Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters in it.
A/N: There will be at least one more chapter to this, but it will be by no means a novel.
When it Rains – Chapter 1
Yuugi watched the rain pour down from the sky with a heavy heart. The rain was his favorite, normally, and it was about to storm. He enjoyed the rain and the thunder. It seemed silly now, since he was older, but he always thought of the rain as a his friend when he was little. When it started to rain, that meant that most of his friends had to go inside until it stopped, leaving Yuugi alone. But, instead of going inside himself to do his homework or mope around the house on such a dreary day, Yuugi would walk underneath the protection of a thin, black umbrella that his grandpa bought for him and stomp in the puddles. The dampness and humidity that was uncomfortable to so many was bliss for little Yuugi. Those were better, less complicated days, however.
Not all that long ago, Yuugi was crowned the King of Games, and forced to accept all the less glamorous aspects that go with such a lofty title. He was far from famous, despite being the world's best – but what seemed like every other day, without fail, someone would come out of no where screaming about taking his title from him, and demand that he drop whatever he was doing and duel to the death. He also had school to think about. Yuugi enjoyed learning new things. He was always one of the first kids to turn in his work when he was younger, and always got good grades. But with all the added drama from his dueling career, and the schoolwork getting more difficult as he moved up through the years, his grades were starting to slip. He didn't want to admit it, but he was slipping, too.
There wasn't a single identifiable reason as to why Yuugi felt the way he did. Maybe it was just a part of growing up, or maybe it was hormones. He liked to blame these two factors. Either way, he simply wasn't enjoying life as he used to. His friends still talked with him, but maybe they had all gotten a little more distant since Duelist Kingdom. Now that there wasn't so much intense pressure as there was on the island, they didn't need to be as close as they were there. Yuugi sighed and looked down at his hand where Tea had drawn their "friendship symbol". He really wanted things to be as they were on the island, even if they were a little extreme on the emotional side.
'Yuugi?', Yami's voice rang in his head, 'Is there something bothering you?'
Yuugi didn't answer quickly. Yami, though his other half, was from a completely different time than him. He wouldn't understand how Yuugi felt. Yuugi himself didn't really understand, either. If he told Yami, he would probably sum it all up to teen angst or something like that. Even though that very well might be what it was, Yuugi didn't need to hear that right now.
'I'm fine, Spirit', he said giving a weak, half-hearted smile, 'The rain just makes me kind of sad.'
'I can relate', Yami responded, smiling himself. He seemed adequately satisfied with Yuugi's answer, and returned to the puzzle to leave the boy to his thoughts. Though, after Yami did so, Yuugi wished he had told the spirit what was actually going on, and how he really felt. The last thing he really wanted was to be left alone again, left to run over golden memories of playing in puddles from many years ago.
Instead of just sitting and wasting time staring out into the cold outer world, Yuugi thought it would be best to do the one thing he never did on rainy days – his homework. If he wasn't going to be doing anything else, like playing out in the puddles or walking through the rain under his old umbrella, he could at least try and catch up to where he needed to be in his classes. He could tell his teachers were starting to worry about him. His grandpa hadn't heard about his grades yet, and Yugi was hoping to at least get all of his grades up a bit above passing before half-semester reports came home. The last thing he wanted to do was disappoint his grandpa.
He sat down at his desk and unzipped his backpack, carefully taking out its contents and setting them on the polished surface in front of him. His homework folder was decorated with pictures of his friends taken in various places: school, the restaurant down the road, and outside of his grandpa's store. He stared at the pictures for a while, taking in everyone's smiles and good spirits. He mostly looked at his own smile. It seemed like such a long time since he had smiled the way he did in the old photos. He wondered if his friends missed seeing that smile as much as he did.
He closed his folder and put everything back into his backpack. His mind was other places, and staring at a bunch of number problems would only make him anxious and give him a headache. He would do his homework tomorrow morning, or right before class, whichever time was easier for him to concentrate. He laid down on his unmade bed and looked once more out of his rain-streaked window. He was beginning to dislike the rain, and how much it seemed to mock him and remind him of everything he no longer had.
He was close to calling out to Yami. He might not understand what Yuugi was feeling, but he would at least be someone to talk to. Then again, Yuugi had never talked to him about his personal matters much, since Yami mostly accompanied him only when he was dueling someone, or in a situation beyond his control. He wondered how an ancient spirit would react when faced with a sad teenage boy, whimpering about how much he misses how things used to be and how much he needed someone to play his mommy. After running through that scenario, Yuugi decided against contacting Yami. He didn't need to trouble him.
Eventually, Yuugi dosed off into a shallow sleep. The last thought through his mind before he surrendered his consciousness over to his dreams was the half-hearted hope that tomorrow would be a better day. Perhaps it would be a more sunny day.