Hello, it's me with another chapter of my story! Many thankies to all my readers and reviewers!
Lia Xaragi – Don't worry, I love long reviews! They make me happy! As well as your kind words. I'm glad you think I managed to portray it so well, I've been worrying that everything in this story is a bit too cliché… Heh, I love your translation work as well, it definitely helped! Thank you for suggesting advertising, it would be greatly appreciated. But if you worried about your fingers then I probably shouldn't tell you that this chapter is 31 pages…oops. Hope you got those bandages ready. I think I've already explained the trilogy thing to you but just remember: there are 13 chapters in this story (including the prologue). So once again, thakn you very much!
Yugi and Mai – Don't worry about the review being late, at least you wrote one! Heh. Yeah, you sounding like you know what you're talking about is quite unusual. But I'm slightly worried about that thought that this is a exam… And thank you for your comments about Ryou, like Lia you both said I did him quite well. Which I was worried about because he's a bit cliché. And the number thing at the end…was it funny? I can't tell… Hmm, it seems like your stealing my story with your words… And yes, I'll "keep on typing" as you say I should because I'm not going to let a lack of reviews beat me! And as for being able to do it…what would you like me to do? Heh. Yep, I love the song too but I haven't listened to it for ages either. Could it be that you're influenced by my scene of Yami depending on destiny to make every decision? It's also great that you have opinions of how everyone acts, I always find that if you feel strongly about what a character has done ten the story's good! I actually have a big poster of the painting Ryou talked about. I was thinking I might get away with not having to hear about Yugi and Yami but nevermind. I won't even comment on what you said about them…
Disclaimer: Don't own Yu-Gi-Oh and Duel Monsters and for this part, the songs "Dear Diary" by Travis or "Take me out" by Franz Ferdinand. Both great songs! Also I don't own "You are my sunshine" by Jimmy Davis and Charles Mitchell, "Daisy" (can't find the writer) and "God is a DJ" by Pink. But I do own the story and the sonnet. Don't worry, it'll all make sense when you read it.
Warning: The bad word is going to be used again a couple of times. Sorry! There'll be some religious stuff in here too so if you're anti God or whatever, don't mind that bit. Anyway, it's only Christmas and Yami.
Note: From now onwards, ((blah)) is a mental link between Yami and Yugi. You'll find out when you read it.
"Blah" is speaking, #blah# is thinking and songs while /blah/ is emphasis. xxxxxx and xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx are dividers in a chapter.
Anyway, now the introduction stuff is done, I can move onto the story! Should be interesting, there are a lot of things happening today! But I won't spoil it for you! But as you can tell from the large number of exclamation marks, it's exciting! Well, I hope so anyway…!…? I don't think I needed an exclamation mark there…
Anyway, I'd better get on with this now, I get the feeling it's going to be longer than the last one. Hehe…
Chapter three: The Problems of the Heart
Over the next few months, not much happened to the group when it came to school apart from their end of term exams which put them into sets for their subjects. They were mostly in sets two or three except for they all seemed to have their specialities and were in set one because of that. It was now February, roughly half way through the year and most of the problems had been ironed out. Duke was now a permanent member of their group and had given up smoking, claiming that he was fed up of having to hide all the time. Yami seemed to have latched himself onto them with both suckers /and/ claws and refused to let go, much like a parasite would. But they put up with him, knowing it would be worse if they didn't. Bakura joined them occasionally but kept his distance most of the time, he felt uncomfortable with people who could forgive so easily. And Ryou's kindness just made him nervous; he was supposed to hate him. Malik meanwhile hardly ever talked to them and although he and Marik had called a truce, their relationship was still uneasy. He very rarely let anyone talk to him; even Duke and Bakura would go with talking to him only once a week. But they persisted, knowing that he could change if they did it long enough. And he /was/ changing, slowly.
So now everything was ok, or so they thought. But soon something would happened that would change the situation and the false sense of security they had been lulled into (Note from S. Chensu: Yeah, it's called plot).
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It was one of those rare lunchtimes where everyone was sitting together and although Kaiba wasn't sitting with them, it was understood by all that he was listening. He had been hanging around them recently; they just saw him as another tree now. Yugi had asked him to sit with them but he merely got a blank look in response.
As usual, Joey had made a comment about Marik still living on salad and the fact that he had never eaten anything else.
"What about chocolate?"
"What's this 'chocolate'? I've never heard of it before." He said, making his accent heavier as he gave Joey a puzzled look.
"I can't believe you just said that! You are joking, aren't you?" Joey exclaimed, worried about Marik's mental well being.
"Of course I am! I /do/ eat chocolate, just not often that's all." Marik said, laughing at Joey's stupidity.
"Hey, anyone know the date?" Tristan asked, flicking through his planner.
"Thirteenth."
"Thirteenth? That must mean it's the fourteenth tomorrow and you know what that means don't you?" Ryou said with a smile on his face.
"Err…what's so special about tomorrow?"
"You mean you don't know? Have you never heard of St. Valentine's Day?" He seemed surprised; he thought everyone had heard of it.
"No. What is it?" Yugi said, interested by it although he didn't know what it was about.
"It's when people give cards and presents to their loved one to remind them why they love them." Ryou explained.
"Well it's all right for /those/ people but what about those who aren't with anyone?" Bakura pointed out.
"It's also the day when you tell someone you love them. You can send that person a card or a poem and tell them that you really like them but you make it anonymous."
"But what's the point of that? Surely it would be better if you told them out right?" Duke argued.
"That's not really the point though… I don't know why really, it's just tradition."
"Sounds rather silly to me." Yami said, sniffing loudly.
"Well it would, wouldn't it? It's something interesting and different so therefore it must be 'silly'." Malik snapped. Since the truce with Marik, his hate had been entirely shunted onto Yami instead, much to the delight of most of the others. Yami always seemed to look down on Marik and Ryou, just because they were born somewhere else, especially Marik. His accent, eye marks and the fact he was still wrapped up in a thick scarf and coat in February because Domino was so much colder than Egypt (by nearly 20°C) just made him strange. "Have /you/ ever had a card Ryou?" Malik enquired, smirking when he saw the blush on his face.
"Err…no, I haven't." He replied, continuing to glow red.
"Oh." He said indifferently. "So is there anything in particular you give?"
"Well you usually give them a card and something like a red rose or some chocolates."
"That doesn't seem like a lot…" Duke commented and Ryou sighed. He just /didn't/ get it.
"That's not the point. It's not supposed to be how much you spend but whether you mean it or not." Ryou explained calmly.
"And how can you tell that?"
"I don't know, you just do." He shrugged his shoulders and sighed again. "It doesn't matter anyway. Yami's right, it's just silly. There's no such thing as love."
"Hey, don't say that, of course it exists! We'll all find the right woman one day and we'll wonder why we ever questioned it." Bakura paused and thought for a moment. "Except for Téa, who's looking for a man." Everybody laughed and Bakura took this opportunity to glance at Yami. He wanted to make sure he hadn't said anything that could be reported, he didn't really want any hassle from the council. Luckily Yami looked neutral, pretending to laugh at his joke. #That boy has no sense of humour, one day he's going to crack. If he doesn't do it to anyone else first though.#
xxxxxx
"Hey Ryou, where are you going?" Yugi said as the six of them sat in their form room the next day. Ryou had just got up and reached into his bag, taking a book out.
"I need to go to my locker and get my text book."
"That's a point, I need to get mine too. I'll come with you." He stood up and they made their way out of the room to the blocks of lockers lining the walls.
Ryou opened his locker and searched for his geography text book but stopped when he noticed something lying at the bottom of his locker: a red rose on top of a white sheet of paper. He looked around but no one apart from Yugi was nearby, so he slid the paper out from under the rose and opening it, read what it said.
#I know you have a Change of Heart
But my heart won't change on this
I know your favourite thing is art
But could you spare me a kiss?#
#I know your kindness is the truth
But why can't I be honest?
I know you think I am a goof
But my mind is like a forest#
#I know about the Ring you carry
But why can't I carry it too?
I know you think I shouldn't tarry
But I don't want to be a fool#
#All of this I know, as you can see
But what do you know about me?#
P.S. The rose is called "Angel Face", my fallen one.
He picked up the rose and stared at it. 'Angel Face'… Who was behind this and were they serious? Whoever it was, they had picked this day for a particular reason…
"Ryou, you not finished yet?" Yugi called out, walking towards him. Panicked, Ryou yanked his textbook out of the locker before slamming the door shut and spinning round to face him. "What are you hiding?" He asked, peering around Ryou at the locker, open just a crack.
"Nothing, I'm not hiding anything. Let's go." He tried to spin the combination lock but Yugi's hand stopped him, not threatening but firm.
"What are you afraid of?" He said gently and Ryou sighed, wondering if he should tell him the truth. They had got a lot closer over the last few months but still… What if he told someone about it? He would just have to risk it.
"This." He opened the door, allowing Yugi to see the rose and poem. He looked at the rose for a moment before reading the writing, his frown turning into a smile as he finished looking at it.
"Whoever it was certainly knows his poetry." He commented, a hint of approval in his voice.
"What do you mean?"
"They've written this as a sonnet. This form was used for a lot of love poems back in the seventeenth century. See, it has fourteen lines of roughly equal length and its rhyming scheme is a-b-a-b with a rhyming couplet at the end. It's all here…" He looked at the sonnet again. "Well looking at this, there's some good news and some bad news." He turned to Ryou and grinned. "Which would you like first?"
