Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Family Bonds ❯ Chapter 17: Enter Dice-Boy! ( Chapter 18 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Sailor Mini Venus 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.01.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 289 | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 11.01.2006 | Pages: 5 | Words: 5.3K | Visits: 289 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Saying I own Yugioh is like saying the world ended on June 6, 2006. It hasn't happened and it's not gonna happen. (Obviously, as it's way past that date)
-F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F-A-M -I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S-
Malik, Seto, Yugi, and Katsuya walk into their homeroom early one morning to find the room to be louder and a little more crowded than usual.
“What the hell is going on?” Malik asks irritably. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and so he’s not very happy at the moment.
“Dunno.” Katsuya says as he looks around the room for the source of all the commotion. “Looks like we got a new guy.” He says, noticing an unfamiliar black-haired male surrounded by chattering girls.
Malik wrinkles his nose. “How can he stand that? Seto can’t even handle that and he’s the calmest of us next to Mokuba.”
“Must not be used to fan girls. He’ll get tired of it eventually.” Seto says dismissively. “Lets go sit down.”
“Wait.” Anzu says as she joins them. “Maybe we should go introduce ourselves and make him feel welcome.”
“Anzu, I think the guy has a big enough welcoming committee.” Katsuya says. “Look at ‘im. He’s got girls from other homerooms hoverin’ around him. Lets wait until later to introduce ourselves.”
“I don’t think I even want to.” Malik mutters. “What’s that thing Tama says at parties?” He asks Seto.
“About the women? ‘All fur coat and no knickers’.” Seto says. “But that’s to describe women, Malik. Even though he does look rather feminine.”
“Take your seats everyone!” The teacher says as he walks into the room. He frowns when he notices all of the extra girls. “Ladies, go to your correct homeroom and leave our new student alone.” He waits until the girls leave before he shuts the door. “Everyone, this is Ryuuji Otogi. He’s joining us from the California, which is in the United States of America. Please make him feel welcome.”
0-0-0-0-0-0
By the time lunch rolls around, Malik and Seto aren’t the only ones who already dislike Otogi. Honda, Katsuya, and Tama also dislike him. Honda and Katsuya dislike him because everyone pays so much attention to him and Tama dislikes him because he flirted with her.
“I hate him.” Tama growls, glaring at the group of girls surrounding Otogi. “I effing hate him.”
“Isn’t hate a little strong?” Yugi asks. “We don’t even know him. He could be nice.”
Tama twitches. “He tried to feel me up.”
Malik and Seto, who were asking Honda and Katsuya if Yugi always sees good in everyone, growl and glare in Otogi’s direction.
“I’ll kill him.” Seto hisses.
“Not if I get to him first.” Malik growls.
Anzu leans toward Tama and whispers, “Are they always this protective about things like this?”
Tama shakes her head. “No. Sometimes they’re worse. One time Seto, Malik, and Kiba went up and cornered this one guy who expressed interest in me and made up this rather interesting and vivid threat. Daddy, Mokuba, and I found it hilarious.”
“You would.” Malik mutters.
“I still think we should go say hello.” Anzu insists, changing the subject back to the first subject they began discussing. “Maybe he’s just putting on an act like Seto does.”
Katsuya snorts. “Anzu, that don’t look like an act to me.”
“And I refuse to go anywhere near him.” Tama says stubbornly. “No amount of money in the world could make me go near him.”
“So it’s just Yugi and I?” Anzu asks. “Well, if you all are too chicken to go welcome the new guy, then I guess that’s okay…”
“Say what!” Katsuya jumps up and points a finger at Anzu. “I’ll have you know that Katsuya Jounouchi is no chicken! I won’t like it, but I’ll go with you.”
“Same here.” Honda agrees.
Eventually, Anzu talks the entire group into going; the entire group being herself, Yugi, Ryou, Katsuya, Honda, Seto, Tama, and Malik.
Somehow they manage to get through the crowd of people surrounding Otogi and once they’re close enough Anzu holds out her hand for him to shake and warmly says, “Hi! I’m Anzu Mazaki. You’re Ryuuji Otogi, right?”
Otogi smiles and shakes her hand. “That’s right. Do you mind if I ask you a question, Miss Mazaki?” He politely asks.
“Sure.” Anzu responds, ignoring Tama’s whispers of, “Don’t say yes! Don’t say yes!”
“I must say that I have seen every one of the girls at this school, and not one has beauty that even comes close to yours. How do you do it?”
Anzu blushes, won over by Otogi’s charm while Tama, Malik, Katsuya, and Honda roll their eyes; Seto mutters something about imbeciles; Ryou looks a little confused; and Yugi attempts a glare only to have it falter in under two seconds.
“Damn it.” Tama mutters. “He’s gotten Anzu.”
Otogi raises an eyebrow and looks around Anzu so he can see Tama. He grins. “Tamashira Muto! My favorite little model!”
“Call me that again and I’ll show you the meaning of true pain.” Tama hisses. “I could care less that you’re in business with Pegasus, so I assure you that I can and will hurt you.”
Otogi gulps and backs down. “I believe you.”
“Good.” Tama says with a growl. As she turns around and begins leaving, she calls over her shoulder, “And if you ever touch my ass again, I will help my brothers castrate you!” She looks over her shoulder and gives Otogi a saccharine sweet smile. “Have a nice day!” She chirps, before bouncing off.
Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Ryou, and Katsuya sweat drop while Seto, Malik, and Otogi remain unfazed.
“Is that… normal?” Honda asks.
“Completely.” Seto and Malik deadpan.
0-0-0-0-0-0
A day or two later Tama finds herself on the phone with Yugi. Some whispers can be heard in the background from Yugi’s end, which makes Tama suspect that Yugi has her on speaker phone and that the others are whispering questions to Yugi.
“Hey Tama, on Wednesday at lunch you made it sound like you knew Otogi before he came here.” Yugi says slowly. “Did you?”
“The others are there and you have me on speakerphone, don’t you.” Tama sounds a little amused when she says this. “That doesn’t matter. Hello everyone.”
The others say hello back.
