Queer As Tachi – Chapter 34
The party was in full swing, meaning it was the perfect time to bring out the cake and encourage Mai to open her birthday presents, since everyone had set them up so nicely on the table. The DJ threw on a pre-mixed CD selection so he could take a few minutes to come over and enjoy some lovely dessert as well, and everyone gathered around the tables and handful of chairs set up in the corner. Serenity had gone to find her jacket and get her camera out of the pocket, and had already snapped a few photos of people dancing before the announcement about cake was made. She was there in front, getting a good shot of Mai pointing a knife threateningly at the camera lens before deciding to find better subjects to record. While they waited for cake to be served, Yugi saw what Serenity was up to and called her over. “Can you take a picture of me and Yami together?” he excitedly asked her. “We don’t have any of the two of us.”
“Ooo! Of course!” Serenity chirped, raising her camera. “Pose all cute, then…”
Yami smiled silkily and put his arms around Yugi, hugging him into his chest. Yugi snuggled against him and tucked his head under his partner’s chin, turning to beam at the camera. The flash in the otherwise dimly-lit room left them both blinking unsteadily for a few minutes afterward. “Thanks,” Yugi managed to say while Yami rubbed at his eyes. “I can’t believe in all this time, I never thought to get a picture of us.”
“I’ll send you a copy when I get them printed,” Serenity promised. “You guys are so cute. And I saw you dancing out there! You’re really good.”
Yugi blushed and laughed coyly. “Thanks! I just kind of…cut loose and go with it. I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
“You could have fooled me,” Serenity giggled.
“Cake?” Joey interrupted them, balancing a couple of paper plates.
Standing or sitting around to eat the rich chocolate cake made for a captive audience for a few minutes, so Mai poked through her gifts and got a chance to thank each of her guests for them. Someone, possibly one of her coworkers, had gotten her a gift card to Aya’s, though several in the crowd just looked curious when Yugi and Mai shared a good long giggle at it. At the end of the pile of gift bags and cards, Marik stepped forward and fished something out of his pocket, having gone to find his cast-off sweatshirt and retrieve it while everyone gathered for the cake. “Here,” he said quietly, handing over a Duel Monsters card. “Happy birthday, Mai.”
She took it and studied it, her eyes lighting up with curiosity. “A Rope of Life trap card?”
“You don’t already have one, do you?”
“No…” Mai looked up over the card at him. “Wait a minute. Is this the one from your deck?”
“Yeah,” Marik nodded. “I don’t duel nearly as much as I used to, and I have another card similar to it now that I use more often. I thought maybe you could use it, since you stole it from my graveyard and played it against me so perfectly once.”
“Wow.” Mai blinked at the card a moment longer. “Thank you, Marik. But you don’t have to give me anything out of your own deck…”
“Maybe I want to.” Marik smiled calmly at her. “Consider it a peace offering.”
Mai smiled back. “Offering accepted. Thank you.”
Tristan was sitting off to one side, backwards on a chair with his arms and his empty plate hanging over the back. Joey wandered up to him, about to tease him about the absent look on his face under the assumption he was longing after Serenity, but as he looked around, Joey noticed that his sister wasn’t anywhere in his friend’s line of sight. Duke was, he was over talking to one of the smartly-dressed women who worked with Mai at the magazine, and Yugi was behind him refilling two glasses. Joey swung an arm and smacked Tristan in the shoulder. “Hey. Don’t let your mind wander too far or it won’t come back.”
“Huh? Oh…” Tristan looked up and smiled. “Sorry. What’s up?”
“Nothin’ much. How’s the party?”
Tristan sat up straighter. “Dude, this is awesome. And I’m sure it’s scoring you major points with Mai.”
Joey beamed smugly. “Eh, just a few. Thanks for helping out, man. All the weirdness aside.” He glanced around the hall again, noticing that some people were heading back out for more dancing now that they had plenty of sugar. “What did you and Serenity do before you got here?”
“Not a whole lot, really,” Tristan confessed with a shrug. “I had to pick up something for Mai, so I got Serenity’s opinion on it, and we walked around for a little bit. It was pretty boring.”
Joey eyed him. “You didn’t come on your bike, did you?”
Tristan laughed. “Nah, we took the bus. I knew what you’d say if I let her ride my motorcycle.”
“Okay…good.” Joey’s brown eyes lit up with a smile. “No wonder Mai liked your present – you didn’t pick it out.”
“Hey, I kind of did,” Tristan pouted. “It was one of my options. Really!”
“Yeah, sure.”
At that moment Serenity flounced up to her older brother, still toting her camera. “I got the cutest picture of you and Mai when she was cutting the cake,” she reported. “Wanna see?”
“Sure.” Joey glanced over her shoulder as she flipped the digital camera to review and scrolled back through pictures. “Nice,” he complimented. “You’re gonna make copies for me to see, right?”
“Any ones you want,” his sister promised. “I’ll email them all to you, too, when I get home.” She noticed Tristan sitting there sort of watching, then, and gestured for him to get up. “I don’t have any pictures of Tristan yet,” she pointed out. “I tried to get one of you dancing but it was too dark.”
Tristan’s eyes widened with a start. “Uh, that’s okay,” he stammered. “No one needs to see photographic evidence of that.”
“Come on! Both of you pose together. Old friends!” she encouraged, waving for Joey to get into the picture. He groaned, but gladly did so, hooking an arm around Tristan’s neck and slouching onto his shoulder. Tristan dropped a hand heavily onto Joey’s blond head, and both grinned like idiots as Serenity snapped the photo. She giggled happily at them. “Great! I want to get lots of pictures of Mai’s friends for her.” She stuck the camera in a pocket and smiled at Tristan. “Are you going to give dancing another try? I promise not to take pictures.”
Tristan gave her a faint smile in return. “I don’t know. Maybe. I’ll see.”
“Aw, come on.” Serenity clasped her hands behind her back and turned coyly away. “I’m going to go dance some more. It’s a lot of fun…” She left them, then, bouncing brightly over to see if Yugi was going to go dance as well.
