Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Psyche ❯ Obsessions ( Chapter 2 )

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

 

This is the third part of the Chrysalis series. You will enjoy this more if you read Chrysalis and Emergence first. You will get lost!

 

Psyche

Chapter Two: Obsessions

~*~*~*

The desk wasn't empty any more. The teachers, bowing to a logic far greater than their own, which also held their paychecks, had reshuffled the class so no desk stood in empty silence in the middle of the class, like a unhealed wound. The desk had been removed and placed in some far flung corner of Domino High. The seating chart shifted to accommodate the missing desk. A new student sat nervously behind Miho Kasaka, trying to pretend that only a few weeks ago another had unenthusiastically contemplated Miho's chubby shoulders and had the dubious privilege of having to be in front of Tori Katota, who smelled faintly of the red peppers that his family ground into paste in their small shop behind the school.

 

Yugi tried his best not to look over there. He could manage, only if he didn't look. If he didn't look, he wouldn't see, and if he didn't see that the school's powers that be had officially accepted the police report that a certain Jonouchi Katsuya was the victim of foul play and they had given up trying to find said Jonouchi Katsuya's remains a week ago. He could still hold on to the belief that Jo would bounce in some morning, howl about his missing desk and then try to bum some lunch money off him because he left his sitting at home on Kaiba's overly ornate hall table.

 

It was easier to pretend this when Yami was sitting just in front of him, then he could just focus on his other. In the two weeks since Jonouchi had been officially listed as missing and most likely deceased, he had become an expert in his Yami's hair. He had hours of looking at the way the soft strands swept up in graceful arcs. He had memorized the reverse widows peak that shadowed down the back of his dark's head in three elegant triangles. He could now, with little effort, picture the precise placement of each wild spike, where his hair would shift color, where those little hairs were that no amount of brushing, spraying or gelling could tame.

 

It also frightened him that the only one who really seemed to share this obsession, with pretending and minute detail as a distraction, was Kaiba. Mokuba had sat in his living room, distractedly swirling a chocolate milkshake and telling about his big brother's sudden obsession with everything and anything, except Jonouchi. Kaiba had apparently spent three hours staring at a ball point pen, twirling it in his fingers, taking it apart, inspecting each piece, all without blinking. The no blinking part was what bothered Mokuba the most.

 

“Aren't you supposed to blink? Don't you go blind or something if you never blink?” Mokuba had asked, searching Yami's face as if it held some answer.

 

Yugi wondered if he forgot to blink when he stared at Yami's head.

 

Yami, with the panache of someone who had already died and gotten over it, seemed more irritated then grieved by Jonouchi's passing. Killing Jo was a personal insult to the pharaoh and he intended to punish the person who had dared to harm his friend. Yugi shuddered at the things that roved through his Yami's mind in the middle of the night. The one thing that didn't seem to even rate a passing thought however, was Jo himself. If the subject was brought up, Yami would look sympathetic, offer unending support for his grieving light, but didn't seem upset himself.

 

“Death isn't that bad aibou. Dying is a bit unpleasant, but death itself?” Yami shrugged, “It can be a bit… dull. He's probably in the Land of the Dead having lunch with his ancestors.” Yami had look a tad envious there, but it was quickly smothered in a reassuring hug.

 

He'd gotten a lot of hugs in the past few weeks. He almost existed from hug to hug. Hugs from his yami and his grandpa in the morning, Anzu hugged him the moment he got into school, Ryou would wrap him in a hug if they met in the hall way, and once he was almost certain Bakura had hugged him. He couldn't be quite certain it was the thief. It could have been Ryou having a really bad hair day, but he was almost certain, and after he had checked all his pockets, his backpack and accounted for all his possessions, he'd wondered if Bakura was still trying to work off his bad luck.

 

“Hey, Yug, can I see your notes?” Honda perched on the desk next to him, effectively blocking his view of the desk that wasn't there to be seen.

 

“My notes?” Yugi wondered if he even had notes anymore. Scholarship and he had parted ways a little while back. It was difficult to memorize your yami's hair and take notes at the same time. “Maybe you should try asking Yuai for hers, mine are… a… messy.”

