Seto must have instructed Ryuji not to disturb them during their duel, because Ryuji Otogi didn't show up until after the CEO had departed for the afternoon.

Blessedly, Ryuji arrived with food he picked up from a local Korean restaurant. Yugi was starving. Not only had he forgotten to eat breakfast in the morning confusion involving the shower, but he'd completely skipped lunch too because he'd been so distracted by Seto's visit.

"You're amazing," Yugi praised when Ryuji set the food on the coffee table before him.

"I get that a lot," he said with a wink, "although usually I get it from women." Yugi flicked a mandu at him and Ryuji barely bounced back in time to dodge it. The dumpling fell on the carpet and bounced under the couch. "I'm not picking that up. You threw it at me, it can rot and smell bad."

"I'll get it," Yugi pouted. He bent with a little wince and reached a hand down, patting about for the moist dumpling. He half expected Yami to place the dumpling in his hand like he'd done with the game pieces before, and was not disappointed in the least.

A sticky mandu was pushed into the palm of his reaching hand, and phantom fingers closed his fist around it to be sure Yugi had a hold on it. The action was sweet and considerate, if not a bit squishy. He sat back up dropping the floor mandu on the coffee table to toss out later. If Jonouchi had been there his friend would have eaten it. Jou ate pretty much anything even if it hit the floor. Yugi reminisced about the time his best friend had eaten a pizza even after it had been thoroughly licked by a dog.

Ryuji took a seat next to Yugi, who was already digging into his meal, and nodded towards all the games on the floor. "I see you finally moved your games. Or was this Kaiba's handiwork?"

"Kaiba," Yugi said around a mouthful of bibimbap. "We pwayed a duwl."

"Of course he couldn't be bothered to put them all back after he was done." Without being asked, Ryuji began picking up each game very carefully and placing them back on the coffee table, arranging them to leave room for Yugi's meal.

"Phwanks," the smile Yugi shot him was made silly by his stuffed cheeks.

"No prob, Bossman." Ryuji finished placing the last game on the table and sank back down on the couch again. "Don't forget Ryou is coming over for a Monster World session tomorrow. This should be the conclusion of our current campaign. We go face the big bad in his undead lair."

Yugi swallowed a mouthful and took a drink of the bottled water Ryuji had also provided. "I'm ready. I think the vampire lord is going to be a red herring though. I think the true big bad might be a Lich."

"We did encounter a villager who mentioned a Lich in passing awhile back didn't we?"

"Vampire also don't make zombies. They have thralls. And I distinctly remember Ryou saying one of the hoards we fought had rotten flesh."

"I totally forgot that!" Ryuji slapped a hand against his forehead and twirled some of his curly black hair. "Damn, you're sharp. So you think the vampire lord is in league with the Lich, or is it like… an underling?"

The two of them continued to strategize for their next Monster World session while Yugi ate his meal. His assistant didn't stick around for too long because he had some other errands to run and needed to take care of them before they played Monster World for nearly the entire day tomorrow. Yugi assured him that he'd be ok, and if he got hungry again he could manage making a simple meal on his own.

Ryuji was skeptical, but relented. He slipped on his shoes and bid his boss a friendly farewell before departing.

Yugi was not expecting a pitch black figure to be seated right next to him the moment the front door closed.

He nearly jumped out of his own skin, just barely managing to choke back a scream.

"Sweet-cream-n-crackers-mother-scratching-ritz-bits!" he wheezed out while clutching at the front of his shirt. "Y-you didn't scare me. I'm not…" a hard breath, "not scared, Yami. I didn't scream…at all."

Yami's hands shot up in a gesture of peace. And he gesticulated nervously as Yugi fought to calm his rapid breathing. What was worse, Yami's usual golden eyes had not manifested. So the figure waving its hand at him was nothing more than a man-shaped mass of inky darkness.

"I'm ok," Yugi sucked in another breath and he felt Yami very gently touch his shoulder. The simple contact sent tingles over his skin that did very little to gentle the rapid beating in his chest. Thankfully Yami didn't slip back into the shadows. Yugi could always attempt to stop him, but he was dubious about his chances of success. "I'm actually glad to see you," he confessed.

To this the shadow's golden eyes appeared, blinking at him in surprise. The white board appeared from under the couch, something having pushed it, and Yami reached a hand down to collect it from the floor.

So that's where it went. Yugi had noticed the white board's absence when Seto arrived. It hadn't been among the games Seto moved to the floor before their Duel Monsters game.

