Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Emergence ❯ Hunting ( Chapter 15 )

Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

Emergence

Chapter 15: Hunting

~*~*~*

Yugi and Yuai

~*~*~*

"I never thought I'd actually be thankful for all the things my parents put me through." Yuai muttered into her gag, finally managing to slip the knot that bound her wrists together over her knuckles and wiggle out of the rope. Ammeters, Dad could have shown them a thing or two about tying someone up. She shifted around, pulling her feet up so that she could reach the rope that bound her ankles.

Yugi whimpered as she accidentally kneed him in the back. Yuai cooed softly and wiggled a bit more and finally loosened the knot around her feet, then yanked the gag out of her mouth and the blindfold off her eyes.

The trunk of the car that they had been shoved into, by the gun totting hooded men who now drove the car, was hot, crowded, dark and, Yuai admitted, scary as hell. Still, she supposed, it could have been worse. It could have been a older car, it could have been one made before they created those lovely trunk release thingies that let you pop the trunk from inside. She looked at the glowing handle of the emergency trunk release and nearly shook her head in despair. Well, better to get kidnapped by incompetents if you gotta get kidnapped.

She tugged Yugi's hands closer and started working on the knot. He whimpered again and shivered. Yuai felt something slick and oddly sticky on his hands. "It's okay Yugi, it's just me." She worked frantically at the knots, then once she had slipped them off, pulled off Yugi's gag. He carefully pulled his blindfold off, carefully cradling on hand against his chest.

"The puzzle, the puzzle. It got broke. We've gotta get it back together!" Yugi gasped.

"Yugi! Later, okay. Let's get out of here first. Then we'll play with the puzzle." Yuai yanked the now loosened ropes away from Yugi's feet, as Yugi searched around the trunk, scooping up small jagged pieces of the puzzle with one hand.

"No, no. We have to get the puzzle together." Yugi kept searching his voice catching on sobs. "I need Yami. Please. I can't leave without him. I need my yami."

Yuai snagged a few pieces and tucked them in her pockets, "How many pieces are there?" she whispered, "I have five."
Yugi shivered, "I think I have the rest. One sec."

The car hit a massive bump, throwing them both up against the trunk hood then slamming them back down to the floor. Yugi moaned, curling into a ball around his hand, "I dropped some."

They both patted around the trunk. The car was passing over some very rough road, thumping them around as they searched.

"Okay, that's it." Yugi shoved the pieces into his pocket. "That's all."

"Then let's get out of here." Yuai reached for the lever. The car wasn't traveling very fast on the bumpy, rough road. The car hit another pot hole, just as Yuai grabbed the lever and yanked. The trunk popped open revealing a heavily forested area and a muddy dirt road. The car slowed even more as it took a sharp turn on what was apparently a hair pin corner and Yuai leapt out with Yugi landing in a puddle beside her a second behind her. They both darted as fast as their numb, bruised bodies would allow into the thick bushes that crowded the side of the road.

~*~*~*

Jame

~*~*~*

Jame blinked at the computer screen. "What the hell…?" She checked her password again and frowned at the computer screen. "What do you mean access denied. Those are my files!" She typed frantically for a second, then snarled at the computer. "I'll show you… Those are my files, you can't tell me I'm not allowed to see them!" She reached for her cell phone and hit the number three, growling threats.

" `ello?" a sleep blurred voice muttered from the other side of the world.

"Tink? My computer told me I can't get to my files…HELP!"

"Jame, do ya know wha time i' is?" Tink grumbled.

"Life's tough. I need those files! I put all my latest work in there, including the drafts I was going to send Drover." Jame glared accusingly at the screen.

"Shit." Tink sounded awake now. "Didn't you save them to disk?"

"I didn't get a chance. Kaiba's got a stick shoved up his ass about something. He barged in here tossing around orders and I haven't been able to get into the computer since." Jame swung in her chair, frowning out the window at the dismal gray clouds.

"Okay, okay. Give me a minute. It's been awhile since I hacked Kaiba Corp." He yawned. In the background Jame could hear keys tapping and the squeak of Tink's old computer chair. She could picture him seated there, scrunched under his over flowing desk, the computer screen glowing, casting light across the tumbles of papers and books that made up Tink's bedroom. She sighed, feeling a wave of homesickness wash over her. Oh Tink, I've missed you and Drover too. I haven't had anyone to mess up my palm pilot for ages and Pease, you should see some of the clothes they have here in Domino. You'd love my boss and his trench coat collection.

"Uh, Jame?" Tink's voice came to her sooner than she expected, snapping her back to reality.

"Yeah." She turned back to her computer, hoping Tink had worked some kind of magic, but the computer still glared evilly back displaying Access Denied.

