Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Love and Pain ❯ Where are you? ( Chapter 16 )

Let’s just get the stupid disclaimer over and done with shall we? I DON’T OWN YU-GI-OH!!!!

There. Now that those lawyers are gone until the next chapter

AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WHAT YOU ALL HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR. PLEASE, PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR....... CHHAAPTTERRR SSSIIXXXXTEEEEENNN!!!

Bakura just wasn’t having a good day. First of all, one of his friends was in danger. Then he had spent all DAY running around LOOKING for that friend. His feet were tired, his breath was coming out in little tiny gasps, and on top of it all, the school had been deserted when they had got there, save for an elderly caretaker who clearly thought that he was the next candidate for the loony bin. It didn’t help that Y/B was yelling out loud in sheer anger and frustration for the same reasons as above. Well, he doesn’t need to breathe really, and it wasn’t HE who the caretaker thought was nuts. HE couldn’t be seen, after all, except by Bakura. Who just couldn’t take it anymore. So he snapped, big time. “WHERE IN BLOODY THE PLACE BENEATH THIS EARTH ARE THOSE THREE!?!”. Both Y/B and the caretaker jumped 4 feet straight up in the air. Which for the poor old dude was quite an accomplishment for he was at least sixty. The guy ran (well hobbled really fast) away, wondering if he could get to the phone and call the feds, before this strange albino psycho could get him with the sharp pointy thing that draped around his neck. Bakura and Y/B watched him go. Then Y/B started for the gates “Didn’t know you had it in you, Hikari. But I guess even you have limits”. That was not what Bakura was expecting him to say. He thought that his yami was going to shout at him for starling him. “Yeah? I guess a days worth of exercise really wears down your patience huh? This is too weird, just when we need to find Joey, we can’t seem to find him.” Bakura followed Y/B out of the school grounds and down the street, just missing the hordes of police squad cars that came from the other end of the road. The police had gotten a high emergency call and were on the lookout for a maniacal boy with white hair, a sharp pointed object, a crazed expression on his face and a machine gun. ( The old man had a habit of exaggerating things).

“Maybe Gishiro knew we were looking for Joey and did something to him. He probably knows that stupid rule as well as I do”. Y/B mused, forgetting that Bakura was listening. Bakura gasped . “You really think that?”. Y/B nodded , “ Gishiro is smart, he is probably one step ahead of us”. Y/B felt bad for worrying his Hikari. He knew that Bakura considered Joey a good friend. Y/B couldn’t really care less about the boy himself, but if he knew where Kaiba lived, that made him the number 1 priority. The two strolled on, not really looking where they were going. It was a bit of a miracle that they didn’t suddenly find themselves squashed on the asphalt road as road kill with wide tyre tracks going across their bodies. Not that Y/B would probably get hurt but you never know. I mean what spirit wants to see if they can be run down by a car? Just because you are intangible doesn’t mean that you can’t be hit by an automobile because there weren’t any in ancient times when Y/B was locked in the puzzle. They had horses and chariots and camels. At least in Egypt anyway. Any who, while I was entertaining you all with my mindless, pointless drabble, the both of them got back to their place. “Well, maybe we should take a break for now and go look for Yugi at the turtle game shop when we have rested”. Bakura absentmindedly put his keys in his jacket pocket, then took it off and hung it up. “Maybe you should call them and ask them for Kaiba’s address ,they are rivals after all. But don’t tell him or that idiot pharaoh why we want to know”. Bakura nodded and headed for the phone table in the hallway. The two were surprised to see, when they got to it, that there were two messages on the answering machine. They never really got any, because neither encouraged it. Y/B went to see if there was any thing good on TV while Bakura checked them. ’they are probably from my father’ he sighed. The first was indeed from Bakura’s old man who said he would be staying in England for a few more weeks due to some ‘complication in his research’ and to take his vitamins and eat his greens. ‘Geez, dad’ Bakura thought as the message ended ‘why don’t you just admit that you are afraid of coming home because of Y/B? At least I would finally know the truth and we would all be alot happier with the knowledge. Lets see what else you’ve forgotten to remind me’. Bakura erased that message and switched to the next one, annoyed at his father for not providing an adequate explanation. Then he suddenly stiffened as Yugi’s strangely upset voice came on. When Yugi was upset, you paid attention and started worrying. “ Bakura, Y/B if you two are listening to this, get your butts down to the hospital right away. Joey nearly died in history class today”. Bakura paled to match his hair colour. ’Oh, so that’s why they weren’t at school when the bell rang’ He contemplated and leaned closer. Yugi continued on. It seemed that he was about to start crying on the phone right then. “He really wasn’t looking too good when we last saw him and why am I talking to your answering machine?” His voice rose in suspicion. “Where are you two if you’re not at home sick? First Tea and Kaiba go missing, you two also and now Joey’s fighting for his life? What the heck is going on? Are we missing something?”. there was a pause here. “Yami wants to know if this is connected to what we talked about yesterday and.. what? Where is his my little Egyptian underwear? What the.. Oh geez Yami! do you really think that your underwear is more important than Joey’s condition? Bakura, Tristan, Duke Devlin and I are waiting at the emergency ward. Mai is on her way. She seemed pretty upset when I called her. I wonder why? What? Yami! What do you mean by that?” another pause. “ That was SO an important question!

