Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Three Duelists ❯ The Landlord's Secret ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: Okay, what happened in the last chapter, Kaiba and I had finish this misunderstanding. And once again, he own fifty-one percent of my story. Anyway, after looking at this chapter, I have discovered that it was the worse than the rest of my chapters. Here are the reasons why it's suck. 1) I changed almost most of the plots. For example: the landlord in the original book was supposed to be old, weak, greedy, and coward. However, in this chapter, it isn't. ……….. Well, kinda 2) I noticed that the character who play the landlord is OOC. For some reasons, his actions are similar to Malik than himself. Well, that's it and................enjoy?

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh and the Three Musketeers.

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It had been six months since Bandit Keith's defeat. Joey had been awarded with forty pistoles for fighting alongside the Three Duelists by the King. Since Joey came to become a Duelist, the Three Duelists suggested he should rent an inn to stay. Duke also suggested Joey should hire Mokuba as his lackey since he was very disorganize, which made Joey ticked off.

When they accomplished, Joey worked his way through his training. During his free time, Joey would spent his time with the Three Duelists for relax and amusement. From all his hard training and having fun with the Three Duelists, the blond boy had forgotten about getting even with Kaiba. As time went on, Joey realized that the pistoles he received from Solomon and the King didn't last him forever.

However, he didn't notice that the landlord was greedy for money and tried to take every pistole from his renters. One day, Joey was in his room counting the pistoles. The blond boy realized he only had sixteen pistoles.

"No way with dis amount, I bet da landlord gonna kick me out for not paying da rent." He cried as he laid his head on the table.

Wallowing in his agony, there came a knocking on the door. Feeling distress, Joey asked to come in. Entering the room was Mokuba. The ebony boy went up to Joey and told him that he had a visitor.

"Hey if I say come in, I meant everyone to come in. I don't care if dere more dan one person."

Mokuba nodded and went out. After a brief moment, Mokuba entered with a visitor. Once the visitor thanked Mokuba, the ebony boy turned and walked out the room. Joey turned and smiled.

"Hey Ryou dank God yer here."

"I'm not Ryou, you foolish man. I'm your landlord, Bakura Bonacieux." Bakura shouted.

Joey jumped out of his seat, shocking. "Say what?!"

"You heard me, you imbecile. I'm your landlord and since you had so many important duties during the past six months, you have forgotten to pay your rent for three months."

"Three months?!" Joey's jaw dropped. He dropped to his knees and crawled toward the landlord. Clasping his hands together, he begged him with a puppy eyes.

"Please let me stay fer awhile. I promise to pay ya back. I didn't realize I was behind on my rent, but I only have sixteen pistoles. So please Bakura, I'm begging ya."

Bakura gave a disgusting face toward the blond boy. But after hearing what Joey said, it made him think. He raised his hand to his face to think as he went to sit in one of the chairs. Joey stood up and sat across from the landlord, hoping he would stay. As a minute or two went by, Bakura speak.

"Hmm.......... I could kick you out of my inn for not paying your rent. But since I heard you were hanging with the Three Duelists, I think there maybe a way."

Joey slammed his hands on the table and gleefully spoke. "Yeah, what is it? I do anything."

When he heard the word `anything', Bakura smirked enthusiastic. He leaned against the table and told the blond boy to come closer.

"Very well then, I will tell you to do this little favor of mine. But you must promise never to let anyone know this secret we're having, agree?"

"Sure, sure, sure; anything to get dis rent out of my system."

Bakura chuckled. "Good, I knew you would do this. You see, I had a wife who is a lady-in-waiting to the Queen. Every evening, she would come home to me after leaving the palace."

"So let me guess. You feel dat yer wife is going ta leave ya because yer marriage is fallin' off. And ya need my help ta fix yer marriage before she hook herself with another guy."

"NO!" Bakura shout angrily, slamming his hands across the table making Joey jumped. The landlord gave him an annoying look before he spoke again.

"I do not have a marriage problem. What I'm trying to say is she's being kidnapped. My wife was supposed to come home yesterday evening, but she didn't show up."

"Now are you sure it's not another guy?"

"No! And I'm sure of it!" Bakura shouted as he gave the blond boy a dirty look. Joey scratched his head, looking down on the floor and said.

"Den why didn't she come home?"

Bakura clasped his hands together and placed it toward his mouth as he leaning on the table. He gave Joey a stern look and replied, "I believed it could be the love and politics at the court. However, what I believed the most is the love of ...................... the Queen."

Joey jerked his head and looked at Bakura bewildered. "Ya mean da Queen of France?"

"Of course, I'm talking about the Queen. Everyone in France knows that the Queen's marriage was arranged to keep France and Spain in peace. The King ignored her since he had little interest in her, but everyone knows she had given her heart to the Prime Minister of England, the Duke of Buckingham as much as he loves her too."

"Wait a minute. Which guys did da Queen loves; the Prime Minister or da Duke?"

Bakura stood up from his seat in rage. "You idiot! The duke and the prime minister are the same!"

"Geez, den why didn't ya say so before?"

Why am I giving my information to this buffoon? Bakura thought as his left eyebrow twitched. He wondered what Monsieur Tréville saw in him since Joey doesn't look intelligent. Shook his head in disbelief, the landlord had no choice but to tell him.

"Look, I don't care what titles the Duke of Buckingham held. All I want is my wife back."

"Okay, okay, just hold yer horses." Said Joey held his hands up. "But tell me, how did ya know da Queen was having an affair?"

Bakura raised his eyebrow and asked, "Now why would you want to know about the Queen?"

"Because I haven't heard about da Queen having affair. In fact, my friends never even tell me about dis."

"Are you sure you were born in France?"

"Uh............." Joey squirmed. The blond boy knew he wasn't born in France, but he can't tell everyone that he came from another time. So once again, he lied.

