Gemini

The pharaoh yawned, stretching his muscles only slightly. He had woken up exceedingly early for his standards.

Well, actually, he woke up early to everyone's standards. The sun had not even risen yet. The sounds of the nocturnal were still sounding outside the palace walls. The moon was still casting a silver glow across Yuugi's porcelain face.

Yuugi. That was probably why he couldn't sleep much this evening. Everyone had been awed the day before at Yuugi's prowess at handling the deceptive merchant. So my ka speaks two languages, not to mention sparse amounts of a third. Where had he learned it? Where had he come from? It seemed the longer Yuugi was with him, the more questions that emerged in Yugioh's mind. And, for some reason, Yuugi had not used the puzzle to communicate either. Why? Was it truly that draining?

He sighed, running his fingers through Yuugi's silken tresses. Never, in all of Egypt, had anyone had hair as soft as his. He put the finest silks of the palace to shame, and many of the women who had the luxury of brushing his hair in the mornings either confirmed his god-like qualities, or were extremely envious. Not to mention his overtly soft skin, or the fact that there was not one parasite on the young man's body. None at all.

This, even among most royalties, was unheard of. This simply did not happen. Yugioh, of course, bathed regularly himself, choosing to not have a flea jump off of him while sitting on the throne, or while eating his breakfast.

Yuugi was the greatest enigma he had ever come across.

The young man's eyes flittered a moment, finally opening themselves. Yuugi yawned, looking up at the pharaoh.

Yugioh frowned. "Sorry I woke you."

Yuugi looked at him oddly, uncomprehending. Shaking his head, he buried his face into his yami's chest. "Ai shite imasu," he yawned.

The pharaoh lifted up his chin, looking at him questioningly. "Why?"

Yuugi frowned, knowing this word all too well. In Japan, it was a common word his yami often asked, usually either when Anzu was flirting with him, or when Bakura decided to go on another one of his raves. Whenever his yami asked 'why me?' Yuugi would always give that one simple reply that everyone was familiar with.

Yuugi shook his head. "Because. Just because."

Yugioh frowned harder. And just when he thought he'd figured out all of the Egyptian Yuugi knew.

Now Yuugi himself had never meant to cause anything to happen, he was merely fulfilling an act he performed normally back in Japan. It was simply natural for him. Yugioh, however, was bewildered to find supple lips pressed against his own. It was nothing hard, nothing demanding, just a gentle touch that brought a hard-to-place flavor. His first instinct was to push Yuugi away, but found that the intoxicating sensations running through his senses prohibited such actions. Instead, he wasn't aware that he was actually moving into the kiss.

Yuugi quickly found himself pinned under the warm weight of his yami, hungry lips trying to pry his lips apart. Besides, who was he to deny the desires of his darkness? Grinning to himself, he parted his lips willingly, at the same time spreading his legs to encompass the pharaoh's waist, giving a gentle squeeze.

The pharaoh growled, pushing Yuugi further into the feathery bed.

************************

Yugioh stared down at Yuugi, perspiration dripping from his nose. The young man's hair was wet and pressed against his temples, his mouth open and sucking in precious air, just as breathless as the one on top of him.

The pharaoh could never remember a more fulfilling experience. He felt whole, for the first time in his life. And Yuugi, gods Yuugi! He had been so yielding, so warm, and yet coaxing whenever his yami's resolve to continue seemed to falter. Yuugi not only seemed to want it too, but he knew exactly how to get it.

He's done this before. This thought struck the pharaoh hard. His eyes steeled to slits. But with who?

Now, more than ever, he needed to know exactly who Yuugi was, and where he had come from.

Yuugi had been ready to fall back asleep, the sun was barely up, but blinked his eyes back open when he realized that Yugioh was slipping a piece of the leather cord that bound the puzzle around his own neck, making that both of them were now wearing the puzzle.

Closing his eyes, he rested his forehead against Yuugi's, ready to get some answers.

Immediately, he found himself in a brightly lit room, odd things strewn about. A child's play room? But what are these things all over the floor?

Laughter to his right captured his attention. "They're called toys. Of course, they are a bit modern for this time."

Yugioh turned his head to see Yuugi starring at him, wearing the same strange attire that was on him the night he arrived. The look in the young man's face was overjoyed, and yet pained at the same time.

"Gods, darkness, it's been so long since I've seen you in here." He walked up and grabbed his darkness in a desperate hug.

"I've never been in here before, what are you talking about?"

Yuugi's body seemed to flinch.

