A Firend and a Secret

Katsuya Jonouchi was lying spread-eagle on John's floor. He appeared to be unconscious.

"No waaay!" Merekai exclaimed, peering out over the top of the couch. "More people!"

"Person," Terra corrected, also standing up. "And, if I'm not mistaken, that's—"

"Jonouchi!" Yuugi exclaimed, darting over. His face fell when he realized the taller boy was out cold.

Terrance and Jane stared from Jonouchi to the TV, eyes wide.

"So this is what happened to you," Dean murmured, looking at me.

I nodded. "That's exactly what happened. Except the spell book flew out after they did."

Malik sniggered. "Yeah—and it hit Bakura upside the head!"

Bakura chose to ignore that particular comment—which was good, because I didn't really feel like mopping up what remained of Malik when they were done fighting.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm all for getting out of this stupid thing before the mutt wakes up." He gestured at the toga.

Terra nodded. "Good idea—we can get back into our regular clothes."

"But Terra!" Merekai whined. "This is fun!"

"And scaring the torasshu (crap) out of Jonouchi isn't," Yami countered firmly. "Let's get these things off."

"Fine," Merekai muttered. "We're still having waffles tomorrow morning, though!"

Everyone sweatdropped at that remark—even Kaiba.

So, five minutes later, everyone was back wearing the clothes they had arrived in. Ryou had moved Jonouchi onto the largest of the three couches, and by the time everyone was finished changing, he was already starting to stir.

Suddenly, I got an idea. A really, really good idea. Bakura and John would have been proud of me, it was that good. "Everyone find a place to hide!"

"Why?" Terrance asked suspiciously.

I waved my hand dismissively. "Just do it!"

With a long-suffering sort of sigh, Kaiba moved out of sight into the kitchen. Everyone else dove behind or under something. I perched on the arm of the couch next to Jonouchi's head, sniggering inwardly.

Yami POV

I crouched behind the coffee table next to Bakura (of all people), watching as Jonouchi opened his eyes.

Miriku grinned down at him. "Hiya, Jonouchi," she said in Japanese. "Welcome to reality. You look like a semi ran you over, and then backed up and did it again."

I nearly laughed out loud at the expression of shock registering on Jonouchi's face. He quite obviously had no idea what was going on, and there was little doubt that Miriku had startled him to no end.

Jonouchi suddenly sprang to his feet. He grabbed Miriku by the collar of her shirt, lifting her two feet in the air. "Who da heck are you, where da heck am I, and how da heck d'ya know my name?" he snarled.

Miriku let out a strangled noise, trying to pull Jonouchi's hand off of her neck. Jonouchi simply squeezed harder.

"The girl deserves it," Bakura muttered with a snigger. "You did try to warn her."

I felt resentment towards the tomb robber. Yes, I had warned her—but this was going a little too far on Jonouchi's part! I had never seen him act like this to a girl!

"Jonouchi!" I exclaimed suddenly, darting out from behind the couch. "Stop it! That's enough! Put her down—now!"

Jonouchi was so startled, he let go of Miriku's collar. Almost automatically, I reached out and caught her before she hit the ground.

Miriku POV

"What do you think you're doing!" Yami berated Jonouchi (in Japanese, of course) as I gasped for air. "You could have choked her to death! Show a bit of self-control!"

"That was…bad prank," I managed to gasp out. "Bad idea. Sorry."

People had meanwhile been emerging from their hiding places. Without warning, everyone except Kaiba and Jonouchi collapsed into laughter. I didn't realize why until I noticed that Yami, after catching me, had been holding me bridal-style in his arms.

Apparently, Yami had just noticed that, too. He blushed scarlet, and let me down onto my feet. I scurried away to stand next to Jane, who was trying to suppress her giggles.

"I think the pharaoh has a soft spot for that girl!" Bakura muttered audibly to John, making Yami and I blush even harder and sending the rest of the room into gales of laughter.

Jonouchi looked around, obviously still confused. He ran a hand through his shaggy blond hair, and sighed. "Can someone tell me what da heck is goin' on here? Like, how I got here, an' why Yami an' Bakura ain't stuck in deir Item things?" Of course, he was still talking in Japanese, which Jane and Terrance don't know as much of as we do, so I had to translate every now and then.

"It's simple, really," Malik began, languishing on the smaller couch. "The six of us—" he pointed to himself, Yami, Yuugi, Ryou, Bakura, and Kaiba, "—got spit out of her TV—" he pointed to me, "—along with some wack-o spell book that gives us a disguise so that other people don't know who we are."

"Why would ya wanna disguise yourselves?" Jonouchi asked, perplexed.

"Because," Dean replied, "You're part of a TV series."

Jonouchi blinked. "Nani?"

Ryou and Yuugi looked at each other, and collapsed into helpless laughter.

"What's so funny?" Dustil asked.

Yuugi wiped tears off of his face, still laughing so hard he could barely talk. "Jo-Jonouchi failed English! He barely understands a word of it, and hardly speaks it at all!"

Realization dawned on Dean's face. "And I just said that in English…oh, brother."

