Title: Just for You – Chapter 4
Author: Erudit
Pairings: YY/Y
Genre: Romance/Angst
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Blablabla - Thoughts
//blablabla// - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link
"blablabla" - normal talking
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Last time:
Atemu's hand fell back, as if he'd been stung by a bee. The pharaoh looked at Yugi one last time, then swiftly turned around, and left Yugi alone in the darkness.
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Yugi forlornly sat in the room his dark half had created for him. Tears were streaming down his face. His eyes were clenched shut in a fruitless effort to keep the memories from coming back to him. He *tried* to think happy thoughts, but the pictures of Seto Kaiba kept resurfacing.
"How could he." Yugi mumbled angrily. Cold fury kept him from despairing. He fixed his black magician plushy with a glare.
Five days had passed. He hadn't seen his dark half ever since, not that he minded terribly.
At the beginning he'd been waiting for some kind of explanation. He'd been sure Atemu had an excuse for what he'd done, that he had simply misunderstood the situation. But no explanation had come.
The pharaoh had avoided visiting his aibou. Instead, he'd sent Yugi's grandpa to keep the little light company. It was his grandpa as well who brought him his food.
Yugi had spent hours talking to his grandpa, asking him about Yami and various other things. But every time their talk had come to Yami, his grandpa had quickly changed the topic, clearly not wanting to speak about the pharaoh, though Yugi didn't understand why. Had Yami forbidden his grandpa to talk about him or did his grandpa sense that he was still too upset to talk about his dark half?
So, Yugi had instead started telling his grandpa about Ryou, Joey and Malik. He missed his friends dearly, and wished to know if anything had happened to them. Had Yami really left them alone or had they been killed like Seto Kaiba?
Soon, he learned that they had escaped, and hadn't been seen since. Yugi was relieved although he doubted his grandpa would tell him even if they were dead. Therefore, his fears were not completely put to rest.
They talked about his friends but their conversations were never completely open. Yami was not stupid enough to not listen in on their conversations in some way; maybe his grandpa even freely told the pharaoh what he wanted to know, since he seemed to live freely with the Egyptian king.
Yugi had to think about every single sentence he told his grandpa, afraid of letting something slip that could betray his friends' possible location or their ultimate goal. Yugi was sure they were still looking for a way to get his old dark half back; therefore it was essential that the pharaoh didn't find out.
Yugi slowly got up and walked over to one of the windows, his eyes looking down on the beautiful garden but not really seeing anything. Somehow, he suspected that the pharaoh was waiting for him to do something, though he had no idea what this could be. What did Yami expect him to do? Should he try to find his darkness? He hated this feeling of not knowing anything; somehow they had reached an impasse.
Yugi hesitantly glanced at the door, and shuddered at the thought of what had happened the last time he'd tried to find the pharaoh. Then, he remembered what Yami had told him before he'd left to go kill Kaiba. You just have to say my name, aibou, and I'll come to you. I'll always hear you, no matter where you are at.
"Y-yam," He stopped abruptly. Now that he thought about it, he didn't want his darkness to come. What if the pharaoh just waited for his call to finally kill him? He shuddered at the thought, feeling cold shivers running down his spine.
"I need to get out of here!" Yugi whispered, suddenly not getting enough air in his lungs. He needed to escape and find his friends! They'd need to find a new hiding spot, of course, as Yami knew they were hiding somewhere in the caves. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down once more. He needed a clear head if he ever wanted to succeed in this endeavor.
But how was he to escape? He could see the shadows that surrounded Yami's house. They were everywhere. A suffocating feeling enveloped him. He'd never be able to escape. And even if he, by some miracle, did manage to escape, Yami'd surely find out about it before he could even warn one of his friends, and would await him at their hideout. He'd put his friends in danger if he left his dark half. Yami had said so himself.
Therefore, it only stood to reason that it would be better for all of them if he remained with Yami, no matter how difficult this was for him. Three people looking for a solution was better than one, after all. If his staying at the palace kept them safe, then he couldn't even try to leave.
Yugi sighed defeated. Maybe he should just try to stick to their plan to get the old Yami back. Jou, Ryou and Malik had been sure that Yugi himself was somehow the key to Yami's change, though they had not yet figured out how exactly he had been the cause.
Maybe he'd manage to find the reason behind the change in this palace, Yugi determined. He needed to find out why Yami had changed, and once he understood it, he probably would be able to get his former dark half back.
