Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Water Love ❯ Sickness and Wondering ( Chapter 12 )

Title: Water Love

Writer: Angela (O.S. Acious) The pen name has been changed. Gasp!

Genre: Romance/ Fantasy. This is an Alternate Universe fic

Rating: PG-13 to be safe

Spoilers: None (because it is an AU)

Warnings: Guys who like other guys, a slow plot, a slow romance, my bad potty mouth induced from the environment I'm in, and cute little merboys who are hormonal and also have pet water dragons that their parent doesn't know about.

Pairings: Yami is supposed to like Yuugi but he's difficult that way. Yuugi is hella confused, Ryou is totally `with' Bakura, and Marik and Malik will probably get together before this is through. Also, Seto and Jou are on their vacation in Mexico!

Disclaimer: I disclaim Yu-Gi-Oh for any possible -although unlikely- thoughts that this teen could possibly own Yu-Gi-Oh. Kazuki Takahashi owns them, and he's damn lucky.

Summary: Yuugi is the ever curious merboy with an ill-fated arranged marriage to some unknown son of an ocean kingdom. Yami is a human deathly afraid of sea water. How could these two have possibly fallen in love? This is a love story crossing land and sea, proving that love indeed knows no boundaries.

Let's begin now…

(o)(o)(o)

 

His ears had caught the slight sounds of humming and the hums rose and feel melodiously, in time with every breath he took. It felt strangely filling, as if it were all around him. In a way it was. He yawned tiredly at first refusing to get up, but with the rising noise of his yawn, his body rose from the large sea sponge and sat up straight on it. There was much blinking to drive the sleep away. Yuugi swung his light blue tail over the side and then sat there, still, for a minute or two just blinking. He rubbed his eyes with one hand after staying motionless and trying to figure out what day, what time it was. He glanced around his room, still blinking away the last holds of sleep and drowsiness, and groaned while reaching for his new necklace hanging from one branch of coral. There were many brilliant colors that radiated with energy in the morning's warmth. Yuugi put the golden band with the shining starfish on slowly, getting it over his odd, tricolor hair and then fixing his hair over the necklace. He then swam around slowly looking for a comb to chase the tangles out of his hair. Yuugi had to stop when the humming came back again, and escalated sharply into an annoying buzz that made him sigh and make his way sluggishly out of the room while running a hand through his hair. He groaned again, whining to the pale blue halls how much he detested the mornings, the Hummings, and getting up in general. If only there had been something to wake up to in the mornings.

 

The morning had come swiftly in a silent, mad dash across the land and the sea to change the colors of the sky from the dark blues to the light while painting on masterfully the strength of the sun and the pacific clouds. It marked the time for breakfast -for waking up and greeting new and endless possibilities over a light, hearty meal. And so breakfast was served to even the Royal Family, this day more energetic than the last.

 

Yuugi had been the last to arrive yet again and as always. He took a seat at the long table a plate already in front of him, and he began placing things onto it. Granted, he had no appetite for eating so early in the morning, and last night's occurrences made that fact no less difficult. All through the halls of the same color, same material, same conformity he had been thinking of what he had been thinking on what must be thought. In short, Yuugi was trying desperately to figure out why everything was so different; why was the feel of everything in such a way that it implied something must have happened? Yuugi pondered the question. It was not his arranged marriage, which even while it went against his will he had grown used to the looming terror that it was getting close. Then again, it had always been getting closer and closer that he rarely believed that it would come. So it was not the deal with Atlantis that worried him, although it did affect him. Yuugi had swum on, making another turn and traveled down the winding silver stairs while trying to recall. Had it been a matter of duty? Did he forget to do something that he needed to? Small wonder seeing how long it took him to adjust in the mornings. That was when he stopped, paused, grumbled loudly and rubbed at his eyes viciously as if rubbing his eyes could erase what had happened the last day. How stupid it was! He came into the dining area muttering yet not really saying anything, just grumbling with little sounds coming out of his mouth to show how irritated he was about mornings and the days nowadays in general. He had no intention of going into detail. A raging fit boiled in all the details.