For the briefest moment Yugi thought he noticed something long and thin like a vine, or a monkey's tail pull a marker out from under the couch, but it lacked any definitive outline and melted back into the rest of Yami's form before he could properly discern what he'd seen. The shadows that had eaten the marker made it reappear once more popping out of Yami's palm and he uncapped it to begin writing.

The familiar squeaking of marker tip to board was pleasant. After a moment Yami turned the board for Yugi to read.

'I'm sorry.'

"Please, don't be. You didn't scare me, I was only startled."

More writing.

'I'm sorry for avoiding you. I know you were upset, and I know I freaked you out… before.'

Yugi made a face at this. That wasn't entirely true, but he could see why Yami would come to that conclusion. "It was just a new experience for me, and it was awkward for both of us. But you're here now and I have a present for you."

Yami's whole form sat up at this, those haunting eyes piercing him with unabashed curiosity. He capped the marker and set it and the board aside with care.

Yugi picked up the wrapped package from before—the one Seto had brought over—and held it out to the shadowed spirit. An infectious smile alighting his features when Yami's ghostly fingers reached out and took it.

Shadow fingers that faded in transparency near the tips traced the edges of the package, caressing it like something precious. Yami's head tilted between the package and Yugi several times as if trying to ask him a silent question.

"It's really a gift for you," he explained, "I didn't want you to get into it earlier, because I wanted to watch you open it myself."

For a moment Yami's form seemed to shrink in embarrassment, but then he began picking at the padded envelope the present was wrapped in, breaking open one end, and slipping a bright red and yellow plastic rectangle out. He set the packaging aside, and clasped the brightly colored object between his hands.

"It's a Speak & Spell," Yugi explained. "I bid on and won a Vintage Texas Instruments original. Then had it shipped to Kaiba Corp. I asked Seto and Mokuba to refurbish it and reprogram it for Japanese; they enhanced all the memory capabilities, and changed some features so it doesn't spell things out so much as read off text. It's essentially a Text to Speech device now, and you can carry it around with you like you did with the white board." He fidgeted a bit under the intensity of Yami's unblinking stare. "We can talk to each other now. Go ahead and try it out."

Yami tilted his head down, seeming to focus as he tapped a few of the characters on the toy computer. Then he hit the little "enter" arrow.

"HELLO, YUGI," The computer sounded in an extremely monotone computerized voice.

Yami fumbled the device and dropped it onto the couch like the thing had electrocuted him.

Yugi had to hide the smile that tugged painfully at his mouth. "It works! This is great!" He scooped up the Speak & Spell and held it back out to Yami.

The shadow somehow looked skeptical and hesitated to accept it back.

Yugi tried to smile encouragingly and really hoped it didn't let slip his amusement. Yami tentatively took the toy back holding it just above his lap, but he didn't make any motion to type on it.

"Can you make it say something else? Anything?"

Yami typed a couple keys and hit enter. The machine loudly stated, "NO."

Yugi almost lost it to a fit of giggles but managed to ask "why?" instead. Honestly he wasn't sure what he expected when he gave Yami a Speak & Spell, but this bewildered reluctance was borderline hilarious. Yami didn't appear to know what to think of the device and it's terrifying synthetic voice.

The edges of Yami's form quivered momentarily before he finally began typing. He held the machine with one hand and used his right pointer finger to jab keys.

"YOU BOUGHT THIS FOR ME?" The synthetic voice asked. And Yugi was impressed that Seto had managed to program it to have just the slightest inflection on the last word to intone when a question mark was being used.

"I did," Yugi answered, "it's yours, to use as you like. Seto outfitted it with a long lasting rechargeable battery, and you can make it say whatever. Even naughty words."

Yami tapped out a few keys and hit enter. The toy said, "FUCK."

Yugi burst into a fit of giggles.

"PISS" Yami's golden eyes crinkled in amusement as he watched Yugi begin choking. "ASS." At this the damn broke, and Yugi devolved into increasingly hysterical laughter with each additional swear word. The edges of Yami's form danced with pleasure.

"BITCH."

"SHIT."

The laughter hurt so much that Yugi felt tears begin to stream from the corners of his eyes. He was gasping for air between howls, and clutching his chest.

"POPPYCOCK"

Yami watched in horror as Yugi slipped off the side of the couch, and went plummeting to the floor.

One moment Yugi had been laughing so hard he was suffocating, the next he felt his balance shift and realized he'd rolled off the couch. His mind tried to brace itself for that familiar pain, realizing all to late that this was going to hurt badly all over again.

But something caught him. It was almost instantaneous, how fast it happened. Like the shadows beneath the couch had reached up and took hold.

Yugi blinked, still gasping for air as his chest heaved from the laughter, and saw tendrils of blackness coiled around his limbs, felt them cradling his back but so careful to avoid pressure around his hips and side. His gaze shifted to Yami who simply stared at him with wide frantic eyes.

