Lily: Gaaaaack... Once again I did not update for weeks and once again the update for this fic is delayed -.- Just WHAT is wrong with my internal clock? *sighs* Anyway... let's continue...

-- Reviewers' replies --

*Yami's Tenshi : ^^U *pats her back* Don't worry about not reviewing, Tenshi-chan... At least you read it, ne? *blushes* You should stop saying all those flattering things, Tenshi... One of these days you're going to make me speechless ^_~ *glomps plushies* Please keep reading!!

*Koishii no Tenshi : Awww my God... *hugs her* Don't cry, ok? Gomen for the sad chapter... It was all sad for the both of them, I know... *sighs* Well, let's see what they're going to do, righte? ^^

*SoulDreamer : Thank you ^^ Here's the update

*hobbitfeet13 : This won't be incest... There's no way it is. I'll make sure to explain the whole brother deal in a near future, don't worry ^_~ I have a brother too, you know... Two of them... And I doubt you can love a bro like that. It sounds just... wrong... yeah... *shudders* Anyway... Explanation for what happened to both their families are coming soon, just wait! And yeah.. about "Fade to Black"... Chapter 5 is under heavy construction XD

*Sansi : Fluff? I hope you like what there's in this chapter... ^^U Thank you for your honesty, and don't worry, people like your stories cause they deserve to be liked, since they're really good!! ^^ *really liked the ending for "One of a kind"* Please, continue writing, ok? And enjoy the chapter now ^^

*Killian : *blinks* Yay!! Good to know I helped ^^ I know Seto/Mokuba stories are weird, wrong, and... yuck... Thanks for the complements, here's a new chapter for you ^^

*Miami-chan : XD Good to know... sorry about those... But cliffies have your good sides, you know? Make the readers eager for the next chapter... *ahem* Anyway, here's the update

*hikari_inu : They're completely not related... Ain't that cool? Now they can love each other ^_~ lol. Here's the update

*YumeTakato : Yeah... the good old days... Nowadays the Digimon Writers have completely lost their minds and the TV Show sucks... gaah... I want Matt, Mimi, Jenrya and Ruki ba~ck!!

Yami: ... That was just random...

Lily: ... I know XD And I don't care =P *lol* Anyway... Update this more? I'll try ^^U But I can't assure anything...

*Destiny : lol, theorizing is good actually... Shows that you can think, and that you don't seem like a lazy person... So yeah.... XD Everybody should be like you... Anyway, YEAH!! BEAT THOSE PEOPLE UP!!

Yugi: Aren't you one of those people?

Lily: Hmm... well, yeah.... But I don't annoy people with my opinions... XD

Yugi: Oh...

Lily: Hehe... Anyway... hmm... I suppose this a chapter with some fluff... But I must warn you that they've just come out of the brotherly affection, I need to take some time to turn that in real love, you know? Oh and... I see you're using that table well n.n

*Donella : Oh good to know you liked!! The sad stuff is kind of over, so cheer up!! ^^ Here's the update

*Hime no Ichigo : *lol* Calm down, Kaoru-chan... It isn't the end of the world... Though I really like your reviews XD Yeah, scratch that, it's really bad... But at least you reviewed chapter 3!! Yay!! ^^ Anyway.... lol, glad to know you're happy now that everything's clarified about the "non-incest" thing, and thanks for the sympathy... XD Well, sorry about the sad chapter too... Don't know what possessed me to write it O_o but I guess it was needed... Yu-chan and Mi-chan, a 16 and a 17 year olds.... both not brothers... what is their past? Huh? I'm not telling!! ^^ Keep reading!!

Iris: WOW!! Kouichi was non-sarcastic for a little time back there!!

*gasps are heard*

Lily: *lol* Am tempted to give her more Pharaoh plushies... *hands some to her secretly* aaaaaaaaanyway... The sad part is gone!! Whee~ Don't worry now ^_~ Enjoy the chapter

*LiLTakariGirl aka Yami Aro : Yeah... everybody seems surprised that they're BOTH not their sons... Everything will be explained later!! ^_~ I don't like Kari... because she just annoys me XD Don't ask why, but she just does *shrugs* In season one, she was really nice though ^^ She and her cat... it was cool... *sighs nostalgically* the good old digimon days... *blinks and snaps out of it* Anyway... lol, yes, YY/Y is what really matters... And it's coming soon!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Iris: ... *sees that Lily has eaten 1/4 of her big chocolate bar* ......... *runs for life, taking the chocolate with her*

Lily: ^^ I'll check out your friend's story. A new shounen ai friend is always welcome in the YGO Yami/Hikari world!! *lol* I LOVE YUYU!! *goes find the author*

Iris: *sighs in the distance*

*Rikainiel : Whoaaaaa.... Dude!! You've got to be kiddin' me!! ^_^ It's really Rika-san?! YAY!! HELLO!!

