A/N: And in this chapter...jealousy, tears like a running tap and duelling takes place! Should be interesting, ne? Well I promise it won't be all ridiculously overdramatic and take a million pages to write one duel! I always skipped that part of Yu-Gi-Oh. In fact to write this 'duel' I just pulled a random card out of my deck (yes I'm that geeky, I still own a deck!) and wrote about its cool effect. Hope I didn't slaughter it for anyone who actually likes duelling or likes hearing it described!
Disclaimer: Not Mine!
Anzu wandered over to the table, watching as Rebecca started to frown irritably.
"Since when did you use such weak cards?" She muttered, sending yet another of his sideways cards, which she remembered as defence cards, to the graveyard. Anzu was also surprised to see how weak it was. Rebecca didn't seem to be having any problems whatsoever.
Out came an attack card on his part, destroying her monster and there was combat for a couple rounds until she gave a triumphant cry and summoned what she announced to be one of her most powerful monsters. He just smirked and continued allowing her to destroy his weak monsters. His life points were getting low, dropping below one thousand while hers were still slightly above.
"Give up Yami, I'm going to win this time," She taunted; laying a spell card that lowered her monsters defence but raised its attack. He shut his eyes, shaking his head slightly as the smirk on his lips grew. Her smile faded at the expression.
"Crap, what'd I miss?" She mumbled, looking at the field desperately. Obviously she recognized this look as the thing that came before her imminent defeat.
"You should have realized my strategy sooner, Rebecca," He admonished, playing an attack card down on the table and then flipping a trap card.
"Your monster is forced into defence mode, something you conveniently weakened for me and I play Bazoo the Soul-Eater!" He announced in a chilling tone that promised defeat. She gasped, blue eyes widening at the sight of the rather unpleasant looking purple monkey.
"No way! You said you'd tell me about any modifications you made to your deck, you cheater!" She shouted, banging a fist on the table furiously. He remained calm, looking down at her impassively.
"Rebecca we both know the rules were broken a long time ago," He reprimanded quietly and she flushed looking down.
"I hardly did anything wrong though," She whined as he pulled three of the weak cards he had allowed her to destroy and removed them from play, increasing 'Bazoo the Soul-Eater's' attack points by nine hundred, giving it a sum of two thousand five hundred attack points.
He attacked her monster and destroyed it easily, flipping a magic card that allowed him to attack again, and destroyed her remaining attack points.
"I win," He said in almost cruel monotone way.
"Punishment?" She asked in a weak voice. Now Anzu felt lost. Why should she be punished for losing?
"You already know you can't tell my secret," Yami started, voice still demanding. "But since technically I cheated to, I won't give you a punishment game for that. As for losing the game...you can't bother Yuugi for the rest of the day," He said bluntly.
"No!" She gasped, blue eyes filling up with tears.
"You wanted to play, you chose to cheat, and I still won. Deal with the punishment," He said harshly. Everyone else glanced around awkwardly as she started to cry miserably, having zero affect on the teacher who stared her down unnervingly.
Anzu felt a small twist in her stomach. Even Marik didn't make her cry! Jounouchi was sending confused signals to Honda who just raised his arms helplessly.
"Yami..." Yuugi trailed off, stepping closer hesitantly towards Rebecca, looking a cross between suicidal and concerned for the girl.
"Yuugi, he is so mean to me!" She wailed loudly, jumping up to throw her arms around Yuugi's neck tightly. He stumbled backwards as she cried into his bare chest, his loose cotton shirt flapping open in the breeze over simple blue swim trunks.
"Uh, Yami, little help here," He pleaded as he gingerly tried to pry the crying girl off of him without touching her bare skin which was easier said than done when she was wearing a belly top and short shorts. She just pulled herself closer, knocking the air out of him once again as he gripped her waist in his hands uncomfortably.
"That's the difference between a Yami no game, and a Rebecca game," the older cousin said with frustration, rubbing his temples against her jagged cries. "One of them actually works! Stop pretending to cry, child," He snapped at her and the more sensitive members of the group, Yuugi and Bakura included flinched at his tone.
She sniffed slightly but stopped the pathetic sounds she was making.
"Yuugi," She moaned, pouting her lower lip as she pulled back a little bit from her death grip on him. Interestingly, his hands stayed on her waist though his cheeks were quite red at this point.
Anzu wondered if there was something else going on behind the theatrics. It certainly didn't seem like Yami to be quite so harsh...
"Um...um...do you...want to go swimming?" Yuugi offered pathetically under her doleful gaze.
"Really?" She asked excitedly but then looked miserable again.
