Yami Yugi: This author updates so infrequently that if they'd been writing the original Yu-Gi-Oh, 5Ds would come out in its actual time period!
Chapter 21: Secrets Told, Secrets Kept
There was a storm that night. Big, fat droplets splattered noisily against the rooftops. Not a light glimmered in the sky but for the brief bursts of lightning silhouetting the clouds, which towered over the world.
In his apartment, Professor Keichi snored softly, still fast asleep. The rain beat against his skylight in urgent passion, like someone begging to be let in. But Keichi slept on, oblivious to all.
Thunder crashed, and he awoke with a start. Blearily he blinked up at the skylight, then to the clock at his bedside. Upon seeing the time, he yawned widely and fell back into his pillows. Then, as he realized what the clock had said, he suddenly sat up and cursed. He'd meant to get up a while ago to visit the lab—though, he reasoned, as wakefulness trickled back into his brain, with a storm this severe it was probably best not to leave the place. He took a moment to gaze out his window, noting with mild fascination the swollen, wave-like clouds crashing upon one another, the lightning cracking through as if trapped.
A minute later, and he had convinced his body to leave his bed. When the light flickered on in the living room, there was a flurry of activity in the back corner. Keichi smiled gently at the five mice scampering about in their plastic home, running back and forth and pressing their noses hopefully against the wire frame upon his approach.
"Kara, Sato, Ao, Shura, Ritsu, I'm sorry I missed your dinnertime," he greeted them. "I hope you aren't too frightened by the storm to eat."
He changed their water and filled their food container, throwing in a few chopped grapes as an extra treat. As the mice crowded around the food, Keichi turned his attention to the last mouse, a large brown one kept separate from the others.
"Hello, Yuni."
This mouse was kept separate for a special reason: she was a clone, bred from the cells of a much older mouse, Yuichi. Of all the mice he had worked with, this one was Keichi's pride and joy; for more than eight months, now, she had been carrying Yuichi's soul. She was the first successful soul transfer to live past one month, and with her success Keichi had felt sure enough to begin his work with Yugi's clone.
He changed the water like with the other mice, then frowned. "Still not eating much?" he sighed, taking out the food container, which was nearly full.
"I don't understand." He dumped out the box and refilled it with a fresh batch. "I've changed the diet twice, the vet was certain this would be much better than the last one. I don't see why you'd still turn up your snout. It can't be that bad..." He picked up a pellet and sniffed it, then popped it in his mouth, chewing slowly. A moment later he spat it out and clawed at his tongue.
"Eugh, ew, oh, it's no wonder you've no stomach for this filth." He dumped out the container again and filled it with the rest of the grapes, throwing in some lettuce and carrots. Then, for good measure, he picked up the pellet bag and dropped it in the trash bin as well. "At least it wasn't as expensive as the first stuff."
The mouse didn't seem to notice right away what he had done, but after a minute her snout began to twitch and she shuffled slowly to the food dish. The twitching became more vigorous the closer she got. Finally, after what looked like much deliberation, she reached out with one paw and drew a grape closer. The sounds of eager chewing followed quickly after.
Keichi smiled in satisfaction, and wandered further into the kitchen, thoughtfully chewing on a leftover strip of carrot. He pulled a clean bowl from the sink and a box of cereal from the cupboard. As he did, his eye caught a small white box just behind it, completely indistinguishable from the rest of the clutter unless you knew where to look. With a far more nostalgic pace, Keichi reached in and retrieved this box as well.
Inside was a petri dish, which held a single stone fragment. Keichi's gaze was affectionate as it danced over the shimmering blue-green surface, so polished it seemed to shine even in the dim light of his kitchen. All of it, everything, his successes, his rising reputation...it was all thanks to this stone. Crystal, he corrected himself. He was no geological expert, but he'd worked with crystals before, and he'd determined a while ago that this fragment was undoubtedly that. The most unique crystal he'd ever come across...
It was by understanding the nature of this crystal that he'd come to perfect his machines and his formulas. But more than that, it seemed like after finding the crystal all those months ago, something had clicked. He'd been filled with more vigor and excitement for his project than ever before, and ideas just streamed from his brain. After presenting Yuni, he'd gotten more funding, and his progress flew faster in the past few months than it had in years. And once his colleagues had started to hear about what he'd accomplished...Keichi wasn't normally the type to gloat, but, well, he'd be lying if he said it wasn't even a little satisfying to see their faces. If everything continued to go as planned, he'd been told his work might be published in the major magazines, even shown to the public, though the latter was still under serious debate. This stone wasn't just a lucky find; it was his lucky charm.