 

“Didn't take any, huh?” Honda shrugged. “Okay. Want to copy mine once I get them?”

Yugi nodded, pulling his mind out of the quagmire it tended to fall into so easily. He could go for whole minutes sometimes without thinking about his missing friend. “Sure, I've been a bit… tired lately.”

 

“Yami keeping you up?” Honda grinned, his eyes teasing.

 

Yugi laughed, “I now know why he had so many wives. Poor women, they were sadly overworked.”

 

“Thinking of sharing?” Honda resisted the urge to glance over at Yuai's desk. Ever since this morning, he'd been wondering what was happening. The look of shock on Yuai's face had told him that whatever was happening hadn't been known by Yugi's supposed girlfriend.

 

“No.” Yugi frowned, and poked Honda's knee playfully, “He's my yami. Get your own.”

 

“What! And deal with my own sex crazed Egyptian!” Honda plastered a look of overblown shock on his face. “Not me!”

 

“It takes a strong man to face a yami in the morning.” Yugi curled one arm in a strong man pose.

 

Honda reached forward and tested Yugi's total lack of muscle. “Then how do you do it?”

 

“Stamina.” Yugi lifted his chin, “I may be small, but I've got staying power.”

 

“Oh, do you…” Honda's grin widened in preparation for his next move, but was interrupted as Mr. Yoshida walked in with Yuai at his heels.

 

“Settle down class. Settle down.”

 

Yuai hurried to her desk, quickly slipped her backpack under he seat and sat down with a quick smile to Yugi and Honda.

 

“Alright, now lets begin with cosine functions. Now who remembers what we talked about yesterday?”

 

~*~*~*

Yuai

~*~*~*

She was sitting on the top of the stairs waiting, as she ended up waiting every night, for Kaiba to come home. She couldn't remember how this ritual had started, probably something Mokuba had asked her to do, but she couldn't end it. So after she coaxed a reluctant Mokuba into eating his dinner, doing his homework and getting ready for bed, she would sit here and wait and watch the shadows from the drive lights shiver through the trees, listen to the soft hush of the mansion, and think.

 

Tonight she had the small dueling deck she'd been holding in her pocket all day to think about. Kaiba, in a screaming paroxysm between helpless fury and grief, had thrown it at her yesterday, telling her to give it to Yugi. She hadn't been able to. She had meant to give it to him when they first met, but the happy look on Yugi's face had stopped her. She knew the moment she handed it to him the bleak, frozen look, that had been so much a part of everyone lately, would steal all the joy out of him. Later, after his little…well, no big… goof, she hadn't really wanted to talk to him, afraid of what he might say. Afraid he'd tell her who he'd been sleeping with. She had a feeling it was Yami, but she couldn't be entirely sure. There were a lot of girls and guys who watched Yugi with barely concealed interest, and if it was one of them... Yami, she could accept. Somehow it seemed right that one half of a soul should be with the other half. Another, she couldn't accept that. But who was she to complain?

 

She tumbled the deck over in her hands again looking at it, Jonouchi's deck. Should she give it to Yugi? She was sure he'd treasure it, but what about Kaiba. He'd want Jo's deck, in time, when things weren't so sharp and painful.

 

She was truthful enough to say she didn't want to give it up, even to someone as close to her as Yugi. It would be the final statement that Jo wasn't coming back. That he would no longer need the deck, so it would become nothing more than a remembrance to collect dust up on a shelf and be sadly looked at. That thought made her angry. Angry because Jo was not someone to sit placidly on a shelf and collect dust and he wouldn't want to just be written off like a check that had been cashed, stamped and returned to it's sender.

 

She knew Kaiba still had men hunting for Jo. The file that sat in the middle left drawer of his desk, filled with each minute detail of the search, kept growing. Kado's security staff and tripled in the last weeks as Kaiba demanded more and more from already overworked investigators. Honestly, the resources that he was throwing at the search and the sheer determination he showed in plowing through every obstacle, was frightening. Almost as frightening as the fear that lurked in his eyes.

