Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Mary-Sue Invasion ❯ Singing in the Rain ( Chapter 10 )

Okay… let's see… it's been about two and a half weeks. That's better than a whole month, right? ^^;; Sorry for all the waiting, but it seems that I can't write faster than this.

There's a kind of duelling scene in this chapter. While reading it, keep in mind that I know next to nothing about duelling… ^^; And this is a Mary-Sue fic, after all. You wouldn't expect a first-class duel from one those, would you? *innocent look* Anyway, thanks again for your help, Flaed! ^^

Thanks for the review, ummm… 'Scared out of mind'. *blink* Is this really so scary? Anyway, it's nice to know that someone likes this. ^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh nor Singing in the Rain. Or if I do own them, someone has been playing foul for quite a long time…

~*~*~

Chapter 10: Singing in the Rain

The current weather of Domino City was best described by one word: downpour. The streets were empty, as all sensible people sought refuge indoors. Still, there were some who defied the weather. A teenaged boy was running through the rain, eyes fixed on the trinkets of his pendant. A little ahead of him ran a black-haired girl, staring determinedly into emptiness as she jumped over puddles that were forming on the pavement. Somewhere a little ahead of her, a lonely figure danced forward singing happily from the top of his lungs.

"Singing in the rain… I'm singing in the rain… Daa daa dada daadam… I'm happy again…"

Otogi was happily ignorant of all the hunters that were on the move in the rain as he continued his way singing all the time and not caring at all of being thoroughly soaked.

"…laughing at the clouds, so dark up above, the sun's in my heart, and I'm reeeady for looooove…"

It was quite a good thing that there were no other pedestrians, because, to say it kindly, he was singing a little too loud, a little too high, and a little too much off tune for it to have been anything pleasant.

"Let the stormy clouds chaaase everyone…"

"Hey you!"

"…from the plaaace, come on with the… hey!"

"Give it here!"

"No way!"

"Give it here now!" Black Pearl snarled reaching for the bracelet Otogi was holding above his head.

/Let me out, yami! Together we'll get it from him!/

Otogi blinked as there suddenly were two black-haired girls clinging to him. "Huh? I haven't even been taking anything…"

"I'll get it, I'll get it …!" Pearl was shouting, reaching up towards the bracelet as her yami was trying to force Otogi's arms down. "I'll get it in a moment…"

"You there!"

"Huh?" The threesome ceased their struggling and turned to look at a lonely figure that was standing on the pavement glaring at them. A lightning flashed in the dark sky behind him, thunder's loud rumble drowning out all other sounds. The figure was wearing a long coat, and its end kept on blowing in the suddenly awakened wind. The light from the street lamps sent dark shadows over his face, making him look like a demon from the Hells, well, quite a wet demon, but still. At least this was how he appeared in Otogi's eyes. The two girls on the other hand stared at him openmouthed, the bracelet forgotten.

"It's him…" Black Pearl breathed.

"Oh my…" Pearl echoed her. "Is Ryou there too?"

Her yami wasn't listening to her. "Beloved!" she shouted and rushed towards him.

"Is Ryou there?" Pearl shouted and ran after her.

Otogi blinked as he watched the demon being chased away by the two girls.

"Well… that was weird." He shrugged. Weird, yes, but so what. Azura was waiting. With a happy smile he continued his way homewards.

"Hmm hmm hmm… I walk down the lane with a happy refraaiiin, I'm singing, just singing in the raaiiin!"

~

/Why are you running, yami?/

Bakura glanced over his shoulder while running to see the two girls still following him. He could have left them easily behind if he had wanted to, but that wasn't a part of his plan.

/I know just the right place to get rid of that annoying bug… anyway, I have to get them somewhere were no one can intervene…/

Ryou gave a mental sigh. /As if there were anyone here to intervene… Let me out./

/But…/

/Yami! You promised! I want to take care of her on my own./

It was Bakura's turn to sigh. /As you wish. Although I really don't understand what you imagine you can do alone…/

/Thanks!/ Ryou sent to his yami as he suddenly popped up in the rain. /Wow, it is horrible weather…/

/What did I tell you?/

"Ryou!"

Glancing behind Ryou saw that the girls were already quite close by, and he started quickly to run into the opposite direction than his yami. As he looked back again he saw that Pearl started to follow him, just as he had hoped.

Good… just come after me. I'll… I'll… I'll what?