Bakura, you and Y/B get here now if you’re still alive!”. And with that, the message ended . Bakura frowned “This whole business is bollocks! Y/B!!!!” He yelled, and walked quickly into the lounge (the living room for all you Americans) where Y/B sat on the couch, remote in hand watching his favourite show, Shortland street! (I only watch that if someone is going to die). Y/B did NOT like being interrupted while he was watching TV. It was his third favourite thing to do, besides stealing and annoying Yami to high heaven. “ This had better be good, boy” He growled as he pushed the mute button right when the nurse said “you’re not in Guatemala now, Dr Ropata”. Bakura started closing the windows that Y/B had opened. “We gotta go to the hospital, Joey nearly croaked in history today”. Y/B turned the TV off and looked at his hikari. “Well, he really is smart. No doubt he has seen Joey and Kaiba fight, and came to the same conclusion as we did ”.

“We need to get moving. That message was from 3:15 this afternoon! It‘s already 5!”. Bakura was plotting the quickest way to the hospital in his head. They would have to walk there. ‘I should start saving up for a car’ He thought. Y/B frowned. He would go to the hospital with Bakura, but he didn’t have to like it and if he was stuck with that high and mighty, holier than thou pharaoh for more than one millisecond than what was needed, he would put him and his wimpy hikari through the shadow equivalent of the wonderful, modern, totally useful blender. Bakura snuck a sideways glance at his yami and decided to do his best to keep him and Yami separated tonight. Not that it would help much. “So, lets go already, after all the running we have done today, making a sprint to the hospital won’t seem like much.” He reached for his jacket. It was going to be cold that evening.

“For once Hikari, you and I agree on something other than what cards we should put in our deck”.

“Yeah, I guess so. Now where did I put those house keys?”. Bakura started checking the table where the phone was kept. He wanted to get out of there as fast as he could, but he had to lock the house or else someone would pull a Y/B and the two would come back to a empty home. “I can’t find them anywhere!”.

“Uh, Hikari, did you check your pocket? The one I saw you put the keys in when we got back?”. Y/B said this with his voice dripping with the oily liquid sound of sarcasm. He managed to also sound impatient. Bakura flushed red as he fished out his keys, complete with the change of heart card key ring from his limited edition Grease jacket. (you know those ones that those boys are wearing at the end and then they give one to John Travolta so he can sing and dance with Olivia Newton-John?) Bakura chuckled embarrassedly “Sorry about that yami”. The two of them went outside. While Bakura was locking the door Y/B asked him something that had been bugging him . “Hey, what class was Wheeler in again?”.

“Huh? oh he was in history. Why?”.

As they started off down their driveway, Y/B replied “ If you had said maths class, I would finally have enough proof to come to a conclusion about my hypothesis”.

“And what would that be?”.

“That algebra is hazardous to your health, but since he was in history, I guess it was all the wars”.

