Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Lie That I Lived

Mai Valentine- 26

Seto Kaiba- 25

Joey Wheeler- 24

Yami Mouto- 24

Tea Mouto- 24

Serenity Wheeler- 22

Mokuba Kaiba- 20

Well I try and I try, and sometimes I do succeed, but this story is almost done! Three more chapters! I want to thank Susharrak for the great story ideas she gave me, I'm really sorry to say I won't be using them (SORRY!) It's just through this long period of time of not updating I finally figured out how I want my plot to go. I'm really sorry, they were excellent ideas though! Remember to leave a review after you're done reading!

Chapter 8

-II-

"Ohmygod! I'm fat!"

Mai ran out of the large marble washroom attached to her bedroom and ran into Mokuba's room. The poor, young Kaiba was flattering a young lady for the ball tomorrow when a raving blonde woman came in.

"Mokuba! Mokuba!" Mai jumped onto his bed and began pulling on his blue polo shirt.

"Uh…Listen Stacey, I'm gonna call you back."

The Kaiba quickly put the phone down and stared at the frantic pregnant lady on his bed.

'Be careful Mokuba. She's on her fifth month and she's as crazy as ever.' He thought as he mentally prepared himself.

"Wow, Mai! You're looking hot!" The young Kaiba said, pulling out his charm.

"Really? Are you sure I haven't gained any weight?" Mai yelled in a shrill voice.

"What! No, I think you need to gain a few more pounds," he teased her.

"Aw, Mokuba! I knew I could count on you," she smiled widely as she threw her arms around him and bounced out of the room.

'Women…so many problems.' The young Kaiba thought as he called Stacey back.

Mai hovered out of his room. For some odd reason she had been acting weird, but the doctor said it was normal and totally acceptable. She felt like she was walking on air, she hadn't felt like this in a long time. She felt so elated and happy…until…

"Watch where you're going," Kaiba gruffly mumbled has he bent down to pick up his papers.

"Sorry," Mai blubbered through tears as she began to help.

"Oh crap, don't cry," Kaiba said, already fed up with her pregnancy.

'I don't know how husbands do it.'

"Hey Kaiba? Do I look fat?"

"Of course Stacey, obviously we'll be taking the limo. Just you and me, and obviously the driver, but there's a window to hide him-"

"I can't believe you! How could you be so insensitive! I'm two freaking people!"

"Uh, Stacey. I think I'll need to call you back again."

Mokuba hastily put the phone down and ran out of his room.

"What the-"

Swiftly, bending down, he was able to dodge a flying bouquet of flowers. After that it was the vase. Then the side table. Finally, when she realized there was nothing left to throw, she stormed off into her room. Kaiba, of course, stood against the wall, his hands flat over it and his eyes in a daze. All his business papers had flown everywhere but he didn't care. He just thanked God he was alive.

"Seto, what happened?"

"She asked me if she was fat…"

'Ohhh, this isn't good.'

"I know you're not good with women, but please tell you me you gave her a good answer…"

"I told her that the cook was working overtime…"

Mokuba just stared at the older Kaiba. "I have no words. No words." He disappointedly shook his head and walked into his room. It was going to be a long and loud night.

-II-

"What do you mean you broke a promise?" Mai asked, baffled. It didn't seem like that big of a deal. Maybe that was because everyone always broke promises they made with her.

"Friendship is a strong bond-"

"Don't give me that bullshit."

"I'm not trying to give you any bullshit," Yami replied, a small smile on his lips. "The fact still remains that without Yugi's body I would still be a wandering spirit, roaming the netherworld to find out who I was, what I was, and what became of me."

Mai looked away and continued to walk.

"But there's no use in explaining that to you. You act like you haven't a friend in the world."

"Then why don't you tell me what I've got?" Mai asked, her eyes aflame and she stared him, challenging him to answer.

"If you ever thought to look back-"

"There's no point in looking back. What's happened has happened and right now all I need to do is look forward."

"Once, in your sorry and pathetic life there were friends who watched out for you and cared for you," Yami said, his hands in his pockets as he stood still for a moment and looked up at the night sky.

