The Game of Life
By: Rogue Fox
Part Eighteen... Passing Time
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
" Yuki, are you okay?" Yugi asked me fretfully. I looked up at him from the plate of food in front of me.
" Of course." I lied. No, I wasn't okay. I was never okay lately. There was always something wrong, besides the fact that I felt like I was coming down with the flu all the time.
" You don't look okay." Yugi said stoutly. Stubbornness runs in the blood. I have it, Himeko has it, Yami has it, and Yugi is no exception.
" I'm fine." I insisted. The expression on Yugi's face told me he didn't believe me, and that was fine by me. I didn't believe myself.
" Sure." Yugi said. I looked back down to my food, trying to find the will to choke it down. I knew I needed to eat it. I was weak as a kitten, and weakness was unacceptable. But I just couldn't make myself swallow it. Yami strode into the room suddenly, bringing with him a sense of danger that the room had lacked a moment before. Yugi and I both raised our heads to him expectantly as he stood over us. We were sitting at the kitchen table, and he paced across the room like a caged tiger. I often likened Himeko and Yami to big, powerful cats. Himeko was like the stealthy black panther, mistress of the night. Yami was like a tiger, huge and majestic, with a temper to match.
" Have either of you seen Himeko?" he asked suddenly. His voice had a slight shake to it that was only there when he was frightened for someone he loved. I looked away, unable to look him in the eye.
" She's, um... She's at the mansion. With him." I said slowly, knowing Himeko would be livid with me for telling Yami. Ever since Seto started acting strange, I hadn't called him by his name. He wasn't Seto, and I was sure of it.
" Damn that girl." Yami muttered.
" That's why you came over, isn't it?" Yugi asked. I concentrated on the baked chicken on my plate and didn't respond. What could I tell him? That I was too weak to run a simple scan on Seto's body? That I didn't think I had the strength to watch them make out? That I had come here for lack of any other way to protect myself? Somehow, I thought that Yami and Yugi would be even angrier than Himeko if I did tell them.
" I'm going over there." Yami said suddenly, walking toward the door. I jumped up and ran after him.
" No! Wait! Just leave them alone!" I begged him. Yami would storm in there, fists flying. But then, even as I said that, my sixth sense went crazy. Fear. And lots of it. And, from a source I couldn't identify, anger and aggression. And I felt that, once again, the entire world was collapsing around me.
" Damn it." Yami muttered. I leaned heavily on his shoulder.
" Who's so mad?" Yugi wondered. " I don't recognize the signature."
" It can't be." Yami muttered. " There's not one person that's angry, there's two. And two people that are scared." Yami said. " It can't be..." he repeated, mostly to himself. But I heard him.
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
Okay, I admit it. I was a schoolgirl with a crush. And I had it bad. It was a distraction for me. It distracted me from my guilt of breaking my promises with Nen by caring about Tepe, and from my even more painful guilt of breaking my promise to Tepe by loving Nen. I was screwed no matter which way I went. So I took choice C.
Don't ask me what movie Seto put in. I have no clue. The moment he sat down, he leaned over and kissed me. And I kissed him back. And that became a full-fledged make-out session. And yet, in the back of my mind, I couldn't forget Tepe. Every time I closed my eyes and breathed in Seto's scent, I saw Tepe's dark brown eyes, full of sorrow and betrayal. Finally, I could take it no longer. I pulled my head away from Seto. He didn't back away from me, though.
" What's wrong?" he asked me softly. I edged a little further away from him.
" I can't forget either of them." I said, closing my eyes.
" Who?" Seto asked.
" Nen... Or Tepe." I said slowly. Seto didn't respond for a long moment, drawing in a deep, slow breath.
" Himeko, there's something I need to tell you." He said, taking my hands. I looked up at him expectantly as he took a breath and opened his mouth to speak... And the doorbell rang.
" Talk about bad timing." I muttered, slumping onto the couch. Seto shrugged, stood up, walked over to the door and opened it. I watched him as he went. The way he walked, the way he swung his arms, the very way he held his head... It was all different from the Seto I saw in Yuki's memory, winning her a teddy bear at the county fair. Yet, at the same time, it was strangely familiar... I felt like I knew him in a way I hadn't before. The way Yuki knew him. Even though she had expressed a concern to me that she didn't know him since he recovered from his mysterious ailment. That he wasn't the same person.
Now, looking back, I know I was purposely ignoring the signs. They were all there, but I ignored them. I didn't want to see the truth. I wanted to believe that Seto had fallen in love with me. Just like I didn't want to see the truth about other things... You see, the truth hurt. And I was so sick of hurting. I just wanted to find my love, to escape from the guilt and pain. I wanted to love Tepe, but I couldn't forget Nen. I wanted to love Nen, but I couldn't just ignore the promise I made to Tepe. And Nen was dead. And I looked at other girls, girls who, for them, dating was a simple thing of liking a person, going out, and if need be, breaking up. For me, it was something that brought on depression and guilt, not to mention my brothers.
