What Is This 'Storm?

by ll Kairi ll

What exactly is a storm? Well, in Yami's mind, it's fire shooting down from Heaven, the Earth crumbling and demons taking over. This is Yami's first rain storm and he isn't very fond of it. With the help of Yugi, Yami comes to understand that this storm is part of nature. Or is it? ONE-SHOT! Dedicated to FallingNight01 :

Hey! It's been a while since I've last done a short story, so here I am!

Lisa: Don't flatter yourself, hikari. You also did this for writers block.

…Not answering that. But, this is just something I thought up. Someone gave me the idea for this story and I would like to thank her! I dedicate this story to FallingNight01. Now, on with the story!

"Yami talk"

/Yugi talking in his head to Yami/

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!

What Is This 'Storm'?

"Thank you for supper, Jii-chan; it was delicious!" Yugi said as he scraped the remaining food off of his plate and into the trashcan. He set his plate into the sink to get washed.

Grandpa smiled as he was putting the leftover chicken into a container and into the fridge. "You're welcome. I worked very hard for this meal, slaving over the stove for hours on end." He joked, using good humor. He chuckled to himself.

Yugi smiled and turned to face the elderly man, "Did you want any help with dishes?"

"No no, you go on upstairs and get your homework done," he said with a wave of his hand. "I'll put the rest of the food up and do dishes."

"You sure?" Yugi bit his lip and leaned against the counter, "I don't mind helping."

Grandpa nodded his head, "Go do your homework. I'll be fine; it's not like there's hundreds of dishes to do." There were only two plates, two cups, two knives and forks, and a pot and pan to be washed. Really, it didn't take that many people to wash all of this stuff.

"Alright… But, you know where to find me if you need me," Yugi finally said, feeling bad that he was leaving his grandfather down here to do the dishes. After receiving one of those looks from the other, a look that said must-we-do-this-again, Yugi turned around and exited the kitchen. He went through the living room to get to the stairs before starting them up.

As the young teen started walking up the steps, his darker half, Yami as was his adopted name, appeared floating beside him. Even though he was transparent, Yugi was the only one who could see him, which had its ups and downs. "What're you doing, aibou?" He asked, happy that he was finally out of his prison, otherwise known as the Millennium Puzzle.

/About to go do homework./ Yugi replied through their mind connection. /What're you doing?/ He asked and raised an eyebrow while smiling.

Yami groaned in an unnatural way. "More homework?" He asked, hating that word, but dreading what was to come. For an ancient, five thousand year old pharaoh, his patience for homework was very low. He wished the term homework was meant for a time to relax and have nothing to worry about.

/Well, yeah, I get homework every day, remember?/ Yugi made it up the stairs and went to the first bedroom on the left. He entered the room and flipped the light switch on to brighten the pitch black room. Even though it was ten till eight, the sun had already sunk below the houses and was gone until morning the next day. Instead of the sun filling the sky, the clouds were. When he went over to his desk to drop his bag down, he peaked out his window and noticed more clouds were out than usual. 'Huh, must be having some sort of storm coming.' He thought. It wasn't every day that Domino got rain, but when it did, you knew for a fact to either have an umbrella with you. The clouds were twice the normal size and were darker than normal.

Yami laid on his partner's bed and crossed his arms behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. He looked to be relaxed by his posture. In an almost pouting like tone, he mumbled, "Your teachers need to stop giving you homework."

Yugi looked away from his window and took a seat down at his desk. He pulled out his math and science text books from his bag and set them down on a part of the table that wasn't being used. He thought to his yami through their link and had an amused tone to his thoughts, /And why is that? They only give this much work because they want us to learn and be ready for the future. Yes I hate all of this work, but I need it./ He fished for a pencil from his bag –finding one at the very bottom- before dropping his bag onto the floor for more room. He then opened up his science book first. He always saved the worst subject for last; if he did it first, he'd fall asleep trying to do it and then he'd get behind.

"Because…" Yami said.

