Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or Supernatural. This is a work of fanfiction.
Chapter 7
Yugi kept to himself for most of the afternoon, preferring to spend his time wandering around the junkyard, discussing the current predicament with Yami rather than face the awkwardness of talking to his mother again.
He was angry, despite his best efforts to squash his feelings of resentment. It hurt, knowing that his mother and father had lived a secret, danger-filled life and had never told him. Mostly, it hurt to think that his mother thought him too useless and weak to handle the truth about his father's death. Yugi sighed to himself, taking a seat on an overturned, rusted oil barrel and stretching his legs out in front of him.
/How could she keep me in the dark about this for ten whole years? I bet she'd never have told me if the demon wasn't back./ He absently picked at a weed growing from beneath his seat.
/I don't know, Yugi. It is a very significant secret to keep, certainly./
/But?/
The Spirit, who looked much like Yugi, though older and more serious, appeared beside the teenager, wanting to look his friend in the eyes for this conversation. Yami paused, considering his words carefully before continuing, /You're keeping some pretty big secrets yourself. I am not saying she was right by any means but, even so, I think she just wanted to protect you. This thing did take your father and it sounds like you were in no small danger yourself./
/My secret can't really be helped, can it? Especially now. They aren't just my secrets, either. Yami, they hunt spirits. My mother and Bobby? They specialize in getting rid of supernatural entities./
/You're not wrong. I do not imagine that she would respond well to learning of my presence./ Yami shook his head fervently. He wasn't sure he wanted to find out how that encounter would end.
/I'm not sure we're safer staying here. What if they figure it out and try to do something to you?/
Yami snorted condescendingly and there was a note of pride in his voice as he said, /I'd really like to see someone, Hunter or no, try to drive me out. As long as you wish for me to remain, I will. I am no simple apparition./
/I know that. Still, if they do try, we may have to run back to Domino or something. I won't let them take the Puzzle away./
/Try not to borrow more trouble, Yugi. We'll cross that bridge if and when we reach it. Right now, the most important thing is that you and your family are safe from this demon. For the time being, this seems to be the best place for you, even if it is wildly lacking in entertainment. Why are there so many rundown cars here, anyway? Ooh, is that a Camaro? I wonder if it runs…/
/It's a junkyard, that's all. Bobby owns it and…/ Yugi trailed off as he heard the sound of a rather loud car making its way up the dirt road to Bobby's home. He ducked behind an wheelless truck, cautiously peering around the front of the vehicle in an effort to see who had arrived.
A dated but glossy black car came into Yugi's sight. He heard Yami whistle appreciatively in his mind. /That, young one, is a '67 Impala. I want it./
/You can't even drive. And since when do you know things about cars?/
/Since your grandfather has a subscription to Muscle Cars Monthly Magazine./
/I…honestly don't have a response prepared for that. Let's get a closer look./
Yugi crept between several cars, keeping his body low to the ground and focusing very hard on making as little noise as possible. When he got closer to the Impala, however, he found that no one was there. He stood, then, a little confused.
/Maybe they went in-/
He was cutoff when, without warning, two strong arms seized him from behind, catching his right arm behind his back. Yugi felt his face being pushed down on the car hood in front of him, which caused him to yelp in pain and surprise.
In an instant, Yami seized control, stomping heavily on the foot of the man who had grabbed Yugi so roughly. The unknown assailant, surprised by the unexpected resistance, gasped and faltered slightly, giving Yami enough give to twist his arm free before turning swiftly and slamming his fist into the attacker's face and, then, ramming his knee into the man's gut.
Yami did not take the time to consider the young man now kneeling, winded, on the ground before him. Instead, desperate to remove Yugi from further danger, the former pharaoh ran as quickly as he was able, weaving through some of the aged cars and trucks scattered about, and sprinting up the stairs of Bobby's house. As the door slammed shut behind him, Sugoroku Mutou rounded the corner, surprised to find the Pharaoh standing, wild-eyed and panting, in the small entrance foyer.
Yami straightened when he realized he had been seen. He attempted, and failed miserably, to adopt the innocent expression Yugi often wore.
