Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Yu-Gi-Oh! A Tapestry Incomplete ❯ It's Why We're Here ( Chapter 8 )

~Previously on Yugiou; "When I see them again, both Motou and Matouchi will die no matter what." She was about to reach for her bag and pull out her gun when her eyes peeked at what was so significant about the area before her. By the edge of the cliff was a small fire contained in a circle of rocks. Three fish kabobs on some sticks were being roasted by the flame and smelled quite pleasing to Dene. She was lured to them because she hadn't eaten anything since her breakfast back on land at her home in the East Domino district-and the only thing she had eaten for breakfast was Colby cheese on a sandwich roll.

"Well I am quite hungry, and these three crabs will go great with my three fishes. Now I can have this bird to add to my lunch, and this thing is still a little bit full. Who knows, maybe I'll find a duelist to duel while I eat."

"Water, the ocean, the sea, the lake, the pond, those damn creatures that live in the water, but most of all… I HATE THOSE SEA GULLS!" Dene screamed. The birds were still squawking over her very head. "Will you go away!"

I had to admit that I was dazed to see her. This girl sitting there, probably preparing to eat my lunch. I didn't realize that the spear or the duck and bottle of liquid fell to my feet. I could've fallen over the cliff because of my legs wobbling from seeing her if I hadn't kneeled down to pick up the items I dropped. For a second I wasn't looking into her eyes as I collected the stuff on the floor. I couldn't look into those eyes again, they were so beautiful, if I looked into those warm dusty honey eyes of hers again I might forget how to speak, or even worse, fish.

"Am I going to have to keep calling you pervert or what?!"

"Oh um, I'm Rajiki Kyouta, I mean, Kajiyouta Ryoki, wait, uh, Kajiki Ryouta! My name is Kajiki Ryouta!" Great, now I was gushing. I knew those extraordinary eyes were looking at me as if I were stupid so I quickly asked, "and you are the girl who was about to eat my fish."

"Aw you already know, I'm Dene."

"Okay, what's with you?!" I stood up and pointed at her. "what's all this koibito stuff!"

"Why, anata, you say that to people when you love them."

"Do you act this way all the time, or do you just like seeing guys falter to you like this." I gasped.

"I just act this way around you is all… Because I want you to act back." She stopped her hand over my thigh and right over the top of my pants. I just begged her to do what I wanted her to do. She gripped the top of my pants as my lungs got really tight, not to mention other places on my body got really tight too. Dene slipped her fingers under the top of my pants and I became petrified at how close she was to feeling my… my….

She only acted the way she did to just the guys she liked. She just wanted to have some fun with Ryouta. She's betrothed to Umei and her heart was for Bandit Keith Howard! She didn't like Ryouta… She loved him. Dene buried her face in the grass and sighed a painful sigh that felt as if her heart would burst, "Is this what love really feels like?"

~

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A Tapestry Incomplete

Episode Eight: It's why we're here

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"That Kajiki Ryouta has a good, strong spirit for dueling. It's amazing how he is able to keep a smile on his face after all that has happened to him… If I lost you guys, I would be broken for life." Yuugi said examining his gauntlet of star chips. He had just won in his duel against Ryouta and now him and his friends were looking for someone else to duel. The group had found their selves walking into yet another forest beside a stream they have been following because they had nothing better to do as they looked for more duelists.

"This is madness! There are so many duelists on this island and we can't even find one." Jounouchi grumbled.

"I'm hungry again…" Honda groaned.

"How about we take a rest, ne?" Anzu spoke up. She muttered something only Yuugi could hear, "Maybe it will stop those infants and their wailing."

Yuugi chuckled.

"Hey I know! Let's duel Mesmori!" Jounouchi pointed out.

"Hey where is Mesmori?" Anzu brought up the discovery of a missing member to the group.

"Was she with us when we left Kajiki-san?" Yuugi was puzzled.

"Well she has been wandering around by herself this far, maybe she decided to go on her own again." Honda shrugged.

Yuugi clenched his fist, "I don't think-"

"Honda's right. She could've gone back to Ryouta for some food." Anzu sided with the other classmate. "Let's just keep going."

Yuugi's shoulders sunk. "Well, okay-"

The whole time the three of his friends were discussing the matter at hand, Jounouchi had grown very disheartened with the sign of concern in his eyes. He turned to face his friends. "You guys rest here, I'll go look for her." And with that, Jounouchi was off like a missile.