" I'm here to pick Ryou." Tepe's voice suddenly drifted by my ears. Frowning, I stood up.
" Perfect timing." Seto said. I could hear the smile in his voice, even though I couldn't see him. I was still standing in the living room as he and Tepe came in. Tepe's eyes widened a little as he saw me. I turned away as I saw disapproval flash over his face. I remembered him trying to prove to me that he was better than Seto, and thus, Nen. I forced a smile.
" Hi, Tepe." I said. " Bakura." I corrected myself. He gave me a funny look.
" Bakura." He repeated, then shook his head as though to banish some thought. " How are you, Himeko?" he asked, careful to use my modern name.
" I'm fine." I said uncertainly. At which point Seto stepped fully into the room. That's not to say the tension in the room relieved. If anything, it intensified.
" Perfect timing." Seto repeated. I stared at him, everything beginning to finally click into place.
" I'll just get Ryou and go." Tepe said quickly, anxious to get away from the tense atmosphere.
" Ryou?" I asked in confusion. " Ryou's not here." Both Tepe and I turned expectantly to Seto.
" Hmmm... So, the jig is up." He muttered. " Himeko, as I said, I have something to tell you. For one, my name's not Seto, and I would be pleased if you stopped calling me that." He began. Tepe and I both stared. But only for a moment.
" I knew it!" Tepe cried suddenly, taking a step back and pulling me with him. " I knew you couldn't be Seto Kaiba! And I think I know who you really are."
" I'll bet you do." The guy in front of us said, crossing his arms. And then it all fell into place. His habits, his posture, his way of talking... I did know it.
" Nen!" I cried, suddenly overjoyed and dismayed at the same time. Nen smiled at me. With Seto's face. Through Seto's eyes. I suddenly felt angry. " Nen!" I repeated, this time with anger. " What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here! Where's Seto?" I asked angrily.
" Calm down, Isis." Nen said, holding up his hands. I growled at him and tried to storm up into his face, but Tepe held me back.
" No! You tricked me! And what's worse, you tricked poor Yuki! Where's Seto?" I repeated. Nen tapped the head he had stolen.
" He's fine. In here. Quite a reincarnation. He's not as much like me as I thought he'd be." He said. Tepe grinned sadistically.
" They rarely are, I've found." He said dryly. Nen glared at him.
" You can just keep quiet until I'm ready to kill you." He said. Tepe shrugged.
" You're definitely not the first to say that to me. And you won't be the first I've paid no attention to. Or the last, for that matter." Tepe said, stretching his arms over his head. I marveled at his ability to stay cool and keep his front up.
" I never did like you." Nen growled, bristling at Tepe.
" As I recall, you never exactly gave me enough of a chance to see whether or not you liked me, so how could you know?" Tepe asked.
" Tepe, remember what Ryou said about not antagonizing the enemy?" I asked through gritted teeth. Wrong choice of words.
" So I'm an enemy now?" Nen asked, his chest swelling involuntarily. Tepe flashed him a malicious grin. I was at a loss.
" Well, Nen, you steal the body of my light's best friend, you say you're going to kill Tepe, what else can I think of you as?" I asked.
" I was hoping for a little more than enemy." Nen growled back. I strode confidently up to him and watched his expression soften. He reached to touch me. " I've missed you so much." He muttered. I jerked away.
" The fact is, Nen, you are dead. It's as simple as that. I'm not exactly alive by my choice, but I've got a purpose. Her name's Yuki, and then there's all my other friends. I live for them. As long as I have Yuki, and Yami, and Tepe, and Yugi, the boys, and all the rest... Then I've got a purpose. I've got a reason. What's your reason, Nen? Revenge?" I asked. Nen looked straight at me.
" You." He answered, touching my cheek. I could hear Tepe's strained breathing behind me. " You are my purpose." He told me, as I turned away from him.
" I'm trying to get over what happened back then. I'm trying to build a new life. And as much as I care about you, you're not part of that life. You're part of a life that is long over, and it's time for me to move on. Remember what Mariah said? 'Things change, and so do people. Yugi and Yuki need you two. It's all right for you to change. You've been given a gift, a second chance at life, and you're going to change, and you'll probably meet other people to love. And that's all right.' Remember that, Nen?" I asked, wheeling on him angrily. Nen regarded me calmly.
" You and I were destined to be together. And no thief will stop that." He said, shooting a dirty glare at Tepe, who bristled.
