Apologise for the delay! I've been busy packing bits away in my home so I can move half way across the country and looking for a new job while at it.
Darksidechick – I wonder too so I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's characters. Just the OC.
Ito continued her silent sobbing into Podge the cat's back. All Podge did was stretch her front toes out, meowing and tail swishing side to side. Akira knitted his brows together and very gently took a hold of Podge, prying his sisters fingers off the cat who just flicked her ear and meowed again. Ito starred at the floor, the sobbing immediately stopping as soon as the cat was pulled away. Akira wondered if she was embarrassed. Akira could hear rustling from the other futon and turned his head to look at it. Mokuba sat up, and yawned loudly as he turned his head to face Akira.
"Good Morning Akira." He said rather sleepily and then lazily gazed at Ito, who hadn't dared looked up from the spot she was starring.
"Good morning girl Akira." He said just as sleepy to Ito. This seemed to have jogged the girl out of her thoughts as she bought he head up and looked at Mokuba, raising her eyebrows slightly. Akira chuckled slightly at his friend.
"Morning, Mokuba." He said, not bothering to correct the boy about Ito.
Akira stayed silent as he looked between the two. Ito's cheeks were red from her sobbing session; she rubbed her eyes hard with the sleeves of her shirt. It was then she looked at it a bit closer.
"This...isn't mine." She said to them, pulling at the fabric of the light blue long sleeved shirt slightly. Akira turned his attention fully to her, keeping the small smile on his face.
"No it's mine...Your clothing was soaked you would have caught a cold so I chan-" He began saying before being promptly slapped across the face making him shut up instantly.
"How dare you!" She shouted at him as Akira lightly touched his cheek pulling his hand away as it stung. Ito didn't seem to appreciate this, then again now that Akira thought about it he could understand why; she was a girl and while they were twins they hadn't seen each other for five years. Maybe he should try not being as friendly to her as he was all those years ago. She struck hard; he found our she punched hard but he wasn't expecting her to slap hard too. The brunette boy looked at his sister, watching her as she stood up rather hastily, keeping a glare on him.
"Where are my clothes?" She demanded from her brother stayed quiet. She turned her attention to Mokuba, keeping the glare on him instead. "Well?" She insisted, her hands tightening into fists, fingers digging into the palm of her hands.
Mokuba just stayed still as he turned his attention to Akira now fully awake; he wasn't actually sure where Akira placed her clothes either. Akira turned his attention back to his sister, keeping himself calm despite his now throbbing cheek.
"In the washer with everything else. It stunk of rain water." He explained to her watching her expression stay to rage. She growled in her throat, her teeth clenched. She couldn't exactly leave dressed as she was. One, it was pouring it down with rain again, two, she didn't feel comfortable borrowing the clothing, even if it was her brothers.
"I'm going to the bathroom." She said angrily to the boys and turned on the balls of her feet to make her way there. She still remembered where that was that was good.
Akira sighed slightly once she was out of the room. He touched his cheek once more, winced and pulled his fingers back quickly. It didn't feel like it would calm down any time soon. The brunette stood up himself and stretched his arms above his head.
"She seems nice." Mokuba said sarcastically as Akira smiled apologetically to his friend.
"I want to know what happened. She wasn't always like this." He explained to his raven haired friend who just nodded his head.
"Is that why you put her clothes through the wash? To keep her here longer?" Mokuba questioned as Akira's apologetic smile turned into a small smirk.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said faking ignorance and shrugging his shoulders. He began walking to the kitchen to do his things. Mokuba smirked back at his friend; he might have been a sweet boy but he could use that brain of his sometimes when it mattered. Mokuba stretched his arms out in front of him. As he was about to get up he felt a lump of a weight in his lap followed by purring, and then claws into his thigh. Looks like he wouldn't be getting up for a while.
Ito starred at herself in the bathroom mirror. She cursed to herself inside her mind, gripping the edge of the sink as she starred deeply at the reflection. Five years she had been away from her twin. She thought she'd never see him again. She took a deep breath through her nose as she examined the clothing her brother lent her. Light blue long sleeved shirt that was baggy on her and baggy jogging trousers. They were stretchy around the waist and even then they felt a bit too snug for comfort. Her brother certainly was a stick. She could only assume it was because his health was deteriorating.
