| Awakening Past | by Mai Katsuya

Prelude: This story takes place after the second movie and Egyptian series.[At the end of the manga series, Yami Yugi returns to his Egypt past. If Yami Yugi does not appear then it is because I go by that ending.] This story completes the romance between the two characters Mai & Jounouchi—as how I think it should end. I only made up one character; try to spot the not. I do not own any rights to this series.

[ Chapter 1 ]

It is a cold dark night on the town of Domino. A light flashes; the rain is pouring in front of it. Not far from the flashes of the light lies shattered glass along with a crimson red liquid. It’s blood. It seems as though there had been a terrible accident. Next to the glass lies a black schoolwork on the pavement, and it has blood as well. There’s a hand, also covered in blood, and on it - a ring. The ring reflects in the flashing light, making it as if it’s a heavenly object, created by God himself as a good-luck charm for the owner: or a curse. The ring has a small little aqua gem, curled around by a dolphin. The rain pours harder and everything turns black.

There appear three people, a girl and two boys. Their talking in a dark school classroom, but their discussion remains unknown. Unable to see their face, only by their limp body movements can you tell that their discussion is unpleasant. Again, they slowly disappear into the night seen outside of the windows.

A plane flies overhead. Inside of the airport awaits a young girl. Unable to see her face, you can only tell that she has long wavy blonde hair. She looks tense. Then there’s an announcement “All passengers boarding Flight 799 from San Francisco to Tokyo, go to Gate 32 and begin boarding.” The woman stands up. Obviously she is heading to Japan, with a reason unknown. She walks towards the gate, stops, and hands another woman behind a counter her ticket. When the counter woman is done the girl walks to the gate. She stops. Her face is still unseen. You can vaguely hear her say softly, “This is it.” Again the same announcement, “All passengers boarding Flight 799 from San Francisco to Tokyo go to Gate 32 and begin boarding.” She continues walking, nervous, but steady.

Lit burning candles are suddenly blown out. It’s Jounouchi Katsuya. He’s finally seventeen. Anzu, Yugi, Honda, Shizuka, and Otogi are all there as well. Jounouchi’s whole apartment is decorated in silly birthday confetti and wallpaper. Anzu and Shizuka spent all day decorating, while Yugi, Honda, and Otogi took Jounouchi for a guy’s day on the town. After drinking, dancing, karaoke, and now cake, everyone has become restless and ready to head home. As Anzu videotapes Jounouchi and Yugi acting their playful ways, Honda and Otogi, as always, try to fight for Shizuka’s heart. But there’s something missing. Jounouchi stop, becoming awkwardly silent.

“What is it?” Yugi asks him. Jounouchi stares off with a blank look. Images of a woman in blonde hair flash by.

Then he snaps out of it and replies with a smile, “Oh, its nothing”.

The party continues on for a few more hours.

The clock hits 11 and everyone decides it’s just about time to go home. Shizuka hangs up the phone from talking to her mom.

“Are you going home?” Jounouchi asks.

“Yeah”, she says solemnly. “Mom says she’ll let me come over again in the morning but for tonight she wants me home.”

“How will you get home? Your mom can’t come all the way over here.” Honda says.

“She says that I can just take the train home and she’ll pick me up from there.”

Both Otogi and Honda jump to her because they now see an opportunity to be with her. “I’ll go with you”, they say in unison. Then they glare at each other.

Knowing that another argument is about to arise Jounouchi says, “Good. I’ll trust both of you two to take care of my lil’ sister. The more people that go, the better, right? Now off you guys go. I’ll see you in the morning Shizuka.” Jounouchi smiles, slightly worried that Honda and Otogi will argue, despite his efforts.

Shizuka nods her head and smiles, “Ah. Later, Oni-chan”

Then she, Honda, and Otogi leave, still glaring at each other but not saying a word, both holding Shizuka’s hand.

After they have left, Anzu and Yugi turn to each other than Jounouchi.

“Well I guess we’ll be off too”, Anzu says.

“OK. I’ll see you guys tomorrow”, Jounouchi says as both Yugi and Anzu leave.

He closes the door and sighs smiling. What great friends he has! Jounouchi spends the next half hour cleaning his place. Usually he wouldn’t clean anything until at least two or three days later but with all the excitement he didn’t know what else to put his energy into.

After he was finished, he ate some of the frosting from the cake then lazily hopped into bed. He lies there, thinking. As he closes his eyes, the same woman from earlier again flashes before him.

“Mai”, he whispers. “Where…”, he then falls asleep.

Off into the night we see a woman, but only her shadowy figure. She smiles. It is a malicious and demonic little smile.

A clock, maybe a town’s clock, sounds off. It’s three o’clock in the morning. Jounouchi gets out of bed. He’s restless. Only tonight has he ever noticed the sounding of the clock, probably because he was always dead tired to pay attention to it. This time, though, his thoughts didn’t allow him to really fall asleep. He walks to his window.

