Okay, timelines are a bit skewed in this chapter, but what theheck.


Recovering

I collapsed back with a sigh on the bed Yuugi had prepared for me. Staying out of Yami's sight was proving difficult—even though it had only been a few hours, he was already going in alcohol withdrawal, which meant random wanderings of the game shop between long periods of time in the bathroom and bedroom. I knew he was resilient—but this time, there may have been too much damage already done to heal…

I stared at the ceiling for a while, just thinking. This wasn't what I had expected—I mean, I had dreamed of coming to the YuGiOh world even before last summer's incident, but I had always imagined a completely different reaction.

All I can say is, the welcoming committee hadn't been very nice.

I groaned a little, remembering Anzu—and the fact that she'd had a crush on Yami for the longest time. And with our Kaiba look-alike having a crush on her…

This wasn't going to be pretty.

I jumped as the door creaked open. Yami staggered in. I tried to slip behind the bed—but he'd already spotted me.

"Hey! You're not no dream!"

I winced a little. It would take a long time for him to get over the mis-speaking of words…

It's either "You aren't a dream" or "You're not a dream," I said dryly. Besides, how do you know you're not having hallucinations? After all, you're still pretty well intoxicated.

"'Cause you're standin' right there."

That doesn't mean crap.

"Bet if you wanted to, you could even talk normally instead of into my head!"

I chose not to reply to that. Get some sleep, mister pharaoh. It's late. I tried to keep my voice hard and commanding, but some affection filtered over.

Yami smiled a little at me. "All right, Ser'gent Stranger." He tossed me a sketchy salute, and staggered out the door.

I sat back down on the bed. That had been much too close for comfort.

At least he was getting better…


Yami POV

I woke up the next morning—and wished I hadn't. My head felt as if it were going to split in two. Every little sound sent lances of pain through my skull. The window was wide open—when I opened my eyes, I immediately had to shut them again.

Basically—I had a hangover from the seventh hell.

Covering my eyes with my hand, I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. My head was pounding as I went downstairs.

"Yuugi…do you have any migraine medicine?"

Yuugi 'tsk'ed, pattering over to the medicine cabinet. "Yami, Yami, Yami—you go and get drunk, remain drunk for months, and then expect to come off just fine? You may be an almighty pharaoh, but you sure aren't an invincible one."

I grimaced. "Thanks a lot. That's a real confidence booster there." I took the medicine bottle, downed two of the pills—and sighed with relief as the headache slowly but immediately began to fade. "So, what's for breakfast?"

Yuugi gestured absently at the stove from where he was rummaging about in the cabinet. "Oatmeal. Help yourself." He set one bowl on the counter, slid it to me, and took the second one for himself.

Not until I bent over and sniffed the oatmeal did I realize how absolutely starving I was. And I smelled strawberries-and-cream…

Yuugi poked me. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you getting breakfast? You're not the only one here who's starving!"

I smiled a little, filling my bowl and making my way to the table. It wasn't too hard to get around now—the headache was mostly gone (thank Ra), but I still felt a bit woozy.

Yuugi looked up at me. "So, have you had any visits from your friend? You know, the one from your dream?"

I grinned. "Yes. Last night I called her Sergeant Stranger…"

Yuugi nearly burst out laughing. "Are you serious!"

I shrugged. "As she so blandly pointed out, I was still more than half drunk at the time."

I stared off into space for a moment. "I wish she'd say something about Miriku…"

Yuugi patted my arm from across the table. "C'mon, Yami, it's not that bad…"

I grimaced. "Yes. It is. Just thinking of her makes me want to down a bottle of sake…and I can't stop thinking about her…"

Yuugi sighed. "Yami…you need to get over it…"

I narrowed my eyes a little. "Why should I?"

Yuugi glared at me. "Frankly? It's because I'm tired of seeing you like this. You mope around all day—it was bad enough before you got into drinking, and then you did, and it got even worse."

There was truth in his words—no matter how stinging the delivery. "Sumimasen, Yuugi…you're right…"

Yuugi smiled a little. "'Course I am. Now eat your breakfast."

He didn't have to ask me twice.

I finished quickly and set my bowl in the sink. "I'm going up on the roof while it's still twilight."

Yuugi smiled a little. "Now I know you're feeling better. You go ahead and do that."

I smiled back at him, before climbing up the stairs, walking into Yuugi's room, and opening the skylight hatch-style. I hauled myself up onto the roof—and froze.

