Post by Bakura on Aug 10, 2006 15:55:23 GMT -5
The pie hit the target-man in the middle of the face, whipped-cream and cherry fragments flying all over the top of target board. Laughter followed, and as Karita (who had volunteered for this position in the festival—unbeknownst to exactly what he was going to do) wiped the remains of the fruit-filled pasty off of his face, he looked at the kid and growled, “d**nit! You know, you’re lucky your not a student in my school, because I swear to God, I’d—“ He was interrupted as another pie was slammed into the center of his face, stopping him dead in his attempted threat. (A/N 1)
As the crowd laughed at the misfortune of Domino City High School’s gym teacher at the annual medieval festival, Anzu merely raised her eyebrow at the ludicrous of this whole ordeal. (A/N 2)
As the little boy exchanged another one-thousand dollar yen bill for three more pies (Karita growling from the target box in response) Anzu turned towards her group of friends, narrowed her eyes and mutters, “Whose idea was this again?”
Honda and Otogi, who in the midst of their laughing at the top of their lungs as the little boy smirked and hit their infamous gym teacher dead-on-target once more, looked at her and said in unison, “Who cares?”
Anzu frowned (not liking being neglected, nevertheless treated that way by her own two friends), looked over at Yuugi and started, ‘Yuugi—”
Yuugi thingyed his head in her direction, and skeptically gave her a look that clearly stated Don’t push it. He then continued to watch the festivities of the community gathering, rolling his eyes at the disgraceful behavior Honda and Jounouchi were displaying.
Soon after becoming rather content of watching their old gym teacher being constantly splashed by imported cherry pies, Yuugi and his group of friends (which included Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, Otogi and Shizuka—who was visiting temporarily) proceeded through the park grounds, trying to find anything that might be of some entertaining value—but alas… They couldn’t see any charm in the old (cheap) European festival.
As they walked through the many stands and attractions, Honda looked up at the sky and while placing his arms behind his head, stated, “You know, I heard these things are a hundred times better in America… The people there seem to know what they are doing.”
Otogi turned around, and while raising his eyebrow, asked in an unenthusiastic voice, “Why would a European festival be improved from a hemisphere adjacent to their own?”
“Hey, it’s just something I heard, okay?”
“Yeah… Sure…”
The gang continued trekking through the festivities (most of them displaying either games, food, or educational exhibits) not finding anything of interest. Then Honda looked over to the right, and saw something that looked fairly interesting. He then pointed over towards that direction, and stated, “Hey—let’s check out the “Lair of the Beasts!” They might have something cool!”
Shizuka and Yuugi looked over to where Honda was pointing with some form of interest, briefly wondering the same thing. However, that was before Anzu rolled her eyes and hissed, “Please… That exhibit is as disorganized and as phony as you could possibly get!”
Honda thingyed his head in her direction, looked at her slyly and asked, just as they passed by the stand, “And how would you know, huh?”
Anzu narrowed her eyes and looked over at the exhibit, where they could hear the first presentation in progress.
“Behold! The mighty guardian Cerberus! The two-headed beast who guards the entrance to the underworld!”
“I thought he had three heads?”
“Uhh…”
Overhearing the demonstration from the outside of the stand, Anzu looked back over at Honda and folded her arms across her chest, with a bored expression on her face. At this, Honda rolled his eyes and sighed, “I stand corrected.”
In response to this, Anzu put on a triumphant smirk and while dismissing the topic, continued on through the fair, her friends staring at her as if she didn’t know her very well.
As they continued walking, occasionally stopping from exhibit to exhibit, to watch or observe what was going on, Jounouchi hung out behind them, a sulking nature accompanying his rather gloomy form.
Darn it, this festival was really staring to get to him. Why? No, it wasn’t the crappy exhibits or presentations. No, it wasn’t the rather obnoxious sounds of kids screaming. And No, it wasn’t the fact that he was too tall and too old for all the rides and the activities (which were preferably designed for younger children), but it was something else entirely.
Why? It was because of the food.
Just yesterday in school. (before Spring Break had begun—God bless it) it was the very last day in which all the students in the school were required to have their annual physical, and he was up next (Seniors names J-Z). Although he didn’t mind this part (the nurse who actually administered the test was actually kind of cute) the fact remained that the scale he was on had showed a fifteen pound change (way different from last year) which had absolutely ‘nothing’ to do with height. Afraid he was loosing touch with his physical self (which was a necessity among duelists—or so he had always claimed) he had dared to attempt the one-thing he never thought he could take on and actually accomplish within all of this teenage life: a diet.
