Wow…glad everyone likes it so far, I wasn't really sure. So it's nice to have the reviews ^^
Kewie: Thank you ^^ Glad the idea is originalish.
Spyder Webb: XD Yami/Mariku is still my signature pairing, but Yami/Malik was the original request - so I can't exactly turn that down. And you're one-shot it DONE!! I don't like Anzu paired with many people XD But, I've come not to hate her if I just…tweak her personality slightly XD Yeah. All the classes for the most part that the chars have are ones I've been through - the whole balloon car was hell (my mom saved me on it), but I didn't have to do a poster - just added it to make them have more work to do XD Mariku will show up at some point in this fic. Donno when.
MistressSerenity: Ariagatou ^^
Sugar-Goddess: I never was very good at updating soon. I don't think those two words apply to me XD
Selphius: The actual yaoi between Yami and Malik may take awhile…Because 1.) I want to make it seem real. And 2.) I love tormenting them SO much…
I'm allowed to swear now ^^
Started writing this in school. Ha. I made schedules up of the twelve main characters for my own use, everyone are sophomores, except for Yuugi and Merle. Schedules are kind of odd…I decided that Anzu took all her English classes freshmen year, thus has none this year XD Yeah….whatever…I'm rambling…
Ah. And some teachers are just weird and refer to students by their…first name? Donno. Japanese confuses me sometimes XD One last thing:
Isis + rough day at work = really, REALLY nasty and kinda OOC.
"Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn't the work they are supposed to be doing." -Robert Benchly
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Chapter Two: Dealings
"Can't I just be a tree in this one?" Anzu blinked at her Theatre Studies/Acting teacher, Ms. Terca, from the stage. It's not every day that their class does scenes such as these…like the kind of thing done in elementary school almost.
"Anzu…please just be the little girl. Ryuuji, on stage as well now…good," the teacher examined them from the floor of the auditorium, nodding to herself as Otogi hopped up on stage to stand besides Anzu. "All right, Ryuuji will be playing your cat - Rascal," she chuckled to herself as the two blinked. "You said you wanted to try a bit of improv, so here you are. Anzu, I want your character to be sitting in your house with your cat, upset because you just discovered in your brother's room there were drugs."
She thought this over and nodded, moving center stage and sitting on the ground, taking a moment to think over the part. Otogi, amused by being the cat, was already on the ground, stalking around Anzu and managing a purring sound.
Ms. Terca moved towards the rest of the class who had been seated in the chairs, petite body pausing in motion. "Hirota and Yuugi, on stage as well. Hirota - you are the brother, Yuugi will be a friend of yours coming home. All right then - start!" she smiled, turning around gracefully and taking a seat.
"Come on, right inside…have it in my room," Honda entered from stage right, Yuugi following closely behind. They glanced over to Anzu, the "young girl" upset on the floor as her cat mewed. "Hey, sis' what's the problem?"
Anzu looked up, remembering it was her brother she was upset with and quickly stood, brushing off. "N-Nothing…"
"You lying?"
"No!"
"Just leave her be, Honda. You're showing me the stuff, right?"
"It's not in your room now," Anzu whispered, head lowering as the two began to walk by her. Honda immediately stopped and turned to face his sister. "Mom has it. She's really upset with you, Honda. She said she'd speak with you when she got home…"
"Anzu…" Honda growled down at his sister and Yuugi backed away nervously. "And just how did she get it? Was it you?!"
"I-I'm sorry, Honda! I didn't know what it was…I….I thought it was just trash so I gave it to Mom…I didn't know what to do!"
"Get out of my sight!"
"But Honda - " Anzu cried out, trying to understand her brother fully. She hadn't meant to do anything wrong!
"Mrow…" Otogi brushed against Anzu's legs right before she turned and ran off stage.
Clapping was heard and Ms. Terca stood, smiling at the group as they all moved center stage. "Very nice. You all should take my Improv class next year."
"My brother is in it," Yuugi mumbled, staring at the ground. "He says it's insane." He felt a nudge at his side and looked at Honda, confused as the other whispered down at him.
"With her as a teacher, of course it's insane."