 

What made him grimace more and loathe waking up even more was the sight of someone happy about the day -someone who was glad to start the day with arms in the air as if to say `Hello, World!' It was Quahyder, surprisingly, that was saying hello to the vast and wonderful world. His smile and mirthful eyes greeted Yuugi as he held up his glass to salute the young merboy.

 

“So, son, how has the ocean been treating you?” said the smiling Quahyder.

 

Yuugi glared, “It woke me up.” He accused. It normally didn't faze him but last night he had slept late to begin with.

 

Quahyder didn't notice the sharpness in the tone, didn't hear the agony behind the words, and took the glare as a pout. He was happy today since everything now was going right, nothing was going wrong, and he simply wanted to laugh from the joy of it all. Now, one must obviously understand first that a King is rarely happy. One must throw out all the books that say a King is a merry soul, and disregard anything that says he is always that way. That is not true. For one, `always' is hardly ever true, and for two being King was a hard job. Someone had to be there, and if they did not, someone else would. So, Quahyder spent his days meeting delegates of foreign waters, talking about the social problems with advisors, economics with another, and heath and financial affairs with someone else. Then he must further fulfill his duties with extraneous work, such as the business with Atlantis. One slip could set some catastrophic event into play, and no such slip would occur with Quahyder around. Oh no, he had carefully skirted any and all possible dangers, sent Ryuugi to clear up the mess, and had himself a nice cup of Buri wine.

 

The king laughed a loud, roaring laugh that filled the room with sound and made both Mai and Yuugi wince, both not being morning merfolk. Yuugi instead frowned now knowing what bothered him was not present, but past, and how his father never helped anything. No, never.

 

It was in this manner that breakfast was eaten, the king happy about how everything was as it should be, Mai silent from lack of care for the situation, and Yuugi in total distress. He had done something wrong and his father was in such a lively mood. He could not bear to ruin that for the king. It was rare to find him ever like that. Yuugi glanced towards the silver-haired sea king with a slight pain in his violet eyes. The normal brightness in the purple color was not there and instead only a dim, dismal color presided.

 

The king took a drink from his cherished silver cup, oblivious.

 

Yuugi tried to hide his discomfort, the slight twitch and slight wince. No, he would definitely not tell his father what had happened.

 

“Tell the chef that the food was excellent! Brilliant -no, simply stupendous! Have him promoted!” Quahyder bellowed to a mermaid idling in the corner to await commands, next to her brother who served them. Smiling, she went away to run off to the chef, her father, with delightfully good news. The king went back to the meal with a laugh, ate another bite, had another swig of the bitter, blue Buri drink, and left the dining room with a smile still on his face.

 

Atlantis will be here before the month is through.

 

Yuugi finished the fish on his plate quickly afterwards, not wanting to spend a minute more in the dining room with the white-blue marble, and hanging Burivalia plants. He waved a hand at Mai and swam off as if escaping from the horrible confines of the large room that seemed to have been condensing and suffocating him as he sat there. No, he could not take even a second more of that. Yuugi deftly made his way along the many halls that would lead him to his room, chose a slightly new one, and headed up to the tower where he slept.

 

He had left not only to escape, because that was what he felt it was: escape, but also to get his gold cuffs which he had not put on when he forgot to do so after putting on the necklace. It sounded like a sorry excuse but it still was a plausible one. Yuugi swam at a darting speed from one hall to another, and soon found himself at the heart of the castle. He gazed at the swirls of the black metal outlining a design for a roof, nearly lost himself in the shapes, shook his head, and then continued on restlessly. Through the blue, pale blue and darker shades of the blue he swam until he caught a glimpse of a certain hallway that he recognized more than any other. Yuugi turned there, and swam, still at his full-speed, straight into the room, slammed himself onto the bed, not noticing until then that he needed to breathe. He lay there on the sponge, breathing deeply for a while before just laying there doing nothing. Yuugi tried to rub his eyes again. He tried to forget that there had ever been a word at all like `human' because the mere sound of it in his own head was driving him insane. He'd done something horribly wrong, and just moments ago he had come to terms with what it truly meant.