Truth to tell, he didn't have any idea, but in any case, Pearl was obeying. She seemed to be a surprisingly fast runner… he didn't know if she was getting strength from her 'eternal love' or what, but as it was, she was actually catching up with him. Which she was not supposed to do yet… This all was happening a little too fast. With a sinking feeling he realized that his yami was probably right… what could he do alone? Although it was quite safe to say that he hated this girl, he still wasn't any ruthless murderer with maniacal streaks. Besides, it was a girl he was talking - or thinking - about, and one wasn't supposed to hit girls.

The said girl was getting a little too close for it being comfortable. He rushed forward in the empty alley, took a turn to left, and faced - a dead end.

Dang it… He came to a staggering halt, trying desperately to come up with a plan. Unfortunately it felt as if all the ideas had been washed away from his mind with the rain. Starting to feel like a cornered deer he glanced frantically around. Suddenly his eyes stopped on a ladder attached to a building and…

"Oh, Ryou!"

…not wasting any more time on thinking he rushed to it and started to climb up.

"Oh, what are you doing now?" came an exasperated voice from below. "I don't like high places…"

Then stay down, Ryou thought but remained quiet, mostly because he had run quite out of breath. Unfortunately Pearl didn't obey him, and soon he heard her climbing up after him.

As he got up he took a glance around and realized that now he really was cornered. The roof wasn't any large place, and he couldn't see any other way to get down than the ladder he had just used. He ran to the other end of the roof and glanced down. Too high up to jump… he wasn't that desperate.

I really should have planned this more carefully… He looked behind himself just in time to see Pearl's head coming into view. Oh my… Panic was starting to get good hold of him by now. Think now, think… what would yami do in a situation like this? Okay, he probably wouldn't get into a situation like this but…

"Ryou!" Pearl had finally managed to drag herself up to the roof. "Finally I found you, my dear!"

A lightning flashed in the sky, and Ryou tried not to think about the dangers of being in a high, open spot during a thunderstorm. Maybe, if he were lucky, the lighting would strike Pearl and not him.

"Oh honey…" Pearl was getting closer to him shaking her head reproachfully. "Why were you running like that? It is not very polite, you know. It was almost as if you were trying to avoid me. You really shouldn't treat girls like that, it's not…"

A crazy, desperate idea had entered Ryou's mind, and since it was the only idea he had…

He threw his head back, and - wishing for stroke of lighting and almost jumping up in the air when he got one - gave the best imitation of maniacal laughter he could. Not perfect, but quite good… after all, he had had long time to observe the master of the art in action.

Pearl stopped and stared at him with wide eyes. Ryou finished his laughter with coughing - he almost got rainwater going down the wrong way. Before that managed to ruin the effect of the laughter, he pointed out an accusing finger.

"Foolish mortal! You have no idea what you're playing with!"

Pearl blinked and took a hesitant step backwards. "Ryou…?"

Ryou resisted an urge to giggle. It was actually fun to see Pearl's reaction… no wonder his yami liked doing things like this.

~

Somewhere, not very far away, Yami no Bakura blinked while still running.

What is that idiot doing now?

He had been following a little worriedly all the panicking emotions he had felt from Ryou - not that he cared about the boy, of course, but it might be that he'd still, some day, have use for his host.

But the boy had better not to start doing things like this very often. He couldn't help feeling a little offended; how could some greenhorn like his host even imagine that he could imitate the greatest of all thieves, one who had spread horror and fear into the hearts of men already thousands of years ago? That was plain insulting.

He snorted. Well, at least the idiot appeared to be getting by, and he'd be able to ignore him from now on. Anyway, he had almost reached his destination.

~

On the roof Ryou was laughing again, this time making it sure that he wouldn't get any rainwater in his mouth. Pearl was looking at him with growing worry. Either her Ryou had completely lost his mind, or then…. Ryou's voice cut her thought off.

"Did you imagine that you would be able to enchant me? Oh, you will pay for this!" Time for another mad laugh. "You… will… pay! I will feed you to my Man-Eater Bug!"

With a flashy move he drew a random piece of paper out of his pocket and held it up in the air. Pearl took one look at it and turned then on her heels. It hardly mattered whether the one before her was her beloved or not - she wasn't going to stay here.

"No use! You won't be able to run from me!"

Just as she glanced over her shoulder a lightning flashed on the sky, followed instantly by the loud rumbling of thunder. The lightning illuminated the creature that was running after her, mouth open in a howl, mad light gleaming in its eyes…. In that instant she knew. This wasn't the gentle boy she loved, this was some devilish spirit that was a danger to her very soul. With a loud scream she stumbled towards the ladder, the only thought in her mind to get quickly away from here.

