Guess what? I'm listening to 'Rakuen', the third YuuGiOh end... fourth if you count series 0, A Shadow Game. It's my favorite song... the Noa Arc Rakuen ending made me cry, it was so sad... Noa was so Kawai!
Loki5267: Thanks so much for reviewing! You're my first reviewer, so you get a stuffed neko-Yugi stuffie. I have even more goodies for others who review.
Anyway, enjoy! XD
- - - - – - - - - – - - - - – - - - -
Chapter 1: Delayed Reunion (Continued)
Sometime while the row was going on, all the train passengers had started moving again and she could sense them flee the train, yipping about 'Ghouls'. Shizuka heard some of them calling to each other as we passed them scattering outside the train, yelling about 'rare cards' and saying stuff about the engineer being... dead...
"H-Hiroto, who were those guys? What did they want with me??" Honda didn't reply, just kept fleeing. She felt him make a sharp turn and a jingle sound, as though he had entered a building. She greeted the feel of cool air on her face and the sound of people laughing and arcade games. Only then did Honda reply.
"I don't know who those creeps were, Shizuka, and why they had it in for you specifically I dont know either, but I think those creeps are far away from us by now."
"How are we going to get to Domino now?" Honda heaved a sigh.
"I don't know... I suppose after we've figured out how long to get to Domino I could hail a taxi or something. Just a minute." Honda took his hands off her shoulder. She waited patiently as he collected information from various people. In a few minutes he returned to her.
"Well, it seems that Domino really isn't all that far away. C'mon, I guess we can catch a ride or something. Hitchhike, you know.
"Hiroto, that's not very safe... what if the person who offers us a ride is a bad person?"
"You don't worry your pretty little head about anything, Shizuka, Hiroto Honda will find a way!" Shizuka smiled and said no more about the subject.
Honda and Shizuka ended up adjacent to a local cafe, Honda sticking up his thumb, waiting for a ride. People were going pretty slow so they weren't not being noticed.
"This is just our luck, huh Shizuka? Hey, sorry we have to go to so mach trouble just to travel from place to place." She gave Honda a gentle, Shizuka-type smile.
"It's O.K., Honda-san. Anyway, it's better than it could be. I'm with you." Honda cleared his throat loudly.
"Well, uh, it's nice of you to say that. I mean, of course it's better." Did she detect a little bit of embarrassment in his voice? But she didn't point it out.
"Tristan? How good is Katsuya of a duelist? I mean, you would know, right? You were the one who taught him everything he knows about duel monsters." She smiled at him.
"Uhh, yeah! I do know, and, uh, he's a really awesome duelist. I mean, he did learn from the best, heh, heh... Jonouchi must be really–" Honda was cut short by a shriek from in front of them. Shizuka jumped.
"Honda, what is it?"
I expected Honda to reply, but instead she heard a totally different voice say:
"Honda?! Is that you?" A totally new voice to Shizuka spoke. It was obviously female.
"Mai! Great to see you! Hey, can ya do us a favor? We're being chased by some weirdos, probably gangsters. They want Shizuka here.
"You're Shizuka, Jonouchi's sister." It wasn't a question.
"Yes ma'am. Nice to meet you." The woman laughed a free-sounding laugh that expressed the independece she held inside.
"Ditch the ma'ams and hop in, boys and girls. Katsuya-kun's waiting for you two."
Ten minutes later the woman had aquatinted herself. While riding in her convertible she had informed them that her name was Kujaku Mai, and Shizuka was to call her Mai. She already knew her name, she told me, because she knew Katsuya. Shizuka had noticed she called him by his first name, and asked her why, and she said it was because she always called people by their first names whether that's what they went by or not.
"What about Kaiba?" Honda tested jokingly.
"Him? He's the only exception." Mai grimaced. "I've never seen such a big ego in my life! Unless it's your brother's, Shizuka."
"Mai-san," she asked abruptly. "What do you do?"
"Me? For a job?" She nodded 'yes'. "Well, I don't have a job or anything, but I am a duelist. I've seen your brother duel before, Shizuka. Ding Dong. Katsuya really is a good duelist. In Duelist Kingdom, your brother almost was disqualified because he didn't have the card he needed to compete in the final rounds. He went crying to me, and of course I gave him the darn card. But every step of the way, Shizuka, he was thinking of you. No matter how hard he tries to show his tough-guy routine, he's really got a soft inside. I'm surprised a bonehead like that has such a sweet sister." Shizuka listened happily to her tell Katsuya's adventures for the rest of the ride, even though she couldn't wait for Katsuya to tell them himself. She had a feeling that when she would hear them from him, however, they would be slightly altered in his favor...
