Familiarity (Rei no Kaado)

[mugenginga]

Things were falling apart for everyone. That was the simplest way to put it. Yuugi hung his head as Atsuro confirmed what most of the group had been thinking. It had been Abel that had attacked Bakura. Yuugi looked depressed as Atsuro told him that Abel had managed to kill someone yesterday. His head jerked up when Atsuro mentioned "this shopkeeper lady". Considering some of the reactions K1 had held towards Himitsu before, it was too optimistic even for Yuugi to think it had been anyone other than Himitsu. He had to work at not saying anything as Atsuro continued.

Yuugi didn't know the word magatsuhi, so he wasn't sure what to do with that. It was only by inferring he could guess that it was why Bakura had been so out. The cuts had been severe, but they hadn't seemed enough for Bakura's full condition. So it had to do with whatever that magatsuhi was. Yuugi gave a pained nod when Atsuro guessed that Yuugi knew about the wounds meant to make Bakura look like Anpu. Finally, Atsuro trailed off.

Yuugi opened and closed his mouth several times. Usually he was pretty good at things like this. He'd heard a few people call them "friendship speeches” before. Kaiba wasn’t unknown for throwing terms like that around in a derogatory manner. He thought about his own experiences, but if the situation with K1 and Abel possibly being seperate could be compared to anyone, it was Zorc or Dark Malik. The “other K1” probably wouldn’t want to work in a cooperative manner. Yuugi’s eyes flicked towards the alley. Dark Malik had been actively seeking to rid himself of the original personality, too. And... if K1 was a demon to the point of demonic “drugs” effecting him, it wasn’t the same. Demon body, human mind - not the reverse Yuugi knew thanks to Zorc.

“I don’t think Atem thinks its possible to.... I mean... but what do you think, Atsuro-kun? That is... Maybe I’m being naive, or gullible, or anything else I’m sure a lot of people think of me as, but I don’t think its hopeless. It feels like that sometimes, but you have to just keep trying, right? That Garuda thing is a demon, right? So doesn’t that mean K1 has allies among the demons? I don’t mean underlings, I mean actual allies, maybe even friends.”

Yuugi shifted the weight on his feet, “You know Zorc, right? I mean, you said you knew my past... even seeming hopeless, I just can’t accept K1 ever becoming as demonic as that. Even demons aren’t... even if K1 is a demon, he doesn’t have to be evil. Um...”

He couldn’t tell if anything he was saying was having an impact on Atsuro. Yuugi had managed to keep his eye on the taller teenager the whole time. This was important, he had to keep eye contact. Or try to, if Atsuro wasn’t matching it. He’d felt pretty trapped before, but he and his friends had managed the impossible. Was it self-centered to compare Atsuro’s situation to some of his own? Maybe, but Yuugi knew what it was like to be threatened with the loss of a friend. He found his eyes glancing towards the alley. There was a reason he had yet to give Malik an honorific... maybe there was a bit of a grudge there. He refocused on Atsuro and awaited a reaction.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro's expression didn't change as Yuugi continued. In fact, he only looked more depressed as the spiky-haired teen continued on. K1 had allies because of Seth. Nirad was Seth's personal demon, after all. And Nirad had said that it might not be in K1's best interests to keep the K1 side. Maybe Nirad was right. Abel always seemed to be in torment because of some emotions that really didn't have any place with a demonic King of Bel. He still had his human core, and it was driving him insane.

"...He doesn't really have that many demon friends. Maybe Kikuri-Hime, but she's dead now. And Nirad, that Garuda is only helping K1 because Seth ordered him to. And Nirad said it might be better if he fully discarded his human emotions," Atsuro said. He closed his eyes as Yuugi said that K1 didn't have to be evil just because he was a demon.

"...Evil, huh? I... can't really think of things in terms of good and evil anymore. Not after what happened to Keisuke. He did a lot of stupid stuff just because he thought what other people were doing were evil, and he got himself killed for it," Atsuro said. That had been the whole reason he'd given up what he'd been planning to help people in the lockdown. He'd decided not to go along with his plans to take control of all of the demons in the lockdown and give control of them to the Japanese government because his old best friend had been killed by a demon.

Maybe he should have just stuck with his plans anyways. Maybe if he'd stuck with them, he could have convinced K1 to not go with Naoya. It was a long shot, but it was still a possibility. But he hadn't, and now things were the way they were.