The way I had pulled myself up, I was facing east, towards the sunrise. And what I saw was a girl, sitting with her legs swinging over the edge of the roof. She looked a lot like my 'Sergeant Stranger'. Standing up, I crept closer—and realized she was singing softly.

"…playin' the role
Of the happy girl, but no one knows
Inside I'm alone
Though I would never let it show

I get every day
Too much work and not enough play—
Over and over, it's always the same…
Yeah…

But you can make everything okay…"

I recognized the words—and felt a twinge of pain. Miriku had often played it on her computer…

"Hullo, Sarge," I said quietly, a small smile on my face. "Please explain to me how I can be hallucinating this time around.

The girl whipped around—and blinked. "Ehehe…yeah…about that…uh…hi?"

I blinked a little. She sounded oddly familiar…

She smiled at me, standing up and dusting off what, seeing as how the arms and legs were an inch or two too short, looked like Yuugi's spare night robe and sweatpants. "Okay, okay, you've caught me—I'm no hallucination. Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't had breakfast yet—I'm starving!" She trotted over to the skylight and slipped in.

Half-dazed, I followed her. She sounded so cheerful, as opposed to last night and the day before…

I know I've met her before…

I arrived at the kitchen hall a minute or two after her, since I had to close the skylight.

"—scared the crud out of me!" the girl was saying with a laugh. "I didn't even hear him come up!"

I paused, just listening.

Yuugi laughed a little. "He is very light on his feet, when he wants to be. Smooth as a cat."

"Or a desert lion," the girl added. "I was just sitting there, singing a little—and I suddenly hear him talking to me out of nowhere!"

Her voice suddenly became sober. "It's good to see he's getting back to normal…I don't like lying, even if it is for the best…"

"Well, as soon as we know he won't go back to drinking, you can tell him."

I crossed my arms, and stepped into the doorway. "Tell me what, exactly?"

All motion in the kitchen ceased. Two pairs of amethyst eyes stared at me.

"Yami—please don't get mad at us—we thought it was for the best—"

I glared at Yuugi. "Well, in case you hadn't noticed," I said stiffly, "I'm not going back to drinking. So spill it. Who in the seven hells is this?"

Yuugi looked at the girl. She took a deep breath and stood up. "Remember when I told you that I knew Miriku…?"

I looked at her. My eyes narrowed at the guilty expression on her face "Yes. I do. Why?"

"Well…I lied." She pulled a black lanyard out of her pocket, fumbled at it for a second, and held it out to me. Her eyes were averted.

I pulled the card from her hand, and blinked, realizing it was laminated. The card was a holographic, limited-edition trap card called—

Pharaoh's Treasure.

I stared at the card—and then at the girl in front of me. Everything suddenly clicked.

"Miriku…?"

She nodded slowly. "I didn't want you to do something stupid…so I didn't tell you who I was…"

I just shook my head. "How did you get here?"

"You're asking me?" she said dryly.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Same old koishii…"

She smiled. "I missed you, Yami…"

Yuugi coughed a little. "Uh…shouldn't we go meet the others at the park?"

Miriku clapped a hand to her forehead—a familiar gesture that I had come to miss. "Yeah! Right! Okay, I need to go get dressed, then!" She looked at me. "I hope you don't mind me stealing clothes, but you're only one size bigger than me, as opposed to Yuugi's being two sizes to small."

"Heyy!"

"What? It's true!"

"You don't have to make it sound so mean!"

I raised my hands. "Please, both of you!" I looked at Miriku. "You go ahead and use one of my spare outfits."

She smiled at me. "Arigatou!" She sprinted off and up the stairs.

Yuugi smiled. "She's not the only one who came back. Terra's here…Sam…Marik…Sonja…Damien…and a new girl named Erica."

I blinked. "Wait a second. Damien's here?"

I grimaced at Yuugi's affirmative nod. "This may lead to a few problems…"

Anything Yuugi was about to say was cut off by Miriku's return. She trotted down the stairs wearing one of my black tank tops, jeans, and the Domino High overcoat. "Okay—I'm ready!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "You look like a girl version of Yuugi!"

"Malik has already pointed that out, thanks," Yuugi said dryly.

Miriku grinned. "All right, people, what are we waiting for? Come on! Let's go!"


(laughs) Yay for happy endings! The next chapter--or maybe two chapters--is/are gonna be about the others and how they assimilated, so don't worry.

Review, please!