 

Talking to a human was trouble. If even being seen by a human brought trouble then no doubt speaking to one brought more. That was what made everything worse. Yuugi moaned helplessly, curling up on the sponge. The human now knew about him and his people. He had been asking for trouble, had practically begged for something bad to happen from the very moment he had started circling underneath the boat, contemplating if he should or should not. He should not have. But Yuugi did anyway; he swam right up with misguided judgment on the best action. The best thing to have done would have been to leave the situation be, let it simply die before it had a chance to come to life and turn its ugly head in his direction. Now he had failed his kingdom. It wasn't a matter of being seem. The pure fact that he had confirmed the existence of merfolk was enough to devastate the entire Earth's population of merfolk. He could have very well caused the end of the merfolk life. He had betrayed all of his people, not only in Carribbea but also the citizens of Atlantis. Even if the human did not lead a search for him then he'd still have to live with this mistake -this wrong thing- and deal with it with no one else knowing. His father didn't know, couldn't know, and he'd break Mai's broken heart further doing something she had warned him about. So soon afterwards! So soon he had forgotten her words that had fallen on deaf ears, for all the good it could do to have remembered. What he did was wrong, he blamed it completely on himself and it hurt more when he did that. No one else was to know about this. He would never speak of it again and hope that one day it will seem to have never happened. One day he'll forget he'd ever met a human; Yuugi would make sure of that.

 

Two sides of him were yelling at each other, arguing loudly. One was sure that in some way life as it was would end. The other was resolute that nothing had changed, and that nothing would ever change. Yuugi had never believed in something constant until he found himself stuck in a marriage. He could never seem to get away. That was what bothered him. Everything started as inconsistency, and then grew to consistency. Of course, it could always stay inconsistent. Which was this? The two sides of him raged on and the one who knew something had changed only shook the hopeful other and told him to wake up from that dream. And O how he woke. Yuugi stopped twisting around on the sponge, stopped clawing at his eyes, ears, running his hand through his tangled hair only to tug at it moments later, and stopped feeling vile from his actions -for a second. Yuugi instead felt like crying softly now. It hurt very much to have done something largely wrong and to have to say nothing about it. What if he had doomed the entire kingdom and now could not even warn them? Yuugi closed his eyes, squeezed them shut and tried to fall asleep, not wanting to come to terms with this maelstrom of ill outlook. He stopped doing that as well, and sat up dejectedly to put on his gold cuffs and really begin his day having given up just looking away.

 

He blinked a bit. Wait! He could go visit Aquarius! Yuugi could play all day with the mischievous water dragon and then not worry about a thing. He could make himself forget and then not feel so bad. Yuugi's violet eyes lit up the tiniest bit and he swam out of the room in such a hurry to go play -forget- that he had forgotten, yet again, to put on the gold cuffs.

 

(o)(o)(o)

 

 

It had been a good night as any to fall asleep the other night, last night. Instead, sleep was far from his mind and continued to stay far away as if to taunt him. Yami instead only caught bits and pieces of it that seemed to be too broken to give peaceful sleep. His sleep was fitful and something forgotten and ancient tormented him for a reason he seemed not to know. It was for this reason that Yami woke up late to the bright rays of the sun waltzing in to tell him it was time to greet the whole mess of a world with two arms in the air. He yawned loudly and when he finished he sat still on the hotel bed looking around the room in a sleepy daze. The vacation had only given him less rest and more inquietude than normal. The whole vacation had thus been pointless from the start, nothing had happened except for yesterday.

 

Yesterday some one must have thought it very funny to see his reaction to the mermaid, well, merboy. Some god, or demon, must have thought it awfully funny to spite him where he stood and make a merboy appear just to complicate things for Yami. Yami could imagine the look of glee cross Kaiba's face as if seeing someone who looked just like you, only with a fish tail, was the best joke ever. He rubbed his forehead feeling a headache already approaching on heavy, thundering feet. Yami grumbled something and lay down again, closing his eyes to the brightness. It was as if seeing the flashes of blue ocean and amethyst eyes brought him great pain.

