Mou Hitori no Boku: True Darkness
AN: Watch out, more shonen-ai. Oh, and because I haven't updated in a while, you get two chapters for the price of one. Aren't I nice?
Yami was the first to awake in the morning. He smiled at his little aibou, curled up next to him. Very carefully, he kissed Yugi on the cheek, and slipped out of bed. He contemplated waking up his light, but then, deciding that Yugi looked too cute asleep, he left the room , and walked downstairs. Quite silently, he wandered past the lounge, where the door was ajar. He smiled to see Bakura and Ryou slumbering, while hugging each other. Yami drifted into the kitchen.
He glanced at the clock, seeing it was seven o'clock. Sighing, he sat down at the table, head resting on hands.
'I've been dealt the worst cards in life.' he thought. 'I became Pharaoh when I was seventeen... I think, and then got locked in a puzzle. But now, I've played those cards, and drawn new ones, everything's alright. Just when I was about to win, the Shadow Realm plays another trap card. Aghh!' He hit his head on the table. "OWWWW!!!" Obviously without meaning to. He quickly covered his mouth with his hands, having broken his resolution to NOT wake anyone up this Sunday morning.
/Yami, where are you?/ Yugi's sleepy voice through the mind link.
//Downstairs.//
/Did you just hit your head on the kitchen table?/
//Yes//
/Oh. Okay then./
Yugi's voice disappeared, and another one came from behind him.
"Look, Pharaoh," Bakura's annoyed voice said. "We may be here to help, but we CAN'T help without sleep. So, please, do NOT wake me up again! Ryou will tell you what I'm like if I get woken up too early." Yami nearly laughed. "O...ok. Sorry." he answered. His distracted eyes wandered across to the calendar pinned on the wall. He looked at it for a while, then decided that he didn't know what the Japanese writing said on the red-circled date. "Bakura," he asked. "What does that say?" He pointed. "You forgot?" Ryou asked, appearing behind Bakura. "It says 'Yugi's birthday'. He's sixteen today." Yami's eyes lit up. "It is? He is?" He was out of the room in a flash, running back up the stairs to Yugi's room, and opened the door. He blushed to find Yugi half dressed.
"It's okay, Yami, I don't mind." he said, pulling on his black pants. Yami shut the door behind him. 'I can't believe I forgot.' he thought.
/Neither can I!/ Yugi answered. /By the way, you're getting too lax with your mind barriers./
//I gathered...//
"Well, Happy Birthday anyway!" Yami said, smiling. Yugi ran over and jumped into his arms, almost making Yami fall over. "Warn me before you do that next time." Yami chided. Yugi's eyes became very wide and innocent, but before he could reply, he found himself in a deep kiss with Yami. Pulling away, he said "Warn me before you do that next time," imitating Yami's voice, and sounded very peculiar in doing so. Yami put Yugi down, and laughed. "Well, Bakura and Ryou are downstairs; I'm sure they want to wish you a happy birthday too." he said. "Though hopefully not in the same way as you." Yugi replied, sending them both laughing again. They did eventually manage to find their way back to the kitchen, where Ryou and Bakura were waiting.
"Good morning, and happy birthday!" Ryou said brightly. "Hi!" replied Yugi, smiling very widely. Ryou nudged Bakura, who went "Oh!" and went into the lounge, to appear moments later with a very large bag. "Joey said he'd be over later. Tea's on holiday, Tristan's got a weekend job, so it's just us until Marik's plane arrives." he explained. "So Tea, Tristan and Kaiba left these with us (Kaiba's too busy)" Bakura tipped the bag up onto the table, and a mass of brightly wrapped parcels and envelopes flooded out. "All for me?!" Yugi said. "You AND Yami." Ryou told him. Yami looked surprised. "Well, you see, none of us knew when your birthday really was, and I doubt even you know, because of the stupid new calendars, so we had a discussion with the others, and decided you should share it with Yugi." Bakura said. "Oh... thank you." Yami looked surprised, but very happy now.
