Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Tell Everybody I'm On My Way ❯ Searching ( Chapter 4 )

Chaos reigned the next morning. The gang seemed to have been split right down the middle, with Ryou, Marik, Malik, Bakura, Mai, and Serenity on one side, while Tristan, Joey, Tea, and Yami remained on the other side. There were only two who remained in a neutral state: Kaiba and Duke. Kaiba had never taken an interest in his rival's home and school-life, and Duke had been too busy to participate at all, his work consuming even his crush on Serenity. Duke knew about Yugi's disappearance before school, because Ryou had called him the night before, explaining the situation and cautioning him to `keep mum' about the whole thing until the office was notified. And under no circumstances was Duke to attempt to find Yugi. The results of such actions could be catastrophic.

Rumors began to circulate at lunch. It didn't take much to start them. Yami sat in a corner of the cafeteria with the remaining three members of his group. It seemed that they had been evicted from their usual place outside, under an ancient willow tree behind the art wing. Of the four, Tea was the only one who seemed even remotely normal. True, she looked as though she hadn't slept a wink, but other than that, nothing seemed amiss. She ate her lunch, chattering about random subjects even though nobody was listening, and fussing with her hair and clothes. The boys were another story. Yami sat staring at his half-eaten lunch, ignoring the world around him. Tristan and Joey were arguing over something, their lunches lying forgotten on the table. All three of them looked exhausted, were moody, and ready for a fight. This last was true even for Tea, because she landed herself in detention later that afternoon for attacking another girl, who had just asked if she was all right.

As for the others…they were outside, underneath the willow, huddled together and whispering. Serenity and Mai looked as though they had been crying, and Mai wore none of her usual makeup. Bakura and Malik seemed oddly tame, sitting next to their hikaris and participating in the soft conversation. Neither one of them was loud, rude, energetic, or up to something as they usually were. Whatever was going on, it had the opposite effect on Ryou. The pale youth was high-strung and nervous, speaking quickly and sometimes louder than necessary, though the others were quick to silence him when this happened. Marik was an entirely different story. He slumped against the trunk of the willow, half hidden by the others. He seemed to droop, ignoring his lunch, even when ordered to eat. Everything about him appeared dull. His hair looked almost grayish, and he was pale under his tan. His lavender eyes were dull and lifeless. Together, the six didn't project what could be called an air of happiness. Quite the opposite really.

Kaiba watched this all day, and began piecing together the bits of information he had during his chemistry class. “Let's see…Yugi's little posse has split up. Yugi's not here. One half of his cheer squad is sulking in the cafeteria or picking a fight with anyone, while the other half is outside, planning something.” (Kaiba had found that it was easier to try understanding Yugi and his friends if he talked to himself while he did it.) “Yugi must have run away.” Now, the only thing he had to do was test his theory.

 

/After school/ “Mokuba, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure Seto. What do you need me to do?”

“Go over to Marik's house, and ask him what's happened to Yugi. Make sure he doesn't know that I'm asking, or he might not tell you anything. Got it?”

“Yes, but why are you asking about Yugi?”

“Because something strange is going on, and I'm going to find out what. Get going. I want you back before dark.”

“Okay.” Mokuba pulled on a jacket and left. Kaiba flopped down on the couch in his office. Without Joey and Co to drive him bonkers, he'd been bored all day. Being bored made him sleepy. He had time for a nap before Mokuba came back…

 

/Marik's house/ Mokuba rang the doorbell. He heard footsteps, and then Ishizu opened the door. She smiled when she saw who it was. “Good afternoon Mokuba.”

“Hi Ishizu. Is Marik home?”

“He is. He's up in his room. Do you want me to get him?”

“No thanks. I'll go up to him.” Mokuba headed up the stairs, and down the hall to the door on the end. Egyptian hieroglyphics carved into it announced to anyone who could read them that this was Marik's room. Mokuba knocked.

“Who is it?” A soft voice inquired from within.

“It's Mokuba. Can I come in?”

“Sure. The door's unlocked.” Mokuba opened the door and slipped inside. The room on the other side was a mess, almost as if its owner had thrown a fit. Marik was sprawled on his bed, face down.

“Hi Marik.” Mokuba said. When he got no response, he shook the blonde's shoulder. “I said hi.”

“Hi.” Marik mumbled, rolling over to look at Mokuba.

“Are you okay? You look awful.”

“No Mokuba, I'm not okay. Thanks for asking though.”

“What's wrong?”

“Its just … I…nothing Mokuba. It's nothing.” Marik's voice cracked, and he turned away from the boy beside him. Mokuba climbed up onto the bed and sat beside Marik. He remained silent for a moment, trying to decide how to do this. Marik was one of his best friends, and he didn't want to make him upset, but his big brother had acted as if this was important. Finally, he spoke.

