Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ YGO Blade Runner ❯ Chapter 3 ( Chapter 3 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lsama-no-miko 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Cyberpunk / Drama / Post-apocalyptic / Sci-fi | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 04.04.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 164 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Cyberpunk / Drama / Post-apocalyptic / Sci-fi | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 04.04.2008 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 164 | Status: Work In Progress
YGO Blade Runner
by Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)
This chappie’s for you Sherabo. Consider it a thank you prezzie for putting me in one of your fics. Love ya!
Chapter 3
“Voice identification please,” the cheery, female mechanical voice asked.
Atem frowned, he never could understand why people had insisted on using such annoyingly cheery voices for their gizmos, especially when the world was now far from a cheery place. It constantly rained acidic water in Domino, the streets were crowded with the genetic rejects and those who couldn’t pay the exorbitant prices to leave for another colony. In his eyes, it was definitely not a cheery place.
“Motou,” he said, giving the name his apartment was under.
“Thank you, Mr. Motou.” The elevator door hissed open and he tiredly stepped in, not noticing the figure following him in. “Floor please,” came the voice.
“Ninety seven,” he said, yawning.
“Thank you,” the computer voice said again and the elevator started carrying him up to his floor. A few minutes later, he yawned again and was about to step out when he felt someone in the elevator with him. His eyes narrowed and he whipped out his gun, turning to see…
A boy with light green hair in a dark blue sleeveless trench coat standing calmly in the shadows. It was the replicant he’d tested earlier that day. ‘What’s it doing here?’ he asked, annoyed that he now had a runaway replicant in his home.
“I needed to see you,” Noa said, unfazed by the weapon pointed at his face. Sighing, Atem put the gun away and let the boy follow him out into the hall. “So I waited.”
The spiky haired man was clearly unnerved by Noa’s sudden appearance. Never once in all his time as a Blade Runner has a replicant willingly sought him out. He fumbled with his wallet, trying to retrieve his keycard only to drop it.
“Please, let me help,” the boy said, bending down and picking up the keycard.
Atem shakingly took it from him, inwardly gasping at how real the skin of Noa’s hand felt against his. He never bothered with details like that, the less one knew about replicants, the better it was to ‘retire’ them. If he’d come to see them as humans, then he’d have one heck of a time trying to justify ‘retiring’ them.
“What makes you think I’d need help?” he asked gruffly as he pushed the keycard into the slot on his door. There was a short beep and the light indicating the door was locked turned from red to green. He pushed the door open, intending to leave Noa out in the hall.
“I don’t know why my brother told you what he did,” he said, causing the older man to spin around and face him.
“Talk to him,” he replied.
“He wouldn’t see me,” the boy said, genuinely upset. His ‘brother’ had never refused to speak with him before and the man’s sudden aloofness was beginning to grate on his nerves. Noa’s only answer was the door slamming in his face.
A few moments later, the door opened again, revealing a very annoyed and very stern looking Atem. There were no words needed between the two, the look on the man’s face was invitation enough. Noa silently entered as he stepped aside, sighing. The boy said nothing at the perpetual mess that was Atem’s apartment.
“I need a drink,” Atem said, glancing over at the boy now patiently sitting on the couch. Noa said nothing at the unspoken question. Shrugging his shoulders, the Blade Runner went over to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of beer from his dilapidated fridge. He popped the cap and began to take a swig of the amber liquid.
“You believe I’m a replicant do you?” Noa said. Atem ignored him, instead choosing to remove his blue jacket and throw it onto a nearby chair. The boy, clearly upset now, reached into his trench coat and pulled out a card shaped necklace. He opened it and held it up to him. “See, it’s me with my mother!”
“Really?” the spiky haired man asked, not believing it one bit as he tidied up a bit. “Remember when you were six,” he began, “you and your brotherMolkuba snuck into the basement of an empty building. Noa’s eyes widened. ‘How does he know about that?!’ he wondered worriedly. “You were going to play doctor. He showed you his, then you chickened and ran out. Remember that? Did you ever tell anyone? Your mother, Kaiba, anyone?” Whether Noa was affected by this or not, he didn’t show it, trying his best to keep his cool.
