Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Life on the Farm ❯ Meeting the Neighbors ( Chapter 1 )

Yami blinked open his eyes as the first rays of dawn crept into his room. Yawning and sitting upright, he paused when he noticed something amiss.

This isn't my room…

Confused, he looked about the room before memories from the previous day refilled his mind. Yawning, he managed to crawl out of his bed, grunting as he hit the floor quite painfully. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he kneeled beside the bed and dragged his suitcase from under it. Opening it and withdrawing a random outfit, he stuffed the bag under his mattress and dressed quickly, not enjoying the cold morning air on his bare skin.

Once clad in his usual pair of blue jeans and tight black, sleeveless shirt, he stood and stretched, slowly making his way to the kitchen. With a sigh, he relaxed his body as he closed the gap between him and the refrigerator. With a silent prayer, he opened the door and breathed a sigh of relief when he noticed the victuals there for him. Without a second glance, he grabbed a roll, stuffed all of it in his mouth and quickly shut the refrigerator door. Swallowing with some difficulty, he walked over to the front door, jumping when he heard a sharp knock from the other side. Quickly he flung open the door and looked up into soft blue eyes.

The owner of said eyes smiled as he looked at the other boy who was about a head shorter than him. He was dressed simply in a pair of working boots, blue jeans and a russet shirt and his deep oak hair was held in place by a tan bandanna.

"Hello," the brown hair boy said. "You're the one who's going to live here for a while, aren't you?"

Yami gave a gentle smile at the boy's warm tone. "Why else would I be here?"

The other grinned and shrugged. "You could be some kind of insane hobo that's taken this place over."

Yami rolled his eyes. "Aside from the hobo explanation?"

"I ask stupid questions?"

"Better."

The brown-haired man grinned. "It's nice to know we have such an interesting neighbor, what's your name?"

"My name is Yami. What's yours?"

"I'm Seto Kaiba. I live in the town down that way," he spoke, pointing down the road. "I'm in charge of shipping around here. I come around every evening to pick up the stuff you put in the shipping box." He held out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Yami smiled and shook the offered hand. "Likewise." When he tried to let go, he discovered that Seto had only tightened his grip. He glanced up and quirked an eyebrow at Seto who merely grinned.

"You need to come and visit the people who live in the town, they'll help you." And before Yami could say a word about it, he was being dragged off to the township.

The first thing Yami noticed when he entered the town was the soft, slow notes of a flute, followed closely by a young female's voice softly singing.

"What will fill this emptiness inside of me? Am I to be satisfied without knowing?"

He blinked and looked to the town center to see a small crowd gathered around a pair of women. One of them, the one playing the silver flute, had sort-chopped strawberry blonde hair that flowed gently in the wind, almost in time with the notes she played. Her dress was made up of a pair of sea green pants and a baby blue shirt. When she blinked open her eyes to rake over the crowd, he could just barely see that they were soft hazel. From her backside, he could see, was a pure white tail that looked like it was from a cat.

The other, the singer, seemed only slightly shorter that the other. Her chocolate brown eyes were nearly hidden behind her golden-framed glasses. Soft auburn hair trailed down her back in a long braid, stopping when it reached the back of her knees. He blinked when he noticed the short, fluffy weasel tail and ears and the four blinding white wings with lavender-tipped feathers she had. Her outfit was made of a deep violet shirt that matched her tail and ears and a pair of black jeans.

"I wish, then, for a chance to see, now all I need, desperately… Is my star to come…"

He and Seto smiled as the crowd clapped and cheered before headed in their separate ways, some pausing to toss some money in a basket near them, save the two girls and a pair of boys.

"I guess," Seto said, "that the best place to start with introductions would be with them. And if you aren't scared off then, you're welcome to the town."

Yami blinked, but before he could say anything, Seto once more dragged him along. As they approached the quartet, the two males became easier to distinguish. The taller, who was sitting on the base of the Land Goddess's statue, had a mop of blonde hair and shining brown eyes. He was clothed in a pair of blue jeans and a white shirt with soft blue sleeves.

The smaller, seated in the blonde's lap, could have passed for Yami's twin though his own tri-colored hair seemed softer and had less yellow. His violet eyes were wide and full of innocence as he looked upon the two girls who had both seated themselves on either side of the blonde on the statue's base.

"Oi!" Seto called. "Guys!"

The four of them turned to face the two, each of them smiling as they recognized the brown haired man.

"Hi, Seto," the strawberry-blonde female said, pushing a few strands of hair behind a pointed ear and resting her flute in her lap.