He'd yet to tell them about Yugi and the Pharaoh, though. Isashi, he recalled Grandpa saying. It was far too early, for one. He'd planned to leave at least two months waiting time to observe results, and if after that time all seemed well, he'd consider asking the boys' permission to reveal them to his colleagues. Something like this required their permission, because he knew that once he did so, from that point on the boys likely would be pestered with calls from other scientists asking for them to visit their own labs. Especially since recently it seemed like more of his colleagues were trying to get their hands on his work, now that they'd found out he was right all along. Actually, now that he thought about it, it might be better if he never told them anything at all...
He flinched when thunder shook the window panes once more, and quickly put away the box.
"Dear me, what a storm," he said worriedly. At this rate I might not be able to get in until tomorrow. But by then...
As if suddenly remembering what he had been doing earlier, he cracked open the cereal box and poured its contents into his bowl. Perhaps I should call—
"Professor."
Keichi jumped and dropped the box, which miraculously managed to land upright on the floor, spilling a few grains onto the floor. He whipped around to see his assistant Kaguchi standing at the entrance to the kitchen. The hulking man wore a raincoat that looked like it was hardly doing anything to keep him dry—it reached only to his waist, so that his legs were soaking wet, and his attempt to pull the hood over his head was admittedly rather pathetic. He stood there dripping noticeably large puddles on his floor, though he hardly looked apologetic for it. Instead, his face was stonily blank, and he stood at attention, like a soldier.
"Kaguchi, you startled me," Keichi said weakly, one hand grasping at the countertop, the other at his chest. He bent down and started to sweep together the scattered cereal with one hand. "I didn't hear you come in. Were you just out in the rain? You must be soaked!"
"It's not bad," his assistant answered, even as water ran from his drenched hair.
"Oh...I see." Keichi finished cleaning the floor (as best he could) and dumped the grains into a trash can nearby. He straightened, dusting his hands off.
"Would you like to sit down, or...?"
"We thought you might require our assistance." Keichi's heart jumped again when he heard Yamamoto's voice behind him, and he turned to see his second assistant standing in front of Yuni's cage, bent forward and peering at the mouse.
"Oh!" Keichi squeaked, then tried to get his voice under control as the pounding in his chest subsided. "Well, my, that is a coincidence. As a matter of fact, there is something I'd like you to do."
He walked to the refrigerator and opened the freezer. Instead of food, it was nearly dominated with test tubes and tube racks. He reached in and retrieved a small capsule, the only one on its rack, filled with a red liquid. He placed it into a small foam box and pressed it carefully into the hands of Yamamoto, who straightened when he appraoched.
"This is a blood sample of Yuni. I want you to run it through the computers for an analysis. I'd meant to do it earlier, but...well..." Thunder rumbled, adding emphasis to his point. "When it's done, I want you to print out the results and bring them straight back to me. Preferably dry, of course."
"I understand, Professor," Yamamoto said, as expressionless as Kaguchi. She stowed the box beneath her raincoat. "We shall leave at once."
"Thank you, I very much appreciate this. Uh, do be careful won't you?" Keichi added, as a huge burst of lightning light up their faces in a white, eerie glow. The lights slightly dimmed, and a moment of tense silence passed between them as the subsequent thunder crackled like a glacier breaking apart. It soon brightened again, and Keichi smiled nervously as he glanced over the lights. "Goodness, I hope we don't get a power outage," he commented. "I'm not sure my samples could survive the night—"
He cut off, astonished. The pair had vanished.
Lightning flashed once more. Keichi rubbed the back of his neck, shaking his head. Like a pair of Houdinis, those two.
At the docks, the storm raged. Waves crashed violently upon the concrete, the biggest even splashing the rooftops of the nearest warehouses, not that it would have made any difference with the torrential rain flooding the tiles. The wind screeched and wailed, raindrops battered the tiles, but still two figures leapt across the rooftops, as easily as if they were strolling down the lane.
