Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ A Good Cup of Coffee ( Chapter 6 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius. I get nothing from this except giggles and sore fingers.

Please read Chrysalis before you read this story. Otherwise you might find yourself wondering what the hell is going on. This is the second part of a story arch and while you might be able to understand what is happening, you'd like it a lot more if you read the first part and came back to this later.

Emergence

Chapter 6: A Good Cup of Coffee

~*~*~*

Kaiba- Morning

~*~*~*

Kaiba paused in the hallway to peek into his new secretary's office, wondering when his treasure would appear. He had long ago given up trying to tell his secretaries when to come in to work. Originally, he had declared that his secretary had to be in the office at eight sharp. That idealistic notion disappeared after the first twelve had quit and he had to compromise to nine a.m., which had lasted for the next fifteen. The last twenty seven had generally arrived sometime before lunch and disappeared around three. The blond bunny had been one of the few in recent memory that had actually come in during the morning, though she had made up for it by disappeared before lunch.

He had spent most of the night dreamily wondering if she might actually get there before ten. The sheer decadence of actually having a secretary that he could sit down and schedule his day with, was so implausible, that only at three in the morning, when his rational mind was too tired to interrupt, could he even contemplate that wonder.

He was therefore unprepared for the sight that greeted him.

Files lay piled everywhere, on the floor, across the desk, on chairs, even a couple perched on the edge of the potted ficus in the corner. The drawers of the five huge file cabinets in the corner of the office were all opened and empty and a huge trash can sat in the center of the mess, already overflowing with paper. On a table in one corner, that looked suspiciously like the table from the employee break room down the hall, a small stack of unused file folders, a package of labels and a couple of different colored pens sat like a small oasis of calm and order in the center of the chaos. Soft mutters could be heard, though the mutterer was unseen.

"Why the hell is a three year old menu from McDougals in the file for acquisitions? Are we going to declare corporate warfare for Hoppy Meals….huh?….what the hell is this…no, I don't want to know…Oh god, I know what it is…eewww."

Something brown sailed from behind the desk and landed in the trash can with a thump. A slender hand raised to the desk top and snagged a stack of files.

"Why is there a file named Nothing? Why … uhhhh….oh…well, aren't they well endowed…."

An entire file flew into the center trash can.

Kaiba looked at his watch. Had he accidentally arrived late? No. The watch clearly said it was eight. The sky outside the window clearly indicated it was morning. Take deep breaths. Yes, breath. Apparently, no one told you when you woke up this morning that you were being delusional. Time to take a few deep breaths and sit down and quietly call a psychiatrist.

He stepped back into the hall, closing the door behind him and walked over to his own office. The smell of freshly made coffee wafted past his nose, summoning him down the hall. There, where there usually lurked half washed coffee cups, stale cookies and coffee with the consistency of the sludge they dredged out of the bay, was a scene of serene cleanliness. Coffee cups glittered pristinely from a new mug tree, the counters were sparkling clean, the floor gleamed in the light, and the smell of fresh ground and brewed coffee hung like a prayer around him. The coffee maker, usually a nasty brown color and gurgling evilly under a cloud of burnt coffee fumes, sat contentedly and whitely, on the counter, flanked by a small unpetrified bowl of sugar and a small container of cream.

Kaiba poured himself a cup, dumbfounded to see it come out a rich, smooth brown, without any suspicious flakes or floating things. It even smelled like coffee, instead of the toxic waste that occasionally had to be shipped out of Kaiba Corp's R&D department by the environmental hazard specialists. He took a cautious sip, startled by the rich, bitter taste that lightly danced over his taste buds. Ra! It's real, actual, coffee!

.

.

