Violets and Emeralds
So, chapter 2 now, huh? Yeah…
I like writing in this POV. I don't care whether or not it really sounds like Otogi-kun, but it's fun. With Seto, everything has to be serious, except for bugging Jounouchi. Damn, Seto needs a life. With Otogi, you get to add a sense of vanity and pride that I swear is unique to him alone. Heheheh…
And again I remark: SPOILERS!
Chapter 2Change
I was lying in my bed that night, thinking. It was dark outside, except for the stars and a single cruise boat. I was stewing; you know, when you spin the same thoughts over and over in your mind because you can't just figure them out. People usually do this either to make themselves feel bad or when they can't sleep and can't think of more than a couple of things to think about. I hate insomnia.
The convention was technically not tomorrow—err, today once I see the clock—but the day after. But when I got up in the morning, I would go check the systems and things that I had to do with in the convention. I would check my demo time and be sure that the field that Kaiba Corp. set up worked properly. No doubt it did, or heads would roll.
I wonder, would the room feel as vast and lonely if there was someone sleeping in the other bed? Possibly, but it would give the comfort of knowing someone else was there. Maybe I bragged too soon on having the room to myself.
The nighttime can bring out either the best, or the worst in people. For some people, it brings them energy and inspiration. For me, however, it brings me inspiration, yes, but also depression and solitude.
I think it brings out the worst in me.
Oh well, time to try to sleep.
Morning. It was bright, despite that the sun was on the other side of the hotel. As I stood, stretched and walked to the window, taking a look out of the curtained window.
The west side of the Nile was left to the dead, as I remembered one of my high school friends telling me once. She glomped onto me, figuratively speaking, after learning that I was Japanese. But her passion was Egypt and she knew little facts and tidbits. The east of the Nile was the side of life because that it where Ra rose to give life to the world, and then died in the west. When she heard I was going to Egypt, I was forced to promise to bring her some souvenirs (after convincing her that she could not stow away in my suitcase… she really would, too). She also made me promise if I went back to Japan to buy her something. Hell, why not. Make a girl happy because their wrath is something to tremble in awe and fear at.
No, I am not going out with her. Ew, gross thought.
Actually, she also told me call her. But not now, after breakfast or something. Or I could email her. That would be a lot easier and cost less.
What time is it at home, anyway?
But now, breakfast. Food sounded really good right now, and why deny the hunger?
I met Bakura-kun on the way out.
"Ohayou." I greeted with a small wave.
"Ohayou gozaimasu." He did the same.
"So, where's Kaiba-kun and Mokuba-kun?"
His eyes laughed as he smiled. "Mokuba is still asleep and Seto doesn't want breakfast."
"Ah," I nodded, "shall we go?"
We walked in mostly silence because even back then Bakura-kun and I didn't talk to each other often. That was, until he broke the silence.
"Otogi-kun, were you okay yesterday?"
"Yeah." I nodded. "I just realized how much I missed by going to America. College, you and Kaiba-kun, Shizuka-chan learning to drive… and I'm sure one hell of a lot more."
Bakura-kun laughed. "She drives better than Jounouchi-kun."
"I would hope… and better than Mai-san, I can hope as well."
"I've never been in a car with Mai-san." He commented.
"Horrible, horrible memories." I shook my head.
Talking, even from this small amount of time, made me feel better. The air was just so comfortable around this person that I couldn't help but to feel good. Is this what Kaiba-kun felt? I mean, I didn't feel complete or anything, so I know there was no romance here, but it's close enough. I could just imagine the empathetic waves billowing off of him, and pretty soon, I couldn't help but to laugh as well.
Insert mental sigh. Now if only I could find a person who made me feel completely healed.
"You're feeling better at least." We exited the elevator and walked into the lobby.
"Yeah." I grinned. "Arigatou, Bakura-kun."
He blushed. "What did I do?"
"Talked."
He smiled. He really is pretty when he smiles. I couldn't help but grin back.
There was no continental breakfast like at cheaper hotels, but there was a bakery shop across the street. We continued conversation there and back, mostly about my life in America. He found the American high school system interesting. So did I when I first came. I mean, four years of high school? Then again, elementary for us was through sixth grade while for most American public schools it was through fifth. Then for Intermediate, the Japanese was seventh through ninth and the American's had sixth through eighth. And in high school, tenth through twelfth and ninth through twelfth, respectively. I had also bought an American guidebook of Egypt that was written the left-to-right way, and he stared at it as we waited in line.
He flipped it open to a random part. "Seto could read this, I bet."
Yeah, he probably could. But that just made me remember my conversation with Jounouchi-kun last night. "Bakura-kun, are you happy? With Kaiba-kun, I mean."