Yamamoto landed first, sailing from the top of one warehouse to the doorway of the Professor's. Her foot slipped and gave out when she did, and she fell backwards to the ground, only to be caught by Kaguchi, who had landed silently behind her.
With a grunt of annoyance Yamamoto shoved herself away from him and passed a card in front of the electronic lock next to the warehouse door. The lock clicked, and with one hand Kaguchi raised the shutters high enough for both of them to slip through. The lights in the warehouse came on just as he shut the gate, and the sounds of the storm immediately became muffled. Silently they traversed the empty room to the elevator on the other side.
"You do not need to accompany me," Kaguchi rumbled. His voice was as deep and sonorous as the thunder outside. "There are other tasks to be done."
"You forget I'm the only one with the passwords to his equipment," Yamamoto retorted. "When we've gotten the results I'll leave."
The elevator doors opened and they made their way to a large, blocky machine with a computer in front of it. Yamamoto turned on the computer first, and with a few seconds of typing the machine hummed to life. She withdrew the styrafoam box and took out the vial, then pressed a switch on the machine. A tubular slot opened next to the computer screen. Using a pipette, she poured the blood into the slot and pressed it closed again.
Immediately a page appeared on the screen with a rapid list of seemingly random numbers and letters typing themselves too fast to follow. At the end of it, both assistants frowned.
"It's as he feared," Yamamoto murmured, a measure of disappointment in her tone.
"He will not be happy," Kaguchi said. "At this rate, the Professor might even halt the project."
"You worry too much." Yamamoto began typing, and the page began to scroll again. "We'll just alter it, like last time."
The printer in the far end of the room groaned, and an long roll of paper slid jerkily from it, covered with the same numbers and letters. The text of the last line, however, was an imperceptibly different shade of black, only noticeable if one were looking for it.
Yamamoto folded the paper and slid it in a plastic sheath, then handed it to Kaguchi, who stowed it away under his jacket.
"Join me once you've closed up and delivered that to the professor." Yamamoto didn't look back as she walked lithely back to the elevator. "Make sure you're convincing."
"So that's it, huh…"
That evening, the five friends found themselves, as they often did, in the living room, a tray of tea centered nonchalantly on the table between them. It had been a notably relaxing night, and each of them, in their own way, felt relatively content, despite all that had happened at the festival, and what Yugi and the Pharaoh had just told them.
Joey leaned back and spread his arms along the back of the couch, a pensive look about him. "So in the end, it was all a ruse?"
"That's one way to think about it," Yugi replied slowly. "True, it was basically a front for anyone who might have been watching. But to say it was all a ruse…well…I think it's up to Isashi to decide."
He glanced at his twin, who frowned.
"If I desired, I could spend the rest of my days telling myself it never counted as a true battle," the Pharaoh said. Something in his voice spoke loudly at his displeasure for the idea. He sat up a little straighter. "But I don't believe I ever could. That battle felt as real as any I'd ever fought. It'd be an insult to Miss Miwa if I were to brush it aside so easily."
"Hey, don't worry, we get it," Tristan said cheerfully. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm actually kinda glad it turned out to be a trick. I'll admit, you really had me going! But it all made sense in the end when you explained everything. Kinda renewed my faith, ya know?"
"It sounds pretty effective when you think of it…" Téa mused. "It's true, none of us would ever expect you to lose on principle, much less on purpose."
"It's good that you say that. That gives me hope that our enemies wouldn't expect so, either," the Pharaoh replied.
Joey tilted his head at his tone. "Somethin' goin' on, Isashi?"
The Pharaoh let out a breath through his nose. "I saw Bakura at the end of the match. The spirit Bakura."
"What?! Are you sure?!" All four leaned forward in shock. At the Pharaoh's "Yes", Joey pounded his fist into the arm of the couch. "Dammit, that bastard keeps coming back to haunt us! I thought we got rid of him at Battle City once and for all!"
"He's not that easy to lose," Tristan said grimly. "I tried on Duelist Island, remember? He's like a 3000 year old cockroach."
"That's an accurate statement if I ever heard one," Téa snorted.
"Did he recognize you?" Yugi asked worriedly, over Joey and Tristan's snickering.
The Pharaoh slipped his gaze to the side, thinking. "I don't think so," he said finally, and the others let out a collective sigh of relief. "But there was definitely a moment where he started to believe it was me. I think we need to be more careful, at least for a little while."