Jame shoved the last file back into the cabinet. It was amazing how much room there was, once she had disposed of the garbage, panty hose, petrified food, naughty magazines, old romance novels, pamphlets for car washes, junk mail, three bras, a cluster of worm eaten crackers, a can of Coke that had to be a collectors item, a box of tampex, two old bottles of rum, and tons of other bits of junk. She actually had condensed the five file cabinets down to one that was loosely packed. The desk was now arranged for maximum efficiency, the desk top cleared and neat. She had even managed to straighten out the mess that the last secretary had made of the computer and archived all the important files to CD. The only problem was, she had nothing to do. Her boss was holed up in his office and wouldn't even answer the phone.

By now, Drover, Tink and Pease would be stretched out on a beach in Hawaii, drinking sinful things and soaking up sunshine. She wanted to be there but she couldn't get there if Kaiba didn't fire her. She needed a backup plan. Plan one was to merely let nature take it's course. Not, she admitted, the most original plan to ever cross her head, but considering she had the executive secretary skills of a cantaloupe, it was good plan. After all, Kaiba was the head of a multi-national business, it stood to reason that he needed the best of the best. Which, she smiled evilly to herself, neatly excluded her. It was only a matter of time till her tossed her out on her ear to go sip fruity drinks on soft white beaches. Plan two had to be good though, just in case.

She swung mindlessly back and forth in her chair, plotting as Kaiba sat staring mindlessly at his computer screen with only one thought skipping merrily around his head. I am never letting her go.

~*~*~*

Yugi-After School

~*~*~*

Yugi dropped his pencil and shook his hand, trying to get the circulation back in his fingers as he looked out the window. It was a bright, breezy day with great white clouds sailing merrily across the deep blue sky. The breeze kicked and played up the street, tugging at ladies' skirts, snatching hats of head and tumbling bits of paper about the sidewalk. A few cars flickered past in bright colorful blurs, their windows sparking briefly in the sun.

He glanced at the clock. He'd been doing math for nearly two hours, trying to get ahead so that he could go to the convention without falling miserably behind. Unfortunately, he was also not going to be able to use his right hand anytime soon..

Giving it another shake, Yugi continued to stare at the clock. Yami had been gone for exactly five hours, twelve minutes and nineteen seconds, twenty, twenty one, twenty two, twenty three. He kept watching as the hands of the clock slowly circled around, mesmerized by each tick that took his love farther away from him.

It worried him that his yami had left to return to the shadows. He hadn't recovered from his last trip. Sure, his dark had told him he was fine. Sure, he had seemed as powerful and confident as usual. And sure, he had smiled and chuckled assuring him that he was going to a much nicer area of the shadows. But when since have any part of the shadows been nice?

Tick. Tick. Tick. Each tiny jerk of the second hand of the clock sent half of his soul into darkness. Tick. Tick. Tick. Sixty seconds in a minute. Three thousand six hundred seconds in a hour. Eighty six thousand four hundred seconds in a day. Tick. Tick. Tick. His yami had been gone for over nineteen thousand one hundred and forty seconds.

The sky darkened. The wind scurried off to find a new place to explore. People hurried quickly through the dimming light. Cars flashed headlights as they drove past. Downstairs, Grandpa's footsteps could be heard coming up from the shop. In a moment, the sound of the television started, canned laughter tumbling up to his room. He could hear Grandpa open the refrigerator door, followed by the muted clang of metal pans on the counter top and the hum of the can opener. Still, the second hand swung, pacing out the hour.

Yami had acted more than strange and his eyes…his beautiful eyes, had shadows in them. Shadows that lurked and giggled. Shadows that had blazed into dark fire in the cafeteria. Shadows that still hadn't let Yami go. Even as he had sat, cuddling him, telling him that he would only be gone for a short time, those shadows had laughed at him, telling him that he wouldn't be getting his yami back, they would keep him. The shadows that twined around his love, that lurked in the corners of his soul wanted him back, back into that mindless sleep, back to being the vengeful monster he had been when he had first woken from his long sleep in the puzzle.