"The good news?" He wasn't very sure he wanted either.
"Well the good news is that they seem to like you a lot… And the bad news-"
"Is it /very/ bad?" Ryou asked worriedly, the good news didn't even seem that good.
"Well…let's just say that 'they' is a he." Yugi muttered, causing Ryou to gasp.
"What, are you sure? Why does this have to happen to me?" This was bad, very bad. If anyone found out…
"I know it's bad but think about it… He wouldn't have told you if he didn't /really/ like you. Maybe even love you. It's definitely a male, look at the style it's written in. It's very rigid and the line "spare me a kiss" isn't very poetic, it's quite weak compared to the rest of it." He paused and looked at it again. "At least we can rule out Téa. But one thing I don't understand, what does he mean by change of heart?"
"I think…he…means this." Ryou reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a card before handing it to Yugi. "It's a bit sad really but it's my favourite."
Yugi looked at the green card and saw "Change of Heart" written at the top next to a Japanese symbol in a blue circle and a box of writing at the bottom. The picture showed a girl with long flowing brown hair and half of her was bathed in light, while the other was in shadow. Angel wing and bat on either side, controlled by either purple or orange. The girl wore a white robe, darker on one side and she held a heart, shining even in the darkness although it too was tainted by the purple. Two completely opposing sides yet still in the same person…
"What is it?"
"Have you ever heard of Duel Monsters?" Yugi shook his head. "Well I used to play it back in England with my friends and this is my favourite card. It's a magic card that lets you control your opponent's monster for one turn if it's on the field. It's a bit complicated to explain really without telling you about the whole game…"
"It looks really cool; you'll have to show me how it works. But that can wait until we've found out about this person and who he is. We need to write down a list of all the boys we know and gradually eliminate them. The only problem is that quite a lot of this stuff could count for everyone. I mean we all know you love art and about the Ring-"
"Hey Yugi and Ryou! How you doing?" They both twirled around and saw Bakura walking towards them.
"Hi…Bakura." Yugi said hesitantly as Ryou slammed his locker door shut again. "We're ok, everything's great!" He said cheerfully.
"Are you sure, you look like something's bothering you…" He said, stepping closer to them.
"No, it's just the fact we've got school today." Ryou said, sighing loudly and holding his textbook up so Bakura could see the front cover.
"Ouch, now that /is/ harsh. Anyway, I've got to go now; the bell will be ringing soon so see you."
"Yeah, see you at break time." Yugi replied and they watched in silence as he continued down the corridor, stopping in front of his locker. "That was close…"
"Too close. But he has a point, we should get back now…" Ryou opened his bottle and placed the rose in it, hiding it behind his other books along with the sonnet. He closed the door and they walked back to their form room, contemplating what had happened in silence.
xxxxxx
"So he got it then…" The person muttered, smiling when they thought of Ryou and his long, pale hair. His angel…
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Oh God, I hope I'm wrong, for Ryou's sake…" Yugi stared down at the names on the piece of paper, in particular, the one that had only one tick missing from its row. "Oh Ryou…" Yugi sighed as he burnt the list, watching the ashes fall into the bin like snowflakes.
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"Kaiba?" Yugi said in surprise when he opened the door on a Monday morning. It was a bank holiday and they had the day off from school so Yugi had invited everyone around his house. But he didn't expect /Seto Kaiba/ to make an appearance, even though he had asked him, much to everyone else's disgruntlement.
"Hello Yugi." He said, the arrogance missing for once from his voice. Was he being nice? Yugi was surprised; he didn't think Kaiba had heard of the word 'nice'.
"Everyone else is upstairs. You can put your coat and shoes in the cupboard." He pointed to the cupboard and Kaiba put his stuff in there. "Want something to eat or drink?"
"No thank you." He replied politely and smiling in acknowledgement, Yugi led him to his room where the others were sat either on the floor or on various bits of furniture, watching Ryou as he talked to them.
"Oh Yugi, you're back just in time to hear Ryou explain it." Joey said cheerfully until he saw Kaiba. He frowned and looked away while others said 'hi' in a lack lustre manner. Yugi sat down next to Joey on the bed while Kaiba perched himself on the edge of the chair at the desk.
"Ok, well it works like this. The cards are basically split into three groups: monster, trap and magic. The monster cards are further split into four groups: normal, effect, fusion and ritual. You can tell this by the colour of the background on the card. Normal is yellow, effect is orange, fusion is purple, and ritual is blue. All monster cards have an attack and defence number and this determines its strength. You see, a monster with a higher attack power than an opponent's monster's attack or defence points means it can destroy it. Attack is on the left and defence is on the right." Ryou explained, pointing to some examples he had in front of him.
"Sounds simple enough… So what about these different monsters?" Yugi asked.
"Normal ones just work like your average card, effect monsters can cause something to happen when activated, fusion monsters are formed from two or more other monsters (already corrected) to form a stronger one and ritual monsters need other monster cards to be destroyed to be allowed on the field, depending on the number of stars it has. Fusion cards need a card called 'Polymerization' to be summoned, and Ritual monsters need their special ritual magic cards to be summoned. You can't just use any old ritual magic card for a monster like you can with fusion monsters, though; each monster has their own ritual magic card, which specifically states what needs to be sacrificed to be able to summon the monster." They stared at the cards for a second, digesting the explanation.
"So…that card could destroy that one." Joey said, pointing from the Lady of Faith to the Man-Eater Bug.
"Err…no. Well it could, depending on the situation. True, the Lady of Faith has the higher attack power, but if the Man-Eater Bug's effect has just been activated then the Lady of Faith will automatically be destroyed; however, the Man-Eater Bug will get destroyed as its effect is a /flip/ effect. So, if the Man-Eater Bug is already face up, its effect won't be activated. Only when it gets changed from face down to face up position will it work, and it can only be activated once unless you are able to flip it face down again."
"Oh…" Clearly Joey didn't get a word of what Ryou had just said, but the others all nodded in understanding.
"What about these cards then? The magic and trap ones?" Marik said, staring at the pictures on the cards and the pretty colours.
"Well, basically you have to use these cards in combination with your monster cards to win a duel."
"So, do you have to put them in your deck?" Yugi said, also staring at the images.
"No, you don't, but if you don't then you will almost certainly lose a duel. You see, winning is not just about putting in strong monster cards. Sure, it will help, but using a weak card in combination with certain magic and trap cards-" Ryou held up a card and they saw 'Legendary Sword' at the top and underneath, a picture of a shining sword, "can power the monster up so it is equally as strong as any other monster. You may also have to use weak monsters in case your opponent uses a card which refines you to using cards with a certain attack power, like this one." He held up another card, this time 'Crush' was written at the top, posionous purple spores depicted underneath it.
"Right…" Téa said in total understanding…sort of.
"So what about the trap cards then?"
"Well these are cards that can only be used in certain situations. You have to place them on the field before you can activate them. Like this card, 'Trap Hole'." They saw a brown smooth furred monster at the bottom of a deep hole, shocked at having ended up there. "You can only use this when your opponent summons a monster to the field with an attack power of one thousand or more. However, if the card is in your hand, you cannot use it. Like 'Call of the Haunted', you can't use it in the same turn that you placed it on the field, even if there is a monster card in your graveyard." He stopped talking and waited for someone to say something.
It was soon clear that most of the others had been stunned into silence at an early stage (Note from S. Chensu: By the way, Luff wrote most of this but if I was one of them, this would be my reaction) while those who still had awareness of their surroundings were quickly losing it because of the amount of information they had been given. Ryou smiled to himself at the sight of the slightly gawping faces and cleared his throat.
"So then… Is there anything you still don't understand?" He asked innocently, receiving in return several disgruntled looks while some just glared. He remained quiet though, waiting for them to speak.
"Umm…most of it." Tristan whispered, finally able to glue his jaw back together in a shut position.
"Well maybe it would be easier if we had a practice duel. You can only really understand it properly when you play the game." Ryou looked hopefully around at them all. "So…who would like to volunteer to duel me?"
Silence. You could almost picture the crickets chirping in the background. "Um…no one?"
"I'll duel you." Everyone turned around in shock to look at Kaiba, from whom these words had been spoken. "This game sounds like a piece of cake. I bet I can beat you easily." Ryou cocked an eyebrow at him, but this soon turned into an uncertain smile as Kaiba made his way over to sit opposite Ryou.
"Well okay…um, you can use this deck I prepared." Ryou handed Kaiba a pile of face-down cards. "Before we start I should say that you have to have forty cards in your deck, no more and no less. Okay, so the first thing you need to do is shuffle your deck." Kaiba nodded, before expertly shuffling the cards, startling the others sitting the room. However this didn't seem to faze Ryou as he concentrated on his own deck. Once he was done, he looked up to see Kaiba staring at him. "Um, now we pass our own decks to the opponent and cut them."
Kaiba nodded, taking Ryou's deck and cutting them in half, placing the top half at the bottom of the deck before handing it back to Ryou.
"Okay, now I know this is a practice duel, but traditionally both players shake hands before drawing their hands." Kaiba stretched out his hand and breifly shook Ryou's, before turning to take cards from his deck. "Your hand is made of five cards on the first turn. Then whoever goes first draws an extra card before taking their turn. Each player has four thousand life points to begin with, but I'll explain more about it later."
They both drew five cards, Ryou briefly glimpsing over his while Kaiba took a minute to closely study the cards he had and their specific effects. Once he was ready he looked up and looked at Ryou expectantly.