" You want me, rich boy? Come and get me." He growled. Nen shoved past me to take him up on his challenge.
" Stop it!" I cried, trying to pull Nen back. But Seto is much bigger than I am, and so, Nen was. He kept going as though I had stood idly by. " Tepe! Don't!" I cried warningly, catching the cunning, almost evil glimmer in his eyes. Nen was never anything more than a mortal. Like Seto, he displayed enormous potential, and he did indeed once have the Millennium Rod. But he was still mortal. Tepe was not. Tepe could send Nen to hell and back in a hand basket and still have more to do.
" Don't what?" Tepe asked innocently, dancing nimbly out of the way as Nen lunged at him. Tepe was once a tomb robber, an occupation that required fleet of foot and even fleeter reflexes. What's more, if Nen could land a punch, Tepe would bounce back quicker than I could blink. That's not to say Nen didn't have his advantages. The body he had stolen was that of a teen who had trained himself both mentally and physically to endure every hardship without so much as batting an eye. That body could take just about anything. He also had the advantage in both weight and height. Seto's, and Nen's, build was made for endurance, but he still had more strength and it suggested. Tepe was outdone there, as well.
" I'll kill you, I swear it!" Nen cried angrily as Tepe dodged him yet again.
" Knock it off, you two!" I screamed.
" You're gonna have to catch me first!" Tepe taunted, side-stepping Nen and dashing out of his arm's reach. I felt the burning of my energy swelling into a small, rapidly growing sphere in my palm. I took careful aim and tossed the small bomb in between the two. The explosion that resulted scorched the floor, and Tepe sported a new burn mark on his leg, but nothing more. If anything, it just shocked them both into silence.
" You're both being immature idiots!" I cried, allowing another energy ball to well up in my hand and shaking it at them dangerously. Assault is my talent. I have the more subtle abilities involving my enemies' souls, but I'm better at assault. While everyone could only assault at full force, I can control the energy in the assault. It takes a lot of training and a tremendous amount of control, but it's worth it. I can give you a jolt so tiny you wouldn't know if it weren't for the prickling of your hair, or blow China sky high. Not as strong as Yuki, but far more controlled. " Tepe, if you dare put his soul in an inanimate object, I swear I'll... I'll either blow you up or never speak to you again!" I cried. Tepe grinned sheepishly, his reaction when he knows he's done something wrong, or come close. " And as for you, Nen..." I threatened, turning on my heal. " You know you're not supposed to be here! Now give Seto back his body! Hurry up!" I demanded. Nen stared at me.
" Just like that? You want me to go?" he asked, sounding hurt.
" I want you to give Seto back his body!" I elaborated.
" What about-" he began, but I interrupted him.
" Those things are good for a trip down memory lane. I care about you, Nen, and I always will, but obviously, it wasn't meant to be. I'm sorry. They're memories. I'll always cherish them, but they're memories." I said, gazing sadly at Nen. I loved him, in a special way. But now I knew... I didn't love him in the special way. It wasn't meant to be. He had his place, and I had mine. Mine was here, among the living. His was among the dead.
" What if I don't want to go? What if I've taken a liking to this body?" Nen asked defiantly. I looked at him with a sad expression.
" Then I'll have to make you go. We both know that body can't support both you and Seto for much longer. Leave him alone, Nen. Leave us alone. Let us live." I pleaded. Nen gave me the saddest look I had ever seen.
" I don't want to let you go." He whispered.
" If you don't let me go, then I'll live out the rest of my life as a captive. I need you to release me." I whispered back. Nen was silent for a long time, Tepe forgotten behind us.
" I release you." Nen said at last. I felt the weight of all the promises, all the guilt, all the pain, lifting off my shoulders and I breathed in gratefully. " But I'll never stop loving you." He added.
" And I'll always love you. But... Some things just aren't meant to be." I said.
" I guess I'll go, then." Nen said, rubbing his left arm like he always did when he was nervous or upset. " You know, it's my fault." He added suddenly.
" What's your fault?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
" All that stuff... between you two... It's my fault. I, um, met this traveling tribe in the market place, burying their chief. He had white hair, and he looked an awful lot like him..." Nen said, nodding to Tepe, who breathed in sharply. " Older, maybe. Definitely scrawnier. He died of malnutrition. Apparently, he'd been sick most of his life anyway. They said his little brother had been banished, and he had no heir. I gave them some money and took the body, and I showed it to Ammon. I told him that I found it out in the desert. Told him it was the tomb robber's." I stared at Nen, then at Tepe. So the body, the one that I couldn't believe was actually Tepe's, wasn't his at all. It was actually his older brother's...
