Greetings!
To show you that I'm not completely heartless and mean *smacks muse upside his head to stop the snickering*, here is the next chapter. Like I said in the last one, this was never meant to be broken up into two parts, but the length kind of got away from me.
Amiasha: Gozaburo, that's it! It just never stuck in my head. He was a bastard, wasn't he? Yeah, demon cliffhangers are not very good. Sorry! It's my muse, I swear!
Adrienne-Lillian: Did you eat the whole three bags? *shakes head* Yikes. . . I'll have to not give you any for a while. I think the chocolate is causing the homicidal tendencies ^__^
LadyIcyBlue: Yup, it is a good line! Every time I hear it, I think of the old Batman show that used to end like that. Writer's block is gone now, though. Whoohoo!
Yugi: Your stepbrother is right. The neck has to be completely severed in order for the person to die. Asami is a pretty big man, though. He could do it *spoilers, anyone?*. Oh, lord, now I have that song in my head! *go away, go away!!* Thanks for volunteering to be my beta!! Are you sure you want to join my insanity? *smacks muse again for good measure*
dragon: Thanks for adding me to your faves! *grins widely*. I should thank the other people that have added me too! I have the best readers! Is this soon enough for ya? I hope you didn't loose too much of your sanity ^_^
Lavender Wonder: Nope, no big tantrum this time. Well, not too much of one, at least.
Joy-girl: Yami finally makes an appearance in this chapter. Yeah, I know, it's about time, right?
Pocky: Yami doesn't quite get a hold of Asami. But the man does get what he deserves.
Lizzy9046: We must have predictable villains! They make great plot devices, after all. Childhood memories are a pain, and Kaiba is going to be cursing them for quite a while.
TZ: I almost missed replying to this, since you reviewed right as I was getting ready to upload the chapter. I have been to the site you suggested. Unfortunately, I always get the 'site out of bandwidth, come back later' page. It's too bad, because I bet they're really cool translations. Thanks, though! *hands TZ more Oreos, frowning at the dwindling stack under the desk*
Thanks for the reviews, as always! I'm about halfway through the next chapter of Paint the Sky with Stars, so that'll hopefully be up sometime soon. Other than that, no notes needed. Enjoy!
*****
Part 9: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
"Drop the guns, or I break the little one's neck."
As the hand squeezed around his neck, the only thing Jomei could think of was that no one else should have been involved in Asami's insanity except for him. He was used to it, after all. All of his life, all he could remember of it, at least, had been filled with Asami's harsh voice and cruel hands. He was used to it, no one else was. The strangers shouldn't have come; they shouldn't be here to witness it either.
"Do you think you can snap his neck before I can shoot you?" one of the police officers said.
Asami replied by painfully pushing Jomei's neck to one side, causing him to groan. The pressure began to build to the point where Jomei was sure it was going to snap. He felt his hands, which had grabbed a hold of the arm Asami had wrapped around his chest, tighten in response to the pressure.
"Do you really want to take the risk?" Asami growled.
The officer muttered a few words that Jomei couldn't make out, but he was sure he caught the general gist of them. The pressure on his neck lessened slightly and he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the other two teenagers in the room and saw that they, too, seemed ready to kill Asami. They weren't armed, and Jomei hoped that they wouldn't do something that would get them hurt.
"Give me the guns."
Jomei's eyes widened at the request.
"What?"
"You heard me, give me the guns. Better yet, give them to the kid. Jomei, grab the guns, if you will."
Jomei did nothing. His hands were still clenched around Asami's arm and he made no effort to move them.
"Hold out your hands, kid!"
"No," the word slipped out of his mouth without his realization, but once it was out, Jomei knew that he meant it. He wasn't about to let himself be used for anyone else's destruction, not even if it meant his own.
"No? You dare question me??"
Asami emphasized the statement by squeezing his neck further, blocking his respiration. Jomei desperately tried to get his breath, but it was useless. He could see his vision turning dark right along with the loss of sensation in his body. This was it. It was really going to end.
"Fine, here!"
Jomei opened his eyes to see the two officers holding out their guns to him. Asami's hold on his neck loosened a bit, allowing him to draw breath again.
"Take the guns, kid."
Jomei, left without much of a choice, held his hands out and took the offered weapons. They felt foreign and heavy in his hands, and he didn't know what to do with them. He dropped his arms to his side, holding on to the cold steel of the guns as if his life depended on it. He supposed that in a way, it did.
"Okay, so now the kid and I are going to leave and you're not going to follow. Come on, Jomei, let's go for a walk."
Slowly, Asami walked around the cluster of people standing by the entrance to the apartment. He made it a point not to turn his back on them, though. He made his way down the stairs in the same manner, never turning his back on the apartment. Once he'd reached the street, Asami took off running.
The man was smart; he didn't simply run down the main street. Instead, he darted into the closest alley and kept running. He ducked in an out of buildings and cubbyholes so fast that Jomei lost track of where they were going. Finally, Asami reached an abandoned building and let himself in through a broken window. Once inside, Asami walked towards the back and threw Jomei against the nearest wall.
Jomei tried to break his fall, but realized that he was still holding onto the two guns. By the time he'd dropped them, he'd already impacted the wall. His right side took the brunt of the impact, and his cheek was scraped as he fell to the ground. The only illumination in the building came from the streetlights outside, but it was enough so that when Jomei looked up, he could see Asami rushing towards him. Desperately, Jomei looked around for one of the guns but couldn't see where they'd fallen.
Asami grabbed him by the shoulders and picked him up.
"What did you say to them, huh?" the man yelled, his breath hitting Jomei's face like a harsh wind. "Did you tell them lies, tell them that I beat you or starve you? I give you a place to live, food to eat and this is the thanks I get? How could you do this to me, you ungrateful little brat?"
