Out of the Blue     by: Alena S. Anigor (Sanela)

Chapter II - One Stressful Day

Tea woke up, groggily trying to clear her vision and stay awake. Her alarm clock was still beeping, creating an annoying sound, and making her headache worse. She slammed her hand at the alarm clock, and it fell down, beeping sound gone. Silence overtook her then, and Tea brushed a few strands of her hair away from her face, moaning when she remembered that she had to write a test today. She squirmed her eyes, trying to get them used to the morning sunlight and trying to get out of bed. The thought of staying in the warm bed was somehow more appealing, but she gave herself a task to get up, brush her teeth and get ready for school.

Taking a glance at herself in the mirror she almost groaned, seeing dark circles under her eyes. She reached for her toothbrush, lazily searching for the toothpaste. She realized that she still wasn’t quite awake, so she decided to wash her face with water first...with lots of cold water, to be precise.

Minutes later, she was packing her school bag, hoping that she didn’t forget important facts about historical monuments and important kings and queens. She yawned, trying to keep collected, although she wished nothing more than go to bed and sleep the whole day off.

The kitchen was empty again; her parents were on a business trip, and she was once again left alone in the house. It didn’t matter that much anymore, she was used to that. After all, she was a big girl, and big girls knew how to take care of themselves.

She decided to swallow her breakfast in a hurry, time spent in the bathroom taking a lot of time usually used for other things, and she quickly grabbed her school bag, placing it on her back, and taking one last sip of milk, she hurried to the doors, stepping out, and locking them behind. She was running down the street now, silently hoping to catch Yugi and the guys on the way. She was almost sure Yugi knew everything; she wasn’t quite convinced about Joey spending his afternoon flipping the History book, though. That thought made her smile a bit, as she could practically imagine him, moping and sulking after flunking his test.

She was passing by the park, and she stopped suddenly, observing a familiar bench on the left. The bench he was sitting on yesterday.

“Argh...” she groaned, remembering his mocking expression, and not giving her the pencil back. One thought crossed her mind for a second, and she turned her head forward, forgetting all about school.

“Oh no!” She yelped, as she started running again, wondering for a brief moment where Bakura was right now.

“Hey, Tea!” Yugi waved happily, standing near the school gates, and she spotted Joey and Tristan, fighting over something she didn’t bother to hear.

“Yugi!” She waved back, slowing down a bit to catch some air for her lungs. She had run the whole way, and she desperately needed a rest. She approached her friend, holding her chest and gasping for air. Yugi was watching her, slightly worried.

“Tea, are you okay?” he asked her, his expression equal to his voice. She only smiled, and waved her hand at him.

“Yeah, I kinda overslept a bit, so I had to run to school.” She replied sheepishly, and Yugi smiled.

“Did you study for the test?” he asked her, as they continued walking down the school halls. She nodded, although she wasn’t sure herself if that little time she spent gawking at her book and then thinking about Bakura would be enough to pass the test. Yugi noticed her somewhat exhausted eyes, and wondered what made her having trouble sleeping.

Joey and Tristan went ahead, still brawling about something that obviously involved Duel Monsters.

Digging through her bag, she was trying to find a little blue pencil, before remembering that it was probably either still lying in the park, or was taken by some kid or someone else. She sighed, thinking about her conversation with Bakura.

‘Okay, Tea, cut it out with that, you’ve got a test to pass here...’ she was thinking, trying to redirect her thoughts and concentration to the teacher in front of her, who was currently walking around the classroom, giving each of them a piece of paper.

Tea managed to fish out another pencil out of her bag, and looking at the paper in front of her, frowned.

‘Name the place of Napoleon’s death?’ she read the question silently in her head, trying to remember the name of the island where he was banished after his kingdom fell apart. She massaged her forehead, and then growled silently in frustration.

‘Great, this is just wonderful...’ she thought again, staring at the questions below, realizing that she couldn’t remember anything right.

‘Was it Corsica? Or was it Elba? Or maybe something else?’ she was rubbing her temples, trying desperately to find the right answer. Then she sighed, lowering her head slightly, desperation visible in her cerulean eyes, covered with her bangs. She didn’t notice Yugi, casting worried glances in her direction.

‘I am soo going to flunk...’

 

Joey stretched lazily after exiting the classroom. He was grinning triumphantly, putting his hands behind his neck.

“That was easy, I mean, who wouldn’t know who discovered planet Uranus?” he exclaimed, and Tristan eyed him suspiciously.

“Oh, really? Who did?”

Joey raised his left hand and stretched it in the air. “Well, it was that guy, Galeo, or something like that...” He opened one eye and yawned. Tristan sighed, and shook his head. Yugi, walking behind them, opened his mouth to speak.