When he had brought up the subject while with his friends at lunch in the cafeteria—they didn’t take it seriously at all. Honda responded by laughing, tears falling out of his eyes and milk spraying out from his nose, while Anzu took to poking his belly-area, teasing and talking to it as if it were actually a person, calling it “Tubby” and other rather insulting names. Jounouchi (of course) had gotten angry, but after a few or so minutes of arguing, Otogi snapped and told him directly into his face, that he could never, ever pull it off successfully.
But Jounouchi didn’t listen. He was going to go through with it!
However, true as their word, after less than twenty-four hours of Jounouchi announcing his claim on loosing what he had gained, he had already found himself in the lair of temptation, passing by stands that sold various delicious smelling medieval dishes, along with burritos, drumsticks, hamburgers, hot-dogs, California rolls, chow-mien, milk-shakes, ice-cream, and all of his favorite foods (or so it seemed). As the smell of these many scrumptious items wafted through the air, settling in front of his nose and face, it was becoming increasingly difficult to abide by the code he had just passed down upon himself.
Luckily for him, his friends didn’t’ seem to notice it (he couldn’t even begin to imagine how unbearable it would be to have them tease him now)—but it still didn’t change his outlook on things.
As he sluggishly walked on behind his companions, Shizuka (who had up until now had been admiring the pretty colors around the festival) suddenly glanced out behind her, and saw her brother, who didn’t look to enthusiastic about this exhibit. Strange, he was acting awfully, awfully quiet. She worried about him for a moment, but then took notice as they passed by a food stand, the sort of longing look Jounouchi had as he glanced at it. She shook her head for a moment, knowing exactly what was going on in her brother’s mind.
Slowing down a bit (slow enough so that she would soon become parallel with her older brother), she waited for her sibling to catch up to her. Once he did, she reached over and wrapped her arm around his, (Jounouchi glancing over at her briefly) looked up at him and asked, “Onii-chan?”
Jounouchi looked at her dully and murmured, “What is it?”
Shizuka looked out ahead of her for a moment, before she looked at her brother, and said cheerfully, “Maybe they have some fruit-salad and one of the stands or something. That or we can go to the health food store, later.”
Jounouchi not liking the idea of healthy food in place of “good” food (by his definition) looked away and moaned in disappointment, while Shizuka only smiled and burrowed closer into her brother.
She was so happy that her mother let her come over to visit her brother during this Spring Break. Usually the two of them would visit Okinawa or something like that, which was almost always uneventful and less fun that her mother always insisted it would be. Now, she didn’t know what her brother usually did this time of year, and even though her brother wasn’t particularly good at showing it (food always seemed to come first for him) she knew he was glad too. At least, that’s what he always said under normal circumstances. Still, these increasingly rare visits were wonderful, and they were both grateful to have them.
However, unbeknownst to the two siblings while in the midst of their silent affection, was the tension that was rising a few feet away from the, towards the front. Indeed, two of their own party members were glancing at Shizuka and then back at each other, narrowing their eyes treacherously in the midst, as a wolf does when one another issues a challenge, daring the other to attack.
Yes, even after all these years, after everything they had been through, after all the obstacles they had faced as a team, Otogi and Honda were still fresh and ready in their epic battle of conquering the heart of Shizuka. Shizuka, completely oblivious to their affections, had also not changed. She had absolutely no idea that a war was about to arise on her account.
As they continued walking together, (Yuugi staring at all the gaming booths like a child in a candy shop, and Anzu staring uneasily at the various clowns and jesters scattered throughout the park) Honda stared at Otogi severely, warning him not to take one step further towards his girl. Otogi stared at Honda, with an expression none less threatening that Honda’s—deciding that he would let him make the first move. After all, that horned-head loser was bound to screw up, and when all that was said and done, he himself would step in and with that, he would be triumphant.
When Jounouchi finally let go of Shizuka, Honda (an irresistible grin appearing on his face) nonchalantly made his way over towards Shizuka, Otogi staring at him, looking as though he were preparing to pounce.