Yugi narrowed his eyes, glaring at the clock. Well, you can't have him. He's mine now. Do you hear? Mine! And you can't have him, you can't hurt him any more! I won't let you…

But Yami was gone…

He shivered and picked up his pencil again with a final look out the window he once again turned to do his math, not noticing that every computation and every answer consisted of nothing more than ones and zeros.

~*~*~*

Jonouchi and Honda

~*~*~*

Honda looked out the window at the crowds that flowed below him on the sidewalk. They were mostly kids, some of them from his school, shifting in and out of various shops that lined the street buying clothes, ice cream, gifts, or just plain junk. The lights of the stores glowed feverishly in the press, and even from where he sat he could her the bass thump of music from the stores nearest to him.

"Hey." Jonouchi dropped into the seat across from him, a cup of sugar rich coffee settling onto the table.

"Hey, thanks for coming." Honda tossed him a grin and settled back into the padded arm chair.

The coffee shop was quiet, most of the small tables and soft upholstered furniture was empty. A couple were sitting quietly on a loveseat half hidden by potted plants and a folding screen on the other side of the room. The waitresses were off behind the coffee bar whispering in low tones and fiddling with the stereo system.

Jonouchi stretched out in his armchair, yawning. "Man, I thought class would never end today."

"Yeah," Honda took a sip of coffee, trying to figure out how to start. He'd specifically asked Jo here to talk about Serenity. With Ribbon coming back into his life, his relationship with Serenity seemed about to end. Ribbon was just the kind of girl he needed in his life, sweet, kind, pretty, and intelligent. She didn't play games, she was devoted to her family, and she would be the perfect girl to introduce to his family and eventually marry. If she didn't give him the same gut level sexual thrill that Serenity did, he could live with it.

He had come to the rather nasty realization last night that Serenity was really little more than a past time. With her bed hopping, her sudden disappearances whenever she got bored, her sometimes callous indifference to her own brother, and even, he cringed to admit, her willingness to shed her clothes and fuck him anytime, anyplace made her too cheap, too shallow, to keep as anything more than a piece on the side. He needed something more than that.

"Jo, hey…I wanted to talk to you…well, about…Serenity" Honda nervously took a sip of his own coffee. "You probably have seen that I've been hanging around Ribbon a lot and…I just thought…we should talk."

"What about?" Jonouchi scrunched further back into his chair and crossed his legs, one toe swinging nervously near the table leg.

"Jo, what do you know about what your sister does?" Honda tried to read Jonouchi's mood, trying to figure out how to proceed.

"What do you mean?" Jonouchi looked out the window at the lights.

"Jo, you can't play stupid with me. I know you." Honda took a deep breath. "Do you know about Serenity sleeping around?"

Jonouchi jerked up, "Hey, watch what you're saying about my sister."

"I'm not knocking her, Jo, part of me loves her. I just need to know." Honda leaned forward, trying to catch his friends eyes. "Do you know that she bed hops?."

Jonouchi shifted in his seat, refusing to meet Honda's gaze. "She's too young for that."

"Jo…"

"No. She's too young." Jonouchi turned back to look out the window.

The waitresses finally got the stereo to work and the soft, light notes of Chopin fluttered around the café. The couple on the love seat giggled softly. Honda took a sip of coffee.

"She's too young to start that." Jonouchi closed his eyes and shook his head.

"Jo.."

"No, just listen." Jonouchi turned and looked at him, his brown eyes sad. "Mother did that, still does. It drove Dad nuts. She'd bounce out of the house and come back later smelling like some other guy's cologne." Jonouchi picked up his coffee, his hand shaking and took a sip. "You ever wonder why I don't look that much like Serenity?"

Honda shook his head no.

"My dad, my real dad, was a gaigin. Some guy Mom played with when she was either really ticked at my dad, or just blowin' steam. Serenity is my dad's real kid. Me…" Jonouchi shook his head. "That's why dad started drinking. How would you like it if your wife fucked nearly every guy in town, then left you, taking your kid away and leaving you with some other guy's bastard?"

