Chapter 5: Do you recognize me, Katsuya?

"For letting him… kill you…"

Jounochi's heart stopped in his chest. Kill…? Did that mean that the Pharaoh was… dead?

"Yuugi," Jounochi whispered softly. Yuugi did not reply; he was fast asleep, the tear dropping off his chin. Jounochi's mind reeled; could he have lost one of his dearest friends and not even have known?

At that point, his cell phone rang loudly. Jounochi winced upon hearing it, fearing it would wake his sleeping friend. He rushed out into the hallway and flipped the lid to his phone, his voice shaking beyond his control.

"H-h-hello?"

"Jounochi?" It was Otogi. "We've got nothin' out here. No one knows anything about Yuugi not wearing the puzzle, and Kaiba spat out that Yuugi's duel disk tracker really has been off for weeks. You were right; something's up."

"That ain't all, Otogi." He breathed. He replayed what Yuugi had said, voice trembling sharply. "Whaddaya think?"

Silence.

"Hello? Otogi? Hello!"

Only silence. The line was dead.

Jounochi felt a shiver run down his spine; this was beginning to majorly weird him out. He sat down hard in the center of the hallway.

What had happened to the Pharaoh? He pushed all emotion from his mind and tried to think logically. The blood on the photographs could have been Yuugi's or the Pharaoh's, and his death would explain the hacking away of the puzzle. But who had dismembered it so? Yuugi, possibly, in grief or anger… or maybe the stranger of which Yuugi had spoken, the one who killed Yami no Yuugi. But who had enough power to kill such an amazing Pharaoh? Who was great enough to outdo Yami no Yuugi, most audacious leader of ancient Egypt?

'Yami no Yuugi…' Jounochi thought brokenly, letting his eyes burn with unshed tears. The grief that struck his heart told him that his friend was indeed dead, and it hurt so, so horribly. If it hurt him this bad, it must hurt Yuugi a thousand times worse. 'Gomen nasai, Yami no Yuugi… Yuugi… Gomen nasai...'

A slight noise from down the stairs startled Jounochi out of his pain and rue. He stood attentively, approaching the banister gingerly. A dark, violet shadow was covering the floor at the foot of the stairs, and creeping up toward him. Jounochi swallowed hard; whatever had killed the Pharaoh knew what he had found out, and he was about to enter the nightmare of his life.


Yuugi sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

He had surprisingly slept so soundly that he almost felt guilty for it, until he felt the sharp stab of pain in his back.

'Mou hitori no boku…'

A scream interrupted his thoughts; he leaped from bed and raced for the stairs, ignoring the pain that ripped across his spine.

Things went hazy as Yuugi stumbled down the stairs; visions blurred into violet shadows, distorting his sight. But the scream rang in his ears, shocking him to the core.

'Mou hitori no boku!' he thought woozily. 'I have to help him… I have to help mou hitori no boku…'

'I can't let him down again.'

Stumbling through the memory that he had trapped himself in, Yuugi lurched from the stairs and ran for the one room that disclosed every secret; the one place that held every clandestine that begged to be breathed unto just one caring ear. Tonight, someone would hear him. Tonight, someone would know the truth.


Jounochi's eyes were dilated with horror. His breath came in short gasps, the pain of shock ripping through his chest. This couldn't be. He stared at the shadow of the lone silhouette, back pressed against the darkroom wall. A cold, nauseating laugh set Jounochi's heart afire.

"I wondered if you'd recognize me, Katsuya…" the man snickered. And Jounochi, to his terror, realized that indeed he did.

The long, pointed locks of white hair, the slightest curl at the twist of his lips, the tone, the laugh, those shattering, unfeeling, merciless russet eyes. The man, the sick, sadistic, twisted being before him, the same one that had killed Yami no Yuugi…

… Was someone he had thought to be his friend.


A/N: Well, do you like? I certainly hope so, but if not, constructive criticism is always accepted. I also apologize for all typos, and I've found a few, trust me.

Thanks to zoids-fanatic, for uploading my story for me, since I was a bad little girl and got my sorry ass grounded ;

Please feel free to drop me a line with any questions and please review with any comments. Now, who is this stranger? I've given ample clues, even a physical description. If you don't know, then I'm unimpressed, or I simply suck at writing. Will Yuugi make it to Jounochi in time, or is he trapped in the memory of saving someone already eternally lost?

Thanks for reading; more soon

Raeluvs