/Because why?/

Yami frowned as he tried to come up with a reasonable answer. He looked over to his partner who was already busy scribbling down answers on a separate piece of paper that he pulled from his book. 'Because…. You have more important things to do.' He lamely said.

Yugi paused in his writing and looked over to meet his yami's gaze with a raised eyebrow. Out loud, he asked, "What's more important than homework?" He had a joking sense about him but he was curious on what the answer was.

The spirit of the puzzle sat on the bed. "I don't know… something that is not school related?" That made his partner chuckle lightly in which caused him to pout. 'What is so funny?' He asked and crossed his arms against his chest, a little defensively.

"Nothing, mou hitori no boku." Was all Yugi said and returned back to his work.

But of course it wasn't nothing to Yami, who was still waiting for an answer. "C'mon, aibou, what is so funny?"

Before he could answer, the small room filled up with a blinding white light that you could only make out the framework of the objects in the room, and a loud crackle was heard above, sounding like a whip being flung in the air. A couple of seconds from the crackle, a loud boom filled the air and a small vibration shook the house.

Yugi looked over to his window, unaffected by the sudden noise. 'I guess it's about to start raining.' He thought and subconsciously bit the end of his pencil.

However, one being in the room was very affected by the loud noises. Alarmed, he jumped to his feet and almost demanded, "What was that?" His posture had gone stiff and his eyes narrowed into thin slits. He looked towards the window, knowing the light had shown from there.

"What was what?" Yugi curiously asked, having zoned out for a second or two.

"That noise…" He answered. Cautiously, he stalked over to the window and leaned against the wall. With his side pressed up against the wall, he peered out the window to see what was going on. "What was that strange light?!"

"You mean the lightening?"

"No, the light that filled the room." He frowned and his eyes searched the deserted streets. "And the strange noise that followed straight after. It was like this booming noise…" He turned to his lighter half and when he got a blank but amused look, Yami reenacted the noise. "BOOM! That's what it did."

Another flash of lightening lit up the room, followed by some more thunder. This caused the pharaoh to jump a foot into the air, startled.

Yugi stifled a laugh by pretending to cough. "That's just lightning and thunder, Yami. It means there is a storm taking place."

Yami didn't seem to believe him though. "No, that noise couldn't be because of this 'storm'. These sounds and light, they're a warning." He had such conviction in his voice, almost sounding like he was a hundred percent sure he was right.

"A warning? For what?" Man was it hard for him to keep a straight face. He felt bad that he was sitting here, trying to play cool and keep from laughing while his other self was getting worked up over nothing. But, you had to have some fun when it came to his yami.

"I don't know…" The pharaoh chewed his inner lip, a habit he had picked up from Yugi and couldn't stop. "But someone must be coming. Probably because they heard the god cards were in your possession would be my bet." He glanced out the window again just as another boom sounded, this time having a sister. He jumped again, not used to the noise.

Yami glanced back over to his partner, his face scrunching up as he over thought the situation.

"Yami," Yugi said, finally able to speak without needing to hold back his laughter. He watched from his seat as his yami started to pace the room. "No one is coming; it's just a storm. This happens all the time."

But he wasn't paying attention. Instead, he started to mumble to himself on what to do to keep his Light safe. It was always hard to think of a plan when you didn't really know who you were up against. He kept pacing, not realizing his partner was calling out to him.

After about the seventh 'Yami', Yugi gave an exasperated sigh and rose from his chair. He followed after his dark and grabbed his shoulder. Being that they were two of a whole, his hand didn't go through like it should have. Instead, his hand remained on Yami's shoulder like he wasn't a ghost.

"Yami," Yugi had to force the spirit to stop moving and look at him. But he wasn't given time to say more as Yami did stop and he turned around. He took his hikari by both of his shoulders and stared deep into the amethyst color of his eyes. His own were a little glazed over from thinking as he continued to plan.

"Yugi, switch with me," He suddenly said, surprising his partner.

It took a moment before what Yami said registered in Yugi's mind. When it did, Yugi stared at him with a blank look, "W-what?"

