Chapter 17: Wings
The door swung open easily, considering the amount of force used on it, and bounced off the wall with a thunderous bang. Kaede walked into the house, carrying two bags with a look of calm happiness. Her clothes had darkened, due to the extra amount of water that had hitched a ride on her, and needless to say where ever she went, that piece of the carpet would be sharing it too as well as a bit of mud. T.R entered shortly afterward, only because he had to admire the dark brown sneaker mark now posted in the middle of the door where she had planted her foot to open the door.
His expression was bored, but a humored type of bored. He was actually in a good mood despite how horrible he felt when they left, about an hour ago. The trip hadn't been as painful as he had imagined. Actually, it wasn't what he had imagined at all. He had expected to be dragged around for three hours in a mall as she asked him what clothes looked good or what might look good on her. He was surprised when they walked into a department store and watched her take a pair of pants off the rack, place the waist over her own to see if they'd fit, and picked up four more.
She picked out five t-shirts, three blue, one black, one green in about two minutes. When they went by the underwear section she placidly grabbed a package of underwear and a couple of bras and moved on into the men's section where she talked basically about what he felt like wearing and what Javas might wear. They grabbed some shirts and jeans, underwear and socks, and they were on their way out when she stopped.
He nearly ran into her and stopped, but he wasn't fortunate enough to be in a comfort zone. He nearly had his nose in her hair and actually got a large whiff of it before he could back off. She smelled good. Enough to make him forget to breathe for a few moments. He took a large silent breath right before she took off a large black trench coat the rack and turned it around, studying it with a thoughtful look, pressed it against him, looked at it again, and then brought her gaze to him.
"What do you think?"
"Seems nice." She took another look at it.
"Hmm…I don't know. I thought you'd look killer in one of these, kind of modern gunslinger or a mage of some sort. I like it. Do you?" He took the coat from her and weighed it in his hand for a moment. It was light but warm, could easily conceal an assortment of weapons, the out side pockets were deep, and there was even a small inside pocket that would hold his dueling deck. He gave her the clothes he was holding, swung it around and put his arm into the sleeve, found that the sleeve was just right as was his size, and gave it back to her.
"Yes." He replied, and took the things back.
"Then it's yours." She replied, and took another one that she too dawned. It was like putting a kitten in too large of a blanket. The black sleeves were too long and went several inches over her hands. An inch of the coat was lying on the floor collecting any stray dirt from the floor. Her shoulders were too small, the extra material hung there baggy and starting to wrinkle and the collar went up to about the middle of her ear when it slightly brushed the bottom of his when put on. She also took a black cowboy hat off a near by shelf and shoved that on her head.
He could have laughed. She looked like a small girl playing dress up with her father's clothes, minus the large bulky shoes. For a few joyous moments he couldn't recognize any of the shape of the body that had been burned into his mind a night before. She was completely covered, nothing special, not a rose of the dessert, but a simple girl. Then she tilted the brim of her hat and looked him in the eye with big dune-colored orbs framed by skin as pale as the moon and a small pink full lipped smile.
"Yeah, I suppose this is a good coat. A bit big for me, but I could fold the sleeves and maybe cut the bottom of it and try to sow it up. I'm not a sowing expert, but I've seen it done before, it didn't look so hard, and I'm sure Javas has to have some black thread and a needle…hey there's even an inside pocket in this thing…" She put her fist into the pocket and tested it, letting the brim of the hat hide her pretty face that was somehow magnified moments ago and woke the TombRobber from his blank face and over flowing dark brown eyes to twist back into the placid thief who wanted nothing but power.
"Although, I'm not sure fighting would be so easy in this thing." She thought aloud to herself.
"Why would you be concerned about such a thing?" He asked her dryly. He didn't expect an answer, but after a few hesitant moments her voice came drifting from under the hat, slightly muffled, but the words clear.
