Here is the half-way chapter! Also one of my favorites, so I hope you like it.
I don't own YuGiOh
I had my Hikaru back, and nothing felt warmer. I willingly relinquished control when his soul returned. Instead of entering the Puzzle, however, I stood in his soul room and admired it. This is my Yuugi. He's back. My other half, my Hikaru. In the end, I hadn't failed; I'd saved him and his friends from Dark Bakura.
I sighed and sat on the bed in his soul room. That's another whole can of worms; Dark Bakura. I know nothing of myself, and yet I know that this young boy is my host. He is the one that chose to complete the Puzzle, and so he is the one that I have claimed. It seems that those two had a similar relationship with the cohabitation of a single body. However, Bakura's hitchhiker was malevolent spirit. He was willing to abuse his host to meet his ends. Would I ever be able to do that? I know the answer to that; I couldn't possibly do such a thing to my Yuugi. But what's the difference between us? What do we have in common? Why do we both act as uninvited hitchhikers to these children?
Perhaps, the difference between us is that I have only one thing and therefore I would never jeopardize it; my Hikaru. The only person or thing I can lay claim to in this world which I'm not a part of, and so it is valuable to me. Bakura, on the other hand, had felt entitled to more. I don't know what his goals had been, but the fact he had goals at all made him different from me. I have none. What had his goal been anyway? Was it something that I would be interested in, as we are the same, if only I knew what it was? Whatever he was after, was it something that could turn me, too, against what I care about most in this world?
"Hello?" A voice echoed through the soul room. I was on my feet instantly. If I listened, I can always hear what he's saying or what he's hearing, but at the moment I hadn't been listening. Instead, it was like he was talking directly to me. Well, now that he knows I exist, he likely is.
I took myself to the physical world. Instead of floating above him or standing behind where he couldn't see, I appeared directly in front of him with my arms crossed and my chin raised. This confrontation is a long time coming, and now is the time for first impressions. The underlying fear that he'd reject my presence, demand I leave his mind and body was there. And yet, I knew he wouldn't demand this. I've come to know him rather well in the past few months. Nevertheless, it's important I don't let my guard down now.
I stared down at him, as I am taller than he is. Compared to other students, I would put myself to be average or just slightly above average in height. He, however, is rather short. This created a rather satisfying position, where I could tower over him. I said nothing, waiting for him to speak. I'm ready for his reaction, whatever it is. While I would never dream of hurting him, I found myself wanting to intimidate him.
"Thank you, for helping us. Ah, for saving us." He spoke hesitantly to me. So odd, to have his eyes trained on me directly. I took note of the fact we were in his room alone. It's late evening, likely after dinner and he won't be expected anywhere until morning.
I didn't answer this either. By this point, I respect his friends and care for their wellbeing because if they were hurt, my other half would be sad. Selfish as I am, I didn't do it for them. When I had been scared, I'd been scared for Yuugi. When I'd been proud, it had been because Yuugi had done well.
He gave me a smile. "You've been here since I finished this." He mused, looking down at his Puzzle. He paused here, looking back up to me. I realized he was looking for confirmation, so I nodded once. "And you're probably behind all my missing memories. But, that's alright. It doesn't bother me, because I think… I think you're a good guy. You're here to help me, aren't you?"
I nodded again, not speaking now for a few reasons. Intimidation was first, of course. I don't know how exactly I want him to see me, but I don't want him to see me as weak. Second, then, was the fact I had nothing more to say. Finally, I am face-to-face with my Hikaru and whatever I say now is important. I had nothing important to say, nothing worthy of breaking the silence. I almost felt as if I said anything, he would turn on me in an instant.
"Can I ask… who are you?"
This struck me. I didn't let it show outward, of course, but it sent me reeling mentally. Never have I had a reason to refer to myself. For so long, I'd been all that existed except for the darkness. I had no need for language let alone a name to distinguish me from any other. Then, since finding myself here, I've still had no use for a name. I was still unique in my own, and still no one knew enough of me to need to speak of me at all. But now?
"What's your name?" My Hikaru encouraged, possibly thinking that I'd ignored him.