Asami threw him against the wall again, and Jomei felt his breath knocked out of him as he hit. When he landed, however, he felt something cold under his left thigh. He reached down automatically and felt the cold steel of one of the guns. Instinctively, he picked it up and pointed it at Asami. He didn't know much about guns, but he'd seen enough movies to know how they were supposed to work. The man stopped in his tracks when he saw what was in Jomei's hand.
"Stop!" Jomei yelled. "Get any closer and I'll shoot!" His voice was shaking, but determined, which he was glad to note.
Slowly, trying not to wince at the pain in his back and side, Jomei got to his feet. His back was against the wall, so the only way out of the building was going to be through Asami.
"You won't shoot me, you pathetic little runt. You're all threat and no action and you know it!"
The words stung, and Jomei tightened his hold on the gun. Would he do it? Could he really shoot the man?
"Let me go. I just want to go home, okay?"
"Home? You are already home or have you forgotten that?"
"I'm not home! I don't belong with you," Jomei said, his voice shrill and very loud.
He didn't care though. Months of abuse at the hands of this man had finally come crashing down on him and he wanted nothing more than to make Asami feel like the man had made him feel time after time. Jomei had known nothing but anger and fear when he'd been with Asami. As far as he remembered, he'd felt like a piece of trash; someone unwanted that was only kept around to provide money. He knew that Asami was probably right, that he was nothing more than an insignificant runt who was worthless and would amount to nothing, but that still didn't give the man the right to hurt him.
"Oh? So where do you belong, then? Don't tell me you have some rich uncle somewhere you're going to live with?"
Asami's sarcasm only served to make Jomei angrier. He took a step forward and was pleased to note that Asami took a step back.
"You kidnapped me, and then did something to make me forget my life, my home, and my family! Why did you do that? I did nothing to you," Jomei yelled, his voice reflecting the anger and confusion he was feeling. "Is that why you mistreated me all that time, because I didn't belong to you?"
"What are you talking about, kid? I didn't kidnap you. You're out of your mind!"
"No, I'm not! That's why the police were there tonight, not because of anything else. I ran into some people at work who know me from somewhere else. They said I was kidnapped six moths ago. I've been with you for six months, haven't I?"
Jomei saw Asami's eyes narrow and he knew that the man was lying. Asami knew something, of that Jomei was sure.
"That's enough! Shut up and leave well enough alone. Believe me, kid, you're not prepared for the reality."
"Tell me!"
"I've had it with you," Asami said. "I know you're not going to shoot me, so give it up already. This ends right here, right now. Besides, a dead boy can't talk, can he?"
Asami charged him, moving faster than Jomei had thought possible for a man of Asami's size. Jomei froze and could only watch as the much bigger man got closer and closer to him. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Jomei was thrown backwards, but managed to keep his footing. Asami's eyes widened and he fell forward, towards Jomei. At the last moment, Jomei moved aside and watched Asami fall to the ground. It took him a while to realize that the sound he'd heard was the sound of the gun firing, and that he'd actually pulled the trigger.
Shocked, Jomei dropped the gun he'd still been clutching in his hands. He stood there for a while, unmoving, trying to assimilate what had just happened. In a stupor, he kneeled next to Asami, who was lying on his stomach. In the poor lighting, Jomei could see a large hole in the man's back where the bullet had exited. He turned the man over and saw that his eyes were closed. A pool of blood had started to gather underneath him and as Jomei turned him over, a lot of it got on his hands.
"What have I done?" Jomei whispered.
Asami wasn't moving, and his blood kept flowing from the bullet wound on his chest.
"I killed him. Oh, God, I killed him."
Horrified, Jomei got to his feet and took a couple of steps away from Asami. He brought his hands up to his face but stopped when he saw that they were covered in blood. He wiped them on his pants, but the blood wouldn't completely go away. He shook his head quickly, his mind still unable to cope with what he'd just done.
"No, no, oh, no. How can I go back now? I'm a murderer. The police are going to be after me now and the two kids aren't going to want anything to do with a cold blooded killer," Jomei whispered to himself. "I can't go back; I can't let them find me. I have to disappear."
With that thought, Jomei turned around and ran out of the building. Once outside, he stopped. He didn't know where he was or where to go. All he knew was that he had to go away, far away where no one would find him.
He picked a direction at random and started running. He ran through a residential neighborhood where the dogs kept barking at him as he passed the quiet houses. Finally, he ended up on the grounds of a school. It was deserted, of course. He walked over to the swing set and stood beside it, unnoticed tears running down his face.
"All I ever wanted was to be normal, to be loved. I didn't want to be a murderer. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it, I'm so sorry."
Jomei dropped to his knees on the rough stones that littered the playground and wept. He wept for the man he'd killed, for those innocent kids that had been nice to him at the restaurant, and at the same time, wept for their friend Yugi, whom they'd surely never get back now.
He also wept for himself
It was unfair. Life was always unfair.
**~~**
Yami stood outside of his soul room and tried not to pace. He'd already spent some time doing that and it hadn't accomplished a thing. At least he was outside of his soul room now. For a while, he'd been trapped inside like he'd been before Yugi had solved the puzzle. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since the last time he'd been outside of the puzzle, not counting what had happened a few moments ago when he'd found himself beside Joey facing a very confused and scared Yugi.
Yami frowned at the memory of that. Yugi had seemed like a stranger. What worried Yami, however, was that even though he knew that Yugi was alive and well, which had been a fear of his while he couldn't get out of his soul room, he couldn't feel him. Usually, Yami was able to feel Yugi; his thoughts and feelings would sometimes filter down to Yami. At the very least, with a little searching, Yami could feel the connection they had through the puzzle. That was not the case anymore.
