Aloha all! It's a new chapter again! Hooray!

Oooh! I finally found my Yami too! *Felt badly because everyone else had one, and mine was still missing.* So anyway, her name is Nijuu-chan. She tells me it means part of two, or something to that effect. Tee hee…Sasami no Yami…sorry, I found that funny. *^^

Nijuu: It's really not that funny. o.O

Sasami: Fine. *pouts* I thought it was. You will have to forgive her, she's still angry that I took so long in letting her out. I found her in an old ring that was in my jewelry box. Not like Ryou's, an actual ring you wear on your finger…how was I supposed to know it was a Sennen item? I just hope that her personality gets better. *^^

Nijuu: *glare*

Sasami: Anyway, I'll get the story started now.

I do not own Yu-gi-oh. My Yami is currently trying to get the rights for me. I do own this story though.

This song is Sink n' Swim from. The artist is Plumb, and it's from her second album Beautiful Lumps of Coal. *She looks like Ora from CLAMP's manga: Clover. If you have not read it…do. No joke, just like her. * Again, this story is not a song-fic, but I am putting music in all the chapters…I will try to make them fit with the story too.

Lyrics

//Yami to Yuugi//

/Yuugi to Yami/

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Fears of the Stone

Chapter Two: Sink n' Swim

I lost it all                                                                                 

You got it back                                                                                                          

Believed in me                                                                

When I gave up on myself again                                      

                                                                                     

A sudden rain

Revealed your face                          

I knew right then

No matter where I go I'd have

Your hand to hold

Intense sunlight filtered through the drapes waking a particularly irritable Yami from his sleep. He was tired, exhausted really, and he had a kink in his neck from sleeping with Yuugi in his arms all night. Not that having the man in his arms was a dreadful thing, but as far as doing so on a couch all night…that was a far different story. After the night terrors struck Yuugi so violently, Yami hadn't the energy to remove them to the bedroom; it had been far too arduous a situation, even for one not dreaming, and sleep had overcome the pharaoh. Shifting his hikari off his lap and into a more comfortable position, Yami rose to his sleeping feet, willing them to cooperate. Removing an extra blanket from the closet at the foot of the stairs, he covered Yuugi in an attempt to return the warmth he had stolen when he rose. Hopefully he would continue to sleep.

Sugoroku had yet to return from his conference in America. Yami frowned, trying to remember if it was archeological or game shop related. He stopped; the type of conference was insignificant to him. What was significant though, was the lack of food in the house. He was no cook, neither was Yuugi for that matter, and both were quite disgusted with frozen food and take out. Yami sighed, settling on a plum sitting on the table. Some much needed shopping was in order once his hikari was up. Speaking of which...

"Yami?" the sleep-leaden voice off his hikari drifted in from the living room to where Yami was seated at the table.

//In the kitchen hikari.// Yami sighed, hoping Yuugi would give him some answers this morning. It was a daily conversation lately. Yami: Is something troubling you hikari? Yuugi: No. I am fine, Yami. Such conversations were becoming tiresome to Yami; his hikari was lying to him and their arguments grew more heated daily. An exceedingly weary looking Yuugi plopping down beside him interrupted his thoughts.

"No breakfast?" the younger man yawned. Fatigue plagued him by day due to the nightmares that haunted him by night. Last night's dream had come closer to the end, and he was drained. Each night it proceeded further, becoming progressively more graphic, terrifying, violent, everything Yuugi feared, but most of all, the dream was becoming deadly. Yuugi shuddered as a particularly disturbing image flashed through his mind; he did not know how much longer he would be capable of concealing it from Yami.

Ever vigilant Yami turned his attention to his hikari, catching both the physical and mental quake. Taking a breath and hoping for the best, he ignored the question of food and began, "Hikari? Does something trouble you?"

"No. Yami, I am fine." Was what he said, but what he yearned to say was something entirely different. Yuugi wanted to tell Yami everything, about the dream, about the shadows. More importantly though, he wanted Yami to hold him, to tell him all was well. He scoffed at himself for even supposing Yami would care that much, as he suspected the pharaoh protected him only out of concern for his own life.

"You are lying to me." Yami held his breath. He had not meant to be quite so blunt, but his natural tendencies forced his hand, or in this case his tongue. It had been a mistake, putting Yuugi on the defensive and cementing his judgment of the dark spirit.