“Back to your question,” Tama begins. “I did know Otogi before he came here. If you remember correctly, I was gone for three days before we announced the tournament. That’s because I had to fly out to California to talk to Pegasus J. Crawford and get his permission to host the tournament. I met Otogi there. He has an interesting new game that he’s introducing here. And I think his new game shop is pretty close to yours, Yugi. That’s a pity…”
“W-why?” Yugi nervously asks.
“Because we’re going to run him out with the game shop.” Tama replies. “The Kame Game Shop is a sub-shop of the Muto Gaming Company. If you guys ever get into a jam over there, then just tell Seto, Malik, Mokuba, or myself. And I don’t want to hear any arguments about it either. We’re family, and a family helps one another out.”
Yugi sighs. “Alright, I’ll tell you if we run into any problems. But we’re really just fine. Sales haven’t gone down too much.”
“If you’re sure. Now, have you heard those rumors about Otogi’s Halloween party?” Tama asks.
“Yeah, it sounds like fun. Even if the guy is a jerk.” Katsuya speaks up. “Is it gonna be a costume party or just somethin’ normal?”
“Dunno.” Tama replies. “We- and when I say ‘we’ I mean Anzu and Yugi- can ask him tomorrow.”
October 31, 2006
The evening of the Halloween Costume party arrives quickly for the group. It’s so far been determined that Anzu’s going as a ballerina, Honda’s going as a detective, Seto’s going as a cat, Katsuya’s going as a puppy, and Shizuka and Ryou are going as angels. The others are keeping their costumes a secret.
However, the remaining four’s costumes won’t stay a secret for too long, since they’re currently putting them on in preparation for the party.
Anzu, Honda, Seto, Katsuya, Shizuka, and Ryou are already wearing their costumes and are sitting downstairs with Malik and Yugi while waiting for Tama and Mokuba to come down the stairs.
“Hurry up!” Malik impatiently yells up the stairs. “We’re leaving in just a half hour and Yugi and I need to get our costumes on!”
“We’re coming!” Tama yells back down the stairs. “We just need one more minute for the finishing touches! Ouch! Mokuba, that thing’s hot! Be careful!”
The others settle down a little and only have to wait a minute or two before Mokuba and Tama walk down the stairs.
Tama’s dressed as a gypsy and her outfit has a slight Egyptian twist to it, with all her jewelry being gold and her entire outfit being a light cream color. She’s even done up her hair and put make-up on for the occasion. Her hair has been curled so that it falls messily while up in a high ponytail and her eyes have been outline in kohl and she’s wearing a gold colored eye shadow. In each of her ears are large gold hoop earrings.
For a moment the others are shocked at seeing Tama willingly wearing a dress, but that changes the moment they see Mokuba.
He’s a princess.
No joke.
Mokuba is wearing a light pink ballroom style dress that only has a little lace on the end of the skirt of the dress. To go along with the costume, he has allowed Tama to put a light shade of blue eye shadow on his eyes and he’s wearing a pair of small earrings.
“What have you done to him?” Seto asks in shock.
Mokuba lifts up the skirt a little and twirls around once. “What’s wrong, big brother? Don’t you like it?”
Seto wordlessly opens and closes his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say or how to word his feelings.
“Well, we know who’d win something for creativity if there were a contest.” Katsuya remarks. “And I think the costume’s cool.”
There’s a moment of silence as everyone tries to get over their shock of seeing Mokuba in a pink dress.
“My turn!” Malik says, jumping off the couch. “You too, Yugi!” He grabs Yugi’s arm and pulls the smaller boy up the stairs, too excited to wait.
The two guys don’t take as long as it took Tama and Mokuba to get ready, although it comes close. By the time they get downstairs, it’s to find the others playing cards.
Mokuba takes one look at Malik’s costume, grins, and then cries, “My knight in shining armor!” before he jumps up and runs over and hugs Malik.
The others laugh while Malik rolls his eyes and adjusts some of his armor and mumbles, “And it’d be more like prince charming, goof.”
“Hey Yugi, that’s an interesting outfit.” Katsuya comments. “So, er… what are you?”
“I’m a court jester.” Yugi says, tugging on one of the four “arms” of his hat, which makes the little bell at the end jingle.
“Wow, so you actually tamed your hair?” Seto teases, having experience with the infamous untamable Muto hair. Mokuba also has a hair taming problem.
Yugi sheepishly smiles. “Not really. I had to get Malik to help me just to get it into a ponytail. That took us fifteen minutes and at least ten hair things.”
“So then we had to grab one of your scrunchi’s.” Malik informs Tama. “Since that’s the biggest thing we have in the house for hair.”
Tama shrugs. “Okay. I’ve got too many anyway so it doesn’t matter if it breaks.”
“That’s good, ‘cause about five of those broke…” Malik rubs the back of his neck. “So then I divided his hair into two parts and pulled it down like that. Then I tied those two pieces together, And it’s staying so far.”
Yugi subconsciously reaches up to check his hair. “I hope it stays.”
-“Aibou,”- Yami’s ghost-like form appears beside Yugi, making the smaller jump a bit. The spirit smiles gently and rests his hand on Yugi’s shoulder. -“It’ll be fine. Yours cousin did a good job.”-
Yugi glances up at Yami. ‘You think so, mou hitori no boku?’
Yami nods. -“I do.”-
Yugi smiles back. ‘Thanks.’
0-0-0-0-0-0
At the party, half of the group stands in a corner just chatting, drinking punch, and making fun of Yugi as he grows increasingly annoyed at all the guys Anzu is dancing with. Honda, Shizuka, and Mokuba are the only others, besides Anzu, who are out dancing.
“He’s touching her.” Yugi suddenly growls.
The others sweat drop.
“Yugi, if it annoys you that much then just go dance with her.” Malik reasonably says. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go find someone to dance with.” With a smile he turns and walks off into the crowd, swaying to the beat.
The others remain in their corner for a few minutes, just commenting on random things and trying to keep Yugi from doing anything drastic.
“You know, Malik has the right idea.” Tama says when she gets tired of just talking. “Anyone want to dance?”
Yugi partially glares at Anzu’s next dance partner, Katsuya looks away, and Seto smirks and points at Katsuya and mouths, “I’ve got Jounouchi.”
