Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Cat of the Lilac Eyes ❯ Chapter 4: Café ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Shiro: Well, here's the fourth chapter! It's about 5 pages long, so I'm getting the chapters back up to a normal length. Please enjoy!

Bast: And just as a note, since Shiro won't say this herself: If you don't like the story, you don't have to read it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did, would I really be sitting here writing fanfictions? Oh, I do own any OC's from DOTSL and any OC's in this story.

Suggestion: I forgot to say this before, but it would be a good idea to read Dragon of the Shadowed Light before this one since there will be some stuff from that one in this story. It's just a suggestion, but it will most likely make things a little more clear.

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The rest of the school week passes by fairly quickly. Ashling and Malik are still stubbornly ignoring one another like always, and fail horribly like they have been. They don’t argue quite as much as they did during the first two weeks before school, but they do still argue. The tension is still high when they’re in the same room as well.

Ashling’s odd group of friends have accepted Malik into their group (although they still don’t know why he’s here… except for Damian), so he now has an official spot at their lunch table. Whether or not this is a good thing has yet to be determined as Malik has yet to get used to their randomness, hyperactivity, Anime otaku-ness, or Damian’s extreme dramatics. Which is why Malik is currently looking at the black-and-purple haired boy in shock after his little outburst at the lunch table. Again.

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“I got it!” Damian yells, plunking himself down at the table. “It’s all set up and ready to roll! Who’s ready?”

Ashling, Holly, and Riley all three jump up and ‘mob-hug’ their friend without even thinking.

“You so totally rock, dude!” Ashling and Holly yell in unison.

Damian grins. “Thank you, thank you. Come by tomorrow so I can show you around. You know where to go.”

Anyone not an ‘Anime otaku’, except for Max, listen on with growing confusion.

“You’ve got everything?” Riley asks, a slight blush on her face as she lets go of Damian.

“Everything.” Damian agrees, nodding.

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Malik wakes up on Saturday morning at 11:30 to find that Ashling has already left to do whatever it is she has planned with her fellow Anime otaku. This means he has a peaceful morning and afternoon without Ashling around to worry about.

He eats a quick brunch and then goes outside to spend his afternoon out in the warm sun.

Meanwhile, with Ashling.

Ashling had gotten up early that morning so she could watch her favorite Saturday morning Anime shows like Tokyo Mew Mew. Right after that she grabbed a breakfast drink and hit the road, going to the place she’s meeting Damian, Jiro, Riley, Kaylie, Holly, and Max. She drives past the school and pulls up into the Roses parking lot. She drives around to the left of the building right over to a small (compared to the large store) dark-colored building with Japanese (shrine-style) dark gray shingles.

Several cars- Riley’s yellow VW bug, Damian’s dark purple truck with silver flames, and Holly’s tie-dye Nova SS- are already parked outside.

A feeling of giddyness wells up inside of her as she pulls up beside Riley’s car in her small black Mazda. Ashling pulls up the parking brake and shifts to neutral before turning off the car and taking her feet off the clutch and brake. She quickly takes off her seatbelt, opens the door, and gets out of the car. Ashling shuts the car door and jogs up to the door of the building, noting with satisfaction that it’s designed similarly to a Japanese sliding door, and then opens it.

“You’re here!” Holly happily yells, setting down the maneki neko she was looking at.

Ashling smiles at her friends while she looks around at the place. The walls are painted a shadow black color. The color fades to white at the area’s around light fixtures. The ceiling is the same way. Looking down, she sees that the carpet is the same shadow black color.

“What do you think, Ash?” Damian asks, cheerfully carrying an armload of boxes into the ‘top level’. “I thought the repetitive shadow black would be a bit much, but I have to say it turned out pretty well.”

“The bean bags are a nice touch.” Ashling comments, amusement laced in her voice.

Max points to the pillow he’s sitting on. “We’ve got pillows too, for you beyond obsessed Anime fans.”

Jiro throws a blue pillow at Max. “They’re good for more than just sitting on!”

Holly follows suit and slams a pillow into Jiro’s head at the same time that Max does.

“Abuse! Abuse!” Jiro yells to the laughter of his friends.

“Come on guys, I need you to try on the uniforms before we open Monday. And you need to familiarize yourself with this place.” Damian says. “Now, Riley’s is first.”

Riley gets up and takes the yellow box from the top of the stack. The Kaylie gets hers, and then Max, then Jiro, then Holly, and then Ashling. The only box left is the purple one Damian is holding, which is obviously his own.

“Alright, this way to our back room!” Damian says cheerfully, pushing through a door right behind him, barely distinguishable from the wall.

The others follow him into the slightly brighter room which is done up in faded light purple.