"Scream! Just scream, girl! Once my Bug reaches you, you will…"

Still screaming, Pearl had reached the ladder, and as she hastily began to climb down her foot slipped on a slippery rung. The scream didn't cease before she hit the ground below.

Ryou stopped on the roof and stood there frozen to the spot for a moment.

"Oops…"

Hesitantly he walked to the roof's edge and looked down. Pearl was lying on the ground, unmoving. Ryou blinked.

Oh my. I guess I got a little carried away.

~

Finally there. There was a little park in the outskirts of the city. Behind it there was a small forest, dark and eerie in the thunderstorm, and in the middle of the forest there was a small clearing.

Bakura stopped in the middle of it and turned to face his pursuer.

"Finally you stopped…" Black Pearl panted as she reached the clearing. I'm not sure if I could have continued running for long anymore… Not that she'd say that aloud, though. "So…" she took a deep breath, trying to catch her breath, and walked carefully towards Bakura "Finally we're together again. Don't run from me anymore, love - together we will be undefeatable. We can bring back those golden days when we used…" Suddenly her eyes widened.

"Hikari…"

Mouth half open she stared into emptiness, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The link to Pearl was gone. That could mean only one thing…

Bakura shook his head as he felt the guilt floating to him from Ryou. Idiot. Isn't that what you were supposed to do in the first place?

"Pearl!"

Black Pearl's shout cut off his thought, and he turned his attention back to the black-haired girl. She was staring at the dark sky, mouth frozen into a grimace, the bright flashes of lightning reflecting on her black eyes.

Bakura frowned. Time to take action, he thought, but before he could do anything, Black Pearl turned her flaming eyes to him.

"He… he… That cursed light side of yours… He killed my hikari!"

"Indeed," Bakura snorted. "That might give you a clue on what I'm going to do."

"Really?" Black Pearl's grimace turned into something wicked. "You can try to, love." She drew her dagger from her belt just as Bakura took his cards into his hands. "Go on, dear, use your powers."

Bakura watched her with growing suspicion as she smirked at him fingering the dagger. He had been planning to drag her to the Shadow Realm and defeat her there, but now he paused to reconsider for a moment. The situation wasn't as tightly in his control as he would have liked. Firstly there was this weird weapon of which powers he knew nothing about, and secondly, Black Pearl was quite certainly wearing the accursed mascara again. Refusing to look away from her, he kept on staring at her nose, trying to figure out what she would be able to do with her dagger.

It was quite a pretty nose, really.

He blinked. "Is that mascara on your nose?" he asked looking at the said body part with a small frown.

It was Black Pearl's turn to blink as she wiped her nose with her hand.

"What the…" After she had disbelievingly stared the black stain on her hand for a moment, she began hastily to search through her pockets.

"Just wait a moment… where did I put it… oh, there!"

Flipping open a small pocket mirror she began to examine her nose and eyes very carefully.

"Oh, damn… She said it's waterproof! No wonder my eyes have been stinging… huh?"

Blinking again she looked around as the surroundings suddenly twitched in her eyes and turned into something very dark.

Bakura was smirking at her in his turn. "Always keep your attention on your enemy."

Black Pearl snorted. "Oh, I will from this on, don't worry. Besides, this doesn't really matter. If you want to duel me here, just go on."

He paused again, still quite suspicious, squeezing tightly his deck in his hand.

"Ladies first," he grunted finally. Maybe her first card would give him some clues.

Black Pearl smiled. "A gentleman, aren't you? As you wish."

She shuffled her deck, drew then five cards and looked at them with a smile. "Well… I think I will summon… The Amazing Crocodile Woman of the Nile in attack mode!"

Bakura blinked as a big womanlike creature with crocodile's head and tail appeared before him. I've never even heard about such a monster…

"Direct attack!"

He blinked again. "What?! You can't attack yet…"

His protest died on his lips as the crocodile's big tail hit him in the chest knocking him down.

Black Pearl smiled down at him as he scrambled back to his feet. "That is the special effect of my monster, honey. It can attack at any point of the game I want it to. Anyway, it took your lifepoints down a bit, didn't it? What's it we started from? 8000? Then I'm afraid you have only 6000 left now…"

Bakura scowled at her. "Did you end your turn?" he grunted. "Cause if you did…"

She shrugged with a smirk. "I guess I did."

"Good," Bakura muttered looking down at his cards. What to play… He glanced at the crocodile-thing with a frown. A monster like that could be very handy. Very powerful, and…

Hey, wait a minute! How was she able to summon such a powerful monster without any sacrifices?

