Sweet. Angsty, but sweet. A little bit of fluff. I love it--but then again, I wrote it.
Disclaimer Dude: Miriku does not own Yuugiou.
Ties of Love
Eighteen-year-old Yuugi Mutou trudged down the street, absently kicking an empty soda can. His hair swayed slightly in the chill breeze as he wandered the near empty streets of Domino City. The sky was overcast, reflecting his mood almost too perfectly. He was in depression; he had been for the past three years, ever since Yami had left.
Atemu, he reminded himself forcibly. He's not Yami anymore. He can't be.
Yuugi gave the can a hard kick, sending it five feet down the sidewalk. It's not fair! Why did he have to go? Why?
Because he deserves a rest, came the obvious answer. He needs it. He'll be happy in the afterlife. It's where he belongs.
That didn't mean Yuugi had to like it. The two of them had become close—closer than friends. And then…the former pharaoh was just gone…
Yuugi looked up at the sky, roiling with dark clouds.
Yami…Atemu…whatever your name is…I want you back. I know I'm being selfish, but I do. It's just no fun without you around.
A sign caught his eye. It was an advertisement for the Domino Museum.
Yuugi had been making it a point to stay away from museums and historical sites. They brought up too many painful memories for him.
But something told him that today, he needed to go.
It was an almost urgent feeling.
Yuugi shook his head. I…I can't…I won't…
He almost laughed. Look at me. Running away from a museum. Is this what I've come to? Pharaoh Atemu's closest friend, hiding from a memory? The world's number one duelist, shrinking in fear from history?
Yuugi turned his steps towards the museum. He would go, and he would face whatever memories and fears awaited him.
Five minutes later
Yuugi pushed open the doors to the museum. His steps drew him down an all-too-familiar path through the artifacts, to the very back.
The Egypt Exhibition.
Yuugi felt pain stab through his heart as, again and again, he saw things Yami had recognized. Heard Yami's warm, deep voice telling Yuugi where he remembered it from.
Biting back a sob, he began to run—but in the wrong direction. He was heading deeper and deeper into the exhibition, which was much larger than he'd remembered.
More ancient artifacts; more painful memories.
Yuugi didn't stop until he came to a door. He slowly opened it, and slipped inside. A narrow flight of stairs met his eyes, leading down.
He felt irresistibly drawn down those steps. Through the door at the bottom. Into the room beyond.
It was the room in which Yami and Anzu had met Ishizu Ishtar, Gravekeeper and caretaker of the Egypt Exhibition.
Yuugi slowly approached the stone tablet, eyes wide. He ran his fingers down the smooth stone, tracing the detailed carving of his friend.
He collapsed to his knees. It was too much.
He rested his forehead against the cold stone, tears streaming down his face.
"Yami…" he whispered.
Yuugi didn't realize there was someone behind him until the person grabbed his shoulder.
He froze, glancing down at the person's arm. It was bare, except for the buckled wrist band. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the person was wearing a black, hooded cloak.
"Are you all right?"
Definitely a male voice.
There was something familiar about that voice—about that deep resonance. Yuugi just didn't know what.
He wiped his eyes. "Yes." His voice quavered slightly.
The man pulled Yuugi to his feet, shaking his head. "I don't think you are."
Yuugi pulled his arm out of the stranger's grasp. "I'm fine," he said bitterly. "I don't need your help. I don't need anyone's help. I just want to be left in peace."
He turned back to stare at the tablet. Hopefully, the cloaked man would leave.
But he didn't.
"I think you ought to talk about it. I think it will help."
"And I think you should shut up and mind your own business."
Yuugi clapped a hand over his mouth. He turned to apologize to the man.
And found himself looking straight up into twin pools of crimson sorrow.
The eyes were all that he could see of the man's face. The rest was in shadow.
Those eyes held him paralyzed.
There was only one person he knew with eyes that particular tint.
And it was the person he loved.
The one he'd lost.
The one he'd do anything for.
The one he was trying to forget about, and just couldn't.
"Yami," he mouthed silently.
And the man reached up and pulled back his hood.
Yuugi couldn't believe his eyes. There was his friend—the one who had gone into the afterlife before his eyes—standing right in front of him, as real as the floor he was standing on and just as solid.
Somehow, Yuugi knew that he wasn't a spirit anymore.
Yami smiled softly. "I think it is my business, Yuugi-chan."
Slowly, incredulously, Yuugi reached out and touched Yami's arm. There was no feeling that his hand would slip through at any moment.
"Yami—I mean, Atemu—I mean—"
"Yami. I have no other name. Not anymore. Not since I gave it up to rejoin you here, in the real world."
Yuugi slowly fell into the warm, strong embrace of his other. Tears streamed once again down his cheeks—tears of joy.
"I love you, Yami," he whispered.
"Good," Yami murmured into his hair. "Because I came all the way back from the afterlife to hear you say that."
Yuugi suddenly felt exhausted. Both mentally and physically.
"Yami…" he murmured sleepily, eyes half closed. "I want to go home…take me home…" His eyes fluttered closed, and he let out a light snore.
Smiling softly, Yami picked him up. Cradling the boy against his chest, he strode out.
Ishizu, who had been watching from the shadows, smiled softly.
Go, Pharaoh. You have much to do, and little time to do it. Know it you do not, but this is your final task—to stay with Yuugi until death. That is the way of it.
And may Ra bless you both.