Joey glanced aside at his friend. “You didn’t have to turn her down just because you’re standing next to me,” he said in a low tone. “If you want to hang out with her, go ahead. I won’t get mad.”
Tristan looked at him and grinned sheepishly. “What? I was being honest,” he said.
“Maybe later,” Duke said in reply when Serenity asked him also if he was interested in going back out to dance. He had noticed Yugi pass by him and cornered him to talk for a second, making sure Yami wasn’t put off by his flirting on the dance floor earlier, only to be interrupted again by Serenity.
“Yami and I will be out in a second,” Yugi promised. “After I finish my soda.” He turned back to Duke to resume their conversation. “That’s too bad. I’m sure Bakura would have liked to get out and have some fun with the rest of us.”
“I tried, I really did,” Duke insisted. “I just never got an answer. You’re sure that’s his number?”
“Yeah, I’ve called him before. Huh.” Yugi frowned a little. “He didn’t want to do anything with us for his birthday, either. I guess maybe he’s too shy to just jump right in like nothing’s changed.”
“I haven’t seen him at all since school was over,” Duke mused. “Or Téa, but she has an excuse.”
“Oh, but she’ll be home for the winter break this year!” Yugi suddenly remembered. Yami prowled up behind him at that moment, slinking an arm around him. Yugi instinctively clasped a hand over his and leaned back into him. “She emailed me, Joey, and Tristan last week with the news. She’s not in any holiday productions so she can come home during the break. It’ll be great to see her,” he added, glancing over his shoulder to Yami. “She’s been away for a year and a half. It’s like forever.”
“That’s cool.”
Yugi nodded as he sipped at his drink, but then the DJ segued into a song that made his eyes pop open wide – one of his favorites. He set his cup down and turned to Yami right away. “Let’s go! It’s our song!”
“’Our’ song?” Yami snorted, though he had no protest to being dragged back out on the dance floor. Only moments before, he had rubbed his arm and felt a twinge, noticing to his mortification that Yugi’s fingerprints had been bruised into his skin from their secret encounter. Getting away to the darkness of the arena would be a good way to keep anyone else from noticing.
The party lasted for hours longer, and after Duke’s store closed, his clerks and managers were allowed to come down and join it, helping prolong the activity. Yugi and Yami danced a little more, but they had worn each other out and after a bit just stood around talking with their friends, keeping everyone company for at least a short time. Eventually, though, Yugi checked the time and realized it was getting a little too late for him and his partner. As the clock neared eleven, they started making their rounds of goodbyes. “Sorry,” Yugi said when Serenity especially pouted. “The ritual expires at midnight. Yami and I need to be home by then, I don’t want him vanishing in front of any strangers.”
“No worries, Yug,” Joey assured him. “You gotta do what you gotta do. Thanks for all the help today.” He shifted his glance to Yami. “And you, too.”
“We were glad to help,” Yami assured with a cool smile.
“Anything to make sure Mai felt like the whole world revolved around her,” Yugi added with a grin at Mai, who stood beside Joey with a hand in his.
“And I sure did,” she said emphatically. “You guys are the best. I’ve never had a party like this in my whole life.” She let go of Joey and pounced on Yugi instead, catching him up and hugging him. He just giggled and hugged back. “Thanks, Yugi. And you too, Yami.”
“You’re our friend, Mai,” Yugi reminded her. “We just wanted to show you that we love you.” He glanced to his side as Marik came up to him, having retrieved his sweatshirt for good in preparation for leaving. “And now…I think I need to get Yami home.”
“More like he needs to get you home,” Marik smirked. “So you can have what little time is left to yourselves.”
Mai reached out to him and squeezed his hand. “Thanks again, Marik. I like the card, it’ll come in handy.”
He smiled shyly and nodded. “I’m glad I got to see you again.”
“Me too.” Mai nudged Yugi, then. “Go on, get out of here. Don’t waste any more of your precious ritual.”
Giggling and clasping hands with Yami, Yugi led the way out with Marik and Odeon trailing. The shop upstairs was now closed, but there was a rear entrance for employees that Duke said everyone could use to leave. The night had grown much colder, necessitating the buttoning-up of jackets, but the four young men enjoyed it after being in the hot, steamy arena-turned-dance-hall all afternoon and evening. The tombkeepers did their duty and walked the pharaoh and his partner home, though no one would have suspected they were bodyguards the way Marik and Yugi chattered the whole way about how much fun they had with the old gang. Once they got back to Kame game shop and the side entrance to the house, Marik decided they could depart, seeing how close it was to midnight. “If anyone was going to attack you and take advantage of your vulnerability today, they would have done it already,” he reasoned to the pharaoh. “I’m not concerned about the last hour. Less than an hour.”
“Yes, I agree,” Yami nodded. “Yugi and I will probably just sit up with each other until midnight, now. And then he needs to get some sleep,” he added with a pointed look at his partner. Yugi just grinned in embarrassment.
Odeon stepped forward and bowed his head deeply. “It was a great honor to have accompanied you today, my pharaoh,” he said solemnly. “Merely to see you embodied like this is beyond all expectations. Despite the foolish mistakes we have made, we are now and ever will be your loyal servants.”
Yami raised a hand in caution, as Marik also bowed at his brother’s side. “I am grateful that you’ve changed, and are making up for your past,” he said just as seriously. “But I am no longer a pharaoh in the strictest sense. I have no kingdom to return to, no rule to impose on anyone. Your friendship is what I value now.”
“And you have that.” Marik reached and took one of his hands between his, clasping it warmly. “I don’t know when I’ll get to see you like this again, so I’ll have to be content seeing you in Yugi’s eyes like usual. But I’ll never forget this day as long as I live.”
“Nor will I,” Odeon agreed.
“Thank you, my friends.” Yami nodded to them and turned away, as Yugi opened the door. “We shall see you again. Be safe.”
