Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Overcoming Loneliness ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

A/N - Sorry 'bout these crappy updates, but I'm taking a break from writing just until school is out because I'm having trouble thinking about two different things. So the updates will be completely random since I write whenever I feel like it. Please r/r!

Overcoming Loneliness, Chapter 2

"So, Yugi, tell us about yourself," Otogi said. We were in a restaurant of some description and we were waiting for our orders to be brought. He sipped his drink while he and Joey sat across from me.

"Um...what do you want to know?" I asked, blushing a little with embarrassment as I was put on the spot, both of them expecting an answer.

"Well...Hm, let's see..." Otogi looked up at the ceiling, thinking to himself while twirling a piece of his hair - that wasn't pulled back into the ponytail - around his finger.

"Family," Joey said. Otogi looked back down and smiled.

"Good idea, tell us about your family," he said. I had to think for a few moments while I thought of what to tell them.

"Well...my only family is my grandfather, I live with him," I said, there wasn't much else to say about that.

"What about that other person that was with you? Yami, was it?" Joey asked.

"Oh, him," I said, I sat and thought about it for a few minutes, trying to figure out what he was really. I mean, we weren't related as far as I knew but we looked almost identical and on top of that, he also lived with me.

"To be honest, I don't really know what to call him. We're not related but we're really close to each other," I said, I hoped it didn't sound lame, but apparently Joey and Otogi understood what I was saying.

"Yeah, same as the others. Well, with the exception of Ryou and Bakura, they aren't exactly close to each other," Otogi said. Joey nodded and shrugged when I gave him a questioning glance.

"We really don't know what's going on, but it's been this way for so long that we've stopped noticing that they look alike, we notice their differences instead," Joey said. I nodded, it sounded all right.

Before the matter could be discussed further, the waitress walked over and took our orders, returning shortly with our drinks and we silently decided to change topics.

It seemed like forever that we sat there, the three of us together, talking about almost everything there was to talk about and while one spoke, the others listened, not interrupting. I have to say that it was more than a little shocking that the two of them found me even the least bit interesting.

Unfortunately, I didn't really find much out about them, they were mostly just asking the questions and I was the one doing all the talking for once. By the time I was done talking and they no longer had any questions to ask me, it was time to leave, the sun having long since set over the horizon leaving the sky a dark black-blue colour; the stars barely visible.

The two of them kept up their kindness as they walked me home, I had the feeling they thought someone like me walking home alone in the dark wasn't a very safe thing and I probably agreed with them, others generally weren't very nice to people like me anyways, no matter what the time.

"We'll see you later, Yugi, we had fun," Joey said, smiling, his arm casually wrapped around Otogi's shoulders. Otogi simply nodded in agreement and by the way he acted, it was as if he didn't even notice Joey's arm.

"Thank you for being so kind to me," I said, smiling. I waved a little and headed inside. "I'll see you later!" With that, I shut the door and headed off to my room, watching them leave from my window. Once they were out of sight, I changed for bed and crawled under my covers, quickly falling asleep.

The next day, it was the sun that woke me up as it shone brightly into my room. I opened my eyes slowly in order to see without being blinded and took a look at my clock; 7:45, school started at 8:30, which meant I had to be ready in thirty minutes because walking takes fifteen.

As I got out of bed and stretched, I slowly remembered why I felt so good instead of so miserable like I usually do, the memories of last night made me smile and for once I was in a cheerful mood.

"You sure seem happy this morning, Yugi," Yami said as I entered the kitchen, I hadn't stopped smiling yet and it seemed to have rubbed off on Yami as he smiled as well.

"Yesterday was fun, I didn't know people could be so nice," I said truthfully, Yami simply nodded and ate his breakfast; he seemed to have a glow of his own that morning as well.

"What about you, Yami?" I asked, curious.

"It's nothing, just someone I met, Yugi," Yami said, taking a sip of orange juice. It didn't take long before I knew what he meant.

"Oh! You mean that guy, Seto?" I asked, just to make sure. He smiled softly and nodded, taking another sip of his juice. I was really happy for him; I hadn't seen him like this before since most of the time he was worrying about me. I was glad he finally found someone for himself. The two of us could never work together, we'd tried but it was just too awkward because of our appearances. It was around the time we first met and before he started living with us. After our "break up" if you could call it that, he started worrying a lot about me, thinking that he'd done something to upset me even though I told him it had nothing to do with him.

"Are you just going to stand there, Yugi? You'll be late for school," Yami's voice cut through my thoughts and I realized I must have blanked out; he was already on his way out. I quickly grabbed some toast and ran upstairs to get my uniform on. I ran back downstairs and put on my shoes and then grabbed my bag.

"I've never seen you move so fast," Yami smiled. The two of us walked out of the house, we wouldn't be late luckily because I had moved faster than I thought I would so we were making good time.

