The Game of Life
By: Rogue Fox
Part Twelve... Heartache of a Thief
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
" Yami! Get out of the bathroom!" Yugi wailed. I bustled by him. " Put a shirt on, Himeko!" he cried, wincing and looking away.
" What?" I asked helplessly. " I can't find my uniform top! Besides, it's just a bra!" I cried, somewhat indignant. That brought Ammon out of the bathroom.
" Put some clothes on!" he bellowed. I gave him a fish eye look.
" Put some clothes on yourself." I returned. He had his uniform jacket and shirt on. He seemed to have forgotten about his pants and was standing there in his boxers. I laughed as he dashed for the bathroom, only to find that Yugi had taken advantage of the distraction to seize the prize.
" Yugi!" Ammon boomed angrily.
" I can't hear you!" Yugi sang from inside the bathroom. I laughed harder.
" YUGI!" Ammon roared.
" I can't hear you!" Yugi repeated, singing cheerfully.
" Well, I can! Stop that, Yami!" Grandpa yelled, walking into the upstairs hall, seeing me collapsed on the floor laughing hysterically in my bra and Ammon standing there, red in the face in his boxers. " Get some clothes on, you two." He said calmly.
" My pants are in there!" Ammon cried helplessly, pointing to the bathroom door. At which point, the door opened and Yugi threw the pants in question at Ammon's face and slammed it again. Which made me laugh harder.
" You're going to be late, and neither of you can have detention today." Grandpa reminded us. Ammon looked up at him from hopping on one foot trying to shove his left leg into his pants while I hunted through a pile of clothes to find my uniform top.
" What?" Ammon asked distantly.
" Tonight you're supposed to go to that ball." Grandpa reminded us. Ammon fell over and I dropped my newly found uniform top.
" I forgot!" we both cried. I pulled the top over my head and fastened the vest. Then I looked at Ammon to see he had become tangled in his own pants. And that threw me into gales of laughter again. Yugi came out of the bathroom, his hair a little damp from his shower, a little later and Ammon bolted for it again. I took advantage of the time waiting on him to do some homework I had failed to do the night before. Yugi fell to flipping between the TV stations, from one morning show to another.
I bit my lip, staring at a particularly tricky question from geometry. Then I closed the book and resolved to do it during my second hour class. Halloween had been a week ago. Everything was running smoothly. Aside from an energy surge on Yuki's part, everything was safe and sound. And Tepe had fallen into his own place in our numbers. He seemed as happy as I remembered him. He even fought with Ammon less, which is always a good thing because it left both of them in a better mood. At that point, Ammon came barreling down the stairs, trying to pull on a pair of socks on the way down.
" Damned modern clothes!" he cried.
" Yami, what have I told you about cursing?" Grandpa cried, exasperated.
" Sorry, Grandpa, gonna be late!" Yami cried, running for the door and tripping in his own attempt to pick up his shoes. " Lecture me later!" he called. " You two have exactly ten seconds to be in the car or you're walking!" he added to Yugi and I. And that, as you might have guessed, resulted in a stampede toward the door. Yugi got into the car before Yami and I both, with five seconds to spare. Yami was next, with three left. He was starting the car when I hopped out of the house on one foot, carrying my other shoe and both Yugi and my own backpacks. I threw it at him through the window of the passenger side, then jumped into the car through the backseat window. Once safely inside and Ammon was driving, I commenced pulling on my other shoe.
" Damn school! Why does it have to start so early?" I asked.
" I dunno." Came the answer from both guys in the front seat.
" Well, you guys are a regular fountain of knowledge." I said sarcastically. Ammon looked at me through the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes.
" Yami! Watch the road!" Yugi yelled, pointing out the windshield.
" Watch it, dumb ass!" Ammon cried at the driver of the car that had almost hit us head on. I hit him over the head.
" You watch it, dumb ass!" I cried. " You were on his side of the road!"
" It's too early to drive." Ammon complained.
" Quit whining and drive." Yugi said, a little tense. He had seen the oncoming car from a very intimate angle.
We made it to school without any other near death experiences. And we continued through the day, all of us playing our parts, pretending to be normal.
" And then the old woman told me to follow the North Star until I could walk no further..." Tepemkau recited to a gathering of adoring girls, all seated around the desk he was sitting on top of. Tepe was an instant hit with the girls, as was Ammon. They adored Tepe's storytelling abilities, and Ammon just emitted an attractive air that Yuki and I are immune to.
" Alright, clear off, ladies!" I cried, plowing in. I wasn't really jealous. Tepe just liked the attention. Not the actual girls.
" Awe, share the wealth, Himeko!" a girl named Miki cried indignantly.
" Sorry ladies, we all know that my heart belongs to Himeko alone. Her wish is my command." Tepe said, bowing to me. I laughed. " Clear off! I'll tell you what happens next later." He said, making a shooing motion with his hand.
" So, what was it this time?" I asked, seating myself next to him after all the girls had gone. It was a free day in history class.
" Something I was making up as I went along." Tepe said, laughing. I laughed as well. I looked across the room to where Jou and Yugi were teaching Yuki how to play Duel Monsters. Ammon was supervising, and trying to keep himself out of the death grips of his adoring fans. It looked like Yuki was kicking Jou's butt. " She's something else, isn't she?" Tepe said suddenly. " Did she live up to your expectations?"
" I'd like to say yes. But the truth is, she surpassed them all." I answered. " What about Ryou?" I asked. Ryou wasn't in this class with us. He had English that hour.
