Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Chrysalis ❯ Things Fall Apart ( Chapter 10 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of someone else. I can only humbly worship the artist.

DragonMaster TC: Ah, writers block. Been there, done that, screamed, pulled out hair, drove friends and family insane. Then, I learned to plot out the story when I am hyper over it, so when my attention wanders off to new stories, I can pull myself back and remember what I was trying to do. I use a program called Quickplot to help organize my thoughts.

Kirstin89: Thanks again! Arigato gozaimasu!

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Chrysalis

Chapter Ten: Things Fall Apart

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

Kaiba growled at his secretary as she wobbled into his office with her four inch spike heals, tight skirt and bare midriff top and set the appointment calendar on his desk nearly knocking over his coffee cup, "Re-do it. I'll be out for three days."

"The city planning meeting is tomorrow. You made that a top priority. You even threatened death for anyone who tried to reschedule." She picked up the schedule and held it against her as if protecting a rejected child, her brilliantly red lips pouting.

"Fine, I'll kill myself later, reschedule it now." Kaiba continued to scan the papers before him searching for the information he needed.

His secretary glowered at the top of his head a moment and then turned and wiggled out the door. Never acknowledging her absence, he continued to flip the papers. A nasty smile spread across his fine lips as he finally found what he wanted. Gotcha.

He shook his head, scattering the Jonouchi like word out of his mind, then grinned. How appropriate to use it though. Gotcha Duke. You were careless and you left yourself open for this. Typical beginners mistake. Should have gotten some advice from someone before you start selling stock in Dungeon Dice Monsters, Dukie boy.

Kaiba settled back in his chair and lifted the phone and in a few moments destroyed Duke. He leaned back in his chair swiveling it to look out the window and grinning a cold dragon smile. The morning sun was glittering off the high rises, bright and clear. In the distance the harbor spread itself like a carpet of gray as a storm moved inland. He sipped his coffee, appreciating the bitter, sweet taste. And my coffee hasn't even cooled yet. He took a deep breath and stood up. Now the hard part of the day. Time to find the babysitter.

This was going to be difficult. All the babysitters, childcare agencies and even teens needing extra money long ago learned to get caller ID and screen his calls out. His brother had a city wide reputation for being a nightmare for babysitters. Personally, Kaiba had no problems leaving his little brother alone for a day or two. The kid had taken on his out of control executives and saved him from his own VR game run amok. Then there was the whole Duelist City fiasco. After dealing with that, he was pretty sure that Mokuba could handle himself for a couple of days. However, there were a lot of mid-level political hacks out there, who would love to make a name for themselves by making his life a living hell, by claiming he was neglecting his brother's welfare.

He marched down the hall trying to remember who had children in his executive management staff. Shimurra, Lim, Sumisu, Tanaka all had children if he remembered correctly.

He considered asking his secretary for a list of employees who have children, but she was starting to become a bit odd. The clothes were tolerable, but the last list he had requested from her had little smiley faces added to all the `O's on the names of all the staff members who failed to maintain their quarterly quotas. He had to retype it before sending it out to the department chiefs. He already had a reputation for being a heartless bastard without having smiling faces plastered on a list of people to be reprimanded. Unfortunately, if Mokuba had a bad reputation with babysitters, he had a worse one with secretaries. Even small, mom and pop, temp agencies cowered if he called. It was almost to the point that he couldn't pay a secretary enough to work for him. He had to keep the one he had now.

Shimurra walked out a door ahead of him, with a sigh he picked up his pace.

~*~*~*~*

Yami

~*~*~*~*

Yami sat on the bleacher and watched as Yugi smacked a volleyball into the air, giving another taller, stronger, member of his team an opportunity to nail it over the net to the other teams court to score. Yugi's team cheered and a couple of guys high fived Yugi and the other boy, congratulating them on their score. Yugi was grinning happily as they once again resumed their positions on the court.

Yami was proud of his hikari. Yugi had come a long way from the shy, mistreated loner he had been when he first solved the puzzle and Yami was happy for him. Really. He was. He was happy that Yugi had friends. He was thrilled that Yugi was willing to take chances instead of staying tucked safe in his room playing games and puzzles. He was nearly ecstatic that his little aibou was finding his own wings to fly with.