Atem sat down on the chair, moving his jacket aside. He then took another swig of beer before going on. “Remember the bush outside your window with the spider in it? The one with a green body and orange legs? You watched it build a web all summer…” Noa got up and came over to him, intending to demand how he’d gotten that information. “One day there was a big egg in the web. It hatched…”
“It hatched and hundreds of baby spiders came out,” he said, his voice weak and trembling.
“And?”
“And ate her,” he whispered.
“Still don’t get it do you? They’re implants. They’re not your memories, they’re Mokuba Kaiba’s.” The boy said nothing, tears welling up in his crystal blue eyes. He bit his lip, refusing to let himself cry in front of the man.
“Look,” Atem said apologetically, “It was a bad joke. I was only messing with you. You’re not a replicant, go on home.” He sighed rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. He looked up at the stifled sob and saw tears running down his cheeks. “I’m really sorry, kid,” he said placing a hand on his shoulder. “It was a stupid thing for me to do. Go home.”
Noa wouldn’t budge, he just stood there, crying silently. ‘Great,’ the man grumbled, ‘Some guy I am, making little kids cry.’ “How about a drink?” he asked in attempt to smooth things over and get rid of the guilt. “I’ll get you a drink.” He then went back to his kitchen and retrieved another beer. He knew he shouldn’t be giving a minor alcohol, but that was all he had in there, no food. Just beer and leftovers that were beyond identification. He winced as he heard Noa’s quiet sobs, it really tore at his heart. ‘If I didn’t know any better, I could swear he’s a regular human.’ Wait a minute! When did he start calling the replicant ‘he’? ‘Don’t start thinking like that now Motou,’ he scolded, ‘That’d be a great way to lose your job or worse, end up dead.’
He searched for a glass and found none. Frowning at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, he picked up a small juice glass that looked relatively clean and began rinsing it out. However, before he could hand it to the boy, Noa looked at him for a few seconds then hurriedly dashed out of the apartment, slamming the door.
He stood there, glass and bottle in hand just staring and feeling extremely guilty for being so cruel. He hadn’t intended to upset the boy so, but he never did get used to being around replicants since he usually ‘retired’ them instead of making ‘small talk.’ Sighing he placed the beer and glass down on and end table. Noticing something on the floor, he went over and picked it up. It was the card shaped necklace that Noa had tried to show him. Upon opening it, he saw a little boy about six or seven with light green hair standing and smiling in front of a woman with long black hair and laughing grey blue eyes. He knew that to be a fake for before leaving the Kaiba Corp. tower, Kaiba had proudly shown him pictures of his little brother, Mokuba, who was now in a university on one of the colonies. The face and hair of the boy in the picture may have been Noa’s, but any expert could tell that the body was not. Noa’s face had been cleverly superimposed on Mokuba’s body in order to make sure the replicant believed whatever lies the scientist had implanted into his brain.
He was about to close it and put it down, when a piece of paper fell out. Picking it up, he saw that a phone number had been scribbled on it. Pocketing the paper, he closed the locket and decided to get ready for bed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Domino, a boy with spiky blond, black, and red hair walked aimlessly along the abandoned streets of the slums. He shivered slightly at the cold night air for his clothes weren’t exactly practical for a rainy night like this. He wore only a skin tight black mesh shirt, even tighter black leather pants, short combat boots, cut off black elbow length gloves, a spiked dog collar around his slender neck, and a blood red linen jacket that hung down to the backs of his knees.
The boy continued walking a few more minutes then stopped at an abandoned apartment building. He sighed then sat amongst the papers and old boxes littering the sidewalk. Upon finding a place to spend the night, he decided to make himself comfortable and began piling the papers over him to keep off the chill and to make sure he was well hidden.
It wasn’t long before a beat up SUV like vehicle puttered to a stop in front of the building. A young man with long white hair and chocolate colored doe eyes hurriedly ran out, desperately trying to get out of the rain. He began fishing around in the pockets of his jacket and started to pull out a set of keys.
The sound of the metal startled the boy hidden nearby and he let out a gasp. The two stared at each other for a few seconds then, the boy shot up fast as a snake and started running, knocking the other down.