All four of them sat down for Yami and Yugi to open their gifts. They had to do it before breakfast, purely because there was no room left at the table. Yugi's gift from Tea was a new black shirt, with 'Yugi' emblazoned across the front in fire-red letters. Yami's was similar, but curiously, she had got 'Pharaoh' in icy-blue letters written on it. From Tristan, who could think of nothing better, a whole deck's worth of boosters each. (AN: That's 50 cards each, guys!) Yugi suddenly found that he had another Dark Magician in one of the boosters, and Hinotama. Yami was happy with Raigeki and Nightmare Steel Cage, but got annoyed at finding another 'Yami' field card. ("Since when have I been a playing field?!" he exclaimed.) From Kaiba, the latest Duel Disk, only in black with their names on them in gold. Yugi had just opened a birthday card, which happened to sing 'You're Simply the Best', when Yami picked up a small present addressed to him. He unwrapped it, and inside found a short golden chain bracelet, with seven charms, each one an exact miniature replica of each Millennium Item. "Hang on, I've seen this before... Bakura!" he said, standing up. Bakura looked at the floor. "Where did you get this?" Yami asked him. "Well... when I was in your palace, before you cast the sealing spell, I was snooping about, and found this room full of gold... so I stole some." Bakura said modestly. Yami sat down, and hit his head on the mostly-cleared table. "I knew I should have increased security around that room with YOU in my palace!" he said. "I also stole the Millennium Ring." Bakura pointed out. "Yes... I didn't quite intend you to end up in it." Yami lifted his head. Yugi and Ryou were laughing. "Shush, you!" Yami said, fixing the bracelet around his wrist. "At least you gave it ba..." Yami's voice cut out. Yugi stared at him, shocked.
"Bakura!" Yugi cried, as Yami's eyes deadened, and he slumped to the floor. Yami's duplicate darker materialised, the room sinking into a darkness like the Shadow Realm.
"Tut, tut, wasn't I invited?" Yugiou asked sarcastically. "The third of seven, by the way." he added to Yugi, who understood that the bracelet was the third trigger to Yugiou's release, out of seven. "And with the Tomb Robber here too!" Yugiou exclaimed, really hardly surprised. "Well, isn't this fun. You really should be more careful." He picked up the bracelet, which had fallen to the floor. He studied it, then thrust it into Yugi's hands. "I would get my revenge now, but it's more fun to see you scared that every action might release me. Farewell, though I really hope you will fare badly." He smirked, dissolving back into Yami. Yugi shoved the bracelet in his pocket, and went to help his re-awakening Yami. Crimson eyes slowly opened again. "Shit... that hurt." Yami sat up. "It's okay." Yugi said. Bakura pulled Yami to his feet. The room was now light enough for Yami to see the worry in Bakura's brown eyes. "You see now? I can't control him any more, and there are four other ways to release him! I'm scared." Yami cried. Bakura slapped him. "Pull yourself together! You have to be brave, for Yugi! What happened to the Pharaoh who was scared of no- one?" Bakura yelled. "He died." Yami said. "He died." Yugi burst into tears, and ran up to his room. "You'd better go talk to him." Bakura said, pushing Yami towards the stairs. Silently, he made his way up them.
He tried Yugi's door, but it was locked. "Yugi, please let me in..." he asked gently. "No!" came Yugi's outraged cry. "Why?" Yami tried to stay calm. Yugi remained silent. A few moments later, the door opened to let Yami in, though Yugi locked it behind them. "You love me, right?" Yugi asked. "Yes, of course I do, why would you need to ask?" Yami said, sitting on the bed. "Then how can you say that the person I love died?!" Yugi said. "What do you mean? I don't understand." Yami's face looked troubled. "I love the Pharaoh who was afraid of nothing and no-one, and would always stay there for me." Yugi replied, tears flowing freely down his face. "Uh... uh..." Yami could think of no reply, and now tears were coming to his eyes too.
Yugi stayed soundless, waiting for the unknown response. Yami bowed his head, shutting his eyes. "I'm sorry, Yugi." he said. "I'm sorry, please forgive me. Even when it seemed I was afraid of nothing, I always was." Yugi said nothing. "I'm afraid of losing you. Losing you to my dark side, or anyone else." His tears made damp patches on the carpet. Yugi's dried, and he smiled softly. "Really?" he asked. "Really." Yami looked up a little. Yugi was right in front of him. He took Yami's face in his hands, and wiped away his darker's tears.
