Blink Three Times (part one)
And just as predicted, life did get interesting for Seto Nishimura in the days following the meeting of the spirit currently possessing his friend. He didn't actually see Yami come out all that often, though. It was just that every once in a while, Yugi would go very quiet, and Seto would glance over to find Yugi's bright violet eyes gleaming red instead, as Yami silently regarded him. Yami would just smirk when he noticed Seto return his gaze, and retreat back into the Puzzle or wherever it was he went, just as silently as he had come.
It didn't bother Seto much after a few days, seeing Yami's brief appearances. He supposed that if he were dead and inhabiting the body of an extremely short teenager, he'd at least want a few chances to see the world around him. And though Yami could be annoying, he didn't seem to be hurting anything. So Seto kept his promise, never mentioning the spirit's existence to anyone, not even Yugi.
In fact, Yugi seemed to have brightened up considerably in a very short amount of time, though if this were from Yami's presence or from finally having a friend to share his interests with, Seto didn't know. Nor did he really care, he decided. He was having a good time being friends with Yugi. Often, Yugi would walk with him after school to pick up Mokuba, and then they'd go over to either the Nishimura or Motou residence to play Duel Monsters.
More often they went over to Seto's house, since Yugi had also become fast friends with Mokuba. It always seemed to Seto that both Yugi and Mokuba were so sweet, they could give each other sugar-highs just from being in the same room with each other. Seto was often the one to clean up the chaos the two short hyper boys could create.
After a few days of playing Duel Monsters, both Yugi and Seto were pleased to discover that Seto was actually fairly good at the game. Yugi had helped him build a deck from the card Seto had collected, and Yugi had even donated a few cards that he thought would strengthen the deck. Yugi was still the better player, but Seto's natural skill still often made him work just a bit harder for the win.
So that's what they were doing late one Friday night at Seto's house, playing game after game of Duel Monsters. Seto had lost three duels in a row, and didn't feel the least bit disheartened by it. Sure, sometimes it was frustrating watching Yugi mop the floor with his monsters, but Seto was certain he was getting better with every game they played. He planned on beating Yugi one day, just as a personal challenge. The last game they'd played had been fairly close...
"Again?" Yugi asked softly.
The change in Yugi's voice brought Seto's gaze up fast from where he'd been shuffling his duel deck. In Yugi's place, Yami lounged calmly, absently shuffling Yugi's deck in his hands. It was the first time since he'd met the spirit that Seto had more than a brief glimpse of Yami.
But... the challenge glittering in Yami's crimson eyes practically begged to be answered. Seto smirked, setting his deck back down on the table.
"You want to duel me, Yami?" Seto asked.
"If you would allow me the pleasure of doing so, yes, I would like that," Yami answered smoothly, similarly setting down his dueling deck. "It's been a long time since I played, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I watched you and Yugi duel."
"I didn't know they had collectable cards in Ancient Egypt," Seto commented. "That is where you're from, right? Yugi said that's where the Puzzle came from."
Yami looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "I don't remember. You go first."
And so the duel began. It wasn't quite the same as dueling with Yugi, Seto realized. For one thing, though Yugi was good at this game, Yami seemed to be quite a bit better. And unlike the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of dueling with Yugi, there was definitely a tension in the air when dueling against Yami, like a spark of energy. Seto decided it was just because of the increased challenge that came from dueling a more experienced player.
Or maybe it was Yami's total air of confidence in his skill and his right to be there. Did anyone really have the right to look so sexy doing something as simple as playing a card game?
It was almost a welcome distraction when Mokuba peeked in to see what they were up to. Delighted to find Seto and "Yugi" playing Duel Monsters, Mokuba cheerfully plopped himself down to one side of the table, announcing his intentions of playing the winner.
For some reason, Seto found the game to be a little bit easier after that. After Yami made a few mediocre plays, Seto discovered the reason for it was that Yami was slightly distracted- spending the period between his turns absentmindedly studying Mokuba. Naturally, Mokuba didn't notice Yami's interest, being too intent on studying Seto's plays.