"Yeah Bakura, of course I was born here. Where do ya think I came from, Scotland?"

More like Finland, Bakura thought. He sat back in his seat and said, "Alright, I'll tell you how I know. I heard it from my wife. She also told me that the Queen is in fear, afraid that the Cardinal would try to capture the duke in order to disgrace her."

"I see, but what's dat got ta do with yer wife?"

The landlord gave the blond boy an annoyed look. "If you listen carefully, you should have known that the Queen had given all her secrets to my wife and I fear that the Cardinal would try to find a way to learn those secrets."

"Whoa, dat's pretty big. But what makes you believed yer wife's been kidnapped?"

"This morning, a friend of mine told me that he saw a man kidnapped my wife. I may not know the name of the kidnapper, but luckily my friend describes me who he is."

"Can ya tell me what he looked like?"

"Why certainly. He's a tall and cold-hearted man who had short brown hair, azure eyes with a patch over his left eye."

Joey rubbed his chin, "Hmm, sounds pretty familiar. Now where did I see dat before?"

"My friend also told me that when he tried to rescue my wife in the duel, he lost when the kidnapper summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragon."

The blond boy's jaw dropped. He slammed his hands on the table, shouted. "WHAT?! Did you say Blue Eyes?!"

"Yes, do you know this person?"

"Of course, I know who dat person is. It's Kaiba! Did yer friend know where he saw him?"

"I'm afraid not because after the duel, he lost his conscious. When he awoke, he found a note attached to him." Bakura pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and laid it on the table.

"This note was given to me. In this note, it's said that my wife would return to me once they finish her. It also said that if I go search for her, I would be arrest and my wife would face a horrible consequence. However, they didn't say I'll have someone to search in my place. Now this is where I want you to do. I want you to find my wife and bring her to me and I shall forget the three months rent you owed me."

"Alright, I'll do it."

Bakura smirked, "Excellent, I knew you wouldn't let me down."

The landlord picked his note and placed it in his pocket. He got off his seat and headed toward the door. Before he leaved, he stopped and talked to Joey without turning his back. "Remember, this is between you and me. No one must know about this and if I found out you had open your mouth, I'll make sure you would face the consequence."

Once Bakura walked out, the Three Duelists entered along with Mokuba. Joey was glad to see them. As Tristan and Yami took their seats while Mokuba sat on Joey's bed, Duke questioned. "Joey, what's your landlord doing here?"

Rubbing the back of his head, the blond boy replied. "Oh nothing, we were just chatting."

Suddenly, something snapped him. Aw man, I forgot to ask Bakura what's his wife looked like, he thought. Realizing what he'd forgotten, Joey jumped out. "Aw man, I forgot!"

"Forgot what, Joey?" Tristan questioned.

"Uh............... it's nothing." He replied.

"Joey, we know you're hiding. So please, tell us. It wouldn't hurt if a friend wants to help you."

Although Joey promised that he wouldn't tell, he knew that his friends would always help him. However if he told them, he knew Bakura would go after him, making him feeling regret. The blond boy looked into Yami's eyes. He saw a gleam of trust with yearning of helping out within him. Joey sighed and said, "Alright, but you guys have ta keep it a secret. Alright?"

The Three Duelists nodded. Joey told them about Bakura's problem, from his wife kidnapped to the Queen's affair. Once he finished, he felt a burden being lifted up. What Joey didn't notice was that Yami nodded his head to Duke. The Dice Duelist nodded back and went out. When Joey looked around, he noticed Duke wasn't in the room.

"Hey guys, where's Duke?" Joey questioned.

"Never mind him; we must help you find Madame Bonacieux." Yami spoke.

When they got up, the door was slammed open. Everyone turned their attention to see who it was. It was Bakura and he was in rage. Holding in his hand was a dagger.

"YOU!" He shouted as he lunged. Before he could get to Joey, the Duelers entered and captured the landlord. Bakura struggled as he shouted with hatred, "You imbecile! I told you to never open your mouth and what did you do? You opened your mouth! You swear you would never tell and now I'm being arrested!"

Joey tried to help Bakura, but Yami stopped him. The tri-colored boy then head to one of the Duelers and said, "Monsieur, we are all loyal to the King and the Cardinal. If this man had broken the law, then take him away."

The Dueler nodded and ordered his men to carry the raging landlord away. Once they're gone, Joey snapped at Yami.

"Yami, why are letting dese creeps carried him off? Look I broke my promise to him, so I should receive his punishment. So why did ya stop me?"

Yami shook his head before he spoke. "I know you told us to keep it a secret. But in order for us to save his wife, we must let him get arrested. If we don't, then we will be arrested and we won't be able to help him or his wife. Sometimes, we must sacrifice other in order to save others. I know you're still confused, but someday you'll learn."

"Yami's right. If we keep our mouths shut, the Cardinal would figure out we're up to something and arrest us. Now come on, Duke's waiting for us at the stable. So let's save the damsel in distress." Said Tristan walked out the door.

Yami followed Tristan. But before he exited, he turned and asked Joey if he's alright. The blond boy stayed silence for a moment, looking at the floor. Soon he looked up with regret, but understandable eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine," he gave a small smile.

Yami nodded and exited along with Joey behind.

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Well, that wasn't very nice. Having the landlord taken away without getting his payments. If you want to know who's speaking, this is Bakura speaking. Yes, the spirit of the Millennium Ring is talking to you mortal. Anyway, the foolish authoress just wanted to know will Joey and his friends be able to find that wife of this landlord. Will Joey pay the consequence than the payment? And why am I playing the greedy landlord? Hmm, maybe I should talk to that foolish woman about it before sending her into the Shadow Realm. Or better yet, why not send her away now? *Sinister laugh*