Title: Just for You – Chapter 8
Author: Erudit
Pairings: YY/Y; R/B, S/J and M/M
Genre: Romance/Angst
Erudit: "Aaaaargh! I'm so mad at myself. I sit down in front of my computer to write down one of my ideas for my stories…and what do I do? Instead of writing I'm surfing the net and reading other fanfiction! Aaaaaaargh!" Erudit hits her head on the table, wailing. "Please forgive me my kind readers!"
Blablabla - Thoughts
/blablabla/ - Yami and Yugi talking through mind link
"blablabla" - normal talking
Last time:
"The-the pharaoh…" Mokuba stuttered, "He, he said that you are to return to your room once you're done eating. He is waiting for you." Mokuba continued softly, and gazed at Yugi with tears in his eyes. "I hope he won't hurt you for having helped me. I never wanted anything to happen to you." He stated unhappily.
Yugi softly closed the door behind him, and began looking up and down the hallway for the right direction back to his room. He had no idea which way he had come from. He hadn't paid any attention when Mokuba had led the way.
As if Yami had known (or actually he probably had known), shadows began to appear all around Yugi, lifting him up, and carried him back to his room. It wasn't really comfortable, as a matter of fact they were quite cold, but Yugi didn't complain. He was put down in front of the door to his room.
Yugi took a deep breath to steel himself for whatever was to come. Hopefully he isn't too mad. He raised his hand slowly to the door handle, and was about to open the door when suddenly:
"Psht, Yugi wait!" It was Ryou.
"I've thought about our problem."
"Our problem?" Yugi scrunched up his nose confused. What was Ryou talking about?
Ryou rolled his eyes. "How to get the old Yami back, of course!"
"Oh!" Yugi exclaimed excited. Then he turned thoughtful: "But what if he never changed? If there is no **old** and **new** Yami? Maybe he's been like that all the time and we just didn't realize."
"It doesn't matter!" Ryou interrupted Yugi's musings happily.
"Huh? Come again?" Now Yugi didn't understand anything anymore.
"What I've come up with will change the pharaoh, no matter if he was different before he fell in love with you or not. It always does." Ryou began looking dreamily at something behind Yugi that the other couldn't see. Why is he looking at the door in this funny way?
"And what is this oh-so-brilliant plan about?" Yugi asked, doubting its effectiveness. The last time Ryou had had a plan Yugi had ended up falling all over the place, and bumping into Yami several times. He might as well had broken a few limbs back then.
Ryou ignored Yugi's sarcasm and exclaimed proudly: "You will seduce him." He said it as if it was the most normal thing to do, although for some people it probably was.
"What the fuck?" Yugi yelled in shock, his eyes as big as plates. He stumbled a few feet backwards in surprise until his back hit the wall. Seducing somebody was most certainly nothing Yugi had ever specialized in.
"Shhh!" Ryou gesticulated wildly for him to be silent. "He'll hear you." But it was already too late. The door next to Yugi flew open, and Yami slowly stepped outside, his crimson eyes blazing.
"Ugh, hi Yami!" Ryou chirped, trying to sound unsuspicious. He laughed nervously at the cold stare he received from the pharaoh.
"Yugi, go inside." Atemu ordered, his hand raised and pointing into Yugi's room.
"You're coming with me, aren't you?" Yugi asked softly, and pulled on the pharaoh's sleeve. He was afraid of what might happen to Ryou if he wasn't around to stop his dark half. After a short pause and with a last threatening growl directed at Ryou Atemu followed the younger one, and shut the door behind them.
"What did Ryou want of you?" Atemu asked as soon as they were alone, his voice dangerously low, signaling that he rather demanded an answer that asked for it.
"Uh…well…" Yugi stammered nervously, and slowly moved away from Atemu towards the bed. Obviously, he couldn't tell what Ryou had really suggested. Who knew what Yami did, once he found out what they had been talking about. He had to think of something else. Yugi sat down uncomfortably, and bent down to remove his sneakers, hoping for an inspiration to hit him.
"Look at me, Yugi!" the pharaoh demanded, and knelt down in front of Yugi. Their eyes locked, and Yugi knew he wouldn't be able to lie. He had never been able to when looking into Yami's crimson eyes. He gulped involuntarily.
"What…did…he…say?" Atemu then repeated slowly as if talking to a child. "You know I could just find it out myself by reading your mind." He gently reminded.
"That wouldn't be nice." Yugi pouted. "You shouldn't go around forcing yourself upon others, Yami." He reprimanded his dark half in hopes of diverting Yami's interest from the actual topic. It worked (for the moment at least).