"Erm, hi?" the Spirit offered an uncharacteristically meek wave.
"What happened?" Sugoroku questioned, concernedly.
Yami opened his mouth to speak but, before he finished a breath, voices from the kitchen chorused in greeting, and then in shock, as Dean Winchester, an attractive young man in his late 20s, stumbled ever so slightly as he entered the home through the back-kitchen doorway.
"Damn, Dean. I leave you alone for two minutes and you get into a fight with something." Yami did not recognize the owner of the male voice he was hearing, though he could surmise that it belonged to a young man.
"Some weird-haired kid was snooping around the junk yard and sucker-punched me when I went to check it out. Took off like a jack rabbit." Dean grumbled.
"Weird-haired…? You don't mean Yugi!" Mrs. Mutou exclaimed in surprise.
"Your son, Mel?" Dean asked, surprised.
The conversation was interrupted by uproarious laughter from Bobby. "Looks like Yugi busted you pretty good and serves you right. Always watch out for the little ones, idjit."
"I thought I heard him come in through the front door a moment ago," Mrs. Mutou said thoughtfully.
Sugoroku, who had been listening carefully to the exchange in the next room, turned his attention back to the teenage boy only to find that it was, once more, his young grandson standing before him, looking rather dazed and embarrassed. The boy was currently inspecting his busted knuckles, which throbbed from the force of the impact of driving his fist into Dean's face. Yugi almost couldn't believe his body was capable of that sort of action.
/How am I supposed to explain this, Yami?/ Yugi asked, more than a little exasperated.
/Explain what? Someone grabbed you from behind and you punched him in the face, among other things, so you could get away. He's lucky that's all you did./
/I don't do things like that, Yami!/
/Ahem. Those bloodied knuckles say you did, though, so…/
Grandpa Mutou gently took his grandson by the arm and walked him into the kitchen to meet their guests. Yugi's face was becoming increasingly red as he entered the room, still slightly shaken from the encounter moments before.
Yugi's wide amethyst eyes met the dark eyes of the young man he had left winded in the yard. Dean almost felt badly for having scared the boy in front of him now that he had a chance to look at the kid properly. The small teenager before him, with his doe eyes and round face, looked much younger than he imagined his sixteen-year-old cousin would. Sure, his hair was wild, but he still had an innocent, gentle nature to him.
He packed a hell of a punch for a kid his size, though.
"I-I am so sorry, mister," the shy teen offered timidly.
Was this mousy boy really the same person who had taken him down, albeit briefly, just minutes before? Maybe Sammy had been right when he advised Dean not to judge a book by its cover.
"It's cool, man. I shouldn't have snuck up on you like that. I'm Dean Winchester. This is my little brother, Sammy." Dean offered a lopsided smile and a handshake, which Yugi accepted gratefully, pleased to find that Dean did not seem to harbor any hard feelings towards him for "his" act of aggression.
Sam, who stood a bit taller than Dean and had slightly longer dusty-blonde hair, greeted Yugi warmly, with a kind smile and a handshake of his own. "Your mom was just telling us about you. We're, um, we're your cousins…and don't call him mister. That's way too respectful for him."
Dean glared as his brother momentarily, and then shrugged. Sammy wasn't necessarily wrong.
Yugi mentally slapped himself. His mother and Bobby had literally just been talking the night before about his cousins coming to see them.
/Yami, you punched my cousin in the face!/
/I regret nothing./
"Yugi," Bobby began, "You don't owe this knucklehead any kind of apology. Sneaking up on the kid when he's a guest here. Jesus, Dean."
"I'm sorry, okay! I didn't recognize him, is all!"
Bobby shook his head in mild disgust, mumbling a few choice words under his breath. "Next time, kid, kick him in the balls."
/Now, that's too far. Dishonorable, that's what that is./ Yugi had to fight to prevent a smile from breaking across his face at the Spirit's commentary.
Yugi's mother took in his appearance, surprised to see her gentle son's knuckles were bloodied. He really did fight back, then? My little boy...since when? She shook her head, confused. It was difficult to imagine her son hitting anyone or anything with the intention of causing harm and, yet, he had clearly scrapped briefly with her younger cousin and had managed to escape unscathed.