He knew this could very well be the only way to ever leave the house again unharmed. As long as the pharaoh wanted to play with him, he'd never let him go, and once he had served that purpose, Yami would most likely kill him – unless their relationship revolved back into what it had once been, when they had still shared a body.
But they'd looked for the reason ever since Yami had first changed and hadn't found anything. How was he to find the reason all alone, then? Surely, the pharaoh had made sure nobody ever found out. Or maybe he hadn't changed at all. Maybe he'd always been like that, and Yugi just hadn't realized sooner because he had been blinded by his own feelings for his dark half. Had Yami really changed?
Yugi sighed again. Maybe he should leave his room to look around once more. He looked towards the door undecidedly.
Surely his dark half wasn't killing somebody all the time, so it would be pretty safe to try again. He slowly set one foot in front of the other, walking towards the door at a snail's pace.
The pharaoh was most likely having fun elsewhere, he tried to convince himself. Or he was ordering his shadows to change the streets again. He seemed to have loved doing so when Yugi had still been running away.
Yugi nodded. Yami probably wouldn't even realize his walking around. Besides, he wasn't doing anything wrong, even if he stumbled across Yami once again. The pharaoh had, after all, never told him he wasn't allowed to leave his room.
And if Yami asked him, he would simply say he was interested in what the rest of this palace looked like. Yugi found this sounded like a reasonable excuse. Also, by pretending to walk around in Yami's castle, he could look for an escape-route or for some way to contact his friends. Maybe luck was on his side for once.
Slowly, ever so slowly, he opened the door, and peeked outside. The corridor was empty, just like the last time he'd left his room.
Taking a deep breath, all the time hoping that the empty corridors were the only things that would repeat themselves from last time, he stepped outside, and shut the door behind him. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't turn back in fright.
It was time to act, he told himself time and again. He was now at the perfect place to search for the reason behind his dark half's behavior. They had never been presented with a better chance over the past few months. If he didn't find anything here, in Yami's own palace, then he probably wouldn't find anything at all.
Yugi was just about to quietly open one of the doors at the end of the hallway, when loud yells interrupted the silence around him.
He turned around immediately, feeling cold all of a sudden. The noise came from the other side of the corridor, and reminded the hikari of the Kaiba-incident. Was Yami killing another innocent person?
Yugi's legs trembled, and his hands shook, as a cold shiver ran down his spine. He knew he should get away from the noise as fast as possible, but instead of doing so, he stupidly stepped closer to the end of the hallway, not in all in control of his own legs.
"Let me go! Let me go, I say!", a British voice complained.
"R-ryou?" Yugi's eyes widened terrified as he recognized the voice of his friend.
He ran to the other end of the corridor, more slithering than actually putting his feet to use because of the polished floor. He couldn't let Yami kill one of his best friends!
"Stoooooop!" he yelled at no one in particular as he turned around the corner and skidded to a halt in front of a group of people, his hands furiously trying to grab something to prevent himself from falling into a heap on the floor because of his all too abrupt stop.
In the back of his mind, he noticed shadows floating all around them, though he didn't pay them any attention. He was looking for his dark half; he was, after all, the one controlling everything in this castle. But Yami was nowhere to be seen.
"Yugi!" Ryou looked quite relieved, and brushed one of his white locks out of his face. His hair was completely in disarray, standing in all directions because of his tries to escape the shadows.
"Thank goodness you're o.k." The white-haired hikari exhaled, stopping his attempts at escaping the shadows' grasps. "We were so worried about you. We though Yami might have killed you already."
"Don't be silly. He would never-" Yugi said immediately, and he probably would have continued defending his dark half for no reason he could grasp at that moment, had he not caught himself, shocked at his unwillingness to ever believe something bad about the pharaoh, no matter how much evidence he came across. You are pathetic, he told himself crossly.
Then, he realized that Ryou was still being held in mid-air by a group of Yami's previous search-troop.
"Let go of him." Yugi said, trying to sound strong, and hoping it was working. He was quite surprised when those men did as he had requested, and dropped Ryou onto the floor.
"Ouch." Ryou exclaimed angrily, and rubbed his butt. "Thank you, you morons!" He yelled at the men around them, who in turn didn't seem to care at all. They turned around and left without saying anything.
Yugi watched the search troop leave in shock. Why had they done as he'd asked? And why were they leaving them alone? Even the shadows were leaving, he now realized.
