Haku: Well hello there! ^_^
Yami and Y. Haku: Hi!
Haku: As you can see, my good A/n buddies are back and better, and they brought someone along with them. This! -Holds up a little kitten- IS MITTENS!!!!
Mittens: Meow!
Y. Haku: -sneezes and has an allergy attack-
Haku and Yami: -sweatdrop- What's up Y. Haku?
Y. Haku: I'm allergic to cats.
Yami: And you call yourself an Egyptian? Honestly.
Mittens: Mew?
Haku: Well anyways, Mittens here was rescued from a dumpster, and so far in this story has played an amazing role as the cat that Anzu 'killed.' Haven't you mittens?
Mittens: purrrrr
Y. Haku: A... A... ACHOOOO!
REPLIES!
Autumn Ann Star- I ish updating! Never fear!
Mimiheart- -pushes Yugi and Yami towards you and watches as you glomp them.-
Mimiheart: GROUP HUG!
Yugi and Yami: X.X
Dagger5- DUN SHAKE MY A/N PARTNER!
Y. Haku: Don't yell at the reviewers, Hikari.
Haku: Gomen. Wow! You're insane? Wanna apply for an author's notes partnership job?
I luv Kai- Eep!
Mittens: -suddenly looks like a cat outta hell- -lion roar- ROOOOOOAAAAR!
Haku: Okay, if Quatre couldn't protect me in Sandrock, Mittens will protect me!
Y. Haku: Somehow I don't think that's gonna work. And she's updating, so don't send them our way please.
MysticDreamer673- No matter how psycho Anzu is, she will never be cool.
Yami: In your opinion.
Haku: Yeah, but still...
Anzu: -Randomly walks in- Yugi's got heart, Yugi's got us, Yugi's got frein.... Huh? Where'd everybody go? -Looks around and hears crickets chirping.-
-Five miles away-
Haku: MAN that was close!
Sky Angel- Man you have a lot more patience than I do if you can put up with Anzu.
Yamishadowcat22- Aww man, so many questions! I'm afraid I can't tell you much, seeing as some is revealed in this chapter, but I'll just say, my mind don't work dat way.
Yami: Why not?
Haku: Because.
Yami: Why?
Haku: Because.
-Yami and Haku start the 'why?' 'Because' game, with Haku getting very frustrated.-
Haku: TO TELL YOU WHY WOULD REVEAL PLOT!
Yami: Okay then. You could have just said that in the first place.
Haku: I didn't want to.
Yami: Why?
Haku: Because
Yami: Why?
Star Girl11: Well erm the thing about that is... -looks incredibly uncomfortable- Well I've promised earlier that I wouldn't make it a tragedy, but erm....
Y. Haku: Let's just say she can't reveal plot.
DISCLAIMER:
Mittens: Haku doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, if she did, a cat called Mittens would rule the world!
Haku: Mittens! I didn't know you could talk!
Mittens: I can't... I mean... Purr Meow! Pur Mew!
Haku: Okay then, If you say so! -dopey unintelligent grin-
NOTE: In this, Yugi's 'deck' is my Deck, and I only really just started building it, so excuse its crappiness. I've thought it over, and I've decided that Yugi will not use the God cards, simply because I haven't seen Winged Dragon of Ra and Obelisk the Tormentor's special abilities yet. (I know it's their English names, but I don't know their Japanese names. If I could be supplied with this information, I would be very much grateful.)
NOTE 2: I apologise if this chapter is really bad, but I'm suffering extreme writer's block at the moment. -Stares at the cement block in the way of her story- MOVE! -It remains there.- -siiigggh-
~~~
From open wounds
~~~
(Yami: Don't tell me, still the blood fetish? Haku: Of course.)
Yami stared at the phone in disbelief. The Tomb Robber had called him. THE Tomb robber had called him. The tomb robber had CALLED him. The tomb robber had called HIM. He continued accenting words in this fashion until he realized that no matter where the accent was, it was still unbelievable. Yet, it had happened.
"It's official, I'm loosing it." He sighed and looked about. Would he go to the park? Of course not. But... Yugi might be there. And in any case, the Tomb Robber was probably only looking for a duel, and Yami would cream him. Again. (Haku: My, my, what arrogance. Yami: Shut up!) Yami felt something amiss and looked up. Apparently, while he was thinking, his feet had had other ideas, because, well, the lush leafy canopy over his head, told him he was at the park. He sighed.
