Disclaimer: Check the last two chapters if you don't believe that I don't own YGO.
A/N: Long chapter!
Thanks again for the reviews; they have become the highlight of my day! The third chapter is finally here and it's the one we've all been waiting for: Yami and Yuugi finally meet! Aren't you all excited? I know I am!
Anyway, please enjoy this chapter and please review to brighten up my day (especially in ITGS class. It's so boring and I hate it!)
On to chapter 3!
oooooooChapter 3ooooooo
Yuugi woke up early the next morning and it took him a while to gather all of his thoughts form the previous day. He had never left the cave after jii-chan told him to hide in there; he was too scared to go out. The small merboy just hoped that jii-chan wouldn't be mad at him for never going back to see him.
Taking a deep breath, Yuugi started swimming to the place he had last seen jii-chan. While swimming, the tri-colour haired boy was glad to note that his tail wasn't hurting as badly anymore.
Yuugi surfaced and immediately saw jii-chan scrubbing away at the pool's floor. Deciding that he didn't want to disturb the old man, the merboy looked around properly for the first time.
He noticed that there were stands rising above the main pool area and they went all around the pool. Yuugi stared at them and recalled the amp theatre the merfolk had on the ocean bed that was used for different shows and plays during festivals and other important occasions.
Yuugi wondered if the humans used this pool as a show place and what kinds of shows they had in the pool.
Sugoroku turned around as he sensed a presence in the pool area. He smiled at his newly adopted grandson as the young boy looked around in awe.
"Enjoying the view?" the old janitor chuckled.
Yuugi turned around and flashed his jii-chan one of his most beautiful smiles. "Do you use this place to hold shows during special occasions?"
Sugoroku frowned; he had not realised that Yuugi was put into the show-pool. The director usually had dolphins performing in this pool and he really didn't want his grandson to be involved in any sort of show. There was no way the merboy could take the pressure of performing in public.
"Are you ok, jii-chan? Did I do something wrong?" Yuugi's eyes were shimmering with unshed tears as he thought that he had offended the old man.
Sugoroku snapped out of his thoughts and smiled at Yuugi. "You did nothing wrong, my boy. I was just thinking; that is all."
"Oh," Yuugi hesitated for a while before asking, "What were you thinking about, jii-chan?"
"That isn't important right now, Yuugi." The Sugoroku got a serious look on his face and decided to inform the merboy that he might get visitors today—lots of visitors.
"Yuugi," He started with a heavy heart; he really didn't want to do this, but it would help Yuugi to be prepared for the unwanted visitors. "There will be people in here today and they all want to see you. I'm not sure how many there will be, but I'm betting that there will be many…"
"What will the people be doing? Can they really just barge into your home and demand to have a look at me?"
Sugoroku gave a slight chuckle; this kid sure didn't know much about humans. "Yuugi, this is not my home; this is a public place that anyone can come into as long as they pay money at the front entrance."
Yuugi blushed and looked at the water's surface. "Right, this is an aquarium... I sort of forgot…" He blushed even more and fiddled with his hands. "So I guess the people have a right to come and ogle at me, huh?" Yuugi pretended to take the matter lightly, but the old man was not fooled for even one second. He could see that Yuugi was extremely shy and would probably have a nervous breakdown if he were put in front of a large group of people.
"Yuugi, my boy, I'm sure that if you just stay in the cave you'll be fine. No one will bother you too much, since the cave is dark and hard to see into, unless they're standing in just the right spot."
The tri-colour haired boy nodded, feeling a bit better about the humans that wanted to see him. What Yuugi still didn't understand, though was why they would want to see him; he was nothing special and he couldn't do anything out of the ordinary.
ooo
Yami was rudely awoken the next morning by his hyper-active cousin.
"Yami-kun, get up it's already seven o'clock and I want to go to Domino Aquarium now!"
Yami groaned and rolled onto his side, facing away from the door and Melanie. "Just give me a few more minutes, Mel…"
Melanie ran up and started jumping on Yami's bed. "No way, Yami! Remember what happened last time I let you sleep 'just a few more minutes'? You slept until noon and I was bored!"
Yami groaned again as his body shook form all the jumping the small girl was doing. Now that he was already awake, why not just get up and stuff a sock into the girl's big mouth?