"It is none of your concern!"  He nearly yelled, his voice full of disgust, incredulity, and something Yami took for disenchantment. Such harsh words from his hikari stung Yami and his pride. While his face did not betray the hurt, Yuugi felt his Yami's mind prick at the words he had spoken. "Yami. I-I-"

We will sink &

 We will swim

Til' the ocean turns to sand

We will laugh

We will cry

Til' there's no more breath inside

'Cause we will sink

But we will swim

"No aibou, you are right. It is none of my concern." Yami turned coldly from Yuugi ascending the stairs, leaving a startled hikari at the table. Aibou…Yuugi should have been ecstatic. Yami had never called him that, and yet, the affectionate name had been jaded by the tone in which it was used. The coldness in Yami's voice hurt; it was supposed to and Yuugi grasped that, but somehow it made the situation countless times more painful.

Yami was aware that what had just occurred was a mistake. He was quite oblivious to Yuugi's contempt for him, as he refused to pry into the man's mind, but he was, nonetheless, aware that he had caused another rift between them. It was horribly wrong. "Aibou" was something he had intended to call Yuugi, while he was awake, for a long time, but never like that. All he had managed to do was hurt his hikari. What was worse, the pain was intentional. Yuugi had no clue that Yami had already begun to call him aibou. It seemed as though he would never be capable of amending his previously warped nature.

Yami cursed in Egyptian as he walked to the end of the hallway upstairs. They had been making progress! Sitting together last night on the couch, they managed to just talk. Talking civilly. Yuugi had lowered his defenses enough to fall asleep on Yami's shoulder. Now this! He cursed again as he flipped on the bathroom light. The young man knew nothing of how desperate Yami was to protect him, the terrors of night kept them from the peace both so eagerly desired.

Yami locked the door behind him, turning on the shower as he entered. [a/n: picture the light switch on the wall, and the shower right next to it instead of a sink…it's a bathtub/shower] His clothes were dropped unceremoniously on the floor as he climbed into the shower, flinching as the nearly intolerable heat of the water reached his skin. Gritting his teeth, he resolved to endure the water, irrationally hoping it would cleanse him of his spiteful nature.

Yuugi continued to sit in stunned silence at the kitchen table. 'So it's all true then. 'Jii-chan warned me of this. Why didn't I listen to him this time?' Sugoroku had warned his grandson of the power of the pharaoh imprisoned in the Sennen Puzzle, begged him not to complete the puzzle. It was for his own safety his grandfather had said. Yuugi regretted not heeding the warning he was given.

True, Yami had never used his magic against Yuugi, but even so, he was powerful in many ways. Yami was arrogant, selfish, vengeful, sarcastic, jaded, and dangerous. He was everything and nothing all at once. Nevertheless, Yuugi felt safe around him. It was not a feeling of security or trust, just safety. Yami would not let harm come to his hikari, but Yuugi put no faith in him. There was something terrifying in his crimson eyes, something unreadable, similar to staring into death itself.  It was the threat of something unknown in the mind of one so powerful that left him in doubt.  

He had a fleeting hope last night that perhaps he had been wrong in passing judgment upon his own darkness, but the events of this morning brought his scorn flooding back. He heard something in a language he found incomprehensible before the shower was turned on. Yami was angry as far as Yuugi could tell. It felt like the beginning of a day he would regret having woken up for, and he was not in the mood for another argument, which was bound to ensue. Having determined that he was disinterested in continuing the day, Yuugi lethargically made his way upstairs, where upon laying down, he fell back into the comforting arms of sleep.

I was

A tender reed

Bent in the wind

And then the storm passed

And you helped me stand upright again

So here we are

Nothing to lose

So take my hand

We'll jump right in

The water's warm

It's time to live

It doesn't rain for nothing

It will shine for you

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Sasami: Well that's that! Please review! Good, or bad if it's constructive. *^^

Nijuu: In other words, if you hated it, at least be nice about it. o.O

Sasami: *^^ Thank you, I think. I'm done now! *yawn* It is late. Fear not, I will try to update soon. If you have questions about anything…just post them in a review. I know I had a few about stories when I first started reading here. Oyasumi nasai!    *~.~…zzzzz…