"So, Pharaoh, you came." A mocking voice called from behind him. Yami knew who it was, without even needing to turn around, the cold and harsh voice spoke for itself.
"Yes, I came Tomb robber, I thought you'd enjoy being graced with my presence actually."
The Tomb robber grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, glowering down at him. "Don't get smart with me, your highness" He snarled the last two words, "Because I hold all the cards in this deck."
The Pharaoh merely sighed, unimpressed. True, the tomb robber stood a head higher than him, but so did everyone else. "What did you want me for, Bakura?"
Bakura twitched involuntarily. Yami noticed this with perking interest. The other seemed to be struggling within himself. /So much for only having a one track mind./ A nasty little voice in the back of his head said, as one of his previous assumptions on the tomb robber fell to ashes.
"Look, I have a proposition for you. Now, I don't like you, and quite frankly, I couldn't care less if you liked me..."
"Then the feelings mutual." The pharaoh commented.
"Oh I'm hurt." Bakura snapped sarcastically. "But really, I have a proposition, well, a challenge actually, that I am to give to you."
Yami sighed. How did he know that that was coming? "Not right now tomb robber, I'm... busy." He had nearly told Bakura everything, and that was a mistake. "Now if you'll excuse me..." He turned, but the Tomb robber grabbed his arm.
"It's rude to refuse a challenge, Game King. One might think that your cowardice is showing." Yami turned and was greeted with a sadistic smirk. He knew in that moment, that the tomb robber knew that now, he'd never refuse.
"Fine, I accept your stupid challenge, let's just get this over with."
"Ahh, but it's not as simple as that, you see, it was requested that the challenge be a shadow duel, and he need to be somewhat more... secluded... than in the park." Bakura's smirk deepened as he pushed locks of white hair out of his eyes.
"What? That was never part of the arrangement!" Yami snapped, startled.
Bakura's smirk changed into an evil smile at this point. "Ahh, yes, but if you'll remember, you, Oh lord and Master Pharaoh, never asked what the terms were."
Yami let out several Egyptian curses at this point, the tomb robber was right, of course.
"Language, Pharaoh. Really, I didn't know someone of your status was taught so many erm... interesting... words."
"Lap it up, you thieving Dog, and let's get this over with." Bakura noted with interest that he seemed to be getting under the Pharaoh's skin a lot more easily than usual. He grinned. Everything was playing out in his favour.
"Come with me Pharaoh, I have just the place set up for this little duel."
Neither noticed the brown eyes staring at them as they walked away.
~~~
Yugi was grinning wickedly as he shuffled through his newly created deck. It really wasn't a bad combination of cards, and every now and again, he would stop on one and look at it for awhile. (Haku: Actually, the deck is very -coughbadcough-) Yugi didn't like the way that the deck centred around one strategy, but what could he do? He stopped briefly at the main attack force of the deck, staring out at him, the Blue Eyes. To say it looked foreign in his hands was an understatement. Yet again, he wondered what he was doing, with cards that weren't truly his, but then the image of a certain Yami would swim through his senses and he became more determined than ever.
~~~
"TOMB ROBBER? WHERE THE EFFING UNDERWORLD ARE WE GOING???"
"Temper, your Pansy-ness, we're nearly there."
Yami was fuming slightly. Didn't this fool know he had to look for Yugi and he had no time for this?
(Yami: Would you get to the duel already?)
The tomb robber stopped. It took Yami a moment to realise this, and he ran into Bakura's back. "Watch it Pharaoh, I don't want your pain-in-the-ass- ness to rub off on me." Yami scowled deeply.
"Are we here then?"
"Did I stop?"
"Yes."
"Then what do you think?"
The pharaoh felt his scowl deepen further.
Bakura matched this with an arrogant smirk. "Your opponent waits inside then. Oh, and good luck. You'll need it."
"Wait... You're... you're not my Opponent?"
"Yet another assumption on your part oh grand Pharaoh." Yami would one day have to ask how the Tomb robber managed to turn his title into an insult like that. "I said I had to deliver a challenge, remember? Oh and another thing, I'm going to be supporting this person's monsters, with my own shadow powers. Now let's go."
