Darkhope: Hey everyone! Sorry for the wait! See I'm lazy.... And I guess I kinda forgot to mention I went on Vacation for a little while (sweatdrops) Yeah...But now I'm home, and ready to write again. I like this chapter better then the first two! Maybe because I love fluff! (hinthint) Yes I admit... I love romance stories... I'm a sucker for romance... That's pretty much how I got into ANY anime. Because it had a couple/couples in it! Lol. [Like Inuyasha, YYH, Trigun, YGO, etc...] And I know you guys don't want to hear me go on and on, so I'll stop now. Thanks for the reviews, you guys rock! As I have said before....sadly I don't own YGO... (sighs)

And before I continue the story, I just want to tell you all what everyone is wearing! Cause I can! (wink)

Easy... What they were wearing during Doom![or Doma, whatever you call it.] Lol. [Yes Joey has his blue jacket on! That's my favorite of his outfits! (smile)]

And now....Chapter 3! Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Facing You Again

Joey sat on the other side of the park, in tears. Somehow it was amazing he was actually crying. He wasn't histerical, but thinking about what happened with Mai just made him sad. He could hear his friends call out his name over and over again, but he refused to respond to anyone. He wouldn't even respond to his own sister crying out his name.

"Mai...." He whispered out to the cool air.

Mai walked through the park and all through the crowds. She could see a great deal of people having a good time. It was the complete opposite for her. She saw people eating, drinking, making out ("), dancing, getting drunk, and just having plain old fun. She couldn't help but feel sadness develop inside her every time she saw a girl and boy together in a loving embrace, or in a soft, gentle kiss.

'Why must I suffer?!'

She started walking a little faster. She couldn't bare to see couples together. It reminded her to much of-

She stopped and looked around her surroundings. She saw many couples together. It seemed the park was a very romantic place. 'Kaiba did a nice thing for once...Picking a park for the party. What does this remind me of? Could it be possible that I fell in love? No....'

Duelist Kingdom...Battle City....Kaiba's Virtual Reality Game.

All of those thoughts floated through her mind, and remembrance of her and Joey together did as well. She remembered first meeting him on the boat. She remembered their first duel, and how she tried to cheat. She remembered when she had given him her card at Duelist Kingdom. She remembered embracing him in the Virtual Reality Game. She remembered him saving her from that fake movie star in Battle City, and getting rather mad at him later on. She remembered him holding her face trying to get her to remember him when she was facing Marik. She remembered him protecting her from Ra's attack, and reassuring her that everything would be alright. She remembered how she tricked him in the end of Battle City and how he was almost crying when she wouldn't wake up from being under Marik's spell. And lastly.... She remembered the fight with Varon, and her own duel with him as well. [A/N: Wow a lot of Joey/Mai moments in the anime, huh? (shakes head) Meant to be]
She didn't bother to remember anything else. She was already crying.

'Joey..... Maybe I have fallen in love with you.....'

Mai made up her mind. She would go and find her man.

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Yami, Tea, Tristan, Duke, and Serenity were still looking for Joey. They were still having no luck.

"JOEY!!!!!" Tristan called out for about the fifteenth time. He sighed. "WHERE THE HELL IS HE?!"

"If we knew that Tristan, we would have found him a lonnnnggg time ago." Tea said a little aggravated.

"I'm sorry TEA! I'm just pissed off right now!" Tristan yelled at her.

"Well gee Tristan, if you just kept your big MOUTH shut-" Duke was cut off.

"WHY YOU-" Tristan was then cut off as well.

"Guys! Now's not the time for fighting!"

Tristan, and Duke shut up right away. "Yes Serenity!"

Serenity sighed. 'I get the feeling they like me...Well I already like....Kaiba.....'

Yami and Tea just looked at each other and sighed.

Tea was having thoughts of her own though. She loved to spend time with Yami, so she was happy him and Yugi switched places.

'I guess I should tell him how I feel....but... what if he doesn't like me that way?'

Yami stared at Tea. 'God she is pretty.... I wonder if Tea likes me as much as I like her.'

Joey looked up at the stars. It was a beautiful night. He remembered when him and Serenity would look at the stars every night before she moved with his mother. He missed his childhood. Time was going by so fast.

He watched as some little kids who were far away from him played in the grass. Before he knew it, he would be married and have kids of his own. 'KIDS!? Your getting ahead of yourself, Wheeler.'

Joey thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone in the bushes that were behind him. He turned around expecting it to be Kaiba. 'He probably just wants to piss me off some more!'

But Joey was wrong.

He stared at the figure.

"Mai?"

Mai just stared at him. She didn't know what to say. A simple 'Hi Joey' would have been good. But instead, she ran forward and embraced with tears in her eyes, and with all her might. It was like she was holding on to him for dear life.

"Oh Joey, I'm so sorry!" Right when she saw him, BANG! The remembrance of their duel kicked in. Mai knew she would end up crying in front of him all along. But she never thought she would run and hug him. [A/N: If you have ever seen Inuyasha, then what Mai did is like when Kagome hugs Inuyasha. Like how she would hug him hard and cry and ask "Are you alright?" or whatever.]