"Switch with me," he repeated. "We don't know what-," Another loud boom of thunder rolled over the house. "—we're up against. I have to make sure you are safe. So our best bet is if we switch places." His explanation would have seemed valid if it were some other, life threatening situation.

Just as he finished his mini speech, a light pitter-patter sounded on the roof and the window, making the spirit look up. His eyes narrowed even more than before, giving the feline eyes a name of disgrace.

"They're here," His voice dropped an octave and his body was tense. He released his partner to stalk back over to the window. Pulling back the curtains for a better view of the whole street, he glared at the outside world that was overthrown with the darkness otherwise known as night.

Yugi suppressed a sigh and patiently stated, "Yami, listen to me. You got it all wr-," He was cut off once again by his yami letting the curtains fall back and crossing the room to him.

"Yugi, let me take over."

The pitter-patter against the window and the house increased in volume as the raindrops got bigger and more came down from the sky. More lightning crackled overhead.

But, Yugi stood his ground, determined to explain the concept of a storm to his darker half. He was lightly amused by the fact that Yami thought they were being attacked, but he needed to explain now before anything went wrong.

"Yami, Yami, Yami," Said name paused, hearing his name being repeated. He frowned; his Light had done this a couple of times before, each time going into a deep explanation about something. "You need to understand something." Yugi grabbed his other half's hand and guided him towards the window. "What you hear right now, that's rain." He said, talking about the noise that kept hitting the house. They reached their destination and Yugi started to pull the curtains aside for a better look when his yami caught his wrist.

"No, don't!" He slightly panicked.

Yugi smiled and shook the hand off and pulled the curtains back. He tied them so they wouldn't come loose and block the sight before unlocking his window and opening it just a fraction so he could stick his hand out. Sticking his hand out, he let his hand get wet and glanced back at his dark.

"See? There's nothing bad out here. It's just rain." He brought his hand back in and closed the window and locked it once again. He then pointed to the darkened streets that had water running in rivers everywhere. "This is a storm."

Yami, tense as a brick, waiting for something to happen, stiffly asked, "And what is this 'storm' supposed to do?" His thoughts led him on a creative imagination of fire shooting down from the Heavens, the Earth crumbling and shifting while demons emerged from the shadows and tried to consume the people's hearts with darkness.

Yugi giggled at the creativity of his darker half's imagination. He could clearly see what his yami was piecing together.

"Well, the storm is part of nature," He said after composing his laughter. "The clouds soak up a lot of water and when they get too full, they release the water down to the ground. We call it rain." This was what he was taught in grade school. It was simple enough without having to go into details about evaporation and condensation.

Yami, still believing that something bad was going to happen, crossed his arms against his chest. "Then explain this 'lightning' and 'thunder'."

"Certainly," He couldn't help but smirk, knowing that the pharaoh was slowly starting to give in. Going into more advance terms, he explained, "Lightening is just a discharge of atmosphere electricity. It's just electricity going from one cloud to another and sometimes it touches down to earth."

Yami raised a slender eyebrow, "Then why does it make that loud noise?"

Yugi shrugged, "It just does. Now thunder, it's just the disturbance of the air caused by lightning. Now, that's probably the answer to your question."

'So…" Yami glanced back outside as another flash of lightning occurred, causing him to flinch. "Geez," he muttered much too low for his partner to hear. His frustration was showing as he was barely grasping the concept.

Yugi walked back over to his bed and sat down on the edge. "Anything else you wanna know?" He laid back and crossed his arms behind his head for support.

Yami thought about it and starred out the window. He watched as the beads of water raced down the glass and then merged into other droplets. "So… if you were to say, walk outside tight now, you wouldn't get hurt?" He cautiously asked.

"Just depends." His Light answered.

"Oh?"

"If you take something like an umbrella out there or a metal pole, your chances of getting electrocuted is high. But besides that, you should be fine." He stated, starring up at his ceiling while feeling smart.

The pharaoh continued to stare out the window. After a couple of minutes, he asked, "Can… we go outside?"

