The Game of Life
By: Rogue Fox
Part Sixteen... Throbbing
A/N: And so begins a new saga! Credit to Clover Calerica for the ideas and inspiration! In this saga, past and future will collide in an epic quest for revenge and love... Wow, did I actually write that??? Okay, on a lighter note, I have now been sixteen for a month, and I have yet to see my license. v_v Oh well. I'll get it, I swear! Mommy Dear won't take me to get the stupid test... Alrighty, on with the fic!
*+*+*Seto*+*+*
I lay awake in the dead of a crisp fall night, listening to the wind making the trees whisper restlessly. I rolled over in my bed, which felt cold and empty. I sat up and began to pace around the room, restless and full of energy, too much so for a teenage guy at two in the morning. I had work the next day. I needed to sleep. But sleep just wasn't going to cooperate with me tonight.
So I crept out of my room, wearing an old white tee-shirt and a pair of baggy sweat pants. I tiptoed barefoot to the wing of the Mansion the boys called their own. The first door was Yoshi's, and I pushed it all the way open and peered in. Yoshi was sleeping on the bed with his head at an odd angle, and all the covers kicked off. That didn't surprise me at all. What surprised me was that the kid was still in bed. Yoshi sleepwalks, and he rarely stays in one place all night long. I crept into the room, replaced the covers, and gently got his head out of that awkward position. I didn't want him to have a crick in his neck the next day.
The next room was Mokuba's. I peeked in to find Mokuba sleeping soundly, cuddled up with a stuffed toy I think Bakura won for him at the school carnival. Also on his bed was a stuffed puppy I had given him for his last birthday, among other things. I smiled. Mokuba had lived a relatively happy childhood. He couldn't remember either of our biological parents, and I had made sure our adoptive father never bothered him. It was probably his ignorance that protected him all his life. He didn't know and he didn't ask, and everyone was happier that way. Someday, he would ask all the questions I knew he wanted to ask. The real question was, would I be able to answer them?
I crept over to Yukio's room. Out of all the boys, I worried about Yukio most, as did Yuki. Yoshi and Mokuba were both growing to be as bright in the classroom as Yuki and I, and Yoshi was already shaking off the innocence that Yuki kept. But Yukio was different. He didn't wear the bright blue eyes that marked Yuki's family aside from herself. His eyes were deep brown with emerald green around the pupil. His blonde hair was thinner than either Yoshi's or Yuki's. He was more physically active than Yuki or Yoshi had been at his age, less into reading books or playing video games. He, like Yuki, had an astonishingly good memory, but he preferred to use it to remember the rules of outdoor games. He would be a sports- oriented guy as he grew, which was okay with me. The problem was that teachers and people, by the fifth person from our household, would be expecting high academic performance, not just good physical ability. And Yukio just wasn't that type. For the moment, however, he was sleeping peacefully with a plastic baseball bat, probably dreaming of all the home runs he would hit in a future only he could see.
I sighed, watching him. What I wouldn't have given to go back to that world where candy was the ultimate reward and all that really mattered was how high you could swing on the swing set and how fast you could run. Now, I could feel the weight of the present bearing down on me, and each moment that passed added more.
Eventually, I tiptoed away from the boys' wing and moved on to the area where Yuki slept. Her door, as usual, was closed but not locked. So I opened it and crept into the room. Despite the chill, she was sleeping only under a sheet, and the moonlight from her window fell over her, lighting her serene features. She, like her brothers and sister, gave off a majestic air that made you respect her. Yuki's room in her old home had once been the basement of the house, converted into a room for her. So cold didn't really bother her very much. She actually couldn't sleep if it was too warm in a room. She lay there on her side, her head resting on her elbow, her sides rising and falling steadily to her own rhythm. I knelt beside her bed and sat there, studying her features with earnest, committing every tiny bit of her to memory. I had this urgent feeling in my heart that I only had so long... Yuki was my heart and soul. She meant so much to me. Judging by the movement of her eyes under her closed eyelids, she was dreaming. I wondered what she saw in her dreams. As terrible as her reality can be, it must be hard for her to come up with good nightmares, I thought. And as I wondered, I remembered a night not unlike this one, a long time ago...
*+*+*Seto's Flashback*+*+*
I put my hands behind my head and lay there on the floor of Yuki's room, restless yet unwilling to move and wake Yuki. I rolled my head and looked at her. She slept on her side so that she was facing me, half-way curled into a ball. She only slept under a single tee-shirt cotton sheet, despite the chill in the fall night air. I smiled softly. Yuki's home was like a private getaway for me, when the pressures of my own life grew too tremendous. Yuki was normalcy, she was stability. And best of all, she was my best friend. The only one I could truly count on. Sure, I had Mokuba. But he was just a little kid. I was only fourteen. I was staying at Yuki's house for a while, claiming to be recovering from my adoptive father's death. Even though it was my fault. I pushed those thoughts from my mind.
I had only told Yuki what had really happened that day on the executive level of the office. Because I knew that only Yuki would understand. No one else could be trusted. And when I told her, she sighed, took my hand in hers, and said, " You did what you had to do." My smile broadened. If everyone else in the world shunned me, then at least I had Yuki. The man who she chose to love would be the luckiest man alive.
" No, oh please no!" Yuki suddenly cried in a muffled voice. My head snapped over to look at her. Her face was scrunched up in an effort in her dreams, and she lifted her arms as if to shove something away and shield herself in the same motion. I lifted myself from my sleeping bag and sat on her bed.
" Yuki, wake up!" I cried softly, shaking her shoulders gently.
" No, don't touch me!" she cried, jerking away from me, still asleep.
" Yuki, it's Seto..." I said helplessly, my voice trailing off.
" Don't make me go..." Yuki moaned. I sat in helpless silence as she curled into a ball, her head clasped between her hands. " He'll only hurt us... That's not Seto, I know it! No!" Yuki screamed, her eyes flashing open. For a split second, they flashed in the moonlight and I thought they looked golden. But only for a second. Her red-violet eyes landed on me and she cried out. " No!" she cried, scooting away from me. She almost fell off the bed, but I reached out and grabbed her.