"I think you better call your boss. Someone's just ripped open his security and is hacking all his files."

Jame grabbed the other phone, still talking to Tink. "Can't you stop it?" She dialed Kaiba's home number.

"Not a chance, babe. I'm on a land line half the world away on an Dell. I'd need direct access to the system, and a better computer, even then I'm not sure."

Kaiba's number rang three times before the answering machine picked up. She slammed her phone down and redialed his cell.

"I'm sorry this number is not available. Please check your number and try again." A woman's soft sing-song voice chimed pleasantly at the other end.

Jame snarled at the phone and leaned back. "Tink. I'm going to have to call you back. I don't suppose you can…?"

"Hey, I'll see what I can do, but remember. I got a Dell." Tink yawned again, "Look, see if you can hunt up your boss man. I'll do a little poking and see what I can find."

"You're the best Tink." she made smoochie noises at him over the phone.

"Yick. Stop that!" Tink growled hanging up.

Jame put her cell down and dialed security. The phone rang, and rang and rang and rang. Jame snarled at it and stood up. "Kaiba, I am so going to hurt your rich boy ass if I have to go out in this weather to find you….
~*~*~*

Kaiba and Jonouchi

~*~*~*

Kame Game Shop was once again ground zero. Kaiba stood under the awning, looking up at the friendly looking little store, wondering if there was some kind of karmic black hole underneath it. Jonouchi stood at his side, looking around the street. Honda's bike was parked at the curb, and if he wasn't mistaken, Mai's little convertible was across the street, sheltering between two buildings, under an overhang. Rain still splashed downwards in gusting sheets of freezing water.

Jo knocked, peering into the windows of the door. "Man, I hope Yug and Yuai are in there. Maybe they just got caught in the mud?" He sounded more hopeful then believing.

Kaiba, still contemplating black holes, looked over at him pityingly. "Jo, this is Yugi Moto we're discussing. He's probably been possessed by aliens and is now trying to save the world from a ten thousand year old fluffy haired, loony with a millennium toothpick." Kaiba looked around. "Probably someplace by the sea. He has a habit of getting into trouble near large bodies of water."

"Are you feeling okay there Kaiba?" Jo looked over at him, frowning worriedly at the light, nearly flippant tone of his lover's voice.

Kaiba shook his head lightly, as if clearing it. "Hmmm. I'll be fine."

"Okay, but if you have a sudden need to travel. Let me know. `kay?" Jo knocked again, then waved as Honda could be seen hopping down the stairs from the apartment above the shop.

Honda wasn't smiling as he opened the door. "Hey guys. Come on in."

"Is he here?" Jonouchi looked around hopefully as he stepped inside and started pulling off his coat.

"No." Honda waved to where a chair, half covered in dripping coats sat by the door. "His grandpa went down to the police station to see if he could get them to look for him."

Jonouchi and Kaiba dropped their coats onto the pile and followed Honda up the stairs. Mai was sitting at the kitchen table, holding the phone to her. She smiled slightly as they stepped in and waved towards the counter where a coffee pot steamed gently with a can of instant coco next to it. Anzu's voice could be heard talking from the living room.

Honda slumped into one of the kitchen chairs. Jo dropped into another as Kaiba leaned over to look at what Mai was scribbling on a sheet of paper. Kaiba sat down next to her and started scribbling notes back. In a second, Mai started talking to someone on the other end of the phone.

"Anyone know where they are?" Jo tried to follow what Mai and Kaiba were doing, then gave up as they stated talking about longitude and latitude and signal strengths.

"Nope. No one's got a clue." Honda picked up a cup off the table and sipped it. "So far Yugi, Yuai, hippie guy and hippie guy's van have all disappeared."

From the living room Anzu yelled, "I don't care that the phones have been down. That's no excuse!"

Honda nodded toward her irate voice. "She's talking to the hotel. Apparently, Yugi was feeling sick. That's why they were coming home early."

"Man, ya think we should call the hospitals?" Jo looked around, only to have Mai shake her head no.

"Grandpa already did that before he called you." Honda stood up and refilled his coffee adding generous heaps of coco to it. "Want some?"

Jo nodded and looking over at Kaiba held up two fingers. Honda nodded and poured the coffee. He added coco to Jo's and then looked questioningly at Kaiba, who shook his head no and went back to scribbling notes to Mai. Honda shrugged and passed out the coffee, putting a bowl of sugar down on the table.

"Anyone contact Ryou or Malik? Maybe their yamis could talk to Yami Yugi and see what's up." Jo sipped his coffee and started stirring it more completely.