The white haired man got up and called out to the boy. “Wait!” The spiky haired boy paused, eyeing the man suspiciously. “You forgot your bag,” he said, holding up a rather old and beat up backpack. The boy hesitated for a moment then rushed over and snatched it from him.
The taller man smiled gently. He felt pity for the boy. He didn’t know why he was huddled in the garbage out in the rain, but he didn’t really care. It was someone to talk to, if even for only a few seconds. You see, he lived all by himself and his work gave him hardly any time for socializing, that and ‘the other thing.’
“I-I’m lost,” the boy said, timidly.
“It’s alright,” he said, putting on his friendliest smile, “I’m not going to hurt you.” There was more awkward silence for a minute or so. “So um… what’s your name?” he asked shyly, taking in the boy’s appearance.
“Yugi,” the boy said, still wary of this man. His resemblance to his lover unnerving him.
“I’m Ryou,” he replied, still smiling, “Ryou Bakura.”
Yugi’s eyes widened briefly. ‘His last name’s the same as his first name,’ he mused as he thought of his lover. “H-Hi,” he said, giving a shy smile. Ryou continued to smile, relieved he was able to get the poor kid to smile.
“Oh my!” the man exclaimed after yet another awkward silence, “Where were you running off to? Maybe I can help. Give you a lift home?”
“I don’t have one,” Yugi said sadly.
“Oh dear,” he said pityingly.
“We scared each other good didn’t we?” Yugi asked, giving him a sheepish smile.
“Yep. We sure did.”
The spiky haired boy shyly giggled and laughed, making the white haired man’s heart skip a beat at the musical quality.
“I’m starving, Ryou-kun,” Yugi said, using every one of his tricks to make himself look enticing. He needed a place to stay and if he played his cards right, he’d get one out of the rain, and perhaps some food as well – he really was hungry after all.
“I-I’ve got food inside,” Ryou said, blushing slightly at the suddenly flirtatious boy. “Why don’t you come in for a bit?”
“I’d love that Ryou-kun!” beamed Yugi.
Ryou blushed even more at that sparkling smile. He then hurriedly unlocked the mesh and glass doors, holding one open for his guest. Yugi gave him a teasing peck on the cheek as he entered, grateful to get out of the cold and rain. Ryou’s face was bright red now, he’d only been kissed by his mother and sister and they were now dead, due to prolonged exposure to the fallout from World War Terminus. He frowned in shame at the dingy, dusty refuse littered lobby. He never bothered to clean up the place since he never had any guests. There were no other tenants to complain about it so he just kept procrastinating. He muttered to himself about the equal mess of his apartment. ‘Can’t be helped now,’ he grumbled, ‘I just hope he doesn’t mind it too much.’
He led them to the elevator and slid the gate open. He gave the huge skylight in the lobby and shivered, grateful it was relatively dark out. He hated that window; it was what kept him from leaving the building during the day.
“So…” Yugi began as they rode the lift up, “You here all by yourself?”
“Yes, pretty much,” he replied ruefully. “One good thing about this place, plenty of vacancies.” Yugi giggled. “Oh! Watch out for the water,” he said as they came to a stop and exited the elevator.
Yugi looked down and saw a huge puddle in the middle of the hall. He glanced up and saw that one of the windows was completely empty of glass and the acid rain was now pouring in. Ryou gave him an apologetic smile as they made their way to his apartment.
“You must be pretty lonely here, Ryou-kun,” the boy said, feeling a tiny bit of pity for the human.
“Not really,” the white haired man said, fishing out his keys again. “I make friends you see.” Yugi looked at him quizzically. “Toys I mean. My friends are toys, it’s just a hobby really,” he said with a hint of pride. “I’m actually a genetic designer. Do you know what that is?”
“No,” Yugi said, his usually innocent looking amethyst eyes darkening. Oh he knew alright. He’d learned lots of stuff from his lover over these past few months.
“Well here we are,” Ryou said, unlocking the door with his keycard and holding it open for his new guest. “Hello!” he called, “Tadaima!”
Yugi started at the sound of footsteps and jumped as two tiny figures entered the foyer. His eyes widened in awe at the strange half angel, half demon figure and blue skinned, bald headed woman that came up to his thighs. “Okaeri, Ryou-san,” they said in unison.
