Author's Note:
Something I wrote a long while back, (summer of 2014, my computer tells me), that I thought some of you might like to read! I know there's been work like it here before, but I kind of like how short and sweet this one is, seeing as how most of my one-shots are fairly long.
Hopefully any of you reading it wondering where my quality went, can understand that it's old and that (hopefully) I've improved since then.
This was also, if anyone was curious, my reasoning behind Yugi using both his English and Japanese nicknames in my fanfics.
Yugi had realized just a very short time ago that he was sharing space with a spirit.
Death-T had been only weeks ago, and he had only just recently become aware of the spirit living in his mind body and soul.
But what really confused him was what he'd heard someone call him.
Not a lot, was he able to hear when the spirit took over. He mostly slept. He'd just black out and wake up somewhere he didn't remember going.
But he was able to recognize the feeling now, even though they couldn't speak, that was the spirit's way of asking his permission to take over.
And Yugi was learning how to let him, and how to still listen to what was going on, while he was doing so.
But recently, he'd heard someone say something funny. Something he didn't quite understand.
He was trying to listen in, and he'd heard someone refer to the spirit as someone separate from him. That alone, was a little strange, but what he'd called him was even more so.
"Yami no Yuugi." "The Dark Yugi."
Dark?
Sure, some of the stuff he did was a little on the dark side... but he did it to protect everybody!
He did what he did to protect Yugi and his friends.
Protecting people wasn't dark.
Yugi could feel the spirit's presence, most of the time. He didn't feel dark...
He could sense a lot of things, from his side of their newly discovered mental link.
Sure, it seemed shadowy. Maybe a little bit of gray area. But it didn't seem particularly dark...
He could sense confusion from him a lot. Yugi wondered if he watched, more often than he realized. Sometimes he could feel him watching. He could feel his own eyes being used. It used to scare him, but he was a lot more open to it after the spirit helped him in Death-T.
But if he could speak to the spirit, he'd always be happy to explain anything to him, if he was confused. For now, he'd have to settle with communicating with emotions.
They couldn't speak, but they could feel each other's emotions.
Curiosity was coming from the other side, right now. The kind of curiosity that said "What's wrong?"
He could somehow tell Yugi was in deep thought about something serious.
He seemed strangely alert for this amount of calmness. That was becoming more common, actually.
Yugi sent him back his calmness, trying to tell him that nothing was wrong. He was just thinking.
He got curiosity back again, in return.
How could he explain this...
Emotions and concepts were similar... sometimes he could get one of those across...
A concept was like a group of emotions.
He sent the spirit the concept of itself, and then the concept of darkness.
He received a small amount of hurt that was obviously trying to be hidden.
He quickly sent back urgency. Trying to say, "No wait! I wasn't finished!"
Not, he sent. He so desperately tried to get his message across.
"You're not dark." he thought, knowing that the spirit couldn't exactly hear his thoughts, but maybe close enough? Maybe it'd help?
Realization.
Slight disagreement.
What? Yugi still didn't think the spirit was dark.
Disagreement again.
Yugi really wished he could talk to him properly... maybe there was a way, somehow...
Confirmation.
What? There was a way?
He got that feeling again, like what happened just before the spirit took over...
Oh... oh.
He closed his eyes and let it happen. He was getting better at that, as time went on.
He was suddenly standing in front of his desk, and he tried to fight back the scared feeling he always got, as he looked around.
He knew what happened this time... he knew why he lost time... so no need to be afraid... right?
There was a notebook open on his desk that he didn't remember leaving there...
surely not...
Mou Hitori no Ore,
I heard your question.
Or, rather, your opinion.
I don't wish to argue with you, but you are, in fact, wrong.
I am darkness. I am the master of the shadows, and that is fact.
Those who call me "The Dark Yugi" are observant, and also correct.
If you wish to call me that right along with them, it will be just as accurate as what you call me now.
"The other Yugi"
Yugi stared at the note in shock for a minute.
He'd never spoken this clearly with his other self before. Never with clear words and sentences and intentions.
He wondered if he'd ever speak to the spirit in his head, like they had on paper.
Likely.
Hmm... Yami no Yugi...?
That didn't have quite the same ring to it as "Mou Hitori no Boku" did.
But, maybe if he just shortened it?
Just "Yami"?
That sounded better... it wouldn't offend him? Could he ask? Maybe he could get that single word across?
Yami?
Acceptance.
That was a lot more like a proper name... it'd be interesting having a proper name for the spirit. But... Yugi would continue to use both names. He couldn't let the first one go. He liked it.
But...
He still didn't really think the spirit was all that dark.
His Yami.
His, not-so-dark-after-all, darkness.