As you may have noticed, when Yugi and Yami converse when alone, the one in control of the body usually just speaks out loud. However (as it is frowned upon in many societies), one cannot just go talking to themselves in public. However, I feel the way I've set it out may be a little confusing so here's clarification:
The one controlling the body will speak in general italics, as it is simply just a thought of the body. However, the one inside the puzzle speaks in bold italics. So the person speaking changes depending on who has the body.
Similarly, when looking through memories, I generally stick to present tense in italics again. However, most of the time I write in past tense so hopefully this is easier to understand.
Yami didn't really have plans that day, so he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to do. And there was no way that he was going to do Yugi's laundry. Just thinking about that was rather embarrassing. So he went for a walk.
As he wandered, he kept careful control over his thoughts, not letting the thought of Seto Kaiba (ball gag or otherwise) enter his head. Instead, he thought about duelling… He had been considering getting some new magician support spells for their deck recently, as well as something special for Yugi. His own magician, something that could be as special to him as the Dark magician and Dark Magician Girl were to him… He'd seen something in one of the many Duel Monster catalogues that had been lying about the house about a magician that levelled up throughout the duel, making itself more and more powerful as it evolved.
It was a perfect fit for his host.
Yami hummed to himself as he wandered about the city, going into various card shops to search for the cards he was looking for.
He also went to the arcade. Because he wasn't the king of games for nothing.
He didn't realise how long he'd been playing the various games until Yugi began tugging at his consciousness.
Mmm? I'm a little busy with this game, what's up?
Yami, I'm gonna be late for my appointment. Hurry it up.
I'm having fun though.
You can play this ANY time… Come on!
It was with a heavy heart that Yami threw the game, and walked out of the arcade, ignoring the yells of his opponent as he left.
I feel like my heart is breaking. I don't just quit halfway through a game.
I'm sure you can deal with it.
Whatever.
Oooh, you sound just like a teenage boy.
Funny thing that…
I can take over from here.
It's fine, I'm really enjoying the exercise.
Do you know where to go? Maybe I should take over.
No, Yugi. I'm fine.
Seriously. Let me take over.
Yami stopped moving altogether. You're pushing awfully hard… care to explain why?
Look, I just don't want to be late.
Yugi, what are you hiding from me?
…
Yami sighed and relinquished control, feeling their body suddenly move, speeding towards their destination.
Now can you tell me what the hell is going on?
His question was only met with what could only be described as white noise. Yugi was blocking him, shutting him out.
Fine, be that way then.
He'd just have to play dirty as well.
He kept his cool as he waited for Yugi's concentration to slip. He knew it would be a long time though, unless he was seriously distracted.
After all, Yami had been the one to teach Yugi his tricks.
He'd lost all sense of reality a long time ago (Or maybe it was only a few seconds ago). He couldn't even hear the body's basic function thoughts. Were they still moving? Was Yugi even breathing? He assumed so, otherwise he would've taken over by default.
He was going to have to exact revenge for this.
This was unfair.
Yugi! You will let me at least SEE what is going on, or so help me I will send someone to hospital!
Nothing.
Yugi… YUGI! You had better be dead or dying to not answer me right now, or I will MAKE it happen!
Either Yugi couldn't hear him or was very good at ignoring him.
It was a good thing that he was every bit as childish as Yugi could be sometimes.
Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii…
Yugi.
Yugi.
Yugiyugiyugi.
Yugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugiyugi-
Can you stop screaming at me? It's actually a little annoying. And I'm trying to concentrate.
Yugi's aggravated thoughts cut through the fog that kept Yami trapped.
Finally!
Why are you being so annoying?
Maybe if you had answered me before…
As I said, I'm trying to concentrate.
At least let me know what's going on? It's quite rude suddenly being shut out like that.
If you want. It's a meeting, I didn't think you'd be interested.
Let ME decide that next time, please? It's not a pleasant experience to feel nothingness like that. Trust me when I say its maddening… he pointedly reminded his host.
He felt Yugi's sting of guilt and immediately felt better, though it was a bitter victory.
Yugi gently released the fog and Yami could suddenly feel again.
As Yugi had said, he was in a meeting, with several people staring at him. Yugi answered whatever question had been asked of him.