" Thank you." Tepe said suddenly. Nen and I both looked at him. " Thank you." He repeated. " Now I know how he died." Nen shrugged.
" Just remember, I'll always be watching over you." Nen told me. Then, the familiar look in his eyes vanished, replaced by an even more familiar one. Seto collapsed on the ground.
Tepe and I dragged him up to his room and laid him in his bed. Soon after, Yami and Yugi and Yuki and Ryou all arrived, yelling and angry. We explained everything to them, and Yuki practically raced up the stairs to check on Seto.
" How are you doing?" Tepe asked me later, stepping out onto the porch. I looked at him over my shoulder, then turned back to the night sky.
" Fine. Just thinking." I answered.
" About what?" Tepe asked, sitting down next to me. I smiled at him.
" Oh, everything. Wondering how I fit into the grand scheme of things. How we fit. Trying to figure stuff out." I answered. Tepe smiled back.
" Trying to do the impossible." He said knowingly.
" I guess. It sure isn't working." I said with a laugh. Then I looked at the sky again. " You think he really is watching over me?" I asked.
" I know he is." Tepe answered automatically. I never had to explain what I meant to him. He always seemed to know. " There's one thing that guy and I have in common. We both love you. And I know that if I was in his place, I'd be looking in to see how you were doing every chance I got." I smiled, looking down at the ground.
" I know what you want to ask." I said quickly. " And I still don't know, Tepe. I'm so confused. Maybe we should just both try to move on. What's in the past is in the past." I said. Tepe sighed.
" Now I know how Nen feels." He muttered. " Whatever you think is best. So long as you know, you'll always be Isis to me." He told me.
" And you'll always be Tepemkau." I answered, smiling.
" Can we at least be friends?" Tepe asked. I leaned on his shoulder, still smiling.
" Always." I murmured. He stroked my hair and we sat there, oblivious to the fact that Yami had driven off into the night, knowing somehow that the next danger of the night was for him to face alone.
*+*+*Yami*+*+*
I was the only one that still sensed danger. The relief on Yuki's face was immense, and Ryou and Yugi were both happy it was over. Himeko and Bakura went out onto the back porch together, and for once, I didn't want to go rip them apart. So I slipped out of the mansion and drove off into the night. I felt scared, apprehensive, and yet... I also felt excited. I always did right before I went head to head with danger. It's the part of me that likes the danger, the thrill. It's the part of me that gets carried away in the heat of battle. It's the part of me that doesn't mind killing.
I groaned as rain started to splatter on my windshield, and flicked the wipers on. Rain. Great. I never did like rain. It was wet, and often cold. And I grew up in Egypt. Dry and warm were the standards. And I liked those standards. And rain would only make it harder.
Time is a tricky thing. Some tiny thing you do now, one little word you let slip, can change your world, your life, can change everything. And then, when you try to plan, you can't ever try to factor in all the things that could happen. So much can happen. There are so many possibilities. There's no way to accurately predict the future, because so many things can happen between today and tomorrow. You just never know... But that doesn't mean you can't live your life out huddling in a corner of your room, because that affects your future too, and bad things can happen because of it. You just have to get out there and try to do the best you can, and hope that it will all turn out okay in the end. You try your best, but even then, bad things happen. Sometimes, your "good" decisions can go and blow up in your face. Sometimes it seems so pointless. Then you think about the good things that will happen along with the bad things, and it makes it worth doing. But because time has a way of turning all the best things around, it's impossible to see what's next.
So as I drove down the road, peering through the rain, there's no way I could have known... No possible way. If I had known, maybe things would have been different. But no one can really know the future. If I had known, I wouldn't have gone charging in there without any help. But I did. I wish I could tell you everything turned out just fine. But that's not exactly true. All I knew as I cursed the rain under my breath was that I was in for another heartbreak. I trusted her. I did. But that was a mistake. Now, one of us would die. And I knew I wasn't going to let it be me without a fight. And it was all because I broke down and thought that maybe I had a chance at getting over my past. But it would always come back to haunt me. Only this time, it had taken the form of my future.
A/N: Well then. If that made any sense at all to you, you're special. I wrote it and I barely get it!!! Five hundred points to anyone who can guess who Yami's talking about! Tune in for the next part, goodness knows when that will be. Oh yeah, I'm giving you a fair warning. A certain someone (you know who you are ^_^) has given me a great amount of info on Egyptian mythology. Turns out, Ra is pretty overrated. Therefore, the Key of Ra will probably soon be making a name change. I'll make it fit into the fic alright, no worries. Just give me some time. ::Sigh:: Now, I'm going to bed. I'm going to a concert tomorrow. I won tickets on the radio!!! ^_^
By: Rogue Fox
Part Eighteen... Passing Time
*+*+*Yuki*+*+*
" Yuki, are you okay?" Yugi asked me fretfully. I looked up at him from the plate of food in front of me.