Yugi smiled at the innocent question but shook his head. "I wish, but I still have homework to do." That caused his other to frown. "Maybe next time though."

'But, I want to go now.'Yami thought with a pout as his eyes searched the darkened streets.

XxxxX

An hour had passed by and Yugi, who had just finished his homework, leaned back in his chair and pushed his arms out in front of him to stretch his cramped muscles. He let out a loud yawn and gently popped his neck.

Yami was still standing by the window, starring out of it with a now fascinated look, glanced over at his partner. "Are you done?" He asked.

"Yup," Yugi said and stood up from his chair. He quickly gathered all of his work pages into one pile and placed them carefully into his bag so that he wouldn't forget them in the morning. He turned his desk lamp off, no longer needing it and zipped his bag up once his papers and books were safely inside. Out of habit, he glanced over to his bedside table where his alarm was perched and checked the time. Ten 'til ten. Finished a little earlier than normal.

The pharaoh had on an excited look and almost acted like he was a seven year old. "Can we go outside now?"

Yugi gave him an odd look before looking out his window to find it still raining. "Why do you wanna go outside for?" He asked and turned around and went to the end of his bed where he left his night clothes the night before.

Yami looked in the other direction, allowing his partner some privacy to change, even though Yugi would only switch his shirts. He was to embarrass to change his pants in front of other people, even if it were someone he trusted most in the world.

"Because…." He mumbled but loud enough for his partner to hear. "I want to…"

Clearly hearing the pout in his dark's voice, the Light slipped his shirt off over his head and pulled his night shirt on. "You just get wet." He told him, not understanding why his other half wanted to go outside. Well, it'll be him, Yugi, who got wet. He threw his dirty shirt into his clothes basket before grabbing his bottoms. He took the puzzle off from around his neck and gently placed it on the bed.

Yami nodded and looked back over. "I know… But… I want to splash… around…" No one would have ever guessed that at one point in time he had ruled over Egypt by the tone of his voice. He just sounded so… kid like. Not in a bad way either. But, after seeing him take on bad guys without flinching and now seeing him pouting because he wanted to play in the rain, you just couldn't put two and two together.

His Light suppressed a giggled as he walked across his room to his door. "Sorry, mou hitori no boku, but it's too late to go play in the rain. I also have school tomorrow and if I stay awake, I'd be exhausted to pay attention during school tomorrow. And it doesn't help that I have a math test either." He scrunched up his nose at the word 'math' before he held up his index finger, indicating that he was excusing his self to leave the room.

The ancient spirit strolled over to the chair his partner forgot to push in and sat down. He couldn't spin around on the spinny chair like he had seen his Light do countless of times, since he was still a spirit. So, he brought one leg up and hugged it against his chest, waiting for his Light to reenter the room.

He had to admit he was a bit disappointed that he couldn't go outside and witness the 'storm' in person. Though, deep in the back of his mind, he was still suspicious about someone still wanting to come and cause harm to his aibou. But besides that, he just wanted to go out and explore the new information he had just learned.

A couple of minutes passed by and Yugi reentered his room, looking ready to pass out any given moment. He closed his door right behind him until there was just a small crack and threw his jeans into the basket where his other dirty clothes were. A yawn escaped out of his mouth as he crossed his room to his bed. He grabbed the puzzle from the end of the bed and hung it on his bed post right next to his pillow like he always did.

"Maybe next time it rains we can go out and play in it." He muttered sleepily. He switched the light off and got into his bed, snuggling down under the covers.

Yami stood up from the chair and went over to sit on the edge of the bed. When he sat, there was no indention of his added weight. "Alright," he told him. "See you in the morning, aibou."

"Night, mou hitori no boku." As soon as the words left his mouth, Yugi closed his eyes and he was out like a light.

The ancient pharaoh stayed where he was for a couple of minutes and started to silently count in his head. He listened to his partner's even breathing and kept counting.

