EDITED ON: September 26th, 2014

~ Chapter VI ~

I Trust Him

Yuugi woke early that morning, just as the sky behind gloomy, gray clouds turned pale with twilight dawn. He winced inwardly as the first sensation to register in his mind were his dry, burning, irritated eyes. As he blinked, casting slight moisture over the sensitive amethyst organs, his tear ducts sprung to life, making them water, doing wonders to relieve the itchy sensation after what he could only picture as over an hour's worth of pathetic tears and hugs last night. He inhaled sharply at the particular memory.

He couldn't, however, remember his dream. The one Ryou had roused him from, and what initially triggered last night's late tear-fest. All he could remember, was that it was about... Atemu...

The whole scene replayed in his head. Yuugi was inwardly shocked at how much the memory seemed to have branded itself into his brain. He remembered every touch, every rub over his shoulder blades, every string of warm tears that fell over his face. Each sob that shook Ryou's body as he, in return, held the other back, in a desperate attempt to escape reality. To escape the pain... through one another.

His cheeks flushed, before Yuugi opened his irritated eyes once more. Vaguely, he registered the pressure of Ryou's body, laying peacefully over his own. They must have fallen asleep like that... hugging and crying. Sympathy and heartache triggered in Yuugi's chest, as he saw the pale white-pink streaks leading down from his companion's eyes. He had the sudden, almost overwhelming, urge to reach out, and brush the white locks from his face, to behind an ear. To pass a thumb over those tear-marked cheeks. His lips twitched with a sort of... wish. A wish to-

Yuugi's blush grew deeper. As did his dread

Ryou... was just his friend. Why should he want to...?

Carefully, the other shifted himself, trying to edge himself out from under his friend. Ryou grumbled in his sleep, but willingly turned away, to slide down onto the loveseat, and Yuugi tried to soften his inevitable impact with the floor by awkwardly reaching his hands to the carpet, having to stretch out behind himself. He slid to the floor with little effort and noise, as well as grace, and lay there for a moment.

Today was Monday, wasn't it?

Yuugi closed his eyes, releasing a disheartened, reluctant sigh. Crap...

He'd have to go home, for his uniform and backpack. And, he knew, without a fraction of a doubt, that Sugoroku would be up early and waiting for him. How could he not? After all, he didn't go home last night, and his phone-

Yuugi flinched, gritting his teeth in despair and realization. Shit, my phone!

He left it at his house yesterday! And that means... he never called...

Grandfather would be livid.

After leaving a small note consisting of an explanation of his absence, and the promise to see Ryou at school, Yuugi had locked the door behind him, and left. He was clutching his vest around himself, shivering involuntarily as the dampness of the outdoors caught against his exposed skin. Yuugi rubbed his arms, shivering, and casting the apartment complex one last, slightly lingering look, before heading down the street for home.

The air was frigid and damp, a small amount of light that managed to illuminate the world through thick cloud cover highlighting dancing swirls of fog around him. It swayed around his body with each movement like a graceful dancer, or lucid, white hair on the breeze-

Yuugi shook his head, eyes widening. His footsteps quickened, their echoes muffled greatly by thick mists. There was not a single person nor car on the streets this early, so his roughly-fifteen-minute walk was relatively peaceful. Oh, how he longed to be back in the warmth of Ryou's apartment...

Yuugi flushed. O-Only because it's... warmer there, of course, he added mentally. That twinge in his chest flinched and pulsed once more. Yuugi bit his lip, feet accelerating slightly. Yes, the apartment was warm. Very... warm, compared to the outdoors. Especially when Ryou was laying over his chest-

No. No, no, no, no, no! he scolded himself mentally, chewing lightly on his lower lip. He's just a friend. Ryou is... is just a friend.

A tiny voice in the back of his mind peeped up. Are you sure, Yuugi? it taunted.

Yuugi sighed heavily, watching his breath spiral through the air from his lungs in thick, condensed clouds. Gods, Yuugi... he mentally berated himself, Its only been three months! A quarter of a year. Ninety days, since he left! His could you possibly be thinking that way, after all the two of you went through?!

