Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ Better and Worse ( Chapter 10 )

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! I am just playing with it a bit for entertainment. The story and Yuai are mine though! You can't have them. Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!

Okay, by now, if you haven't read Chrysalis then you just aren't going to. So if you don't get it, don't complain to me….

Author's Note: No one ever said Jonouchi was a medical whiz.

Emergence

Chapter 10: Better and Worse

~*~*~*

Yuai

~*~*~*

Yuai stepped out of the limo and stretched, it had been a wonderful trip, snuggling with Yugi. It hadn't even crossed her mind that she had to act more girlfriendy. Not once. I guess fake it till you make it works. She smiled as Yugi bounded out of the limo and looked around.

It was a pretty place. The hotel itself was modern with white stone sweeping up into pure walls and down around it's base in pools of smooth patios and delicate archways. Rich, honey colored window frames and massive doors warmed the nearly sterile walls, helped by lush green gardens that seemed to seep out of the surrounding forest in a carpet of small willow trees, tiny stunted pines, bushes, rocks and shy flowers that peeked out under their larger kin. A small waterfall danced lightly down the edge of one of the entrance walls falling into an elegant koi pond surrounded by serene white rocks.

Yugi stood looking happily around, "This is great!" He bounded over to the koi pond and searched through the water. "Look! The fish are all white."

Yuai scampered over to look as the driver hefted their luggage onto a luggage dolly. The fish were all sailing breezily through the deep clear water. Yugi bent closer and the fish rose swirling near the surface, bumping lightly against each other as they vied for attention.

"Mr. Moto?" The driver held Yugi's golden puzzle. "This was left in the car, shall I put it in your room?"

Yugi shrugged, "Sure."

The driver nodded and walked into the hotel towing their luggage behind him.

Yuai tugged on Yugi's sleeve, "Let's go check in."

Yugi nodded and they walked in the massive front doors. It was, Yuai supposed, a beautiful lobby, filled with light, soaring white walls, and elegant flourishes of art. It was all drowned though by what seemed like hundreds of people who whipped around and stampeded toward Yugi as they walked in the door.

"Yugi! It's Yugi Moto!" Girls shrieked, boys yelled, reaching out tugging on Yugi's clothes and hair.

"Ooooh, he's so cute!"

"Yugi, I love you!"

"No, I do."

"No, me."

Yuai got shoved aside as they crowded around.

"Yugi, marry me."

Yugi looked panicked as the girls started pulling at him, yanking him in one direction then the next. He looked wildly around for Yuai and couldn't see her in the stampeded of zealous fans that shoved and groped. His shirt sleeve ripped, coming off in one girls hand.

"Oh, look! I have his sleeve!"

The frenzy got worse. Yuai was nearly thrown into the wall as the girls, and a few boys, swarmed closer, ripping and tearing. A group of security guards appeared and waded through the throng and started restoring order. In a few moments a now raggedy, disoriented Yugi was hauled out and stuffed unceremoniously into a nearby room. The crowd growled unhappily at the loss of their toy and swung around looking for new prey. Yuai ducked quickly away, darting behind a tree as the security people started breaking the pack up and sending them off. A few pack members scampered off gloating over scraps of shirt and one looked like he had Yugi's belt. In a few moments, only a few stragglers remained. Yuai peeked out from behind the plant and assessed the situation. Deeming it safe, she carefully stepped out and approached the front desk.

"May I help you?" The counter clerk looked a bit frazzled.

"Hello, I'm Yuai Tasuke. I have a reservation under the name Seto Kaiba." Yuai was amused to see the clerk jump at Kaiba's name. She'd have to tell him about it later. He'd get a laugh out of it. Not that he'd ever show it.

The clerk produced her pass keys, a tumble of complementary certificates, and a badge in an amazingly short amount of time. "It's a pleasure to have you visit us Ms. Tasuke."

Yuai nodded, "I came in with Yugi Moto. What happened to him?"

The clerk looked around, as if wondering where Yugi had disappeared to. "I will look into it immediately Ms. Tasuke."

Yuai nodded, "Are our rooms close together?"

The woman looked at her computer screen and typed frantically for a few seconds, looked quickly up at Yuai, then returned to her typing. "Yes, he's right next door to your room."