“Damn clock. Why do they even need a clock that loud for this city.”

He walks over to his kitchen. “Goes I better take something. I’ll need my sleep so I don’t fall asleep when I’m with Shizuka tomorrow.”

He opens a cabinet, and takes out a bottle of pills. He rarely ever needs sleeping medication. There are times, though, when he uses them because, like this night, he spent all night partying and he doesn’t have anything, like cleaning, to tire him out. After drinking two small tablets down, he goes over to the refrigerator. He takes out a piece of cake. “It’s always best to take medication on a filled stomach” he smiles. After eating he decides to head back to bed. The ringing of the clock ended a long while ago, but the pills are still necessary so he could fall back to sleep easily. He walks back to his bed.

“Tired already?”

Jounouchi stops in shock of hearing the voice. It was that of a young girl. He looks around. Maybe he imagined it.

“I guess you don’t remember me. It’s such a pity, you seemed like the last person who’d forget me.”

Suddenly a figure appears in front of him. She looks familiar, but he can’t see her face, yet.

She walks into an area lit only by the glow of other restless civilians homes. Jounouchi’s eyes open in horror. It’s her.

Her red short hair glows in the aura of light. She’s tall, but still doesn’t match his height. It’s easy to tell that her eyes are blue, but combined with the light of the city; they seem outlined in a blood red.

“Sa…Sara?!” he stumbles to say. He’s still in shock.

“Hehe. Took you long enough.” She says smiling.

“How did you get in here? And…Honda told me you left the country.”

“Really? Then I guess know one told you the real story.” She begins to move closer to him. He backs up but she insists to get near him. He falls back onto the couch. She leans over him, but still standing.

Again, another smile, “I’d love to tell you what really happened, to see your face in its reaction, but I’ll trust you friend, Honda to tell you.”

“What!?”

Ignoring his statement she continues talking. “It’s been so long since you and I have been this close to each other.” She puts her hand on his cheek. “You and I were so in love, what happened?”

He turns his head to the side looking away. “You turned into an obsessive bitch. I don’t love you.” He now looks into her eyes. “I never did. If I told you that I loved you, I was just trying to get laid, but I don’t love you.” He pauses. “I… love someone else--” He closes his mouth quickly.

“You do? Well, all the more reason.”

“Reason for what?” he says confused.

“In time, my love, in time. What’s her name?”

“Why does it concern you? Why are you even here?”

Unflinched by his question she says again, “What’s her name?”

“I guess I’ll have to do some of my own hunting. Some things just don’t come easy, I guess.”

She stands in an upright position. “It’s always a shame to lose the one you love, isn’t it?”

“Get out.” He says.

“What was that my dear?”

“GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!” He yells.

“Very well. If it’ll make my precise happy.” She begins to walk calmly towards the door. When she reaches the door, though, she stops.

“Oh, one last thing my beloved.” She says slightly tilting her head towards him, and fixing her eyes to his. She waves her hand up. Then suddenly a plate, for only a split-second, is lifted up in to the air off the counter and thrown to the floor.

“I forgot to mention, that the very day you left me I became aware that I could do that. Just a warning, since people with abilities like that aren’t always best to have on your bad side.” She smirks.

Jounouchi is still sitting there on the couch. He is so appalled that he cannot move. He has no idea what to make of what is happening.

“Sa…Sara.” He says softly. He looks to where the plate fell, only for an instant. When he looks back to where Sara was, she was gone. He ran to the door; still locked. He’s scared, that’s for sure. However, he doesn’t know who to call, the police or a psychiatrist. He sits back down. It’s to late to call anyone. He grabs is jacket and runs downstairs. Only one person can really tell him what happened.

[ Chapter 2 ]

Knock-Knock-Knock. No answer. Again, knock-knock…the last knock is cut off by the opening door.

“Who…JOUNOUCHI!?!” Honda stands at the door; surprised that Jounouchi would even be awake at this time, yet alone at his door.

“What…what are you doing here?” Honda asks still tired from being awoken from his sleep.

“She’s…back”, Jounouchi stumbles to say.

“Who?”

“Sara.”

“What?! But she’s…that’s impossible.” Honda is shocked to hear that name. He’s horrified, as if he’s seen a ghost.

“How? She was in my house. Somehow she got in.”

“Jounouchi…Sara couldn’t have been at your house. You must have had a nightmare. Go back home.” Honda, trembling, puts his hands on Jounouchi’s shoulders trying to convince him that he’s insane.

“I don’t get it. She WAS there. Real. No dream. Why? Why do I suddenly feel as if everyone’s keeping something from me? How is it impossible that Sara was in my house? If she moved out of the country it’s possible that she moved back. Right?” Jounouchi becomes more confused after every word that comes out of his own mouth.

Honda says again, this time in a saddened voice, “Jounouchi…Sara couldn’t have been at your place.”

“Why? Tell me!”

“She’s dead” Honda says it coldly, with no emotion or fear of Jounouchi’s reaction.