Yami felt his slender eyebrows rise at this. If Bakura was going to be using his shadow magic, it meant the person who had challenged him had none of his, or her own. A list of strong duellists proceeded to run through his mind. Who could it be?
Bakura slid the door open. "He's here, black Hikari."
Yami thought for a moment. That narrowed down the choices a lot. It was most likely either Malik or Ryou, more certainly the second, for Malik had shadow powers a.k.a. the Sennen Rod. But since when did Ryou challenge his friends? And why had Bakura called the challenger Black Hikari? Yami followed the Tomb Robber into the building.
"The Pharaoh has entered the building." A ghostly familiar voice called throughout the gloom. The Pharaoh gave it no thought as the door swung shut behind him, thinking that it was the Tomb Robber coming in after him, forgetting for the moment that the Tomb robber had entered before him. Suddenly, the lights in the building all blinked on at once, revealing a long abandoned clothes warehouse. Rats, cockroaches and other creatures of the night ran from the light, and the Pharaoh took in his surroundings.
It was a fairly large building, with a cold concrete floor, covered in musty and half decomposed garments that had never been sold. There were small windows near the building's high ceiling, but these were so covered in dust and grime, that any light that peeked through was faint and discoloured. The many broken windows compensated for this though, letting in a flood of light every now and then, through their cracked and broken frames. Shards of glass were scattered across the floor, and here and there, there were recent additions to the mess, such as ripped open Duel monster booster packs and the occasional food scrap which had as of yet escaped the vermin. Yami drew his eyes back from observing the location, when he heard the Tomb Robber give a small cough. He shot Bakura a glare, and he merely jerked his head to the middle of the warehouse pointedly. Yami turned his gaze to the centre of the warehouse and felt his breath catch in his chest. There was Yugi, but not the Yugi he remembered.
Narrowed and calculating garnet eyes locket upon hollow and sunken amethyst ones. The once innocent boy looked at Yami with something of hatred, covering and blinding a deeper emotion, which Yami couldn't place. There was an arrogant air about the boy that had not been there the last time Yami had seen him. Yugi's hair hung limply about his shoulders, and an out of character, sadistic sneer was firmly planted on shrewd and calculating lips. The unusually thin boy looked more palpable than usual, and there was a ghostly air about him, in the way that his pale and slightly grey skin seemed to radiate the little light let in through the building's windows.
"Hello there, Yami. It's a pleasure, I'm sure." The boy drawled, in a most un-Yugi like way. "Did you have fun without me? I'm sure that that slut Anzu did. Did you make the most of it? The Hikari not holding you back" A twinge of bitter resentment flitted through his voice, making Yami flinch.
"That's not it at all Yugi. I broke it off with Anzu. She wasn't right for me." He said, his voice shaking slightly upon the realisation of how much his Hikari had changed. What had happened to the young vision of light? And even though he had changed so much, why was Yami crying inside? Why did Yami just want to run to the boy, and hold him in his arms and weep? Why did he want it to be Yugi who whispered the soothing noises that he always made when another bully had chosen Yugi as a new punching bag? Just... Why?
Yugi snorted in disbelief. "Yes, Yami, I am REALLY going to buy that." He scoffed. "And now, we duel. Bakura? If you please."
Then it all fell into place for Yami. It was like he was suddenly hit over the head with a lit bulb. Yugi had needed Yami when Grandpa had died, for support and friendship. And Yami, being the person he was had been selfish and shut himself off from the boy out of fear. He realised what a great stab at Yugi the first date with Anzu must have been, as if Yami neither knew nor cared about his Hikari. So of course, Yugi had tried to make him happy, by shutting off the mind link, and staying out of Yami's way. Yami, being the fool he was, had made no effort to get Yugi to accept him again, and this had brought thoughts of doubt of their friendship into the little angel's mind. Doubt is a funny thing. If it is not stopped quickly, it can brood and intensify, first into disbelief, then resentment, and finally, anger and hatred. (Haku: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to the dark side. Yami: Haku? Shut up.) Yami looked about his ankles in surprise as the familiar purple mist of the shadow realm began to rise.
"Yugi, I don't want to do this! Let's just go back home, and get on with our lives."
"Our lives? Oh Yami, that's quite classic I'm sure. There's only one problem. I had no life, and I still don't. You see, you took my life from me. I realise that now. So, we duel. To determine..." He said, a slightly mad glint in his eyes.