"Yuugi, who have you made love to before? You knew what you were doing. Tell me who it was." And why the hell I liked it so much. Men are supposed to be attracted to women. The pharaoh's voice was demanding, almost sounding hurt himself. How could Yuugi have been with another?

"You," he whispered, but Yugioh heard it just he same.

"Yuugi, that's not possible!"

Yuugi pulled back from the embrace, looking at his darkness sadly. "From the time you sealed the shadows, from the time you woke up, you have no recollection, do you?"

"No." The pharaoh really wanted him to get to the point.

Yuugi sighed. "Just say, perhaps, that when you sealed the puzzle, your soul was split in two. One half got locked inside of the puzzle. That's you." He pointed to Yugioh. "The other half, meanwhile, was left to wander the earth until being reborn five-thousand years later, in say, a place called Japan. More than four thousand miles away."

Yugioh frowned. "Miles?"

Yuugi slapped his head, realizing the English distance measurements weren't solidified until probably the early fourteen hundreds.

Well, whenever it was, it was certainly way after the time of the Egyptians. "Umm, probably a two year journey on horse back from here."

Yugioh's eyes went wide.

"And just say, perhaps, that when your other half was reborn, he solved the puzzle, thereby freeing you. During that time, the shadow realm was reopened, and I almost died in three shadow games. We saved the world twice over, delt with a psychotic tomb robber and relinquished the evil part of a grave keeper gone bad. Thankfully, we came out alive." Yuugi smiled at his darkness sadly. "However, someone said that you had to come back to Egypt, in your own time, and rule again, leaving me in the future." His smile faded. " I couldn't handle it, darkness. Three days, just three days without you and all I wanted to do was die. . ." Yuugi's voice tapered off, looking his yami square in the eye.

"And now, you don't even remember who I am. All that we've been through. I can barely speak to you with language, Egyptian being so foreign a concept to learn." He lowered his eyes to the floor, unable to hold the gaze anymore. "That's also how I knew who Seth is. Our arch rival in the future is his reincarnation, Seto Kaiba."

Yugioh 'awed,' now realizing what Yuugi had been saying earlier, then looked at him oddly. "Are you telling me all of this happened? That it's real? Then how are you here?"

Yuugi smiled weakly. "The Dark Magician. Our faithful friend and Duel Monster."

Yugioh thought this over, realizing that it was the most logical explanation. How else would he have gotten here? "If you really are from the future," the pharaoh began, "Tell me something that was invented that is unheard of today." This was hard for the pharaoh to accept at first. It seemed almost preposterous. Why wouldn't he remember?! But then, of course, he had Yuugi. What much else was there to complain about?

Yuugi scrunched his nose, thinking hard. "People fly around in something called airplanes."

Yugioh blinked, then shrugged. "Well, I figured something like that would happen. Tell me something that would blow me away."

Suddenly, Yuugi grinned, thinking of just the two things that would make his darkness a believer. "Non-dairy creamer and peach flavored applesauce."

Yugioh was silent for a moment, thinking these concepts over in his mind. "Okay, I believe. That's just weird."

Yuugi chuckled, then suddenly frowned, remembering something. "Darkness, do you think we'll be able to resurface your memories? That we'll be able to make you remember all that you and I have been through? That we'll be able to reclaim our bond…" Yuugi voice faltered again, and Yugioh realized that there was an immense pain, and a deep longing in the young man's voice.

On instinct, the pharaoh wrapped him up in a furious hug. A strange tugging inside of him wanted to make Yuugi happy by whatever means possible. "We'll try," was all he could manage. "We'll try." What else was he supposed to say? He honestly didn't know.

"Yuugi…."

"Hmm?"

"Who was that merchant yesterday? The one who sent the poisoned gifts? What language were you speaking?"

"Well, in the future, his reincarnation Pegasus J. Crawford was one of the ones that almost killed me in a Shadow Game. He used the Millenium Eye to read our minds while we were dueling. It was a hard win, but because you and I shared the same body, we both dueled together. I think he died later when the tomb robber stole his Eye after winning a duel against him. I figured that his past self would be into foul play as well. As for the language, some say that it is the hardest on earth to learn, along with Japanese and Arabic. You see, English can piece together just about any words they want to. There is no rhyme or reason to their sentences. And if there are rules, there are always exceptions to the rules."

Yugioh frowned. "Sounds confusing."

Yuugi giggled. "It took you two years to learn how to ask where the chocolate pudding was when we took a vacation to Hawaii."

"Hawaii?"