But where did that leave him? A ghost. A spirit that should have gone to the afterlife thousands of years ago, but somehow missed the train. Hell, he couldn't even find the station, much less get a ticket, find the platform and wait to get aboard. Stuck. Stuck in a world that had no place for him, with a boy he loved with all his soul, but could never truly touch, not in the flesh. He couldn't wake up next to his little light in the morning. He couldn't brush his hair out of his eyes, wipe away a tear or even get him a soda from the refrigerator . All he had was the pseudo life he lived in the puzzle. Only there could he touch his hikari, kiss him, hold him, let him know how much he loved him.

Yami watched as Yugi's team scrambled to intercept the ball that soared over the net. He gasped and stood quickly as Yugi was shoved roughly aside and fell to the ground. As the ball was sent spinning back to the other team a boy reached a hand down to Yugi to help him up. Yugi smiled back and both quickly returned to their positions as the ball was returned. Yami settled back to the seat. He couldn't even do that, help his light to stand up after being knocked down.

Yami leaned back, resting his elbows on the bleacher seat behind him. What should he do? As Yugi grew up, grew older would he need him? Would he be forgotten in the rush toward being an adult? Just a lost soul, left in a puzzle that sat in the back of the closet collecting dust as Yugi grew up, started working, got married, had kids. What will happen when Yugi grew old? As a spirit, he was ageless. He would live forever, trapped in the puzzle. But Yugi would grow old. As his body aged, as his health failed, as he slowly walked into death, how would he feel towards someone who remained a ever present, ever young reminder of what was past?

Yami sighed. The game was over and coach came onto the court and gestured toward Yugi's team. The team erupted in cheers, high fiving each other and slapping each other on the back in congratulations.

What should he do? Clutch Yugi to him? Draw him into the shadows, to a half life of almost, till age and time took Yugi away from him? A life of almost having a real relationship? Of almost being able to hold him? Almost living? Or let Yugi go? Step away, push him away even, and let him love another, maybe the girl Yuai.

But could he survive without his light? What would happen to him if Yugi found someone else? Banished back to the endless dark of the puzzle? Or without his light would be become someone else, something else? Something darker. He felt that at times, the shadows tugging at him, calling him to them. What would he become if he went? What if Yugi wasn't around to keep him in the light? Would the shadows eclipse him, turn him into a true monster?

Yugi walked over and retrieved his gym sweater from the bench next to Yami. "Hey, we won! Can you believe it?."

Yami smiled, "You did great aibou. Get that sweater on quick though, it`s cold out here."

Yugi smiled and wiggled into the sweater, "Did you see that shot that Hiro made? It was great."

Yami nodded and stood up walking with Yugi back to the locker room. "And did you see the way I hit that ball up to let Biru score?"

"Yes, yes aibou. But go change. You can tell me the rest at lunch." Yami settled against the side of the building to wait for Yugi. He hated the smell of the locker room and preferred to wait out in the clean air. Still close enough to help Yugi if the need came, but far enough away to avoid the odor.

Yugi emerged after awhile, looking slightly damp and ruffled. "Lunch! I'm hungry." He looked up at the taller spirit, "Yami, I wanted to ask you what you think about the dance. What do you think.."

"Hey! Yugi!" The other boys that had been on Yugi's team called. "You want to come to lunch? We were wondering if you'd like to play in after school games with us."

Yugi looked at Yami, then at the boys, unable to decide. He wanted to talk to his yami, but….

"Go, I'll be in the puzzle if you need me. We can talk after school." Yami faded out, leaving Yugi to rejoin his team for lunch.

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

This is not going well. Kaiba stalked down the hall looking for Tanaka, his last chance. So far all the people he asked used the same sitters that had declared he couldn't pay enough to have them spend more then ten minutes with his little brother. One even used the girl he had found locked in a closet sobbing, after a weekend sitting with Mokuba. Well, at least it was nice to hear her therapy was going well. He trudged onward.