Joey was speechless. Could this really be MAI? It was to good to be true.

"Mai... Sorry for what?" He returned the hug, and closed his eyes, but quickly opened them again.

"It was my fault!" Her eyes were shut tightly with tears streaming down her cheeks, and her head buried in his chest.

"Your fault!? What!? I'm so confused!" Joey really wanted to know why Mai was so upset. "What's the matter?" He asked her softly and calmly.

Mai didn't answer, instead she just cried harder. He let her cry into him for a little while. 'What is the matter with her?'

Joey then pulled Mai away from him gently, but still holding her. He looked straight at her. Her eyes were all red, like she had been crying before.

"What's the matter?" He whispered to her.

She turned her head away from him. "I'm sorry... And I know we haven't seen each other ever since-" She couldn't bring herself to say anymore.

Joey thought for a moment still never taking his eyes off of her. He knew exactly what Mai was talking about. 'So she has been thinking about that?'

"Mai it wasn't your fault...." He told her softly.

"YES IT WAS! I WAS THE REASON YOUR SOUL WAS TAKEN!" [A/N: Like I said before, people who know about episode 173, should know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what happened in 173 then look it up. Janime should have a summary.]

"Mai, I had no idea you felt this strongly about this...I-"

"OF COURSE I DO YOU IDIOT! YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW MUCH PAIN I HAVE BEEN THROUGH SINCE THEN!"

"Well then how about you tell me?"

Mai looked at him again. 'What should I say?'

"It's just..... When ever I think about our duel.... I end up in tears.... I can't help it.... Joey..... I heard what you said to Kaiba."

Joey was shocked. 'I'm THAT loud!? Oh boy...'

He blushed. "Oh... That.... Well I can explain!"

"Don't explain anything yet... I'm not finished."

"Gee, ya dun have ta get all moody."

Mai death glared him. "Well as I was saying, I-"

Joey pulled her closer into him. "Yeah? I'm listenin'."

She was surprised but, sort of happy to be this close to him. She could never be that close with anyone before. She rested her head against his chest and continued.

"I start to cry..... I was crying so much when I lost you..."

Again, Joey was shocked. 'She cares THIS much about me?! She was CRYING when I lost my soul...? Well she probably felt bad since she was the one who... Well took it away from me....'

"Mai, I had no idea-"

"OF COURSE YOU HAD NO IDEA! YOU WEREN'T EVEN CONSCIOUS! SO YOU WOULDN'T KNOW HOW HARD I WAS CRYING!"

"Calm down." Joey start to rub her back to comfort her.

Mai didn't mind him doing that at all. As a matter of fact, it DID comfort her a little. She felt a little but more relaxed, and safe in his arms. Being in his arms felt like nothing could harm her. Right there, Mai made up her mind. The one person she would want to spend her life with would be Joey. Not Varon. Joey.

Joey continued. "Listen. It wasn't your fault. You were being control-"

"It WAS my fault. I chose to join the Doom Organization."

"That maybe true, but I know you wouldn't hurt be on purpose. Right?"

"Of course not!" She hugged him harder. But then looked up at him. She gazed into his eyes. She loved his eyes. They were a chocolate brown and they looked so soft. "I would never hurt you on purpose, Joey."

"Okay then. You were being controlled."

"Yeah.... But it was still my fault!"

Joey shook his head. "Your not gunna give up are ya?" He said that with a small laugh.

"Nope." She smiled. "To be honest, I'm just happy to see you again." [A/N: One, two, three, AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!! (smile)]

Joey smiled. Both of them leaned in and they were just about to kiss when suddenly a voice interrupts them.

"How Touching... Am I INTERRUPTING something!?"

The voice was distant, but so familiar. 'It's a good thing I got here just in time. They were about to kiss.'

Joey and Mai looked up, blushing hard.

Joey quickly shook it off. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

All the voice said was. "I told you to take care of Mai."

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Darkhope: Yeah I just made the person obvious didn't I? --' Oh well! Lol. You guys should have known anyway. Yeah that's it for this chapter, chapter 4 is on its way! [Umm...no I haven't started it yet, but I will! Heh..] So what did you think of all that Joey/Mai fluff? Sorry I just had to put it all in, this IS a Joey/Mai fic. And also because I was listening to "I Knew I Loved You" By: Savage Garden when I was typing/writing this. [Not only am I sucker for romance stories... Romance songs too! I just love them!] Omg.. If you just listen to that song while reading this... wow... It made me feel like I wanted to cry. Lol. It's such a good song. (loves it to death) Savage Garden rocks! [So what if it's old!? "] I'm obsessed with them now! Lol. And it's all thanks to Luthien-Anwaman! THANK YOU SO MUCH LU!!!!! [Remember when you sent me "The Best Thing" and "Affiramtion"? Yeah you reminded me of how good Savage Garden is. They use to be on the radio like all the time!] Luv ya lots!

Until I write again! [If I'm not lazy]

ReViEw!