" Yuki, it's me!" I cried. She looked up at me, fear and terror on her face and in her eyes. I had seen someone else look up at me like that before. I tried not to think about it.
" Seto?" she asked tentatively. I nodded. She flung herself into my arms, hiding her face against my chest. My heart thudded in fear and a new emotion I couldn't quite place. " Seto!" Yuki cried happily.
" Had a nightmare, huh?" I asked.
" Yeah." She murmured.
" What was it?" I asked.
" You know, I don't remember." She said, looking up at me. We both laughed...
*+*+*Seto*+*+*
I sighed and leaned my head down on her bed, trying to soothe away the throbbing I knew too well. I let out a sharp cry as the pain intensified. My head hurt constantly lately. All I knew sometimes was pain, and echoes of voices I recognized and didn't at the same time. And always there was another voice calling to me without saying my name.
I made my way back to my room and collapsed on my bed, writhing in pain.
" Resistance is futile. I will triumph in the end." A familiar voice whispered in my ear. I turned to see who was there, but there was no one. My eyes widened, and I wondered if I was going crazy. That seemed like the likeliest reason. It wouldn't have been the first time I'd heard voices. " You and your feeble reasons. When will you realize that some things are better left unexplained?" the voice asked, louder and causing much more pain. I squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to respond. Just go away, I begged mentally. After that, I passed out.
I woke up the next morning, exhausted, in pain, and sprawled out on my bed. I sat up, cold and hungry. My head was silent, if not painful, and I was glad for at least that much. The tiniest movement and sound caused intense pain. I was so glad it was a Saturday.
So I lay there for what must have been a few hours, willing myself not to slam my head against a wall to make the pain go away. Trying not to start screaming and blubbering like a baby. Then I heard the door opened, and winced at the throbbing as I turned my head. Yuki had crept into the room, watching me warily.
" I'm awake." I managed to whisper, closing my eyes so I wouldn't cry with the pain. Yuki didn't say anything. She seemed to sense that any noise on her part would have sent me reeling into pain once more. She smiled softly and tiptoed over, and then sat gently on my bed, careful not to make any noise. I closed my eyes and lay there, concentrating on remembering to breathe, which I had found often dulls the worst of any pain. I eventually became aware of soft fingers drifting over my face, through my hair and over my closed eyes. I sighed, remembering once when I was still very little... Yukio's age, maybe. I got very sick. I don't know what it was, but it was bad. I had a very high fever, and all I could do was moan and lay in bed, shaking. I couldn't eat because anything that went down my throat just came back up forty-five minutes later. My still-living mother sat beside me for at least two whole days, gently touching my face and chest, her cool touch soothing away the aches and pain wherever she touched me. She sat there in silence, just stroking me, even when I slept my fitful sleeps. And her touch somehow made me feel safer, stronger. I breathed in sharply, returning to the present. Yuki's fingers reminded me sharply of my dead mother's. I clung to that thought. Anything but the pain.
What did my mom look like, I asked myself. I was startled when I realized I couldn't remember. I had been about Mokuba's age when she died. I don't think I ever did tell Mokuba that she died giving birth to him. If I were him, I wouldn't have wanted to know anyway. I furrowed my brow in concentration, feeling Yuki's fingers dance lightly over my cheek. What did my mom look like? I had her eyes, someone told me that once. But I looked more like my father, with dark brown hair and my basketball player build. Mokuba looked like our mother. Black hair? My eyes? Suddenly, I remembered. A picture of her. It was in my desk drawer. I had to see it.
" Yuki?" I croaked.
" Yes, Seto?" Yuki responded softly, a single finger of hers resting on my chin.
" Could you go get something from my desk? The top drawer on the left. A picture frame, black with gold designs on it." I whispered. I felt Yuki stand and, despite her efforts at silence, I heard her opening the drawer. She came back and pressed something hard, square, and about twelve inches tall and six inches wide into my hands. I opened my eyes and lifted it so that I could see it.
The frame was as I had described it to Yuki. It was made from real ebony, with real gold laced through it to make curling designs. In the frame, though, was what held both my own and Yuki's attention. It was a picture of a woman, about twenty-five or so. I remembered that my mom had died a young death. She had black hair, wild like Mokuba's, but it only made her prettier. Her eyes were vivid blue, like mine. Her face had Mokuba's gentle look. I blinked. I was looking at my mother. In the picture, she was sitting with her hands folded in her lap, smiling happily at the camera. I could tell that she had been slim and well-proportioned. My father once told me, before he died, that he met my mom in high school. That she was quiet and incredibly smart. She was the one sitting in the corner of the classroom with her nose in a book, and he was the guy sitting on a desk joking with his friends. And yet, they had both seen past their difference and to the love that was meant for them. I sighed and put the picture back in Yuki's hands, and she inspected it closely.
" Your mom?" she asked softly. I nodded. " She's pretty." She told me. I smiled.
" She was, wasn't she?" I asked. Yuki smiled at me. " You reminded me of her for a moment." I explained. Yuki nodded and continued to stroke my face.
" What hurts?" she asked finally. I still refused to think about the pain.
" My head. But it feels better now." I told her. Yuki frowned.
" Maybe you should see a doctor, Seto." She said.
" There's no point. I get headaches all the time." I said.
" But they don't get so bad that you skip work!" Yuki cried desperately. I moaned and gripped my head when the pain came roaring back. " Sorry." Yuki whispered.
" I'm fine, Yuki. Don't worry about it." I said. But I was worried about it. Very worried.
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
" Thanks for coming along, Tepe." I said, smiling up at Tepe as he walked beside me. Just in front of us, Yoshi, Yukio, and Mokuba were talking about what kind of books they wanted to get from the library.
" No problem. I never turn down a chance to spend time with the munchkins." Tepe said with a smile for me. I grinned back.
" Why couldn't Yuki and Seto take us?" Yukio asked, whirling around to face Tepe and I.
" Seto wasn't feeling very well this morning, and Yuki needed to take care of him. So she asked me to take you." I explained.
