Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters = Kazuki Takahashi
Prompt: (Season 0 or early Season 1) Yugi thinks he can never have any real privacy.
One Week
The first incident occurred the night they returned from Duelist Kingdom.
She jumped as a hand ghosted across her upper arm, making her spin to face the other end of the couch. A relieved breath tumbled from her lips, shoulders falling with startled laughter.
"Oh god, you surprised me!"
Yugi shut the door to the washroom, slipping the towel in-hand over the bar beside the tub room door. He could still smell the broth simmering for his mother's favorite nikujaga recipe. A night like this called for comfort food; they had made it back, in one piece no less, and all his mother knew was that he and his grandfather seemed very, very tired.
She was better off not knowing what had happened on the island.
He went through the mechanical motions of undressing, mind still on dinner; something about his mother's pot roast always made a bad day a little better.
Clothes banished to the hamper tucked between the sink and the washing machine, he pulled open the tub room door and stepped in, sliding it closed behind him. Flipping the faucet from spigot to shower head, he turned the water nozzle, hissing as perfectly heated 39 degree Celsius water poured onto his head.
"What are you doing?"
Yugi wasn't sure how loudly he screamed, but he hoped his mother hadn't heard. He whirled around, investigating the source of the voice – and there he stood, err, floated. The spirit of the Puzzle hovered just over the tub in a sitting position, legs crossed.
Yugi squawked again, hand flinging out wildly, searching for the wash cloth hanging on the bar. No sooner had his fingers found it than it was pressed in front of him, blocking the spirit from seeing anything south of the border.
There was a reason he had never liked bath houses.
"O-other me, what are you doing here?" Yugi's voice quaked as he swatted his soaked hair out of his face.
"What is this invention? Where is that water coming from?" The spirit was wide-eyed, staring holes into the shower-head.
"Well obviously it's a shower!" Yugi's voice cracked, his desperation hurrying the words from his mouth. "Other me, do you mind if we finish this later?"
"How incredible! The modern era is really something, eh?" He drifted closer to Yugi to inspect the piping coming from the walls and the slightly tarnished nozzles controlling the water flow.
The spirit was obviously more interested in the plumbing than Yugi's panicked entreaties.
And the boy's face turned redder, because the spirit was just as naked as he – and really did not seem to notice.
He buried his face in the hand not pressing the towel to his groin.
Perhaps this wouldn't be as easy as he'd thought.
"Sorry. You stopped talking."
Her brow furrowed in confusion as she shifted more fully to face him. "Yes, I thought you were falling asleep. I was just going to turn off the TV and—"
"Please don't."
The next time was a day later.
Despite his weariness, his mother had demanded that they resume upkeep of the shop now that they'd come home, and he refused to allow his grandfather to exert himself. He'd pulled an entire shift at the shop and now that 6pm had finally rolled around, he could lock the doors and start to close up.
Which is precisely what he had done, five minutes ago. Now he perched on the counter stool, tallying the day's totals from the register in the store ledger.
If he focused for just ten minutes, he would have everything squared away and he could relax. The familiar noises of his mother preparing dinner was certainly enough incentive to hurry along.
His fingers pushed back another thousand yen note as he muttered the count to himself.
"This is a respectable business your family runs."
He baulked, hands shooting out to grab the counter as the unsung intrusion broke his concentration and sent the small pile of bills fluttering to the floor.
The spirit had gone almost the whole day without appearing to Yugi, though he'd been able to sense him hovering at the edge of his consciousness. When there had been a lull in business, he'd even considered summoning the spirit.
But communicating with a mysterious, magical other personality was not as simple as it seemed. Even when he beckoned the other's (see-through) visage to his mind, that didn't seem to be enough to alert the spirit that he wanted his attention. He felt like an idiot speaking aloud to an empty store, and so had sat in silence, trying to think the right combination of things to summon the other to his side; it had not worked. How had he managed it during his duels on Pegasus's island?
Otherworldly communication needed an instruction manual.
"What does this do, partner?"
Yugi sighed, leaning his head into his hands as his eyes scanned the scattered bills on the floor. When he lifted it, he saw the spirit gesturing to the cash register.
"Uhh… well, that's where we keep the money for the store. When people pay for things, we put the money in and take out change if you need it."
The spirit, more inquisitive and wise than Yugi had first assumed, looked doubtfully at the register. "And it needs all those lights and glyphs to do that? Why pour magic into a box for just that?"
Yugi blinked, remembering that he'd failed twice already to explain electricity; his other persisted in referring to it as magic.
"Well, no, I mean –"
The first wafting of dinner hit his nose, and his stomach growled.
"Other me, how about I close up and then tonight we can talk more about—"
"Look at all these cards! Your grandfather is an incredible collector to have amassed so many!"
Yugi groaned, slamming his head on the counter.
This was shaping up to be a glorified babysitting job.
Her eyes flickered, doubtful, to the television and then back to her friend.
"Yugi you should really get some sleep. I can come back tomorrow morning and—"
"Anzu, please."
The desperation in his voice choked her words.
She swallowed around the uncomfortable knot in her throat.
"Yugi this is silly. You haven't slept a full night in almost a week, you're exhausted."
He did not answer her, favoring looking away with shame in his face that immediately made her regret her impatience.
The next morning.
"Other me, what are you—turn around at least!"
The spirit blinked at his host, then looked around, searching for a source to his distress.
"Yugi?"
The teen's head whipped toward his door which was slightly ajar. His mother's voice was dangerously close – she was standing in the hallway, out of sight.
"Y-yes mom?"
"Who are you talking to?"
He cursed under his breath, eyes flying to where his other floated nonchalantly. Would his mother see him if she walked into the room? He had no idea, but he didn't want to explain why there was a ghost kicking around in his room with him.
"Uh, just talking to myself! Don't mind me!" He coughed out a fake laugh, all the while berating himself for how insane he must have sounded.
Remembering to speak to the spirit via the mind was much harder than it seemed, when he was trying to get dressed in the privacy of his bedroom and there was an overly brazen, dead voyeur ogling him.
He was beginning to think this was what it felt like to have siblings.
Very intrusive, inconsiderate siblings.
She slid closer to him and he shifted to allow her to lean up against him, head tilting closer.
"Is it insomnia? Do you feel sick? Tell me what's wrong, so I can help."
He did not look at her, but she watched his face as his jaw worked to form words. She felt a chill work up her spine, the hair on her arms raising as she watched his eyes become a little shiner than they'd been before.
The knot in her throat plummeted to her stomach with bleak understanding.
The afternoon two days later.
He threw his backpack at the base of the stairs as he leapt up two steps at a time. His stomach churned as the eighth burger that Jou had dared him reared its ugly head at his intestines.
He stumbled into the washroom as he bargained with his bowels. Then he threw open the door to the toilet.
"HOLY—"
The inertia of his surprise pushed him back as he tripped into the sink.
The spirit was hunched over on the toilet, staring in wonder at the control panel for the washlet on the opposite wall.
"Partner, why do you need a – what did you call them, a computer – to operate—"
"OTHER ME, MOVE!"
This was really not as easy as he'd thought it would be.
"It's so quiet. My head, it's—" His voice wobbled, and his breath hitched.
Anzu felt a hot tear track stripe her own cheek, and she jerked toward him, gathering him in a hug against her chest.
Wasn't this just a little too much responsibility for a freshman like him?
How could she have thought one week was enough time for things to "go back to normal"?
It was exasperating.
"It's empty, and—"
He was starting to think he'd do anything to get a little privacy.
"I would do anything to have him back."
That was sort of melodramatic ~le sigh~. I appreciate reviews :] Until next time.