The two boys smiled and waved and the winged girl smiled and opened her mouth to say something when she noticed Yami. "Oi, Seto. Who's the hot guy?"

Yami felt the slightest tinges of red dust his cheeks at being referred to as "the hot guy" but smiled anyway. "My name is Yami. And you are…?

The winged one grinned and pointed to herself. "I am Angel. It's nice to meet you, hottie."

The other female rolled her eyes. "Angel no baka, stop that."

"But onesan! He's hot!"

She sighed gently and glanced at the blushing teen. "Ignore my imoto, she's just an idiot. I am Shaenaur."

"I," the blonde said, draping an arm about the waist of the other in his lap, "am Jounouchi Crawford, but everyone calls me Jou." He shook Yami's hand. "Nice to meet you."

"My name is Game," Yami's look alike chirped, smiling.

"No it's not," Angel said. "It's Yuugi." She turned to Yami and smiled. "He's my 'little' older brother." She gave a gentle roll of her eyes as she thought of his nickname. "You might as well get used to calling him 'Game', though, cause the only times you're gonna hear 'Yuugi' is when I'm pissed -" she jerked her head in Shaenaur's direction "- she's pissed, or -" she pointed at Jou "- he's screamin' it."

The blonde blushed and made an indignant noise in his throat, glaring at her. Angel turned to him and placed her hands on her hips. "Oh, c'mon! You and Game are practically engaged and to me that makes you my brother. And I, as your sister, have a Ra-given right to make fun of both of you anytime, anywhere, and especially around strangers."

Jou continued to glare for a moment before muttering, "She's right" very softly under his breath.

"These guys," Seto explained to Yami, "all work here, except Jou. He just sits around and does nothing all day."

"And since my pride has been stripped away from just hanging around Angel, I'm not even going to bother with disagreeing," Jou said, grinning.

Yami smiled at the blonde as the group chuckled. With a grin still upon his face, Seto continued speaking. "Shaenaur runs the florist shop and Angel and Game sometimes help out."

"No we don't," Angel said, as though offended. "We just cause chaos."

"Which is why I don't allow them inside the shop," Shaenaur deadpanned.

Yami grinned and was about to say something when Angel groaned. He cast her a glance and she pointed in the direction of a large cathedral. "Anzu's here."

At the name of 'Anzu', Jou growled, Game snuggled closer to the other's chest and Shaenaur's tail twitched.

"She's still here?" Seto asked, surprised. "I thought she ran off last night."

Shaenaur made a face and said, "She came back. Said her-" Shaenaur's voice took on a screechy, falsetto voice "- 'devotion to the church and righteousness' called her. I personally think she wants to torment us more."

Yami peered at the group. "Who's Anzu?"

"She's a mean, conniving bitch," Angel stated simply. "She also calls me a demon all the time."

"The only thing she knows how to do is talk until you pass out," Shaenaur added.

"That happened once," Angel murmured. "We still have no scientific evidence as to how, but I just passed out one day while she was talking." She grinned at Yami. "I guess I was just so sick and tired of her mindless chatter, my body just decided it wouldn't listen anymore."

"She also homophobic."

Angel groaned at Seto's words. "Must you remind us? All me and Game and Jou ever hear is -" her own words became high-pitched as she mimicked Anzu "- 'You three ought to be ashamed of yourselves. You've destroyed any and all morals you might have had.'" Her voice returned to its normal pitch as she glanced away, glaring at the ground. "I hate her so much."

" 'You three'?" He could tell easily that Game and Jou were in love, but Angel…?

She looked up and smiled at him. "Don't care if it's guy or girl, so long as we love each other."

"And just what are you doing here?" a cold voice asked.

Yami looked to the voice's source, and caught his first glimpse of Anzu. Her hardened eyes were dark blue and filled with hate. Her short-chopped hair came down to her shoulders and was the same color as Seto's. She was dressed in the white robes of the church, and they seemed out of place on her.

Angel growled at her. "In case you haven't noticed in the past sixteen years, we live here, Apricot."

Anzu glared at the winged girl. "I told you not to call me that, demon."

Shaenaur's grip on her flute tightened. "Why don't you just leave us alone?"

The brown haired one's eyes turned to the elven teen and she opened her mouth to speak before noticing Yami. She paused and turned to face him, her eyes glanced him over before giving a false smile. "Who are you? And why are you hanging out with a group of freaks like them?"

"My name is Yami," he spoke coldly, glaring at the girl. "And I would appreciate you not talking about my friends that way." Mentally he blinked. Did he already consider this odd group his friends? He cast a quick glance to the quartet and gave a slight nod. Yes, he did.

