Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Do You Dream of Me? ❯ Chapter 26

Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-gi-oh, I wouldn't be broke. And anemic, but that has nothing to do with Yu-gi-oh. Outside of AU vampire fics.

 

Another chapter done in advance for NaNoWriMo.

 

YGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGOYGO

 

Jou was starting to get worried too, looking at Yugi. A game? Games were Yami's thing, but what was going on? This whole thing really made no sense.

 

“See this circle.” Mokuba pointed to how the food was arranged on the table. “It's a turntable like they use at Chinese restaurants! The three of us take turns spinning the table! Then we eat the food in front of us! You have to clean your plate!”

 

“There isn't any poison in the food, is there?” Jou asked, trying to keep his tone light. He'd seen stuff like that… guy had been given something that made him keep throwing up, so bad they ended up having to take him to the emergency room.

 

“Ha ha! That would be rude! I'd never do that to a guest! Actually, there's a wonderful treasure hidden in these dishes! The person who finds it, wins!” Mokuba's smile was just a little too obviously faked. Something was annoying him.

 

“All right, let's do it!” Jou was just a little better at faking. Well, at least once he ate it would be over with and he was freaking starved.

 

“Then you start, Jounouchi!” Mokuba pointed to him.

 

He wasn't going to tell the freaky kid it was okay to call him Jou. “Awright, let's go!” His enthusiasm wasn't entirely feigned. It had been a long time since lunch, and that coffee had barely taken the edge off. He spun the wheel so hard it took a while to stop.

 

With the thing he'd wanted least in front of him. “Ack! The kiddie lunch?!”

 

“You have to clean your plate, Jounouchi! That's the rules of the game! And you just might find the treasure!” The freaky kid was still freaky.

 

“Awright, I get it!” Jou growled at the kiddie meal. How embarrassing.

 

“Hey,” he said, munching, “This isn't bad!” Rich people could make even a kiddie meal taste great…

 

Suddenly Jou bent over, groaning. “Urgh…”

 

Yugi panicked. “Jou, what's wrong?!” -It can't be…!!- But Yami wasn't worried…

 

Jou coughed up a ball of paper. Unwrapping it he read, annoyed, “'Sorry, you lose!' Gee, thanks.” Well, that had been embarrassing.

 

The freaky kid was sort of gloating, sort of ticked off, like he'd wanted to do something else but was too calculating to do it. “Oh, too bad Jounouchi! That means you don't get to eat anymore!”

 

Damn it! Jou growled quietly, annoyed. He was still hungry.

 

“Well, I guess if Yugi wins, you can have more, and breakfast before the Opening Ceremony. Big day tomorrow!” He grinned gloating at Yugi.

 

-We're sleeping over? Mokuba didn't say anything about that… should we get out of here?- Yugi asked Yami.

 

Yami shrugged. -Master, I do not think there is any danger here we cannot overcome, and it might be a good idea to see what they have planned. Unless you would like to go?—

 

Yami clearly was excited and wanted to stay, so Yugi agreed. -Okay, that's a good idea.-

 

Yami was happy Yugi agreed.

 

Yugi was happy Yami was smiling at him.

 

“Don't worry Jou, I'll win.” Yugi smiled at him.

 

“Heh heh… big words… there are five dishes left… and there's one more Game Over left, and a prize in another. You win if you get the prize of if I get a Game Over. It's a fair game, isn't it?” Mokuba was gloating, clearly thinking he'd found the limit to Yami's powers. This was a game where he wasn't cheating, so he wouldn't lose due to the nature of the magic, and as it was a fair game Yami would be cheating if he influenced events. “No tricks!” Mokuba gloated, rubbing it in. “Yugi, it's your move!”

 

Yugi smiled. He always won at games, even so. Yami and his magic might be staying out of it, but there was still luck, skill, and instinct. If he saw where Mokuba looked, that would give him clues to where they were, and if he figured out how hard to spin the table…

 

Yami watched Yugi spin the table and plot admiringly. Master was a master gamesman.

 

The wheel stopped on the spaghetti.

