Two new reviewers, hurray! (Throws confetti) Keep those reviews coming everyone; it'll make me happy if you do! X3 Anyways, thank you so much for the nice faves and alerts. Without you all, the story wouldn't be this popular so once again, I humbly thank you for your never-ending support! (Bows) Without further ado, here's Chapter 11 but first…
Important Note: I travel to Zhang Jia Jie, China with my family from 22th December until 30th December so during that time, I wouldn't be able to update anything, sorry for the inconvenience. By the way, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! XD
Beta: Natoya
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Keys:
"Talks"
'Thoughts'
Chapter 11: Path
Three days since the storm arrived, after lunch in Joey's tent…
'I can't believe it's still raining outside.' A boy with honey-brown eyes mused with a depressed sigh as his irises fixed on the view outside the window. It showed nothing but dark gloomy clouds that made the forest appeared as dim as nighttime, and the raindrops that continued falling down from the sky, producing a calm and harmonious melody in every corner.
Joey then grabbed a soft, clean towel near the kitchen cabinet and wiped his large, wet hands. 'I wonder what Yugi is doing now. I'm worried about him.'
Unexpectedly the sound of something breaking reached his ears, so without a second thought, he dashed towards the source of that sound. When he reached his destination, a pair of blue eyes as calm as the ocean stared back at him with a hand holding a thick brown book while the other was about to take a tiny, golden bell that rested on a small wooden table.
"Ah, good timing." The taller of the two, Kaiba spoke tranquilly as always. "You know what you should do now, right?"
As predicted, Joey was absolutely infuriated not only because of what he said, but also his actions, his calm expression as if nothing happened; his…everything about him was driving him nuts!
"You…" Joey trailed off as his anger reached the highest, most dangerous level, and his hands unconsciously clenched into fists.
The brunet sighed before he slowly but carefully closed the book and placed it onto the table. "What now?"
"Do you know what you've just done? You broke my cup!" Joey spat as loud as possible as he continued to glare at his so-called friend.
Kaiba took a glance at the broken blue glass-made cup with coffee spilled all over the floor before sighing and replying,
"Okay fine, I'm sorry that I broke your precious cup. So, can you clean the floor now?"
That remark alone certainly made Joey's mind explode.
"Don't you think you've gone a little overboard? You gave me SO many chores ever since that day we made a bet to each other. You told me to clean the dishes, wipe the floor, iron the clothes…" the Newcastle student sputtered as he counted how many chores he have done so far.
"…Clean the bathroom, vacuuming, and doing massaging treatments especially that foot massage I hate to do the most!" The blond haired adolescent said before shuddering when an image of him massaging Kaiba's stinky feet the previous night entered his mind.
"And you should know that this is my tent, not yours!"
"That's what you're supposed to do as a loyal servant, so nothing's wrong with that and besides…" The Water Elemental paused for a moment before he resumed his speech.
"Your tent looks like you left there for decades. When I first entered your tent, there's an awful smell in one of your bathrooms and it's so dusty in every room I entered. Not to mention both your study room and your bedroom are messy with things all over the floor and then I noticed something even more disgusting, how long have you left those sickening, smelly old socks in your room?"
Joey's face was obviously as red as a tomato as he felt himself slowly shrink with each word Kaiba said. This is getting really embarrassing.
"W…well…I never did all those house chores before in my life, usually it's my sister who did those chores so…"
"…So you should thank me for ordering you to do this because sooner or later, you will have to learn how to do it." Kaiba completed as he smirked in triumph when Joey for the first time, unable to snap him back.
"But that doesn't mean you can…"
A tingling sound was heard as Joey's gaze switched from Kaiba's smug look to his hand that was holding a shiny golden bell.
"Okay, enough talking. You still have lots of work to do so for now, clean the floor and then, massage my back." The sapphire-eyed stripling ordered as he stretched his tired long arms since he had been sitting there for quite a long time and now, his back was sore.
The younger of the two grumbled in response before he walked down the stairs to get a full bucket of water and a mop, at the same time cursing himself for not doing the house chores and therefore, making him feel embarrassed by Kaiba's words.
As soon as the honey-brown eyed teen entered Kaiba's bedroom, the brunet was nowhere in sight.
"Hmm…maybe he went into the bathroom." Joey whispered to himself before he shrugged his shoulders and started cleaning the floor.