Tama sighs. “Well, I guess I’ll go find Mokuba then.” She says. “Cheerio!” With a swish of her skirts, Tama turns and disappears into the crowd of dancers.
“Yugi, go dance with Anzu.” Seto tells the smaller boy, fed up with the glaring and growls. Then he takes Katsuya’s hand. “And as for you puppy, we’re going to dance as well.”
Katsuya stares at Seto in shock for a moment while Yugi finally makes up his mind and joins Anzu in the crowd. Seto patiently waits for the blonde to speak, fully prepared for a loud exclamation on how that wouldn’t be right.
To his surprise, Katsuya doesn’t yell. Instead the blonde looks down at the floor and shuffles his feet a bit as he mumbles something.
“What was that?” Seto asks.
Katsuya looks up. “I said, ‘I can’t dance’. Mother and Shizuka have tried to teach me before, but… it didn’t turn out too well. Mother told me I’m like my dad - I got two left feet. Heh, never figured that was actually an insult.”
Seto frowns.
“And why do you wanna dance with me, anyway? There’s tons of pretty girls ‘round here.” Katsuya says. “And we’re both guys. Won’t it be kind of weird for us to dance together?”
“Jounouchi, my brother - my little brother - is wearing a dress; it can’t get weirder than that.” Seto says. “It’ll be fine. Look, Malik’s dancing with Bakura over there and they’re not getting odd looks.”
Sure enough, Malik has somehow managed to talk Ryou into dancing with him. Although if one were to look carefully, it can be seen that Malik’s hair spikes up more than usual and his eyes are darker and Ryou’s hair is wilder and his eyes have a reddish tint.
Katsuya almost rolls his eyes. “Muto, Bakura actually looks like a girl. That’s probably why they’re not getting odd looks.”
“Good point.” Seto says. “But that fact isn’t going to stop us from dancing. I don’t care about the odd looks and I don’t care if you think you can’t dance. I’ll teach you. And I wont’ take ‘no’ for an answer. Lets go, puppy.”
Katsuya yelps as Seto pulls him out into the crowd to dance.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Later that night once they get home, Seto brings up an interesting topic.
“I want to teach Jounouchi how to dance.”
Tama falls over backwards, having been bending backwards with Mokuba’s help for one of her odd stretching exercises, while Mokuba and Malik look at Seto in surprise.
“Dancing?” Malik asks. “You want to teach Jounouchi how to dance?”
Seto nods. “Yes. And maybe we can teach the others a little.”
Tama sits up and brushes her bangs out of her eyes. “Are we talking dancing like what we did at the Halloween party, or are we talking ballroom dancing like we do at the fancy party things?”
Seto hesitates a second before saying, “Ballroom dancing.”
Tama, Malik, and Mokuba all groan, not at all looking forward to doing that.
“Seto, it took us nearly a year to learn.” Malik says. “The next big fancy party we’ll have to go to is the Christmas one. And it’s only two months away.”
“We’ll just have to hope he’s a fast learner. And he doesn’t have to learn all of them.” Seto dismissively says. “And the reason it took us a year to learn was because we kept goofing off and putting it off. Remember?”
Mokuba grins. “I remember! I remember this one time when Tama and I were practicing-”
“Mokuba, don’t you dare.” Tama says.
“-and Tama was leading-”
“Mokuba, I’m warning you!”
“-and then all of a sudden she-”
“Mokuba!”
“-lets out this really loud belch.” Mokuba finishes. “And we both started laughing.” He looks at Seto and Malik. “I suppose it’s one of those stories where you had to have been there to know why it’s funny.”
“I was there. It wasn’t funny.” Tama glowers.
“That’s because you were the cause of the entertainment!” Mokuba chirps. “So of course you don’t think it’s funny.”
October 22, 2006- Virginia
A digital clock setting on a dresser in the bedroom of the Phoenix twins reads 11:69. Moments later it blinks to read 12:00. It is now December 23.
In the lower bunk Ashling rolls over onto her left side and Nixx sighs and murmurs Damian’s name before he rolls over to face away from Ashling. On the top bunk Liam mumbles something about green monkeys and rolls over onto his back.
A few minutes later Ashling begins tossing and turning in the lower bunk and breaks out into a sweat. A short time after that she wakes up with a loud, piercing scream.
Liam awakens with a yell while Nixx jumps up and slams his head against the bottom of the top bunk with a curse.
Liam’s the first to figure out what’s going on and he jumps down from the top bunk and slides onto the bottom bunk with his twin and Nixx. Carefully, he wraps his arms around his sister’s torso and hugs her comfortingly. “Easy Ash, it’s okay.” He whispers. “It’s okay. Everything is fine. You’re safe here at home in bed with me and Nixx.”
Ashling whimpers a little and rolls around so she’s facing Liam and can cling to the front of his old t-shirt.
“Shh… it’s okay.” Liam whispers. “Just breathe, Ash. Breathe and relax. Don’t completely hyperventilate on me.”
Ashling takes a deep shuddering breath trying to calm herself down and eventually calms down enough to breathe evenly.
“You okay now?” Liam gently asks. “Do you feel like talking about it yet?”
Ashling nods. “Yeah. Give me a minute.”
“What was that about anyway?” Nixx asks, finding his voice. “And how come you’re so calm about this, Liam? Has this happened before?”
Liam sighs. “I told you about Ashling’s visions and it seems like it’s happened again. This is the fifth time. The first time was something odd, like a vision of us in the future. The second vision was the car accident three of my old friends were in. The third was an abstract vision of the nine-eleven attack. The last one she had was of the death of our cat Tonka.
“It was worse this time…” Ashling murmurs. “There was a boy. I don’t know who he is or was, but he looked to be around ten. He had light blonde hair and wore this… dress. Well, it wasn’t a dress exactly. It was more like a really long shirt.” She pauses a moment to try and collect her thoughts. “He lived… underground I think. And he had to go through this horrible ‘initiation’. That’s what his father called it.” She shudders.
“What was it, Ash?” Liam prods.
Nixx remains quiet, not sure what to say when Ashling is like this.
