Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Half Full or Half Empty? ❯ Calling it Quits ( Chapter 20 )

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated but I've been really busy, as usual! Plus I had no motive, but I do now ^.^ so enjoy the chapter and I'm happy to grant any requests or ideas! Thanks for the reviews too ^_^

PS - what I said will happen in this chapter has changed in the last chapter has changed.

Calling it Quits
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Shika's POV…

"Shika! Hello my girl… long time, no see, eh?"

I stared gravely in disbelief at him. What was he of all people doing here?! Ryou stared at me with wide, innocent eyes. He knew I would protest to the idea of having my father in my house, and he was spot on. I ignored my grinning father and turned to Ryou.

"Ryou where is Mom?"

"Last time I saw her she was in her bedroom."

I ran down the hall to my mom's bedroom and found her on the edge of her bed crying her eyes out. I went and sat by her. She put her head on my shoulder.

"Mom… what is he doing here?"

"I don't know sweetheart! I come home from work and there he is! I don't know what to do… I want him out of this house!" She said through choked sobs.

"Does he have a reason for coming here?"

She shrugged. "Just came to ruin my life again I suppose…"

"I'm going to call Rai." I got up and grabbed the phone out of the kitchen and went to my bedroom. I called Rai's number to his flat in town. One of his flatmates picked up.

[Hello?]

"Hi, I need to speak to Rai, is he in?"

[Sure I'll just get him, Rai! Your sis is on the phone for ya!]

[Hello?]

"Rai, it's me. Guess what happened?"

[What? You and your boyfriend broke up?]

"This isn't funny Rai! Dad's home…"

[What?!]

"I need you to come over. Mom's an absolute wreck and I don't know what to do… he's sitting in the living room."

[I'll be right over.]

Rai's car parked up outside our house about ten minutes later. His flat wasn't far from our house in a nearby neighbourhood. He was horrified to see the situation when he walked in. All I could say is that the memories from my deprived childhood were flooding back to me at the sight of everything. My mother was lying in the same position against the kitchen cupboards as when Malik had attacked Ryou that day and my father was abusing her once more. He was a panting, raging maniac who couldn't control himself. Rai was big enough to take him on now, though.

I close my eyes when I get too sad.
I think thoughts that I know are bad.
Close my eyes and I count to ten.
Hope it's over when I open them.

"No!! Get away from me you creep! Stop it!" My mother shrieked. I began crying again as Ryou came to me and wrapped his arms around me. I buried my face in his chest and hiccupped, drenching his sweater in tears.

I want the things that I had before.
Like a Star Wars poster on my bedroom door.
I wish I could count to ten.
Make everything be wonderful again.

Rai jumped into the scene and pulled my father off of my mother. My mother lay limp against the cupboards on the white kitchen tiled floor. This scene looked all too familiar. Against Rai's strength, my father let go and ripped into my mother again. He started shouting at her in Turkish; even though I couldn't understand, I knew it was abuse. Suddenly Rai started screaming at a thousand miles an hour in Turkish too. I never knew he could speak Turkish. He went for the phone and dialed 911. That was when Bakura jumped into the scene.

Hope my mom and I hope my dad
Will figure out why they get so mad
Hear them scream, I hear them fight
They say bad words that make me wanna cry

"I gotta get outa here." I panicked. I lost the plot. Seeing this was all too much. I made a dash for the door, no matter how strong Ryou's hold on me was. I ran, and ran, and ran. I ran like I had never ran before. This brute who was inside my house had made my childhood a ferocious nightmare that gnawed everyday in the back of my mind. Tears streamed down my face as sakura blossoms stuck to my cheeks and settled in my hair. My heart began to strain and it was getting sore. My breath was getting raspy. The air was still warm and muggy as I ran to the park.

Close my eyes when I go to bed
And I dream of angels who make me smile
I feel better when I hear them say
Everything will be wonderful some day…

The park was always a good place to go to chill out. It was the same park I was at not half an hour ago with Yami. I ran past the playground to the other side of the duck pond and collapsed on the grass next to it. The clouds in the sky seemed to look down at me sympathetically. The ducks quacked at each other and splashed about in the water. The dragonflies buzzed loudly. A frog plopped into the water. The statue in the middle of the pond made a gurgling watery sound as water spurted out the top like a fountain.