~*~*~*

Yuai

~*~*~*

Yuai picked up the camp heater and looked carefully at the price making a few quick calculations in her head. It was affordable, barely. She would have to do without the new uniform for at least another two months, but at least she'd be warm. Her small tent and sleeping bag were nice enough, but for the cold winter ahead a heater was going to be essential.

She didn't like it though. It was time to change from the summer uniform to the winter one and she had really been looking forward to getting the winter uniform. Just for once it would be nice to look like a real school girl, with a nice uniform that fit and shiny shoes and clean socks. Like someone who was loved and cared for. Someone who went home and had dinner with her family, maybe watched TV, maybe had her mother remind her to do her homework while her father sat and read the newspaper. Someone who had a room with a desk and shelves that had pictures and stuffed animals, a bed with a clean blanket, maybe even a few toys. Someone who was not a fuck toy and a punching bag who lived in a tent because her parents would beat her.

She shook her head and set the camp heater into her shopping basket. That was over. Past. She was free now. She had friends. And so, so what if her uniform was too big? So what if her shoes were scuffed and her socks weren't always the cleanest. Yugi and Honda didn't care, and Jonouchi didn't seem to mind either. She tossed her head and lifted her chin. She didn't need the uniform, she was fine as she was. She could get a new one for the spring, or maybe she could find one in a second hand shop. It might be a bit difficult because she was so small, but it wasn't totally impossible.

A hand grabbed her from behind, holding her arm in a hard bruising grip. "Hey, it's you, isn't it Baby?"

The hand yanked her around to face one of her father's friends. She couldn't remember his name, one of the younger ones, won a lot at poker. Dark hair, athletic, almost good looking if you didn't look into his eyes. He had doll eyes, shallow, dull and dark with no soul behind them. She guessed he'd blown most of his brain cells on drugs long ago and had just enough to make life hell for those around him. His other hand reached around her and he grabbed her ass, pulling her to rub against him.

"Baby, I have really missed you. You're old man's poker parties just aren't the same without you." He kneaded her buttock and rubbed his crotch against her.

Yuai struggled to get free, "Let go! I'll scream! I will!"

He laughed and leaned forward, "No you won't. Cause I have something you want." He pressed his lips against hers, grinding down hard, crushing her lips against her teeth.

Yuai gritted her teeth shut till he lifted his head.

"Baby, why do you wanna go and make this all difficult? Hmmm. I just want a bit of lovin'" He looked almost hurt, then quickly tossed her back against the shelves. "Lookie what I got, Baby." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a photograph, "It's one of my favorites."

He handed the picture to her. Her stomach clenched as she looked at it. No! No! He couldn't have! It was her, tied to a bed, naked, with a body of a man riding her. Her head was turned toward the camera, her hands tied above her head, the man's mouth was tugging at her breast, stretching the small nipple with his teeth as his hips thrust between her wide stretched legs. It was a picture of this man. This man raping her. But it didn't look like rape in the picture. It looked as if she was willing, her eyes wild, her mouth open, gasping as if in pleasure, not pain.

"You wanna see the others? Hmm, Baby?" He took out a few more and waved them at her. "They're really nice."

She shook her head wildly. No! No, no, no, no, no. Oh, please, no!

"I jus' want a bit of lovin' Baby. Is that too much to ask." He plucked the picture out of her fingers.

"No, I won't. Go away." She could barely whisper past the tight panic that was encircling her throat, the growing need to throw up.

"Go away? Nah, I'm not going to do that. You and me are going to have a little talk."

He put the pictures back into his pocket. "You give me a bit of lovin' now and then, and I keep these pictures to myself."

Yuai could only stand there, staring at him as her new free life crashed down in pieces around her. It couldn't be happening. She couldn't be standing here listening to this man say what she knew he was going to say. No she couldn't, she was with Yugi, walking back to the game shop with Honda walking along next to them grinning at some remark that Yugi had made. She wasn't here listening to this demented man with cold plastic like eyes.

"If you give me what I want, then I won't have to send these to your school." He smiled at her, "Or how about I make a few posters of them and hang them around school for you. I'm sure that some of your classmates would like that."

