Ranko: Hey…hey…hey…hey…guess what?
Yami: (sighs) What?
Ranko:….it's 2013! Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that all of you are full of love and hope for the start of a new year and a chance to right the wrongs you may have done.
Yuugi: Because that is what New Years is about!
Yami: (to readers) Don't be freaked out, this is how these two behave every New Year…even though Ranko really doesn't celebrate it. She just gets up in the morning says, "Oh, its 2013…" and falls back to sleep.
Ranko: Bite me! Alright, let's answer some reviews!
raindropdew: Thank you, and I hope that you had an awesome Christmas too! Now I'm back from vacation and have work to do…ugh, must sleep. Anyway, Honda will be fine and I sure hope that Yuugi and the gang get their butts in gear! Thanks for the awesome review!
hikari no senshi17: I don't think anyone is going to die in this one…but maybe someone in the sequel of the sequel (third story). Oh no (gasp)! Dun dun dun!
k. alex c-well: Aw! Thank you so much! Don't worry, Ryou isn't really dead! It's all good!
Dinogirl: That wasn't a fake Honda, it was the real Honda the whole time and he just disappeared when he went back to the kitchen. There wasn't really any point in him taking the clue (because it's a clue saying how he'll be taken) it was just so the rest of the gang would realize he was missing. I think I would like it better if Yuugi stayed with Yami X3 Dark puzzleshipping! Thanks for the review.
SincereJoyy: Yep, Malik is a tough little guy! I love him so much! And I know how fangirls can be sometimes, they're scary…(shudders). I hate it when my phone is difficult, especially when I want to read fanfiction and I'm too lazy to go on the computer. Thanks for the review!
Candyfiend: Aw! You so nice! And thank you for pointing out that error! I always get those two mixed up (even though I do know the difference between the two -_-) I'm lazy in my editing.
Yuugi: On with the story!
Yami: Ranko twin owns nothing, as always!
Ranko: Enjoy!
-/-
The kitchen was almost completely empty, if it wasn't for the fact that there was a little paper doll sitting in the middle of the kitchen on the brightly tiled floor.
It was folded, so it could sit, and one of its little paper arms was twisted up, as if waving to someone. As if the doll was saying, "Hey, what's up?" It was mocking Yuugi with its playful crayon gaze and lopsided grin drawn on with black colored pencil.
Jounouchi was shaken more badly than anyone else. One of his best friends was taken and what was left in his place was a paper doll. The blond dropped to his knees and picked up the doll gently, as if it were a real person.
Then, his honey-gold eyes widened in horror. "This…this is the doll that Honda had used in the Game…in the paper house…oh my, God. That's…that's impossible…" Jounouchi hunched over and looked as if he were about to start crying when Seto put a comforting hand on his shoulder and helped him to his feet.
Not caring if anyone saw, Jounouchi leaned against Seto's chest, he wasn't sure if he would be able to support himself, and he hid his face in the taller man's shoulder so his friends wouldn't see him cry. Seto rubbed the blond's back soothingly as Jounouchi shook like a leaf.
Yuugi was frozen in his spot, what Jounouchi said was true. It was impossible for the doll to be here. The last time any of them had seen it was when Yuugi packed it up with the rest of THE SHADOW GAME. The only other people who had opened the box after that were Haga and Ryuzaki.
'But isn't it possible for the Shadow Men to have gotten their claws on the Game?' the little voice of logic said in the back of his head. 'Stranger things have happened.'
Yuugi realized that they hadn't seen the dolls when they went to the police station for the first time after they were called in by Mai and Miho. When Miho showed them the paper house, it was missing the paper dolls.
Jounouchi wiped his eyes and stepped away from Seto, refusing to make eye contact with the man. "Where is Honda?" he asked to no one is particular. "Where is he?" Yuugi saw anger build up in Jounouchi's eyes.
Malik stepped up. "Calm down, Jou—"
Before Malik could finish his sentence, Jounouchi whirled on him, pure rage set in his eyes. He painfully grasped Malik's forearm, the boy shrieked in surprise and pain. "Where the hell is Honda?" Jounouchi shouted in Malik's face, nearly spitting on the boy.
Bakura grabbed Jounouchi's shoulder and dug his nails into the skin. Jounouchi flinched but didn't turn around. Bakura's eyes were glowing red with anger. "Let go of him," he said in a low and deadly tone. Jounouchi didn't move an inch and Malik didn't know who to be scared for, Bakura or Jounouchi. "I said, let go of him!"
Bakura forcefully pulled Jounouchi away, nearly sending both boys tumbling backwards. The two almost got in a fist fight, both snarling with rage, if Mai hadn't stepped in and slapped both boys across the face.
"Cool off, both of you!" she shouted; her fury succeeded both Jounouchi's and Bakura's rage combined.