The two brothers nodded back, and stood there watching until the pharaoh had been swallowed up by the darkness inside and the door closed and locked. Only then could they consider him safe and themselves able to leave. The lovers crept quietly upstairs in the dark and stole into the bedroom without waking Grandpa, closing themselves away and gladly shucking out of sweaty clothing. Yami wrapped himself warmly in his robe to lay down with Yugi, who had thrown on pajamas after swearing he would shower in the morning. They didn’t have any time left to do anything active, but at this point they had had enough of physical exertion and just wanted to curl up together, to caress and kiss and talk quietly of their day until Yami’s body disappeared at midnight. Yami tucked his young love in and settled down with him in his arms, holding him tightly to his chest as Yugi sighed happily and snuggled down into folds of the robe, his hand finding its own way inside to gently stroke Yami’s warm skin beneath. “I had so much fun,” he murmured. “And you…I still can’t believe what you did.”
“You were a willing participant in that,” Yami chuckled. “And eager.” He bent his head and kissed Yugi lovingly. “Mmm…make that very eager.”
Yugi giggled under his breath. “Well…yeah…it was good. Really, really good.” He tugged the collar of the bathrobe aside and placed a soft, sensual kiss to Yami’s chest. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
Yami smiled to himself. “You inspire me to all new heights of creativity, Yugi.”
Chuckling, Yugi settled back down and closed his eyes. “I’m just glad nothing bad happened today. As soon as Marik and Odeon were here, following us like bodyguards, I started to get really worried that maybe someone would come and try to take the Puzzle while you were outside it...” His expression sobered, though with his head down on his partner’s chest, Yami did not see it. “And who knows what kind of awful effect that would have had?”
“Truthfully, we don’t know,” Yami reminded him. “Shadi’s warning about not setting the Puzzle aside was meant for the first time we did the ritual, when we thought it was our only chance. Now that we perform it routinely…who knows?” He stroked his lover’s hair soothingly as they laid together. “Perhaps it isn’t that bad. Perhaps the Puzzle is nothing but an inert object when I’m not in it.”
“All the same,” Yugi sighed, “I don’t want to take chances. We should stick with what’s familiar…especially if it keeps sapping my energy every time.”
Yami gave a soft purr of agreement, but he refrained from saying anything about the way the ritual had been affecting Yugi. Neither of them knew whether Marik would be around in another month to oversee them again, and truthfully, having anyone else there with them felt strange. The pharaoh would have preferred that the unsettling business with the Millennium Items were over before his next embodiment, so he and Yugi could look forward to a perfectly stress-free visit instead. Neither of them had any more to say, and Yugi was rather drowsy anyway, so they spent the rest of their final hour together in blissful silence, snuggled together under the blankets, Yami combing his fingers through Yugi’s hair. It was just what they both needed, until midnight passed and Yugi was left alone again.
A couple of days later, Yugi was amused and annoyed to find himself up to his elbows in a string of twinkling lights, which his grandfather insisted should be put up somewhere in the store – the windows, the glass display cabinets, wherever Yugi thought it looked best. As a family the Mutos only marginally embraced Christmas, but as a marketing ploy to sell more games, it was the perfect chance to go crazy. Yugi made his grandpa promise not to actually turn on the lights or start any Christmas-related promotions until December first, still a couple days away, and in exchange agreed to decorate. He wrestled with the lights for a while until he decided they belonged around the frame of the front windows, and tacked them up to be visible to passersby outside. Hoping that would be the extent of the decorating, he retreated to the counter and took up his usual position, having little at the moment to do except man the register and wait for purchases. Sales had picked up a little, but Yugi found himself agreeing with Grandpa Muto that the holiday season would see the biggest increase. At least they had a little extra now, thanks to his endorsement deal with Pegasus for the world tournament. They could breathe a little easier and even finally get the roof fixed, but it didn’t mean they could get away with ignoring the upcoming gift-giving holiday. Grandpa had plans to encourage people to come in and spend lots on games, no matter how much it annoyed Yugi to have to participate in pushing gift-related guilt on potential customers.
Kids weren’t the only ones who came into Kame game shop in the afternoons, after school had let out. Newcomers of all ages and types wandered in occasionally, and if Yugi wasn’t busy with someone, he liked to acknowledge a stranger’s entrance and welcome them with at least a smile, if nothing else. He was talking to an older gentleman about which board games were appropriate for children of a certain age when he heard the jingle of the door, and glanced past his customer to see a man enter and go straight to the Duel Monsters display. Once Yugi had finished with the older man and sent him away happy, he looked for the other customer and saw him looking up at the tournament poster stuck above the display. Yugi cringed; oh no, I hope he’s not a crazy fan who’ll come over here and go nuts on me for being on the poster, he thought. Even so, he smiled in a friendly manner as the dark-haired man looked in his direction and had the obvious eye-opening reaction of recognition. “Welcome to Kame game shop,” Yugi said as cheerfully as he could. “Is there anything I can help you find?”
“Oh, just looking,” the man demurred. “That’s you on the poster, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Yugi chuckled, trying not to blush. “I’m going to be competing in the world tournament. We’ve got a lot of people asking about it, maybe entering.”
“This isn’t the shop where the regional rounds are going to be held, though, is it?”
“No, that’s Duke’s, across town.” Yugi smiled in relief at the man’s even, non-fanatical tone, but as he approached the counter to speak to Yugi, something within him went cold. He recognized it as the pharaoh’s spirit, reacting to something only he could sense. It felt rather like the moment at the Tokyo Game Expo more than a month earlier, the reaction was the same. Yugi did his best not to show any falter in his expression, but he glanced past the customer to see if anyone else would darken his door or windows. “You’re…a Duel Monsters player or fan?” he asked the stranger.
“Just a fan, I guess,” the man replied, glancing down at the individual rare cards on display in the glass case below Yugi’s elbows. “I’ve only just discovered the game, but it looks like a lot of fun. Especially with this tournament I’ve heard about.”
Yugi nodded despite the waves of intense discomfort radiating outward from his soul, where Yami dwelled and was currently twitching with anxiety. He was on edge again, sensing something wrong but unable to pinpoint where it was coming from, or why. Yugi tried not to be impolite, allowing Yami to do the sensing while he kept his eyes on his customer rather than on the door no matter how much both souls feared someone might burst through it at any minute. “Well,” he said to the man, “if you want to know anything about the game, you’re in the right place. I do happen to know a thing or two about how it’s played.”