He looked at me in a confused way. "Yeah." He smiled again. "It's because of Jounouchi-kun, isn't it? He worries a lot, but everything's fine." He had this seemingly permanent pinkish blush on his cheeks.
It was at this point of time that Jounouchi-kun and Yuugi-kun came in. The former gave a huge yawn. Speak of the devil.
"Ohayou." Yuugi-kun greeted, as did Jounouchi-kun after finishing his yawn. We had just gotten our orders and paid and were ready to leave. Yuugi-kun reminded us that we needed to be at the convention hall by ten. It was eight now and the convention was in the hotel, so no worries.
"Jaa." We waved, leaving them. I had no intention of standing in the heat to wait for them, and neither did Bakura-kun, obviously.
I couldn't help but notice how out of place we looked. Bakura-kun more, but still. There were people fully covered in Arabic robes with tan skin and black hair, while there's also us, people who were pale for Asians. Heck, we both look white, let alone Jounouchi-kun, who's blond as they come. In fact, the only person who looks full Asian among us is Mokuba-kun. I felt the eyes staring at me.
The ride on the elevator seemed so much shorter back up to the rooms for some reason. It's always like that, though. Before I knew it, I was saying goodbye to Bakura-kun as I reached my room and closed the door behind me.
Now the room seemed desolate, instead of the luxurious grandness that it previously held. Ah well, "C'est la vie". Yes, Kaiba-kun, that is French. You know what I think about intense heat? No me gusta. Ah, that's Spanish. Thank you Luxor, I'll be here all weekend!
Oh, the heat… my hair… shower after food.
At least it's dry heat.
I had a bagel. Two, actually, but who's counting?
After eating, I had an hour and a half before having to be there, so I took a shower and made sure to take extra time on my poor, heat-damaged hair. There is a certain type of shampoo that you can buy in America that reacts to heat to make your hair more conditioned or something, but I have Paul Mitchell, so leave me alone. Separate shampoo and conditioner too, because that two-in-one thing bothers me a lot.
Brush… some hairspray, and comb. Hair tie… there it is. Where's my headband? Oh yeah. There. Clothes are there. And finally, my earring. I love that earring.
The bits of random thoughts processes signified parts of my morning routine. That, plus the shower takes about an hour, so half an hour more!
What's on TV?
I ended up stopping on some news channel. I could not understand a word that they were saying, but it was entertaining. It was like that time before I was fluent in English that I sat down and watched some child's show with a purple dinosaur. The show itself was really degrading for me to watch, but it was entertaining to watch them speak in English and sing and stuff. I laughed.
Finally, right at ten till the hour, there was a knock on my door. I switched off the TV and made sure I left a tip for room cleaning as I opened the door. Everyone was standing out there, waiting for me.
"Does anyone here know any Arabic at all?" I asked as the first thing I said that morning. Pre-breakfast doesn't count. The morning doesn't start until you've eaten something. Everyone answered no, except Kaiba-kun, who no doubt in my mind, knew every language on the planet, dead or otherwise. "Good, because that way everyone would be as entertained with the news channel as I was, except for Kaiba-kun, who doesn't find anything amusing!" I felt good after that. Never mind that the CEO glared at me, it still felt good.
After my egotistical show, we made our way to the convention halls. The set-up reminded me of an anime convention that the same friend dragged me to last year. The one that wasn't for eighteen and up females in San Francisco… I can't believe she tried to drag me to that…
Kaiba-kun and I were both whisked away by people to check the DM/DDM arena. I specifically heard Kaiba-kun tell Mokuba-kun to not let Yuugi-kun and Jounouchi-kun break anything.
I tested the DDM form of the arena with my own set. The holograms worked, as did the dice dispenser on both sides. The information screens worked and had all of the updated memory, which had been by biggest worry, really. Everything was perfect and ready for the demo tomorrow. I must hand it to Kaiba Corp., they have wonderful technicians.
Time had flown quicker than I thought. It was around eleven when Kaiba-kun and I finished. He had to test the DM version, which of course worked.
"Does the arena work for your purposes?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Good." He continued walking, not saying anything else. Oh well.
We met with Yuugi-tachi in the area where they were setting up advertisements and stuff.
"I had to keep Jounouchi-kun from screwing up some of the replacement hologram projectors." Mokuba-kun reported, an embarrassed smile on his face.
"I wasn't going to break it!" Jounouchi-kun stood.
"Minna…" Yuugi-kun sighed.
"Make inu."
"Teme!"
Insert more lunging and death threats.
"Hey, it's almost lunchtime." Bakura-kun pointed out, making at least Jounouchi forget everything.
"Where is there to go?" The blond asked.
"Mm… probably somewhere cheap." Yuugi-kun suggested. Kaiba-kun gave an almost invisible shudder.