More than 10 minutes later, Kaiba entered the room with a new cup in his hand but he knitted his eyebrows straight away when he saw Joey who was still busily wiping the floor with a mop swishing from left to right.
"You still haven't finished cleaning?"
Joey looked up to see his blue-eyed companion who slowly placed the cup onto the table. "I'm still not used to do this kind of work you know."
However, as soon as he spoke his last word, he tripped due to the slippery floor and he was about to fall when Kaiba caught his arm in time but he too, was falling with Joey landed on the bed followed by Kaiba settling on top of him.
"Ouch, that really hurts!" Exclaimed Joey before he try to stand up but couldn't as he felt something pressing on top of him.
"Ugh." Kaiba muttered as he felt something smooth pressing against his cheek and when he opened his eyes, the brunet realized that his face was pressing against Joey's cheek so, his arms quickly straightened as he could only stared at Joey's flushed expression. They could feel their breaths tickling each other's face.
A few seconds had passed, then minutes, and when it felt like hours had passed by, Kaiba was the first to snap out from his thoughts as he swiftly stood up with Joey gradually standing up as well.
"I'm…going to the living room." Were his last words before he picked up both the bucket and the mop and in a blink of an eye, he was no longer in sight but Kaiba could clearly see the blush that stained on Joey's cheeks before he left the room.
"What just happened?" The brunet grunted whilst placing a hand on his forehead but soon, he felt something moving on his hand and when he looked at it, his ocean blue eyes widened in shock with confusion glinted in his eyes.
"What…what is this?" Was all he could say as he kept ogling at the skin on his hands, which oddly boiled with bubbles forming and later producing some 'pop' sounds.
Meanwhile, during midnight in Malik's tent…
A guy was seen turning and tossing the blanket from the left to right but eventually, sat up with a frustrated look displayed on his tan-skinned face.
"Why can't I get to sleep like I normally do?" The pineapple-haired guy spoke aloud with irritation in his voice. His lavender eyes then moved to the direction where moonlight shone into his bedroom through a window and that's when he realized something.
"The storm has finally stopped." Marik whispered to himself as soon, a bright smile formed on his lips and the next thing he did was to go to Malik's bedroom, wanting to tell him the good news.
However, when he was about to knock the door, muttering and screams were heard in Malik's bedroom.
"What's going on in there?" He asked curiously so without thinking, he opened the door and ran towards Malik who kept mumbling some words with terrified expression written on his sweaty face.
"No…don't…don't do this to me…" Malik stammered with his head turning from left to right, sweat continued to trickle down his cheeks.
"Hey, Malik…what happened to you?" Marik spoke audibly; worry was evident in his voice but his look-alike didn't seem to hear him as he kept on murmuring with that same frightening look on his features.
"Please…don't force me to…let go of me…no…please STOP!"
That was the moment Malik's eyes snapped open as he quickly sat up and breathed harshly.
"Are you okay?"
Those three words made Malik's gaze focused on his taller look-alike whose hand slowly rubbing Malik's back.
"Yeah…" The younger of the two whispered before he calmed himself down and allowed Marik to sit beside him.
Silence engulfed the duo as Malik's palpitation gradually returned back to normal and before Marik could do anything, the Newcastle student spoke loud enough for his taller friend to hear.
"I had a nightmare…"
Marik looked up to see Malik's miserable expression; it was the first time he saw his smaller 'twin' reacting like this.
"I had this same nightmare ever since my father passed away but I stopped having it when I entered high school because that's when I met Yugi and the others. I had such a fun time when they're around so the horrible nightmare that shows events I experienced during my childhood days vanished in a flash but…"
Malik then swung round to face Marik with worried expression written all over his face. "This nightmare…it happened again and I don't know what to do to get rid of it."
Marik felt like his heart was stabbed painfully with a sharp knife when he saw Malik covering his face with his hands. 'I wonder what horrible events he had gone through when he was young?'
"Don't worry about it." The Earth Elemental reassured as he gave Malik's shoulder a comforting pat. "Just forget it and go to sleep, okay? Everything will be fine tomorrow morning."
Marik's words and warm smile made the smaller lavender-eyed teen smiled as well. "Thank you, Marik."
