Hi everyone! Arigatou SO MUCH for all your wonderful reviews. It means
the world to me. *Sniff, sniff* I'll do my best to write as well as I can
(so much pressure now!). Unfortunately, I'll be away for the next three
weeks (in China*~), but I wanted to post up ¾ of the second chapter before
I go. Please review, although I won't be able to read your comments until
I get back (or until I claw my way to a computer ^^) Thank you so much
again, minna-san! (hope I got all the Japanese right =) I learned it all
from reading fanfic. Hehe, who says fanfic can't be educational?)
BTW- I do not own Yu-gi-oh. although I very much wish I had a bf like Yami. Hmm... actually, he's just a tad too old, don't you think? Five millennia is a bit of a generation gap.
Day Two
Yuugi woke up to the sound of glass breaking. Glancing quickly at his alarm clock, he saw that it was only 4:30 AM. He heard another crash, then leapt out of bed and inched his way out into the dark kitchen. /Yami?/ The air pressure changed slightly behind him but before Yuugi could turn around, he was knocked to the ground by a hard shove. Struggling up, he could discern a figure disappearing down the street, followed by another shadow, which he guessed to be Yami by the looks of his hair.
Picking himself up painfully, he felt his way to the front of the store in the dark, then switched on the light. Oh no, Yuugi thought. And grandpa hasn't even been gone for a day. The game shop floor was littered with slivers of broken glass and the front door was broken. The formerly neat displays of Duel Monster cards now looked like scattered leaves. He yelped as he stepped on some broken glass. Great, now he would have to clean the bloodstain too. Returning from the kitchen with a band-aid on the cut and slippers on his feet, Yuugi surveyed the damage. First things first, clean up the glass. Sighing, he grabbed a broom and began to sweep up the splinters when Yami returned.
"What happened?!"
"Someone broke into the game shop. I tried chasing them, but I lost them in the park." His boots crunched on the glass.
"Careful, or you'll cut yourself!"
"Here," Yami said, reaching for the broom, "I'll clean up the glass and you take care of the merchandise." Yuugi obediently handed the broom to the taller boy and proceeded to salvage the cards. He hid his slight frown from his aibou. He was responsible enough to clean up the glass; he wasn't some little kid anymore, why did everyone treat him like one? Glancing at Yami, he sighed. They just cared about him. But that didn't help with the bitter gnaw of resentment.
"Yami, I have some good news and some bad news." The game king looked up.
"Bad news first."
"I think the thief took some rare cards. I can't find the Red Eyes Black Dragon and a bunch of others."
"Kuso."
"Good news is that we have insurance so we could probably fix the window by tomorrow. In the meantime, I guess we'll just have to close the store up."
"You should call jiichan."
"No!" Yami stopped sweeping. "No," Yuugi said more calmly. "I.I don't want to worry him, that's all. It's only a break-in and there's no point in making jiichan come all the way back from Egypt just for this." Yami gave his hikari a look, then went back to his sweeping. He wasn't sure Yuugi's judgment was for the best, but he felt that his light was right in not making Sugoroku come back so soon. There was, however, something that Yuugi wasn't telling. The two boys worked on in silence as the dawn broke into rays of light that brushed the inside of the Turtle Game Shop.
Yuugi tried to stifle his yawn and not trip over his feet as he walked to school later that morning with Anzu. Thankfully, his companion was chatting animatedly about her dance lessons, leaving him only the job of half-listening and struggling to keep his eyes open. Waking up so early two days in a row was not healthy. He wondered fuzzily how he would stay awake in math class. Lucky Yami, he was probably catching a wink at home.
"Hmm, I wonder where Jou and Honda are today," wondered Anzu as they approached the school. Her thought went unanswered as they found Jou surrounded by blue-uniformed police officers. Honda was talking heatedly with a very vexed Kaiba. Anzu and Yuugi rushed over to the scene.
"I tell you, he just found the card! I was with him all day two days ago so he couldn't have stolen your card." Honda had never been so angry as he shouted at Kaiba.
"He still needs to be taken for questioning." Seto's cool exterior had yet to crack.
"What's going on here?" Both of the taller boys broke their arguing.
"Kaiba is trying to arrest Jou for stealing his cards!" Kaiba glared icily at the group.
"Your friend needs to be taken in for questioning. He has not yet been accused of anything, if you had just heard anything I said." A faint note of irritation crept into the monotone voice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have urgent business to attend to." The tall millionaire then turned heels and headed towards the police cruisers, snapping his fingers at the policemen. The officers quickly escorted Jou into one of the waiting cars as his friends looked helplessly. The door slammed and the blond-haired youth was sped away, glaring at the back of Kaiba's head all the way down the street. Honda gritted his teeth and turned his knuckles white from clenching his hands into fists.
