Smoke and Mirrors
Worry not, dear readers, for this is but a bief break from Tingilya. Upon the dawning of the next morn I shall continue where this day I have left off.
And the angst shall return, all the more powerful, though, upon reading this little ditty, you shall hope not that darker things are to be written, for this will more saddening than most anything ever written....
I also don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, but if I did, I seriously doubt he'd still be living. Actually, he might, but it would be so dark and depressing of a show that even Eva fans would refuse to watch it!
Yugi looked at himself in the mirror, examining his figure. He frowned, pulling at the skin on his stomach. There was no fat on his body, anybody could easily see that, as Yugi traced the outlines of his ribs with a sigh.
But Yugi wasn't anybody, and Yugi couldn't see that. All Yugi could see was a demented, fattened, bloated figure in the mirror. And that's all that he could ever see, every time he looked at himself in the mirror, looked at his clothes, looked at others.
All his mind would allow him to see.
//Aibou, is something wrong?// Yami asked mentally, sensing Yugi's distress, unaware of his hikari's weight obsession.
/Nothing, Yami. I'm going to go out jogging./ Yugi tugged on a pair of shoes as Yami appeared beside him, confused.
"Aibou, it's nearly three in the morning! You should be sleeping, you need your sleep!" Yami kept his voice down, not wanting to wake Grandpa. Yugi glared at him.
"I've been too lazy, some exorcise would do me some good!" Yugi snapped, slamming the door behind him. Yami sighed, fading into the puzzle, and out again, standing at Yugi's side.
"At least let me come with you, aibou, it's dangerous." Yami sighed, following Yugi outside, wondering what Yugi was going running, again, so late at night, or early in the morning as it truly were....
~~~~~The Next Day, At School~~~~~
"Hey, Yuge, you okay? You look kinda beat." Joey asked, standing next to the short boys desk. Yugi yawned, looking up at him with a groan.
He had been running for hours last night, not getting home until the sky had been streaked with red, and spunges with gold. Exhausted and hungry, he had napped, until Yami had woken him up once more, insisting that he stay home. The ancient spirit had been convinced that his lighter half was sick, but he had gone to school anyway.
"Yeah, I was up late, studying for the English test." Yugi yawned with a smile. Joey face faulted.
"The test is today! I'm doomed!" Joey and Tristin grabbed each other, shrieking in mock terror. Tea sighed, and shook her head.
"Yugi, a good nights sleep is much better than any cram session could ever be. You know that!" Tea lectured. Joey rolled his eyes as the bell rang for class to start.
Yugi smiled, his stomach growling as the teacher started the math lesson....
~~~~~Lunch~~~~~
"Hey, Yuge, you gonna eat that?" Joey asked, grabbing Yugi's lunch, even as Yami glared him down.
"Joey, give the lunch back to Yugi!" Yami snapped, grabbing the sandwich, and handing it to the blushing Yugi.
"Yami, really, I'm fine. I'm sure Joey needs the food a lot more than someone like me." Yugi whispered nervously. Joey smiled, stuffing the sandwich in question into his mouth, grinning victoriously as Yami looked over at Yugi, concerned.
//Aibou, you haven't eaten anything all day. You need something, this isn't healthy.// Yami told Yugi mentally, Yugi glaring at him.
/I'm not a little kid anymore, Yami! I'm free to do what I want, I don't need you to order me around!/ Yugi snapped, getting up from the table angrily, stomping out of the cafeteria. The others looked between Yami and the closed cafeteria door.
"What was that all about?" Tristin asked. Yami shrugged moodily, glaring at the table....
~~~~~On The Way Home~~~~~
"Aibou, please," Yami sighed, looking down at Yugi, "What's wrong?"
Yugi refused to reply. He cut off their mental link, so he wouldn't hear Yami's constant beseaching. He stopped talking to the Pharaoh after lunch, his temper getting the better of him for the first time in his short, short life. And Yami was confused by his anger, and helpless to do anything about it.
"Yugi! How was school!?" Grandpa asked cheerily as the duo entered the shop. Yugi smiled, and gave a thumbs up, much to Yami's surprise.
Obviously his hikari had more abilities than he gave him credit for.
"Good to hear, snack is in the kitchen!" Grandpa smiled, greeting another customer as he entered behind the stunned Yami.
"That's okay, Grandpa, I had something on the way home." Yugi smiled, heading up the stairs to his room. Yami followed him, his face passive.
"Aibou," Yami started, closing the door behind him, "What's wrong?"
Yugi glared at him, and, had Yami not known better, he would have feared for his life. The intensity of the little ones gaze, the anger in his sight, the pure wrath. Yami restrained a shudder, now deeply concerned. His precious aibou had never acted like this before.
"Nothings! Wrong! Yami! Quit treating me like a baby! That's all you ever do! Get out, Get Out!" Yugi screamed, his voice shrill as Yami backed away, slamming the door behind him as he escaped.
Now he was sure something was wrong. Never before had he sensed emotions so intense from his light, and he hoped that he never would again....
Yugi glared at the door, collapsing to his knees as tears streamed down his face. He hated himself, he hated the way people constantly pitied him, he hated the way people always looked down upon him, the way they saw him as nothing more than what he was.
"Fat! That's what they think, that's what they all think, that's what they all think!" Yugi sobbed, looking at himself in the mirror again, pulling at the skin tightly pressed against his ribs, still seeing himself as fat....