About one quarter of the way to school, a large black limo pulled up to the side of the road. Yami immediately brightened and walked over to the window, it rolled down in response and I saw Kaiba Seto stick his head out. They spoke for a few minutes and I saw Yami's face fall just slightly and he looked back at me, then back to the limo.

"Please, Seto?" Yami asked. I couldn't hear the response, but I didn't need to. I smiled and spoke to Yami.

"It's all right, I can walk, Yami," to prove it, I walked past them continuing on my way to school and didn't look back. Well, not enough for them to notice. I saw Yami hesitate before climbing in and shutting the door, passing me in the limo only a few moments later. I sighed, he really was lucky to have met someone like that. I knew though that I shouldn't dwell on it or else I would start to pity myself and I hated to do that. It was already close to the end of this year and I needed to concentrate on my work not friends.

"Yugi!" I heard someone call from behind me; I jumped a little having not expected to run into anyone. I turned around and saw Joey and Otogi waving at me as they hurried to catch up.

"We went by your house but you were already gone," Joey said.

"Walk with us?" Otogi added, I nodded, relieved that they were still willing to be friendly. However I had a feeling that once we got to school it wouldn't matter, I hadn't seen them in any of my classes before so I was on my own once I got there.

"Sleep well, Yugi?" Joey asked, I nodded in reply. The two of them were on both sides of me, Joey on my right and Otogi on my left, Otogi seemed a little distracted; he wasn't saying very much.

"Something wrong, Otogi?" I asked. He shook his head but didn't look at me and he didn't say anything. Something was wrong but I didn't push him because I knew that it would get me nowhere. I turned and looked at Joey who just shrugged; he obviously knew something was up but was as clueless as me.

We got to school not long before it started and the thing that surprised me was that both Otogi and Joey were in my classes. I guess I had never noticed it before but it seemed a little unlike me...perhaps the three of us never really paid attention to it. Unfortunately I didn't get much of a chance to talk to them as they headed over to their normal group and the teacher walked in, sending everyone to their seats. The rest of the day was going to be very boring.

As I had predicted, the day was uneventful, just the usual review time teachers gave us before the end of the year exams. I spent most of the time unfocused, thinking about pretty well everything except school work. Mostly I thought about Otogi, he had seemed really out of it that morning.

When I walked out of the school, I caught sight of Yami, he was casually talking to a few of his friends that he had in the school. Of course, before I could approach him to talk, that Kaiba person showed up and took him away from his friends and towards the limo. I thought it best not to follow after seeing his reaction towards me earlier that day. As I watched them drive away, I noticed that they weren't going in the direction of our home which meant I probably wasn't going to see him for a while; the thought alone made me lonely.

I started my walk home, not expecting Otogi and Joey to follow me like they had that morning. But I was wrong when I heard footsteps behind me and turned around to see Joey, alone no less. The realization that he wasn't with Otogi both worried me and made me relieved at the same time.

"Joey!" I called, whether he was alone or not it didn't dull the fact that I was happy to see him.

"Hey, Yugi," he said, quickly catching up to me.

"I didn't think you'd walk with me again," I said, not sounding surprised or really anything, simply stating it; I did so on purpose so that he wouldn't pity me.

"Of course, I like hanging with you Yugi," he said, though by now it was obvious he had something on his mind.

"Something bothering you, Joey?" I asked out of concern as well as my own curiousity.

"Yeah, something," he admitted, gaze going distant for a moment before waving the question off. "Don't worry about it, it's not important," he smiled at me and it was easy to see that the look was full of hope that I didn't press him on the matter. I chose to drop it and move on. I walked next to him for a while in an awkward silence, we remained that way for about half the distance towards home.

"So where's Otogi?" I asked in an attempt to break this silence that I was used to, yet wasn't fond of. There was a small, nearly unnoticeable stutter in Joey's step as the words passed my lips.

"Don't know," he said. I wasn't sure what it was, but something about the way he said that made me think that he did know and just wasn't telling me.

"Joey," I said, I walked in front of him and stopped us both from walking. I looked up at him with my large violet eyes and stared into his honey brown ones. "Please, don't shut me out, he's my friend too, isn't he?" I added the question at the end because I still had my doubts that they weren't just playing a trick on me. The hesitation Joey had was evident; he took a long time before speaking.

"...he's in the hospital," Joey said quietly. My eyes widened and I immediately became more concerned than earlier.

"What? But what happened?" I said, Joey just looked away from me and said nothing. "Joey, please," I begged, I needed to know what would cause him to end up in a hospital.

"...ask him yourself, I'll take you to see him," he said, then he brushed past me, heading in the direction towards the hospital. I quickly turned and followed him, my legs moving at almost a jog to keep up with him. Joey was silent the whole way.

[End Chapter 2]

A/N - I hope that was okay for lack of inspiration. I felt that the whole fic shouldn't be centered just around Yugi, that's why I added that thing about Otogi, don't worry, you'll find out what's wrong in the next chapter! ^^; Please r/r!

~Happy lil Slasher~