"There's no way Jou would've stolen anything!"
"We know, Honda," Yuugi agreed softly. Anzu put a comforting hand on the tense youth. The trio stood there in a pool of shock and anger as the school bell announced their lateness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The young CEO of Kaiba Corp. could feel the hot daggers of Jou's glare on the back of his head, but he was accustomed to such reactions; after all, the business world was a ruthless one. Underneath the professional shell of his exterior, he felt a boiling rage inside. Several of his rarest cards had been stolen. Not only was he irked that the security system he had personally designed had failed, he felt as if he had been violated. Duel Monsters were his passion and his cards were like a part of his soul. His very being could not rest in peace until it had recovered part of its own again.
"So, where ya taking me?"
"Police station," came the gruff and curt reply.
"For what?"
"Questioning."
"Why do you need to ask me more questions? I told you everything I know already."
The officer driving the cruiser sighed. He hated talkative suspects. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may and will be used against you in court."
"I ain't got no lawyer anyway. And I'm not going to court. I didn't do anything wrong-"
"I suggest you listen to him and be quiet." Jou dug his fingernails into the worn blue covering of the car seat and continued in his attempt to maim Kaiba with a laser glare. The ride continued in thick silence until they reached the station. Jou found himself in a small badly-lit room with a table and two chairs. Sitting opposite to him was the balding police officer. Kaiba was standing in the shadows in the back corner of the room, his blue eyes the only part of him Jou could see. Great, I'm stuck in an episode of Cops now. All for buying a card!
"Full name please."
"Why? You already know it, you even have my file." Joey indicated to the bulging brown file in front of the officer.
"For the record." The officer jerked a thumb at the tape recorder beside the file.
"Oh. Katsuya Jounouchi. But my friends call me Jou."
"Answer just the question. Where were you two days ago?"
"I was over at my buddy's Honda. We were studying." Kaiba raised an eyebrow.
"Can this be verified?"
"Sure, just ask any of my friends. Though, don't tell them I was studying. No offense or nothing, I have a reputation to keep."
"Again, answer just the question."
Geez, don't these guys ever lighten up?
"Were you aware of the break-in that occurred at Kaibaland two days ago?"
"I heard a couple of rumors here and there but no, not really."
"What do you mean by not really?"
"I had no idea, okay?" Kaiba glided over to the policeman and whispered something. They conversed quietly while Jou sat wondering if Kaiba had just called him a Chihuahua. There were going to be a lot more fingernail marks in chairs today, he thought. Jou's temper was on the verge of spilling (it had taken the grand total of five seconds), the policeman turned back to him.
"You say that you bought the allegedly stolen card off a dealer you met on the street?" Jou nodded. "How many cards did you purchase?"
"Just the Tri-Horned Dragon."
"Can you describe this person?"
"I'm not too sure. I was walking home and it was getting kinda dark, plus he was wearing one of them hooded sweaters so I couldn't really see his face."
"The suspect was a male?"
"Yup, around my height, a bit shorter. I think he was an old guy though, cuz I think he had either white or grey hair. That's pretty much it though. Like I said, I couldn't really see him that well." The officer and Kaiba exchanged a few more words.
"Katsuya Jounouchi, we will be conducting a search of your home tomorrow evening at six o'clock. Please cooperate with the police for your convenience and ours. You're free to go now." Jou blinked in surprise.
"Aren't you gonna ask me anymore of them questions? I thought you needed to know more."
"Look, kid," the officer growled, "just get out of here-"
"You have my permission to go," Kaiba cut in.
"Look here, Kaiba. I didn't steal your card and I don't need your 'permission' to go." The two duelists glared at each other in mutual hate.
"You do, and you're lucky you got off so easy. Nobody gets away with taking my things."
