Chapter seventeen! YAAAY!

Uh...I'll be quiet and let you read now...

The Sickness

Yami POV

I looked at Yuugi. "Ano…isn't it way past the time Miriku usually gets up?"

Yuugi looked away from the stove, where he was boiling a pot of water to make spaghetti. "Dunno. What time is it?"

"Almost noon," I replied, glancing at the clock.

Worry crossed Yuugi's face. "You should go check on her."

I made a face at him. "Why do I have to do it?"

"Because I'm making lunch," he said pointedly.

I rolled my eyes, pretending to be put out. "Fine—but you owe me one!"

Yuugi grinned. "Right. Just go wake up Miriku-aneki, will you?"

I grinned, heading off into the hall. It was funny, how Yuugi had started to call Miriku 'ane' and 'aneki'—both terms for 'big sister'. First, they weren't even related—second, Miriku was younger than him by a month.

I tapped on the door with my good hand. "Miriku-kun? You awake in there?"

No answer. I was beginning to get worried—even a shout to go away was better than nothing, and nothing was exactly what I was getting.

"Miriku?" I pushed open the door.

Miriku blinked blearily at me from her bed. Her glasses were resting on the table next to her, but she still hadn't put them on. Even in the dim light that filtered through the drawn curtains on her window, she looked pale.

"Sorry I'm not up," she croaked. "I feel like shit." She began to cough.

"You sound like shit," I said firmly, walking up to the edge of the bed. "What did you do last night?"

Miriku made a weak attempt at a shrug. "Sang…drank a lot of soda…I don't really remember."

I raised my eyebrows. "You look like you've got a hangover. I think I'll have to check with Sonja—just to make sure those drinks weren't alcoholic."

Miriku laughed a little—and started to cough again. "Would you mind getting me the bottle of DayQuil? Yuugi should know where it is."

I nodded. "Right. Will do." I exited the room and trotted back to the kitchen.

"Aibou, Miriku-kun needs some DayQuil."

Yuugi looked strangely at me. "Why?"

"I think she might have a cold."

"Oh." He reached up into a cupboard above the stove and pulled out a bottle with a white, orange, and yellow label. "Make sure you follow the directions—too little of this stuff'll keep her feeling bad, but too much will get her drunk like alcohol will."

"Better keep this stuff away from the tomb robber, then," I muttered.

Yuugi laughed. "Bad thoughts there. Now—shoo! Go play 'guardian and protector' for your girlfriend in there."

"Yuugi!"

"Hey, it's true!"

I sweatdropped. "Just don't let her hear you say that, all right?"

Yuugi grinned. "I already promised, didn't I? You've got nothing to worry about."

I rolled my eyes, heading back for Miriku's room. Sometimes I wished Yuugi hadn't found out…

I opened the door again. "Someone order some DayQuil?"

Miriku grinned at me. She had managed to sit up, and her glasses were on. "Thanks, Yami…I really don't feel up to getting up right now."

I smiled sheepishly. "Well, all I know at the moment is that you're going to have to pour this stuff yourself—I can't do a damn thing with my wrist in this cast thing."

"It's more like a splint," she corrected, taking the bottle of orange-yellow syrup from me. I noticed her hands were shaking a little.

"Seriously, Miriku—what did you do last night that's got you so sick this morning?"

Miriku glared at me. "I told you already! What are you, my father?" She collapsed into another fit of coughing.

"Sorry!" I said quickly, grabbing her arm. "Really, I'm sorry—I'm just a little worried."

Miriku grinned lopsidedly. "Don't be—I'm a big girl."

"I'm a big girl, Atem—I can take care of her. Go on without me."

I blinked—and for a second, it wasn't Miriku in front of me, but another girl. She had waist-length, gold-brown hair tied back with a leather strip, and silver-blue eyes that were slitted like a cat's. White ears rose delicately from her hair, and a long white tail twitched from beneath her coarse linen breeches. Her claw/nails were extended.

"But, Kimiru—"

"Go! You have to stop Bakura!"

"Yami? Are you all right?"

I gave my head a shake. "Hunh? Oh—I'm fine…"

Miriku cocked her head. "Are you sure?"

I grinned, taking the bottle of medicine from her. "It should really be me asking you that, shouldn't it? I mean, you're the one who feels like shit."

Miriku grinned a little, and slid back under the covers of the bed. "This stuff is about to knock me out, so…g'night. Again."

I grinned a little. "G'night, Miriku-sama."

"Miriku-kun," she corrected drowsily.

"Right—Miriku-kun."

Miriku smiled a little. "Good boy." Her eyes closed, and she began to snore lightly.

I shook my head. Good boy? She must have really been unfocused!

I pulled off her glasses, set them on the bed stand, and took the bottle of DayQuil back into the kitchen.

Yuugi looked at me, stirring the spaghetti sauce. "And the verdict is?"

