TL: I lost the intro to this chapter too, so I just re-wrote it. I actually like this better.
…
Jou: Aren't you going to explain your long hiatus?
TL: Oh, right. Ahem: Christmas. PS2. New Year's. Coming back to school. Midterms. Flu. In that order. But I now am ready to write and will present you with extra chapters. So rejoice and be glad.
Jou: And she still doesn't own Yugioh, though oh how she would like to.
A bell jangled deep within the Kame game shop. A sullen figure, wrestling with a squirming bundle in his arms, approached the counter. Sugoroku looked up and his jaw immediately dropped.
"Is that—"
"Yes. Sorry, Mutou-san, but it seems that while under my supervision your grandson has turned into a dog." Yuugi wriggled from his yami's arms and leapt onto the counter, sniffing all available surfaces and panting joyfully. "I have a feeling it was that ancient pendant you entrusted him with. Funny, I haven't seen it since I found Yuugi this way."
Sugoroku emitted a forlorn sigh. "I had a feeling something like this would happen. Yuugi does seem to be a target for these things. Well, take him upstairs and I'll find something he can eat."
While Sugoroku bustled around in the kitchen, Yami attempted to recollect Yuugi. The dog, however, remained obstinately free. Yami ended up with his chin on the floor diving after his canine hikari, Yuugi triumphantly strutting towards the stairs of his own free will.
"Was he this defiant when he was human?" Yami wondered quietly to himself, following Yuugi up the stairs.
So, Yuugi…is a dog. This will cause problems. Problems like absence from school due to the fact that he is not allowed on the premises. Problems like my lack of knowledge of the language of canines. Yuugi interrupted his dark side's thoughts by licking the pharaoh's hand. "Aibou… Why couldn't you have better taste in accessories?" The dog tucked his head under Yami's fingers. Yami sat on Yuugi's bed, absent-mindedly petting the owner and mulling over possible solutions to the multiple obstacles at hand. Yuugi remained blissfully canine, and therefore innocent—while also managing to make Yami's job of thinking seriously very difficult.
The phone rang somewhere in the house. Yami had to check himself before he told Yuugi to get it (he had long since figured out the modern device and its purpose). Sugoroku retrieved it instead. One could always tell, because he was slightly short of hearing and had a tendency to shout into the receiver. Yami pitied the caller. He began to pity himself as well when Sugoroku hollered, "You want to talk to Yuugi?" Yami shut his eyes and concentrated. If he could hear Yuugi's voice in his memory so clearly, perhaps… "I'll get him. Yami? Miss Mazaki needs to ask Yuugi a question. What do we do?"
"We do just this," Yami muttered under his breath, and cleared his throat. "I'm coming!" he tried, and smiled triumphantly. He could pass for Yuugi! What a feat. He nudged the real Yuugi off his lap—and tried not to think about it too much—and made his way to the kitchen. Sugoroku handed him the phone, reminded him with hand signals which end one talked into, and left the room. Yami positioned the phone. "Uh, moshimoshi?" He grimaced: his throat was already getting sore with the straining falsetto. Make this quick, he prayed.
"Hey, Yuugi! It's Anzu." Yami could hear her mad grin. "If you're free this weekend, I thought you might like to go to the water park with me again."
Yami faltered. "Uh…I think…I'm busy…" He smacked himself mentally, because not only was that the worst excuse he had ever heard, he had forgotten to mask his voice.
"Oh. Well, all right, maybe sometime later. Hope your cold goes away. Bye-bye!" There was a click and Yami was released. Cold? Well, thanks for making up an excuse for me. Yami breathed deeply, and inwardly throttled himself again. He should have said Yuugi couldn't come to the phone! Why hadn't he thought of that?
He had a feeling it had to do with having in his lap at the time.
Oh dear, this was getting out of hand.
TL: Hee, Yami sounds vaguely like an old English bookseller. CoughAziraphalecough. And I still like my traditional breaks. Read on, my lovelies.