"And just like everything in life, they had no use for me and threw me aside. I couldn't wait for anyone. It was only I, my life and I, and I had to do something. I couldn't live for the moment with people who had everything in the world, I have to live for myself. If life teaches anyone anything it's that only you can watch your own back."

"Did you ever even try to trust anyone?"

"If I tried to trust someone then I would've ended up like Yugi and whatever you did to him."

Yami had no words. Her insults had stabbed something inside him, all he could do was look down in silence.

"Exactly."

"You have to get hurt sometimes I your life."

"I've been hurt too many times."

"And if you had friends, maybe that hurt would've hurt a little less."

"Maybe." Mai turned to Yami, their violet eyes met and Yami looked away. She looked up into the night sky as grey clouds slowly took over the peaceful night sky.

"But I can't live my life on possibilities."

-II-

"So, what happened between you two?" Tea asked pryingly.

Joey looked up at Tea and just smiled. What else could he do? One of the reasons he accepted a job so far from Domino was because he knew Mai was in the city somewhere, and when he had finally found her, she was already with someone else. All he could do now was hope she was happy and bit by bit try to forget about her.

"Nothing."

"C'mon Joey! Don't hold out on us!" Tea persistently said.

"Tea, I think Joey rather not talk about it…" Yami interrupted before the brunette could ask again.

Tea leaned back on the blue futon and sighed. She crossed her slender arms over her chest and gave a cold stare to her husband, who just laughed it off. He was always the level-headed one, unlike her, always jumping into things.

"Yami…?" Joey's voice slowly began.

He looked up at Joey.

"You and Mai talk sometimes, right?"

Yami smiled as he recalled the moments he had spent with the bitter blonde. Though she tried to hide herself unremittingly throughout their meeting, the more she hid, the more he found out about her. Her violet eyes clouded with darkness were only the entrance to all the hatred she had in her heart.

"We did."

"Did she ever mention anything about her being with someone?"

That was news to him. Mai always ranted about how she was alone in the world and how she had no one. Why would she lie about all that and hide a person who was truly caring about her. Had Mai lied to Joey in order to escape his love? Or was she lying in order to save her love?

"She never said anything about someone."

"Mai can't be with someone, did you notice how down she looks all the time?" Tea burst out, not being able to keep quiet for so long.

"I dunno, she got out of my apartment and got into a fancy car…"

"Maybe it was a friend! Joey you can't jump to conclusions! You came all this way to win her back!" Tea yelled encouragingly.

"But he can't force himself on her, if Mai has someone in her life then she'll have to tell Joey, until then, Joey can do nothing but try to get to know her better." Yami replied rationally.

"But she's always running."

"Then you have to be one step ahead."

-II-

"Argh! Men don't know anything! They don't understand women! Especially when they're pregnant! They just go on saying insensitive things like there's no tomorrow! What do they know! They can say whatever bullshit they want and us women will have to listen to it! They can go on and be with whatever bullshit they want and us women will have to watch! I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW STUPID SETO KAIBA CAN BE!"

Crash.

Bang.

Boom?

"Seto that's all your doing."

"But-I…"

"Seto. Pay very close attention. She's pregnant-"

"Thanks for the reality check Mokuba," Kaiba replied sarcastically.

"She's emotional-"

"Really? Go figure," Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"And she has feelings for you."

Quiet. The sound of crashing projectiles had stopped and so had Kaiba's sarcastic remarks. Kaiba? Plus Mai? Equalled some sort of union bound by more than friendship? Wait…they were friends? Well they must've been, he had been there for her for most of her pregnancy, though it wasn't all love and support, he was still there.

He looked at his younger brother. A smirk plastered over his small face, Kaiba wasn't beginning to see what effects his smirk had on people.

Kaiba took a deep breath and took a step closer to the door. As if sensing his arrival, Mai threw something against the door.

"You know what, she's not going anywhere…maybe I'll try again tomorrow."

Kaiba quickly turned away and took very long strides to his study.

"Men." Mokuba muttered under his breath as he walked back into his room.

-II-

Night had fallen over the Kaiba residence, and though everything seemed quiet and still, a war continued to rage on through the night. Kaiba knew, for sure, 99.9 per cent that Mokuba was just teasing him. But there was that annoying 0.01 per cent doubt at the back of his mind that thought about the probability of him and Mai being together.