However, what the two of them failed to notice, it what had captured Shizuka’s brother’s attention in the first place.
There, on the far side of the stands, was what appeared to be a solo stand. Unlike the others, there was no line, no advertising signs, no price-guide, (no menu) as well as a few other things aloof about it. It was red and white in color, and was shadowed from the shade of the trees that surrounded its back and sides, almost as if it were in an alley-way or something relatively similar. In fact, if Jounouchi had only glanced at that area—he would have probably never have noticed it.
Jounouchi stared at it oddly and thought, What would a stand being doing all the way over there. Surely the person would have wanted it to be among the crowd—that way more people would notice it! A gust of wind blew by, sending a shiver down his spine.
Now, any normal person would find something wrong this, unusual picture—but Jounouchi was not a settle man. Yes, even after all the terrible things his own carelessness had got him into and so many occasions—he still hadn’t learned his lesson. He began walking up to it (his group proceeding without him) eyes locked on the unusual attraction.
However, it was not just his own negligence that was drawing him towards the suspicious-looking stand, but it was something else. It was as if… something was calling him and him alone to the stand (Hmph, that would explain why no one was there—his laxity pushed him). With that thought in mind, he smirked and continued to approach it.
Once he was level with the entrance, which was actually something like a curtain, only it was made of roses (both red and white) and regular playing cards, which were tied together (now that was odd) he hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was any possible doubt that he should continue. However, whatever conflict that appeared in his mind was short lived, and he reached for the edge of the curtain, pulled it aside and peered inside the booth. After all, he was a Jounouchi.
When he stuck his head inside, his eyes widened at what he saw. Inside, was what looked like a fortune teller lair: there was a single small-rounded table, with a crystal ball and three tarot cards (all face down), as well as an empty chair which stood right in front of him, but there was no—
“Hello there, son…”
Jounouchi abruptly made a vicious jolt when he heard a strange, misty sounding voice sounding out from his left. After recovering from his sudden administration of shock, he quickly looked to his right, his brown eyes meeting up with a woman’s which appeared to be a deep, ruby red. He uncontrollably yelled out, “Don’t do that!”
The woman laughed for a moment (as if she found his behavior amusing), while Jounouchi stared at her irritably.
She was quite unusual. Other than the ruby red eyes, her hair was an olive-green color (graying slightly, for she did look as though she appeared to be forty or fifty) and her skin was a deathly pale plum color. Other than her unusual coloring, she was slightly taller than he was, and was quite slender—but wasn’t thin enough to look anorexic. However, she wasn’t beautiful, for her nose and chin were longer than most other people, and she had a huge mole on her cheek, right besides her right nostril. She appeared to be wearing a medieval costume (just like everyone else’s at this stupid fair), but now that he thought about it, it looked way more authentic than the other one’s he had seen. Hell, it looked almost like it could have been real.
She then placed a hand of his shoulder (with long slender fingers, with long, purple painted nails), and spoke with a very alluring tone of voice, “You’re hour of destiny is at hand—come!”
“What the—“
Before he could say more, the woman began pulling him in towards the middle of the stand, eventually throwing him down into the chair at the table. She then walked (or rather glided) towards the other chair, taking her place in it, and brought the crystal ball closer to her. As she did, Jounouchi looked at her easily and asked, unable to hide the uneasiness in his voice, “Uhhh… What are you doing…?”
The woman suddenly pointed at him and hissed, “Silence!”
Jounouchi jumped up again at this (as he normally did when such behavior was displayed) before he took his place back on his chair, beginning to regret ever coming in here. She looked at him skeptically, looking as though she was chewing her tongue. She then closed her eyes and had her hands hover around the crystal ball. While in her apparent trance like state, she ordered, quietly “Don’t move, or speak—I am receiving a vision!”
Jounouchi did nothing more but fidget in his seat. He didn’t really like these fortune telling exhibits. d**nit, he thought. After going through experiences with Kokurano, Mai and Esperoba, I should have learned my lesson by now. Still, there was nothing left for him to wait until it was over. As the woman continued to gaze into the glassy texture of the orb, Jounouchi reached out behind him and scratched his back uncomfortably, wondering for a minute if he was going to have to pay for this. (A/N 3)
A few uncomfortable minutes passed by (Jounouchi beginning to sweat in his seat), before the woman looked at him and smiled, pleasantly. She then opened her mouth, and said, with an enlightened tone, “Yes… You are the one the vision’s speak of.”
