One Date But No Deals

Strange. They took the walk to get capsule monsters. They went to go eat. They played capsule monsters. Yet? Time moved so fast. Soon, it'd be supper and then bedtime. The first day would already be over with them. ///Yuugi: Can time just slow down a little more? They just got here./// Yuugi took his turn at capsule monster with Hikaru. It was apparent the other Yugi had been teaching him.

Meanwhile, Atem was playing with Silhouette. He was taking his time too after she had taken a piece from him. She didn't even set the piece to the side to forget, instead she stroked it with her pinky. "You are good at letting your enemy not forget the piece you took," he complimented her.

Silhouette didn't look at him as she looked at her pieces. She bit her lip. "I want to go. The game is finished."

Atem looked at the board. "There are plenty of places to move."

Silhouette got up from the chair, moved her pieces, his pieces, moved them back, then tried moving her pieces again in a different fashion, with his again. "Wrong strategy pieces."

Atem looked at all of her pieces, and their special moves. "True. Considering the way the pieces moved, you did move the way I would probably move. But?" He moved one piece simply out. "Sometimes, not the best moves are made. You have to play a game to completeion, to know the real outcome."

Silhouette sat back down and started to play again. In the end, Atem won, but it was an important lesson. Or so he thought. "Pity added to survival but I still couldn't win. Needed two more pity moves."

Well? "Yes, I only gave you one as a lesson."

"Pity or lesson. Wrong move in a game can change a game." She smiled. "Super important in Connect Four with Momma Masika."

"Oh yes, leave your eyes for too long, and that's the end of the game," Masika agreed. She groaned and came toward Silhouette with a napkin. "Did you master that as well?" She lifted her sleeve. "You've got catsup on the underside of your sleeve I missed."

"Sorry, Momma Masika." She had tried better, but wasn't perfect.

Masika rubbed the back of some of the pieces. "Anzu, I would check your son's pieces too." She laid them back out. She checked the other side of her sleeve. "You are clean. That's better. Cleanliness unattracts the evils that come with messiness like rodents."

"I remember," Silhouette said.

///Yuugi: There is teaching kids for fun, and then there is really teaching kids. Ethereal Yugi really did think they must be gods having to face evil one day with a game, like we did.///

///Atem: True./// It showed in how the mere six year old played. "Would you like to play something else?"

She shook her head, and went toward Hikaru instead.

"Can't keep the light from the dark for long." Masika smiled.

Hikaru made another move. "Does Momma not have any dancing today?"

Anzu looked a little sad. "I kept dancing? Did I do well?"

"You had fun." Silhouette raised her dolly up high and spun around. "Momma Masika stayed home, and Momma would be gone during days like Daddy. Sometimes nights too."

Masika went toward Anzu and gave her a slight hug from behind.

"Oh, that's great. No. I don't dance as a career. Bad things happened. A lot." Anzu faded off. "But, it doesn't matter. I'd rather be here than in America again." She tried to whip a smile back on her face. "I still dance in studios when I get time. Not for money or anything. Just, fun. Just, for fun. So, me and her, are still sort of the same. Only. It sounds like. Gods didn't keep killing people around her just to make her miss an audition."

///Yuugi: Oh, not this. I should have seen this./// He went toward her too. "It's fine, Anzu. You always could give it another try if you wanted?"

Anzu waved her hand. "Nah. I'm good. If I see something I like, maybe, if I want. But. I just."

"Gods are still interfering. It might not be the smartest thing." Masika said it out loud for her. "Plus. You wanted America. Exactly what we used to have."

"Yeah, but, Japan is fine. It's good here." Anzu gestured to Yuugi. "I have friends here. Husband! I meant husband." She winced. "Uh, everything is here."

Now Atem went over to stand by Masika. "Masika."

"I know what my light still wants," she simply said to him. "I could not stay silent."

"No, really, it was just a moment guys. Sorry." Anzu fidgeted with her hands. "Great game so far. You are really good at it, Hikaru."

"Thanks?" Hikaru looked confused. "We should do something else." He made a special move, and ended the game. He got down from the chair and followed Silhouette to a different corner.

///Yuugi: I can't believe I left myself on all the same squares. There was one on a different square, but he nabbed it. Atem, isn't it safe to end this now?///

///Atem: End what? Your game already ended.///

///Yuugi: The marriage you declared to keep them safe.///

///Atem: If you had asked before the children were discovered in another dimension and gods interfered again? Perhaps, although I doubt it. Just because no one was bothering this world, doesn't mean Set wouldn't go after them because we thought it was over. They are safer this way, and nothing changes. Especially now, you have Hikaru back. I doubt Anzu would run off to America again, Yuugi. I don't think her problem is she wants to leave.///

///Yuugi: She looked so sad. I just want her to be happy.///

///Atem: The problem was, that someone was screwing with her life. Don't listen to Masika.///

////Yuugi: Masika knows her light side, Atem, just like you know me. The Ethereal form of me, he lived in America with her. Maybe that's what I should have done?///

///Atem: These children called Japanese, 'Gibberish'. They wouldn't say that if the other you had been from Japan and moved to America. The 'Uncle Joey' has no accent, and neither does Mai. Now is not the time for life altering decisions, we are trying to get the children back to the dimension they belong in, not to mention attract Zorc so that we can make a deal to save Silhouette's soul. We can't risk losing everything that we've gained, Yuugi.///