" Of course." I lied. No, I wasn't okay. I was never okay lately. There was always something wrong, besides the fact that I felt like I was coming down with the flu all the time.
" You don't look okay." Yugi said stoutly. Stubbornness runs in the blood. I have it, Himeko has it, Yami has it, and Yugi is no exception.
" I'm fine." I insisted. The expression on Yugi's face told me he didn't believe me, and that was fine by me. I didn't believe myself.
" Sure." Yugi said. I looked back down to my food, trying to find the will to choke it down. I knew I needed to eat it. I was weak as a kitten, and weakness was unacceptable. But I just couldn't make myself swallow it. Yami strode into the room suddenly, bringing with him a sense of danger that the room had lacked a moment before. Yugi and I both raised our heads to him expectantly as he stood over us. We were sitting at the kitchen table, and he paced across the room like a caged tiger. I often likened Himeko and Yami to big, powerful cats. Himeko was like the stealthy black panther, mistress of the night. Yami was like a tiger, huge and majestic, with a temper to match.
" Have either of you seen Himeko?" he asked suddenly. His voice had a slight shake to it that was only there when he was frightened for someone he loved. I looked away, unable to look him in the eye.
" She's, um... She's at the mansion. With him." I said slowly, knowing Himeko would be livid with me for telling Yami. Ever since Seto started acting strange, I hadn't called him by his name. He wasn't Seto, and I was sure of it.
" Damn that girl." Yami muttered.
" That's why you came over, isn't it?" Yugi asked. I concentrated on the baked chicken on my plate and didn't respond. What could I tell him? That I was too weak to run a simple scan on Seto's body? That I didn't think I had the strength to watch them make out? That I had come here for lack of any other way to protect myself? Somehow, I thought that Yami and Yugi would be even angrier than Himeko if I did tell them.
" I'm going over there." Yami said suddenly, walking toward the door. I jumped up and ran after him.
" No! Wait! Just leave them alone!" I begged him. Yami would storm in there, fists flying. But then, even as I said that, my sixth sense went crazy. Fear. And lots of it. And, from a source I couldn't identify, anger and aggression. And I felt that, once again, the entire world was collapsing around me.
" Damn it." Yami muttered. I leaned heavily on his shoulder.
" Who's so mad?" Yugi wondered. " I don't recognize the signature."
" It can't be." Yami muttered. " There's not one person that's angry, there's two. And two people that are scared." Yami said. " It can't be..." he repeated, mostly to himself. But I heard him.
*+*+*Himeko*+*+*
Okay, I admit it. I was a schoolgirl with a crush. And I had it bad. It was a distraction for me. It distracted me from my guilt of breaking my promises with Nen by caring about Tepe, and from my even more painful guilt of breaking my promise to Tepe by loving Nen. I was screwed no matter which way I went. So I took choice C.
Don't ask me what movie Seto put in. I have no clue. The moment he sat down, he leaned over and kissed me. And I kissed him back. And that became a full-fledged make-out session. And yet, in the back of my mind, I couldn't forget Tepe. Every time I closed my eyes and breathed in Seto's scent, I saw Tepe's dark brown eyes, full of sorrow and betrayal. Finally, I could take it no longer. I pulled my head away from Seto. He didn't back away from me, though.
" What's wrong?" he asked me softly. I edged a little further away from him.
" I can't forget either of them." I said, closing my eyes.
" Who?" Seto asked.
" Nen... Or Tepe." I said slowly. Seto didn't respond for a long moment, drawing in a deep, slow breath.
" Himeko, there's something I need to tell you." He said, taking my hands. I looked up at him expectantly as he took a breath and opened his mouth to speak... And the doorbell rang.
" Talk about bad timing." I muttered, slumping onto the couch. Seto shrugged, stood up, walked over to the door and opened it. I watched him as he went. The way he walked, the way he swung his arms, the very way he held his head... It was all different from the Seto I saw in Yuki's memory, winning her a teddy bear at the county fair. Yet, at the same time, it was strangely familiar... I felt like I knew him in a way I hadn't before. The way Yuki knew him. Even though she had expressed a concern to me that she didn't know him since he recovered from his mysterious ailment. That he wasn't the same person.
Now, looking back, I know I was purposely ignoring the signs. They were all there, but I ignored them. I didn't want to see the truth. I wanted to believe that Seto had fallen in love with me. Just like I didn't want to see the truth about other things... You see, the truth hurt. And I was so sick of hurting. I just wanted to find my love, to escape from the guilt and pain. I wanted to love Tepe, but I couldn't forget Nen. I wanted to love Nen, but I couldn't just ignore the promise I made to Tepe. And Nen was dead. And I looked at other girls, girls who, for them, dating was a simple thing of liking a person, going out, and if need be, breaking up. For me, it was something that brought on depression and guilt, not to mention my brothers.