"Yugi, please, you're not right in the head! I'm your friend! You're my Aibou!" Yami pleaded with the boy, but he would have none of it.
"Ha! My friend? So much for friendship. So much for partnership. Are you afraid Yami? Is that why you will not duel me? Are you afraid to find out who really won the title of King of games?" Yami really hated the way Yugi knew him inside and out at the best of times. Even more right now. The boy was playing Yami's competitive weakness, and as much as Yami didn't want to duel, when his integrity was questioned, he would always set it right.
"Fine Yugi, if it what you wish, I will duel you." Yami closed his eyes in regret, and drew out his deck.
~~~
"DUEL!"
Yami Motou: 4000 life points
Yugi Motou: 4000 life points
"I'll go first Yugi."
The boy shrugged, looking at his Yami with contempt. He'd drawn a good starter hand, but that was no guarantee that the rest of the duel would play out so smoothly. He needed his cards to come quickly, or he would no doubt loose. It was a good thing that he knew his old deck as well as Yami did, he was facing the familiar while his old partner was facing the unknown.
"I'll play one card face down and play Alpha the Magnet warrior in attack mode!"
(Haku: Oh shite! I can't remember Yami's deck! -Runs off to Google-)
The monster appeared and Yugi merely sighed. "If that's the best you can do, then this duel will be over before it has even begun. I set one card in defence mode."
Yugi smiled inwardly at his hand. He WOULD win this duel with ease. Not even the Dark Magician could stand up to this arsenal.
~~~
Haku: -Slides away whistling-
Mittens: MROWR!!!
Y. Haku: -is getting chased by the cat and is having a huge allergy attack-
Yami: -sweatdrop- Erm, Haku?
Haku: Shhh! -is hiding from angry reviewers who wanted the duel and from Y. Haku who is now threatening to kill her for bringing in the cat-
Yami: Well you can't say I didn't warn you this would happen.
Haku: Watch me, PHARAOH.
Yami: And that's another thing, how do you and the tomb robber do that?
Haku: Our secret. R and R please.
Yami and Y. Haku: Hi!
Haku: As you can see, my good A/n buddies are back and better, and they brought someone along with them. This! -Holds up a little kitten- IS MITTENS!!!!
Mittens: Meow!
Y. Haku: -sneezes and has an allergy attack-
Haku and Yami: -sweatdrop- What's up Y. Haku?
Y. Haku: I'm allergic to cats.
Yami: And you call yourself an Egyptian? Honestly.
Mittens: Mew?
Haku: Well anyways, Mittens here was rescued from a dumpster, and so far in this story has played an amazing role as the cat that Anzu 'killed.' Haven't you mittens?
Mittens: purrrrr
Y. Haku: A... A... ACHOOOO!
REPLIES!
Autumn Ann Star- I ish updating! Never fear!
Mimiheart- -pushes Yugi and Yami towards you and watches as you glomp them.-
Mimiheart: GROUP HUG!
Yugi and Yami: X.X
Dagger5- DUN SHAKE MY A/N PARTNER!
Y. Haku: Don't yell at the reviewers, Hikari.
Haku: Gomen. Wow! You're insane? Wanna apply for an author's notes partnership job?
I luv Kai- Eep!
Mittens: -suddenly looks like a cat outta hell- -lion roar- ROOOOOOAAAAR!
Haku: Okay, if Quatre couldn't protect me in Sandrock, Mittens will protect me!
Y. Haku: Somehow I don't think that's gonna work. And she's updating, so don't send them our way please.
MysticDreamer673- No matter how psycho Anzu is, she will never be cool.
Yami: In your opinion.
Haku: Yeah, but still...
Anzu: -Randomly walks in- Yugi's got heart, Yugi's got us, Yugi's got frein.... Huh? Where'd everybody go? -Looks around and hears crickets chirping.-
-Five miles away-
Haku: MAN that was close!
Sky Angel- Man you have a lot more patience than I do if you can put up with Anzu.
Yamishadowcat22- Aww man, so many questions! I'm afraid I can't tell you much, seeing as some is revealed in this chapter, but I'll just say, my mind don't work dat way.
Yami: Why not?
Haku: Because.