Jounouchi looked up at her and blinked. “Whaaaa?”
The woman (ignoring him) reached for the three cards on the far end of the table, and flipped them up, one at a time. As he looked at them, Jounouchi bit his lip. There were no images on them, rather complicated designs, accompanied by a few messages encrypted on their borders and edges. However, the messages were in English—and if Jounouchi had ever gotten a even “C-” on his English class assignments—he would be considered lucky by his own peers.
She then glanced at them for only a moment, before she looked up towards the ceiling, and while raising her arms above her, spoke, in that same misty voice, “When the sun vanishes, and yet when the light still shines—your hour of destiny shall be at hand!”
It was around this time when Jounouchi had finally decided that he had had enough.
He sat up off of his chair, and while slowly inching towards the door, spoke, in what was supposed to be an enthusiastic voice, “Yes! That’s wonderful! Brilliant! Astounding! I just can’t wait, and you know—I really, really think my friends are calling for me, so if you don’t mind I’ll just be leaving now and—“
He then turned all the way around, looking ready to spring for the exit, when he suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist. He stiffened for a moment, before he turned around and saw the woman staring deep into his eyes.
She insisted, “Wait just one moment sir—I must give you something, first!”
Jounouchi blinked for a moment, no quite understanding where this old lady was going with this. “Ehhh?” he asked.
The woman merely smiled and reached for something underneath her cloak. She pulled out something slim and metallic, and with her other hand, reached for Jounouchi’s. She then placed the thin item into his hand, and with her slender hand, encircled his fingers around it. She then said quietly, her eyes boring directly into his own, “Keep it close! Keep it safe!”
Jounouchi stared down at his hand, not knowing what to say.
After a moment of this, she then slowly removed her hands from his, Jounouchi gulping in response. She then spun around and began walking back towards her table. As she did, Jounouchi looked down at the item, registering what it was. It was a card pack, but it was thinner than any other pack he had seen before. It was gold in color, and probably held only one card. Once the woman was a few feet away, she thingyed her head back towards him, smiled, and said, in an echo-y voice, “Farewell…”
Jounouchi nodded once, and then, without another word, he ran out of the tent, not even glancing back in her direction.
- TO BE CONTINUED-
As the crowd laughed at the misfortune of Domino City High School’s gym teacher at the annual medieval festival, Anzu merely raised her eyebrow at the ludicrous of this whole ordeal. (A/N 2)
As the little boy exchanged another one-thousand dollar yen bill for three more pies (Karita growling from the target box in response) Anzu turned towards her group of friends, narrowed her eyes and mutters, “Whose idea was this again?”
Honda and Otogi, who in the midst of their laughing at the top of their lungs as the little boy smirked and hit their infamous gym teacher dead-on-target once more, looked at her and said in unison, “Who cares?”
Anzu frowned (not liking being neglected, nevertheless treated that way by her own two friends), looked over at Yuugi and started, ‘Yuugi—”
Yuugi thingyed his head in her direction, and skeptically gave her a look that clearly stated Don’t push it. He then continued to watch the festivities of the community gathering, rolling his eyes at the disgraceful behavior Honda and Jounouchi were displaying.
Soon after becoming rather content of watching their old gym teacher being constantly splashed by imported cherry pies, Yuugi and his group of friends (which included Jounouchi, Anzu, Honda, Otogi and Shizuka—who was visiting temporarily) proceeded through the park grounds, trying to find anything that might be of some entertaining value—but alas… They couldn’t see any charm in the old (cheap) European festival.
As they walked through the many stands and attractions, Honda looked up at the sky and while placing his arms behind his head, stated, “You know, I heard these things are a hundred times better in America… The people there seem to know what they are doing.”
Otogi turned around, and while raising his eyebrow, asked in an unenthusiastic voice, “Why would a European festival be improved from a hemisphere adjacent to their own?”
“Hey, it’s just something I heard, okay?”
“Yeah… Sure…”
The gang continued trekking through the festivities (most of them displaying either games, food, or educational exhibits) not finding anything of interest. Then Honda looked over to the right, and saw something that looked fairly interesting. He then pointed over towards that direction, and stated, “Hey—let’s check out the “Lair of the Beasts!” They might have something cool!”
