Everything
By: ChocolateEclar
Disclaimer: Obviously I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything that has to do with the anime/manga.
Claimer: I fully own Ichidou Yachitose and her family, Mrs. Suteki Iyashii, Suteki's deceased father and mother, Ryougi, Karei, Sumizome, Komayaka Mada-Tafunesu, Ke-ki and her gang, Miss Jishi, Nenriki "Riki," Tomobito, Kurisutaru "Kuri" Susume, Nekura Kyouran, Neferetiabet, Miw-sher, Hasha, and Great Wife Netikerty. Please don't use any of them in any form without my permission.
To Yami's-Girl: I'm glad you liked it. ^_^ Thanks again!
To Blank: You don't know how pleased I am that you like the descriptions I put into the duel. I hate writing those scenes because I have to take tons of notes on whose used what card and how many Life Points they have at such and such part of the duel. It's tiring to say the least. ^__^
I figured it was a good idea to have Yugi meet Ichidou. Yami's-Girl requested putting him in somewhere, and I finally figured out how to make it work.
Once again, thanks for reviewing!
To littlewolfsyaoran: ^_^ Random is all right. *laughs* Thanks a bunch for the review!
A/N: Whoa, this is the sixteenth chapter. When I reach twenty let's have a party! *laughs* Maybe I'll write a side story or a bonus chapter to celebrate?
Iyami: Maybe by then you'll have decided on what your male muse is like…
Choccy: ^_^ I've also realized this story has the most words of any of my stories. ^_- I hope you all enjoy chapter 16!
Duel Sixteen: Meian (Light and Darkness)Yami felt an inkling of his bond with his hikari reappear, and his resolve strengthened. He placed his palm on the top card of Ichidou's deck and slowly pulled it out of the slot on his duel disk.
This was it.
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"Come on. Come on. Come on!" muttered Ichidou, her eyes scrunched firmly closed. The shadows around her and Yugi were shifting about in anticipation.
Yugi watched Ichidou with a faint smile on his lips. It was strange to see the new hikari of his old aibou. There was something about their relationship that was different though. While he and Yami had been pretty much one and the same, they were unique from each other, and Ichidou was independent.
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Yami flipped the card over to see the final Ouija Card. He slapped it onto the field beside the other four. Shimmering, they all flipped to face-up position and together they spelled out DEATH. With a final flash of light, Yami Malik and Hasha's Life Points went down to zero, and every card vanished from the field.
"NANI?!?!" screamed Hasha.
"He has drawn all five Ouija Cards," stated his darker half, scowling. "Together the owner of them automatically wins the duel!" The golden eye was back on his forehead and pulsating with rage.
"Exactly," said Yami, smirking. "They're rather like Exodia the Forbidden One in that respect."
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Meanwhile, Yugi and Ichidou were jumping for joy. "He won! He won!" shouted Ichidou.
Grinning, Yugi asked, "Was there ever any doubt?"
"Nah," Ichidou lied.
Yugi noticed but ignored it. Instead he said, "He'll come and get you once he's taken care of Yami Malik and Hasha."
Ichidou nodded and plopped down to wait.
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Yami watched as the duo bore down on him. It was apparent they weren't going to abide by their promise, so Yami held out a hand and shut his eyes. The golden eye appeared on his own forehead as an energy began to radiate from his palm. Yami Malik and Hasha were pushed back, but they refused to give in.
Gritting his teeth, Yami let out one last wave of power, and the two were blown free from the Shadow Realm and his mind. He returned to the chambers of his soul and listened for the faint pulse indicating his aibou. She was deep within him, but he would find her.
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Ichidou felt the darkness shift and she knew.
"He's coming for you," Yugi remarked. "I have to go."
Nodding, Ichidou said, "Alright. Sayonara."
"Sayonara, Ichidou." And then, he had vanished into the dark.
Ichidou stood up and gazed upwards.
"Ichidou!" someone called out.
"Yami!" Ichidou called back.
He appeared in the next instant, floating above her in the watery darkness. He reached out a hand to her "dry" layer of his mind. Ichidou stood on her tiptoes and touched his hand. "I can't reach," she cried out.
Yami modified his position and leaned farther forward. "You can," he said in a way that made Ichidou shiver and feel as if she had to comply.
Reaching up again, Ichidou jumped, and Yami grabbed her right wrist. He began pulling her up, grasping her now with both his hands. Soon he had both of her wrists and she was halfway onto the watery layer.
Once sitting totally beside him, Ichidou felt as if she were floating again. Her hair was lifting off her neck, and she was cold once more. "Daijoubu?" she asked.
Nodding, Yami questioned, "Now, how exactly did you end up down there?"
Ichidou blushed and replied honestly, "I was snooping."
"I should've known," said Yami, brushing a hand through his hair.
Ichidou chuckled and asked, "Can we get outta here please? I'm freezing."
"All right. Grab my hand," Yami said. Ichidou obeyed and was pulled upward by Yami.
'It's like we're swimming to the surface,' Ichidou realized as light began to filter through the "water" over them.
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Ichidou was relieved to be in control of her body to say the least. Everything felt so strange after being submerged so deep into Yami's soul for so long. So when Ichidou awoke the next morning it wasn't quite just a normal school day.
She dozed during her first period and most of second. She couldn't even recall how she'd gotten to second period for that matter until finally she realized Yami had taken over and done such for her. She was unusually exhausted even for a Monday morning. It was if being trapped in her yami's soul had worn her out.
The only people besides Yami who seemed to notice though were Kuri and Riki. Both asked her if she was okay. Riki pointed out she looked "like she been hit and run, and then," as she was lying in the street, she was "…run over again."
