RESPONSES
SummerCapricorn
Mena: Yay! You're our first reviewer! (hugs SC)
Toli: We're glad you like! And we did say it was only possible Yami/Tea. That means it may or may not happen.
Mena: Thanks for reviewing!
redconvoy
Mena: Cute? Yay!
Toli: Thanks for the review!
Elizabeth Aiken
Toli: Welcome to our newest story!
Mena: Hope you enjoy! And bring Ashley-kun!
Yami's Chan
Toli: Glad you like!
Mena: Thanks for reviewing!
Mirrored-Insanity
Mena: Hehehe, glad you think so highly of us!
Toli: And for the record, no, we never let you down!
Mena: (sweatdrops) Vain much?
Toli: Yep!
Mena: You weren't asking too much! Thanks for reviewing!
Kyshin
Toli: I'm glad you like it so much!
Mena: Hehehehe, we won't tell you who it is...but you'll get to see this chappie!
Toli: Thanks so much for reviewing!
Jeffrey
Mena: Thank you so much for your opinion!
Toli: You'll find out who Yami will be a big brother to this chapter.
Mena: Thanks for reviewing!
Arezal
Mena: Glad you think so!
Toli: Thank you for reviewing!
kristen89
Toli: Welcome to our latest fic!
Mena: Hehehehehe! Not tellin', not tellin'!
Toli: You'll have to wait and see who it is!
Mena: More marshmallows! (hugs Kristen) YAY! I LOVE YOU, GIRL!
Toli: (sweatdrops)
Alaquathesweetgumtree
Toli: That is one tongue-twisting penname!
Mena: Thanks so much for your review!
mobileholmes
Mena: You think it's cute too? (hugs mb) YAY!
Toli: Thanks a lot for reviewing!
Masami Mistress Of Fire
Mena: DAMIE-CHAN! (massive glomp) I MISSED YOU MORE!
Toli: (sweatdrops) Somehow I doubt that...
Jesselda: (sniffs disdainfully) You're incorrect, mortal. I do not copy.
Toli: (sweatdrop) Well, now you made her mad. (hugs Masami) Oh well! I still like you, my ezekas kashny! (favorite pal)
Mena: (nuzzling Damion) You really don't know who it is, Masami-kun? (nuzzles Damion more) Oh well, as long as I have Damie-chan, nothing else matters...
Toli: Just stop it.
Mena: Stop what? (starts making out with Damion)
Jesselda: (covers Mani's eyes) She has no shame.
Toli: Not anymore!
Mani: Am I missing some good Mena/Damion action?
Toli/Jesselda: (panicked) NO!
Time Keeper
Toli: Glad it does!
Mena: Thank you for reviewing!
Night-Owl
Mena: Thanks for the compliment!
Toli: And for reviewing!
BlackTiger57
Mena: We're glad you like it!
Toli: Thanks for reviewing!
ketaglass
Mena: I'm glad it makes you so happy!
Toli: Have you had sugar?
Mena: (bouncing around) Why, no!
Toli: (sweatdrops) Thanks for all the great compliments!
Mena: I guess they want this one to stay!
Toli: Cool! (peace sign) We'd love to!
Jesselda: And I suppose that means more of me spouting witty disclaimers meant to tickle the readers' funnybones.
Mena:...
Toli:...Well, yeah, I guess!
Jesselda: (sighs) Yu-Gi-Oh doesn't belong to us. But we don't even want it.
Mena/Toli: (glares)
Jesselda: Or at least I don't.
TWO: Pick One Out
Yami slumped sulkily in his seat as the chauffeur drove them to the Domino City Foster Home in the family limo. They had actually waited at home for twenty minutes until the chauffeur had come back from dropping Mr. Moto off at the airport. Now they were off, and when they came back, they expected to have someone else in the car with them. Preferably a boy.
Yami still wasn't in favor of this idea. What did they need with some kid who had been neglected living with them? Someone to dirty up things and break other things. Someone to follow him around and try to embarrass him in public. Someone to call him "big brother". That was the first thing Yami planned on telling whoever was the "lucky" kid: don't call me brother.
The limo's intercom clicked on. "Mrs. Moto, we have arrived in front of the Domino City orphanage," the chauffeur said.