Honda set his coffee down and leaned back in his chair. "Jo, man…I'm…"

"What? Sorry?" Jonouchi shrugged. "Yeah. So am I. That's why I give my dad slack. He raised me. He took care of me, even if he did a lousy job, at least he gave it a try." Jonouchi looked down into his coffee, "More than I can say about my mom."

"Jo.."

"Nah uh. Let me finish. You gotta hear this." Jonouchi took a deep breath and took a gulp of coffee. "Serenity's too young to do that. She doesn't know what she's doing. If she's acting like Mom, then…she just doesn't know."

"Did you know that she was doing it?" Honda leaned forward, this time catching and holding Jonouchi's eyes.

"No. I kind of guessed what you two were doing, but I didn't know." Jonouchi set his coffee down, "Man, I wish you had told me, maybe…"

"You could stop her? Jo, she's been doing this since I met her." Honda felt his shoulders slump, "You could say I won the Mr. Domino City award. When she and your mom come to town, she shows up at my house looking for a little fun. When she leaves, she finds someone else to play games with."

"Honda, you just gotta be…"

"No, now you listen." Honda caught Jonouchi's wrist as he reached for his drink. "I love her Jo. I really do. But I can't live like that. I've tried."

Jonouchi jerked his hand out of Honda's grasp, and shook his head, "You just have to tell her ta.."

"Stop? I did, just like your dad probably told your mom to stop. And it didn't work. All that happened was Serenity hit me and wouldn't talk to me till I apologized." Honda shifted back in his chair. "I can't believe I did that. I actually apologized for telling her to stop screwing other men."

Jonouchi slumped, "Don't let it bother you. My dad did that too."

"Jo, I'm going to stop seeing Serenity." Honda picked up his cup and finished his coffee. "I love her, but I just can't live like that."

Jonouchi nodded. "I couldn't either. I saw what it did to my dad…"

The waitresses huddled behind the bar again. The couple giggled. Lights from passing cars prowled the streets below them. Silence settled around their table as they both looked out the window at the rush below them.

"Hey." Honda reached forward and lightly slapped Jonouchi's knee. "Still friends?"

Jonouchi smiled, though it wasn't the brightest smile he'd ever accomplished, "You're my best bud. Just…give me a little time before you start dragging Ribbon along with our little posse."

Honda smiled and waved to a waitress, "Not a problem Jo, I'm going to take my time, I have to make sure this is going to work."

"What's up?" Jonouchi nodded to the waitress and tapped his cup, ordering another.

"Mom and Dad are planning to have me married just after graduation, if I'm going to be spending the rest of my life with her, I want to make sure she's not going to drive me nuts." Honda scooted back as the waitress gathered up their mugs and deposited new ones on the table.

"After graduation? That's quick." Jo scooped up his coffee and cradled it close to him, smelling the fresh aroma, letting it calm his nerves.

"Tell me about it. You should have seen the last blushing candidate they brought out." Honda shivered, "She looked like one of those American football players, even had a mustache."

Jonouchi laughed, "Sucks to be you."

"Tell me about it…"

~*~*~*

Yuai and Yugi

~*~*~*

Yuai looked at the list she held in her hand. Music blared from a nearby cell phone store that had two shockingly clad girls dancing around in front passing out brochures. A group of boys were leaning against one corner smirking and passing things between them and about three hundred people were pouring out of the movie theater or rushing into it. Yuai held on to Yugi's sleeve as they wove through the crowd.

"I think we still need to pick up some extra socks for you and I want to stop and get some Duel Monster hair toys." Yuai yelled into Yugi's ear, hoping he could hear her.

He nodded and pointed across the street, his mouth moving, but she couldn't hear the words.

