi
~~~~
"That still doesn't explain how you know him." Tristan commented, looking up from the letter as he handed it back.
DJ chuckled a bit and folded it again, putting it back in his pocket, "No, I guess it doesn't. All right, you want my life story?"
"No, we don't," was the rough answer from just behind him, causing him to whirl around and back up to his new friends as nine shadows oozed out around them, the glint of metal in their hands.
QoH: phew! my longest installation yet lol sure hope ffn takes this, long as it is *crosses fingers* this is just the first of many "packed" chapters, so hang on and get ready for a wild ride! ^_~
funuke- fool/coward (and the italics were actually for emphasis. Joey was rather mad there ^_~)