" It's hard to say. We're both still learning." Tepe said, looking away. " Hey, here comes Kaiba. Wonder what he wants." Tepe noted. I looked in the direction that he was and saw Seto approaching us. Seto and Tepe pretty much ignored each other. They had no reason to hate each other and no reason to like each other. It seemed their only tie was Yuki and I.
" Himeko, can I speak with you?" Seto asked. I nodded.
" I'm not going anywhere." Tepe protested softly.
" Don't, then." Seto advised. " Have you noticed that Yuki's been acting strangely lately?"
" No, actually, I haven't." I said.
" What kind of big sister are you?" Tepe asked me good-naturedly.
" What's wrong with her?" I asked Seto. He frowned.
" She's always sleepy and pale lately. She doesn't eat much at all. Watch her at lunch, you'll see what I mean. I caught her last night coughing so hard I thought she was going to cough up a lung." He explained. I looked back at Yuki.
" Now that I think about it, she does look a little pale." Tepe noted.
" I tried to see if she was running a fever, but she wouldn't let me. She keeps insisting she's fine." Seto added.
" That's just Yuki for you." I said with a sigh. " Well, it's not surprising. You may not know, but her health has been in a delicate state since Egypt. Remember when she got so sick about a month after we got back? It's probably the same thing." I said. " I really need to crack down on her training." I muttered to myself.
" So, she'll be okay?" Seto asked.
" You're cute when you worry about her." I noted, pinching his cheek. " Yeah, she'll be fine. Nothing to worry about."
" Thanks." He said, turning and making his way to Yuki and the other guys. He laughed at something Yuki told him as she laid down another card. Judging by Jou's expression, she had just clinched her victory.
" Am I cute when I worry?" Tepe asked me. I turned my gaze back to him. His intense brown eyes bored into my own, but I was used to the intensity of his gaze. His long, thin body was stretched near my own form, and his broadening shoulders were accented by the uniform.
" You're cute all the time." I told him. He smiled.
" Cuter than Kaiba?" he prodded. I knew what he was getting at. He was still trying to prove to me he was better than Nen, and he was using to Seto to do it. Fortunately, the bell rang before I could answer.
" See you at lunch!" I called, snagging my books and running for the door.
" Is- Himeko!" Tepe called after me in anger, almost calling me by my old name. I sighed as I reached my desk in my next class. I sank into it, grateful that only Yugi was in this class with me. I knew Tepe meant well, but that question had put me on the spot.
" Stupid." I muttered to myself. In the desk next to me, Yugi looked at me oddly.
" Didn't finish your homework?" he asked. I looked up, startled by his voice.
" Oh, um, no." I said sheepishly. " I really meant to do it second hour." I rushed on to explain.
" You've got about five minutes before she picks it up." Yugi said pointing at the clock. I scrambled to pull out my paper and began doing what I could. To anyone else, this scene might have been funny. A former Princess of the most powerful empire in the world at the mercy of some geometry teacher. Fate, I cried out mentally, how thou mock me! That was mostly for amusement as I flipped the page in my geometry homework, Tepe forgotten for the moment.
*+*+*Yami Bakura*+*+*
I can speak English. I know English. Ryou knows English, so therefore, I know English. I did not, do not, and will not ever see the reason they made me take the English class. By "they," I do not mean the group I tended to be around. I mean the school. Ryou told me it was a necessity and we just had to bear it. Thus, you can imagine my extreme displeasure when the teacher asked me to list three past tense action verbs. I searched Ryou's memory. Some of you might call that cheating. To those of you that do, I dare you to say it to my face. You won't be saying much of anything afterward, except maybe " Ow!" To explain this, imagine this; you find yourself thousands and thousands of years in the future. Note that you are not in your own body, but in someone else's that resembles yours. All you have to go off of is that someone else's memories and past experiences. Natural conclusion; use that to teach yourself how to deal with the unfamiliar situations that may arise. What did I teach myself? Always side with caution. If that fails, refer to Ryou's memory. If that fails, which it rarely does, follow your instincts.
So that is how I found myself cruising through Ryou's memory, which is forever embedded in my own, trying to come up with three action verbs. It was taking a lot longer than I thought it would.
" Mr. Bakura. We're waiting." The teacher said, frowning at me. I looked at her blankly. " Well, class, this is what happens when you don't study-" she was starting when I interrupted her.
" Obliterated, conquered, and empowered." I said. I chose more complicated words to prove my point.
" Oh, well, my apologies." The teacher said. Then, she managed to translate what I had actually said. " Are you bilingual?" she asked. I nodded.
" Ryou Bakura is my cousin. And I speak other languages as well." I said by way of explanation. Everyone knew Ryou spoke English fluently. " And by the way, you need to work on your accent." I added in English. It took her a few minutes to figure that out.
" I'll work on that." She said uncertainly. I smiled. If there's one thing I like more than a newly earned Millennium Item, it's showing up someone who thinks they're better than me. And unlike the Millennium Item thing, that's something I get to do often. The students around me were awed.
I ended up paying for showing off like that. I became the new authority on English, and spent the rest of the hour plagued with translation questions. Now I knew why Ryou refused to give me answers. I resolved never to ask him for answers again. Help, maybe. Answers, no. After English class, I was all too ready to bolt for the courtyard. I live with Ryou Bakura. I get to skip the lunch line all together. So naturally, Ryou and I were the first to the table we all usually sit at. There's something cozy about knowing there's a spot saved for you with people who trust you.