Iris: ^^U Heh... don't mind her. It's just that since Lily found her story between your fav stories' list a while ago, she had been asking herself if she knew you... And has been expecting a review from you for a while now...

Lily: I didn't know you liked all my fics *blushes* Well, not a good authoress like you anyway... ^^ I really liked all your stories!! XD I can still remember my shock of Sugoroku's revelation in "Pick a love, any love"!! XD It was sick, strange, weird I tell you!!! *laughs* But I liked it anyway!!

Iris: And since we're in this subject of finally meeting each other... Hey Yami Rika-sama!! You've got the name of a god too, huh?

Lily: Heh... few people know, but Iris' real name is Osiris...

Iris: Erm... yeah... but that gives me bad memories XD So let's everybody stick to Iris!!

Lily: ^^U Let's ignore her, not won't we? Anyway... Heh, don't worry about Yami and Yugi. They'll get over it, as soon as they-- Oh no, I'm not telling!! ^_~ You've gotta keep reading!! And yes... everything changed now. ^^ Please, read now!

Now on with the chapter ^^

"__" means talking

'italic' means thinking

A Yami/Yugi shounen ai story (NO incest, mind you)

Disclaimer: I do not own it, don't dream fellow --;;

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Dark mates

Chapter IV - Violet Eyes

By: Lily Maxwell

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A disturbing sound was heard, and Yami stirred. He found himself not so comfortable, and it took him a few minutes to remember what had happened. When he did, he looked around the room to find himself in Yugi's room and sighed. His eyes fell on the alarm clock and he turned it off, but Yugi shifted a little on his lap.

While Yami ran his fingers through his hair softly, Yugi's eyes slowly began to open, and the first thing he did was look up, gazing at the person who so kindly offered him open affection and took care of him when he most needed.

Violet eyes, darkened pools of violet were locked on Yami's eyes. Though Yugi smiled to him, he knew that he was still crying in the inside. One thing that Yami knew Yugi hated was being alone. When he wasn't with Yami, he was usually with one of his friends, and when he wasn't with one of his friends, he usually tried to busy himself with something.

He did his best to keep his mind on something else than the fact that he was alone, and that nobody else was there when he needed. And so Yami had tried, in more than one occasion, to stay with him, as long and often as possible. But when he didn't make it, he felt really bad, and tried to make it up with him.

But what could he do now? Now that Yugi felt alone in this world, without a mother, a father... a real sibling? Without someone connected to him by blood, someone whom he knew that was there when he was born?

Yami couldn't comprehend it. There must be something wrong. They looked too alike to not be related in some way. They say that somewhere in the world, everyone have a double... But to believe that, watching Yugi there before him... Could it be really true? But why... why did he feel so connected to him? It couldn't be the friendship they shared. Or the love he had for Yugi. After all, now that he knew Yugi was not his brother, he knew that he loved Yugi the same way he loved Seto or Jounouchi... Best of friends. Yugi was special, of course, but that did not change the kind of affection he had for him.

There must be something, anything else to explain the completeness his soul felt when he was near Yugi... Have you ever felt it? When you're around someone, and you just can't imagine yourself without them? That's how Yami felt. But he knew... He knew that what he felt was too strong, too special. Yugi was too special. He knew that, looking into his beautiful emotive violet eyes.

Would he ever know?

Then Yugi looked away, and they broke eye contact. Yami's wondering mind stopped and he felt himself coming back to the world of the living, and he watched Yugi as he picked the alarm clock and stared at it for a few minutes.

"We're going to be late for school if we don't hurry..." he said, then sighed. Yami tilted his head to the side, and he really didn't feel like moving. He knew that, by the look on Yugi's face, he surely didn't want to go to school either.

So, there was only one thing to do...

"We are not going." He stated, and Yugi looked up at him with surprised eyes.

"What?" he inquired in a silent voice, and Yami patted his head.

"We're not going.... We're not... ready to face everybody else..." he pulled Yugi into an embrace, in which the smaller teen did not refuse. "They'll ask questions... And they will insist... And no matter how willing we will be to answer them, we won't be able to... And that will only concern them." He said, and Yugi fell silent for a few seconds.

"I think you're... right..." he looked at Yami for a second, smiling. "As always." He said and placed his head on his chest again, just listening to his heartbeat and nothing else.

Yami just kept running his fingers through Yugi's hair absentmindedly, his mind actually somewhere else. If they were not going to school... then what were they going to do then? Were they going to spend the whole day in that room, drowning in denial and grief? Would they just lie there and think about how things could be different if they were not with the Muoto family?