“His name is Galileo, Joey, but he wasn’t the one who discovered Uranus.” Yugi said, smiling softly at the confused expression of his taller friend.

“He didn’t?” Joey asked, an almost scared expression crossing his face. Yugi shook his head.

“No, Herschel discovered Uranus.” He added, and Joey’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“I’m going to flunk...and I was so sure that I at least got that right...”

“You’re not the only one who’s going to flunk, Joey.” They heard another voice behind them, and they turned around to look at Tea, who was looking crestfallen. Yugi frowned in concern.

“What happened Tea? You don’t look so good.” He observed, and she managed to smile a bit.

“Are you sick?” Tristan asked, eyeing her pale face and drained eyes. She shook her head, and smiled again.

“No, I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all. Nothing serious, you guys,” she replied, her smile widening a bit to reassure her friends that she would be all right, “Come on, let’s go.” She added and they continued walking down the hall, Joey moping about ‘damn History tests’.

Tea smiled cheerfully, being her old self again, but Yugi was still wearing a concerned expression. Something was telling him that something was definitely wrong with her. He decided that he should ask Yami for advice once he got home...

Once home, Tea dropped her school bag on the floor, and then dropped herself on the couch, covering her eyes with the back of her hand.

She didn’t know how that had happen, she was always good in history, heck, she was good in almost every subject, and now she didn’t even know basic things...what was happening to her? She closed her eyes, trying to relax, but images of the dream she had the night before came to her mind. She didn’t quite remember all of it, but she knew that it had to do something with Bakura, and that she woke up in sweat, gripping the ends of her blanket in fear.

She sighed soundly, wondering why she was dreaming about Bakura. It was a nightmare, actually, since she was afraid to go back to sleep after waking up. Then she shook her head and removed her hand from her eyes.

No, she wasn’t going to let that tomb robber mess with her. She sighed and decided to get up. She was hungry, due to the lack of breakfast in the morning. She only hoped that she had managed to answer at least some questions right.

She was just in the middle of making herself a sandwich when the telephone rang. She picked up the phone, swallowing a bite first.

“Yes?” she asked, hoping that her parents were calling.

“Hey, Tea,” a voice on the other side was unmistakably belonging to Yugi Moto.

“Hi, Yugi, what’s up?” she asked him, curious about what happened that he wanted to talk to her. He even sounded somewhat concerned.

Yugi, hearing her cheerful voice again, wondered briefly, if he wasn’t perhaps wrong about her. “Uhm, well, I wanted to know if you were okay. You did seem a bit...sick this morning.” He said, and she could hear another, deeper, voice saying something behind his. She assumed that was Yami. She smiled, taking another bite of her sandwich.

“No, I’m fine, thanks; I just didn’t get enough sleep, that’s all.” She replied, chewing steadily. Yugi was silent for a couple of seconds.

“May I ask why?”

That question caught her off guard, and she stopped chewing, swallowing hard. ‘What is that all about?’ she wondered, before deciding to reply.

“Uh, well, it was nothing really, I had a nightmare, I don’t even remember what it was all about, anyway...why?” she asked him after sighing inwardly. Yugi sure was oddly perceptive sometimes.

He sounded a bit relieved after that. “Oh, no reason, really...but, you know you can tell me everything, we’re friends, Tea.” He sounded so sincere, that she started feeling guilty for not telling him the whole truth, but she knew that if she told him about having nightmares involving Ryou Bakura’s darker half, he might misinterpret that as a sign that Bakura was again plotting some evil plans. Which could be true, when she thought about it...”

“Yeah, I know, thanks for worrying about me, but I’m fine, really.” She said, and he could sense her smiling across the phone.

“Okay, then...see you, bye Tea!” he said, and she replied in kind. There was a ‘click’ sound after that, and he put the phone back to its place.

“And?” The deeper voice that belonged to the ancient Pharaoh was heard behind him. Yugi lowered his head slightly, still not feeling quite satisfied. That nagging feeling about something being wrong was still there. He turned to face his Yami, who was sitting on his bed, looking at him expectantly.

“Well, she says she’s fine, but...” there he stopped, and Yami turned his head slightly aside, assuming that there was something else.

“But?” he prompted.

Yugi sighed, sitting on the bed, watching his Millennium Puzzle with a thoughtful look.

“I don’t know, I just...I just have a feeling that she wasn’t quite honest with me.” He finally exclaimed, and sighed again. Yami was looking at him, realizing that this girl meant a lot to him. Then again, he knew her too, and he could tell why: she was nice, sweet and polite, but could also be quite fiery, especially when it came to protecting her friends. He was in his own thoughts for a while, and didn’t see Yugi looking at him worriedly.