" Free day in history. What a drag." Ryou muttered, sitting down next to me. " I was looking forward to the next chapter, too." I stared at him.
" I'm sorry, but I've begun to view those free days as a blessing." I said.
" Hey." Yuki said, plopping down on the bench opposite us. I noted she had no food.
" Aren't you going to eat, Yuki?" I asked. Yuki smiled at me.
" Seto has my lunch in his briefcase." She said in explanation. She held up a book, written in English. The title read "An Acceptable Time." I could not understand that girl's fascination with books.
" Isn't that by the author who wrote 'A Wrinkle In Time?'" Ryou asked.
" Yeah. It's good. You yami's ought to read it." She said.
" I know what an acceptable time is. One, lunch. Two, my original time." I said, shrugging. I dug into the sandwich Ryou offered.
" Stuff that into your face any harder and it might get stuck that way." Mai told me as she, Jou, and the Pharaoh walked up.
" Wouldn't that be a shame? Your face would be uglier than it already is." The Pharaoh said with a smirk. I smirked back at him.
" Yeah, and it might actually match up to yours." I shot back.
" Oh, ha ha. Aren't you hilarious?" he said with no conviction. Ryou rolled his eyes and I caught Yugi approaching with Honda and Anzu out of the corner of my eye.
" Are they still going at it?" Anzu asked in exasperation.
" I don't think they'll ever stop." Ryou answered. Yugi sighed as they all took their seats.
" Sure we will. We'll stop fighting when he inevitably admits that I am right in all areas of life." I said confidently.
" Actually, we'll stop fighting when he admits that I'm right." The Pharaoh was quick to correct me.
" I'm right!" I insisted.
" That's a laugh!" he cried.
" Not as much as the prospect of you being right!" I shot back.
" Clash of the egotistical titans." Yugi noted.
" You're both wrong because you're just typical men and any woman with half a brain knows that no typical man is ever right." Mai said easily. Every guy at the table stared at her while Yuki and Anzu laughed loudly. Isis had arrived just in time to hear that last remark on Mai's part and joined them, sitting down beside me.
" So I must not be a typical man?" Kaiba said, smiling at Mai. He had apparently just arrived as well.
" No, you're a typical man." Yuki said quickly. Everyone laughed.
" Then I suppose you don't really want your lunch." Kaiba noted, shrugging.
" Okay, you're not a typical man!" Yuki cried, lunging for the briefcase as Kaiba sat down.
" I still say I'm right!" I cried. Everyone laughed again, even the Pharaoh and I.
" Actually, Mai, they just might be right." Isis said. Everyone turned to her silently. " Think about it like this. There's not a man at this table, so one of them might be right." She said, grinning.
" Hey!"
" That's not fair!"
" That's was just plain mean!"
" What did I ever do to you?" Were just a few of the cries of protest sounded by every male at the table. The girls just cheered at Isis's reasoning. After we had all calmed down to a reasonable level and started eating, a discussion I had been hoping to avoid came up.
" So, is everyone ready for the ball tonight?" Yuki asked. I groaned verbally and Ryou kicked me in the knee under the table.
" What was that for?" I asked him sharply. He kicked me again.
" What was what for?" he asked innocently. At that point, I caught on.
" I've got to pick up my gown from the dry cleaners. Yami." Isis said, looking pointedly at her brother as she said his name.
" Alright, alright. Taxi Service Yami, how man I help you?" he returned dully.
" You can drive me to the tuxedo rental." Jou offered.
" Oh, God." Kaiba moaned. " You've had three weeks to get ready, and the afternoon of, you still don't have your tux?"
" And you've got your own car. Drive yourself." The Pharaoh added.
" What can I say? I'm a lazy bum." Jou said, smiling. " Besides, I don't have any money to fill my gas tank."
" If I have anything to say about it, you'll clean up pretty well." Mai said, pinching Jou's cheek.
" Is this going to be as bad as I think it's going to be?" Yami asked Kaiba. I looked at him expectantly, waiting for the answer.
" No, of course not." Kaiba said. I breathed a sigh of relief... Two seconds too soon. " It'll be much worse." Kaiba added.
" I hate you right now." I informed him. Ryou kicked me again.
" Could possibly stop kicking me!" I asked loudly. Everyone laughed, even though I had been dead serious.
*+*+*Later*+*+*
" Just think of it as a valuable cultural experience." Ryou suggested. We were at the Kaiba mansion, and I was struggling to figure out how to tie the stupid little bow. And just then, the girls came in.
" Hey, guys. How's it going?" Mai asked. She was wearing a red dress that clung close to her body, with an Oriental top that had gold embroidery and no sleeves. She even had a fan to complete the look.
" Wow. This is one of those cases where guys do take longer than girls." Anzu noted. I made a face at her. She was wearing a formal light pink dress, complete with the spread bottom. She had light pink earrings as well.
" Oh, ha ha. That was so funny, Anzu." Jou said unconvincingly. After Anzu, Isis stepped into the room. She took my breath away. She was wearing black, as usual, a long skirt that, like Mai's, clung close to her form and had slits that went clear up to her thighs. Her top was black as well, and tied around the back of her neck, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. I must have looked like the biggest idiot ever, standing there with that awful formal outfit not completely done up correctly, staring at her like she was an angel descended from heaven. An angel in black. And if Isis didn't quite make angel, then Yuki did. She was wearing a white dress that wasn't quite spread-bottom or close to the body. It was somewhere in between. It had small strings to serve as sleeves. I've been told that they're called spaghetti straps.