When he tried to reach out to Yugi, there was nothing. Yugi's soul room was open, which proved to Yami that Yugi was not dead, but the room was dark and empty. With a sigh, Yami walked over to Yugi's soul room and entered it. He glanced at the surroundings, noting that the usually bright and cheerful room was dark and depressing. It was as if it was suffering from abandonment. Yami hadn't been cut off from Yugi for that long, had he? Just how much time had passed since that day in Seto Kaiba's car?
That memory brought back the feelings of helplessness and fear he'd had that day. They'd been going to get Yugi, but something had happened on the way. Yami really couldn't explain it, because it had happened so fast, but he'd felt Yugi then. As they were about to reach the docks, he'd felt his partner's desperation, loneliness and terror, and it had almost taken Yami into the depths of despair. Granted, he was a dark being who was more than used to feelings of such variety, especially since he usually inflicted those feelings on others. However, when it came to Yugi, the person he had sworn to protect above all else, feeling those emotions through the filter of Yugi's mind somehow made Yami more sensitive to them.
What had happened that day? Had the others found Yugi? They must have, if Yugi was still with them even now, as Yami had seen during his brief glimpse. Why wasn't Yugi talking to him, though? Why the silence? Why had Yami been trapped in his soul room?
So many questions, no where near enough answers. It was useless to stand here and think, he had to get out and talk to someone; if not Yugi, then maybe Joey. Yami could no longer stand around and wait for something to happen. No, he had to take action and do something. He'd gotten out of the puzzle once, so it stood to reason that he could do it again.
Quickly, before he could change his mind, Yami closed his eyes and willed himself out of the puzzle. He felt the drain in his energy immediately, which he assumed meant that he'd been able to successfully leave the puzzle. He staggered a bit, but opened his eyes. He found himself in a dark, almost empty street. He didn't recognize it, however. Yami looked around but found no one. He slowly turned around, trying to think of where he could go. He had picked a direction and was about to head for it when he heard familiar voices. He made his way over to them and found himself looking at Kaiba and Joey. They weren't facing him, though. Instead, they seemed to be searching for something.
"Joey, what is going on?"
Joey whirled around, his eyes wide. It took him a while to say something, which Yami found amusing. Joey was rarely without anything to say.
"Yami!" was all the blond managed to get out.
Kaiba turned towards him as well, his eyes inquisitive, but his face devoid of emotion. He seemed bored, even, but Yami could tell that something was going on.
"Where is Yugi?"
"We don't know, Yami. We're trying to find him."
Yami took a few steps forward until he was standing directly in front of Joey.
"He was with you the last time I came out of the puzzle. What happened since then? Where are we?" Yami added, looking around the strange place.
Joey's eyes narrowed slightly, and then a sad look crossed his face.
"Yami, how much do you remember?"
"What do you mean?"
"What is the last thing you remember, before you saw us a little while ago?"
Yami thought about the question for a moment, wondering what Joey meant. He shrugged.
"We were in Kaiba's car on the way to get Yugi.."
Both Joey and Kaiba's eyes widened at his statement. Yami didn't quite understand what was going on, but he was sure that he wasn't going to like whatever it was.
"That happened over six months ago, Yami. We didn't find Yugi that day and he'd been missing until tonight. Some people," at this, Joey glared at Kaiba, "thought that Yugi was dead. Since you hadn't come out of the puzzle, I was beginning to wonder if they weren't right."
"Six months?" Yami repeated. How could so much time have passed?
"Yeah, six months. We found Yugi, and yet we didn't. He doesn't remember who he is, Yami, he thinks he's someone else."
Yami nodded, hearing what Joey was saying but not quite understanding it. Suddenly, what Joey said to him earlier finally registered.
"You said you were looking for Yugi, right? Why?"
"His guardian took him," Kaiba answered. "Somehow, Yugi managed to shoot the guy and get away, but we can't find him. He might be injured, so we have to get to him."
"Can you help, Yami? Is that connection you have with Yug still there?"
Yami thought about it for a moment. He hadn't been able to communicate with Yugi for such a long time. Now that he knew Yugi didn't remember anything, that might help explain why Yami hadn't been able to reach him. If Yugi had no memory of him or the connection they shared, he wouldn't know how to keep the link open, or that there was even a link to keep open. Sometimes, though, the link could be forged unconsciously.
"I have not been able to reach him, Joey. However, I will try again."
Yami closed his eyes and imagined his link with Yugi as a thin, fragile string that ran between the two of them. He reached out, groping for a sliver of a response, while at the same time, he imagined the string becoming stronger, less fragile. Because Yugi did not know how to open the link, didn't even know that a link existed, the link might not be entirely closed. If Yami could sense a bit of emotion from his partner, he might be able to trace it back to him.
'What have I done?'
The thought, in Yugi's soft voice, touched him as softly as the touch of a feather, but that much made Yami's heart soar with joy. He hadn't heard Yugi's mental voice in so long that he had been beginning to wonder if he'd ever hear it again. Now that he had, he knew that whatever had happened to Yugi, they'd get through it. They had to.
Yami focused on the string that represented their link and used it to pull himself towards Yugi. The string was now a sturdy rope, capable of sustaining almost anything, and Yami pulled on it as if it were the only thing keeping him from falling into the dark abyss of his own mind.
Before he knew it, he was there, with Yugi. 'How could I do that?'
The anguish in the thought was heart breaking, and Yami wondered what Yugi was talking about. Yami concentrated on the presence in front of him, and realized that Yugi wasn't wearing the puzzle. He'd assumed that the puzzle was still with Yugi, which meant that the fact that he was hearing Yugi's thoughts at all was a minor miracle.
