Youth of the Nation
By: Neko-chan
A/N: Hmmm... This looks suspiciously like an update. *gasps in shock* It IS an update, isn't it?! *gasp gasp gasp* ... D ... Anyway, gomen ne for going so long without an update. I've been on a one-shot writing binge. But now I'm baaa~aaack! ^_^
Yami and Bakura: _ We're screwed...
*nods gleefully* And I have a couple more ideas for YOU two. D
Yami and Bakura: *whimper*
... D
DISCLAIMER: *pokes various lawyers with sharp 'n' pointy stick* You _want_ to give me Yu-Gi-Oh!, don't you? Don't you??
Various Lawyers: *slap a restraining order on Neko-chan*
... NANI?! IIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE~!!! *sobs*
WARNING: Shounen-ai! Pairings have already been listed; now all Neko-chan has to do is develop the relationships. *sighs* -.-;;
~Oh, and everyone please welcome my wonderful beta reader, DruidessQueen! Any and all mistakes are mine, of course. She is, after all, great at her job. ^_^ (Just to let you know--for some reason, the email attachments weren't working. This chapter is NOT beta read, but will be once DruidessQueen and I figure out what's going on. So, until then, please bear with me!)
Chapter Sixteen
"They look sweet like that, don't they? So warm and so comfortable. They love each other very much--they have loved each other for a very long time. But you already knew that, of course." Light crimson eyes flickered briefly to one side and the speaker--a woman--smiled gently. "They're happy. And, because of that, _I'm_ happy."
Sugoroku sighed softly and continued looking down upon his grandchild and his sleeping darker half. "Hai, I know that they love each other. They have been in love since they first discovered each other, several years ago. But..." He paused and wrapped his arms tightly around his slightly chubby and stout figure. "As happy as I am for them, I'm still worried. I worry _for_ them. And I know that you do, as well. Otherwise... Why would you be watching over your son and my grandchild now? You haven't before. Only now."
The woman frowned and bit her lip, reaching up to play with her black hair in a very Otogi-ish gesture. For the very first time since the discussion had began, she stepped further out into the light, revealing the fact that she was slightly see-through.
After all, the Queen of Egypt had died many, many millennia ago.
"They've already faced so many hardships, Sugoroku. And they will continue facing hardships together because that's their destiny. They were both born to compliment and complete each other."
He interrupted her: "They were both born to save this world."
Now it was her time to sigh softly. "I know, I know. But perhaps the greatest hardship they'll ever face is... each other. Will love conquer all, Sugoroku? Everyone seems to think so, but that isn't reality. So. Will _their_ love be able to stand up against everything they'll face and survive? Will it be able to stand up against the other? Yes, you said that I worry. I do. I worry very, very, very much. I'm terrified."
The elderly man paused in his gazing at his grandson and finally gave the woman he was speaking with his own utter and complete attention. "Majesty... Love will eventually conquer all. We have to believe that because if we _don't_ evil will take over this world. Cruel and heartless people will destroy _everything_ humanity has worked hard to achieve. So we HAVE to believe that love will conquer all. Besides...
"Yuugi and Yami are destined to save this world. They'll eventually realize how they feel for each other. They have to--it's already foretold." His eyes shifted back to the sleeping duo. "You have, after all, already heard _that_ particular rumor."
For the very first time, the woman looked irritated and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I HAVE heard that particular rumor. Do I believe it, though? No, of course not."
Sugoroku shrugged and crouched in front of his grandson, slowly running his hands through Yuugi's hair as he had often done when Yuugi had been a child. Even now--even dead, in a place where time was suspended and eternity really _was_ eternity--Sugoroku thought that it was forever ago. So many years ago... And now his sweet and innocent Yuugi was in love... and in danger. "Maybe rumors aren't all that, Majesty."
Her gaze was sharp as she stared at him intently. "You have heard something that I have not, Sugoroku?"
Yuugi's grandfather shrugged at that. "Iie. Nothing more than what you've heard, anyway. Just... a feeling. The type of feeling that you have." She blinked and looked away, crimson eyes--eyes so much like Yami's, but so completely different as well--shadowed. They revealed nothing. Obsolete.
"It is only a feeling. Nothing more."
"Oh, Majesty?" Though usually so calm and loving, Sugoroku finally began to look irritated at that. "And what of women's intuition, hmmm? Have you heard that mothers can sometimes sense what is happening with their children? You _cannot_ possibly refute that fact because you are HERE. And you have not been in this plane of existence for a very long time."
"It is only a feeling..." the once-great Queen whispered. "Only a feeling."
Once again, Sugoroku sighed. "And just remember what people have managed to achieve just because they 'felt' something, Majesty. Empires fall and empires are built on the lives of men and on what you so adequately term 'feelings.' And you know that, too. Ne?"
Yuugi's eyes fluttered and slowly opened, looking up at his grandfather and at Yami's mother with large, sleepy eyes. "Grandpa?" he murmured, sitting up to rub his eyes. Yami's arms tightened around his waist, but the darker youth still remained asleep.
Sugoroku smiled and kissed his grandchild's forehead. "Yuugi. It's been a long time, hasn't it? I'm sorry that I'm gone."
The small boy shook his head and reached his hand out, intending to clasp his grandfather's hand between two of his own. But his hand passed right through his grandfather's. Yuugi bit his lip and fought against tears.
"Iie, Grandpa. I know that you... you were tired. I'm just glad and relieved that you're happy now and in no more pain. It was very lonely right after you left, but... Yami took care of me." He suddenly looked extremely earnest. "You know that he did, don't you?"
"That is because my son loves you, child."
Yuugi titled his head to one side and stared at he woman with a strange, assessing gaze. "You're Yami's mother, aren't you?" He paused for a moment, allowing her to answer. She nodded primly. "You're the one that taught him that song. It was very beautiful. ...you wrote it, didn't you?"