The room was deadly quiet as everyone waited for what Bakura or Jounouchi's next move would be. "But…" Jounouchi spoke up quietly, meekly. He was obviously much more calm; exhausted. "How did he get out of the kitchen?" he asked. "We were right around the corner, how did we not hear anything? I mean, we were right there."
Mai dropped to her knees and began to look on the floor, running her fingers across the tiles. She finally nodded, like she had found what she was looking for. "Its darker over here—see? This whole area is a little darker and it smells burnt."
Yuugi saw it too. It was a darker patch, only a few feel in diameter, and a perfect circle. Exactly where they found Honda's doll sitting.
Bakura sighed, releasing his anger but his whole body was still tense, as if waiting for someone to just attack him. Malik approached both boys cautiously and then turned to Jounouchi. "You didn't see that hole, that void, Jou. It didn't make any noise. That's how Honda got out of the kitchen."
"In the midst of the word he was trying to say, / In the midst of his laughter and glee," Seto quoted.
The last of the cloudiness in Yuugi's mind vanished. Fighting and tears weren't going to help Honda now. They weren't going to help anyone. Yuugi looked at the paper doll of Honda clenched tightly in Jounouchi's hand.
It was all his fault. Honda had fallen into one of those voids and it was all Yuugi's fault, just as Ryou's death had been. Why was Yami doing this to him? Did he do it on purpose? Did he know what it did to Yuugi? Why him? Why his friends?
Yuugi mentally slapped himself. Honda wasn't dead yet.
"We'll find him," Yuugi said, just loud enough for everyone else to hear. "We'll find him, and we're going to win this Game."
Mai was still looking at the mark on the kitchen floor. "It's like the mark a UFO might make, when it lands. A perfect circle."
Jounouchi was sniffling and rubbing his eyes raw. Yuugi went over to his friend and patted him on the back. "Hey, we'll get Honda back. We beat the last Game, we beat his nightmare, I'm sure we can beat this too." Jounouchi nodded in agreement.
Mai stood up in one fluid motion and joined the rest of the group. "Its best if we all stayed together, I mean, closer."
"We can all sleep in the living room," Yuugi suggested. "On the floor. We can push the furniture back."
They collected as many blankets and pillows as they could find in the house and pushed all of the furniture to the side of the room. Malik suggested barricading the door, Bakura even helped him, but Mai grabbed both boys by the ear and dragged them away.
As this was going on, Yuugi was in the bathroom, getting changed out of his Halloween costume and into his nightclothes. He threw the costume in the hamper, at the very bottom where he would eventually forget about it. He shuddered as he remembered the way Yami looked at him when he was wearing the costume, like he slowly wanted to strip it off of Yuugi.
Yuugi shook his head to rid himself of those unpleasant thoughts and looked in the mirror. He looked horrible. He had large half moons under his usually luminous eyes, but now they were dull from lack of sleep and slight fear. This was a much more serious Game with a lot more at risk.
Yuugi was afraid to be alone for a minute. But they hadn't gained another clue yet so Yami couldn't do anything. It wouldn't be fair. Yuugi scoffed; but then again, when has Yami ever been fair?
"We're going to beat you Yami," Yuugi said to his reflection. He realized quite some time ago that Yami could probably hear him, knowing the Shadow Man, he was probably spying on him right now. "I'm going to beat this Game and get my friends, and get back Ryou."
Yuugi felt a cold chill run up his spine; his confidence was gone, he was afraid again. He left the bathroom to join everyone in the living room. Everyone was strangely peaceful, no one had broken out in hysterics yet, except Jounouchi but that was all in good reason. Malik was snuggled up against Bakura's side in a purely friendly way. Jounouchi and Seto were sitting closer than they usual did on the couch. The only one missing was Mai.
Now Yuugi was about to freak out.
"Where's Mai?" he asked his group of friends.
Jounouchi put a finger to his chin for a moment in thought. "She said that she had to go get a few things from her room." He then shrugged his shoulders.
That didn't ease Yuugi's nerves. 'But there is still no clue,' he reassured himself. Nonetheless, he went down the hall to Mai's room, hating to admit that he jumped every time he saw a shadow only to realize that it was his own.
He found Mai sitting on the edge of her bed, her elbows resting on her knees and looking longingly at a framed photo. Yuugi knew that she knew he was there; he approached her from behind and smiled when he saw what the picture was.
It was him as a baby, maybe a year old. Mai was sitting on the couch in Yuugi's old home, holding baby Yuugi in her arms. She wore a large, gap-toothed grin as baby Yuugi seemed to laughing at his goofy cousin. One could clearly see the whole living room from the direction the photo was taken.
"It's us," Yuugi said in a melancholic tone. Those were much simpler times, when his life was hectic and full of crazy Shadow Man. That peace faded from Yuugi when he saw the door leading down to the basement in the corner of the shot.