Jounouchi freezes. He tries to push out what Honda said, push it out of his mind. A lie. All just a lie.

“Jounouchi, Yugi, Anzu and I didn’t want you to know.” Honda breathes in, ready now to tell him the long story. Jounouchi doesn’t move. He stands there, once again helpless to understand what is really happening.

“When you broke up with Sara, she was devastated, but not suicidal, at least not yet. She came up to my house and told me the story. I told her everything would be ok, and that she should just go home and get some sleep. She seemed to understand. Then 20 minutes later I got a phone call from her mother; a car had hit her, hard. The police say that when she crossed the road a drunk driver speed through the intersection she was going through. There was no hope of her survival. Jounouchi, don’t you see, its impossible for her to have been at your house because…” he hesitates, “she’s dead.”

Jounouchi is still standing shocked. But one question baffles him.

“Why wasn’t I told?”

“When I told Yugi and Anzu, we all decided it was best for you to not know. Your dad had just died and we didn’t want you to have to face the sorrow of another death. It wasn’t your fault but you’d most likely feel like it was.” Honda puts his head down, “I’m sorry”.

It’s all just a lie. Nothing is true. A lie. She’s real. She’s alive. If she wasn’t alive, how could I have felt her hand, her breath against my face? Jounouchi walks tediously back to his apartment building. He continues to tell himself that nothing Honda said was true. Maybe everything now is a nightmare. All one big nightmare, swallowed by one another. An eternity of nightmares, one after another.

Jounouchi stumbles through his door. The sleeping pills have taken affect on him for over an hour now. He was fighting their effect, maybe because he didn’t want to believe everything that had happened could have been because of the pills. Finally he gives in the modern medicine, and falls onto his bed, sleeping. He says one last word under his breath, “Mai…”

A plane is seen fly into the airport.

It’s morning, and Jounouchi has just gotten off the phone with Shizuka. She’s on her way. Someone knocks at the door. Jounouchi answers it. Its Yugi, Honda, and Anzu.

Jounouchi just stares at them; his look has no emotion.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“Honda told us.” Yugi says.

“So are you here to tell me that I’m insane or apologize for not telling me about Sara?”

The three of them walk in.

“Jounouchi…we’re sorry. It seemed like the best thing for you. We didn’t think that’d you’d end up thinking about her and…” Jounouchi then cuts off Honda.

“And what? Fantasize about her reappearing in my house?”

“We don’t think your crazy, just, well…it’s impossible. That’s all.” Anzu says.

Jounouchi puts his head slightly down. He’s listening but doesn’t want too. He walks over to the couch and sits down.

“You we’re just so out of it when your dad died. You felt like it was your fault. We didn’t want you to suffer feeling the blame from another death. Your smile was fading. We didn’t want to lose that from you.” Yugi says.

The door is still open. Shizuka and Otogi come in. Honda looks at Otogi but he doesn’t care that he’s with Shizuka. Otogi is surprised that Honda didn’t react.

“What happened? Why all the sad faces?” Otogi asks.

“Jounouchi says he saw is ex-girlfriend, but…she’s been dead for almost a year now.”

“What?!” Shizuka and Otogi say in unison.

“You mean…Sara?” Shizuka asks softly.

Jounouchi nods his head.

There is a silence for along time. After awhile everyone seems to have found their own thing to do. Otogi and Honda sit at Jounouchi’s kitchen table talking about the details of the situation. Shizuka is sitting with her brother. Not very many words are said between to two, she just hugs him. Yugi and Anzu are off in the corner. Neither of them has said anything. The door was never closed.

“Jou…nou…chi?” a woman says at the open door.

Everyone looks up. It’s Mai: the same woman from earlier at the airport.

Jounouchi is the most surprised of her appearance.

“Mai.” Jounouchi is almost in tears, yet he doesn’t show much in his face.

“What happened?” She walks up to Jounouchi. She gets down on her knees so that she can be face to face with him. Her _expression is sorrowful. She talks in a soft voice, as if speaking to a child.

“I came back from America this morning, and when I called Anzu she said that something happened to you.”
Jounouchi puts his head down. “Mai…can you come with me?” He gets up and goes to his room. Mai follows. The entire room has been silent since she came.

Jounouchi closes the door of his room. Neither of them sits on his bed. Mai stares at him from the back.

“Why are you this way, Jounouchi? What happened?”

Jounouchi sighs. “About a year ago I dated this girl. Her name was Sara. We were together for only 3 months. After awhile she became obsessive, so I broke up with her. That same day she got hit by a car and died. Honda, Anzu, and Yugi never told me.”

Mai is shocked by is story. She can’t believe those three would ever keep anything from Jounouchi. But she’s still confused. Jounouchi continues talking.

“Last night, she was in my house. She was real, I know it. It felt her hand. But everyone else doesn’t believe me. She was so strange. So cold move things, like telepathy. But the worst part, she seemed as if she wanted the person I loved…dead.”

“The one…you love?”