Distracted though he was, Yami still ended up winning. Eagerly, Mokuba usurped Seto's place at the table, placing down his own dueling deck. It was an interesting duel to watch. Seto noted that Yami often tailored his plays to more the level of his opponent, enough to be a challenge, but not enough to outright destroy Mokuba on the first several turns.
Yami still one, but as gently as possible. Mokuba was thrilled with the game despite his loss, and demanded a rematch.
"Not tonight, Mokuba," Seto said, grabbing up Mokuba's deck. "Friday night or not, I'll be grounded for a week if I let you stay up any later."
"Alriiight..." Mokuba muttered reluctantly. He raced for his own room, and Seto followed to return Mokuba's dueling deck to its place, and to say goodnight to his little brother.
"Hey, Seto?" Mokuba asked as he plopped onto his own bed, and Seto reached to turn out the light. "Is it just me, or was Yugi acting... kinda different tonight?"
Seto smirked a little at that, wondering how Yami really expected to be mistaken for Yugi. Even Mokuba could tell the difference between Yugi and Yami. But Seto had promised to keep Yami's secret. "Mmm, I think it's just you. Goodnight, Mokie."
"G'night, Seto."
Seto turned off the light and closed the door, heading back for his own bedroom. Yami was still sitting where he had been, thoughtfully studying some of the cards in Yugi's deck. "Your little brother is a cute kid," Yami murmured absently.
"Yeah, he is," Seto answered, mildly wondering what Yami's interest in Mokuba was all about. But before he could ask, the crimson in Yami's eyes faded into violet, and Yugi smiled up at his friend.
"Up for another duel?" Yugi asked.
There was another unforeseen outcome of Seto and Yugi becoming friends. Since Seto had more or less become Yugi's unofficial protector, the bullies of the school were hard pressed to find someone else to pick on in such short notice. After a few days of the flux this upset of the high school order had caused, apparently it was decided that Yugi's replacements would be none other than Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor.
Seto and Yugi discovered this fact one day as they were coming home from school, and happened to be passing by the very same alleyway where the two of them had met.
"Hey..." Yugi murmured, pausing and peering into the gloom of the alley. "Did you hear something?"
Seto paused to listen as well, hearing a few faint noises of a scuffle. "You know, they really ought to just close off this alleyway."
Yugi shot Seto a glower, sprinting off into the alley to investigate. "Come on!"
The two victims were tossed casually into the wall as Yugi and Seto surprised their attacker. Yugi ran to their rescue, for the moment leaving Seto to deal with the bully. This particular school bully was either the ugliest high school student on the planet, or a 300-pound gorilla squeezed into a high school uniform.
Briefly, Seto wondered if he were somehow doomed to spend the rest of his life saving people from bullies. As he hefted up a garbage can to throw at the bully's head, Seto decided never to mention this incident to Mokuba, who might want to make him a superhero's costume.
The alleyway resounded with the reverberating clang of the garbage can as it connected to the bully's forehead. Seto reached for another garbage can in case he should need it, but as it turned out, he didn't. Momentarily stunned by the blow, the bully apparently decided the odds were no longer in his favor, and turned tail and ran. Oddly amused by the incident, Seto set down his makeshift projectile and watched him go.
Moments later, Yugi took off running after the bully. Seto blinked at him in confusion, until Yugi glanced back at Seto and winked, mischief glittering in his crimson eyes. Whatever Yami had planned for this bully, Seto probably didn't want to know.
Instead, Seto went to inspect the two boys the bully had been picking on. Somewhere under the bruises and blood, he recognized Joey and Tristan.
Seto smirked faintly, offering a hand to help Joey up. "Hey there, little puppy. You lost?"
"Not a puppy," Joey muttered, managing a crooked smile as he grabbed Seto's hand and hauled himself to his feet. Together they managed to drag Tristan up too. "What did ya come to help us for? Thought you didn't like us."
