Title;; Helping Hand

Fandom;; Yu-Gi-Oh!

Character(s)/Pairing(s);; Yugi and Yami. And, no. Not the pairing. Don't even try me.

Summary;; When Yugi falls asleep during an exam, it's only common courtesy for Yami to step in to help... right?

Disclaimer;; I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!. Peace out.

Insomnia wasn't something that he had to worry about, but, with the lack of sleep he'd gotten the previous night, it might have well as been.

Dull spring sunlight droned through the open windows of Classroom B, helping the artificial lighting to illuminate the learning environment. A gentle breeze swayed through the air and through the screen on the opposite side of the ajar glass, carrying with it the smell of the outdoors and the sound of nature's symphony. Really, it was quite the pleasant day, perhaps a bit of a chill in the air but nothing truly worth complaining about. It was a shame, too. With the test before them and the lead pencils digging dangerously into white sheets laid out on every desk there wasn't time to enjoy the good weather. First time within the week that it had been this nice out, actually.

Sitting towards the back of the classroom, wind whipping his oddly shaped hair into a storm, was a rather short young man who was hardly two thirds done with the rather simple history test he was assigned. Eyes drooping with fatigue and head rolling to and fro ever so slightly in his futile battle against sleep, it was obvious that someone hadn't gone to bed early enough to possibly be prepared for the questions that would so largely impact his grade. The dirty blond sitting in the seat beside him had enough concern for his health to glance over with worry every so often and there was no doubt in the particular teen's mind that, soon, three worried pairs of eyes would be landed on him as a flurry of questions concerning his welfare would be thrown in his general direction. Of course, this was just a faint buzz of an annoyance in the back of his mind. He was still struggling to actually focus his mind in order to produce coherent thoughts.

Yugi had prayed to whatever higher being that might have been up there that the hour or two of sleep that he'd slipped into the night-time hours would be enough to get him through the day and whatever it had in store for him. Sadly, this didn't appear to be the case. He'd hardly understood half the questions, being reduced to having to guess for a large majority just to combat the risk of falling asleep before he could finish at all; better having a one and four chance on multiple choice than no chance at all with it blank. And, while he was by no means smart, he'd put a decent amount of studying into this particular exam. If only he could focus long enough for all of that effort to be put to good use. And it wasn't even his own fault that he'd stayed up so long. If anything, it was Yami's, though the exact reason why it was the ancient spirit to blame wasn't exactly coming to him at that moment. He'd have to muse over that later.

Or, at least, these were what said ancient spirit was picking up from his Aibou through their link.

At this point in time, Yami had been doing everything he could to try to keep his less experienced half awake long enough to finish and turn in the test that had been placed before him nearly fifteen minutes ago. While his methods – shooting answers the other's way, screaming through their link, et cetera, et cetera – had proven effectual at first, slumber was a difficult foe to defeat and seemed to be winning out anyway. If anything, the violet hued male was half asleep were he sat, hardly even holding the pencil in his grip, much less writing out answers. The sad truth was, yes. It was very much his fault his vessel was in such a pathetic state. It was the least he could do to try and aid him through such a time as this.

It didn't take long before Yugi was snoring away and the former-Pharaoh was practically out of options. Crossing his metaphysical fingers and hoping that he wouldn't kill him for this stunt later, he went about taking over their shared body, careful as not to awake the boy's soul or catch anyone's attention with the Millennium Puzzle's fierce glow, before taking the paper in his own hands and looking over everything already written down. It took a great deal of effort not to sigh in disappointment at what was presented before him. Thank Ra the eraser on the mechanical pencil beside his hand had barely been used before this – it certainly was about to be used now. Erasing every answer he was positive was wrong and writing in the correct answer, he idly thought about how he'd much rather be in his Soul Room right about now. Of course, this had to be done. Punishment for his sins, perhaps?

Flipping the eggshell paper over and examining the black words printed on it, the words "ancient Egypt" caught his attention. Instantly, his curiosity flared. An essay of sorts, he learned, was what the request was. Pick one of the following civilizations they'd been studying and write up a brief overview of customs, lifestyles, and anything else the student felt was important to add.

"Who would possibly know more about ancient Egypt than one of its very own Pharaohs…?" the tri-colored haired spirit mused aloud, the slightest bit of a smirk playing on the corner of his mouth. And, while he'd yet to regain most of his memories of his past life, he was fairly certain that what he did remember would be accurate enough to get all of the points the essay provided. Maybe his hikari wouldn't hate him so much after all after all was said and done; if anything, his Aibou would be pleased that he had an actual witness to write about the experience. Extra credit seemed possible for all of two seconds, as well, before the thought was banished as soon as it was conceived.

None the less, Yami set about writing down everything he could possibly remember, hoping his sloppy writing could pass off for Yugi's in the end.

…

It was a little odd, surely, being awoken by a voice within the puzzle hung around his neck and the test vanished as if by thin air. Not that said voice refusing to tell him what had transpired during his untimely slumber helped at all. Of course, by now, Yugi was almost used to these sort of things and was hardly even surprised when the entire exam blew over like a bad hangover within the tug of war of thoughts within his mind. He'd simply have to worry about said test when it was returned to him to following day or day after, though he was already crossing his fingers and hoping he didn't get too many points taken off for all of the problems he hadn't the chance to finish due to a late night prior to it.

And the spoken date rolled around sooner than seemed possible, the event successfully forced to the back of his mind up until that point in time. Surely, his grades were bad enough; how much lower would they sink with only half the answers on a test written down? Needless to say, it caught him rather off guard when the teacher handed the paper to him and he didn't get anything lower than a "D". In fact, the young man actually complimented him on a job well done, though he did note something about a story of sorts. Baffled, his violet hues scanned over what was in his hands to find nearly every question not only completed, but correct. Were those eraser marks? Maybe he really had finished before wandering into the arms of slumber.

Of course, it was upon turning the page to have his hopes crushed. As he did so, a sense of pride from Yami could be felt, though, at first, he couldn't possibly fathom why. But, as he looked over the sloppy hand writing that looked to off to be his own, everything suddenly became clear to him. There were no Duel Monsters in Ancient Egypt! Even if they weren't referred to by said name, these supposed "DiaDhanks" were just rip offs of the Duel Disk and the monsters tangible rather than Seto's money raking holograms. Of course, to make a scene in front of everyone scolding the ancient spirit would be disastrous.

Instead, he made a note to visit his Soul Room later and give him a good thwack on the head.

I know the ending is horrible. X'D I know that the entire thing is horrible. But this was something I started writing at school and had to slap together in a short amount of time. For the life of me, I have no idea what drove me to writing this and what made me think it was a good idea to continue. None the less... here it is. The story I started after Baby Steps and thought I finished before finishing Baby Steps. I didn't, I guess. It was funny, remembering, "Oh! I have that one one-shot to post, don't I? Goodness, I'm an idiot." But... yeah. For now, that's really it for this authors note. Again. About two minutes left before school's over.

So... Read and review, I suppose? Hope you all enjoyed~!