A violent shiver worked its way through Yugi's frame and he couldn't quite place whether it fright, or relief, or just plain arousal. Maybe a combination of all three.

He was placed ever so gently back against the couch before his brain could catch up with the situation, and felt the prehensile shadow arms releasing their hold and retracting back into the darkness at Yami's feet. One of the tendrils brushed Yugi's cheek before retreating; the action could have been accidental, but Yugi shuddered none the less, his eyes still locked on his ghostly roommate.

"Th-thank you. That was…close," Yugi managed to stammer between breaths, and gave a lopsided smile. "Lucky you had extra… things."

Yami typed into the Speak & Spell, but without pupils Yugi couldn't tell if he were looking down at the machine or at him.

"THIS DOESN'T TERRIFY YOU?"

Yugi wasn't sure if he meant the Speak & Spell or the shadows that had caught and coiled around him so carefully. The honest answer was yes to both. But that wasn't really a bad thing.

He cleared his throat and tried to sit up a little, wincing as he did, but managed. "It does. But in a good way."

Golden eyes narrowed. "SCARY IS GOOD?"

"You're familiar with horror movies, right?" Yugi asked. He could already see Yami shrinking back, and he flared with the desire to reach out and take his hand. As if the gesture could keep Yami from fleeing the precarious situation. "Sometimes we like to be scared. It's exhilarating and fun. Ryou likes it especially, but… even me."

"YOU WANT ME TO SCARE YOU."

"Not really," Yugi amended and he could feel his skin burning as he grasped for the words to explain himself. "I mean, the Speak & Spell, yes it sounds creepy. That's why I bought it. Even before today, before I got to really look at you, I knew I wanted it for you. By purposefully making you more scary, it makes you less scary. If that makes sense?" He picked at the nail polish on his fingers feeling like he was doing an awful job at this, and Yami was most assuredly going to be offended and flee. "I don't want you to be ashamed of what you are. You're spooky. You startle me. And if I'm being honest it's very exciting. And I don't want you to be ashamed of that, I want you to embrace it."

"I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD BE OFFENDED."

His heart dropped like a stone and his whole posture sank as he picked a flake of black nail polish off his pointer finger. Purple eyes glanced up at Yami through blonde bangs. "I messed up. I was so excited to give this to you, but you just showed yourself to me today and I know that took a lot of courage. This must seem like I'm mocking you. I'm not. I'm really not. I should have waited until we were more comfortable together, not given you something to make you feel even more self conscious." Yugi reached out to take the Speak & Spell, "please, let's just go back to the white board."

Yami jerked the toy out of reach and held it to his chest. He leaned back and quickly tapped a message. "MINE."

"Please, don't feel obligated. I'm an insensitive prick."

When Yugi tried to reach out for it again a black hand met his, and shadowed fingers laced his own. A sudden wave of feeling washed over him, foreign and cloying. But not unpleasant. It made his heart ache and mind buzz, there was happiness in there and it took him a bit to realize the feeling was gratitude. Yami's emotions were flowing into him… through their touch?

Too overwhelmed by the emotions, it took him a minute to comprehend that Yami was holding his hand. But when it did a furious burn crawled over the back of his neck.

"So… you don't hate it?"

Yami shook his head. He withdrew his hand to type on the Speak & Spell and Yugi felt the alien emotions fade away with the touch. They left a hollowness in their wake.

"I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET BUYING THIS FOR ME." His eyes scrunched with impish delight as the computerized voice spoke for him.

"I wouldn't ask for anything more," Yugi beamed right back.

After a few moments he looked away from Yami. Maintaining eye contact was always an effort for him. The silence that settled between them had him itching to fidget, and Yami didn't seem keen to instigate a conversation on his own. Not that Yugi blamed him.

"So uh… I don't suppose you'd want to watch a movie or play a game with me, would you?"

"DUEL ME."

The sudden demand startled Yugi. "You want to play Duel Monsters?"

"YES."

"Oh, I'll have to grab my deck again." He made to reach for his crutches, but Yami suddenly sank into the couch, his form disappearing into the shadows between the cushions, and something black shot out from under the couch and off down the hallway. Yugi didn't have much time to register what had happened because it returned in a matter of seconds, washing over the back of the couch in a wave before coalescing into a human shape upon the seat once more.

Yami's eyes blinked open as he pushed Yugi's deck into his hands.

Dumbly Yugi grasped the deck of cards, waiting for his brain to catch up. The shadow before him was practically quivering, he could see it's edges dancing and those golden eyes were smiling.