She nodded back and they struggled through the river of elbows, feet and shoulders till they arrived at the cross walk, where they had to huddle together in order not to be shoved out into the street. The bell dinged and the lights changed and they were caught in the stampede across the street. They managed to swim out when they finally arrived at the shop Yugi pointed to. They quickly darted into the bright light and took a deep breath.

"You've got to admit. Shopping is exciting at night." Yugi grinned as he looked around at the heaps of glittering hair accessories.

Yuai nodded, "I can see why Kaiba wanted me to bring a security guard."

Yugi scampered up a set of stairs that had boy's outfits hanging from the railings. "I'm going to get the socks. Is there anything else we need to get here?"

"Just the hair things." Yuai moved to look at the huge table that had piles of neatly arranged pins.

"Great. Be back in a second." Yugi disappeared in a thump of feet on wooden steps.

Yuai drifted around the table, picking out pins with the Dark Magician, a comb that had a sinuous Blue Eyes White Dragon on it and a few pony tail holders that had small clusters of Korribos on the ends. She was absently toying with a head band that had Red Eyes Black Dragons and Blue Eyes Whites coiled around the rim when a familiar voice laughed in her ear.

"Oh get that one. Jo and Kaiba will love you for it."

Small quivers of fear and disgust shimmied down her back as she turned to find herself facing Anzu. The ever present Mai was leaning over a nearby counter looking at jewelry, leaving her girlfriend to wander loose on the public. Anzu had a pleasant smile on her face and was looking at the head bands on the table.

"I..uh.."

Anzu chirped and picked up a band, "Oh look! Harpy Lady and Harpy's Pet Dragon! Oh I have to get it!"

Yuai nodded, feeling a little lost. Okay, since Anzu had gotten out of the hospital, there had been more than one occasion that they had been out together with the group. But when since had they been on independent speaking terms? "Aren't they Mai's favorite cards?"

"Yes. Oh, they even have little ear rings to go with them." Anzu scooped up the jewelry, then looked over at Yuai. "Are you going to the convention?"
"Yes, with Yugi." Yuai decided to go with the strangeness and started looking around to see if there were any ear rings to go with her head band.

"Oh, I wish I could go." Anzu sighed dropping her things into her shopping basket. "But Mai can't take the time off work."

"Too bad. Kaiba has the same problem so Jonouchi isn't going either." Yuai found the last pair of ear rings that matched the dragons on her head band and dropped them into her own basket.

Anzu frowned worriedly, "It'll be just you and Yugi? Is his grandfather going with you? Honda?"

"No." Yuai spotted a pair of Kurribo ear rings and snatched them up. "It'll just be us."

"Well, I suppose Yami can take care of the two of you if something happens," Anzu's voice was hardly a whisper.

"Yami?" Yuai frowned. "Who's Yami?"

Anzu jerked slightly and shook her head. "Yami?…Oh, he's a duelist, a friend of mine." She looked to where Mai was, noticing her lover was finished. "Oh, got to go. Say hi to Yugi for me."

"Okay and say hi to Mai for me." Yuai sighed and went back to looking at hair combs. Yami, hmm, strange name. Who would name their kid darkness. Anyhow, Anzu's friends aren't my problem.

Yugi trampled down the stairs a few minutes later, holding not just socks but a new pair of purple leather pants and a matching shirt. A small purple neck buckle swung around his wrist. "I just saw these and had to get them. Do you think I can find matching boots?"

Yuai nodded toward another staircase, this one leading down, "Don't know, but we could look. Shoes are down there."

Yugi dumped the clothes into her basket and nearly ran down the stairs. "Okay, I'm just going to look. I'll be right back."