"No, it's not," Mai said, not looking up from the photo. "It's Magritte."
Yuugi furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion. "But, it is us."
"No, it isn't," Mai continued to argue back. "A picture of us is not physically 'us,'" Mai explained. "It's something I learned in my art class."
Yuugi understood that for a moment, and then it slipped away. He shook his head; that made his brain hurt.
"An image is not reality," Mai said, hoping to explain it in simpler terms. "Even though we're used to thinking that most of the time. If you see a picture of a pipe you say, 'it's a pipe,' but it's not. It's just an image." Then with a smile, Mai said, "A paper house is not a house."
Yuugi threw his cousin a look. "Unless you have somebody who can make an image into reality."
Mai chuckled and shook his head. "Touché, cousin." Mai put the photo of the two of them back on the side table and stood. "It's important to understand the difference between image and reality," Mai said, looking at her cousin sideways. "That's the first thing they teach you when you become a Shadow Hunter."
Yuugi shook his head. "I still think of the Mortal Instruments series when you say Shadow Hunters. And that makes me think of Magnus Bane and Alec." That earned a full laugh out of Mai, which in turn made Yuugi laugh. "Can you believe what happened in the last book, they—"
"No spoilers," Mai said with a wink; the cousins giggled. Then Mai sobered. "I used to think the imaginary world was better, and then I saw it…"
"Mai…" Yuugi began, putting a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder.
"What are you guys doing in here?" An obnoxious voice cut through the silence in the room and ruined the tender family moment between Yuugi and Mai. Two heads turned and they saw Jounouchi standing in the doorway with Seto standing behind him, shaking his head. "We were starting to think you had gotten kidnapped or something."
"Actually, only you were thinking that Jounouchi," Seto corrected. "Everyone else was trying to watch a movie while you were pacing around the living room."
Yuugi laughed as he imagined Jounouchi doing just thought. Absentmindedly, Yuugi twisted the gold band around his finger. Noticing what he was doing, his flattened his arms against his side. Jounouchi and Seto were too busy bickering but Mai noticed and looked at her cousin with pity.
The ring was on to stay, and there was nothing he could about it. It wouldn't come off unless Yami wanted it too, which Yami obviously didn't want to happen. Yuugi thought he remembered Yami saying that if Yuugi did take it off he could change to engraving and change his fate.
He said that speaking and writing things made them true.
"Yuugi, did you just hear a word I said?" Jounouchi asked, waving a hand in front of his friend's face.
Yuugi was pulled back into reality and he shook his head to clear his mind. "No, what did you say?" Yuugi asked.
"We were wondering what we were going to tell Honda's parents," Seto explained.
"We could just say that we're working on a big school project," Yuugi said with a shrug.
Seto and Jounouchi exchanged looks and shrugged as well. "It works," Seto said.
Jounouchi nodded. "But eventually someone is going to catch on. That excuse is going to get old soon and people will get suspicious. Considering that we have been skipping school, we probably don't have that much homework to do."
Mai nodded. "What we need now is sleep. It has been one hectic night and I don't know about you guys, but I don't know how I am still standing."
Jounouchi deflated. "But," he said. "We just ordered a pizza."
Seto, Mai, and Yuugi all looked at him with astonishment. "What pizza place up is still open this early in the morning?" Seto asked.
Jounouchi smirked, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. He elbowed Seto in the gut and winked at the taller man. "You're place." He then turned on his heel and walked away, laughter floating back to the three.
Seto stood there for a moment, the information still trying to register itself in his mind. Then you could see it all click in his eyes; Seto gaped. "Wait a minute!" he called, running to catch up with Jounouchi.
Mai and Yuugi laughed and went back to the living room where Seto and Jounouchi were bickering and Malik and Bakura were debating on which was funnier: the movie or the two boys fighting.
Yuugi smiled; for now, everything was alright.
Later that night ~
Yuugi awoke with a start and thought that he was awake but it still felt like he was in a dream.
Yami was leaning over him.
Yuugi shrieked and scrambled up in a sitting position. "Mai! Jounouchi!" he cried, hoping to wake either of the blonds. The two continued to sleep; Jounouchi snorted and rolled over on his stomach.
Yami smiled. "Don't bother, it's a dream. Come in the other room, where we can have some privacy."
Yuugi was wearing a baggy shirt and old pajama bottoms, but he felt as if he were wearing nothing under Yami's gaze. He pulled his blanket up higher, trying to hide himself fro Yami's ruby eyes. "You're crazy," he said softly. "You'll just kidnap me."
Yami smiled again and chuckled. "I won't, I promise." He held his hands up in front of him in a defensive manner.
Yuugi was still hesitant but Yami could always give him a clue about the base. They hadn't had much luck as to what it could be. And it was a dream, anyway. Yami couldn't really do anything to him. This gave him a little more confidence.