"I can't believe I'm back!" Shizuka exclaimed, sighing deeply as she took in the familiar sounds and smells of Domino City. Mai had just dropped them off at the east train station, where they would have ended up if things had gone according to plan... but Shizuka was just happy... no, ecstatic... to be back home. She tilted her head upwards as she took in the cars rushing past, the seagull's cries, the smell of diesel and salt-water... To her all those spelled 'home'. This city was where she and Katsuya grew up. 'I remember playing ball, and watching our favorite looney tunes programs together, and the one day we went to the beach... Mother got angry at us when we neglected to empty the sand out of our sneakers... And he promised to take me back...'
"Well, we'd probably better go call Anzu. I mean, Jonouchi will be wanting to see you as soon as possible..." Just the thought of seeing Katsuya again made her heart as light as a feather. She nodded ecstatically.
"Just a moment," he said. "There's a phone booth there. Just sit on this bench really quick." She leaned back while Honda went sprinting off to make his call, enjoying all the sounds. A car's honking, laughter, the slight smell of saltwater from the beach a mile away against the sounds of Honda talking to Anzu... "Moshi Moshi, Anzu-chan! Shizuka's here!" The memories were nearly intoxicating.
Her quickly-returning memories were unfortunately interrupted by the sound of heavy male breathing and slowly advancing footsteps behind her.
"Who's there?" she called softly. No one answered. Ooh, how quiet they thought they were being... Shizuka listened intently. The heavy male breathing grew nearer. 'Oh great... I don't know what way Honda went and he probably won't get here in time if there is someone there...' But then her thoughts were confirmed by the sound of shoes scraping against gravel, as though someone had stumbled, and a loud curse. Shizuka was on her feet in a split second. There was only one choice: Run for it. She started to feel her way around, trying her best to sprint into the crowds of people in the square.
"YOU BAKAS, OH, GREAT! SHE'S GETTING AWAY!" came an exasperated voice from behind her. This alerted her to the fact that there was someone there, and more than one. She tried desperately to get away by using her advanced senses of hearing and touch, but all to no avail-- she was just too impaired. She tripped and fell, a result of her sightlessness. She struggled to get up, but people kept walking over her, making it an impossible task. Her body ached from various people's shoes trampling her.
"Do you need some help?" An soft, unfamilliar voice near her spoke. Shizuka turned her face up and in the direction of the speech.
"Y- yes, please..." she blindly pulled herself up with the hand that held itself out to her. "Arigatou, Sayonara!" Shizuka proceeded to continue running, but only ended up falling again. There was a chuckle from above her.
"You shouldn't be running like that, when you can't see," the gentle, male voice told her with concern. "Here, where do you want to get to? I'll help you." Shizuka was helped off the ground once again.
"These people are chasing me, and I can't get away, and I can't find Honda again! Help, help!" She was starting to get a bit crazy.
"C'mon, this way. I know this city like the back of my hand." The boy grabbed her arm and started running at amazing speed considering the people crowding around them.
"Where did you last see your friend? Uh, I mean... do you know where your friend was last?"
"Uhm... the phone booth by the station. I was on the bench." Mai had dropped them off there on Honda's request.
"So they caught you unsuspecting, eh? Dirty idiots... probably gangsters." Shizuka strained her ears and her hyper-sensitive hearing picked up familiar voices-- not ones she particularly wanted to hear. She strained some more. These were among some of the words she heard.
'Find', 'girl', 'master', not to mention assorted articles and swear words. After taking a few deep breaths to sAnzudy herself, she heard the dreaded words:
"THERE SHE IS!"
"Hurry, hurry, they're coming!" she begged as the they weaved around what seemed to be the whole city in one place.
They ran. And for very, very good reason. The men were faster than either of them, being full grown men, and Shizuka could tell by the boy's voice that he was only about as old as her. Shizuka could hear them advancing on them.
"They're coming, I can hear them... they're directly behind us. Just let me go, they might not hurt you." Shizuka bowed her head.
"What?!" the boy was dumbfounded. "Either you're crazy or your self esteem is lower than my friend's dueling level. C'mon." Shizuka would have, but at that moment a hand wrapped itself around her arm and jerked her out of her friend's grasp.
