Title: Run

Rating: PG-13

Category[s]: Angst/One Shot

Summary: "This isn't Yuugi saying this, it's me," Yami Yuugi said, almost desperately. "Please come back to us. To me. Stop doing this. Stop with these things. The drugs. The stealing. Why? Why?"

One shot.

Pairings: Yami no Yuugi x Jounouchi

Warnings: Hints of drug usage.

Spoilers: None.

Notes: None.

Feedback: In the form of a review, please. ^^


Disclaimer: Don't own Yuugiou.

~Run~

Worn sneakers pounded the pavement, laces flapping and threatening to trip.

"Jounouchi!"

The blond boy ignored the voices behind him as he stumbled blindly into the street. Peeved drivers slammed on the brakes and honked their horns, some even flipping him off. One yelled, "There's ice on the road, bitch!" and beeped several times for emphasis. Jounouchi reached the sidewalk and ran the opposite way that Yuugi was running and ducked into an alleyway. Temporary hiding.

He opened his honey-colored eyes and held out his hand to catch a few snowflakes. They melted in his hand, cold. But Jounouchi could hardly feel it; his body was so numb from the winter wind.

He heard Yuugi coming up and he shut his eyes again, tears leaking out behind closed lids.

"Jounouchi…" Yuugi whispered.

He clenched his fists. "Leave me alone."

Yuugi's breath caught in his throat before he said, "You can't keep running from us. I want to help you. We want to help you."

"Your other self."

"…yes."

"Listen, Yuugi." Jounouchi looked down at his friend and pushed away from the worn brick wall he had been leaning against. "I don't want your help, or—" he nodded at Yuugi's Sennen Puzzle "—his help. I don't want anyone's help. I don't need help."


Yuugi's eyes widened. "But—"

"But nothing."

"But something!" Yuugi insisted.

"But nothing," Jounouchi repeated. "I was fine on my own, Yuugi, before I met you, before I met Honda. Before I had friends. I'm a big boy." Big enough to sell all on my own, he thought ruefully. He began to push past Yuugi, but he grabbed his sleeve.

"Please, Jounouchi, please, don't go, just let him talk to you."

Jounouchi shook his head, snow coming loose from his hair, and lifted his hand to get Yuugi off his jacket. But a stronger grip was on it now. Jounouchi glanced at Yuugi, who was no longer.

"Your other self," he said slowly.

Yami Yuugi's eyes bored into his own, and he forced himself to look away.

"Look at me."

"No."

"Look at me," Yami Yuugi said, as forcefully as he dared.

Jounouchi sighed loudly. "Why won't you go away?"

"Why won't you talk to us?"

"I have my reasons," Jounouchi said defiantly.

"And I have mine," Yami Yuugi said in the same, almost haughty, tone.

"Tell me yours."

"Look at me."

The blond finally dragged his gaze to the spirit's face.

"That's better." Yami Yuugi flashed a brief smile before continuing, "I want to know because I want to help."

"I figured," Jounouchi said sarcastically.

"Not just that, though…"

"Then what?"

Yami Yuugi was the one to look away this time. "I can't tell you, Jounouchi. Not even Yuugi knows."

"I'm your friend," Jounouchi said in a mocking tone.

Yami Yuugi's face slipped into a hurt expression, and he swiftly hid it. But Jounouchi had seen. Guilt immediately clouded his mind.

"Y—…" Jounouchi trailed off.

"You won't understand…" Yami Yuugi stared at something on the sidewalk. Maybe it was the quickly accumulating snow.

"Try me."


Yami Yuugi took a deep breath. "Fine." Another breath, then…"Jounouchi, I know…well, maybe you just think of us as friends. I don't know anymore. You're so distant from us." He dragged his eyes from the concrete to the blond. "But that's beside the point. What I want to say is…I think of us as more then…then friends."

Jounouchi's eyes widened slightly.

Yami Yuugi shook his head and hugged himself. "But I don't know, don't know, don't know about you, about me, about…us." His tone was almost pained. "I love you, Jounouchi."

God, no.

Jounouchi stepped away. "No, Yuugi, no."

"This isn't Yuugi saying this, it's me," Yami Yuugi said, almost desperately. "Please come back to us. To me. Stop doing this. Stop with these things. The drugs. The stealing. Why? Why?"

The tears were coming back. "I don't know," Jounouchi choked out. He looked to the darkening sky. "I'm doing it for a reason. I don't know why. There has to be a reason why I am," he said, almost to himself.

"I can help you."

Jounouchi swallowed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I have to do this on my own. I have to find myself." He managed a smile. "And maybe then…"

"Maybe," Yami Yuugi agreed weakly.

Jounouchi tipped the shorter boy's head up and kissed him, their lips barely touching, but lingering. Yami Yuugi let out a sob and clung to Jounouchi's jacket. The blond straightened. "Don't cry," he whispered, roughly.

"I'm not crying."

~End~