" My big brother never gets sick. He's tougher than Superman!" Mokuba exclaimed. Tepe avoided a confrontation for us all.
" I see an ice cream shop! Let's go get some!" he cried, speeding down the street. The boys and I had to race to keep up with him, and even so, we found him at the shop grinning happily and telling us he'd beaten us. Yoshi and I didn't think it was a very fair race, but Yukio, Mokuba, and Tepe were just happy to have some ice cream. And so, with our cones in our hands, we started off down the street again to the library. Halfway there, we met Yami and Yugi, who were heading in the same direction. Apparently, Yugi had decided to get some research for an essay our composition teacher had assigned us done, and decided Yami could do with some studying as well.
" Remember, this is a library. You have to be quiet." Yugi said.
" We know, Yugi!" Yoshi cried in exasperation. Yugi smiled.
" I wasn't talking to you three. I know you know how to act in the library. It's the other three I'm worried about." He said, looking pointedly at Yami, Tepe, and I. We all went in to the library soon after, laughing softly about some argument that had developed, surprisingly, between Yami and Tepe.
I looked around myself, thoroughly confused. Yuki had asked me to find her a few certain books, but I had gotten myself very lost. Thank Ra, for at that moment, I spotted a librarian. Her dark brown hair was done up in a bun on the back of her head, save for a few strands that managed to escape and framed her face. Her eyes were also brown, like cool, freshly polished cherry wood. She was putting a few books away on a shelf.
" Excuse me!" I called softly, jogging up to her. She looked at me expectantly.
" Can I help you?" she asked, giving me a hard look, as though likening me to someone else she had seen.
" Um, I'm looking for some books for my little sister. She's at home taking care of a sick friend, and she asked me to find these." I said, handing the librarian the slip of paper Yuki had written her choices on. While she looked at them, I read her nametag. It read Perl. Funny way to spell it, I thought to myself.
" Well, I just started here, but I can tell you you're in the entirely wrong section." Perl told me. I let my shoulders sag.
" Boy, I'm not good at this." I said. Perl smiled tolerantly. When she smiled, though, I noticed she couldn't have been much older than me.
" You don't come to the library often?" she asked me.
" No. My little sister is the big reader. If I ever want to read a book, I ask her for one." I explained.
" I see. Follow me." Perl said, leading me off. " The books you want to find will be here," she said after a moment, gesturing to a few aisles labeled Fantasy/Sci-Fi. " Look on the binding for the first three letters of the author's last name, and you'll get along easily. I need to put up a few books a few aisles over, so I'll come back and check on you in a minute." She told me, walking off, shifting the weight of the books she was carrying in her arms. I stared after, shrugged, then plunged in.
Perl came back to check on me a few moments later. I had done so well as to find a few of the books I was looking for, but had managed to thoroughly confuse myself yet again.
" Are you a hopeless case, or just lacking of common sense?" Perl asked me with a laugh.
" Maybe both." I told her, making us both laugh. And right then, Yami poked his head into the aisle.
" There you are! I escaped from the study maniac and the kids are ready to go." He told me, darting into the aisle.
" What about Tepe?" I asked, forgetting about Perl for a moment.
" I said, the kids are ready to go." Yami repeated. I jerked my arm from his grip as he tried to haul me off.
" Honestly, Yami! Why can't you just get along with him?" I asked angrily. Yami sighed.
" Himeko, this is hardly the time or the place..." he let his voice trail off as he spotted Perl. I turned around to find Perl staring at him. " Can I help you with something?" Yami asked, his voice tainted with annoyance. Perl jerked, shoved two books into my arms, mumbled something about having to go somewhere, and hurried off. But not before I noticed the bright red blush on her cheeks. I elbowed Yami in the ribs, grinning.
" Looks like someone's got an admirer." I said smugly. Yami rolled his eyes. In the process, however, he spotted a section of books on music and darted off. I laughed and went to find Tepe and the boys. I found them sitting in the storytelling area, with several other kids gathered around, Tepe in the center. He was making wild gesticulations as I approached, and I decided that the boys must have talked him into telling them a story and the other kids had come to listen. I knew firsthand that Tepe could tell an incredible story. He gave the story he told life as the words rolled off his tongue. I leaned against a wall and watched him. His eyes were just as I remembered them, dark, bottomless brown with that dangerous, ambitious glint. Yami once told me he looked like a hungry fox. I could see how Yami had come to that conclusion. Tepe did have a hungry look about him, the look of an ambitious man who knew what he had to do to make all his dreams come true. Ryou once said he was like Cassius from the play Julius Caesar. He was lean and observant and ready to put himself in power and do what ever it took to get himself there. But he also had a certain sincere quality about him. Something that didn't let you doubt what he said. He was blunt and to the point about everything, completely lacking of tact.
" Earth to Himeko! You alive in there?" Tepe asked me. I blinked.
" Done telling your story?" I asked.
" Yeah, they asked me to come back next week and tell some more. The kids loved it." Tepe said, grinning. Yami arrived right then, struggling under the load of books he was carrying, with Yugi at his side, carrying a few books himself.
" What happened to composition, Yami?" Yugi asked. I noticed that all the books Yami was carrying had something to do with music. I snickered.
" Screw composition. I want to study a different sort of composition." Yami said. " Think they'll let me check all these out?" he asked. Yugi chuckled.
" You can check them out on my card, but we'll have to get you your own." Yugi said. Tepe then started teasing Yami about the books, and Yami told him no uncertain terms that at least he had an amount of taste. Which started an entirely new argument. The boys, Yugi, and I ignored them as we checked out. I noticed though, as we left, that Perl was standing nearby, nearly hidden behind a stack of books on a cart, watching Yami.