#####

Mai Valentine was racing from the parking lot as fast as her pencil thin $400 Ralph Lauren high heels would let her. The thought of someone as energetic and full of life as Joey succumbing to illness like that really scared her to no end. ‘It must be the end of the world’ she thought to her self as she opened the doors. That single thought to her was half true. It betrayed more of what she was really feeling. ‘Please , Joey if you make it through this, I’ll never make fun of you again. Well, only in special cases, such as when you make a complete ass of yourself at a party or something like that, but that’s it’. As Mai walked into the emergency department she was met by a sight that often made her want to walk right back out again. The sight and smell of blood as car crash victims were whisked away to theatre. The feeling of panic, worry and distress in the air. Although it certainly wasn’t coming from the doctors and nurses on duty (Real hospitals ain't exactly like ER people, the doctors don‘t go running around yelling stat. They are supposed to keep their tone of voice calm. Or it would really scare the patient. And they don’t want that. At least in the one I go to). No, it was coming from the distraught friends and family that were forced to wait in the waiting room while their loved ones faced death. (Now that does happen in real hospitals. I’ve seen it).

Among the group of people in the waiting room, Mai suddenly spotted Yugi, Tristan and Duke, just standing by the water cooler. Although they weren’t exactly weeping like those around them (what boy would?) They didn’t look too good. In fact, the trio of boys all looked like they were getting ready for a funeral. ’which might become true’ Mai thought before she could stop herself . ’Oh, stop thinking like that Valentine, If you keep thinking positive thoughts, The worst thing imaginable might not happen’. With determination, she walked towards the guys, not looking behind her for the door. Tristan and Duke greeted her, but Yugi barely acknowledged her presence. He hadn’t said anything since he had called everyone. ’Poor guy’ Mai contemplated to herself ‘ And I thought that I felt bad, imagine it being your best friend in that room’ . She looked up. “So, how is he doing? Have any of the doctors said anything yet?” She asked the other two. “Well, we don’t know anything yet. It seems that the doctors can’t quite understand what is going on with him”. Duke answered , looking glum. “Oh” Mai said simply, frustration welling inside of her. Weren’t doctors supposed to know what was wrong with people? “Are they going to get a mindful when I get my hands on them”. Both Tristan and Duke stared at her. They had a good idea about what she was talking about, because both wanted to do the same. Then Yugi, with his eyes cast downwards spoke “Yami says that something evil was poisoning him with dark magic”. The other three looked shocked. Magical poison? Who, what, why was what they were asking themselves . Yugi glanced up at them and then sank into a seat. Tristan examined his little buddy and straightened himself up “ I think you could use some food little dude”. He stated “Why don’t Duke and I go and get something to eat?” He was hoping Mai would take the hint he was trying to send. Neither of the two taller boys had gotten the hikari and his Yami to stop blaming themselves. Maybe Mai could.

Duke stretched his muscles also “Yeah it must be dinner time by now. You want anything Mai?”.

“No thanks. I was in the middle of a meal when you guys rang”. Mai smiled at him as she sat down next to Yugi. She had caught Tristan’s point. “Go ahead. You boys need food”.

“Yeah, I also need to call my mom. She wanted news as soon as possible. C’mon Duke”. Tristan and Duke walked down to the hospital cafeteria.

#####

In the dark, mysterious place that was Yami’s soul room, the said person (or spirit) was currently punching the stone wall. All that accomplished though, was sore knuckles and more aggravation. Yami knew that hurting himself or the wall wasn’t going to help Joey, but all that helplessness just didn’t have anywhere else to go. It was his duty to protect his Aibou and his friends. Well not necessarily his friends but in the time that Yami had gotten to know them, they were his friends now too. Why hadn’t he been able to sense that black, sinister presence until it was already poisoning Joey? His friend had gotten hurt because his magical abilities were on the Fritz. Not to mention there were other things happening to his friends. Tea and Bakura had simply disappeared and Mokubah Kaiba , he had just been told awhile ago, had a accident and was in here himself. And his big brother had vanished too (Kaiba ain’t his friend remember? neither is Y/B). ‘If someone wants to face me, why doesn’t he just duel me instead of doing this to my friends?’ The ex-pharaoh was about to start pummelling the wall again, when something else had drawn his attention. It appeared that Mai had arrived. Now Tristan and Duke were walking away. Curious to what was going on, Yami willed himself out of the puzzle and stood beside the chairs where Yugi and Mai were sitting. Judging from their expressions, The two of them wanted to bolt from the room and pretend this was a dream. They were all waiting in silence until Mai spoke up. “Neither of you two can blame yourselves you know, The only one to blame is the bastard that did this to him”. Yugi nodded and seemed a little better. He needed to hear that from someone who knew Joey almost as well as he did so that there was a better chance of him believing it. Yami needed an even better chance before he could though. “Did anyone call Serenity?” Mai asked.