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"I know Isis! It's….not my fault. …Really! I tried to say no…but he was very distinct…. What do you want me to do?! I don't want to even be at this damn school!" Malik stood in the hallway, keeping close watch to the area around as he pressed his cell phone close. "I'm sorry, Isis, ok? Please, just this one time, I need to do this otherwise my life is screwed! ….I know! Ok? You don't have to keep telling me, I know Mariku is the better brother, so shut up about it!" Malik turned his cell off quickly, leaning into a set of lockers with closed eyes. He hated Yami - that other put him to this and now Isis would hardly leave him be. It wasn't his fault…what was he supposed to do…?
"Excuse me…? Malik…right?"
The boy nearly jumped, eyes snapping to glance to his side where Merle was innocently standing. He glared at her and she smiled, holding out a hand. "Hi, I'm Merle. I…heard you started on a bad foot with some of my friends…I can help you, if you want that is.."
"Shouldn't you be in a class?" his glared continued.
"Shouldn't you?" she shot back, crossing her arms. He turned away, starting to walk off and she quickly shook herself out and ran up to meet him. "Wait! Sorry…just…I can be your friend, and at least pull Jounouchi and Seto to liking you too. Come on, what do you say?" she held out her hand in offer, but didn't expect it to be seized in his grasp. She cringed and stared up as his eyes briefly flashed. "Malik…?"
"I don't need a friend and I don't need to be in this stupid school, I'll be out of here soon enough anyway, so why should I bother making strong ties to this damned place?" he snapped, releasing her wrist and continued walking. So he was having a bad first day.
"Wait…" Merle paused, blinking in shock. "He's going to be leaving…?"
He only wished he could actually leave. He was hoping to convince his sister, or try and write to Mariku and Rishid back in Egypt - they could get him free from here, right? Of course…of course.
***********************
The ending bell rang and Malik slumped outside, sitting up on the granite sidings of the front steps with his legs pulled into his chest. This was going to be his demise: this place - if he didn't get away soon. Actually, this project was going to kill him. Worst yet, he still didn't know his beginning day classes because he only came yesterday during lunch. For all he knew, he'd be dead before second period could even begin.
"Hey, it's Yami's rat!" Jou came out, arm looped with Seto's and a smirk plastered to his face in a cheesy way. He swung Seto around slightly as he swiftly gave Malik a push to topple the boy over before Malik could do anything, except brace for impact.
He grumbled in the grass, laying on his side and looking up to the Katsuya boy who was chuckling. "'ey, don' look at me like that! It's your own fault!"
"He does have a point," Seto scoffed lightly, dragging Jounouchi away. Malik could hear them conversing as they walked, "Come on, pup, THIS time you're getting that History report done."
"What about yours…?"
"I already did it."
"What?! But it was just assigned - "
"Last week."
Jou gaped, "You're kiddin' me!"
Malik snorted and rose himself up, brushing his side off and standing up, glancing around to see a few staring at him, mainly a smug looking Yami. Malik gulped, quickly averting his gaze.
"So, you eat grass too?"
"Shut up," Malik mumbled, starting to walk in the direction of his apartment. "Let's just get this over with."
Yami gave a shrug, following.
************************
"This is your home?"
"Yes, ok?" Malik grew agitated with the other more now, ringing the doorbell as he stood up on the metal steps. He glanced down a bit while waiting, noting that the dumpster had finally been emptied. He lived with his sister on a three-floored apartment, they were on the second floor and didn't even know (or cared) who resigned in the other two.
"Oh, good, you're home," Isis tried to act civil as she looked between the two, sighing and stepping back to let them in. She closed the door, allowing herself to take a breath before turning to face her younger brother. "Malik, I have to go to the museum - I'll be back by dinner. He better be gone by then and everything better be in one piece."
He nodded, setting his bag down and ignoring her slightly.
She was about to leave, but paused, "I almost forgot! Mariku sent you a letter," with that, she was gone.
Malik forgot Yami was their and lit up, striding over to a small kitchen table and seizing a letter from it before sitting into a chair, tearing through the envelope.