Promises mean everything
When you're little
And the world is so big
I just don't understand how
You can smile with all those tears in your eyes
Tell me everything is wonderful now…

I closed my eyes as more tears flooded over my cheeks and my skin absorbed them again. My eyes were stinging and were probably ridiculously bloodshot. The pollen in the air wasn't helping my hay-fever at all either. I wiped my eyes again and hugged my knees to my chest. The memories swirled in my head…

****** Flashback ******

"Shika, Rai, say hello to Alison."

Rai and I looked up at the blonde woman with thick blue eye-shadow and pink lipstick on. Our huge green chibi orbs wondered who this woman was and what she was doing on my father's arm when we knew that it should have been mommy. She looked down at us sourly and continued to play with my father's black ponytail at the back of his head.

"Mommy!" I cried, and ran to my mother's arms as Afet walked into the living room.

I heard my father gasp and the blonde woman whirled around. My mother ignored them and picked me up and took Rai's hand. She acted as if the woman and my father weren't even there.

"Come on kids, let's go to the park!" she said excitedly, still ignoring the fact that my father was standing with a blonde woman draped over him.

"Okay Mommy…" Rai said quietly. Since he was older I think he knew slightly what was going on. I was too young to have even the slightest clue.

****** End ******

"Are you alright?" A concerned voice came from above and behind me. I turned to see Seto Kaiba and his brother Mokuba holding his hand, standing behind me.

I sniffled and turned back around. "I'm fine."

A grunt. "Mokuba, go play."

He sat beside me with a sweatband around his head and wrists. It looked as if he had just finished playing a game of tennis. It was a fine day for it anyway. The tidy brunet bangs that usually hung between his eyes were pushed up and spiked from the white band around his forehead.

"Why are you crying?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does."

"My father came home today unexpectedly."

"Did he make you cry?"

"He hit my mother. I feel like I'm reliving my childhood."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I just feel like calling it quits, you know?"

"Life is cruel."

Silence. Strained silence which hung… and hung… and hung… I began to wonder how long I had been sitting here for. The silence then dropped.

"Are you okay?" Seto asked again.

I turned to look Kaiba in the eyes. "Why do you care so much? I've always disliked you Kaiba. I'm only nice to you because you're my best friend's boyfriend."

"Actually we broke up."

"What? Why what happened?"

"I don't know. I guess Jou decided to go back to being straight again. Things weren't going very well anyway. He cheated on me, I know that much."

"Really? That's not like Jou… who'd he do it with?" For once I was actually worried about Kaiba. I never knew Jou would be so cruel as to cheat on someone he loves… loved.

"Jou claimed that I had no time for him with my business and everything… which was partly true. I guess I had been neglecting our relationship somewhat over the past month or so. I'm not really sure how to go about it."

"Do you want to get back with him?"

"Yes… but if I don't have time for him then it's just going to go around in circles. Besides, if he's straight again it's pretty obvious he wouldn't want to get back with me." He snorted a laugh, somewhat embarrassed.

"Just leave him for a while, Kaiba. He'll come round and soon find out what he's missing out on."

"I hope you're right. I kind of miss him being around." He sighed.

I stayed silent as we both watched Mokuba playing on the swings across the park on the other side of the pond from us. I wondered when I would be able to go back to the house. I didn't want to go back there to find my father still there.

"I'd better get going. Mokuba's made me promise to go swimming with him in our pool when we get home. You're more than welcome to join us if you like." Seto said standing up. He pulled me to my feet.

"Thanks for the offer but I've got a few things I need to sort out at home."

He nodded. "Okay. Good luck. I'm only a phone call away if you need me." He walked off swiftly to get his brother off of the playground and together they exited the park.

Why is Kaiba being so nice to me? He never used to be… maybe he just feels sorry for me or something…

When I got back in the door at home, my father and his things were gone and Dr. Roes was sitting on the couch holding my mother in his arms. Rai was sitting on the other side of my mom. Ryou was in the kitchen making a cup of tea to calm her down… or something. I guessed Bakura was back in the Ring. Ryou looked up on me and put down the teapot and came over to me.

"Are you alright? Your father has gone now, Shika." He came and cupped my face in his hands.

"Yeah… just needed to clear my head, I'm okay now."

"Bakura kicked your Dad out of the house." Ryou chuckled. I smiled. Bakura sure came in handy sometimes. "Rai called the police and they took your father away. He's getting deported back to Turkey next week." Ryou explained.

"Deported? You mean he's in Japan illegally?"