The stranger nodded and smiled back. “Say, that’s a pretty neat pendant you have there. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Yugi placed a hand instinctively on the Puzzle. “This? Oh…well…thanks. It’s…kind of special to me.”
The man leaned on the counter and inspected it from a distance. “It looks really old,” he said casually. “Is it…an heirloom or something?”
“I…suppose you could say that…” Now Yugi began to feel some of the same trepidation as his partner, and both of them focused at the same time on the man in front of him. Perhaps the feeling of wrongness was not coming from an outside enemy…it was inside the shop already.
The stranger seemed not to notice his hesitation, as he became more comfortable with staring at the Puzzle. “It looks Egyptian,” he noted. “I’m sorry, I hope it’s not a bother that I’m asking – I just really like Egyptian things. Can I see it?” he asked immediately before waiting for Yugi’s response to his apology.
“Er…no, I’m sorry,” Yugi managed to stammer. “It’s sort of…”
Thankfully, he didn’t have to come up with an explanation, for at that instant the shop door flung wide open and Marik charged in, looking panicked. The stranger glanced idly back at the noise of the intrusion, but gave a start when Marik shouted, “You! Get away from Yugi!”
Yugi immediately backed away, keeping the counter between himself and the visitor. “Marik!”
“It’s him, Yugi!” Marik cried, his expression going from worried to furious. “David Archer!”
The stranger gave an even bigger start and looked wildly around, at Yugi, at the Puzzle, and around the shop for another door. Marik was blocking the only one, save for those that led into the back office or the house upstairs, and Yugi was in the way of those. They stood staring at each other for a tense moment, each waiting for someone else to make a move, and then Marik stepped aggressively into the shop. The stranger whirled and darted towards him, flinging out his hands and shoving Marik back into the wall to clear him out of the way of the exit. Marik’s body slammed into a shelf, dazing him briefly, so that by the time he had regained his feet and spun to give chase, the man had already fled up the street and disappeared. Yugi raced to catch his friend and check to see whether he was hurt. “Marik!” he yelped. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Marik grunted, leaping out the door and looking wildly up and down the sidewalk. In a moment his shoulders sagged defeatedly. “Damn. He’s gone.” He turned quickly back to Yugi, grabbing the door and pulling it properly closed behind him. “Are you all right? What did he do to you?”
“Nothing, I’m fine,” Yugi assured, retreating further inside the shop. “He just asked me about the Puzzle…he said it was a neat pendant and wanted to see it.”
Marik glared. “It’s a good thing I had some warning and came down here.”
“Yeah, you couldn’t have timed that any better,” Yugi said in relief. “What do you mean, warning? And how did he find me…?” Yugi’s eyes widened. “Oh no. He’s here. He’s found us.”
Marik took him by the shoulder and guided him even further inside, back around the counter where they had the safety of distance from the door and handy escape nearby. “I’ve been on the phone all morning with Ishizu,” he reported. “Back and forth, I don’t know how many times. We’ve been trying to keep abreast of any leads Interpol had on this guy, though most of it has been rumors over the past couple of weeks. All of a sudden, this morning she found out that he may have gotten into Japan despite all the international bulletins out on him.” His glare hardened. “He changed his hair color, for one.”
“That’s right, the picture you showed me a while ago was of a blond man,” Yugi remembered. “That’s probably why I didn’t recognize him right away. I could tell by the way he spoke that he was American, but…”
“I didn’t expect you to recognize him if you saw him,” Marik assured. “I couldn’t be sure, I didn’t want to run down here with just more rumors, but then I had a sense that I should see you anyway. Right before I left, Odeon took another call from overseas – they were certain this time, he was in the country. I ran as fast as I could.” He scowled over his shoulder at the doorway. “Looks like I got here just in time.”
Yugi slumped against the frame of the door that led upstairs to the house. “What am I going to do?” he worried. “I was hoping this was going to get taken care of, by real authorities with the power to arrest and put away people like him. I didn’t expect it to come here. I didn’t want it to.”
“This is what Odeon and I are here for,” Marik said firmly. “We’ll watch out for you. I’m sorry, Yugi, but now that Archer has found you and come to your home, one of us is going to have to guard you every day.”
“How did he find me?” Yugi demanded, his eyes going dark with anger. “I’m nobody, there’s no way smugglers or…or archeologists or anyone in those circles would ever know who I am or where I live. I…” Something occurred to him, then, and both spirits within him grew grave. He pushed away from the door and shoved past Marik, going over to the Duel Monsters display and looking up at the world tournament poster hanging on the wall. Marik came to his side and realized the same thing as Yugi spoke. “That’s how. A big, stupid picture of me, wearing the Puzzle, that’s gone all over the world. Every game store, every magazine, every internet site promoting the tournament, would have one.”
“No,” Marik breathed. “This is terrible. No wonder…”
“And if he’s caught on to Duel Monsters and tournaments, he’ll find out about you and Bakura pretty soon…”
“And I just showed my face, too.” Marik clapped a hand to his forehead, wincing. “This can’t be happening. This shouldn’t have happened! Interpol let him slip through their fingers and now he’s here!”
Yugi turned to him, a look of cold fear coming over his face. “What are we supposed to do now?”
Marik faced him and placed a strong hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry, Yugi. I said I was going to protect you, and I will. Odeon and I will take turns standing guard in case he comes back again. Unfortunately, unless he actually commits some kind of crime here, we can’t call the police on him. He may have some outstanding international warrants, but from the information I’ve been given, he’s done nothing in Japan yet.” He glanced quickly around the store. “Do you have a security system here?”
“We have an alarm system, yeah, but it’s only for the store,” Yugi fretted. “It doesn’t cover the house. But, I don’t want you guys to have to move in here with me just to watch over me all hours of the day…”
Marik shook his head. “I’m not so worried about that. You always keep the Puzzle close to you when you sleep, right? He’d have to break into your house and attack you directly to get it, and nothing in his past record indicates that that’s how he operates.”
“And Yami can keep guard, too,” Yugi put forth. “He doesn’t need to sleep like I do, he can stay alert in case of something like that.” He rested a hand over his heart, which was still racing a little. “He’s on the alert right now. He could sense something wrong, it just came on us all of a sudden. I thought it might have meant someone was outside sneaking up on us, but no…it was right there in front of us.”