Dear Malik,
Shaadi…that asshole. He's keeping me here! "Performing the rights of the older Ishtar," so he says. I don't know when the hell I'll be able to fly there. I swear, the old man has a list of pointless things he wants me to do! And Rishid can't come up without me, he's trying to make plans to get us out quicker. I suggested we kill Shaadi, but Rishid wasn't too keen about the idea (he did think about it though). Just hold out for a week or two, ok?
-Mariku
"One or two weeks? He makes it sound easy…" Malik sighed, panicking when Yami snatched the letter from his hands and looked at it.
"Hm. What's this scrap?" Yami's eyes browsed the letter until Malik jumped from his chair and tore it back angrily.
"Hands off!" he snapped, snorting and folding the letter to set it away from Yami on the far end of the table. "As I said before - let's just get this over with?"
Yami briefly scoffed, leaning against a wall, "I need an A on this project, understand? Or can your mind not even comprehend that much?"
"Are you just going to mock me all the while?" Malik tipped his head back to glance into the small kitchen, checking the clock on the microwave and sighing. It's only been five minutes. How the hell was he supposed to live through this if five minutes was this much of a problem to him?
Crimson eyes rolled in annoyance and Yami mumbled something, "That'd be rather enjoyable, but since as I said - I need an A in this class, I suppose I can't mock you all the while," Yami's lips pulled back in a smirk and he sat on the backing of the couch nearby, "So, genius, how should we do this little project?"
"Eh…what? Genius? Huh? I….I don't know!" Malik snapped back, shaking his head quickly to make Yami laugh out. Malik sent him a glare, "I'm no genius. I have no idea how to even start this project."
"Great. Here…let's see…" Yami helped himself to the fridge in the kitchen, searching throw and finding an unopened bottle of Diet Sprite. He snorted and opened it, leaning over the sink and pouring it down, causing Malik to gape near by. "I never did like diet."
"That was my sister's! You….You…"
"What? Asshole? Yes, yes, I know," Yami made a proud face and examined the empty bottle, glancing back to Malik, "This should work fine. Attach some wheels and somehow a balloon - we'll be set."
***********************
An hour later they had little luck with the bottle. They'd made straws as axles and stuck them through the bottle and Malik managed to find some old bottle caps to use as wheels. All in all - even without a balloon, the car refused to move.
Malik sunk back against the couch as he heard Yami throw the car against the clock on the base of the TV. "Stupid, good for nothing project…"
That was about when Malik actually noticed the clock and fumbled to sit up, staring at the bright green digits with fear, "Get out."
"Excuse me?"
"Get. OUT! My sister will be home in five minutes! Shit, shit, shit…" Malik grabbed Yami's wrist and hauled him towards the door, reaching for the knob to open it when he found that someone already had, and was standing right in the doorway. "Isis! You're…home…five minutes early…" he sweat dropped and sunk back slightly.
She glanced to the clock on the TV and then over at one in the kitchen, "Well, if you go by the TV - then I suppose I would be early, but you should know that one is fast. Therefore, I am not late…and he is still in the house." Isis stepped in and glared down at Yami, observing his defiant features and raising a brow, "Is he supposed to be tough or something?"
Malik released Yami's wrist finally and stepped in front of Isis, "Sister, please, I can tell you had a rough day. Too many kids at the museum?"
"Everywhere. Little brats were climbing on my precious Anubis statue…I wanted to hit the brats…" she mumbled, eyes not leaving Yami. They glinted darkly, she was obviously not liking his smug attitude. Too many kids in one day can do that to a person.
"Eh, then why don't you go rest or something…He was just leaving, I promise!"
"Hn," she scoffed at her brother and pushed him aside, getting a better view at the shorter boy.
Yami crossed his arms, raising a brow when he caught sight of Malik hitting his head against a wall.
Idiot, idiot, idiot, he couldn't have just LEFT now, could he? Malik cursed in his mind.
"So you're his sister, huh? Just because you're older, I won't let someone like you push me around," Yami snorted, rolling his eyes and looking out the door. He really did want to go home. She was still in the way. "Now, would you step aside so I can leave this dump?" he hadn't meant to say that last bit, and he promptly regretted it when a sting passed over his cheek, but he refused to raise a hand to it. His eyes snapped back to Isis with a glare she matched.