Yami: Why?
Haku: Because.
-Yami and Haku start the 'why?' 'Because' game, with Haku getting very frustrated.-
Haku: TO TELL YOU WHY WOULD REVEAL PLOT!
Yami: Okay then. You could have just said that in the first place.
Haku: I didn't want to.
Yami: Why?
Haku: Because
Yami: Why?
Star Girl11: Well erm the thing about that is... -looks incredibly uncomfortable- Well I've promised earlier that I wouldn't make it a tragedy, but erm....
Y. Haku: Let's just say she can't reveal plot.
DISCLAIMER:
Mittens: Haku doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, if she did, a cat called Mittens would rule the world!
Haku: Mittens! I didn't know you could talk!
Mittens: I can't... I mean... Purr Meow! Pur Mew!
Haku: Okay then, If you say so! -dopey unintelligent grin-
NOTE: In this, Yugi's 'deck' is my Deck, and I only really just started building it, so excuse its crappiness. I've thought it over, and I've decided that Yugi will not use the God cards, simply because I haven't seen Winged Dragon of Ra and Obelisk the Tormentor's special abilities yet. (I know it's their English names, but I don't know their Japanese names. If I could be supplied with this information, I would be very much grateful.)
NOTE 2: I apologise if this chapter is really bad, but I'm suffering extreme writer's block at the moment. -Stares at the cement block in the way of her story- MOVE! -It remains there.- -siiigggh-
~~~
From open wounds
~~~
(Yami: Don't tell me, still the blood fetish? Haku: Of course.)
Yami stared at the phone in disbelief. The Tomb Robber had called him. THE Tomb robber had called him. The tomb robber had CALLED him. The tomb robber had called HIM. He continued accenting words in this fashion until he realized that no matter where the accent was, it was still unbelievable. Yet, it had happened.
"It's official, I'm loosing it." He sighed and looked about. Would he go to the park? Of course not. But... Yugi might be there. And in any case, the Tomb Robber was probably only looking for a duel, and Yami would cream him. Again. (Haku: My, my, what arrogance. Yami: Shut up!) Yami felt something amiss and looked up. Apparently, while he was thinking, his feet had had other ideas, because, well, the lush leafy canopy over his head, told him he was at the park. He sighed.
"So, Pharaoh, you came." A mocking voice called from behind him. Yami knew who it was, without even needing to turn around, the cold and harsh voice spoke for itself.
"Yes, I came Tomb robber, I thought you'd enjoy being graced with my presence actually."
The Tomb robber grabbed his shoulder and spun him around, glowering down at him. "Don't get smart with me, your highness" He snarled the last two words, "Because I hold all the cards in this deck."
The Pharaoh merely sighed, unimpressed. True, the tomb robber stood a head higher than him, but so did everyone else. "What did you want me for, Bakura?"
Bakura twitched involuntarily. Yami noticed this with perking interest. The other seemed to be struggling within himself. /So much for only having a one track mind./ A nasty little voice in the back of his head said, as one of his previous assumptions on the tomb robber fell to ashes.
"Look, I have a proposition for you. Now, I don't like you, and quite frankly, I couldn't care less if you liked me..."
"Then the feelings mutual." The pharaoh commented.
"Oh I'm hurt." Bakura snapped sarcastically. "But really, I have a proposition, well, a challenge actually, that I am to give to you."
Yami sighed. How did he know that that was coming? "Not right now tomb robber, I'm... busy." He had nearly told Bakura everything, and that was a mistake. "Now if you'll excuse me..." He turned, but the Tomb robber grabbed his arm.
"It's rude to refuse a challenge, Game King. One might think that your cowardice is showing." Yami turned and was greeted with a sadistic smirk. He knew in that moment, that the tomb robber knew that now, he'd never refuse.
"Fine, I accept your stupid challenge, let's just get this over with."
"Ahh, but it's not as simple as that, you see, it was requested that the challenge be a shadow duel, and he need to be somewhat more... secluded... than in the park." Bakura's smirk deepened as he pushed locks of white hair out of his eyes.
"What? That was never part of the arrangement!" Yami snapped, startled.
Bakura's smirk changed into an evil smile at this point. "Ahh, yes, but if you'll remember, you, Oh lord and Master Pharaoh, never asked what the terms were."