Yuai just stood shaking. No more school, no Yugi, no Honda, no games after school, no watching Jonouchi and Honda wrestle, no eating Chinese Surprise with Yugi and his grandpa while playing hearts at the kitchen table.

"Well, Baby? What do you say?" He waved the pictures under her nose.

The words barely made it out of her mouth, "Where? When?"

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

Kaiba sat down looking at the slip of paper he had finally managed to attain. It had been easier to face down his crazed executive committee, than to get this one name.

Yuai

He almost couldn't believe it. He had braved the wilds of his hormonally crazed secretarial pool, tracked down harried executives, stalked the corridors of Kaiba Corp. like a mad man and all the while all he had to do was lean over at school and ask Yugi Motou's little girlfriend to watch his brother. He wondered if he'd dent his chrome and glass desk if he beat his head on it.

Still, what did he know about the girl? By the shape of her uniform and clothes, he could tell she was poor. Yugi liked her. Honda seemed to like her too. She seemed bright enough. He'd seen her put Yugi through the grinder during a few games at lunch. She was small. The other girls at school didn't seem to care too much for her.

Kaiba frowned thoughtfully, tapping the paper against his lower lip. Better do a check on her. Just to be safe. Before I hand Mokuba over to someone I really don't know.

He reached across his desk and pressed a button.

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba, sir?" His secretary breathed seductively through the intercom.

"I get Mr. Kado, in security on the line. Now."

"Yes, Mr. Kaiba, sir." She sighed silkily, "Do you need anything else, sir?"

"No."

~*~*~*

Yugi

~*~*~*

"What do you think Yami? Should I ask Yuai?" Yugi asked carefully straightening the crumpled blue flyer for the winter dance on his desk.

Yami lay on his back with his arms crossed behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. "Do you want to ask Yuai to the dance?"

Yugi squirmed, he wanted to ask Yuai, but at the same time, he didn't. He wanted to go to the dance, to see his friends, and maybe, for once, do some of the things other kids did. It would be fun, and going with Yuai would be fun. He liked her. He liked spending time with her. But, a dance was like a date and he couldn't just go out and start dating someone. He loved Yami. He wanted to be with Yami, no one else, and going to a dance, dating someone, would be betraying Yami. He didn't want to do that.

"I don't know. It would be fun to go to the dance and Yuai would be fun to go with…" Yugi trailed off wistfully.

"Then go to the dance." Yami flipped over to his side to look at Yugi.

"I'd rather go to the dance with you." Yugi stroked the flyer flat with his palm, not looking at the ancient pharaoh.

"It would look a little odd, aibou." Yami grinned, hiding the longing he felt behind that smile. "You dancing on the floor by yourself and having long heartfelt conversations with an invisible person would probably send you to an adjoining room next to Anzu's."

Yugi tried to smile at the image, but still refused to meet Yami's eyes. "Yeah, that would look strange."

"I like Yuai, ask her. She'll probably go with you." Yami rolled back over to continue his contemplation of the ceiling. "Then, later after the dance, you can ask her to marry you and you can have the ceremony next spring and…"

WHAM

A pillow smacked him across the face wielded by his blushing hikari, "She is just a friend! I am not marrying her!"

~*~*~*

Jonouchi, Honda and Yugi

~*~*~*

Domino City hospital was white, and tall and smelled like disinfectant. Yugi scrunched his shoulders as he stared up at the huge, very modern and highly unattractive building. He honestly couldn't think of a worse place for sick, injured people to be. He was healthy and whole and the place made the skin on his back crawl. Honda and Jonouchi didn't look any happier.

"Well, here it is." Jonouchi muttered, looking warily up at the stark edifice.

"Yep, there it is." Honda rounded his shoulders unhappily. "Somebody remind me why we're doing this again."

"Anzu's sick and she needs her friends." Yugi stated as he marched forward toward the entrance.

"But, I don't actually like…" Jonouchi faltered to a stop as Yugi swung around and glared at him "…hospitals. I don't like hospitals."

"Good save." Honda whispered as he strode past Yugi into the entrance, vanishing in a puff of antiseptic air as the doors whooshed closed behind him.