The former Queen blinked at that. "How... How did you know? No one knows that. I never told anyone--not even Yami. _No one_ knew. So how could you have possibly ever guessed, child?"
Amethyst eyes saddened for a moment, but Yuugi continued to stare at Yami's mother. "I just knew. It was a... a feeling. I knew that you loved Yami deeply and so you wrote that song for him. And because of your love for your son--you're back once again. But please don't worry, I promise that I won't tell him that you're back. It'd break his heart."
"You're amazingly intuitive," was her comment.
"That he is."
The woman paused for a moment and shot a Pointed Look Sugoroku's way. Then she continued on: "I can see why my son loves you so deeply. But can't _you_ see how you're hurting him by rejecting his love?"
Following the Queen's earlier example, Yuugi looked away, shadowing his eyes, and allowing neither to see what he was currently feeling. "I... I know that Yami loves me. I love him, too. Very, very much. I know that it sounds silly, but we're soulmates. I've know THAT for a very, very long time. And I know that he'll be the only one that I could ever possibly love. But..."
"But...?" the two spirits prompted.
The youth sighed. "But Yami isn't sure of my feelings. He thinks that if he tells me that he loves me I'd feel obligated to return the words. He doesn't want that to happen. He wants me to tell him that I love him because it would be how I truly felt, not some meaningless words that I felt that I had to return to him. So before I can admit my love to him, he has to figure out for himself that our love can transcend time itself... and that I love him very, very much. Until then... Well, he'll always think that I don't really love him. That I _had_ to say those three little words. And so I wait."
Sugoroku smiled sadly and leaned forward, kissing Yuugi briefly on the forehead once again and finally disappearing from view. True: Dead--but never really gone.
"Ah," was the Queen's reply. She looked at Yuugi with a new emotion shining in her eyes. He couldn't tell what it was, exactly, and he didn't know if it was a good emotion or a bad one: But she still looked at him differently. For the very first time in a _very_ long time, the Queen smiled and she, too, faded from view.
Yuugi watched them leave--Gone for the time being, but always watching over. (So if that was true, how could Sugoroku and Yami's mother ever truly be gone? A comforting thought, that.) And it was about that time that he glanced out the window and noticed big, fat, white flakes falling down from a drag sky. His eyes widened and he poked Yami.
"Yami! It's _snowing_!!!"
A/N: Once again, a relatively short chapter. But they'll only get longer as I once again get into 'the swing of things.' Plenty of fluff and humor next chapter, though. Can you say: Snowball fight? D AND--!!! Besides that, I finally revealed why Yuugi hasn't told Yami that he loves him and why Yami hasn't done the same. So: ;-p Also, several of you asked about the song that Yami sings in chapter fifteen. To tell the truth... I wrote that song. By the end of this story, you'll get to read the song in its entirety. If you want to know the tempo, it's somewhat similar to "Greensleeves."
See ya next chapter! ^_~
Thank-You's!
candy, Difinity, Yamis Girlfriend, Jack V. Briefs, Sky-Pirate-Tat, moonnymph, thockie, stupid kid 04 and blah, Azrael, Lena, OtakuChild, Shenya, The Sugar Junkie, Digimagic, Kyra Windwood, Songwind, G.O.C., Kugi Ra Muto, Beverly, i love bakura, Moonlitspire, I luv Yugi and Kurt so :p, Rogue Agent, Labannya, GokuVegeta447, Brit-chan, Chibi, Promise, Betrayal, CyberDeletion, Yami Krissy, Rosz of the Angel, Aznsilhouette247, Evil Adri, Spark-gurl, Redtail the Moonlight Magician, AngelicMouseGirl, SSJ Sky, Vera, Burning-Yami-Rain, nightingale, firedraygon97, Jadesaber, DreamingDragon, violettegal345, ^_^, Duet-Sama AKA The Chibi Master, MaidenoftheMoon, Seventh Sage, Slice, Evil Authoress of Doom, chibibaka, agentpudge, Silver Lily, Sage of Darkness, Black Magic, Princess Strawberry, Naturi (*showers you with fluff* =^_^=), MoonlightDewz, Wings of Fire (=^_^= Thankies. *glomps*), Rhysenn Bakura, Mero-chan, Melloth89, Lonely Vigil, Orca (*GLOMPS* Orca! Orca!), lavergne, Baka no Hime, YuugiLover3, Aino Bakura, Esther Shin, Akemi, Gin Ryu-chan, tuulikki, BotS, Bob D. Girl, Kawaii Kitsune, _blank space person!_, MaidenoftheMoon, Hikari no Yami, Siobhan, Pocky, Rez, Lil' Cherry Blossom, Karadaki, AuroraDragonKaya, Seishinseii, charredrose, ObiWanGirl, The Dark Star Goddess, Alana, molten-amber, DarkGatomon, Teb Teb, Jenny-fer, LadyIcyBlue, Silver Dragonrider, Aisling Kaiba, Fate, Tsunami Wave, Yo Xi Wang, Fuzzy Coconut (I adore your pen name!!!), Chaos Angel, PharoahzQueen45, Dude the Guy, obake-shoujo, Mira-chan and Yami Mirakai, Elusitania, Millenium Elf, Lady Phoenix Gryffindor, Yami Krystal, Meri, silverdragon, Morning-Star, Saikyou, Dragon Wings (*HUGS*), Arwynn, WhiteLightning, RyuArashi, SHINIGAMI666, lonely-princess, and gimeGohan!
...OI. I am NEVER EVER going several chapters without saying thank you. I had to go through 14 pages to make sure I got everyone. ;_; Anyway, thank you again for reviewing and I shall update soon! ^_^
