Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Don't Let the Necessary Occur ❯ Two ( Chapter 2 )

Don't Let the Necessary Occur

Co-authored by Griffin of Malik

TWO

Yugi insisted that he walked home alone. Joey nodded, making him promise to tell him when they'd have the study group thing, and then left for his own house. Yugi seemed really different lately. Then again, he did date one of the most popular girls in school. He heard she was a handful. He understood completely.

But Yugi had lied. He wasn't walking home alone. He was supposed to take his girlfriend home for a little "after school homework". Yugi didn't really feel like sleeping with K at the moment, but he was too scared to say no, so he wound up going anyway. Which was a blast. In a very sarcastic manner of speaking.

They lay in bed, Yugi's skin crawling at the feel of her touch. He had to force himself to come, or she wouldn't have been very pleased. He didn't need to explain another bruise to Grandpa. The getting-beat-up-after-school excuse was getting pretty old, even though it was very true.

"You seemed distant Yugi," K prodded gently, caressing him almost lovingly. "Something on your mind?"

"Nothing much," he lied openly.

"Really? Well, this 'nothing much' was intruding upon our love making." She paused, gripping his flesh slightly. "If my lover is upset over something, I want to know about it."

Yugi wanted to cringe. Instead he feigned innocence, which he was very good at. "No, honestly K, nothing's wrong," he insisted. "Just that we've got finals, and I wonder if I'm going to pass."

"You'll do fine," she promised, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead. "You're a good student. However."

Yugi tensed. He didn't like her tone of voice. She snaked her arm around his waist and pulled him close, her breath tickling his ear quite unpleasantly. "If I see you around that foreign exchange student again, I'll have to rectify the situation immediately." Her voice darkened considerably. "I know you were thinking of her while you were with me. You called out her name, or don't you remember?"

Yugi flushed almost instantly. He didn't remember that.

Suddenly his lover gave him a violent shove from behind, causing him to go flying off the edge of the bed. His head connected with the sharp corner of the nightstand that stood beside her bed faithfully, making him cry out as he hit the floor. He tried to gather himself to his feet, but the throbbing in his head was blurring his vision. He didn't see her come up behind him, only felt her foot connect mercilessly with his stomach. Looked like he'd have to make up another lie for Grandpa. Tears sprang to his eyes, and he let them fall freely.

"Listen to me you little bastard," she hissed, gripping him by the roots of his hair. "You are mine. I own you, is that clear? Forget about her-you'll never get anything better than me. You're too pathetic, too much of a freak. You're useless-the only good things in this relationship are me and the sex. So you just think about that." She slammed his head into the floor then, and the present wound split wide open, making him cry even harder. Her hand clenched around his scalp, threatening to tear his hair out right at the roots. "Something you want to say to me Yugi my love?" she asked almost sweetly.

"I'm sorry," he sobbed. "It won't happen again."

"Good," she breathed evenly, dropping the little boy on the floor. "Now get out."

****

He just happened to be there.

Kaiba had just come from a rare personal meeting with one of his staff members about a possible merger with another company. It just so happened to be in the same building complex as Yugi's girlfriend-only one floor up from her apartment. And Yugi just so happened to board the elevator a floor after him.

His head was bleeding almost severely on the left side. Kaiba's eyes widened as the small boy boarded the elevator, his eyes glazed over, seemingly in a trance. He was crying. "Yugi?" he questioned, slightly surprised. "What're you…?"

"It's my fault," he replied almost immediately. "I shouldn't have…" His voice trailed off.

"Motou, are you alright?" he couldn't help asking. "You're bleeding." Obviously.

He swayed a little, placing his head against the wall to steady himself. "She loves me," he said aloud, his voice slightly strained. "She hits me because she loves me. I have to be punished. I've done something bad."

"Fuck, Motou, you're not making sense," the CEO muttered, putting his briefcase down. The wound was starting to swell, and the blood was staining the boy's shirt, which was not good. Could've been a concussion-it looked like he hit his head pretty hard. "Yugi, how many fingers am I holding up?" he asked. Normally he wouldn't bother, but the boy looked pretty bad. In all honesty, he didn't hate Yugi in a personal way. He hated him competitively. Besides, he didn't want a dead person on his conscious, even a dead Joey. Not if he could help. Although dying might have been taking it too far.