[mugenginga]

Oh. It was like that. So the demons thought K1 should discard... they thought Abel should discard K1. He listened as Atsuro told him about Keisuke. It had been a while... since he'd first come to the Island, but he remembered K1 mentioned Keisuke. The guy Midori had liked and he'd slipped up about. Yuugi's eyes were full of sympathy. Evil might have been too strong a word. Pegasus and Malik had both been twisted, but not evil. He couldn't come up with a better term for it, though.

"What do you want to do, Atsuro-kun? I can't give up on him, but... I don't think many people would blame you if you did," Yuugi glanced away, "Maybe Kaiba-kun does have a point, maybe I'm too trusting. I mean... I'm pretty sure my friends thought I was nuts for thinking of him as a friend after Death-T..."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Death-T? That was news to Atsuro. As far as he knew, this Yuugi was from the anime. It looked like he'd been wrong. Well, his knowledge still applied. He put a hand on his forehead.

"I dunno. To be honest, I'm about at the end of my rope. But I promised K1 that I'd stick with him no matter what..." Atsuro said. "But I promised K1, not Abel. If he fully lost K1, I'd probably leave on the spot. Don't really know where I'd go after that. And if he fully lost K1, he'd probably just kill me on the spot anyways."

He slid down into a sitting position. "I guess the best we can do is try to support his human side. To try to keep K1 from being lost. I don't know how successful we can be at that. But we can try at least... though it really depends more on Seth."

Seth. Atsuro couldn't help but feel like Seth had stolen what was left of K1. Abel had killed K1, Seth had taken K1's ghost for himself. It was a horrible, jealous thought but it was how Atsuro was starting to feel about the situation. K1 hadn't even liked Seth before from what they'd said about their time on the island, and yet by some horrible coincidence Seth had ended up as K1's one link to his humanity. Seth, the guy K1 had only really known for a week before he came back to their world. Dammit, it wasn't right....

[mugenginga]

Yuugi didn't say anything as Atsuro responded. Kill Atsuro on the spot, it was an awful idea. But... Himitsu and Bakura. Maybe the latter hadn't provoked it, maybe Anpu had. But he was sure the most Himitsu would have done was teased him a bit. Maybe not respected his "position"... that probably would have been enough. He looked a bit startled as Atsuro sat down. He thought there was something being unsaid there... but what?

"I'm not really sure what to do, either. I want to think K1-kun still thinks of me as a friend, but we did part on somewhat bad terms before... Should I tell Malik we're done? I'm not sure he's going to come out unless someone gets him."

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro stood up again and nodded. "Yeah, go ahead and go get him"

He felt bad about unloading all of this on Yuugi. He didn't really have anyone else to talk to. Maybe Seth, but these weren't the kind of things he wanted to talk about around K1... and plus, a lot of Atsuro's personal grievances were with Seth himself.

He looked toward Yuugi. There was always the possibility that Abel was still holding a grudge about that wallet thing. K1 didn't tend to hold grudges, but Abel did. They could just hope for the best at this point.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi nodded and turned around. He leaned into the alley. He couldn't see Malik. Well, the other teenager had said he'd leave them alone. He cleared his throat.

"Malik, you're still there right?"

"Are you done talking?"

Yuugi jumped a bit as Malik stepped out from behind a trashbin. He nodded, "Yeah, we should head back to the Apartments. I don't want to miss Atem getting home."

Malik nodded and headed out of the alley. He noted something in his head. Yuugi wasn't one to skimp on honorifics. Even his sister received a polite "-san" from the teenager. The only person he knew for sure that didn't receive one was him. That was justifiable. However, there had been no antagonistic relationship between Yuugi and the Pharaoh. He looked over at Atsuro and gave a nod as he followed Yuugi out of the alley. Anzu. That girl hadn't been given an honorific either. Was that possible, then?

"Sorry about the wait, Atsuro-kun. We should go," Yuugi gave a small smile.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro hadn't seen where Malik had slipped to, and while he didn't jump when Malik came out, he did blink a couple times. Where had the guy been hiding? He said nothing as Malik and Yuugi exited the alley and came out next to him, though. In fact, he'd been planning on just following them when Yuugi had addressed him. He nodded.

"Yeah, let's get going," Atsuro said. He'd managed to work himself into a depression with that conversation he'd had with Yuugi earlier. Well, it had been something he needed to get off his chest, but now he just felt worse about things.