 

Mokuba, fresh from his stint in Sri Lanka, was bewildered by the sudden change in his life. His stoic brother had become about as cuddly as a marble pillar. His friend was gone and every time he asked what happened, Kaiba would all but bolt out of the room leaving him lost and questioning. At least he wasn't destructive anymore. Instead he had taken up meditation and yoga. A few times she even found him humming strangely while sitting in a full lotus position. She almost wished he'd break something, anything, just so that there would be something familiar in the house.

 

Yuai reached into her pocket and pulled out the other thing that bothered her. After the initial shock had worn off, Honda had remembered they had collected Yugi and her things from their hotel room. She had only given her things a passing glance before tossing them into the bottom of her closet. About a week ago, she had been looking for a stray sock and bumped into the bag containing the improbable statues of her friends. She couldn't laugh at them this time, so she stuffed them back into the bag and found that something else was in there. In the bottom of the bag, wrapped carefully in tissue paper, was the statue of the Magician of Black Chaos.

 

The statue in itself was not exactly the most horrifying thing she had ever encountered, and after a bit of thought she could come up with a plausible reason for it to be in the bag, but what scared her was how she got nervous if it wasn't near her. She kept it in her pack at school and her pocket at home. At night, it sat next to her pillow. In the morning, she would wake with it clutched in her hand like a protective charm. She, who hadn't even had a make believe friend as a child; who didn't believe, until three yamis suddenly popped into existence under her nose, in magic; suddenly had the worlds strangest teddy bear and she was terrified of it. Not so much that she believed it would come to life and do horribly, unspeakable things to her, but because how desperately she clung to it. She hated being dependent on anyone or anything, but she depended on a six inch resin statue of a strangely dressed magician.

 

The shadows on the walls shifted in the breeze. A passing guard passed on his rounds, briefly checking the front door before continuing on. The air conditioning system of the house clicked on with a low, almost inaudible hum. A second later, cool air wafted around her shoulders from the vent above her head. The shadows shifted again as a set of lights swept up the drive. Kaiba was finally home.

 

~*~*~*

Yami

~*~*~*

Betrayer.

 

Yami shook his head, ignoring the soft whisper, walking through the shadows. Cold stone surrounded him, reminding him of his own soul room, but different… softer, cleaner, less aged. He shivered and continued walking. He was in some kind of hall, he decided, and either it was night time, or he was back in the Shadow Realm. It didn't feel like the Shadow Realm. He paused and realized he'd fallen asleep again.

 

This is getting to be a bad habit.

 

He glanced around and decided to let his subconscious get whatever it was on his mind, off it. Something to do with Egypt probably, unless this is another one of those Indiana Jones dreams and Sean Connery was going to show up and make me look for table ware again. Damn pest. How the hell should I know where someone misplaced a cup. Couldn't he just go get another. There are plenty in the world. For Ra's sake, supermarket's have them. He could probably pick up his Ben Gay while he's there. He shrugged and trudged down the hall wondering if he was in a section of his own palace. Too bad it isn't light. I'd like to see this. He ran his fingers over the stone work.

 

Betrayer.

 

He considered that word, since his subconscious seemed determined to make it an issue in this dream. As far as he knew, he had never betrayed anyone. He had done his best to be a honorable and diligent king. He did feel bad about Kuru Eruna and what had happened to Bakura, but he hadn't been pharaoh then. His father would have to answer for that. So what did the voice want?

 

He suddenly, much to his nose's pained annoyance, found a door in front of him. He gave it a push and found himself standing in the middle of a crowd of people. The sun was beating mercilessly down, much as it did everyday in Egypt. The people were wearing clothes that were the same as the peasants used to wear back in the days when he was king. The buildings that loomed large in front of him were… home. Sweet Maat, I'm home.