"Three," Yugi responded, squinting at the taller boy. Then he fainted.

Kaiba knelt down beside him, knowing that he hadn't even held up his fingers at all. The elevator doors open just then, and he knew he was going to be in a whole heap of trouble. This situation did not look good from his end. "Fuck."

****

"Fuck."

Eden snorted, stepping onto the elevator gingerly. She'd been there visiting Ryou, setting up a time for their date. She didn't stay long. And she was glad for it, for on the floor of the elevator was a lovely image of Kaiba knelt on the floor like the dog he was. "Nice greeting Mr. CEO." Then she saw the reason he cursed; her eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Shit!" she hissed, dropping down to Yugi's side.

"Hello to you too," Kaiba muttered.

She ignored his sarcasm. "How long has he been out?" she demanded.

"He just fainted not 30 seconds ago."

"We gotta get him some help. Or is that beyond you?" she questioned, glaring at him purposefully.

He sneered, pulling out his cell phone. "This little midget isn't going to die because of me," he promised her, dialing the emergency number.

"Damn her!" she growled, cradling Yugi close to her. "I'll kill that stupid bitch, I swear!"

Kaiba stared at her strangely for a moment while giving out their location. He promptly hung up. "You know what happened to Yugi?" he couldn't help asking.

"It's that fucking bitch of a girlfriend of his," she hissed.

Kaiba raised an eyebrow, recalling Yugi's most recent words. "K beats Yugi?" He'd heard that she was a handful, but beating up on Yugi was so…wrong. He was obviously smaller than her-to him that was equivalent to him beating on Mokuba. It was just wrong, no matter how you looked at it.

****

Eden absolutely despised hospital wards.

In truth they made her nervous-most of her childhood memories were in hospitals. It was something she wasn't very proud of. She closed her eyes as unwanted memories of blood and bruises came flooding back to her, the beginning of the hard outer shell she possessed now. One in particular stood out-a blood curdling scream and a dead thump, followed by cursing and swearing of the most vulgar kind. The strong scent of alcohol was in the air, and bright red stained the kitchen tile, red that wouldn't stop flowing. Red that would forever scar her.

"Hey."

She jumped nearly a foot back, whirling around, hissing angrily. Kaiba stood over her, staring at her with curious sapphire eyes. Her body shook slightly, but she was great at feigning, and she rolled her eyes, leaning up against the wall for leverage. "A warning next time if you please," she threatened, her jeweled eyes dancing cautiously in the bright light.

"What's with you?" he asked, arching an eyebrow. "I don't think you should be the one scared stiff."

"That's none of your business," she snapped defensively. "And for your information I'm not scared of anything."

"I never said you were."

What was with him anyway? She'd heard he had the world's biggest ego, but she hadn't seen it once yet. He seemed almost…human.

He ran his eyes over her body, scanning her briefly for a moment. She snorted, her nostrils flaring, and ran her tongue over her teeth in thought. Forget it-he wasn't human. He was a male-she stood corrected. "Is there a reason you're eyeing me like priceless art?" she wanted to know.

"You've got quite an attitude for someone who probably just killed their best friend," he responded smugly.

She glared at him, threatening to breathe fire. Seto could almost see the smoke rising out of her ears. "What'd you mean?"

"You knew about it and you didn't tell anyone," he mused calmly. "Yugi could've been worse off. He needs help-why didn't you tell anyone?"

"It's not my place to tell what's not my business," she snapped heatedly. "And it's not your affair. You can't force help on people."

"Sometimes you have to," he disagreed. "The doctor said if he'd've hit his head any harder or if we didn't bring him in so soon, he'd've suffered severe brain damage. He's really lucky."

"What is this, a guilt trip?" she flared, glaring death at him.

"Only if your conscious makes it one."

She rolled her eyes, her body shaking with rage. Her first instinct was to snap, but something made her refrain. Seto smirked at her calmly, waiting for her reaction. He expected her to snap. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. She needed to calm herself. There was no need for her to go flying off the handle-she'd made a mistake in letting him get to her. In a matter of moments she was her own cool, calm self again.