“She’s dangerous. I have no idea where she is, or what she even wants. I’ve never been this scared.” He falls onto his bed and sits there. Mai has nothing to say. She sits next to him.

After about five or so minutes of silence Mai says, “You said she wanted the one you loved dead. Who…who do you love?” she trembles to say.

He looks up at her. Jounouchi wants her to know, but all he can do is stay silent.

Mai gets up. She’s blushing but refuses to let him see her face. “I’m…I’m sorry. I understand if you don’t want me to know. I shouldn’t be prying in your love life.”

“Mai, I …”

“NO, it’s alright. Sometimes you don’t even want your friends involved in your love life. I’ll see you around.” She goes to the door and stops, “Please…be careful”

“Mai…”

The door closes, and she’s gone.

Mai comes out from Jounouchi’s room. Everyone looks at her. They can tell that she seems furious. She passes Yugi and then stops.

“Yugi, of all people I’d think that you’d be the one to understand, or at least believe Jounouchi. With all that insane stuff that happened with you being the Pharaoh, a little ghost should be the most believable thing to you. I suggest that you consider how people may look at you when they see you talking to your ‘other self’ before you judge Jounouchi on saying that he’s the insane one.” She walks away outside the door, never looking back at him while she talked or left. Yugi looks down, and he leaves as well. Anzu follows.

Yugi is barely down the hallway when Anzu catches up to him.

“Yugi!”

He stops. Then, he begins to cry.

“Mai’s right. How can I be so hypercritical.”

“It’s not your fault, Yugi. You weren’t there. It’s only natural to not believe Jounouchi. We all, we all saw her. We were all there, at her funeral. How can we think otherwise? To believe that someone we saw dead, came back.”

“But…but Mai’s right.” Yugi falls down on the floor, still crying. Anzu kneels down to hug him. Everyone is falling apart.

Jounouchi is still sitting at his bed. Why didn’t he tell her? Mai, I’m sorry. He thinks to himself. I’m sorry. He buries his face into his hands.

There is a dark room. The only light is coming from a glowing computer screen. There is the sound of typing but there’s no one around. A picture comes up on the screen. It’s Mai and all her information is on it. Like a drivers license.

“Kujaku Mai, top duelist; finalist in the Battle City tournament hosted by Kaiba Corp.”

The voice comes from a familiar young girl. “hmm…this might be fun.”

The door opens. Mai enters her house. The place is a mess. “Argh…that’s the last time I rent my place to anyone.” She begins cleaning. She goes to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. Then she goes back to cleaning. She has flashbacks of when she was talking to Jounouchi. “She acted as if she wanted the person I loved dead”. She keeps cleaning. “She asked strange questions”. The light on the coffee pot turns off, its finished. She picks up a shirt and throws it in her open drawer. The shirt hangs on the corner of the drawer. “She was real, I know it. I felt her hand.” She walks to the kitchen and takes a cup out. The shirt falls on the ground. She walks to it, picks it up and throws it back into the drawer. The cup she took out falls over on the counter. She walks back to the kitchen and picks it up. She gets the coffee pot and pours some into her cup. The shirt falls again. She stops. She looks at the shirt and hesitates. Then she goes back to pick it up. Half way to the shirt her cup falls over again, spilling the coffee everywhere. She runs to the coffee so she can clean it up. When she gets to the counter she stops, her eyes widen and she backs up slowly in horror.

Hello is the word that’s spelled out with the coffee. The shirt floats up into the drawer.

“Seems your having some difficulty.” says a dark voice of a girl.

“Who,…who's there?” Mai asks, shaking.

No answer.

Mai stands there, still shaking in fear. She looks around, trying to spot anyone that might be in her room.

“You really are much more beautiful in real life than in pictures, but you look much more pretty when you smile.”

She gathers the little courage left in her and says, “Whoever you are, get out of my house…NOW!”

“Well, that’s no way to treat a guest, is it?” The same woman from Jounouchi’s house appears out of the shadows.

Mai is shocked to see anyone. She had hoped it was all in her head. “Tell me who you are.”

“Izumi Sara.”

“Sara!?” Suddenly Mai sees Jounouchi talking. “Her name was Sara. She died the very day I broke up with her.”

“You’re dead. You’re all just an illusion. You can’t really be here.”

Sara walks up to Mai. Mai tries to get away, but she ends up backing into the counter.

“Oh, but I am real.” She puts her hand on Mai’s chin and lifts it up. “But sadly for this beautiful face, you won’t be around long enough for me to prove it to the rest of your friends.”

Mai’s fear increases, but she pushes Sara out of the way. Sara’s eyes darken in hate and then a knife goes flying past Mai, cutting her slightly on the cheek. A few plates and cups from Mai’s cabinets start flying everywhere. One of the plates hit her on the head. She falls to the floor. She’s barely conscience. Sara walks up to her and caresses her face.

“I’d love to stay and play, but I don’t plan to kill you now. Everything has to be perfect for your final scene, Mai dear.”