Yuai hefted the now heavy basket with a grunt and stumbled over to the women's section. She prowled through the racks, passing by sweaters with cute faced kids on them, avoiding a strange ensemble with lace over flowing down it's front and dodged a horrific puce outfit made of plastic. Just as she was breathing a sigh of relief, she turned and bumped into a purple leather outfit that matched Yugi's. It had a corset that would have made Mai coo in pleasure, long tapered skirt with a nearly waist high slash, a pair of delicate boots and a swallow tailed tuxedo jacket. Yuai grinned and dove into the stack of clothes and accessories. It took her just a moment to collect all the pieces she wanted, then scurried quickly over to the cashier to pay for her purchases. By the time Yugi hopped up the stairs, triumphantly holding a pair of boots, she was smiling innocently at him.

"I already paid for my things." She held out his outfit. "We should hurry up and get the rest of the shopping done. Kaiba wants me in by eleven."

Yugi, glowing with happy pride in a purchase well discovered, nodded and walked over to the register. Yuai smiled happily, rocking back and forth on her feet and humming. Maybe that's the problem. I'm just not getting into being girlfriend-y enough. Maybe I should stop thinking everything to death and just go with it. Kinda fake-it-till-you-make-it. She smiled as Yugi trudged back, his purchases slung over his shoulder.

~*~*~*

Bakura

~*~*~*

Bakura looked blearily around the room. He was sprawled in Ryou's soul room, his tenshi curled, warm and sleepy at his side. Clothes were littered across the floor, a pair of shoes were tossed in the corner and the blankets from the bed they were laying on were trailing off the foot of the bed. He buried his face in his light's hair, letting his eyes drift closed. I'll look for the spell later…Much later…He pulled Ryou closer and breathed in his scent, letting himself flow back towards sleep.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Ra damned alarm!

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Ryou's face pulled into a small frown as he shifted in his yami's arms. Bakura sighed, kissed him, then surfaced, slapping his hand down on the irritating clock. He shoved the covers Ryou had thrown over himself off and stood up, stretching in the night air.

The apartment was still dark, dim street light illuminated the living room as Bakura slipped through it heading to the small alcove that housed the computer. Ekko had been scum, but he'd had excellent taste in apartments. Even his furniture was nice. The landlord had been more than happy not to have to pay to get the stuff hauled off, even giving them a break on rent for taking the apartment with out an official cleaning. Not that they were complaining, after living next door to a woman and her twenty nine unfixed tom cats, not to mention the lingering smell of pickles, Ryou had been more than happy with the arrangements.

Bakura settled on the computer chair and switched on the computer, then stood up to fix a cup of espresso. That had been one of the happier surprises in the cleaning frenzy that Ryou had fallen into for the first week after they had moved in. Back in one of the unused bedrooms, tucked under a mound of slightly moldy futons, an espresso maker had lurked, unopened and unused. He waited patiently till the machine finished spitting the dark, aromatic liquid out and sidled back to the computer.

The pharaoh had already left for the shadows. Marik was tucked happily, if not too sanely in the Ishtar library, probably torturing small bookworms to death. It fell to him to scour the far flung lands of the internet. He settled back into the chair and sipped his espresso. Well, at least I didn't have to be the one to leave my hikari. Wouldn't like to put Ryou through that. Almost makes me feel sad for Yugi…Almost.

~*~*~*

Yami no Jean: Yep. I have an account over at ff.net under the same name as I have here. I just started editing and posting the prequel to this story over there. It's the citrus free version. About the shady business, there is going to be lots of shady stuff going on, some of it carries over from Chrysalis. I am a firm believer that the past echoes into the future.

DemonandGoddess: The last chapter was tons of fun to write. I have a sneaky love to put Kaiba in miserable situations then see him squirm. You'll hear more about his history of secretaries as Jame starts her campaign to be fired. Still, if you want more darkness… (large, dark, scary door creaks open in the land of the muses and authoress pulls something out.) Your wish is my….^_^

DaeBird: Honda really has far too many girls on his hands and Yugi and Yuai, well they have their own things to work out. I'll give you a hint. Look carefully at the interactions of the characters. I've been dropping some hints here and there for a long time. It's not quite what you think, but it's going to be an issue, if not in Emergence then in the next section of the arch.