"Arigatou, Riki. I really needed to hear that," Ichidou grumbled sardonically during lunch.
Grinning, Riki replied, "No prob." Kuri and Ichidou just shook their heads at him.
"Really though, Ichi, what's up? 'Not get enough sleep?" Kuri queried.
"Hai," yawned Ichidou, rubbing her eyes.
"You were wholly unconscious as soon as you retook control of your body," disagreed Yami.
"I know, but, well, it feels like I didn't sleep at all," Ichidou replied, yawning once more.
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When she wasn't snoozing, Ichidou asked various other students questions about Hasha. Apparently it was his nickname; his real name was Hofuku Gaichuu. As she had suspected, he was in fact a member of the North Eigou High School basketball team. Some senior girls had dated him, causing Ichidou to hear some interesting rumors about him. Kuri and Riki knew nothing about him though so her leads soon hit a dead end.
After school, Ichidou nearly fell asleep on her feet at her job at the greengrocer's. She lugged her body home afterwards – praying against any run-ins with Ke-ki. Her prayers were answered, and, once home, she literally fell asleep before her head hit her pillow. She didn't hit her bed at all though. It took a lot of wrestling with the dead weight of Ichidou's sleeping mind for Yami to take control and move her body onto the bed.
After that was done, Yami projected himself from Ichidou's body so that a transparent form of him was hovering beside her snoozing form. He stepped over to Ichidou's dresser and peered at the items on top. There was nothing terribly interesting to him. Just common things like earrings, books, hair scrunches, jewelry, and the reminiscent of.
He could barely make out his sketchy reflection in the mirror above the dresser. It was just a shadowy figure topped with pointed hair. His eyes were clear as day though – with utterly vivid, amethyst irises. Ichidou tranquil form behind him, lying on the bed, looked peculiar mirrored from behind him. Her face was buried in her pillow, so that none of it could be seen underneath a canopy of chocolate curls. He banished the urge to touch her tresses, and, instead went over to the window.
He stared out at the back alley – not exactly an appealing sight – before gazing off beyond it at foliage behind the fence. There were sakura, and he knew in a few months they'd be lush and pink. At the moment though, they were fairly barren as winter approached.
Turning away, his eyes rested on Ichidou again. He grunted and kneeled at her bedside. He stuck out one cautious hand and tapped a curl lying on the pillow. More confident now, Yami twisted the coil around his index finger. He knew Ichidou's sleeping habits – meaning you couldn't awaken her with a marching band – and how she tended to toss and turn in her sleep, which was why he jumped backwards when she turned to face him and stared at him blearily.
Ichidou blinked and muttered, "Yami…?"
The Pharaoh vanished back into his soul room, leaving his aibou to wonder exactly what her yami had been doing before dozing off again.
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She didn't remember the next morning to which Yami wasn't sure if he should be relieved or disappointed by. She did have a lot on her mind though considering she had slept from the moment she'd arrived home, meaning she had gotten no homework done. She rushed about, throwing clothes on and scribbling answers she knew were wrong, but didn't have time to fix, in her notebook.
Yami sat in his chambers, unsure if he should remind her or not. He finally resolved on not telling her and watched as she grabbed a Pop-Tart and ran out the front door. She just made her bus and, as such, spent the next few minutes panting in her seat.
"Atleast I have more energy today," she remarked to her darker half.
Yami smirked from where he was leaning against a wall in Ichidou's soul room.
Ichidou just shrugged and grinned back at him. They hadn't really discussed what had happened to Ichidou in Yami's soul room or Yami's duel with the duet, so Ichidou hadn't mentioned her meeting with Yugi. She was hesitant as how to bring the subject up. 'It's not like I can go up to him and say, "Guess what? You know when I was trapped in your soul? Well, I met your old dead aibou, but he was young and not really dead." ' Ichidou thought, grimacing.
Yami saved her from bringing the topic forward by inquiring, "Is something amiss, aibou?"
Ichidou cringed and muttered, "Well, you could say that."
Yami gave her an inquisitive look, and Ichidou shrugged off her discomfort. "I'll be frank with you, Yami. I got the play-by-play of your duel via a certain young looking Yugi Mutou."
Yami blinked at her for a moment before mumbling, "Yugi? How?"
"He said there's always been a little part of him inside you and will be providing, as he put it, you haven't reached your "happy ending" yet." Ichidou said the quote from Yugi with quotation mark signs by means of her fingers.
Yami looked away for a moment, ostensibly lost in thought.
Ichidou smiled faintly, and, shouldering her backpack, she stood up and hopped off the bus before her school. She smoothed the light blue skirt of her school uniform. The jacket on top of it was navy with a white trim, and a bow in the center the same color as the skirt.
"Arigatou, Ichidou," whispered Yami.
Smiling, Ichidou said, "No problem."
When her mind was elsewhere, Yami ran a hand threw his hair and called out, "Yugi?"
A faint shimmer lit the space before him and there was his old hikari, the shorter spitting image of himself. "Konnichiha, Yami."
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A/N: Here are the name translations:
Hofuku=creeping, crawling, sneaking
Gaichuu=pesty bug
A/N 2: Here's the preview for chapter 17:
So, what's a mature yami and a hikari have to talk about? Old times? Lingering questions? Ichidou?
So, while Yami's new little aibou does some more research on Hofuku "Hasha" Gaichuu, Yugi and Yami discuss more normal guy topics… Well, as normal as is possible for these guys. ^_^
Stay tuned for "Duel Seventeen!"
A/N 3: No review. No new chapter. Get the picture? ^_- Bye!
