Chapter 9: Another Task
A few days after the bonding ceremony passed. A few days before, Yugi had stayed in the Fairies territory, watching the Fire fairies from the shadows, as well as staying to relax after the ceremony.
Once returned back home, Evon went back home to visit her father back in the Dragon's territory, staying for a week as she visited other siblings.
While she was gone Heba and Yami showed up the next day after the two had returned, around noon or later.
Yami wondered something "Hey Yugi, may I ask you something." He called across the room, Yugi poking his head around the corner to the stairs as he was making his was up them "I know that three nights ago, having fun was required to make the dust...but I could tell that you really were having fun. All I am asking is, why would you want to leave after having so much fun during it?" Yami questioned leaning over Ryo and Bakura's couch since those two were not in the room with them.
Closing his eyes, Yugi ignored his question, continuing on to his room.
Confused "He ignored me." Yami pouted, earning a few laughs from the others in the room.
Atemu laughed, running his hand through his hair after "We have asked him that so many times, he learned to stop answering us."
"Anyways, didn't Yugi tell you the reason the night you showed up here." Malik asked "About being tired of living."
Shaking his head "No, he hadn't, but it is obvious that he would be tired. I mean from Earth and coming here, he hasn't died yet." Yami replied.
After a few minutes Yugi came back down, his long hair no longer flowing behind him "This is more like it."
Both Heba and Yami paled in surprise, shocked that Yugi cut his long hair off. The two were just beginning to get used to Yugi having long hair.
"Why did you do that?" Heba asked.
Sighing "I cut it off every five years. If I never cut it off I would never be able to go anywhere. I'd be Rapunzel stuck in her tower, trapped till somebody saved me and cut my hair off themselves." He fell over "They'd be crushed by the amount of hair piled on top of them that they would die before saving me." Yugi explained sitting up.
More laughter from Joey, Seto, Marik, Malik and Atemu.
"What, it is best what describes myself." Standing up, dusting his pants off "Well, getting back to your question from a few minutes ago. Like you said, I have been alive for too long. Immorus has nothing else to offer me, yet I don't want to go, that is why I have tried to look for someone. If either me or Atemu leaves, then you all will have a fit since you won't have us around to talk to anymore." Yugi said, referring to Joey, Seto, Malik, Marik and Ryo and Bakura wherever they were.
The four nodded to his words.
Thinking in thought before speaking "So all you have to do is find a mate right." Yugi nodded walking for his seat, going behind it "What if...what if I could be."
The room went extremely silent, Yugi stopping in his tracks.
Heba stared shocked and wide eyed at his brother, mouth hanging open.
"What!?" Everyone but Yugi exclaimed together.
Glancing up Yami paled, blushed and sweatdropped all at the same time "That came out wrong."
Marik was surprised "Really, cause to me that sounded like a proposal of some kind." He said, Joey agreeing with him.
"Well it wasn't! I was saying that I wouldn't care if it was me. Even if I didn't remember you guys from Earth even after I turned eighteen, sooner of later Yugi would have ran into me in town. Thing's would have been different than they are now."
Staying faced away 'Yami I really wish that could have happened, than you would not be able to stop me and it wouldn't be hard on me to say goodbye.' He thought, speaking "Even if that could have happened, your age would be a problem."
"What about my age?" Yami questioned.
Still facing away, not wanting to look him in the eyes yet "First off you're not even twenty yet. You are still a kid to everyone."
Growling lowly, Yami hated when people called him a kid, like every other eighteen year old out there "I'm not a kid!"
"Prove it!" Turning towards them, Yami mostly, hands in his sweat shirt pockets "Just because you passed and graduated school does not make you an adult. From my perspective you will always be a kid! Ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and eighty-two years too late!" Yugi shouted "If you had been brought back in the first thousand years I would have thought about it better than I do now, but I won't change my mind on next year."
Arguing back "Saying the exact years that I have been gone won't change a thing, you jerk!"
Shrugging "Call me what you want. These guys have called me those names many times and I'm not fazed by them." Yugi remarked.