" I'm here to pick Ryou." Tepe's voice suddenly drifted by my ears. Frowning, I stood up.
" Perfect timing." Seto said. I could hear the smile in his voice, even though I couldn't see him. I was still standing in the living room as he and Tepe came in. Tepe's eyes widened a little as he saw me. I turned away as I saw disapproval flash over his face. I remembered him trying to prove to me that he was better than Seto, and thus, Nen. I forced a smile.
" Hi, Tepe." I said. " Bakura." I corrected myself. He gave me a funny look.
" Bakura." He repeated, then shook his head as though to banish some thought. " How are you, Himeko?" he asked, careful to use my modern name.
" I'm fine." I said uncertainly. At which point Seto stepped fully into the room. That's not to say the tension in the room relieved. If anything, it intensified.
" Perfect timing." Seto repeated. I stared at him, everything beginning to finally click into place.
" I'll just get Ryou and go." Tepe said quickly, anxious to get away from the tense atmosphere.
" Ryou?" I asked in confusion. " Ryou's not here." Both Tepe and I turned expectantly to Seto.
" Hmmm... So, the jig is up." He muttered. " Himeko, as I said, I have something to tell you. For one, my name's not Seto, and I would be pleased if you stopped calling me that." He began. Tepe and I both stared. But only for a moment.
" I knew it!" Tepe cried suddenly, taking a step back and pulling me with him. " I knew you couldn't be Seto Kaiba! And I think I know who you really are."
" I'll bet you do." The guy in front of us said, crossing his arms. And then it all fell into place. His habits, his posture, his way of talking... I did know it.
" Nen!" I cried, suddenly overjoyed and dismayed at the same time. Nen smiled at me. With Seto's face. Through Seto's eyes. I suddenly felt angry. " Nen!" I repeated, this time with anger. " What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here! Where's Seto?" I asked angrily.
" Calm down, Isis." Nen said, holding up his hands. I growled at him and tried to storm up into his face, but Tepe held me back.
" No! You tricked me! And what's worse, you tricked poor Yuki! Where's Seto?" I repeated. Nen tapped the head he had stolen.
" He's fine. In here. Quite a reincarnation. He's not as much like me as I thought he'd be." He said. Tepe grinned sadistically.
" They rarely are, I've found." He said dryly. Nen glared at him.
" You can just keep quiet until I'm ready to kill you." He said. Tepe shrugged.
" You're definitely not the first to say that to me. And you won't be the first I've paid no attention to. Or the last, for that matter." Tepe said, stretching his arms over his head. I marveled at his ability to stay cool and keep his front up.
" I never did like you." Nen growled, bristling at Tepe.
" As I recall, you never exactly gave me enough of a chance to see whether or not you liked me, so how could you know?" Tepe asked.
" Tepe, remember what Ryou said about not antagonizing the enemy?" I asked through gritted teeth. Wrong choice of words.
" So I'm an enemy now?" Nen asked, his chest swelling involuntarily. Tepe flashed him a malicious grin. I was at a loss.
" Well, Nen, you steal the body of my light's best friend, you say you're going to kill Tepe, what else can I think of you as?" I asked.
" I was hoping for a little more than enemy." Nen growled back. I strode confidently up to him and watched his expression soften. He reached to touch me. " I've missed you so much." He muttered. I jerked away.
" The fact is, Nen, you are dead. It's as simple as that. I'm not exactly alive by my choice, but I've got a purpose. Her name's Yuki, and then there's all my other friends. I live for them. As long as I have Yuki, and Yami, and Tepe, and Yugi, the boys, and all the rest... Then I've got a purpose. I've got a reason. What's your reason, Nen? Revenge?" I asked. Nen looked straight at me.
" You." He answered, touching my cheek. I could hear Tepe's strained breathing behind me. " You are my purpose." He told me, as I turned away from him.
" I'm trying to get over what happened back then. I'm trying to build a new life. And as much as I care about you, you're not part of that life. You're part of a life that is long over, and it's time for me to move on. Remember what Mariah said? 'Things change, and so do people. Yugi and Yuki need you two. It's all right for you to change. You've been given a gift, a second chance at life, and you're going to change, and you'll probably meet other people to love. And that's all right.' Remember that, Nen?" I asked, wheeling on him angrily. Nen regarded me calmly.
" You and I were destined to be together. And no thief will stop that." He said, shooting a dirty glare at Tepe, who bristled.
