Disclaimer: Last time, it doesn't help much anyways.

Entry 13

The entrance must to have been sealed because it hasn't opened for days now. Strange. There probably isn't a lock on a door so ancient, at least not the last time I checked, and I can't imagine how he'd seal it if he could. What's going on? Why haven't you come out?

I guess it started a few days ago, six to be exact. We've never fought (now that I've redefined "fought" for us I'm not so sure what it means anymore) and things seem to have been fine (as fine as it could be....I suppose) with him, so why would he suddenly disappear on me? No pun intended.

Stranger yet, why am I even worried (no wait, not worried, um..... anxious, no wait concerned, nervous, okay fine, worried) in the first place? Not long ago, and I think still even now, I dreaded every second with him knowing at any given moment I could black out and wake up to find I've mass murdered an office building's worth of innocent people. Even waking up each day was a pain in the backside.

Of course, everything ties in with each other in one way or another so this whole concerned thing is just another point of his proven to be blatantly true. Yami, hikari, dark and light, two halves of a whole, connected through mind.... Yady-yady-yada.... connected souls, minds, spirits .....blah, blah, blah ....... magic this, shadow that. My, he's done quite a good job at embossing all that stuff into my head. So well, in fact, I could recite it like a monologue in my sleep.

And no, I'm not bothering to deny it anymore because it makes it all the more humiliating every time he points out the fact that I'm wrong. And every time I do try to defend my case, I know from the start that I am wrong. All well, everyone has their pride, it's too bad that not only does he have too much of it, but also facts to back it up.

It's not such a big problem anymore. Call it a knack for adjusting to new environments but I've actually grown accustomed to having my yami around. Not that much has changed, though I did have to show him a few things about life in the modern world. I'm just so glad he isn't able to touch anything, being a spirit and all. But...... he does seem to become less transparent everyday. Maybe it's just my imagination.

At least I have someone to talk to when omaasan and sofu aren't around. Not that voices in my head were easy to adjust to but it can get pretty boring in physics class sometimes and his comments about the teacher's...... fragrance are actually quite entertaining. At first I didn't think he was capable of engaging in a civilized, even intelligent, conversation since he was so eager to do violent things and send people to the shadow realm. But I guess I was wrong, this time, glad to be. Who knew he was anymore than just a one-trick pony?

Which leads to the point. Ever had an annoying brother who's only goal seems to be making your life a living hell and doing his job perfectly by messing up your room, telling the girls at school you sleep with Pokemon pyjamas and deliberately spilling coke on your brand-new comics? You wish he'd just run away or crawl under a rock and die but worry like crazy when he doesn't come home after school until hours later, sometime around midnight. Yup, there's my point right there. Except my yami doesn't tell others embarrassing things about me. No, all he does is intimidate people and send them to the shadow realm.

Which is why I'm so worried.

Not because of the scary things he did but because it feels like a break in routine, like something's missing. This coming from a guy whose entire life consists of nothing but rapids and water falls but it actually feels sort of weird to not have him around. Things are just too quiet. Too... quiet.

Shaking the item didn't help. The only thing it did was probably toss him around in there a bit. Which is not the point. I wanted him to come out, not come out pissed. The infamous mind link hasn't worked too well either. I think it has something to do with the soul rooms, when any of our doors are locked or sealed in any way, there's interference in the link and it doesn't work. Wonder how he sealed it. Maybe he's trying to keep me out for some weird reason.

Not like I wanted to go back in there.

Nope.

I had to admit, the room was very.....gloomy and dank, and DARK. Only a yami or someone who's able to brave haunted houses like a walk in the park can stay in that place without feeling uneasy. It wasn't only about the unexplained shadows though, there was a certain thickness in the air that I found difficult to adjust to. The atmosphere of my own soul room fitted me perfectly; I guess his was made only for him. Go figure.

Still....

"YAMI WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"HELLO? ANYBODY IN THERE?"

"C'MON, QUITE DOING THIS; I GET YOUR POINT ALREADY."

"YOU'RE REALLY FREAKING ME OUT, YOU KNOW."

Nothing

Great, now I'm pacing back and forth and glancing at it every two seconds. The annoying thing is, it's warm, not heat warm, mind you, more like blood warm. The item's always had some sort warmth to it but it's kind of a body heat sort of thing. Weird, but when you think about it, my yami doesn't just live in there, it's a part of him. So the item being blood warm does make some sense. It's just that the warmth seems to be mocking me, as if it's saying "Yes I'm in here and I'll do whatever I want for as long as I want. Got a problem with that?" If the treasure was just a dead coldness, I'd be really worried but this is just irritating.

Not that the thought of forcing him out by smashing it into pieces with a hammer didn't cross my mind. Obviously I wouldn't do it. Although it's becoming more tempting when I think about it. I wonder what would happen if I broke it. Would he stay out here permanently? "Die?" Disappear with a poof? Curiosity killed the cat. Mine's just making my anxiety worse.

"Yamiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii."

"Fine, just stay in there!"

"I don't care."

"I don't care."