"Actually, I may take a nap." Bakura-kun said suddenly. "I'm a little tired, why don't you go ahead? I'll get something to eat later."
Kaiba-kun looked at him. "I'll stay."
Mokuba looked up at Bakura-kun as well. "Maybe I should t-"
"Iya…" Bakura-kun shook his head. "You go on with them." He nodded.
"Oh, okay." Mokuba nodded, catching something. Something tells me that Kaiba-kun's delicate ego was indeed being hurt by our presence, and Bakura-kun could catch that and work accordingly.
"Yeah, why don't we do that?" I grinned and rested an arm on Mokuba's head. He wasn't too terribly shorter than me (perfect armrest height); he'd be tall for sure, but not quite so tall as his brother. "Come on, kid."
"Don't call me 'kid'." He glared at me.
I laughed. It was a hearty laugh. They were again staring at me as if I was insane. I think we've already established that I was, thank you very much!
We walked to the McDonald's this time. We really are fueling their world power! And let's not forget Starbucks—but no, they are gods. I owe so many finished term papers to them.
In all truth, I am a little tired of synthetic meats. I live in America, I mean. I'm a college student who lives in America. Many of the dorm-dwellers in my classes have plans for pizza every night! And the fast food restaurants nearby are damn loaded, I swear.
I ate chicken. I like chicken. I ate half my French fries and dropped the rest in front of Jounouchi-kun, who devoured them. Maybe this is another reason why Kaiba-kun doesn't eat with us. The native people looked scared.
Why are they called French fries anyway? They're an American food, made in America, I believe. So why French? Why not German or Australian… or… Brazilian or… Czechoslovakian? Oh! That's Czech Republican, excuse me.
Kaiba-kun and Bakura-kun are probably ordering room service. That sounds a lot better, now I think about it. Hell, I can afford it!
I let my eyes wander to the people who weren't scared of us strange Japanese people. They were all so normal. I wonder how much these people were affected by the ever-increasing problems of their government and that of their neighbors. I know nothing of politics, so I don't know how Egypt is involved with the past few decades' events. But I do know that this country, the cultures of this land are strong. The country is geographically defended by seas and deserts, granted, but just the will power of these peoples also stood out historically. I don't just mean the Arabic people, I also mean the ancient Egyptians that lived here long ago.
The earliest Roman settlements were built somewhere in the eighth or ninth centuries BC and the empire fell in somewhere around 400 AD. That's… a little over a millennia of settlement. Egypt, on the other hand, was joined under one ruler somewhere around 3,000 BC by the first pharaoh of the Early Dynasty, whose name I can't remember. I keep wanting to say the cow guy from Greek mythology. Over the next few thousand years, Egypt became the secret master of technology and medicines, even to the point of discovering the medicines that the Greek/Roman/whatever guy Hippocrites used a few thousand years later. The pyramids are memoirs of their technology and mathematical abilities. After a few thousand years, political chaos started and other countries moved in for the kill. Persia ended up controlling Egypt for a while. Then, for a little while, Egyptian pharaohs regained control, only to be taken over by Persians again before Alexander the Great took over.
The point is, for over 3,000 years, the Egyptians had the power to match the Romans in their prime in strength. Ramses II proved that in his time as the war hero of ancient Egypt. He had over ninety kids, by the way. Guy sure was busy—lucky little bastard.
I'm sorry; I had to help the same friend I keep talking about study for a final on ancient Egypt. It sort of held.
Back to what was actually going on.
The people out there, their heritage was tough. Many of them had families who emigrated from other countries, but I'm willing to bet that some of them had ties to the early peoples. Survival was in their veins, no matter how fragile they seemed out there.
I mentally laughed. Where the hell did all of these thoughts come from? Maybe I suffer from ADD. It wouldn't surprise me, really. Why don't I take an online quiz? They have those for almost everything now.
It was then that I saw something that made my heart jump. There was a head of blond hair walking outside the windows. Blond isn't too strange around here with this convention going on, but he stuck out because it contrasted his dark skin.
I looked at my friends. None of them noticed what I was looking at. They were too into their conversations.
"Hey guys," I stood, "I just realized that I need to do something now. I'll see you guys later, okay?" With that said, I half darted out the door after the figure I had just seen. Am I sure it wasn't just a phantom teasing me? Why am I running? Why does it really matter? After all, I hate this guy.
Correction, I hated this guy. Now we're all just uneasy around him.
Wow, I sound like a conforming sheep, feeling whatever the hell it is that Yuugi-tachi feels and not my own opinion. Bah…
Then again, I was there, and he was kind of mean… and cruel, sadistic, and insert-other-synonyms here. That does tend to leave a first icky impression on people.
Then why am I running after the person that I think is him? I'm not even sure if it really is him.
