Title: Puppet Boy
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Summary: Seto meets Truman, and the children encounter school.
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Again, not entirely my fault- er, idea. Jun is the co-creator of the children. We both co-own the kiddies, Casey-Ra, Hal, and Cynthia, and now Truman. Much apologies to Takahashi-san. Spoilers for the entire series, blah blah blah. All of Cynthia's poems were written by Jun.
-
Seto had never quite given up following Yuugi. Sure, some would call it 'stalking' (some like Malik and Otogi and Cynthia) but really, he was only making sure the boy was alright. He'd seemed so broken up about Atemu returning to the Spirit World. Of course, that had happened before Casey-Ra was born, thus making it quite a while ago, but still. You never knew.
He had stopped wandering around the perimeter of the Motou residence when he couldn't stand another minute at the mansion, which was a good thing. He merely loitered around the shop, looking through several of the games his company made and occasionally looking over at Yuugi. Yuugi now owned the game shop, since Solomon retired. The old man, who now seemed like he'd never die, was either at home, resting, or on a vacation somewhere tropical.
And that was the way things went with them.
-
It was six o'clock. Seto was loitering around the Turtle Game Shop. He was starting to get worried.
Yuugi had, for the past hour, been talking to a wooden puppet.
It was a large puppet, with a poof of reddish-purple hair and glossy brown eyes. It wore a brown blazer, a white shirt, and jeans. That and the surprisingly alert expression made the puppet almost resemble an actual boy. However, it was quite obvious, because its limbs were wooden- a beautiful shined pine- but wooden nonetheless.
Yuugi had propped it up on the desk and was having a rather one-sided but animated discussion with it.
Seto, wearing an expression of worry that his children had never seen, slowly made his way to the counter. Normally, he tried to not let Yuugi see him (a behavior left over from wandering the shop's perimeter at midnight) but this time he couldn't stand by.
"Yuugi, I had no idea you took up ventriloquism."
Yuugi shot Seto as best a glare as possible. "This isn't a ventriloquist's dummy! This is Truman. Say hello to Seto Kaiba, Truman."
Silence from the puppet and Seto.
"Truman wants me to tell you he thinks you need a new coat."
Seto checked his coat. He'd been so used to Hal chewing on everything, including leather coats, that he hadn't bothered to check for bite marks.
"Yuugi... Truman's a puppet."
Yuugi looked offended and hugged the puppet close to him. "Well of course! His mother was a door, what do you think?"
"A door?" Seto said, his powers of denial so sharply honed they could withstand this.
"Yes. Her name is Maggie." Yuugi declared.
A few more moments passed, and Seto's powers of denial finally raised a white flag and fled wildly from the scene.
Seto picked up the puppet. "Yuugi, this is a fake boy. This is an inanimate object. It. Is. Not. Real. It is faux! Artificial! A counterfeit boy!"
Yuugi started to say something, but stopped, seeming to listen to the puppet. "Truman says he's going to sue you for trauma."
"Excuse me?"
"Truman wants to be a lawyer when he grows up. Now put him down!" Yuugi snatched the puppet from Seto and held it close. Seto and Yuugi stared at each other for a moment, before Seto turned on his heels and walked to the door. He paused.
"At least you won't have to pay for college with that thing!"
"He'll be getting a very good scholarship, for your information!"
And with that, Seto left.
-
The next week, the children were in school.
Well, except Truman, whom Yuugi thought it wise to home-school.
Cynthia sat as far as the limo seat would allow from Casey-Ra and Hal. Hal, who had been given a gift of what could only be counted as 'a whole lotta' dice, was studying one of them in his hand. He'd named it Andy.
Casey-Ra, meanwhile, was rummaging through Cynthia's backpack. Cynthia sulked as best he could in three cubic feet.
Rummaging about in Cynthia's backpack, Casey-Ra pulled out a small, thin notebook. The cover was black and scribbled on extensively in silver Sharpie.
"Give me that!" Cynthia tried not to screech, snatching at the notebook. Casey-Ra held it aloft, snickering madly.
Before the situation could develop any further, the driver slammed on the breaks. Casey-Ra stayed in his seat, while Hal and Cynthia almost crashed into the wall directly opposite them.
It was time for school.
-
Cynthia settled down in his seat, holding his backpack on his lap cautiously. Casey-Ra still had the poetry notebook, and he had to get it back- now. Maybe not now, but really soon.
He eyed his classmates warily. Most of them seemed nondescript, and only one stood out at all. The boy in the seat next to him, who had pale blonde hair and big brown eyes, like a puppy.
The teacher hit her desk with her ruler to get their attention.
"Hello class. In order to introduce yourselves to your fellow classmates, we shall go, row by row, and you will stand up, state your name, and tell us about yourselves and your family." The teacher hit the desk of the pupil nearest her. "Start!"
The other students went fairly quickly, stating their names, telling one or two hobbies, and the names of their family members, and answering any questions the teacher asked.
"My name is Champ Kujaki. I like most sports and most animals. Unless they bite. I've got a mother, a father, and one brother- well, I think he's a brother, even though he's more of a pet, and Mom won't let us take Fluffy to the museum to see if they know what he is..." Champ trailed off.
The teacher arched one eyebrow at him, and then snapped her ruler in Cynthia's direction. Cynthia stood up.
"...I'm Cyn Kaiba..." Cynthia started.
The teacher arched the other eyebrow at Cynthia, and checked her student roster. "I have you down here as Cynthia Crawford."