"This so called dump happens to be our home, now be a good little child and leave and don't come back again, I already have to deal with enough wannabe 'tough brats,' and I will not choose to deal with you again."
"Wannabe?! How dare y-" that earned him a second slap, just as hard and maybe worse. He turned his eyes darkly to Malik, who refused to look at him before making his way out the door, hearing it slam behind him. He slumped in pain, holding his cheek as the skin felt as if it blistered beneath his hand. His eyes slid shut and he pulled in a breath to relax himself. So what if he was a wannabe, at least he was alive in the world still. I'm such an idiot, he thought, moving down the stairs slowly. He had pushed his luck too much with her.
***********************
"You didn't have to do that…" Malik murmured with a sighed, making perfect eye contact…with the wall.
"If he wants to be an idiot and mess with me, he should pay the price!" she snapped back, walking into the kitchen and opening the fridge, pushing things aside in search for something. "If I see him hear again, he will get worse for messing with a pissed-off-Egyptian."
"But, Isis! I need to work with him on my project!"
"Too bad, Malik! Work at his house, if he even HAS one," she shuffled through the fridge more, finally calling back to her brother directly, raising her voice as she realized he had gone to his room, "Did you drink my soda?"
Malik spoke up without thinking, "Yami poured it down the sink." Stupid me, stupid! Ra…I can't protect anyone.
"He did WHAT?!"
The blonde cringed and dug his head into a pillow, laying on his bed with the setting sun being his only light.
***********************
"Yami! You're home!" Yuugi gave a light cheer, stopping almost immediately when his brother walked by him in remote silence. He made a slight pout, stepping out ahead of the other and waving a hand across his face. "Hello? Anyone home?"
Yami blinked, snapping out of his distant trance, "What?"
The younger one sighed, crossing his arms, "You ok? You're really out of it…"
He gave a slow nod, "I'm fine," he lied, but Yuugi didn't seem to notice much to Yami's relief. He tossed his bag on the table, turning around to look at his brother again. "Where's mom?"
"Shopping."
"Gramps?"
"Convention."
"Another one…?"
"Yup," Yuugi nodded. "Ms. Terca told our class today we should take Improv," he heard Yami laugh and smiled, sitting down at the kitchen table, watching as the other was going to prepare some scrambled eggs, pan already out and sprayed and eggs already whisked. "What do you think about that?"
"I don't think you could handle. What, did you play one little game or something?"
"Yeah, well, sort of. She gave a few of us a role and sent us up on stage to act out a scene."
"Did anyone ask questions?"
"Of course!"
Yami shook his head, prodding at the eggs with a light smile, "Questions aren't allowed. Could you handle that?"
"What…?" Yuugi leant over the table, eyes wide, "No questions? Are you kidding me?"
"It's a rule, sorry pal," he split the eggs onto two plates and dumped the pan in the sink, moving to a chair across the other, placing a plate before both of them and sitting, grabbing the salt. "You have a study hall second period right? Then come in and watch. She won't mind."
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How did he do it…? Someone answer him - how the hell did he get through first period? It should have been an impossible feat for Malik! With all the people in that Geometry class? Maybe it was the teacher he could have thanked, for not forcing him to sit near ANY of his 'enemies.' He could feel Yami's glare on him all the while. Not to mention Jounouchi throwing small balls of paper at him all the while, though that stopped halfway through the class when he accidentally hit Ryou on the head - causing both Honda and Seto to glare at him. Mrs. Ridge spared Malik - that's all he cared about.
Now his second period class? He already had a bad feeling about it…
"Why are you followed me?"
He blinked up to see Yami looking back at him and shook his head, "My class is this way."
Yami groaned, slipping down a hallways all to itself, the auditorium on one side while the prop room (locked), theatre classroom, and chorus classroom rested on the other side of the hall. Yami was greeted by Otogi and Jou, dropping his bag by a wall with the others and giving a nice stretch. Yuugi was already in the room, seated behind the desk to have a good view of watching. He was slightly surprise to have seen Anzu in the room as well, though she was there as a teacher aid and was currently taking attendance.