 

He looked hungrily around. There, over by that pillar with the well next to it, was the little pastry stall he would sneak out of the palace to visit and buy sticky things that his tutors would shriek in horror over. Over there was the horse trough he had once pushed Shimon into when he and Seth wanted to escape an dull day of lessons. There, by that wall, leading into the palace, he had his first kiss, a young, though older than him at the time, noble woman, who he had eventually made his third wife. Pepi, with long black hair that hung like a curtain down to her knees and eyes as soft as a doe. Not the most brainy of his wives, but sweet and quiet and restful to near.

 

The crowd seemed to be going someplace, and since he had no true destination, he let them carry him along, basking in his memories. Every place he looked more memories came rushing back. A small chip in a wall were he and Mahado had scrambled over dragging a chariot wheel that they had stolen for a dare when they were nine. The small flowering tree that waved merrily next to a bush that he would snatch flowers off to present to his mother. An old shattered statue that the children of the palace had used to meet at and leave messages scratched in nearly illegible hieroglyphics on scraps of wood, parchment or any other available surface.

 

Suddenly, he was alone, standing in front of his own palace. He looked quickly around, wondering where the crowd had gone.

 

Betrayer.

 

His subconscious still had issues. He looked behind him and found that he was standing in a courtyard filled with attendants, who were scurrying around as if he had just returned from a long trip. Pack animals were being unloaded, guards leaned wearily against equally weary mounts, slaves darted around offering refreshments. No one however, paid him any attention. Puzzled he walked in the door that stood in front of him.

 

The palace was shady and cool after being out in the sun. Courtiers swayed gracefully through the halls, dressed in cool linens. A few attendents slipped around them carrying messages, cool drinks and occasional gifts as they all hid from the midday heat.

 

“Papa!” A small figure raced wildly out from behind a passing group of women and slammed into him, causing him to stagger slightly. “Papa home!”

 

He looked down into a pair of brilliantly happy ruby eyes, that were the exact mirror of his own. Tiny hands held tight to his leg as the little one gave him a huge smile.

 

“Papa home!”

 

Betrayer.

~*~*~*

Honda and Yugi

~*~*~*

“Haski, Honda, she had lunch with Haski.” Yugi poked at his slice of pizza. “We always have lunch together. I brought a game!”

 

“Maybe she didn't want to play games.” Honda poured himself more Coke from a pitcher, wondering if Yugi was in any condition to get the double meaning of his statement. His short friend was rather wound up.

 

“She could have just said so,” Yugi popped a pepperoni in his mouth, “she didn't have to avoid me like that.”

 

Honda shrugged.

 

“She's acting strange. First this morning and then at lunch. Do you think…” Yugi glanced over to where Jo would usually be sitting wolfing down the pizza, “She's probably just upset or something. Right?”

 

“Yeah. Just upset.”

 

Honda watched Yugi tiredly as he shoved the slice of pizza in his mouth. He hadn't missed the quick flick of his friend's eyes over to where no one was sitting. He really doubted that Yami was there, so it only meant one thing. Jo.

 

Unlike Yugi, who refused to even acknowledge to himself that he thought Jo was dead, or Kaiba, who was driving himself insane with grief, he had another viewpoint. It was based on the unwavering belief that Jo was a survivor. After all the shit his old man had dumped on him; after being basically being abandoned by his mother and sister; after dealing with psychos, street gangs, being a mind slave and all the other collected weirdness of living, Honda was certain Jo would show up. Maybe not in the best of shape. Probably a bit tattered at the edges, but Jo would show up. And until that moment, when his friend came back and told them who the ass was that had done this, so they could hunt the piece of shit down and kill him, he could wait.

 

“So how's Yami? Didn't he want to come out tonight” He shifted subjects deliberately. Better to leave Yugi to his little games, even when he didn't realize he was in the middle of one. He only hoped the pay off was worth the wreckage.

 

Yugi instantly smiled. “He's fine, probably watching Asian Stock Market Beat and scoping out new places to invest our money.”

 

“Haven't changed much has he? Gets a body and still plasters himself to the financial report.” Honda settled back in the red vinyl booth, propping his legs up on the seat.