“Hello there!” he said patting both on the head before going to lock the door. It may not have been necessary, but he had gotten so used to doing it when his father was still around that it was just pretty much automatic. The dolls then whirled around and began returning to where they came from
Yugi smiled and chuckled as he watched the half demon half angel doll bump into the frame of a doorway and continue to walk in place a few moments before turning slightly and walk after its companion.
“Those are the friends I told you about,” Ryou said proudly, “I made them. So where are your folks?” he asked.
“Don’t have any,” he said continuing to look around, “I guess you can say I’m an orphan.”
“Oh. Um… what about friends, you got any?” he wondered as he took the boy’s jacket and hung it on a hook to dry.
“A few. We sort of got separated. I’ll let them know where I am tomorrow.”
“Oh. Okay. Um…” Ryou looked away blushing, now that he got a good look at the boy. “I guess I’ll um… sleep on the couch then. Bedroom’s over there,” he said, pointing to the only neat room in the apartment.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that to you Ryou-kun,” the boy protested. “I’ll take the couch, I don’t mind.”
“No!” the man said adamantly, “I will not having my guest sleeping on that old lumpy couch. You go ahead and take the bed, I insist.”
“Well, if you insist,” Yugi said, smiling, “thanks Ryou-kun.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, blushing profusely again.
Atem sat at the upright piano his ex-wife had left behind, his hand lazily playing with the keys as he tried to will himself back to bed. Ever since Noa’s hasty departure, he hadn’t been able to get any sleep. His crimson eyes began to slowly droop and he leant his head against the music shelf.
He was running through the forest, the wind blowing his silvery white mane and tail so that they fanned out in strange floating white clouds. The sound of his hoofs as they touched the ground pounding in his delicate ears, matching his heartbeat. The sunlight filtered through the trees, casting eerie green beams of light and reflecting off the shining horn upon his majestic and slender head.
He gave out a joyous whinny, exulting in just being able to run freely as he liked and shook his head in merriment.
Atem jerked awake and shook his head. ‘What the hell?!’ he thought as the weird dream slowly began to fade. ‘I’ve really got to lay off the cheap beer.’
Glancing back at the piano, he picked up the small stack of photos he’d gotten from the blond replicant’s hotel room. He went through them, glancing at them more closely then stopped when he noticed one of them had an odd reflection in the room’s mirror.
Grabbing the beer bottle nearby, he leapt from the bench and carefully made his way to the photo analyzer. He shoved the dirty laundry off the chair and sat down, turning it on then inserting the picture.
There was a series of blips and beeps as it warmed up and a grid like screen appeared. He took a drink from the bottle, patiently waiting for the photo to be digitized. A series of hums and beeps later, the photo appeared on the screen underneath the grid.
“Enhance thirty four to thirty six,” he commanded after spending several moments zooming in and moving around the picture. The machine beeped then zeroed in on the area around the mirror. “Pan right and pull back,” The machine was only too happy to oblige. “Stop.” The analyzer obeyed, the mirror in clear view now. “Enhance thirty four to thirty six,” he ordered again. The machine this time zeroing on a tiny section of the mirror’s refection. Odd oblong like shapes appeared in what seemed to be the form of a person. “Pull back, wait, go right. Stop. Enhance fifty seven nineteen.” The machine beeped and clicked as it went about its business.
The spiky haired Blade Runner fiddled with the photo a bit more before saying, “Stop. Give me a hard copy right there.” The machine hummed this time and started printing out theh current screen. A bronze skinned, blond boy was longing on what appeared to be a couch. It was blurry, but it appeared that he had a tattoo of a cobra on one cheek.
Reaching into his wallet, Atem pulled out the small evidence bag and stared at the scale like thing inside, puzzling over it. ‘I wonder,’ he mused.
Giving an enormous yawn, he placed the scale on top of the print out and stood up, finally ready to get back to sleep. ‘I look into it tomorrow,’ he said, yawning again.
~TBC~
Sakura: Ooo the plot thickens!
Jou: What I wanna know is what was that creep doin’ in my hotel room?!
Sakura: Oh, I’m pretty sure you know Jou-chan. What else would you do with a hot blond in your room? -_^
Jou: Hey!