Seto shrugged. "It was Yugi's idea, actually. If it were up to me, I might have just stood back and watched."
Tristan frowned at Seto for a moment, then laughed and shook his head. "No, you wouldn't have."
"Mm, you're right, I probably wouldn't have." Seto smiled at them. "Watching you two get pounded into paste would be so boring." He shrugged, and headed off in the direction Yami had gone. "See you later."
"Hey, wait!" Joey sprinted to catch up with Seto, and Seto paused to see what Joey wanted. "Er... well, whatever your reasons were, thanks anyway man. It was... nice of you."
Seto contemplated Joey's words in silence for a moment, then shrugged, deciding to be magnanimous. "Yugi and I were going over to his grandfather's game store for the afternoon. Want to come?"
"A game store?" Joey glanced back at Tristan for a moment, then shrugged, grinning. "Sure, why not? We ain't got anything better to do..."
Yugi came back down the alley a little bit later, looking confused a bit, but unharmed. He was delighted to hear that Joey and Tristan would be coming with them to the game shop, and chatted merrily about Duel Monsters as the three of them walked along. His enthusiasm for the game was infectious, and he even ended up getting Tristan and Joey interested in playing.
They all did find it odd as they found the ugly gorilla bully from the alleyway in a nearby park they passed. The bully was sitting in a pile of leaves, staring vacantly off into space and drooling slightly. A few people were trying to rouse him, with no success at all.
As Joey and Tristan gawked at the mindless lump that had recently been pounding the crap out of them, Seto glanced at Yugi. Briefly, Yugi's eyes changed to crimson, and Yami looked fairly self-satisfied with his work. Then the smug spirit was gone, replaced with Yugi's sweet innocence. "Come on guys, let's get out of here."
Continuing on their way, Seto amended his previous thought. He did actually kind of want to know what Yami had done to the boy.
And just as predicted, life did get interesting for Seto Nishimura in the days following the meeting of the spirit currently possessing his friend. He didn't actually see Yami come out all that often, though. It was just that every once in a while, Yugi would go very quiet, and Seto would glance over to find Yugi's bright violet eyes gleaming red instead, as Yami silently regarded him. Yami would just smirk when he noticed Seto return his gaze, and retreat back into the Puzzle or wherever it was he went, just as silently as he had come.
It didn't bother Seto much after a few days, seeing Yami's brief appearances. He supposed that if he were dead and inhabiting the body of an extremely short teenager, he'd at least want a few chances to see the world around him. And though Yami could be annoying, he didn't seem to be hurting anything. So Seto kept his promise, never mentioning the spirit's existence to anyone, not even Yugi.
In fact, Yugi seemed to have brightened up considerably in a very short amount of time, though if this were from Yami's presence or from finally having a friend to share his interests with, Seto didn't know. Nor did he really care, he decided. He was having a good time being friends with Yugi. Often, Yugi would walk with him after school to pick up Mokuba, and then they'd go over to either the Nishimura or Motou residence to play Duel Monsters.
More often they went over to Seto's house, since Yugi had also become fast friends with Mokuba. It always seemed to Seto that both Yugi and Mokuba were so sweet, they could give each other sugar-highs just from being in the same room with each other. Seto was often the one to clean up the chaos the two short hyper boys could create.
After a few days of playing Duel Monsters, both Yugi and Seto were pleased to discover that Seto was actually fairly good at the game. Yugi had helped him build a deck from the card Seto had collected, and Yugi had even donated a few cards that he thought would strengthen the deck. Yugi was still the better player, but Seto's natural skill still often made him work just a bit harder for the win.
So that's what they were doing late one Friday night at Seto's house, playing game after game of Duel Monsters. Seto had lost three duels in a row, and didn't feel the least bit disheartened by it. Sure, sometimes it was frustrating watching Yugi mop the floor with his monsters, but Seto was certain he was getting better with every game they played. He planned on beating Yugi one day, just as a personal challenge. The last game they'd played had been fairly close...