I inhaled, thinking quickly and searching my limited memory. All that was familiar and what wasn't, but nothing came to me. I narrowed my eyes and looked away, to the window, and back to him quickly. "I have none."
He gave me a brilliant smile. It was one that turned my stomach over and made me skeptic that it could be pointed to me. I stared, wide-eyed at his face as he accepted me. "We'll have to come up with one for you, then. How about… Yami?"
I felt a grin spread across my face, mirroring his. "I am Yami."
He laughed and visibly relaxed. This settled well with me and I accepted his giggling with pleasure. It was a sound that I liked. It was a sound that I then vowed to hear again. It was a sound that I quickly latched onto, claiming it as mine.
"Do you want to play a game?" He asked when finally he sobered. With very little hesitancy, I agreed. Nodding again, I shifted to face his closet, where I knew his games to be kept. He then went that direction to pull one out.
From then on, we talked. When I entered the physical world, I didn't hide. He would look over to me and grin, then continue whatever it was he was doing. The others caught on, but when they realized I was with them as a spirit, I made them far more uncomfortable. In fact, their reactions were more normal, I'd think. Yuugi was taking it all surprisingly well. He actually invited me to take over and play Duel Monsters after assisting from over his shoulder a few times. He had no problem whatsoever with me taking over, going as far as to encourage it so that his other friends could get to know me. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I had no interest in spending time with his other friends. However, the joy it brought him made me do it time and again. I found, there's near nothing more satisfying than eliciting his smile and laugh.
In addition, at night, I started to get tired. I suppose that my rest for however many hundreds of years had finally started to wear off, and I began to sleep at night. The only place I could do this comfortably was in my own soul room, deep within the Puzzle. It was the one room I would avoid, as it was the last remnants of the darkness that ensnared me for so long.
Saturday evening, only a few weeks after our first conversation, Yuugi had his friends over to play a board game. His grandfather was working in the shop while they set up in the living room. Yuugi sat beside Jonouchi on the couch. Honda and Anzu sat on the ground at other corners of their coffee table.
"I call the green piece." Jonouchi exclaimed as Anzu and Yuugi continued to set the board up and Honda read the rules. He was quick to grab the bag full of colored plastic cars, setting the green one at the starting line. "What color do you want, Honda?"
"Ah… give me the yellow one." He looked up briefly.
"I want blue." Anzu insisted, poking her finger at the bag.
"You get what I give you." Jonouchi joked, jerking the bag away and laughing. She rolled her eyes, but the blue car was put at the starting place with the yellow and green ones. "Yuug, what color do you want?"
My Hikaru looked up, struggling to get a bridge to lay flat because part of the board was warped. "Hm? Oh, I don't know. Yami, what color should we pick?" He passed the question off to me, not even looking back to me. He always seems to know when I'm out lately, even if I haven't said anything yet.
"Oh, is the Spirit playing?" Jonouchi wondered, taking on a familiar tone. I make the others uneasy, but I don't really care. They've gotten much more used to my being around than they had been, and they've even expressed genuine interest in my thoughts before, but I know they probably would prefer if it were only Yuugi playing here.
"He'll be around for some of the game, at least." He passed off, not even asking me. Not that he needed to; he's come to know me rather well too.
I leaned forward on the back of the sofa, on his other side opposite Jonouchi. I watched what he was doing with interest, choosing the first color that came to mind. "Purple."
"We'll be purple." Yuugi passed the decision on. "Ha! Got it." He exclaimed, throwing his arms up and leaning back in the couch. Anzu laughed at his reaction, causing my Aibou to laugh too. I grinned, watching him. Leaning back put him closer to me, and this gave me a better view of his smile. Just as usual, it pleased me.
"Purple it is, little buddy." Jonouchi put the last car down. "So how much do we start off with, hu?" He dropped the bag down and leaned over to look at the paper Honda was reading.
"Give me a minute, they don't exactly highlight that part." He insisted. I tuned them out then, looking back to Yuugi. He was looking up at me.
I leaned back, standing upright again. "Can I help you?"
He grinned. "You'll help me play, right?"