He shot a suspicious glance at Black Pearl who just smiled at him sweetly. I have a bad feeling about this… He turned his gaze back to the cards. There was Ryou's favorite card staring back at him in his hand, side by side with the Man-Eater Bug. Usually he would have spared cards like that to be used later in the game, but this wasn't 'usually'.

He drew the two cards slowly from his hand. "I play the Man-Eater Bug face down, and then…" Baring his teeth in what was supposed to be a grin he raised the other card up in the air. "I summon the Change of Heart! She'll take over your Crocodile Woman and add it to my troops! Take that, bitch! You're going to taste your own medicine!" he gave his trademark maniacal laughter - which, I might add, compared Ryou's laughter, was in a class of its own. If Ryou sounded slightly disturbed at the very best, this was the first-class I'm-the-pinnacle-of-darkness-so-you'd-better-run-and-fast laughter that made everyone who heard it shiver and call for their moms.

Anyway, yes, it was a very disturbing laughter. Bakura well knew this, of course - anyway, why else would he be doing it? - and so he found it slightly disturbing that Black Pearl only pouted a little and said matter-of-factly:

"You're no fun."

Then she drew her dagger, threw it towards the Crocodile Woman that had turned to face her, and watched with satisfaction as it staggered backwards and suddenly disappeared.

Bakura's laughter died away.

"Wha… what did you do?!"

Black Pearl shrugged. "What did it look like? Killed it. Sent it to the Graveyard. Did you think I'd let you to play with my toys?"

Bakura was staring at her with wide eyes. "Bu… bu… but that's cheating!"

Black Pearl snorted. "Look who's talking…" The dagger had returned to her hand and she flipped it few times. "This is quite fun, though…" Suddenly she grasped the dagger tightly and threw it again through the air. "Now let's take care of that disgusting thing…"

Being attacked activated the flip effect of the Man-Eater Bug. It suddenly moved to attack mode but got the dagger in its chest at the same time, and immediately it exploded away.

Black Pearl started to laugh but stopped soon as she saw no signs of her dagger. "What? Where did it go!" She glanced frantically around as Bakura began to smirk in his turn.

"I guess one of two things happened. The Man-Eater Bug automatically destroys one of the monsters on the field when its flip effect is activated, and if it is attacked, it destroys the monster that attacks it. On the other hand, if there are no monsters to destroy, it destroys itself. So, I guess it either self-destructed and took you dagger with it, or then it saw the dagger as an attacking monster and destroyed it while being itself 'killed' by the dagger."

Black Pearl was beginning to look very white. "Aha…" she breathed. "Umm…" She glanced hesitantly at the cards in her hand. "Well, I guess I'll play..."

"I didn't end my turn yet, honey," Bakura said sweetly, and started to draw another card from his hand.

A panicked look took over Black Pearl's face. "Hey… hey, wait! Wait… we don't really have to be doing this, do we?"

"We don't?" Bakura raised an eyebrow. "Do you forfeit, then?"

"W…well, no, but…" Black Pearl glanced hesitantly at her cards and looked then back at him. "We're in love, aren't we! So why should we be battling?"

Bakura snorted. "You may be 'in love' as much as you want to, but don't get me involved."

He considered a moment and put then the card back. For a moment Black Pearl looked relieved, but then her face fell as Bakura drew another card from his hand.

"I will play the Electric Lizard in defense," he stated, and the big-mouthed, violet lizard appeared on the scene.

Black Pearl winced. "Are all your monsters that ugly?"

Bakura blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't like ugly monsters…" Black Pearl muttered under her breath, giving the lizard a disgusted look.

"Your crocodile thing wasn't ugly?"

She shifted nervously. "…It was cool."

Bakura looked at her unbelievingly. "I'm getting more and more convinced that I've never in my life had anything to do with you. Quite a 'thief queen' you must have made… Anyway, I end my turn." Interesting to see what she'll do…

"Uh… okay." She looked at her cards with a frown. "Uh… I guess… I'll play The Fairy of Mythical Rainbows in attack mode. Yeah. That's it."

A small fairy-like creature with glistening wings, long golden hair and a rainbow-colored dress appeared hovering a foot or two above the ground. It held a magic wand in its hand.

"Attack!"

The fairy raised the magic wand and small rainbows started to circle it. Gradually they formed into one big rainbow that flashed towards the Electric Lizard. Nothing happened to it, though.

Black Pearl blinked. "What?"

"You really don't know this game that well, do you?" Bakura smirked at her shocked expression. "You've just crippled your… uh, monster by yourself. If the Electric Lizard is attacked, the attacker cannot do anything for a turn."