"I didn't take nothing! If you want to blame someone, go find the guy that sold the card to me."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do right now, no thanks to your leaky memory. Better get studying for those exams; you're going to need it." With that, Kaiba left the interrogation room, his heels methodically announcing his exit. Seconds later, the door violently banged shut as Jou fumed after the millionaire. The officer was left sitting in the room badly in need of an extra-strength aspirin. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yami sauntered over to the counter of the Turtle Game Shop with the grace of a cat. His crimson eyes narrowed as he pondered over his day. He had spent it shadowing Ryou, a relatively easy task since the British youth had spent the entire day at home sick with the flu. The game king leaned on the counter, mulling over what he would tell his aibou. The smaller boy would undoubtedly misunderstand his darker side's actions, accusing him of being prejudiced against Ryou because of Yami Bakura. Yami could not deny that there was truth to his hikari's words, but knew not to ignore his intuition. His gut feelings were usually right, whether in a duel or otherwise and they told him that somehow, Bakura was behind both the recent card theft and this morning's break-in. However, he lacked proof. Yami sighed. It would be infinitely easier to challenge Bakura to a Shadow Game to determine the truth but he knew modern-day authorities would discredit his findings no matter what the truth was because they could not accept his methods. Things really have changed in five millennia, mused the former pharaoh. People these days had so little belief in magic and things unexplainable. They could not accept things they could not explain. Or perhaps, they choose not to accept because they lack faith.
His thoughts were interrupted by the slight jingling of bells, announcing someone at the door. Yami looked up to see Yuugi struggle in, toss his backpack to one side, then make a sluggish beeline for the counter and curl up fast asleep on the stool. The yami smiled at the sleeping boy. Poor kid, Yuugi was never much of a morning person. Picking up the smaller boy easily, Yami carried him to his room and tucked him into bed. Yuugi snuggled against the pillow and mumbled a sleepy thanks.
Yuugi emerged slowly from sleep to the smell of something burning and a steady stream of Egyptian. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he noted that it was six thirty with a groan, thinking of all the studying he still needed to cram in. After all, exams were in two days. His nose brought him back to more immediate matters. It smelled like something had died in the kitchen and was being cremated. Uttering a prayer, Yuugi opened the door. His eyes immediately began to water as the stench hit him. Through his tears, he could make out a blurry image of his other half wearing a wreath of smoke and attempting to scrape the black remnants of some horribly failed attempt at cooking into the garbage. Seeing the usually poised darkness in an apron and muttering what Yuugi suspected was swearing in Egyptian made the smaller boy do the first thing that came to his mind. Yuugi began to laugh uncontrollably.
"I'll have you know, aibou, I am actually a very good cook," Yami said, not bothering to turn around.
After Yuugi had gotten his laughter under control, both boys cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and ordered a pizza. Apparently, Yami had attempted to boil rice but had decided to use the oven instead of the stove and ended up baking the rice to a radioactive black. The chicken fared no better, as it had suffered a slow grilling directly on top of the stove, barbeque style. The bottom half had stuck to the electric coil, while the top half was still raw. Currently, bits of chicken skin were still clinging to the top of the cooking surface but were being ignored as Yuugi and Yami hungrily dug into the extra-cheese pizza.
BTW- I do not own Yu-gi-oh. although I very much wish I had a bf like Yami. Hmm... actually, he's just a tad too old, don't you think? Five millennia is a bit of a generation gap.
Day Two
Yuugi woke up to the sound of glass breaking. Glancing quickly at his alarm clock, he saw that it was only 4:30 AM. He heard another crash, then leapt out of bed and inched his way out into the dark kitchen. /Yami?/ The air pressure changed slightly behind him but before Yuugi could turn around, he was knocked to the ground by a hard shove. Struggling up, he could discern a figure disappearing down the street, followed by another shadow, which he guessed to be Yami by the looks of his hair.
Picking himself up painfully, he felt his way to the front of the store in the dark, then switched on the light. Oh no, Yuugi thought. And grandpa hasn't even been gone for a day. The game shop floor was littered with slivers of broken glass and the front door was broken. The formerly neat displays of Duel Monster cards now looked like scattered leaves. He yelped as he stepped on some broken glass. Great, now he would have to clean the bloodstain too. Returning from the kitchen with a band-aid on the cut and slippers on his feet, Yuugi surveyed the damage. First things first, clean up the glass. Sighing, he grabbed a broom and began to sweep up the splinters when Yami returned.
"What happened?!"
"Someone broke into the game shop. I tried chasing them, but I lost them in the park." His boots crunched on the glass.
"Careful, or you'll cut yourself!"
"Here," Yami said, reaching for the broom, "I'll clean up the glass and you take care of the merchandise." Yuugi obediently handed the broom to the taller boy and proceeded to salvage the cards. He hid his slight frown from his aibou. He was responsible enough to clean up the glass; he wasn't some little kid anymore, why did everyone treat him like one? Glancing at Yami, he sighed. They just cared about him. But that didn't help with the bitter gnaw of resentment.
"Yami, I have some good news and some bad news." The game king looked up.
"Bad news first."
"I think the thief took some rare cards. I can't find the Red Eyes Black Dragon and a bunch of others."
"Kuso."