Shizuka and Yuugi looked over to where Honda was pointing with some form of interest, briefly wondering the same thing. However, that was before Anzu rolled her eyes and hissed, “Please… That exhibit is as disorganized and as phony as you could possibly get!”
Honda thingyed his head in her direction, looked at her slyly and asked, just as they passed by the stand, “And how would you know, huh?”
Anzu narrowed her eyes and looked over at the exhibit, where they could hear the first presentation in progress.
“Behold! The mighty guardian Cerberus! The two-headed beast who guards the entrance to the underworld!”
“I thought he had three heads?”
“Uhh…”
Overhearing the demonstration from the outside of the stand, Anzu looked back over at Honda and folded her arms across her chest, with a bored expression on her face. At this, Honda rolled his eyes and sighed, “I stand corrected.”
In response to this, Anzu put on a triumphant smirk and while dismissing the topic, continued on through the fair, her friends staring at her as if she didn’t know her very well.
As they continued walking, occasionally stopping from exhibit to exhibit, to watch or observe what was going on, Jounouchi hung out behind them, a sulking nature accompanying his rather gloomy form.
Darn it, this festival was really staring to get to him. Why? No, it wasn’t the crappy exhibits or presentations. No, it wasn’t the rather obnoxious sounds of kids screaming. And No, it wasn’t the fact that he was too tall and too old for all the rides and the activities (which were preferably designed for younger children), but it was something else entirely.
Why? It was because of the food.
Just yesterday in school. (before Spring Break had begun—God bless it) it was the very last day in which all the students in the school were required to have their annual physical, and he was up next (Seniors names J-Z). Although he didn’t mind this part (the nurse who actually administered the test was actually kind of cute) the fact remained that the scale he was on had showed a fifteen pound change (way different from last year) which had absolutely ‘nothing’ to do with height. Afraid he was loosing touch with his physical self (which was a necessity among duelists—or so he had always claimed) he had dared to attempt the one-thing he never thought he could take on and actually accomplish within all of this teenage life: a diet.
When he had brought up the subject while with his friends at lunch in the cafeteria—they didn’t take it seriously at all. Honda responded by laughing, tears falling out of his eyes and milk spraying out from his nose, while Anzu took to poking his belly-area, teasing and talking to it as if it were actually a person, calling it “Tubby” and other rather insulting names. Jounouchi (of course) had gotten angry, but after a few or so minutes of arguing, Otogi snapped and told him directly into his face, that he could never, ever pull it off successfully.
But Jounouchi didn’t listen. He was going to go through with it!
However, true as their word, after less than twenty-four hours of Jounouchi announcing his claim on loosing what he had gained, he had already found himself in the lair of temptation, passing by stands that sold various delicious smelling medieval dishes, along with burritos, drumsticks, hamburgers, hot-dogs, California rolls, chow-mien, milk-shakes, ice-cream, and all of his favorite foods (or so it seemed). As the smell of these many scrumptious items wafted through the air, settling in front of his nose and face, it was becoming increasingly difficult to abide by the code he had just passed down upon himself.
Luckily for him, his friends didn’t’ seem to notice it (he couldn’t even begin to imagine how unbearable it would be to have them tease him now)—but it still didn’t change his outlook on things.
As he sluggishly walked on behind his companions, Shizuka (who had up until now had been admiring the pretty colors around the festival) suddenly glanced out behind her, and saw her brother, who didn’t look to enthusiastic about this exhibit. Strange, he was acting awfully, awfully quiet. She worried about him for a moment, but then took notice as they passed by a food stand, the sort of longing look Jounouchi had as he glanced at it. She shook her head for a moment, knowing exactly what was going on in her brother’s mind.
Slowing down a bit (slow enough so that she would soon become parallel with her older brother), she waited for her sibling to catch up to her. Once he did, she reached over and wrapped her arm around his, (Jounouchi glancing over at her briefly) looked up at him and asked, “Onii-chan?”
Jounouchi looked at her dully and murmured, “What is it?”
Shizuka looked out ahead of her for a moment, before she looked at her brother, and said cheerfully, “Maybe they have some fruit-salad and one of the stands or something. That or we can go to the health food store, later.”