"Um…well as this is your first duel, you can go first." Kaibe nodded, drawing another card and reading the explanation at the bottom. "Before you start, I should explain that if you want to place a monster in defence mode, place it sideways on the mat and face down. If you want it in attack mode place it straight on the mat and face up. Monster cards go along the top panel on the mat," here he indicated five squares lining the top of the mats they were using, "magic and trap cards go along the bottom, field spell cards go in the top left-hand square above the place for the fusion deck, if you have one. Your deck goes in the bottom right-hand square, and your discard pile is the one above that. Only one field spell card can be in play at one time- if another one gets played, the one that was already on the field gets destroyed." Kaiba nodded, before looking back to his hand.
"Well…I'll start by placing this card in attack mode." Ryou grimmaced when he saw what the card was.
"Um, Kaiba…that's a Kuriboh. That card is very weak. You would have done better to place it in defence mode, or not put it on the field at all. It's special affect can only be activated if it is in your hand." Ryou smiled sympathetically at him. "Finished?"
"No. I'll also place this card down…" Kaiba then proceeded to place a trap card down, Trap Hole, but placed it face up instead of face down.
"Kaiba…you need to turn it the other way around." Ryou reached over and turned the card face down. "Like that, see? Otherwise your opponent will know what you have played."
"Fine." Kaiba said huffily, before turning back to te cards in his hand. "I suppose I'm done."
"Now it's my turn then." Ryou drew his card, before smiling. "I'll play this monster card, the Lady of Faith. Her attack points are eleven hundred, whereas Kuriboh only has three hundred points. As my monster is the strongest, she wins the round, and your life points take eight hundred points of damage." Ryou scribbled this down onto a piece of paper that he was using to keep track of the life points for both of them. "So now you have three thousand, two hundred life points left. The first person who loses all of their life points loses the duel, or the first person to run out of cards from their deck. But Kaiba, if you had used your trap card then I wouldn't have been able to attack you."
"What!" This was the first time Kaiba actually looked annoyed, glaring at Ryou. "Why didn't you tell me!"
"Um…" Ryou looked frightened. "I had explained how that card works before…"
"Well I'll use it now then!" Kaiba was about to turn it over, but Ryou quickly interrupted.
"You can't do that though…" Kaiba froze. "You can only use it as soon as a monster has been summoned…but since I've already done something with my monster, you can't use it. This is not a card you can use any time you want."
"Fine." Kaiba said huffily, folding his arms.
"Kaiba looks like he's having a real good time…" Joey snickered in Yugi's ear, Yugi nodding in agreement. "I tell you now, I'm glad I ain't the one sitting down there…"
"Well, we'll see how things turn out." Yugi said, before turning back to watch the duel.
"Um, well to end my turn I'll place this card face down…" Ryou paced a card in the magic and trap section, before looking up at Kaiba. "Your move."
Kaiba picked up a card, examined it, and smirked. "Well I think I'll just have to play this card then…I choose Celtic Guardian in attack mode, and with an attack strength of fourteen hundred, it's more than enough to beat your Lady of Faith!" He smiled triumphantly. "Now, I attack your Lady of Faith! I believe that reduces your life points by three hundred." Ryou smiled.
"Yes, I think you're getting the hang of this." He wrote down the damage before continuing. "Finished?"
"Yes. I don't feel there is anything else I need to do." Ryou frowned a little at this, but shook it off as he pulled out his next card.
"Well, for my move I reveal my face down card, the Change of Heart!" Ryou turned his face down card over and smiled. "With this I can control one of your monsters for a turn and I choose your Celtic Guardian." He looked up at Kaiba and was surprised to see that his eyes were glinting in anger. It was just a game… "Kaiba?"
"How long have you had that card for?" He asked, his voice dangerously low.
"Um…it was one of my first cards. Why?"
"I think we need to have a little talk outside." It wasn't really a suggestion, it was more of a demand. And it made Ryou afraid, very afraid.
"Err…ok." He put his cards down on the floor slowly.
"Now." Kaiba grabbed his arm and pulled him up, causing Ryou to squeak and nearly topple over.
"What do you think you're doing Kaiba?" Téa shrieked, standing up too in front of them.
"This has got nothing to do with you so keep out of it." Kaiba snarled and Téa practically withered, jumping out of the way so she wouldn't be knocked over. He stood at the door with Ryou locked in his painful grip. "And that goes for all of you." Kaiba dragged the pale-faced boy through the door before slamming it shut.
"What the hell does he think he's doing?" Bakura yelled, storming towards the door.
"Wait Bakura! If you go out there then things could get even worse. It looks like Kaiba's really annoyed and he told us not to go out there. If we do, he might hurt Ryou and he could lose control of the Ring again." Yugi said, grabbing his arm to restrain him.
"Fine then but if he hurts him-"
"Then we'll stop him. You can take care of Kaiba while me and Marik deal with Ryou." Yugi suggested and Bakura nodded his head, relaxing just slightly.
Suddenly they heard a loud thump and a cry of pain coming from outside. Ignoring Téa and Yami's shouts, Yugi, Marik and Bakura ran into the hallway, pausing when they saw Ryou cowering away from Kaiba. He held his hand up to his nose and it was obvious he had just been hit in the head. Bakura snarled in anger and stepped forward, getting the attention of Kaiba. Yugi and Marik used this as an opportunity to get to Ryou and they did so, gasping in horror when they saw that he was bleeding. Marik then nearly fainted at the sight of the crimson red against the paper white and he staggered away towards the bathroom. Yugi decided this was as good a place to go as any so he led Ryou in the same direction, giving Bakura one last look before closing the door.
"What the fuck are you playing at Kaiba?"
"The Change of Heart…" He looked around, trying to find out where Ryou had gotten to.
"He's gone so don't even think about it. Anyway, you still haven't answered my question." Bakura stared at Kaiba, arms crossed.
"Why does it matter to you?" His arms snatched forward and he grabbed Bakura's hair, pulling it slightly. "You shouldn't poke your nose in other people's business…"
"You do when it's a friend…" Bakura muttered, feeling himself blush although he tried to hide it. He had always been able to hide it but somehow the stare of Kaiba brought everything to the surface, all of his feelings… His eyes lit up when he saw the colour appear on Bakura's cheeks.
"He's not a friend, is he?" He leant closer, pulling more on his hair. "You little faggot…" He spat on Bakura's face, twisting his fingers in his hair, causing Bakura to hiss in pain. "You disgust me…"
"I don't k-know what you're talking about." Bakura said, using a free hand to wipe his face.
"Don't lie to me, bitch. You've got a crush on Nancy, haven't you?" Bakura went even redder but was surprised when Kaiba let go of him and shrugged his shoulders. "Well you had better tell him then, hadn't you?"
"What?" Bakura used this opportunity to rub his scalp. After all, Kaiba had pulled rather hard.
"Tell him so I can finally get rid of you, Change of Heart…" He whispered the last part as the others had just appeared from the bathroom. "I know who and what you /really/ are." He said abruptly before making his way down the stairs and out of the house.
"What happened Bakura?" Yugi asked as they stepped closer to him.
"Oh, nothing really." He ran his fingers through his hair to try and calm himself down. "You okay Ryou?"
"Yeah, it was just a nosebleed." Ryou replied and smiling in relief, Bakura made his way back to where the rest of them were in Yugi's bedroom. Yugi and Marik followed him straight away but Ryou lingered for a moment, thinking about Kaiba's last words to Bakura. Although he had whispered them, Ryou had still caught a bit of it. Something flashed in his mind, words he had heard before…
#I know you have a Change of Heart
But my heart won't change on this#
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
One ring. Two rings. Three rings.
"Hello?" The voice sounded groggy and Ryou wondered for a moment if he had woken the person up.
"Hi, is Bakura there please?"
"Yes, this is me." Ryou smiled, he didn't get his parents at least.
"I didn't wake you up, did I? Anyway, I was wondering if you could come round today…" He started to twist the phone cord in his fingers, something he always did when he was nervous. #But why?#
"No, I was already up." Bakura paused to yawn. "Sorry, I didn't get much sleep last night. Why do you want me to come round?"
"I need some help with my I.T. project."
"I don't know…" Bakura didn't really like going around people's houses, he seemed to have a reputation with the parents. Luckily Ryou knew this, which was why he had phoned him today.
"My dad's still on his trip." He pointed out and smiled when he heard a small sigh of relief on the other end.
"Ok then, I'll be there in a few minutes." The phone clicked before the tone started and Ryou put it down.
"Just a few minutes…" Ryou said to himself in slight surprise as he sat down in the living room and turned on the TV, hoping to find something interesting. He settled for a documentary on American history and waited.
Ryou heard the knock on the door and suddenly feeling lazy, he yelled out, "The door's open." The door clicked open and clattered shut again, footsteps appearing in the hallway.
"Hey Ryou?" Ryou looked over his shoulder and saw Bakura peering around the corner, smiling at him.
"Thanks for coming. Want something to eat or drink?" Bakura shook his head. "Ok, let's go upstairs."