"Well, after thinking about how that meeting went with that caped guy, I've figured out how dangerous they were. I figured out last night that I should, maybe, perhaps, learn to fight. See, looking after me wouldn't have so much pressure on you and it wouldn't be such a chore of trying to take care of me later on. I think I should learn to fight physically as well as…uh…with my talent. I mean, I saw you fight, you are spectacular, like someone out of the movies, and I'm not trying to insult you, but I think it maybe a nice side-thing if in case I do something stupid in the future, cause I can do some really stupid shit. It would be a self defense thing. I wouldn't be such an annoyance that way…I'd hope."
T.R was silent. Having her learn to fight would be useful. Probably even fun to watch in the beginning since she'd get pummeled easily. Her magic use was weak and her physical strength and stamina was even more to laugh at. For some reason, however, something was screaming at him to say 'no', not for her to learn to fight, and he wasn't quite sure why. It couldn't be that he could actually be starting to like her…could it?
He shook the feeling off.
"You want to learn to fight?"
"Well, I just figured it would be a good idea and-"
"Then you will learn to fight. Come now, we need to pay for these items." Those were weird words. He waited as she took off the coat and hat and followed her uneasy strides to the register where the things were paid for and they left with two large bags.
His mood had lightened slightly when she had to stop and take a look around in the bookstore. This reassured him that she was still somewhat predictable. He glanced over the titles with cool eyes and found they stopped in the fantasy section, as expected, and watched her expression go from nervous to lighting up as her eyes scanned over the spines of the books. Her fingers brushed them lovingly, until she found one she liked, then it was taken off. Her eyes scanned the back of it, soaking in the words for several moments.
He hadn't thought much of the smell of paper, but he could hear her taking in large amounts of air and the smile spread on her face. She seemed intoxicated with it, the same way he used to see a man after one too many beers. She wasn't tipsy; her eyes were just hooded as if it were a fragrance. He let a smirk go, a small one, but a grin all the same. And to his surprise, he really didn't care.
They left just as it started to rain.
Despite how many times he seen it rain in his immortal live time, he was still fascinated by it. He was still use to the way of the dessert, where rain came very rarely. Even though he learned it was more frequent in other parts of the world, it was still something to admire.
It wasn't a light rain. It was a very heavy down pour, the kind where you-can't-see-two-feet-in-front-of-you heavy rain. It was also like ice water. He could see his breath clouding as the fall increased, and wasn't displeased. A thousand ice showers would never make him completely forget the dessert's heat. He still felt like he was just leaving the hot land when ever it poured down on him. He figured he always would.
He also figured they'd run the whole four blocks back to Javas's safe haven when she surprised him again. She walked about three feet from the store entrance and just lifted her face up in the direction of the sky, stretching her arms out and feeling the strong wind through her shirt, it billowing about her. It blew her hair wildly and the smile on her face grew.
"This is a nice rain. We could possibly get snow. Have you ever seen snow before?"
"Yes. I have."
"It reminds me of sand, except cold and wet, slipping between your fingers. It's a quite time, for me. The plants die and the trees sleep all winter. You know it use to drive me crazy when I was little, but now, I've learned to enjoy it. The noise is sometimes over whelming, you know, it's nice just to have it quiet…"
T.R brushed his hair, sending water droplets all over as he attempted to dry off a little. The room's heat was already helping a lot. He shut the door and placed the damp bags on the carpet, removed his shoes and watched Yami enter the room. It toned his mood down enough for him to feel awake again, but was calm enough to ignore the Pharaoh's odd grin and searched the bags for his own clothing.
Kaede was removing her books, still approving of her selections, as well as putting her nose in them, breathing them in. She seemed happy, for once in what seemed like eternity, despite all the horrible things seeping into her life. She felt as light as air, able to walk on clouds, completely weightless. Maybe vindicated was the right word for it? Completely freed. She could fly if she wanted to…yes, just sprout wings and drive out the window and soar above the buildings, catching clouds in her hands, being one with the wind-
"There's something I haven't seen in years." Kaede blinked a puzzled blink and looked for the source of rarity. For a perplexing reason, she found Yami and T.R just staring right at her, studying her. Uneasiness replaced her freed feeling and she quickly shut the book with a slap and wondered about what they were looking at.