"Yami said I couldn't bother you though," She pouted, sending the older Mutou an evil glare that he accepted with a shrug despite Yuugi's clear SOS signs.
"Not my problem," Was all he said, ignoring the two in their awkward embrace. Anzu felt her stomach drop as she saw Marik watching eagerly. Now there was someone who didn't need pointers in being brutally honest!
Jounouchi was arguing quietly with Honda now, making big hand gestures about...something. Who knew with them? Bakura and Miho looked worried, being true romantics.
"Well," Yuugi said biting his lip endearingly, "I-If it's not bothering me, then it's not against the rules right?"
"That's right!" She exclaimed, clapping her hands together happily, tears nowhere to be seen now. Anzu wondered suspiciously how she turned them off so easily. "Come on, Yuugi!" She grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards the beach, shouting to the others as she went that the changing tent was open and they could go inside if they wanted.
Realization over what he had just agreed to flashing across his face, Yuugi started to resist a little, obviously a hopeless cause.
"You set this up!" He raged at his cousin even as he was dragged away by the determined younger girl.
"I told you," Yami said with a small chuckle, "It's not my problem, you can't blame me." Yuugi didn't have a chance to respond as Rebecca shoved him out into the water forcefully with a loud splash.
"Wait a minute...you planned all that?" Jounouchi asked in awe, mouth open with clear respect.
"How'd you know that would happen?" Honda followed up, more suspicious then his friend.
"I knew right away that she had cheated," He said with a casual shrug. "That's why I asked Anzu to get my special deck out of the car for me."
"Well you sure showed her!" Jounouchi crowed gleefully, obviously not a fan of Rebecca's off and on tears and loud tantrums involving Yuugi.
"He's a complete pushover, she walks all over him every time," Yami muttered, with a small head shake as he glanced at the two splashing in the waves now. He was chasing her around as she held his sopping wet shirt in her hands.
"Does he really dislike her all that much?" Anzu asked quietly and he gave her a side glance with a small smile.
"No, you grow quite fond of her theatrics after awhile," He said with a small chuckle and her amber eyes narrowed dangerously.
Fond, huh?
"I would watch out if I were you," A voice interrupted Yami's silent vigil and he looked over to see the speaker, Marik, gesturing to Anzu with arms crossed.
"She looks like that when she's plotting," He added as she continued to glare between the couple in the water and her secret lover. Yami tilted his head in his thoughtful way, observing her curiously before an almost comical look of alarm crossed his face.
"Oh no!" He said quickly, raising his hands and backing off. "No, no, no, I can only deal with one jealous woman at a time!" He continued, looking both nervous and perturbed at the same time.
"I am not jealous," Anzu pouted, avoiding his gaze.
"So now you're upset with me?" He asked analyzing her expression then making a sound of disbelief at whatever it was he saw though the other onlookers just felt lost.
"Rebecca is a friend of the family, a particularly annoying but interesting friend, and that is all. Furthermore, even if Yuugi doesn't have a crush on her, which I think he does, she clearly has strong feelings for him anyways! How could you even think that I would be interested in her?"
"Hey I thought you said you didn't know if Yuugi was interested in her?" Jounouchi asked innocently, only to receive a harsh glare that had him mute for the next five minutes, a record, surely.
"So I take it you don't know if Yuugi is interested in her then?" Anzu asked pointedly, knowing she was blowing it out of proportion but not caring. This was the first time she'd even met Rebecca. Somehow she'd always imagined Yami as a bit of a loner, not moving on after he separated from Yuugi which was ridiculous of course in hindsight.
Surely he'd met and probably dated girls since then, after all he was far more romantically confident then she was, and the mere thought drove her crazy with jealousy! She didn't want to imagine other girls being near him in the way she was now.
"Anzu," He growled, frustrated and she just glared, making to turn away so she could cool down. She was being silly and she knew it but she couldn't help it.
"Don't do it," He warned only encouraging her to turn away completely. "Do not put your back to me Anzu," He said in a firm voice, giving her a chance to turn back now, and when she didn't he let out a loud sigh.
"Fine then, have it your way," He muttered, walking towards her and dropping down to hook his arm under her knees and the other around the small of her back. She shrieked and clung to him as he lifted her bridal style.
"Put me down!" She ordered and he just marched forward grimly. Her clinging grip quickly turned to beating fists as she raged, screaming bloody Mary the whole way. Even Yuugi and Rebecca stopped what they were doing to watch in confusion as he walked right out on the short dock, still holding her firmly in strong arms.