"I don't care."

"........."

".........."

"Yup.... That's right."

"You just go on and do whatever."

"Hmm, wonder if I got any new messages."

"No new e-mail messages......damn."

"Where's Miho been? She hasn't replied my e-mails for weeks."

"Guess it's the homework. She has physics, chemistry AND math."

"And in the same semester too."

"Our teachers should get laid off."

"Yes they should."

"Yup."

"..........."

".........."

"No new e-mail messages."

"None. Zip. Zero."

"No one online either."

"Too bad."

".........."

".........."

"Nothing on T.V."

".........."

"THAT'S IT!"

"I'M GOING TO, TO.......... go in there quietly, perhaps kick down the door and take a tiny peek."

Talk about slow, I should have thought of that before. And I can deal with the cat if it doesn't let me in. Simple enough.

So I did the routine procedure for "going into soul room mode." First I found a place where sofu or even worst, omaasan, wouldn't find me so they won't freak out thinking I was unconscious or dead. Under my bed always did the trick. Then I closed my eyes and went into a state of relaxation, similar to what people who meditate do and cleared my mind of the images floating around in my head. Easy enough. Then I had to picture my soul room and try to feel as if I'm actually in there. That's actually harder than it sounds because to know exactly how a leather book cover feels under my fingers or precisely how glossy a vase is takes practice. Every bit of my soul room must be memorized by heart or else the image is incomplete and I can't get to where I need to go. May yami, who was so eager to prove how right he was, pulled me into my soul room by channelling his mental concentration through me the first couple of times. He's an expert at it; even now I still can't reach the level of mental tranquility he's had since the beginning.

The "end up" place is never consistent. They're usually varied and many times, inconvenient. On top of a bookshelf, inside a cramped treasure chest, wedged between the (canopy ) bed and the wall...etc. This time wasn't so bad, just under the bed.

The entrance of his soul room was just as it was before; the only difference was the fact that the Persian wasn't at its usual spot. That's actually a pretty creepy thing. My yami created the cat to defend his room against the attack of duel monsters (and yes I was rather freaked out when I saw a real live not-on-a-card-where-it-should-be duel monster jumping me from out of nowhere) but my yami, being the resourceful spirit that he was, is always armed with a couple of protection spells so had no real worries about them.

Still, Seueth never leaves his post no matter what; my yami designed him that way. Sometimes I envy his magical abilities. I found my soul room the way it was and haven't changed it since. Not that I could. I would if I could but I can't so I didn't. My yami could conjure up anything in a heartbeat and whenever I try to do the same thing (not in front of him of course) I end up nowhere but in a pool of sweat. Seueth's not here, something must be wrong.

Knock, knock

No answer

"Yami, are you in there?"

No answer

I peeked into the hole on the far side of the door but saw nothing. The door was one of those heavy-duty, solid, impregnable ones, but my yami actually managed to damage it. He didn't do it deliberately, it happened when one of the duel monsters, (I think it was a Horned Imp or something like that) broke into his soul room and began rabidly attacking him. This was a long time ago, before Seueth. My yami's shadow powers were actually stronger then than they are now and he easily blasted it into smithereens. The thing is, not all of the blasts of dark energy hit their mark and that's how this hole came to be.

I'm not sure if it was because of me or not (I hope it is) but I've noticed that his dark shadow powers have been diminishing slowly since the first day I met him. Maybe it's because he doesn't spend as much time in the shadow realm now that I'm around or I'm balancing out his dark energy more, either way its fine by me.

"All well, I'm coming in anyways."

I actually meant it when I said I'd kick down the door. Except I didn't kick it as much as ram my body against it. I didn't expect much to happen since it was such a firm door and I'm not exactly the heaviest of people but the entrance swung right open on the fourth try, nearly sending me sprawling on the ground. That was too easy.

"There IS a handle, hikari."

"What? Whoa, what happened in here?"

The whole place looked as if it'd been ransacked or was the victim of hurricane Barbara. The walls, which were once covered in various places by hieroglyphs were cracked and broken, chunks of stone lying in pieces on the ground. The window was gone, which looked pretty illogical because windows don't (in normal circumstances) simply disappear. Splashes of oil stained the ground beneath the ancient torch lights which hung against the wall in a slightly crooked fashion causing more oil to spill over the rim. The entire room itself appeared slightly distorted as if it was some sort of funhouse. There were more unexplained shadows looming around in the room than usual, all of them casting weird patterns against the rubble. A source of light was still nowhere to be seen.

Seueth was lying curled up in the corner camouflaged against the wall sleeping.

Even my yami looked different than usual. He always took pride in his appearance, and although no one else could see him, he always made sure to look his best. Sometimes I got the feeling he was trying to make a good impression on me because I tend to give him the idea that he was unwanted. Which was partially true. Today, to put it mildly, he looked like he'd just gotten his heart broken. His hair was slightly droopier than usual; his clothes weren't on properly, like they've been tugged at and they were filthy; his hands and arms looked slightly dusty from the debris and wreckage around him; and he was very ragged and out of breath. Yet he appeared somewhat satisfied. Must have been working hard.