Yuai nodded, pocketing her things and wondering if the Kaiba halo of influence had suddenly shuffled the rooms in the hotel. She wouldn't be terribly surprised; she'd seen entire restaurants shuffle their seating just to accommodate a whim of Mokuba's, for ice cream. She had once made the mistake of mentioning Kaiba's name while shopping for some kind of solvent to get Mokuba's bubble gum out of the mouth of Kaiba's dragon statue. Half the personnel of the store suddenly started fawning around her, drowning her in free samples and clucking and cooing at her like a lone chick stuck in an overly maternal hen house. As luck would have it, she could have stayed home and taken care of the whole problem with a jar of peanut butter and a ladder.

The clerk handed a neat folder, "Here are the convention schedule and coupons. There will be a luncheon tomorrow and a formal dinner this evening. Your table will be at the front, the table number and seating arrangement are inside the folder."

"Thank you." Yuai turned away, looking around for any sign of Yugi. The security men were still roving around, looking sharply at all the people in the lobby as if expecting them to swarm around again like a group of angry bees. She turned back to the clerk. "Yugi?"

"Oh, yes. Right away." She disappeared into the depths of the white walls and oak trim. A few moments later, she reappeared, plastering a smile in place, "Mr. Moto will be brought to his rooms in just a few moments. Security is just arranging a few matters."

Yuai had been subject to security measures since the shooting. She'd been hoping to be free of security and their weird priorities at least for one weekend. Still, if it kept Yugi safe, who was she to complain? She checked the directions to her room and went off to find what surprises the Kaiba name had produced in the realm of accommodations.

~*~*~*

Yami

~*~*~*

The hill sheered down into a soft carpet of teal grass with sharp black boulders shouldering their way through the smoothness. A stand of trees clustered at the base of the hill, delicate silver trunks and furry orange leaves waving merrily in the light breeze that carried the scent of flowers and spring time. A tiny stream of water trickled downward, winding among the rocks in a delicate ribbon of brilliant yellow.

Yami grinned happily, tossing a corpse down the slope as he surveyed the land. It bounced as it rolled sending lovely splashes of blood across the grass and rocks. It was a nice contrast. He felt the creature was rather rude to break the perfection of the moment by losing its shoes and part of one arm on the way down, but the overall picture was still pleasant enough.

Another plump creature tried to dart away. Yami shifted lightly, noticing the movement, feeling a surge of glee that there was still one left. It had been another dull day of miserable trudging till he chanced upon them. The creature looked back over its shoulder. It shrieked seeing Yami's eyes on it and ran, trying to find cover behind a large outcropping of boulders. Yami fingered his knife, feeling the slick oiliness of blood on its hilt and leapt forward. The creature screamed again, throwing its arms over its head in a futile attempt to defend itself.

Yami liked the feel of blood sliding warm and slick over his fingers. He loved the sound of the creature's shrieks of pain. He hungered for the indescribable feeling of flesh parting under the sharp edge of the knife. When he was finished, he sent the body tumbling after the first one, feeling rather sorry that he'd run out of them. They had such lovely voices as he cut the life out of them.

He looked absently around, hoping there might still be one left. Even a little one would do. There were, however, none, only the scattered bodies of the small group he had chanced on and small pools of blood, littered on the grass and black boulders. He kicked one plump corpse hopefully, but it disappointingly refused to show any sign of life. He was alone again.

"Oh well, that was fun." Yami shrugged, "Back to work."

~*~*~*

Yugi

~*~*~*

Yugi sat staring at the picture on the wall; it was a rather bland scene of a beach with small red and white tents. He wondered if there were people in the tents. He wondered if they had brought those tents with them, if they brought sun block, if they stayed in the tents or if they came out to enjoy the beach. He wondered why they brought the tents in the first place.

"Hey, Yami. Would you bring a tent to the beach?"

He tipped his head, listening.

"I wouldn't. Why go to the beach if you're just going to stay in a tent?"

He laughed.

"Well, I suppose, but why?"

Yugi nodded.

"I guess."

A security man walked into the room and motioned for Yugi to follow. Yugi scampered to his feet and bounced after him out the door and down the corridor.

"We have set up a security detail to accompany you." The guard strode briskly in front of him. "Please call before you leave your rooms."

Yugi nodded, lightly skipping at his side, "Okay. Not a problem." He looked out the windows as they passed, noting the trees pressing close to the building. Those trees are really pretty, aren't they? Did you see Yuai on the way up? She was actually made the driver stop so she could look at the trees.

Yugi frowned, running slightly as he noticed he'd fallen behind the security guard.

You think? I don't know. She had to have been in the forest at some time…

They finally turned a corner and the security guard walked over to a door and opened it, then handed Yugi the key card. "Here's your room. If you need to go out, remember to call."