Ashling avoids her twin’s eyes as she finishes telling him and Nixx about her vision. “His father took this knife and… carved out something on the boy’s back. I didn’t hear what it was for. But there was… so much blood. Everywhere.” Ashling breaks down crying again, the images from her vision flashing before her eyes.
Liam and Nixx spend the remainder of the night trying to calm down Ashling and make her rest.
Domino City- Muto House (aka The Dragons’ Den)
“Happy birthday, Malik!”
Malik sleepily looks around the kitchen at his crazy friends and family, who are obviously morning people, and then turns around as if to go back upstairs to bed.
“Come back here!” Tama exclaims, rushing forward and grabbing her cousin’s arm. With a bright smile on her face she pulls Malik over to the table and makes him sit down. “We had Katsuya make his special waffles just for your birthday! You’d better eat them all!”
Malik looks from Tama, to the stack of waffles in front of him, and then back again. “You can’t be serious.”
“Of course she’s not.” Mokuba replies. “Although it’d be funny to watch you try.”
The others agree, finding the mental image of that highly amusing.
Soon they’re all sitting around the small table eating the waffles, eggs, and bacon. (Or in Malik’s case, eating waffles and fruit.) Their conversation ranges from the amount of homework they have to do on Christmas break to what they’re going to do to Malik’s seventeenth birthday to what kind of cake Katsuya and Seto made.
Eventually they decide on a trip to the arcade and then to the movie theater, stopping at the Old Café in downtown Domino before taking the long way home through the park. It’s also been decided that Katsuya will cook dinner by himself, since he insisted upon it.
And so they set off, intending to have a day of fun. Before they leave the house, however Anzu makes sure they’re all dressed warming enough since it’s around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 degrees Celsius) outside.
At the arcade Anzu heads immediately for DDR with Yugi trailing after her to watch; Tama and Mokuba go to the air hockey table; Seto challenges Katsuya to a racing game; Honda goes to play a fighting game; Shizuka catches sight of the Mrs. Packman game and plays that; and Malik and Ryou wander around talking a bit before Malik convinces Ryou to go watch Anzu on the DDR game so he can find out her skill level and challenge her.
They stay at the arcade for a few hours before they use up the money they’ve saved for the arcade and then they head to the Old Café, getting sidetracked by a pet shop along the way.
By the time they get back to The Dragons’ Den it’s around 4 o’clock and they’re all freezing cold and a little wet thanks to the impromptu snowball fight started by Mokuba and Honda. Eventually everyone gets dry and warm and Katsuya starts on dinner while the others gather in the living room.
For the rest of the evening they goof off and play random games, pausing only to eat the dinner Katsuya made and to sing happy birthday to Malik and eat cake.
0-0-0-0-0-0
On January 27, Liam and Ashling celebrate their birthday in Virginia while over in Domino City Katsuya celebrates his own birthday.
As always, Liam and Ashling’s birthday is an odd one, as their friends have attempted to throw a surprise party. And usually surprises go horribly wrong in their group, mainly because Nixx can’t keep a secret to save his life.
The point is, that surprises go horribly wrong with them. Like the time Nixx gave Damian a purple kitty plushie for a gift and it had pink lettering on it’s belly that read, “Nixx and Damian Forever”. In the cafeteria. In front of hundreds of students.
And then there’s the time Roman told Ashling he had a surprise for her and then started singing in the middle of History class, going as far as to jump up on his desk and dance.
Things like that have become so commonplace in their group, that it’s actually normal and not really that weird to them anymore. Especially since Damian and Nixx have to be dramatic in public at least one point of the day.
And so it comes as no surprise to anyone when Nixx drinks too much soda and gets hyper or when Roman has one cup off sugared coffee too many and begins singing a cheesy love song to Ashling. And it really comes as no surprise when the birthday cake explodes when Ashling and Liam start cutting into it.
Thankfully, over in Domino City Katsuya has a more peaceful birthday unless you count the snowball war they started in Yugi’s backyard. Or the snowman building contest. Or the human sled contest.
0-0-0-0-0
February 20, 2007
Shizuka goes to the hospital to get the eye surgery she needs and everyone's either waiting by the phone's all day or sitting in the waiting room at the hospital. Katsuya, Honda, Anzu, and Mokuba are the ones who are waiting at the hospital and everyone else is waiting by the phones.
An hour and a half passes and everyone starts getting worried when they hear no news. Fifteen minutes later Tama, Seto, and Malik recieve a phone call from Mokuba who gives them the news that Shizuka's eye surgery was a success and she'll be returning home later once they make sure they'll be no further problems.
Tama and Malik immediately begin preparing a feast to celebrate the success of the surgery, making sure to make Shizuka's favorite foods. Seto sits back and lets them work, not being much of a cooking person. In fact, the last time he tried to make soup he made such a mess out of it that Kojiro banned him from the kitchen for a month. He hasn't cooked anything since then, except to pop popcorn in the microwave.
That night everyone goes over to their house and celebrates with much singing, laughing, and a little impromptu dancing from Mokuba, Tama, and Katsuya.
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Shiro: First off, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! And hey, I'm actually getting them to stay at a nice length! Woo-hoo! 7 pages seems to be about normal now. Wonder how long they'll stay at 7 pages....
Bast: I give it another chapter or two.
Shiro: In another chapter or... five it'll be chapter 22 which I'm predicting will be longer than the rest. I've got alot I need to cover in that chapter.
Bast: I told you to break it up a bit, hikari.
Shiro: (sighs) I know... I know... Hey, you know what?
Bast: What?
Shiro: I've got a nice collection of Deleted Scenes for this story! They're really funny too. Especially the ones I took out of chapter 15. Man, that was a fun chapter to write... I did get a little carried away with the 'devil car from Hell' though. (shrugs) Oh well!
Bast: (sweatdrops)
NEXT CHAPTER: Yami's, Spring Break, and meetings
REVIEW REPLIES:
t recorder- Yami will start coming in more in later chapters, but for now there are some things restricting him. He does get a part in the beginning of the next chapter though! As for Anzu... I have a different guy I'm going to pair her up with, and it'll probably make everyone do a double take and go "Wha?". And the pairings are listed at the top of the first chapter in my note. And someone else told me that it was 8 years over at fanfiction.net, but if I changed it it'd mess things up and since this is an AU it doesn't matter. n.n; Thanks for reviewing!