"Yami...?" Yugi called, not moving, catching Yami's attention immediately even with his silent voice, drifting him away from his silent wonders.

"Hmm?" he murmured, placing his chin on top of Yugi's head. Yugi traced imaginary patterns on his chest, feeling amazingly comfortable around the taller one even though he now knew that they were not related. He thought that everything had changed now that he knew that, and in fact they did, but... With Yami, he just couldn't help but enjoy being with him.

That was also something he had been trying to understand, but just gave up and accepted it. Yami had always been his pillar to support the world, scaring away the fears and sharing the good moments, but even though everything in his life was a lie... Yami wasn't. And he remained the same to him in his mind, to his heart and mainly, to his soul.

Always, they had had a bound stronger than normal siblings (since they didn't fight over the silliest of things), and that seemed to persist. Only now... he knew that they weren't brothers. Why did it feel that way? Before, it could be explained because he was Yugi's older brother and therefore was his idol but... What now? He was an ordinary boy... A wonderful, marvelous ordinary boy, but ordinary indeed... Why didn't anything change?

And why... Why did he yearn for Yami's presence? Like he needed him to be there, and at the same time wanted him to act as though he was a stranger to him? That way, he could face everything easier... There was not going to have any connection with the people who shared his life of lies with him to keep reminding him of everything he lost... But he just couldn't accept this idea. He needed Yami. Not as a brother, not as a friend... He just needed him there for him. To be himself.

And by the way things were going, Yugi thought that maybe, just maybe, that was exactly what was going to happen. If it depended on him, actually.

Would Yami accept... him?

"I wanted to... talk to someone... today... and..." he tried to say, but it was difficult for him.

"Yes?" Yami encouraged him, drawing circles on his back with the palm of his hand, trying to calm the still unease boy.

"Could you come with me?" he asked finally, backing away enough to look at his face. Yami tilted his head to the side, and smiled at him.

"Sure." He said, and Yugi's face brightened momentarily, making it appear as if he was back to his old self again. He threw his short arms around Yami's neck and hugged him, and Yami chuckled. Yugi was indeed special... He worried about silly things like a child, acted like a little child sometimes when getting happy at the slightest things, but the face and the mind were of a teen who knew things beyond his age...

Yugi yawned and, hugging Yami's middle, cuddled him more. He still wanted to sleep... And in the warmth of Yami's embrace, drowning in his affection... It was overwhelming to him. He felt safe... And that's what confused him the most.

But he was not going to think about it. And soon, he fell into the Dream World, his mind finally free from the weight of the situation they were in.

Yami ran his fingers through his hair like it was some kind of hobby of his, looking at the closed door to Yugi's room, wondering if any of their parents would enter any time soon. A part of him hoped not, but a part of him knew they weren't. They looked too concerned about the situation the night before. So concerned that they even forgot to murmur the words and ended up shouting out the truth accidentally, not even knowing that the subject of their argument had listened to them.

Maybe they could forget about them for an hour or two. Or so that was what Yami hoped.

He didn't sleep, he couldn't. Instead, he just held Yugi while he momentarily neglected his pain, and stared at the nothingness. He held Yugi tighter while thinking and didn't even notice it. Yugi didn't even mind it and just snuggled closer. They were all they had at the moment...

At least... yet.

~ ~ ~

It seemed the same for everyone who watched them walking down the street, side by side, heading towards the same way the took to get to school. They looked the same. Everything seemed the same.

But both knew it wasn't the same. Not anymore. Now, they were merely friends. No relation. Not the close brothers everybody was forced to believe they were. They were merely... Yugi and Yami. Two boys bound to each other by a strong friendship, and nothing else.

Nothing else....

Their minds wondered farther than that, but all they could find was a void of answers. They still couldn't find what linked them so much and what explained all their emotions, but they were not trying hard to find out the truth. It was confusing, and their minds were already exhausted.

They stopped, standing just outside the entrance to the "Kame Game Shop". Yugi looked up at Yami who smiled and nodded towards the door, and the boy sighed and walked forward, turning the knob and entering.

A silent bell rang as the two stepped inside the small shop. They looked around the shelves, full of cards, and the walls, full of posters, before stopping at the one standing behind the counter. The owner, a short gray-haired man, looked up from the magazine he was reading to look up at the newcomers.

Yami froze in his place. This man... Had the same violet eyes Yugi did. He stopped exactly in front of the door, his eyes glued on the smiling man. Beside him, an oblivious Yugi smiled weakly as the man looked at him and smiled widely.