"You don't have a deck," was the first thing he managed to say, then, "we'll have to build you one." He could have let Yami use one of his other themed decks, but the advantage he'd have over his opponent from knowing his entire deck hardly seemed fair.

Yami reached a hand into the general area of his chest and pulled out a stack of Duel Monsters cards. The effect was a little disconcerting, as if his chest cavity just spit out a deck, but Yami proudly placed the stack of cards on the cushion between them. Then he scooped up the Speak & Spell to type.

"I HAVE A DECK."

It was certainly a deck. It was the shabbiest, warped, and well-loved deck of cards Yugi had ever seen. And that was saying something because he'd dueled against small children, and they weren't known for keeping their cards in very good condition.

"May I?" Yugi reached out a hand to take a few cards off the top of the stack. "I won't look at the whole thing."

Yami gave a nod, clutching the Speak & Spell tightly.

Yugi fanned a handful of cards, carefully looking them over. There was a Kuriboh card with several creases and a missing corner. A Dark Magician that looked like it had gone through the washer, and probably even the dryer before it had been rescued. An Acid Trap Hole had the distinctive teeth impressions of a child and worn edges. And one poor little Monster Reborn looked as if it had been scooped out of the gutter; the paper warped, sporting stains and faded spots.

"These are yours?"

"I FOUND THEM. LOST CARDS. FORGOTTEN, RUINED, OR DISCARDED. PEOPLE DID NOT WANT THEM."

A warm pressure clenched at Yugi's heart and his expression grew soft as he returned the cards to the deck and handed them all back to Yami. "I think they've found a wonderful home. Let's get you some sleeves to protect them, and then we can play."

"I KNOW WHERE YOU KEEP THE SLEEVES. I WILL GET THEM."

Yami rose from the couch again, this time like a human and not melting like a puddle of ink. He started back towards the bedroom, still clutching the Speak & Spell under his arm when Yugi called, "you can use the sleeves with the Dark Magician Girl print!"

"BUT THOSE ARE ONE OF YOUR FAVORITE SLEEVES."

"I know," was all he said in response, smiling adoringly at the spirit.

Yami's eyes widened before he suddenly sank into the wall becoming a regular shadow, and the Speak & Spell slammed into the surface unable to follow its owner. It bounced off the wall taking a dive to the floor, before black hands shot out and snatched it again. Instead he dragged the device along surface and quickly disappeared down the hallway towards the bedroom.

Yugi watched the less than graceful retreat wondering how Yami knew the Dark Magician Girl sleeves had been his favorite.

He thought he would have to explain the game to Yami, but much to Yugi's surprise the ghost already had a firm grasp of the game. He turned out to be a competent and challenging duelist even using the mishmash deck of second-hand cards. They ended up dueling four times that night and Yugi only won two of the matches.

Yami, it seemed, adored Duel Monsters as much as he did.

And why did that make Yugi deliriously happy?

The house was a whirlwind of activity the next day. Ryuji and Ryou showed up for the conclusion of their Monster World campaign. But unexpectedly Jonouchi and his younger sister Shizuka popped in for a visit. And the two decided to sit in and role-play npcs and minor enemies for Ryou.

Ryuji was bouncing around the kitchen fixing snacks for everyone, while Ryou prepared the game. The siblings dragged Yugi's recliner into the kitchen and procured some extra seating from one of the storage closets.

While all this was happening Yugi sat on the couch and tried to stay out of the way. Yami was with him, albeit hiding beneath the couch. He knew because the ghost's hand kept brushing over the top of Yugi's bare foot. The first time it had given him a fright, but he'd quickly gotten used to it and the gentle touch was very comforting.

"Do you think I'll be right and the big bad will be a Lich?"

"YES." The computerized voice was muffled a bit as it came from beneath the furniture.

"Are you saying that because you peeked at Ryou's character sheets?" Yugi grinned down at the shadows curling over his feet.

Only silence answered him. It was damning enough.

"Don't spoil anything for me."

Ryou stepped into the threshold of the kitchen then, his black-framed glasses sitting cutely on the end of his nose and looking cozy in one of his usual pastel sweaters. He leaned against the frame, holding a folder of character and information sheets in his arms. "We're all set up. Did you want to get started?"

"NO."

Ryou blinked his brown eyes in surprise.

"I bought him a Speak & Spell," Yugi hastily explained. He grabbed for his crutches and managed to pick himself off the couch with only a some wincing and cheek biting. Phantom fingers tugged at the leg of his pants as if protesting his departure.

"Oh, that's beyond fit," Ryou remarked, more of his British accent leaking into his words. "Why hadn't I thought of that?" The last part seemed to be more directed to himself than Yugi.