“The pharaoh sensed him?” Marik repeated with some concern. “When? How soon before he arrived?”
Yugi closed his eyes and sighed sadly. “He was already here,” he confessed. “It wasn’t until he came up closer to the counter and started talking to me. Yami went super-alert, all edgy and tense like when any kind of dark presence or Millennium Item is near us.” He frowned fearfully. “How can he sense this Archer guy if he’s just some run-of-the-mill crook? Do you think it means there’s more to him than appears?”
“I don’t think so.” Marik also frowned. “Shadow powers are complex, even more so because Yami doesn’t remember his past or how to use his powers. The reaction could be something deeper than even he knows how to interpret or control. I wouldn’t jump to conclusions…but all the same, the fact that he can sense the darkness in this man’s heart is a huge advantage for us.”
A faint look of humor lightened Yugi’s expression. “You just called him ‘Yami,’” he noted in a soft tone. “I think you’re finally relaxing around him.”
Marik looked embarrassed and waved it off. “I can’t help it when you’re constantly calling him that around me,” he scoffed. “Anyway…it’s okay. This isn’t the end of the world.” He sobered and fixed Yugi with a firm, confident stare. “We can’t sit back and wait for someone else to handle this problem, it’s in our hands now. We have to stay on our guard and not let him sneak in here again. He’s been alerted to the fact that we know of him, I don’t think he’ll try the same tactic again, but all the same, we need to be prepared for just about anything.”
Yugi turned and wandered away from him, intending to go hide behind the counter for a while. “What do I tell Grandpa?” he worried.
“Does he know anything about this situation?”
“I told him. I had to. I couldn’t leave him in the dark when there was a chance I might be in danger.” Yugi gave Marik a hurt look. “And now that chance has gone way up, from just a slight maybe to almost certain.”
Marik crossed to him and squeezed his shoulder for comfort again. “Tell your grandpa whatever you have to in order to keep him safe,” he encouraged. “He can help keep an eye out. I know this isn’t the end of it, even if we did scare the guy off today. The worst part is, we have no way of predicting his next move, or who he might have helping him.”
“This is awful.” Yugi leaned on the counter, resting his elbows on it and hanging his head. “I remember what it was like the last time anyone was hunting my Puzzle. All the fear, the looking over my shoulder, the uncertainty…knowing I was going to be attacked or confronted but never knowing when…”
“I’m sorry,” Marik said heavily. “I’m sorry I ever did any of that to you.”
Yugi lifted his head and gave his friend a sad smile. “I wasn’t exactly talking about you. You weren’t the last one to come after the Puzzle. Well, after the pharaoh,” he corrected himself.
A look of grave concern and surprise widened Marik’s pale blue eyes. “What do you mean? Did someone else come after you, since we last met?”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” Yugi sighed. “When things don’t look so dark. It was pretty awful, I don’t want to think about it right now – I have enough on my mind as it is.”
Marik stayed with him the rest of the day, after being allowed to use the phone upstairs to call Odeon and brief him on the sudden, disconcerting appearance of their foe in Domino. As long as Marik was already there, he would take up guard duty for that first day, staying with Yugi even after the shop closed and he wanted to stay up and check his email to try and unwind. They agreed that the tombkeeper brothers would come first thing in the morning, when Yugi got up, and stay until he went to bed, alternating days until some kind of break in the case could be had. And if Yugi chose to go out, to see friends or run errands, both brothers would come with him. Yugi consented, figuring he didn’t really have a choice in the matter anyway. Yami remained on the alert overnight, doing his best not to let his anxiety cross over the bond between minds and keep Yugi awake. Unfortunately, this meant that he could not meet Yugi inside the Puzzle until the threat was over, for doing so would divert both spirits’ attention when it should be on their surroundings. The energy of concentration required Yami to give himself short times of dormancy during Yugi’s waking hours, when either Marik or Odeon would be there to stand guard instead. After just a couple of days of this, Yugi was already grumbling. “It’s not that you guys are in the way or anything,” he complained to Odeon on the third full day of this new routine. “It’s just…not normal to have bodyguards lurking around the shop or the house. And even though you’re my friends, I find myself second-guessing whether I should call up anyone or go out or even walk down the block to pick up some groceries.”
Odeon held his gaze, his serious expression never wavering. “Would you rather we lurked in the shadows behind you, trailing you everywhere like spies?”
Yugi shivered. “No, don’t do that, that would creep me out.”
“Very well, then.” The older man cracked the tiniest smile. “Consider that it could be worse.”
“So…when you’re not here watching me.” Yugi glanced over his shoulder; Odeon was sitting quietly in a corner of the game shop, reading a newspaper, while his young charge worked his usual daily shift. “What are you doing? Are you trying to find this guy before he finds me again?”
Odeon raised the paper in front of his face again, presumably so Yugi wouldn’t be able to read his expression. “We are,” he admitted quietly. “But we’re not taking any undue risks. I know that worries you.”
“Yeah,” Yugi agreed. “So I’m not going to ask you what you’re doing. The less I know, the less I’ll worry. But what are you going to do if you find him? Marik said he hasn’t done anything, so you can’t call the police and send them after him.”
A corner of the paper flipped down to reveal one of Odeon’s golden eyes, narrowed sternly. “He entered this country under an assumed name with a falsified passport,” he reported darkly. “That may be enough.”
Yugi stared at him. “How do you know?”
“We have our sources.”
A wry smile curved Yugi’s lips after a moment. “I suppose I shouldn’t expect anything less of you and Marik. After all, you spent a lot of years hunting down rare cards. You’re good at this.”
A deep chuckle came from behind the newspaper. “Indeed.”
The door jingled to admit a customer, or a pack of customers really, as some school kids blustered in and went noisily to the Duel Monsters rack to look at the new card lines and debate how many booster packs they wanted to buy. At least one of them was saying something boastfully about having already gotten the new wireless upgrade for the duel disk, which had just been released to the public that week in time for holiday sales. Yugi grinned to himself; he was going to go out and get one just as soon as he could stop freaking out about Millennium Item theft and concentrate on dueling again. After the kids had selected their card packs, asked Yugi for the millionth time about the tournament, and left, Odeon lowered the paper again and folded it to set it aside. “Speaking of rare cards,” he began. “The Egyptian gods. Do you keep them safe?”