Ryou wasn't really sure what he wanted to do, yes he did need help with his I.T. project but there was another reason he had asked Bakura over: to sort out what had happened between him and Kaiba. Yugi had said they should write a list of everyone they knew but when Ryou had mentioned it again, Yugi had just ignored him. He had a vague suspicion that Yugi knew who it was but it was too horrible to talk about, which meant it was someone unlikely. And what had happened at Yugi's house made him think about it more. Why had Kaiba called Bakura 'Change of Heart'? Why had he not seemed surprised when he was called that? Was he expecting it and Ryou had been mistaken as the culprit in something unknown? Did Bakura know about the Change of Heart card already, at the time the sonnet was written? Whatever the reasons, Ryou felt the need to tell Bakura about it and try and get a reaction out of him. And if he was mistaken, he would merely wipe his memory using the Ring, he knew how to use his Millennium Item better than Yugi and Marik did at any rate.
It turned out that he needn't have worried about what to do as he had left the sonnet lying on his bed anyway. He watched as Bakura's eyes glanced upon it but instead of becoming more interested, his eyes quickly shifted away from it and onto the floor. Well, now was as good a time as any other, Ryou supposed.
"Did you write it?" His voice caused Bakura to jump and look at him in surprise.
"Write what?"
"That." Ryou pointed to the bed and Bakura followed the finger to the piece of paper, although he avoided looking at it directly. "Because if you did, it's important for me to know the truth." Bakura took the white sheet and read it, his face remaining neutral as he placed it down beside him.
"Why is it important?" He asked, as though only vaguely interested in what he had read, even though it went against everything this society believed.
"Did you write it?"
"Why is it important?" Bakura repeated, causing Ryou to sigh in frustration. Why was he treating it like it didn't matter? It had affected him so much and he yet he didn't seem to care.
"Because…I need to know if you wrote it or not… Because I need to know you care-" Suddenly he felt a hand across his mouth, preventing him from speaking as Bakura leant against him, whispering in his ear.
"Don't say anything, your room's bugged. Change what you were going to say…" He murmured, his voice barely disturbing the surrounding air as he came closer. "Repeat your last sentence but make the topic something else…" He took a few steps back, allowing Ryou to think about what had just been said. His room was bugged? And now he had to talk about something else?
"Because I need to know you care about your education." He said, cursing himself for the weakness of his sentence. But Bakura didn't react at all, as though he hadn't told him that something was wrong.
"Why, so you can get me arrested?" He snapped, his voice sounding cold and far away. Was he acting?
"Just tell me Bakura."
"No, I /don't/ especially care about my education." Ryou stood there, numb by what he had just heard. He didn't understand, was Bakura going along with the topic or was he just acting as though 'education' was a code word? That he was telling the truth?
"I don't understand…" Ryou whispered, recoiling away from the coldness and closed body language of Bakura.
"Then I will reiterate. I do not care about anything in this place." He said slowly for the sake of Ryou's lagging brain cells. "Why does it matter anyway?"
"Because…" Ryou couldn't take any more and the Millennium Ring appeared around his neck as he started to flicker blue. He felt trapped, Bakura wanted to hurt him, he was the source of danger so-
"Ryou, what are you doing?" An image flew fleetingly through Bakura's mind, another Ryou, something that had harmed him before. Something Ryou couldn't control…
"You will not hurt me." His voice seemed to echo as he grew brighter, his eyes now lifeless.
"Don't do this Ryou, please…" Bakura stepped forward and grabbed his hand, squeezing slightly, shocked by the weight and coldness of it. It seemed to be made of marble, smooth in his hand.
"What?" The warmth reappeared in Ryou's hand as he blinked, unsure of what had happened before collapsing in Bakura's arms, forcing them both to the ground. "I did it again, didn't I?" He mumbled and when Bakura didn't say anything, he started to cry.
"/No/, you didn't hurt me." Bakura reassured him, grabbing his other hand and holding it tightly.
"Bakura, do you care-"
"About you?" He paused, reaching up to stroke Ryou's face. "Yes, a lot. But none of that matters if you don't feel the same way. Has all of this just happened for no reason?"
"I-" Ryou hadn't thought about this. #I've been too busy trying to find out who had written the sonnet to realise the consequences. By doing this, Bakura thinks he might have a chance, despite the fact I'm not really sure. I'm just putting myself in danger; I don't even like Bakura like that. But after forcing him to admit how he feels, do I really have the right to tell him I don't feel like that? To pretend would be even worse though because I would have to face the truth sooner or later and that would break Bakura's heart. To deny him now would do exactly the same thing though, I'm stuck either way. I have to give him an answer…#
"Ryou?" Bakura's hand had left his face and Ryou suddenly realised he missed it being there…sort of. Then an idea popped into his head, so stupid it was pointless but maybe it could decide something for him personally.
"It!" He stated, poking Bakura on the nose. He frowned, watching as Ryou then stood up and backed away a few steps. "I said you're it! Don't you know how to play?" He cocked his head to the side and giggled.
"I know how to play but…what's the point?" Bakura didn't really appreciate Ryou trying to put him off.
"Because it will be fun!" He said, spinning around on the spot. Bakura wondered about Ryou's mental stability, but maybe he was trying to show him something.
"Ok then, I'm it." He watched as Ryou leapt onto the bed before taking a few steps forward, thinking about how he was going to tag him. #He does have the height advantage at the moment. I've got two options: I either make a leap of faith towards the bed or I circle him until he moves.# Bakura went for the latter one; he could be very patient when necessary. Anyway, he didn't feel like falling ungracefully at Ryou's feet, even if that meant being near him.
Ryou watched Bakura warily as he circled to the other side of the bed, moving occasionally. What was he up to? Well, whatever it was, it was making Ryou nervous. He felt cornered and considered moving off the bed just to be caught but then he noticed the mischievous glint in Bakura's eyes and realised he was doing this on purpose, to get him to move. Well two could play at that game…
"Don't think you can fool me Bakura Zork." Ryou said, crossing his arms in mock seriousness and pouting in a way that rivalled that of a fish.
"Whatever do you mean?" Bakura threw his hands up, the image of innocence with his wide eyes. Until he realised that Ryou was going to fall off the bed if he moved back any more. "Ryou, don't move." He said quietly, stepping forward cautiously in case Ryou got the wrong idea.
"Why not?" He asked quietly, unfolding his arms. This was all the momentum that was needed for gravity to start working, pulling him down towards the harsh carpet.
"Ryou!" Bakura yelled as he leapt onto the bed, managing to capture his legs by wrapping his arms around them. Although this slowed his descent, it didn't stop it and Bakura was sent tumbling over, half landing on Ryou.
"Ow." Ryou mumbled, not only because of his backside but the fact Bakura was on top of him. He quickly realised this though and moved, lying on his back next to Ryou.
Ryou could already feel the bruises forming and so shifted himself so he was lying on his side, facing Bakura. He stared at him while he continued to look upwards at the ceiling.
#Why didn't he tell me I was going to fall off?# Ryou pondered. #Fine he told me not to move but how was I supposed to realise it was because I was on the edge of the bed? Even if he did try and stop me, it was too late… Maybe it was just me being silly, expecting him to try and prevent it from happening. It's not like he could have known…#
"Are you ok Ryou?" Bakura suddenly asked, turning so he was also lying on his side. Ryou saw the sadness in his eyes and the fear…the fear of being rejected. He was a nice person and a friend in some ways but could he…?
He leant forward and placed his lips on top of Bakura's but apart from this did nothing, not sure of what to do. Bakura smiled and responded, placing his arms around Ryou's waist to bring him closer, watchful not to hurt him. They kissed gently, careful not to make any noise before Bakura broke it, letting Ryou cuddle up to him and sighed. He had his little angel now but…
"Ryou, are you sure about this? If anyone ever finds out it will be you they take, not me." He whispered, causing Ryou to look up at him and frown.
"Why?"
"Because you're the innocent one. They know everything about everybody, it wouldn't take them long to figure out that the only thing that could kill me was if you were gone. Fine, they could hurt me physically but it's not the same." He paused and hugged him. "I would rather not have you than see you taken away…"
"Bakura, it's a risk I'm willing to take. I know what could happen to us but if we don't try then…" He tailed off and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Anyway, none of the others have to find out. We see each other every day and even if we can't be together then, we can at my house. My dad's not in often and Anne only checks on me once a day."
"Who's Anne?"
"My next door neighbour. Dad asked her to just pop in every so often to make sure everything's ok while he's gone on his trips. And then I have to see my doctor once a week…" He saw Bakura's puzzled face and smiled. "He just makes sure I haven't gone crazy or anything and tries to analyse me, see why I am what I am."
"Because of your bulimia?"
"Yeah, mostly. Although of course he thinks I'm over that now so it's not too bad."
"But Ryou…" Bakura stared at him in worry. He was still making himself sick? Why was he trying to hide it?
"Yes, well it's less hassle. Anyway, it's not like he cares, he just likes the money my dad pays for him." He replied bitterly, looking away from Bakura.
"But /I/ care! If you're still making yourself sick-"
"I'm not, ok! Why is everyone so bothered?" Ryou pulled himself out of Bakura's arms and stood up. "Just…" He sat down on the bed and put his head in his hands. "Don't talk about it."
"Why not? I just want to know you're ok…" He sat up but didn't move to sit on the bed in case Ryou snapped at him again.
"I'm fine. I just don't like talking about it, my doctor makes me do it all the time and I'm…fed up in a way…" He glanced at Bakura and he nodded his head in understanding.
"Do you want me to go?"
"No, I just want…I don't know any more. To not have to worry about it I suppose." He fell back on the bed and closed his eyes.
"Then you don't have to. Do you still want help with your project?" Bakura said, dramatically changing the subject as he smiled slyly. "Or was that just a pretence?"