It was true. Atemu was his Yami. His other self. Half of his mind, spirit, and heart. Surely he couldn't be... falling again, after all of this? Yes, he had made a promise to Atem, to one day find love again... but...

Did that day really have to come so soon?

He wasn't searching, nor yearning, nor entirely ready for a new relationship. He had been expecting to grieve for quite some time, possibly even years, before feeling any sort of desire to find another person to be with intimately. It just... didn't seem right, to move on so... so quickly. He felt as if... he were insulting, not only the Pharaoh, but Ryou, as well. They were still quite obviously in mourning for their lovers who had passed on the afterlife, and here he was... Practically pining like a schoolgirl over another's Hikari like some sort of whore. Granted, Yuugi knew it was more than likely that he'd be slapped repeatedly if anyone he cared for knew about that particular insult towards himself, but... he couldn't help it...

He felt rather pathetic at the moment, in complete honesty.

Yuugi sighed, and located a spare key outside of his home, unlocking the shop door, and carefully edging the creaking doorway open.

The bell stirred, and Yuugi cringed in on himself, teeth clenching. Every sound seemed to be amplified tenfold in the slumbering silence of his hometown. A small step, was one made over crystal shards. A brush against the walls and doorways might as well have been him ramming his shoulder into them, full force. Each breath seemed to be painfully over-exaggerated.

Yuugi reached his room, and quickly (but veryquietly) changed into his deep navy uniform. A single black, studded belt looped over his slim hips, iron-studded bracelets and his leather collar-choker. He skimmed a dampened brush over his mound of unruly hair, sticking flyways back to its strangely natural spikes. He dabbed a small bead of moisturizer over a fingertip, and rubbed the stuff beneath his eyes and down his cheeks in an attempt to rid the skin underneath of their unsightly dark circles, as well as the still-pink irritation his crying had caused. After a quick application of eye drops to soothe, and an under-eye lining of kohl for good measure, Yuugi deemed himself ready for the day, and grabbed his backpack – and his cellphone, this time.

But, with his rather ungodly luck, it was only natural for his grandfather to show right as his grandson was about to sneak out of the front door. And, to add on... so were his friends... standing in silent ranks behind him. They must have been up half the night looking for him, he realized. Maybe even out late enough, that they had to sleep over for the night? A small twinge of guilt gnawed at the teen's chest.

"You had better have a damn good explanation as to why you were out all night, young man." Yuugi stiffened rather comically, hand hovering over the doorknob, and his foot frozen in mid-step. By now he was certain that the color had completely drained from his already-pale face. Yuugi let his hand fall from the door handle, silently swearing up a violent storm within his head – one that would put any 'sailor' to absolute shame.

Oh, and his grandfather had cursed. So he wasn't angry.

He was plum pissed.

Yuugi sighed, glancing over his shoulder with eyes that were full of apology and embarrassment, and more than just a little shame. "S-Sorry, Jii-chan... I kinda... passed out, over at Ryou's..." He withheld the urge to cringe at the glint that arose in the old man's dull gray-lavender gaze.

This fact obviously held no surprise to his aged grandfather, as he merely raised one eyebrow in a stern inquiry. He saw some sort of emotion flicker behind the poorly-guarded expressions of Jou and Honda. "And why, dare I ask, were you so compelled to stay the night at that boy's house?" Yuugi inwardly flinched at the rather cold tone his Jii-chan was using. "Not for the same reason I've found your bed empty - in the middle of the night, might I add! – these past few weeks, I do hope?" He saw Jounouchi's eyes widen almost comically, and they stared over at him with scandalized expressions.

"Woah, Yuug'," the Brooklyn blonde muttered, "Never thought you were the fer that kinda' thing..." The comment was laden with suggestive content, and Yuugi flushed such a deep red it might as well have been classified as purple.

"J-Jii-chan! Jounouchi-kun!" he yelped, horrified, "I-I told you! It's not like that! Ryou and I... I-I would never-" His face hid in his hands, humiliation rolling from him in waves. "Gods, you can be such a pervert sometimes!"