"Remind me to listen to you when you're the one in an abusive situation," she told him, standing up completely. Then she walked into Yugi's room, ending the conversation right there.

****

Yugi was completely unconscious. Completely. That meant he couldn't even conversate with the spirit of the puzzle. Yami came out to watch over his aibou, although still in spirit form. He knew that no one would be able to see him, so he sat in silence, thinking things over. Hopefully after Yugi woke up he'd realize that he really did need help. This was simply uncalled for, and could not continue.

"He has no right," she seethed, her eyes thundering with anger. "He has no idea what it's like."

Yami whipped around, surprised. He'd been sitting on Yugi's bed, watching him rest. He hadn't sensed her coming. He was going to return to his soul room, but something stopped him.

Her energy was so warped. He could literally feel the negative emotions spraying from her like random fireworks, mixed with hatred, anger, loneliness and suffering. She was like a walking bomb, which surprised him-she was too pretty to be that…disturbed.

He winced as she let out a vile string of curse words. Outside he could see Kaiba staring at her through the glass window, his tainted jewel colored eyes almost fascinated with her. He grimaced. She was probably the only person he'd ever come across with an attitude worse than his.

Although he had to admit, Kaiba wasn't so bad. After all he probably just saved his aibou's life. He would thank him when he got the time.

"Didn't you hear me?" she asked, calling him back down to earth for a moment. "I said 'How long have you been here?'"

He froze, startled.

She was staring directly at him.

"What are you deaf?" she asked, taking the seat next to Yugi's bed. He himself sat on the bed next to his aibou, careful of all the wires and cords. He had no idea what they did but he feared that if he touched one something would happen. Something terrible, that he couldn't fix. So he tried to stay away from them as much as he could.

"You're transparent," she continued, eyeing him cautiously. "And you look just like Yugi-only taller. But you're not him. You're wiser, and much, much older. Who exactly are you."

"I'm…I'm his brother," he answered quickly. It was almost true. He and Yugi spent enough time together to be brothers-after all he did live in the small child's head.

She raised a perfect eyebrow, and he found himself in awe of her general beauty. The thing that was most attractive was her eyes-one a great, pure, bright blue, the other a wicked, deep, flawless jade green. It was a strange, rare but fascinating combination.

"Don't tell me ghosts have hormones too," she noted, rolling her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry," Yami stammered. "I hadn't realized I was staring. It's just that…"

"My eyes are two different colors?" she finished for him. "An unfortunate birthing defect. It made it easy for them to pick me out of a line up."

Yami turned towards her a little more, intrigued by the bitterness in her voice. "I don't think they're defective," he assured her readily. "They're quite capturing actually."

She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Well aren't you a flattering lost soul. What happened to you? The afterlife got too boring?"

"…Something like that."

He wondered exactly how it was she could see him. The only person he knew of that could see him was Yugi, but that was because the puzzle belonged to him. Well, Ryou could see him as well, but only because he held a Sennen Item himself. So what made her so special?

She leaned back, running her tongue over her teeth in thought. Her eyes glistened in the bright light of the room, making them look like rare jewels. Yami could hear her heart beat-she was a little excited, or perhaps a little scared. Or maybe she was just a little angry. Either way, whatever the feeling was, she couldn't shake it.

"Tell me…Eden, is it?"

She stared at him, her glare fixed upon him as if to melt the skin off his flesh right then and there.

"That's a very pretty name," he noted, trying to ease her out of her foul mood. "In Hebrew it literally means 'delight'."

"And in America, the middle finger generally means 'fuck you.' Your point is?"

He blinked, shrugging off her smart comment. "You seem to be in a lot of pain," he continued, as if she hadn't said anything.

"What are you, some kind of ancient soothsayer/mind reader?"

"Let's just say I have a knack for the reading the feelings of others. After all, I am a spirit."

She rolled her eyes, shifting slightly in her chair, and gripped the arms as if to break them right off the poor piece of furniture. "And why should I tell you anything?" she questioned. "I don't even know your name."

"I'm dead," he pointed out. "Who will I tell?"