"Again?" Yugi asked softly.
The change in Yugi's voice brought Seto's gaze up fast from where he'd been shuffling his duel deck. In Yugi's place, Yami lounged calmly, absently shuffling Yugi's deck in his hands. It was the first time since he'd met the spirit that Seto had more than a brief glimpse of Yami.
But... the challenge glittering in Yami's crimson eyes practically begged to be answered. Seto smirked, setting his deck back down on the table.
"You want to duel me, Yami?" Seto asked.
"If you would allow me the pleasure of doing so, yes, I would like that," Yami answered smoothly, similarly setting down his dueling deck. "It's been a long time since I played, and I didn't realize how much I missed it until I watched you and Yugi duel."
"I didn't know they had collectable cards in Ancient Egypt," Seto commented. "That is where you're from, right? Yugi said that's where the Puzzle came from."
Yami looked thoughtful, then shrugged. "I don't remember. You go first."
And so the duel began. It wasn't quite the same as dueling with Yugi, Seto realized. For one thing, though Yugi was good at this game, Yami seemed to be quite a bit better. And unlike the relaxed, friendly atmosphere of dueling with Yugi, there was definitely a tension in the air when dueling against Yami, like a spark of energy. Seto decided it was just because of the increased challenge that came from dueling a more experienced player.
Or maybe it was Yami's total air of confidence in his skill and his right to be there. Did anyone really have the right to look so sexy doing something as simple as playing a card game?
It was almost a welcome distraction when Mokuba peeked in to see what they were up to. Delighted to find Seto and "Yugi" playing Duel Monsters, Mokuba cheerfully plopped himself down to one side of the table, announcing his intentions of playing the winner.
For some reason, Seto found the game to be a little bit easier after that. After Yami made a few mediocre plays, Seto discovered the reason for it was that Yami was slightly distracted- spending the period between his turns absentmindedly studying Mokuba. Naturally, Mokuba didn't notice Yami's interest, being too intent on studying Seto's plays.
Distracted though he was, Yami still ended up winning. Eagerly, Mokuba usurped Seto's place at the table, placing down his own dueling deck. It was an interesting duel to watch. Seto noted that Yami often tailored his plays to more the level of his opponent, enough to be a challenge, but not enough to outright destroy Mokuba on the first several turns.
Yami still one, but as gently as possible. Mokuba was thrilled with the game despite his loss, and demanded a rematch.
"Not tonight, Mokuba," Seto said, grabbing up Mokuba's deck. "Friday night or not, I'll be grounded for a week if I let you stay up any later."
"Alriiight..." Mokuba muttered reluctantly. He raced for his own room, and Seto followed to return Mokuba's dueling deck to its place, and to say goodnight to his little brother.
"Hey, Seto?" Mokuba asked as he plopped onto his own bed, and Seto reached to turn out the light. "Is it just me, or was Yugi acting... kinda different tonight?"
Seto smirked a little at that, wondering how Yami really expected to be mistaken for Yugi. Even Mokuba could tell the difference between Yugi and Yami. But Seto had promised to keep Yami's secret. "Mmm, I think it's just you. Goodnight, Mokie."
"G'night, Seto."
Seto turned off the light and closed the door, heading back for his own bedroom. Yami was still sitting where he had been, thoughtfully studying some of the cards in Yugi's deck. "Your little brother is a cute kid," Yami murmured absently.
"Yeah, he is," Seto answered, mildly wondering what Yami's interest in Mokuba was all about. But before he could ask, the crimson in Yami's eyes faded into violet, and Yugi smiled up at his friend.
"Up for another duel?" Yugi asked.
There was another unforeseen outcome of Seto and Yugi becoming friends. Since Seto had more or less become Yugi's unofficial protector, the bullies of the school were hard pressed to find someone else to pick on in such short notice. After a few days of the flux this upset of the high school order had caused, apparently it was decided that Yugi's replacements would be none other than Joey Wheeler and Tristan Taylor.