"Good news is that we have insurance so we could probably fix the window by tomorrow. In the meantime, I guess we'll just have to close the store up."
"You should call jiichan."
"No!" Yami stopped sweeping. "No," Yuugi said more calmly. "I.I don't want to worry him, that's all. It's only a break-in and there's no point in making jiichan come all the way back from Egypt just for this." Yami gave his hikari a look, then went back to his sweeping. He wasn't sure Yuugi's judgment was for the best, but he felt that his light was right in not making Sugoroku come back so soon. There was, however, something that Yuugi wasn't telling. The two boys worked on in silence as the dawn broke into rays of light that brushed the inside of the Turtle Game Shop.
Yuugi tried to stifle his yawn and not trip over his feet as he walked to school later that morning with Anzu. Thankfully, his companion was chatting animatedly about her dance lessons, leaving him only the job of half-listening and struggling to keep his eyes open. Waking up so early two days in a row was not healthy. He wondered fuzzily how he would stay awake in math class. Lucky Yami, he was probably catching a wink at home.
"Hmm, I wonder where Jou and Honda are today," wondered Anzu as they approached the school. Her thought went unanswered as they found Jou surrounded by blue-uniformed police officers. Honda was talking heatedly with a very vexed Kaiba. Anzu and Yuugi rushed over to the scene.
"I tell you, he just found the card! I was with him all day two days ago so he couldn't have stolen your card." Honda had never been so angry as he shouted at Kaiba.
"He still needs to be taken for questioning." Seto's cool exterior had yet to crack.
"What's going on here?" Both of the taller boys broke their arguing.
"Kaiba is trying to arrest Jou for stealing his cards!" Kaiba glared icily at the group.
"Your friend needs to be taken in for questioning. He has not yet been accused of anything, if you had just heard anything I said." A faint note of irritation crept into the monotone voice. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have urgent business to attend to." The tall millionaire then turned heels and headed towards the police cruisers, snapping his fingers at the policemen. The officers quickly escorted Jou into one of the waiting cars as his friends looked helplessly. The door slammed and the blond-haired youth was sped away, glaring at the back of Kaiba's head all the way down the street. Honda gritted his teeth and turned his knuckles white from clenching his hands into fists.
"There's no way Jou would've stolen anything!"
"We know, Honda," Yuugi agreed softly. Anzu put a comforting hand on the tense youth. The trio stood there in a pool of shock and anger as the school bell announced their lateness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The young CEO of Kaiba Corp. could feel the hot daggers of Jou's glare on the back of his head, but he was accustomed to such reactions; after all, the business world was a ruthless one. Underneath the professional shell of his exterior, he felt a boiling rage inside. Several of his rarest cards had been stolen. Not only was he irked that the security system he had personally designed had failed, he felt as if he had been violated. Duel Monsters were his passion and his cards were like a part of his soul. His very being could not rest in peace until it had recovered part of its own again.
"So, where ya taking me?"
"Police station," came the gruff and curt reply.
"For what?"
"Questioning."
"Why do you need to ask me more questions? I told you everything I know already."
The officer driving the cruiser sighed. He hated talkative suspects. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say may and will be used against you in court."
"I ain't got no lawyer anyway. And I'm not going to court. I didn't do anything wrong-"
"I suggest you listen to him and be quiet." Jou dug his fingernails into the worn blue covering of the car seat and continued in his attempt to maim Kaiba with a laser glare. The ride continued in thick silence until they reached the station. Jou found himself in a small badly-lit room with a table and two chairs. Sitting opposite to him was the balding police officer. Kaiba was standing in the shadows in the back corner of the room, his blue eyes the only part of him Jou could see. Great, I'm stuck in an episode of Cops now. All for buying a card!
"Full name please."
"Why? You already know it, you even have my file." Joey indicated to the bulging brown file in front of the officer.
"For the record." The officer jerked a thumb at the tape recorder beside the file.
"Oh. Katsuya Jounouchi. But my friends call me Jou."
"Answer just the question. Where were you two days ago?"
"I was over at my buddy's Honda. We were studying." Kaiba raised an eyebrow.
"Can this be verified?"
"Sure, just ask any of my friends. Though, don't tell them I was studying. No offense or nothing, I have a reputation to keep."
"Again, answer just the question."
Geez, don't these guys ever lighten up?
"Were you aware of the break-in that occurred at Kaibaland two days ago?"
"I heard a couple of rumors here and there but no, not really."
"What do you mean by not really?"