There was a normal bantering going on by the windows between Mahle and Bakura, Yami discerned is was about witchcraft by the sounds of it.
Malik hid a bit in the back of the room, glancing around, lavender eyes fixating to the small stage across the room, painted black and about a foot off the ground taking up a good portion of the wall. Ms. Terca had everyone be seated, making sure Anzu recorded everyone. "All set here."
"Good. Now let's say we do a little bit of a warm-up to show our visitor, Yuugi, and our new student, Malik, a taste of this class? Hm? Any ideas?" there were a few shrugs along the bunch and she smirked a bit when someone began to speak, cutting them off, "Hotspot it is!" she chuckled a bit at the groans, though there were some that seemed excited. "Everyone on stage then." She waited while everyone squished on in a semi-circle, leaning her head back to look at Malik, "Come sit up here."
He sighed, but did as she wished, sitting up next to her. "You seem shy," he blinked at her blunt whisper, "Good then. I like that in a student - I like to break that away in this class." He merely blinked again, remaining silent. She offered a brief smile, looking back to the class. "Your variable to start is…what do you think, Anzu?" Ms. Terca gazed over to her aid.
"Question."
"All right then, someone begin."
Jounouchi jumped right out in front before anyone else could, breaking out into song, "And the answer that you want is in the question that you state, come what may, come what m-"
Mahle tapped him on the shoulder and he jumped back, pulling off his word of 'come' to begin a new song at a random point, "And you are there the moment that I close my eyes you come to me, we are connected and now I know - you'll never be alone -"
Otogi stepped in with: 1.) A bit too deep of a voice with his song. 2.) Over exaggerating. And 3.) Purposefully singing badly, "Alonneee for awhilllee I've been, ahem, searching through the darrrkkkk! For….places….of the love you left…inssiiideeee my lonely hearrttt! To weaaveee by picking up…the pieces…that remain…"
"Oh, make it stop!" Anzu groaned from the desk, covering her ears and glaring at the smirking Otogi who continued to sing. "Someone, tag him out for the sake of all our lives!"
"We met….we laughed….we held on fast and then we said goodbye -"
Yami cursed at the only song that came to mind, but he couldn't take it anymore and he tagged out Otogi (more like tried to push off the stage). "Goodbye to you, goodbye to everything that I knew, you're the one that I long to, the one that I hold on to…"
Bakura thought Yami (and perhaps everyone else) had suffered enough at that point and marched around to Yami's side, pushing him out of the way as he sung. "Ifff I just breathier let it fill the space between oh no, everything is alright -"
"How's THAT tie in with Yami's song? My god…it has no relevance!" Mahle laughed from the back, shaking her head with amusement when a glare from Bakura was turned onto her.
"It's the same bloody artist!" Bakura fumed with a growl. Everyone could already see the clash starting to boil between the two.
"And you would know this how…?" she hummed back.
"Ryou has a CD or two," he pouted, crossing his arms. "That boy is impossible, I swear."
"Well, I'll be sure to tell him that in Spanish next period," she gave a hearty laugh as all the color left drained from his face and he looked at her in a panic.
"You….you wouldn't…..Come on, Mahle! I was just kidding around!"
Ms. Terca chuckled and looked over to Malik, ignoring the two fighting on the stage. They'd all learned by now that it was near to impossible to even stop them. "Do you have a song to add in?"
"No."
"Come now, there must be something."
"Nothing I'd like to share."
She smiled and stood, pointing to the class on stage, "Is it because you don't wish to show yourself in front of people you may not like?" she saw him give a hardly noticeable nod, "Well then…don't show yourself."
"What..?" he suddenly blinked at her, confusion lining his eyes.
"In this class you become a character. It could be someone like Bill Clinton, to a drunk stumbling around that you felt like naming Bush. Hardly anytime will you actually be yourself in an improv, though some have. And some…have created such a new, in depth character," her eyes turned on Yami, watching him for a few seconds before he quickly looked away, "that even outside of this class, you never see the real him. Understand?"
"….Yeah…I guess."
"Do you have a song?"
