Hey, guys!
First off, please review!
Second off, I hope you like this chapter! This is pretty much the only romance you'll see until after the 11th chapter (I've only gotten that far so I don't know when more shows up). Anyway, this one's longer, but most of them are shorter than this one. Sorry they're so short, but that's the type of story this is!
Anyway, here you go! Chapter 2!
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It was the middle of the night. Yami sat on the corner of Yugi's bed, watching him as he slept. Tears were streaming down the sleeping boy's face. It was a common occurrence. Surprisingly, Yami was still unable to find out why Yugi kept crying in his sleep. The two shared a mind, but Yugi kept this secret locked in so deeply that the spirit couldn't even reach it.
'Yugi… I wish you would tell me why you're always so sad. Your sadness is my sadness, and I can feel it like a knife through my heart. What is it that hurts you so much?' Yami thought. He knew Yugi couldn't hear him.
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The next day in school, Yugi met up with Tea, Joey, and Tristan. They were hanging out as usual during lunch, waiting for the day to be over. Everyone else had gone outside to enjoy the good weather.
"You guys, I'll be right back," Joey said as he turned toward the door. This caught the others attention.
"Where're you going?" Tristan asked.
"Just the convenience store down the street. You can come if you want."
Tristan stood up. "I think I will. Yugi, Tea, you guys coming too?"
Before they could respond, Yugi's puzzle activated. The slight amount of light caught the group's attention.
"Spirit?" Tea asked.
Yami smirked. "Actually, Tristan, I need to talk to Tea about something important. You guys can go ahead. If that's alright," he added, looking at Tea for confirmation.
"Sure, it's fine. I'll see you later, guys," Tea told the two as they left, wondering what Yami was going to say.
Tea turned to the spiky-haired King of Games. "So, what's up?"
Yami looked at her, then turned to face his look-alike. 'Yugi,' he thought.
'Yeah?' was the response.
'Do you mind leaving us alone for a bit?'
Spirit-Yugi smiled. 'Nope, I'll go. Call me back when you're done.'
'Okay, thanks.' Then Yugi went away to a far corner of their mind, unable to know what was going on.
Yami turned back to Tea, who was aware of the short conversation that had just happened. She could always see when the two were talking because the visible one's gaze would stop in mid-air, looking at something that wasn't there.
Finally, Yami responded to her question, "I need to know why Yugi's always so upset."
The brown-haired girl looked at him in surprise. "He's upset? What happened?"
Yami sighed heavily, bringing a hand to his forehead. "That's what I need to know. He's fine at school, but as soon as he has time alone to think, he spirals into depression. And he wakes up almost every morning crying. I've tried asking him about it, but I can never get a straight answer. So I'm asking you."
Tea watched him intently. As he finished speaking, she looked down. "How long has this been going on?"
"Well… almost since I first met him. He was okay for a while. I think he was really excited about the Puzzle. But after a couple weeks, he started this. He was too worried about his Grandpa to be depressed during Duelist Kingdom, but since then, it's been nearly every night."
"So it could have started before he knew you?"
Yami frowned. "It did. It's definitely from a while ago. He has a secret buried very deep in his mind, and I can't reach it. It takes a long time to do that, possibly years." He looked up at Tea only to see a tear fall from her eye. His own eyes widened. "Tea? What's wrong?"
She looked at him, and then reached a hand up to wipe the tear off her face. "Oh, I'm sorry. It's just… I think he's still traumatized…." Yami waited patiently for her to continue. "You see, he used to have a twin sister."
The spirit's eyes widened. "I never knew…. What happened to her?"
Tea looked down. "No one knows. She just went missing one day. She was my best friend, but the two of them were closer to each other than anyone." Another tear fell. Yami reached a hand up and caught it with his finger. She looked up at him, startled.
He smiled sadly at her as his hand fell on her arm reassuringly. "Thank you for telling me this."
She stared at him, mesmerized. He was the first who didn't say, "I'm sorry."
That silly attempt to let you know that they understand what you feel was never appreciated. She hated it when she was told that, even though she didn't show it. The person who said it never actually understood. But, instead of being like all the others, he had thanked her for sharing her story. Perhaps he did understand, somehow. Maybe he knew how hard it was to talk about her friend.
After a moment, she smiled at him happily, more tears falling. "No, thank you," she whispered. She stepped forward and leaned her head on his shoulder, realizing for the first time how much taller the spirit really was in comparison to her short friend. He blinked in surprise, then gently put a hand on her back, and smiled.