"Hey, where are you?!" she heard her friend yell, but she was being pulled into the river of people.
"Lemme go you-" Shizuka struggled as the man grabbed her wrists and twisted them behind her back. 'Okay, I am SERIOUSLY getting angry, and Kawai Shizuka doesn't get angry. This guy just won't give up!' On a sudden impulse, Shizuka lifted her leg and kicked backwards as hard as she could. Her foot connected with something... soft. And probably vulnerable, because the man let go of her instantly, leaving her totally free to make a break for it. But now she had other problems; she had never asked for the boy's name.
"Where are you?" she called out in a desperate hope he would recognize her voice. "Where are you?!" She listened for a reply.
"I'm here! I'm here!" It could have been just anyone, but she took a chance and made her way towards the voice. She felt a familiar hand grab her arm.
"There you are, daijoubu?"
"Yeah, fine. Hurry, we gotta get back to Honda!"
After a few moments of weaving through people and buildings that Shizuka couldn't see, the boy found the station.
"Here, here it is!" he yelled to her over the noise. She felt them pause.
"He's wearing black clothes and has brown shark-fin hair."
"Oh, I think I see-"
"HEY, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH Shizuka?!"
"Oh, I was just..."
"DON'T GIMME THE EXCUSES, BUDDY--..." There was a very pregnant pause of Honda's yelling before he finally spoke. "B...Bakura? Is that you?" Another pause.
"Honda?! Is that you?" The boy asked in amazement.
"Yeah! Hey Bakura! Woah, I can't believe it's you!" The air of the conversation had changed abruptly, and Shizuka much preferred it this way.
"How's the dueling going?" Honda asked jovially.
"Very, very well. I can't wait for this tournament, I might consider participating."
"That's great!.......But.... would you mind explaining something to me?" Honda inquired.
"Of course. What is it?"
"Why were you... uh... fondling Shizuka like that?" Shizuka almost giggled at the surprise and embarrassment in the other boy's voice.
"I wasn't fondling! I was helping her run away from crazed, perverted gang members!"
"Oh, riiiiiiight," Honda drawled sarcastically. "Riiiiight. Convenient time for gang members to come along, when my back is turned and I'm calling Anzu."
"I'm telling the truth!" Ryou pouted.
"Honda," Shizuka cut in. "Remember the weird guys who hijacked the train and almost kidnapped me? He... Bakura-san... helped me run away and get back to you."
"B-but... you were on the bench..."
"Yeah, until they nearly took me." Honda shook his head in amazed disbelief.
"All this whole my back was turned..." he said incredulously. "They're really very clever, whoever they are...."
"Uhm, by the way," Bakura remarked tentatively. "Y... you said you called Anzu? How's she doing?" Shizuka could hear the amused tone of Honda's voice and knew he was smirking.
"Oh she's great, Bakura... you know, she misses you." At this, SHizuka could almost feel the cherry-red blush of Bakura's cheeks in his voice.
"Sh... she does? Really?" Bakura sounded almost... hopeful. Shizuka took a mental note of this; more to gossip about with Anzu. She turned to the embarrased boy.
"Arigatou, Bakura-san... if I may call you that."
"That's fine. Your name is Shizuka, I presume?"
"Kawai Shizuka, . Arigatou, I owe you alot, you know."
"Forget it, Shizuka-chan. Anyone else would have done the same--"
"But they didn't" Shizuka butted in. "And you did. I owe you." Bakura sighed in defeat.
"Okay, okay. You can pay your debt by saying hello to Anzu for me, okay?... Err... and Yuugi-kun and Jonouchi."
"Can do. Ja ne, Bakura-san!" Shizuka waved. She heard Honda sigh exasperatedly.
"Anzu told me that she and Yugi are shopping on the other side of town. C'mon, if we hurry we can catch them at Barnes and Noble... darn American stores...
- - - - – - - - - – - - - - – - - - -
City buses in Domino are not pleasant. For one thing, lots of weirdos seem to like carching rides on them. There is never any leg room, and all the seats are always taken. The result of this was that Shizuka and Honda had to ride standing up, gripping the cold metal poles that always got on the way on buses. Honda kept a protective hand on her waist, and it was making Shizuka infinitely nervous. 'Thank God it's only a five minute ride,' she thought as the bus wheels screeched in a sharp turn. She was still extremely excited to be back, but the day's events had exhausted her, which made it hard for her to be cheering.