"Fine, I'm up, I'm up." The tri-colour haired boy sat up in bed and stretched his arms over his head, giving an enormous yawn at the same time. (Who ever told you that he couldn't do two things at once in the early hours of morning?)
After making a quick breakfast for Melanie and himself, Yami grabbed his car keys and started driving to the Aquarium. Melanie was in the back reading a brochure of the Family Fun Day that Yami's mum had given her.
"Yami-kun," The small girl said from the backseat.
"Hai, Mel-chan." Yami answered stopping at some red lights.
"This thing says that the aquarium doesn't open until ten today." The lights turned green and Yami continued driving. "Won't we be a bit too early?"
Yami frowned and looked at the clock on his dashboard. It was only 9.15 and they would be at Domino Aquarium in less than ten minutes.
"We'll be a bit early, but I'm sure we can find something to do until the aquarium opens."
The cousins spent part of the extra time going over all the things that they—or, actually, what Melanie—wanted to do once the gates opened all the while listening to Melanie's Disney CD.
Five to ten, another car drove to the parking lot and Melanie rushed Yami into line, wanting to be the first kid inside.
At exactly ten o'clock, the guards opened the gates to the now-long line of waiting families.
Yami stepped up to the register and paid for his and Melanie's tickets. The cashier marked the tickets with a blue dot and handed them to Yami. Frowning at the dot, Yami took the offered slips of paper and thanked the lady behind the register.
ooo
Yuugi was sitting on the edge of the pool, chatting happily with jii-chan when they heard the unmistakable sound of kids laughing and yelling in glee.
"What's going on, jii-chan?" The merboy asked, scared at the sudden new noise of human children.
Sugoroku frowned, "It seems that they opened up the aquarium for today. I just hope that they don't open this place up."
"Why not? Are you not done cleaning yet?"
"Now, my dear boy, they can't open this place because you're here."
"Am I not supposed to be?" Yuugi was totally clueless as to why his tank's place couldn't be opened.
"Yuugi, if they open those doors then everyone will come in here and they will all want to see you at the same time."
"Oh." Yuugi looked down, realising the drawback of opening his 'home' to the outsiders. He didn't want anyone gawking at and knocking on the tank's glass walls. Yuugi wanted privacy and if the doors opened he wouldn't be getting it.
"What should I do jii-chan? Hide in my cave?"
"I think that that would be our best option. Let's just hope that they don't let the public in." Sugoroku said the last part more to himself than to his grandson.
ooo
Melanie was already way ahead of Yami and was busy staring at the colourful tropical fish in the closest tank.
"Oooh, Yami look; the fishies are so pretty and colourful!"
"I see them, Mel." Yami look at the fish in the tank only half-seeing them. "How about we go to the Pirate's Treasure Chest; you said that you wanted to see that first?"
Melanie's eyes immediately lit up, "Yeah! Let's go, Yami-kun." Melanie took off running in the direction of the Treasure Chest and Yami followed behind at a steady pace.
"Hurry up, Yami-kun; I want to be there already!"
Yami lengthened his stride just a bit and caught up with his cousin at the Treasure Chest.
ooo
The PA got everyone's attention as it flared to life at noon, "Attention all Domino Aquarium guests! Today we have a special spectacle going on today and it is available for free for the first five families that came to the Family Fun Day. If you would all look at your tickets, the first five will see a blue dot on it. All families, whom have the blue dot on their tickets, are asked to come to the main entrance. The rest of you are welcome to see our special spectacle in an hour. Thank you for your time and please enjoy your day here at the Domino Aquarium."
Yami looked at his ticket and saw the blue dot that the cashier had drawn on it before he had entered the Aquarium.
"We have it, don't we Yami-kun?" Melanie was holding onto Yami's arm and jumping up and down like and excited super ball.
Yami smiled down at his cousin, "Hai, Mel-chan, we have it."
Melanie gave an excited squeal and started dragging Yami off to the main entrance along with another family who had been near them.
ooo
Yuugi and Sugoroku looked up, shocked as the message played through the speakers.
The young merboy turned to face his jii-chan, tilting his head cutely. "You don't think…" he started, but let the sentence drop as Sugoroku pushed him off the pool's edge and into the water.