"Not…really one that goes off Bakura's…"
Bakura looked up at his name, then to Mahle, growled, and turned to stand back in the semicircle. She chuckled happily and did the same at the other end, humming to herself, I won again.
The teacher spread her arms as she sat down, voice floating in the air and balancing off the molecules within, "Just sing."
Malik moved slowly from his chair onto the small stage, feeling stares on his back, but tried to ignore them. Be someone else… He took a breath, and started, "Happiness is just a word to me and it might have meant a thing or two if I had known the difference…emptiness a lonely parody and my life, another smokin' gun…a sign of my indifference. Always keeping safe inside…where no one ever had a chance to…penetrate a break in…let me tell you some have tried, but I would slam the door so tight that they could never get in."
He smiled when no one made him stop yet, having sunk so much into the words he wasn't sure if he'd be able to stop even if someone made him. "Kept my cool under lock and key and I never shed a tear, another sign of my condition. Fear of love or bitter vanity that kept me on the run, the main events of my confession. I kept a chain upon my door that would shake the shame of Cain into a blind submission, the burning ghost without a name still calling all the same, but I wouldn't listen -"
Anzu stood away from her chair and moved over, getting on the stage and tapping Malik out, deciding it was time to wrap up this game, "The chains on the principal go round and round, round and round, round and round…" at that point everyone was singing and Ms. Terca was moving to close the door so no one would hear. "The chains on the principal go round and round, all during school."
"I would never have expected that from you Anzu…" the teacher sighed, signaling everyone to their seats. She smiled to Malik who sat back in the chair by hers. "Very nice job, very nice song," she whispered to him before her voice rose into a snap, "Three people on stage! Let's actually DO an improv! And Yami…I'd like to see you after class.."
He sunk back, head lolling back. Great. Just great.
***********************
"I miss the old you, Yami."
"The old me is gone," he replied back, voice on a thin line between firm and weak. "Never to be seen again."
"I know it still exists, how much did you bury it down…?"
"More than enough."
Ms. Terca had been sitting on her desk, noting that her student was basically ignoring her. She'd had him in Theatre Studies last year, gotten to known the scared new kid and slowly watch day by day as not only had he become stronger, but he'd also been developing a new person. But that person didn't bloom full until the start of this year…and in the Improvisation class was when she lost sight of the boy she grew fond of.
"Yami…you can't hide away forever. It's impossible, please, show yourself again. What will it hurt?"
"….Everything," he closed his eyes and turned his head away.
"I'll write you a pass to your next class," she sighed in defeat, grabbing a slip of paper and jotting down the current time, the class, her name and, "Where are you going next…?"
"…History…"
And where he was going. She handed him the pass and shook her head, turning away as he left.
***********************
But…Yami didn't go to class. He hardly even made it to the second floor where his class was, taking a side trip to the bathroom before collapsing against the wall. His hands flexed against the cold surface, body giving a sickly shake, eyes clenching tight. Why must she single him out like that? Try to talk to him? "The old me is gone…" he whispered brokenly to himself, tears breaking from his eyes. "There's nothing she can do to make him come back…I won't allow it to happen!" he tried to yell to convince himself, but it came out more like a distraught murmur.
Luckily no one was in there at the moment, he decided as he slid down the wall, pulling his legs to his chest. I hate this school……I hate it… He cried into his arms, unable to stop himself. "….There's too much pain…t-to…bring the old me….back…"
***********************
There. Finally finished this chapter. I was getting stuck on the Improv game. I suck at that game anyway, lol. But it's a nice long chapter! Ten pages! Be happy, because I have NO idea when the next one will be. I refused to go online until I got this chapter done and I'm working on Darkness Within and Never (one-shot Mariku/Jou) at the moment too. Will be a nice big update today, hopefully. The Pain You Gave Me has an update on it too today, for anyone who may care.
The following songs were used in the 'Hotspot' game and are not mine:
Blood Red Summer: Coheed and Cambria
Real Emotions: Final Fantasy X-2
Melodies of Life: Final Fantasy IX
Goodbye to You: Michelle Branch
Breath: Michelle Branch
Gotta Knock a Little Harder: Cowboy Bebop
Please review!