Lily: Welcome, fellows, to the so awaited sequel to my most famous YY/Y story!! The sequel to Shades of a soul!! Okay, so I'm sorry I didn't post this soon --;; The fact is that I didn't have many ideas for this story, and I didn't want to have an ordinary sequel to a great fic like Soas. But FINALLY I've sorted my mind for a good plot, and this fic has been born!! I hope you fellows like it!! ^^

Iris: And that Lily actually updates this as quickly as Soas.

Lily: O.o Now THAT'S ask too much... ^^;; Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: Dudes, I STILL don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, when will you learn that?? --;;

Warning: This fic contains shounen ai, that meaning boyxboy love. Don't like it? Simply, don't read it!! The couple is Yugi/Yami, so you've been warned. There's Bakura/Ryou, (Yami)Malik/(Malik)Ishtar and.... another pairing I'm not telling =P. Also, Anzu bashing (duh =P) and mild Rebecca bashing.

Keys: "__" is talking, '__' is thinking, and Italic is dream sequence

Note: It is MORE than imperative that you read both Shades of a soul and Even in death before reading this one fic. Allusions to both fics will be made often, since this IS a sequel after all. So please, take your time reading THOSE fics before coming back to this one. ^_^ Thank you

~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~

Shadowed Reminiscences - [ Act I ]

By: Lily Maxwell

~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~:^:~

He looked from one side to another, completely emerged in the shadows. However, he was not afraid, as many would be if they were in his situation. No. He was rather calm, and with calm amethyst eyes scanning the surroundings. Slowly, he sat down on the non-existent floor and waited for whatever was going to meet him at the time.

It was not an unusual thing for him. It was like... a visiting routine he had. He had this connection with... hmm, people who did not belong to this world anymore. No, it wasn't like he 'saw dead people', it just... happened in his dreams. Usually, it were teens, people who did not have enough peace to walk away.

But this one was different. He knew it, because it was slightly different from the other ones. He got this chilling feeling, and his body was cold and shaking. He took one more glance around, eyes now frenetic and anxious.

Suddenly, a pair of sapphire eyes appeared in the mist of darkness, and he immediately locked glances with them. They looked sad, lost and glassy. Also, he could vaguely see twinkling tears coming from the two blue eyes. Just as sudden as the eyes appeared, the scenery around him changed.

He stood up, gazing up at the moon that now hung clearly in the sky, and looked around, seeing shadows of things he couldn't make out what exactly they were. Looking in the direction of the eyes, he could not yet make out the face of the person, but just its silhouette. A feminine silhouette.

The girl's (or woman's) hair came to her waist in gentle waves. She was hugging herself, and one hand momentarily went up to brush her bangs from her left eye, that kept coming and covering it. The only things he could really make out were still the eyes. Two grayish-blue eyes who looked at him with hopelessness.

Slowly and gracefully, she walked up to him, and looked down into his own eyes. He felt uncomfortable under he gaze, but tried by all matters not to show it, or not to voice anything. The silence seemed to be begging to be kept. Out of blue, she touched his cheek and murmured something. The tears glimmered in the moonlight.

He just couldn't make out her words...

~^:^~

He bolted up in his bed, shaking and blinking nervously. Yugi felt cold, and he was deadly pale. He couldn't help it really. The dream had him terrified for some unknown reason, and the side of his face was inhumanly cold, as if it was frozen. He touched his cheek and pulled the blanked closer to him in an attempt to make the cold melt away, leaning against backboard of his bed. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply before opening them again.

He lazily began to look around the room, not recognizing it as his place at the Kame Game Shop. He smiled as he remembered where exactly he was, and what he was doing there. Because he was nowhere else than Yami's house, in the room that the taller teen had already claimed as 'Yugi's'.

Last night he had invited the entire group to watch some movies, since his parents were again out of town and he didn't want to be alone at all. They watched the movies until it was very late, and instead of going back home with a ride by Seto, Yugi decided to call in his grandfather and inform him he was staying at Yami's. Sugoroku was just happy for his grandson's happiness and willingly let him stay.