"Ryou doesn't answer and Malik just said that his yami's not speaking right now." Honda slumped into his chair. "Anyone here want to go over there and demand that Marik talk to us?"

Jo shook his head and took another sip of his coffee. "Okay, so the yamis are out."

Kaiba threw a piece of wadded up paper at Jonouchi, beaning him in the head. "Hey!" Jo unwadded the paper as Kaiba huddled again with Mai, now whispering softly about satellites and tower stations as she scribbled a long series of numbers onto a scrap of paper.

Why don't you go look for him?

Jo blinked at the paper, then looked up at Kaiba.

Honda leaned over and read the note. "Yeah! We could be doing that while they do the phone thing." He grabbed his bike keys, heading for the door.

"Wait a sec I ain't getting on that bike in this rain with a guy with a broken arm." Jo stood and hauled Honda back into the room.

Anzu, stomping into the kitchen with a murderous look on her face, nodded. "He's right. We can't all go on your bike anyways."

"What's up with the hotel?" Honda scowled and shoved his keys back into his pocket.

"They keep saying that `they aren't responsible if their guests leave the premises with other people.' What they aren't saying is that Yugi was sick and they refused to give him or Yuai a ride down to a doctor, so the only way they could get to one was to hitch a ride." She shook her hair back from her face. "I swear if anything has happened to Yugi…I'm…I'm…."

Jo nodded, "Okay, got the idea." He sat back down till a set of keys bonked him in the head. He turned growling at his lover who frowned back, nodding at the keys.

"Hey, thanks Kaiba." Anzu scooped up the keys and headed for the door. "Anyone else coming?"

Honda grinned and swung towards the door, "Me."

Jo rubbed his head, "Okay, me," He frowned at Kaiba, then smiled as the brunette shrugged, "Next time don't aim for my head."

Kaiba snitched the phone from Mai and nodded toward the door. She stood up, "I guess that's my cue to be den mother." She fluffed her hair back over her shoulder and sauntered out the door. "Come on campers. Time to hit the trail. if your all good little boys and girls we can have a weenie roast later."

Jo and Honda skittered to a halt looking unsure. Honda muttered, "I hope she's talking about hot dogs."

~*~*~*

Yugi and Yuai

~*~*~*

Yugi and Yuai scampered through the trees, dodged around rocks and scrambled down slopping hillsides covered in slick wet leaves. Their clothes were now plastered to their bodies and both, despite their unwanted athletics, were shivering.

"We gotta stop. We gotta put the puzzle together." Yugi panted as he fell on his bottom and slid down to the bottom of a gully.

"Later. I promise, but let's get away from the road first." Yuai hopped down the gully half way, then tripped, sprawling next to Yugi in the muck.

"We need Yami." Yugi pulled himself to his feet and started clawing his way up the other side.

"Okay, okay. But we need to get away from the road. Then we'll have time to put it together." Yuai scrambled up after him.

They both raced deeper into the woods.

~*~*~*

Jame

~*~*~*

Jame stood outside of the security office and gave the door a half hearted kick. "Damn fine time to have lunch." She poked the little blue sign with a friendly clock on it that indicated that the security staff would be back in a half hour. Remember, do something about weekend staffing in security. She turned away and tramped back to her office.

It really was all those assistant's fault. After raiding Mikoko's files she'd found enough to get maintenance to confiscate the other assistant's files and computers. Kaiba's assistants had been waging a sneaky battle to destroy Kaiba Corp through sheer incompetency. Derailing Kaiba's secretaries had been only a part of the plan. They had shifted budgets, cut personnel, slashed work hours of vital staff, reorganized, shuffled, downsized and corrupted most of the upper management, till everything was in shambles. Unfortunately for them, Tink had sat down one day while they were all stuck in a hotel in Berlin and showed her how to hack computer files. She wasn't as good as her friend, but she was good enough to piece together what that backstabbing group of leaches was up to. No wonder Kaiba looks so worn out half the time. He's literally running Kaiba Corp by himself.

She pushed her door open and settled down at her desk. "Okay, if I was Kaiba, where would I be?" She pulled out her phone and Rolodex and started hunting.

~*~*~*

Jonouchi, Honda, Mai and Anzu

~*~*~*

Anzu whacked Jonouchi and shoved him out of the way. "There is no way you are driving."

"Hey, it's Kaiba's car." Jo tried to dodge around her and grab the keys from her hand.

"And I'm sure Kaiba wants it back in one solid undented piece." She elbowed him in the ribs and shoved him aside with her hip as she unlocked the drivers door.

"Are you saying I can't drive?" Jo jumped back as she tried to hit him with the car door.