" You guys look great." Ryou noted. Mai giggled and Anzu blushed a little.
" Thank you, Ryou." Yuki said, smiling at him genuinely. I almost burst out laughing when I noticed Ryou blushing ever so slightly. I nudged him in the ribs and winked, which made him blush more. Kaiba walked into the room, looking utterly immaculate.
" That is so not fair!" Honda cried when he saw Kaiba.
" What?" Kaiba asked, utterly confused. " Why aren't you ready yet? We're leaving in fifteen minutes."
" How can you get all this stuff on so fast? I can't even tie the stupid bow!" the Pharaoh cried. Yugi nodded vehemently.
" Lots of practice." Kaiba informed us. Isis grabbed my shoulder and spun me so that I faced her.
" It's not that hard." She informed me, tying the little bow for me. I was glad I don't blush easily. Yuki was making rounds tying everyone's bow for them. We were barely ready for the limo when it arrived.
The ball itself was exactly as Kaiba and Yuki told us it would be. Long and boring. And after a while, the girls started complaining that their feet hurt because of their fancy shoes. I thought it was their own fault for wearing the shoes, but Mai and Isis informed me that they didn't exactly get a choice in the matter. Just like that stupid bow tie, which kept making me feel like I was choking. I had to wear it. So we blew that place early. Kaiba said we all had to get our rest and we all had a lot of homework. He had to remind all the old people that kept trying to tell us their life stories that we were still in high school and we all needed our rest. He lies almost as well as I do. Even after getting away early, we still got back to the mansion at about eleven. After that, it was a mad scramble to get out of the uncomfortable clothes. Kaiba and Yuki went immediately to call Grandpa Motou, as I had taken to calling him, to check on the boys he was watching. I happened to walk into the room where they were during that conversation.
" Yeah, we had a good time... Really? I'm so proud of you, Yukio... Yukio brought home a gold star today, Seto!" Yuki informed Kaiba excitedly after conversing with the littlest one over the phone. I always got a little jealous, watching them and their happy family. I knew as well as anyone that they had more than their share of problems, but I still got jealous. I had a brother, once. He wasn't nearly as great a big brother as Kaiba is, or the Pharaoh or even Yugi. He actually made my childhood pretty miserable. He hated me. I was a threat to his inheritance of our father's chief-hood. As soon as he took over the tribe, he had me banished. I was about twelve cycles old when that happened. Just twelve, out in the world on my own. It was a miracle I survived. My brother was a power-mad, shadow of a man. Looking back now, I know I had become him. I was as terrible to Ryou as my brother was to me. And that scared me. The last thing I wanted was to be like him. Never, I promised myself, walking out of the room.
I found my way to the kitchen, where Mai and Jou were talking about something that had happened in school. They were standing really close together. I ignored them, swallowed my jealousy for a second time in the last five minutes and looked out the window. I could see someone sitting out there on the patio. I looked closer and saw it was Isis. I then went out to join her.
" Hi." I greeted. She looked up at me and smiled. She looked exactly as she had looked all those years ago, sitting on the banks of the Nile in the moonlight. She was dressed differently, but she was still Isis.
" Hey." She responded, turning her gaze back to the moon as I sat down beside her.
" It's pretty tonight, isn't it?" I asked. She nodded. " Do you hate me too?" I asked suddenly. I have this bad habit of just saying whatever pops into my head. I've tried to kick it, but it never works. The only time I seem to be able to keep my thoughts to myself is when I'm dueling. Isis looked at me sharply.
" No! Why would I hate you?" she asked.
" Because it just seems like everyone has a good reason to." I muttered.
" I have no reason to hate you." Isis declared.
" Really?" I asked her seriously, giving her a withering look. " You do so. You could hate me for leaving you. You could hate me for turning into the monster I am."
" I don't hate you." Isis said solidly.
" Then why won't you just laugh the way you used to?" I asked her, feeling my face heat up. I don't blush, but I do get hot when I'm frustrated or embarrassed.
" I told you, Tepe. I'm not the person I used to be. I've changed." She told me softly.
" I don't see another person. I see the girl I fell in love with beside the Nile. I hear her voice, I see her eyes." I said, reaching over and grabbing her hand. " I feel her skin. I'd like to taste her lips again." I added. Isis stared at me.
" I think I've forgotten how to love you." She whispered.
" Then let me remind you." I begged, inching a little closer. I needed her. I had forgotten how she made me feel. She was like the air I need to breathe. Without it, without her, I'll die. Isis let me kiss her lightly on the lips. But when I tried to pursue it, she pulled away.
" I can't forget him." She confessed. I felt rage rise up in my chest.
" He's gone. I'm here. It's that simple." I said through gritted teeth.
" I wish it was that simple, Tepe." Isis said, standing up. I looked up at her. She pressed a hand to my cheek. " We've both changed, Tepe. You and I have seen more than we'd like to admit. And it just doesn't feel right to me right now." I placed my hand over hers.
" It feels right to me." I told her.
" It takes two to love." Isis reminded me.
" And you don't know." I added sadly.
" I don't hate you." Isis hurried to say. " I love you. I just don't know if I love you in that way anymore." She said. Then she went inside. It was a chilly fall night, but I didn't go in. Ryou griped me out the next morning, but I didn't care. I slept outside under the moon, dreaming of days gone by when Isis still loved me, and days not yet come when maybe she would love me again.