"A tropical paradise that has not been founded yet. Hell, I doubt it's even been settled yet. It will become apart of the United States."

"And what is that?"

"The first country ever to abolish imperialism and dictatorships."

The pharaoh laughed. "Are you telling me that they have no government?"

"No, I'm saying that the people run the government themselves. Every so many years they vote, or elect, a new representative for themselves and can get rid of them at any time."

The pharaoh was silent for a moment, then snorted. "That's ridiculous. They'll never be able to abolish the royalties."

"They do. And they end up becoming possibly the most powerful nation in the world. Of course, some always debate otherwise, but you get the general idea."

Yugioh shook his head. "Don't go spreading ideas like this out amongst the people. We're only an inch away from another riot."

Yuugi smiled. "No, I don't think the world is ready yet for that kind of government. Not for a long time."

Yuugi's darkness opened his mouth to say something, but stopped short when strange sounds began reverberating around Yuugi's soul room.

"Some one's trying to wake us up," Yuugi stated. The pharaoh nodded.

*************************

Seth walked quickly down the halls of the palace, intent in finding the pharaoh. Granted, he was probably signing his own death warrant just trying to wake the ruler up so early, but he didn't have much of a choice right now. There was some important business for him to attend to.

Rounding a corner, the giant oaken doors came into full view, and he didn't even bother knocking. He pushed open the doors.

Inside, he certainly had not expected to see what he did. It was obvious to see what the two on the bed had been doing. Even though both were under the covers, Seth could see Yuugi's legs placed in a precarious position, he upturned knees visible under the blanket, with a sweaty pharaoh lying right in between them. Both had their hair wet and plastered to their foreheads, eyes closed while their 'third eyes' were touching. Specifically, the one place on the forehead right above one's eyes and centered, where the wisdom of the mind is supposed to reside. Not to mention the pharaoh's control over the shadows.

Gods, he knew they liked each other, but really, this was ridiculous.

He coughed, receiving no response. The two seemed to be in some sort of trance right now. He coughed again.

"Pharaoh, wake up! Pharaoh!" No response.

Three more tries later, he saw Yuugi's purple eyes blink open, Yugioh's crimson ones following suite.

The pharaoh turned his head and looked at his high priest, nodding his head in acknowledgement. "Seto."

"Horse!" Yuugi exclaimed, giggling madly.

Yugioh looked over at Yuugi. Seth saw him move his index fingers in an odd fashion, as if he were pointing to two different things set side by side on a table. Yuugi nodded emphatically, then proclaimed the word again. "Horse!" He went into another fit of laughs, the pharaoh now joining in.

"Umm, sir, please, there is something important that you need to see."

Still, they laughed.

"Sire, please!"

Yugioh slipped a cord from around his neck, now sitting up and wiping a tear from his eye. He couldn't believe that Seto meant horse!

"What is it, Seth?"

For a brief moment, the high priest realized that this was the first time he had ever seen the pharaoh laugh. "There is something important that I think you need to see."

Yuugi sat up in the bed, looking at Seth questioningly. "Shinpai suru," Yuugi groaned. He looked over at his yami. "Genki yoku okiru jikan da!"

Seth frowned. "Any idea what he said, pharaoh?"

Yugioh shrugged. "Ra of I know. We'll be dressed in a minute."

Seth nodded, stepping out of the room.

***********************

Yugioh stood with his arms crossed, starring at his high preist in the middle of a dark hallway, Yuugi beside him.

"Well?"

"Umm," Seth fidgeted, looking behind him. "Brace yourself," he said. He looked back at the pharaoh. "I figured with the similarities in their behaviors, you'd probably want to see this."

Yugioh raised a dignified eyebrow.

"Bring 'em over," Seth wailed at the guards down the hall.

Yuugi yawned, leaning into the pharaoh's side.

"Dame baka!!!" Someone screamed. "Itai! Yamu!!! Yamu!!!"

Yuugi's wide purple eyes grew wider. In the distance, three figures appeared, being not-so-kindly escorted by eight guards. Four of them alone on one figure who was struggling.

Strangely enough, all three had white hair, although one's was a bit grayer than the others. Two boys, looking like twins, and another one that appeared to be an old man.

"Ji-chan!" Yuugi exclaimed, leaving the pharaoh's side in a blind furry.

**************************

All for now! Translations!

Shinpai suru: Lose sleep (over something)

Genki Yoko okiru jikan da!: Rise and shine!

Dame baka: useless fool

Itai: Ouch!

Yamu: Stop