"No I did need some help with my project actually." Bakura walked over to the computer and sat down at the chair, turning it on. "It was only a couple of things."
"Well that's all right then." Ryou sat up on the edge of the bed, watching as Bakura started tapping keys.
"What are you doing?"
"Shush, I'm checking something." He said quietly, scrolling down a now black screen filled with white writing. "Ah ha, here it is." He double clicked on something and suddenly Ryou could hear their voices.
"Bakura, do you care-"
"About you?" There was a pause. "Yes, a lot. But none of that matters if you don't feel the same way. Has all of this just happened for no reason?"
"I-"
"Ryou?"
Soon their voices were gone again and Ryou turned to Bakura in amazement, wondering how he did it.
"It's the recording from the microphone in your room. I'm going to have to delete most of the conversation, a lot of it would be considered highly dangerous." Bakura commented as he rewound to the beginning of the conversation. Occasionally he would mutter to himself as he deleted it but soon it was done. "I've changed it so it won't pick up anything we say for the next half an hour. It means we can talk freely."
"How did you do that?" Ryou asked slowly.
"I assume you heard Kaiba and what he said to me?"
"He called you the 'Change of Heart'. But I don't understand…" He frowned, trying to remember what Kaiba had said to /him/.
"That's my secret. I /am/ the Change of Heart, the person who's been hacking onto Kaiba's security system." Ryou remembered him saying it when they first met and told him about everyone else too.
"So that's how you know stuff about everyone else…" Ryou said in disgust, wondering why anybody would want to do something like that.
"Yes, I know you think it's bad but nobody knows about it unless I tell them. I did it for you because I wanted to know more, you were…" He stopped talking, knowing he couldn't really make any excuses. "I don't really know why I did it, I just knew that it was the only way I could keep one step ahead of the council. They're on to me because they think I'm a danger to society. Which in a way is right I suppose."
"Hmm…well I didn't really appreciate being told stuff about my friends."
"But not all of the stuff I told you was on their files. Most of the things I said were just guesses." Bakura pointed out.
"And that makes everything better?" Ryou questioned, eyebrow raised.
"No, it doesn't really." Bakura paused and turned in the chair so he was facing Ryou. "I can understand if you don't want me here anymore."
"Don't worry about it, just don't tell me any of the stuff you find out, okay?" Ryou smiled to himself. "The thought of Kaiba and his face every time you're mentioned to him is a picture! You have to carry on just because of that."
"He knows about me and my feelings for you." Bakura argued.
"Well as long as he doesn't find out, it'll be ok. We can be careful and one day we'll tell him when he can't do anything to hurt us. I can't wait to see how he would react to the news."
"Yeah, I suppose it would be funny…"
"Of course it will! Now that that's dealt with, you can do some of my project for me."
"/Do some of it? I thought you just wanted some help!" Bakura exclaimed.
"Err…well I may have exaggerated slightly the situation between me and my project." Ryou said, smiling hopefully.
"Obviously. Fine then, I'll do it but only if you kiss me afterwards."
"Hmm, sounds easy enough." Ryou relied, laughing.
"That's what you think…" Bakura laughed too but his was more evil, not helped by the glinting eyes.
"Meep!"
"Don't worry, you'll be ok…maybe." This did not reassure Ryou at all.
"Great."
xxxxxx
Ryou was walking to school with Marik that Monday, remembering what Bakura said to him afterwards. They weren't supposed to act any differently around each other, no sitting next to each other, no significant looks. They had to keep control of their emotions. Which Ryou was finding difficult to do, despite the fact he didn't know how he actually felt about Bakura. It was just the fact he had a little secret that no one else knew about and that they were basically breaking one of the boundaries in society, indulging in one of its taboos.
#I really want to tell someone though, just one person, so I can get it off my chest.# Ryou thought in frustration. #I told Bakura about Yugi seeing the sonnet and he nearly had a fit and then made me promise not to tell him what had happened. But surely it wouldn't do any harm? If Yugi hadn't reacted that badly when he found out it was a boy then why would this be any different? He could have been pretending but most people can't hide their disgust when it's mentioned, which is very rarely as it's forbidden. I'll mention it to Yugi and see what he says…#
"Hey Ryou, Earth to Ryou. Anyone in there?" Marik asked, startling Ryou out of his thoughts. "I know it's a Monday but there's no need to be depressed, only five more days to go until the weekend."
#Yeah, and when I can next spend some time with Bakura…# Ryou added silently, smiling at Marik. "Yeah, you're right. I was just thinking."
"About anything in particular?"
"Nah, just about the future and stuff." Which was true in a way.
"You mean our options for next near? Yeah, they might be hard. You know what you want to do yet?"
"No, that's what I was thinking about." Ryou paused and shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm not going to worry about that until my dad comes home so I can talk to him about it."
"When will he be back from his trip?"
"On Thursday or Friday, I'm not sure. I'll check the calendar at some point." Ryou replied as they entered the school gates.
They found the others sitting on a bench near the school doors and as soon as Joey saw them, he started shrieking something about them taking too long and his frozen backside while Téa tried and failed to shut him up. Marik shook his head as another argument started up while Ryou noticed that Marik was finally brave enough to remove his gloves and one scarf. Now just the coat and scarf were left. And it was nearing the end of March. Which according to Marik was quite good.
They finally reached the group and seeing Yugi, Ryou edged over to him and caught his eye. Yugi instantly realised that he wanted to speak to him in private and so told the others they would meet them in a minute as they went inside to their homeroom.
"So what did you want to talk to me about?" Yugi asked as Ryou sat down on the bench.
"I found out who wrote the sonnet." Ryou whispered, looking around to make sure no one was nearby. Yugi did the same and frowned.
"Don't say who it is, I think this place is bugged." He muttered and stood up. "You'll have to show me another way." Ryou thought for a moment and then grinned.
"Do you know any sign language?" He said, also standing up as he followed Yugi in a trip around the school.
"No."
"Then I'm going to teach you. It'll only be the letters but you use them for names anyway."
Yugi looked interested as Ryou showed him how to use his hands before starting on the letters. Luckily Yugi was a quick learner and he knew most of them by the time they got back around to the bench they had started from. He occasionally got confused between the letters l, m and n but Ryou didn't seem concerned about that. It's not like Bakura's name had any of those letters anyway. They agreed that Ryou would tell Yugi while Miss Abrahams was reading out the morning announcements, as nobody would be paying them any attention then. Luckily Yugi sat behind Ryou diagonally so he would be able to see his hands with ease.
The bell went and they sat down at their places, waiting for the teacher to do the register in silence before she started waffling on about doing a presentation of some sorts. Yugi looked down at Ryou's hands, watching in silence as he signed the letters slowly. B. A. He couldn't get the next one. U. R. A. Well, he knew only one person with a name beginning with B so at least he now knew that unknown letter. K.
Bakura. He kind of expected it; it was who he had thought had written it too. And from the looks of things, Ryou didn't seem especially upset, unless he was hiding his emotions very well which meant that they were now…together.
"REALLY?" Yugi shouted out before he suddenly realised he was in a classroom. A silent one at that. Everyone turned to stare at him while Ryou looked at him with a mixture of worry and panic.
"Yes, Yugi Muto /really/. Now please sit down in your chair." He was standing up? Yes, he was. And his chair was sideways on the floor too. Oh how embarrassing… Yugi felt himself go red as he picked his chair back up and sat down on it, sinking rapidly under the desk with his collar up around his face so no one could see its glow.
Luckily she was soon finished talking about something or other and the people started chatting to each other about what they had done over the weekend so they were now ignoring Yugi. Apart from five people, who all turned to face him.
"Are you feeling ok Yugi?" Joey asked, trying to lean over so he could feel his forehead, only to get an elbow in the side by Téa.
"Yeah, it was just the excitement of what Miss Abrahams said." Yugi said nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"Quite…" Marik said, nodding his head.
"Really!"
"That's what you just yelled out." Téa commented, causing Yugi to go red again. "Are you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah, nothing's wrong."
"As long as /you're/ sure about that."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
#The other night, dear
As I lay sleeping
I dreamed I held you in my arms.
When I awoke, dear
I was mistaken
And I hung my head and cried#
#You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.#
#I'll always love you
And make you happy
If you will only say the same
But if you leave me
To love another
You'll regret it all some day#
#You are my sunshine
My only sunshine
You make me happy
When skies are grey
You'll never know dear
How much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away.#
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
He felt the pain rush through his body and hissed, watching the blood pour down his arm and onto his trousers. Yet as he did so, the face appeared in his mind again, the sunshine to his moon…
"NO!" Yami screamed, clenching his fist in frustration. "I shouldn't be thinking about him, it's bad. It's unnatural, it's disgusting…" He nodded to himself, he was right. So why couldn't he get him out of his mind?
He had done everything to stop the emotions going through his body. He had burnt, frozen, electrocuted, cut himself but nothing worked. He still felt the same. But he didn't want to turn himself in, despite the fact that is what he should have done. Things had gotten so far that he didn't even want to unwittingly hurt him; he didn't deserve to go through what he would go through. And if he gave himself in then that is what would happen. The thought of the sunshine hurt just made him want to…
"Stop thinking like that! This isn't supposed to happen… I'm all alone. If he ever found out that I think about him like this, he'd hate me forever. And I don't want him to hate me, even though I hate myself…" He examined the cut on his arm, done with a knife and frowned, not yet satisfied. It wasn't good enough, he needed something more…
But he was starting to give up; he just didn't think he could change how he felt any more. He had tried for months without success so what was the point? He should just embrace these feelings and die from the loneliness he would feel, banned from being with his sunshine… /His sunshine/.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
#Dear diary
What is wrong with me?
