A/N: hey guys! Just enjoy.
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% Chapter Four: 20 Questions %
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"Will you marry me?" The man knelt beside his girlfriend in the traditional get-down-on-one-knee style. He held out a glittering sapphire ring.
"Oh!" the girlfriend gasped, trying it on. There was a short pause while she did so. Then, "I'll have to get back to you on this," she said, getting up from her bench and leaving him kneeling there.
"Every important decision takes 24 hours," the announcer's voice came on. "That's why at Mazda Honda Toyota dealers----"
Joey clicked off the television set and grabbed his head in his hands. My sis's right…..I'm getting too stressed out about this! Way obessessed! Not good..... He was alone in his dorm room; he WAS supposed to be at class, but he couldn't bring himself to go……everyone would stare and whisper at his undressed, unshaven state….. Mine won't be like that!
Focus, he told himself. Who cares if you still didn't think of a way to propose that'll knock her socks off? Think of something else, or you'll drive yourself crazy! He went to fix himself a glass of water; lately, he'd been living on rice and water, and lost an amazing amount of weight. Even Yuge had been giving him worried looks.
Well, dat's a change, he thought, setting down the glass with an "Ahhh." His best friend had been looking like a wounded….puppy, he thought relucantly, ever since his Gramps' died. Maybe it was the stress talking, but Joey couldn't help thinking that Yugi was acting a bit selfish, the way he kept carrying on with his 'mourning.'
I tried to tell him---I tried to help him to get over it, but he's never been this stubborn! That morning, Tea and Yugi had gone to Mr. Motou's gravesite to put down a bouquet of fresh white flowers.. Joey hadn't gone, obviously--since he was still brooding---because graveyards always gave him the creeps. He was always the superstitious sort.
Especially where Mr. Motou was buried……Gramps had been like a mentor to me, he thought, defensively. We have been really close; Mr. M was like a father to me.....
And it really hurt when Yugi said that he didn't understand his pain, didn't understand what he was going through! He acts like he's the only one who ever cared about the old man, we all did!! Breaking his mental tirade, Joey rinsed out his glass in the sink and picked up his jacket and headed out. Maybe I should go pay a visit anyway……I owe it, really……
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Tea and Yugi stared down at the tombstone with "Solomon Motou, 1902-2004, Beloved Grandfather and Friend" on it. She couldn't help thinking, He was over 100 years old? Man, he was pretty…..'SPRY' for his age! She glanced at Yugi, but he hadn't said anything, as usual.
Earlier that morning, she'd forced Yugi to take her to Mr. Motou's grave so she could pay her respects. He done so, reluctantly, she'd practically had to twist his arm. He's been acting like Kaiba does all the time……always feeling sorry for himself, she thought. Still, she felt a bit guilty for being so busy at her dance training that she'd missed the funeral procession in the summer.
"I'm sure he….enjoyed the funeral," she said after a bit of a pause. Yugi didn't answer; and she realized her error. "Er, I mean---I mean, I didn't mean he was watching his own funeral or something, that'd be crazy!" she babbled on with a short laugh. "I meant, if he could've sawn his own funeral, I'm sure he would've loved it."
Still, no answer, and Tea began to feel uncertain. She'd never saw Yugi this way, and if it were someone else, anyone else, she would yell and scream at the person, and possibly quite literally shake some sense into the person with her fists. Tea couldn't stand people who feel constantly sorry for themselves. She thought they were selfish and it was dumb.
So instead, she bent and place her bouquet of white flowers besides the others on the tombstone. Looking up, she saw Yugi's eyes start to water, though he tried to hide it. Though bloodshot, his eyes are still the purest shade of violet I've ever seen, she thought. Instantly, guilt overflowed her as she thought how he must've suffered…. expecially without her being there for him.
%%%% flash back %%%%%
"We're sorry," a stern looking doctor in a white lab coat and tie with horn rimmed glasses said, holding a clipboard. "Your grandfather is brain dead. Legally, he passed away two hours ago."
