Disclaimer: WookieeBeta does not own Yuugiou. Takahashi does, that lucky ba – er, person.
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude
Chapter Two: They're Back
By WookieeBeta
Blackness. Blissfully warm. No monsters, no Big Five, no dueling, no cold, no fear, no danger...just warmth, and softness, and comfort.
"Yuugi! Yuugi, get up!" a familiar voice snapped.
Yuugi groaned in protest, but didn't move; he was so warm...
"Move over, Kaiba - you and Mokuba get going! I'll get Yuug and follow ya, okay?" Jou? Why...why was Jou being nice to Kaiba? Something must be wrong! Suddenly worried, Yuugi clawed his way towards consciousness, but he was suddenly tired...so tired...
"Come on, Yuug, we gotta go," Jou said, kneeling down by his sleeping friend and shaking his shoulders. "Come on, buddy, wake up...you can't sleep any more, the Big Five are coming, we gotta go! Come on, Yuugi, wake up!" Yuugi moaned and curled up into a tight ball; Jou's anxiety increased considerably. The little guy never took this long to wake up. "Yuug? Yuug, you okay, man? Look, we haven't got time for this - I'm just gonna carry ya, all right?" No answer; no surprise there. The blonde stooped and wrapped his arms around his freezing companion, lifting him into the air and heading off at a lumbering run.
He's light, he realized suddenly. Too light... "You gotta start eating more, buddy," he commented aloud.
Behind them, four imposing silhouettes (and one not so imposing penguin) followed relentlessly.
The heat of Jou's torso on Yuugi's bare arms was a blazing inferno; he whimpered softly and tried to wiggle away, but Jou grasped him more tightly. Slowly, so slowly, his own skin began to warm, and the agony faded.
"Jouno," he murmured eventually, "Jou, put me down, I can walk."
"You sure?" Jou asked concernedly. "You don't look so good..."
Yuugi shook his head. "I'm fine, Jou, really I am...just put me down, all right?" The blonde hesitated, but he carefully set Yuugi's feet down in the snow and helped him stand straight.
"Come on, we gotta move," he urged. The two took off at a dead run.
"What's going on?" Yuugi panted a moment later.
"It's the Big Five again. Now that Kaiba's put Noa out of the picture, they found a way to escape from whatever virtual prison he put 'em in and are after us again. And I think," he added with a glance over his shoulder, "they're gaining."
The only thing heard for some time was the sound of their feet crunching the snow.
A/N 1: Yup, another short chapter. Sorry… They don't get much better, either.
If you haven't already figured it out, by the way, this is an AU that takes place immediately after Kaiba's duel with Noa. In the dub badness occurs and Yami is actually the one to finish the duel; in my world, Kaiba whoops Blue-Hair-Boy's rear …and then badness occurs grin
I'm using the Japanese names as much as possible; if you need a Japanese-to-English comparison (or have any other questions at all, barring those about my sanity – it's nonexistent), please let me know.
A/N 2: Minor typo edits, changed the title. – WB 08Nórui2006