A/N: Okay, that was pretty pointless. v_v Anyway, I promise things will get better. Must find sugar so I can write... (goes off in search of said sugar)
By: Rogue Fox
Part Twelve... Heartache of a Thief
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
" Yami! Get out of the bathroom!" Yugi wailed. I bustled by him. " Put a shirt on, Himeko!" he cried, wincing and looking away.
" What?" I asked helplessly. " I can't find my uniform top! Besides, it's just a bra!" I cried, somewhat indignant. That brought Ammon out of the bathroom.
" Put some clothes on!" he bellowed. I gave him a fish eye look.
" Put some clothes on yourself." I returned. He had his uniform jacket and shirt on. He seemed to have forgotten about his pants and was standing there in his boxers. I laughed as he dashed for the bathroom, only to find that Yugi had taken advantage of the distraction to seize the prize.
" Yugi!" Ammon boomed angrily.
" I can't hear you!" Yugi sang from inside the bathroom. I laughed harder.
" YUGI!" Ammon roared.
" I can't hear you!" Yugi repeated, singing cheerfully.
" Well, I can! Stop that, Yami!" Grandpa yelled, walking into the upstairs hall, seeing me collapsed on the floor laughing hysterically in my bra and Ammon standing there, red in the face in his boxers. " Get some clothes on, you two." He said calmly.
" My pants are in there!" Ammon cried helplessly, pointing to the bathroom door. At which point, the door opened and Yugi threw the pants in question at Ammon's face and slammed it again. Which made me laugh harder.
" You're going to be late, and neither of you can have detention today." Grandpa reminded us. Ammon looked up at him from hopping on one foot trying to shove his left leg into his pants while I hunted through a pile of clothes to find my uniform top.
" What?" Ammon asked distantly.
" Tonight you're supposed to go to that ball." Grandpa reminded us. Ammon fell over and I dropped my newly found uniform top.
" I forgot!" we both cried. I pulled the top over my head and fastened the vest. Then I looked at Ammon to see he had become tangled in his own pants. And that threw me into gales of laughter again. Yugi came out of the bathroom, his hair a little damp from his shower, a little later and Ammon bolted for it again. I took advantage of the time waiting on him to do some homework I had failed to do the night before. Yugi fell to flipping between the TV stations, from one morning show to another.
I bit my lip, staring at a particularly tricky question from geometry. Then I closed the book and resolved to do it during my second hour class. Halloween had been a week ago. Everything was running smoothly. Aside from an energy surge on Yuki's part, everything was safe and sound. And Tepe had fallen into his own place in our numbers. He seemed as happy as I remembered him. He even fought with Ammon less, which is always a good thing because it left both of them in a better mood. At that point, Ammon came barreling down the stairs, trying to pull on a pair of socks on the way down.
" Damned modern clothes!" he cried.
" Yami, what have I told you about cursing?" Grandpa cried, exasperated.
" Sorry, Grandpa, gonna be late!" Yami cried, running for the door and tripping in his own attempt to pick up his shoes. " Lecture me later!" he called. " You two have exactly ten seconds to be in the car or you're walking!" he added to Yugi and I. And that, as you might have guessed, resulted in a stampede toward the door. Yugi got into the car before Yami and I both, with five seconds to spare. Yami was next, with three left. He was starting the car when I hopped out of the house on one foot, carrying my other shoe and both Yugi and my own backpacks. I threw it at him through the window of the passenger side, then jumped into the car through the backseat window. Once safely inside and Ammon was driving, I commenced pulling on my other shoe.
" Damn school! Why does it have to start so early?" I asked.
" I dunno." Came the answer from both guys in the front seat.
" Well, you guys are a regular fountain of knowledge." I said sarcastically. Ammon looked at me through the rearview mirror and rolled his eyes.
" Yami! Watch the road!" Yugi yelled, pointing out the windshield.
" Watch it, dumb ass!" Ammon cried at the driver of the car that had almost hit us head on. I hit him over the head.
" You watch it, dumb ass!" I cried. " You were on his side of the road!"
" It's too early to drive." Ammon complained.
" Quit whining and drive." Yugi said, a little tense. He had seen the oncoming car from a very intimate angle.
We made it to school without any other near death experiences. And we continued through the day, all of us playing our parts, pretending to be normal.
" And then the old woman told me to follow the North Star until I could walk no further..." Tepemkau recited to a gathering of adoring girls, all seated around the desk he was sitting on top of. Tepe was an instant hit with the girls, as was Ammon. They adored Tepe's storytelling abilities, and Ammon just emitted an attractive air that Yuki and I are immune to.
" Alright, clear off, ladies!" I cried, plowing in. I wasn't really jealous. Tepe just liked the attention. Not the actual girls.
" Awe, share the wealth, Himeko!" a girl named Miki cried indignantly.
" Sorry ladies, we all know that my heart belongs to Himeko alone. Her wish is my command." Tepe said, bowing to me. I laughed. " Clear off! I'll tell you what happens next later." He said, making a shooing motion with his hand.
" So, what was it this time?" I asked, seating myself next to him after all the girls had gone. It was a free day in history class.
" Something I was making up as I went along." Tepe said, laughing. I laughed as well. I looked across the room to where Jou and Yugi were teaching Yuki how to play Duel Monsters. Ammon was supervising, and trying to keep himself out of the death grips of his adoring fans. It looked like Yuki was kicking Jou's butt. " She's something else, isn't she?" Tepe said suddenly. " Did she live up to your expectations?"
" I'd like to say yes. But the truth is, she surpassed them all." I answered. " What about Ryou?" I asked. Ryou wasn't in this class with us. He had English that hour.
