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Ch.4: Dueling Basics & Memories

At the shop

Yami and I walk in and are immediately greeted by different kids of all ages. I smile at them all and say, "Hey. How are you? Having fun dueling?" The kids, all eleven or under, all say simultaneously, "Yes Ms. Yumiko. Hi Mr. Yami." Yugi's grandpa then comes over,

"Hello. Glad you got here so fast. Here's your costumes, Yumiko you're Dark Magician Girl and Yami, you're the ancient Pharaoh who fought with the monsters. We're basically going to be demonstrating the history of dueling, except on a full-scale demonstration. I believe that you know the history..." I nod and take my costume ((It looks exactly like the real thing.)) and Yami takes his. We both then go to the restroom at the back and takes turn while changing. I come out and Yami goes in. He comes out and I look at his costume.

"Not bad. You really are perfect for the costume." I comment and he looks at my costume. "You don't look bad yourself. Well, let's get going. I'm eager to see what Yugi's grandpa has planned. We only know some of it..." Yami replies.

As we walk in, side-by-side, I notice something. "Hey, isn't that an arena? Oh no, don't tell I'm going in there... ahhhhhhhhh!" Yami sighs as he says, "Oh no you don't. You're going in there, whether you like it or not..." I, meanwhile, was trying to edge away, unsuccessfully though... to the amusement of Duke and Mai, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

Yes, I, Yumiko Motogawa, was deathly afraid of arenas. The strange part was that I was fine when I was dueling; otherwise...it wasn't pretty and involved a lot of yelling and screaming on my part. No small wonder he didn't tell me what was going on... I wish that I could get over this fear, but no such luck. No matter how many times my friends tried, to no avail.

Anyways, back to the present situation. Yami sighs as he senses what's going to happen. He then grabs my arm and my waist. He then lifts me up surprisingly easily and tosses me over his shoulder. "Let's go. You're not running away. Besides, where in seven hells is Yugi's grandpa going to find anybody who knows the history of duel monsters so well, hmmm?"

I continue to yell and struggle. "Put me down! I don't care what's going to be going on! I don't want to go in there and that's final!" Yami sighs as he glares over at Mai and Duke. "Care to help me? She's not that easy and Mr. Moto is depending on her!"

I manage to slide down over Yugi shoulder. I roll to me feet, but Yami is just as fast. He grabs my wrist and yanks me back. "C'mon, Duke! This isn't easy, you know." Duke sighs as he comes over and grabs my other wrist, still laughing. "Damn, Yumiko. You really must hate arenas..."

I glare at the chuckling man and say, "Look, it's not my fault! I can't remember why I have a fear of these things unless I'm dueling! So give me a break here." Yami then, with Duke's help, and me protesting and yelling the whole time, pick me up again and Duke walks behind Yami to make sure that I don't escape. "No fair! It's two against one! At least I had a chance with only Yami..."

Mai, meanwhile, walks over to me and pokes my cheek. "You'll be fine. Besides, you have people depending on you and I'm one of them. So chill, and you've got loads of friends to help you." Mai then walks with Yami and Duke. We enter the arena area and walk over to our friends, with my still complaining loudly.

"Wow. Never thought I'd see my one of my best friends afraid of a little arena. Now that's funny." Comments a very amused voice behind me. Yami sets me down and I turn around to see my good friend, Seria. I immediately run over to her and greet her with a warm hug, completely forgetting that I'm in an arena. She hugs me back and we break apart.

"Hey, nice costume. Let me guess, more duel monster history?" she smiles at this, her eyes dancing with mirth.

I smile back just as amused, "Yep. I'm the Dark Magician Girl!" I strike a pose like her and Mokuba runs up and jumps to give me a hug. "Hey Yumi!!"

I laugh as I say, "Wait a minute. You convinced Seto to come, the Seto Kaiba? Because if he's her, Kaiba's bound to be here somewhere."

Seria smiles as she says, "Yep, the one and only. Mokuba helped too. He knew something was happening today and Tea told me about it. You're okay, aren't you?" Seria asks, as worry appears in her face.

I smile gently at my friend, "Of course I am. I wouldn't be here if I wasn't, now would I?" As I was talking to Seria, I set Mokuba down, who stayed close to me, afraid to let me out of his sight.

Then, speak of the devil, Kaiba himself appears. "Oh. It's you. I heard you weren't feeling well. Nice costume. Surprisingly, you're afraid of arenas too. How amusing..." Kaiba says in a voice laced with sarcasm.

I give him a cold look and say, "What's it to you how I feel?"

Seria laughs nervously. "Um guys, why don't we go talk later, where it's more private. Then you two can argue later. After all, it's not your fault you're afraid of this place, Yumiko..."

I sigh as a sad look crosses my eyes and my eyes start to sting. I quickly walk away, and avoid everyone's worried looks after me. 'Calm down. You really shouldn't let that get to you...' I then walk quickly over to the edge of the field, where a small alleyway runs parallel to the shop. I walk into the alleyway and rest my hand on the wall, as the memories come, unbidden, of when I first saw this place. I was only five years old, after all...

((A/N: This flashback is told in normal point of view, btw, with comments in normal text in parentheses from Yumiko. The rest is in italics, since it's a flashback.))

Begin Flashback

A small girl walks along the street with her parents. They were on their way to a festival, the little girl's first, in fact. The little girl was humming a little tune happily to herself, holding one of her mother's hands and one of her father's hands. "Hey mommy, are we almost there?" asks the little girl in a small voice. ('If only I had known what would happen...') The girl's mother smiles fondly at her and says, "Almost Kiki. ('My parents are the only ones that ever called me Kiki...') Her father smiles fondly at their little daughter as he says, "Listen carefully. You can hear music up ahead of us. They even have paper lanterns hanging. Can you see them? They're just up ahead." Kiki bounces up and smiles, "Yes Papa! I can see them and I can hear the music." Cries Kiki in an excited squeal. Pretty soon, they're about two blocks away from the festival and they pass a big arena.