I relaxed and gave a soft smile, leaning on the back of the couch again. "Of course."
"You know, if someone were here who didn't know he existed, you'd look pretty crazy right now." Jonouchi mused, drawing both of our attention.
My Hikaru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well I don't usually talk with him like this at school. And maybe I don't care if I look crazy anyway."
I laughed. He glanced back at me, then back to Jonouchi as he scoffed. "Well that's a relief, 'cause you look insane already." He teased, reaching over to shove Yuugi playfully. That made him lean over under me. He was giggling again, fallen over on the arm of the couch. I grinned and reached down, but stopped short. My smile fell away as my hand hovered above his side. My muscles froze and whatever bickering Jonouchi and Anzu were doing right now escaped me. I stared down at my Hikaru, my hand just above his side, and I couldn't move. I already knew what would happen if I tried it, and… I didn't want that disappointment.
Yuugi's giggles had died down, but he didn't sit back up yet. Then, without warning, Jonouchi reached over and grabbed Yuugi by the shirt, just where my hand was above, to pull him back up.
"Come on, Yuug, we're getting ready to start. Do you want to go to college or not?" Jonouchi shifted the direction of conversation. I retracted my arm, which Yuugi had phased straight through, and looked over to his yellow-haired friend with dissatisfaction.
"Oh, ah, we'll go to college. Obviously." Yuugi insisted.
"Well I'm not going to. Starting off with debt is pointless." Honda insisted, finally putting down the rule book and reaching over to move his game piece.
Yuugi and I were the first to graduate, choosing the career of 'teacher', which meant that once all the others had a job, we'd pick another one for the perks. When we came to the marriage portion of the game, Jonouchi took the bag of small plastic people from Anzu and pulled out a small blue one, putting it into the purple car.
"There, now they've both got a piece."
"Jonouchi!" Yuugi objected, reaching out to grab at it. His cheeks were warmer colored than normal. I just watched with curiosity. "That's not funny."
"I don't know, I think it's only fair." Honda shrugged. "Two people with one car, they should both be in it. Right?"
"Come on." Yuugi insisted, reaching for the car again. He didn't provide an argument otherwise, though, and I didn't really see why he was throwing such a fit over it. I didn't particularly mind riding in the car with him. It's more like we are playing the game together, and it's certainly better than having my own car. Sort of like how we share a body, despite the fact it's entirely his. I'm just hitchhiking. Just like with the car, I suppose.
"It's just a game, Yuugi. You and the Spirit should totally be married." Jonouchi insisted, still holding it high with a smirk.
Yuugi's desperate attempt to get the car back faltered and he sighed, sitting back. "Fine, that's alright."
Honda and Anzu laughed as Jonouchi grinned widely, putting the car back down where it went. "Alright, now spin for your honeymoon."
Yuugi sighed and I laughed, shaking my head. Later in the game, we lost our job and had to pick a new one. Anzu held up the available jobs and Yuugi had me point. He then pointed to the same, random card I did so that the others could see.
She held it up and laughed, handing it over. "Tech support."
"Yuugi in tech support? We're all doomed." Honda joined in. I smiled, remembering the established fact that he isn't very good with technology. He's certainly better than I am, though.
Honda leaned high five my Hikaru. "I got your back. I'll be your on-call consultant."
My stomach shifted uneasily again as I watched them interact. This isn't the first time, of course, but it hasn't always bothered me. I tried to push it down and move on, enjoying the game with my other half and his friends.
In the end, Anzu won. We came in second, Jonouchi in third, and Honda retired with the least amount of money. Everyone would tease him about not going to college and he'd insist this didn't prove anything.
I retracted back into the Puzzle, deciding to wander the halls again. He has fun with his friends. They can interact properly, play together directly.
As I review them, these chapters seem so short to me. I'm used to writing chapters twice as long for my stories, but I had intentionally limited these to 2500 - 3000 words. This story just feels like a series of one-shots that happen to be in order. At least, to me. It may not seem like there's a whole lot of point to this right now, but I assure you, there is an overarching plot that will be far more apparent by the end. These scenes are all important, though.
Thank you for reading!