After counting past two hundred, he smiled. Carefully, he closed his own eyes and concentrated really hard. What he was about to do wouldn't work unless all of your concentration was focused. Focusing on the Millennium Puzzle, he switched places with Yugi. He only did this a few times before so he knew for a fact that it would work.

After a minute, he reopened his eyes and found himself starring up at the ceiling instead of down at his partner. In the back of his mind, he felt the gently sleeping presence of Yugi.

Being quiet and stealthy that thief Bakura would have been proud, Yami pulled the covers back from his temporary body. He swung his feet over the side of the bed and grabbed the chain of the puzzle. He wouldn't be able to keep this form unless he had the puzzle on him. After slipping the chain over his head and feeling the familiar weight the puzzle gave, he stood up.

Quickly but quietly, he crossed the room and made it to the door in less than a couple of seconds. He grabbed ahold of the door and pulled it opened, thanking Ra that the hinges didn't squeal or make any sort of noise. Yami snuck into the hallway and down the stairs. He didn't hear or see anything on in the living room, like any lights or people, so he assumed grandpa was already asleep in his room.

After sneaking through the house into the game shop, he made it to the door. The whole room was dark and if it weren't for the window on the door, it would have been impossible to one, navigate the shop to get to the door and two, figure out how to unlock the locks without making too much noise.

The hardest part was the bell. Yami knew that when you open the door, the wood would hit the bell, causing it to chime. He also knew that there was a way to open the door without the bell going off. And that was to open the door really slow.

Holding his breath because it felt like the right thing to do at the moment, Yami unlocked the locks and slowly turned the door handle. Moving as slow as a snail, he inched the door open, eyes glued on the bell, waiting for it to make a loud noise. But, as he slowly and carefully continued to open it, the bell didn't ring.

When the door was wide enough for him to squeeze by, he stopped opening it and squeezed by. He didn't close the door all the way just in case he needed to get back inside.

With the hardest part out of the way, Yami turned around, aware the he was now outside. He was still being protected from the rain by the little cover just above the door so he wasn't getting wet just yet. Gazing around the wet streets, he admired how beautiful the city looked at night. With the rain still pouring down from the sky, the city looked even more amazing with the way the wetness made everything shine when the light from the lamp posts shown down on it.

Being cautious, he closed his eyes and felt the presence of his partner still sound asleep. He reopened his eyes and smiled. His partner would never know about this little trip.

Taking a deep breath and being wary, Yami stuck his hand out of the protection of the dry space. Immediately, he felt the cool wet feeling of droplets fall onto his hand. Curious, he brought his hand out of the rain to his face to examine it. The beads of water he had seen on the window from earlier were present on his hand right now. He watched as the beads raced down his skin before dripping off.

'Huh,' he thought, 'It doesn't burn or hurt!' He still had that suspicion about fire raining down from the Heavens. When Yugi had been busy with his homework still, his imagination led him to believe that the droplets would feel like acid upon touching his skin.

He let his hand fall back down to his side before placing a bare foot out into the rain. Testing the wet concrete that was rough but cool against his skin, he took another step and then another until he was completely out of the protection of the only dry space. Given a couple of seconds, he was completely drenched from head to toe. He stood in the rain, not moving as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Yami' clothes clung to him as he tilted his head up to the dark sky. The rain fell against his face and his smile widened.

'This feels amazing,' he thought, loving the sensation.

Bringing him back to his senses, a dog barked, the sound coming a block or two away.

Yami's head shot in the direction of the noise, his body tensing, reading to fight or flee if the odds were against him.

After a few seconds, his body began to relax and a sigh escaped from him.

"I wonder why Yugi didn't want to come out here."He thought out loud and took a step forward on the sidewalk. "It feels amazing and… refreshing." He smiled and his bare feet splashed in a puddle. Since he was already wet, the splash didn't affect him.

He hoped onto the curb and stuck both arms out on either side of him like he was trying to keep his balance. He started to walk, feeling like this was the best thing in the whole world. To be able to stand outside while it rained, having the water gently hit your skin, cooling you down and making you feel refreshed, it was the best thing ever!

