Atem meandered down the street, occasionally looking into shop windows or stepping inside to browse. Yugi had kindly decided to tell him that tomorrow was Valentine's Day, a designated day to bestow objects of affection to a lover. Atem sighed. Yugi couldn't have told him sooner? It was evident that Tea was going to be expecting something, and it had to be something good. Yet Atem was someone who took a challenge and did his best with it, and this challenge was no different from any other.
Yugi did help him somewhat. Flowers were cliché, and chocolate was outdated. Unless, of course, you did something completely new with it. "Thank you, Yugi, that was very ambiguous of you," Atem muttered. Tea had made it quite clear that she enjoyed shiny things like necklaces and earrings, but what could he afford to buy? It wasn't as if he made a large salary from working for Grandpa at the Game Shop.
Atem strolled next to the mall when something struck him. He remembered when he and all of the others, including Serenity, Duke, and Mai, had gone on a shopping excursion last Tuesday. Tea and the rest of the girls were looking at dresses on their own, but he had overheard something they had said.
"It's perfect!" Serenity remarked, as Tea held the summer dress up to her front and looked at herself in the mirror. "It's the perfect color and everything."
"She's right, hun," Mai agreed. "Wear that and your boyfriend will be drooling like a hungry dog, like every other guy who sees you."
Tea sighed and put it down. "It's size six, too. But I'm broke. I can't afford to buy this for another month."
If Atem hadn't been so dignified, he would have jumped into the air and shouted for joy. The answer was right in front of his face! She had told him exactly what to get her, and he even knew the right dress, color, and size!
He walked quickly into the boutique and sighed in relief when he saw that the dress was still there. He brought it to the counter, where the check-out woman was idly chewing gum. "For ya girlfriend?" she asked. She didn't seem like she was in a very pleasant mood.
Atem nodded and she scanned it and began to gift-wrap it for him. "Well, ya a better boyfriend than I got," she said bitterly.
Atem was genuinely concerned. It was only manners to ask further. "What makes you say that?"
"He just broke up with me. In an email." She spat the last part with particular virulence. Atem had to assume that breaking up via email was a very disrespectful way to do the job.
"I am very sorry," he said, smiling briefly as he took his package off the counter and began to walk away.
"Hey, wait up a minute," she said, flipping through a few pieces of paper. "My friend has a boss who wants her ta hand this out." She handed a flyer to him. Atem took it and read it curiously. "Don't ask me what it's all about," she said, twisting a piece of hair around her finger and blowing a bubble with her gum. "I'm just following what the guy said."
'Thank you…" Atem said absently. He wasn't paying much attention the entire way home; he was much more interested in the flyer he had just been handed.
Yugi skipped over and picked up the phone. Darn timing, to ring at a moment like this. He had to pee!
"Mutou residence."
"Hey, Yugi!" Tea responded. "Can I come over? We could hang out."
Come over? Now? She couldn't do that! Atem was about to come home with some sort of present for her, and he couldn't let he see it until tomorrow. "Actually, I'm kinda busy right now. Maybe the day after tomorrow, or later today, if I can."
"Oh, that's too bad…" Tea said. Come on, speed it up! Yugi couldn't just stand there forever. "Well, I'll talk to you later, then."
"Sure. Bye," Yugi said quickly, and hung up. Now he could-
"Yugi!" Atem said from the hallway. "I think I found something interesting."
Not again! What was fate trying to do to him? "What is it, Atem?" Yugi asked, trying to be as polite as he could when he had places he needed to be.
Atem walked into the kitchen, carrying a wrapped box and a flyer of some sort. He put the box on the table and handed the flyer to Yugi. "Have you ever seen a flyer like that before?" he asked.
Yugi looked over it for a few seconds, and then he dropped it and ran off.
"Yugi!" Atem yelled after him. "What's wrong?"
The gang sat in the living room, each of them taking turns reading the advertisement. Atem had taken care to store his present in the closet before he invited Tea over.
"Dude, they were just handing this out on the street?" Tristan asked. Atem nodded. He had to twist his story somewhat, so that Tea wouldn't know that he had been out shopping at the last minute. "That's something to just give out to regular people."
The poster, upon further inspection, had read, "Come to Klyndeneya and join the Federation of Genii! Strong, fighting members of all species are welcome to form Unions and stop Lilitu from destroying the worlds. We serve a number of interterrestrial bar snacks, including slate shakes, mold biscuits, and raw buffalo steaks!"
"Interterrestrial? All species?" Tea asked. "Is this a joke or something?"
"And why is 'worlds' plural? Dey make it sound like dis is a bar for aliens." Joey said.
Atem shook his head. "I don't know, but I believe that this bar, 'Klyndeneya', is a place where people can get together to hunt these 'Lilitu' for a living."
Yugi squirmed uncomfortably. Atem was right on track, but Yugi didn't want him to be. If he knew what it was about, he might want to go…
"We should look into this Union business," Atem said, right on cue. Yugi mentally cursed in the old tongue. So predictable… "If we can be of any assistance, if we can 'protect the worlds', they we should do our best."
"Well, den, what are we waiting for?" Joey said, leaping up. "Da address is right here. Let's get going!"
Atem nodded and started to leave. Yugi didn't know what to do. Should he try to stop them? They could get seriously hurt in the Federation! Suddenly, Atem turned around. "Yugi, Tea…" he said slowly. "I don't think that you two should come with us."
Tea was horrified. "Why not?!" she asked incredulously.
"If we are going to be physically fighting these Lilitu, then you could get hurt, or even killed," Atem said, trying to word it so that he didn't excessively offend anyone. "I'm sorry to say this, but I don't think that you two are really the… fighting type."
Tea made a sound that seemed half-gasp, half-shriek. Then she crossed her arms and sank into one hip. "So what? You think that because I'm a girl, I can't take care of myself?" she asked, utterly perturbed.
Atem saw his mistake and hurried to correct it. "No, of course not, Tea, that's not what I meant at all!"
"Then what did you mean? Huh?" she asked, getting close in his face.
Atem racked his brain but he couldn't think of another way to say it. Tea growled at him and stormed out of the room, retreating to Yugi and Atem's bedroom. Atem stood there, shocked at his immense failure.
"And the day before Valentine's, too…" Tristan said, summing up the awfulness of the exchange.
As his last hope for understanding, Atem turned to Yugi. "Yugi, you know that I don't think you're weak. But I don't want to see you in that sort of situation."
Somewhat to Atem's surprise, Yugi didn't take offense at all. "Guess I'm really not the fighting type," he said, shrugging. "You guys go ahead and enjoy yourselves. I'll try to console Tea."
Atem smiled, relieved that he hadn't alienated two friends in five minutes. "Thank you, Yugi," he said.
Atem, Joey, and Tristan walked outside, on their way to Klyndeneya. Yugi sat down on the couch for a moment. "They'll never even get into a fight," Yugi assured himself. "Once they find out how much more there is to know, they'll just come back and give up on the whole thing." But a part of him realized that Atem, Joey, and Tristan weren't the type to give up easily. What if they really did get themselves killed or arrested? A Union member had to know the laws of each world he visited, and they didn't even know the worlds' names.
Yugi closed his eyes and hoped that Atem would come to his senses and get out of the trade… before it was too late.