Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Lost Identity ❯ The Banquet ( Chapter 22 )

az: Well, I guess the two OCs will be gone. And the story would be a little diferent..

Atemu: Well, at least we cut the amout of characters that's needed..

az: Yeah, and you know something... long time ago, when I was trying to write the battle between Yugi and Diabound... I've been planning on fusing Ra, Osiris and Obelisk to create a new God card... that is... Horus (But I never used this idea). Yeah... don't get me wrong, I already knew that Horus took an eagle form and in Mummy... the medjai's dead hawk is named Horus. The weird thing is... I checked on J-Animes a few months later when the news of the book finally completed... it was known that Atemu fused the three using his name tablet to summon Guardian of light Horakhti!! And it took the form of a golden eagle!! Like what I would imagine it will look like as Horus!! Was that an amazing coincidence?!! Thinking about this... I wondered why I abandoned that idea long ago...

A/N: I made the pairing turned into YugiXRebecca instead... So, anyone doesn't like it, go away or I send you o the Jiboku or into the Yami no GAME!!!

`sigh' why on earth I can't get the html right for Mminers.... ch!!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh manga nor did I own the anime spare the DVDs and my DM deck that I so much treasure until the end of time. If I OWNED Yugioh... I'll be having Seto as my personal nickname. Or did I already got that nick? Hahahaa.. Characters and original excerpts from the fic are copyrights of Kazuki Takahashi ;p

Chapter 22: The Banquet

Written by Azzie/Az .. Alienna Azuani .. YamiAzzie

'Where are they?!!', gasped Jyounouchi as he paced to and fro on the pavements in front of the museum. Anzu stared at him with mixed amusement. 'Jyounouchi-kun!! I knew it when I said that you should follow Shizuka-chan and the others to the restaurant!! There's nothing good you could do here, waiting for Kaiba-kun and Yugi-kun--'

Ryou looked at them with amusement painted all over his face. To think that they had once hurt Yugi deeply... looks like that little payback of the last two years was working to well, huh?, thought Ryou as the two kept bickering. 'But Anzu!! I wanted to explain to him. And he has to know about Honda. That bloke hadn't been understanding anything I've told him since--'

'You know... considering your average height, people had a lot of reasons to consider you as a kid--'

Jyounouchi and Anzu froze in their steps as they recognized the voice...

'Seto...!! How many times I should tell you? Never call me a midget!! You know, I swear I'll keep bullying you when I finally finished my degree... I mean, in some of the south eastern region in Asia the average height of the teenagers are almost the same as me. But no--!! They were not called as midgets over there, do they? I hate it when you compare me with that simile...'

A smile crept over Jyounouchi and Anzu's face as they recognized the other voice. It's Yugi!! Both of them turned towards the direction of the voices as they saw Kaiba and Yugi emerging; the latter was seen being carried on the back by the other.

'But you know, it sure is fun to tease you--', said Kaiba as Yugi made a face at him. 'Seto!! You remember what I last did to Ryou and Malik with tricking me with that so-called finding of Atemu's tomb!! You-- You're lucky that I hadn't punished you as well--', growled Yugi angrily as Kaiba chuckled.

'Well, I know you loved me--', said Kaiba jokingly as Jyounouchi dashed towards them.

'YUGI!!?, cried Jyounouchi as he stopped in front of them. The two looked at them in horror as Yugi clutched Seto's shoulder tightly. 'J-- Jyounouchi?!', gasped Yugi as Kaiba gently put him down. He grabbed Kaiba's hand involuntarily as he almost tripped over his weak leg. Jyounouchi gasped as he saw Yugi's condition. 'Yugi--?! Your leg... what happened?', he gasped as Anzu gave him a worried glance.

Come to think about it, we've been worried too much about their reactions, eh?

Yugi started to laugh as his old friends looked at him with confusion. 'Don't mind me. I never thought that the first sentence coming out of your mouths is that you guy are worried about my left leg. So... you guys not mad at me anymore?', said Yugi as he fingered the small locket that he wore on his neck. Jyounouchi and Anzu shook their heads. 'No... how could we? All of us had gone through a lot in the past. And as I was saying, what happened to your leg--'

'Yes, Yugi--', said Anzu as Yugi grinned. 'Oh, Ra... what should I tell? It's quite silly actually...', said Yugi as Ryou smiled. The albino tapped on her shoulders to explain. 'Half a year ago, Yugi and me had offered to help Uncle Akira on one of his excavation site during our holiday. And... Yugi, sort of fallen over one of the ancient stairs and broke his leg. All because of his precious little trinket--', said Ryou as Anzu glanced at Yugi in surprise.