Yami let out several Egyptian curses at this point, the tomb robber was right, of course.
"Language, Pharaoh. Really, I didn't know someone of your status was taught so many erm... interesting... words."
"Lap it up, you thieving Dog, and let's get this over with." Bakura noted with interest that he seemed to be getting under the Pharaoh's skin a lot more easily than usual. He grinned. Everything was playing out in his favour.
"Come with me Pharaoh, I have just the place set up for this little duel."
Neither noticed the brown eyes staring at them as they walked away.
~~~
Yugi was grinning wickedly as he shuffled through his newly created deck. It really wasn't a bad combination of cards, and every now and again, he would stop on one and look at it for awhile. (Haku: Actually, the deck is very -coughbadcough-) Yugi didn't like the way that the deck centred around one strategy, but what could he do? He stopped briefly at the main attack force of the deck, staring out at him, the Blue Eyes. To say it looked foreign in his hands was an understatement. Yet again, he wondered what he was doing, with cards that weren't truly his, but then the image of a certain Yami would swim through his senses and he became more determined than ever.
~~~
"TOMB ROBBER? WHERE THE EFFING UNDERWORLD ARE WE GOING???"
"Temper, your Pansy-ness, we're nearly there."
Yami was fuming slightly. Didn't this fool know he had to look for Yugi and he had no time for this?
(Yami: Would you get to the duel already?)
The tomb robber stopped. It took Yami a moment to realise this, and he ran into Bakura's back. "Watch it Pharaoh, I don't want your pain-in-the-ass- ness to rub off on me." Yami scowled deeply.
"Are we here then?"
"Did I stop?"
"Yes."
"Then what do you think?"
The pharaoh felt his scowl deepen further.
Bakura matched this with an arrogant smirk. "Your opponent waits inside then. Oh, and good luck. You'll need it."
"Wait... You're... you're not my Opponent?"
"Yet another assumption on your part oh grand Pharaoh." Yami would one day have to ask how the Tomb robber managed to turn his title into an insult like that. "I said I had to deliver a challenge, remember? Oh and another thing, I'm going to be supporting this person's monsters, with my own shadow powers. Now let's go."
Yami felt his slender eyebrows rise at this. If Bakura was going to be using his shadow magic, it meant the person who had challenged him had none of his, or her own. A list of strong duellists proceeded to run through his mind. Who could it be?
Bakura slid the door open. "He's here, black Hikari."
Yami thought for a moment. That narrowed down the choices a lot. It was most likely either Malik or Ryou, more certainly the second, for Malik had shadow powers a.k.a. the Sennen Rod. But since when did Ryou challenge his friends? And why had Bakura called the challenger Black Hikari? Yami followed the Tomb Robber into the building.
"The Pharaoh has entered the building." A ghostly familiar voice called throughout the gloom. The Pharaoh gave it no thought as the door swung shut behind him, thinking that it was the Tomb Robber coming in after him, forgetting for the moment that the Tomb robber had entered before him. Suddenly, the lights in the building all blinked on at once, revealing a long abandoned clothes warehouse. Rats, cockroaches and other creatures of the night ran from the light, and the Pharaoh took in his surroundings.
It was a fairly large building, with a cold concrete floor, covered in musty and half decomposed garments that had never been sold. There were small windows near the building's high ceiling, but these were so covered in dust and grime, that any light that peeked through was faint and discoloured. The many broken windows compensated for this though, letting in a flood of light every now and then, through their cracked and broken frames. Shards of glass were scattered across the floor, and here and there, there were recent additions to the mess, such as ripped open Duel monster booster packs and the occasional food scrap which had as of yet escaped the vermin. Yami drew his eyes back from observing the location, when he heard the Tomb Robber give a small cough. He shot Bakura a glare, and he merely jerked his head to the middle of the warehouse pointedly. Yami turned his gaze to the centre of the warehouse and felt his breath catch in his chest. There was Yugi, but not the Yugi he remembered.
Narrowed and calculating garnet eyes locket upon hollow and sunken amethyst ones. The once innocent boy looked at Yami with something of hatred, covering and blinding a deeper emotion, which Yami couldn't place. There was an arrogant air about the boy that had not been there the last time Yami had seen him. Yugi's hair hung limply about his shoulders, and an out of character, sadistic sneer was firmly planted on shrewd and calculating lips. The unusually thin boy looked more palpable than usual, and there was a ghostly air about him, in the way that his pale and slightly grey skin seemed to radiate the little light let in through the building's windows.