Mai lifts up her head and looks around. She’s gone. Mai’s head falls back on the floor and everything goes black.

Everyone had already left Jounouchi’s house. It was already sunset. Shizuka and Jounouchi never got a chance to do anything. Jounouchi takes a box out from his closet. There are pictures. One is a picture with Jounouchi and Sara together; he’s holding her. They both look so happy. Then there’s another picture. It’s a grave. He took a picture of his dad’s graveyard, so he didn’t have to go and visit that dreaded place instead.

“The graveyard.” He suddenly gets an idea. He puts the picture back into the box and closes it.

[ Chapter 3 ]

The sun is almost already down. There are several graves, all on a small hill. Jounouchi passes by his father’s grave. His entire life he has always hated graveyards, not because he feared death or dead bodies(even though he wasn’t to fond of either), but because he hated what graveyards symbolized, the end. No more life, not even an afterlife, and no hopes of ever seeing your loved ones again. Goodbyes all on one stone. Your body decaying for eternity under pounds of dirt and your only friend are the creatures chewing at your last flesh and living off from you.

Near the end of the graveyard, on a cliff next to the ocean, was a grave. It was covered with dirt and mud that had fallen onto it when other graves were dug. But he knew whose it was. He bent down on one knee and wiped his hands across the stone. It was cold.

Izumi Sara – 1983-1999 ‘Known by few, loved by all’

He froze. It’s a lie. All just a lie. He couldn’t believe that it was real.

“Sara, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I never wanted this to happen to you…or anyone.”

He put his head down, holding back the tears. Jounouchi never really loved Sara, but hated that she thought maybe it was his fault. He hated that he didn’t know anything earlier. And he hated knowing that somehow, he could have helped.

When he opened his eyes, he saw something shining. The sun was almost down, but was still high enough to make something sparkle. He reached for it. It was slightly lodged into the ground and so he used his finger to dig it out.

It was a ring.

“Sara, hold up.” Suddenly Sara appears at school. She’s in her school uniform. She looks back at where Jounouchi’s voice came from.

“What is it Jounouchi?” Jounouchi runs up to her, grabs her hand and puts something in it.

“Here.” He smiles at her.

“Uh…A ring?” She stares at it.

“It’s a promise ring.”

“Promise ring?”

“Yah. My promises to you that I’ll always be with you and always love you.” He continues smiling.

She smiles, puts it on, and hugs him. “I love it!” The picture fades and she says, “We’ll be together forever.”

The ring I gave her. He stands up. The sun is already down. The only light around is from the full moon and stars to accompany it. He begins to walk home. He is still in disbelief of everything that’s happening. Maybe he’ll wake up soon…

The streetlights turn on. Jounouchi has been walking around for at least an hour now. He’s been spending most of his time staring at the ring. He has still been trying to figure out whether he’s dreaming or not. He walks past a purple car parked on the road. It looks familiar to him.

A few months ago he said goodbye to Mai in a similar car…but could it be? He looks around. There’s only one apartment building.

“I understand if you don’t want me to know. I shouldn’t be prying in your love life.”

Jounouchi still feels guilt for never telling Mai. She needs to know. I have to tell her.

He enters the building. Since he also lives in an apartment building, all he needs to do to find out whether or not if she lives here is to look at the mailboxes.

Hiroshi Taguchi, Nashiko Yamaguchi, Fujitako Mika…Kujaku Mai- Rm. #34C.

“She’s here.” He starts to run up the stairs. This is his chance.

Knock…knock. No answer. Maybe she’s not home. He knocks again.

I here knocking, but I don’t know where the door is. Jounouchi…where are you. Mai has been unconscious for 2 hours. She still hasn’t come too.

One more knock. Jounouchi had hoped that she would be home. As he walks away he shakes at the doorknob.

It opens.

Mai must have left her door unlocked.

He walks in. The light is already on. Next to the kitchen he sees her.

“MAI!” Jounouchi runs to Mai. She’s still doesn’t wake up. He shakes her. Nothing. He runs into the kitchen and grabs a cup. He stops. He barely notices that there are cup, plates, and even coffee, all over the floor. Mai was in a struggle…but with whom?

He fills the cup with water and runs back to Mai. He then throws the water on her face.

“hm…”, Mai begins to open her eyes.

Jounouchi lifts her head up. “Mai, are you ok?!”

She looks at him. “Jou…nou…chi?” Her eyes are still drowsy.

“Mai. What happened here?” His other hand grabs hers, he doesn’t want her to go unconscious again.

“…she was here…” she mumbles.

“Who? Who was here? Did she do this to you?”

“Sa…ra.” She whispers.

His eyes widen. How did she know? How did she find Mai?

“She wants me dead…but why? I’m not…the one you love.” Jounouchi stays quiet.

“Come on…” Then Jounouchi picks Mai up and takes her to her bed. “You rest while I clean up a bit.”

She stays silent. She has never been this tired in her life from a fight.