((A/N: Yes, the very same she's in right now...))

Then, three men step in front of the couple & Kiki. "Excuse us. May we get through?" asks Kiki's dad in a friendly voice. At this point, another man comes from behind and grabs Kiki, aka Yumiko. "Aaaaaaaaah! Help! Mommy, Papa!" The man smiles evilly as he says in an overly friendly voice, "Now, you wouldn't want your precious daughter to be harmed, would you? Especially considering that she's of so little value to us. Let's just step into the alleyway and have a little chat." Kiki's dad glares at the men, as does her mother. "You bastard. You wouldn't dare harm a child." Kiki's mother says in a venomous tone. Both parents walk into the small alleyway, though. Little Kiki, meanwhile, is crying and crying. The man holding her looks down at her in disgust and then throws her. Luckily for Kiki, though, she hit trash bags. The other two men act quickly and shoot Kiki's parents. They then walk off, whistling, as is nothing happened. A few minutes later, Yumiko, also Kiki, wakes up. She looks around in confusion and then runs over to her parents, lying in a pool of blood, dead. "Mommy? Papa? Hello? Please wake up! I'm scared! Mommy, Papa!!" Yumiko then starts to cry and she shakes her papa, trying to wake him up. As she does so, she kneels by him and gets blood on her new kimono. Meanwhile, an old man and a five-year-old Yugi hear the gunshots and come running. When they get to the alleyway, they find a crying Yumiko, lying on the ground, crying and the new kimono covered in blood, her parents' blood. Yugi stares in horror and his grandfather says in a voice with barely controlled anger, "Who would do this?! Who in this world is this evil?!" he then sees Yumiko and his voice losses its anger for the moment. Yugi had already gone over to Yumiko and was giving her a hug. "Grandpa, who did this?" Yugi's grandfather sighs. "That, my lad, I don't know. C'mon, let's bring her back and call the police. He then bends down and picks up Yumiko gently. Yumiko continues to sob uncontrollably and Yugi looks up at her with wide eyes. "Grandpa, will she stay with us?" Yugi asks and Yugi's grandfather smiles a little bit. "Seems like she will be. Let's get her out of this place. She's seen enough already." Yugi then walks out of the alleyway with his grandfather and Yumiko then says in a soft voice, "Mommy. Papa. No..."

End Flashback

((A/N: Yes, I know. It's very sad. Now the story goes back to Yumiko's point of view. Yumiko was five when that happened and she's sixteen now...))

Tears spring, unbidden, to my eyes. "I can't believe they were murdered like that. They didn't even do anything...my dad was a great duelist and I probably get my love of the game from him. I knew he had tough opponents, but I don't think that any would go as far murdering him..." I quickly wipe the tears away and walk out of the small alleyway, to stop even more memories from coming back. I then walk back into the arena, my eyes sad and heart heavy. I fake a smile when I get within sight range of my friends, so as not to worry them. "Hey guys. Sorry about that, just had to check on something. So, ready to start this thing or what?"

Everyone looks at me relieved, all except for Yugi and Yami, who realize that I'm not telling them something. Yami & Yugi give me a we'll-talk-to-you-later look and I knew that I couldn't avoid them.

Yugi's grandpa then comes up at that moment. "Ahhh, glad to see that everyone's here. Ready to go?" he smiles brightly at us and I reply, "Ready as ever. Just tell us what we need to do, and when." Yugi's grandfather smiles even wider at us, "Excellent, excellent. Please, follow me, Yami and Yumiko, I'll explain as we go." Yami and I then follow after Yugi's grandpa and Tea looks thoughtful. "She didn't seem like herself."

"Yeah, you're right. It's as if she lost all her joy, or what little she had..." adds Mokuba in a small voice.

Seria sighs as she says, "I reminded her of something sad that happened. It's all my fault for this mess. I just hope that she's okay... she really does have reason to hate this arena, or at least that small alleyway..."

Yugi sighs and says, "I know what happened too. I was there to see the results... it was so bad, it's not even funny. I haven't seen a truly joyful Yumiko in a long time. I only see happiness when she duels, or is around stuff that distracts her mind. She tries so hard, yet the wound on her heart won't heal. She's gotten semi-better with time, but not really. I wish that she can eventually find the true happiness she deserves..."

Seria then adds in again, "Yeah. I agree Yugi. I hope she's okay too..."

Everyone looks a bit sad and thoughtful. 'What could have gone wrong?' is the thought on everyone's mind besides Yugi and Seria. Suddenly, an announcement breaks into everyone's thoughts. "Attention, the History of Dueling show will be starting in five minutes. Please find your seats and enjoy the show!" The gang: Tea, Joey, Tristen, Seria, Kaiba, Mokuba, and Serenity all go and find front seats to see the show, reserved for them.

"Well, let's hope this show is worth my time..." mutters an irritable Kaiba. Seria, who's sitting next to him, elbows him in the ribs. "Shush. Just watch." The lights then go time about two minutes later, creating an eerie look and a light shines in the center of the field. Everyone then sits back as Yugi's grandpa speaks into a microphone. "Now, duelists of all ages, I present to you, the History of Dueling, staring our own Yumiko Motogawa and Yami Moto. Please give a warm welcome to them!"

A/N: Yes, this is the end of the chapter. I hope you enjoy it and I hope this answers any questions that anyone had... please review! I prefer not to be flamed, thanks. Good day to you!!