Seto and Yugi discovered this fact one day as they were coming home from school, and happened to be passing by the very same alleyway where the two of them had met.
"Hey..." Yugi murmured, pausing and peering into the gloom of the alley. "Did you hear something?"
Seto paused to listen as well, hearing a few faint noises of a scuffle. "You know, they really ought to just close off this alleyway."
Yugi shot Seto a glower, sprinting off into the alley to investigate. "Come on!"
The two victims were tossed casually into the wall as Yugi and Seto surprised their attacker. Yugi ran to their rescue, for the moment leaving Seto to deal with the bully. This particular school bully was either the ugliest high school student on the planet, or a 300-pound gorilla squeezed into a high school uniform.
Briefly, Seto wondered if he were somehow doomed to spend the rest of his life saving people from bullies. As he hefted up a garbage can to throw at the bully's head, Seto decided never to mention this incident to Mokuba, who might want to make him a superhero's costume.
The alleyway resounded with the reverberating clang of the garbage can as it connected to the bully's forehead. Seto reached for another garbage can in case he should need it, but as it turned out, he didn't. Momentarily stunned by the blow, the bully apparently decided the odds were no longer in his favor, and turned tail and ran. Oddly amused by the incident, Seto set down his makeshift projectile and watched him go.
Moments later, Yugi took off running after the bully. Seto blinked at him in confusion, until Yugi glanced back at Seto and winked, mischief glittering in his crimson eyes. Whatever Yami had planned for this bully, Seto probably didn't want to know.
Instead, Seto went to inspect the two boys the bully had been picking on. Somewhere under the bruises and blood, he recognized Joey and Tristan.
Seto smirked faintly, offering a hand to help Joey up. "Hey there, little puppy. You lost?"
"Not a puppy," Joey muttered, managing a crooked smile as he grabbed Seto's hand and hauled himself to his feet. Together they managed to drag Tristan up too. "What did ya come to help us for? Thought you didn't like us."
Seto shrugged. "It was Yugi's idea, actually. If it were up to me, I might have just stood back and watched."
Tristan frowned at Seto for a moment, then laughed and shook his head. "No, you wouldn't have."
"Mm, you're right, I probably wouldn't have." Seto smiled at them. "Watching you two get pounded into paste would be so boring." He shrugged, and headed off in the direction Yami had gone. "See you later."
"Hey, wait!" Joey sprinted to catch up with Seto, and Seto paused to see what Joey wanted. "Er... well, whatever your reasons were, thanks anyway man. It was... nice of you."
Seto contemplated Joey's words in silence for a moment, then shrugged, deciding to be magnanimous. "Yugi and I were going over to his grandfather's game store for the afternoon. Want to come?"
"A game store?" Joey glanced back at Tristan for a moment, then shrugged, grinning. "Sure, why not? We ain't got anything better to do..."
Yugi came back down the alley a little bit later, looking confused a bit, but unharmed. He was delighted to hear that Joey and Tristan would be coming with them to the game shop, and chatted merrily about Duel Monsters as the three of them walked along. His enthusiasm for the game was infectious, and he even ended up getting Tristan and Joey interested in playing.
They all did find it odd as they found the ugly gorilla bully from the alleyway in a nearby park they passed. The bully was sitting in a pile of leaves, staring vacantly off into space and drooling slightly. A few people were trying to rouse him, with no success at all.
As Joey and Tristan gawked at the mindless lump that had recently been pounding the crap out of them, Seto glanced at Yugi. Briefly, Yugi's eyes changed to crimson, and Yami looked fairly self-satisfied with his work. Then the smug spirit was gone, replaced with Yugi's sweet innocence. "Come on guys, let's get out of here."
Continuing on their way, Seto amended his previous thought. He did actually kind of want to know what Yami had done to the boy.