Sakura: Ignore the barking puppy minna. I still haven’t gotten him housebroken yet. Anyhoo, you all should know what to do by now. See ya next chappie!!
by Sakura (aka L-sama no Miko)
This chappie’s for you Sherabo. Consider it a thank you prezzie for putting me in one of your fics. Love ya!
Chapter 3
“Voice identification please,” the cheery, female mechanical voice asked.
Atem frowned, he never could understand why people had insisted on using such annoyingly cheery voices for their gizmos, especially when the world was now far from a cheery place. It constantly rained acidic water in Domino, the streets were crowded with the genetic rejects and those who couldn’t pay the exorbitant prices to leave for another colony. In his eyes, it was definitely not a cheery place.
“Motou,” he said, giving the name his apartment was under.
“Thank you, Mr. Motou.” The elevator door hissed open and he tiredly stepped in, not noticing the figure following him in. “Floor please,” came the voice.
“Ninety seven,” he said, yawning.
“Thank you,” the computer voice said again and the elevator started carrying him up to his floor. A few minutes later, he yawned again and was about to step out when he felt someone in the elevator with him. His eyes narrowed and he whipped out his gun, turning to see…
A boy with light green hair in a dark blue sleeveless trench coat standing calmly in the shadows. It was the replicant he’d tested earlier that day. ‘What’s it doing here?’ he asked, annoyed that he now had a runaway replicant in his home.
“I needed to see you,” Noa said, unfazed by the weapon pointed at his face. Sighing, Atem put the gun away and let the boy follow him out into the hall. “So I waited.”
The spiky haired man was clearly unnerved by Noa’s sudden appearance. Never once in all his time as a Blade Runner has a replicant willingly sought him out. He fumbled with his wallet, trying to retrieve his keycard only to drop it.
“Please, let me help,” the boy said, bending down and picking up the keycard.
Atem shakingly took it from him, inwardly gasping at how real the skin of Noa’s hand felt against his. He never bothered with details like that, the less one knew about replicants, the better it was to ‘retire’ them. If he’d come to see them as humans, then he’d have one heck of a time trying to justify ‘retiring’ them.
“What makes you think I’d need help?” he asked gruffly as he pushed the keycard into the slot on his door. There was a short beep and the light indicating the door was locked turned from red to green. He pushed the door open, intending to leave Noa out in the hall.
“I don’t know why my brother told you what he did,” he said, causing the older man to spin around and face him.
“Talk to him,” he replied.
“He wouldn’t see me,” the boy said, genuinely upset. His ‘brother’ had never refused to speak with him before and the man’s sudden aloofness was beginning to grate on his nerves. Noa’s only answer was the door slamming in his face.
A few moments later, the door opened again, revealing a very annoyed and very stern looking Atem. There were no words needed between the two, the look on the man’s face was invitation enough. Noa silently entered as he stepped aside, sighing. The boy said nothing at the perpetual mess that was Atem’s apartment.
“I need a drink,” Atem said, glancing over at the boy now patiently sitting on the couch. Noa said nothing at the unspoken question. Shrugging his shoulders, the Blade Runner went over to the kitchen and pulled a bottle of beer from his dilapidated fridge. He popped the cap and began to take a swig of the amber liquid.
“You believe I’m a replicant do you?” Noa said. Atem ignored him, instead choosing to remove his blue jacket and throw it onto a nearby chair. The boy, clearly upset now, reached into his trench coat and pulled out a card shaped necklace. He opened it and held it up to him. “See, it’s me with my mother!”
“Really?” the spiky haired man asked, not believing it one bit as he tidied up a bit. “Remember when you were six,” he began, “you and your brotherMolkuba snuck into the basement of an empty building. Noa’s eyes widened. ‘How does he know about that?!’ he wondered worriedly. “You were going to play doctor. He showed you his, then you chickened and ran out. Remember that? Did you ever tell anyone? Your mother, Kaiba, anyone?” Whether Noa was affected by this or not, he didn’t show it, trying his best to keep his cool.
Atem sat down on the chair, moving his jacket aside. He then took another swig of beer before going on. “Remember the bush outside your window with the spider in it? The one with a green body and orange legs? You watched it build a web all summer…” Noa got up and came over to him, intending to demand how he’d gotten that information. “One day there was a big egg in the web. It hatched…”
“It hatched and hundreds of baby spiders came out,” he said, his voice weak and trembling.
