Jack rinsed off the plate and handed it off to Crow, who dried it with a now-damp dish towel and added it to the small stack in the cabinet.
"I wish I could give you a hand." Yusei leaned against the kitchen wall, out of the way.
"You actually want to do chores?" Crow raised his eyebrows at the ghost.
"I always liked them. And it beats just doing nothing." He shrugged.
"By the way, Yusei." Jack dried off his hands and turned towards the teen. "I think I found out a bit more about your family."
Yusei straightened up. "What? Like what?"
"Your brother Rally is living down at the repair shop. He looks like he's doing well, but your other brother left town soon after you… well, you know. Your friend Akiza says he's looking for you."
Yusei swallowed hard at that. "He's… searching?"
"Yes. It seems like you're technically a missing person. A lot of people think you're still alive." Jack and Crow could see the pained expression on his face.
"Kalin thinks I'm alive? He… he left Rally to Nerve and the others thinking I'm alive?" His breath hitched and he sank to the floor, rubbing his hands over his face. "Oh, my god. What the hell happened to my family?"
Crow knelt down in front of Yusei and reached out a hand. He rested it on Yusei's shoulder, solidly, and waited until he lifted his head. His eyes were red and his cheeks were wet.
"Yusei, we will find out what happened to you, I promise. Rally is fine and Kalin will be fine as well."
Yusei sniffed. "Tha-thank you." He blinked and rubbed his eyes before standing. "You… um… you said something about meeting Akiza?" He looked at Jack.
"The red-head with the man-eating horse and the bad attitude? Yeah."
"How did she look? Like she was doing okay?"
Jack paused, not sure he wanted to tell Yusei everything she had told him, especially about how she was partially responsible for Kalin running off. "She looked like she was well. She really missed you, though. Apparently you vanished the morning after the two of you went on a date."
"I went on that date?" Yusei bit his lip and closed his eyes for a quick moment. "The last thing I remember is getting ready for our date."
"If it makes you feel any better, she said you kissed." Jack offered. He didn't know much about comforting the dead, and knew as soon as he said it how lame it sounded.
Yusei let out an unamused laugh. "Just my luck. My first kiss and I don't remember any of it."
Yyyyy
The next day found Jack at the local grocery store, shopping for food. He weighed his options, mentally calculating prices, and gradually filled his basket. Once he had enough to make dinner for he and his brother for the night he headed for checkout. Lost in thought, he failed to notice someone rounding the same corner as he was until they had collided.
"OH!" The girl stepped back in shock and quickly reached up to fix her glasses. "I am so sorry."
"No. I should have been watching where I was going." Jack apologized and watched as the girl looked up at him. Her eyes grew wide and her cheeks turned red.
"You-you're Jack Atlas."
"You know me?" He blinked, mildly surprised. He wasn't expecting anyone to know his name yet. He barely even knew the name of the street he lived on.
"I-I might have looked you up." She fidgeted with her glasses and glanced away. "I heard there was some new competition in town."
"Competition? Are you a duelist?" Jack eyed her up and down, taking into account how small she was. She didn't seem to have much of a duelist's aura about her either.
"I have a knack for research and strategy. My partner's a real powerhouse, so we work together pretty well." She smiled and held out her hand to shake. "I'm Carly."
Yyyyy
"Hey, Yusei." Jack motioned the ghost over to where he was seated on the floor and showed off his hand. "Want to bet I'll have this won in two turns?" It was late, but he and Crow were still having a duel before they turned in for the night.
Yusei leaned over to see, then got up and took a look at Crow's hand. Putting a hand to his chin, knowing the brothers were watching him, he mused silently for a moment. "Eventually, he's going to realize you're just toying with him. Hurry up and finish him off, Crow."
"Wha-, Yusei!" Crow was shocked by the bluff. He had three cards in his hand, and two of them were spells. He was struggling not to lose the last of his life points as it was.
"Toying with me?" Jack had apparently fallen for his bluff, though. Yusei stretched out on his back by the coffee table they were dueling on, hands behind his head, and closed his eyes. "We'll see about that." He glared at his cards before making his decision.
Just as he was about to set a card on the field, a knock was heard at the door. Both duelists paused and looked at each other. "Are you expecting anyone?" Crow asked, setting his cards down.
"Not me. I take it you're not either?" Jack received a head shake in response and set down his cards as well. The knock came again. This time, they both stood and made their way over to the front door.
"Hi. Can we help you?" Crow greeted the man on their front porch, only lit by a dying lightbulb they hadn't gotten around to replacing.
The man was tall, well-dressed, and had long, silver hair. "I'm sorry for the late hour, but I wanted to personally welcome you to our town. I'm Mayor Goodwin." He held out is hand to shake.
"The Mayor is welcoming us to town?" Crow grasped the hand and shook it in awe.
Jack was less impressed. "Why? Not to be rude, but don't you have better things to do?"
Mayor Goodwin pulled his hand back and chuckled slightly. "Truth be told, I really do. But I heard a couple of duelists had just moved into this old place. I… well I knew the family well. It was a real tragedy what happened to them." He frowned and looked around at the yard, as if imagining the happy family he was remembering was there.
"You mean Yusei's disappearance?" Jack asked.
"I take it you've heard the rumors?" He sighed. "They never had an easy go of things. The three boys were adopted, and both older boys had done time, so when their parents passed away, it was difficult for then to retain custody of their brother-,"
Before he finished speaking, every window on the first floor exploded outward. Goodwin ducked and covered his face, while Crow ducked behind Jack. Suddenly, the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen began opening and slamming all by themselves, while everything that wasn't nailed down began flying through the air as if thrown by some sort of angry, invisible beast.
"What's going on? What is this?" Goodwin stared at the spectacle slack-jawed.
Jack, on the other hand, gritted his teeth and ran back inside. There, in the middle of the living room he and Crow had been dueling in just minutes prior, was Yusei. As soon as he saw him, however, Jack froze. Yusei's eyes were completely black, and his face was contorted into an expression of pure rage. But what really surprised Jack, was the blood that was once again running down the side of the ghost's face.
"Who the hell do you think you are? This is my property! You think you can just walk in here and take whatever you want?"
Jack held up his hands, trying to show Yusei that he meant no harm. The angrier he got, the faster everything flew around. "What are you talking about, Yusei? What did we take?"
It was as if Yusei wasn't hearing a word he was saying. His tone dropped dangerously low. "You wouldn't dare."
"Dare what? Yusei, what's going on-,"
"Don't you threaten him. I'll-," All at once, everything froze. The cabinets and drawers stopped slamming, and everything that had been flying around dropped out of the air. Jack had just enough time to realize that Yusei's eyes had gone back to their regular color before he, too, dropped to the floor.
"Yusei!" Jack ran over and knelt by him, not sure if he should, or could, help him up.
"Mn… Wha-what happened?" Yusei looked exhausted as he blinked and looked around.
"You tell us, man. One minute, it looked like you were taking a nap, then suddenly you went crazy and destroyed the house! You even chased off the mayor!" Crow bounded in, still looking a bit scared.
"Destroyed? This was me?" He shakily pushed himself up so he was seated on his knees, then put a hand to his head. Seeing it come away covered in blood, though, he paled (if possible) even more. An instant later, and he sank through the floorboards and out of sight.
Yyyyy
Sorry for how choppy the first part of this chapter is. Does anyone have anymore ideas about what happened to Yusei? Or where he might be? Please let me know! I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter! Review! :3