"It would still be the same for someone else you meet out in town. They will be younger than you and you will say the same thing that I am saying right now. They do not know you like I do. They will end up taking advantage of you the second you take your eyes off them!"
"And how do you know that?" Yugi asked in wonder.
"I know how that can happen. In the past and as a kid here."
Heba snickered "Trust him when Yami says here. The friends he had before going into school would always take advantage of him."
"How so?" Seto questioned, interested as well as Yugi.
Yami rolled his eyes "Because I looked like Yugi and Atemu, they thought that I was one of your kids, meaning Prince or Lord title and that I could get away with anything. Being the oldest I didn't know what to expect when it came to stuff like that, being asked by them to get stuff. When mom found out she went to each kids house and gave them a beating. The parents were good friends of hers so they understood after she told them what had happened and went along with what she had done." Standing up "Getting back on topic...I don't care about the title, unlike tons in town. After the marriage they will want to kill you in order to have someone else by them. You helped me return my soul to the afterlife, can't I repay you for doing that at least?" He questioned.
Facepalming, fingers tangled in his bangs "This is the reason why I did not want you to have me in your life. You would stoop so low in going to that. You would say something like that to keep me here longer, well, you got my attention. Now that I'm thinking, I have something for you to do...A task that only you can do."
Joey, Malik and Atemu all groaned "Yugi, the last time you said that, you had someone try killing you for a certain amount of times." Joey remarked "What are you planning this time."
Smirking "Simple. If you claim you want to repay me, then you can easily do this." More groans, hearing stuff like this before "The task is simple. Take me places that I still love about this place. It can be anywhere on Immorus. There will not be a limit to how many times we go out. If you can change my mind from those places, to not leaving, then I'll stay, possibly taking you up on your offer." Taking in a breath "If not, well, you won't be seeing me around in the future."
Yami, Heba and everybody else rose their brows, surprised that Yugi had said that. "Are you telling me...to take you on dates!?" Yami exclaimed in shock at the last part.
Tilting his head towards the ceiling, arms crossed "Don't call it that. More like hanging out than that. You remember when we talked six months ago, stuff like that, talking, having fun. Show me places that you yourself will have fun at with trying to figure out what I will miss." Yugi clarified.
Nodding slowly "Okay, I sort of understand what you are asking." Rubbing his neck "I have a feeling that you are not going to give me hints are you."
"None whatsoever." Yugi answered shaking his head, plopping down on his couch.
"Then I guess I have to go research a ton of stuff. I haven't been away from home a lot so I don't know what you all know." Walking for the door "Heba, you coming!" He called from the open door.
Turning around "Why do I have to help?"
Rolling his eyes "You don't have to, unless you would like to stay here with them."
Realization hit him, turning his head back around, looking to the others.
Yugi commented "The Mansion does need a good cleaning. We could use a little more man power."
Standing up "Coming!" Running after Yami who had already stepped out of the building.
The door swung shut, Yugi and the others laughed.
"That works all the time when you want somebody gone." Yugi admitted.
Malik agreed "Yeah, I remember you saying that a lot with Bakura and Marik after Marik's turning." He said.
"And we never did help any of those times. I'd like to keep it that way." Malik declared.
"To late."
Marik rose a brow "What?"
Smirking once more "I thought you already knew that we clean this place from top to bottom every year at the end of the year. You had your chance to leave. Grab a broom." Yugi ordered sternly.
Outside the Mansion, Marik's screams of dread echoed over the town, confusing every person that day.
~Three weeks later~
The lid to Yugi's coffin popped open, surprising Evon on the bed.
Groaning Yugi sat up, hand placed at his head.
Evon flew over, cuddling his neck like she always did "Good morning, how have you been these last three weeks." He asked. Growls in answer to his question, tightening her grip around his neck.
"Alright, I understand." Yugi chuckled getting out, shutting the lid up tight, sliding the coffin underneath the bed, bed dropping down a few feet.