Yugi laughed, "Oh, okay."

The man nodded and walked back down the hall. Yugi stepped farther inside and closed the door behind him.

"Do you want to go down to the convention Yami?"

Yugi shook his head with a small smile.

"Okay, later."

He saw his suitcase sitting neatly on the luggage stand with his puzzle sitting on top of it. He giggled and picked it up.

"That's strange Yami. I didn't know that I could hear you with the puzzle so far away."

~*~*~*

Kaiba

~*~*~*

Honda waved his now cast entombed wrist, giggling. "Nose hair, hey, Jo, you got nose hair." He leaned forward looking closely at him. "Man, not a good look."

They were waiting for the release papers. Honda's father was still filling out insurance papers and the rest of the paperwork had to wait till those were finished and processed. They had nothing to do but wait, and listen to Honda babble. He'd been talking nearly non-stop for the last hour. The longer he talked the stranger he became.

Jonouchi sat in a chair nodding, "Honda you are really out of it."

"You're just ticked because you didn't get any fun medicine." Honda snickered now inspecting Mai.

"Yep, that's gotta be it." Jonouchi slouched in the chair, rolling his eyes.

Mai grinned back and leaned curvily against the wall and shaking her head, "That's it all right, if we had funny medicine we'd be happy too."

Honda giggled, "All you gotta do is break your wrist. It's easy as falling off a bike." He started laughing, nearly rolling off the narrow bed he was sitting on. Jo reached over and gently pushed him back before he fell.

Ribbon carefully opened the door and walked in followed by Anzu, both of them carrying sodas. "Did we miss something?" Ribbon handed Jonouchi a Dr. Pepper and sat down on the edge of the bed by Honda.

"Honda was just giving Jo fashion advice." Mai tugged Anzu next to her snitching a sip from her Pepsi, then making a face. "Couldn't you get a Coke?"

Anzu nudged her in the ribs. "If you don't like, get your own."

Mai stole another sip, shrugging, "Too much work."

Kaiba stepped in and motioned for Jonouchi to come out. Jonouchi pulled himself to his feet and walked out, nudging Honda lightly on the shoulder, "Be back in a sec."

Kaiba was walking down the hall making a small group of student nurses to cluster together in a small flock and look dreamily after him. Jonouchi shook his head and ran to catch up, smiling to himself as he passed the nurses.

"What's up?"

Kaiba frowned and kept walking. "Duke just showed up."

"Huh?" Jonouchi looked around wondering where Duke was and why Kaiba was being so calm about it.

"He's over in the psych unit." Kaiba glanced quickly over at Jonouchi, trying to read his reaction, trying to tell himself he didn't care, that he wasn't worried.

"The psych unit?" Jonouchi was semi-relieved that Duke wasn't in the emergency room, put there by Kaiba, still… "How the hell did he end up there?"

"The police brought him in." Kaiba found the door he wanted and entered into a small waiting room. "They found him in an alley. Apparently the victim of an assault."

"Then why…."

"It looks like he's been living on the street for the last few months." Kaiba turned and faced Jonouchi. "He can't remember who he is."

"What! You gotta be kidding me. He can't remember?" Jonouchi shook his head trying to make sense of what he was being told.

"One of the nurses thought she recognized him, when they brought him in. Honda's doctor asked me to identify him, since we go to the same school." Kaiba watched Jonouchi closely as he talked, still trying to gage his reaction. "It's him. He didn't recognize me."

"Oh man, that's just…" Jonouchi bit his lip, "Is he sick or something?"

Kaiba turned away stalking over to a chair and casually dropping himself into it. "They're still trying to figure that out."

Jonouchi shivered. Just before Duke had disappeared last winter, he'd spent time playing mattress games with him. If it was some kind of sickness that made Duke lose his memory, then it might be contagious, and if it was contagious there was the possibility that he had it. And if that were true, he could have given it to Kaiba. Oh, Kami, isn't there some kind of disease in England that makes your brain turn to mush? Shit, shit, shit, shit. If Seto's brain turns to cottage cheese, it's all my fault. "Where is he?"

"The psych unit. Remember?" Kaiba felt a small sliver of fear slip under his skin as Jonouchi turned toward the door. "Where are you going?"

"I want to see Duke." Jo opened the door.

"No." Kaiba reached out and caught Jonouchi's arm.

"What the hell do you mean, no?" Jonouchi turned back around, glaring at Kaiba and shaking free.