 

How long had he slept last night? He heard the rain pouring down again on the glass of the window and had tried to block out the minute noise that made sleeping so impossible. So, how much had he managed to drag out of the dark night? How long had he fought for it and how much had he won? His mind was still foggy with drowsiness and an overwhelming pain. Gods above, he had been drinking last night, hadn't he? When Kaiba and Jou were watching some entertainment at the performance hall, he had stolen away to drink. Yami could not remember what he had been thinking, but somehow he remembered the thin glass between his fingers and the weight of the wine swishing its way around and around as he commanded it. The last night had seemed so long ago and the last day even longer. Yami turned in the cocoon of sheets and blankets when flashes came crashing back. The wine, the drinking, and he saw Seto and Jou holding hands beneath the restaurant table, he could not see it but he knew of it very strongly. Yami could hear the splash of liquid, water or wine, and he felt fire down his throat that made him want to wretch it back up. It had been a strong alcohol. He could then see flashes of blue, his nightmare flashback, and all around him it had been cold. He could feel the ice in the water around him, the chill leaping up his back and digging in with supernatural relish, blue all around him and no breath to grab onto. There had been no life around to grab onto. Flashes and flashes of that blue, that endless blue and infinite cold came at him as if to attack. He could take no more of that suffocating and he could feel himself thrashing, the dream self or the real he could not tell. Drowning, his mind told him. His nightmare was of drowning away the life in him and the time he had been stuck in it he still could not remember. Yami shook the memory fragments of the dream away and found himself to be shivering already; his breath came in short shudders.

 

Blue, it had been. It had been the sort of blue that blotted out every other color until there was not a thing left other then the blue. It was maddening and it scared him. Yami could not stand that blue. All was that cerulean, that indigo with splashes of light blue. It had been azure, and sapphire, and all those lovely names warped to an evil thing that swallowed all the little sympathy there was in the world to begin with.

 

Yami groaned again and got up to have breakfast. He stood on his feet and stared at the ground which then in one instant seemed alien to him. Last night had seemed so long ago, yesterday even longer. So, he didn't need to worry about it now when his stomach was growling. He could pay attention to his throbbing mind later.

 

Yami walked up to Kaiba and Jou's door, rapped loudly on the hard, painted wood before pausing. No sound returned.

 

“Already up!” Jou's effervescent voice called from the main part of the suite. Yami walked in still dressed in a large black t-shirt and boxers. He rubbed his eyes at the brightness.

 

There was coffee already made, and a breakfast tray awaited him as well. Seto Kaiba sat relaxing in the corner, sitting in a florally decorated chair while reading the newspaper like he always did. The font of the headlines was in Spanish, Yami was sure. At any rate, Yami was only too glad that neither asked about last night. Yami was not about to ask what happened either.

 

“We set the alarm last night in order to be up for Tulum.” Kaiba explained suddenly as he put down his newspaper. He sipped the dark coffee quietly after speaking up.

 

“Tulum?” asked Yami curiously, willing his head to work.

 

“Yep! Old Mayan ruins.” Jou explained happily.

 

Yami raised an eyebrow. “And you'll be gone all day, again?”

 

“Yes, but you still need something to occupy your time. I can't bear thinking of watching TV for so long.' Seto answered.

 

“Not to worry. I'll have something to do.” Yami reassured the brown-haired man and sat down to eat.

 

“Oh?”

 

“Mermaid-hunting.” his crimson eyes joked.

 

Seto glared at him, not joking; hard blue eyes drove through Yami's body like spears of ice and instantly chilled him to the bone with another unwanted recall of his nightmare. “…”

 

“I'll be hiking through the forests they've landscaped.” Yami offered dryly, taking the chance of looking away from Kaiba's eyes with pleasure.