*
"Then I love you." Yugi said, climbing onto Yami's lap and hugging him. Yami sighed happily, and wrapped his arms around Yugi, as though if he let go, Yugi would never come back. Yugi turned hs face upwards, pulling Yami down into another kiss, meaning more than it ever did before. Yami hands found the little space at Yugi's neck that made him happy, and lightly ran his fingers across it. Yugi shivered happily, opening his eyes a little.
/Bakura and Ryou are probably wondering where we've got to./
//Who cares?//
/Good question./
Yugi's weight eventually pushed Yami back so that they were both lying down. It broke their kiss off, but gave Yugi enough time to smile at Yami, and giggle, before they kissed again.
*
Bakura had a dilemma on his hands, or rather, in his mind. He was sitting on the sofa next to Ryou quite closely. But the tomb robber was nervous. He bit his lip, wondering whether he should kiss Ryou or not. Ryou was distracted by pretty much the same problem.
'I love him, but I don't want to push him into anything...' Bakura thought, checking that no-one could hear him. 'If I ask, he might feel he has to, but if I don't ask, it may not be what he wants.' He looked atRyou, suddenly realising that Ryou's chocolate-brown eyes had been on him all the time. "Ryou!" he exclaimed. "How long have you been staring at me?" Ryou immediately looked at the floor. Bakura sighed, and went for it.
*
"I'm sorry if this isn't what you want." Bakura pulled Ryou closer. Seeing that his aibou didn't resist, he hugged him tightly, and kissed him. Ryou relaxed against him.
[Don't worry, this IS what I want.] Ryou said through their thoughts.
[[Good then, because I don't ever want to let go.]]
They couldn't see each other, as they had their eyes closed, and couldn't see anyone enter. This time, it wasn't anyone who would understand, like Yugi or Yami, but someone who was definately the LEAST likely to understand. They sure could hear though.
*
They jumped, breaking away from each other as the door slammed shut. Yugi had left it open for Joey, but it was Seto Kaiba who came in. Fortunately, you could only just see the lounge from the front door, but unfortunately, you had to walk past the window of the lounge to get to the door. Seto looked close to laughter, but merely asked "Where's Yami and Yugi?" Ryou pointed to the stairs, while Bakura muttered "Be careful." Seto ascended the stairs, and knocked on the door to Yami and Yugi's room.
Hearing the sharp tap, Yugi jumped off Yami, and made sure he looked alright before opening the door. "Seto!" he exclaimed. Yami instantly sat bolt upright, having still been lying on the bed. "Happy Birthday, Yugi. I've got a spare hour (I worked late last night), so I thought I'd come round. I got a call from Ryou the other day anyway, saying about something important." He looked at Yami. "Your hair's messed up." he commented. Yami narrowed his eyes, and stalked off to fix it.
Glaring at his hair in the mirror, he quickly put his golden bangs back in the right places. He ran his fingers along the faded mark on his forehead. He shook his head and left the bathroom, just in time to see Yugi walking down the stairs talking to Seto. Yami paced down after them.
Sitting in the lounge, all five of them, Bakura launched into an explanation about the 'something important', the matter immediately to hand. Seto put his head in his hands. "I thought all of this Shadow Realm stuff was over after Battle City." he said. "It's never over." Yami said quietly. "It just changes."
"Marik should be arriving this afternoon." Bakura said. "He might be able to help us clear some stuff up." Yugi nodded. "I can't hang around until this afternoon!" Seto said. "I've got work to do!" "Then we'll postpone our 'discussion' until you can be here. Marik will be staying with us anyway." Yami said. "You're going to have one full house." Seto said. "My room, the lounge and the guest room is enough." Yugi said.Ryou looked at him funny. "If you've got a guest room, why were we sleeping down here?" he asked. Yugi blushed. "Paper thin walls..." he murmured. Ryou shook his head.