"You talk as if I would rape them." Atemu said with a scowl.
"Well, in a way you do. You intrude onto everyone's privacy and secrets." Yugi stated accusingly, and then more softly: "Do you really want to know everything? I'd think it horrible. What point is there in living if you know what's going to happen beforehand? Wouldn't it all be like a big deja-vu?"
"I simply don't like surprises, little one." Atemu explained and looked pained for a second. But as soon as Yugi had seen the emotion it was gone again, replaced by Yami's famous emotionless mask.
"Why?" Yugi wondered. "Not all surprises are bad, you know." His dark half didn't look very convinced. Yugi sighed and thought about how to show his yami. There had to be something he could do that the pharaoh wasn't prepared for, something he might like.
Then, remembering Ryou's words, he got an idea. "Why don't you sit down next to me, mou hitori no boku?" He offered softly, and padded the place on the bed right next to him innocently. Atemu looked at him a little bit suspiciously but did as he had been asked. Yugi smiled.
"So you're not going to tell me what Ryou said to you?" Yami recapitulated.
"It really was nothing important. He was just telling me some kind of weird joke…" Yugi lied, glad that Yami wasn't looking at him anymore. He had forgotten about the mind-link, though.
/Don't lie, hikari./ Yami gently chided. Though Yami didn't necessarily sound angry, Yugi still felt immensely guilty and hoped his dark half could feel it.
"I won't force you to tell me something you so obviously don't want to talk about. But I expect you to tell me everything that is of real importance, do you understand Yugi?" the former pharaoh looked at Yugi intently and held his gaze. To strangers it might have sounded like a parental figure talking to a little child, but Yugi knew that Yami always talked like that. Yami was used to being responsible for everything and everyone, remains of his former life as a pharaoh. Yami had always been especially protective of Yugi. There had been no person Yugi had been allowed to associate with before Yami had checked him or her out. Sometimes Yugi had been really annoyed by his dark half's behavior but most of the time he appreciated it. It showed that Yami cared for him. At least that had been what Yugi had thought before Yami had taken over the world. Now Yugi wasn't so sure; if he was to believe Ryou, then Atemu really did all of this simply to protect him from evil. But there was always the slim chance of Ryou being wrong as long as Yami himself hadn't confessed his love for Yugi.
Yugi nodded earnestly. He would have done so even without Yami telling him to. It was a bad habit of his to always tell others about his own problems. He wasn't very good at taking care of himself.
/Now you know that's not true./ Yami's voice once again resounded in Yugi's mind. /You're quite able to take care of yourself. You simply have no need to because you have many good friends. As somebody like you should have./ The last words were spoken with a little bit more fervor than probably should have been. Yugi frowned confused and tilted his head a little bit as he looked up at his dark half. He wondered if Yami had been talking about his former classmates. He had sounded really furious.
/So you'd call yourself a friend of mine?/ Yugi asked instead of inquiring after the reason for Yami's previous words.
The response came immediately: /Of course, aibou. That's what we've always been, isn't it?/ If there was more meaning behind the question, Yami didn't show it.
Yugi found himself smiling at the gentle words, and then decided that now was the perfect moment to act, as Yami had turned slightly away from him and was currently eyeing the tiles on the floor, looking for a creak. Or at least Yami was pretending to.
Yugi straightened up slowly, trying hard to behave and think inconspicuously as to not alarm his dark half. It seemed to work because Yami didn't look up when Yugi slowly moved closer, and Yugi could feel that Yami had closed off the mind-link once again. It was time that Yugi showed the pharaoh that good surprises indeed existed. He stretched a little bit more, and quickly kissed Yami's cheek, making sure though that it was long enough for Yami to realize it to be a kiss. Yugi then slumped back into his original position, trying to look non-fazed as he himself began studying the tiles, a slight blush rising to his cheeks and betraying his feelings.
He felt Yami whirl around and study him. /Wh-what did you do that for?/ Yami asked through the mind link, and Yugi could feel his dark half browsing through his mind to look for the answer himself when Yugi didn't answer right away. Atemu had always been impatient.
Yugi wasn't really mad at his dark half for once again reading his mind. On the contrary, it gave him the chance to find out Yami's own feelings, because when Yami immersed himself in Yugi's feelings he unconsciously allowed Yugi to do the same. The most prominent emotions the hikari could make out were surprise and wondering in the mix with some other feelings that Yugi wasn't able to decipher.