“Does this have anything to do with Yugi?”

“Wh-what do you know about that?”

“About what?” Mokuba asked innocently.

“About Yugi being…y'know…”

“Out of town?”

“He's not out of…he isn't…I mean…” Marik trailed off.

“Marik, what's going on? I haven't seen Yugi for almost a week, and Seto said he wasn't at school when I asked.” This was true, sort of. He hadn't seen Yugi for over a week now, and he had asked about Yugi… just not where Yugi was.

“I don't think I can…I'm not supposed to…”

“Please?” Mokuba begged. “I really want to know, Marik. He's my friend too.” That did it. Marik burst into tears.

“Yugi's gone!” he wailed. “He ran away, and he said that he won't come back! He's the first one of them who accepted me as a friend, and now he's…gone. Just like that…”

When Mokuba got him to calm down, Marik told him everything he knew. By the time he had finished, it was getting dark. Mokuba thanked Marik, assured him that Yugi wouldn't forget him, and ran all the way home.

 

/The Kaiba household, after dinner/ Seto sat at his desk, staring off into space. Mokuba sat on the other side of the desk, waiting. He'd just finished telling his brother everything that was relevant to Seto's original request. This, of course, did not include Marik's breaking down, nor did it mention why Marik was so upset.

“Tell me if I've gotten something wrong Mokuba. Yugi's run away to who-knows-where, doesn't want any of his gang to attempt tracking him, and threatened to destroy the Millennium Puzzle, and thus kill Yami. Am I right?”

“Uh-huh. That's everything.”

“I was right. He did run away. I just didn't think he was so serious about it.”

“Seto?”

“Mmmm?”

“Can we try to find him?”

“Mokuba, I may not like Yami, but I don't want to be responsible for my rival's death. Even if I didn't kill him directly.”

“But he was only referring to using the Millennium Ring to find him. He won't know if we do it. Please Seto? He never did anything to you, and he's always been nice to me, and I'm gonna miss him.”

“Do I have to?” Seto asked, leaning back in his chair.

“Yes.” Mokuba said firmly. “We have to find him.” Seto sighed.

“Okay, I'll see what I can do.”

“Thank you Seto!”

“But not `til tomorrow. Got it?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Go to bed.” Mokuba went. Once he was gone, Seto got online.

Where would I go if I was running away? Out of the country, that's for sure. Okay. I'll run a search on all flights that went out yesterday. The computer hummed softly, sifting through the passenger lists on a multitude of outgoing flights.

 

/Nearly an hour later/ An ear-piercing beep announced the final result of the search. It had taken longer than Seto had expected. After determining that Yugi had taken a flight out of Domino Airport to Tokyo Narita Airport, he had to find the miniature duelist's name on the ridiculous amount of passenger lists. Finally, here it was. Seto smiled. Yugi had picked a good one. He'd flown out of Tokyo at 5:00pm yesterday, on a nonstop flight to San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California. His flight was scheduled to arrive at 8:55am, and he had then caught a second flight at 11:30am to Sacramento International Airport, scheduled to arrive at 12:13pm. From there, his name vanished from the passenger lists on any flight going out of Sacramento. That must be where he was staying. Just to check, Seto ran a search of the local high schools, and found the name Yugi Mutou on a registration list at San Juan High School. Satisfied that Yugi wasn't going any farther, Seto went to bed.

 

/Morning/ Mokuba came running into Seto's bedroom at precisely 5:00am the next morning. “Seto! GetupgetupgetupgetUP! We have to find Yugi!” Seto groaned. It was much too early to be getting up on a Saturday morning.

“Mokuba, what time is it?”

“5 o'clock.”

“Good grief! Go away, and come get me in three hours.”

“But SETO! You have to GET UP!”

“Mokubaaaaaa…”

“Come ON!”

“More sleep thank you.” Seto muttered, rolling over and burying his face in his pillow. Mokuba glared at his brother for a moment, then went back to the door. Seto, not really paying attention, assumed that Mokuba had left, rolled back onto his back, relaxed, and forgot all about him. Bad idea. Mokuba got a running start from the hallway, charged into the bedroom at full speed, and took a running leap that landed him squarely on Seto's stomach.

“GET UP!”

“No.” Seto wheezed, attempting (and failing) to eject Mokuba from the room without getting out of bed.

“But we have to find Yugi!”

“I already did.”

“WHAT!?”

“I found his flight on the computer last night. He's in the US. Sacramento, California, San Juan High School, to be exact.”

“But you said we'd look today.”

“I decided to look last night. If I'd known that you were getting me up this early, I'd have told you.”

“You're the best!”

“Yes, I know. Now let me sleep.”

“Okay. Thanks Seto. Seto?” No good. The brunette was out like a light.