Jounouchi not liking the idea of healthy food in place of “good” food (by his definition) looked away and moaned in disappointment, while Shizuka only smiled and burrowed closer into her brother.
She was so happy that her mother let her come over to visit her brother during this Spring Break. Usually the two of them would visit Okinawa or something like that, which was almost always uneventful and less fun that her mother always insisted it would be. Now, she didn’t know what her brother usually did this time of year, and even though her brother wasn’t particularly good at showing it (food always seemed to come first for him) she knew he was glad too. At least, that’s what he always said under normal circumstances. Still, these increasingly rare visits were wonderful, and they were both grateful to have them.
However, unbeknownst to the two siblings while in the midst of their silent affection, was the tension that was rising a few feet away from the, towards the front. Indeed, two of their own party members were glancing at Shizuka and then back at each other, narrowing their eyes treacherously in the midst, as a wolf does when one another issues a challenge, daring the other to attack.
Yes, even after all these years, after everything they had been through, after all the obstacles they had faced as a team, Otogi and Honda were still fresh and ready in their epic battle of conquering the heart of Shizuka. Shizuka, completely oblivious to their affections, had also not changed. She had absolutely no idea that a war was about to arise on her account.
As they continued walking together, (Yuugi staring at all the gaming booths like a child in a candy shop, and Anzu staring uneasily at the various clowns and jesters scattered throughout the park) Honda stared at Otogi severely, warning him not to take one step further towards his girl. Otogi stared at Honda, with an expression none less threatening that Honda’s—deciding that he would let him make the first move. After all, that horned-head loser was bound to screw up, and when all that was said and done, he himself would step in and with that, he would be triumphant.
When Jounouchi finally let go of Shizuka, Honda (an irresistible grin appearing on his face) nonchalantly made his way over towards Shizuka, Otogi staring at him, looking as though he were preparing to pounce.
However, what the two of them failed to notice, it what had captured Shizuka’s brother’s attention in the first place.
There, on the far side of the stands, was what appeared to be a solo stand. Unlike the others, there was no line, no advertising signs, no price-guide, (no menu) as well as a few other things aloof about it. It was red and white in color, and was shadowed from the shade of the trees that surrounded its back and sides, almost as if it were in an alley-way or something relatively similar. In fact, if Jounouchi had only glanced at that area—he would have probably never have noticed it.
Jounouchi stared at it oddly and thought, What would a stand being doing all the way over there. Surely the person would have wanted it to be among the crowd—that way more people would notice it! A gust of wind blew by, sending a shiver down his spine.
Now, any normal person would find something wrong this, unusual picture—but Jounouchi was not a settle man. Yes, even after all the terrible things his own carelessness had got him into and so many occasions—he still hadn’t learned his lesson. He began walking up to it (his group proceeding without him) eyes locked on the unusual attraction.
However, it was not just his own negligence that was drawing him towards the suspicious-looking stand, but it was something else. It was as if… something was calling him and him alone to the stand (Hmph, that would explain why no one was there—his laxity pushed him). With that thought in mind, he smirked and continued to approach it.
Once he was level with the entrance, which was actually something like a curtain, only it was made of roses (both red and white) and regular playing cards, which were tied together (now that was odd) he hesitated for a moment, wondering if there was any possible doubt that he should continue. However, whatever conflict that appeared in his mind was short lived, and he reached for the edge of the curtain, pulled it aside and peered inside the booth. After all, he was a Jounouchi.
When he stuck his head inside, his eyes widened at what he saw. Inside, was what looked like a fortune teller lair: there was a single small-rounded table, with a crystal ball and three tarot cards (all face down), as well as an empty chair which stood right in front of him, but there was no—
“Hello there, son…”
Jounouchi abruptly made a vicious jolt when he heard a strange, misty sounding voice sounding out from his left. After recovering from his sudden administration of shock, he quickly looked to his right, his brown eyes meeting up with a woman’s which appeared to be a deep, ruby red. He uncontrollably yelled out, “Don’t do that!”
The woman laughed for a moment (as if she found his behavior amusing), while Jounouchi stared at her irritably.