"No! Grampa!" Yugi called desperately, rushing down the hospital hallways blindly, search for his beloved grandfather's room. He died and I wasn't here! The last words they had were from a fight, an argument…..
Finally he reached his grandpa's room, it was filled with people: the pastor, the priest, along with his friends, Arthur and his granddaughter. It hit him all so real then, and he moved closer, tears brimming as he reached his grandfather's bedside.
%%%%%% end flash back %%%%%%
I haven't cried since, Yugi thought, wiping his face and pretending it was an itch. It was like his tear ducts had dried up, like something in him died, just like his Grampa. Something did…..said a voice. It sounded like.....his Yami. But that was impossible......
And now looking down at Tea, the girl he'd had a crush on ever since she'd spoken to him, in her somber black skirt and jacket, her cerulean eyes glittering with tears, he felt horribly ashamed of himself. She was right, like always, he shouldn't act so moody.
But it's not fair! Why did he have to be taken away? The same old song and dance constantly ran through his head, the way it had been for the past couple months. I miss the way I used to be….."I miss the way I was….." he mumbled, voice breaking, slightly. "I miss being ha-appy....."
"You're..... still in there, Yugi," she said softly, touching his arm lightly. "Somewhere..." At the airport, even when Tea had hugged him at her return, he supposed he was supposed to be thrilled, after all it was Tea! But there was nothing, he had felt nothing, save for a little stirring, brief but poignant.
Now, though, as his face colored reddish, he looked away to hide it. He didn't want her to see him like this, so .....pathetic, at only 18....! But Tea saw it anyway, and smiled, thinking, he's coming back…..
Breaking the awkward silence, she stood and he turned back. "Hug?" Again, just like in airport, he just stood there, staring down. So, again, she pulled him in. It's a lot easier to hug him without the Milllenium Puzzle that always used to be around his neck.... she couldn't help thinking.
And remeniscing. "Your grandfather was a great man," she whispered over his shoulder, remincising. "I remember when I was a little girl he always had milk and cookies, waiting for us after school. Chocolate chip," she smiled at the memory. "He was like a second father to me….. to all of us," she said, referring to the rest of his friends. Tea pulled back and Yugi still wouldn't look at her. "So you can't close down those memories, understand? They'll always be with you, no matter how hard to try to hide. So it's useless to escape them......" She looked at him squarely in the eye. "You can't close down your shop. I'll help you to rebuild it.....and I won't leave again until you're okay." He shifted uncomfortably.
"You don't.....have to do that....." He studied the floor. "I know you have your dance meets. I know you have another life."
"Yugi, you are more important than some meets. You are my best friend." Remembering what Mai had 'suggested' about the 'date', she began to stutter, "Um-m……."
Yugi looked at her then, surprised---Tea never stuttered!---, and just then Joey's voice called, "That's right!"
Startled, they turned. "Joey!" they both said at exactly the same time, jumping a mile apart.
Unaware, Joey ran up puffing. "Yuge," he said, "Tea's right! I heard her, from all the way down the street. Mr. M meant a lot to all of us. You're not da only one who's in mourning!" Unlike them, he was dressed in cargo pants and green leather jacket, sort of messily.
Yugi spoke finally, cutting him off gently. "Yeah, I know it. And I'm…..sorry I've been acting like such an ass lately……I know I've been a real downer." Tea looked at him in surprise and shock.
Unperturbed, Joey said as they were leaving the yard, "Oh? Were you acting?" Recovering, Tea smacked him fiercely. "Whaat? I've been waiting to say dat fer years!" He grinned and rubbed his old best friend on the head. "Glad to see ya back, Yuge." Yugi shook his head, but smiled a bit. Back at the tombstone, a see-through outline sat on his grave and smiled, too, at their retreating backs.
%%%%% I bet Joey was lol %%%%%%
Meanwhile, back on campus, Mai and Rebecca met Serenity at the admissions office. They were trying to enroll Mai in for some classes like she'd asked, rather commanded. Now that she was back, Mai took her usual place as leader in their little girl group.