-F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F-A-M -I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S-
Chapter 17
October 11, 2006Malik, Seto, Yugi, and Katsuya walk into their homeroom early one morning to find the room to be louder and a little more crowded than usual.
“What the hell is going on?” Malik asks irritably. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before and so he’s not very happy at the moment.
“Dunno.” Katsuya says as he looks around the room for the source of all the commotion. “Looks like we got a new guy.” He says, noticing an unfamiliar black-haired male surrounded by chattering girls.
Malik wrinkles his nose. “How can he stand that? Seto can’t even handle that and he’s the calmest of us next to Mokuba.”
“Must not be used to fan girls. He’ll get tired of it eventually.” Seto says dismissively. “Lets go sit down.”
“Wait.” Anzu says as she joins them. “Maybe we should go introduce ourselves and make him feel welcome.”
“Anzu, I think the guy has a big enough welcoming committee.” Katsuya says. “Look at ‘im. He’s got girls from other homerooms hoverin’ around him. Lets wait until later to introduce ourselves.”
“I don’t think I even want to.” Malik mutters. “What’s that thing Tama says at parties?” He asks Seto.
“About the women? ‘All fur coat and no knickers’.” Seto says. “But that’s to describe women, Malik. Even though he does look rather feminine.”
“Take your seats everyone!” The teacher says as he walks into the room. He frowns when he notices all of the extra girls. “Ladies, go to your correct homeroom and leave our new student alone.” He waits until the girls leave before he shuts the door. “Everyone, this is Ryuuji Otogi. He’s joining us from the California, which is in the United States of America. Please make him feel welcome.”
0-0-0-0-0-0
By the time lunch rolls around, Malik and Seto aren’t the only ones who already dislike Otogi. Honda, Katsuya, and Tama also dislike him. Honda and Katsuya dislike him because everyone pays so much attention to him and Tama dislikes him because he flirted with her.
“I hate him.” Tama growls, glaring at the group of girls surrounding Otogi. “I effing hate him.”
“Isn’t hate a little strong?” Yugi asks. “We don’t even know him. He could be nice.”
Tama twitches. “He tried to feel me up.”
Malik and Seto, who were asking Honda and Katsuya if Yugi always sees good in everyone, growl and glare in Otogi’s direction.
“I’ll kill him.” Seto hisses.
“Not if I get to him first.” Malik growls.
Anzu leans toward Tama and whispers, “Are they always this protective about things like this?”
Tama shakes her head. “No. Sometimes they’re worse. One time Seto, Malik, and Kiba went up and cornered this one guy who expressed interest in me and made up this rather interesting and vivid threat. Daddy, Mokuba, and I found it hilarious.”
“You would.” Malik mutters.
“I still think we should go say hello.” Anzu insists, changing the subject back to the first subject they began discussing. “Maybe he’s just putting on an act like Seto does.”
Katsuya snorts. “Anzu, that don’t look like an act to me.”
“And I refuse to go anywhere near him.” Tama says stubbornly. “No amount of money in the world could make me go near him.”
“So it’s just Yugi and I?” Anzu asks. “Well, if you all are too chicken to go welcome the new guy, then I guess that’s okay…”
“Say what!” Katsuya jumps up and points a finger at Anzu. “I’ll have you know that Katsuya Jounouchi is no chicken! I won’t like it, but I’ll go with you.”
“Same here.” Honda agrees.
Eventually, Anzu talks the entire group into going; the entire group being herself, Yugi, Ryou, Katsuya, Honda, Seto, Tama, and Malik.
Somehow they manage to get through the crowd of people surrounding Otogi and once they’re close enough Anzu holds out her hand for him to shake and warmly says, “Hi! I’m Anzu Mazaki. You’re Ryuuji Otogi, right?”
Otogi smiles and shakes her hand. “That’s right. Do you mind if I ask you a question, Miss Mazaki?” He politely asks.
“Sure.” Anzu responds, ignoring Tama’s whispers of, “Don’t say yes! Don’t say yes!”
“I must say that I have seen every one of the girls at this school, and not one has beauty that even comes close to yours. How do you do it?”
Anzu blushes, won over by Otogi’s charm while Tama, Malik, Katsuya, and Honda roll their eyes; Seto mutters something about imbeciles; Ryou looks a little confused; and Yugi attempts a glare only to have it falter in under two seconds.
“Damn it.” Tama mutters. “He’s gotten Anzu.”
Otogi raises an eyebrow and looks around Anzu so he can see Tama. He grins. “Tamashira Muto! My favorite little model!”
“Call me that again and I’ll show you the meaning of true pain.” Tama hisses. “I could care less that you’re in business with Pegasus, so I assure you that I can and will hurt you.”
Otogi gulps and backs down. “I believe you.”
“Good.” Tama says with a growl. As she turns around and begins leaving, she calls over her shoulder, “And if you ever touch my ass again, I will help my brothers castrate you!” She looks over her shoulder and gives Otogi a saccharine sweet smile. “Have a nice day!” She chirps, before bouncing off.
Yugi, Anzu, Honda, Ryou, and Katsuya sweat drop while Seto, Malik, and Otogi remain unfazed.
“Is that… normal?” Honda asks.
“Completely.” Seto and Malik deadpan.
0-0-0-0-0-0
A day or two later Tama finds herself on the phone with Yugi. Some whispers can be heard in the background from Yugi’s end, which makes Tama suspect that Yugi has her on speaker phone and that the others are whispering questions to Yugi.
“Hey Tama, on Wednesday at lunch you made it sound like you knew Otogi before he came here.” Yugi says slowly. “Did you?”
“The others are there and you have me on speakerphone, don’t you.” Tama sounds a little amused when she says this. “That doesn’t matter. Hello everyone.”
The others say hello back.
“Back to your question,” Tama begins. “I did know Otogi before he came here. If you remember correctly, I was gone for three days before we announced the tournament. That’s because I had to fly out to California to talk to Pegasus J. Crawford and get his permission to host the tournament. I met Otogi there. He has an interesting new game that he’s introducing here. And I think his new game shop is pretty close to yours, Yugi. That’s a pity…”
“W-why?” Yugi nervously asks.