She was quite unusual. Other than the ruby red eyes, her hair was an olive-green color (graying slightly, for she did look as though she appeared to be forty or fifty) and her skin was a deathly pale plum color. Other than her unusual coloring, she was slightly taller than he was, and was quite slender—but wasn’t thin enough to look anorexic. However, she wasn’t beautiful, for her nose and chin were longer than most other people, and she had a huge mole on her cheek, right besides her right nostril. She appeared to be wearing a medieval costume (just like everyone else’s at this stupid fair), but now that he thought about it, it looked way more authentic than the other one’s he had seen. Hell, it looked almost like it could have been real.
She then placed a hand of his shoulder (with long slender fingers, with long, purple painted nails), and spoke with a very alluring tone of voice, “You’re hour of destiny is at hand—come!”
“What the—“
Before he could say more, the woman began pulling him in towards the middle of the stand, eventually throwing him down into the chair at the table. She then walked (or rather glided) towards the other chair, taking her place in it, and brought the crystal ball closer to her. As she did, Jounouchi looked at her easily and asked, unable to hide the uneasiness in his voice, “Uhhh… What are you doing…?”
The woman suddenly pointed at him and hissed, “Silence!”
Jounouchi jumped up again at this (as he normally did when such behavior was displayed) before he took his place back on his chair, beginning to regret ever coming in here. She looked at him skeptically, looking as though she was chewing her tongue. She then closed her eyes and had her hands hover around the crystal ball. While in her apparent trance like state, she ordered, quietly “Don’t move, or speak—I am receiving a vision!”
Jounouchi did nothing more but fidget in his seat. He didn’t really like these fortune telling exhibits. d**nit, he thought. After going through experiences with Kokurano, Mai and Esperoba, I should have learned my lesson by now. Still, there was nothing left for him to wait until it was over. As the woman continued to gaze into the glassy texture of the orb, Jounouchi reached out behind him and scratched his back uncomfortably, wondering for a minute if he was going to have to pay for this. (A/N 3)
A few uncomfortable minutes passed by (Jounouchi beginning to sweat in his seat), before the woman looked at him and smiled, pleasantly. She then opened her mouth, and said, with an enlightened tone, “Yes… You are the one the vision’s speak of.”
Jounouchi looked up at her and blinked. “Whaaaa?”
The woman (ignoring him) reached for the three cards on the far end of the table, and flipped them up, one at a time. As he looked at them, Jounouchi bit his lip. There were no images on them, rather complicated designs, accompanied by a few messages encrypted on their borders and edges. However, the messages were in English—and if Jounouchi had ever gotten a even “C-” on his English class assignments—he would be considered lucky by his own peers.
She then glanced at them for only a moment, before she looked up towards the ceiling, and while raising her arms above her, spoke, in that same misty voice, “When the sun vanishes, and yet when the light still shines—your hour of destiny shall be at hand!”
It was around this time when Jounouchi had finally decided that he had had enough.
He sat up off of his chair, and while slowly inching towards the door, spoke, in what was supposed to be an enthusiastic voice, “Yes! That’s wonderful! Brilliant! Astounding! I just can’t wait, and you know—I really, really think my friends are calling for me, so if you don’t mind I’ll just be leaving now and—“
He then turned all the way around, looking ready to spring for the exit, when he suddenly felt a hand grab his wrist. He stiffened for a moment, before he turned around and saw the woman staring deep into his eyes.
She insisted, “Wait just one moment sir—I must give you something, first!”
Jounouchi blinked for a moment, no quite understanding where this old lady was going with this. “Ehhh?” he asked.
The woman merely smiled and reached for something underneath her cloak. She pulled out something slim and metallic, and with her other hand, reached for Jounouchi’s. She then placed the thin item into his hand, and with her slender hand, encircled his fingers around it. She then said quietly, her eyes boring directly into his own, “Keep it close! Keep it safe!”
Jounouchi stared down at his hand, not knowing what to say.
After a moment of this, she then slowly removed her hands from his, Jounouchi gulping in response. She then spun around and began walking back towards her table. As she did, Jounouchi looked down at the item, registering what it was. It was a card pack, but it was thinner than any other pack he had seen before. It was gold in color, and probably held only one card. Once the woman was a few feet away, she thingyed her head back towards him, smiled, and said, in an echo-y voice, “Farewell…”
Jounouchi nodded once, and then, without another word, he ran out of the tent, not even glancing back in her direction.
- TO BE CONTINUED-