Ryou nodded. "The police searched him and found cocaine in his bags. He brought drugs into the country."

I shook my head. "Still doing that shit…" I muttered.

I walked inside and took a seat up at the table. Ryou took my mother's cup of tea over to her and gave it to her. She thanked him and he came and sat at the table with me. Dr. Roes looked up at me sympathetically.

"Shika… how are you?"

"Been better."

He laughed. "After what just happened I can understand. How is your heart?"

I shrugged. "Fine I guess. I don't know. It was a bit sore when I was run- going to the park." I quickly corrected myself. I knew I shouldn't be running nor doing anything strenuous with my heart condition.

"We might just have to do a scan of your heart to see what the problem is, Shika. You might have what they call an `Undetected Heart Condition', or a UHC for short."

"What's that?"

"We'll talk more about it next time you see me. I'm free tomorrow if you'd like to make an appointment."

"Sure, what time?"

"Come to my office at two o'clock tomorrow, alright? You may bring Ryou along too if it makes you feel any better." Dr. Roes said.

I looked across the table at Ryou. He smiled gently and grasped my hands in his. "Alright then. Is it serious?"

"It could be. We'll have to do a few scans and things to find out what the problem really is."

"Okay… now if you'll excuse me. I have someone I need to call." I got up and went for the phone. Ryou followed me through to the bedroom.

"Who are you calling, Shika?"

"Jou. He broke up with Kaiba. I just want to see if he's alright."

"Oh… that can't be good."

I dialed Jou's number and he answered. He sounded pretty rough though.

[Hello?]

"Jou… it's me."

[Shika?]

"Yeah. I heard about you and Kaiba."

[I don't wanna talk `bout it.]

"Well I'm not in the best of moods either, Jou. My dad came around today. He was taken away by the police, though. Brought drugs into the country."

[What? Really? Are you okay?]

"Yeah… I'm okay now. What about you? I just rang to see if you're okay."

[Yeah… no… I feel like utter shit, actually.]

"You want me to come over?"

[Not right now. Tomorrow maybe.]

"Alright. But I have to go to the hospital at two."

[What for?]

"Just a checkup. The doc wants to do a scan on my heart. Reckons it could be something serious."

[Yeah?]

"Yeah."

[Oww, dat sucks. You want me to go wit ya?]

"Ryou's coming with me. I'll be fine. We'll talk tomorrow, okay?"

[Yeah, tomorrow. Where you wanna meet?]

"The arcade sounds good. How about twelve outside Laser Strike?"

[Yeah, yeah. Sounds good. I'll see ya then.]

"Alright, don't lose sleep over him, Jou."

[It's hard not to.]

"I know. We'll talk about it tomorrow. Just you and me, okay?"

[Yeah, okay. I love you, Shika.]

The air caught in my throat. "Yeah… you too Jou. See you tomorrow."

[Yeah. Later.]

I hung up and flopped onto my bed. My chest was really sore… it was getting worse. I think Ryou could see that too. Bakura materialized beside him on my bed.

"Do you want me to go and feed Harry? He hasn't been fed today."

"Yeah that would be good. Thanks Ryou."

Ryou disappeared out the door and back into the lounge. I stuffed my pillow behind my head and stared at the ceiling. Bakura put his head on my chest and stroked the scar underneath my eye. I still thought it was ugly but I was learning to live with it.

"I'm worried about you, Lotus." Bakura said huskily.

"Why?"

"Heart problems are serious. You cannot live without a heart, you know."

"I know that! It won't be anything too major, hopefully."

"Yes, hopefully. You don't know for sure though."

"Sorry Bakura… we'll find out what's going on tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright… I love you Lotus. Goodnight…" Bakura kissed me deeply on the lips as I ran my fingers through his knotty white mane. He went translucent and disappeared into the ring. I climbed into bed and switched off the light.

Minutes after I closed my eyes, something in my chest began to ache. I ignored it for a few minutes until parts of my body began to go numb, and quickly regain feeling. This is getting weird… I thought. Suddenly, it felt like someone had reached into my chest and had grabbed hold of my heart and was trying to rip it out. I clutched my chest and screamed out. My mind span quickly as I became weak and lightheaded. I was having a heart attack.

~:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:~

Next chapter: Shika deals with another crucial time in the hospital. Jou and Kaiba sort out their relationship and Bakura goes to see Marik and they have a chat about their past together in ancient Egypt.

Updates: Don't have a clue.