The girl took another deep breath calming herself down as she starred at the reflection again. Her head began aching as she felt a nagging like sensation deep in the back of her mind. She couldn't stay here for too long . She would have to return to the other soon. She wondered if she could ever tell Akira what had happened. The hive mind collective she had found herself being bought into all those years ago, and what happened when you were away for too long. She was never truly alone. Always followed by someone else known as a "messenger." It was these peoples jobs to make sure people like her were kept in line and didn't break away from the hive mind. Breaking from the hive mind caused the person great pain, the longer they stayed away the more painful it got until they tried to destroy themselves. It was like a fail safe; whatever they were using to do it. Ito could feel she was spending too long away, the nagging hurt her head. She opened the tap, cupped her hands and splashed the water into her face; rubbing hard to at least make herself feel somewhat refreshed.
Ito exited the bathroom and began to make her way for the stairs again. She could hear chatting between the two boys making her stop in her tracks. Silently, she crouched down, sitting on her legs as she peered through the banners of the stairs that loomed over the kitchen. Her brother was making breakfast however the other one was not in the same room.
"You can just move Podge from your lap if she's putting your legs to sleep." Akira commented, a small chuckle in his voice. Ito took note of the red mark on his cheek, it looked like it stung. She frowned, she knew she struck him hard but she didn't think that hard; she regretted that. He had showed her kindness...he didn't deserve that his intentions were good.
"I don't want her to hate me!" The other boy said from the other room, making Akira smile to himself as he placed some salmon onto three plates. She had to admit she missed it.
"I'm sure Podge won't hate you." Akira said to him, taking off a bit of Salmon from one of the plates and calling the cat. Podge showed up a short time afterwards and greedily accepted the Salmon from Akira. Soon the black haired teenager came in and leaned his back against the wall with his arms crossed. He seemed amused at her brother giving the cat some fish.
The pair continued talking; they seemed to be very good friends at least in Ito's eyes. She wasn't sure how long they had been friends for but they seemed close to each other. She frowned once more, she wondered; if she was never taken away would she of had this friendship between the two of them as well? She missed so much growing up...it made her upset. If she could reverse time or was given the chance to she would have.
"Breakfast is done Ito if you want to come down from the bannister." Akira called out, catching Ito off guard. She looked at her brother quickly as she placed two plates onto the table and then turned around the grab the other one. Ito blew air from her nose as she stood up and came downstairs properly. She didn't like that she was caught having basically eavesdropping on her brothers conversation but he didn't seem mad or angry about it.
Akira tried his best to make conversation with Ito over breakfast although she sat there and poked about at her food not seemingly interested. He knitted his brows together, the silence over taking the room only being broken by the hum of the tumble dryer that spun the water out of their clothes. Mokuba picked up on the silence and thought to himself before speaking up.
"Are you into duel monsters too, Ito?" He asked a bit out of the blue but for a lack of a better conversation he couldn't think of much else. Ito stayed silent at this making the raven haired boy sigh as he went back to his rice. He enjoyed having meals at Akira's, their family meal time was quite traditional compared to his and Seto's which was a bit more on the western side.
"What happened in five years? We thought you had died." Akira spoke, changing the air from silent to awkward; it sent chills up Mokuba's spine from the sudden change. He knew his friend wanted to know and he couldn't blame him he'd do the same if it was him and Seto. It seemed like this was the perfect time to question her.
Silence filled the air once more as Ito stayed quiet at his question. It was broken when she sighed, closing her eyes. She stopped poking about at her Salmon and instead just kept them stabbed in the side of the fish fillet, deadly still. The brunette girl sighed in defeat; the higher ups would not be pleased if she spilled...but were they here? She could only assume not, not with the nagging in the back of her skull.
"When I "died" you never saw the body at the funeral right?" She stated simply, her eyes never leaving the plate. Akira shook his head at her statement. None of them had saw it on the day of the funeral. His parents thought it'd be better for a closed casket ceremony before the body was cremated. After all she was just a child and they believed it'd be upsetting to guests as well as him.
"It's obvious now but I was never dead. Remember back in school, when they selected some of us to be product testers for a new drink? It was something they wanted to supply at the school but needed to see if students liked first." Ito questioned, her eyes turning to him. Akira knitted his brows together, nodding his head. This gained Mokuba's interest even more than what was already grabbed. He listened intently to her words, watching his friends reaction.
"Those children who were selected all suffered the same fate as me. It just took a toll on me quicker. Each other of us had "died" after drinking something sweet. It made the heart stop just long enough to be declared dead and taken to the morgue." She continued, placing her chopsticks down onto the plate.
