Here Without You

By: DarkDuelist

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh is copyright of Kazuki Takahashi. If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh there would be more Yugi/Yami together moments and Jou would beat the hell out of Kaiba just once. ;

Notes: Takes place after the end of the series. Possibly spoilers!!! And for all the dubbies out there: aibou partner, hikarilight and Sugoroku is Yugi's grandfather's name.

The darkness swallowed him whole. The only sound was the wind blowing through the trees outside his window. Even though it was pass midnight and he had school in just a few more hours Yugi Mutou couldn't sleep. The memories of past events kept playing in his head. Battle City, Dartz, Egypt and most of all Yami.

Yugi sighed and rolled over in bed, hoping for sleep to come. Just a few months ago he could just will himself into his soul room to talk to Yami, but now he was alone. Yes, he still had Anuz, Jou and Honda, but the bond he had with Yami was a once in a lifetime experience. Whenever he needed to talk to someone Yami was there. He could be completely candid with the spirit knowing that Yami would never judge him. No matter what happened Yami was there for him.

But that bond was gone now. Yugi would say to himself that it was for the best, but that didn't fill the hole in his soul. He would give just about anything to see his Yami one more time. Yugi could almost hear Yami's voice in the back of his mind.

"You need your sleep aibou."

Yugi sighed and rolled over onto his back. He laid there looking at the ceiling. How long would it take, he wondered, before he could fully move on with his life? How long until he could get use to not having Yami? With one more sad sigh he closed his eyes and willed sleep to come.

He could feel someone pushing his bangs back. He opened his eye to find Yami looking down at him.

"I'm sorry aibou; I didn't mean to wake you." Yami whispered.

"It's okay, I wasn't really asleep anyway." Yugi answered as he moved over to make room for Yami.

Yami smiled and lay down next to Yugi and started to run his fingers through Yugi's hair.

"You should have been asleep hours ago aibou. You'll be exhausted in the morning."

Yugi didn't answer; he just laid there enjoying Yami's company. Then the realization hit him so hard he gasped out loud.

"What's wrong aibou?" Yami's voice full of concern.

Yugi looked at Yami, his large eyes filled with sadness. "You're not real. This is just a dream. I almost forgot…," he closed his eye, the tears ready to fall. "I almost forgot you were gone."

"Oh aibou," Yami pulled the smaller boy close. "I never left. Our bond isn't as it used to be, but it isn't gone. The bond we have is too strong to just disappear. You're my hikari, nothing can change that. I'll never leave you."

"Really?"

"Yes, really." Yami smiled and pushed the bangs out of Yugi's face again. "Now, get some sleep."

Yugi snuggled close to Yami and sigh, this time a content sigh and fell asleep.

The next morning when Sugoroku went to wake his grandson he found Yugi asleep with his arms warped around his pillow. He could see the dark circles under Yugi's eyes and decided to let him stay home just this one time. Sugoroku looked at Yugi again before closing the door.

"Sweet dreams Yugi."

End