Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Shadow ❯ Trouble Already ( Chapter 3 )

Me: Hiya! Chapter three's here- not that anyone cares, I just feel the need to post this stuff.

Isis: Addiction…. she's sunk this low.

Me: Zip it, Isis, or I'll make you do the disclaimers.

Marik: What is so bad about doing disclaimers?

Kaiba: You try it- it gets incredibly boring after a while.

Me: Ya, why do you think I don't do them?

Marik: Um….

Me: I rest my case. Now, on the subject of disclaimers, Kaiba?

Kaiba: *flat emotionless robot voice* AMK does not own ygo.

Me: Geez… don't act so happy about it….. quick note in this story everyone goes to the same school- just go with it ok?

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

Cassie arrived in front of the door to English class with a slight case of butterflies. She wasn't usually the type to get nervous, but she had never been to a new school before. Well, she thought, if everyone else hates me I've still got Ryou. Not that that counts for much…. most likely….

She grasped the door handle firmly, turned it, and entered without knocking.

"So, take out the paper from last-" The teacher broke off as Cassie entered. He was middle-aged, about forty five, thin with reading glasses. "Oh, hello. You must be Cassidy."

"I must be," Cassie muttered to no one. She could feel the eyes of the entire class fixed on her. She hated being stared at, like she was some animal in a zoo.

"Yes, Principal Kazuki told me you would be coming- well, you can have that desk next to Jounouchi." Cassie glanced up far enough to see the empty desk by the window, next to a boy with unruly blond hair. She walked uncomfortably to it, knowing everyone was following her with their eyes. She suddenly felt very nervous. She slipped quietly into the chair, setting her bookbag by her feet. The teacher went back to the lesson. "As I was saying, if you'd just take out the homework from last night and pass it up front- yes Jounouchi?"

The blond boy had raised his hand. "Uh, yeah, about the assignment, see, I kinda, uh- misplaced it, you could say."

"What's wrong, mutt?" came a voice from across the room. "You ate it again?"

Cassie looked over, searching for the owner of the voice. The teacher frowned. "Mr. Kaiba, that's quite enough."

Cassie saw who he was talking to- a tall boy with dark brown hair and cold blue eyes, who was wearing his navy blue school

jacket buttoned up. He shrugged indifferently and acted like nothing happened. The teacher addressed Jounouchi again. "Well, Jou, this is the fifth time this month you're missing an assignment- and I suppose you didn't finish it either, Honda?" he added, turning to a boy with brown hair in a point over his forehead, who grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, uh- I must have, um, lost it too-"

"I saw them at the arcade last afternoon, Mr. Saotome!" a student called out from the back of the room. Jounouchi grimaced. Mr. Saotome gave him and Honda a stern look and turned to the board.

"Those of us who did the paper last night should recall what it was about-"

Cassie slouched down in her chair, gazing outside and tuning out what the teacher was saying. She was looking across the (empty) swimming pool, lost in thought, when she felt a sharp jab in her side. She turned abruptly and came face to face with Jounouchi.

"Hey," he whispered. "Welcome to Domino." He grinned at her. It was a kind of cocky grin that was almost a smirk. Cassie noticed he had large, deep, chocolate colored eyes that were partly obscured by his long blond bangs. This guy definitely needed a haircut.

"Uh- thanks," she whispered back. "Jounouchi, right?"

"Call me Jou," he answered. "And your name's Cassidy?"

"Cassie, if you don't mind." Jou nodded and turned back to face forward. Cassie went back to staring out the window. He seemed nice enough.

English came and went uneventfully, followed by history (incredibly boring) and gym. Cassie was slightly pissed that boys played basketball while girls played volleyball- though she supposed it was to keep the boys from looking up the girls skirts. Unfortunately, volleyball was not her best game. She didn't suck, but she wasn't exactly about to turn pro either. One girl on the other team was really good, she kept spiking the ball so that you had to dive to get it, a task at which Cassie failed miserably, along with nearly the entire rest of the team.

At Cassie's old school, lunch came before recess, but it was the other way around here. It had started raining, so recess was held indoors, with each class going to their homeroom. Cassie's homeroom was the math classroom. She was about to sit down and skulk in the corner the whole time, but Ryou waved her over, he was sitting with a bunch of other kids near the door.

"How's your first day going?" he asked as she sat down. Cassie made a face. A few kids laughed. Looking around, Cassie noticed two of them were Jou and that Honda kid. There was also the girl from volleyball, she had straight brown hair and blue eyes. Cassie thought she might be Kaiba's sister. There was also a blond prep with flirty eyelashes, an incredibly short boy with tri colored, spiky hair, and a boy with bright green eyes and a dice earring.

Ryou introduced everyone. "This is Anzu-" he pointed to the volleyball girl- "Yugi-" he pointed to the short kid- "Otogi-" the boy with the earring- "and Mai." The prep. "And, well, you know Jou and Honda. Guys, this is my cousin Cassie." A chorus of "hi's" and "hey's" came from the rest of the group. Cassie forced her second smile of the day and looked down at the desk. Only then did she realize what was happening.

Two Duel Monsters decks were set up, ready for a game. They seemed to belong to Yugi and Mai. "You guys duel?"