“And?”
“And ate her,” he whispered.
“Still don’t get it do you? They’re implants. They’re not your memories, they’re Mokuba Kaiba’s.” The boy said nothing, tears welling up in his crystal blue eyes. He bit his lip, refusing to let himself cry in front of the man.
“Look,” Atem said apologetically, “It was a bad joke. I was only messing with you. You’re not a replicant, go on home.” He sighed rubbing the tiredness out of his eyes. He looked up at the stifled sob and saw tears running down his cheeks. “I’m really sorry, kid,” he said placing a hand on his shoulder. “It was a stupid thing for me to do. Go home.”
Noa wouldn’t budge, he just stood there, crying silently. ‘Great,’ the man grumbled, ‘Some guy I am, making little kids cry.’ “How about a drink?” he asked in attempt to smooth things over and get rid of the guilt. “I’ll get you a drink.” He then went back to his kitchen and retrieved another beer. He knew he shouldn’t be giving a minor alcohol, but that was all he had in there, no food. Just beer and leftovers that were beyond identification. He winced as he heard Noa’s quiet sobs, it really tore at his heart. ‘If I didn’t know any better, I could swear he’s a regular human.’ Wait a minute! When did he start calling the replicant ‘he’? ‘Don’t start thinking like that now Motou,’ he scolded, ‘That’d be a great way to lose your job or worse, end up dead.’
He searched for a glass and found none. Frowning at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, he picked up a small juice glass that looked relatively clean and began rinsing it out. However, before he could hand it to the boy, Noa looked at him for a few seconds then hurriedly dashed out of the apartment, slamming the door.
He stood there, glass and bottle in hand just staring and feeling extremely guilty for being so cruel. He hadn’t intended to upset the boy so, but he never did get used to being around replicants since he usually ‘retired’ them instead of making ‘small talk.’ Sighing he placed the beer and glass down on and end table. Noticing something on the floor, he went over and picked it up. It was the card shaped necklace that Noa had tried to show him. Upon opening it, he saw a little boy about six or seven with light green hair standing and smiling in front of a woman with long black hair and laughing grey blue eyes. He knew that to be a fake for before leaving the Kaiba Corp. tower, Kaiba had proudly shown him pictures of his little brother, Mokuba, who was now in a university on one of the colonies. The face and hair of the boy in the picture may have been Noa’s, but any expert could tell that the body was not. Noa’s face had been cleverly superimposed on Mokuba’s body in order to make sure the replicant believed whatever lies the scientist had implanted into his brain.
He was about to close it and put it down, when a piece of paper fell out. Picking it up, he saw that a phone number had been scribbled on it. Pocketing the paper, he closed the locket and decided to get ready for bed.
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Domino, a boy with spiky blond, black, and red hair walked aimlessly along the abandoned streets of the slums. He shivered slightly at the cold night air for his clothes weren’t exactly practical for a rainy night like this. He wore only a skin tight black mesh shirt, even tighter black leather pants, short combat boots, cut off black elbow length gloves, a spiked dog collar around his slender neck, and a blood red linen jacket that hung down to the backs of his knees.
The boy continued walking a few more minutes then stopped at an abandoned apartment building. He sighed then sat amongst the papers and old boxes littering the sidewalk. Upon finding a place to spend the night, he decided to make himself comfortable and began piling the papers over him to keep off the chill and to make sure he was well hidden.
It wasn’t long before a beat up SUV like vehicle puttered to a stop in front of the building. A young man with long white hair and chocolate colored doe eyes hurriedly ran out, desperately trying to get out of the rain. He began fishing around in the pockets of his jacket and started to pull out a set of keys.
The sound of the metal startled the boy hidden nearby and he let out a gasp. The two stared at each other for a few seconds then, the boy shot up fast as a snake and started running, knocking the other down.
The white haired man got up and called out to the boy. “Wait!” The spiky haired boy paused, eyeing the man suspiciously. “You forgot your bag,” he said, holding up a rather old and beat up backpack. The boy hesitated for a moment then rushed over and snatched it from him.
