Disclaimer: I don't own, so please don't sue.
Clarification: Nobody knows about Yami yet (except of course for Yugi and Ryou) as far as I've seen in the anime. However, Honda does realize the connection between the Ring and Ryou's extreme shifts in personality.
Refractions
The day began as any other day did…with the annoying screech of an alarm clock.
"Damn it! Stupid piece of…"
Fingers fumbled for the snooze button.
"EEEEEEEEE…" The machine said in chastisement while somehow maneuvering itself just out of his grasp.
"Argghhhhh!"
A loud Ka-THUNK was heard as the offending object bounced off the nearest wall and was silenced.
A few minutes later an equally loud thump was heard as Jounouchi hit the floor himself and began crawling towards the bathroom in hope of a nice hot shower.
Fifteen minutes later and feeling only slightly human again, Jounouchi was struggling to keep eyes open as he tried to perform the tasks of styling his hair and dressing himself simultaneously. So far it wasn't working out real well.
Squinting into the mirror as he tried to gel down his hair into somewhat decent shape from the afro it had been before, something strange caught his eye. The mirror…there was only one word that described it…rippled…and peering back at him, for just a second, was a face that was not his own.
Jounouchi blinked.
What the hell..?
But there was nothing there.
Slightly uneasy, he went back to the motions for getting ready for school. Tucking the ankh underneath his uniform shirt, he paused to make sure that no sign of its presence would be available to any observer. It was stupid, he knew, but he had this irrational need to keep the existence of the amulet a secret. Jounouchi shook his head at himself but didn't stop himself from concealing the ankh.
It almost seemed as if his hands had a mind of their own.
By the time he reached school, the mirror incident and the accompanying unease had been dismissed as the ridiculous imaginings of a sleep deprived mind. Instead Jounouchi decided to make the best use of his time by flopping down on his desk and taking a short nap before class started. Unfortunately his friends had other ideas….
"Jounouchi! HI!" a cheery voice called out.
Jounouchi turned a bleary eye towards the speaker. Sure enough, practically skipping down the aisle towards him was Yugi Mutou.
He groaned internally. How anybody could be radiating such energy at seven-thirty in the fricking morning was beyond him. Maybe Yugi was an alien from a distant planet, because bouncing around like he was couldn't be humanely possible.
"Hey buddy…" YAWN "…What's up?"
Jounouchi was surprised he wasn't blinded by the grin Yugi gave as he eagerly began to relay the exploits of a litter of kittens he'd found behind the Turtle game shop. His eyes had instead settled for splitting Yugi into two, though not quite identical, images of himself.
He rubbed his eyes, feeling waves of exhaustion crash over him like waves from the sea. The din from the classroom was muted out and all he could hear was whispers in a language he couldn't understand.
He was in a great hall, each side lined with massive stone columns. He wasn't alone though, masses of people filled it, from scantily clad servants and slaves running around with food and drink, to the idly chatting nobles, jewel bedecked and glittering. He gripped his spear and began to sweat…he was coming…
Pharaoh…
He began to sway.
To be roughly shaken back to reality by strong hands gripping his shoulders. Honda was looming over him (where did he come from anyway?) while Yugi was anxiously giving him the once over. Jounouchi stiffened…he really did not want to be touched right now. Being touched seemed to promise bad things.
"I'm fine, fine. I didn't get as much sleep as I thought, 'kay?" He began to make shooing motions with his hands. Their presence was beginning to feel threatening, Yugi's especially, and he wanted seriously for them to take off.
"Fhn," was the only thing spoken. Yugi and Honda took their seats, but their expressions clearly stated that they didn't believe him.
Truth be told, Jounouchi didn't really believe himself either.
"What's the matter with him?"
"Dunno, maybe he stayed up late watching porno movies or something…Hey don't give me that look, I ain't the guy's babysitter. I don't know what goes on in that apartment."
"Honda…y-you insensitive jerk. You're his friend…you should have a clue!"