"That's going to be cold," Marik muttered and Bakura gave him a questioning look just before the splash that indicated Yami tossing the struggling girl into the water. Miho gasped in horror, holding her hand to her face even as her friend quickly resurfaced, sputtering angrily not too far off from where they still stood on the hot sand.
"You jerk!" She shouted, and they could see him shaking his head as he removed his shirt, sliding off his cotton t-shirt first then the skin tight black muscle shirt beneath it he dropped the cloth onto the dock and then dived in after her with a much smaller splash.
He surfaced shaking his head vigorously before cutting through the water towards her where they continued their argument, muffled by the sounds of the rushing water and Rebecca's squeals when she got sprayed.
"Smart guy," Marik commented, an approving expression on his face. Honda was still calming Miho and Jounouchi just looked confused before marching off to the changing room. That left only Ryou to question him more privately.
"I don't get it, nothing that just happened makes sense to me," He said in frustration, rubbing his white hair as though not enjoy the heat beating down on him. Considering his pale skin he probably didn't. Looking at his boyfriend Marik smiled a little.
"It's not your fault, your just innocent," He said, touching his shoulder lightly once. Bakura smiled despite himself at the sweet remark.
"Like he said, he could see Rebecca was going to cheat, I assume it had something to do with the cards she brought back with her, but he used it as an opportunity to teach her a lesson. Really he offered Yuugi immunity but like he said, the kids a bit of a pushover. As for Anzu, it was pretty clear that she was a bit jealous of how well he knew Rebecca although I think it probably goes beyond that, she's not usually that irrational. He warned her not to turn her back to him and when she did anyways, it was bound to turn into a full blown argument so he carried her down where the only people who'd hear them are people who already know about their little affair. As for throwing her in the water –that was just an attempt to clear her head I think," Marik explained carefully and Bakura nodded, making an 'o' expression with his lips.
"I have no idea how you figured all that out," He finally said with a sigh and Marik just laughed.
"Innocent," He murmured eyeing him flirtatiously though he made no move in front of the others.
"You're not upset are you?" His partner asked worriedly making the blond laugh again.
"You constantly amaze me Ryou," Was all he said with another smile, lavender eyes dancing in a way that they didn't for anyone else.
They were interrupted by Jounouchi's loud return, making a comment on Honda being a pervert as he rubbed sunscreen on Miho's back. Honda turned red and shouted back at him, nearly starting a whole new fight.
"Um, guys? Did I introduce my, um, friend to you yet?" Bakura asked hesitantly, giving Marik nervous side glances. He had already told him that he was planning to introduce Marik as a 'friend' of his and Anzu's, easing people into the idea of them being a gay couple.
If they piled it on, someone like Jounouchi was sure to kick up a storm.
"Not yet," the boy in question said, breaking out of Honda's greasy headlock to give the aloof looking blond a curious once over. He was interesting to look at with his deeply tanned skin and lavender eyes, contrasted with white blond hair.
His muscles were very noticeable from dancing, eyes drawn by the golden arm bands he wore along with heavy earrings. When Bakura asked about the strange accessories he explained that it was the way everyone dressed where he and his family came from.
"You Anzu's dance person?" Jounouchi asked with a vague wave of his hand. Marik looked pained to be referred to in such a way but responded with a simple yes.
"His name is Ishtar Marik, he's me and Anzu's friend," Bakura introduced formally.
"I'm pretty sure he already knows my name, Ryou," He said quietly and Jounouchi raised one blond eyebrow.
"You call him Ryou? So you guys are like...close?" He questioned and 'Ryou' flushed with embarrassment.
"Um...yah...we're close," He said with as much confidence as he could muster. Marik smiled a little at Jounouchi's slightly uncomfortable expression as he clearly wondered if he had wandered into something he didn't want to know about. Marik was mostly just impressed by his crush's attempt to conquer his fears.
"Are we going to head down to the water?" He asked instead, switching topics easily and both of the other boys looked relieved. Who knew he'd ever be the social mediator?
"Yah I think the perverts finished," Jounouchi said with a small crude snicker as he pointed at Honda.
"I am not a pervert!"
A/N: Oh Ryou...silly boy! Aw, Anzu and Yami had their first argument...well it had to happen sometime although I didn't want to make it all dramatic and dragged out since that's even more unrealistic than I already made it. Hope you all liked!
Here's a preview of the next chapter:
"Is that Yuugi?" He asked and she glanced away warily but the small boys figure was indeed darting away from the cottage home quickly as though avoiding something.
"I wonder what that's about?" She asked aloud and Yami just shrugged, padding back across the dock.
"Probably found Rebecca's Yuugi collection again...
Of course he did...sure...or maybe he found something more shocking ;)