Jonouchi took a deep breath and flung himself forward, hoping that he wouldn't catch anything life threatening, just because he was visiting that cow, Anzu.

The inside was, if anything worse. The nurse at the front desk had chirpily told them where Anzu's room was, and that, yes, she was allowed visitors, and gave them directions to the room. After that everything became a blur of gray, peach and endless stretches of corridors that led to other corridors, that emptied out into rotundas with even more corridors. Then there were the doors, some open showing quick glimpses of sick miserable people, others closed with small colored tags in the wall mounts outside.

Yugi, Honda and Jonouchi crowded close to each other as they navigated through the labyrinth heading toward the psychiatric ward, desperately clutching the slip or paper with the directions on it. Anzu was supposed to be in room one thirteen.

"Down two more corridors, turn right and go straight till they reached the nurses station, turn left and go down seven doors." Yugi said as if chanting a protective charm.

"Guys, what do you think that old guy in the wheel chair had?" Honda shivered, scrunching closer, "He coughed at me."

"This is karmic revenge for that comment you made to Kaiba about Anzu and her little posse." Jonouchi growled.

"Why are you grumbling about Kaiba? I thought you hated the guy." Honda glanced over at Jonouchi.

"Karmic debt is karmic debt. Has nothing to do with who I'm dating." Jonouchi shrugged, taking sudden interest in the bland pictures they were walking past.

"Hey, guys. We're here." Yugi stopped in front of a door. "It says to check in at the nurses station before we enter." Yugi peered around and found a likely area. "Over there, I think."

The nurse at the station look harried and barely glanced at the boys as they told her what they wanted. "One at a time, five minutes only. The others can wait over there." She pointed to a set of steel and gray plastic furniture that clustered around folksy end tables and a scuffed matching coffee table littered with crumpled magazines. Worn peach and gray silk flowers drooped in a modernistic plastic vase on the tables.

Honda looked quickly at the setting then over at Anzu's room. "Ummm, what if only Yugi visited her, could he stay longer then?"

"Okay, one can go in for ten minutes, but no longer." She picked up a small mound of charts and hauled them off down the hall.

"You go on Yugi." Honda pushed the smaller boy forward. "You've known her longer than we have. Seeing you will do her good."

"Uh, yeah. Okay." Yugi straightened his shoulders and bravely set off into the room.

Jonouchi walked over to the chairs and carefully sat down on one. "Good save, yourself. Man, I did not want to talk to her."

"Me neither." Honda sat down on the edge of the seat across from his friend, eyeing him nervously.

"Okay, give. What's up with you? You been acting funny all day." Jonouchi tipped his head meeting Honda's look.

"I got in a fight with your sister." Honda looked down at the floor between his feet.

"Yeah. I kinda figured that out." Jonouchi winced, remembering the screaming, crying phone call from his little sister and he wasn't so fooled by the light layer of foundation that Honda used that he couldn't see the bruise on his friends face. What ever had happened, it hadn't been pretty.

"I said a few things, that…well. I'm not really proud of." Honda still stared at the floor.

"What kind of things?" Jonouchi already knew, having had his little sister scream them over the phone at him.

"I kind of… well… called you a…ummm" Honda hung his head lower.

"You're looking' for the word slut, I think." Jonouchi prodded, not really all that angry.

"You knew?" Honda looked up at him in shock. "Oh, man. I am sorry. I wanted to be the one to… well. I thought you should hear it from me."

"Hey. It's okay." Jonouchi leaned back in the plastic chair. "I barely got cleaned up from fucking Kaiba and already had Duke drooling on my cock. If the word fits…"

"You may be fucked in the head sometimes Jo, but you aren't a slut." Honda shook his head. "I'm sorry I said that. I was just so angry and I …"

"Not a problem." Jonouchi shrugged, watching his best friend squirm uncomfortably on the chair. He'd been worried about that fight. Serenity, peaceful, gentle Serenity was still wound so tight about it that she was either crying or furiously cursing Honda and all his ancestors. Honda on the other hand had looked like hell, bruised, pale, nervous and tired. He didn't want to see them make the same stupid mistake he'd made when he was angry with Kaiba and had been worrying about what to do about it. He still didn't know, but he figured having Honda talk about it was a good start.