Yugi spoke up. "Me, Mai, and Jou do."

"Hey, I duel!" Honda said.

"Me too!" Duke added.

"Not professionally," Mai countered.

"So?" Duke asked.

Mai rolled her eyes. "So I'd wipe the floor with you, hon. Give it a rest already."

"Hey, are you guys gonna duel, or sit around arguing?" This came from Jou. "C'mon, I wanna see Yug kick Mai's butt."

"Watch it, Spot." Mai drew her hand and one extra card. "I'll place one card face down and summon Harpy Lady in attack mode. Then I'll play Rose Whip, increasing my Harpie's attack to 1800. Your move, Yugi."

Yugi drew. "I'll also place one card face down and summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior. Then I'll play Black Pendant which raises his attack points to 2300, and he'll attack your Harpy."

"Not so fast!" Mai flipped over her face down card, revealing Mirror Wall. "This cuts Gamma's attack points in half! Now, Harpy Lady, attack!"

But Yugi had a trick up his sleeve as well. "Sorry, Mai, but that won't work! I activate Dust Tornado, which destroys your Mirror Force! Now Gamma, destroy her Harpy!"

The math teacher looked up. "Mai! Yugi! Keep it down, please!"

"Sorry Mrs. Utama," Mai said, before turning back to the duel. Noting Cassie's confused look she explained. "Me, Yugi and Jou are used to dueling in pro tournaments where you're about fifty feet away from your opponent and you have to talk really loud, so sometimes when we duel we just subconsciously start getting loud." She then focused on the field.

Cassie looked on with growing interest. She had never seen a duelist as good as Yugi. He always seemed to be a step ahead of Mai- he obviously knew her strategy. He countered her every move. Even when Mai brought out her Harpy Lady Sisters and powered them up with a Mountain field magic card, Yugi played a Swords of Revealing Light card, which kept her from destroying his monsters. That way he could sacrifice them and summon his powerful ones. Then when Mai played Raigeki to destroy his two face down monsters, Yugi used his Living Arrow card to transfer Raigeki's effect to her, leaving her open to a direct attack from his Dark Magician, which brought Mai's LP down to zero.

Mai sighed and shook her head. "I'm never going to beat you, am I?"

"No one's ever gonna beat Yug!" Jou declared. "Cept me."

Anzu laughed. "Dream on, Jou. Yugi could stomp you."

"Yugi could stomp anyone," Otogi commented.

Cassie noticed Yugi blushing slightly from the praise. Modest, aint he, she thought. She decided to do something about it. "Bet I could."

Everyone stopped talking and stared at her. Jou spoke first. "No way. Yugi would clean your clock."

Cassie bristled, annoyed. "Excuse me, but you haven't even seen me duel yet."

Even Ryou looked amazed. "I didn't know you dueled, Cassie."

"Yeah, well, I don't make a big deal out of it myself," Cassie said, trying to sound nonchalant. The truth was, she hadn't dueled for almost a year now. She kept her cards though, she knew she had brought them with her.

"Do you want to duel?" Yugi asked, gathering up his deck and reshuffling it.

Cassie marveled at how polite this guy was. "I don't have my cards with me. Tomorrow, though." Even though she hadn't dueled for a while, she was confident she could hold her own. Everyone back in Cairo had said she must practice a lot- except she didn't. Dueling just came naturally to her, like breathing.

The bell rang and everyone filed into the halls to get their stuff. Cassie headed towards the locker she had been assigned when she felt a tug on her shirt sleeve. She turned and saw Otogi. "What do you want?"

"I hope you know what you got yourself into back there," Otogi said to her. "Yugi is the best duelist I know- he won the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City tournaments. He's undefeated. They call him the King of Games. We usually don't talk about it around him because it embarrasses him, but it's the truth."

Cassie listened numbly as Otogi's words sunk in. Undefeated? King of Games? "So? I'm not worried," she said, lying through her teeth. Otogi gave her a strange look and left.

Once he was gone, Cassie felt her face fall. Shit. Shit. Shit, fuck, and double damn. What the hell was she thinking? No way could she beat this Yugi kid if he was as good as everyone made him out to be. She believed every word, she saw what he had done to Mai. But she couldn't back out now, or everyone would think she was a chicken. There was no way around it- she was dead.

Cassie sighed and slumped against her locker. What the hell was she gonna do?

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

Me: Ha ha! Stupid Cassie, picking a duel with Yugi!

Isis: She's gonna get her ass kicked.

Marik: No shit sherlock.

Isis: *clonks marik*

Kaiba: *pops out of nowhere* I LIKE BALLOONS AND PURPLE SPORKS!

Marik: He's been eating sugar!

Me: Oh shit. *grabs heavy metal frying pan of ultimate doom and a furby* ISIS! MARIK! GET BEHIND ME! BAKURA- well, actually, he can stay out there and die for all I care.

Bakura: *blink*

Kaiba: *is bouncing off the walls* I KNOW A SONG THAT GETS ON EVERYBODYS NERVES!

Me: Well, we'll just have to sit this one out.

Isis: He's scaring me…. *whimper*

Me: Isis honey?

Isis: Yes?

Me: Get over yourself and say it.

Isis: Please review- *squeals like a little girl if Kaiba gets within ten feet of her*