“Of course.” Yugi nodded towards the back room behind him. “I make Grandpa keep them locked in the store’s safe in the back. He wanted to display them, but we had some trouble once so…I don’t leave them where anyone can get at them anymore.”
“That’s good,” Odeon acknowledged, “but you should consider a less obvious hiding place for them. At least for the time being.”
“Oh?” Yugi blinked at him. “You don’t think they’re in danger of being stolen too?”
Odeon looked away briefly. “Yugi,” he said after a pause, “there are other reasons besides protecting you and the pharaoh that Marik was sent away from Egypt.”
Glancing to be sure the door wasn’t about to open for more customers, Yugi stepped closer to his bodyguard. “What do you mean? What is it?”
“You recall, when we arrived, Marik spoke of needing to secure all information that could be used to discover the Millennium Items and their secrets,” Odeon said heavily. “That includes the scriptures imprinted on his back. Marik himself is part of the information that must be hidden and kept safe.” He closed his eyes and shook his head wearily. “He is willing to put himself at risk to protect you, but now that Archer has discovered your whereabouts, he also must be protected. But he refuses to go into hiding. He was dispatched on this mission before Archer could find out that he is the bearer of the scriptures and the pharaoh’s history, but now that man is here…”
“And you’re right back where you started,” Yugi realized. “But a lot of people know I have the god cards, that’s hardly a secret. If Archer really wanted them, he would have probably gotten to them first, before the Millennium Items.”
“It’s likely he still doesn’t know of them, or doesn’t care,” Odeon agreed. “But if he were to see the secrets on Marik’s back, he would be able to recognize that they are as highly regarded as the Millennium Items, even if he couldn’t interpret the rest about the pharaoh’s power. Then, he would make them a target, as well.”
Yugi glared a little. “He’s not going to get to them,” he declared. “He’d have to know that Marik was carrying the pharaoh’s secrets on his back, and that’s not common knowledge.”
Odeon arched one elegant eyebrow. “All of your friends saw it at the end of the Battle City tournament.”
Yugi’s mouth hung open, his next comment stolen from him by the realization that Odeon was right. “Oh,” he said, his heart sinking. “And that means KaibaCorp probably has a recording of it somewhere. Oh, no.”
“I am concerned about my brother,” Odeon said quietly, an edge to his voice. “I would like to protect him, and send him back to Egypt now that the instigators of the trouble have followed us here. But I know he will not go. He will not abandon the pharaoh.”
Yugi turned away, his hand naturally going to the Puzzle to caress its face. “I’m glad he’s here,” he murmured. “I’d be afraid for him too, but…since I’m the one in danger, I guess it just makes me feel better to know that Marik is so willing to put himself on the line for me. We’re in this together…” He glanced back to smile at Odeon. “All of us. All the same,” he added more wisely, “I will give the god cards a new hiding place. One no one will suspect.”
Odeon nodded his acceptance. “And the Rod, and the Necklace?”
“They’re safe. I check on them every day, now,” Yugi explained. “I usually move them around every couple of months, pick a different place in the house to hide them. Ever since the Ring disappeared on me...” Speaking of the Ring brought Bakura to mind, as usual. “Oh, no. We need to call Bakura and let him know the guy found us. He should know. He needs to be protected, too…”
“Marik has already taken care of it,” Odeon broke in.
“Oh…” Yugi breathed a soft sigh. “That’s a relief. Thanks.”
Later that evening, while Grandpa worked the late hours in the shop, Yugi retrieved the three Egyptian god cards from the safe in the back office and brought them upstairs with him, where Odeon was sitting patiently on guard. Yugi stood and gazed at them for a minute, having not really touched or seen them in quite some time, and even let Odeon see them before beginning to search for a place to keep them hidden. In his room was too obvious, so he stayed in the living room and looked around. In the course of his search, Yugi stopped by the bookshelf and was distracted by the collection of framed family photos standing on display. He even had one of him, Joey, Tristan, and Téa, from a couple of years ago when they were in school, but it was the older photos that drew his eye. He found himself growing sad and wistful as he picked up the one of his own parents’ wedding, more than twenty years ago now, and brushed some of the dust off the glass so he could better see his mother’s pretty dress and the smiles on everyone’s faces. After gazing at it long enough, he set it back in its place and sighed. Times like this, he thought to himself, I realize how much I do miss them.
His ever-present partner heard his thoughts, and felt a need to respond. “I don’t blame you,” he murmured comfortingly. “When everything is so uncertain, nothing soothes quite like the familiarity and warmth of family and friends.”
“Oh…Yami…” Yugi mentally said to his partner. “I didn’t think of how that might have sounded to you. You don’t have that familiarity…”
“I have enough,” the pharaoh said kindly, and his presence felt even nearer to Yugi’s heart. “I’m not just here to protect you, Yugi. I’m here to take care of you.”
Yugi looked down at the three cards in his hand, shifting them with his thumb to be able to see the mighty faces of all three gods. “What should I do with these? Where can I put them that won’t be obvious if someone broke in looking for them?”
“Perhaps your family can protect them,” Yami suggested.
Yugi looked up again, at the photos arrayed before him, frowning in confusion before the explanation crossed the mental bond and he understood. Rather than the one of his parents he had just picked up, Yugi reached for the one behind it of Grandpa at his own wedding, even further back in the past, and smiled at it. Yugi had never had the pleasure of meeting his grandmother, but she looked very sweet in all the photos of her, particularly this one. Her wedding kimono was nothing short of beautiful. Yugi trailed his fingers along the frame and then turned it over, opening the back of it and laying the three god cards inside. They were not visible from the front at all, the old photo hid them perfectly. “There,” he said aloud, but in a whisper. “Grandpa always said he wanted to protect me, and I know how much he loves these cards. He can guard them for me.”