She sighed heavily in defeat. He had a good point. "You don't want to hear what's bothering me," she promised, bitterness dripping from her voice.

"Try me," he beckoned softly.

He waited a long moment before she spoke again. A long, arduous moment filled with inner turmoil and misplaced emotions. "When I was younger, I used to be in Yugi's situation," she started lowly. "It's why I don't like hospitals. Most of my childhood was spent in them."

"You were abused?" Yami guessed.

She snorted, as if his words did not even begin to tip the ice burg. "Every damn day of my life. I'm smart. I've got all the brains in the world. You'd think I could just get over it. But logic doesn't solve everything."

This was true.

"Kaiba is right," she reasoned neutrally, staring at the small boy lying on the bed. "Yugi is here because of me. I knew about it…and I didn't tell anybody."

"You told Kaiba."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah, Mr. Hey-you-get-off-of-my-cloud. He's really gonna help, cause you know, he's just so into people and helping them out as much as he can."

Yami gave her a small smile. "I think…you'd be surprised."

"I don't talk to anybody but Yugi," she confessed. "Even he doesn't know what I come from."

"Don't worry," Yami nodded gingerly. "I won't tell a soul."

****

She called Ryou on the pay phone outside the door to cancel their date. Grandpa Motou showed up, and she made up a very quick story about a sporting accident. He seemed to believe her, and took her place in the chair beside Yugi's bed. It was nearing her bedtime, and she traveled out to the hallway to mull things over in her head. That's when she saw a small boy staring at her near the receptionist's desk.

She wasn't too big on children. She was as nice to them as she could, be, considering that she wasn't very nice very often. This boy had coal black hair and wide gray eyes that could easily imprint themselves on anyone loving children. Anyone but her.

He stared at her, so she stared back. After a minute, it got really irritating. "May I help you?" she asked as politely as she could.

"I'm sorry," he apologized readily. "I don't mean to stare. It's just that…you've got two different colored eyes. I thought that was really neat." Color flared to his cheeks as he continued quickly, "They're very pretty."

"Thank you," she responded neutrally.

"So um…I guess you're Yugi's friend Eden right?"

She blinked, curious as to how he knew her name. She'd never seen him before in her life.

"Seto talks about you a lot lately. He says you've got a bigger attitude than him."

She snorted, her nostrils flaring. "Why am I not surprised."

The boy walked up to her slowly, as if he half-expected her to bite him. "How is Yugi?" he asked. "Seto said he had an accident."

Accident? That was putting it mildly. "He'll be ok," she assured him.

He stopped in front of her, eyes wavering cautiously. "May I stand there?" he inquired, pointing to the empty section on the wall next to her.

She nodded, and he joined her, leaning against the plaster in silent relief. "So what'd you think?" he asked after a moment of silence. "About my brother I mean."

She remained silent.

"He really likes you, you know," he continued, his voice easing in its tone some. "And I know the two of you have to work together on that fashion show thing."

She glanced down at him, trying to hide her surprise. The great Seto Kaiba had a crush on a reject like her? He was not serious. Although it wasn't hard to tell, now that she thought about it. It did explain why he always stared at her every time she did anything.

"My brother's not a jerk," he went on evenly. "Everyone always says he is, but he's not. He's got a big ego, but that's cause he has to do everything himself. You can relate right? He said you live alone, that you've been alone for quite a while. He said that your parents were killed-just like ours."

She almost stopped breathing. How did he know that? She regained her composure completely and gave the kid her best glare. "And how did your smart ass brother find that out?" she almost demanded.

Suddenly he was scared. "I-I-I don't know," he stammered. "He tells me these things-I'm not sure how he finds them out."

"Hmph," she smirked, standing up completely. Mokuba swore he saw sparks coming out of her eyes. "Well maybe I should ask Seto Kaiba about it myself."

And she was gonna march off in her ever so grand way, when a voice stopped her. Only Grandpa Motou's voice, which normally would've made her keep walking, but it was his tone that made her stay. Tones, like eyes, told all.

"Yugi, I don't know how we're going to pay this hospital bill," the old man was saying. "We barely make enough money in the shop to live off of, and our insurance just ran out... But I'm glad you're ok. We'll manage…somehow."