Javas entered the room shortly from the kitchen, a glass vase of flowers in both hands, until he greeted her with a smile and found his mouth twisted open and his fingers gave out. The vase shattered onto the floor with a loud crystal breaking noise that made her back away from the three of them, worried.
"W-what are you guys staring at!" The sound of her voice combined with the crash of glass made Yami stop gazing and look at her as he usually did, putting his hands into his pockets.
"It's really nothing, I just remember your mother doing that quite a lot-"
"Y-you've grown WINGS!" Javas stuttered.
"WHAT!" As she exclaimed a prickle of feeling rose from her back and something else crashed. She whipped around in surprised and only saw a brief wall over blurred green before more things started falling over. She felt something spread out behind her, something like two arms she never knew were there before. She panicked and started to run for the bathroom, misjudging the wall since her got caught on the door by the mysterious arm-things on her back and broke a few more things before T.R had his arm in the front of her waist and his hand some where behind her, bring something down. She felt air and more smashing as she struggled against him, scared, until he yelled.
"WILL YOU CALM DOWN WOMAN! You're mother took it a lot better than this!"
She felt his arms holding her, making her feel something light brushing against her back every few seconds. She felt like she was going to start shrieking and clung to him, placing her head against his chest, her hands holding budged parts of his shirt, and breathing deeply as she tried to make herself calm down.
T.R made a choked noise and gritted his teeth painfully against what his body was saying. There was about a hundred pounds of girl leaning heavily on his chest, clinging to him, shaking in his arms. He could feel her distinct warm shape on him. He gulped, trying to breathe as he held down a large amount of foliage against her back. He was sure his face was red and getting redder. He could feel her heart beat against his own and fought with all his being to control himself. He couldn't weaken. Not now. Not so far into the game. Not-
Her struggling slowed and she breathed into his chest as she held him a bit, calming down, muttering to herself that she was okay. He would've agreed with her if he dared to open his mouth. He was more afraid of what he'd do with it if left unchecked. His legs felt like lead, but the rest of him was exploding with feeling. He could feel how soft her hair was underneath his palm. Like silk.
He made himself remove it and place it onto her back, which turned out to be a mistake. She curved under the wings. He felt very uncomfortable, the most uneasiness in his whole life. He felt like he was trapped in the heat of a thousand Sahara Desserts when the sun was mere inches from his flesh. And suddenly, like a veil being lifted, the gods smiled upon him.
A breath later, he was alone, by himself, arms wide and very stiff, completely freed of temptation and wobbling because of it. Through a dazed mind he watched Yami lead her away, his arm on her shoulder, taking her into the bathroom so she could have a look at herself and understand fully, muttering something. T.R took a silent cold breath of relief and felt himself ease back slightly and remember his calm methodical devious self and returned to that nature.
Or would have if he didn't feel the desperate need to be alone, in which case he wore the mask, strode off into Javas's room, into the bathroom, and locked himself inside. Then he leaned heavily on the wall and cursed several ancient insults that had not taken to the wind in centuries and slid down the wall slowly until he was sitting on the cold floor, raging and screaming at such a moment and roaring louder at the cold depressed feeling settling over him now.
"Take it easy, if you struggle you'll break something." Yami told her sternly, sitting on the edge of the tub in her bathroom, trying to calm her down more.
"I'm not struggling! I'm trying to figure out what I was doing when…this happened!" She yelled, stamping her foot hard. Her wings rustled agitatedly, showering more red and yellow maple leaves where she was standing.
"Don't do that. You'll loose leaves when you're stressed." He replied warningly, glancing at Javas a moment before he shook his head. He was trying to ignore Javas, who was keeping a safe distance away from them by her bathroom door. He was scared, Yami could understand this, but she was relatively calm right now, she at least wasn't knocking over pictures or books.