“The changing rooms are over there.” Damian says, pointing to two doors. “There’s only two, sadly. The light green one is for guys and the light pink is girls. Sexist, yes. I’m sorry. It’s not my fault. I didn’t have enough time to get this room painted.

“Me first!” Holly shouts, running into the one with the pink door.

Jiro rolls his eyes. “I’ll go.”

Five minutes later Jiro comes out dressed in a shadow black shirt and pants and a dark green vest. Max goes in after him.

“Looks good.” Kaylie comments. “I can’t wait to see what our uniforms look like!”

‘Our’ meaning ‘the girls’ of course.

Five minutes after that Holly comes out dressed in her uniform. It’s half-designed similarly to a maid uniform, but there are quite a few differences. (Those of you who watch Tokyo Mew Mew, think similarly to the girl’s working outfits.)

Holly’s uniform consists of a shadow black semi-off-the-shoulder shirt that ends an inch above her belly button. The skirt is also shadow black and ends around three or four inches above her knees. Both the shirt and skirt have sapphire blue lace trim. Overtop of the skirt is a simple white apron with a large pocket on the right side. A little shadow black maids ‘hat’ is on her head. It also has sapphire blue trim.

The others go and change. The whole thing takes nearly a half hour.

Riley’s uniform consists of a sunny yellow off-the-shoulder shirt and a skirt that ends an inch above her knees. The lace trim is shadow black and the pocket on her white apron is on the right.

Max’s uniform is a shadow black shirt and pants and a light green vest.

Kaylie’s uniform has a light blue shirt that has a v-neck collar (with no lace) and a light blue skirt that ends a little above her knees. A white apron is overtop the skirt and the trim on her uniform is the shadow black lace.

Damian’s uniform is made up of a purple shirt and pants and a shadow black vest.

Ashling’s uniform consists of an off-the-shoulder shadow black shirt that ends two and a half inches above her belly button. Her shadow black skirt is knee-length and also has the white apron overtop it. Her lace trim is fire red.

“So, do you approve?” Damian asks.

“I know I approve!” Holly says happily, spinning around in a circle so her skirt twirls around.

The others nod in agreement.

Ashling grins. “Looks like you did something right for once, Damian.”

Damian rolls his eyes. “Gee, thanks. C’mon guys. I’m gonna give ya’ll the grand tour.”

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Ashling doesn’t get home until 8 o’clock that night, having goofed off with her friends all day. First they celebrated at the café the’re opening (after taking off their uniforms) by making coffee and hot chocolate. Then they went bowling for an hour or two. After that they drove 45 minutes away out to the mall to have a little shopping spree. During their time at the mall they ate at the K&W Cafeteria there. Then they drove a short distance away to the movie theatre, where they had to split up between two movies playing at the same time. Then they all headed back home.

All-in-all, it was an exhausting but fun day. By the time Ashling gets home, she is almost unbelievably hyper from her tiredness, having too much caffeine, and from being with her goofy friends all day. She’s so hyper that she ignores her hatred of Malik for the rest of the night, spending the time watching Anime and reading fan fictions on the computer.

A week or so passes, taking with it the grand opening of the Shadow Café, which has already become a popular after school hangout.

Ashling’s family has become very curious about the job she now has. But Ashling refuses to tell. So, they talk Malik into finding out what it is. Normally Malik wouldn’t even consider doing something like this, but he’s rather curious as well. Which is why, on Wednesday after school, a week after Ashling began her job, Malik is follow Ashling discreetly on his motorcycle.

He watches in surprise as Ashling pulls into the Roses parking lot just down the road from the school. His gaze lands on the darkly colored café, his eyes lingering on the sign for a moment. ‘Shadow Café, huh? I’ll never be able to escape the shadows, will I?’

Malik watches as Ashling parks her black car next to a tie-dyed one and then as she walks in. He sits outside on his motorcycle for a while to make sure Ashling’s not just meeting one of her crazy friends. When she doesn’t come out, Malik gets off his motorcycle, takes off his helmet, and makes sure he has his keys before he walks into the café.

Inside, he looks around, surprised by the amount of people already here and somewhat impressed by the decorating job.

“Hello and welcome to the Shadow Care! How- Malik?!”

Malik looks at the black and blue clad girl in front of him, barely surprised to see that it’s Holly.

The reddish-brown haired girl grins. “You’re looking for Ash, aren’t you? Here, I’ll show you to your seat and let Ash take care of ya.” Holly says. “C’mon.”

Holly leads Malik over to a small table with a lilac colored cushion.