Ito took a deep breath as she paused in her story, thinking back to what had happened in that time. What she had remembered and what she had seen; it all seemed so fresh in her mind now that she was bringing it up to tell them. She felt at least Akira deserved to know what had happened; they were twins and no doubt he had suffered the most.
"When I woke up it was the same guys who did the trials. The other kids were there too, about six of us. They told us they had plans. Big plans and needed us to do it for two reasons. One, no one will hurt a kid generally and two, if we're discovered then the shock factor should be long enough for them to get things rolling quickly." She carried one, leaning back in her chair and starring at the ceiling blankly. Akira kept his brows knitted, a frown on his face as Mokuba tried to digest the information. It sounded like something from a crime feature; but what made it chilling was that it was very much real, Ito was proof of that.
"They want to take over the world. Each one of us is collected into a hive mind like thing. Being away for too long can break the link but the person suffers greatly from it." She said, tapping the side of her head, wincing as the taps hit the side of her skull.
"That doesn't sound possible!" Akira exclaimed, seemingly having trouble taking in the information. He starred at his sister in disbelief. It sounded too out of world for him. Ito dropped her head, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. She seemed distant, but he could tell she was also in pain; whatever was happening was affecting her.
"I think it could be real..." Mokuba said, breaking the silence. Akira looked at him, bewilderment on his face. "A few years ago, Seto helped Yugi out. There was a lot of magic involved...I think in Ito's case it might be more magic!" Mokuba said to him, jumping to his own conclusions. Akira raised his eyebrow slightly, giving him a questioning look. The brunette was not one to believe magic; spirits yes but magic no.
"Magic doesn't exist..." Akira said to his friend, disbelief in his voice that Mokuba would even come to such a conclusion given the serious nature of what was happening. A tale of kidnapping and manipulating! Now was no time to joke about magic. Mokuba shook his head quickly.
"Seto had the same thoughts until he saw it for himself. He doesn't always believe now but magic is real. I think that would be the explanation for Ito's story; more so when it comes to the "away from the hive mind" kind of thing. I can't think of technology that would do that." Mokuba said to him determined to stick to "it's magic" thing. Akira sighed, his shoulders hunching up as he thought it over. Magic...It couldn't be could it? It was too absurd.
Ito remained quiet as the two boys argued among themselves. She took the opportunity to leave the table and walk over to the tumble dryer to check her clothes. They seemed to be dry by now. The two boys hadn't even noticed her getting up so no doubt they wouldn't notice her leaving to go to the bathroom. They seemed to busy trying to make the other convinced that what they believed was true. She took out the black hoodie, grey combat trousers and grey shirt then scampered her way up to the bathroom with the two boys still not taking any notice. The brunette quickly took off her brothers clothes off and tossed on her own clothes. Her feelings were mixed. She didn't know what to do; she had told them what happened and left the two now bickering downstairs. She didn't know if she wanted to stay or wanted to go...Ito knew it was probably better for her to just leave. Her head would just get worse if she didn't; she was going to get punished enough as it was.
The brunette quickly came downstairs and made her way for the porch. The two boys continued their arguing, now with Akira becoming somewhat frustrated and angry as Mokuba had brought in this spirit called "Atem" who was also connected to magic that Akira refused to believe was real. He did however not question this spirit's existence. Ito quickly shoved on her black military style boots and opened the front door, dashing out of it and disappearing into the rain.
Akira shivered as he argued with his friend, he turned to ask Ito what she thought but noticed she was gone. His eyes widened as he quickly stood up and left the table, running towards the stairs.
"Ito are you up there!?" He yelled upstairs, hoping she would answer. Mokuba got up from the table as well and made his way to the front room quickly. The front door was wide open letting in the cold air that fell with the rain. He just starred out, feeling guilty. If he hadn't bickered with his friend then the chance for her to do a runner wouldn't have existed. The raven haired boy could hear his friend come up behind him, stopping by his side.
"She's gone..." Akira said, his voice trailing off as Mokuba nodded his head, unsure what else to say. Akira knitted his brows together as his head dropped slightly, looking at the ground.
"We have to help her... She said those people were planning to take over the world...we have to stop that and help Ito. Help everyone else that was included too!" Akira said, his voice raising as he seemed to grow angry. Mokuba kept quiet as he looked at his friend from the corner of his eyes. He would help Akira but there was no way they could do it alone; they would need help. Luckily for his brunette friend, Mokuba knew exactly who to ask.