After several feet of walking later, he came across a pole to warn drivers about kids playing in the neighborhood and to watch out for them, and grabbed onto it. He swung on it, feeling carefree. He swung until he was facing in the direction he had just came.

Releasing the pole, Yami jumped into the nearest puddle and he was about to hop to the next when a crackle sounded far off in the distance and the sky lit up; illuminating the neighborhood with blinding light for a second before it disappeared.

He jumped maybe about a foot or two in the air, startled by the sudden lightning attack. His heart was racing in his chest and he feared that it was about to burst out.

"My Ra," He whispered, starring wide-eyed at the sky where he had seen the lightning bold disappear. "That sounded even louder than the others."

Apparently, he wasn't the only one who had heard the noise.

/Yami?/ A very sleepy voice called out to him from the back of his mind.

Said name immediately relaxed at the voice and was able to calm his racing heartbeat. Talking softly through their link, he soothed, "It's alright, aibou; it was just some thunder." He was careful to block out his partner's ability to see with his own eyes through their link. Being gently, he told his Light to go back to sleep.

Yami 'saw' Yugi nod his head and drifted back off to sleep, too tired to get scared and too oblivious to care.

When Yugi was officially sound asleep, the yami sighed in relief. If he got caught taking over his partner's body and misusing it to go outside, there would no doubt he would get into trouble. He didn't want that.

With a regrettable sigh, Yami glanced around him once more. He felt appreciative he got to spend some time outside to witness the beauty of the rain. However, he knew he needed to get inside. He didn't want to completely exhaust his partner out for tomorrow. With one more jump into a puddle and watching the watch splash around, he took his time retreating back to the game shop.

As soon as he reached the shop's door, he gently grabbed ahold of the door to open it cautiously so the bell wouldn't ring. It was slow going, just like before, but he managed to slip through and quietly close the door and lock it back up behind him.

As he was turning around in the dark shop, ready to run up to Yugi's room, the light switch flickered on, momentarily blinking the pharaoh.

"Hmm, I was wondering what you were doing up out of bed." A cheerful, old voice cut through the silence.

Yami blinked a couple of times, trying to readjust his eyes. He knew exactly who had spoken and turned the light on. Mumbling in a soft voice, he said, "Sorry, Jii-chan." With his eyes finally adjusted, he glanced up, finding Solomon leaning against the doorframe decked out in his light blue pajamas.

Catching the deeper voice, Solomon stifled a laugh. "I see that you wanted to see what the rain was like, am I right?" He asked.

Yami nodded, feeling rather small in the situation. He looked down at the ground, noticing that he was making a puddle of water. He was dripping water like crazy. Great, he got caught and what makes matters worse, he was making a mess.

Suddenly, a soft chuckle reached the teen's ears. He quickly glanced up and found the elderly man walking over to him with a towel in his hands. He threw it at Yami, causing it to land on the teen's head before telling him, "Go on upstairs. I'll clean the puddle up. Just make sure you change your clothes."

"A-are you sure?" Yami asked. He was startled that he didn't get into trouble. He took the towel off of his head and clutched it in his hands.

Solomon, catching on to what the pharaoh was getting at, nodded his head. "It's fine. But don't think you're off the hook with Yugi." He winked before shooing the teen out of the shop.

Yami smiled as he left the shop and slipped into the house. He ran up the steps, placing the towel on his head as he went. He was suddenly feeling exhausted after his small trip outside and barely had enough energy to dry his hair when he entered Yugi's room.

Walking further into the room, Yami stripped most of the clothing off until he was just in his boxers and sat down on the bed. He took the puzzle off and placed it back in its spot before he laid down and relieved the control back over to the proper owner.

As soon as he was safely back into the puzzle, Yami closed his eyes as his night came to an end.

XxxxX

Waking him up from a peaceful slumber, Yami heard his partner whine through the link, /YAMI!/ The pharaoh just smirked to himself and closed his eyes once more.

XxxxX

And that's it, folks! I hope you liked it!