"Man, just when it looked like you were getting all settled in an' everything, too," Joey sighed. "Still, all's well that ends well, eh?"
He rose, looking at the clock at the same time. "It's gettin' late. I gotta head home."
"Me too," Tristan added, him and Téa both getting up as well.
"It's pouring out there. Will you guys be okay?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine, Yug. Looks like it's lettin' up, anyways." As soon as Joey said that, the sky flashed, and there followed a particularly impressive crash of thunder. He flinched, and pulled an uneasy expression.
Yugi grinned as they all slowly sat back down, a little sheepishly. "How about you all stay until it gets better? I'll pull out some games from downstairs."
"I'll help," the Pharaoh offered. As he stood, he hissed, and briefly rubbed his leg.
"You all right?" Téa asked, her gaze sharp.
The Pharaoh gave a smile, smoothing over his expression. "I'm fine. It's just an ache I've had since this morning. I probably slept on it wrong."
"Do you want to ask Grandpa for something?" Yugi suggested.
"I can deal with a sore leg, Yugi," the Pharaoh replied good-naturedly, raising a wry eyebrow. "It's better than before, it barely twinges. It'll probably be gone by tomorrow."
"Yeah, he's fine, he's had worse," Tristan put in. "You remember how Joey was throwing him around back when he was still in the Puzzle..."
"Let's not start that again," Téa sighed, but it was too late. Joey had begun to smirk rather evilly and said, "Yeah, Yug, just cuz ya got yer body all t'yerself don't mean you get to slack off. Ya been practicin'?"
"Uh...well...if I say yes, will it keep you from tackling me?" Yugi, recognizing the signs, began to back towards the door, while Joey rose from the couch and slowly made his way towards the smaller Duelist. All of a sudden, Yugi bolted, and Joey took off after him. They ran out the door and down the hall.
"Get back here, Yug! Ya ain't gettin' off that easy!"
"Joey, stop chasing him! You're acting like a kid!"
"Téa, hold up! Whatever you do, don't send Joey to the hospital again!"
Chuckling, the Pharaoh was the last to leave the room, the twinge already forgotten. It seemed board games would have to give way to roughhousing for a while.
Outside, a shadowed figure, invisible in the curtain of rain and the dark, watched from their position in a tree not far away. Despite the frightening thunder and torrential downpour, the figure seemed hardly perturbed, maintaining perfect balance atop the slender, and moreover slippery, tree branch.
Yamamoto's eyes followed the young man as he left the room, and she shifted her position for the first time, moving with ease a few inches to the right. The branch suddenly shook, and she glanced at Kaguchi, who'd joined her.
"I've given the documents to the professor. He accepted them without question," Kaguchi told her, and Yamamoto nodded. "Anything to report here?"
Yamamoto returned her gaze to the house. Her eyes narrowed. "I'm not sure."
RN: Guess who's back! That's right, it's me. Bet you all thought I'd dropped off the face of the earth, didn't you? Or, even if you didn't, you at least asked the age-old question, "WHY HASN'T THIS DAMN AUTHOR UPDATED YET?!"
Well, that's due to a number of reasons, of which I won't waste your time explaining now. To my latest reviewer Anonymous ONE, I'm sorry you've been waiting so long, and I would have told you I was still on the job except you reviewed as a guest, so...But I am alive! And I am back. Or rather, I've been here all along, I've just...been really, really quiet.
Now, this doesn't necessarily mean I'll be updating regularly, however, I'm afraid. I've given up trying to be consistent on when I update because I've concluded I just can't keep a schedule when it comes to these things. It's nerve-wracking to not have any idea when the next chapter will be coming out, I know it well, there are several manga chapters I've been waiting for that just haven't come, so I know. But I like to think that the chapter is made all the more sweeter the longer the wait...That said, I have made you wait almost a year, and that's practically unforgivable (note the 'practically'...). As a matter of fact, I considered just waiting till March and updating on this story's anniversary again, but I figured 11 months was enough. However, I've also noticed that this chapter is extremely short compared to the others, and that's just not fair to y'all, so I've decided to give y'all a little apology gift. Because this one was so short, I am posting TWO chapters, the second one will go up right after this one. I hope this can compensate for all those feelings of disappointment when you opened up my story and saw that the last update was March 2015. So fret not, the next chapter is right behind this one!