Yami opened his eyes and found himself in another place, not where he'd been standing with Joey and Kaiba. He felt weak and he knew that his energy would be depleted very soon. He looked around and saw a playground in front of a school. By the swings, he saw a boy on the ground, crying. He couldn't walk over to him, because he had no energy left, but he knew that he was looking at Yugi. He decided instead to take a good look at his surroundings and make his way back to where he'd been standing.
He felt something pull at him and gasped at the strong sensation. Before he knew it, he had left the school and was once again standing in front of Joey.
"Are you okay? Where'd you go?"
Yami fought to remain visible, even though he was being pulled back into the puzzle, which he now saw hanging around Joey's neck. He wouldn't be able to materialize outside of the puzzle for long periods of time until Yugi began to wear it again. For now, he had to keep his visits short.
"He is at a school nearby, by the playground. I just saw him there. You must hurry, he is not doing well."
Having said that, he finally obeyed the pull of the puzzle and let himself be returned to it.. It was now up to Joey and Kaiba to help his aibou.
**~~**
"Yami?"
This was the second time the spirit of the puzzle had disappeared in the past few minutes, and Joey was beginning to get worried about him too. He'd seen the flash from the puzzle and assumed that Yami was inside it again.
"I saw a school while we were walking over here," Kaiba commented. "Let's go."
Joey took off running after Kaiba, also remembering the school they'd passed. He only hoped they wouldn't be too late in getting to his friend this time. Flashes of that frantic drive to the docks six months ago kept going through his mind but he fought them off. He didn't need the doubts right now.
They ran as fast as they could and immediately saw the playground. Joey stopped when he spotted a figure on the ground. He made his way over to his friend quickly, but not so fast that he would scare the younger teen. Once Joey had almost reached him, Jomei lifted his head.
"Stay away from me!" he yelled at them.
Joey couldn't see Jomei very well, because of the late hour and lack of illumination, but he could see that the teen had taken a beating. There were dark spots on his face, hands and pants that Joey could only assume had been made by blood.
"We want to help you, Yu. . . Jomei," Joey corrected himself quickly so as not to cause Jomei to panic. "We're not going to hurt you."
Jomei shook his head. He got to his feet and took a few steps away from Joey. "You don't want to help me."
"Yes, we do."
Joey turned to see that Kaiba had come up and was not standing slightly behind and to one side.
"No, you don't, not when you find out what I did."
Joey frowned. Jomei's voice was soft and devoid of emotion, which completely contradicted the still falling tears. It was as if he'd suddenly come to accept something and nothing else was going to change it.
"What did you do, Jomei? Whatever it was, I doubt it'll make a difference to us."
"This is what I did!" Jomei yelled, holding out his stained hands for Joey to see. "Look, look at them. His blood is on my hands."
"Are you talking about Asami?" Kaiba asked.
"Yeah," Jomei said, his voice breaking. The flat tone of voice suddenly disappeared, and Joey could hear the sadness now.
"I killed him. I didn't mean to do it, but. . ."
It took Joey a second to realize what Jomei had said. He thought he killed Asami?
"You didn't kill him, Jomei. You shot him, yes, but he's not dead. Besides, even if you had killed him, it was in self defense. Look at yourself, I don't doubt that he gave you a reason to shoot him."
Jomei's face lifted to stare at Joey, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"He's not dead?"
Joey shook his head. "No, he's not. You shot him in the chest, but he didn't die. We found him and he's been taken to the hospital. The police were out looking for you, and we wanted to look for you too, so we tagged along. Its okay, they're not going to arrest you or anything. The police want to find you and take you to the hospital as well to see if you're okay."
"He's not dead?" Jomei repeated.
"No, he's not," Joey repeated, his voice soft, but convincing. It was as if Jomei couldn't believe that he hadn't killed his guardian. "Will you come with us, now? I can take you to see that he's not dead for yourself."
Jomei stood looking at both Joey and Kaiba for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he nodded.
"I just wanted to go home," he said.
Joey's eyes welled up with tears at the sound of the longing in that voice. He wanted to just go, take Jomei back home and hope that his grandfather and friends would get him better. He didn't want to go through the red tape that would inevitably be involved now that Asami was in the hospital. He had to be patient, but he would take Jomei home.
"We'll take you home, I promise."
Joey walked the rest of the way and put his arm around Jomei. The younger teen let himself be led out of the school and into the street. Suddenly, he stopped. Where were they supposed to go now?
"Officer Date, we found him."
Joey turned, surprised to see Kaiba talking on his cell phone. How he'd gotten the officer's number, Joey had no idea.
"We're by the school. Yes, we'll wait here."
Kaiba ended the conversation and then turned to glare at Joey.
"What?"
"Nothing. What did the officer say?"
"He's sending a car to pick us up," Kaiba replied.
Kaiba then shrugged out of his jacket and placed it around Jomei who, Joey just noticed, was shivering. The jacket was too big for him, but it didn't seem to matter to Jomei. He grabbed the ends of it and wrapped the jacket tightly around himself. He hadn't said anything, and Joey was beginning to get worried.
"Jomei?"
Jomei turned to look at Joey, his face expressionless.
"The officer we talked to earlier is sending a car to get us, okay? We're going to take you to the hospital to get looked at and for you to get some rest."
Jomei nodded, but Joey wasn't sure if he'd really heard.
Joey sighed. He began to wonder if they were ever going to get Jomei back to Domino.
**~~**
See, no evil cliffhanger in this one! Next up: Mr. Moto finally gets told about Yugi. For now, that's all I have. I'm sure more will pop up when I start writing.