"Hello there, Yami. It's a pleasure, I'm sure." The boy drawled, in a most un-Yugi like way. "Did you have fun without me? I'm sure that that slut Anzu did. Did you make the most of it? The Hikari not holding you back" A twinge of bitter resentment flitted through his voice, making Yami flinch.
"That's not it at all Yugi. I broke it off with Anzu. She wasn't right for me." He said, his voice shaking slightly upon the realisation of how much his Hikari had changed. What had happened to the young vision of light? And even though he had changed so much, why was Yami crying inside? Why did Yami just want to run to the boy, and hold him in his arms and weep? Why did he want it to be Yugi who whispered the soothing noises that he always made when another bully had chosen Yugi as a new punching bag? Just... Why?
Yugi snorted in disbelief. "Yes, Yami, I am REALLY going to buy that." He scoffed. "And now, we duel. Bakura? If you please."
Then it all fell into place for Yami. It was like he was suddenly hit over the head with a lit bulb. Yugi had needed Yami when Grandpa had died, for support and friendship. And Yami, being the person he was had been selfish and shut himself off from the boy out of fear. He realised what a great stab at Yugi the first date with Anzu must have been, as if Yami neither knew nor cared about his Hikari. So of course, Yugi had tried to make him happy, by shutting off the mind link, and staying out of Yami's way. Yami, being the fool he was, had made no effort to get Yugi to accept him again, and this had brought thoughts of doubt of their friendship into the little angel's mind. Doubt is a funny thing. If it is not stopped quickly, it can brood and intensify, first into disbelief, then resentment, and finally, anger and hatred. (Haku: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate... leads to the dark side. Yami: Haku? Shut up.) Yami looked about his ankles in surprise as the familiar purple mist of the shadow realm began to rise.
"Yugi, I don't want to do this! Let's just go back home, and get on with our lives."
"Our lives? Oh Yami, that's quite classic I'm sure. There's only one problem. I had no life, and I still don't. You see, you took my life from me. I realise that now. So, we duel. To determine..." He said, a slightly mad glint in his eyes.
"Yugi, please, you're not right in the head! I'm your friend! You're my Aibou!" Yami pleaded with the boy, but he would have none of it.
"Ha! My friend? So much for friendship. So much for partnership. Are you afraid Yami? Is that why you will not duel me? Are you afraid to find out who really won the title of King of games?" Yami really hated the way Yugi knew him inside and out at the best of times. Even more right now. The boy was playing Yami's competitive weakness, and as much as Yami didn't want to duel, when his integrity was questioned, he would always set it right.
"Fine Yugi, if it what you wish, I will duel you." Yami closed his eyes in regret, and drew out his deck.
~~~
"DUEL!"
Yami Motou: 4000 life points
Yugi Motou: 4000 life points
"I'll go first Yugi."
The boy shrugged, looking at his Yami with contempt. He'd drawn a good starter hand, but that was no guarantee that the rest of the duel would play out so smoothly. He needed his cards to come quickly, or he would no doubt loose. It was a good thing that he knew his old deck as well as Yami did, he was facing the familiar while his old partner was facing the unknown.
"I'll play one card face down and play Alpha the Magnet warrior in attack mode!"
(Haku: Oh shite! I can't remember Yami's deck! -Runs off to Google-)
The monster appeared and Yugi merely sighed. "If that's the best you can do, then this duel will be over before it has even begun. I set one card in defence mode."
Yugi smiled inwardly at his hand. He WOULD win this duel with ease. Not even the Dark Magician could stand up to this arsenal.
~~~
Haku: -Slides away whistling-
Mittens: MROWR!!!
Y. Haku: -is getting chased by the cat and is having a huge allergy attack-
Yami: -sweatdrop- Erm, Haku?
Haku: Shhh! -is hiding from angry reviewers who wanted the duel and from Y. Haku who is now threatening to kill her for bringing in the cat-
Yami: Well you can't say I didn't warn you this would happen.
Haku: Watch me, PHARAOH.
Yami: And that's another thing, how do you and the tomb robber do that?
Haku: Our secret. R and R please.