Letting out a relieved breath "May I go take a shower. If you want, go tell the others that I'm awake."
Nodding she let go, flying for the door handle and pulled it open, flying towards one of the other rooms as she pulled the door closed with her tail.
Smiling Yugi went and took his shower.
Twenty minutes later he found his way downstairs, Evon bouncing on his couch in excitement. Everyone was downstairs accepts Joey since he was getting Evan up and ready. Atemu was in the kitchen, making coffee for them all.
"I wish you were always excited like this when I wake up after every six months. It is rare to see this side of you." Yugi said, stopping at the bottom of the steps, looking off in the direction of them.
Evon blew fire his way, still bouncing up and down.
"Speaking of rare." Joey said from behind Yugi yet a ways up the stairs "You seem to be in a good mood today? Mind explaining that to us."
Shrugging while Joey made his way around Yugi "I'm just well rested this time. I haven't been in a constant sleep since I laid down three weeks ago." Yugi admitted.
Ryo was surprised "Wow, that never happens."
Seto chuckled "You sure that Yami remembering you hasn't worn you out in the least."
Sitting down, Evon hopped into his lap "It may have been just that. He remembers me and the next thing we know is this place becomes more lively. I wouldn't be surprised if you all take a few weeks snooze from all this excitement around here."
"Speaking of excitement." Marik wondered "Yami wasn't here in the last week. I wonder why that is."
"With his mother needing help, I doubt that he was able to get away that much." Yugi replied, seeing Atemu walking into the room.
"I put the papers from the meetings in your office. Whenever you want to look them over, that is where they are." He informed.
Nodding "I'll do them in a few hours. I'm planning on checking out their mother's shop. From what I've heard from people is that she makes coffee as well as bakery items."
"What makes you want to go check it out?" Bakura asked.
Petting Evon "Sounds like a decent place to sit down and go over paperwork. Also, just between us, I've never seen Yami work before. Would like to get a sneak peak at that before the year is over."
Malik laughed "Never thought of that. We'll have to check the place out at some point."
The hours passed before long. Yugi had grabbed his papers from his office, placing them in a bag at his side, Evon joining him on his journey through town, following the directions he had found in the monthly magazine in the shops section.
Once found Yugi stepped into the building, seeing not many people inside at this hour.
"Welcome!" Amara said before turning around, shocked by who had stopped by "Emperor, what a surprise. What's the occasion?"
Lightly smiling "Just looking for a place to work in peace." Walking to the counter "The others were shocked that Yami had not shown up for a week. What did you make him occupied with to keep him here?" Yugi asked.
Chuckling "A lot of things that involved him leaving for other areas, though yesterday he finally got his first sickness spell. He is still sleeping if you want to go wake him. Tell him to get down here, eat, and come help me out here." Amara said.
"What about Heba, is he up."
"He's already at school, won't be back till later." She explained as Yugi went for the back door, entering through it, finding the stairs to the second floor and going for the second door at the end of the hall. Yami had said something a while back that his room was the farthest from the stairs when describing his house to him one time.
Knocking he got no answer, entering the room he saw Yami motionless, chest rising and falling as he slept.
Stepping into the room more, he looked around, surprised to see a few dozen drawings hanging from the walls all around.
Blinking continuously, looking at each page until his eyes fell on one nearest the window. The drawing was of the floating Mansion, drawn in pencil and shaded. At the same time he looked out the window and back to the drawing. The floating Mansion was in exactly the same position as the drawing.
"Well, I had no idea he could be good at something besides card games back then. Then again, he is a completely different person in a way." Yugi said out loud.
Releasing a breath he went over to the bed, shaking Yami awake at the shoulders.
In minutes Yami cracked his eyes open, shocked to find Yugi standing over him "Okay" Rolling to his side "Now I know for sure that I'm very sick." Squeezing his eyes shut once more, trying to get back to sleep.
"Haha, very funny. Your mother sent me up here to wake you up. She wants you to help her." Yugi said ripping the blanket from him.
Eyes flying open, sitting up slowly "Why are you here, besides waking me up."
