Hey guys! So here's a story I had posted on my other account after I'd lost access to this one. But now that I have it back, I've wiped that other account clean and have decided to post the better stuff here instead. It's from, like, January this year? As far as self-indulgence goes I had a lot of fun, I tried not to put too much attention on my OC since, after reading enough stories with forced-OCs, I've realized it's really not what you're here for. Hope you enjoy it!

Yami couldn't for the life of him figure out what was going on with Yugi.

When it started, he thought it was just an odd thing for Yugi to let himself get upset over losing a game of chess. Although it had been over a stupid mistake. It happens to everyone, right? And he should never have assumed his little Aibou didn't have any kind of temper within him at all.

It progressed slowly. He was getting into more and more arguments, even when no one was around Yami heard Yugi argue in angered whispers with himself. When Yugi did something by accident, such as not moving enough so he'd smack the desk with his knee, Yami felt his anger spike and the near-intent to throw the desk across the room. Yugi's friends didn't seem to notice it, but they weren't inside Yugi's body with him…

They didn't feel him shudder out of fear of an unknown force. "Aibou? What's wrong?" He asked. Yugi responded, "Nothing, Other Me. It's just a little cold!"

"Yugi… I sensed fear…"

"Fear of getting sick, maybe!" Yami sensed a forced laugh, but did not want to pressure Yugi into telling the truth. He knew he was already under a lot of stress, and if Yugi didn't want to share then pressing the matter would only make it harder on him and Yugi would never tell.

Yugi began sleeping terribly, tossing and turning, not waking up despite Yami's best efforts. Eventually he would either wake up on his own or, after a week of the nightmares, he would wake up to vomit. Yami would then take over just to clean up and try to convince Yugi to rest his soul while Yami took care of both him and his body. Yugi refused to go back to sleep, and they would stay up all night talking. "I told you I was afraid of getting sick!" Yugi joked one night. Yami smirked, but knew he was lying. In Yugi's body, he didn't feel sick at all. Aside from his throat burning from the vomit… But he felt the fear that pierced both of their souls.

One night Yugi brought up an odd question, "Other me… can you feel…" Yugi paused for a long time, "…it? I mean… I don't know how else to explain it… The other being that's been with us…"

"Other being? …Is that what you whisper to yourself about? I mean, is that who you've really been talking to?"

Yugi hesitated, "Yes… You don't think I'm crazy, do you? You obviously didn't know it was there if you thought I was just talking to myself…"

"You're not crazy, Aibou. If there's something else with us… is that why you've been acting strangely? Is it hurting you?"

Yugi broke into tears, which caught Yami off guard. He hugged Yugi, "Why haven't you said anything? Whatever it is we'll find a way to-"

"We can't just get rid of it, it's ingrained in my very soul. I can't do a damn thing- I've tried for centuries. But I'm telling you because… I know it's changing me. It's taking over and I just want you to know it's not really me. I love you more than anything, you and Jou and Anzu and Honda- please tell them not to hate me when it starts using me for terrible things."

"We could never hate you, Yugi. We would have figured it out on our own," Yami assured him, burying his face in Yugi's hair. Yugi continued to cry into his chest.

"Who or what even is it?" Yami asked after a while. After a moment of silence, he looked down into his arms to find Yugi asleep, looking almost peaceful for the first time in weeks. He didn't dare to wake him, no matter how important the question was…

Yami didn't want to bother Yugi with the question first thing in the morning, either. It would just have to wait until they had a moment alone together, or even after school.

Yugi was acting more like his usual self, no doubt that confiding in Yami had lightened his stress. Which made the anger equally more surprising and, after last night's conversation, more expected.

He had been playing a typical game of Duel Monsters with Jounouchi. Yami watched the game in silence, impressed with how much his friends had learned about the game and trying to predict Yugi's moves based off of his hand- it allowed Yami to work his own Dual Monsters muscles without getting in Yugi's way. However, one move Yugi made had puzzled him. He had left himself completely open to an attack. And sure enough, within a few turns that bad play had caused Yugi to lose. Next thing he knew Yugi was half-standing and his fist was swinging in front of him. Caught off guard, Jou took the punch square in the jaw, although Yami knew it hurt Yugi's hand more than it hurt Jou's face.

"Yugi! What has gotten into you!?" Everyone shouted at once. Yugi ran out of the room, straight home despite only half the school day being over. He couldn't escape Yami, though. "Yugi, please stop running. We can stop here and talk about it. Jou will forgive you, and they know crazy things happen- they will believe us if we just tell them what's happening." Yugi didn't say a word, just ran and ran until he got upstairs, into his room, and into his closet. He pulled down the box the Millennium Puzzle had been in and removed the puzzle from around his neck. Yami was screaming at him, "Yugi, what are you doing now!? Why? I just want to help you!"

"I know, Other Me… But I can't be helped now…" Yami felt Yugi's wave of sadness and rage hit him like a sack of bricks, "No! Yugi please, at least let me try! Aibou, please!" With tears flowing down his face Yugi kissed the eye of the puzzle and laid it gently in the box, placed the lid on it, and set the box back into his closet. The connection was still too strong, Yami continued to ask questions and beg Yugi not to leave until he felt Yugi run out of his room, out of the house, and keep going until he could no longer feel Yugi's presence. For the first time since he had met Yugi, Yami felt completely and utterly alone, straight to his core.