"How so?"
"One vanilla and one chocolate, please." Yami handed the person who had taken their order a twenty and turned to go sit down.
"Wait, sir, your change!" The cashier waved the bills in the air, and Yami went back to retrieve them.
"Oh yes, I do get change!" Yami said, embarrassed, before grabbing his change and the ice cream and heading over to the booth where Kaiba was sitting.
"What was that about?" Kaiba asked Yami, taking his ice cream.
"Stupid modern money." Was the only reply that Yami gave, before he attacked his chocolate ice cream. They ate in silence for a few minutes, before Kaiba reached over with his spoon and stole a bite of Yami's ice cream.
"Complex, bitter-sweet, and dark." Kaiba set his spoon back in his bowl and leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed, smirking at Yami. Yami, in turn, reached over and grabbed a bite of Kaiba's ice cream.
"Smooth, sophisticated and tasteful."
"Something about you just made my heart skip a beat."
"So, where were you last night, Yugi?" Tea asked. "I tried to call you a bunch of times, but Grandpa kept saying you weren't home and he didn't know where you were."
"Yeah, and how'd you get that scratch on your face anyway? You aren't being picked on, are you?" Joey chimed in.
"It's no big deal. I'm sure they won't bother me anymore." Yugi said, trying to change the subject.
"Yugi, if they had knives, it's a big deal. You might not be the only one they were bullying." Tea said, looking worried.
"You're always preaching about having faith in each other, shouldn't you have a little faith in him?" Seto Kaiba said, looming out of nowhere.
"Don't you have anything better to do than spy on us?" Joey snapped. "Oh, that's right, you don't have any friends."
"I don't need a pack to hide behind, you stupid mutt." Kaiba stalked off to his own desk and sat down. The teacher began to lecture, calling students up to the board to demonstrate a problem every so often. Eventually, he called Yugi up to the board to work out a complicated trig problem. Yami, who had decided that the puzzle was boring, followed Yugi up to the board in his transparent form, which only Yugi could see. Yugi picked up a piece of chalk and Yami seated himself on the chalk tray. Yugi began to work out the problem, but before he could get very far, there was a large crash and chalk rolled everywhere. Someone in the back row screamed. Yugi turned to see what had caused the commotion and saw Yami, seated among the broken remnants of the chalk tray, looking confused.
"Y-Y-Yami?" Yugi stuttered, before reached out to touch him to see if he was real.
"What in heaven's name?" The teacher exclaimed, rushing forward to make sure that Yugi was alright. Yugi's friends jumped out of their chairs and rushed forward. Kaiba stayed in his desk, but craned his next so he could see Yami on the floor. Yami, who was surrounded by a crowd of people, seemed to be ignoring them all and was staring at a piece of chalk in his hands. Yugi knelt next to Yami and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Yami turned to look at Yugi, looking extremely confused.
"Yugi, I'm solid." Right after that statement, the piece of chalk Yami was holding clattered to the ground, and Yami vanished. Of course, Yugi could still see him, but no one else could. Yugi fell forward onto his outstretched arm, and toppled through Yami. He stood up, brushed chalk dust off his pants, and faced the crowd of people wanting to know what had just happened.
"Mr. Mutou, w-what on earth just happened?" the teacher stuttered.
"What do you mean?" Yugi tried to answer coolly. "I guess I just leaned on the chalk tray a little too much, that's all." Yugi pressed his fingers together trying to look innocent. Yugi knew his classmates wouldn't buy it, but he had no idea what else he could say. Not like the teacher would buy: He's the ancient spirit that lives in my necklace.
"I'm going to the teacher's lounge, and I'll send someone to watch you in a few minutes. Until then, I want you all to be doing your homework." Under normal circumstances, the class would have protested that he hadn't assigned them any homework yet. However, they were still in shock and remained silent as the teacher left the room. Most of the students returned to their seats, save for Joey, Tristan and Tea, who stayed to talk to Yugi.
"So what really happened, Yugi?" Tea asked.
"I don't know, it only happened once before, but it appears Yami and I are starting to separate. That's Yami theory anyway. He told me last night after we got home."
"From where?" Joey asked, leaning on the chalkboard in exactly the same place Yami was.
"I hate it when this happens. Now I have to move." Yami muttered, before his eyes lit up with what he thought was a wonderful idea. He got up, walked across the room, and without a word plopped himself down on Kaiba's desk. Kaiba looked up from the book he had been pretending to read - he seemed to be doing that a lot lately - and shivered. Yugi decided it would be best to ignore Yami for now and answer Joey's question.
"I was eating ice cream…" Yugi trailed off, not sure that Yami or Kaiba wanted him to divulge this information.
"Our ikkle Yugi has a girl-friend." Tristan teased.
"No, it's not like that! I just felt like ice cream is all. I went by myself!" Yugi said. Kaiba's head snapped up at the last few words, not sure why he was suddenly so insulted.
"It's crazy, but I think someone's sitting on my desk." Kaiba muttered to himself, extending his hand over his desk so that it went right through Yami. Yami clasped his hands under his chin.
"Damn it, just because you can't see me doesn't mean you can stick your hand through me!" In response to Yami's exclamation, a shiver ran up and down Kaiba's spine and he sank down into his seat. 'Why do I feel like this?' Kaiba wondered. Yugi turned around and saw Yami sitting on Kaiba's desk, his face an inch from Kaiba's nose, and assumed the worst.