 

“It's a game.” Yugi scooped up another slice of pizza and started picking the onions off.

 

Honda wondered if he even realized he was doing it. Jo, for reasons only Jo would ever know, loved tons of onions on his pizza. Every time they came out to Pizza Heaven, he'd whine and beg for the onions off other everyone's slices, pile them on his own in a slimy heap, then crunch into them with a greedy, mindless joy. Yugi was well trained. After years of Jo's onion gobbling, Yugi automatically piled his onions on the pizza plate.

 

Jo would laugh about that when he got back and heard. He'd probably roll of the seat and then sit on the floor howling with glee at Yugi piling onions for him while he was gone. He'd snicker about it for weeks, making little hard to miss comments about onion bank accounts and onion collections. If he could get Kaiba to spring for it, he'd probably send Yugi an onion pizza at three in the morning, thereby annoying the hell out of Yami, which would result in Jo scampering around…

 

…Jo didn't know about Yami. He hadn't been there. Honda couldn't even imagine what his friend would do when he got back to find the pharaoh, Bakura and Marik all had their own bodies.

 

“… we've actually tripled our money in the last week.” Yugi stuffed the now onionless slice in his mouth and gulped down some Coke. “We're going to buy some cards that Yami's had his eye on. There's also a new one that just came out that's sort of like the Blue Eyes. A real limited release. There's only one. Yami really wants it.”

 

“What is it?” Honda could already see the carnage. Getting the god cards should have cured Yami of wanting exotically powerful cards, but then again, maybe not. Maybe this time they'd have the Apocalypse. He just hoped Jo would get back in time for the rivers of boiling lava and the rain of toads. He'd need someone to watch his back.

 

“Lady of the Realm.” Yugi frowned thoughtfully as he slurped the last of his Coke out of the bottom of his glass. “I'm not sure what it does, but Yami really, really wants it.”

 

Honda poured Yugi more Coke, “He'll get it then. He has a habit of getting things he wants.”

 

~*~*~*

 

The kid was unconscious again, which really annoyed him, so he kicked the limp body and ambled out of the room. The TV was already on, a cheery fabric softener commercial yodeling merrily about spring time freshness. He caught up the remote, thumped down on the couch, and surfed for a football game. He yawned and stretched out on the couch. “Really Kaiba, I thought you'd at least have a fuck toy with a bit of stamina.”

 

He considered watching a boxing match, but since he didn't recognize either of the boxers, he flipped past. There were no games on right now. “Bummer, ain't it Kaiba. Hundreds of channels and not a single shitty thing on.” He sat up and rubbed his face tiredly.

 

“What am I gonna do to ya Kaiba?” He looked over to where he had dropped his tool box after fixing a busted radiator on his car. If he remembered correctly, he'd left a couple of small gardening tools in the bottom of it. “Ya gotta pay your debts, ya know. One of the first things I learned in this life. If ya owe, ya gotta pay. I gave ya everything Kaiba, and ya destroyed my life. Ya owe me, so ya gotta pay.”

 

He got up and went over to the tool box and started rummaging through it. “I think I know something that will make you bleed Kaiba, make you hurt. You ain't walkin' away clean this time. This time I get to destroy your life.”

~*~*~*

Review! Yes, you. I'm talking to you. You've been lurking long enough. Just hit that little review link and share your thoughts. Unless their flames. Those get deleted.

 

Daebird: I got an evil, evil idea for the villain. It's great. It took me awhile to work it in to the story line, but now that I've got it, you'll love it. As for Yugi, it's always what's underneath that's important.

 

JH-babe: Jou made his missing person's debute at the end of Emergence. He disappeared in chapter 18 not long after the warning I put towards the end of the that chapter.

 

dragonlady222: Glad your with us! I'm hoping to get back into the routine of posting a new chapter once a week, but life has a habit of destroying all my best intentions, but at least I finish what I start, so if life messes me up, sooner or later, the whole thing will appear.

 

bookwormloverjen: *authoress swoons* Love at first sight! My story's off to a great start! Thanks!