"No, I know Grandpa would be happy with this agreement. It works well for Domino as the epicentre of the Duelist stage to have each of the major card shops holding registry. It also helps provide a network so that the incidents of Battle City aren't repeated."
What does that even mean? Yami quickly sifted through Yugi's recent memory.
Many of the people here were various Kaiba Corp businessmen, or from Industrial Illusions. Obviously, Seto Kaiba (Don't think about it, don't think about him like that…) and his younger brother Mokuba were at the head of the table, and Pegasus sat at the other end of the room. Others filled up seats around the large room, some were representatives of the various Duel Monsters vendors around the city. He could see Ryuji Otogi of the Black Crown gaming store nodding along with what Yugi was saying.
What puzzled him was that there were other duelists here. Only high ranking ones, of course, but still… How were they needed in a discussion about duelist networks?
It's a discussion regarding tournament policy. Kaiba values the opinions of his peers, particularly those who would be having to follow the rules. At this point we've discussed card bans… And now it's about the world registry.
The what?
Yugi inwardly sighed. You know how we have to do sign-ups and register for tournaments? This agreement will change that by keeping a ranking system. It'll record wins, losses, including surrendering, the cards and strategies most used by the player… It'll effectively make training with AIs even easier. Anyone could access our deck and plays and try and form a counter-strategy in preparation for a tournament.
Like they could even hope to beat us!
"Personally, I don't like the idea of having our whole decks on show," a female's voice broke through their conversation and Yugi's attention moved to her.
"How so?" Kaiba asked, fixing his attention on the blonde, staring at her with an intensity that was felt by all.
Or maybe it was just Yami.
Whatever.
"Consider it from a player perspective. You could map out whichever duels you wanted to play and spend your time during the tournament preparing for one match. Wouldn't be as much fun I think, playing against someone who had been stalking your deck," Mai Kujaku flipped her hair over her shoulder and continued. "I recognise the need for AI duels for those who may not have many people to practice with and for those wanting to go up against new oponents, but if people can see my cards as I'm re-organising my deck for a tournament, I can see a lot of people attempting to cheat using that system."
Kaiba nodded thoughtfully. "That is a good point. The system currently recognises any card played on a duel-disk the moment it's played and immediately relays the information back to the network."
"Perhaps if a blanket-ban on any AI duels is implemented from the time a tournament is announced?" another duelist suggested. Kaiba simply nodded and continued the conversation, now talking about ideas for new card collections that Industrial Illusions and Kaiba Corp were producing together, gathering intel from various duelists and game shops alike.
Yugi contributed eagerly to the conversation, bringing up the idea of another Exodia-type formation monster, which produced a delicate shudder from Kaiba that went unnoticed by everyone in the room bar Yugi and Yami.
Yami was already bored with the conversation. In fact, he had started drifting in and out of consciousness, much to Yugi's amusement.
You have zero attention-span…
I can't exactly help it. I play games, I don't plan for them.
And you were supposedly the leader of a great nation… It'll be over soon, the meeting's nearly done.
Yami checked the clock quickly, and was immediately awake again.
It had been roughly five hours since Yugi had forcibly removed him.
He quickly did the mental math, keeping his thought process hidden under a layer of new card ideas.
He'd been awake for roughly half an hour to an hour.
That was still an extra four hours.
He did another quick memory check. Yugi had entered the meeting room two hours ago.
But Yugi's memories were a seamless picture. He had gone straight to the Kaiba Corp offices and-
Son of a…
He'd noticed a blip.
A tiny mistake in Yugi's censoring of his own memories…
Yugi gives a sigh of relief as Yami's voice finally vanishes from his mind.
Good, he wasn't sure if he was able to pull that off properly yet. He'd already slipped up once, and now Yami was already suspicious as hell.
And angry now, too. He could still feel Yami's presence in the back of his mind, like the buzzing of an angry bee that was trapped in a cup, or something.
And now he was imagining Yami as a bee. Haha.
He checks his watch and begins to move faster, a hand keeping the puzzle steady as he runs.
He's gonna be punished if he's too late.
He finally gets to the Kaiba Corp building and leaves his name at the reception desk.
"He's expecting you," she says unnecessarily, handing him the pass he needs for the elevator.