AN: Watch out, more shonen-ai. Oh, and because I haven't updated in a while, you get two chapters for the price of one. Aren't I nice?
Yami was the first to awake in the morning. He smiled at his little aibou, curled up next to him. Very carefully, he kissed Yugi on the cheek, and slipped out of bed. He contemplated waking up his light, but then, deciding that Yugi looked too cute asleep, he left the room , and walked downstairs. Quite silently, he wandered past the lounge, where the door was ajar. He smiled to see Bakura and Ryou slumbering, while hugging each other. Yami drifted into the kitchen.
He glanced at the clock, seeing it was seven o'clock. Sighing, he sat down at the table, head resting on hands.
'I've been dealt the worst cards in life.' he thought. 'I became Pharaoh when I was seventeen... I think, and then got locked in a puzzle. But now, I've played those cards, and drawn new ones, everything's alright. Just when I was about to win, the Shadow Realm plays another trap card. Aghh!' He hit his head on the table. "OWWWW!!!" Obviously without meaning to. He quickly covered his mouth with his hands, having broken his resolution to NOT wake anyone up this Sunday morning.
/Yami, where are you?/ Yugi's sleepy voice through the mind link.
//Downstairs.//
/Did you just hit your head on the kitchen table?/
//Yes//
/Oh. Okay then./
Yugi's voice disappeared, and another one came from behind him.
"Look, Pharaoh," Bakura's annoyed voice said. "We may be here to help, but we CAN'T help without sleep. So, please, do NOT wake me up again! Ryou will tell you what I'm like if I get woken up too early." Yami nearly laughed. "O...ok. Sorry." he answered. His distracted eyes wandered across to the calendar pinned on the wall. He looked at it for a while, then decided that he didn't know what the Japanese writing said on the red-circled date. "Bakura," he asked. "What does that say?" He pointed. "You forgot?" Ryou asked, appearing behind Bakura. "It says 'Yugi's birthday'. He's sixteen today." Yami's eyes lit up. "It is? He is?" He was out of the room in a flash, running back up the stairs to Yugi's room, and opened the door. He blushed to find Yugi half dressed.
"It's okay, Yami, I don't mind." he said, pulling on his black pants. Yami shut the door behind him. 'I can't believe I forgot.' he thought.
/Neither can I!/ Yugi answered. /By the way, you're getting too lax with your mind barriers./
//I gathered...//
"Well, Happy Birthday anyway!" Yami said, smiling. Yugi ran over and jumped into his arms, almost making Yami fall over. "Warn me before you do that next time." Yami chided. Yugi's eyes became very wide and innocent, but before he could reply, he found himself in a deep kiss with Yami. Pulling away, he said "Warn me before you do that next time," imitating Yami's voice, and sounded very peculiar in doing so. Yami put Yugi down, and laughed. "Well, Bakura and Ryou are downstairs; I'm sure they want to wish you a happy birthday too." he said. "Though hopefully not in the same way as you." Yugi replied, sending them both laughing again. They did eventually manage to find their way back to the kitchen, where Ryou and Bakura were waiting.
"Good morning, and happy birthday!" Ryou said brightly. "Hi!" replied Yugi, smiling very widely. Ryou nudged Bakura, who went "Oh!" and went into the lounge, to appear moments later with a very large bag. "Joey said he'd be over later. Tea's on holiday, Tristan's got a weekend job, so it's just us until Marik's plane arrives." he explained. "So Tea, Tristan and Kaiba left these with us (Kaiba's too busy)" Bakura tipped the bag up onto the table, and a mass of brightly wrapped parcels and envelopes flooded out. "All for me?!" Yugi said. "You AND Yami." Ryou told him. Yami looked surprised. "Well, you see, none of us knew when your birthday really was, and I doubt even you know, because of the stupid new calendars, so we had a discussion with the others, and decided you should share it with Yugi." Bakura said. "Oh... thank you." Yami looked surprised, but very happy now.