“This is Ashling’s section, she’ll be with ya in a sec.” Grinning, Holly goes off to get Ashling and to make sure she hasn’t caught the kitchen on fire trying to bake again.

She finds Damian and Ashling in the kitchen. Ashling has ducked behind the counter, flour on her nose and in her braided hair. Damian has just finished combating flames from the stove with one of the many fire extinguishers in the kitchen.

Holly sweat drops. “Ano… Ash-chan.”

Ashling peeks over the counter, stormy blue eyes wide. “N-nani?”

“Maybe it’s be best if you stick to waiting tables.” Holly says, looking at the not just burnt, but charcoal rolls.

“I completely agree.” Damian says faintly. “You, my dearest Ashling, are a potential fire disaster waiting to happen.”

Ashling sighs, looking down at the ground. “I know… I’ll just… go wait tables now. You can takes the rolls from my paycheck.” She says, dusting off her uniform. She looks up from the floor and gives the two a sad smile before walking out of the kitchen.

Damian and Holly wait until she’s gone before they start talking while cleaning up the mess.

“So what’s going on that made you come back here in search of Ash?” Damian asks, dumping the charcoal rolls into the trash.

Holly dampens a washcloth and begins wiping down the counter. “Well, someone came here looking for Ashling…”

“The Egyptian.” Damian states knowingly.

Holly looks at Damian, brown eyes questioning. “He’s Egyptian?”

“Half.” Damian replies, arranging some already made rolls on a tray before moving on to arranging a tray of cookies.

The two are silent for a minute, both working on their own thing in the kitchen. Damian sticks the rolls and cookies into the oven after making sure it’s set to the right temperature. “Holly, I’m going to tell you something that Ashling will most likely kill me for saying… How well can you keep a secret?”

“Depends on the type of secret. It it’s life threatening or if someone could get hurt, then I won’t keep it. Anything else, then I can easily keep it.” Holly replies after a moment of thought.

Damian glances around, making sure no one else is in the room. Then he turns to Holly, emerald green eyes serious. “Ashling is betrothed to Malik.”

Holly gasps. “What? How did you find this out? How is this possible?”

Damian sighs. “Malik’s cousin is one of my best friends. She told me after I bugged her about why psycho boy was here for hours.”

“How do you know it’s Ashling? Couldn’t it be someone else?” Holly asks, trying to work her mind around the fact.

“Because Ashling and him were handcuffed together.” Damian replies. “Tama said that their mothers came up with this when they were young. Mrs. Ishtar wrote it down somewhere and Ishizu found it.”

Holly frowns. “It’s no wonder they’re so determined to hate one another… It takes too much for Ashling to really hate someone. She gives people too many second chances sometimes.”

“Her major weakness.” Damian agrees whole-heartedly.

“You can tell they’re curious about one another, but…”

Damian decides to finish her sentence, knowing what she means. “They’re both stubborn as hell. They’ll get over it sometime. Ash can be way too curious for her own-”

“Guys, I need some rolls and cookies out here pronto!” Riley interrupts, pushing open the door. “And Holly, you’ve got people in your section who need served. Ashling can’t take care of them all.”

“I’m coming.” Holly says, tossing the towel she was using into a basket. “Talk to you later Damian.”

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Ashling sets down the cut of green tea that Malik ordered on his table, doing her best to avoid his gaze. “Enjoy your tea…” She mutters, still furious with herself for not being more careful about making sure no one followed her.

Malik catches her wrist before she can go far.

“What?” Ashling hisses, trying to jerk her wrist from Malik’s grip. “Let go.”

“Not until you answer one thing for me.” Malik replies defiantly. “What’s so bad about you working here that you won’t tell your family?”

“None of your business, Ishtar.” Ashling snaps, stormy blue eyes cold. “Let go now.”

“Tell me first.”

“Fine!” Ashling growls. “You want to know why? My family doesn’t accept my love for Anime. This café is done in a Japanese style and the design was based off of some Anime stories me and my friends have written.” She glares at him. “I told you what you asked, now leg go.”

Malik lets go and Ashling immediately storms off to give Holly a piece of her mind.

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Shiro: Hmm... I feel like I'm focusing too much on Ashling... Well, it's a good thing I decided to do something different for the next chapter!

Kitsune: Strange, you're able to get started on it so easily...

Shiro: (shrugs) I haven't gotten into the swing of things yet.

Kaze: (raises an eyebrow) We're on chapter four and you still haven't 'gotten into the swing of things'.

Shiro: (stubbornly ignoring Kaze) 'Thank you's' are below!


next chapter- Chapter 5: Problems
Now we head back over to Domino to check up on the others. Here we encounter several problems- Joey's girl problems and the yami's discovery of sporks only being two of them.