*+*+*Yami*+*+*
I scribbled furiously on a piece of paper, trying in vain to copy down all Ryou's notes from history class. It was my own fault. The teacher just kept going on and on and on... I fell asleep. And now we had a big test coming up and I had no notes to study. And Ryou told me I could only borrow them until six. The current time? Five thirty. And as for Yugi, my supposed "light," he said I shouldn't have fallen asleep and it was just too bad. I didn't dare borrow from Honda or Himeko, who both kept notes well but had illegible handwriting, and Jou, Mai, and Bakura all needed theirs too much. Kaiba kept good notes, didn't need them too much, and had almost immaculate handwriting, but he hadn't been at school for the past few days, do to some mysterious illness. As for Yuki, she doesn't take notes. She memorizes everything she hears and reads without a problem and never needed to take notes. And I only just barely talked Ryou into letting me borrow his. So I had to settle for what I had, and copy down everything I could.
I scribbled away, something about the French Revolution. I wasn't really learning what I was writing. I would read it and learn it later. But right now, I just had to get it down.
" Ow!" I cried, shaking my arm to work out the writer's cramp that had developed. I did manage to get it all, with time to spare. I sat up straight, trying to stretch all the stiff muscles in my back, and let my mind drift to more pleasant things that had nothing to do with kings and queens getting beheaded. I knew what it was like to be a ruler in a restless time, and I could relate all too well to the king the textbook told of. I was in the Kaiba Mansion, and I stood up as the clock struck six. Yuki was in the kitchen, snacking on an apple. I didn't bother eating, just returned the notes in question to Ryou, who was explaining some mathematical formula to Bakura and Jou.
" It isn't that hard, you two! Look, the calculator does it all for you, all you have to do is put in the numbers. See, the square root of y two minus y one squared plus x two minus x one squared. All you have to do is substitute in the numbers, like that, and then you just press enter... See? How hard was that?" Ryou asked.
" Whoa, how do you tell which number goes where?" Bakura asked. I rolled my eyes and left before Ryou could launch into a lecture. Yuki came out after me.
" How's Kaiba?" I asked her. She winced.
" He says his head never stops hurting, even when I give him all the pain killers I can. But he won't let me call a doctor." She told me. She sighed. " If it doesn't get better tomorrow, I'm calling a doctor, and I don't care what he says. I'm worried."
" You're the lady in charge." I said, smiling at her. " If anyone asks where I am, tell them I went to the library to return those books and get some new ones." I told her, pulling a jacket on over my leather tank top. It was cold outside, and a leather tank top did not seem like the best thing to be wearing alone.
" And where are you going?" Yuki asked me, giving me a smug look, which I returned.
" To the library, to return those books and get some new ones." I repeated. Yuki punched me gently on the shoulder.
" You? Go to the library? You've got to be sicker than Seto!" she cried, placing the back of her hand on my forehead as though to check for fever. I brushed her hand away, patting my pocket with my other hand to make sure I had my keys.
" Take care of him, Yuki." I told her, stepping toward the door.
" He couldn't be in better hands." Yuki told me good-naturedly, starting up the stairs to Kaiba's room. I highly doubted there were more capable hands for Kaiba to be in as I stepped out into the chilly fall day. It would soon be an American holiday called Thanksgiving. Yuki was determined to celebrate it, and she wouldn't let any cook do it for her. She had already bought a huge turkey and was stocking up on items.
I drove to the library, thinking of snow that would be falling soon, and Kaiba's illness. In Mokuba's words, Kaiba was like Superman. The thought of him being sick was like Superman dying of a bullet wound. It just didn't click very well. And yet, Yuki would come down the stairs telling of how any noise sent him into convulsions, how he complained of nightmares he couldn't remember when he woke up, and about how voices kept calling to him through the haze of pain in his mind. It worried me. Jou and Honda both agreed that it simply seemed that all the stress Kaiba lived with was getting to him. If that was the case, then we might be able to help him. But if it was what I feared... Then Kaiba may not have a snowball's chance in hell.
I pulled up to the library and hurried in, eager to get into the heated building. Once in there, I found a secluded table and set down with a notebook and a book of Mozart's works and the reasoning behind them. I began scribbling down notes on how Mozart came up with his works, different techniques he used, and other interesting facts, and soon I lost track of time. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up into a pair of cherry wood brown eyes. I vaguely recognized the girl standing in front of me as the girl who had been helping Himeko when we had come here last Saturday.
I'll admit that one of the reasons I had grown to like the library was that girl. She had given light to my curiosity, which I am not good at controlling. And aside from that, the library gave me a rare bit of quiet that I otherwise never got.
" Excuse me, but we're closing up." She said, careful to avoid making eye contact with me. I frowned. People avoiding eye contact always had something to hide, I've discovered. So I closed the book I was reading, gathered up my things and the books I was going to check out, and started toward the counter.
" Thank you." I called over my shoulder.
" Wait!" she called, pretty loudly for a librarian in a library. I turned and, lo and behold, made eye contact with her. " Um... How's your little sister's friend?" she asked. I gave her a curious look.
" He's not doing very well. We're going to call a doctor for him." I said slowly. " How did you know she's my little sister?" I asked.
" Well, um, you and the other girl, Himeko, looked so much alike that, um, I assumed you were brother and sister." She explained. I frowned again and looked closely at her, but she suddenly looked down to the floor. But I did notice her cheeks were fiery red. I checked out and left after that, but I had something new to ponder. I was once a Pharaoh. Part of that job is seeing through the flatterers to the genuine article. To do that, one must know how to tell when people lie to him. I'm not half as good as Yuki, but I know a lie when I hear one. And that girl, Perl the librarian, had lied to me. And if she had lied to me, then how did she know I had a little sister she had never met?
A/N: Hey everyone. The last part, for some odd reason, did not contain my author's note in which I wished you all a Happy Halloween. v_v So I hope you all had a Happy Halloween, and had lots of sugar highs... I know I did!!! ^_____^ Well, things are starting to heat up. And if anyone out there knows, cause I really don't, Ra was the god of sun in ancient Egypt, right? So, who was his opposite? If anyone out there knows, please tell me! It's crucial to this saga!!! Thank you for reading and don't forget to click the pretty purple/blue button that says REVIEW!!!! It doesn't take very long, and I had chronic low self-esteem. I need to know I'm appreciated!!!