 

Seto nodded a bit unwillingly, but took the answer anyway. Anything was better than the retort of mermaid-hunting.

 

They left then, with Jou in his usual mood: happy, and Kaiba looking composed while still carrying the backpack and escorting his boyfriend out. Yami sighed feeling them gone and finished the breakfast Kaiba had brought up for him. He grabbed the other room card on the table and nearly left like that had he not just noticed he was still in his boxers. That was when he cursed and walked back into his room.

 

After changing into some leather and a black sleeveless shirt, Yami left with a brisk walk and tired crimson eyes. His stomach was full, at least. Now, Yami planned to check out the tropical forests he had mentioned to Kaiba, and he did so by starting off in the general direction. The first floor of the resort was filled with exotic plants or bright greens, and even brighter reds. Yami followed the colorful vegetation until he was on a drawn out form of a garden path a little ways away from the hubbub of contemporary life. It led into dense forests that blotted out the powerful sun so that the only light filtered through the thick canopy was eerily green. Leaves grew from branches, branches grew out from the trees, and all around Yami the essence of unspoiled wildlife left itself in clear view. A toucan squawked from a tree branch, a small monkey climbed nimbly over the thin brushwood that formed a web overhead. Yami found himself lost in all of it and too tired to point out how it was man-made, the animals placed there for tourists, and everything was monitored with modern care. It was a good illusion though, and he wanted to believe it wholeheartedly. The path turned into steps, the steps into a wooden bridge over a slowly moving stream, and later it turned back into the stone path that twisted like threads and wound itself through and through again in the forests.

 

As it turned out, Yami soon found himself staring at the turquoise ocean, too different from his dreams to have been water. It was though, as knowledge told him. Yami thought knowledge was in a way, the curse of mankind. It perched on his shoulder throughout the small hike in the forests, and it followed him now frustratingly. Now, it told him that there was no such thing as a merboy, certainly not one so much his mirror image, and Yami accused the voice of now being switched to common sense. Then, there was always his `street smarts' that told him to bag what everyone else said and follow his heart.

 

His heart was perched daringly on the edge of a cliff.

 

From afar the cliff seemed like a normal hunk of gray rock, and from close-up it still was, by all means, a hunk of gray rock. But coming out of the shadows of the emerald shelter Yami had walked bravely out to see that the cliff was more alive than he first thought. It was teeming with life. The wall was covered in shells and bones down on some of the shelves, down in the sea he could see coral blooming from the rock, and fish swum around it in complete peace. It was curious that the sea held just as much life as the land as the forests of green. Kneeling forward, Yami leaned his head over the side of the cliff and felt the very air cool suddenly. The cliff wasn't very high up; it was actually rather low compared to what Yami had also come to think of as a `cliff.' But looking from side to side Yami could see that he was surrounded on three ends by the ocean, and noticing this he immediately got up and left.

 

Back where the ring of soft white separated land from sea, Yami leapt off the side of the rock, expecting to feel hot sand underneath, and found himself skirting some particularly sharp rocks piled against the small cliff. He dodged skillfully past the danger, and found himself lying on another rock. This time he had fallen flat on his back, the sharp impact sent pain throughout his entire body as he grimaced. And that was how he laid now, on his back with his eyes closed to the sun that beamed blood red through his eyelids. Little difference his surroundings made to him, he told himself repeatedly, though he was baking underneath his black clothing. Yami lay still on the rock that was hot from the warmth of the sun, felt the crashing of the waves, and told himself that he did not just fall stubbornly to where he was now.

 

 

(o)(o)(o)

 

Yuugi knew immediately that something was amiss with the water dragon. It's eyes speared deep into his soul and told him that something was terribly wrong. Aquarius swam slowly, bitterly, and very much like the old hermits who preferred to keep to themselves. The blue dragon seemed pacing, it's eyes were blank, yet full all at the same time. Yuugi could only stare helplessly in his shock. Whatever had occurred yesterday between him and the dragon was over now it seemed. Maybe this was their nature.