" You want me, rich boy? Come and get me." He growled. Nen shoved past me to take him up on his challenge.
" Stop it!" I cried, trying to pull Nen back. But Seto is much bigger than I am, and so, Nen was. He kept going as though I had stood idly by. " Tepe! Don't!" I cried warningly, catching the cunning, almost evil glimmer in his eyes. Nen was never anything more than a mortal. Like Seto, he displayed enormous potential, and he did indeed once have the Millennium Rod. But he was still mortal. Tepe was not. Tepe could send Nen to hell and back in a hand basket and still have more to do.
" Don't what?" Tepe asked innocently, dancing nimbly out of the way as Nen lunged at him. Tepe was once a tomb robber, an occupation that required fleet of foot and even fleeter reflexes. What's more, if Nen could land a punch, Tepe would bounce back quicker than I could blink. That's not to say Nen didn't have his advantages. The body he had stolen was that of a teen who had trained himself both mentally and physically to endure every hardship without so much as batting an eye. That body could take just about anything. He also had the advantage in both weight and height. Seto's, and Nen's, build was made for endurance, but he still had more strength and it suggested. Tepe was outdone there, as well.
" I'll kill you, I swear it!" Nen cried angrily as Tepe dodged him yet again.
" Knock it off, you two!" I screamed.
" You're gonna have to catch me first!" Tepe taunted, side-stepping Nen and dashing out of his arm's reach. I felt the burning of my energy swelling into a small, rapidly growing sphere in my palm. I took careful aim and tossed the small bomb in between the two. The explosion that resulted scorched the floor, and Tepe sported a new burn mark on his leg, but nothing more. If anything, it just shocked them both into silence.
" You're both being immature idiots!" I cried, allowing another energy ball to well up in my hand and shaking it at them dangerously. Assault is my talent. I have the more subtle abilities involving my enemies' souls, but I'm better at assault. While everyone could only assault at full force, I can control the energy in the assault. It takes a lot of training and a tremendous amount of control, but it's worth it. I can give you a jolt so tiny you wouldn't know if it weren't for the prickling of your hair, or blow China sky high. Not as strong as Yuki, but far more controlled. " Tepe, if you dare put his soul in an inanimate object, I swear I'll... I'll either blow you up or never speak to you again!" I cried. Tepe grinned sheepishly, his reaction when he knows he's done something wrong, or come close. " And as for you, Nen..." I threatened, turning on my heal. " You know you're not supposed to be here! Now give Seto back his body! Hurry up!" I demanded. Nen stared at me.
" Just like that? You want me to go?" he asked, sounding hurt.
" I want you to give Seto back his body!" I elaborated.
" What about-" he began, but I interrupted him.
" Those things are good for a trip down memory lane. I care about you, Nen, and I always will, but obviously, it wasn't meant to be. I'm sorry. They're memories. I'll always cherish them, but they're memories." I said, gazing sadly at Nen. I loved him, in a special way. But now I knew... I didn't love him in the special way. It wasn't meant to be. He had his place, and I had mine. Mine was here, among the living. His was among the dead.
" What if I don't want to go? What if I've taken a liking to this body?" Nen asked defiantly. I looked at him with a sad expression.
" Then I'll have to make you go. We both know that body can't support both you and Seto for much longer. Leave him alone, Nen. Leave us alone. Let us live." I pleaded. Nen gave me the saddest look I had ever seen.
" I don't want to let you go." He whispered.
" If you don't let me go, then I'll live out the rest of my life as a captive. I need you to release me." I whispered back. Nen was silent for a long time, Tepe forgotten behind us.
" I release you." Nen said at last. I felt the weight of all the promises, all the guilt, all the pain, lifting off my shoulders and I breathed in gratefully. " But I'll never stop loving you." He added.
" And I'll always love you. But... Some things just aren't meant to be." I said.
" I guess I'll go, then." Nen said, rubbing his left arm like he always did when he was nervous or upset. " You know, it's my fault." He added suddenly.
" What's your fault?" I asked, thoroughly confused.
" All that stuff... between you two... It's my fault. I, um, met this traveling tribe in the market place, burying their chief. He had white hair, and he looked an awful lot like him..." Nen said, nodding to Tepe, who breathed in sharply. " Older, maybe. Definitely scrawnier. He died of malnutrition. Apparently, he'd been sick most of his life anyway. They said his little brother had been banished, and he had no heir. I gave them some money and took the body, and I showed it to Ammon. I told him that I found it out in the desert. Told him it was the tomb robber's." I stared at Nen, then at Tepe. So the body, the one that I couldn't believe was actually Tepe's, wasn't his at all. It was actually his older brother's...