"Oh, so it's you again, young man! You have come back, huh?" the man said, and Yugi nodded a bit hesitantly, now and then giving Yami glances, but the taller one was still not moving. The only thing he did in the short period of time between him and Yugi entering the shop and the owner greeting them was look from the old man to Yugi, then back to the old man again. But the game shop owner didn't seem to notice. "Do you and your friend want something today?" he asked, and Yami blinked, seeming to come out of his trance.

"You know..." he began, an eyebrow raising in wonder, his voice slight suspicious. "You're the first one not to ask if we're brothers..." he said, and Yugi looked up at him with startled eyes. What kind of random question was that?

But the owner just chuckled, making both of the teen's attention remain on him.

"Well, are you?" he asked, and motivated by the silence that hang in the room the next half minute, he continued. "You just don't seem like it to me... Intuition, I guess?" he said, but didn't convince Yami much. However, this one decided against saying anything else, keeping his thoughts to himself.

Yugi only looked up at Yami, not knowing what had possessed him to ask such question. Maybe the shock of the discovery that they were not siblings was still remaining in Yami, denial still covering his thoughts. But he would have to ask him later.

"Oh by the way!" the Game Shop owner exclaimed, barely startling both boys. He went through a door behind the counter and Yugi and Yami blinked up at each other in wonder while he was gone. A few minutes later, he walked back into the room, and placed a box on the glass. He motioned the boys to come over, a smile playing on his lips. "Ever since I saw you early, I've been thinking on giving you this." He pushed the box in Yugi's direction.

The boy just blinked.

"A p-present? For... for me?" he asked, and the man nodded. Yugi shook his head to clear his mind. "But... I don't... Why...?" he asked, not really able to form coherent thoughts.

The man opened the box and took another box from inside it. Only this time, it was not an ordinary box. But a golden box. Yugi and Yami stared at it in awe, strongly believing right away that it was made of pure gold. The elder man chuckled at their expressions.

"This has been with me for a long time now... I was going to give it to my son, but he passed away before I had the chance." His eyes softened as Yugi looked up at him. "When I saw you... You reminded me so much of my son that I just had to give you this. Please..." he brought it closer to Yugi. "Take it." He said, and Yugi stared at the box.

It was a known fact that, most elderly people found something that reminded them of someone in every young person they met. Usually they presented said person with something, but this... This was extreme. But could he accept it? He looked up at the man's violet eyes, and they shone with some bliss Yugi didn't see in most people. How could he brake this man's heart, refusing such true gift given to him by heart?

He looked up at Yami, but this one had a confused glance pretty similar to his own. He looked down at him and their gazes met, and for a moment they only stared at each other, sharing thoughts through emotive eyes. He was giving it to Yugi, right? So... there was nothing else he could do.

He reached forward and grabbed the golden box, smiling up at the elder owner.

"Thank you... hmmm..." Yugi said, tilting his head to the side in non-spoken question. The man chuckled, and gave Yugi the paper box to put the golden box inside.

"Sugoroku. Sugoroku Mutou." He said, and for a moment, both boys' eyes widened. The man didn't seem to grasp their surprise, and merely continued speaking. "But you can call me grandpa." He shrugged. "It's better than 'Mr. Mutou' or 'Sugoroku-san'." He said, and Yugi nodded.

"Thank you again." Yugi said, bowing. "It was good talking to you again, Mr. Mutou..." Yugi vaguely smiled when he saw the man narrowing his eyes playfully at him. "... but I'm afraid Yami and I..." he motioned to the taller teen. "... have to go. But we'll be back."

Sure thing I will, both thought.

"So soon?" Sugoroku asked, raising an eyebrow. He sighed helplessly as Yugi smiled sadly at him. "Ok but... I didn't even get your name, young man." He said, and Yugi smiled wider.

He seemed to do that a lot around him.

"I'm Yugi." He said and bowing again, headed towards the door, Yami close behind. He waved before leaving and when he opened the door out, looked down at the box he was carrying, in which another box was being guarded.

He wondered... He never really saw what was inside the golden box.

end of chapter

Lily: *raises an eyebrow* Well... it turned out better than I had expected. At first, I had stopped before Yugi and Yami get out of the house, but decided it was SUCH a mediocre ending that decided to continue it further... Thus why it took me ANOTHER week to update this thing... Gomen nassai, everyone. I'll try to write the next chapter a lot faster this time.

But I still have "X", "Fade to black" and "Missing" to plan... 'Sides, I have to think of what the hell to write for "Shadowed Reminiscences", "Fantasy", and stop being damn lazy and write the already planned new chapter for "One winged angel"... AND I have about other 5 Medabots fics to write... gaah... there goes my free time... *sighs* Anyway, please don't forget to review, alright? Jaa ne~