"Whoa Jounouchi!" Honda called for his friend to return. "Matte! I'm coming-" Honda was about to run after Jounouchi when Anzu had grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Honda!" Anzu censured. "Don't you remember how Mesmori risked her life for Jounouchi… Maybe those two need to be alone for a while."

Honda was about to give a retort but he glanced over to see Yuugi shaking his head `no' as a warning.

---

Mesmori sat on a hug boulder in the middle of a small clearing in the forest. She was twiddling her thumbs together and seemed to be trying to keep her mind off something. She lifted her head up and began jerking around when she heard a swish in the bushes. The young teen grew frightened as she waited to see what it was through one eye left open while the other was closed tight.

A brown hare jumped through the shrubs at Mesmori and she nearly had a heart attack.

"Thank god, just a bunny!" Mesmori wheezed as her heart kept beating at an alarming rate. She clutched her chest. "Get a grip, get a grip!"

The small hare looked up at Mesmori with its beady eyes and hopped onto the boulder. It sat right next to her and began brushing its head with its paws.

Mesmori's eyes sparkled as she began to tickle the small creature behind the ears. "You lucky little bunny. You don't have anyone out to kill you. Well, except foxes, and owls, and coyotes, and-" Mesmori stopped herself when she noticed the rabbit staring up at her as if he could understand what she was saying.

Suddenly, another swish came from the bushes behind Mesmori. The hare jumped up and ran off in the opposite direction. The fifteen-year-old was now even more terrified because if Mesmori didn't frighten the rabbit and this intruder did, then it was surely trouble!

Mesmori crawled up in the fetal position and closed her eyes. "AH! He followed me here, he's coming! AH! I can't kill anyone! Not me! Don't molest me again! AH!"

"Mesmori?" Jounouchi shook the girl out of her trance.

"Huh?" Mesmori glimpsed up at her `attacker'. "Oh, hi Jou-sama." She said rather peacefully as if nothing had happened.

"What was all that about." Jounouchi asked still holding onto the girl's shoulders.

"Oh… nothing." Mesmori sat up and looked away from the boy.

"That didn't sound like nothing. You should tell me, I was there you know." Jounouchi climbed up on the rock and sat next to her. "That Dene talked about you killing someone. And now I heard you talking about not wanting to kill someone that someone else wants you to do."

"It doesn't concern you." Mesmori mumbled.

Jounouchi grabbed Mesmori by the shoulders again and turned her towards him. "Okay, since when do you start acting like this? Someone is following you, someone seduced you?"

"He is…" Mesmori didn't bring her eyes to look into Jounouchi's. "Why are you here?"

Jounouchi let go of Mesmori and leaned back. "I came looking for you."

"Out of your own free will?" the girl glanced at Jounouchi a little surprised.

Jounouchi began picking his ear with his little finger, "Well, Yuugi… Yuugi has been talking about giving people another chance, I might as well start with giving you a chance."

Mesmori hugged her knees to her chest and began to smile. `Jou-sama is wonderful'

"So, um, why don't you give me a chance? Who's this guy messing with you," Jounouchi cracked his knuckles, "I'll take care of him for ya."

Mesmori sucked in a big breath of air and drew it back out. `What if he is watching right now, if I tell Jounouchi, will he kill Jounouchi to teach me a lesson?! No, Jounouchi deserves to know.' Mesmori shook her head and stared at Jounouchi. "He was a senior at East Domino High at the beginning of the year. He was expelled for…"

"…?"

"Now his sick obsession with me has gotten even stronger. I know it was him at the docks, no one else calls me…" Mesmori held her head down.

"Aw come on little nezumi…" Jounouchi laughed as he brought his arm around her shoulder. "Don't get so depressed."

Mesmori became stiff as soon as she heard what Jounouchi called her. "Why did you call me that!?" she spat out paranoid and didn't realize she had grabbed Jounouchi by the collar.

"Whoa easy-" Jounouchi persuaded trying to stop Mesmori from strangling him.

"Only he calls me that! Don't call me that!" it looked as if Mesmori was about to cry from the way she was shouting.

"Calm down, you act like mouse, you're so quiet at on your guard, I didn't know HE called you that." Jounouchi felt her grip loosen.