“Because we’re going to run him out with the game shop.” Tama replies. “The Kame Game Shop is a sub-shop of the Muto Gaming Company. If you guys ever get into a jam over there, then just tell Seto, Malik, Mokuba, or myself. And I don’t want to hear any arguments about it either. We’re family, and a family helps one another out.”
Yugi sighs. “Alright, I’ll tell you if we run into any problems. But we’re really just fine. Sales haven’t gone down too much.”
“If you’re sure. Now, have you heard those rumors about Otogi’s Halloween party?” Tama asks.
“Yeah, it sounds like fun. Even if the guy is a jerk.” Katsuya speaks up. “Is it gonna be a costume party or just somethin’ normal?”
“Dunno.” Tama replies. “We- and when I say ‘we’ I mean Anzu and Yugi- can ask him tomorrow.”
October 31, 2006
The evening of the Halloween Costume party arrives quickly for the group. It’s so far been determined that Anzu’s going as a ballerina, Honda’s going as a detective, Seto’s going as a cat, Katsuya’s going as a puppy, and Shizuka and Ryou are going as angels. The others are keeping their costumes a secret.
However, the remaining four’s costumes won’t stay a secret for too long, since they’re currently putting them on in preparation for the party.
Anzu, Honda, Seto, Katsuya, Shizuka, and Ryou are already wearing their costumes and are sitting downstairs with Malik and Yugi while waiting for Tama and Mokuba to come down the stairs.
“Hurry up!” Malik impatiently yells up the stairs. “We’re leaving in just a half hour and Yugi and I need to get our costumes on!”
“We’re coming!” Tama yells back down the stairs. “We just need one more minute for the finishing touches! Ouch! Mokuba, that thing’s hot! Be careful!”
The others settle down a little and only have to wait a minute or two before Mokuba and Tama walk down the stairs.
Tama’s dressed as a gypsy and her outfit has a slight Egyptian twist to it, with all her jewelry being gold and her entire outfit being a light cream color. She’s even done up her hair and put make-up on for the occasion. Her hair has been curled so that it falls messily while up in a high ponytail and her eyes have been outline in kohl and she’s wearing a gold colored eye shadow. In each of her ears are large gold hoop earrings.
For a moment the others are shocked at seeing Tama willingly wearing a dress, but that changes the moment they see Mokuba.
He’s a princess.
No joke.
Mokuba is wearing a light pink ballroom style dress that only has a little lace on the end of the skirt of the dress. To go along with the costume, he has allowed Tama to put a light shade of blue eye shadow on his eyes and he’s wearing a pair of small earrings.
“What have you done to him?” Seto asks in shock.
Mokuba lifts up the skirt a little and twirls around once. “What’s wrong, big brother? Don’t you like it?”
Seto wordlessly opens and closes his mouth a few times, unsure of what to say or how to word his feelings.
“Well, we know who’d win something for creativity if there were a contest.” Katsuya remarks. “And I think the costume’s cool.”
There’s a moment of silence as everyone tries to get over their shock of seeing Mokuba in a pink dress.
“My turn!” Malik says, jumping off the couch. “You too, Yugi!” He grabs Yugi’s arm and pulls the smaller boy up the stairs, too excited to wait.
The two guys don’t take as long as it took Tama and Mokuba to get ready, although it comes close. By the time they get downstairs, it’s to find the others playing cards.
Mokuba takes one look at Malik’s costume, grins, and then cries, “My knight in shining armor!” before he jumps up and runs over and hugs Malik.
The others laugh while Malik rolls his eyes and adjusts some of his armor and mumbles, “And it’d be more like prince charming, goof.”
“Hey Yugi, that’s an interesting outfit.” Katsuya comments. “So, er… what are you?”
“I’m a court jester.” Yugi says, tugging on one of the four “arms” of his hat, which makes the little bell at the end jingle.
“Wow, so you actually tamed your hair?” Seto teases, having experience with the infamous untamable Muto hair. Mokuba also has a hair taming problem.
Yugi sheepishly smiles. “Not really. I had to get Malik to help me just to get it into a ponytail. That took us fifteen minutes and at least ten hair things.”
“So then we had to grab one of your scrunchi’s.” Malik informs Tama. “Since that’s the biggest thing we have in the house for hair.”
Tama shrugs. “Okay. I’ve got too many anyway so it doesn’t matter if it breaks.”
“That’s good, ‘cause about five of those broke…” Malik rubs the back of his neck. “So then I divided his hair into two parts and pulled it down like that. Then I tied those two pieces together, And it’s staying so far.”
Yugi subconsciously reaches up to check his hair. “I hope it stays.”
-“Aibou,”- Yami’s ghost-like form appears beside Yugi, making the smaller jump a bit. The spirit smiles gently and rests his hand on Yugi’s shoulder. -“It’ll be fine. Yours cousin did a good job.”-
Yugi glances up at Yami. ‘You think so, mou hitori no boku?’
Yami nods. -“I do.”-
Yugi smiles back. ‘Thanks.’
0-0-0-0-0-0
At the party, half of the group stands in a corner just chatting, drinking punch, and making fun of Yugi as he grows increasingly annoyed at all the guys Anzu is dancing with. Honda, Shizuka, and Mokuba are the only others, besides Anzu, who are out dancing.
“He’s touching her.” Yugi suddenly growls.
The others sweat drop.
“Yugi, if it annoys you that much then just go dance with her.” Malik reasonably says. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go find someone to dance with.” With a smile he turns and walks off into the crowd, swaying to the beat.
The others remain in their corner for a few minutes, just commenting on random things and trying to keep Yugi from doing anything drastic.
“You know, Malik has the right idea.” Tama says when she gets tired of just talking. “Anyone want to dance?”
Yugi partially glares at Anzu’s next dance partner, Katsuya looks away, and Seto smirks and points at Katsuya and mouths, “I’ve got Jounouchi.”
Tama sighs. “Well, I guess I’ll go find Mokuba then.” She says. “Cheerio!” With a swish of her skirts, Tama turns and disappears into the crowd of dancers.