"She's fast asleep," I replied, sitting down at the table. "The medicine knocked her flat."

Yuugi grinned. "Good."

Suddenly, the phone rang. Being the closest to it, I hobbled over and picked it up. "Hello?"

"Ahkama?"

I started—then remembered that I had chosen Ahkama to be my use-name. "Yeah…"

"It's me, Sonja. Is Miriku around?"

"Yes, she's here—but she's asleep. She's got a cold or something."

I heard Sonja gasp. "Poor girl! Is she all right?"

I grinned. "I just told you—she's asleep. How would I know that?"

"…You've got me there." Sonja's tone was rueful. "Anyway, I'd called because I found something of hers that she left here at Shining Starr. It's a silver amulet, with runes or something carved on it."

I raised my eyebrows. As far as I knew, Miriku didn't have any jewelry that looked like that. "Are you sure it's hers?"

"Dead sure—it says Miriku Hernandez right on the back."

I sighed. "Well, I can't pick it up, because of my wrist—I'll call Terra and have her pick it up, all right?"

"Got it!" There was a click as she hung up.

I shook my head, and looked at the phone directory Miriku had put up for us. I then dialed Terra's number.

"Hello?"

"Terra, it's me, Yami."

"Oh—hey Yami. What's up?"

"Nothing much—Sonja just called, and told me that Miriku left some kind of amulet over at Shining Starr. Yuugi or I can't get it—we don't know the way, Miriku is sick right now, and we'd need the illusion spells."

Terra sighed. "All right. Should I call up everyone else to get to her apartment?"

I sighed with relief. "That would be a good idea—I don't know much about treating colds, and neither does Yuugi."

"Wait—should Sonja, Damien, Marik, and/or Sam come?"

I thought for a moment. "Might as well," I said reluctantly. "They've got a right to know what's going on."

"All right."

Click.

I looked at Yuugi, who had just finished the spaghetti. "Hope you made enough of that stuff for everyone—'cause everyone's coming over."

Yuugi stared at me. "Even the ones who don't know who we are?"

"Even them."

Yuugi groaned. "Miriku's gonna kill us."

I shrugged. "It's better than having her get even sicker than she is."

"…That's true."

OooO

Terra POV

"Slow down, Sonja! Wait up!"

Of course, Sonja ignored Damien, running as fast as she could to catch up to me. "So you're telling me that that's really Kaiba!"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, that's really Kaiba, if his attitude maladjustment hadn't clued you in already."

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Oh, thanks a lot," he said sarcastically.

"You're welcome," I replied nonchalantly, knocking on one of the doors.

The door opened a little, and Sam peered out. I heard shouting in the background. "What's the password, dude?"

I rolled my eyes, exasperated. "There is no password, Sam! Just let us in!"

Sam grinned a little. "No password, no entry!"

"Sam!" I heard Mikey exclaim exasperatedly. The hippie-girl was elbowed out of the way, and Mikey opened the door, looking harried. "I hope you guys don't mind utter insanity—that's exactly what's going on in here."

Damien gestured at Kaiba. "If it's anything like him, I think we've already seen enough."

Kaiba glared at me. "Quiet, wannabe."

Damien glared right back at him. "Who said I wanted to look like you?"

"…"

"Exactly."

Mikey shook her head, sighing. "Come on, Sonja—Yami wants to see you."

Damien groaned as Sonja went starry-eyed. "Yami? He's here?"

"Whoa, girl!" Damien exclaimed, grabbing her by the arm. "Calm down! It's just the pharaoh—no big!"

"Oh, come on—you know you'd be acting the same if Anzu was in there!"

Damien blushed. "Sonja!"

Kaiba smirked. "Good luck with that—Friendship-girl has eyes for only one person, and that's the pharaoh."

Damien growled at him. "Shut up."

"I don't feel like it."

Mikey sighed. "Just come on, guys—I need help restraining Marik from glomping poor Malik."

I grinned. "I have got to see this." Mikey backed up, and the four of us entered.

Everyone was in the living room. Malik shot past, swearing colorfully in Arabic. Marik chased right behind him, exclaiming, "I just want one autograph!" Bakura and John were laughing their heads off.

At that moment, Yami walked into the room. "Quiet, guys! Miriku is resting!"

Damien had to bodily restrain Sonja from running over to glomp Yami. "He's got a fractured wrist, baka 'nee-san!" he hissed.

Yami grinned at Damien, and carefully walked up to Sonja. "Could you let me see that amulet?"

Sonja tore herself from Damien's grasp, reached into her pocket, and pulled out a silver, oval amulet on a silver chain. Engraved on one side was the name 'Miriku Hernandez'—and on the back were runes that looked oddly like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Yami read over the runes—and his eyes narrowed. Without any comment whatsoever, he stalked over to Bakura, who was smirking at something John had just muttered to him, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him into the wall.

Uh-oh! Bakura's in trou-ble!

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