To show you that I'm not completely heartless and mean *smacks muse upside his head to stop the snickering*, here is the next chapter. Like I said in the last one, this was never meant to be broken up into two parts, but the length kind of got away from me.
Amiasha: Gozaburo, that's it! It just never stuck in my head. He was a bastard, wasn't he? Yeah, demon cliffhangers are not very good. Sorry! It's my muse, I swear!
Adrienne-Lillian: Did you eat the whole three bags? *shakes head* Yikes. . . I'll have to not give you any for a while. I think the chocolate is causing the homicidal tendencies ^__^
LadyIcyBlue: Yup, it is a good line! Every time I hear it, I think of the old Batman show that used to end like that. Writer's block is gone now, though. Whoohoo!
Yugi: Your stepbrother is right. The neck has to be completely severed in order for the person to die. Asami is a pretty big man, though. He could do it *spoilers, anyone?*. Oh, lord, now I have that song in my head! *go away, go away!!* Thanks for volunteering to be my beta!! Are you sure you want to join my insanity? *smacks muse again for good measure*
dragon: Thanks for adding me to your faves! *grins widely*. I should thank the other people that have added me too! I have the best readers! Is this soon enough for ya? I hope you didn't loose too much of your sanity ^_^
Lavender Wonder: Nope, no big tantrum this time. Well, not too much of one, at least.
Joy-girl: Yami finally makes an appearance in this chapter. Yeah, I know, it's about time, right?
Pocky: Yami doesn't quite get a hold of Asami. But the man does get what he deserves.
Lizzy9046: We must have predictable villains! They make great plot devices, after all. Childhood memories are a pain, and Kaiba is going to be cursing them for quite a while.
TZ: I almost missed replying to this, since you reviewed right as I was getting ready to upload the chapter. I have been to the site you suggested. Unfortunately, I always get the 'site out of bandwidth, come back later' page. It's too bad, because I bet they're really cool translations. Thanks, though! *hands TZ more Oreos, frowning at the dwindling stack under the desk*
Thanks for the reviews, as always! I'm about halfway through the next chapter of Paint the Sky with Stars, so that'll hopefully be up sometime soon. Other than that, no notes needed. Enjoy!
*****
Part 9: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures
"Drop the guns, or I break the little one's neck."
As the hand squeezed around his neck, the only thing Jomei could think of was that no one else should have been involved in Asami's insanity except for him. He was used to it, after all. All of his life, all he could remember of it, at least, had been filled with Asami's harsh voice and cruel hands. He was used to it, no one else was. The strangers shouldn't have come; they shouldn't be here to witness it either.
"Do you think you can snap his neck before I can shoot you?" one of the police officers said.
Asami replied by painfully pushing Jomei's neck to one side, causing him to groan. The pressure began to build to the point where Jomei was sure it was going to snap. He felt his hands, which had grabbed a hold of the arm Asami had wrapped around his chest, tighten in response to the pressure.
"Do you really want to take the risk?" Asami growled.
The officer muttered a few words that Jomei couldn't make out, but he was sure he caught the general gist of them. The pressure on his neck lessened slightly and he breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at the other two teenagers in the room and saw that they, too, seemed ready to kill Asami. They weren't armed, and Jomei hoped that they wouldn't do something that would get them hurt.
"Give me the guns."
Jomei's eyes widened at the request.
"What?"
"You heard me, give me the guns. Better yet, give them to the kid. Jomei, grab the guns, if you will."
Jomei did nothing. His hands were still clenched around Asami's arm and he made no effort to move them.
"Hold out your hands, kid!"
"No," the word slipped out of his mouth without his realization, but once it was out, Jomei knew that he meant it. He wasn't about to let himself be used for anyone else's destruction, not even if it meant his own.
"No? You dare question me??"
Asami emphasized the statement by squeezing his neck further, blocking his respiration. Jomei desperately tried to get his breath, but it was useless. He could see his vision turning dark right along with the loss of sensation in his body. This was it. It was really going to end.
"Fine, here!"
Jomei opened his eyes to see the two officers holding out their guns to him. Asami's hold on his neck loosened a bit, allowing him to draw breath again.
"Take the guns, kid."
Jomei, left without much of a choice, held his hands out and took the offered weapons. They felt foreign and heavy in his hands, and he didn't know what to do with them. He dropped his arms to his side, holding on to the cold steel of the guns as if his life depended on it. He supposed that in a way, it did.
"Okay, so now the kid and I are going to leave and you're not going to follow. Come on, Jomei, let's go for a walk."
Slowly, Asami walked around the cluster of people standing by the entrance to the apartment. He made it a point not to turn his back on them, though. He made his way down the stairs in the same manner, never turning his back on the apartment. Once he'd reached the street, Asami took off running.
The man was smart; he didn't simply run down the main street. Instead, he darted into the closest alley and kept running. He ducked in an out of buildings and cubbyholes so fast that Jomei lost track of where they were going. Finally, Asami reached an abandoned building and let himself in through a broken window. Once inside, Asami walked towards the back and threw Jomei against the nearest wall.
Jomei tried to break his fall, but realized that he was still holding onto the two guns. By the time he'd dropped them, he'd already impacted the wall. His right side took the brunt of the impact, and his cheek was scraped as he fell to the ground. The only illumination in the building came from the streetlights outside, but it was enough so that when Jomei looked up, he could see Asami rushing towards him. Desperately, Jomei looked around for one of the guns but couldn't see where they'd fallen.
Asami grabbed him by the shoulders and picked him up.
"What did you say to them, huh?" the man yelled, his breath hitting Jomei's face like a harsh wind. "Did you tell them lies, tell them that I beat you or starve you? I give you a place to live, food to eat and this is the thanks I get? How could you do this to me, you ungrateful little brat?"