“Yugi, go dance with Anzu.” Seto tells the smaller boy, fed up with the glaring and growls. Then he takes Katsuya’s hand. “And as for you puppy, we’re going to dance as well.”
Katsuya stares at Seto in shock for a moment while Yugi finally makes up his mind and joins Anzu in the crowd. Seto patiently waits for the blonde to speak, fully prepared for a loud exclamation on how that wouldn’t be right.
To his surprise, Katsuya doesn’t yell. Instead the blonde looks down at the floor and shuffles his feet a bit as he mumbles something.
“What was that?” Seto asks.
Katsuya looks up. “I said, ‘I can’t dance’. Mother and Shizuka have tried to teach me before, but… it didn’t turn out too well. Mother told me I’m like my dad - I got two left feet. Heh, never figured that was actually an insult.”
Seto frowns.
“And why do you wanna dance with me, anyway? There’s tons of pretty girls ‘round here.” Katsuya says. “And we’re both guys. Won’t it be kind of weird for us to dance together?”
“Jounouchi, my brother - my little brother - is wearing a dress; it can’t get weirder than that.” Seto says. “It’ll be fine. Look, Malik’s dancing with Bakura over there and they’re not getting odd looks.”
Sure enough, Malik has somehow managed to talk Ryou into dancing with him. Although if one were to look carefully, it can be seen that Malik’s hair spikes up more than usual and his eyes are darker and Ryou’s hair is wilder and his eyes have a reddish tint.
Katsuya almost rolls his eyes. “Muto, Bakura actually looks like a girl. That’s probably why they’re not getting odd looks.”
“Good point.” Seto says. “But that fact isn’t going to stop us from dancing. I don’t care about the odd looks and I don’t care if you think you can’t dance. I’ll teach you. And I wont’ take ‘no’ for an answer. Lets go, puppy.”
Katsuya yelps as Seto pulls him out into the crowd to dance.
0-0-0-0-0-0
Later that night once they get home, Seto brings up an interesting topic.
“I want to teach Jounouchi how to dance.”
Tama falls over backwards, having been bending backwards with Mokuba’s help for one of her odd stretching exercises, while Mokuba and Malik look at Seto in surprise.
“Dancing?” Malik asks. “You want to teach Jounouchi how to dance?”
Seto nods. “Yes. And maybe we can teach the others a little.”
Tama sits up and brushes her bangs out of her eyes. “Are we talking dancing like what we did at the Halloween party, or are we talking ballroom dancing like we do at the fancy party things?”
Seto hesitates a second before saying, “Ballroom dancing.”
Tama, Malik, and Mokuba all groan, not at all looking forward to doing that.
“Seto, it took us nearly a year to learn.” Malik says. “The next big fancy party we’ll have to go to is the Christmas one. And it’s only two months away.”
“We’ll just have to hope he’s a fast learner. And he doesn’t have to learn all of them.” Seto dismissively says. “And the reason it took us a year to learn was because we kept goofing off and putting it off. Remember?”
Mokuba grins. “I remember! I remember this one time when Tama and I were practicing-”
“Mokuba, don’t you dare.” Tama says.
“-and Tama was leading-”
“Mokuba, I’m warning you!”
“-and then all of a sudden she-”
“Mokuba!”
“-lets out this really loud belch.” Mokuba finishes. “And we both started laughing.” He looks at Seto and Malik. “I suppose it’s one of those stories where you had to have been there to know why it’s funny.”
“I was there. It wasn’t funny.” Tama glowers.
“That’s because you were the cause of the entertainment!” Mokuba chirps. “So of course you don’t think it’s funny.”
October 22, 2006- Virginia
A digital clock setting on a dresser in the bedroom of the Phoenix twins reads 11:69. Moments later it blinks to read 12:00. It is now December 23.
In the lower bunk Ashling rolls over onto her left side and Nixx sighs and murmurs Damian’s name before he rolls over to face away from Ashling. On the top bunk Liam mumbles something about green monkeys and rolls over onto his back.
A few minutes later Ashling begins tossing and turning in the lower bunk and breaks out into a sweat. A short time after that she wakes up with a loud, piercing scream.
Liam awakens with a yell while Nixx jumps up and slams his head against the bottom of the top bunk with a curse.
Liam’s the first to figure out what’s going on and he jumps down from the top bunk and slides onto the bottom bunk with his twin and Nixx. Carefully, he wraps his arms around his sister’s torso and hugs her comfortingly. “Easy Ash, it’s okay.” He whispers. “It’s okay. Everything is fine. You’re safe here at home in bed with me and Nixx.”
Ashling whimpers a little and rolls around so she’s facing Liam and can cling to the front of his old t-shirt.
“Shh… it’s okay.” Liam whispers. “Just breathe, Ash. Breathe and relax. Don’t completely hyperventilate on me.”
Ashling takes a deep shuddering breath trying to calm herself down and eventually calms down enough to breathe evenly.
“You okay now?” Liam gently asks. “Do you feel like talking about it yet?”
Ashling nods. “Yeah. Give me a minute.”
“What was that about anyway?” Nixx asks, finding his voice. “And how come you’re so calm about this, Liam? Has this happened before?”
Liam sighs. “I told you about Ashling’s visions and it seems like it’s happened again. This is the fifth time. The first time was something odd, like a vision of us in the future. The second vision was the car accident three of my old friends were in. The third was an abstract vision of the nine-eleven attack. The last one she had was of the death of our cat Tonka.
“It was worse this time…” Ashling murmurs. “There was a boy. I don’t know who he is or was, but he looked to be around ten. He had light blonde hair and wore this… dress. Well, it wasn’t a dress exactly. It was more like a really long shirt.” She pauses a moment to try and collect her thoughts. “He lived… underground I think. And he had to go through this horrible ‘initiation’. That’s what his father called it.” She shudders.
“What was it, Ash?” Liam prods.
Nixx remains quiet, not sure what to say when Ashling is like this.
Ashling avoids her twin’s eyes as she finishes telling him and Nixx about her vision. “His father took this knife and… carved out something on the boy’s back. I didn’t hear what it was for. But there was… so much blood. Everywhere.” Ashling breaks down crying again, the images from her vision flashing before her eyes.