"Tell me what happened." Jonouchi leaned forward staring intently at his friend.

Yugi stepped into the room and stopped. Anzu was sleeping quietly in a rather intimidating bed, covered in starchy white blankets, while her mother sat quietly reading next to the window. The older woman looked up and smiled as she recognized Yugi.

"Hi, Mrs. Mazaki." Yugi closed the door quietly behind him.

"Hello, Yugi. It's so nice of you to come and visit Anzu." She set her book down and stood up.

"I wanted to see how she was doing." Yugi shifted uncomfortably, glancing at Anzu's sleeping form and the woman smiling sadly at him. Yami appeared out of the puzzle, sensing Yugi's unease. He looked casually around the room, walked over to empty chair next to the window and settled into it gracefully and looked out at the hospital's manicured grounds.

"She's doing much better actually." Mrs. Mazaki nodded, indicating Yugi to sit down next to her.

Yugi shuffled over and perched on the chair. "That's great. Did the doctor say what happened?"

Mrs. Mazaki looked at Anzu, then out the window. "Yes, he found out." She sighed. "You'll probably see this in the paper soon, the police were here as well as a few reporters."

Yugi jumped a bit, "The police? What…why would the police..?"

Mrs. Mazaki was wringing her fingers together in her lap, still looking out the window. "Anzu, she has a older brother, Harii. Well, Harii, he, well…" Soft, large tears fell down her cheeks.

"Mrs. Mazaki, you don't have to…" Yugi started.

Don't aibou. She needs to say this. Yami was now watching the older woman carefully. Just be quiet and let her tell you what is weighing down her soul.

Yugi nodded and waited.

"He, he attacked Anzu. He did horrible things. She kept screaming and screaming about what he did to h-her." Her voice caught in a sob. "When I first heard what Anzu was doing, I was so shocked, so angry with her. That my daughter could act like that. Could do those things. But then I heard what her brother had done. Heard her crying, pleading with him to stop as she relived those th-things."

"Wh-what did?"

Hush, hush. Let her talk, just be still. Yami was leaning closer.

"Well, you'll hear about it soon. The newspapers were here, talking to me, talking to the doctor. Then there were the social workers and the police with so many questions. Harii's now in jail. They went to his college and pulled him out of class and arrested him." She shook her head. "I am so ashamed. I was angry with Anzu and it was her brother who deserved my anger."

Yugi sat quietly, not knowing what to do. Silence lengthened around them. Yugi watched as tears continued to drop silently onto Mrs. Mazaki's hands as they twisted together on her lap. Anzu sighed and shifted in her sleep. Yami sat watching Mrs. Mazaki and occasionally looking over to Anzu or out the window. Yugi fought down the urge to wiggle, to say something to break the quiet.

"At least now Anzu will get the help she needs." Mrs. Mazaki wiped her tears away and tried to smile again. "It's good to know that she'll get better."

Yugi tried a smile back, he wasn't sure how successful it was, but he gave it a good try. "Yeah, at least she'll get better now."

The nurse knocked quietly at the door and opened it, "Time to go. It's been ten minutes."

Yugi stood up and walked over to Mrs. Mazaki. "Tell Anzu I was here. I'll try and come back soon."

Mrs. Mazaki nodded, "I'll tell her. Thank you for coming."

Yugi turned and walked out the door that the nurse was holding open, he glanced back noticing that Yami was now standing next to Anzu's side, looking serious. You aren't going to curse her brother or something, are you?

No, I think enough hurt has been caused. He leaned forward and made a little gesture with his hand. Ra keep you in his light and bless you, Anzu. If you ever meant harm to me or those I care for, I forgive it.

That's nice. Yugi walked out the door, waving goodbye to Anzu's mother.

Yami looked after his hikari as the door closed, then turned back to Anzu. I lift the curse I placed on you, Anzu. Sleep soundly and know that the one who truly hurt you will never touch you again.

~*~*~*~*

Please review *blinks big, sad chibbi eyes* I really want to hear what people think of my story, unless of course you want to flame it, then you can keep that to yourself and your psychiatrist.