 

But, no. Something screamed `no' at Yuugi so hard that he realized his hands were gripping the rock door so hard that he could no longer feel them even as his hands shook.

 

Aquarius's eyes flashed from brown, to black, to a clear white, then to a lavender shade before immediately reverting back to the original shade of dark brown. The dragon continued swimming around hostilely, his tail flicked sharply from side to side without warning. The dragon changed direction just as soon as it picked a new one.

 

“Aquarius.” Yuugi said to calm himself down. His voice seemed small in the dark cave inside the cliff. In truth, it did not feel so good to hear his own voice as it did to know that he still had one.

 

The dragon veered left in his direction, eyes trained on him. It's large eyes could almost see into his soul, and it twisted it just as soon as it saw him.

 

“Aquarius, what's wrong?” Yuugi asked it stubbornly, choosing to ignore the shouting going on inside him. Something was not right. Something was very wrong with Aquarius.

 

“Aquarius!” he yelled abruptly as the dragon charged him as it had yesterday. This time there was no friendliness behind it, and that left Yuugi very scared.

 

He dodged out of the way even as his mind didn't know which direction to throw himself in, left or right. He instinctively dodged right just as Aquarius rushed at him, the fins of the dragon scraped roughly against his skin.

 

It's fins were burning!

 

Yuugi's amethyst eyes were wide with a cross between realization, horror, and disbelief. He dodged left again as the dragon turned sharply, coming after him again.

 

“Aquarius!” Yuugi yelled in the water, now full of bubbles from the fast movements of each. Yuugi swam away as fast as he could. Aquarius left him and remained -suddenly calmed. The dragon swam for the surface now.

 

“Aquarius! No!” Yuugi screamed at the blue dragon, he felt his blood seeping through from his bleeding arm where the fins had cut and burned him. This was a sickness that killed a mermaid before years before. She had burned up, gone delirious, and died the very next day. The doctors were all baffled by the disease and how only one had gotten it. Aquarius could not have gotten that sickness.

 

The dragon swam for the shore right then, as Yuugi hesitated on what to do. Not the surface! Anything but the surface, he wanted to say. Now, there would be no one to hear him as the blue shape reached the rocks next to the cliff.

 

“Aquarius!” he yelled one last time, chasing after the dragon in mad pursuit. Yuugi didn't even realize he had broken through to the surface, so completely fixed on the dragon he now restrained in his arms.

 

When Yuugi looked up, he had seen the demonic red eyes from his dreams gaping at him. Aquarius must have too.

 

Yuugi froze. The bundle in his arms that was too hot to be healthy stopped thrashing so madly and instead gave only a flick of his tail. Yuugi took a while to register that he had dragged his tail through a bit of sand to reach the dark gray rock that was one of many around the cliff. Somehow, he had washed up in front of the one with a human seated on top of it.

 

“Aquarius, right?” Yami asked. Yami looked at the merboy's surprised expression which slowly turned from surprised to angry.

 

“The dragon.” He managed to say. Yuugi wanted to curse Poseidon at how his voice seemed small and crushable. The human was evil, the human would ruin everything.

 

“Tell me your name.” Yami commanded, sitting completely up now. Here was the same merboy from yesterday, the turquoise water all around them, and now a sea dragon by the name of Aquarius. The only thing missing was the merboy's own name.

 

Yuugi didn't answer immediately, too caught up in what had happened. He wanted to focus on the beauty of the large rocks with the waves meeting it, or the white sand that boasted purity, or even the green forest far behind. He did not want to keep looking at the human's red eyes.

 

“Help Aquarius.” He forced himself to say. The dragon wiggled in his arms, it's eyes flashed purple again.

 

“Tell me your name.” Yami asked again, folding his arms across his chest and staring down at the merboy. “You already know mine.”

 

“Yuugi.” The merboy answered softly with one short breath. He didn't know how Poseidon himself could rip that word from his mouth. But now the human knew even more about him. He was quickly becoming even more dangerous. Yuugi bit his lips.