"Thank you, Richard," Kashmir said. She peeked out the tinted window, and her eyes lit up. "Oh, I'm actually quite excited, Yami. Come on, let's go inside!" She opened the door before the chauffeur could make it there and stepped out.
Yami followed, letting the chauffer close the door behind him. He looked up at the orphanage: a square, one-story beige building with a small, rundown playground beside it. DOMINO CITY FOSTER HOME was embossed over the entrance.
"This place is a dump," Yami commented.
"Yami, watch your attitude," Kashmir said.
They entered the building. In front of them was a long hall, with wooden doors on each side. Some doors were open, and some were closed. Yami glanced around and wished he were elsewhere.
"Hi!" A girl with long strawberry-blond hair and green eyes suddenly appeared to their left. "I'm Serenity. Can I help you?"
Kashmir smiled at her. "Yes. We're looking for a child, possibly to adopt."
Serenity nodded. She caught sight of Yami and suppressed a giggle. "Come into the office, here," she said, ushering them into the second door on their right. Inside, a middle-aged woman with brown hair streaked in gray and blue eyes was sitting at a desk, writing something.
"Ms. Muyashi?" Serenity said, rapping her knuckles on the open door. "Clients." She then left with a shy glance at Yami, who smirked.
Ms. Muyashi looked up and smiled at them. She was wearing a pair of glasses on her nose, which were slightly filmy. "Hello," she said in a friendly voice. "I'm Amanda Muyashi, the manager of the orphanage."
"I'm Kashmir Moto," Kashmir said, walking up to the desk and extending a hand. "This is my son, Yami."
"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Moto," Ms. Muyashi said, shaking Kashmir's extended hand. "Moto as in Kyouni Moto?"
Kashmir nodded. Ms. Muyashi waved them into two chairs facing her desk. "Now," she said, "what can I help you with?"
"We're looking for a child, preferably a boy, to take into our home," Kashmir said. "I'm considering adoption and would like a child for a trial period. I'm a stay-at-home wife, and my son, as you can see, is quite grown up. I haven't had a child to take care of in a while."
Ms. Muyashi nodded and smiled, taking a glance at Yami. "You'd prefer a boy, you say? Well, believe it or not, many of our boys have been being adopted in the past few months. We don't have many that are quite young. Are you looking for any in a specific age group?"
"Oh, maybe six or seven."
"We've only got one boy left who is around six or seven," Ms. Muyashi said, glancing at Yami again. "The rest are in their teens and preteens. You can see him, perhaps, and if you don't want him, we can look at the girls, maybe."
Kashmir nodded. "Yes, that would be a good idea." Both Kashmir and Ms Muyashi seemed to think that it was a good idea. Ms. Muyashi didn't question Kashmir's ability to support the child because she knew all about the Moto name. Normally people who are rich through business like Mr. Moto's wouldn't be good candidates since they were usually away getting themselves more money. But since Kashmir stayed at home, it seemed as though it would be all right. Yami still wasn't in favor of it.
Ms. Muyashi stood up. "All right, then, follow me," she said, glancing at Yami.
Yami frowned. She had been doing an awful lot of glancing at him ever since he had walked into the office with his mother. What was her deal?
"There's something I should tell you," Ms. Muyashi said to Kashmir as they walked out of the office and down the hall, Yami trailing behind. "The boy's name is Yugi. He came from an abusive home and has been homehopping for about three years. No one seems to want him. He's about eight, I believe, and he's the youngest boy here. His case is a sad one. He seems to be afraid of strangers, and he doesn't usually like physical contact."
"Oh, that's terrible," Kashmir said.
Ms. Muyashi nodded. "It is. I'm very careful about who I let take him, but I have a feeling that you're just the family he needs." She said so with yet another glance back at Yami, who glared at her.
"Oh, yes," Kashmir said, nodding vehemently. "He sound like just the kind of child I wanted. I wanted to take a child with a troubled past and give them another chance at a good life. I'll do everything I can for him."
Ms. Muyashi smiled. "I think you are just the kind of mother he needs," she said. "Oh, and one more thing. Yugi has a heart condition and he takes a medication for it. It isn't too serious; one pill at the end of every week is all."