Jounouchi goes to the kitchen and wets a towel. He returns to Mai and wipes some of the blood from her cut.

“Jounouchi…thank you.” Her eyes stay closed.

Jounouchi hesitates. I have to tell her.

“Mai…I…I have to tell you that I…”

She’s sound asleep. She breathes in slowly. Thanks to him…she’s better now.

He sighs. I’ll let her rest first.

[ Chapter 4 ]

He puts the final plate in the cabinet. Most of the dishes were shattered but some only had a few chips. Mai is still sleeping. It’s already eight. Jounouchi decides to stay. He doesn’t know if maybe she may need help in something later. The entire time Jounouchi has known Mai, she’s always been strong-willed and always wanted to do everything herself. But he knows that, like all people, that she isn’t as strong as she says, (even though she is a lot stronger than anyone he knows, it’s where he got his strength from, besides Yugi).

Mai wakes up. She fells as though she’s had a major hangover. She tries to recall what happened the night before. Scenes past by her mind…she sees Sara and her red eyes in the light. She sees plates flying everywhere and then darkness.

Then there’s Jounouchi.

“Mai! Are you alright?!” She can’t believe that he found her. How did he know?

She gets up out of her bed. She walks clumsily, she’s still a bit shaky from yesterday. As she heads toward her bathroom she sees someone on her couch.

It’s Jounouchi. He must have stayed over night. I wish I had had the chance to tell him.

She continues walking. Guess I should take a shower. Blood doesn’t go good with me.

Jounouchi wakes up to the sound of rushing water. Rain? He sits up and looks out Mai’s only window. Guess she’s taking a shower.

He stands up and walks to the kitchen. Gwwlll…All Jounouchi can hear now is the sound of his stomach growling. He’s gone way longer without food than he usually does. He doesn’t want to be rude and just start digging through Mai’s refrigerator so he’ll just go and ask her. The running shower is off now.

He knocks on the bathroom door.

It opens.

Mai forgot to lock her door?

He begins to walk in…she must just be brushing her hair.

“Mai, I was wondering if…” He stops midway in his sentence and walking.

Mai looks at him. She’s undressed…completely.

She was in the middle of drying herself. She hadn’t had time to put on a towel since when she got out of the shower.

Jounouchi’s face turns to blood red and he runs out of the bathroom and closes the door.

“Mai I’m so sorry…I didn’t…I heard the shower turn off so I thought you where…I was just gonna ask about some breakfast. I’m sorry.” He speaks from a safe distant outside of the bathroom.

Mai puts a towel on and opens the door.

“If you want something to eat…just look in the fridge and see what you can find.” She says it in such a monotone voice that Jounouchi can’t tell whether or not she’s mad. But she’d have to be mad. If Jounouchi knew Mai, she’d be pissed as hell.

Jounouchi cooks some scrambled eggs, rice, and bacon. It’s the least that he can do.

As he sets the table Mai comes out.

Mai sits down at the table and as Jounouchi sets the rice bowl, he sits as well. They both eat in silence for almost the whole meal.

“Thank you for cooking” Mai says.

“It’s not the best, but it’s all I can make.” He’s not sure whether or not to have even said anything.

“It’s my own fault…I left the door open.”

“I should have said something before I began to come in.”

“Well, then were both to blame.” She says, as she seems to force a smile.

Silence.

Mai gets up and makes her bed while Jounouchi cleans up in the kitchen.

After he’s finished he gets his jacket from the couch.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Thank you…for coming. You always end up saving me.” She smiles but continues making her bed.

Jounouchi begins to head for the door. “It was nothing.”

“How did you know…that something was wrong?” She looks up at him.

“I didn’t. I…saw your car outside and…wanted to tell you something.” He’s says nervously. Maybe now’s not the right time to tell her.

“Tell me what?”

“Oh…it’s nothing now.”

“Oh…ok.” She finishes her bed.

Jounouchi grabs the knob of the door and stops. “Your beautiful.”

“It took you that long to realize it?” She smirks.

“I noticed it, I just don’t know why I never said anything.”

Jounouchi heads out and before he leaves he says, “Mai.”

“Yes?”

“Be…be careful. Sara could be anywhere.”

“I will. Thank you.”

After Jounouchi left, the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Be at the graveyard at sunrise or--” It was Sara, but she got cut off by Mai.

“Or what?! What?! Leave Jounouchi alone you crazy bitch! I’m no the one you want! I’m not the one Jounouchi loves! ” And Mai hangs up.

Mai was tired of all this nonsense. She hated that this ghost was troubling Jounouchi but she also hated that she actually believed in Sara’s existence. It suddenly hurt her. A pain struck her heart. She knew that it wasn’t her whom Jounouchi loved, but she…

Jounouchi returns to his apartment. Why didn’t I tell her? He sits on his couch and thinks. He suddenly sees her naked; he shakes his head vigorously. Damn, is that all I can think about? The phone rings.

