It's an update! Hurray! hehe. Hope you enjoy this chapter, even though it's a wee bit on the shorter side. More serious matters are the topic! Anywayz, hope you like the chapter, and please update! hint, hint, and more hinting lol. No, seriously, you guys are great at reviewing—thanks so much, I appreciate it!
Yami sighed. The moon shone effulgent rays across the surface of the desk he sat at. He looked out the window wistfully, staring at the moon, one of the few things that hadn't changed since his former life. However, here in Tokyo, with the cities' lights—even in the suburbs—the moon didn't seem so large and opalescent.
In Egypt the moon shone large and more stunning than words could ever describe. Breathtaking and seductive in its blue-tinged, shadowy light. Here, in Tokyo, it was small, nearly minuscule, lonely. In Egypt it was so large it covered most the night sky, so close one could touch it. But here, it was distant, too far away to even dream of being within reach.
The Pharaoh could even hear the distant pipes playing the sound so often heard in the sands of Egypt. Their mysterious and sultry tunes…
But he couldn't think about that now. No; something pressed on his mind. Something that needed to be thought upon, and a matter of importance.
Yugi, so quick to urge Mai to confide in him, to trust him and tell him everything she needed to, every anger she needed to vent, every secret that needed to be told, kept a large secret himself. One he never thought to confide in her…yet Yami knew he must.
Mai must know the secret Yugi and Yami kept. Yugi would never agree, he knew that, but Yami must urge him—must tell him the importance of doing so. Mai would someday find out, and if she knew that he had kept it from her…
It would break all trust between them.
* * *
Yami was awoken grandly. He had fallen asleep, leaning on the desk's surface, and Yugi had banged into it while attempting to put his shoes on standing up—whilst hopping on one foot it might be entertaining to add.
Yami jumped up, mumbling something about "Sheerza", and looked around drunkenly. His eyes, at first burning from the sunlight, caught Yugi looking around for a jacket.
The room was a mess, hindering his quest, and Yami got up without a word and looked below a pile of laundry—whether it was clean, dirty, or barely worn he couldn't tell you. He retrieved a green windbreaker jacket and passed it to Yugi.
"Thanks, Yami—" He looked around for something else, and Yami arched a brow. "I…never mind."
"Yugi," The Pharaoh began. "I wanted to talk to you about something—"
"I've got to go, can it wait till later?" He moved to the door and looked back when there wasn't a reply. Yami sighed, nodding. Yugi, encouraged to leave, left without another word.
Yami could hear his sneakered feet pounding down the stairs, hear his voice say goodbye to his grandpa, and when he looked out the window he saw Yugi dash down the street towards the bus stop.
Yami sighed, sitting down at the desk once more, the wistful expression again on his face from the night before.
* * *
It was late at night when Yugi returned. His grandfather was asleep in his room as Yugi passed by, Mai on his arm. They tiptoed up the stairs, stopping at the landing to say their goodbyes.
"I'll see you later, Mai." She peered at the cracked door to his room. "I—"
"Do you want to go in for a bit and talk?" She asked.
"No—I…nah, I'm tired. Do you mind?" Again she peered at the door. Someone was in there, she just knew it… "Did I hurt your feelings?" He asked, reading her expression the wrong way.
"No, not at all." Why didn't he want her in there? What secrets did he hide? He never asked her in, never let her in. He had always found a way to skip around it. Tonight was no different. "OK, Yugi, I'll see you tomorrow." She turned without a kiss and trotted down the stairs, out of his sight.
Yugi felt bad. But he couldn't—not with Yami…maybe someday he'd have the foresight to have Yugi hide in the bathroom for a while. She thought something was up—knew something was up because there was something.
He realized he was still standing there, mute, in the hallway at the top of the stairs, and sighed, shaking his head as he walked into his room. The light was off, and he found Yami sleeping, leaning over the desk, the way he had found him this morning.
"Yami…" Yugi whispered, leaning over the Pharaoh, touching his shoulder lightly. "Yami?" His head rolled over to face Yugi, and his eyes blinked open faintly, taking in Yugi and then his surroundings. He blinked several times again, thoughtfully, then turned over and went back to sleep without a word.