 

“And how should I help your dragon?” Yami continued with his questions. His mind was now clearer than it had first been in the morning. Yami stared at the blue dragon. It's eyes stared back at him, it's fins bristling. Yami could have sworn the creature was glaring at him, that or smiling wickedly from how the eyes were almond-shaped.

 

“Aquarius is sick! He'll die if you don't help!” Yuugi cried from his spot on the beach floor. His tail hit the sand under the water in desperation. “You've got to understand!”

 

Now Yami was interested. He could have thought up a million things to say right then, how it was all impossible to begin to comprehend, not to mention understand completely. Instead Yami reached a hand out to the merboy's wound on his shoulder, then impulsively to feel the dragon's forehead even as it thrashed wildly in the merboy's arms.

 

Yuugi froze at the human's touch, wanting to flinch yet not able to.

 

“It's fever.” Yami stated simply. He stood up from the rock, holding his back. Yami stared at the panicked merboy, Yuugi, beneath him from his new perspective. It looked very pitiful to him.

 

“I'll get something to help.” He said simply again. Yami didn't feel like adding on any extra words for the sake of the merboy. It would keep his smart-mouth at bay. Now he simply needed to tend to the reason why he was now heading back to the resort all because a merboy had begged him to.

 

Yuugi wondered why he had begged.

 

(o)(o)(o)

 

A/N: Well, I'm first off very sorry that this chapter had taken so long to write. Mainly it's because this chapter is basically twice as long as all the rest, had another meeting between Yami and Yuugi, and was just damn difficult to get out. I'm very sorry also, for the fact that this was all planned, and the three weeks of not updating was solely for writing. It probably isn't even all that good either. But there's definitely more hinting, more STUFF, and just more content that had to be there.

 

In any case, I hope I'm forgiven.

 

If not then I can always say that school was in my way, it still is. Currently, we're doing a lot of course selection stuff for high school, and other fun stuff while still finishing homework and projects. I also hope I'm forgiven for the badness of certain parts that were speed-typed, not planned out, and how I didn't collect notes to build up this chapter. I'm just tired now.

 

In any case, I've finally finished the twelfth chapter; it's twice as long since I owe it to you readers.

 

Here are the review replies: (Thanks to all who reviewed! You are the people that keep me writing! And thanks to readers too!)

 

LuvngYAMI: Well, you've certainly hit the nail on the head! There will definitely be twists along the way, unexpected or expected, I hope you enjoy the trip!

 

DojomistressAmbyChan: True, true. Thank you very much for your wonderful review. I know the plot is slow, but it will all be for the better later on. There will be more chapters, and a sequel is being thought over. I'm not going to say a peep about the Prince either. I'm really not supposed to. Happy reading!

 

LadywolfTerri: Well! Here you go! I can't wait to see if anyone ever guesses ahead. Having someone actually trying is really a compliment to me. Please, by all means, predict!

 

Carmen-Nemrac: Thanks! I'm really glad that you like how the relationship is slow. I know exactly what you mean about some characters falling in love too fast. You can see the seeds of a relationship, but the two don't like each other just yet. You'll have to stick around for that!

 

 

Shy: Thank you very much. I'm sorry I took so long on this chapter, I still hope you enjoyed it!

 

Yugi-is-my-one-and-only: Wow! I fit into the category of good-fanfiction! Thank you very much. Yami did find out Yuugi's name, and the story will definitely be long. I'm glad you like it!

 

Dark Raven, Hiei's girl: Well, now 167! It's all thanks to the Readers and Reviewers. I put in a bit more hinting, but real fluff won't be in there for a while yet. I've yet to go into detail about the prince and it will remain that way until the right time. Still, I hope you continue reading.

 

hikarinotenshi15: Really? I'm on your favorites?! Wow! Thank you very much. Here's the update! I'm just sorry it took so long!