"I can remember that," Kashmir said. "Does he have a doctor's prescription?"
Yami decided to tune out the rest as he aimlessly followed his mother and Ms. Muyashi down the seemingly never-ending hallway. He saw Serenity standing in a doorway, talking to someone inside the room, as they passed by. She noticed him and tried to watch him without looking like it. He gave her a wink and she blushed. Someone inside the room giggled.
Yami turned and pretended to look elsewhere, but he was really listening to the conversation Serenity was having with whoever her giggling friend was.
"He's cute, isn't he, Serenity?"
"Yeah, he is, but he's the son of that famous Moto guy. He'd never go for me."
"Why don't you follow him home and offer to be his personal slave?"
"Mai!"
"Ah, here we are," Ms. Muyashi said, stopping at an open door. "He's in here by himself, poor thing. He has no boys around his age to talk to, and he's afraid of girls, naturally. Come in and speak to him. I think you will be particularly interested, Yami."
Yami suppressed a glare as he followed the two women into the room. Like he cared about some dumb kid. He felt sorry for him if he had been abused, but that was as far as it went.
The room was mostly empty. A low, round table was in the middle of the room. The small, rectangle-shaped window, smudged with dirt and fingerprints, shone dim sunlight into the room. There were a few chairs lined up against the wall, and a three-drawer plastic bureau filled with art supplies in the corner. There was a little kid curled up into a ball and wedged in the corner farthest from them. He was the only one in there, like Ms. Muyashi had said.
"Is that him?" Kashmir asked in a whisper.
"Yes it is. Here, stay here and I'll bring him to you."
Yami idled the time away by looking around disinterestedly as Ms. Muyashi headed over to the boy in the corner. He saw someone out of the corner of his eye and glanced over to see Serenity passing by the doorway. She had quickly looked away when he looked at her, and she was blushing. Yami watched her pass by.
"Yugi?" Yami heard Ms. Muyashi speak and looked over to where she was kneeling down in front of the boy. "Come on. There's someone I'd like you to meet."
Despite himself, Yami found himself curious about the boy. Maybe it was all of Ms. Muyashi's suggestive remarks. What had she been getting at? He watched as both so-called Yugi and Ms. Muyashi both stood up. Ms. Muyashi extended her hand, and Yugi took it. She then led him over to Kashmir and Yami.
"Mrs. Moto, Mr. Moto, this is Yugi," Mr. Muyashi said. "Yugi, this is Yami and Kashmir Moto."
Yami glanced down at the boy disinterestedly, and then found himself doing a double take. Was this some kind of joke? He felt like he was looking into a mirror from the past. This kid-Yugi-looked just like him. He looked like a younger version of Yami, only thinner and dirtier. Yami found himself staring for a few moments, until his mother's voice broke into his thoughts.
"Oh, Yami, isn't that sweet? He looks just like you!"
"Yeah," Yami said sarcastically. "Sweet." He still couldn't help his surprise. Yugi glanced up at him for a second. His eyes were the same color as Yami's and Kashmir's, only tending more towards amethyst than violet. He was wearing a long-sleeved gray sweatshirt and jeans, and beat-up sneakers.
Kashmir got down on her knees so she could be closer to his level. Even though she was naturally short and on her knees, Yugi-hair excluded-only came up to her nose. "Hello, Yugi," she said in a friendly voice. "I'm Kashmir Moto. I want to take you home."
Yugi slowly looked at her. His eyes were wary, as if expecting her to yell "Just kidding!" and skip out the door.
"He doesn't like to talk to people very much," Yami remembered hearing Ms. Muyashi say. Fine with him. He preferred the silent type over a chatterbox anyway.
"So, would you like to take him?" Ms. Muyashi asked.
Kashmir stood up and nodded. "I think he's perfect," she said with a huge, joyous grin.
Ms. Muyashi nodded and smiled, as if she'd been expecting to hear that. "Good, then. Come on back to my office, and you can fill out the necessary paperwork that releases him into your care. By the way, how long a trial period are we talking here?" she asked Yami's mother as the two women left the room.
"Oh, I was thinking maybe forever," Kashmir said with a cheery giggle. Their voices faded down the hall, leaving Yami with his brand new little brother.