" It's hard to say. We're both still learning." Tepe said, looking away. " Hey, here comes Kaiba. Wonder what he wants." Tepe noted. I looked in the direction that he was and saw Seto approaching us. Seto and Tepe pretty much ignored each other. They had no reason to hate each other and no reason to like each other. It seemed their only tie was Yuki and I.
" Himeko, can I speak with you?" Seto asked. I nodded.
" I'm not going anywhere." Tepe protested softly.
" Don't, then." Seto advised. " Have you noticed that Yuki's been acting strangely lately?"
" No, actually, I haven't." I said.
" What kind of big sister are you?" Tepe asked me good-naturedly.
" What's wrong with her?" I asked Seto. He frowned.
" She's always sleepy and pale lately. She doesn't eat much at all. Watch her at lunch, you'll see what I mean. I caught her last night coughing so hard I thought she was going to cough up a lung." He explained. I looked back at Yuki.
" Now that I think about it, she does look a little pale." Tepe noted.
" I tried to see if she was running a fever, but she wouldn't let me. She keeps insisting she's fine." Seto added.
" That's just Yuki for you." I said with a sigh. " Well, it's not surprising. You may not know, but her health has been in a delicate state since Egypt. Remember when she got so sick about a month after we got back? It's probably the same thing." I said. " I really need to crack down on her training." I muttered to myself.
" So, she'll be okay?" Seto asked.
" You're cute when you worry about her." I noted, pinching his cheek. " Yeah, she'll be fine. Nothing to worry about."
" Thanks." He said, turning and making his way to Yuki and the other guys. He laughed at something Yuki told him as she laid down another card. Judging by Jou's expression, she had just clinched her victory.
" Am I cute when I worry?" Tepe asked me. I turned my gaze back to him. His intense brown eyes bored into my own, but I was used to the intensity of his gaze. His long, thin body was stretched near my own form, and his broadening shoulders were accented by the uniform.
" You're cute all the time." I told him. He smiled.
" Cuter than Kaiba?" he prodded. I knew what he was getting at. He was still trying to prove to me he was better than Nen, and he was using to Seto to do it. Fortunately, the bell rang before I could answer.
" See you at lunch!" I called, snagging my books and running for the door.
" Is- Himeko!" Tepe called after me in anger, almost calling me by my old name. I sighed as I reached my desk in my next class. I sank into it, grateful that only Yugi was in this class with me. I knew Tepe meant well, but that question had put me on the spot.
" Stupid." I muttered to myself. In the desk next to me, Yugi looked at me oddly.
" Didn't finish your homework?" he asked. I looked up, startled by his voice.
" Oh, um, no." I said sheepishly. " I really meant to do it second hour." I rushed on to explain.
" You've got about five minutes before she picks it up." Yugi said pointing at the clock. I scrambled to pull out my paper and began doing what I could. To anyone else, this scene might have been funny. A former Princess of the most powerful empire in the world at the mercy of some geometry teacher. Fate, I cried out mentally, how thou mock me! That was mostly for amusement as I flipped the page in my geometry homework, Tepe forgotten for the moment.
*+*+*Yami Bakura*+*+*
I can speak English. I know English. Ryou knows English, so therefore, I know English. I did not, do not, and will not ever see the reason they made me take the English class. By "they," I do not mean the group I tended to be around. I mean the school. Ryou told me it was a necessity and we just had to bear it. Thus, you can imagine my extreme displeasure when the teacher asked me to list three past tense action verbs. I searched Ryou's memory. Some of you might call that cheating. To those of you that do, I dare you to say it to my face. You won't be saying much of anything afterward, except maybe " Ow!" To explain this, imagine this; you find yourself thousands and thousands of years in the future. Note that you are not in your own body, but in someone else's that resembles yours. All you have to go off of is that someone else's memories and past experiences. Natural conclusion; use that to teach yourself how to deal with the unfamiliar situations that may arise. What did I teach myself? Always side with caution. If that fails, refer to Ryou's memory. If that fails, which it rarely does, follow your instincts.
So that is how I found myself cruising through Ryou's memory, which is forever embedded in my own, trying to come up with three action verbs. It was taking a lot longer than I thought it would.
" Mr. Bakura. We're waiting." The teacher said, frowning at me. I looked at her blankly. " Well, class, this is what happens when you don't study-" she was starting when I interrupted her.
" Obliterated, conquered, and empowered." I said. I chose more complicated words to prove my point.
" Oh, well, my apologies." The teacher said. Then, she managed to translate what I had actually said. " Are you bilingual?" she asked. I nodded.
" Ryou Bakura is my cousin. And I speak other languages as well." I said by way of explanation. Everyone knew Ryou spoke English fluently. " And by the way, you need to work on your accent." I added in English. It took her a few minutes to figure that out.
" I'll work on that." She said uncertainly. I smiled. If there's one thing I like more than a newly earned Millennium Item, it's showing up someone who thinks they're better than me. And unlike the Millennium Item thing, that's something I get to do often. The students around me were awed.
I ended up paying for showing off like that. I became the new authority on English, and spent the rest of the hour plagued with translation questions. Now I knew why Ryou refused to give me answers. I resolved never to ask him for answers again. Help, maybe. Answers, no. After English class, I was all too ready to bolt for the courtyard. I live with Ryou Bakura. I get to skip the lunch line all together. So naturally, Ryou and I were the first to the table we all usually sit at. There's something cozy about knowing there's a spot saved for you with people who trust you.