The person I was chasing stopped finally so that I could see him. Blond hair covered violet eyes as I saw his profile looking at a poster for the convention with an amused smile. He still donned his midriff-showing violet shirt and the same pants. He seemed to consider something as I slowed down finally, out of breath.
"Ishtar Malik-kun?" I asked.
He looked at me, surprised. After a few moments, he replied. "Ah, I remember you! You're one of Yuugi-kun's friends…" He blushed nervously. "I don't remember your name, I'm afraid."
"Otogi Ryuuji." I held out my hand. He's a little taller than me. I believe I hit my full height at 179 cm while he grew a little more. [1]
"Nice to meet you formally, Otogi-kun." We shook hands. His clasp was warm and firm, his hands a little calloused, but not overly so. His Japanese was flawless, as it had been back then. "Are you here for the convention?" He asked, indicating the poster.
"Un." I nodded. "I'm here to advertise and show off my DDM game."
"Ah, yes." He nodded. "I remember reading about that. It looks like an interesting game." Why were we speaking so casually when we were supposed to be enemies of war, in a sense? "You designed it, hm?"
"Yeah, and I'm running a demo at 11:00 AM tomorrow in the convention hall." I commented.
He answered with a smile. "I'll be there." He paused. "Is Yuugi-kun here as well?"
"Yeah." I nodded. He seemed a little off now and not quite the pleasant, I suppose I could call him, person that I had been talking to.
"I really am sorry for all of that." He shook his head. "I nearly got all of you killed."
I forced a good-natured grin up. "No irreversible harm done. And come now, they were perfectly fine with you right before, well…" I looked off to the side, "right before the entire thing where you all lost the Sennen Items."
"I'm not really complaining about their loss, unlike Yuugi-kun, and I imagine even Bakura-kun." He was right about that. They had both gone into pits of depression after that entire ordeal. "The absence of the Items means that I can be a normal teenager for the first time, and not just a Tomb Keeper."
I nodded slowly. "It must be nice." He nodded as well. "How are Isis-san and Rishid-san?"
"Nee-chan works with the Cairo museum, as you knew from the exhibit back then, and Rishid was hired as well. I'm usually left at home alone while they work in Cairo or wherever it is that they're sent."
More nodding. "That sounds lonely, though. But what about you? What have you been doing?"
He looked a little taken aback. "Well, I finished high school and, well, take care of the place. We bought an actual house now not too far from here. It's kinda like my house, since they're gone a lot." His watch beeped. "Ah, I have to go. I'm supposed to be cleaning; they're coming home this evening. I need to finish." He turned and took a step, but then stopped. "It was nice talking to you." He looked back over his shoulder at me.
"Same to you." I called, waving slightly. "See you tomorrow at the convention?"
"Yeah." He affirmed, taking off at a sprint.
It surprises me how well I could talk to him. I didn't lie when I said that during the end of our whole Sennen Item quest, both groups got along, but something seemed unsettled now between them all. I guess the past does matter.
I like living in the present. The past is okay for experience, and the future is something to look forward to, but I think one should live every day as if there won't be another. Not to some huge extreme, like streaking in public or some other equally embarrassing act, but just be sure that no day is regretted.
Of course, I've been living a lot of memory lately, so I guess I may be hypocritical. I usually try not to think of the past.
But I guess to the normal populace, my way of life isn't an option. They have to dwell, unless necessity calls, as did that last venture. Maybe that's why I can converse freely, openly, with someone who hurt the others. People deserve chances, especially concerning circumstances. I must fully admit that now that the whole Tomb Keeper thing has been lifted off of his shoulders, Malik seems a lot more human. He seems like a normal teenager, worrying about chores and life rather than some far off goal of ridding his family of a horrible fate.
Maybe some people really do change, and don't just get older.
I'm glad I ran after him now.
Notes and Translations:
Ohayou (gozaimasu): 'Good morning', the 'gozaimasu' is added in for politeness or intensity.
Arigatou: 'Thank you'. Once again, 'gozaimasu' can be added on for politeness or intensity (as in, thank you very much!).
Jaa: Basically 'see you later' as I've seen it used.
Minna: Everyone
Teme: Um…. A way of saying 'you' that's actually more like saying 'you bastard.' Okay, this is just how I've seen it used—In really insulting way of saying, 'you'. I don't know technical definitions.
Iya: Informal way of saying 'no'.
Nee-chan: Shortened version of Onee-chan, which is an informal and closer way of saying "sister." It basically works like Nii-chan and Nii-sama. You can call a sister that you hold in reverence Nee-sama, if you like.
[1] Otogi's height is 179 cm, or approximately 5'10". Malik's height was about… 5'11", I believe. I know these heights, damn it! They're written on my door!