///Yuugi: Sorry. One life altering thing at a time. Still? I think we should address it later.///

///Atem: Moving to a country we have no language skills in, or undeclaring marriage? Do not bog yourself down. You only get two days with him, and day one is getting closer to being over.///

///Yuugi: Time moves so fast. You're right. Put Anzu out of my mind, I need to concentrate on what I can do. Supper will be coming. Fast food again?///

///Atem: We should let Anzu and Masika handle it. Having fast food for every meal isn't going to be the best, and I'm sure they didn't eat it everyday anyhow.///

///Yuugi: I know but they've already spotted so many differences. The more this feels like home, the better chances they can move here easier.///

///Atem: Yuugi, I think your presence when the other one is gone, is enough to make Hikaru want to stay. You, Anzu, and Masika's presence probably make them feel more at home than you think. Don't stress about what we can't change, or what we don't know. Just make them feel at home.///

Afterlife . . .

"Ohh. Come onnnn." Téa was really trying. "It's not gonna be too bad? Atem's a nice guy."

Masika wasn't bending. "Yes. He could be a good friend. We made great progress." She crossed her arms. "Six years ago."

"So? He already passed on."

Téa wasn't getting any kind of solution to the marriage problem. She wanted to go to the Land of Gods with Yugi when it was time. Just being in the tacky wedding chapel and not doing anything else, or going anywhere else? Yeah, she was more than ready to say 'I do' again. But, Masika? "Do you really want here to be your eternity?"

Masika still didn't bend. "It's not torture. It's boring, but it's nothing big. It's not being caught in the Shadow Realm or nothing."

"No using that, you forgave him for that," Téa pointed out. "Use something else."

"Why do I pass on, and at the time I should be finding peace? I am being forced into this stupid decision?" she asked. "Even he said it. This is not ancient Egypt. I am my own person. I have my own say. I've dealt with my own life. I lived six years longer and enjoyed it."

"Great. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed living." Téa's voice was thick. "What's that got to do with why you can't just agree with some words of 'I do'? Just? Marriage was just the person taking care of you anyhow back then, so you can't give me anything about missing love." Téa crossed her arms. "There's got to be a way to make you bend at least slightly? Do you want the kids to just wait here for eternity with us, instead of going with them? I don't want to really date Yugi whenever he finally gets a chance to come see me."

"Why are you jumping to reasoning marriage to me now?" Masika questioned.

"Because I've been talking for days about even getting you to consider a date! I might as well just jump to that since you aren't giving anything a chance." Téa groaned. "Masika. Please."

"I don't . . ." Masika shook her head. "It was first going to be his and Bakura's. Then, I figured out the children were just gods with hardly any power. They ended up being wonderful children. And now? It really was ours. Not Bakura's and his. His."

"I know it feels like a betrayal," Téa reasoned with her. "I'm sure Atem isn't happy about it either. But, like, we'll eventually see them again, and . . . it'll work out."

"It'll work out." Masika shook her head. "Bakura is not fond of Atem. He was mad enough that I was listening to him about marriage. I imagine he would not be thrilled if we ever did do the friend hangout thing. But?" She looked at her hands. "The son of the man, who defiled his village, killed everyone, and put their souls in such a terrible state that they cursed him. I'm not just getting along and playing a game with him, I had his child! I had his daughter. I had the Pharaoh's daughter. It wasn't a god. It wasn't from some fusion of the three of us. It is solidly Atems. Do you get that?"

" . . .yeah, I get that." Téa could tell that hurt her. Even if Bakura wasn't around, she was still very loyal to him. Even Téa had some pangs of allegiance that was hard to dismiss. He had done so much for them. But? "I can be Bakura's friend, but I can be Yugi's wife. You can be his friend, and still be Atem's wife."

"Which Bakura? The sweet one? The one that stayed behind?" Masika wasn't falling for that. "I am sure if I find the spirit of Bakura and I say 'Oh, by the way, it turns out that I actually did bear Atem's child. Oh, in fact? I sort of raised her as mine for six years. Because I did. We did! Even Yugi did. They didn't act like bratty gods, they . . ." She went quiet. "They were precious. They were ours." She hugged herself. "Heba felt like mine too. But, she wasn't. Silhouette though."

"Silhouette had been." Yeah. "I know. Hi and Sil was ours. Is ours. I mean, one day we'll be together again. Until then? I'd really . . . appreciate it . . . if you at the very least . . . try a date?" Téa was trying. "Please?"

" . . ."

"Look, our eternity is gonna be somewhere. It's either gonna be here, or it's gonna be over there with . . ." It was tough. "I want to be with Yugi. I really do. A date. A simple date. I'm sure Atem's not going to try anything."

"Right. I don't think you can summon the Shadow Realm here." She was still rebelling. "What if he wants to play a game? What if he wants to play a dangerous game? When he wants something, he gets it. He is Pharaoh, he always gets it. I agreed to one simple game, and I found myself trapped."

Okay. "Okay, what if he promises not to make any deals during it? No winner or loser thing. If Atem promises it, especially to Yugi, he'll keep it."

"If he promises no deals will be made in any game he tries to play." She nodded. "Fine."

Oh, thank goodness!

"Just, a date. Nothing else. And no deals from him on the date."

Yes! Once Yugi came back, she'd finallly have some good news.