All four of them sat down for Yami and Yugi to open their gifts. They had to do it before breakfast, purely because there was no room left at the table. Yugi's gift from Tea was a new black shirt, with 'Yugi' emblazoned across the front in fire-red letters. Yami's was similar, but curiously, she had got 'Pharaoh' in icy-blue letters written on it. From Tristan, who could think of nothing better, a whole deck's worth of boosters each. (AN: That's 50 cards each, guys!) Yugi suddenly found that he had another Dark Magician in one of the boosters, and Hinotama. Yami was happy with Raigeki and Nightmare Steel Cage, but got annoyed at finding another 'Yami' field card. ("Since when have I been a playing field?!" he exclaimed.) From Kaiba, the latest Duel Disk, only in black with their names on them in gold. Yugi had just opened a birthday card, which happened to sing 'You're Simply the Best', when Yami picked up a small present addressed to him. He unwrapped it, and inside found a short golden chain bracelet, with seven charms, each one an exact miniature replica of each Millennium Item. "Hang on, I've seen this before... Bakura!" he said, standing up. Bakura looked at the floor. "Where did you get this?" Yami asked him. "Well... when I was in your palace, before you cast the sealing spell, I was snooping about, and found this room full of gold... so I stole some." Bakura said modestly. Yami sat down, and hit his head on the mostly-cleared table. "I knew I should have increased security around that room with YOU in my palace!" he said. "I also stole the Millennium Ring." Bakura pointed out. "Yes... I didn't quite intend you to end up in it." Yami lifted his head. Yugi and Ryou were laughing. "Shush, you!" Yami said, fixing the bracelet around his wrist. "At least you gave it ba..." Yami's voice cut out. Yugi stared at him, shocked.
"Bakura!" Yugi cried, as Yami's eyes deadened, and he slumped to the floor. Yami's duplicate darker materialised, the room sinking into a darkness like the Shadow Realm.
"Tut, tut, wasn't I invited?" Yugiou asked sarcastically. "The third of seven, by the way." he added to Yugi, who understood that the bracelet was the third trigger to Yugiou's release, out of seven. "And with the Tomb Robber here too!" Yugiou exclaimed, really hardly surprised. "Well, isn't this fun. You really should be more careful." He picked up the bracelet, which had fallen to the floor. He studied it, then thrust it into Yugi's hands. "I would get my revenge now, but it's more fun to see you scared that every action might release me. Farewell, though I really hope you will fare badly." He smirked, dissolving back into Yami. Yugi shoved the bracelet in his pocket, and went to help his re-awakening Yami. Crimson eyes slowly opened again. "Shit... that hurt." Yami sat up. "It's okay." Yugi said. Bakura pulled Yami to his feet. The room was now light enough for Yami to see the worry in Bakura's brown eyes. "You see now? I can't control him any more, and there are four other ways to release him! I'm scared." Yami cried. Bakura slapped him. "Pull yourself together! You have to be brave, for Yugi! What happened to the Pharaoh who was scared of no- one?" Bakura yelled. "He died." Yami said. "He died." Yugi burst into tears, and ran up to his room. "You'd better go talk to him." Bakura said, pushing Yami towards the stairs. Silently, he made his way up them.
He tried Yugi's door, but it was locked. "Yugi, please let me in..." he asked gently. "No!" came Yugi's outraged cry. "Why?" Yami tried to stay calm. Yugi remained silent. A few moments later, the door opened to let Yami in, though Yugi locked it behind them. "You love me, right?" Yugi asked. "Yes, of course I do, why would you need to ask?" Yami said, sitting on the bed. "Then how can you say that the person I love died?!" Yugi said. "What do you mean? I don't understand." Yami's face looked troubled. "I love the Pharaoh who was afraid of nothing and no-one, and would always stay there for me." Yugi replied, tears flowing freely down his face. "Uh... uh..." Yami could think of no reply, and now tears were coming to his eyes too.
Yugi stayed soundless, waiting for the unknown response. Yami bowed his head, shutting his eyes. "I'm sorry, Yugi." he said. "I'm sorry, please forgive me. Even when it seemed I was afraid of nothing, I always was." Yugi said nothing. "I'm afraid of losing you. Losing you to my dark side, or anyone else." His tears made damp patches on the carpet. Yugi's dried, and he smiled softly. "Really?" he asked. "Really." Yami looked up a little. Yugi was right in front of him. He took Yami's face in his hands, and wiped away his darker's tears.
