A/N: Okay, guys, between teaching. working my other job, and just...existing...I didn't get a chance to set up a Beta. If there are minor mistakes in this story, I'm sorry :(

As usual, I own NOTHING.

Chapter 3

It was no secret that Yugi hated mornings more than she hated anything. Scrunching her eyes tighter, she rolled over, groaning as she noticed that she was still in her school uniform. What had even happened last night? She had gone to meet Ushio...made up with Joey...and then everything went...well, blank. Well, almost blank...there was that crazy stress dream that she had...and that very handsome man who was dressed in the finest linen, coming to save her from Ushio…it must have been a dream, right? But it felt so...so...real.

Well, she couldn't dwell too much on it, because she was already late for-

"Shit!" she yelled, jumping out of the bed, nearly tripping over her tangled bed sheets.

She had barely made it to the edge of her bed when she let out a horrified squeak; her heart was pounding harshly against her ribs as if it would explode at any second and she felt a cold sweat drenching her entire body. In fact, Yugi almost hoped that her heart would explode so that she could clear her mind from this-this-

Sitting up on his makeshift pink sleeping bag, the Spirit from her dreams (still dressed in the white linen...kilt? Were they called kilts? Yugi wondered. She made a mental note to ask Gramps if she didn't die of heart failure first). She felt her face begin to heat up. He was so goddamn beautiful...She had met many handsome men, many cute guys, but never, ever, had she ran into a beautiful man like this. And now, he was seeing her in all of her fine glory.

"After all, nothing screams girlfriend material more than waking up next to a perfect god of a man, with last night's makeup, wild hair, and your pajamas falling off of your body…" Sassy Yugi snapped at her.

"Mistress? Is everything okay?" The Spirit had clearly been up for awhile. His deep violet eyes, so much like hers, were wide and alert, and not a strand of his unique hair was out of place. Yugi suddenly felt another wave of familiar self-consciousness at her wild post-bed appearance and brushed one of her many wayward bangs out of her bleary eyes.

Noticing the extra pink comforter and pillows that she kept stowed in her closet, crumpled on the floor beside her bed, she felt her face heat up.

Oh my god. He slept at on the floor! By her bed! Not only that-he was a guy! A sex god! Holy fuck!

Yugi was too busy going over worst-case scenarios in her head that she didn't hear the spirit's concerned voice.

"Mistress?" His deep baritone voice broke through her increasingly panicked thoughts.

"Whaa-?" came her articulate reply.

He frowned slightly at her frazzled countenance. "Mistress, you are radiating panic and fear. I can feel it in my own mind. Now, please, tell me what is the matter so that I may remedy it." Though his words seemed somewhat subservient, his tone left no room for arguing.

Before Yugi could reply, she heard the last voice that she wanted to hear at the present moment.

"Yugi, darling! Are you up yet? You're going to be late!"

"Shit! What am I going to tell mom!? How am I going to explain you?"

She jumped up out of bed and began hastily straightening her crumpled uniform.

"Simply tell her that I'm the Spirit of the Puzzle and that I'm here to protect you from harm."

Yugi paused from her frantic uniform straightening to stare incredulously at the Spirit. "Are you serious?" She grabbed her hairbrush from her white vanity table and began brushing her hair ferociously, wincing as it pulled the tangles.

"Quite serious. And please be a bit more careful; you're going to rip out your hair at that rate."

Yugi scowled. "No, seriously, Spirit. Listen, I don't know what time you're from, but in this day and age, it's normally frowned upon for sixteen-year-olds to have someone of the opposite sex stay the night."

"Yugi!" Yugi froze as she heard her mother's footsteps as she came up the stairs. Turning to the Spirit, who was still looking at her somewhat bemusedly, she began to jump up and down in a nervous manner. "Please, Spirit, can you at least hide? Unless, you know, you want my mom to kill me. I can't let her see you, Spirit! Please!"

The Spirit sighed, as if in resignation, and just as the doorknob turned, he manifested into a...well, there wasn't another word for it.

A Spirit form.

Yugi tried not to gape as her mother opened up the door to her room. "Yugi, dear? Are you alright? You look sick. Maybe you should stay home today? I can call you in."

As if in a trance, Yugi heard herself say: "No, Mom, really, it's fine. I-I just...I'm just tired is all. Honestly. I'm fine."

Her mother looked suspiciously at her daughter's paler than usual face, glassy eyes, and mussed up hair. "Alright, darling...if you say so. Now hurry up, you're going to be late."

"Okay, Mom."

As soon as Yugi was sure that her mother was safely downstairs she rounded on the Spirit who was now literally a Spirit.

"I thought you said that you weren't a Spirit who could shift?"

The Spirit gave Yugi a small and knowing smirk that made her stomach flutter against her will. "I said that I wasn't a Spirit who appears at random." He walked up to her, still in his Spirit form, and straightened Yugi's crooked jacket collar. "Really, Mistress, one of the first things that I'm going to have to teach you is context." He frowned slightly when Yugi didn't give her usual rebuttal. "I can see that for the present time, my corporeal form is making you ill at ease. If it will help, Mistress, I can stay like this."

Yugi felt like a large weight had been lifted off of her shoulders and chest. "Really!?"

"Unless-" The Spirit voice became stern.

"I knew there would be a caveat," Yugi muttered.