“Yami?” he heard his name being called, and he snapped out of his thoughts, looking at the smaller version of himself in surprise.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t paying attention.” He said, smiling a bit, and Yugi smiled back, but his smile was soon gone.

“I asked you do you think that there is really something bothering her?” he repeated his question, and Yami was silent for a while.

“I honestly don’t know, Yugi. Maybe you’re just being too concerned about her.” He said, and the little boy lowered his head again.

“Maybe.” He said quietly, but, deep inside, he knew that he should trust his instincts. And now these instincts were telling him that there was definitely something wrong with Tea Gardner...

 

Tea closed the window in her room, the wind started to blow again, and it became really cold. The night was chilly, and she shivered a bit, pulling another blanket from her closet. She spread it over her bed, and setting her pillow a bit higher, she crawled into the bed, and covered herself, wishing for a good night sleep. The thoughts about a certain tomb robber came back again, and she closed her eyes, trying to block them out. A few moments passed and a loud sigh escaped her lips as she turned in her bed, covering her head with a blanket. It wasn’t long until she turned to the other side again and opened her eyes, frustration and irritation visible in them.

She growled, lowering the blanket, and turning her head to the window to look at the tree branches swaying in the wind. They were producing creepy shadows on the wall of her room, and Tea swallowed, ensuring herself that they were only shadows...

Then the word ‘Shadow realm’ came to her mind, and she almost yelled out loud for thinking about such things.

‘Damn that Bakura’, she thought, ‘why can’t I stop thinking about it?’

The sudden blow of the wind came in a howling sound, and Tea forced her eyes to shut, and breathe a couple of times to calm down. She also forced different thoughts and images into her mind, images of Yugi, Tristan, Joey, even Mai, and Ryou, he wasn’t so bad at all...but where was Ryou, there was also Bakura, and she sighed again, thinking of going down and making herself a hot chocolate.

“Good idea,” she said aloud, and, crawling out of her bed, she headed downstairs to the kitchen, and opened the cupboards in search of a little tin with a chocolate dust in it. She honestly hoped that it would calm her nerves a bit; otherwise, she’d have another sleepless night...

 

Yami Bakura was sitting on a window sill of his room, staring at the wind and at the cloudy sky. No doubt there would be rain again. He growled, mumbling something about the weather, when he heard a soft knock on the door. He turned his head, and growled again.

“What do you want?” he asked angrily, irritated with his hikari’s behavior.

“Uhm, I was just wondering if you were hungry.” A muffled voice replied behind the doors, and Bakura snorted.

“No, now go away!” he ordered hastily, and a loud sigh came from the other side. Ryou just shook his head, wondering if he’d ever earn a nice word from him. He sighed and headed to his room, tired and exhausted after washing the dishes.

Hearing the doors being closed, Bakura sighed heavily, still staring through the window. He lifted his head and redirected his dark eyes to the little blue pencil in his hand. He played with it a bit, flipping it back and forth between his fingers, before snorting out loud and throwing the pencil away. It landed on a desk nearby, rolled a bit, and then finally stopped.

The night was dark, no moon in sight due to the clouds. Wind was blowing, vigorously swaying trees on its way, and picking up leafs, throwing them in the air and playing with them until they fell back to the ground.

Bakura was looking at it all, waiting for the blasted rain to finally start falling. He was feeling a bit tired, not that he would ever admit that to anyone, but he was, and all that because that filthy mortal was filling his dreams the night before. He gritted his teeth, disgusted with himself. He didn’t even remember what exactly was he dreaming, but he knew for sure it involved her.

He clenched his fists angrily, a low growl emitting from his throat again. What did that witch do to him? He hit his fist against the window sill, once again feeling confused and lost.

He wasn’t...no, that couldn’t be...never! That was not the reason! He snorted again, feeling awfully ridiculous for even thinking about such things. He knew what exactly and who exactly he was. He was a tomb robber, an outcast of the society, and that was it, that was his fate. That was the way he managed to survive back then...No regrets, no second thoughts, no feelings...especially no feelings. They would be his doom, and he promised to himself that he wouldn’t die, that he won’t fall until he’d achieve his goal, and defeated the damn Pharaoh...

And where was he now? Five thousand years passed by him, and now he was here, lost, alone, confused, and although he didn’t want to admit it to himself at first, he was feeling lonely...

He snorted again. ‘Enough,’ he thought, ‘my own thoughts sicken me’.

With that, he slipped off the window seal, and sat on his bed. He was becoming more tired himself, and he wanted nothing more than to fall asleep. He covered himself with the blanket Ryou gave him to sleep in, and closed his eyes. His only wish was to dream of a humiliated Pharaoh, since he couldn’t do that in reality, lying under his feet, the world free to be dominated by him...

Unluckily for him, that wasn’t about to happen...