Disclaimer: Yugioh is not the property of me, Coke, Pepsi, Shakespeare, Karl Marx, Jacques Lacan, Charles Dickens, the author(s) of the Bible, James Barry, Baruch Halpern, Bic, Sara Teasdale, or my teddy bear.

A/N: … ((shrugs)) Enjoy! Heavens know that I'm enjoying writing this, despite the apparent lack of existence of words that subsist in my vocabulary but do not exist in Word's spellchecker.

Oh, right: Stuff in italics indicates mental images. . It'll make sense once you read the chapter.

Final note: The middle part of this story is dedicated to my French teacher whom I can safely bash, secure in my alias and online hidden identity. Thank you for actually laughing at my attempts to learn this beautiful language in front of the rest of the class, first thing in the morning no less. bites back further embittered comments

Night Of Souls

Chapter Two

Joey woke up around noon, showered, dressed, and then went to go get the mail. "Lessee…" he muttered, thumbing through the envelopes. "Bills…bills…overdues…flyers…KaibaCorp.?! Da heck?"

He tossed the other mail onto the table where his dad could deal with it later. With wide eyes, he shakingly checked the sender and the addressee.

"Well, it's from KaibaCorp., dat's for sure. An' hey! Joey Wheeler! Dat's me!" He sprinted back to his room and hopped on the bed, wondering at the contents. Maybe it was an invitation – a kind of special invite to the upcoming junior duel tournament. Joey paused and grinned dreamily, imagining himself in that situation. With his experience, he'd easily beat all those other kids. He'd be number one in no time – and would have to fight off the girls, too!

"Ooo, Joey!" The scantily clad women cooed in his mind, "you're so amazing!"

"Eh heh heh…" Joey wiped off the drool at the thought. "Or maybe," he suddenly hoped, "it's an apology from Kaiba himself!"

Joey's vivid imagination easily supplied the scene:

Kaiba knelt on the ground, blushing slightly as he donned the Chihuahua puppy suit. "I'm sorry, Wheeler," he sighed. "I was wrong. You're not the dog, I am."

Joey's mental self swaggered over, grandly placing a forgiving hand on Seto's head. "It's all right, Seto," he proclaimed magnanimously. "I knew all along that it was just your way of trying ta hide da fact you knew I was so much better dan ya!"

Seto stared up at him adoringly, "Oh, Wheeler," he murmured. "You're a much, much better man than I could ever be! Please, let me serve you." He curled into a ball on the floor and placed his head submissively on Joey's feet.

"Ahahahaaa!" Mind-Joey laughed, finally secure in his position –

"Hey, boy!" the loud voice cut through Joey's daydream. "Quit yer laughin' – yer wakin' the neighbours!"

Joey blushed, "Sorry, Dad!" he called back. He coughed a couple of times, then brushed off the interruption and tore open the letter. A single voucher coupon fluttered down to land on his lap, but remained temporarily ignored as Joey gaped at the contents of the letter.

Mutt.

As you know, KaibaCorp. is holding the Junior Duel Championships this weekend. Do this city a favour and take off for those days, hopefully with Yuugi or Bakura. Attached is a list of choices where I'd be willing to pay for your trip - just to get rid of you - but feel free to buy a one-way plane ticket to Siberia for all I care.

Sincerely,

Seto Kaiba

Seto Kaiba

CEO of KaibaCorp., Inc.

The letter was crumpled into a wad as Joey saw red.

"That JERK!" he screamed, throwing the letter hard against the wall. "An' here I'd thought he'd apologize! Dat absolute JERK!"

He crossed his arms and fumed for a good, long while. Suddenly, he grinned nastily. "You know what I'll do? I'll take him up on dat offer. That'll show 'im, yeah!"

Failing to realize he'd reacted just as Seto had planned, he picked up the letter again and smoothed it out, glancing over the impressive number of choices.

"Now 'den, where ta go?"

Ryou had just sat down with a sigh to go over his returned French test when the mail came. The surprised shriek of horror was an almost daily occurrence now, and Ryou sighed again as he made a mental note to try and talk to Bakura soon. In the meantime, though, he braced himself as he opened the test to see his new horrifying mark.

Ouch. And he'd actually studied, too! He bit back the irrational tears that threatened to spill out. He'd survived years with a malevolent, possessive spirit – compared to that, a vindictive, patronizing, idiotic teacher was nothing … right?

Bakura swaggered in, grinning around a mouthful of what was hopefully just a bloody steak. However, once in the room, he paused and took in – at a glance – his other's quivering eyes and the shaking test held in the gentle hands. He raised his eyebrows and grinned wickedly in anticipation.

"Do I get to kill her now?"

Ryou's head shot up. "What?"

Bakura slid in closer and fenced in Ryou with his hands. "Your French teacher. She's made you unhappy. If she's done that, then I get to kill her."

Those doe eyes widened and Bakura revelled in the respect and fear he saw in them.

"N-no. It's um… uh… it's nothing. Sorry."

"You're a horrible liar, Ryou."

There was no answer, and so Bakura snarled and plopped down next to him on the couch. "Why won't you let me protect you?"

Ryou fidgeted and looked down, uncomfortable in the silence that had suddenly descended.

Bakura rolled his eyes. "At any rate, Kaiba decided to send us on a free trip so we don't screw up his tournament. I'd be tempted to stay, but there's a spot I want to go on that list. Pack your bags."

"What? When was this?"

A mangled letter dropped into Ryou's lap. "Just now, with that new mailman. And is it just me, or are they getting younger?"