“Maybe it’s Yugi or Anzu calling to see if I’m still insane.” He walks over and picks it up.

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Hello!?” He says again.

“So did you find her? Or are you going to let her die?” It’s the same voice again.

“Sara?! You did that to Mai, huh?! Why?! What did she do to you!?” Jounouchi is terrified but furious that Sara hurt her. Of all people…her.

“The graveyard.” Sara whispers. “Be there: sunset. Or there’ll be more than just a little scratch on your Mai.” Dial tone.

“Sara!” He hangs up the phone. “Damn!” He picks up the phone again -

[ Chapter 5 ]

Yugi, Honda, and Jounouchi were all there. The sun glowed as it began to set - crimson. It was 5:30 and both Yugi and Honda were still curious.

“Jounouchi, why are we here.” Honda asks.

“All I’m asking of you guys is to be here. If you want proof that Sara is alive, just wait.”

“But Jounouchi, this is the one place that will prove that she’s dead.” Yugi points in the direction that Sara’s grave is.

“I know, I’ve seen it.” Jounouchi looks down.

Everyone becomes silent.

“Then, why are we here?” Yugi asks.

“Just trust me.” Jounouchi says.

“You really should trust your friend.” A voice says out of the darkness. “Jounouchi really isn’t that crazy. But when I’m through with him, you’ll be the ones who’ll be crazy.” Sara creeps out of the shadows.

Suddenly Honda and Yugi are frozen stiff.

“It’s all an illusion, right?” Honda mutters.

Ring-ring. Mai picks up her phone.

“Hello?”

“Mai! Where’s Jounouchi? And Yugi and Honda? No ones home!?” Anzu’s voice screams from the phone. She’s frightened. When she called Yugi this afternoon, no one was home. She called Honda and Jounouchi and neither one were home either.

“What? I don’t know?”

Suddenly she thinks about the phone call she got this afternoon. She had almost forgotten. After she hung up, she fell on her bed and wept. She rarely ever cried. Her tears had lullabied her to sleep.

“Anzu, I’m picking you up.” Then Mai hung up the phone and rushed out of her room.

This time, Sara’s eyes are redder than ever as Jounouchi looks into them. As they all stand face to face with Sara, Yugi begins to cry. “I can’t believe it! I didn’t even believe my own best friend!”

“Yugi, it’s not your fault. We didn’t think it was possible.” Honda says, trying to comfort him.

“So the friends finally admit your flaw. Well it’s too late. Now where’s that dear Mai’s of yours, Jounouchi?” Sara says, with a smirk.

“Leave her out of this! She never did anything to you! And neither did I.”

“Well of course you did.” Sara says angrily. “How could you think that it’s not your fault! You killed me! Because of you I’m dead!!”

“What!?” Everyone says in unison. “You got everything all wrong Sara. A car hit you. Didn’t you know?” Honda says.

“Of course I know! But if Jounouchi hadn’t broken up with me that night, I’d be alive. I would have still been in his house and maybe some other girl would have died. Not me!” She begins to cry but still anger was in her face.

Jounouchi didn’t know what to say.

Suddenly a tombstone goes flying straight towards Jounouchi. He jumps to the ground in time, though, to dodge the hit.

“Sara, I’m sorry!” Jounouchi yells.

“You’re not sorry! You said you loved me! Bastard!!” Then Jounouchi begins to choke.

“Jounouchi!!” Honda and Yugi yell in unison. They run towards him.

“Sara, what are you doing to him?!” Honda yells.

“Let him go!” Yugi begs.

“Sa…” Jounouchi is clutching to his throat. He tries to say Sara’s name but can barely breath.

Honda then runs towards Sara. “Damn you --” Then Honda is hit in the back by a tombstone and knocked unconscious.

“Stop this!!” Yugi yells out at last. “It’s not Jounouchi’s fault that you’re dead. It’s no ones fault except that drunk driver. There’s nothing that anyone could have done to save you.”

“I’m not listening to the likes of you!” Then a smaller tombstone hits Yugi in the stomach.

“YUGI!!” To woman yell. Sara looks up and sees Anzu and Mai.

“Jounouchi!” Mai yells as Anzu runs towards Yugi.

“Mai…?” Jounouchi struggles to mutter her name.

“Sara! You want me!? Huh?! Well leave Jounouchi alone and GET ME!!” Mai screams.

“I want your death but not right now, I’m having my fun with little Jounouchi here.” Sara gets a bit closer to Jounouchi; her smile indicates that she seems pleased by Jounouchi’s pain. His face is beginning to turn pale.

Mai tries to get near the two but a tombstone goes flying towards her; she dodges it in time and continues trying to near the two. Jounouchi is almost unconscious.

What do I do?! If I don’t help Jounouchi he’ll…

Suddenly Mai stops. She looks at Honda nearby, unconscious; Anzu is with Yugi—he’s on the ground unconscious as well and Anzu is holding him in her arms. She needs to say it. Now.