"Maybe because he's my house ghost," Yugi chirped as he hopped towards the kitchen.

"Right. Right, of course," Ryou quickly amended allowing Yugi to pass before he moved to follow his friend into the kitchen. He cast a look at the shadows beneath the living room furniture and the corner of his mouth quirked. His voice seemed to go low and throaty when he said, "You're going to love our game today. Things are about to get desperate and deadly."

About an hour into the Monster World session Jonouchi straddled the seat beside his best friend balancing a sandwich in one hand and a drink in the other. "So, who owns da snazzy posh red Lexus in da park'n lot?" He took a bite of the sandwich and looked over the table in an attempt to catch up on what he'd missed the last couple of minutes.

"Oh yeah! I saw it too," Ryuji said, shaking some dice before rolling and checking over his character sheet for calculations. "It's brand new, because I've never seen it before yesterday."

"Your will save is enough, Ryuji." Ryou grinned over his laptop. "You just manage to overcome the Vampire Lord's enthrall. Your soul is intact… for now."

Shizuka let out a soft "boo." She was playing the other vampire thralls for Ryou, and was hoping Ryuji would have to join her.

This was all news to Yugi; the car, not the will save and thralls, although that was a pleasant relief for their team. As far as he knew he'd never seen any fancy cars in the apartment parking lot. His neighborhood wasn't exactly known for its high-income tenets.

"I don't know who…" he started before his voice trailed off and his thoughts flatlined. Yugi's heart crashed painfully against his rib cage. "…That son of a bitch."

He didn't. Seto wouldn't. Would he?

In seconds he was attempting to scramble out of the recliner, biting his lip and wincing against the pain. Jonouchi helped him up and even handed him the crutches. Yugi was off starting down the hall towards his bedroom in search of his keys. The very keys he'd dumped on his nightstand the day before, after Seto Kaiba had dropped them off.

"Where ya going, Yuug?" Jonouchi called after him.

Everyone else around the table watched with bewildered expressions.

"Should we help him?" asked Shizuka. She was seated next to Ryuji, and effectively blocking him in.

Everyone shrugged.

It didn't take Yugi very long to reach his bedroom. I just need to find out if that key fits in the Lexus. He head-butted the door and hopped into his room, heading straight for the nightstand. The keys sat innocently on top. Right where he left them.

He was about halfway in the room when he noticed a distinctive shadow looming against the wall. It's messy hair and human shape giving it away as an unnatural shadow, and there wasn't a dramatic enough light source for it to have been Yugi's. Besides, the light shining in through the window was casting Yugi's much smaller and less substantial shadow on the floor in the opposite direction.

"Hi Yami! Is this where you wandered off to?"

Golden eyes blinked open in the shadow's face. They stared him down with an intensity that left Yugi's blood feeling chilled.

Their shape… was off. In fact, something about the entire shape of the shadow looked off. The hair was flatter, more-tamed and far longer than usual. Nothing like Yugi's hair, the look in which Yami seemed to have adopted.

"Are you…ok?" He wasn't sure why his voice came out in a soft rasp. But every bone in his body was telling him to back the hell out of the bedroom.

A third eye slowly open in the forehead of the shadow, it's pupil an odd donut shape that pulsed as it fixed its stare on Yugi. Then two golden lines, vertically parallel to each other, ran from the bottom of that eye, down the forehead and towards the area of the nose bridge.

That's not… Yugi took a hop back and swallowed. "You're not Yami…"

The shadow shifted farther up the wall, stretching towards the ceiling.

His body screamed to bolt, to hell with his injury, but Yugi was paralyzed to the spot. He blinked as if to dispel the wrongness, almost expecting the shadow to pounce on him with as predatory as it looked. Unconsciously his hand gripped the puzzle at his chest, as if calling for protection.

When he opened his eyes again, the shadow was gone.

He cast about the room, his heart crashing thunderously in his chest.

Nothing.

Alone.

Did I really see that or are the painkillers making me loopy again?

"Hey man, did ya need some help?"

Yugi barely managed to swallow a shriek, and stumbled backwards as Jonouchi peeked into the doorway. "Jou! Frack, you scared me!" he leaned heavily on the crutches gasping for breath. "The keys… Seto dropped them off…yesterday." He sucked in a calming breath. "Wanted to see if the weird one belonged to the Lexus."

Fortunately Jonouchi's sudden appearance, despite the scare, made Yugi feel a million times better. It was as his big blonde friend's presence chased all the fear away.

Jonouchi's jaw dropped as he stepped into the entire doorway. "Kaiba bought you a car!?"