"Oh." Black Pearl kept on staring at the lizard as if she wouldn't believe it still was standing there.

"By the way…" Bakura couldn't resist his curiousness. "What would that rainbow thing have done?"

Black Pearl blinked rapidly few times, forcing herself back to the cruel reality. "It would have changed that ugly thing into a rainbow in the sky."

Bakura stared at her eyes wide, then blinked as well. "Huh? That has to be the most idiotic effect I've heard about…"

Black Pearl shot him an angry glance. "At least it would have made it prettier!"

"Prettier." The word came out very flat, and Black Pearl flared up.

"Well, I like it! Pearl and me designed it ourse… uh…" she snapped her mouth quickly shut.

Bakura stared at her incredulously. "You made that?" He glanced at the fairy. That was certainly interesting. "Well, that explains some things… and it proves that if you lived in the Ancient Egypt, the only thing you could have been is a fashion designer. And a very bad one. And since there really weren't those then…"

"Whatever," Black Pearl muttered, staring at her cards again.

And she kept on staring at them.

The fairy hang in the air, frozen, the Lizard faced it, looking actually bored, nothing moved in the darkness around them. The only sound there was came from Bakura's tapping foot.

"Are you going to do something or not?" he finally snapped angrily.

Black Pearl glanced at him. "Just give me time, I'll figure this out in a moment."

And she kept on staring at the cards.

After a couple of minutes, the tapping was louder and faster. Then, finally, she looked up from her cards.

"Okay, I'm ready."

With that she dropped the cards and ran.

For a moment Bakura stared after her not able to believe that she had just done that. Does that count as forfeiting? So… I won, did I? Who cares anyway!

He glanced at the Lizard that was still standing on the ground and pointed then after the fleeing girl.

"The duel's over! After her!"

Mouth open and big teeth shining the monster ran happily after her. The expression on Bakura's face didn't differ much of its grin.

Fool… where does she think she'll be able to hide here?

The grin turned even more demonic as he ran after the beast. Don't like ugly monsters, huh? Well, I do have few to spare… and you're supposed to share everything with the one you 'love', right? Right.

He called for his monsters, one after another, and gradually the darkness was filled with their howls and roars. The horrified screams of one girl were completely drowned by the noise they made, and soon they died away. The growls of the monsters faded away as well, and finally the only sound echoing in the darkness was that of maniacal laughter.

…Yeah, that guy really should seek professional help.

~

About half an hour later a very happy and content Bakura found his host hunching under an eaves not far away from the place where they had separated.

"Hi!" He flashed a bright smile at the other, but Ryou didn't notice anything since he kept on staring at the ground.

Bakura was, quite naturally, totally unaware of this. "This was even easier than I thought," he said cheerfully and continued walking onward dragging Ryou with himself. "And quite much fun too. You should have seen her once my monsters caught up with her, it was…"

"Yami…"

"…quite amazing how high-pitched her…"

"Yami!"

"…voice could get, as…"

"Yami, shut up!"

"…as… huh?" Bakura shot a confused glance at the other boy. Then he snorted as he saw Ryou's miserable expression. "Come on, isn't this what you wanted? To get rid of her? Now she won't bother you ever again."

Ryou sighed. "It was almost a murder," he muttered quietly.

Bakura snorted again. "Well, you can always blame it on me if it makes you feel better. I'm obviously a bad influence on you. Which reminds me…" he shot a sharp glance at Ryou. "Never do something like that again."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning to…" Ryou continued his way staring at the ground, looking even more miserable then before.

Shaking his head Bakura gave up on trying to him cheer up.

"Don't even imagine that I'm going to let you to ruin this…" he muttered under his breath. "Spoilsport. Anyway… what was that song the idiot was singing? Something like…" he cleared his throat. "Singing in the rain, I'm…"

Ryou winced. "Please yami, don't."

~*~*~

A/N: Okay, let's see… who's left… There are the Auroras and then Azura, but I think that all others are gone by now. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone… *checks her list*

Poor Jou and Honda have out of the picture for long… I think it was in chapter 7 since we last saw anything of them. I guess they're still lost there in the back streets, poor boys… ^^; *suddenly remembers something* And Yami. ^^;; Oh yes, I guess he'll have to be in the next chapter too.

By the way, I wrote a side-fic like thingy for this fic (although I'm not sure if I really want to go around advertising that thing). I posted it in my LJ (http://www.livejournal.com/users/tuuli_chan/12194.html) but there are a couple of warnings: it contains yaoi and is rated R. And it might be hazardous for all intelligent life, too…