Then he turned back towards his friend. "What happened, Ryou? What are you doing here? Where are Joey and Malik?" Yugi gulped. Had they been captured as well?
"Don't worry about them. They're fine. And as to what I'm doing here … I thought you could need some company." Ryou shrugged as if that explained everything.
Yugi wondered if that was his friend's way of explaining he had been captured as well.
"Also, I wanted to check if you were still alive. We were already imagining the worst when we didn't hear from you. You never escaped back then, did you?" Ryou got up and went over to pull Yugi into a tight hug. "Thank goodness, you're alright. I was so worried." Then, he released Yugi from his hold to look around. "Now, is there somewhere we can talk?"
Yugi smiled, and pulled his friend back to his room, all the while thinking about the strange coincidence of Ryou appearing in the castle. He remembered all the times he'd told his grandpa he missed his friends, and wished Yami would let at least one of them stay in the castle with him. He had always been so lonely. Could it be that Yami had heard of this, and had therefore allowed Ryou to stay? No, that was highly unlikely, he finally decided.
"Wow!" Ryou gasped, when seeing Yugi's big room. "It's bigger than our entire cave." He looked around with big eyes, imitating Yugi's actions from just a few days ago.
Yugi simply grinned but his smile never reached his eyes. Had he not known that Yami was planning to kill him, had he not seen what Yami had done to Kaiba, he'd have thought a dream had come true when seeing this room.
"Yeah, it's pretty big. All the things I like are in here as well, as if he got them especially for me. I just don't understand him." He mumbled the last part more to himself than to his friend.
Ryou turned around, looking at Yugi scrutinizing. "What's not to understand? I know we're supposed to be lights, but I never thought you were really *this* innocent."
Ryou sat down on the bed and padded the spot right next to him, motioning Yugi over. "It's pretty obvious to me." The white-haired hikari looked as if he was about to spill a big secret.
"It is?" Yugi asked surprised. He really hoped Ryou could clear up all this confusion. He didn't understand his darkness at all at the moment.
"Of course, it is." Ryou smiled softly, and hugged the other hikari in a comforting manner. "I always thought Joey was talking bullshit when thinking Yami was out to kill you. I was just without any real proof to say otherwise. What if I was wrong and you'd feel too secure to watch your back? I didn't want anything to happen to you. But this room proves everything. Hell, this entire house proves pretty much everything."
"It does?" Yugi asked once again. He didn't understand what Ryou meant. Yami hadn't wanted to kill him?
"Yes, it does." Ryou got a far-away look on his face as he thought about how to explain it to his friend. "Do you remember the time Bakura killed all those people in the shopping mall?"
"Y-yes." Yugi stuttered confused. How could he have forgotten something like that? "But what does that have to do with Yami?"
"Nothing, of course." Ryou brushed him off. "But he killed all of them because they were looking at me in a funny way. I remember that day quite well. I felt so uncomfortable. They were all staring at me. He got so angry because of that and took over. When I got conscious the next time, they had all been banished into the shadow-realm. I was so scared. I didn't understand why he had done it. I thought at first that he did it to scare me, to punish me for something I didn't remember yet. And then … I suddenly understood all his reasons."
"You did?" Yugi looked at his friend with an open mouth, admiration shining clearly in his eyes. Ryou was so smart.
"Yes. He did it all to protect me." Ryou finished and looked at his friend, searching his eyes for understanding. "You understand, don't you? He felt me getting uncomfortable, and made sure the reason for it would be gone." Ryou smiled dreamily. "In a strange, scary way of course but that doesn't change the intent." Ryou sighed. "That's when he confessed to me."
"Really?" Yugi's eyes shone with delight. He loved happy endings, and was glad for his friend's luck. "To have somebody like Bakura love you…you must have felt quite special."
"Yes." Ryou nodded. "I did."
Then, the white-haired boy looked sad. "That was of course before Yami changed. You remember what he did when meeting 'Kura."
Yugi nodded, now looking sad as well. It had been one of the first things his newly changed Yami had done. Bakura had vanished completely. Yugi had always thought the pharaoh had put the tomb-robber in a prison, but by now he feared that he had met the same fate as Kaiba. Hopefully, Bakura was still alive. His friend deserved happiness, even if he had to wait for a little bit longer.