Cos I'm fine between the lines#
#Be not afraid
Help is on its way
A sentence suspended in air way over there#
#Dear diary
What else could it be?
As nightshade descends like a veil
Under the sail of my heart
Be still
Don't stop until the end#
#Dear diary
What is wrong with me?
Cos I'm fine between the lines#
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Yami, what's wrong? You look really sad about something…" Yugi asked as he sat on his bed, his homework spread out around him while Yami sat on the floor beside it, staring blankly at the book in front of him.
"Nothing." His voice was lifeless; he had given up on hiding his depression from everyone. They had all been surprised by his recent behaviour, especially Téa. Even though most of them didn't really like him, they had tried to cheer him up but without any result. She had given up on him, wondering what had happened to the person she admired. None of them knew what was wrong though; only Bakura had a slight suspicion but instantly gave up on it, remembering who it was he was thinking about. Yami Atemu would never feel like that…
"Of course something's wrong, you look like someone's sucked the soul out of you…" Yugi said, lying down on the bed so he could talk to him better. Yami looked up at him but saw the smile and had to look away again, in case he did something in front of him.
"Nothing's wrong, I'm just…fed up I suppose." This was the most he had ever said about what was wrong with him and Yugi cheered mentally, maybe he was finally opening up. Because although the others had only tried to cheer him up because they felt obliged to, Yugi really wanted him happy again. Because it hurt him to see Yami sad. So maybe he could finally find out why…
"With life?" Yugi said casually.
"Everything. Just the fact that-" He stopped, suddenly realising what he was going to say. No, he couldn't do that to Yugi. "Nothing, it doesn't matter."
#Damn him and his stubbornness! I was nearly there…# Yugi sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so. Can you look at this for me?" He passed over his maths homework and Yami took it, looking at the writing, although he didn't seem focused on it.
"Do you ever wonder what it would be like if…things weren't the way they were?" Yami asked hesitantly and Yugi frowned.
#Why is he asking me that? Is he trying to catch me out or something? I know I tried to make him out to be someone nice at first but even /I/ realised that he's got strong connections to the council.# Yugi remained silent, not sure of how to respond. He didn't want to lie in front of Yami but if that meant not being in trouble, he was willing to do it.
"Don't worry, I don't want to tell the council anything. There isn't really much point anyway…" Yami said, guessing as to the reason of Yugi's silence.
"Well, yeah I do wonder what things would be like. Don't you? I mean, if we knew about somewhere else, we could find out if this place is good or not. But maybe it is, Marik and Ryou don't seem to complain and they haven't even been here for very long…"
"Maybe they're afraid to give their real opinion on it. Maybe they don't like it here…" Yami argued and looked down. "Maybe they're right." He whispered.
"Why do you say that? What's changed Yami?" Yugi had never heard Yami utter a bad word about Domino and the council before; he doubted Yami had ever even /thought/ a bad word. Maybe this was to do with his depression…
"Everything…I've changed. I said it because…" He stopped talking and looked down at Yugi's maths work. "It's all right."
"No it's not Yami, something is going on and I want to know what it is!" Yugi said, frustrated at the continuing circles he was going in.
"I was talking about your homework." Yami said, smiling slightly as Yugi blushed.
"Ah, sorry." He took the book and busied himself with putting it back in his bag. "I didn't mean to yell."
"Don't worry, you're right I suppose. Something is going on but I can't tell you what. I'm sorry but that's the way things have to be." Yami said sadly as he picked up his biology book and started writing in it.
"Are you sure?" Yugi wanted Yami to be happy again but he wasn't going to force him on the issue. If he felt that was the only way it could be then that would have to do. Even if it made him sad…
"Don't worry, it'll be ok." Yami said, trying to be cheerful, although it was obvious this was a lie.
"Okay."
They continued working in silence, much to Solomon's surprise when he came in to give them a drink and biscuits. Usually they were chatting about some trivial thing but now… He had noticed that Yami had been looking a little depressed recently but couldn't pinpoint the reason why. From the look on his face though, he wanted something and he could only guess as to what that thing was. All he could hope was that Yugi realised this and would try to do something about it…
Soon Yugi had finished his homework but still they sat in silence, Yami too busy being depressed while Yugi was now desperate to find out what was wrong. He hated seeing people sad, they had better things to do than dwell on the down side of life. He wanted Yami to be happy… No, he just wanted Yami…
#No, don't think that, it's never going to happen.# Yugi silently scolded himself. #But I still want to know… He said something to do with Domino, if things could be different. How could things be different? They could pry less maybe. Oh I don't know, I've never lived anywhere else, I don't know /how/ they could be different. What is it that Marik and Ryou say?# Yugi tried to remember them saying something about where they used to live but couldn't come up with much. #I know that Ryou didn't really understand how important marriage is, nor did he seem as bothered about Marik's therapy as everyone else was. It could have just been because he didn't understand the terminology but somehow I don't think so… He doesn't have the same view on…sodomites…# Yugi hated saying that word, it was almost as bad as calling them f…s. His grandpa had always taught him to respect everyone's differences and Yugi included this, even if others didn't. Plus his feelings about Yami put him into this category he supposed… #as everyone else does. Is this what Yami means? He wishes it was so bad?# But even if this was true, Yugi wasn't sure how to test it. Unless… #I think I might have it.#
He looked over at Yami and noticed that he still looked depressed. Now would be the perfect time to start his plan… Making sure all of his books were clear from his bed, he yawned loudly and fell back on his bed, closing his eyes. Yami instantly noticed this and started worrying.
"Yugi, what are you doing?" He asked as Yugi rolled onto his side, looking blearily at him.
"I'm feeling tired so I'm just going to lie here with my eyes closed. You can still do your homework, don't mind me." Yugi said cheerfully and he closed his eyes again, leaving Yami to stew in his own panic.
"Please don't go to sleep Yugi, what will happen if your grandfather finds us like this?" No reply from Yugi. "Yugi, don't tell me you're already asleep? I don't believe that…" Nevertheless he remained quiet, watching Yugi as his chest slowly rose and fell. He looked so beautiful… #No, what have I said about thinking like that? Especially when I'm near him…so near, I could touch him. Just this once…# Yami shook his head resolutely; he wasn't going to risk it. If Yugi woke up he could be in big trouble, and not just for touching another boy, but a Millennium Item holder too.
His hand was so tempting though. It was just sitting there, spread out. Just a quick touch wouldn't hurt surely…? Yami felt his own hand reaching out, despite his mind telling him not to and soon it was resting on top of Yugi's. He stared for a moment before he suddenly realised what he was doing and pulled his hand away again. He let it rest beside Yugi's, near enough for comfort but not actually touching. And still he slept on, totally ignorant of what was happening, for which Yami was glad. As least Yugi could say he was unaware if he was caught. But still, to imagine them holding hands, Yugi sleeping his arms… He could almost feel it, the warmth of Yugi's hand in his own as he squeezed in reassurance. Wait…this wasn't his imagination, this was real.
He looked down in surprise and saw Yugi had grabbed his hand, intertwining his fingers in Yami's own, a small smile on his face. Yami squeezed slightly, just to make sure this was genuine and gasped when he felt Yugi respond. Did he really feel the same way? Could Yami have been so lucky?
He felt Yugi grab his other hand and place it on the Puzzle before he started to glow a pale red. Yami wondered for a moment what was happening, could Yugi be punishing him for doing something like this?
((Don't worry, this is just so we can talk in private.)) He heard Yugi's voice in his head yet his lips weren't moving. What was going on? ((I can use the Millennium Puzzle to communicate with you mentally. As long as you are touching it…))
((Okay.)) Yami was still worried though; he hadn't said anything about their hands being together. ((Yugi, are you saying that…)) He squeezed Yugi's hand to try and show what he meant and he swore he saw Yugi shaking his head.
((No, I'm just holding your hand in this very significant manner for no reason at all.)) Yugi said, giggling.
((Yugi…)) Yami whined, he didn't want to joke at the moment. ((Do you…))
((Yes Yami, I want to be with you. I don't care what we're supposed to believe in, this is what I believe in at the moment…)) He moved his hand slightly to show what he meant.
((You know we'll never able to live freely.)) Yami pointed out.
((Yes, I know but one day we'll leave here and then we can be happy without having to worry about everyone else and what they think.)) Yugi said in determination. He just didn't understand…
((Yugi, we'll never be able to leave here. Trust me, I know. I've seen what they do to people who try to leave this place, I've seen the borders and what they're like. We would probably die trying to escape from here.))
"Then so be it! Yami, we /will/ leave here, whatever it takes. One day we will, I promise you. Would /you/ promise me that?" Yugi suddenly burst out, sitting up and pulling Yami onto the bed, his eyes burning.
"Yes, I promise you that we will leave here one day, together." He watched as Yugi sat in his lap, putting his arms around his neck and lowering him down to his height. Yami put his arms around Yugi too, bringing them closer together as their lips met. This went against everything Yami believed in but he didn't really care. It felt right…
((I love you…)) He heard quietly in his mind and he felt the Puzzle press against his chest as Yugi tightened their hug.