"Better safe than sorry, Yuugi. You'd better hide in the cave and don't come out." Yuugi, heeding his grandfather's warning, turned to dive under. "Yuugi," he turned to the old man questioningly.
"Hai."
"Just… be brave, Yuugi and don't worry; everything will turn out fine."
The merboy nodded and dove under the water's surface.
ooo
"Welcome all!" A man in his late 40s stood with his arms outstretched in a forced politeness. "May we see all your tickets to make sure that all of you have the blue dot on them?"
The man and his partner, a chubby balding man, went around the families checking their tickets. They got to Yami and Melanie.
"May we see your ticket, sir?" Yami didn't even bother nodding, but showed then his and Melanie's tickets to the fat man. "Thank you, sir; we hope that you will enjoy this."
Yami just grunted in response, not liking either of the men. Melanie, on the other hand, was ecstatic. She couldn't wait to see what only five families would get to see.
The two men walked to a pair of doors at the far end of the lobby where the main entrance was located.
"If you would all kindly step this way, please." The families moved to the two managers. "Once you go in through these doors you will see—for free—the one creature that anyone would pay millions to see! Are you ready ladies and gentlemen? Behind these doors you will see a real live mermaid!" With that the two pushed open the doors to reveal a large pool that Yami recognised from a few dolphin shows that he had seen.
Melanie was tugging at Yami's sleeve and squealing about seeing a pretty little mermaid. Yami just smiled at the hyperactive girl, but he didn't believe for even one second that the mermaid in the tank was real. It was probably just some good-looking woman with a fake tail, pretending to be a mermaid.
The crowd was lead to the bottom floor where they could see under the water, but the only thing that Yami could see was a cave and some coral. No mermaid in sight.
"Where is the mermaid?" One little girl asked and the others soon echoed her question.
"Yah, where is she?" Melanie shouted at the two men who held up their hands in defence.
"Please calm down; the mermaid is very shy and I don't know when it'll be coming out from its hiding place."
"If it comes out, Mack." The fat man whispered to his co-worker.
Mack whispered right back, "I already foresaw this flaw in our plan, so I was able to counter it." To the audience he said, "Please wait here while I get the mermaid from its hiding place."
That confirmed it; the mermaid-dressed woman was late and the other of the men left to go get her.
Soon, though, Yami's thoughts were proven wrong as the cave started to lift from the bottom of the tank. It rose out of the water leaving a frightened-looking boy behind. Yami started; the boy looked a lot like him. His hair was in the same spikes that seemed to defy gravity, but was missing Yami's hair's had blond streaks going into the ebony and burgundy main part.
Yami was also a lot more tanned, whereas the boy in the tank was pale and had huge violet eyes that seemed to emit innocence. Yami had often been told that he had very scary-looking eyes; they were narrow and crimson.
"Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is the mermaid that we were telling you about." Mack announced, but Yami was barely paying attention; he was too focused on the scared beauty in the pool.
ooo
Yuugi had been shocked as his sanctuary was lifted from the bottom of his new home and was even more taken aback when he saw a crowd of people staring at him. It wasn't a very large crowd, but it was enough to frighten the young boy.
Thinking fast, the merboy swam to the other side of the tank, but his efforts were in vain. The crowd was too excited to let the mermaid boy run away from them; they followed him to the other side.
All but one of the people followed.
Yuugi had no time to take a close look at the boy that had not followed him; for he was too busy running away form all the other families.
The merboy was starting to panic now; there was no place to hide and nowhere to escape to. Yuugi was trapped like a fish in a net and there was no way to save him from the prying eyes of his spectators.
Yuugi swam to the other side of the tank and turned to face the crowd, but this time they didn't follow him to the other side. They all stood and looked at a lone person to Yuugi's right. Yuugi himself turned to look at the boy that bore a striking resemblance to him.
Who was this stranger that had stopped the other humans from following the merboy?
ooo
Yami was watching the whole ordeal horrified. How could these people harass the poor boy like this? What right did they have to do something like this to the innocent and defenceless merboy?
Finally, after watching the events unfold and seeing the increasing horror on the boy's face, Yami spoke to the other families. They had been ready to take off after the boy again, but Yami called to them before they could.