It wasn't the first time though. Yami was usually too lonely in that big house of his, and sometimes his friends couldn't come over to keep company, the exact opposite of Yugi, who always had time to spend with his love. And Yami loved him even more for that (A/N: And here comes mushy talk... nyah, sorry XD).

Looking out of the window, Yugi blinked as he saw it was still dark outside. Gazing over to the watch near his bed, Yugi saw it was past 8 AM, so it wasn't supposed to be dark at all. Getting up, Yugi slowly made his way to the big window (it was almost his size) and his eyes widened.

It was snowing!!

Yugi smiled widely and for a moment he forgot about the dream, attention fully and completely on the scenery outside. Even though they were in December and he was in Winter Break, he hadn't experienced any snow day in Domino City since the new cold season began.

Suddenly, the soft click of the doorknob being turned caught Yugi's attention, and he looked up to the new room's occupant. He smiled warmly at the person, then adverted his attention back to the window, fingers tracing imaginary patterns on the glass. He giggled.

"I can't believe in it, Yami! It's finally snowing! I love the snow!" he practically squealed, and heard the soft chuckle coming from behind him, strong arms wrapping themselves around his waist and chest. A warm breath tickled the side of his face, making Yugi giggle again.

"I noticed, Yugi." The deep voice of Yami spoke silently next to Yugi's ear. The shorter teen moved his hand over to Yami's, which was placed by his heart, and felt Yami's breath take a sudden change. His lover then rubbed the side of his face against his, soon making him turn around.

Yugi blinked confusedly up at crimson eyes, which silently scanned his own amethyst eyes for an answer. His left arm still circled around Yugi's waist, his left hand touched both sides of Yugi's face, with the back of his hand and his palm. Yugi leaned in the touch, but blinked more when Yami frowned.

"What is it?" he asked curiously, and Yami just narrowed his eyes.

"You're awfully cold, Yugi." He stated, and Yugi's eyes showed understanding, before he leaned closer to Yami, keeping his face buried against his chest. Yami, in response, just hugged him tighter. "You should go back to bed, hikari. That's not normal, and I don't want you to stand out in such a cold day like this if you're already this cold in the morning." He said, and Yugi sighed.

"I... I had... this dream, Yami." He said in nothing more than a whisper, but the environment was quiet enough for Yami to hear his velvety voice. Yami sighed deeply, knowing what it meant. "It was strange though..."

"How?" he asked, and Yugi shook his head barely in response.

"I don't know... it... scared me." he said, and Yami backed him away enough to look into his face. He held an extremely worried glance.

"Scared you? You don't mean.... Yugi, you can't get hurt, can you?" he said, his voice trembling slightly at the remote idea of Yugi being in danger and he being unable to do a thing to help. Yugi shook his head again and smiled up at him.

"No, it's not that... It's just a different dream from the others.... It's like it's trying to... like it's trying to give me a message." He frowned. "I just don't get what it is." Yami sighed again, then leaned over and placed a kiss on his forehead. Looking down at the lovely violet gaze of his lover, he smiled warmly at him.

"Don't worry, Yugi. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon." He frowned a little. "But I'll be asking for you, Mr. Mutou, to be sleeping in my room next time, so then I'll be able to comfort you when you wake up." He said, then placed an innocent kiss against Yugi's lips. Yugi leaned in the touch, and hugged Yami before they finally let go of each other.

"If you say so, Yami." He winked and giggled. Yami just smiled back.

"Oh, and by the way..." Yami continued, before Yugi could step totally out of the room. "... I'll be doing some things in here before going out, so if you want to leave without me you can, since it looks like you love the snow so much." He said, and surely wasn't expecting the little one practically jumping on him, almost bringing the both of them to the ground.

"Arigatou gozaimasu, Mi-chan!!" Yugi said while rubbing his face against Yami's chest, making the taller one laugh. When Yugi let go of him, he left the room so quickly you could only see a blur of black, magenta and blue. Which only made Yami laugh harder.

Yami, still in his gray pajamas, rubbed what was left of his sleep from his eyes, smiling absentmindedly at the snow that fell outside. He didn't like cold days all that much... But, like what happened to the rainy days, Yami ended up loving cold days... and snow, for that matter. All because of Yugi.

He touched the glass but withdrew his hand almost immediately. It was cold. Really cold. He shivered unconsciously. It was still too cold for him.