/Yami! Stop molesting Kaiba!" Yugi yelled. Unfortunately, the only word that had been said inside the link was 'Yami' and the rest had been shouted for the whole class to hear. Instantly, every eye was on Kaiba, who blushed an even brighter shade of red. Kaiba stood up and left the room.
"Yugi, was Yami really…" Joey trailed off, not quite sure how to voice the question. Tea sunk down to her knees and put her face in her hands. There was really no way she could deny it anymore. Out in the hall, Kaiba had come to a stop in front of a water fountain, and splashed some water on his face to bring his blush down. Yami, still in spirit form, watched from a few feet away. Once Kaiba was convinced that his face was back to its normal color, he turned to go back to class, only to find Yami standing in front of him. He jumped.
"Yugi, I didn't hear you follow me." He said, trying to sound collected.
"You can see me?" Yami asked, holding his hand out in front of him, as if to inspect that he was indeed solid once again.
"Why wouldn't I be able to see you?" Kaiba asked.
"Just a few minutes ago, you stuck your hand clean through me, trying to find out what was on your desk."
"Bullshit. There was nothing there, and you were standing over by the chalkboard."
"Well, if you put it that way, I still am standing over by the chalkboard. You can check for yourself, if you like." Kaiba snorted and looked through the window that was in the door into the classroom. Sure enough, Yugi was still standing by the chalkboard, trying to console Tea. Kaiba spun on his heel to see if Yami was still behind him.
"See-" Yami started to say, but was cut off before he could finish when he vanished. Kaiba looked up and down the hall, trying to find where Yami had gone. Failing at that, he threw open the door.
"Yugi, what are you doing to me?" Kaiba asked, ignoring the weird looks he was receiving from the rest of the class.
"What do you mean, Kaiba?"
"I just met you out in the hall, and you insisted that you were still here. So I come here and find out you are here, and when I turn around, you disappear!"
"Kaiba, what are you smoking?" Joey asked. Kaiba just glared at him.
"I demand an explanation. I refuse to be toyed with in this manner." Tea stood up and glared at Kaiba.
"Neither Yugi or Yami knows what's going on, so don't accuse them of things you cannot understand!" Luckily, the substitute chose that moment to walk in before things could get violent.
"Ok everyone, take your seats. We didn't really have time to prepare a thorough lesson plan, so why don't you just take out your books and read until it's time for English class?" The class rolled their eyes, but pulled out their books and started to read. Yugi, not wanting to risk talking out loud instead of using the link, took out a piece of paper and wrote his message to Yami on that.
'I'm sorry Yami, I guess when I saw you on Kaiba's desk I assumed the worst.'
"It's ok, I can understand." Yami said in a voice only Yugi could hear.
"Uh…I don't know what to say."
"Yugi, I need hands!" Yami whined.
"Just a minute, Yami, I need to finish this paragraph."
"Hurry up, I have the best idea ever!" Yugi was sitting at his desk doing homework and Yami was sitting on the bed, looking at his deck, which Yugi had so thoughtfully laid out for him.
"Yugi, Tea's here." Grandpa called from down stairs.
"Hi, Yugi." Tea said from the door. "And Yami, too, if he's in here." Yugi gestured towards the bed. Tea walked over the bed and stared at the mess that was Yami's deck. "Redoing your deck, again?" She asked, smiling slightly.
"Tell her, that any duelist would understand that a deck must be constantly updated." Yami crossed his arms only to uncross them and point at a pile. "And could you tell her to move the Dark Magician there?"
"Er….um…Yami wants you to move the Dark Magician to the pile with Mystical Space Typhoon on top."
"Sure, ok." Tea moved the card, and Yami twitched.
"Not that pile, the other one! Can't she tell Mystical Space Typhoon from Dark Hole?"
"Two to the left, Tea." Tea moved the card and Yami sighed.
"This would be so much easier if I had hands!"
"Alright, I'm finished with my homework now. You can have the body, Yami."
"No! I don't want it now. Not when she's here. She'll want to talk to me!"
"Well, I don't want to act as a go between when she wants to talk to you now!"
"It's alright, you two. If you guys are busy I could come back later." Tea said.
"Yes, yes, go away! I'm very busy. Too busy to talk!" Yami said.
"No, stay Tea. In fact, why don't we go downstairs to have a bite to eat?" Yugi asked.
"And they call me evil."
"Are you coming, Yami?" Tea asked, looking at the bed in the general direction of Yami.
"No."
"He says he'll be down in a minute." Yami listened to them go down the stairs, and followed a minute later. There was no point in being in the room if there was no one to move cards for him.
"Yugi, I came to apologize to Yami. I understand if he doesn't want to go out anymore. I'm not the type of person he's looking for, especially if he's…" here she trailed off, not exactly sure how to say what Yami was. "But I really still want to be friends."
"You shouldn't give up on him just yet."
"Of course she should. You want to go out with her, and you're only pushing her to go out with me because you want to be close to her." Tea turned to stare at Yami, who was at the top of the staircase. Yugi, looking mortified, bolted up the stairs and into his room, slamming the door closed behind him.
"You should leave, Tea." Yami turned and walked up the hall, disappearing from Tea's sight.
"You don't have to say anything."