"Gomen…" Mesmori whimpered. `How could I act that way to Jounouchi like that?'

The dirty blonde rubbed his neck, "What are the odds I would call you that."

Mesmori grew a little hurt by the next thing she asked Jounouchi, "Do you give anyone else a certain name of an animal from the way they act?" she then looked away.

"Nani?" Jounouchi was confused.

"Do you…" Mesmori stifled sighed. "A girl perhaps?"

"WELL!" A mischievous smile crossed over the boy's face. "Umei and Dene! The crude Umei and the elegant Dene. And then there's Mai, even more luxurious then them all! Umei being a potent Siamese kitten, Dene the curvaceous panther, and Mai the tempting fox! Yeh, if only they were all just one person! And Anzu-" Jounouchi went on with a disregard for Mesmori's feelings.

The girl suspired disappointedly, "And I'm just a mouse… The quiet mouse who you don't know if it is a boy or girl."

"Nani?" Jounouchi inquired flabbergasted.

And in that instant, Mesmori snapped. She stood up atop the rock and brought her hands out. "I may not be a perfect sparing partner for you like the great Umei, I may not be as voluptuous as Dene, I may not be as `a la mode' as Mai or as genuine as Anzu, but I like who I am! I like dressing this way, I like being different and comfortable despite what others think. Bright orange leggings, khaki shorts, orange sweater under a forest green shirt, and a cowboy hat. That's how you know it's me!"

Jounouchi gawked up at the ranting girl.

"My skin may not be as pale as the great Umei, or as tan as Dene's, or as full of life like Anzu and Mai's, but I like my darkly bronzed skin. That's how you know it is me!"

Jounouchi was speechless.

"My hair," Mesmori removed her hat and through it to the ground to reveal her brown hair pulled back in a hairdo that looked exactly like Umei's-it was in three spiked bangs just like Umei's. "Not as interesting as the great Umei's blonde, auburn, and orange combo, not as mystical as Dene's that is darker then the ocean, not as together as Mai's or Anzu's, but it's what I have and I love my dark chocolate hair. That's how you know it is me!"

Jounouchi closed his eyes and smiled.

"My eyes will never be as unique as the yellow-grassy eyes of the great Umei, nor as golden as the sun like Dene's, not even as wondrous as Mai's or Anzu's, but my eyes sparkle so much that they help me remember how much I love myself. That's how you know it is me!"

"Mesmori…" Jounouchi whispered.

"And you Jounouchi Katsuya." Mesmori choked for air, "You should think of me as more than just a mouse now, because I think of you in a lot of ways right now. A lot of good ways. I would kill myself for you, only you and Umei deserve my sacrifice, but right now, mainly just you. You have the personality that intrigues me more than my dear Umei. Dene and me are here to find Umei, she brought us both here through envy. We both want her. But right now there is someone I want more than Umei right now. I may not be all those things I said, but I love being me… and I love being around you, it's the way I am, that's how you know it is me…"

Jounouchi just stared up at Mesmori.

`OHMEGOSH! What have I just done!? Why did I say that! AH! I like Jounouchi!' Mesmori turned red and held her breath.

Jounouchi broke the silence by laughing uncontrollably.

A gust of steam exited from the petrified Mesmori's ears and nose like a chimney.

Jounouchi pushed himself off the rock, still laughing, "Come on Mesmori, everyone is waiting for us." He tried to say through laughter.

Mesmori flopped down on the rock, still blushing, "Gomen, Gomen, Gomen! Never mind what I said! I was just raving! I wouldn't dream on dying so soon! I'm not the self-sacrificial type!" Mesmori shifted her hands back and forth in front of her as she began to shudder.

"Nope, now I know, now I'm gonna hafta think about this for a while before I decide." Jounouchi mocked her and couldn't stop laughing.

"DECIDE! Decide what!" Mesmori screamed about to be a permanent red. `Calm down, you're exhausting yourself!'

"Hmmm hmmm, so many girls to choose from now," Jounouchi whistled. He began to walk off in the direction of his friends.

Mesmori fanned herself and clutched her heart, `OH DIVINITY ALL MIGHTY! He knows I have a crush on him! Stupid me! Exhausting myself like this! He thinks I'm conceited! I shouldn't have showed him my hair! I did it to look exactly like my hero Umei! He thinks I'm a freak! Oh Umei what do I do!'