"Yami? So what happened here?"

He didn't seem to notice my question and mumbled something about taking out the entire east wall completely.

"Was it another duel monster? I thought that cat was supposed to guard your soul room."

Seueth's ears gave a twitch and he opened his right eye. The one emerald eye glared sharply at me for a moment before irritatingly closing once again. The cat finally turned its head away from me and resumed its rhythmic breathing. I could definitely tell it was a product of my yami's doing.

Before I could ask again, a loud crash sounded from the far right side of the room sending smoke and bits of debris flying everywhere. The sound was like that off a grenade going off and I had to cover my head to keep from breathing in all the dust. As soon as the smoke cleared, I could see my yami standing in front of the east wall with his right hand open and held straight in front of him. He let his arm drop softly to his side and marvelled at the remains of the east wall littering the ground. The dust and debris hadn't seemed affect him at all, or Seueth as a matter of fact. It's weird how the cat would wake up from my voice but not from an explosion of such magnitude.

"What are you doing?!"

He brushed off the dust from his hands and turned to me, "I'm redecorating my soul room."

"Like that?!"

He blinked, "Of course, how else?"

I slowly got to my feet and examined the hole where a wall used to be. There was nothing but blackness outside, much like what I'd seen through his window before, "But why?"

"Sometimes a little change is in order."

That was weird. "What for? I thought you liked your soul room the way it was before."

"I did."

"Then why are changing it?"

"It's important that I do so."

I was suddenly struck with a reminder. "So this was what you've been doing for the past couple of days? Why didn't you answer me when I called you? I was really........"

"Really what?" he inquired

"Um.... well, see you're never gone for that long so well, you know," I stuck my hands in my pockets and turned away slightly, "But hey, you should have said something at least!"

He gestured to a pile of stone, "I was a little busy but thank you for deciding on not smashing the item to pieces."

"You still could have said something." I replied irritably

He heaved a sigh and walked over to a pile of junk, sitting himself carefully on the heap. "I'm running short on time as it is but a rest couldn't hurt."

"Yeah well if you weren't so busy blasting away parts of your soul room, then you wouldn't be so tired," I mumbled

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"You question me too much, hikari."

"Yeah well, it's not like anything you do is normal."

He laughed a little, "And what exactly is normal to you?"

"Normal," I enunciated, "Is.... you wouldn't understand anyways, I won't bother." This was beginning to sound like one of those arguments in which he'd always win.

Seueth decided to wake up from his nap and stretched tiredly before pawing his way towards my yami and settling down beside him affectionately. It purred softly as my yami ran his fingers through the soft fur on its head. I think the thing's trying to spite me. And it's doing a good job as well.

"So?" I asked, trying to divert attention back towards me.

"So what?" he asked, still caressing the spoiled beast.

"What have you been up to?"

"You'll find that out soon enough." And with that, he pulled a treat from his pocket and fed it to the cat.

I could feel the anger starting to boil up.

Talk about weird.

End Entry


Replies:

Fushicho Hime: Hehe the yami sounds funny 'cause I had to "beat around the bush" a little for things to stay undercover. Since all three of the yamis have such different personalities, these conversations have to be manipulated a bit. Thanks for the review!

Amber Eyes23: Well.... Depends on what you see as "close." There are lots of stories out there where all three hikaris get close to their yamis but in the show, it's only Yugi who's friends with his yami. I don't know where this is going, but it IS slightly AU. Thanks for the review!

Saiyan Jedi: I'd like to think there is more to the yamis than power, magic, games, etc. Yami Yugi's outwardly emotional but the other two are just stubborn. Either that or they have too much pride. Thanks for the review!

KarlaBob: XD I like long reviews. Hehe I can't address all of your points but I put that cat (it's not a panther) because... well it's kind of obvious. So me designed me own soulroom just to keep the identity safely (sort of) under wraps. Thanks for the review!

TGCgirl124: You don't know why? Lol, meh maybe just a hunch. My chapters are always weird. Some think they're good, some interesting, some confusing (many confusing) and some really bad so they give up reading altogether. Thanks for the review!

Dark Magician Girl / Hikaru: Lol, you can go on using interesting if you like. Words like "beguiling" and "tantalizing" are made up by people who want to sound more intelligent than everyone else. Yes, I had a hunch that omaasan (or omaa-san?) is a word since other people use it but I can't seem to find it in my dictionary. Thanks for the review!

Angel in Disguise8: You should get your computer to a doctor, your reviews are getting shorter girl! Jk, glad to see you get around to this time-consuming task every couple of weeks or so. Even if you have to review in the school library. Last time I checked it was Marik right? Anyways, ttyl, thanks for the review!

Insane Penguin: Like I put in the note, lets just assume that all of them are capable of having a civilized conversation with their yami once in a while. It's always "lets take over the world" this, and "time to duel" that. So sad that they are so static in character that they always think about one thing. The cat's Egyptian and it adds character to the soulroom. Hehe, thanks for the review!