"Don't you think that he's had enough?" It came out sounding a bit more pissed than Yami intended. "Don't you see that the poor boy doesn't like all this attention? And you," He turned to the two men by a control panel. "Put that cave back down, so that he has a hiding place away from prying eyes."
Yami's eyes were flashing dangerously so no one dared to defy him. The managers lowered the cave back down and Yami watched as the merboy swam into it gratefully.
Mack cleared his throat. "So that was our special show for all you luck five families. I hope that you enjoyed seeing a real live mermaid. This pool will be open to the public later on today and you can all come back and see it if you want. Now you may all go back to your previous activities."
To say the least, Yami was extremely pissed at the manager. First off, he had called the merboy an 'it'. An 'it' was an item with no feelings or mind of its own. Secondly, the boy in the tank was a merboy not a mermaid. There is a slight gender difference there. Thirdly, the two guys treated the merboy like scum and didn't even allow him a hiding place away from the outside world in his own home.
"Yami," Melanie as tugging at Yami's sleeve. "We should get going; the others have left already."
"We're going, Mel-chan." Yami said distractedly; he was busy giving the managers a menacing look, which they both ignored.
The rest of the day was spent doing all the other fun activities that the aquarium had to offer, but for some reason Yami couldn't get the young merboy out of his head. The adolescent shook his tri-coloured hair, forcing the thoughts of the merboy out. He wasn't too successful since five minutes later the beauty jumped back into his thoughts.
"Yami-kun," Melanie was tugging at his sleeve again. "Can we go home already? I'm tired and we've done everything here…"
Yami, pushing the thoughts of the underwater creature away for the last time, smiled at his cousin, "Of course we can leave." With that Yami started leading Melanie away from Domino Aquarium, but they didn't get too far since Melanie stopped in the main lobby.
"Yami, what are these people in line for?"
Yami looked up at the long line of people and paled a bit. "They all want to see the merboy that's in there, remember?"
Melanie's eyed the people in line warily, "Why would they want to go and see the mermaid? It's not a very pretty one…"
Yami, not wanting to shout at his cousin, dragged her away from the main lobby and out the front doors.
ooo
The next morning everyone was gathered around the dining room table eating breakfast.
"So, Melanie, how was your day with Yami-kun?" Natsuko looked at her daughter, who was stuffing her face with the food she had helped Yami prepare.
"It was great; we went to the Aquarium and I got to see a mermaid!"
The adults smiled at each other, thinking that the mermaid was just some pretty woman in a tail. If Yami had heard their thoughts he would've laughed at how similar they were to his.
"Was the mermaid very pretty, Melanie-chan?" Yami's father, Heba, asked.
"Not really, it wasn't even a girl…" This confused the older members of the family; surely a pretty female would attract more attention than a man.
"It wouldn't even stay still so that we could look at it; it was just swimming off to the other side of the tank, away from us."
Yami's grip on his fork tightened. How dare Melanie call the merboy an 'it'? She had seen him and knew that it was a male, hell; she had even said herself that the mermaid wasn't a girl.
"I'm sure that it was just a bit shy." Megumi tried comforting her niece. "Maybe next time it will be a bit braver…"
Yami stood up fast, knocking his chair to he ground. "The merboy is not an 'it'! He's a he and should be treated like any other living thing; with respect." Yami marched towards the stairs, pausing at the doorway for a last word on the subject. "And he was very pretty."
Yami spent the rest of the day in his room, not bothering to come out until Natsuko and Melanie were leaving and he came out only to say 'bye'.
ooo
A twenty minute car ride away Yuugi was once again curled up in his cave, hugging his knees to his chest for maximum comfort. He didn't even acknowledge jii-chan splashing, trying to get the merboy's attention.
Sugoroku soon gave up, knowing that Yuugi needed space, whishing he didn't. He turned off the lights leaving Yuugi to cry alone in the darkness.
"Tomorrow's Sunday, my boy," Sugoroku stopped at the door to say one last thing to the merboy though he knew that his adopted grandson couldn't hear him. The old man, however, had no other way of comforting himself. "The Aquarium's closed so that you can rest your tired body, mind and soul." He turned away from the pool. "Sleep well, my child."
The door closed with a silent click.
oooooooChapter 3ooooooo