Some snickers among the class, and a 'Isn't that some American supermodel?'. Cynthia glared as best he could. Unfortunately, he did not inherit the genes for it. And neither did Hal, but that's another thing entirely.
"Fine. My name is Cynthia Crawford. I live with my dad and the fathers of his children. I don't like my siblings. They're crazy. And not like foxes. I'm also a wine enthusiast..." Cynthia trailed off.
There was a small pause.
"Well, let's begin the lesson plan, shall we?"
-
Casey-Ra was up in the office, clutching Cynthia's notebook. It was sometime after lunch, so that was about right. The silver scribbles on it were mostly incoherent, although he could make out a 'Cynthia x Venus' heart. The other hearts had the other name crossed out in all of them.
He was in the office for being philosophy into the class. He'd lectured the teacher on Nietzsche when he misquoted him. Of course, when he'd gone into detail of the book and made a girl in back cry, he'd been tossed out of the classroom.
The office was empty. The events leading to this were complicated- a mysterious box of glowing doughnuts had appeared in the staff room, and the various staff supposed to be in the office were trying to solve that mystery. The secretary, who despised doughnuts (especially glowing doughnuts) was currently speeding toward a hospital, where her sister had gone into labor.
But Casey-Ra did not know this and merely assumed it was because of his inherent awesomeness that such an opportunity had presented itself. He very silently snuck up to the P.A. system, and opened Cynthia's notebook to the first page.
-
Cynthia was mostly concentrated on the worksheet in front of him, although he did sneak a couple of badly executed glares in Champ's direction, who occasionally looked up and stared at him.
Suddenly, the intercom beeped. The teacher made a sort of strangled 'eek' sound and looked at the dusty speaker with a look of mixed curiosity and fear. There was a series of other beeps, and then the sound of light breathing.
A stream of incoherent squeaks came out of the intercom. The teacher made more strangled 'eek' noises and fled behind her desk. There was a grunt, and then the sound of a switch being hit.
"Ahem. 'Untitled' by Cynthia Crawford-Kaiba."
Champ was not the only one looking at Cynthia now.
"People say
I am not
But I say
That I am
But nobody
Nobody
Agrees that I am
What I am
I am like
A bottle
of chardonnay
That nobody
Agrees with."
Cynthia recognized the voice slaughtering his poem. Casey-Ra. Well, surely they can see my genius even with such a butchered reading. He thought.
"The Pavement by Cynthia Crawford-Kaiba."
"The pavement
Is long and grey
It is like my face
After I dipped
It in cement
I fall
on it
And scrape my knee
And it hurts
And I have to
Find a plaster
To put on it
Otherwise it gets
Infected
Stupid goddamn pavement."
In Cynthia's head, his ego was slowly, ever so slowly, inflating.
"Untitled by Cynthia Crawford-Kaiba."
"My dad is a wine-o
Casey-Ra
Says that I
Am a whine-o
But he is
A big
Stupid lame-o."
Another pause, and Cynthia was beaming on the inside. On the outside, he was hunched over his desk and trying to make himself inconspicuous. This only amounted in him looking more like a pile of hair.
"Such were the last words of the pansy with hair extensions."
"They're real!" Cynthia said to the P.A., almost standing up, before realizing it was only going one-way at the moment and resumed being a pile of hair.
Before the situation could develop any further, the bell rang. Children shot out of the classroom and the classroom windows at rather high speeds.
"Cynthia, Champ, could you come here a moment?" said the teacher.
They obeyed, and the teacher flashed the roster at them.
"Your name is Champagne?" Cynthia asked.
"shut up." Champ mumbled.
"I think that's one of my middle names!"
"I have your birth certificates here. Look at them, please." The teacher handed them over. Another set of events had led their birth certificates to be in the teacher's possessions, but they was far too complicated to describe.
"...oh, sorry, Champagne's not one of my middle names. See?"
Written on Cynthia's birthday certificate was Cynthia's full name. Cynthia Cecilia Chardonnay Celeste Chianti Caetlyn Caileigh Calanthe Calliope Camillia Candelaria Capricia Caramia Clarissa Charlotta Carolina Cassandra Cassiopeia Catalina Catherine Catriona Celandine Clemency Clementine Clover Constancia Cordelia Coretta Coriander Cornelia Chrysanthemum Cyriaca Cinderella Crawford. Of course, this exceeded the space for 'middle name' and the rest of them were written on the border of the birth certificate.
Under parents, there was one common name.
"Pegasus Crawford's my... other dad?"
"Pegasus Crawford is your other daddy?"
"We're half-brothers?"
"I have another half-brother?"
"Why does he have so many girl names?"
"Right, now that you two are acquainted, get out of my classroom."
Champ and Cynthia made muttering sounds at each other as they walked outside, taken aback by their new status as half-brothers.
Meanwhile, Hal managed a daring escape from his classroom, but that's another story for another time.
-
Later that night, Cynthia turned on his computer. He had decided against telling Seto since the name Pegasus was not a welcome name in the house. He had taken back his notebook in an epic battle that had ended with Malik and Otogi pulling himself and Casey-Ra apart and tossing them in their respective rooms. And an order not to come out until dinner.
Well, now he had three half-brothers. More than Casey-Ra or Hal. And Champ seemed normal, which was amazing.
He pulled up WordPad and began typing.
There was a beautiful silhoette against the moon, long, curled hair floating gently in the midnight winds, like an angel. The silhoette stepped away, stealing a glance at the kingdom it had escaped, an unfair and crulle kingdom, were an unhappy marriage without true love waited for him. And here, in this place, was the one true love of his life...