Breathing a sigh of annoyance and defeat, he got up and threw on a business shirt that was lying on his chair from the previous day. He went to his closet and pulled out a grey plastic covering, underneath was something that was sure to get an unusual reaction from the blonde.

Creeping down the dark corridors, Kaiba tried to talk himself out of doing what he was about to do many times. He stopped, breathed, and stared at the door in front of him. Slowly, he put his hand forward and began to open it…

"AAHHHH!"

"Holy mother…" Kaiba jumped back and stared at Mai.

"What the hell were you doing!" They both yelled in unison.

"Why were you in front of my door!" Mai whispered sharply.

"I wanted to ask you something!" Kaiba shot back.

"What?"

"Here."

"That's not a question," Mai smirked.

"Just take it," Kaiba muttered as she push a small envelope and the grey covering towards her.

"Whatever…" Mai rolled her eyes and closed the door.

Kaiba stood still for a few moments, a small smile appearing on his lips. "Women…" He muttered as he walked back to his room.

Mai shook her head as she smiled. She would never understand the Kaiba brothers. Complete opposites, but completely the same. Mai sat down on her bed and pulled the zipper of the grey covering. Inside was the dress that had been dying to wear. The lavender dress she had adored when she worked at the store was now hers? Tears streamed down her face (usually something like this wouldn't cause her to cry, but considering the circumstances…), she sprinted down the hall and stood before Kaiba's room.

"Holy f-"

"Stop doing that!" They both yelled in unison.

Mai smiled, hesitantly, she threw her arms around the billionaire and pecked him on the cheek. "I love the dress," she whispered into his ear as she skipped back to her room.

-II-

"Mokuba, remind me again why I asked Mai to come with me." Kaiba sighed a he tiredly waited for his "date" (the word being used quite loosely).

"Because you like her. You want to kiss her, you want to touch her, you want to-"

Kaiba threw a shoe at the younger Kaiba's face, he missed by a hair but that didn't seem to shut him up.

"Jeez Kaiba, I thought you'd at least want me to look my best since I'm going to be meeting all those businessmen."

Kaiba looked up towards the stairs and his expression changed from annoyance to awe. Her blonde curls had been done up in a bun with a few curls escaping it. The lavender dress fit her perfectly. There was absolutely no flaw detectable in her whole attire. If fairy tales were actually true, and you could hear music when perfect moments occurred, then a whole orchestra was playing in Seto Kaiba's head. She glided down the stair with utter grace, her hands slowly lifting the silky bottom as each heel came down. She brushed back strands of curls that had been tickling her neck as she stood before Kaiba.

"So…?" She began.

He put his hand behind her neck, gently brushing her pale skin, and brought back the strands she had pushed back.

"Now you look perfect."

-II-

"Broken promises can kill Mai."

His words sliced through the icy silence that had settled between them.

"You should measure your happiness with what you have, not count your sadness with what's been taken away. It's something I've lived by ever since Yugi passed away…"

Mai stopped walking, something inside the fragments of her soul twisted in pain when she heard those words. Yugi, was gone?

"What are you saying?"

"I owed my life to Yugi. And what did I do when I found my own body? Tea came to me with her love. All the duelling fame and glory came to me. Even Joey and Tristan spent more time with me. I stole Yugi's entire life and left him with nothing but a small, hollow body. But he never blamed me. He always gave credit to me if anything good ever came his way. But after we were separated, he never saw the good."

'Yugi…'

"The void my presence left was quickly filled with hate and anger. Yugi thought that everything that had happened to him over the past years was all due to me being there and helping him through everything. He felt weak and be began to submit to the pain that he was causing himself. Tea found his body, his wrists were slit."

Yami looked away as tears and pain began to resurface.

"From that day on I never forgave myself. I didn't want anyone to suffer the way Yugi did. Tea, and everyone helped me through everything, but each one of us felt guilty for being a part of Yugi's death. To this very day I hope he found the peace he was looking for."

"Yami…"

"Mai, you're a strong person. I know it."

He turned his back towards her and began to walk away. This black trench coat flew in the wind as he disappeared into the night's shadows.