"What is it? You don't have to worry. I'm sure, Yami didn't do anything bad. He was always the gentlest of all of our yamis, wasn't he? He probably locked Bakura in a cell with singing bananas or something like that." Ryou smiled assuringly, though that smile began to vanish slowly, when seeing that Yugi wasn't at all convinced. "Did something happen that you aren't telling me about?"
Yugi sighed. He really didn't want to crush his friend's hopes. "No, nothing happened." He said softly, not daring to look at his friend. His eyes always gave him away. He simply couldn't lie.
"You know, you can't tell a lie to save your life, Yugi. You're much too innocent for that. Tell me the truth." Ryou implored, while gently forcing the other boy to look up.
Tears had gathered in Yugi's eyes, the white-haired boy noted, taken aback. He tried to brace himself for what was to come.
Slowly, Yugi told Ryou everything that had happened from the moment they had gone separate ways. How nice Yami had treated him on their way to the castle, how Yami had shown him his room, and finally what he had seen the pharaoh do to Seto Kaiba. Ryou gasped at the last part, and then hugged Yugi comfortingly, his eyes getting a far-away-look as he tried to understand the pharaoh's actions.
Finally, Ryou said: "I've always wondered why Yami has left Kaiba alone. They have never been friends, after all, and Yami has made sure to have all his enemies either eliminated or put away permanently. It must have something to do with this rescuing part you mentioned they talked about. Do you have any idea who they were talking about?"
Yugi shook his head, looking thoroughly puzzled. Ryou smiled. The tri-colored-haired boy was simply too innocent for things like this. Yugi needed to understand his darkness' way of thinking. It was the only way for them to get the pharaoh to change back to his old ways.
"Well…" Ryou began slowly, hoping the other hikari could follow the way of his thoughts and would figure out what he was talking about. "…you once mentioned it was Seto Kaiba who rescued you back then when the Kame Game Shop exploded didn't you?" Ryou waited, in his mind slowly counting from one to three.
"Do you mean they were talking about that incident?" Yugi looked surprised. "But Joey always said it was Yami who made the shop explode. Why would he be glad about somebody rescuing me, when he wanted to kill me in the first place? That doesn't make sense. Unless of course…" The young boy frowned. "…he never wanted to kill me! Is that what you are thinking, Ryou? That Yami never wanted to kill me? It was all just a mistake because I was at the wrong place at the wrong time?"
Ryou nodded, smiling broadly. "That's what I've been thinking all this time. Sadly, I couldn't find out who tried to kill you. I was looking around for clues; I even tried to talk to Yami myself … nothing worked. He never let me close enough."
"So, Yami spared Seto's life because he rescued mine?" Yugi summed up, still not completely believing it. He had been thinking for so long that Yami wanted to kill him that it was hard to believe Yami would want him to stay alive. Everybody had told him that was the pharaoh's ultimate plan. He had to die for Yami to become even more powerful, invincible even.
"But all those rumors. Everybody said Yami needed to kill me." Yugi looked at his friend despairingly. He didn't want to believe his darkness wanted to kill him but there had never seemed to be another option. He wanted everything to go back to normal, as it was before they had had their quarrel, as it was before he had gone out with Tea.
Tea! Everything started when I was going out with Tea! "Do you think… could it be…" Yugi thought about what he wanted to ask. No, it was a stupid idea, he scolded himself. Just because he wanted Yami to have an understandable reason, he couldn't just make excuses. But now he had to see it through, no matter how unlikely it really was. "…that Tea was the reason for Yami's change? She was the first he got rid of." Yugi explained. "He started to change when I went out with her."
Ryou looked at Yugi in a mixture of surprise and appreciation. His friend was not as ignorant of the things going on around him as Ryou had thought. Yugi had gotten to the point he had wanted to get across much sooner than he had expected him too. "That's what I've always been thinking at least. You know with me and 'Kura getting together... Malik and Marik were a couple too… I always expected you two to hook up sooner or later."
The two stayed silent for a while after that, both of them lost in thought over the recent revelations. That was probably why they didn't see two crimson eyes that had been watching intently for the entire time of their talk disappear into nothing as the pharaoh silently left their room.
-to be continued-
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Thank you all for reviewing so far!!!!!!
I hope this chapter doesn't seem too boring to you. I'll try to write the next one as soon as possible. I just wanted Yugi to finally understand some of Yami's reasons. I hope you are not too disappointed with me. The next chapter will include some action again, so bear with me.