" Free day in history. What a drag." Ryou muttered, sitting down next to me. " I was looking forward to the next chapter, too." I stared at him.
" I'm sorry, but I've begun to view those free days as a blessing." I said.
" Hey." Yuki said, plopping down on the bench opposite us. I noted she had no food.
" Aren't you going to eat, Yuki?" I asked. Yuki smiled at me.
" Seto has my lunch in his briefcase." She said in explanation. She held up a book, written in English. The title read "An Acceptable Time." I could not understand that girl's fascination with books.
" Isn't that by the author who wrote 'A Wrinkle In Time?'" Ryou asked.
" Yeah. It's good. You yami's ought to read it." She said.
" I know what an acceptable time is. One, lunch. Two, my original time." I said, shrugging. I dug into the sandwich Ryou offered.
" Stuff that into your face any harder and it might get stuck that way." Mai told me as she, Jou, and the Pharaoh walked up.
" Wouldn't that be a shame? Your face would be uglier than it already is." The Pharaoh said with a smirk. I smirked back at him.
" Yeah, and it might actually match up to yours." I shot back.
" Oh, ha ha. Aren't you hilarious?" he said with no conviction. Ryou rolled his eyes and I caught Yugi approaching with Honda and Anzu out of the corner of my eye.
" Are they still going at it?" Anzu asked in exasperation.
" I don't think they'll ever stop." Ryou answered. Yugi sighed as they all took their seats.
" Sure we will. We'll stop fighting when he inevitably admits that I am right in all areas of life." I said confidently.
" Actually, we'll stop fighting when he admits that I'm right." The Pharaoh was quick to correct me.
" I'm right!" I insisted.
" That's a laugh!" he cried.
" Not as much as the prospect of you being right!" I shot back.
" Clash of the egotistical titans." Yugi noted.
" You're both wrong because you're just typical men and any woman with half a brain knows that no typical man is ever right." Mai said easily. Every guy at the table stared at her while Yuki and Anzu laughed loudly. Isis had arrived just in time to hear that last remark on Mai's part and joined them, sitting down beside me.
" So I must not be a typical man?" Kaiba said, smiling at Mai. He had apparently just arrived as well.
" No, you're a typical man." Yuki said quickly. Everyone laughed.
" Then I suppose you don't really want your lunch." Kaiba noted, shrugging.
" Okay, you're not a typical man!" Yuki cried, lunging for the briefcase as Kaiba sat down.
" I still say I'm right!" I cried. Everyone laughed again, even the Pharaoh and I.
" Actually, Mai, they just might be right." Isis said. Everyone turned to her silently. " Think about it like this. There's not a man at this table, so one of them might be right." She said, grinning.
" Hey!"
" That's not fair!"
" That's was just plain mean!"
" What did I ever do to you?" Were just a few of the cries of protest sounded by every male at the table. The girls just cheered at Isis's reasoning. After we had all calmed down to a reasonable level and started eating, a discussion I had been hoping to avoid came up.
" So, is everyone ready for the ball tonight?" Yuki asked. I groaned verbally and Ryou kicked me in the knee under the table.
" What was that for?" I asked him sharply. He kicked me again.
" What was what for?" he asked innocently. At that point, I caught on.
" I've got to pick up my gown from the dry cleaners. Yami." Isis said, looking pointedly at her brother as she said his name.
" Alright, alright. Taxi Service Yami, how man I help you?" he returned dully.
" You can drive me to the tuxedo rental." Jou offered.
" Oh, God." Kaiba moaned. " You've had three weeks to get ready, and the afternoon of, you still don't have your tux?"
" And you've got your own car. Drive yourself." The Pharaoh added.
" What can I say? I'm a lazy bum." Jou said, smiling. " Besides, I don't have any money to fill my gas tank."
" If I have anything to say about it, you'll clean up pretty well." Mai said, pinching Jou's cheek.
" Is this going to be as bad as I think it's going to be?" Yami asked Kaiba. I looked at him expectantly, waiting for the answer.
" No, of course not." Kaiba said. I breathed a sigh of relief... Two seconds too soon. " It'll be much worse." Kaiba added.
" I hate you right now." I informed him. Ryou kicked me again.
" Could possibly stop kicking me!" I asked loudly. Everyone laughed, even though I had been dead serious.
*+*+*Later*+*+*
" Just think of it as a valuable cultural experience." Ryou suggested. We were at the Kaiba mansion, and I was struggling to figure out how to tie the stupid little bow. And just then, the girls came in.
" Hey, guys. How's it going?" Mai asked. She was wearing a red dress that clung close to her body, with an Oriental top that had gold embroidery and no sleeves. She even had a fan to complete the look.
" Wow. This is one of those cases where guys do take longer than girls." Anzu noted. I made a face at her. She was wearing a formal light pink dress, complete with the spread bottom. She had light pink earrings as well.
" Oh, ha ha. That was so funny, Anzu." Jou said unconvincingly. After Anzu, Isis stepped into the room. She took my breath away. She was wearing black, as usual, a long skirt that, like Mai's, clung close to her form and had slits that went clear up to her thighs. Her top was black as well, and tied around the back of her neck, leaving her shoulders and arms bare. I must have looked like the biggest idiot ever, standing there with that awful formal outfit not completely done up correctly, staring at her like she was an angel descended from heaven. An angel in black. And if Isis didn't quite make angel, then Yuki did. She was wearing a white dress that wasn't quite spread-bottom or close to the body. It was somewhere in between. It had small strings to serve as sleeves. I've been told that they're called spaghetti straps.