Out of nowhere a smaller tombstone hits Sara from the back—the stone is more like flattened rock. Jounouchi can breath. He gasps for breathe before he looks up at Mai. She threw the stone.

“Mai…”

Sara begins to get up. The hit was a small impact on her already dead body.

“Why you bitch. I can’t even have my fun!? Well then, I’ll have my way with you first then.” She beings to run towards Mai.

“YOU’RE DEAD!! If you really loved Jounouchi you’d forgive him.” Mai yells.

Sara stops. “You don’t know what I’ve been through…”

“You died, and that’s horrible. But killing both Jounouchi and me won’t help.”

“You say that you’re not the one that Jounouchi loves. Then why do you even care? Why not just let me kill him? Well?!”

“He doesn’t love me but I…” Everyone becomes silent. Jounouchi looks towards Mai. He sees a fear in her eyes that he has never seen before.

“Well!? Why are you even here to protect Jounouchi?”

“Because…because I LOVE HIM!! There! Happy?!” Mai looks straight into Sara’s eyes; she struggles to hold her tears back.

Jounouchi stands up. “Mai?”

Sara looks at her, confused yet something seems to have touched her.

“Jounouchi…”

A soft pale hand holds Jounouchi’s hand. He is lying on a bed and his face is red with fever. The hand belongs to Sara; she seems to have had no sleep and been standing by his side the entire time of his sickness. Sara places a wet towel on Jounouchi’s head. She has never seen him this sick, ever.

His eyes begin to slowly open as her hands move away from the towel she just placed.

“Sara…?” He says softly, almost a whisper.

“I’m here.” Her eyes become more concerned than before.

“Why…why are you here? I’m--fine. Go to—school.” He barely manages to say.

“I’m not going anywhere.” She says softly.

“But--” Jounouchi tries to reason with her again but gets cut off.

“I’m staying right here.” She says a bit louder. “I love you, and I’m going to stay right here, by your side.”

Jounouchi seems a bit surprised but he also sighs with defeat. There’s no way he can convince her to go back to class. He closes his eyes and lets his head sink a little into his pillow—he smiles, gently.

Suddenly Sara is on the ground, her hands to her face and her breath is heavy—she’s crying.

Mai, Jounouchi, and Anzu all look at her, bewildered. No one knows what has just gone through her mind the past few moments. Slowly, Mai begins to walk up to the dazed Sara. To Mai, she looks now more like a defenseless child than someone who wanted to kill her only seconds ago.

Mai kneels down and begins to hug her, no one says a word. Then Sara looks up to see who was holding her; her crying has ceased but her eyes are still swelled up and red—her face covered in tears.

“You…you love Jounouchi? I can remember now, how it feels to really have loved him. The last thing I ever wanted was for him to be in pain.” She begins to cry again.

“I’m sorry…I’m sorry that your life had to end the way it did. That when you died you had such hate for Jounouchi but he never meant for you to be hurt in that way. I know it, he’s to kind to ever wish something like that on anyone.” Mai says compassionately.

Then, Sara gets up from the ground, leaving Mai on her knees still, confused.

“I’m going now. I can rest in peace now, knowing that there is someone who loves Jounouchi with all her heart. It was foolish of me to want the man that I had loved dead. I know now that Jounouchi has someone to love and take care of him.” Sara smiles softly.

She walks back to Jounouchi and touches his cheek with her hand.

“I’m sorry my love.” Sara says.

Jounouchi then slowly puts his hand into his pocket. His hand shuffles around for a moment and he takes out something which sparkles in the almost gone sunset. Sara looks down at the ring and smiles.

Suddenly Sara’s body begins to slowly crumble, starting from her feet.

“That girl there,” she says turning her head towards Mai, “she deserves that ring more than anyone.”

“Sara…” Jounouchi whispers, “thank you.”

Then, Sara is gone.

For a moment everyone stands staring at where Sara just was; then Mai runs to Jounouchi and she hugs him.

“Are you alright?!”

“Never been better.” He smiles. “Mai…” He lifts up her chin slowly, “I’ve been trying to tell you for so long now but…but I couldn’t.”

Mai stares into his eyes and sees the same fear that Jounouchi had seen in her eyes earlier.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Mai says sweetly.

He kisses her passionately on her lips. Then he places the ring leisurely on her middle finger. “The promise of my love to my Mai.” They both smile.

The sun is gone now and Yugi and Honda struggle to wake up.

“Yugi, Honda, are you alright?” Anzu asks.

“I’m ok.” Yugi says.

Honda mutters aloud, “Well, I have been better.” He puts his hand on his back: everyone else smiles.

“Come on guys,” Jounouchi says, putting his arm around Mai’s shoulder, “lets go.”

They all start walking out of the graveyard. Yugi and Honda both leaning against Anzu and Jounouchi and Mai together, smiling.

In the midst of the dark graveyard, sitting atop Sara’s grave is her spirit. She smiles and says tenderly,

“Goodbye Jounouchi, my love.”

[ The End ]