A Little Winter Miracle
Pan: I'm back, after having a great Christmas, and rejoicing in the fact that I'm now 15!
Yami: Good for you, dear...
Yugi: Your birthday was on the 25th, ne?
Pan: Yes. Now, I'd better write before I get shot. By the way, 'itai' means 'ow'.
And why is Kaiba so kind? Because I needed a rich character to run this house/hostel thingy, and Pegasus is creepy. That's why, until I can think of a better reason.
~
I don't dare open my eyes. What if do, and it was all a dream? I never met these wonderful people, I'm in a dark alleyway somewhere like I normally am when I wake up...
"YAMI!" A voice called, it's owner jumping onto Yami's bed and shaking the boy. "Come on, Seto sent me to get you for breakfast!" It was Yugi. Yami opened his eyes, shouting "ITAI!!" as he pushed Yugi off. Yugi sat with a surprised look on his face, his purple eyes wide.
Why does he look so cute?
"G-gomen yo, Yami-kun..." Yugi said quietly, getting up, his eyes glistening with hidden tears.
"It's OK, Yugi." Yami sat up, and looked at the shorter boy. "It just made my arm hurt, that's all. I didn't mean to hurt you." Yugi pulled his sleeve across his eyes. "I'm sorry, I forgot about your arm." he said, sniffing. His face broke into a wide smile. "But, it's breakfast time! AND it's Christmas Eve!" Yami smiled back. Christmas Eve had never really been that important to him before, but somehow, with Yugi here, it's seemed so much more special.
"You gotta get dressed." Yugi said, indicating the pile of new clothes that had somehow appeared in his room. Yami carefully got out of bed. He noticed Yugi blush and look away; something to do with Yami only wearing his underwear. Sighing, he went to pick out some clothes. "Need some help?" Yugi asked. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Yami exclaimed, turning quickly. Yugi looked startled again, and reverted back to his quiet voice. "O-only that you can only use one arm at the moment..." he said, trailing off.
Ahh! I'm such an idiot!
"Oh... alright, Yugi, I could probably do with some help." Yami said meekly. Yugi immediately brightened again. "OK! What do you want to wear?" he said, trotting towards the taller boy. Yami picked up a few items of clothing; a pair of black trousers, and a T-shirt.
This will be interesting...
Yugi took the T-shirt. "Ok... stick your arms in the air." he said. Yami put his arms up, his broken one as straight as possible. Yugi jumped up onto a nearby chair, and pulled the T-shirt over Yami's head, carefully threading the injured boy's arms through the sleeves as he did so. "Easy!" he said, jumping down.
"These I should think I can do myself." Yami said, sitting down, and using his good arm to pull the trousers over each leg in turn. He sat for a moment, slightly confused. "Help me up, Yugi..." he said, the garment halfway up his thighs. Yugi giggled, and cautiously helped Yami to stand up, so he could finish pulling the trousers up to his waist.
"Somehow, that took more effort than was really necessary." Yami said, laughing. "But now, I'm hungry." The two left together, Yugi leading the way.
He's so helpful... so kind... Yami thought. And so good at making me feel guilty!
On entering the breakfast room, Seto looked up from a plate of eggs and bacon. He smiled at Yami, then clapped his hands sharply. The group of teenagers gathered around the table stopped eating, and looked at Seto. They owed him a lot, and gave him the utmost respect.
"Well, I'd like to introduce a new addition to our 'family'." Seto said smiling. "This is Kiseki Yami. He had an accident, and has been brought here by Yugi. I hope you'll all be kind to him." Most of the others said a short "Hi," or "Hello," bu one person, a brown-haired girl with sparkling blue eyes, walked over to greet Yami.
"It's ever so nice to meet you," she said. "My name is Mazaki Anzu, but please, just call me Anzu," She bowed slightly. Yami blinked. "Yeah... nice to meet you too..." he said, smiling awkwardly. "You broke your arm?" Anzu asked, indicating the cast on Yami's left arm. "Yes," he said. "And hit my head, but that wasn't serious." Anzu nodded. "You're lucky then, I suppose, it could have been worse. Here come sit down by me and have some breakfast." She half-pulled him over to a spare seat next to where she had been sitting. Yami looked over his shoulder at Yugi, who smiled, and took his own seat on the opposite side of the table.
For most of breakfast, Anzu treated Yami like a six-year-old, helping him get his breakfast, and talking to him in a sickly sweet voice. "I'm sixteen years old now. My birthday was last week. How old are you?" she asked. "Er... sixteen..." Yami answered slowly.
I'd rather be sitting with Yugi... at least he treats me by my age, not my shoe size!
"Hey, Yuug, up for a round of Tekken on the Playstation?" someone asked from down the table. Yugi looked up. "Any time, Bakura, any time! It's just, are you up for another round of getting your butt kicked?" The short boy replied, getting up and clearing his place.
"Anything you'd like to do, Yami?" Anzu asked. Yami blinked, distracted by Yugi's leaving, and then said "I'd rather not. My head still aches a bit." "Aw..." Anzu said. "Come on, you just go sit in the lounge. I'll find some aspirin or something." Yami nodded gently, getting up, and walking into the lounge, which was he first room he'd seen the day before, bar the entrance hall. He dropped down gratefully into one of the sofas. Yugi looked away from the TV screen, holding the Player 1 controller, and the screen displaying 'Player 1 wins'.
"Anzu a bit overbearing?" he asked. Yami mrumured his answer "Yes," in case she was within earshot. "Don't worry, she's like that with anyone cute." Yugi said knowingly, returning to the game.