Yugi pondered the royal neck and backache Yami would have in the morning, but as he knew Yami wouldn't necessarily appreciate being carried around the room by his "bodily-companion", he decided to just go ahead and sleep himself. Besides, Yami wouldn't blame anyone but himself in the morning.
* * *
Yami awoke with a royal headache. He cursed Rah as he got up stiffly, his body creaking and cracking as he did so. His eyes scanned around the room, empty of people save himself.
He cracked his neck to the left, rubbing the sore muscles on the opposite side at the same time, his eyes darting to the clock. It wasn't late or early, and he stood, his back cracking comfortably as he left the room in search of Yugi.
He found the boy downstairs, sorting through stacks of Duel Monsters cards at the register desk, thoughtfully writing down in a notebook every few moments. Yami watched silently for a little while before taking up the courage to approach him with the topic he had been meaning to.
"Yugi?" The boy's head looked up, the trademark cheery expression on his face when his eyes registered the sight of Yami. He then arched a brow questioningly, and Yami continued. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something." He mentioned, then his eyes scanned the surroundings. "It's something private—"
"Grandpa's gone for the day." Yugi mentioned, and Yami looked comforted. "What did you want to talk to me about?" He returned to looking through the cards, though he listened intently, and Yami swallowed before speaking.
"It's about Mai and…well…us." This caught Yugi's attention, and his eyes darted to the Pharaoh. "Yugi, you always tell her of how you want to know all about her, how she should feel like she could confide in you everything—"
A young boy approached the door to the game shop and was peering in excitedly. Yami was prepared to spring to a hiding place, but a man approached, took the boy's hand, and dragged him away, much to the lad's disappointment.
Yugi looked at Yami in a "continue; I'm listening even if I don't want to" way, and Yami swallowed before continuing. Yugi's hands shuffled and sped through decks precisely, his fingers practiced in what he was doing, though it was absentminded, for his mind had forgotten the task and he merely went through over and over, not heeding what the cards he zipped through were.
"Yugi, how can you tell her that all the time when—" His eyes darted to the door, where two preteen boys came in, ripping their wallets out of their pockets and looking around as if no one on earth could know more about Duel Monsters than they.
Yugi dismissed his task, pushing the boxes away. He approached the boys, and their faces turned to expressions of awe. Yami could hear them talk excitedly to the King of Games, Yugi Motou, and, though it usually caused him to smile, he frowned, frustrated with the interruption.
The boy's heeded Yugi's suggestion and trotted merrily away with their purchases. Yugi tugged the boxes towards him once again, and looked a Yami expectantly.
"I think you should heed your own council," He continued, his tone frustrated. "I think you should—" The computer behind Yugi beeped, signaling the need for his attention, and Yami, frustrated even more, grew silent as he waited.
Yugi clinked on the keyboard for several moments, clicked on the mouse, and scrolled several times before turning to Yami again with that irritated, continue please, expression and attitude. Yami, not ready to be interrupted again, burst out with the main line of what he had been wanting to say for the past two weeks.
"I think you should tell her about me!" He shouted, and Yugi stopped doing anything, and looked at the Pharaoh without a change of expression.
* * *
"You don't think there's another woman, do you?" Mai asked, somewhat comical, though she sincerely asked the question. Téa looked thoughtful, a finger to her lips in a musing, pondering sort of way. She held the expression of someone trying to solve a mystery of deepest importance, and in the end she shook her head.
"I don't think so, Mai." Mai nodded, she already knew her friends answer. "Maybe he's working on something new? Duel Monster's wise?" She was asking a question of Mai, though she seemed only to wonder aloud.
It was Mai's turn to shake her head. "Joey would know. I would know. His grandpa would know. Someone would know; Yugi's not a loner. He'd want someone in on this, even if he just wanted to vent his thoughts on it.
"Besides, if it's big he wouldn't keep it in his room, and if it's small he'd be able to hide it. Something's up, Téa, and is it selfish of me—untrusting of me to want to know what it is?" She seemed to collapse in the chair though she was already sitting down.