When Serenity saw them, Mai, looking gorgeous as usual in her designer sundress from her own clothing line (one that actually came below knee length! Wow!) looked like she were interrogating the young blond teen girl. "What's Joey hiding from me?! Is it romantic?"
Rebecca grinned, and shook her head up and down so hard, her ponytail jerked.
Uh oh, thought Serenity. Rebecca has a reputation of being a blab….. she rushed over to save some damage from being done. Hmmm….Mai thought a minute as Rebecca filled out her form. "Is he….going to ask me to….." she paused, seeing Serenity running over with all her might.
"No!" Serenity panted. "He's not!"
"….to move in with him?" Mai trained her eyes back to Rebecca, who got a strange look in her eyes.
"Oh, yeah," Rebecca said wholeheartedly, with a gleeful grin. "In like, a permanent way!" Her grin broadened mischievously, and she gave a meaningful wink..
Mai was stunned, then: "Hi, Mai. Excuse us," Serenity took Rebecca aside. "What do you think you're doing!" she whispered hotly.
Rebecca shrugged offhandedly. "It's better if she knows; unless you want him to be rejected....?." Serenity blanched. "Then…."
"Uh, guys, I can still hear you," Mai said, scratching her unblemished chin with an acrylic nail. "So, I'm right? That is what he's going to ask, Serenity?"
Serenity didn't want to lie to her best girl friend, but she didn't she want to give away her brother's secret proposal, either. "Uh…." Rebecca gave her a nudge. "….y-yeah…." It was sort of the truth….. "So, what do you think….?"
Mai paused, seemingly to think it over, hand on one curvy hip. She was the kind to make guys walk into walls and liked her power. As well as her independence..... Serenity looked at her anxiously, her short nails biting into her palms and biting her lower lips, while Rebecca calmly filled out forms at the short desk in the hall, completely unaware of the damage she just done. "No way!" Mai finally said with an unladylike snort, wrinkling her nose.
Serenity looked stricken. "W-what do you mean? Why not?!"
Mai looked at bit surprised at the younger girl's passionate protest. "Well, no offense, Serenity, you being his sister and all, but…..living .....with him?" she shuddered at the prospect.
Serenity's heart sank. Omigod....Joey's going to......
"Unless he marries me...." Mai scoffed, waving her hand around. "Which probaby'll never happen....."
Serenity visibly brightened, and that would've been a telltale sign, except Mai was looking down at the expensive Italian sandals with a woeful expression, feeling sorry for herself. "All done!" Rebecca said cheerfully, going to turn in the papers to the clerk. Nobody paid any attention.
"I mean…." Mai mused aloud, trailing a fingertip along the bulletin board on the wall wistfully, "I would like to live with him….but only as husband and wife. And he's never ever going to propose……so......" She tried to shrug of it off, but one hand was clenched in a tight fist. "I had to practically twist his arm to get him to confess his feelings for me…." she muttered, remembering. "Oh well....." Her finger traced around a ad with a woman in a white dress. I'll never be in a wedding dress.....
Meanwhile, Serenity sank again, except out of relief this time. Mai didn't notice, she was lost in her own thoughts. I wouldn't be so sure, about that , Mai! She covered her mouth to hide a secret smile.Her heart was beating rapidly in pure relief. "Maybe so, he will," she suggested.
"No, he's probably never going to ask me….to marry him, I mean." She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the idea of living with him without a proper commitment. "Sometimes he's such a coward!....... Excuse me, I know you're his sister, and all…."
"That's okay!" Serenity said so loud that Mai was looking at her if she lost her mind. "I mean…I totally respect your idea of not living with your boyfriend before marriage. I think so too…." She shut up abruptly, as Mai gave her a knowing smile. Uh oh…..that smile means two things: Either she's going to quiz me about my love life, or---
"Well, don't just stand there, you two sillies, come on!" Rebecca called, hands on her hips of her mini skirt. Saved, Serenity hurried after, Mai following at a leisurely pace behind, thinking and smiling to herself, I suspect there's more to this story…….
A/N: Next: Mai finds out! For real this time! Well…..you just gotta read to find out. And to do that you gotta Review! Yesh! (nod nod) R&R