" You guys look great." Ryou noted. Mai giggled and Anzu blushed a little.
" Thank you, Ryou." Yuki said, smiling at him genuinely. I almost burst out laughing when I noticed Ryou blushing ever so slightly. I nudged him in the ribs and winked, which made him blush more. Kaiba walked into the room, looking utterly immaculate.
" That is so not fair!" Honda cried when he saw Kaiba.
" What?" Kaiba asked, utterly confused. " Why aren't you ready yet? We're leaving in fifteen minutes."
" How can you get all this stuff on so fast? I can't even tie the stupid bow!" the Pharaoh cried. Yugi nodded vehemently.
" Lots of practice." Kaiba informed us. Isis grabbed my shoulder and spun me so that I faced her.
" It's not that hard." She informed me, tying the little bow for me. I was glad I don't blush easily. Yuki was making rounds tying everyone's bow for them. We were barely ready for the limo when it arrived.
The ball itself was exactly as Kaiba and Yuki told us it would be. Long and boring. And after a while, the girls started complaining that their feet hurt because of their fancy shoes. I thought it was their own fault for wearing the shoes, but Mai and Isis informed me that they didn't exactly get a choice in the matter. Just like that stupid bow tie, which kept making me feel like I was choking. I had to wear it. So we blew that place early. Kaiba said we all had to get our rest and we all had a lot of homework. He had to remind all the old people that kept trying to tell us their life stories that we were still in high school and we all needed our rest. He lies almost as well as I do. Even after getting away early, we still got back to the mansion at about eleven. After that, it was a mad scramble to get out of the uncomfortable clothes. Kaiba and Yuki went immediately to call Grandpa Motou, as I had taken to calling him, to check on the boys he was watching. I happened to walk into the room where they were during that conversation.
" Yeah, we had a good time... Really? I'm so proud of you, Yukio... Yukio brought home a gold star today, Seto!" Yuki informed Kaiba excitedly after conversing with the littlest one over the phone. I always got a little jealous, watching them and their happy family. I knew as well as anyone that they had more than their share of problems, but I still got jealous. I had a brother, once. He wasn't nearly as great a big brother as Kaiba is, or the Pharaoh or even Yugi. He actually made my childhood pretty miserable. He hated me. I was a threat to his inheritance of our father's chief-hood. As soon as he took over the tribe, he had me banished. I was about twelve cycles old when that happened. Just twelve, out in the world on my own. It was a miracle I survived. My brother was a power-mad, shadow of a man. Looking back now, I know I had become him. I was as terrible to Ryou as my brother was to me. And that scared me. The last thing I wanted was to be like him. Never, I promised myself, walking out of the room.
I found my way to the kitchen, where Mai and Jou were talking about something that had happened in school. They were standing really close together. I ignored them, swallowed my jealousy for a second time in the last five minutes and looked out the window. I could see someone sitting out there on the patio. I looked closer and saw it was Isis. I then went out to join her.
" Hi." I greeted. She looked up at me and smiled. She looked exactly as she had looked all those years ago, sitting on the banks of the Nile in the moonlight. She was dressed differently, but she was still Isis.
" Hey." She responded, turning her gaze back to the moon as I sat down beside her.
" It's pretty tonight, isn't it?" I asked. She nodded. " Do you hate me too?" I asked suddenly. I have this bad habit of just saying whatever pops into my head. I've tried to kick it, but it never works. The only time I seem to be able to keep my thoughts to myself is when I'm dueling. Isis looked at me sharply.
" No! Why would I hate you?" she asked.
" Because it just seems like everyone has a good reason to." I muttered.
" I have no reason to hate you." Isis declared.
" Really?" I asked her seriously, giving her a withering look. " You do so. You could hate me for leaving you. You could hate me for turning into the monster I am."
" I don't hate you." Isis said solidly.
" Then why won't you just laugh the way you used to?" I asked her, feeling my face heat up. I don't blush, but I do get hot when I'm frustrated or embarrassed.
" I told you, Tepe. I'm not the person I used to be. I've changed." She told me softly.
" I don't see another person. I see the girl I fell in love with beside the Nile. I hear her voice, I see her eyes." I said, reaching over and grabbing her hand. " I feel her skin. I'd like to taste her lips again." I added. Isis stared at me.
" I think I've forgotten how to love you." She whispered.
" Then let me remind you." I begged, inching a little closer. I needed her. I had forgotten how she made me feel. She was like the air I need to breathe. Without it, without her, I'll die. Isis let me kiss her lightly on the lips. But when I tried to pursue it, she pulled away.
" I can't forget him." She confessed. I felt rage rise up in my chest.
" He's gone. I'm here. It's that simple." I said through gritted teeth.
" I wish it was that simple, Tepe." Isis said, standing up. I looked up at her. She pressed a hand to my cheek. " We've both changed, Tepe. You and I have seen more than we'd like to admit. And it just doesn't feel right to me right now." I placed my hand over hers.
" It feels right to me." I told her.
" It takes two to love." Isis reminded me.
" And you don't know." I added sadly.
" I don't hate you." Isis hurried to say. " I love you. I just don't know if I love you in that way anymore." She said. Then she went inside. It was a chilly fall night, but I didn't go in. Ryou griped me out the next morning, but I didn't care. I slept outside under the moon, dreaming of days gone by when Isis still loved me, and days not yet come when maybe she would love me again.
A/N: Okay, that was pretty pointless. v_v Anyway, I promise things will get better. Must find sugar so I can write... (goes off in search of said sugar)