"No. I am sure that someplace, somewhere, someone would call what you do driving." Anzu hopped into the drivers seat and quickly shut the door. "Now, get in or I'll leave you."

Mai had already walked around to the passenger's side and gracefully sunk into the soft upholstery. "Come on kiddies. Times a wasting. You don't want to miss out on the roasted marshmallows, do you."

Honda thumped into the back seat. "Come on Jo. Get in already."

Jo pried open the back door of the small sports car and squished himself into the microscopic space that was truly never meant for human beings. "I hate this."

Anzu, grinning evilly into the mirror chirped, "Time to go!" and Jonouchi was flung back as she quickly accelerated out into traffic.

"Hey! Watch it. And you're complaining about me."

"Poor little Jo-jo. All misunderstood."

"Ow. Stop stepping on my feet."

"Do I have to put you on a time out?"

"Who had garlic for breakfast. Man, here's some gum."

"Get off my hand. I'm going to need that later."

"Which turn is it? I can't remember."

"Uh, what the hell is this? I just found it between the seats."

"Did anyone think to bring some of that coffee."

"No, but man do I have to go pee."

~*~*~*

Yugi and Yuai

~*~*~*

Yuai held Yugi's hand, carefully feeling along the small fragile bones. It looked like a mess. When the thugs in the masks had pulled the van over and dragged them out, the largest on had smashed Yugi's hand with his rifle. Yuai shivered, remembering the men dragging Poncho over to the side of the van and the shot that followed quickly after. The man had walked back around only a couple seconds later, without their hippie friend. "I think it's only bruised. But that cut is kind of nasty."

Yugi shivered, pressing back farther against the bush they were hiding under. "We gotta put the puzzle together. Yami can get us out of here."

Yuai smiled, still carefully holding Yugi's hand. It must be nice. Having someone to trust like that. Even if it is your imaginary friend.

Yugi pulled out all the puzzle pieces that he had and set them on his lap, then pulled the chain over his head with it's solitary golden piece handing forlornly from it. Yuai let go of his hand and watched as piece by piece he reassembled the puzzle. She leaned back, against the trunk of the bush and watched. It looked difficult, but Yugi seemed to be amazingly good at putting it together.

"D-damn." Yugi bit his lip, trying to make the puzzle turn to fit in a piece, but his hurt fingers wouldn't grip the puzzle tight enough to manage the maneuver.

"What's wrong?" Yuai leaned closer.

"Can you hold this and turn it to the right while I slid this piece in?" Yugi shifted closer to Yuai.

She carefully did as he asked and the small gold piece snapped into place.

"Okay, now turn it back a quarter of the way and then this piece goes in right…" click "there. Now, push up on that piece and this piece will…" snap "Then this piece is right here and then the cap is like this and if you turn it …" click.

Yugi smiled as the puzzle gleamed in their hands. Yuai smiled back. Okay. Now that the puzzles together let's get…

"Aibou! What's going on. What happened?" Yami stood looking around the woods shocked.

"Yami!" Yugi wiggled out from under the bush. "Yami! Where have you been?" Yugi was crying, his hands reaching out for his darkness.

Yuai sat stunned under the bush staring at the scarlet eyed, transparent version of her boyfriend. "Oh my god. He looks just like Yugi. But he's invisible," she whispered.

~*~*~*

Review please!

Sakiyama: Here you go, one Yugi and one Yami back together! Yeah, too bad about Bakura and his singing talent, but don't worry. Singing yamis will be coming soon.

Sorceress Sarrkh: I do love Mahado *sigh* I just wish I could fit him in more often, but maybe now that Yami knows where his friend is I can weasel him in now and then…

The Panasonic Princess: Yep. I am dragging this out, but I do have my reasons. I wish I could hear Bakura singing too, but best we can do is imagine it and be thankful our ears don't have to suffer like Ryou's will.

Velvetina: I actually thought of Marik as a deep soft bass and Yami as a beautiful, velvety baritone. Poor Bakura can probably break windows though. That scene is still coming, first Yami has to get his aibou out of trouble.

DemonandGoddess: Yep, that's Orpheus. He also had one other little trick. He's the enterprising young man who, when his sweetheart died, went down to hell to sing for Hades and get her back, he was supposed to lead her all the way back to the land of the living without once looking at her, but at the last second the idiot turned to take a peek. Don't worry about the Honda/Ribbon thing. They've done their part and will now retire back to the land of support characters.

Amunra: Kaiba has a rather long but-kicking list right now. Marik will just have to wait his turn. Well, the rush to insanity is over, at least as far as Yugi and Yami are concerned, now we just have to see the fall out over Yuai's new perspective.