*
"Then I love you." Yugi said, climbing onto Yami's lap and hugging him. Yami sighed happily, and wrapped his arms around Yugi, as though if he let go, Yugi would never come back. Yugi turned hs face upwards, pulling Yami down into another kiss, meaning more than it ever did before. Yami hands found the little space at Yugi's neck that made him happy, and lightly ran his fingers across it. Yugi shivered happily, opening his eyes a little.
/Bakura and Ryou are probably wondering where we've got to./
//Who cares?//
/Good question./
Yugi's weight eventually pushed Yami back so that they were both lying down. It broke their kiss off, but gave Yugi enough time to smile at Yami, and giggle, before they kissed again.
*
Bakura had a dilemma on his hands, or rather, in his mind. He was sitting on the sofa next to Ryou quite closely. But the tomb robber was nervous. He bit his lip, wondering whether he should kiss Ryou or not. Ryou was distracted by pretty much the same problem.
'I love him, but I don't want to push him into anything...' Bakura thought, checking that no-one could hear him. 'If I ask, he might feel he has to, but if I don't ask, it may not be what he wants.' He looked atRyou, suddenly realising that Ryou's chocolate-brown eyes had been on him all the time. "Ryou!" he exclaimed. "How long have you been staring at me?" Ryou immediately looked at the floor. Bakura sighed, and went for it.
*
"I'm sorry if this isn't what you want." Bakura pulled Ryou closer. Seeing that his aibou didn't resist, he hugged him tightly, and kissed him. Ryou relaxed against him.
[Don't worry, this IS what I want.] Ryou said through their thoughts.
[[Good then, because I don't ever want to let go.]]
They couldn't see each other, as they had their eyes closed, and couldn't see anyone enter. This time, it wasn't anyone who would understand, like Yugi or Yami, but someone who was definately the LEAST likely to understand. They sure could hear though.
*
They jumped, breaking away from each other as the door slammed shut. Yugi had left it open for Joey, but it was Seto Kaiba who came in. Fortunately, you could only just see the lounge from the front door, but unfortunately, you had to walk past the window of the lounge to get to the door. Seto looked close to laughter, but merely asked "Where's Yami and Yugi?" Ryou pointed to the stairs, while Bakura muttered "Be careful." Seto ascended the stairs, and knocked on the door to Yami and Yugi's room.
Hearing the sharp tap, Yugi jumped off Yami, and made sure he looked alright before opening the door. "Seto!" he exclaimed. Yami instantly sat bolt upright, having still been lying on the bed. "Happy Birthday, Yugi. I've got a spare hour (I worked late last night), so I thought I'd come round. I got a call from Ryou the other day anyway, saying about something important." He looked at Yami. "Your hair's messed up." he commented. Yami narrowed his eyes, and stalked off to fix it.
Glaring at his hair in the mirror, he quickly put his golden bangs back in the right places. He ran his fingers along the faded mark on his forehead. He shook his head and left the bathroom, just in time to see Yugi walking down the stairs talking to Seto. Yami paced down after them.
Sitting in the lounge, all five of them, Bakura launched into an explanation about the 'something important', the matter immediately to hand. Seto put his head in his hands. "I thought all of this Shadow Realm stuff was over after Battle City." he said. "It's never over." Yami said quietly. "It just changes."
"Marik should be arriving this afternoon." Bakura said. "He might be able to help us clear some stuff up." Yugi nodded. "I can't hang around until this afternoon!" Seto said. "I've got work to do!" "Then we'll postpone our 'discussion' until you can be here. Marik will be staying with us anyway." Yami said. "You're going to have one full house." Seto said. "My room, the lounge and the guest room is enough." Yugi said.Ryou looked at him funny. "If you've got a guest room, why were we sleeping down here?" he asked. Yugi blushed. "Paper thin walls..." he murmured. Ryou shook his head.