 

“Well, well! Spaghetti… Eat up, Yugi! Like they say in Italy… Mangia! Mangia!” Looking at Mokuba's eyes, Yugi breathed a sigh of relief. He was gloating, but the relief there was that Yugi hadn't won, not that the game was over.

 

It was good spaghetti. Jou was looking at it hungrily, so Yugi tried to eat fast to not tease him. He looked at Jou apologetically. Jou shrugged.

 

Yugi would normally have let Yami take over for a second to taste it, but Mokuba was watching and might notice. He seemed to frown, looking close enough to see Yugi's eyes were still violet.

 

He wanted to challenge Yami? Yugi felt sort of insulted. He hid the feeling from Yami, otherwise he would feel angry with Mokuba, and with himself for overshadowing Yugi.

 

“You're safe!” Mokuba said when Yugi was finished.

 

Trying to act like he had the upper hand… a fast learner, Yami thought.

 

“I guess the poison wasn't in the spaghetti! Yugi! How was that! Was it tasty!”

 

Jou glared at the kid. Gee. Thanks for rubbing it in. Jou liked spaghetti. Burgers were more Yugi's thing…

 

“This meal is a lot more exciting than I'd planned… It would have really been the Best Meal in the World… but it still is exciting to be able to win or lose, Yugi. You really won't want to be hungry tomorrow.” Mokuba smiled intimidatingly.

 

What would happen at the ceremony? What was Kaiba's special project? Mokuba was teasing them with it, trying to get them to be fearful and lose their cool… a very fast learner. Well, he was a Champion, surely he and his brother didn't manage to cheat in official tournaments.

 

Yami was excited, like with Kaiba before, to be going up against someone with at least a few of the skills of a true gamer. Even though the rules they followed… they had the heart, but not the mind. Mokuba wasn't as twisted as Kaiba, but even so… what had happened to them, to warp them like this?

 

“Now, next is my turn.” Mokuba spun the wheel when no one asked any questions about what would happen tomorrow, a little disappointed. Most people wouldn't have picked up on it, though. Yugi was a Master gamer and could see through most poker faces, and Jou's instincts had been sharpened by his life.

 

“Yahoo!” Honest joy lit in Mokuba's eyes. “Chocolate parfait! My favorite!” He ate the ice cream with a big smile on his face. “Mmm-good! Yum Yum! Mmm! Yummy!”

 

Well, he wouldn't have made his favorite dish a losing one, and looking at how fast he was eating it, Yugi doubted he wanted to accidently eat the prize.

 

Mokuba had an empty syrup bottle next to him, he noticed. -Probably a red herring…- Yami agreed. So the pancakes weren't important… that left the hamburger and the pizza.

 

Would Mokuba know Yugi loved hamburgers? …probably. The Kaibas seemed to know a lot about them, to be able to pick them up when walking home from an unscheduled trip to the arcade.

 

So the other losing note was in the hamburger, and the prize in the pizza. Yugi was sure of it.

 

Just to make sure, Yugi asked innocently, “Mokuba-san, why is the syrup bottle empty?”

 

Mokuba blinked rapidly, startled and… guilty?

 

Mokuba had said this game wasn't the one he had planned… perhaps it had something to do with that? “Um… I guess the waiter must have forgot to fill it, huh. I'll have them bring hot syrup when one of use gets the pancakes…?”

 

Yugi nodded. “Okay! That sounds tasty. My turn now?”

 

Mokuba was looking almost regretfully at the syrup bottle. “All right!”

 

“Sorry, but Jou's getting really hungry.” Jou definitely was. “So can we have the next turn be the last one, and both eat the dishes in front of us? Or closest to us, as there's only three dishes left now.”

 

Mokuba hesitated a second, calculating, then looked at the table. He seemed to like the odds, so he smiled again. “Okay!”

 

“Let's go!” Yugi grinned, spinning the table. He hadn't figured out how it moved, so he'd just have to trust to luck.

 

…and the hamburger stopped right in front of Mokuba, who gaped at it. Clearly not expecting that.