Did he just call me cute?
Yami watched the fighters on screen, and watched Bakura lose three times in a row. Yugi's fingers danced across the controller pad so quickly, it was hard to tell what he was doing. "That game is so stupid." Anzu said, entering with a handful of pills and a glass of water. "Here, take these." she said, giving them Yami, and sitting down next to him, a little too close for Yami's liking. "Thank you..." he said, taking the pills quickly. They sat a few minutes in silence. "Hey, how about I give you a tour of the place?" Anzu asked. "Come on, you need to know your way around, this place is huge!" Without waiting for a response, Anzu dragged an unwilling Yami out of the room to show him around.
~
"You like him, don't you?" Bakura said, in the middle of a round. Yugi frowned, the question surprising him, and his fighter being caught in a painful looking headlock. "What do you mean?" Yugi said, more focused on the game, and winning again within twenty seconds. "Ha ha, we all know about you Yugi! It's why Anzu despises you so much. AND you called him cute." Bakura said, smirking. Yugi's mouth hung slightly open. "Th-that obvious then?" he said finally. Bakura nodded. "Yep. One more round, then I'm taking you on in a different game."
~
"This is the music room." Anzu pushed a door open. "Seto always finds stuff to keep us occupied. He inherited a lot of money from his parents." she said. The room was full of different instruments, a piano, guitars with accompanying amplifiers, various wind instruments. Bookcases held books entitled 'Teach yourself Piano' and '100 Tunes for Beginners'. Yami held back a yawn. Sure, this stuff was interesting, but Anzu just never shut up! It was lunchtime before she'd finished taking him around, and the last half-hour they had spent sitting in a conservatory, while Anzu spoke endlessly about the residents of the house.
"I've been here two years now, but Ryou has been here since before I was. He's like a permanent resident, or something. Ryou, from what I remember, his parents were killed in a car crash when he was ten. He's fifteen now, so he's been here, like, five years. It's good he does stay though, he's the only one of us who can cook..." Yami sort of turned her volume down mentally, ignoring her, and looking through the glass of the conservatory. Snow had covered the ground during the night, and he was suddenly more grateful that a car had hit him.
"Now, Yugi..." Anzu began. Yami's attention returned to her fully. "Yugi, they say, was kicked out by his father, his mother having died when he was born. The rumour is that when he was fourteen, his father found out that he... you know, preferred boys, and kicked him out. Believe it or not, the little squirt is sixteen, I dunno, he must have a problem whereby he doesn't grow or something. He's an idiot, never tries to learn anything, I mean, Seto has a schoolroom in this house, we go study and stuff, because we don't go to school. I study every day, but Yugi's only ever playing games, pathetic if you ask me. And if you argue with him, he's got a right nasty attitude, you know, one time..." Here, Yami's attention wandered again.
Yugi prefers boys? Floated through his mind. He shook the thought away; he wasn't like that. Not that he knew of, anyway.
But Anzu's got a serious problem with him... I wonder why...
A bell rang somewhere in the house. "Oh, that's lunchtime!" Anzu said cheerfully, having finished her rant about Yugi. She linked her arm though Yami's good one as they got up, and led him back towards where they had started.
Shut up, shut up...
~
"Hey Yami! Enjoy your tour?" Yugi asked brightly. Yami made for the empty space next to the shorter boy, but again, Anzu dragged him away. Yami sighed, sitting through an hour of Anzu's chatter, then getting dragged off to the schoolroom for four hours. He was thankful when dinner, and then bed rolled around. Peace, at last.
"Goodnight, Yami!" Anzu said, making for a different flight of stairs, obviously boys and girls were separate. "'Night..." Yami murmured, heading for his own room. He picked up his pyjamas, then realised that he couldn't change into them by himself. Sighing, he went and knocked on the room next door, Yugi's.
A bright-eyed Yugi opened the door, as if he had only just awoken. "What's up, Yami?" he asked cheerfully. Yami took the short opportunity to see into Yugi's bedroom; it was pale blue, and pretty much empty. A few books lay on the floor, Yami could see some school books there. There were some tutorial flute books too.
"Um, could you help me change into my pyjamas, please?" Yami asked quietly. "Sure." Yugi said, smiling, and shutting his door behind him.
"You've got a nice room..." Yami said, as Yugi helped him take the T-shirt off. Yugi nodded. "I like it. I used to have a TV in there, but it got stolen. Anzu really doesn't like me." he said. "Anzu took it?" Yami said, slipping his arms through the sleeves of his pyjama shirt. "Yeah. Convinced Seto into giving it to her. Don't believe her; she's only been here six months. In that time, two boys left; Jonouchi and Honda, both dated her for short periods of time, then she began to get them to buy her stuff, and cried if she didn't get her way. She two-timed them, and they left, too annoyed to stay here any longer." Yugi replied, folding the discarded clothing. "Anyone who annoys her, she makes up things about. I expect she told you that I never study, and I've got a bad attitude if you argue with me?" Yami nodded, surprised at Yugi's accuracy. "Yeah, well, I study a lot of the time, Seto even lets me keep some of the books in my room. I'm learning to play flute as well. As for arguing, she's the only one I ever argue with. Well, that's enough of that." Yugi turned towards the door, as Yami was fully changed into his pyjamas. "Goodnight..."
"Hold on... Yugi..." Yami said. "What... what about you preferring boys, as she put it?" Yugi hesitated in the door frame. "Goodnight, Yami."
Was it something I said?