Bobby, likewise, was considering Yugi with an appraising eye, or rather, he was looking at the large golden pendant hanging from a chain around the teen's neck. At first he'd thought it was a fashion statement of some kind but now he wasn't so certain. That design, the Egyptian eye in the middle of the pendant, it all looked familiar and that chain made him think Yugi was taking steps to keep it safe and close. He would have to ask Melanie about it later, he decided.
"So, um…" Yugi spoke up, trying to break the awkward silence that had ensued, "Sam? Dean? You guys are Hunters? I mean, you Hunt things, like my mom used to do?" He stammered a little as he spoke, feeling irritated by how his voice shook when he was uncomfortable.
A brief frown marred Dean's face before he rearranged his expression into his typical cocky grin. "Yeah, we go all over the place, take care of problems. It ain't always pretty but someone has to do it. We were finishing up a poltergeist case up north when Bobby gave us a ring and asked us to come help out here."
"Wow, that sounds…exciting," Yugi tried to sound enthused but a poltergeist was the last thing he felt like he'd want to actively seek out.
/Poltergeist's aren't so tough. I bet I could throw things, too, if I wanted./
/Please don't./
Sam laughed dryly, "Hey, I wanted to be a lawyer. Sometimes, things just happen." He studied Yugi's face for a moment, feeling that he had seen the teenager somewhere before. "Geez, I can't figure it out. Yugi, you look so familiar but I can't place you. We don't have any family pictures of him, do we?"
Dean shook his head. "I doubt it. Why?"
Sam shook his head, "I don't know. I just definitely feel like I've seen him before and..." The younger Winchester brother's eyes widened. "Oh, my god. You're you."
"That's…yes?" Yugi's eyebrows shot up in a puzzled expression and he glanced at Dean, hoping the older brother might be able to shed some light on Sam's meaning.
"What the hell are you going on about, boy?" Bobby questioned.
The younger Winchester, however, wasn't listening. He had realized, finally, that he knew Yugi because Yugi was a celebrity. He'd seen his teenaged cousin on television and he was featured in a few dueling magazines that one of his college buddies, who was a huge fan of Duel Monsters, owned. Sam even had his own deck, though he wasn't very good at the game and hadn't played since before he left college.
He never realized it was his cousin. He had never met Yugi before, even as a child, and Sam only vaguely knew that their cousin, Melanie, who had cut herself off from the family years ago after some trouble, had a young son.
"I don't know how I didn't recognize you with the hair, Yugi! Dean, this is the Yugi Mutou. I saw you on television a couple of years ago in one of the tournaments."
"Uh-huh? Yeah, I got that, Sammy. He's our friggin' cousin."
"No, you don't get it. Yugi's a legend at Duel Monsters! Don't you have a title?"
Yugi chewed his bottom lip nervously. "Yeah, that's, um, that's me. It's not that big of a deal." He tried to brush off his accomplishments, disliking the sudden attention. Yami was much better at coping with this kind of thing but Yugi didn't dare switch with the Spirit in the presence of a group of Hunters.
Grandpa Mutou, however, was exceptionally proud of his grandson's accomplishments and was not about to let the boy brush them aside.
"That's right, my grandson is the World Champion! Not a big deal. Not a big deal? It's a very big deal, young man! Never defeated, not even by the creator of the game! Why, if that's not big deal, I don't know what is."
"Nice, Yugi! Didn't know we had a celebrity in the family!" Dean smirked, feeling oddly proud of the cousin he'd only just met. "You make any money in those tournaments?"
"Oh, um, some? I don't really compete for the money."
"Yeah, Dean, everything isn't about money," Sam chimed in, causing Dean's face to twist into a disbelieving grimace.
Grandpa chuckled and then whispered to Dean, "I keep most of what he's earned in a savings account. Yugi doesn't pay much attention to money and gave a bunch of it to his friend, Joey, to help pay some medical expenses, but the prize money can be pretty significant in big tournaments."
Dean scratched his chin, considering this information. If the kid was as good as they were saying, he thought, maybe he'd put some money on Yugi's next duel.