"I said no. The doctors are with him and it's none of our concern." Kaiba stood returning the glare.

"Hey, he's…" Jonouchi paused, he couldn't really say Duke was a friend, not after what had happened. "He's sick, and he doesn't have any family. It's not like he has a lot of people that give a damn."

"Guess what. I'm one of those people." Kaiba growled. "Stay away from him."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Jonouchi slammed the door he'd been holding closed.

"Stay away from Duke. Whatever's going on with him, I want you out of it." Kaiba forced himself to speak at least semi-calmly.

Jonouchi snarled, "I'll do what I want to and if I want to see Duke, I'll see him." He yanked open the door.

"Jonouchi, don't…" The rest of Kaiba's words were cut off by the door slamming closed behind Jonouchi. Kaiba stood looking at the door for a few moments, resisting the urge to go after Jonouchi and make him… What? What will I make him do? Kaiba sat back down leaning forward, bracing his elbows on his knees and running his hands through his hair. Make him come back? Make him stay away from his old lover? Kaiba shook his head and stood up, smoothing his hair back into place. He stepped out of the room and walked down to the lobby where his driver was waiting.

"The office. Call for another car to come for Jonouchi." He walked out of the hospital, half aware of his driver and a couple of security men scrambling in his wake.

He knew he was overreacting. He trusted Jo, as much as he was capable of trusting anyone, still a nasty voice that sounded suspiciously like his late adoptive father sneered in his head. Trust, huh? An argument, Jo running off to Duke, wasn't this how it started last time? Pathetic. How long ago was it? Four, five months? And you trust him. Idiot. He shook his head and settled into the limo as the driver opened the door.

~*~*~*

Jame

~*~*~*

Kaiba's office looked great, at least to her. All the file cabinets that had lurked in ebony and mahogany splendor along one wall were now tucked into her office. His chrome and glass desk sat pristinely in front of the window. A couple of exotic trees branched delicately in the corners and a chrome and black sofa sat moodily under a black and white picture of the Tokyo skyline. It looked like something out of a designer magazine. Jame smiled, if this didn't get her fired, she was really going to have to get desperate.

The one thing I really can't stand is for someone to play with my files. She stepped back into her own office, patting the new additions. Not only have I reorganized the files, but moved them completely out of his office. She sighed happily as she sat down in her chair. So Hawaii is out, but I still have five months before I have to get back to work. I think Morocco sounds nice. She cooed to herself as she swung in her chair, then frowned at the older file cabinets. Hell, why not just mix them together. If I do a real good job, Kaiba will probably boot me to Morocco personally. She grinned and dove in.

~*~*~*

Okay folks, remember to review, it only takes a few seconds and I love to hear from all of you!

DemonandGoddess: *authoress digs through the dark vault in the land of the muses* Hmmm…have I messed everyone's life up enough yet….Hmmmm…. Nope, don't think so. But, hey, this looks really good…*drags out something nasty and smiles* yep…this will do nicely….

Sakiyama: Yugi still has some problems to work out before happiness and a complete memory are his again, but at least he remembers Yami now…

Velvetina: Glad to have you aboard! Things are only just starting to get fun here, so hold on to your computer and enjoy the ride.

Daebird: I seriously considered your idea with Kaiba and the gray hair ( I could practically hear Kaiba's scream of horror), but our boy is a bit busy right now. Maybe later, it's a great idea!

Amunra: Take it easy on yourself. I sometimes get confused by all the plot twists and I have the plot outline in front of me with all the details of what is going to happen and why it happens that way. Don't worry about it till the end, it should all make sense then, if not, let me know and I'll fix it.

~*~*~*

Here's a few more favorites just in case someone is interested.

~*~*~*

Yu-Gi-Oh!

Unfulfilled Vow by Shiroi Misa- It's a Jou/Kaiba story without the romance. Sort of a cross between a ghost story and a mystery. Creepy little piece but very, very well done. (Complete)

Bunnies from Hell by Moerae- Oh, god, she made a sequel to Bastet's Child! Bakura as a bunny rabbit! Who said Ryou was a wimp? It's fantastic, read it quick! (Incomplete)

Rurouni Kenshin

Keep the Shadows at Bay by Chaosdreamer- This just started and it looks to be pretty good so far...(Incomplete)

Hiko Seijuro Owners Guide and Maintenance Manualby Hikari Hrair-rah- If you love the arrogant sword master, this one is a must. (Complete) This is on ff.net.