By: Rogue Fox
Part Sixteen... Throbbing
A/N: And so begins a new saga! Credit to Clover Calerica for the ideas and inspiration! In this saga, past and future will collide in an epic quest for revenge and love... Wow, did I actually write that??? Okay, on a lighter note, I have now been sixteen for a month, and I have yet to see my license. v_v Oh well. I'll get it, I swear! Mommy Dear won't take me to get the stupid test... Alrighty, on with the fic!
*+*+*Seto*+*+*
I lay awake in the dead of a crisp fall night, listening to the wind making the trees whisper restlessly. I rolled over in my bed, which felt cold and empty. I sat up and began to pace around the room, restless and full of energy, too much so for a teenage guy at two in the morning. I had work the next day. I needed to sleep. But sleep just wasn't going to cooperate with me tonight.
So I crept out of my room, wearing an old white tee-shirt and a pair of baggy sweat pants. I tiptoed barefoot to the wing of the Mansion the boys called their own. The first door was Yoshi's, and I pushed it all the way open and peered in. Yoshi was sleeping on the bed with his head at an odd angle, and all the covers kicked off. That didn't surprise me at all. What surprised me was that the kid was still in bed. Yoshi sleepwalks, and he rarely stays in one place all night long. I crept into the room, replaced the covers, and gently got his head out of that awkward position. I didn't want him to have a crick in his neck the next day.
The next room was Mokuba's. I peeked in to find Mokuba sleeping soundly, cuddled up with a stuffed toy I think Bakura won for him at the school carnival. Also on his bed was a stuffed puppy I had given him for his last birthday, among other things. I smiled. Mokuba had lived a relatively happy childhood. He couldn't remember either of our biological parents, and I had made sure our adoptive father never bothered him. It was probably his ignorance that protected him all his life. He didn't know and he didn't ask, and everyone was happier that way. Someday, he would ask all the questions I knew he wanted to ask. The real question was, would I be able to answer them?
I crept over to Yukio's room. Out of all the boys, I worried about Yukio most, as did Yuki. Yoshi and Mokuba were both growing to be as bright in the classroom as Yuki and I, and Yoshi was already shaking off the innocence that Yuki kept. But Yukio was different. He didn't wear the bright blue eyes that marked Yuki's family aside from herself. His eyes were deep brown with emerald green around the pupil. His blonde hair was thinner than either Yoshi's or Yuki's. He was more physically active than Yuki or Yoshi had been at his age, less into reading books or playing video games. He, like Yuki, had an astonishingly good memory, but he preferred to use it to remember the rules of outdoor games. He would be a sports- oriented guy as he grew, which was okay with me. The problem was that teachers and people, by the fifth person from our household, would be expecting high academic performance, not just good physical ability. And Yukio just wasn't that type. For the moment, however, he was sleeping peacefully with a plastic baseball bat, probably dreaming of all the home runs he would hit in a future only he could see.
I sighed, watching him. What I wouldn't have given to go back to that world where candy was the ultimate reward and all that really mattered was how high you could swing on the swing set and how fast you could run. Now, I could feel the weight of the present bearing down on me, and each moment that passed added more.
Eventually, I tiptoed away from the boys' wing and moved on to the area where Yuki slept. Her door, as usual, was closed but not locked. So I opened it and crept into the room. Despite the chill, she was sleeping only under a sheet, and the moonlight from her window fell over her, lighting her serene features. She, like her brothers and sister, gave off a majestic air that made you respect her. Yuki's room in her old home had once been the basement of the house, converted into a room for her. So cold didn't really bother her very much. She actually couldn't sleep if it was too warm in a room. She lay there on her side, her head resting on her elbow, her sides rising and falling steadily to her own rhythm. I knelt beside her bed and sat there, studying her features with earnest, committing every tiny bit of her to memory. I had this urgent feeling in my heart that I only had so long... Yuki was my heart and soul. She meant so much to me. Judging by the movement of her eyes under her closed eyelids, she was dreaming. I wondered what she saw in her dreams. As terrible as her reality can be, it must be hard for her to come up with good nightmares, I thought. And as I wondered, I remembered a night not unlike this one, a long time ago...
*+*+*Seto's Flashback*+*+*
I put my hands behind my head and lay there on the floor of Yuki's room, restless yet unwilling to move and wake Yuki. I rolled my head and looked at her. She slept on her side so that she was facing me, half-way curled into a ball. She only slept under a single tee-shirt cotton sheet, despite the chill in the fall night air. I smiled softly. Yuki's home was like a private getaway for me, when the pressures of my own life grew too tremendous. Yuki was normalcy, she was stability. And best of all, she was my best friend. The only one I could truly count on. Sure, I had Mokuba. But he was just a little kid. I was only fourteen. I was staying at Yuki's house for a while, claiming to be recovering from my adoptive father's death. Even though it was my fault. I pushed those thoughts from my mind.
I had only told Yuki what had really happened that day on the executive level of the office. Because I knew that only Yuki would understand. No one else could be trusted. And when I told her, she sighed, took my hand in hers, and said, " You did what you had to do." My smile broadened. If everyone else in the world shunned me, then at least I had Yuki. The man who she chose to love would be the luckiest man alive.
" No, oh please no!" Yuki suddenly cried in a muffled voice. My head snapped over to look at her. Her face was scrunched up in an effort in her dreams, and she lifted her arms as if to shove something away and shield herself in the same motion. I lifted myself from my sleeping bag and sat on her bed.
" Yuki, wake up!" I cried softly, shaking her shoulders gently.
" No, don't touch me!" she cried, jerking away from me, still asleep.
" Yuki, it's Seto..." I said helplessly, my voice trailing off.
" Don't make me go..." Yuki moaned. I sat in helpless silence as she curled into a ball, her head clasped between her hands. " He'll only hurt us... That's not Seto, I know it! No!" Yuki screamed, her eyes flashing open. For a split second, they flashed in the moonlight and I thought they looked golden. But only for a second. Her red-violet eyes landed on me and she cried out. " No!" she cried, scooting away from me. She almost fell off the bed, but I reached out and grabbed her.