"So you thought you'd show me a pleasant surprise, did you?" Yami wanted to know once he had found the right train of thought in his light's mind. Yugi could feel himself being shut out of his dark half's mind once again.
"You didn't like it?" Yugi asked somewhat surprised. He had been so sure that Yami would like it. Maybe he had listened to Ryou's ideas too much.
"Maybe? Maybe?" Yami yelled, showing that he had still been reading Yugi's thoughts, and that Yugi sadly had not realized this. "What in the name of Ra were you thinking? What would you have done next had I approved of your little show of affection?" The ex-pharaoh spat out the last words as if they disgusted him. "Would you have slept with me?"
"Huh?" was all Yugi managed to get out. He didn't understand what had gotten into Yami all of the sudden. Why was he so angry? It had just been a simple kiss and Yami acted as if he'd just stripteased in front of the ex-pharaoh. "Mou hitori no-"
"No! Don't call me that in a moment like this." Atemu interrupted, his crimson eyes looking sad. Yugi could see that Yami's hands were balled into fists, the nails cutting into his dark half's flesh. Drops of blood as red as Yami's accusing eyes slowly dripped to the floor as Yami turned around and left the room without another word.
Yugi watched the retreat silently, not knowing what to say. He didn't even understand why Yami had gotten so angry. How could Ryou have been so wrong? He had only kissed Atemu's cheek…why had he been so disgusted?
Then, after some time, tears gathered at the corner of Yugi's eyes and he started sobbing into the closest pillow.
Yugi refused to eat that evening. His stomach was still clenching painfully from the happenings of that day, and not even Ryou's coaxing or grandpa's begging could get him to touch any of his food. After about two hours grandpa gave up on Yugi, and the food was carried back outside untouched.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ryou offered once they were alone. Yugi simply shook his head. He was in no mood to talk to anyone for the next few days. Maybe he would just stop talking all together. It seemed like a good idea at the moment.
Ryou sighed. "Very well. You know where to find me in case you change your mind." Yugi nodded, and was left alone to wallow in his misery.
The next time the door opened Yugi was quite sure it was once again either Ryou or grandpa, after all who else should be interested in his well-being? Seto was still too weak to move, and Mokuba would most likely look after his brother. The only other people that cared for him were somewhere in the forest, waiting for him and Ryou to return.
"You know that's not true." Yami's deep baritone voice cut through the air. His dark half had once again read his thoughts. "They are not the only ones who care for you." Yugi didn't respond. He was still too hurt about how Yami had treated him the last time they had talked.
Atemu sighed. "You should eat something."
/I'm not hungry./ Yugi stated, not bothering to speak out loud, and fearing his voice would crack if he did.
Yami sat down on Yugi's bed nevertheless. Yugi stopped breathing, his entire body tensing. What was his dark half going to do? Would Yami hit him?
"I'm sorry." Yami suddenly said. Yugi was so surprised by this that he even turned around to look at his dark half.
"I should not have yelled at you like that. That was uncalled for, and quite without any reason. Please forgive me, little one." Atemu said quietly, his eyes looking sadly at Yugi. The hikari realized it had to have taken a lot of courage for Yami to seek his forgiveness. The ex-pharaoh surely wasn't used to doing so.
"Why did you yell at me like that anyways?" Yugi wanted to know. In his heart he'd already forgiven Yami as soon as the other had asked but he needed to know the answer to his question.
Yami sighed and then asked: "Before I answer the question will you respond to one of my own?" Yugi looked at his dark half confused and Yami rushed to clarify: "It will make my reason easier to explain." Yugi nodded slightly in agreement.
"Did you kiss me because of what Ryou said to you?" Yami asked.
It took Yugi a few seconds to remember what Ryou had told him to do. You will seduce him. Yugi turned red like a tomato, suddenly realizing that Yami must have found out about it when reading his mind. "Maybe…" Yugi said unsurely, not knowing how to explain his own thoughts.
Yami seemed to be disappointed, and was about to get up and leave the room again but Yugi, realizing this, gripped his hand immediately, yelling: "Wait, please!" More calmly he added: "Let me explain."
"I'm not sure I want to hear." Atemu said with a flat voice, though tired crimson eyes betrayed the ex-pharaoh's real feelings. Atemu slowly sat back down next to Yugi, his eyes fixed on their locked hands.
"I didn't kiss your cheek because I wanted to seduce you tonight." Yugi said without delay, glad that Yami had not left yet, and trying to set the record straight. "You should know me well enough to realize I wouldn't be able to seduce anybody even if I wanted to."