Seto grinned as he glanced at Yugi's face. 'Oh, I know this story... Come to think about it, we could always make another one..', he said as Yugi scowled at him. He looked back towards his old friends. 'I don't want to. This one has a lot of memories for me. And it's not like I could still remember the exact look of the puzzle to make another--', said Yugi as Jyounouchi and Anzu noticed that the locket that Yugi wore on his neck had looked like a miniature Sennen Puzzle. Yugi gestured towards Ryou's direction. '--See, Ryou-kun got one with the Sennen Ring design...', he said as Ryou showed his own locket.

'Oh...', gasped the two in understanding as Ryou walked away to call on his driver. 'So, will everything go back to normal between us, Yugi?', said Anzu as Yugi ignored the question. 'Ah, had Rebecca gone off with the others already? They are at the restaurant, aren't they?', said Yugi as Anzu shakily said yes. Yugi sighed.

'Then, shouldn't we go now?', said Yugi, smiling as he didn't notice the look of despair that Anzu wore. 'You know, Rebecca could be quite annoying when she's at it. She had been quite energetic ever since Professor Hopkins allowed her to stay with me...'

'And I'm glad there were still someone who could annoy and made your life hectic when I'm gone! I was wondering if tou ever would miss me over there--', mumbled Kaiba as Yugi leered at him. 'And I'd reminded you... aren't we already late? And my, how I can't wait to go to my own special reunion party. Also Seto, I won't let you skipped out of this!! Mokuba and I will bite off your ears if you dare run away--', snarled Yugi with intended sarcasm as Kaiba made some grunting noise.

Jyounouchi looked at them weirdly as Ryou dashed towards them. 'Come on! The car's here and the others were waiting--', he said as the four of them got into the car...

--

Seto sighed softly as he played with the pen on his fingers. Anzu's eyes lighten up when she saw that the pen had looked a lot like a miniature sennen rod. 'Uh--', she gasped as Seto's attention turned towards her; taking mind not to wake Yugi up as the other had fallen asleep again on his shoulder. Well, the traffic seemed to not want to let them off easily, is it?

'What--?', he said as Anzu struggled to form her words. 'Uh... what was that... you were holding?', she said as Kaiba gave a little smirk. 'My pen... hihihih...', he said, chuckling as he saw the shocked look that both Jyounouchi and Anzu wore. Yup, the sight of Seto grinning like a kid, do freaked them out.'See... this bottom here can be opened to use the pen and--', he said as he twisted the head, '--you'll get a small knife when you twist it around. Nice when you encounter any unsuspecting accidents as forgetting to bring a pen or someone trying to hurt me...' He smiled as he received their blank looks back at him. Yeah!! Satisfactory guaranteed...

Ryou grinned as he continued to elaborate, 'The truth is... Yugi asked his father to make some smaller replica of the items for us because he doesn't want to forget about the existence of the sennen items and everything that had happened from their creations. For Yugi, all of the events regarding himself and his other self, the history of the creation of the sennen items up to the sacrifice of the young pharaoh was still a part of his past. He felt the obligation of not ever forgetting the fate of the numerous people involved in this part, be it during the Ancient Egyptian or the present time. A lot of people had been hurt because of the sennen items. But even then, he felt that it was his duty to remember them as himself.'

'Well, since only the sennen tauk, puzzle, ankh, rod and ring were considered to be made... I opted for this instead. I could try another application in this set, but I knew I would make Yugi pissed. He warned me if I wanted to do more, I should make him another replica for the Puzzle--!', said Seto as Yugi slapped him suddenly. Seto looked at him in surprise as he hadn't suspected him to be awake. Yugi scoffed at him as he pouted. 'Hmph!! The moment you saw me sleep, you took the chance to gossip about me... eh?! Be careful that I didn't spill the beans on you--', snarled Yugi as he turned at Jyounouchi. 'Ee, Jyou... did Shizuka-san came with you?! I had told Malik to invite her in case he had planned something like this--', he said as Jyounouchi nodded. '--oh, did you then--'

'Good...', he said as Seto leered at him. 'I thought Bakura didn't tell you about the this plan--', he said as he cast a suspicious glance at Ryou. Ryou shrugged at him innocently as he waved his hands up.