She picked up the cup of soda on the table, and it left a deep amber-colored ring on the plastic counter surface of the fast food joint's table as she brought the straw to her lips.
Her bright pink, succulent pout sucked on the white and red striped straw as a group of guys came into the place. Her eyes darted to the group and she set the cup down, smiling and waving them over.
Tristan, Joey, Bakura, and Duke trotted up like different breeds of peppy, happy little dogs, their differences as clear as their styles of dress, another thing that made them different.
Tristan, wearing whatever he could find around the house, looked casually stylish, laid-back and appealing, his hair short and out of the way, and his biking gloves still on his fingers.
Joey, though much like Tristan, usually had some crumpled and well-worn sneakers on his feet, sometimes a pair that, in the distant past were a bright color. And a necklace—usually a chain with some kind of charm—was always present on his neck, and longer hair that always fell around his face in that messy, appealing way girls always fell for.
Bakura could be summed up pretty well in one word. Preppy. As he had matured his style had as well, and dirt-washed jeans or khaki's usually were worn, along with sometimes—when feeling daring—a vintage tee, or a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and the top two buttons undone. Scuffed up brown boots were mostly the norm, or raggedy tennis shoes, and beaded, hemp, or bottlecap necklaces were tied on his neck most all the time.
Duke…well, Duke as well could be summed up in one word—or two. Bad boy. (With a good heart, of course) Jeans, muscle shirts under everything he wore, his hair jet black and in messy layers. His shocking green eyes always shone through as windows to his soul, leather jackets and vests, black gloves that left his fingers free. Every girl wanted Duke, the Bad Boy, and Duke only wanted a girl who didn't want that persona. Someone who saw past that to the vulnerable guy he really was.
They stood there, a funny looking crew, all different, al the same, smiling at the two girls they had, by chance meeting, come upon.
"Grab a seat and sit your butt down." Mai said, scooting over, making room, and Téa did the same. "What brings you dopes here?" She asked, and they threw out the obvious answers. Joey and Bakura were sent to get food, and they returned, each arm holding a plastic tray of greasy, fried food on its surface.
Half an hour later Mai began to excuse herself, and Duke, looking at his watch, did the same. With cheery waves they disappeared out the door and went their separate ways. Immediately, Téa turned serious and looked around at the guys sitting beside and across from her.
"She suspects something." She said seriously, quietly. "Yugi's never taken her into his room—" Joey snickered, chuckling, and looked around, then realized she wasn't talking about that and hid a blush. Téa rolled her eyes along with Tristan—Bakura hid any emotion at the comment—before continuing. "She thinks maybe he has another girl, but she knows that isn't right. She spouted tons of things her imagination has come up with to me over lunch." She sighed, and everyone let it sink in.
"Something has to happen…" She looked around at them hopelessly. "But what?"
* * *
Yami sighed. Yugi hadn't taken the suggestion well. He had blown him off, actually, without a word, and taken up the boxes of cards and went into his grandpa's office. Several hours later, Yami, hearing Yugi stir, had rushed into the upstairs hall to investigate, only to be disappointed when he left through the front door without saying anything to Yami.
It was now late evening, and Yami was almost worried for him.
Had Yami been foolish to tell Yugi what he thought? They'd been through so much together—infinitely more than any other two beings in history, for they had shared emotions, thoughts, pains, fears, frustrations, strategies, suffering, and hatred all together.
They were joined, even when they weren't technically, and could still tell whatever the other was thinking or feeling. It was this power that they had that hurt Yami most now, for he could feel Yugi's pain and frustration…and he could do nothing.
He longed to know what exactly pained Yugi, what exactly frustrated him. If only they could talk! But Yugi was closed to Yami for now, he had shut the door, shutting the Pharaoh out in the process.
Yami had saved the world but he couldn't get one man to speak with him!
Yami longed to throw a nearby book against the wall, but what would that do? It would accomplish nothing. He was stuck, powerless until Yugi opened up to him. He was bound by a man; and he could do nothing until that man acted first.
Yami leaned across the desk, and for the third night in a row, fell asleep in that position.