Honda sighed…Anzu just wouldn't let up. She should have known by now that Jounouchi hated dumping his problems on others, preferring trying to solve them himself first. His blasted pride wouldn't allow for anything else. Forget asking about his home life; Jounouchi clammed up tighter than an oyster when anyone asked him about that. Still, he was usually a lot more sociable than this when he was troubled.
Stubborn idiot…ask for help for once. Don't make me strong arm it out of you. Especially since Jounouchi didn't look like he would survive Honda's preferred method of interrogation. The shuddering boy looked like death warmed over, and every once in a while his eyes would glaze over and become unfocused…as if he was seeing things that weren't there…or at least not visible to the rest of them. To say Honda was disturbed was to understate the case entirely.
But…without beating the information out of his best friend…What could he do?
Yami?
/Yes Yugi? /
What do you think is wrong with Jounouchi? I've never seen him like this; all jumpy and spacey…Do you think he's sick?
/I don't know…its strange…something about this is so familiar…but what? The answer seems to be dangling in front of me but I can't grasp it. /
Yami…did we do something to scare him? For a second…he looked absolutely terrified of us. I don't want him to pull away from us cause of something we did…
/No…I don't think…I wish I knew what was going on. /
Jounouchi spent the rest of the day avoiding anybody and everybody who wished to speak with him. This earned him more than a few odd looks as this was a complete 180 from the normally sociable behaviour exhibited from him. Even Seto Kaiba was intrigued by the change. The coldly aloof businessman had stared after him as he had repeatedly brushed off any attempts at conversation with a pretty girl that kept making calf eyes at him. Taking into account that Seto considered interacting with mere mortals beneath him, he wasn't sure if he liked the attention or not.
What am I doing?
He shuddered as a sudden wave of guilt hit him. I've been a total prick today. How could he have been so cold towards the others? He would have to apologize for his rudeness tomorrow. This wasn't like him at all!
He still wasn't sure about Kaiba though.
Eyes on me…
He looked about the deserted street he was wandering down. No one there….
"Stop trying to jump outta your skin Katsuya," he scolded himself. Man, was he paranoid today or what!
It was just an empty road. Just like the one he had had found the ankh on. Though, thinking back on it, why anybody would throw away such an obviously valuable item had to be one card short of a full deck. It was not like it was possessed by an evil spirit or something.
Ah well, their loss, his gain.
He still wasn't able to shake the feeling of being watched.
Snap!
Jounouchi yelped and spun around towards the sound, fists raised. But like before, nothing…He sighed. Turned out he'd just stepped on a twig.
"I'm being real stupid, ain't I?"
/Maybe…/
"Who's there?"
/Maybe not…/
"Show yourself. I'm warning you!"
/You know where I am. You've always known. Find me/ the voiceless voice mocked. There was something so familiar about that voice…
"I'm going CRAZY!"
He ran and ran, not stopping until he reached the dubious sanctuary that was his home. Spent, Jounouchi collapsed against the door. His chest burned.
"It's in my mind, it's in my mind, it's in my mind, it's in my…"
He crawled to the bathroom.
"It's in my mind, it's in my mind, it's in my mind, it's in my mind…"
His stomach upturned itself and Jounouchi suddenly found himself retching into the toilet. The heaving continued long after everything that could be emptied from his gut, had been.
/Look at me!/
And in the mirror, where Jounouchi's reflection should have been, stood he.
The differences in appearance between them were subtle. The mirror-stalker's own shock of blond hair was just slightly wilder, the angles of his face a tad more sharp, and the visible muscles a bit more defined. Other than that they were identical, right down to the clothes they wore. Except… except for one last feature.
Their eyes.
While Jounouchi's own were a gold color, warm and inviting, the other had eyes that rightly belonged on a demon.
Jounouchi shuddered under the creature's contemptuous red gaze. "You're not real," he spat out. "You're just in my mind." The pain in his chest intensified. "Everything's only in my fuckin' MIND!"
/Is it?/
