The Ones Next Door

The day progressed rather lamely. School was school. Talk was talk. Life was life. Yadda, yadda, yadda. At least it was Friday. That I was certainly grateful for. Kent and Yumi had invited me over to their house again, but I gently declined, claiming to have slave duties of dishes and general chores around my house.

Which was a lie, of course. We were still eating off paper plates and marveling at just how empty the house looked. Not that I didn't enjoy their company, because believe me, I certainly did.

No, it was their father. . .well. All right. One of their fathers that scared the hell out of me. And as much as I should be a man, I still hadn't mustered up enough courage to go back over there yet.

Don't you laugh at me! It's not funny!

It was dark now, and all of the lights were still on over at the neighbor's house. Not to mention the fact that there was a lot of raucous coming from over there. What was going on?

Damned human curiosity. How the hell does it always get the better of me? Seriously, why?

I guess that's how I found myself snooping into their dining room window. Yes, pathetic, I know.

Inside, I could see that there were a lot of people inside. I recognized Yumi sitting relaxed in one of the chairs, a glass filled with ice and soda in front of her. She was watching a heated debate between the Crazy One Yami, and another man I didn't recognize. He had reddish-brown hair and steel blue eyes, wearing a blue trench coat.

Yuugi was it? Was sitting next to Yami, simply observing, and another male next to him. Soft white hair, doe brown eyes. . .wait. There was another one with white hair there, too. Looking extremely similar, except for his ice blue eyes. And his hair was a bit more wilder, too.

That's when it hit me. These were the two goons from last night.

I tried to swallow the lump in my throat.

Kent was standing next to a buffet, sipping on his own soda. Surprisingly, I could hear the conversation relatively well, considering the fact that they were talking quite loudly.

There was a woman in there too. The one that had been shown to me earlier. Mihaada? Was that it? Odd name.

"I'm telling you, I won at Duelist Kingdom! Just admit it! That battle on top of the castle was all mine!" the one I didn't recognize roared.

"Don't be ridiculous! After all these years, your pride is still bruised? BAH! I would have won if you had not been stupid enough to actually put your life in jeopardy! I seriously think that you would have been fine if I did attack!"

The other man smiled. "If only someone hadn't have been so gullible. . ."

Yami rose out of his seat, fire raging in his eyes. "What was that. . . money bags. . ."

Boy, did he look angry.

"Aha! So you do admit it!" One of the white-haired ones exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at 'money bags.' I think it was the Bakura guy. He looked taller, and had that same Crazy look to him. "After all these years, you finally admit that nothing would have happened to you! Meaning that the pharaoh would have one!" Suddenly, he broke into a fit of cackles, and the one wearing the trench coat turned suddenly pale.

"That's it, Kaiba, I'm going to shred your soul into tiny little pieces!!!" Yami leapt across the table with surprising agility and speed, capturing the one named Kaiba around the neck.

"No! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop!" The woman leapt up as well, attempting to pry the Crazy one off.

"YAMI!!!!!!!!"

Dead silence. All heads in the room turned to look at Yuugi, the one who, surprisingly, had been the one to yell.

Man, these people had lungs.

My eyes bulged out of my head. I simply could not believe what I was seeing.

Yami lowered his head sheepishly, instinctively releasing Kaiba's neck in the process. "Gomen, aibou," Yami muttered, getting up and returning to his seat next to Yuugi.

Oh my god, there was some control in this house after all.

And you know what? No one snickered at him. In fact, I swear that Bakura, the other Crazy one, had a sympathizing look in his eyes!

Too weird.

Before another argument could cook up, a high pitched wail traveled through the house.

"No! Yaoki, get back here!!!!" The male from before, Mahaado, ran into the dining room with his arms outstretched, reaching for a little blur of purple and yellow running through. As it went under the table, simultaneously the two white haired ones, Kaiba, and Yuugi lifted their feet to let it through.

"Why aren't you trying to catch her!?" Mahaado exclaimed, running around to the other side.

"Hey, she ain't my Hell-Raiser. My kid's named Tenshi for a reason, you know. I'm not used to dealing with something as crazy as a Man-Eater-Bug and belongs to the pharaoh," Bakura simply replied.

Tenshi? As in, the sweet, pretty, white-haired Tenshi from school? This was her dad?

Poor thing.

Kent stooped down and caught the blur, now holding up a giggling toddler. "Now, Yaoki, just what are you up to?"

The little girl giggled. "I got the wittle ball on top of Mahaafo's magickal staff!" she squealed with delight. In her hand she waved around a translucent blue orb.

Yami snickered. Yuugi grinned. Bakura out-right laughed, and Kaiba was giving the little girl a thumbs up.

Mahaado huffed indignantly. "That's mine! I need that!"

Yumi got up and plucked it from her little hands. "Now Yaoki, you know you shouldn't do that. You wouldn't want somebody taking away your Rogue Doll card now, would you?"

She frowned, looking down sadly. "No," she mumbled.

Wait a minute. Rogue Doll card? Wasn't that a duel monster card? Attack 1600, defense 1000?

Yumi handed Mahaado back his weird ball, and Kent put Yaoki down, who then took off into the kitchen.

"Oh, now what did you go and do that for?" Mahaado sighed.

Kent shrugged, "Let her work off a bit of steam. She's been asleep all afternoon."

"Yeah, sleeps in the afternoons and is up all night long," Mihaada groaned.

A crash resounded from somewhere in the living room. A creature from somewhere squeaked madly, and doors flapped a bit. I have no idea what just came through there.

"Out poor little purple friend," Yumi sympathized.

Kaiba snorted. "Only getting what he truly deserves. Those little fur-balls foiled more than one of my ingenious plans."

"Damn, Kaiba, you sound as bad a Marik," Bakura replied. Kaiba merely growled.

"So, what are you three doing here, anyway? We were about to eat dinner when three knocks came pounding at our front door," Yuugi questioned every one sitting in the dining room.

"Yami still has on of my Blue-eyes held ransom from the last visit," Kaiba snarled.

Bakura shrugged. "Aibou thinks that our morphic jar is somewhere in the depths of your house."

"Well, good luck to you," Mahaado piped up. "You'll never find anything in this house. If you can catch Yaoki, she probably has it, though."

Yami turned sideways to Mahaado. "Helping the enemy?"

"Hey, it's one less thing she can use against me when I least expect it."

That poor guy is probably tortured by that girl.

The beeper on my watch went off. Great. Midnight. Sighing, still trying to understand the cryptic conversation, I decided to head home. Thank god no one noticed me. I mean, really. Two Crazy ones, another stranger who probably wouldn't hesitate to strangle me, I'd say it was a very good thing.

Well, at least if Yuugi's around, it's safe to go over to their house again.

**************

Well, that's all I can muster for now. I'm SOO sorry this took so long. Writer block has been a pain lately. Next chapter will be better, promise.