Chuckling "I came here to check out your mother's shop as well as do some of my paper work. A coffee shop, from what I remember, should be quiet enough to do that." Tossing the blanket back at him, Yami blocking it with an arms "She said to get dressed, eat something and get out there. It is close to thirteen hours." Yugi informed walking out into that hall, closing Yami's door behind him.
Yami sighed a tired breath and thought 'Never expected to see Yugi in my room.' Looking around 'I wonder what he all saw.' Seeing his drawings all over the walls.
After Yami had made it downstairs and ate something, he finally made it into the shop, stepping behind the counter.
By this point Amara had taken Yugi his cup of coffee and a few muffins, setting them away from the papers he had started working on. Evon eating a few of the muffins already.
Within the next couple hours the shop got full. The reason why was because it was Friday. People going out on early dates. Most people only came in because they saw Yugi sitting down inside.
Ever since those people showed up, Yugi's foot tapped the floor as a hand was placed against his forehead, annoyed to the biggest point.
Since they showed up, nobody bought anything. Just sat down wherever there was room.
Amara had known this, yet left them encase they all changed their minds. Yami sweatdropped, seeing how impatient his mother was getting, the same for Yugi 'One of these two are going to snap any moment.' He thought going back to what he was doing, not wanting to get in the middle of this.
Yugi, silently sighed, glaring all around the room, fire in his eyes.
Some shivered at the glare, jumping when Amara spoke, annoyance clearly evident in her voice "If none of you buy something in the next five seconds, I am going to have to ask you to leave. I have a business to run and all you are doing is taking up tables."
Before the five seconds were up they were all gone. Yugi watched them leave when the door closed "Obvious much." He muttered, speaking up while fixing himself in his seat "Thank you. Any longer and I would have said something, and it would not have been pretty words either."
"Not a problem. I get that behavior from others on others occasions, not just when you or the council comes here."
Understanding Yugi took a sip of his coffee, putting the pages he was finished with back into his bag to be delt with later, staying till Yami was finished. Mostly his mother would tell him when she was finished with him.
A good four hours passed before Yami could leave, Yugi packing up and leaving with him, leaving money at the table for Amara.
The two walked around town, stretching their legs after so many hours, deciding to go out to one of the lakes later. After grabbing a few things from their places.
Heba, as soon as he got out of class, went home and dropped his bag off, quickly finding a couple of his friends from class, hanging out with them for a couple hours before they had to go home to study and or train with their parents. This coming up Monday, his class would be going to the vault to find their weapon if they had one.
Once his friends had left Heba released a breath. Since Yami remembered his past life last year and became friends with the Emperor and Lords again, including him in their group without question.
'Being able to hangout with Yami's friends is not the same with my friends.' Heba thought looking up towards the Mansion 'I wonder what they are doing right now...especially him?' He wondered.
The next thing he knew was that a hand grabbed his shoulder, scaring Heba half to death, jumping at the touch.
"Easy" Atemu said, Heba looking up at him "Didn't mean to scare you."
Calming himself "What are you doing right now."
"Nothing much, just been out roaming around lately. What about you. You haven't been at the Mansion with Yami since a week ago?" Atemu questioned.
Walking onward with Atemu "Mom got Yami to leave the area for about three days for orders. Yesterday Yami finally got his first sickness spell, that is why he wasn't there this week."
"And you?"
Shrugging "School. The teachers keep us longer for lectures and they go on for hours."
"Ouch, I wouldn't know what hours felt like. Earth's school classes only were held for a good forty-five minutes before going to another class and another teacher." Atemu stated as they walked through the gate, jumping on up to the Mansion, using magic to give themselves a boost.
Entering the building they found everyone accepts Yami and Yugi.
"Look who decided to show up after a week." Bakura said turning around in his seat.
"What held you up?" Seto asked.
Heba exhaled, explaining to them exactly what he had said to Atemu minutes before they got there with school and Yami being sent out of the area for orders and him being sick for the first time in the five to six months after his eighteenth birthday.