Yugi smirked. 'Malik told me about this two hours ago. When I was about to go out with Rebecca. Do you think I wouldn't know?!', said Yugi as the CEO rolled his eyes at him. 'Yeah... well consider me too concerned about you.', he said as Yugi smiled at him.

'Oooh... you ca---red!! I hoped not too much as Rebecca! I couldn't stand having the two of you looking out for me so much. It's not like I hadn't heard enough from my father...', he said as Seto grinned. Yeah, pure sarcasm...

'Silly--', the brunette said offhandedly.

And the car was quiet again as none of them spoke until at the end of the journey...

--

'Oh god--! How can I do this!!?', cried Yugi as he peered inside the restaurant to find it rather empty except for the presence of his friends. As Anzu marched into the hall along with Ryou, he saw a glimpse of Honda's annoyed face. Seto pinched his arm lightly as Yugi scowled at him. 'Wha--at?! Don't tell me that I have to get IN there!!? Who knows what kind of battlefield awaits me?!', exclaimed Yugi as Seto waves him off.

'Nonsense!! Except for that particular monument of a friend you have got over there, everyone was okay!! And you've settled that two friends of yours--', Seto turned around as he noticed that Jyounouchi hadn't come in yet. As it was, Jyounouchi's arm crept around both of them as Yugi and Seto hissed in surprise!

'Hehehe... what were you two planning now? And who referred one of my friend as a monument--?!', growled Jyounouchi suddenly as shivers came to Yugi's body. And Seto was not going to admit that he was scared also. He was also nervous since Shizuka was in there!!

'Err... nothing!!', squeaked Seto as he grabbed hold of Yugi's hand for support. 'And don't you see that guy's hair?! It got some standard angle!! How in the world did you get a friend like that... all these years?!! And you want me to sit among you?' Yugi chuckled as some of the butterflies inside his stomach had kind of flew away. 'So, do you guys want to get in or not?!', snapped Jyounouchi as Seto was about to shake his head; thinking another better idea of fleeing right now. Even the sight of Mokuba sitting at the table beside Shizuka had not convinced him to get in. Yugi tightened his grip on Seto's hand as the latter glance at him.

'Please--', Yugi said as anxiety started to overcome him again. I won't go in if you didn't.., thought Yugi as Seto nodded; seeming to understand his thoughts. With that unspoken agreement settled, both of them entered the hall along with Jyounouchi to meet up with their friends...

--

'Uh, here... Kaiba-san, have some beef filet. Mokuba-kun said that you liked it--'

Politely, he accepted the offer as Shizuka placed the food on Seto's rice bowl. Flushing a little, he thanked the girl as he glanced around him nervously. As expected, Yugi, who had sat beside him, along with Ryou, Malik and Ishizu had given him an amused grin. But probably not. He had this suspicion that all of them had set him up on sitting beside Shizuka. And why did Mokuba told her about my favorite things?!! Had everyone got that mutual agreement on setting me up with her this desperately?!! Hey!! I'm still not ready!!, thought Seto as Yugi gave him a reassuring glance.

Okay, at least the mutt was not showing any signs of his disapprovement on Shizuka's kind treatment to me. But then again, the guy was not bright enough to sense these things. What'll he do if he knew that I liked his sister? No... let's not think about that. I've said a lot of bad things on him before and those short peace agreement between the two of us that time when that incident happened was not going to turn things around. Oh god!! This is driving me crazy!!, thought Seto again as he chewed on his beef filet.

Well, for once Anzu hadn't opened up any friendship speeches. That was good. But then it was probably because of the fractured relationship between the four reminded herself to shut her mouth. And let's not go mentioning about Honda!! He had been glaring at Seto with distrust as Shizuka kept smiling at him. Well, unfortunately for our dear Seto, he didn't know that a year before this Shizuka had politely said to Honda that she had been seeing him as her brother's friend. No more than that. So, of course the guy was sour when he sees Shizuka treating Seto quite kindly...

So, back with the story...

'Um... so, was the food fine with everyone?', said Ryou nervously as he glanced at everyone. 'I mean... since everyone had different preference on their food and everything...' Geez... this silence was disheartening!! Everything went quiet the moment Seto and Yugi walked in..., thought Ryou helplessly.