" Yuki, it's me!" I cried. She looked up at me, fear and terror on her face and in her eyes. I had seen someone else look up at me like that before. I tried not to think about it.
" Seto?" she asked tentatively. I nodded. She flung herself into my arms, hiding her face against my chest. My heart thudded in fear and a new emotion I couldn't quite place. " Seto!" Yuki cried happily.
" Had a nightmare, huh?" I asked.
" Yeah." She murmured.
" What was it?" I asked.
" You know, I don't remember." She said, looking up at me. We both laughed...
*+*+*Seto*+*+*
I sighed and leaned my head down on her bed, trying to soothe away the throbbing I knew too well. I let out a sharp cry as the pain intensified. My head hurt constantly lately. All I knew sometimes was pain, and echoes of voices I recognized and didn't at the same time. And always there was another voice calling to me without saying my name.
I made my way back to my room and collapsed on my bed, writhing in pain.
" Resistance is futile. I will triumph in the end." A familiar voice whispered in my ear. I turned to see who was there, but there was no one. My eyes widened, and I wondered if I was going crazy. That seemed like the likeliest reason. It wouldn't have been the first time I'd heard voices. " You and your feeble reasons. When will you realize that some things are better left unexplained?" the voice asked, louder and causing much more pain. I squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to respond. Just go away, I begged mentally. After that, I passed out.
I woke up the next morning, exhausted, in pain, and sprawled out on my bed. I sat up, cold and hungry. My head was silent, if not painful, and I was glad for at least that much. The tiniest movement and sound caused intense pain. I was so glad it was a Saturday.
So I lay there for what must have been a few hours, willing myself not to slam my head against a wall to make the pain go away. Trying not to start screaming and blubbering like a baby. Then I heard the door opened, and winced at the throbbing as I turned my head. Yuki had crept into the room, watching me warily.
" I'm awake." I managed to whisper, closing my eyes so I wouldn't cry with the pain. Yuki didn't say anything. She seemed to sense that any noise on her part would have sent me reeling into pain once more. She smiled softly and tiptoed over, and then sat gently on my bed, careful not to make any noise. I closed my eyes and lay there, concentrating on remembering to breathe, which I had found often dulls the worst of any pain. I eventually became aware of soft fingers drifting over my face, through my hair and over my closed eyes. I sighed, remembering once when I was still very little... Yukio's age, maybe. I got very sick. I don't know what it was, but it was bad. I had a very high fever, and all I could do was moan and lay in bed, shaking. I couldn't eat because anything that went down my throat just came back up forty-five minutes later. My still-living mother sat beside me for at least two whole days, gently touching my face and chest, her cool touch soothing away the aches and pain wherever she touched me. She sat there in silence, just stroking me, even when I slept my fitful sleeps. And her touch somehow made me feel safer, stronger. I breathed in sharply, returning to the present. Yuki's fingers reminded me sharply of my dead mother's. I clung to that thought. Anything but the pain.
What did my mom look like, I asked myself. I was startled when I realized I couldn't remember. I had been about Mokuba's age when she died. I don't think I ever did tell Mokuba that she died giving birth to him. If I were him, I wouldn't have wanted to know anyway. I furrowed my brow in concentration, feeling Yuki's fingers dance lightly over my cheek. What did my mom look like? I had her eyes, someone told me that once. But I looked more like my father, with dark brown hair and my basketball player build. Mokuba looked like our mother. Black hair? My eyes? Suddenly, I remembered. A picture of her. It was in my desk drawer. I had to see it.
" Yuki?" I croaked.
" Yes, Seto?" Yuki responded softly, a single finger of hers resting on my chin.
" Could you go get something from my desk? The top drawer on the left. A picture frame, black with gold designs on it." I whispered. I felt Yuki stand and, despite her efforts at silence, I heard her opening the drawer. She came back and pressed something hard, square, and about twelve inches tall and six inches wide into my hands. I opened my eyes and lifted it so that I could see it.
The frame was as I had described it to Yuki. It was made from real ebony, with real gold laced through it to make curling designs. In the frame, though, was what held both my own and Yuki's attention. It was a picture of a woman, about twenty-five or so. I remembered that my mom had died a young death. She had black hair, wild like Mokuba's, but it only made her prettier. Her eyes were vivid blue, like mine. Her face had Mokuba's gentle look. I blinked. I was looking at my mother. In the picture, she was sitting with her hands folded in her lap, smiling happily at the camera. I could tell that she had been slim and well-proportioned. My father once told me, before he died, that he met my mom in high school. That she was quiet and incredibly smart. She was the one sitting in the corner of the classroom with her nose in a book, and he was the guy sitting on a desk joking with his friends. And yet, they had both seen past their difference and to the love that was meant for them. I sighed and put the picture back in Yuki's hands, and she inspected it closely.
" Your mom?" she asked softly. I nodded. " She's pretty." She told me. I smiled.
" She was, wasn't she?" I asked. Yuki smiled at me. " You reminded me of her for a moment." I explained. Yuki nodded and continued to stroke my face.
" What hurts?" she asked finally. I still refused to think about the pain.
" My head. But it feels better now." I told her. Yuki frowned.
" Maybe you should see a doctor, Seto." She said.
" There's no point. I get headaches all the time." I said.
" But they don't get so bad that you skip work!" Yuki cried desperately. I moaned and gripped my head when the pain came roaring back. " Sorry." Yuki whispered.
" I'm fine, Yuki. Don't worry about it." I said. But I was worried about it. Very worried.
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
" Thanks for coming along, Tepe." I said, smiling up at Tepe as he walked beside me. Just in front of us, Yoshi, Yukio, and Mokuba were talking about what kind of books they wanted to get from the library.
" No problem. I never turn down a chance to spend time with the munchkins." Tepe said with a smile for me. I grinned back.
" Why couldn't Yuki and Seto take us?" Yukio asked, whirling around to face Tepe and I.
" Seto wasn't feeling very well this morning, and Yuki needed to take care of him. So she asked me to take you." I explained.