"Well, I have to say in their defense, Yuugi, that you disappearing in the dead of night without so much as a note to tell where you're going isn't all too innocent, either," Anzu pointed out sharply, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised with expectancy. The girl almost had a motherly quality to her posture.

Well... she did have a point... not that Yuugi would admit that right now.

Yuugi's shock and embarrassment morphed to puzzlement and concern when he saw the old man's eyes widen expressively. He felt the other's gaze scrutinizing him, taking in his rather disheveled appearance, walking closer. "Yuugi..." the elder rasped, "Have you been... crying?"

This time, Yuugi did flinch. Dammit! Why must he be so perceptive?!

The young duelist found his shoulders caught beneath firm, calloused hands, and dull heliotrope peering deep inside his own indigo, as if searching for something. "Is this about Ryou?" he asked quickly, and Yuugi could just see the conclusion-jump within his grandfather's head. "He didn't hurt you, did he? Do I need to call the police? Did he-"

The meaning behind his grandpa's sudden pestering shot a nerve within Yuugi, and his face twisted into severe annoyance. Maybe even rage. "No, Ryou did not 'hurt me', Grandfather!" he snapped, cutting his grandpa's sentence short, wrenching himself away from his only living relative. "Ryou would never hurt me! He's my friend!" Yuugi had come back to get ready for school, maybe even apologize. But all thoughts of making up with the man who had been more of a father to him, than anything, immediately flew out the metaphorical window with a flaming piano dropped over its head for good measure. How dare he insinuate that Ryou would, would- would force himself upon him! Not only was it just wrong on all levels, but it was downright- just- ugh!

"How dareyou even think about consideringsuch a thing?" he hissed in a tight, almost frighteningly quiet voice, "I trust him. I'm willing to forgive, maybe even forget. I want to be friends with him!"

And maybe even something more... that teeny, tiny voice dared to peep.

Honda snorted. "After all that he's done to us? Have you finally gone nuts?! Just look at how many times he's tried to kill us!"

Yuugi flared up in an instinctive defense for his currently absent companion. "It's not his fault!" he snapped, flushing again, only this time with outrage, "He had no control over Akefia, hell, that spirit couldn't even control himself more than half the time! And, for your information, he wasn't nearly as bad as we thought he was!" He saw the brunette practically rear back with surprise, as his friend relayed what a certain albino had admitted to him some few weeks ago. "He did it because he thought it was what was best for his Hikari. It wasn't Akefia's fault he was being manipulated by Necrophades! He just wanted what was best for his Light, like Atem did for me!"

Jou growled. "How can you say dat, Yuug'?! He had it out fer all'a us! You defendin' him like dat is an insult to the Pharaoh!"

Yuugi stopped short, angered expression melting into blank, stunned nothing. His voice dyed upon his lips.

An... an insult... to the Pharaoh... He was insulting the Pharaoh... Turning his back to him. Like he had done the moment he sent the Silent Magician to drain away his Darkness' remaining Life Points on the day of their destined duel... But... at the same time... Yuugi could only think, about how much his friends didn't know about Atemu. They never had a Yami! They didn't share their bodies with an entirely different soul for any amount of time! So how in Ra's name could they possibly grasp his words? How could they even begin to understand the situation?!

"What the fuck would you know about my Yami?"

Yuugi's voice came out as an acidic, spiteful sneer. His once-bright amethyst eyes were hardened shards of deep violet, filled with venom and contempt. Rage. Maybe even a touch of... hatred...? It made the four pairs of eyes before him widen in a mixture of shock, worry, and maybe even a touch of... fear? For what?

For him?

"Grandfather, Hiroto, Katsuya, Anzu..." Said people mentioned flinched ever-so-slightly, as a very formal sense of their names rolled off Yuugi's tongue coldly. All familiarity and warmth was gone. Now, they only saw pain, and anger, and hurt. "All of you... are the same damn way! I trust him," the Gaming King repeated sternly, voice raising with anger, "So why can't any of you?"

Without a single word, he left the house in a similar fashion as the day before – slamming the door shut and on the verge of tears.