'It's good... I never tasted anything better!!', said Jyounouchi finally, breaking the silence. 'Haii, it's good since here we are... eating together after so long...', said Anzu as Ryou thanked them for it. 'Well, it's good hearing that. We thought our effort would be wasted... we've been meaning to do this for months. Thank goodness that we could do this now. You know... the exhibition... and this reunion...', said Malik as Anzu stared at him. 'What do you mean--?', she said as Malik explained. 'The three of us were so busy with our classes... Seto with his business and courses, Mokuba with his college... I mean, it's hard to find the perfect time to convince the guys to come here at the same time. And of course... we've worried that the people we left here were still angry with us...'

Jyounouchi and Anzu quickly shook their heads as Jyounouchi glared at Honda's direction. 'No... we're not. Days after Kaiba and Yugi had left, Anzu and I had found something as Grandpa Sugoroku had explained and we've understood. Unlike some...', said Jyounouchi as he and Honda glared at each other again.

Suddenly, both Seto and Yugi looked up at him and gasped. 'You guys had seen the tape?!', they exclaimed together as Jyounouchi and Anzu nodded. 'What tape?!', said Bakura as Yugi and Seto sighed again. 'Nothing...', they said at the same time.

'It's pretty alarming about what we saw in it... but we understand. After seeing that tape and everything, we're not mad anymore except somebody else who don't want to accept that he's being harsh!!,' said Jyounouchi as he frowned at Honda. He turned back towards Yugi and Kaiba again as he continued to speak. 'And Seto, even after everything that has been going on between us all these years... it'll be nice if we can be friends again.', he said as Seto stared at him between gladness and disbelief. 'Me too...', said Anzu as she smiled at Yugi.

'Well, cut it off!! Enough with this friendship talks!! Kaiba, Yugi... don't you think that you guys can easily come back here and pretend that everything is all good again between us!!', snapped Honda as Yugi looked at him in horror. Well, that goes the same with everyone!! Rebecca, who had been keeping quiet all the time, had clutched on her knife and fork in anger as Jyounouchi sent a fierce glare at Honda. The Egyptians were surprised at this sudden outburst and Bakura was not so glad anymore. And let's not ask about Seto. No one was allowed to treat Yugi badly again, he had vowed about it long time ago.

'Is that so--?', said Yugi as he slowly rose from his chair and glanced sharply at him. 'I'm sorry that you had felt that way, Honda-san...', he said as he tried to walk away but stumbled hard on the floor behind him. 'Yugi--!!/Darling!!', exclaimed Seto and Rebecca at the same time as Yugi shakily got back on his feet.

'It's alright, I'm fine.. Just need to get some fresh air...', said Yugi as he tried hard to not go bursting into tears any time soon. 'I'll be fine, Rebecca... really, Seto.. I'm okay. Don't worry about me. I... I had to take my medicine again, my bad leg hurts again...', he said as he quickly left the hall in haste.

'Anzu...', Anzu glanced towards Becky as the girl addressed her. 'Darling, he's-- there's something you need to know. But, I think it's better that darling himself tell you. We've been talking about this for some time...'

'What-- Rebecca, what do you mean?', said Anzu. 'There's something that darling had been thinking ever since he left. And I thought that you'd better accompanied him. He'd be worried that I'll be troubled if I go instead...'

Anzu frowned at her. 'Rebeca, you didn't mind?', said Anzu as she shook her head. 'Whatever happens, darling will always be with me!!', cried Rebecca as she winked mischievously at her. With that, Anzu quickly stood before glaring at Honda and ran after Yugi's direction...

Back to Seto again, he was now standing and casting a really evil look at Honda. Jyounouchi was not excluded also as himself, Ryou and Malik glared at the lad. You almost thought that Yami Bakura and Yami Marik were back!! Seto's mouth twitched as he could not bear his anger any longer.

'You SO needed some attitude adjustment, Hiroto-yarou--!! You'll regret that you had ever became the blockhead that you were...', he said as Seto clenched his fist...

Meanwhile, the girls, Mokuba and Rishido went back to eating as they left the others alone to teach Honda a thing or two..

[TBC]

az: Hmm... one last chapter and another one-shot sequel. And this will finish. Then we'll see each other on Darkness Arising!! Ja!! Review!! Thanks... And you know something? Today I went to my first Yugioh Tournament of my life. And I got Horus!! Wakaka... who told the cards that I liked Horus? And when I thought I won't be able to get in as a duelist... I got in!! Lost in the first round, but I felt so good. I've learnt something about the game... nothing beats duelling with another person other than your ignorant sister. It sure is fun!! And to think that I felt the same fear as Yugi and the other would have felt in the duel. Hehehehee... scary!!