 

DemonSurfer: Yeah, the characters really have a strong role. Heck, I could write a story only about the characters and have little to no plot. So in a way the characters are more important than the plot. Anyway, now that I've thoroughly confused myself, I'd like to comment that I haven't watched Yu-Gi-Oh for ages. It's all because of the new season. I won't be tuning in until the Egyptian Arc. I'm glad you like the fic. Also, Marik and Malik will definitely be reappearing. Both are essential to the plot! So, maybe characters and plot go hand in hand? Well, thanks for reviewing!

 

Easkyla: Thanks. It feels good to an author that what they've written is effective. Also, Aquarius is also essential to the plot. So, yes, they'll be more!

 

Esther'nEra-guardians-ofChaos: Thanks!

 

Hikari's-dark-side-: Really? You'll actually write it!? Thank you so much! I can hardly imagine how cute it would actually be! I really hope you stick around for all of this long fic too! They'll probably quit the `disliking' soon, but my soon is sort of off. Anyway, thanks for your review!

 

Yana5: A lot of things.

 

Rin-almighty-yaoi-lover: No, I'm actually quite slow. You are welcome to put me on author alert, as I do to nearly every author I read from, since it's just easier than having to check. I'm sorry for taking such a long time, but I hope you enjoy!

 

Pharaoh Atemu's Angel: Yep, you're the first yet again, and yep, you'll probably BE the first for a while. Thanks for the awesome review. Is it possible for a writer to cash in Kudos won for the actual Kudos bar? I'm sort of hungry, but against getting a midnight snack. Anyway, I'm very fond of the Japanese names, who could ever name their kid Duke Devlin? (Excluding anyone who works for 4kids entertainment.) Yami and Yuugi's relationship will certainly grow, it will be slow as you've said, but I can assure you that it will grow into true love. (I'm a sappy person actually.) I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

 

Lady Shinigami: Wow! You've e-mailed me your review? That's wonderful! I'm familiar with pop-up blocks as I commonly use Yahoo Music. Now I can't since Mozilla Firefox blocks it and I don't want to use Netscape. Anyway, I'm well aware of how it feels to miss chapters for other reasons. I spent President's Day reading this manga from Aku-tenshi about a student-teacher relationship, of course, shounen-ai. I polished off ten volumes in a day and continued to read two volumes of Bokura no Oukoku the next day. So I've been reading like crazy. I also know this one MSN group that has scanlations of 200-some chapters of Naruto. I was in a happy-fit for weeks. (And this other group has 9 volumes of FMA!) Well, you sound awfully ticked off over the voices. I had to get used to Roy's, Hugh's was tolerable, and Scar's was just awful. I can really understand. However, Lust's voice is probably one of the best. It just FITS her. It's nice to know you did research on all the Sailor Moon anime. I used to watch it when I was like, eight. Anyway, at least Disney has respect for the homosexuality thing what with Gay and Lesbian Parades and all. And you can't honestly watch Lilo and Stitch without saying there's something going on between the two aliens that were first after Stitch. And in The Fox and the Hound, Copper and Todd seemed much more than just friends. Yeah, Disney is cool. You continue to amuse me with your tales of your sister. See, I'm usually known for spoiling to a friend of mine, and having her walk away, hands covering her ears, singing “LALALALALA!” at the top of her lungs. And boy, she has LUNGS. And the Martian Queen, who would have been her parents? Would there be any gay martians? We're creating an alien race here! Also, onto the topic of the fanfiction: I'm glad you like it! Trust me, I KNOW how difficult it is to have to read this slow relationship and want to smack me for it being so slow, but once it's sparked there'll be a huge fire of love and more love. Yes, I like sap too. But I love plausible sap. Good comments on Seto too, although I'm not sure he would do that being all distrusting towards Yami and knowing how to handle money. I don't think he could live knowing he might waste billions of dollars on hunting mermaids. I'm sorry for the huge block of text…but I'm currently too lazy to hit the `enter' key.

 

Woot! My longest chapter ever! Please tell me if I've made any silly grammatical or spelling mistakes. Also, please read and review!