Yami's P.O.V.
I would rather have been shot into space without an astronaut suit than say anything to him, but I did my best to hold a mask of indifference. I looked down at Yugi again, who was staring at the floor.
"So," I said in my the-world-can-go-to-hell-for-all-I-care voice, "you'll be staying with us. That's fine, but don't call me brother and don't mess with my stuff. Understand?"
Yugi watched the floor. After a few moments, he nodded. I watched him with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. What was with this kid? Was his past that bad?
I sighed, unsure with how to deal with him. "Well, come on. Mom's going to leave after filling out some papers, and I don't wanna stay in this rat hole any longer than I need to. Let's go." I turned and walked toward the door. Then I stopped, realizing he wasn't following me. I glanced over my shoulder to see what his problem was. He was still looking at the floor, silent.
"You coming or what?"
He still didn't move. I had the urge to yell "Are you deaf?" at him, but for some reason, I didn't. I felt myself wanting to be patient with this kid; after all, he had been abused. Maybe yelling his head off wasn't the right approach.
I turned around again and walked back to him. I looked down at him. Hair excluded, he only came up to my waist. "Are you coming?" I asked in what I hoped was a gentler voice. Cut me some slack. I was trying to be all nice and patient with him.
Yugi continued looking at the floor. Finally he spoke. "You don't want me to come."
I was surprised he had been so perceptive. "Well, maybe not," I admitted, "but my mom wants you, and her opinion outweighs mine, so you have a new home. You gonna take it or not?"
Yugi hesitated, then looked up at me. He watched me for a moment, then he slightly nodded. I turned around, relieved that the first roadblock had been taken care of. It was so weird, but every second I spent around this kid, I felt sorrier and sorrier for him. Why had he had to have abusive parents? Why couldn't he have lived a normal life? Those were questions I couldn't answer, but now I was finding myself more curious about this boy and the sorry hand fate had dealt him. I wondered briefly if Mom had been right, then shook my head. Of course not. This was all just a big waste of my time.
Wasn't it?
Before I could answer that question-or not answer it-I felt a small hand hesitantly slide into my own. I looked down to find Yugi with his fingers wrapped around my palm, staring at the floor so hard I was afraid it would crack. He had moved closer to me. Was he scared? Maybe he thought we weren't planning to keep him. I looked at the top of his head, since his face was turned downward, and wondered briefly if I had some weird mental illness that made me feel good because he wanted to hold my hand.
I closed my fingers around Yugi's small hand and headed for the doorway. Yugi followed me, his death grip on my hand warning me that he had no plans to let go. I meandered us down the hallway, trying to remember which stupid door was the one to Ms. Muyashi's office. I couldn't remember. They were all the same boring damn brown color! And it was driving me up a wall! I finally remembered which door Serenity had taken us to when we first came in and found my way to it.
Mom was just finishing up whatever important documents she had had to fill out. Either there hadn't been that many, or we had been lost longer than I thought. She looked up and smiled when she saw the two travelers standing in the doorway. Her smile seemed to stretch farther, if that's possible, when she noticed we were holding hands and cutting off each other's blood supplies.
"Ready to go, boys?" she asked with a schoolgirl's bubbly enthusiasm. She seemed to have infected Ms. Muyashi with it as well, because the both of them were grinning impossibly wide-and quite stupid looking-grins. "I've filled out all the paperwork, got Yugi's medication-" she held up and shook a small brown paper bag like a trophy "-and he's officially a part of the Moto family!"
"Great, Mom," I said with as little enthusiasm as possible. She dragged us out the door and to the limo.
"Ms. Muyashi gave us her phone number, in case we have any questions or problems or anything like that," Mom said as we got into the limo and the chauffeur drove us off. "This is going to be so wonderful!"
I tried to become annoyed, like I had been on the way here. But somehow, with Yugi's hand still in mine, I couldn't find it in me.
END CHAPTER
Toli: (ticked) Well, I think you put enough humor in that chapter to put a few comedians to shame, Mena!
Mena: What? You SAID I could put what I wanted in it so long as it was about the story.
Toli: And my words come back to bite me in the butt...Anyhow, leave us a review and come back next time!