"I had no idea, okay?" Kaiba glided over to the policeman and whispered something. They conversed quietly while Jou sat wondering if Kaiba had just called him a Chihuahua. There were going to be a lot more fingernail marks in chairs today, he thought. Jou's temper was on the verge of spilling (it had taken the grand total of five seconds), the policeman turned back to him.
"You say that you bought the allegedly stolen card off a dealer you met on the street?" Jou nodded. "How many cards did you purchase?"
"Just the Tri-Horned Dragon."
"Can you describe this person?"
"I'm not too sure. I was walking home and it was getting kinda dark, plus he was wearing one of them hooded sweaters so I couldn't really see his face."
"The suspect was a male?"
"Yup, around my height, a bit shorter. I think he was an old guy though, cuz I think he had either white or grey hair. That's pretty much it though. Like I said, I couldn't really see him that well." The officer and Kaiba exchanged a few more words.
"Katsuya Jounouchi, we will be conducting a search of your home tomorrow evening at six o'clock. Please cooperate with the police for your convenience and ours. You're free to go now." Jou blinked in surprise.
"Aren't you gonna ask me anymore of them questions? I thought you needed to know more."
"Look, kid," the officer growled, "just get out of here-"
"You have my permission to go," Kaiba cut in.
"Look here, Kaiba. I didn't steal your card and I don't need your 'permission' to go." The two duelists glared at each other in mutual hate.
"You do, and you're lucky you got off so easy. Nobody gets away with taking my things."
"I didn't take nothing! If you want to blame someone, go find the guy that sold the card to me."
"That's exactly what I'm going to do right now, no thanks to your leaky memory. Better get studying for those exams; you're going to need it." With that, Kaiba left the interrogation room, his heels methodically announcing his exit. Seconds later, the door violently banged shut as Jou fumed after the millionaire. The officer was left sitting in the room badly in need of an extra-strength aspirin. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Yami sauntered over to the counter of the Turtle Game Shop with the grace of a cat. His crimson eyes narrowed as he pondered over his day. He had spent it shadowing Ryou, a relatively easy task since the British youth had spent the entire day at home sick with the flu. The game king leaned on the counter, mulling over what he would tell his aibou. The smaller boy would undoubtedly misunderstand his darker side's actions, accusing him of being prejudiced against Ryou because of Yami Bakura. Yami could not deny that there was truth to his hikari's words, but knew not to ignore his intuition. His gut feelings were usually right, whether in a duel or otherwise and they told him that somehow, Bakura was behind both the recent card theft and this morning's break-in. However, he lacked proof. Yami sighed. It would be infinitely easier to challenge Bakura to a Shadow Game to determine the truth but he knew modern-day authorities would discredit his findings no matter what the truth was because they could not accept his methods. Things really have changed in five millennia, mused the former pharaoh. People these days had so little belief in magic and things unexplainable. They could not accept things they could not explain. Or perhaps, they choose not to accept because they lack faith.
His thoughts were interrupted by the slight jingling of bells, announcing someone at the door. Yami looked up to see Yuugi struggle in, toss his backpack to one side, then make a sluggish beeline for the counter and curl up fast asleep on the stool. The yami smiled at the sleeping boy. Poor kid, Yuugi was never much of a morning person. Picking up the smaller boy easily, Yami carried him to his room and tucked him into bed. Yuugi snuggled against the pillow and mumbled a sleepy thanks.
Yuugi emerged slowly from sleep to the smell of something burning and a steady stream of Egyptian. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he noted that it was six thirty with a groan, thinking of all the studying he still needed to cram in. After all, exams were in two days. His nose brought him back to more immediate matters. It smelled like something had died in the kitchen and was being cremated. Uttering a prayer, Yuugi opened the door. His eyes immediately began to water as the stench hit him. Through his tears, he could make out a blurry image of his other half wearing a wreath of smoke and attempting to scrape the black remnants of some horribly failed attempt at cooking into the garbage. Seeing the usually poised darkness in an apron and muttering what Yuugi suspected was swearing in Egyptian made the smaller boy do the first thing that came to his mind. Yuugi began to laugh uncontrollably.
"I'll have you know, aibou, I am actually a very good cook," Yami said, not bothering to turn around.
After Yuugi had gotten his laughter under control, both boys cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and ordered a pizza. Apparently, Yami had attempted to boil rice but had decided to use the oven instead of the stove and ended up baking the rice to a radioactive black. The chicken fared no better, as it had suffered a slow grilling directly on top of the stove, barbeque style. The bottom half had stuck to the electric coil, while the top half was still raw. Currently, bits of chicken skin were still clinging to the top of the cooking surface but were being ignored as Yuugi and Yami hungrily dug into the extra-cheese pizza.