"I'd hope so, or this would be a little awkward, me suddenly appearing in his office and all," he jokes.
She doesn't seem to get it. Oh well.
He rides the elevator up and steps out to see Kaiba standing there, arms folded.
"How many times do I have to remind you about punctuality?"
"I'm sorry… I err, got caught up at the arcade." Well, it wasn't technically a lie now, was it?
"It doesn't matter now, I guess," Kaiba huffs, turning back and leading him down the hall-
"-We're going to be late for the meeting," Kaiba leads him back the way they came, tugging on his wrist.
"This was your idea, Kaiba-san, don't even try and act like it's an inconvenience!"
"Mm. Well maybe I'll be able to concentrate through this one."
"I'll try not to be a distraction."
"It's not that you try, Yugi. You just do."
Kaiba lets go of his wrist, ushering him into the meeting room…
…
… Yugi…
Mm?
What did you and Kaiba get up to today?
What do you mean? You can access my memories, you know exactly what I've done.
Uh-huh. So I'm to assume you just… Passed out for two hours there?
Uhhh…
"Yugi, are you alright?"
They were distracted as Yugi looked up at Seto Kaiba's face. The CEO looked concerned.
"Uh, yeah, sorry. I don't do well with long meetings, I guess."
"You were fine right up until the end…"
"Sorry…"
Kaiba shook his head. "Well, everyone's going. Do you need me to give you a lift?"
"Kaiba-san, you live in the complete opposite direction, I couldn't trouble you like that."
"It's no trouble. I have to drop off paperwork to the shop anyway."
Oh, for the love of-
"Well if you're sure it's no trouble, then thank you."
What's wrong with you?
…
Nothing.
"Just give me a few minutes to finish up here."
"Sure!"
Is there something you'd like to tell me Yugi?
Mmm… No.
Are you sure? Because I would REALLY like to know what's going on…
I'll explain later.
Now…
LATER. I promise.
It was only a little longer than 'a few minutes' when Kaiba came back, having changed from the suit he'd been wearing before with briefcase in hand.
"Yo."
"Yo?" Yami heard Yugi ask. "Not quite in character right now, are you?"
"Oh, shut it."
On the way home, Yugi and Kaiba made small talk. Talk about card strategies and the latest bans, and all sorts of things.
It was rather maddening just listening to it.
But what was even stranger was that Kaiba seemed to be enjoying the conversation. Even as he was concentrating on driving, there was a tiny smile on his face, and his body was relaxed in a way that Yami had never seen it before.
"So will you be at the demonstration duels tomorrow, or am I just entertaining your business associates?"
Demonstration duels?
"No, I'll be there… Remember, I'm treating you and your puppy to lunch."
"I really wish you would stop calling Jonouchi that."
"If wishes were horses…" Seto pulled into the curb and stopped the car.
"I'm serious, he's a great guy, and an awesome friend."
"I don't doubt it… He's just not the type of guy that I can get along with."
"You could try. It wouldn't kill you."
"Perhaps. But lots of things wouldn't kill me, doesn't mean I want them near me…"
Yami watched at Kaiba turned in his seat, and suddenly felt Yugi attempting to push him away again.
Oh no, you don't.
He pushed back, gaining control over the body.
HEY!
If you didn't try to block me so much- Eep!
Yami's second of distraction had him very confused when he found he was locking lips with Kaiba.
"Mmphhwaah?-"
Kaiba pulled back, frowning at him. "What's the matter with you?"
"N-nothing… J-just…" Yami was shaking.
This is what Yugi had tried to hide?!
He felt a hand gently touch his cheek. "Hey. Don't space out on me. Are you okay?"
Yami pushed away, hitting his head. " Ow… I… I'm fine… I'm just not feeling w-well…"
"You were fine before…" Blue eyes filled with worry. "Well, you just get inside and rest. If you're not feeling better tomorrow, just call and let me know, okay? Don't force yourself."
"I-I'm fine… Really."
Kaiba leaned forward again, and gave him a tiny peck on the cheek. "Goodnight, Yugi."
Yami only nodded, struggling with the door (and then the seatbelt) as he got out.
Thank you for reading Proposition. Enjoy the chapter, and please leave a review to let me know what you think!