Instead she was staring at the large green vine limps growing millions of reddening medium sized five pointed leaves, maple leaves, sprouting from her back. They didn't look much like wings at first, more like two large trees growing off of her, but taking a closer look she could see where the leaves meet the vines like feathers would meet to the skin on the bone of a bird's wing. It was still making her shiver.
"Don't I want to make them fall off!" She queried worriedly, making more fall into a small pile around her feet. Yami shook his head.
"No. You'd just be left with twigs and you can't fly with those, you need-"
"Fly? FLY! I'M NOT GONNA FLY! I'M AFRAID OF HEIGHTS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! YOU CAN'T EXPECT ME TO FLY! I CAN'T FLY!"
"Shhhh…it's okay, no one is going to make you, just calm down…" Yami replied soothingly, watching with silent dread as thirty or so brown ones fell to icy floor and crackled. If she went on like this he wasn't exactly sure what would occur.
Ryelle hadn't done any of this when she had her wings out. She and Bakura use to go flying for hours after dark when they had been younger, before they were married. They still did every now and then, but it diminished as they had gotten older and by the time Mat had been born they had to stop.
It was actually kind of sad, Yami had thought at the time, but understandable. The best way to keep a child safe from the danger of something, one thing that can be done is to make one oblivious to it. If you don't think you can do it, you wouldn't attempt it. It's even better when you don't have a clue it can even be done.
Unfortunately, he was looking at the side-affect of that decision. Being oblivious to a gift and stumping across it suddenly can be either heart-lifting, or in this case, completely and utterly shocking. If they had told her about this sort of thing before it occurred, she may have been able to avoid it, or control it, or even turn back to normal. It was even worse that the secret had died with the mother years ago. Now she had to figure out the trick in the inner chambers of her own mind.
He knew the key to the dilemma would be there, somewhere. This, after all, was a strong burst of magic. He could feel the vibrations in the air and the smallest smell of bitter-sweet odor around them as well as the deep light shaking of his core. Yes, this was a spell, not a dark one, nor any magic he'd encountered, besides her mother, before. Being the one who locked the dark magic away wasn't coming in handy right now, and instead he found himself with three options.
1) He could get Shadi. Shadi was the holder of the Millennium Key, after all, and it was the only one that could enter different minds. He could probably find the secret if he looked long enough. But he wasn't sure what affect that'd have on Kaede. She may not let him in willingly.
2) He could let her figure it out herself. After a while she would be bound to wander the inner sanctums in worriment before long. She might have a better idea where it was hidden and could fix the problem easily. It would also teach her something. That is if she'd calm down enough, which wasn't likely from this point. She seemed afraid of her own skin at the moment.
3) The final one, the one he really didn't want to turn to was the simplest and probably the fastest. Let the TombRobber go in. He did have the keys to her soul room, and even if he didn't he could pick his way in. He could figure out were the trick was to make her normal and do so without her knowing it at all. They were linked after all. Regrettably, TombRobber was struggling with his own feelings right now. He wouldn't dare step into her mind for fear of being discovered not only his intrusion, but the link as well. If she knew about the link, she could travel to his room when ever she wanted. That would lead to the discovery of many dark secrets, battles, horrors, and the thought of his own urges he bore and hid even from himself. It would probably wreak what was taking place, how she was slowly changing him from the raging sadistic half millennium old soul, to a peaceful deity that could even rest in his long buried grave. Or at least he hoped.
Crossing his arms, the once savior of Egypt, thought out the problem as logically as it could be processed and found himself totally blank. The King of Games, the only person to ever out smart Kaiba more than three times, and saved the world more than once with his brilliant mind couldn't think of what to do. He was actually surprised at himself for it. He wondered what Yugi would say, pondered the answer his imagination of the youth's voice (well, to the 5025 year old spirit, anyway) said in his mind, and agreed.
Book Dragon: "Please Review."