" My big brother never gets sick. He's tougher than Superman!" Mokuba exclaimed. Tepe avoided a confrontation for us all.
" I see an ice cream shop! Let's go get some!" he cried, speeding down the street. The boys and I had to race to keep up with him, and even so, we found him at the shop grinning happily and telling us he'd beaten us. Yoshi and I didn't think it was a very fair race, but Yukio, Mokuba, and Tepe were just happy to have some ice cream. And so, with our cones in our hands, we started off down the street again to the library. Halfway there, we met Yami and Yugi, who were heading in the same direction. Apparently, Yugi had decided to get some research for an essay our composition teacher had assigned us done, and decided Yami could do with some studying as well.
" Remember, this is a library. You have to be quiet." Yugi said.
" We know, Yugi!" Yoshi cried in exasperation. Yugi smiled.
" I wasn't talking to you three. I know you know how to act in the library. It's the other three I'm worried about." He said, looking pointedly at Yami, Tepe, and I. We all went in to the library soon after, laughing softly about some argument that had developed, surprisingly, between Yami and Tepe.
I looked around myself, thoroughly confused. Yuki had asked me to find her a few certain books, but I had gotten myself very lost. Thank Ra, for at that moment, I spotted a librarian. Her dark brown hair was done up in a bun on the back of her head, save for a few strands that managed to escape and framed her face. Her eyes were also brown, like cool, freshly polished cherry wood. She was putting a few books away on a shelf.
" Excuse me!" I called softly, jogging up to her. She looked at me expectantly.
" Can I help you?" she asked, giving me a hard look, as though likening me to someone else she had seen.
" Um, I'm looking for some books for my little sister. She's at home taking care of a sick friend, and she asked me to find these." I said, handing the librarian the slip of paper Yuki had written her choices on. While she looked at them, I read her nametag. It read Perl. Funny way to spell it, I thought to myself.
" Well, I just started here, but I can tell you you're in the entirely wrong section." Perl told me. I let my shoulders sag.
" Boy, I'm not good at this." I said. Perl smiled tolerantly. When she smiled, though, I noticed she couldn't have been much older than me.
" You don't come to the library often?" she asked me.
" No. My little sister is the big reader. If I ever want to read a book, I ask her for one." I explained.
" I see. Follow me." Perl said, leading me off. " The books you want to find will be here," she said after a moment, gesturing to a few aisles labeled Fantasy/Sci-Fi. " Look on the binding for the first three letters of the author's last name, and you'll get along easily. I need to put up a few books a few aisles over, so I'll come back and check on you in a minute." She told me, walking off, shifting the weight of the books she was carrying in her arms. I stared after, shrugged, then plunged in.
Perl came back to check on me a few moments later. I had done so well as to find a few of the books I was looking for, but had managed to thoroughly confuse myself yet again.
" Are you a hopeless case, or just lacking of common sense?" Perl asked me with a laugh.
" Maybe both." I told her, making us both laugh. And right then, Yami poked his head into the aisle.
" There you are! I escaped from the study maniac and the kids are ready to go." He told me, darting into the aisle.
" What about Tepe?" I asked, forgetting about Perl for a moment.
" I said, the kids are ready to go." Yami repeated. I jerked my arm from his grip as he tried to haul me off.
" Honestly, Yami! Why can't you just get along with him?" I asked angrily. Yami sighed.
" Himeko, this is hardly the time or the place..." he let his voice trail off as he spotted Perl. I turned around to find Perl staring at him. " Can I help you with something?" Yami asked, his voice tainted with annoyance. Perl jerked, shoved two books into my arms, mumbled something about having to go somewhere, and hurried off. But not before I noticed the bright red blush on her cheeks. I elbowed Yami in the ribs, grinning.
" Looks like someone's got an admirer." I said smugly. Yami rolled his eyes. In the process, however, he spotted a section of books on music and darted off. I laughed and went to find Tepe and the boys. I found them sitting in the storytelling area, with several other kids gathered around, Tepe in the center. He was making wild gesticulations as I approached, and I decided that the boys must have talked him into telling them a story and the other kids had come to listen. I knew firsthand that Tepe could tell an incredible story. He gave the story he told life as the words rolled off his tongue. I leaned against a wall and watched him. His eyes were just as I remembered them, dark, bottomless brown with that dangerous, ambitious glint. Yami once told me he looked like a hungry fox. I could see how Yami had come to that conclusion. Tepe did have a hungry look about him, the look of an ambitious man who knew what he had to do to make all his dreams come true. Ryou once said he was like Cassius from the play Julius Caesar. He was lean and observant and ready to put himself in power and do what ever it took to get himself there. But he also had a certain sincere quality about him. Something that didn't let you doubt what he said. He was blunt and to the point about everything, completely lacking of tact.
" Earth to Himeko! You alive in there?" Tepe asked me. I blinked.
" Done telling your story?" I asked.
" Yeah, they asked me to come back next week and tell some more. The kids loved it." Tepe said, grinning. Yami arrived right then, struggling under the load of books he was carrying, with Yugi at his side, carrying a few books himself.
" What happened to composition, Yami?" Yugi asked. I noticed that all the books Yami was carrying had something to do with music. I snickered.
" Screw composition. I want to study a different sort of composition." Yami said. " Think they'll let me check all these out?" he asked. Yugi chuckled.
" You can check them out on my card, but we'll have to get you your own." Yugi said. Tepe then started teasing Yami about the books, and Yami told him no uncertain terms that at least he had an amount of taste. Which started an entirely new argument. The boys, Yugi, and I ignored them as we checked out. I noticed though, as we left, that Perl was standing nearby, nearly hidden behind a stack of books on a cart, watching Yami.