Liam and Nixx spend the remainder of the night trying to calm down Ashling and make her rest.
Domino City- Muto House (aka The Dragons’ Den)
“Happy birthday, Malik!”
Malik sleepily looks around the kitchen at his crazy friends and family, who are obviously morning people, and then turns around as if to go back upstairs to bed.
“Come back here!” Tama exclaims, rushing forward and grabbing her cousin’s arm. With a bright smile on her face she pulls Malik over to the table and makes him sit down. “We had Katsuya make his special waffles just for your birthday! You’d better eat them all!”
Malik looks from Tama, to the stack of waffles in front of him, and then back again. “You can’t be serious.”
“Of course she’s not.” Mokuba replies. “Although it’d be funny to watch you try.”
The others agree, finding the mental image of that highly amusing.
Soon they’re all sitting around the small table eating the waffles, eggs, and bacon. (Or in Malik’s case, eating waffles and fruit.) Their conversation ranges from the amount of homework they have to do on Christmas break to what they’re going to do to Malik’s seventeenth birthday to what kind of cake Katsuya and Seto made.
Eventually they decide on a trip to the arcade and then to the movie theater, stopping at the Old Café in downtown Domino before taking the long way home through the park. It’s also been decided that Katsuya will cook dinner by himself, since he insisted upon it.
And so they set off, intending to have a day of fun. Before they leave the house, however Anzu makes sure they’re all dressed warming enough since it’s around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (-12 degrees Celsius) outside.
At the arcade Anzu heads immediately for DDR with Yugi trailing after her to watch; Tama and Mokuba go to the air hockey table; Seto challenges Katsuya to a racing game; Honda goes to play a fighting game; Shizuka catches sight of the Mrs. Packman game and plays that; and Malik and Ryou wander around talking a bit before Malik convinces Ryou to go watch Anzu on the DDR game so he can find out her skill level and challenge her.
They stay at the arcade for a few hours before they use up the money they’ve saved for the arcade and then they head to the Old Café, getting sidetracked by a pet shop along the way.
By the time they get back to The Dragons’ Den it’s around 4 o’clock and they’re all freezing cold and a little wet thanks to the impromptu snowball fight started by Mokuba and Honda. Eventually everyone gets dry and warm and Katsuya starts on dinner while the others gather in the living room.
For the rest of the evening they goof off and play random games, pausing only to eat the dinner Katsuya made and to sing happy birthday to Malik and eat cake.
0-0-0-0-0-0
On January 27, Liam and Ashling celebrate their birthday in Virginia while over in Domino City Katsuya celebrates his own birthday.
As always, Liam and Ashling’s birthday is an odd one, as their friends have attempted to throw a surprise party. And usually surprises go horribly wrong in their group, mainly because Nixx can’t keep a secret to save his life.
The point is, that surprises go horribly wrong with them. Like the time Nixx gave Damian a purple kitty plushie for a gift and it had pink lettering on it’s belly that read, “Nixx and Damian Forever”. In the cafeteria. In front of hundreds of students.
And then there’s the time Roman told Ashling he had a surprise for her and then started singing in the middle of History class, going as far as to jump up on his desk and dance.
Things like that have become so commonplace in their group, that it’s actually normal and not really that weird to them anymore. Especially since Damian and Nixx have to be dramatic in public at least one point of the day.
And so it comes as no surprise to anyone when Nixx drinks too much soda and gets hyper or when Roman has one cup off sugared coffee too many and begins singing a cheesy love song to Ashling. And it really comes as no surprise when the birthday cake explodes when Ashling and Liam start cutting into it.
Thankfully, over in Domino City Katsuya has a more peaceful birthday unless you count the snowball war they started in Yugi’s backyard. Or the snowman building contest. Or the human sled contest.
0-0-0-0-0
February 20, 2007
Shizuka goes to the hospital to get the eye surgery she needs and everyone's either waiting by the phone's all day or sitting in the waiting room at the hospital. Katsuya, Honda, Anzu, and Mokuba are the ones who are waiting at the hospital and everyone else is waiting by the phones.
An hour and a half passes and everyone starts getting worried when they hear no news. Fifteen minutes later Tama, Seto, and Malik recieve a phone call from Mokuba who gives them the news that Shizuka's eye surgery was a success and she'll be returning home later once they make sure they'll be no further problems.
Tama and Malik immediately begin preparing a feast to celebrate the success of the surgery, making sure to make Shizuka's favorite foods. Seto sits back and lets them work, not being much of a cooking person. In fact, the last time he tried to make soup he made such a mess out of it that Kojiro banned him from the kitchen for a month. He hasn't cooked anything since then, except to pop popcorn in the microwave.
That night everyone goes over to their house and celebrates with much singing, laughing, and a little impromptu dancing from Mokuba, Tama, and Katsuya.
-F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F-A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S--F- A-M-I-L-Y--B-O-N-D-S-
Shiro: First off, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! And hey, I'm actually getting them to stay at a nice length! Woo-hoo! 7 pages seems to be about normal now. Wonder how long they'll stay at 7 pages....
Bast: I give it another chapter or two.
Shiro: In another chapter or... five it'll be chapter 22 which I'm predicting will be longer than the rest. I've got alot I need to cover in that chapter.
Bast: I told you to break it up a bit, hikari.
Shiro: (sighs) I know... I know... Hey, you know what?
Bast: What?
Shiro: I've got a nice collection of Deleted Scenes for this story! They're really funny too. Especially the ones I took out of chapter 15. Man, that was a fun chapter to write... I did get a little carried away with the 'devil car from Hell' though. (shrugs) Oh well!
Bast: (sweatdrops)
NEXT CHAPTER: Yami's, Spring Break, and meetings
REVIEW REPLIES:
t recorder- Yami will start coming in more in later chapters, but for now there are some things restricting him. He does get a part in the beginning of the next chapter though! As for Anzu... I have a different guy I'm going to pair her up with, and it'll probably make everyone do a double take and go "Wha?". And the pairings are listed at the top of the first chapter in my note. And someone else told me that it was 8 years over at fanfiction.net, but if I changed it it'd mess things up and since this is an AU it doesn't matter. n.n; Thanks for reviewing!