"Everybody is able to seduce others. Most people simply do not realize it." Atemu corrected his light, but he made no movements to get up.
Yugi frowned slightly, trying to grasp what Yami had just tried to tell him. "Well, anyways…", he then continued, "what I meant when saying **maybe** before was that I might not have had the idea had Ryou not suggested that seducing part."
Yugi looked up at his dark half, trying to see if Yami understood what he was trying to say. "Ryou's words merely initiated the thought but you have to believe me they had nothing to do with the action itself."
"Are you sure?" Atemu asked earnestly, and their eyes met once again. Yugi nodded firmly. Yami smiled and confessed: "I am glad."
"Am I right in supposing that you now already understand the reason for my actions earlier this day?" Yami asked after a few minutes of silence. "Or is an explanation on my behalf needed?"
Yugi blinked at the complicated sentence, and then nodded. "No, I think I understand." He said softly.
"Good." Yami smiled. "How about I tell your grandfather to bring you something to eat now? You must be hungry."
Yugi thought about it but his stomach answered the question for him with a growl. He smiled sheepishly. "I think food would be great."
Atemu nodded and got up to search for Sugoruko. "Maybe the two of us can go to the park tomorrow, what do you think?"
Yugi smiled in appreciation. He really didn't like being locked up in the castle all the time. Maybe if the sun was shining… It could be fun. They'd gone to the park a lot of times before Yugi had started going out with Tea. Yugi started reminiscing about their past excursions to the park, and didn't even notice Yami leave.
"Ho, ho. I've heard somebody is hungry here!" Sugoruko announced with a chuckle as he entered his grandson's room. In his hands he held a giant tray, a plate with spaghettis, a glass filled with coke and an old book laying on top of it. Yugi smiled at his grandfather, and eyed the food hungrily.
"I'll leave you alone with your food then. I'm sure the two of you have a lot of things to share." Grandpa joked, kissed Yugi's forehead affectionately, and left as he had said.
Once Yugi was done eating he turned towards the book. There was no title on the cover, and so he flipped it open to a page somewhere in the middle in his attempts of finding out what the book was about. Why had grandpa brought him that book?
He bent over the book and began to read. Seconds later the book fell onto the floor, and Yugi stared blankly at the still open page, the words of the book continuing to resound in his head. Only now he realized the full meaning of what he'd thought had been a small show of affection.
Just like in the modern days there were many different ways of showing affection in the old Egyptian times. Especially the kiss on the cheek had a deeper meaning; we have reasons to believe it even surpassed the meaning of the actual kiss on the lips.
The people of Ancient Egypt believed the face to be the most important of all body parts. It was the only feature they could prove to be truly unique, and according to their religious beliefs, it was the only thing that had been created by Ra himself. Therefore it is only understandable that to touch a person's face, even more so with one's own face, spoke of high affection and could only be tolerated by close family members or loved ones. In the case of the pharaoh the reverence went as far as that it was completely forbidden for commoners (and most of the time even for high priests and the pharaoh's own family) to even look upon the king's face, much less touch it.
While a person's lips were often seen as the origin of lies and falsehood, a person's cheek was believed to be pure and, in the case of the pharaoh, even holy. While for example the pharaoh's concubines were allowed to kiss their king on the mouth in their pleasure acts, it was a reason for them to be beheaded if they touched his cheeks in any way.
From a stone tablet found at recent excavations, we have learnt that in Ancient Egypt a marriage proposal was not spoken aloud but signaled by a gentle kiss on the person's cheek. A married person that kissed another man or woman on the cheek could easily be accused of adultery and was most of the time beheaded (unless the spouse pleaded for the person's life). A kiss on the cheek is one of the few things that concerned men as much as women. While it was not uncommon for men to sleep with other women beside their own wife, a kiss on the cheek of another woman was not tolerated and as severely punished as if it had been a woman who committed the crime.
Other sources suggest that the cheek is a highly erotic spot, and that a married couple signaled its want for sexual intercourse by a kiss on the spouse's cheek. But this has not yet been confirmed.
– To be continued –
Thank you for waiting for so long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
The part about the kiss that's written in the **book** in my story is purely fictional and has no true origin in Egyptian legends or whatsoever. At least I don't think it has. I simply needed to have a reason for Yami's strange behavior.
This time I won't tell you the next chapter will be done in next to no time although I hope I can update soon for your sake at least. I'm putting the info on the progress of my stories on my profile, which I'll be updating every once in a while when I know something new about my stories, so that you can check how far I am done with my chapters if I've once again taken really long to update.
Please review!