*+*+*Yami*+*+*
I scribbled furiously on a piece of paper, trying in vain to copy down all Ryou's notes from history class. It was my own fault. The teacher just kept going on and on and on... I fell asleep. And now we had a big test coming up and I had no notes to study. And Ryou told me I could only borrow them until six. The current time? Five thirty. And as for Yugi, my supposed "light," he said I shouldn't have fallen asleep and it was just too bad. I didn't dare borrow from Honda or Himeko, who both kept notes well but had illegible handwriting, and Jou, Mai, and Bakura all needed theirs too much. Kaiba kept good notes, didn't need them too much, and had almost immaculate handwriting, but he hadn't been at school for the past few days, do to some mysterious illness. As for Yuki, she doesn't take notes. She memorizes everything she hears and reads without a problem and never needed to take notes. And I only just barely talked Ryou into letting me borrow his. So I had to settle for what I had, and copy down everything I could.
I scribbled away, something about the French Revolution. I wasn't really learning what I was writing. I would read it and learn it later. But right now, I just had to get it down.
" Ow!" I cried, shaking my arm to work out the writer's cramp that had developed. I did manage to get it all, with time to spare. I sat up straight, trying to stretch all the stiff muscles in my back, and let my mind drift to more pleasant things that had nothing to do with kings and queens getting beheaded. I knew what it was like to be a ruler in a restless time, and I could relate all too well to the king the textbook told of. I was in the Kaiba Mansion, and I stood up as the clock struck six. Yuki was in the kitchen, snacking on an apple. I didn't bother eating, just returned the notes in question to Ryou, who was explaining some mathematical formula to Bakura and Jou.
" It isn't that hard, you two! Look, the calculator does it all for you, all you have to do is put in the numbers. See, the square root of y two minus y one squared plus x two minus x one squared. All you have to do is substitute in the numbers, like that, and then you just press enter... See? How hard was that?" Ryou asked.
" Whoa, how do you tell which number goes where?" Bakura asked. I rolled my eyes and left before Ryou could launch into a lecture. Yuki came out after me.
" How's Kaiba?" I asked her. She winced.
" He says his head never stops hurting, even when I give him all the pain killers I can. But he won't let me call a doctor." She told me. She sighed. " If it doesn't get better tomorrow, I'm calling a doctor, and I don't care what he says. I'm worried."
" You're the lady in charge." I said, smiling at her. " If anyone asks where I am, tell them I went to the library to return those books and get some new ones." I told her, pulling a jacket on over my leather tank top. It was cold outside, and a leather tank top did not seem like the best thing to be wearing alone.
" And where are you going?" Yuki asked me, giving me a smug look, which I returned.
" To the library, to return those books and get some new ones." I repeated. Yuki punched me gently on the shoulder.
" You? Go to the library? You've got to be sicker than Seto!" she cried, placing the back of her hand on my forehead as though to check for fever. I brushed her hand away, patting my pocket with my other hand to make sure I had my keys.
" Take care of him, Yuki." I told her, stepping toward the door.
" He couldn't be in better hands." Yuki told me good-naturedly, starting up the stairs to Kaiba's room. I highly doubted there were more capable hands for Kaiba to be in as I stepped out into the chilly fall day. It would soon be an American holiday called Thanksgiving. Yuki was determined to celebrate it, and she wouldn't let any cook do it for her. She had already bought a huge turkey and was stocking up on items.
I drove to the library, thinking of snow that would be falling soon, and Kaiba's illness. In Mokuba's words, Kaiba was like Superman. The thought of him being sick was like Superman dying of a bullet wound. It just didn't click very well. And yet, Yuki would come down the stairs telling of how any noise sent him into convulsions, how he complained of nightmares he couldn't remember when he woke up, and about how voices kept calling to him through the haze of pain in his mind. It worried me. Jou and Honda both agreed that it simply seemed that all the stress Kaiba lived with was getting to him. If that was the case, then we might be able to help him. But if it was what I feared... Then Kaiba may not have a snowball's chance in hell.
I pulled up to the library and hurried in, eager to get into the heated building. Once in there, I found a secluded table and set down with a notebook and a book of Mozart's works and the reasoning behind them. I began scribbling down notes on how Mozart came up with his works, different techniques he used, and other interesting facts, and soon I lost track of time. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I looked up into a pair of cherry wood brown eyes. I vaguely recognized the girl standing in front of me as the girl who had been helping Himeko when we had come here last Saturday.
I'll admit that one of the reasons I had grown to like the library was that girl. She had given light to my curiosity, which I am not good at controlling. And aside from that, the library gave me a rare bit of quiet that I otherwise never got.
" Excuse me, but we're closing up." She said, careful to avoid making eye contact with me. I frowned. People avoiding eye contact always had something to hide, I've discovered. So I closed the book I was reading, gathered up my things and the books I was going to check out, and started toward the counter.
" Thank you." I called over my shoulder.
" Wait!" she called, pretty loudly for a librarian in a library. I turned and, lo and behold, made eye contact with her. " Um... How's your little sister's friend?" she asked. I gave her a curious look.
" He's not doing very well. We're going to call a doctor for him." I said slowly. " How did you know she's my little sister?" I asked.
" Well, um, you and the other girl, Himeko, looked so much alike that, um, I assumed you were brother and sister." She explained. I frowned again and looked closely at her, but she suddenly looked down to the floor. But I did notice her cheeks were fiery red. I checked out and left after that, but I had something new to ponder. I was once a Pharaoh. Part of that job is seeing through the flatterers to the genuine article. To do that, one must know how to tell when people lie to him. I'm not half as good as Yuki, but I know a lie when I hear one. And that girl, Perl the librarian, had lied to me. And if she had lied to me, then how did she know I had a little sister she had never met?
A/N: Hey everyone. The last part, for some odd reason, did not contain my author's note in which I wished you all a Happy Halloween. v_v So I hope you all had a Happy Halloween, and had lots of sugar highs... I know I did!!! ^_____^ Well, things are starting to heat up. And if anyone out there knows, cause I really don't, Ra was the god of sun in ancient Egypt, right? So, who was his opposite? If anyone out there knows, please tell me! It's crucial to this saga!!! Thank you for reading and don't forget to click the pretty purple/blue button that says REVIEW!!!! It doesn't take very long, and I had chronic low self-esteem. I need to know I'm appreciated!!!