So thank you for all the great reviews. I thank each one of you from the bottom of my heart. Seeing that you actually care makes me feel so wonderful!
And my quote of the chapter is:
"Everything is more beautiful because we are doomed."-- Achilles, TROY
You'll see what I mean...
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Yuugi saw Ryou walking home from school, but couldn't manage to make himself go drag the other boy down. Obviously Ryou was in a class above his own, and he would only make the other boy miserable by associating with him. He stared at the ground as he walked, absorbed in his musings. Why had he said those things to Mrs. Une? That was most certainly not in his nature. Maybe it had something to do with the previous day, something that had awakened in him? Something that may have been what kept him alive, even when his will, and his body, were telling him to let go.
Let it all go...
He sighed. If only that was the way of it. But it wasn't.
He fingered his wounds, feeling the scabs even underneath the gauze. His breath hitched as he pressed too hard on a tender spot, feeling the crust break over the healing gashes. A not so subtle reminder of something that had changed in him. He felt raw inside, as though it were his soul that were opened and bleeding, not his arms.
Maybe that was what had changed. Maybe with those few short seconds in which he had torn his life open, he spilled something more than his blood.
Maybe he had spilled something more than his heart.
He shook his head and continued on, scarcely paying attention anymore to the flow of time, traffic, and life around him. He stopped abrubtly, feeling that calling, the longing from somewhere...
Yuugi...
Where...? What...?
He shook his head, deciding that not only was he going freaking nuts, he was hearing things. That wasn't ever good, was it? Everything he had ever heard about people hearing voices ended up with them either dead, or as good as. He really didn't fancy being stuck in a mental institution.
Life was just fucking peachy, wasn't it?
Well, whatever. He'd deal. Right?
Sure...
He got home and opened the door. The bell jangled loudly alerting the residents that he was indeed home.
"Yuugi! How was your day?" Sugoroku asked as he finished helping a customer. He looked in the direction of his teenage grandson, only to find that he was no longer there. He caught a glimpse of Yuugi's coat as he slowly went up the stairs.
"Fine ji-chan." Said Yuugi, his voice just barely heard. "I'm going to work on that puzzle for a while. Why don't you call for me when dinner's ready?"
He didn't wait for an answer. Sugoroku frowned. This wasn't like his cheerful grandson. Something had happened over the last few days. Something big. But Yuugi wasn't much different from usual. Just a little quieter. A bit more melencholy.
Maybe it was because he had such trouble finding friends. He'd have to work on figuring it out later though, because right now he was busy with the store.
He stored that thought away for a better time.
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Yuugi dropped his bag in his room before shuffling down the hall to the bathroom. Upon entering, he shut the door and sighed as he sank slowly to the ground. He was feeling a little odd still. More tired than usual. But there was nothing that could be done about it now.
He got up and went to the counter. He stared at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were so lost, so sad. How could they not notice? He smiled. No, even that didn't make it better. He still looked like a lost and depressed little boy.
He was, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was the fact that he should not look the part of the sad boy.
He pushed up his sleeves and unwrapped the bandages. He let the bloodied gauze float to the ground, watching its slow descent. It seemed that it should symbolize something. Should embody his feelings somehow. Make him see something deep inside of him, like in a story. But as he stared, he realized it was nothing more than gauze.
Used, bloodied, torn.
He pulled his gaze from the gauze to his arms. The old wounds were healing nicely, and the new ones from the morning were scabbing now. He decided that that was enough. If he kept staring, he might be tempted to see them open once again...
He cleaned them, put ointment and bandages back on and threw away his trash.
Maybe that was supposed to symbolize something too... He wondered. But couldn't find the will to care.
He went back to his room to work on the puzzle, filled with that longing, calling feeling once again.
Yuugi...
Where was it coming from? This was obviously a side effect of the bloodloss and hunger... maybe he was running a fever...?
No... He wasn't sick, he would have felt it by now. Even an infection in the cuts would have been noticable by now, with the red tender skin and the pus and stuff. Not that he knew this from personal experience or anything...
He grinned slightly as he picked up the golden box. There was something familiar about his box... Like it was something from a dream, something that belonged to him.
He felt it should have been here sooner... maybe this puzzle could have helped keep the loneliness and the anger at bay while he finished it. If he had hear Ji-chan right, then this was a puzzle that no one had EVER solved. If he could solve it, then maybe he wasn't so useless after all!
He sat at the desk, opening the chest to dump out the pieces.
Yuugi!
He felt a jolt, like a shocking sensation as he touched one of the pieces. Damn static electricity...
Never mind the fact that the gold was warm now, inviting to the touch... He felt like he was working in a haze, trembling hands seeking out the pieces of the puzzle.
-----------------sorry for the wait... but i had this chapter all done, but i didn't (and still don't) like it as much as I feel it deserves... i kept re-writing it, but oh well. next chapter soonly, I promise!