"I love you too…" He whispered into the kiss, feeling the butterflies in both his and Yugi's stomach. This was the only thing he believed in now…
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
#Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you
It won't be a stylish marriage
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
of a bicycle built for two#
#There is a flower within my heart,
Daisy, Daisy
Planted one day by a glancing dart
Planted by Daisy Bell
Whether she loves me or not
Sometimes it's hard to tell
Yet I am longing to share the lot
of Beautiful Daisy Bell#
#Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer do
I'm half crazy, all for the love of you
It won't be a stylish marriage
I can't afford a carriage
But you'll look sweet upon the seat
of a bicycle built for two#
#We will go tandem as man and wife
Daisy, Daisy
Pedalling away down the road of life
Me and my Daisy Bell
When the road's dark we can both despise
Policemen and lamps as well
There are bright lights in the dazzling eyes
Of beautiful Daisy Bell#
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was one of those days where Marik was walking home on his own because Ryou had a doctor's appointment and his sister just took too long to get out of school. Plus, he liked to walk alone sometimes. He could think and not have to worry about how he acted. He could just be himself…
"Hello Marik." He looked up when he heard the voice and saw Malik leaning against the wall of the alleyway he was walking down.
"Oh, hey Malik. What are you doing here?" They seemed to get on better now but Marik always avoided being alone with him, he made him feel nervous. He made /most/ people feel nervous in fact. It was the way he stared, his eyes were so lifeless, they didn't have much colour and even the pupils seemed to be missing. Then there were the scars he had running down either side of his face, no one was brave enough to ask how he had got them…
"I was waiting for you." He replied tonelessly and Marik frowned.
"Why? If you wanted to talk to me, why didn't you do it at school?"
"Because it's not the sort of thing you talk about at school." Now Marik was very worried, he didn't want to be here. Why couldn't Ryou have been with him today? "And plus I had to wait until you were walking home on your own." He added.
#So this would have happened at some point then? Why me?# Marik sighed mentally. "What did you want to talk about?"
"About your little snitch."
"Are you still bothered with that? What does it matter to you?" Marik was annoyed; he hated this subject being brought up. The others knew that they weren't supposed to talk about it so why couldn't /he/ get the point?
"I know who did it to you." He stated, still leaning on the wall.
"And? Me knowing who told the council about Lee won't make any difference to the fact it happened." Malik remained silent, as though unconvinced by what Marik had just said. "I'm over it now anyway." He added, more for his sake than Malik's.
"Even if I told you the name, right here, right now?" Why was he trying to tempt him? He was just reopening old wounds…
"Why do you want to tell me now? You could have said it ages ago if it mattered to you that much." Marik argued, stepping closer. He did want to know in a way…
"Because I've been trying to forget about it." He said, just a little emotion coming into his voice.
"Why? It didn't affect you in any way."
"It was me Marik, I told them about Lee."
Marik was first stunned, then angry. Him? And he had the audacity to try and talk to him, try and be civil? He made his fucking life miserable, the bastard! Before he knew it, Marik had lunged at him, pinning him against the wall.
"You bastard! Why did you tell me? Do you want to make my life even more miserable than it already is? Do you enjoy taunting me, seeing how much I can go through before I crack?" He screamed, but Malik merely closed his eyes and sighed.
"I told you because I couldn't hide the truth any more. I realise now I should never have hurt you like this, I didn't mean for everything to happen the way it did…" And before Marik knew it, his lips were being pressed against Malik's. What was going on? This wasn't supposed to happen; now he was in trouble…
"Malik get off me!" He started crying, everything blurred suddenly… He saw Malik's face, the concern on it but he just wanted to get out of there, he didn't like the feeling. He had to find someone…Odion…
xxxxxx
"And…that's what happened…" Marik whispered, now at home, now sitting on Odion's lap being rocked back and forth as he cried. He shuddered suddenly and looked up at Odion, confusion on his face. "Odion, why am I here? What have I just said?"
"You just told me about Malik and what happened. Don't worry, it's all over now." He replied. #I didn't realise this was part of his therapy…#
"Please…Odion. Don't tell mum. Or anyone about this. Please." Marik pleaded, desperately trying to stop himself from crying.
"Why not? He assaulted you Marik!"
"Because I don't want any more therapy…I don't want to go back there again, it hurt so much…" Odion had never heard Marik talk about what had happened before. In fact, they had never been told much about what they were doing to him. He had always suspected that it was something he didn't want to know about though…
"Are you sure?"
"Don't tell anyone about this, including Shadi." He reiterated. "Can you hide the truth from him? I know about the Scales."
"Don't worry about that, if Shadi finds out, he finds out. He seems to think Malik is important in your fate for some reason. That's why he hasn't been kept away from you at school, even though mum wanted it." Odion explained, trying to reassure Marik but he didn't react.
"What am I going to do Odion? I have to see him tomorrow and I don't want to suddenly start splurging out loads of stuff."
"Don't worry, unless he does anything else I think nothing will happen. I get the feeling that you're supposed to confess and as long as you have, it'll be ok." He smiled down at Marik and he smiled back, sitting up properly.
"Thanks Odion."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
#So if you're lonely
You know I'm here
Waiting for you
I'm just a cross-hair
I'm just a shot away from you
And if you leave here
You leave me broken
Shattered I lie
I'm just a cross-hair
I'm just a shot then we can die
I know I won't be leaving here
With you#
#I say don't you know
You say you don't know
I say take me out#
#I stay you don't show
Don't move time is slow
I say take me out#
#I say you don't know
You say you don't know
I say take me out#
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
It was September and they had all chosen their options for this year, apart from Seto because he was a year above them. Which meant, although they could now drop the subjects they hated, Marik had somehow ended up being in most of his lessons with Malik. He had never really got over what had happened in that alleyway and refused to walk home alone. Even being with Ishizu was better than seeing Malik again. But at the same time he felt drawn towards him, maybe because it was thanks to him Marik had found out the extent of what they had done to him during his therapy. He wanted nothing more than to break it, to prove to everyone that they couldn't control him as they wished. And if that meant spending more time with Malik then so be it.
That was probably why Malik was now around his house. Admittedly, it was actually because of school but that wasn't the point. They had ended up together for a presentation in history and Marik suggested it would be better if they did it after school. He didn't really want to go around Malik's though and from the way Malik talked, neither did he. So now they were both sitting on Marik's bed, their history folders in front of them as well as textbooks, trying to get this talk together on the CCC (1).
"So we have to do what is was and the advantages and disadvantages?" Malik said as he stared blankly at his also blank page.
"Yeah, luckily it doesn't have to be too long…" Marik said, looking in the index of his textbook. "We just have to do a handout. We could probably just type it up and print it off."
"Lazy teacher, it's just because he couldn't be bothered to do the lessons with us." Malik said, crossing his arms.
"That may be so but we still have to do it unfortunately. Should we print it off half and half?"
"Can't you do it all?" Malik said, suddenly looking pained.
"I suppose so but it's just easier. Why, do you not want to?"
"It means staying in my house longer than necessary." Malik replied, shuddering slightly.
"Malik, why don't you like your house?" Marik asked hesitantly, he knew Malik was very sensitive about this.
"Because I hate the people who live in it."
"Your mum and dad? What's so bad about them?" At least Malik had both of his parents…
"How do you think I got these?" Malik said, indicating the scars running down the lower half of his face. On instinct, Marik placed his hand on Malik's face, feeling them with his fingers. "It was my dad." He whispered, wondering why Marik was doing this. He also noticed Marik's hand was shaking slightly.
"Your dad? What did he do?"
"Nothing I really want to think about."
"Malik, you should tell someone about this!" Marik exclaimed, his hand still on his face.
"Well I told you…" He said quietly, now blushing at the contact between them. Until he felt Marik lean towards him and kiss him on the lips. Although surprised, Malik responded, closing his eyes.
"Malik…" He didn't respond, he didn't want to. Just feeling Marik this close to him… "No!" He opened his eyes and saw Marik was crying, trying to pull himself away. Malik duly let go and he scrambled away from him to the other end of the bed, breathing in deeply as he began to rock back and forth.
"What's wrong?" Silence. "Is it the therapy? It's made you like this, hasn't it?" Marik nodded his head, continuing to cry. "Marik, don't cry please. I didn't mean to hurt you…"
"I know, it's just so painful. They made it like this so…" Malik couldn't hear him anymore, although he was still talking. Well, his mouth was moving anyway…
"Here, at least blow your nose." Malik said weakly, holding out a tissue. He had never tried to comfort someone who was crying before. He had given up on his mother a long time ago and he just kicked anyone else who did.
"Thank you." Malik looked at him and saw long black marks running down his face. So they weren't natural?
"Marik, your…" He didn't know what to call them but he seemed to get the idea.
"They have? Damn." He got up from the bed and searched around a drawer until he found a bottle and some cotton wool. He proceeded to wipe them off and then turned to face Malik. His face looked strangely empty without them.
"What are they?"
"They're the marks that all the boys wear from where I lived in Egypt. It's tradition and just because I don't live there anymore, doesn't mean I can't do it still." He took out a tube of liquid eyeliner and replaced them quickly, like he had done it for years. Which he probably had. "I see it as my bit of rebellion against the system." He smiled and suddenly looked thoughtful. "I'll do some for you if you want." Malik was surprised by this but nodded his head.
"Ok then." He sat still as Marik put them on, flinching slightly at the coldness of the liquid. Marik sat back and admired his work.
"They quite suit you actually." He brought over a mirror from his desk and held it in front of Malik. He was right, they didn't look too bad. The only problem was that he looked like Marik now, which was slightly eerie.