Muttering, and having a bad feeling tugging and tormenting his mind, Yami made his way out of Yugi's room, to settle his things before leaving to meet Yugi.

~^:^~

Yugi giggled, watching as the snow melted in his gloved hand, finding everything ever so amusing. He had always loved the snow, and that was a fact that would probably never change.

He was sitting on a bench at the park, watching as people walked hurriedly and rubbed their hands together, hugging themselves and doing everything they could to keep themselves warm. The sky was darkened, but Yugi didn't mind it. He just closed his eyes and felt the snow tickling him, giggling even now and then.

He looked at the path where he was supposed to go... The 'Sacred place' he and Yami loved so much. Where some people felt uneasy and scared, he and Yami felt warmth and familiarity, the ever strong wind that seemed to be eternal in the surroundings being a lullaby to time, its melody almost making everything stop around them, and giving the two lovers the impression they were the only ones in the world, the spirits accepting their company since Yugi had such a pure soul and Yami's was not once tainted in any way.

Yugi stood up and hurried to the path, but didn't notice as someone as passing in his way, and the two of them ended up bumping into each other.

"Gomen nasai!" Yugi called immediately, standing up. "I wasn't looking where I was... going..." Yugi looked at the person, and was completely shocked.

"Yugi?" the sweet voice called, looking up and meeting Yugi's violet gaze with its chocolate brown eyes. Eyes in which Yugi saw himself, not too long ago, bringing back old memories and the familiar feeling of hurt.

"S-Shizuka?!" he said, and the girl stood up, wiping away some of the snow on her clothes with barely any luck, looking at Yugi with some glow in her eyes. It seemed like a miracle had just happened to her.

Yugi, on the other hand, was backing away from her, shaking his head in denial, tears falling down his cheeks against his free will. It couldn't be happening... it had to be some kind of dream... or nightmare. But when he bumped his back against someone else, another voice made that statement don't seem true at all.

"Yugi? Is that really you??" the deep feminine voice asked, and he turned around to meet a single gray eye, and very light-chestnut hair. He almost shivered involuntarily. That voice... it was one which haunted him for so long.

"No... this isn't real... you..." was all he could manage to say before breaking into a run, away from the two confused girls, who looked at each other worriedly.

Yugi ran into his sacred place, tears now falling down freely down his face, the freezing wind almost freezing them in place. Yugi furiously wiped them away to no use, because they kept falling helplessly.

'Why... why now? WHY?!' he called in his mind, the world blind around him, just the whistling of the wind breaking the painful silence. He did not acknowledge the sound of footsteps against the snow into he bumped into the person, and this time ended up falling semi-on top of them.

He didn't have time to panic though.

"Yugi?" he brought his tearstained face up and stared into the marvelously caring crimson eyes he just needed to meet at the moment, the voice enveloping him and the concern making Yugi's brain take a slight pause before being able to proceed any action. He desperately wrapped his arms against the person's middle, crying openly and furiously against their chest.

Yami was confused and terrified, wanting badly to know what was going on. With much difficulty, he moved a little until he was leaning against one of the trees' trunks, arms around Yugi's shoulders while this one sat between his legs and cried to no end, making Yami nervous and apprehensive.

Yugi mumbled something against his chest that Yami couldn't make out.

"What is it, Yugi?" he asked, the wind muffling his words even more, looking more vicious than ever, almost as if it was angry for Yugi's tears. Yugi backed up a little and looked up at Yami, who quickly and gently wiped away the salty moisture from the flawless porcelain skin.

"They're here, Yami... they're here..." was all he said, before he buried his face against Yami's chest once again, shoulders shaking, strong arms wrapped tightly around him in a futile attempt to calm him down.

[ To be continued... ]

Lily: oohhh... as mysterious as its predecessor...

Iris: Or maybe you're just being a bitch and hiding too much information...

Lily: ¬¬;; I resent that...

Iris: *snickers*

Lily: --;; Anyway, if you guys want the next chapter please review, okay? Even though I have a lot of other stories to continue, I promise I'll try to continue this as fast as I did with Shades of a soul, ok? ^_^ See you guys in a near future!

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!! ^_^