Asami threw him against the wall again, and Jomei felt his breath knocked out of him as he hit. When he landed, however, he felt something cold under his left thigh. He reached down automatically and felt the cold steel of one of the guns. Instinctively, he picked it up and pointed it at Asami. He didn't know much about guns, but he'd seen enough movies to know how they were supposed to work. The man stopped in his tracks when he saw what was in Jomei's hand.
"Stop!" Jomei yelled. "Get any closer and I'll shoot!" His voice was shaking, but determined, which he was glad to note.
Slowly, trying not to wince at the pain in his back and side, Jomei got to his feet. His back was against the wall, so the only way out of the building was going to be through Asami.
"You won't shoot me, you pathetic little runt. You're all threat and no action and you know it!"
The words stung, and Jomei tightened his hold on the gun. Would he do it? Could he really shoot the man?
"Let me go. I just want to go home, okay?"
"Home? You are already home or have you forgotten that?"
"I'm not home! I don't belong with you," Jomei said, his voice shrill and very loud.
He didn't care though. Months of abuse at the hands of this man had finally come crashing down on him and he wanted nothing more than to make Asami feel like the man had made him feel time after time. Jomei had known nothing but anger and fear when he'd been with Asami. As far as he remembered, he'd felt like a piece of trash; someone unwanted that was only kept around to provide money. He knew that Asami was probably right, that he was nothing more than an insignificant runt who was worthless and would amount to nothing, but that still didn't give the man the right to hurt him.
"Oh? So where do you belong, then? Don't tell me you have some rich uncle somewhere you're going to live with?"
Asami's sarcasm only served to make Jomei angrier. He took a step forward and was pleased to note that Asami took a step back.
"You kidnapped me, and then did something to make me forget my life, my home, and my family! Why did you do that? I did nothing to you," Jomei yelled, his voice reflecting the anger and confusion he was feeling. "Is that why you mistreated me all that time, because I didn't belong to you?"
"What are you talking about, kid? I didn't kidnap you. You're out of your mind!"
"No, I'm not! That's why the police were there tonight, not because of anything else. I ran into some people at work who know me from somewhere else. They said I was kidnapped six moths ago. I've been with you for six months, haven't I?"
Jomei saw Asami's eyes narrow and he knew that the man was lying. Asami knew something, of that Jomei was sure.
"That's enough! Shut up and leave well enough alone. Believe me, kid, you're not prepared for the reality."
"Tell me!"
"I've had it with you," Asami said. "I know you're not going to shoot me, so give it up already. This ends right here, right now. Besides, a dead boy can't talk, can he?"
Asami charged him, moving faster than Jomei had thought possible for a man of Asami's size. Jomei froze and could only watch as the much bigger man got closer and closer to him. Suddenly, there was a loud bang. Jomei was thrown backwards, but managed to keep his footing. Asami's eyes widened and he fell forward, towards Jomei. At the last moment, Jomei moved aside and watched Asami fall to the ground. It took him a while to realize that the sound he'd heard was the sound of the gun firing, and that he'd actually pulled the trigger.
Shocked, Jomei dropped the gun he'd still been clutching in his hands. He stood there for a while, unmoving, trying to assimilate what had just happened. In a stupor, he kneeled next to Asami, who was lying on his stomach. In the poor lighting, Jomei could see a large hole in the man's back where the bullet had exited. He turned the man over and saw that his eyes were closed. A pool of blood had started to gather underneath him and as Jomei turned him over, a lot of it got on his hands.
"What have I done?" Jomei whispered.
Asami wasn't moving, and his blood kept flowing from the bullet wound on his chest.
"I killed him. Oh, God, I killed him."
Horrified, Jomei got to his feet and took a couple of steps away from Asami. He brought his hands up to his face but stopped when he saw that they were covered in blood. He wiped them on his pants, but the blood wouldn't completely go away. He shook his head quickly, his mind still unable to cope with what he'd just done.
"No, no, oh, no. How can I go back now? I'm a murderer. The police are going to be after me now and the two kids aren't going to want anything to do with a cold blooded killer," Jomei whispered to himself. "I can't go back; I can't let them find me. I have to disappear."
With that thought, Jomei turned around and ran out of the building. Once outside, he stopped. He didn't know where he was or where to go. All he knew was that he had to go away, far away where no one would find him.
He picked a direction at random and started running. He ran through a residential neighborhood where the dogs kept barking at him as he passed the quiet houses. Finally, he ended up on the grounds of a school. It was deserted, of course. He walked over to the swing set and stood beside it, unnoticed tears running down his face.
"All I ever wanted was to be normal, to be loved. I didn't want to be a murderer. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do it, I'm so sorry."
Jomei dropped to his knees on the rough stones that littered the playground and wept. He wept for the man he'd killed, for those innocent kids that had been nice to him at the restaurant, and at the same time, wept for their friend Yugi, whom they'd surely never get back now.
He also wept for himself
It was unfair. Life was always unfair.
**~~**
Yami stood outside of his soul room and tried not to pace. He'd already spent some time doing that and it hadn't accomplished a thing. At least he was outside of his soul room now. For a while, he'd been trapped inside like he'd been before Yugi had solved the puzzle. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since the last time he'd been outside of the puzzle, not counting what had happened a few moments ago when he'd found himself beside Joey facing a very confused and scared Yugi.
Yami frowned at the memory of that. Yugi had seemed like a stranger. What worried Yami, however, was that even though he knew that Yugi was alive and well, which had been a fear of his while he couldn't get out of his soul room, he couldn't feel him. Usually, Yami was able to feel Yugi; his thoughts and feelings would sometimes filter down to Yami. At the very least, with a little searching, Yami could feel the connection they had through the puzzle. That was not the case anymore.