The older lilac-eyed boy nodded before he stood up and was about to walk towards the door when a cold, thin hand grabbed his right wrist to stop his movements. He then spun round to see Malik whose face displaying a troubled expression. "What is it?"
"Erm…" Malik whispered hesitantly before he forces his voice to come out from his mouth. "Can you stay here just for tonight?"
Marik was taken aback by Malik's sudden request but soon, a smile graced on his lips as he slowly nodded before replying,
"Of course, I'll sleep on the sofa over there."
Malik took a glance at the beige-colored sofa that was just two inches away from his bed before he nodded in agreement and gave his friend a grateful smile. "Okay."
Thus, the two tan-skinned teenagers spent the night sleeping in Malik's room but neither of the two knew that they were both smiling in their slumber throughout the whole night.
The next day morning, on the other side of the forest…
A young boy groaned in exasperation when he heard birds chirping blissfully and sunlight shone onto his face right through a small hole on the tree-like wall. He then stirred in his tree-like bed just to block the sunlight from reaching his eyes.
'How the heck does the sun shines so bright?' Yami thought lazily and that was the moment he realized something. He promptly sat up and rubbed his sleepy eyes before he tardily opened them and the next thing he knew, a big joyful smile plastered on his handsome face as without thinking, he quickly walked down the stairs and called out to his little companion.
"Hey, Yugi!" The taller tri-colored haired adolescent yelled with enthusiasm glowed in his eyes but when he reached his destination, he found himself staring at Yugi's cute but amusing sleeping form. Although Yami wanted to watch his younger friend sleeping a little longer, he didn't want to waste time so he walked closer to Yugi's tree-like bed and shook Yugi's shoulders gently.
"Wake up, sleepy head. It's time to get up." Yami's soothing voice managed to make Yugi stir in his bed.
"It's too early…" Moaned the younger Newcastle student but Yami continued to shake Yugi's shoulders.
"The storm has finally stopped now so we should get going."
That sentence instantly caused Yugi to sit up abruptly with large amethyst eyes glimmering in shock while Yami on the other hand, was surprised to see him getting up without warning.
"Okay, I'm awake." Yugi said with that same dumbfounded expression painted on his features.
Yami chuckled lightly after seeing Yugi's humorous actions before he nodded and answered,
"That's good, let's have breakfast together before we leave, alright?"
Yugi gave his ruby-eyed pal a cheerful smile before he nodded as well. "Sure."
As soon as they had a nice breakfast and an enjoyable chat together, the two star-shaped haired duo started their journey and walked towards the small narrow path that Yami found in the telescope 3 days ago. Why he was sure that this path could lead them back to their destination was because he remembered Bakura had once told him and his cousins that this road connected between the West Wing and this part of the forest a few years ago.
"Are you sure that this is the right way to get back to our tents?" The smaller of the two inquired with anxiousness sparkling in his purple eyes as he looked around the unfamiliar place.
"Yes, I'm sure." The ruby-eyed adolescent spoke confidently as he took a peek at his little comrade whose body was trembling greatly. Without saying a word, he held Yugi's shivering hand and squeezed it gently.
"Yami?" Yugi looked up with an astounded expression painted on his features while at the same time, blushing madly.
The said teen gave him a warm, pleasant smile before answering,
"Stay close to me so that you wouldn't get lost."
"Oh…okay…" Yugi mumbled but he kept looking at Yami's and his own intertwined hands. A minute later, he shook his head mentally before scolding himself and cogitated,
'Why am I reacting like this? Get over yourself, Yugi!'
Meanwhile, in Joey's tent…
Everyone had gathered around the living room and discussed their next plan on searching for their two companions.
"Now that the storm had finally stopped, we can continue to search for Yami and Yugi. It has been 5 days since we last saw them so we better not waste time and find them as soon as possible." The tallest of the group spoke like a leader while the others nodded in agreement.
"Poor Yugi and Yami, they must be starving by now." Joey said with pity in his eyes.
"But we've looked everywhere even before the storm arrived!" Malik exclaimed impatiently as always.
"He's right so I guess they must have been stuck in a place we haven't noticed before." Ryou said before pondering with one hand rested on his chin.
"I have the same thought as well." Kaiba said before nodding. "So, we should search from the same place again but this time, try to find anything that could possibly lead us to another place, like a cliff or a small path because something tells me they're not around here but somewhere else."