“Is everything all right, Yugi?” Odeon asked from across the room.
“Yeah, fine.” Yugi set the frame back on the shelf and turned around, giving his companion a smile. “The god cards are hidden, now. You can stop worrying about them and focus on the bigger things.”
Odeon smiled back, putting Yugi at ease. He felt a little better, now, but figured things wouldn’t be right unless he could have some alone-time now that Yami had brought up families and comfort. Odeon didn’t need to sit in the room with him, he could stay in the living room like a good bodyguard and just listen for anything out of the ordinary while Yugi went into his bedroom, laid down, and entered the trance that allowed his mind to cross the dark corridor into the world of the Millennium Puzzle for a little while. At a time like this, he figured, Yami was right – he needed that comfort more than anything. Family? Friends? No, nothing could quiet his heart like a visit and embrace from his soulmate.
The pursuit of known criminal David Archer was nowhere near as easy as TV cop shows made it look. He could have had dozens of forged identities, stolen credit cards, and illicit contacts to help him exist comfortably in Domino City while keeping one step ahead of authorities as well as the pharaoh’s guard. Despite their best efforts, Marik and Odeon were unable to trace him after his unexpected appearance at Kame game shop. Aside from his grandfather, Yugi told none of his friends about the urgent change in his situation, not wanting to worry them or put them in the position of being threatened as well. Fortunately, Joey was busy with school, and others were working hard, so over the course of a handful of days he didn’t even hear from any of them. Not that it was unusual; Mai’s party had been less than a week earlier, so it wasn’t like any of them were starved for each other’s attention yet. About the only thing Yugi craved was a chance to get out, because the four walls of the game shop felt like they were closing in on him, what with a bodyguard near him every waking moment. He was doing his best to be patient, but at last he could take it no more and begged Marik to take a walk with him one afternoon just so he could get out of the shop and the house. It was chilly but not bitter, so the two of them wrapped up warmly in their coats and headed through town just to be out, not really heading anywhere in particular even though Yugi thought that it might be a good opportunity to look for a Christmas gift for Grandpa.
A pair of young men chattering like friends ought to as they walked attracted no attention, they were able to walk freely around town for a while before deciding the nip in the December air required a stop at a coffee shop to combat. Marik did his best to both keep an eye out for suspicious figures following them and act perfectly normal at the same time, but Yugi assured him that Yami had his senses perked up and could serve as an internal alarm should any trouble sneak up on them. A new indoor shopping center had opened recently in Domino, and on a day like this it was rather busy as people could get their buying and browsing done without having to brave the elements. Yugi and Marik took their coffee drinks and stood on the second level, leaning on a railing and looking down at all the people passing back and forth below them, wrapped up in their own small lives. “All things considered,” Marik mused, “I’m kind of glad to be here. In Domino, I mean.” He smiled at Yugi beside him. “Being with my family is nice, but I’m more used to places like this, rather than the quiet, boring life I live now in Egypt.”
“I know what you mean,” Yugi said with a faint chuckle. “As much as I should be happy with the boring times, I’m not. Not that I like always looking over my shoulder and fearing someone is going to lose their mind or their soul, but…I miss the excitement when it’s not there.”
“Yeah,” Marik agreed. “Like now. I really don’t like searching for Archer and trying to stop him from doing you any harm, but at least it means I’m here, doing something, being around people and even friends. It’s such a paradox.”
Yugi looked at him for a long moment, and the way he stood, his cup held between both hands as he leaned on the railing and scanned the crowds below. “And you’ve got nothing?” he asked, lowering his voice secretively.
Marik sighed and bowed his head. “Not a thing. He’s good at what he does, that’s why he hasn’t been caught by Interpol at all. And I don’t have nearly the network of operatives and informants that I used to back in the bad old days.”
“I suppose.” Yugi looked around quickly, glad to see the man who had been sitting alone on the end of a bench nearby had finally gotten up and left. No one else suspicious lurked anywhere near them. “I’m kind of glad, though,” he said. “I’d rather have you the way you are now, rather than the ‘old’ Marik who commanded Rare Hunters.”
Marik smiled even though his eyes never left the people below them. “Thanks, Yugi. I kind of like it myself. The only time it’s tough is when I feel powerless, like I do right now because I can’t do anything to stop Archer. At those times, I think about what it was like to hold the Millennium Rod and be able to enter the minds of the weak, and control them. Just think what I could do with that power now…” He closed his eyes and sighed. “But I can’t. And I won’t. It’s not meant for me, I understand that now. I may have kept the Rod, but it’s not rightfully mine. I was only meant to be its guardian.”
Yugi gazed at him in wonder. “You know, I’ve been thinking about what Bakura said to us. The spirit, I mean – about the Millennium Items not belonging to the pharaoh. Do you think he’s right?”
Marik turned his head to meet his companion’s gaze. “I don’t know,” he replied. “The Puzzle certainly belongs to the pharaoh, it’s his dwelling place. Moreso, to you. But the rest? I think it’s a little more complex.” He swirled the cup in his hands around but didn’t drink from it. “Just because an Item is meant for someone in particular to hold doesn’t mean others can’t use it. Ishizu was able to use the Necklace, but so were you. I used the Rod, but it didn’t belong to me.”
“I think it belongs to Kaiba,” Yugi put forth. “Though, he’d never take it, or want to have anything to do with it. He denies that he has anything to do with Egypt and the Millennium Items.”
“I know the Rod reacted to something he did,” Marik said strongly, focusing more directly on Yugi. “I felt it. I was holding it, but it activated without my consent. It came from Kaiba, I could sense some kind of power that he was able to control. I don’t care if he wants to deny it, it’s the truth.”
“But still, you have power of your own,” Yugi noted. “You were able to use it, too. Doesn’t that make it your right to have it, also?”
“I’m not sure it works that way,” Marik shrugged. “It’s all very complex. I assumed, based on what I was taught as a child, that all the Millennium Items belonged ultimately to the pharaoh, but now I’m not so sure. Not after my experiences with them and the people who’ve used them.” He made a disgruntled face. “And if the spirit of the Ring does know more about it, he’ll never tell us. Just to spite us.”