The taller man smiled gently. He felt pity for the boy. He didn’t know why he was huddled in the garbage out in the rain, but he didn’t really care. It was someone to talk to, if even for only a few seconds. You see, he lived all by himself and his work gave him hardly any time for socializing, that and ‘the other thing.’
“I-I’m lost,” the boy said, timidly.
“It’s alright,” he said, putting on his friendliest smile, “I’m not going to hurt you.” There was more awkward silence for a minute or so. “So um… what’s your name?” he asked shyly, taking in the boy’s appearance.
“Yugi,” the boy said, still wary of this man. His resemblance to his lover unnerving him.
“I’m Ryou,” he replied, still smiling, “Ryou Bakura.”
Yugi’s eyes widened briefly. ‘His last name’s the same as his first name,’ he mused as he thought of his lover. “H-Hi,” he said, giving a shy smile. Ryou continued to smile, relieved he was able to get the poor kid to smile.
“Oh my!” the man exclaimed after yet another awkward silence, “Where were you running off to? Maybe I can help. Give you a lift home?”
“I don’t have one,” Yugi said sadly.
“Oh dear,” he said pityingly.
“We scared each other good didn’t we?” Yugi asked, giving him a sheepish smile.
“Yep. We sure did.”
The spiky haired boy shyly giggled and laughed, making the white haired man’s heart skip a beat at the musical quality.
“I’m starving, Ryou-kun,” Yugi said, using every one of his tricks to make himself look enticing. He needed a place to stay and if he played his cards right, he’d get one out of the rain, and perhaps some food as well – he really was hungry after all.
“I-I’ve got food inside,” Ryou said, blushing slightly at the suddenly flirtatious boy. “Why don’t you come in for a bit?”
“I’d love that Ryou-kun!” beamed Yugi.
Ryou blushed even more at that sparkling smile. He then hurriedly unlocked the mesh and glass doors, holding one open for his guest. Yugi gave him a teasing peck on the cheek as he entered, grateful to get out of the cold and rain. Ryou’s face was bright red now, he’d only been kissed by his mother and sister and they were now dead, due to prolonged exposure to the fallout from World War Terminus. He frowned in shame at the dingy, dusty refuse littered lobby. He never bothered to clean up the place since he never had any guests. There were no other tenants to complain about it so he just kept procrastinating. He muttered to himself about the equal mess of his apartment. ‘Can’t be helped now,’ he grumbled, ‘I just hope he doesn’t mind it too much.’
He led them to the elevator and slid the gate open. He gave the huge skylight in the lobby and shivered, grateful it was relatively dark out. He hated that window; it was what kept him from leaving the building during the day.
“So…” Yugi began as they rode the lift up, “You here all by yourself?”
“Yes, pretty much,” he replied ruefully. “One good thing about this place, plenty of vacancies.” Yugi giggled. “Oh! Watch out for the water,” he said as they came to a stop and exited the elevator.
Yugi looked down and saw a huge puddle in the middle of the hall. He glanced up and saw that one of the windows was completely empty of glass and the acid rain was now pouring in. Ryou gave him an apologetic smile as they made their way to his apartment.
“You must be pretty lonely here, Ryou-kun,” the boy said, feeling a tiny bit of pity for the human.
“Not really,” the white haired man said, fishing out his keys again. “I make friends you see.” Yugi looked at him quizzically. “Toys I mean. My friends are toys, it’s just a hobby really,” he said with a hint of pride. “I’m actually a genetic designer. Do you know what that is?”
“No,” Yugi said, his usually innocent looking amethyst eyes darkening. Oh he knew alright. He’d learned lots of stuff from his lover over these past few months.
“Well here we are,” Ryou said, unlocking the door with his keycard and holding it open for his new guest. “Hello!” he called, “Tadaima!”
Yugi started at the sound of footsteps and jumped as two tiny figures entered the foyer. His eyes widened in awe at the strange half angel, half demon figure and blue skinned, bald headed woman that came up to his thighs. “Okaeri, Ryou-san,” they said in unison.