When he tried to reach out to Yugi, there was nothing. Yugi's soul room was open, which proved to Yami that Yugi was not dead, but the room was dark and empty. With a sigh, Yami walked over to Yugi's soul room and entered it. He glanced at the surroundings, noting that the usually bright and cheerful room was dark and depressing. It was as if it was suffering from abandonment. Yami hadn't been cut off from Yugi for that long, had he? Just how much time had passed since that day in Seto Kaiba's car?
That memory brought back the feelings of helplessness and fear he'd had that day. They'd been going to get Yugi, but something had happened on the way. Yami really couldn't explain it, because it had happened so fast, but he'd felt Yugi then. As they were about to reach the docks, he'd felt his partner's desperation, loneliness and terror, and it had almost taken Yami into the depths of despair. Granted, he was a dark being who was more than used to feelings of such variety, especially since he usually inflicted those feelings on others. However, when it came to Yugi, the person he had sworn to protect above all else, feeling those emotions through the filter of Yugi's mind somehow made Yami more sensitive to them.
What had happened that day? Had the others found Yugi? They must have, if Yugi was still with them even now, as Yami had seen during his brief glimpse. Why wasn't Yugi talking to him, though? Why the silence? Why had Yami been trapped in his soul room?
So many questions, no where near enough answers. It was useless to stand here and think, he had to get out and talk to someone; if not Yugi, then maybe Joey. Yami could no longer stand around and wait for something to happen. No, he had to take action and do something. He'd gotten out of the puzzle once, so it stood to reason that he could do it again.
Quickly, before he could change his mind, Yami closed his eyes and willed himself out of the puzzle. He felt the drain in his energy immediately, which he assumed meant that he'd been able to successfully leave the puzzle. He staggered a bit, but opened his eyes. He found himself in a dark, almost empty street. He didn't recognize it, however. Yami looked around but found no one. He slowly turned around, trying to think of where he could go. He had picked a direction and was about to head for it when he heard familiar voices. He made his way over to them and found himself looking at Kaiba and Joey. They weren't facing him, though. Instead, they seemed to be searching for something.
"Joey, what is going on?"
Joey whirled around, his eyes wide. It took him a while to say something, which Yami found amusing. Joey was rarely without anything to say.
"Yami!" was all the blond managed to get out.
Kaiba turned towards him as well, his eyes inquisitive, but his face devoid of emotion. He seemed bored, even, but Yami could tell that something was going on.
"Where is Yugi?"
"We don't know, Yami. We're trying to find him."
Yami took a few steps forward until he was standing directly in front of Joey.
"He was with you the last time I came out of the puzzle. What happened since then? Where are we?" Yami added, looking around the strange place.
Joey's eyes narrowed slightly, and then a sad look crossed his face.
"Yami, how much do you remember?"
"What do you mean?"
"What is the last thing you remember, before you saw us a little while ago?"
Yami thought about the question for a moment, wondering what Joey meant. He shrugged.
"We were in Kaiba's car on the way to get Yugi.."
Both Joey and Kaiba's eyes widened at his statement. Yami didn't quite understand what was going on, but he was sure that he wasn't going to like whatever it was.
"That happened over six months ago, Yami. We didn't find Yugi that day and he'd been missing until tonight. Some people," at this, Joey glared at Kaiba, "thought that Yugi was dead. Since you hadn't come out of the puzzle, I was beginning to wonder if they weren't right."
"Six months?" Yami repeated. How could so much time have passed?
"Yeah, six months. We found Yugi, and yet we didn't. He doesn't remember who he is, Yami, he thinks he's someone else."
Yami nodded, hearing what Joey was saying but not quite understanding it. Suddenly, what Joey said to him earlier finally registered.
"You said you were looking for Yugi, right? Why?"
"His guardian took him," Kaiba answered. "Somehow, Yugi managed to shoot the guy and get away, but we can't find him. He might be injured, so we have to get to him."
"Can you help, Yami? Is that connection you have with Yug still there?"
Yami thought about it for a moment. He hadn't been able to communicate with Yugi for such a long time. Now that he knew Yugi didn't remember anything, that might help explain why Yami hadn't been able to reach him. If Yugi had no memory of him or the connection they shared, he wouldn't know how to keep the link open, or that there was even a link to keep open. Sometimes, though, the link could be forged unconsciously.
"I have not been able to reach him, Joey. However, I will try again."
Yami closed his eyes and imagined his link with Yugi as a thin, fragile string that ran between the two of them. He reached out, groping for a sliver of a response, while at the same time, he imagined the string becoming stronger, less fragile. Because Yugi did not know how to open the link, didn't even know that a link existed, the link might not be entirely closed. If Yami could sense a bit of emotion from his partner, he might be able to trace it back to him.
'What have I done?'
The thought, in Yugi's soft voice, touched him as softly as the touch of a feather, but that much made Yami's heart soar with joy. He hadn't heard Yugi's mental voice in so long that he had been beginning to wonder if he'd ever hear it again. Now that he had, he knew that whatever had happened to Yugi, they'd get through it. They had to.
Yami focused on the string that represented their link and used it to pull himself towards Yugi. The string was now a sturdy rope, capable of sustaining almost anything, and Yami pulled on it as if it were the only thing keeping him from falling into the dark abyss of his own mind.
Before he knew it, he was there, with Yugi. 'How could I do that?'
The anguish in the thought was heart breaking, and Yami wondered what Yugi was talking about. Yami concentrated on the presence in front of him, and realized that Yugi wasn't wearing the puzzle. He'd assumed that the puzzle was still with Yugi, which meant that the fact that he was hearing Yugi's thoughts at all was a minor miracle.