“Yeah.” Inwardly, Yugi and Yami were thinking about the Rod all over again, in slightly different terms, but here in a public place the pharaoh refrained from discussing it in depth. All he could do was prompt Yugi to ask a tentative question on his behalf. “If you did hold the Millennium Rod again,” he murmured, “would it help?”
Marik lifted his head with a start and stared at Yugi. “What do you mean? Does the pharaoh want to give it back to me or something?”
“It’s not my place to speak for him, at least not on a matter like this,” Yugi said timidly. “But just supposing he did let you hold it, for the time being. Would it help you find Archer and stop him?”
“I couldn’t say,” Marik answered, hushing his voice instinctively. “He doesn’t know who holds the Rod right now, I don’t want to make myself an easy target if I don’t have to.”
“But how would he know you would have it?” Yugi wondered. “You didn’t meet him in Egypt, Ishizu and Odeon did. He doesn’t even know who you are or how you’re connected…”
“By now, he must,” Marik reasoned. “If he figured out where you lived after seeing your face on some tournament posters, he knows the connection between the Millennium Items and Duel Monsters. And I’ve been thinking about what Yami told me, about sensing something odd at the game expo.” He turned and leaned his back against the railing so he could lower his voice even more and speak directly to Yugi, a dark frown on his face. “What if that dark presence wasn’t after the Puzzle, but the Eye? What if what Yami sensed at that time was Archer trying to get close to Pegasus to see if he could get at the Eye?”
Yugi’s violet eyes widened. “You think that’s what we sensed?”
“Pegasus kept a low profile publicly after losing the Eye,” Marik said urgently. “No one could get close to him except employees at his company. But at the game expo, he was out and about, making a rare public appearance. Anyone could brush up against him, and with just one close look would see that he doesn’t have the Eye anymore. It doesn’t matter that you were there, or that anyone else who plays the game also has Millennium Items – Pegasus has been to Egypt a number of times on archeological digs and searches. It’s only natural that Archer would have found that out first.”
“But Pegasus lost the Eye so long ago,” Yugi breathed incredulously. “That’s old news.”
“That might be the only thing saving us right now,” Marik grumbled. “If he’s just figuring out the connection between Duel Monsters and the Items now, then most of the information about them is going to be outdated. These Items aren’t a matter of public record, no one knows about them except those to whom they’re entrusted. And their friends,” he added with a sudden flash of a wry smile.
Yugi smirked. “Well, yeah…”
“But they’re outside the scope of most artifacts,” Marik went on, speaking in a rush as if trying to get all his thoughts out at once. “They have no paperwork, no money has ever changed hands, there’s no record anywhere of transactions. They’re simply bestowed by the will of the ones who possess them, and it’s only been done in our private lives where the only witnesses might have been a handful of your friends. So he’d have no way of knowing that I gave the Rod and the Ring to you, or that Ishizu gave you the Necklace, or that Bakura got his Ring back somehow. No matter how much research he does, or how many customs officials he bribes.”
“But what about the Battle City finals?” Yugi worried, leaning in to speak in a similar hush. “I know I’ve seen pictures from when it ended, and you gave me the Winged Dragon of Ra. KaibaCorp probably has pictures or video of that whole thing, and you gave me the Rod there.”
Marik shook his blond head seriously. “I’ve checked,” he assured his friend. “There’s a video clip buried somewhere in the archives on the KaibaCorp website, where it mentions tournaments, but it cuts off before I handed over the Rod and the Ring. It runs out at some random point while I was showing you my little secret.” A bit of a sneaky smile gleamed in his blue eyes. “So there’s no record of me giving you any Millennium Items. As far as Archer knows, I still have them.” He straightened up, leaning an elbow on the railing behind him. “There are other pictures from Battle City floating around, which show Ishizu, myself, you, and Bakura all holding Millennium Items, but only those who were there can say what happened to those Items after the tournament.”
Yugi stared hard at the floor, glad to hear this news, but something about it nagged at him considering what Odeon had told him yesterday. “But…the video does show the images on your back?” he asked quietly.
“Briefly…” Marik’s brow furrowed. “What’s the matter?”
“If he sees that…he might guess that you’re still important to the pharaoh,” Yugi answered, turning his head toward Marik but not lifting his gaze. “You’d be in danger.”
Marik frowned. “Has Odeon been talking to you? It doesn’t matter,” he said firmly. “I’m here to protect you, and no half-formed concern that this guy could somehow interpret the scriptures and go after the god cards next is going to stop me. You can rest easy, Yugi. I’m not going to abandon you out of fear for my own safety.”
“All right,” Yugi said, but inside, he could not rest easy at all. He wasn’t afraid of being abandoned, all he wanted was for no one else to suffer on his behalf. He went back to leaning over the railing, lifting his drink to his lips only to find that the mocha had gone cold and was no longer appetizing. Marik leaned next to him, having surveyed the immediate area with a quick glance and feeling comfortable looking at the lower level instead. Yugi heaved a long sigh. “At least we have one thing that Archer doesn’t know, and can’t get at,” he murmured. “For all his being one step ahead of us all this time, we’ve got him there.”
“And that’s on one of the most important subjects, the one he most needs to know,” Marik acknowledged. “You keep the other Items safe, right?”
“Yeah. They’re not locked up or anything, but I keep them hidden someplace unexpected. And I move them around.” Yugi scowled to himself. “After I noticed the Ring was missing, I started changing the places where I hide the other two. I don’t want that to happen again.”
“That’s good,” Marik nodded. “Keep doing that. It’s my hope that your enemy doesn’t know you possess them, and the longer we can keep him frustrated and guessing, the better it will be for us. He might make a mistake, and then we can call in the authorities and stop him once and for all.”
Yugi nodded silently, but it didn’t make him feel any better. Not even Yami’s soothing presence could help, for the pharaoh was himself on lookout and could spare only half his attention to try and quiet Yugi’s soul. I don’t know what it’s going to take to stop him, Yugi mused, but I can’t take any more of this waiting. I want him to get it over with. He glared down at the anonymous mass of people crossing back and forth below their hangout. Come on, Archer, whoever you are. Come and get me. I dare you!