“Hello there!” he said patting both on the head before going to lock the door. It may not have been necessary, but he had gotten so used to doing it when his father was still around that it was just pretty much automatic. The dolls then whirled around and began returning to where they came from
Yugi smiled and chuckled as he watched the half demon half angel doll bump into the frame of a doorway and continue to walk in place a few moments before turning slightly and walk after its companion.
“Those are the friends I told you about,” Ryou said proudly, “I made them. So where are your folks?” he asked.
“Don’t have any,” he said continuing to look around, “I guess you can say I’m an orphan.”
“Oh. Um… what about friends, you got any?” he wondered as he took the boy’s jacket and hung it on a hook to dry.
“A few. We sort of got separated. I’ll let them know where I am tomorrow.”
“Oh. Okay. Um…” Ryou looked away blushing, now that he got a good look at the boy. “I guess I’ll um… sleep on the couch then. Bedroom’s over there,” he said, pointing to the only neat room in the apartment.
“Oh, I couldn’t do that to you Ryou-kun,” the boy protested. “I’ll take the couch, I don’t mind.”
“No!” the man said adamantly, “I will not having my guest sleeping on that old lumpy couch. You go ahead and take the bed, I insist.”
“Well, if you insist,” Yugi said, smiling, “thanks Ryou-kun.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, blushing profusely again.
Atem sat at the upright piano his ex-wife had left behind, his hand lazily playing with the keys as he tried to will himself back to bed. Ever since Noa’s hasty departure, he hadn’t been able to get any sleep. His crimson eyes began to slowly droop and he leant his head against the music shelf.
He was running through the forest, the wind blowing his silvery white mane and tail so that they fanned out in strange floating white clouds. The sound of his hoofs as they touched the ground pounding in his delicate ears, matching his heartbeat. The sunlight filtered through the trees, casting eerie green beams of light and reflecting off the shining horn upon his majestic and slender head.
He gave out a joyous whinny, exulting in just being able to run freely as he liked and shook his head in merriment.
Atem jerked awake and shook his head. ‘What the hell?!’ he thought as the weird dream slowly began to fade. ‘I’ve really got to lay off the cheap beer.’
Glancing back at the piano, he picked up the small stack of photos he’d gotten from the blond replicant’s hotel room. He went through them, glancing at them more closely then stopped when he noticed one of them had an odd reflection in the room’s mirror.
Grabbing the beer bottle nearby, he leapt from the bench and carefully made his way to the photo analyzer. He shoved the dirty laundry off the chair and sat down, turning it on then inserting the picture.
There was a series of blips and beeps as it warmed up and a grid like screen appeared. He took a drink from the bottle, patiently waiting for the photo to be digitized. A series of hums and beeps later, the photo appeared on the screen underneath the grid.
“Enhance thirty four to thirty six,” he commanded after spending several moments zooming in and moving around the picture. The machine beeped then zeroed in on the area around the mirror. “Pan right and pull back,” The machine was only too happy to oblige. “Stop.” The analyzer obeyed, the mirror in clear view now. “Enhance thirty four to thirty six,” he ordered again. The machine this time zeroing on a tiny section of the mirror’s refection. Odd oblong like shapes appeared in what seemed to be the form of a person. “Pull back, wait, go right. Stop. Enhance fifty seven nineteen.” The machine beeped and clicked as it went about its business.
The spiky haired Blade Runner fiddled with the photo a bit more before saying, “Stop. Give me a hard copy right there.” The machine hummed this time and started printing out theh current screen. A bronze skinned, blond boy was longing on what appeared to be a couch. It was blurry, but it appeared that he had a tattoo of a cobra on one cheek.
Reaching into his wallet, Atem pulled out the small evidence bag and stared at the scale like thing inside, puzzling over it. ‘I wonder,’ he mused.
Giving an enormous yawn, he placed the scale on top of the print out and stood up, finally ready to get back to sleep. ‘I look into it tomorrow,’ he said, yawning again.
~TBC~
Sakura: Ooo the plot thickens!
Jou: What I wanna know is what was that creep doin’ in my hotel room?!
Sakura: Oh, I’m pretty sure you know Jou-chan. What else would you do with a hot blond in your room? -_^
Jou: Hey!
Sakura: Ignore the barking puppy minna. I still haven’t gotten him housebroken yet. Anyhoo, you all should know what to do by now. See ya next chappie!!