The Spirit continued as if he had not heard Yugi. "Unless someone hurts you or you are in danger. Then I will not be pleased." His dark violet eyes took on a slight shade of red that made Yugi's arms raise up in goosebumps. "Not pleased at all."

"I'm sure it will be fine, Spirit," Yugi replied nervously, trying hard not to think about Ushio and how she didn't want to get framed for murder if this mysterious (and to be honest somewhat psychotic Spirit) were to "accidentally" kill him.

"I heard that." A deep baritone voice whispered into her ear.

Yugi felt her heart nearly jump out of her chest. "Heard what!?"

The Spirit smiled, grabbing Yugi's bag and handing it to her, brushing his fingers through her hair, trying to straighten it, in the process. "Oh, something about a psychotic Spirit who may or may not have a penchant for murder."

Yugi blanched.

Much to Yugi's surprise, it was not as hard to concentrate on her new Spirit friend as she originally thought that it would be. He mostly kept to himself, stalking up and down the classroom, and observing objects (luckily, he didn't pick any of them up. Yugi was positive that she would have passed out with sheer anxiety if her classmates mentioned random levitating objects). The only other "beings" that the Spirit paid any mind to, were Joey and Tristan. Needless to say, the look on the Spirit's face with faced with these two days was anything but kind.

Well, it's not like Yugi could have said no. After all, if it hadn't have been for Joey, she would have never finished the Puzzle.

Then again, if it wasn't for Joey, she also would have never been in this situation in the first place.

Either way, Yugi figured it wouldn't be a bad thing having Joey and Tristan on her side and as friends. It also didn't seem to be too bad having an amnesiac Spirit by her side either. Everything seemed to be going okay until her second-period Algebra class...

"Yugi! Did you hear what happened to Ushio?!" Anzu hissed as she and Yugi were working on limits.

"Ushio?" Yugi said blankly. At the corner of her eye, she saw the Spirit smirking slightly at the sound of the bully's name. "Erm, no...what...happened?"

Anzu kept a careful eye on Ms. Chono. "Well, school security found him in the schoolyard this morning...he was throwing leaves in the air...yelling something about money and how he was rich…"

Yugi felt the blood drain from her face. What exactly happened last night? Was she responsible for Ushio's fate? Was the Spirit? Or was it just a coincidence? She looked to the Spirit for assistance.

Um...Spirit?

She couldn't help but smile as she saw the Spirit stiffen at the sound of her calls and he promptly turned his focus from the window to Yugi, his violet eyes narrowed in concern. Mistress? Is something wrong?

What happened to Ushio? Did you…? I mean...Anzu said he wasn't in his right mind last night. Did you…?

The Spirit gave a lazy shrug. I didn't kill him, Mistress. He should be thanking me on bended knee.

Yugi stood up. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

"MISS MUTOU!" Ms. Chono looked scandalized, as she looked up from her fashion magazine. "What is the meaning of this!?"

Yugi felt her face grow red. "I...uhm...I…"

Oh my god. I hate my life so much.

"Well, if you're just going to stand there and stutter, as well as waste my time, as well as everyone else's, why don't you just head on down to the Principal's office? Hm?"

"No! I mean-I mean-I'm just not feeling very well. I just...I'm sorry, Ms. Chono!" Against her will, Yugi felt tears beginning to well. She hated getting yelled at. It was so embarrassing.

"Then I suggest you sit down and get to work," Ms. Chono said coldly. "Next time you interrupt my class, you'll be in detention faster than you can say limits. Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Yugi felt her face still burning.

For the rest of the hour, she ignored Anzu's incredulous stares and the Spirit's desperate attempts to get her attention.

Yami could stay desperate for all she cared.

For the rest of the day, Yugi ignored the Spirit of the Puzzle. Granted, it wasn't easy, but she felt that it was necessary to prove a point. Fortunately for the Spirit, Yugi sucked at staying mad, and within an hour, she felt bad for ignoring him. After all, he was a person, too.

Well, kind of one, anyway.

Will you forgive me? The Spirit asked for the one-hundredth time, as Yugi sat in her third period English class. Ever since the incident in Ms. Chono's, the Spirit seemed to realize that he had made a huge mistake and started frantically apologizing, becoming even more frantic when Yugi didn't respond. After about forty minutes, he became somewhat despondent in his apologies.

Please forgive me, Mistress.

The deep baritone voice made Yugi nearly fall out of her seat. Hands shaking and sweating, she sat her pencil down and tucked a wayward bang behind her ear. How did other girls her age manage all of this drama? She couldn't even stay mad at someone for more than an hour.

Even if that someone may or may not have killed someone.

Looking over at the Spirit for the first time since she had burst out at him, she felt a pang of guilt. His violet eyes were half-lidded and downcast and his vibrant bangs and hair seemed to be drooping from his depression.

Yugi sighed. /It's okay Spirit. I'm sorry for being so angry at you./

She could have cried at the relief that the Spirit showed at finally being acknowledged. It was sad and it made her heart ache, as she watched his regained their regal and self-aware look.

I do that to you, Spirit? She thought to herself.

You do, Mistress. Came the Spirit's low and warm voice.

Yugi scowled. Spirit, when I get home tonight, we are going to talk about boundaries.

He smiled and ruffled her hair. As you wish.

Read and Review, please! This was meant to be just a filler chapter, anyway. The good stuff coms next. also, if you guys could go take my puzzleshippping story poll, that would be great :)