Yugi nodded again, then appeared to suddenly remember something. He glanced up at Mai quickly, with questions in his eyes.

“Mai, you know yesterday, when you ran to the car after hearing that Tea’s uncle called her in sick? Why were you so worried? Is something wrong with Tea?”. Mai suddenly looked nervous.

“Well, that is not for me to say, It is more Tea’s secret than mine . She is okay though. Nothing’s happened to her”. Mai wouldn’t meet Yugi or Yami’s piercing gaze. She wasn’t telling them something. She just couldn’t betray her friend. ‘Trust is an important thing in a friendship, as she would say’ she added silently. That wasn’t about to satisfy her other friends though.

“Do you know where she is?”. Yami went into interrogation mode. “And please be truthful about this”.

“Fine, unless you ask me something that I cannot answer. Yes I do, she ain’t with her uncle anymore”.

“Why didn’t she tell us she had an uncle? or that she was living with him?”. Yugi came up with the next question.

“She didn’t want to trouble you guys. I only know because I accidentally found out”. Mai knew what was coming next. People surrounding them were edging away because they thought she was nuts, the reason being Yami only let her and Yugi see him

“ Where is she?”. Yami used his authoritive voice. He was losing patience from today’s events already.

“I do know where, but I can’t tell you. She asked me not to. I can’t divulge other peoples secrets”. Mai put on a pleading tone. That didn’t do much to help her.

“I know Mai, but if Tea is in trouble, we deserve to know , we are her friends , we care about her”. Yami tried to put more reason into his voice. He was going to try the guilt trip.

“ I know you guys are her friends, but she is my friend too. That’s what friends do. They protect each other”. Mai started looking for the quickest exit. That had turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

“Protect? Protect her from what?”. Now Yami was getting angry. You could hear the force of rage through the words himself. Anyone hurting his friends was asking for it. A trip to the shadow realm that is. And Mai was losing her composure.

She spluttered. “I uh, well, you see....”. how fortunate that the emergency doors banged open, or Mai would have spilled alot more than what Tea would have wanted her to. Glancing at the disturbance, Yugi and Yami saw another object for their questions.

“Hey guys, how is he doing?”. Mai looked very grateful to Bakura, who was waiting impatiently for an answer. Y/B was at his side, wondering what he had just interrupted.
“We don’t know anything yet, except that Joey was magically poisoned”. Yami stated , getting a hold on himself. Mai took this as an opportunity to escape and jumped up. “Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom”. She quickly ran off before anyone could stop her. Yami wasn’t looking happy and for once, Y/B decided to keep his comments to himself. He didn’t want to go through the blender himself. “Hmm, well told you”. He said instead to Bakura in what he thought was a whisper. Except that Yugi was right in front of them. “Told him what?” Yugi piped up. Bakura and Y/B jerked up straight. “In fact, where were you guys today?”. Yugi’s eye’s narrowed. The two albinos gulped .

He looked scary when he did that. Nearly as Yami did. Bakura tried to pull himself together. The only perfect lie to tell them would be one with some of the truth. “Well, you guys, remember what we talked about yesterday?”.

The other two nodded. “Last night, as we left your guys street, we saw HIM so we decided to follow him around all night and spy, to, uh, find out what he is doing here”. Bakura sat in Mai’s vacated seat, next to Yugi.