"Where are Honda and Anzu?" he asked.
Yami looked at him indifferently for a moment, as if he were contemplating the best ways to answer.
"Safe," Yami said.
"But where are they?"
Yami smirked wider; it made Yuugi want to slap him. He wagged his finger at Yuugi and made a 'tsk' sound. "That would be telling, Yuugi." He then looked Yuugi up and down and purred. "You know, you look as good as grunge as in anything else you wear."
Yuugi blushed and pulled the blanket up higher. It wasn't a dream, just as the night on the roof wasn't a dream.
Yami's eyes twinkled in amusement. Yuugi still couldn't describe Yami's eyes. They were just beautiful, that was the best way to say it. It was the kind of eyes you could get lost in when counting the swirls of color.
Yuugi absentmindedly twirled his ring again. He tugged at it but knew that it was useless. "Please," Yuugi pleaded to Yami, catching the older boy off guard. "Take this off."
Yami pouted and took Yuugi's hand, stroking his thumb over the gold. "But I like it; it suits you and brings out the color of your eyes."
Yuugi felt his face heat up and internally slapped himself for blushing over Yami. "But I don't like it." Yuugi looked up at Yami and the boy's face was expressionless. "I hate you, you know," Yuugi said, but it was pathetically weak. "You make me hate you."
For the slightest moment Yuugi saw hurt in Yami's eyes but it was soon gone, making Yuugi question if it were even there. "Is that what you're feeling? Hate?"
Yuugi was trembling, refusing to meet Yami's eyes; he was afraid that he would see that look in Yami's eyes again. Yuugi stubbornly nodded.
Gentler than Yuugi though possibly, Yami drew him into his arms, holding him like he was a delicate doll but Yami's arms were still like an iron trap. Yuugi was so close to him that he could fell the movement of Yami's breathing. That was strange, Yuugi always thought that just because Yami was a Shadow Man that he couldn't breathe, like vampires, but he breathed in and out like any normal human being.
Yuugi almost relaxed against Yami's warm chest, content in listening to his heartbeat and relish in the warmth and security of his arms wrapped around him. But then he realized this was Yami, and there was nothing warm or secure about him.
"What are you going to do?" Yuugi asked, just above a whisper, but Yami heard him.
"I'm going to kiss you…" he said simply. This was a slight relief to Yuugi; that was better than other things Yami did to him in the past. "…Until you faint."
Yami lowered his head and captured Yuugi's lips with his own. Their lips molded together and the kiss was much gentler than Yuugi thought it would be, though he had to resist the urge to rap his arms around Yami's neck. Yami pressed their bodies closer together and tried to deepen the kiss.
Yuugi pushed him away.
Surprisingly, Yami let him.
"You're evil," Yuugi said weakly, as if he were trying to convince himself instead of Yami. "How could you ever think I would love someone who is evil?" Unless Yuugi was evil too, which he was starting to wonder about…
Yami laughed. "There is no good and evil in the world, only black and white." Yami leaned in closer until Yuugi could feel the tickle of the other's breath against his lips. "But black and white on its own is so boring. If you mix them together you get so many colors…"
Before Yuugi could push Yami away, Yami backed off of his own. "Have you ever read 'The Human Condition' by Howard Nemerov?" Yami didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "It's about world and thought. World being the world and thought being—everything else." Yami smiled at Yuugi. "That's a hint by the way."
Yuugi still couldn't understand. He couldn't focus on the poem and he was suddenly strangely tired. His eyes were heavy and his whole body felt warm.
"You'd better wake up now," he vaguely heard Yami say.
"You mean I better get to sleep," Yuugi corrected sleepily.
Yuugi saw Yami smirk. "I mean wake up; unless you want to be late." He felt Yami's lips press tenderly on his forehead like a goodnight kiss. Yuugi's eyes slipped shut.
Some time later, he forced his eyes back open. He blinked; he was on his living room floor, surrounded by his friends, except Mai whose blankets had been thrown aside. Yami wasn't anywhere to be seen.
Yuugi pushed himself to sit on his knees and felt the smoothness of paper beneath his hand. He looked down and saw that it was a plain sheet of white paper with big letters written on it. He read over it quickly, his eyes caught on a certain word and he froze.
Once I saw world and thought exactly meet,
But only a picture by Magritte . . .
Yuugi dropped the piece of paper, it slipped through his numb fingers. He felt himself shaking uncontrollably. He hopped to his feet and started to shake everyone away. "Jounouchi! Seto! Bakura, Bakura wake up! Malik! It's Mai!"
-/-
Ranko: Sorry for the sucky chapter guys! I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
Yuugi: Happy New Year!
Yami: 2013, baby! Yeah!
Ranko: Review if you want to see pictures of drunk Yami!
Yuugi: And don't forget to read and review, "When Life Gives You Lemons"!