That remark instantly made Bakura looked up.
'Cliff? I think I saw one while I was wandering around the forest before the storm arrived.' The spikier white-haired albino pondered whilst at that same moment, an imaginary light bulb slowly beginning to light up.
'That cliff somehow looks familiar to me…and if I'm not mistaken, I saw some footprints on the mud and also something shiny...'
While Bakura was immersed in his thoughts, the others had made a decision for their next plan.
"So it's decided, we're going to search around the forest once again and meet at the entrance before sunset." The blue-eyed stripling announced as all the teenagers except Bakura nodded in understanding.
"Let's hope that we can find them soon before it's too late." Ryou said restlessly, earning nods from his schoolmates.
"Come on guys, let's go find them now!" The shorter lavender-eyed boy spoke with eagerness evident in his voice as everyone stood up and was about to walk towards the door when out of a sudden, Bakura's piercing shout reached their ears.
"I got it!" The Air Elemental exclaimed before he stood up from the sofa and walked towards his cousins and friends who were all wearing the same surprised but confused expression.
"I know where they are."
After a half-hour pattering around the forest leaded by Bakura, they finally reached a place where a steep cliff was spotted in front of them.
"I figure that they've been to this place and then, they accidentally fell off the cliff." Bakura explained as the others stared at the cliff like scientists looking intently at their experiments.
"How can you be so sure that they fell off this cliff?" Ryou questioned but inside his heart, he hoped that Bakura's assumption was right.
"Yes, I'm sure of it because I've seen footprints on the mud before the storm arrived." The taller albino said while pointing at the mud on the right corner. There were no footprints shown on the surface due to the fact that the heavy rain had washed the evidence away.
"Hey, what's that shiny thing over there?" Joey asked as he walked towards the resplendent object that stuck on a rock beside the cliff. When he picked it up, he immediately recognized it as one of Yugi's precious items.
"Ryou, Malik. Come look at this."
The two Newcastle students ran towards him and looked at the item as well.
"No way." Ryou gasped with his hands covering his mouth in astonishment.
"What is it?" Kaiba inquired as the three Elementals walked to their side.
"It's Yugi's locket." Malik answered as he gave Kaiba the silver object to have a better look. The brunet then opened the locket to see a small photo of Yugi with his parents.
"So, it's true." Kaiba whispered before he looked up and announced,
"We have now found out the answer. Both Yami and Yugi came to this place and then, they fell off the cliff."
"Since we know where they are, let's go down the cliff and find them!" Malik exclaimed, as he was about to step down the cliff, Marik grabbed his shirt collar and told him to stay.
"Are you crazy? Do you want to get lost as well?" Marik retorted as he glared at his look-alike.
"Then, what can we do? There's no other way of going down the cliff, is there?"
"Actually, there is another way."
Everyone stared at the older white-haired boy but only the three Newcastle students displayed a stunned expression on each of their faces.
"There's a small path over there that can lead us to where they are." Bakura pointed to the direction where they saw a narrow muddy road on the North West side of the forest.
"Really?" Ryou asked, earning a nod from his 'twin'.
"Then, let's go!"
As soon as Malik spoke those words, he without delay ran towards that direction with Marik and the others followed him from behind.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest…
"Y…Yami, what…sh…should we do now?" Yugi quavered fretfully while hiding behind the ruby-eyed teen and grasped Yami's black shirt to control his fear.
However, Yami did not hear him as he was too engrossed in his thoughts while at the same time staring at the frightening object in front of him.
'Should I use my elemental powers now?'
To Be Continued…
That's the end of Chapter 11, another cliffhanger! XD So, what did Yami and Yugi encounter that made them both tremble in fear and their legs shaking like jelly? You'll have to find out in the next chapter although in my opinion, it's really easy to guess since my story is easy to predict…T_T (Why can't I write mind-twisting stories? (Sighs))
Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this chapter and once again, thank you so much for taking time reading this story. I really appreciate this! (Smiles optimistically) As you can see, I've added Kaiba's reaction when he almost falling in love, and sooner or later, Marik's and Bakura's reactions will appear in later chapters.
Story Faves and Story Alerts are of course, welcomed! Stay tune for Chapter 12: Monstrosity!
More importantly, review please!