" Thank you." Tepe said suddenly. Nen and I both looked at him. " Thank you." He repeated. " Now I know how he died." Nen shrugged.
" Just remember, I'll always be watching over you." Nen told me. Then, the familiar look in his eyes vanished, replaced by an even more familiar one. Seto collapsed on the ground.
Tepe and I dragged him up to his room and laid him in his bed. Soon after, Yami and Yugi and Yuki and Ryou all arrived, yelling and angry. We explained everything to them, and Yuki practically raced up the stairs to check on Seto.
" How are you doing?" Tepe asked me later, stepping out onto the porch. I looked at him over my shoulder, then turned back to the night sky.
" Fine. Just thinking." I answered.
" About what?" Tepe asked, sitting down next to me. I smiled at him.
" Oh, everything. Wondering how I fit into the grand scheme of things. How we fit. Trying to figure stuff out." I answered. Tepe smiled back.
" Trying to do the impossible." He said knowingly.
" I guess. It sure isn't working." I said with a laugh. Then I looked at the sky again. " You think he really is watching over me?" I asked.
" I know he is." Tepe answered automatically. I never had to explain what I meant to him. He always seemed to know. " There's one thing that guy and I have in common. We both love you. And I know that if I was in his place, I'd be looking in to see how you were doing every chance I got." I smiled, looking down at the ground.
" I know what you want to ask." I said quickly. " And I still don't know, Tepe. I'm so confused. Maybe we should just both try to move on. What's in the past is in the past." I said. Tepe sighed.
" Now I know how Nen feels." He muttered. " Whatever you think is best. So long as you know, you'll always be Isis to me." He told me.
" And you'll always be Tepemkau." I answered, smiling.
" Can we at least be friends?" Tepe asked. I leaned on his shoulder, still smiling.
" Always." I murmured. He stroked my hair and we sat there, oblivious to the fact that Yami had driven off into the night, knowing somehow that the next danger of the night was for him to face alone.
*+*+*Yami*+*+*
I was the only one that still sensed danger. The relief on Yuki's face was immense, and Ryou and Yugi were both happy it was over. Himeko and Bakura went out onto the back porch together, and for once, I didn't want to go rip them apart. So I slipped out of the mansion and drove off into the night. I felt scared, apprehensive, and yet... I also felt excited. I always did right before I went head to head with danger. It's the part of me that likes the danger, the thrill. It's the part of me that gets carried away in the heat of battle. It's the part of me that doesn't mind killing.
I groaned as rain started to splatter on my windshield, and flicked the wipers on. Rain. Great. I never did like rain. It was wet, and often cold. And I grew up in Egypt. Dry and warm were the standards. And I liked those standards. And rain would only make it harder.
Time is a tricky thing. Some tiny thing you do now, one little word you let slip, can change your world, your life, can change everything. And then, when you try to plan, you can't ever try to factor in all the things that could happen. So much can happen. There are so many possibilities. There's no way to accurately predict the future, because so many things can happen between today and tomorrow. You just never know... But that doesn't mean you can't live your life out huddling in a corner of your room, because that affects your future too, and bad things can happen because of it. You just have to get out there and try to do the best you can, and hope that it will all turn out okay in the end. You try your best, but even then, bad things happen. Sometimes, your "good" decisions can go and blow up in your face. Sometimes it seems so pointless. Then you think about the good things that will happen along with the bad things, and it makes it worth doing. But because time has a way of turning all the best things around, it's impossible to see what's next.
So as I drove down the road, peering through the rain, there's no way I could have known... No possible way. If I had known, maybe things would have been different. But no one can really know the future. If I had known, I wouldn't have gone charging in there without any help. But I did. I wish I could tell you everything turned out just fine. But that's not exactly true. All I knew as I cursed the rain under my breath was that I was in for another heartbreak. I trusted her. I did. But that was a mistake. Now, one of us would die. And I knew I wasn't going to let it be me without a fight. And it was all because I broke down and thought that maybe I had a chance at getting over my past. But it would always come back to haunt me. Only this time, it had taken the form of my future.
A/N: Well then. If that made any sense at all to you, you're special. I wrote it and I barely get it!!! Five hundred points to anyone who can guess who Yami's talking about! Tune in for the next part, goodness knows when that will be. Oh yeah, I'm giving you a fair warning. A certain someone (you know who you are ^_^) has given me a great amount of info on Egyptian mythology. Turns out, Ra is pretty overrated. Therefore, the Key of Ra will probably soon be making a name change. I'll make it fit into the fic alright, no worries. Just give me some time. ::Sigh:: Now, I'm going to bed. I'm going to a concert tomorrow. I won tickets on the radio!!! ^_^