 

If Yugi or Yami had cheated to get Yugi's favorite food, they would have lost! It was amazing how it worked. Fair play really was better, even in non-magical games.

 

The pancakes had stopped in front of Yugi. “Mokuba, can I have some syrup?”

 

“Sh… sure.” Mokuba rang the bell and a waiter appeared. “Bring some syrup.” Mokuba was clearly not used to using. He watched the waiter come and go instead of eating the hamburger.

 

“Thank you!” Yugi smiled at the waiter, and put the syrup on his pancakes. It was in a different bottle then the one by Mokuba, which hadn't moved. Something was probably up with that bottle.

 

Yami smiled. Mokuba had learned a lot from their game. Hopefully Kaiba had as well. “Well, I've finished the pancakes. Don't you want your hamburger, Mokuba?” Yugi smiled innocently.

 

Mokuba glared a little. “Um, I'm actually not a big fan of hamburgers. Do you want it, Yugi?” He attempted an innocent look.

 

Yugi's was much better. “I'd love too, Mokuba, but I'm full and weren't the rules to clean your plate?”

 

Mokuba grumbled. Rules, shmules. At least Yugi hadn't won the prize. And he was smart enough to know that with only two dishes left, Mokuba had to have either the prize or a loss paper. No way out of it. He ate, and showed them the paper. “I guess I lost. You can have the pizza, Jounouchi.”

 

“Thanks, man!” Jou smiled. That had been torture! Yugi was good at this, though. And Yami hadn't come out to do anything even though his instincts were telling him something was up.

 

So Yami didn't handle everything for Yugi, and didn't do those Shadow Game things for no reason. Good to know.

 

They'd decided to trust him, for now, but it would be better to know. All the evidence was pointing to him being a good guy. What a relief.

 

Jou scarfed down the pizza, while Mokuba looked like he clearly wanted to be elsewhere and Yugi smiled happily.

 

Then, all of a sudden, Yugi felt something! Right after, Yami said -Don't worry, Master! I'll be right back-- and flung himself out of Yugi's Soul Room. Although they were still connected, Yugi couldn't tell where he had gone! Not in his Soul Room, not in his body… surely not back in the Puzzle!

 

Jou looked at him worriedly, and Mokuba looked curious then seemed to realize something and gloated.

 

Yugi could feel Yami use his powers. Now he was really worried!

 

Jou coughed up another paper again, distracting them. “… 10,000 yen?! Cool!”

 

Mokuba tried to smile apologetically. “Sorry, Jounouchi, but you already lost, remember?”

 

Jou sighed. “Ah, man… thanks for the food, anyway. Great stuff.” He was clearly trying to distract Mokuba from Yugi, who quickly recovered.

 

Yugi smiled innocently, as though he didn't have a care in the world. “That's too bad, Jou.”

 

Jou shrugged. “Ah, well.”

 

Right after that, Yami returned, and Yugi threw himself at him, landing them both on the bed with Yugi on top. -What happened?!-

 

Yami hugged him back to reassure him, but was still worried. -Some men came to take your Grandfather somewhere. My wards were triggered, so I manifested to protect him…--

 

-Manifested?- Yugi was temporarily distracted. -You have your own body now?!- Excitement.

 

--…I don't have enough power for it on my own. The Puzzle offered to help, and to protect your Grandfather, I had to accept the offer.—Yami clearly hadn't wanted to. The thought of the puzzle made him shiver.

 

-I'm glad you did. Is my Grandpa safe?- Worry…

 

Yami nodded reassuringly. --Yes, I made sure of it, Master. I defeated them in a Shadow Game and strengthened the wards on the house. No one should be able to get in.—

 

-Thank you.- Yugi hugged him tighter. -You always protect me and my friends and now my family… I owe you so much, I'm so grateful I worked so long to solve the puzzle!-

 

--…thank you, my Master, but you owe me nothing. I am the one who owes you everything.—Yami shook his head.

 

Yugi sighed and pet him. -Just take my word for it, okay?-

 

--Okay, Master.--