Yami opened his eyes and found himself in another place, not where he'd been standing with Joey and Kaiba. He felt weak and he knew that his energy would be depleted very soon. He looked around and saw a playground in front of a school. By the swings, he saw a boy on the ground, crying. He couldn't walk over to him, because he had no energy left, but he knew that he was looking at Yugi. He decided instead to take a good look at his surroundings and make his way back to where he'd been standing.
He felt something pull at him and gasped at the strong sensation. Before he knew it, he had left the school and was once again standing in front of Joey.
"Are you okay? Where'd you go?"
Yami fought to remain visible, even though he was being pulled back into the puzzle, which he now saw hanging around Joey's neck. He wouldn't be able to materialize outside of the puzzle for long periods of time until Yugi began to wear it again. For now, he had to keep his visits short.
"He is at a school nearby, by the playground. I just saw him there. You must hurry, he is not doing well."
Having said that, he finally obeyed the pull of the puzzle and let himself be returned to it.. It was now up to Joey and Kaiba to help his aibou.
**~~**
"Yami?"
This was the second time the spirit of the puzzle had disappeared in the past few minutes, and Joey was beginning to get worried about him too. He'd seen the flash from the puzzle and assumed that Yami was inside it again.
"I saw a school while we were walking over here," Kaiba commented. "Let's go."
Joey took off running after Kaiba, also remembering the school they'd passed. He only hoped they wouldn't be too late in getting to his friend this time. Flashes of that frantic drive to the docks six months ago kept going through his mind but he fought them off. He didn't need the doubts right now.
They ran as fast as they could and immediately saw the playground. Joey stopped when he spotted a figure on the ground. He made his way over to his friend quickly, but not so fast that he would scare the younger teen. Once Joey had almost reached him, Jomei lifted his head.
"Stay away from me!" he yelled at them.
Joey couldn't see Jomei very well, because of the late hour and lack of illumination, but he could see that the teen had taken a beating. There were dark spots on his face, hands and pants that Joey could only assume had been made by blood.
"We want to help you, Yu. . . Jomei," Joey corrected himself quickly so as not to cause Jomei to panic. "We're not going to hurt you."
Jomei shook his head. He got to his feet and took a few steps away from Joey. "You don't want to help me."
"Yes, we do."
Joey turned to see that Kaiba had come up and was not standing slightly behind and to one side.
"No, you don't, not when you find out what I did."
Joey frowned. Jomei's voice was soft and devoid of emotion, which completely contradicted the still falling tears. It was as if he'd suddenly come to accept something and nothing else was going to change it.
"What did you do, Jomei? Whatever it was, I doubt it'll make a difference to us."
"This is what I did!" Jomei yelled, holding out his stained hands for Joey to see. "Look, look at them. His blood is on my hands."
"Are you talking about Asami?" Kaiba asked.
"Yeah," Jomei said, his voice breaking. The flat tone of voice suddenly disappeared, and Joey could hear the sadness now.
"I killed him. I didn't mean to do it, but. . ."
It took Joey a second to realize what Jomei had said. He thought he killed Asami?
"You didn't kill him, Jomei. You shot him, yes, but he's not dead. Besides, even if you had killed him, it was in self defense. Look at yourself, I don't doubt that he gave you a reason to shoot him."
Jomei's face lifted to stare at Joey, his eyes wide in disbelief.
"He's not dead?"
Joey shook his head. "No, he's not. You shot him in the chest, but he didn't die. We found him and he's been taken to the hospital. The police were out looking for you, and we wanted to look for you too, so we tagged along. Its okay, they're not going to arrest you or anything. The police want to find you and take you to the hospital as well to see if you're okay."
"He's not dead?" Jomei repeated.
"No, he's not," Joey repeated, his voice soft, but convincing. It was as if Jomei couldn't believe that he hadn't killed his guardian. "Will you come with us, now? I can take you to see that he's not dead for yourself."
Jomei stood looking at both Joey and Kaiba for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he nodded.
"I just wanted to go home," he said.
Joey's eyes welled up with tears at the sound of the longing in that voice. He wanted to just go, take Jomei back home and hope that his grandfather and friends would get him better. He didn't want to go through the red tape that would inevitably be involved now that Asami was in the hospital. He had to be patient, but he would take Jomei home.
"We'll take you home, I promise."
Joey walked the rest of the way and put his arm around Jomei. The younger teen let himself be led out of the school and into the street. Suddenly, he stopped. Where were they supposed to go now?
"Officer Date, we found him."
Joey turned, surprised to see Kaiba talking on his cell phone. How he'd gotten the officer's number, Joey had no idea.
"We're by the school. Yes, we'll wait here."
Kaiba ended the conversation and then turned to glare at Joey.
"What?"
"Nothing. What did the officer say?"
"He's sending a car to pick us up," Kaiba replied.
Kaiba then shrugged out of his jacket and placed it around Jomei who, Joey just noticed, was shivering. The jacket was too big for him, but it didn't seem to matter to Jomei. He grabbed the ends of it and wrapped the jacket tightly around himself. He hadn't said anything, and Joey was beginning to get worried.
"Jomei?"
Jomei turned to look at Joey, his face expressionless.
"The officer we talked to earlier is sending a car to get us, okay? We're going to take you to the hospital to get looked at and for you to get some rest."
Jomei nodded, but Joey wasn't sure if he'd really heard.
Joey sighed. He began to wonder if they were ever going to get Jomei back to Domino.
**~~**
See, no evil cliffhanger in this one! Next up: Mr. Moto finally gets told about Yugi. For now, that's all I have. I'm sure more will pop up when I start writing.