"Your friends?" Anzu snorted. "I guess you don't know about those three, now do you?" she asked pointing at Angel, Jou and Game.

"I do and I couldn't care less," he hissed, his voice low and eyes glaring.

Anzu gave him a disbelieving stare before sneering and turning on her heel, storming back to the cathedral. Angel glared at her retreating back for a few moments, shaking in rage, before pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her quivering wings about herself, quickly become a ball of feathers with a puffed up tail sticking out.

"Ra, I hate her so much," she growled, the ball around her starting to rock as she gently moved back and forth.

Shaenaur placed the flute beside her and began to smooth out her tail that had puffed up in anger. She was acting calm, but he could see the anger in her eyes. Seto shifted nervously and Jou placed comforting arms around Game.

"So," Yami said, breaking the silence, "just who else should I meet here before I'm accepted into this little town?"

The others glanced at him, Angel having to come out of her ball to do so, and smiled.

"Well," Shaenaur said, "you're going to need to visit some of the shops. They'll help you get started on that farm of yours."

"Which ones?"

"You're going to need to stop by the tool shop for one thing - another friend of ours works there and he'll help get you what you need to get started. Then the Livestock Shop's owner will get you some grass - you'll need that if you're going to raise chickens and cattle," Shaenaur stated.

"My dad will want to meet you, Yami," Jou said.

"Why is that?"

"Because his dad is the mayor of this place and he likes to meet everyone who lives around here," Game explained.

Angel gave a thoughtful blink and tuned to Shaenaur. "Hey, can't we give him some seeds? He could use them, right onesan?"

"Hey, yeah." Shaenaur smiled at Yami. "I'll get you some seeds from the shop - free of charge."

"Really? Thanks."

"Yeah, well, don't expect me to do it again. You're going to have to pay me next time."

"Don't worry, I will."

"All right," Angel stood and clapped her hands together. "Now that we know what we're going to be doing for today, let's get to it!"

And, for the third time that day, Yami felt someone grab his arm and drag him off through the town.

That evening, when Yami finally got home, he was more exhausted than ever. Plus, being dragged around all day by a hyperactive girl didn't help much and only made his arm hurt. With a groan and a sigh, he flopped down on his bed, smiling at the thought of his newest fiend, Malik.

After being dragged all the way across the town and into the tool shop, he had noticed the immediate blush that dusted Shaenaur's cheeks when the owner, a tall blonde boy with tanned skin and lavender eyes had greeted them. And Angel, also noticing her sister redden, had wasted no time in saying, quite loudly, "Someone's got a crush!"

It was then she was, literally, kicked out of the shop.

After some introductions and friendly chatter, Malik handed Yami a watering can for the farm.

After that, he was led out of the shop and to Jou's home where he met the boy's father, Pegasus J. Crawford. The mayor greeted him warmly and allowed Yami a visit to his home whenever he felt like it.

Once that was done, he was once more dragged across the town to the Livestock Shop. The owners there were a pair of white-haired boys that could have passed off for twins. He was then introduced to the jade-eyed Ryou and the amethyst-eyed Bakura. After a bit of trouble with the cows (apparently Angel and Game's mother had been run over by a cow, getting killed in the process giving each of them a strict fear of bovine) he was giving a bag of grass seeds and strict orders to never let Angel and Game back into their shop (which, he was informed, the group had been told to many times but they had never acknowledged the warnings or threats).

The final place he had to stop at before he was allowed to leave the town was the Florist Shop/Shaenaur, Angel, and Game's home. He was given a bag of both turnip and potato seeds to help get him started before receiving a grand tour of the main shop, the kitchen, then the upstairs bedrooms - one for each of the three teens - and even the bathroom, before Shaenaur decided it was time to let him go home.

As he thought about the day, he never noticed his eyes creeping shut on him until he was fast asleep, waiting for the new dawn.

Yay! First chappy up! ^^

Yami and Kura: O.O … Tis long…

Angel: ^^ I know. I think, so far, only the Original Twelve is longer than this. I happy. *does happy dance* And now, Reviewer Q and A Before the Reviewer can ask! *mutter* We need to shorten that up…

Q - Jounouchi Crawford?! What da heq?!

A - Angel: To understand this, go read my other fic, Adopted. Then it shall all make sense…

Kura: *hisses* No it won't! Don't believe her!

Angel: *chucks brick at Bakura's head* Shut-up!

Angel: And so far, that's all I can think of. If you have any question, put them in your reviews and I'll get around to answering them next chapter. Also, I don't own YugiOu or the song Angel was singing. But I do own Angel and my friend owns Shaenaur, so please don't use them without our permission. Till next time!