"Hurry up, Mesmori!" Jounouchi chortled, already gone from the scene.

"Coming!" Mesmori gasped for air. `I shouldn't have exhausted myself again…' the girl reached into her pocket and pulled out a syringe. `I'm almost out too, I need to be more careful…'

---

"Word is you lost a duel against Katsuya." A familiar voice said in a detestable tone. The carrier of the voice stood with her back facing the person she was talking to.

"And where did you hear that?" Mai Kujaku burst out in her defense rather crossly.

"The grapevine." Umei turned her head to sneer at Mai.

The two females were standing on a beach as the waves came up to both of their knees.

Mai stepped back away from the water as it chilled her. "That's hilarious…" she said sarcastically.

"Didn't I tell you not to hang around that bantam? He smeared his losing streak all over you."

"Oh please, I'm still as great a duelist as they come, just from one loss doesn't mean you've lost your edge." Mai crossed her arms and turned her nose up.

Umei spun all the way around to face her friend. "To some it means the world…"

"Are you still pining over that Seto Kaiba, psh, high school girls these days." Mai placed her hands on her hips and began her high-pitch laugh.

Umei shot her head away, "You just wreak of that bantam, so you really did do it with him huh?"

Mai's eyes widened as she shot her head to Umei, "More times than you have done it with Seto Kaiba!"

Umei glared at Mai and just brushed it off. "Why are you my best friend again? Weren't we just talking about Jounouchi, how did it turn back to that Dinosaur Ryuzaki… You have a fetish for losers or something?"

"Ugh, I could be dueling some pathetic opponent right now, what do you want anyway?" Mai made a `humph' sound through her nose in the process of tapping her foot.

"So you can only win against pathetic opponents?" Umei ridiculed.

"I don't have time to waste my valuable beauty on you." Mai held a mass of her flaxen curls between her hands.

"You rather entice men out of their star chips through sinful acts instead? Like that bantam." Umei's eyes narrowed.

"I rather be with someone mature right now and not a foolish school girl like you." Mai started to saunter off.

"Mai…" the older woman turned to look at the girl. Umei walked up to Mai and passed her. Mai grew a little tense when she heard Umei speak very darkly. "There are only nine worthy duelists on this island right now, one of them has not yet made it yet but he'll be here soon. I can already tell you right now that those nine will be in the finals. The rest of the people here are just practice for the nine."

Mai stepped away from Umei when she saw her turn around with her eyes flaming purple!

"Do you trust yourself enough to be one of the final nine? Stick to the wimps you fight now, if you go up against the duelists I have my bets on making the finals, then you will surely lose. Stick to your instincts, though you might not become stronger that way…"

"Umei?" Mai stammered a little overly suspicious.

"My father has a whole different plan up his sleeves. I hope you aren't the one chosen for the `other' division in the finals… but that's if you make it."

"What do you mean if! I'm going to be there! What's this `other' division, Umei… if you are Umei!" Mai shot her finger towards Umei.

"You want the money don't you, just the money? That's in the division for the people competing in the finals to fight Pegasus, you know, the original outcome of this tournament. There's a whole different division that takes half the people that made the finals to fight amongst each other against their will. If you win in the special division; however, you have the power to…"

"Power to what?! Do you fight Pegasus in this special division?!" Mai was shaking.

"Iie… something else."

"Something?!" Mai shrieked.

"I have to go, see you soon Mai, real soon."

"Umei don't you dare walk away!"

Umei didn't respond.

And that was the last Mai saw of Umei as she walked off into the forest again. What was going on? Mai was very confused about what Umei was talking about. Umei had been laying as if in a trance on the beach with the water streaming all over her when Mai found her. What had happened before Mai had found her? Why were her eyes purple?! Why was that thing around her neck glowing?! Why care now? Mai had to find someone to duel in order to get to the finals, but right now, Mai was really interested in competing in this special division Umei had been talking about. Everyone here was after the money, only one-sixteenth of the people here wanted otherwise. So that's why everyone was here… their own issues with destiny.

Mai came back to reality when she found out someone was standing directly behind her.

"Why did you let her leave…" a gun pushed up against Mai's back as the trigger clicked.

---

To Be Continued