~~~~One Week Later~~~~~
"Aibou, please, eat something!"Yami begged, holding a sandwich in his hands, watching as Yugi studied into the wee hours once again, though there was no test to study for. Yugi growled at him.
"No! Yami, I'm not hungry! You just want to make me fat!" Yugi hissed, glaring at his spirit. Yami started, looking down at the boy sitting in front of him.
Fat? Yami had never thought Yugi was fat, especially now more than ever. The tiny boy had shrivled with his excessive exorcise and fasting. His hair was drooping, skin stuck tight, stretched thin across his bony structure. Yami doubted there was even an ounce of fat on Yugi's entire body.
"Aibou, please," Yami pulled a chair over, sitting next to Yugi, "You're not fat. And I'm scared, Hikari, I'm scared, I don't want to lose you." tears streamed down his face.
Yugi looked at him, and glared, pushing the sandwich away.
"Don't worry, Yami, your Precious Aibou is just fine! Now get out, I need to study!" Yami sighed, picking up the plate, and closing the door silently behind him, sobbing quietly in the kitchen, alone.....
~~~~~The Next Day~~~~~
Yugi gritted his teeth, gripping at his stomach in pain as he got up in the morning, rolling over, still exhausted, glaring daggers at his alarm clock. Yami had stopped waking him up, in the hopes that Yugi would stay home, and rest. He still thought Yugi was sick, and Yugi still insisted that he was fat.
"Yugi, are you all right?" Yami asked, walking into the room. Yugi rolled his eyes, getting up, ever the boiling pot of anger.
"I thought I told you to stay out of my room, Yami." Yugi hissed, looking at himself in the mirror. Yami shuddered, the skeleton before him truly frightening. He had neer seen something so hideous in all his years.
Yugi's eyes were bulging, dark bags beneath his eyes. And his skin, his skeleton like complexion frightening him. He was afraid now, and completely unaware of what he should do.
"Yugi, please, eat something! You can't go on like this, you're dying!" Yami whispered with a tearful insistence, begging Yugi. Yugi ignored him, brushing past the spirit as he headed downstairs, and out the door, on his way to school, dizzy and weak as ever....
"Bakura, please, we could hurt him!" Ryou begged as the two albino's hid behind some sparse bushes. Bakura grinned.
"He won't get hurt if he just gives me the Puzzle! Besides, I don't need you here! Get lost, wimp!" Bakra growled, pushing Ryou to the ground. Ryou sighed, and left, walking towards school once more, alone, worried for Yugi.
He knew Yami wasn't walking to school with the small boy anymore, and with Bakura lying in wait, he knew something bad was going to happen, but he had no idea what.....
"Hello there, little Yugi. Walking to school all alone, are we? My my, isn't that a lovely Millennium Item you have there!" Bakura grinned, picking Yugi up by the scruff of the neck, and dragging him into a nearby alley, Yugi too weak to struggle.
"Bakura, if you try anything, Yami will kill you, you know that!" Yugi hissed. Bakura laughed, tracing the little boys face.
"But the Great Pharaoh isn't here, is he? No, he's not, and there's simply nothing he can do about this, is there!" Bakura cackled, Yugi's eyes going wide with fear as the spirit slammed a fist into his face, hard, a stream of blood trickling down his face as he fell to the ground, Bakura's boot lodging in his chest with a sickening crunch.
"Ya.... mi....." Yugi gasped, struggling to breathe as Bakura removed the Puzzle from around his neck.
"Don't worry, I'm sure this little trinket will fit in my collection just fine!" Bakura walked out of the alley with a smile on his face, and the Puzzle clinking against the Ring....
Yami gasped, clutching at his chest as he rested against the brick wall, struggling to catch his breath, fighting to remain in the solid world, even as he felt the Puzzle drift farther and farther awy from his aibou.
"Oh Yugi, I should never have left you... Hikari!" Yami sobbed, looking into the side alley, the tell tale spikes of gold visible even through the blood and dirt.
"Oh, Precious, what have they done to you!" Yami cried, sitting down as he lifted the small child into his arms, crimson eyes filling with tears.
/Ya.....mi.....you....ca.....me....../ Yugi's mind gasped, too weak to even speak, the week of starvation now taking its toll.
He had not the strength to even struggle for life.
"Hikari, I'm sorry, this is my fault, I'm sorry, I should never have left you alone, not for a moment, I'm so, so sorry!" Yami mumbled, hugging the form to his fading body, struggling to stay, refusing to leave Yugi.
/I'm sorry..... Yami...../ Yugi mumbled mentally, his chest slowing, his last breath fading upon his lips as Yami screamed in anguish, his ghostly spirit fading back into the Puzzle once more even as Yugi's soul was stolen away by death, alone, in a dark alley, away from the prying eyes of society......
~OWARI~
First off, I do apologize for not writing another chapter of the Tingilya Arc, but I did need a little time to rest, especially since I have a really bad case of the flu, and am trying to tell the differences between my hallucinations, and what's really going on right now.
Needless to say, the story seemed more angsty in my mind, but seems really super corny now that I've re-read it!!
Oh well, R&R please!!
Oh, for all of you that are wondering, Yugi was anorexic, and anorexics usually have extreme tempers because of their condition.
You know, it's sorta like when you're hungry, you get grumpy. Yugi did too, and after a week of fasting, grumpy was an understatement!!!