Ryou ignored the rhetorical question and read over the contents. "I … see." He tried not to feel shunned or rejected, knowing that it was a rational wish; it would be safer for the other duellists if his Yami weren't around to torment them. "Well," he softly questioned, "where did you want to go?"

A reddened finger slammed down on the sheet on Ryou's upper thigh. Ryou's eyes widened again as he blushed, his distracted mind too caught up with absorbing the dangerously private contact to even think about reading the line.

Bakura, meanwhile, was silently chuckling at the squeak he'd heard. Heh. Ryou was so fun to corrupt – this was going to be interesting…

Still, it wasn't good to let the prey know they were being stalked, so Bakura hid his leer and firmed his voice. "So?"

"Um… what?"

"Idiot, can't you read? We're going to Hang's Haunted House: Abode of a Thousand Demons."

"A haunted house?!"

"A real haunted house – ghosts and everything!" Bakura threw his arms wide to show how great this was. "Do you realize how much fun I'm going to have when I throw the spirits into the Shadow Realm? Or maybe," Bakura continued excitedly, oblivious to the nauseous expression that was worming its way across Ryou's face, "there'll be a manifestation with entrails and blood all over the place!"

Ryou hung his head, "I don't suppose I could persuade you to go somewhere else?"

Bakura smirked, "Of course not. Besides, you were the one who told me of Halloween's customs. It's now the perfect season! Now, go get ready."

Ryou sighed for the third time and stumbled upstairs. "All right."

With Ryou's back to him, Bakura could leer in safety. "And Happy Halloween," he whispered promisingly.

…Very interesting, indeed.

Back in Yuugi's room, the two almost-twins peered at the two remaining choices. The shorter one sat back and crossed his arms, humming pensively.

"So Yami? Do you have a preference where you want to go?"

There was another thoughtful pause as Yami went through the list once more. "Not especially, aibou. Yourself?"

"Hmm… not really. I mean it's either West Edmonton Mall or Hang's Haunted House."

Yami stared harder at the two choices. A forbidden idea had crossed his mind, and he hesitated to voice it: Though never having been in one, he'd heard many … happy endings of those who'd gone into a haunted house. Not, however, that he'd even mention it to his wonderful, innocent aibou who was even at this moment staring at him so beautifully…

"Yami? What's on your mind?"

"What?" Normally calm eyes flew, panicked, to face trusting amethysts.

Yuugi grinned, leaning closer to poke Yami's lip teasingly. "When you've got something on your mind, you worry your lower lip. So come on! Tell me your idea – I'm sure it will be great!"

Yami, surprisingly, flushed slowly. "Weell," he drew out, "I do not know if you will think it a bad idea, but I was wondering … if we could visit the house?"

Yuugi blinked, suddenly inexplicably hesitant, "The house in China?"

Yami took a look at Yuugi's creased face and shook his head dismissively. "Never mind. I –"

Yuugi frowned, "No wait!" He shot forward and took hold of Yami's leg. "Do you know what a haunted house is?"

"Well, I have heard rumours that consist of describing its oddness in this modern age."

Yuugi suddenly grinned, delighted in the prospect of taking Yami through his first haunted house. His minor unease at going through a ghost tour had entirely vanished, leaving only bubbling enthusiasm in its place. "You know, I think we should go to that house. I remember Tea and I went to one, ages ago. They're really fun! I mean you have all these things everywhere and it's kinda scary but really awesome! I mean, none of it is real, of course," he hastened to reassure Yami, who was looking increasingly overwhelmed. "There are all these set-ups and things that pop out at you, but it's all very safe. And it's fun, too, if you're with someone you trust!"

Yami smiled softly, obviously delighted, "And you trust me, do you not?"

Yuugi giggled, "Of course!"

Yami nodded his approval. "Very well, aibou. I trust you as well, so let us take up Kaiba's generous offer and visit this haunted house."

Yuugi cheered, throwing arms in the air. "Right around Halloween, too! This is going to be great!" He quickly threw his arms around a startled Yami before dashing downstairs to grab a pair of suitcases.

Upstairs, Yami slowly recovered. He stared out the window at the streets, daring to think of the other thing he'd heard of haunted houses: That is was an excellent way to develop a relationship between two people, brought together in the adrenalin and mild fear of the situation.

Yami thought again at his affectionate aibou. Dare he hope…?

Joey's room was a disaster zone, as the hyperactive blond threw a haphazard collection of clothes into an old backpack. Carefully out of the way were the list and the voucher on the dresser, the chosen place circled in red. He was humming a common Halloween song as he tossed in his duel deck and a pair of jeans.

Finally, he stepped back and looked at his work.

"All right! Kaiba think he can scare me off with that haunted house, huh? Well, I'll show 'im! China, here I come!"

A/N: Chappie Two done! ((wild grin))

Oh, and by the way, I make no pretence at pretending to understand Joey's adorable inner workings. If you ask me, I think he's filled with repressed feelings for a certain cold CEO, because seriously? What was UP with that dream he had in Pegasus' tournament series? sets chin It certainly had my eyebrows shooting up to the ceiling…

Also! Did you catch the gratuitous Canadian reference? grins I figured I had to throw something from this country into the story. shrugs, unabashed

Chapter Three: The meeting of the teens! Aaand… something else I haven't planned yet. Um.

Still, comments, improvements and suggestions are strongly appreciated – as are reviews. ahem, ahem The midterms/essays STILL are above my head… circling… like vultures… cowers behind the couch