"I look like you…" He commented, not sure why he had said it.
"You do a bit I suppose. Here, you'd better use this." He passed over the make up remover and Malik frowned. "It probably wouldn't be a good idea if someone found you with them on." Malik remained still and Marik sighed. "Fine then, I'll do it."
He wiped around his eyes carefully, making sure he didn't get anything in his eye. This stuff could be painful, as Marik had found out much to his cost on several occasions. Once that was done, he put everything away before sitting down again, this time a lot closer to Malik.
"Marik, do you like me?" Malik asked, looking at him in the eye. Marik tried to open his mouth but felt sick when he did so, so instead he nodded his head. "As a friend?"
#I have to break this, no matter what that means…# He thought and he shook his head.
"Show me how then." Malik whispered and Marik looked up at him, pushing down the sick feeling in his stomach as he once more kissed Malik on the lips, only this time with more force.
Malik was so shocked by this he felt himself falling backwards onto the bed and Marik now lying on top of him, his tongue trying to gain entrance. He seemed to know exactly what to do and Malik went along with it, forgetting where they were, what they were doing. Then he noticed the fact Marik was straddling his waist and putting a lot of pressure on his groin, causing him to gasp. He couldn't put off Marik's tongue anymore…
But then he stopped. Malik opened his eyes and saw that Marik now looked lifeless and then scared by what he had done. He jumped off Malik and stood up, backing away slowly.
"Odion, I've done it again, I was bad…" He said before running towards the door.
"Marik, no!" He had to stop Marik from leaving the room, if anyone found out… He didn't want to think about it. He stood in front of the door, blocking Marik's way.
"Move fool…" He said, pulling out the Millennium Rod. "I'm not afraid to use it…" All the colour had gone from him; he seemed grey, like ash.
"No Marik, you cannot tell anyone, we'll get into trouble."
"Marik, Malik, are you two in there?" It was Odion. Oh no, what was he going to do now? Marik heard the voice too.
"Odion, I did it again." The door opened and Odion entered, looking in confusion at what was happening. Instantly Marik dropped the Rod and ran into his brother's arms, talking as fast as he could. He listened and then turned to Malik.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing. He just suddenly leapt at me and started kissing me. I didn't know what to do and then he suddenly stopped and started crying again." Malik explained, sitting back down on the bed. Marik looked around, he was hugging his brother tightly. Had he done it again?
"Odion, what's going on?" He tried to remember but only one image came to his mind: him with the Rod pointing at Malik. "I tried to hurt you…" He said, turning to him.
"What do you mean?"
"I used the Rod on you but…nothing happened. It wouldn't let me, it said that I shouldn't hurt my loved ones." He said and then frowned at his words. "But I don't love you…" He didn't realise what he had said but Malik expected something along those lines and didn't react.
"Then why did you kiss him?" Odion asked, and Marik blinked at what he had just said.
"I don't know, I'm so confused. I just wanted to…" He walked over to the bed and sat down beside Malik. "Do you understand?"
"I know you're confused. I was too until I decided to just see what happened if I went along with it…" He hesitantly placed a hand on Marik's face and he sighed, leaning into the touch. "We'll break what the therapy did to you ok?" Marik nodded his head and kissed Malik on the cheek before looking nervously at Odion.
"Odion, I'm sorry…"
"Don't worry, there's nothing I can do to stop you. Just don't get caught ok? I don't want to lose you." Marik nodded his head and stood up.
"Shall we go and get something to eat?" Marik suggested, almost seeming to forget what had happened. But then maybe he was just trying to keep his mind off it so he wouldn't do anything else.
"Okay, we'll be down in a second." Odion said and Marik walked out of the room, leaving just him and Malik. "Protect him okay Malik? He's been through a lot and it's going to take time to make things normal again."
"Why aren't you mad at us?" Malik asked, puzzled by the relaxed figure of Odion.
"Because I had a feeling this might happen. Shadi always said you were going to be important in Marik's life and maybe this is what he meant…" He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just being open minded but no one else will. You must do your best to protect him, he's still ignorant of what would happen to him if…"
"Don't worry, I won't let him get hurt. And I'll do my best to make him normal again. But I'm glad you're here for him too, you know him better than I do."
"We'll both protect him then…" Odion walked towards the door and Malik followed him down the stairs to find Marik.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Wow, it's nearly Christmas!" Téa said one lunchtime as they sat inside for once.
"I hate Christmas… It means that there's snow and it's bloody cold!" Marik commented as he blew his nose for the sixth time. "And I've got another cold too." He added, starting to mutter about his health.
"Ah, don't be so downbeat man, it's /Christmas! Warm fires, pudding, crackers-" Joey said, getting all misty eyed at the thought.
"Sherry, brandy, wine…" Malik continued, much to the disgruntlement of Yami.
"Which is not the point of Christmas." He pointed out but Malik merely shrugged his shoulders.
"You probably wouldn't get ill all the time if you drank more brandy Marik." Malik suggested.
"No, you'd just get liver failure instead…" Yami said scathingly.
"And I suppose you're going to say the point of Christmas is to do with God and Jesus etc etc." They had finally got Kaiba to come out of his cold shell and found out that he could be a nice person most of the time. He just had a grudge because he had to go to school in the first place, the despite the fact he was 'perfectly capable of running the company, I've been practically doing it for the last three years anyway' in his opinion. They just went along with it, not willing to point out that seventeen was a bit young for a CEO.
"What do you think God is?" Marik suddenly asked, causing Yami to look even more mortified than he already was.
"Should we even be having this discussion?" He said worriedly but everyone was ignoring him while Yugi rolled his eyes at his act. It was pretty good, if stupid.
"Don't you listen in C.R.E.? He's an all-powerful, all seeing-" Tristan started in a bored tone although he never listened to the teacher either.
"No, I don't mean that, I mean /what/ is He?" Marik said, trying to get the point across to the others.
"I don't think I'm getting you…" Joey said slowly, his forehead creased in concentration.
"Maybe He's a DJ." Duke suggested casually, trying to see what sort of reaction he could get out of Yami.
"A what!" Yami shrieked, a nervous twitch appearing in the corner of his eye.
"But if He's a DJ, what is life?" Ryou pointed out and the others fell into thought.
"It's a dance floor of course." Yugi's voice sounded pensive and the others nodded in agreement.
"And love is the rhythm!" Téa added cheerfully.
"Then what are /we?" They looked over at the voice and saw Kaiba with his arms crossed, looking very smug. They wouldn't be able to answer that, no one had.
"We're…" Marik said weakly, struggling to think of something, as everyone else was.
"The music." Malik suddenly said, looking at Marik as he did so, causing him to smile shyly. The others wondered for a moment, Malik never got involved in conversations about God and he had just said something quite profound.
"Very nice analogy but I think you've given Yami a heart attack." Bakura drawled, pointing at said person with his thumb. He sat very still, a slightly stunned expression on his face and Yugi grabbed his shoulder, shaking him.
"Yami, you don't have to look so shocked you know." He looked up and blinked but remained silent. "Anyway guys, I was wondering…what are we going to do about presents?"
"That's a point, I don't have a lot of money at the moment. I can't afford to give like ten presents." Joey said.
"Why don't we do Secret Santa? That way everyone will get one present they really want." Ryou suggested, causing a mixed reaction, mostly made up of 'what is that?'
"Sounds like a good idea Ryou." Yugi commented while some, particularly Marik, remained completely confused.
"Someone's going to have to explain…I never really understood Christmas."
"You don't understand Christmas?" Joey yelled, feeling sorry for him.
"Well we don't have it in Egypt and I still don't really celebrate it at home. Not the way others do anyway."
"So no pudding or turkey or tinsel?"
"Well I don't really like turkey…"
"That's not the point! I don't like Brussels sprouts but I still eat them."
"Well that just makes you stupid. As you were saying Ryou…" Bakura interrupted, trying to get the conversation back on track.
"Oh right. Basically everyone puts their name on a piece of paper and then they're all mixed up. Then you pick one and you have to buy a present for that person."
"So where does the secret part come in?" Téa asked.
"Well on the piece of paper you put what you do or don't want and so you don't go around asking them what they want. That way they don't find out you've got them."
"I don't know what I want yet though."
"We can leave it for a couple of days and then do it if you want to." The others nodded in agreement at this.
"Great and my grandpa's letting me have a sleepover so we can give our presents to each other then." Yugi added.
"This Christmas is going to be interesting…" Seto muttered quietly while the others continued to talk.
Yeah, the end of another part thingy! More notes:
(1) – CCC is the Civilian Conservation Corps. I won't go into details, suffice to say it was a body set up by FDR (Roosevelt, American President for those who don't know) to help recovery after the Depression. I don't know how much American history you actually study so I thought I'd better stick this note in here.
1. I'm aware that there are another three verses in 'You are my Sunshine' but they didn't really have much to do with the story as they're about Louisiana (no insult). And Yami's feelings have nothing to do with Louisiana…I think.
2. There were a couple of variations of 'Daisy' so I just picked one and only put in a little bit of it as it went on for another page and there were replies to the verses too.
3. I did not write the duel or the explanation of the cards, Luff, my sister did. Mainly because I don't understand any of it, I tried writing it myself and even got the colours of the cards wrong! D'oh!
Anyway, that's all the notes for now and I hope you can find the time to review. Until next time,
S. Chensu (Chen) xxx.