“Well? what did you find out about him?”. Yami demanded. This could have something to do with his friends. He folded his arms, as if to say, tell us everything or I’ll make you pay. This wasn’t going to be easy to get away with. Bakura was franticly trying to think of something convincing.

“Only that he remembers everything that happened 5,000 years ago”. Y/B cut in before Bakura could come up with anything . “He is looking for us, pharaoh. You and me. He is probably here to gather millennium items to raise that slave girl to life so they can be together, well he be with her. She despised him ”.

Bakura stared at his yami. Never would he be able to come up with a lie as good as THAT. Mainly because he didn’t know the girl. Bakura wasn’t there after all.

‘Must come with his thieving skills’ He guessed as Yami asked another question.

“Where did he go?” .

“All over town, we eventually lost him just after sunrise. We decided to return home because I was too tired to go to school. Didn’t wake up until Shortland street was on, so we missed the phone call. Sorry for worrying you guys”. Bakura tried his best to look sorry. Y/B nodded along with his hikari. ’He came up with something convincing for once’ The king of thieves mused.

“Well, okay. Hey anyway, just before you two came in, we were trying to get Mai to tell us where Tea was”.

Yugi added. He noticed that the two of them were suddenly very focused. They were very interested.

“Did she tell you?”. Y/B asked urgently. Yami shook his head “I did my best to get it out of her, but that is one strong willed lady. She kept on saying that she couldn’t tell us anything because Tea had asked her not to”.

“Well I am not surprised at that, Yami. You are not supposed to tell any of your friends secrets unless they or anyone else you care about is in immediate danger”. Bakura spoke softly. He had spotted Mai around the corner, unsure if she wanted to go back or not. He smiled at her. He could tell she could hear him.

“Yeah, I guess you are right Bakura”. Yugi slumped. “I feel sort of guilty for asking her all those questions”.

Mai started silently creeping back. Neither Yugi or Yami could see her, for she was behind them.

Then Y/B, sounding totally out of character, said this “Just leave her be, Tea will probably tell us when she is ready. No one should interrogate Valentine about something that isn’t life threatening”. Everyone else was kinda surprised at this statement, but didn’t say anything as Mai rejoined them and Tristan and Duke came back, laden with food.

#####

Tea was debating with herself again. Mai had called from the hospital, where she had just returned home from, (cool, she’s thinking of it as home now) and told her what had happened, including the fact that the guys knew that Mai knew where she was. They were worried about her, judging from how shaken Mai was after the question session from Yami. Tea was proud of how long Mai was able to keep herself together. The main thing that concerned her though, was the fact that one of her dearest friends was struggling to stay alive in the very place she had just come from. ‘Should I go down to the hospital to see Joey?’ she wondered as she paced her new room. The cute pink and blue walls (wait, what colour were they?)didn’t do much for her mood. But at least they were better than the ones in Mokubah’s room, which were the dullest colours that you could ever imagine. Tea had spent the whole afternoon there, keeping Seto company, waiting for the younger Kaiba to awaken. He was waiting there by himself, unlike Mai. Who was waiting for Joey. The guy who stood up for her when the teacher accused her of cheating on a test in English (Hate English! Hate! Hate!). The guy who would, even if he ate alot of food, give it to anyone who was worse off than him. The guy who stood up for Yugi with Tristan and ended up getting beat up. The guy who had looked with Yugi found her a place to practice dancing. “Argh.. how can I stay here when one of the reasons I can deal with my life is in for the fight of his life? I am so going back down there!” Tea grabbed her cell phone and her cardigan, so that if Mai or someone needed to reach her, they could ring that. Fears of leaving the mansion crossed her mind, but she pushed them back ‘Joey needs me, I will get there to be there for him. I can put aside my own trouble for once’ she concluded as she walked to the door. When she had opened it though, She was met with the sight of someone she had hoped to never see again.

“Why, hello there” He said, then lunged.

geez, almost five pages, the longest I have written wow! oh excuse me *puts on TV announcer voice*

Well, well, well. Who exactly did Tea meet at her door? (as if you guys don’t already know) Will Joey pull through? You will know the answers to this if you do these three things: Read the story, Review it and write your own so I can read those

so read, review and write!