Jonouchi was staring at everybody. "What's so funny, huh? Was it somethin' I said?"

"How about something you can't say?" Kaiba called blandly from the kitchen. "Like, anything whatsoever in the English language?"

Jonouchi whipped around, a scowl on his face. "No one asked you, rich-boy!" he snapped.

Kaiba shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm just saying…"

Yuugi grabbed Jonouchi's arm. "Don't let him bait you like that, Jonouchi. He's only doing it because it makes you mad."

Jonouchi scowled darkly at Kaiba, before turning back to us. "Awright, so answer da question. Why do ya need disguises?"

"Because you're part of a pretty popular TV series," Dustil explained (insert gag from Terrance—he doesn't seem to like YuGiOh that much, for some strange reason), "and we don't want you guys being glomped by insane fangirls."

"Or anyone asking questions," John added. "You wouldn't believe the kinds of stupid questions people here in America will ask."

Jonouchi blinked. "America?"

Malik nodded. "America. Don't ask—we have no clue."

No one said anything for a moment. Finally, Jonouchi collapsed onto the couch he'd first been on. "Whoa," he said weakly.

"Whoa," Yuugi agreed.

Terra glanced at the clock—and did a double-take. "Whoa—it's that late already! We'd better get some sleep!"

"Why?" Kaiba asked. "No one's here—we can stay up as late as we want."

Terra rolled her eyes. "Well, I'm sure you don't have a problem staying up late, seeing as how all you ever do is work, but some of us are human and actually need to sleep."

Kaiba snorted. "Go ahead. I'll find a computer."

John shook his head vigorously. "No you will not! My mom would kill me!"

Kaiba glared at John for a moment, and then looked at Terra. "Besides, who are you to tell me what to do? Last I checked, you couldn't even prevent your little sister from running out in front of a car!"

Everyone fell dead silent.

Terra stared at him, slack-jawed. When she spoke, her voice was weak. "How…how did you…?"

"It was easy. Entry number twenty-four." Kaiba put on a high-pitched voice. "'Dear Diary; I don't think I can ever forgive myself. My little sister Zena just got hit by a car—and it's all my fault! I tried to tell her not to run off, but she didn't listen to me—she never listens to me! They took her to a hospital, and then she died! And it's all because I'm a bad sister! Now Mom and Dad are talking about moving—we might go to Florida. It's on the other end of the country from home here in California. I hope I make new friends—but they'll never be like Zena. I miss her already. I'm such a bad sister…. I don't think I'll tell anyone about Zena. I don't want people to hate me…because wherever Zena is now, she probably hates me, too. Terra Cooper, February 17, 1997.'"

Everyone was staring at Terra. She bowed her head, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. "It's true," she whispered. "It's all true…she didn't listen…and now she's dead…"

She looked up at Kaiba, anger in her eyes. "Why did you have to remind me about it! I'd almost forgotten—I was almost over it! I'd almost accepted it! Why did you have to ruin it!" Her voice rose to a scream. "DAMN YOU AND YOUR CURIOSITY, SETO KAIBA! WHY COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST LEFT WELL ENOUGH ALONE!"

Her voice broke. She turned with a sob and fled to one of the rooms. We heard the slamming of a door somewhere in the hall.

"That was real smart, rich-boy," Jonouchi muttered.

Kaiba just shook his head. There was an expression of utter shock on his face.

Mikey stared after Terra. "Poor girl," she murmured.

I was feeling slightly numb. Not only was the fact that Terra even had a little sister a shocking revelation, but add in the fact that said sister was dead…

And then there was the manner in which the information had been revealed. Right then, I felt like roasting Kaiba over a slow fire until he met the criteria of 'well-done', and the bringing him back to life just so I could do it again.

Bakura held up his hands. "I know you guys are all up and feeling sorry for Terra at the moment, but…" He sniggered, and continued. "Am I the only one who finds it shocking that Kaiba was reading a girl's diary?"

Everyone turned to look at Kaiba who shifted uncomfortably. "What of it?" he snapped irritably. "If she didn't want anyone reading it, she shouldn't have left it on her counter in the first place! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to bed." He marched off without a backward glance.

"I still say there's something between them," Bakura muttered audibly to John and Terrance.

"Shove it, thief!" Yami snapped. "That's your problem—you just don't know when the joke is over!"

"Well, excuuuse me!" Bakura retorted. "I'm just pointing out the obvious!"

"If it were obvious, then you wouldn't need to point it out!"

My temper snapped. "Will you two please just shut up!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakura snapped at me.

"If it weren't for me, you guys'd be on the streets!"

"If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be here in the first place!"

Ryou stood up. "All three of you, please! This isn't getting us anywhere!"

The three of us sat down—Yami and I glaring at Bakura, and vice versa.

"I think we'd all better get some sleep," Mikey finally said into the silence. "John, you'll have to figure out where everyone is sleeping—I'm sure the yamis and hikaris can share rooms, but I'm not so sure about the rest of us."

John nodded absently. "Yeah…let's go."