Another inconvenience of Domino city buses is that when the destination is finally reached, every passenger wants to be the first to get off. This bus was just the same. As soon as the doors opened, everyone (with the exception of old people) seemed to leap up and rush for the door. Shizuka was lost in the groups, being borne over and out of the door by the crowding people.
Shizuka could feel that the west square was just as crowded as the east one, the one by the station. She tried to make her way"Honda?" she called nervously. When there was no repsonse, she called out louder. "Honda?! Honda?!" 'These crowds are really starting to annoy me... it's so much more crowded than when I was last here... so, so long ago. I can tell...' The sounds of laughter, whistles, cars and a helicopter drowned out her sense of hearing.
"Honda where are you?" but her screaming was to no avail. She was lost in her own city, and this time she had no one to help her.
Her sixth sense seemed to kick in about then. It guided her a few steps to the left, and her outstreched hands closed on cool metal. She gripped what seemed to be a telephone pole with her life as she considered all possibilities.
Here she was, lost in Domino, blind and alone with no idea of her location.
'Wait... My cell!' she dug around in her pocket until she brushed the smooth, bumpy plastic of her cell phone.
"Score!" she cheered aloud as she slipped it out of her pocket and started dialing her father's home phone-- then hesitated as old memories re-surfaced.
FLASHBACK
"You're no good fur anything!" A man's slurred voice was screaming, screaming at her brother. Katsuya was standing protectively in front of his sister, but Shizuka could feel him trembling. "You... you..." His face was red with fury as he lifted a huge fist and knocked his son across the room.
"KATSUYA!" Shizuka screamed as tears started to spill.
"And youu... youu can jusht SHUT UP!!" The large man raised his fist again, but the tiny girl was already at her brother's side and helping him up.
"Come on, let's go!" Katsuya grabbed his sister's hand and sprinted for the door.
"Get back here ya lil--" but the two were already out the door and running along the rainy sidewalks.
"I'll never let you come here again," he whispered to his sister. "I didn't expect father would have so much to drink... this is worse than ever..." he buried his face in the small girl's red hair. "Never..." Shizuka stared up at him with round olive eyes.
"Katsuya, if you don't go back now... father will... he'll--"
"No, he won't. Don't worry, okay? I'm just taking you home."
"...O-kay... as long as you'll be okay."
"I will be."
END FLASHBACK
'Maybe calling home isn't such a good idea... and I don't know if Katsuya and Honda have a cell or not... Wait, do I have Anzu's number? No... unfortunately, she always calls me...' Shizuka sighed in defeat. Her panic had long since subsided, however, and she figured Honda would keep searching for her.
The choppy sound of a descending helicopter penetrated Shizuka's thoughts. She strained her ears.
People started to scream and sprint past her, all in the same direction, she could feel them.
'Vr-r-r-r-r-r!" The helicopter's roar was becoming louder.. She tried to run, but the crowd kept pushing her back, and she couldn't see to push past them. The crowd pushed her back, back towards the now-deafening helicopter. The wind from the propellers was kicking up random debris and driving it into her skin. Her outstretched arm could not shield her from every assault, however; this proven when two familiar-feeling men grabbed her.
"Hah! We gotcha, ya lil imp!"
"Promotion heaven, here I come!"
'Oh my gosh... not them again..!' panicked for the third time, Shizuka was dragged to the copter.
"Honda!" she screamed to the only person she could think of. "HONDA" Tears welled up in her olive orbs, a thing that felt strange and alien to her recently repaired eyes.
"Let Master Malik hear you cry," one of the men scoffed. "It won't save you, little girl." Shizuka didn't know or care right then what the two were talking about. All she cared about was the horrible truth; she was being kidnapped, being dragged aboard a helicopter with an unknown destination and unknown people, and was blind and totally defenseless. She just prayed that she would exit this helicopter the same way she arrived; Unharmed.
If she even left it at all.
- - - - – - - - - – - - - - – - - - -
Ooh, another cliffie. Sorry about Shizuka getting kidnapped so much, I would have left the second (out of three) out, but that was the only way Ryou could be introduced to the story with impact... coming up with good plots can be a pain sometimes... the next chapter should be up much sooner than this one was... I intend to complete this fanfic.
Really, I promise this fanfic will get a lot better, not to mention funnier. If you want that to come faster, please R&R&R! (Read, Relish and Review). Ja ne!