All scrunched their faces, remembering their own first time "Not something that I'm fond of remembering myself." Marik remarked.
Ryo shook his head "How well did he take it. Was he complaining a lot?"
"Truthfully, Yami said he wasn't expecting it. The entire week he ate something and regretted ever eating at all. He was up since six this morning, puking for an hour, back to sleep for an hour before repeating the process. I'm sure he won't be eating for a few months after yesterday, that's for sure." Heba answered, sitting down near the table on the floor.
Joey wondered something "You know, I've been wondering about this for a while now." He said, getting Heba's attention "Why, and only why does Yami have to help your mother out in her shop. Why can't you sometimes?"
Blinking as if he just met a moron. Everyone caught those blinks, chuckling accepts Joey who was serious about his question. Sighing "I help on the weekends. The reason why I don't help out more right now is because I'm still in school, Yami is not."
"What does that have to do with anything." Malik said.
Rolling his eyes "Have you seen what parents do to their children who don't pass the final exam's?" He got no answers as he continued "Parents smack them around, forced to go out with them away from their homes, trained till they can't stand before returning back here where they are grounded for an entire year. No video games, no computer, no friends, and no talking to the person you are in a relationship with. All that for an entire year while the people who pass get exactly the opposite. Since the third year for Yami, we both agreed that we would pass class and the graduation exams at all cost. We had no doubt that mom would not have been happy about either one of us not passing. Anyways, I don't think Yami minds too much, he wants to get a place of his own and make a business."
The door opened as Heba said the last sentence. When Heba had finished "You want to get a place of your own, really." Yugi said surprised. Yami turning a little red while the others looked his way, turning around he closed the door.
"Well I understand why you want to get your own place. Those drawings on your wall as pretty good." Yugi said.
Yami was surprised "How could you figure that out."
Shrugging "Just a guess, nothing really to it if you look closely at those drawings. I don't blame you for wanting to draw, nobody draws, paints or does anything with art these days."
Yami understood "I don't know how or when in the past I learned to do it, but I do. It is something I never cared about back then."
A few weeks later it was now February fourteenth. The day love struck the mates and married couples all around.
It was seventeen O'clock, Yami lay on the floor in the Mansion, a dazed look on his face.
Yugi came into the room from the kitchen, looking over some things Curt had given him the day before. Walking for his seat, not looking at the floor to see if a body was in his way, tripping over someone's leg. Thankfully a hand was free and he caught himself from flying over the backside of Ryo and Bakura's couch.
Thankfully all the Lords were gone someplace or otherwise they would have had the time of their lives with having Yugi trip over Yami's leg.
"I swear, what are you doing here. Go home!"
"I don't want to. Nobody is home. Heba is with his friends and Mom and Dad are off someplace else for today only." Yami explained.
"Then go open your mother's shop."
"I can't. Mom said to keep it closed till she got back." Plopping back onto the floor "I want to do something, yet I can't think of anything that I want to do right now."
"What about training?" Yugi suggested.
Rolling his eyes, rolling onto his stomach "With what war coming. Waste of time."
Sighing "That is the point. To waste time and to get rid of your boredom. At least get off the floor before someone else comes in and trips over you, more or less you getting stepped on by those two. You know they will jump at the chance at that."
Groaning sitting up "Give me something to do. Anything at all. Just say the word."
Shaking his head "I don't have anything for you to do." Pausing while he thought of something, more like the thought popped into his head before he could think of anything "You said anything, right?"
Yami nodded "Anything, just tell me what it is."
Looking to the ceiling "It involves cleaning out a building that has junk and valuable stuff inside that needs sorting." Glancing down Yugi's eyes widened. He could see the sparkle in Yami's eyes and knew that he wanted to do it.
Yami stood up, Yugi went and opened the door to the room beneath the stairs, grabbing a clipboard and a big rusty looking key with a big loop ring at the end of it. Stepping out he closed the door, motioning Yami to follow as he walked out of the Mansion.
Hope you enjoyed :3