Noviceshipping (Yugi x Mana)


(This was brought to my attention by the lovely Aqua girl 007, so we're going a bit out of order. Oh well, I get to postpone Ninjashipping!)


"Prince?"

Yugi didn't look up. It wasn't the voice of one of his friends, and no one else could see him, so there was no point in looking around. Still, he wondered for a moment. What was a girl doing down an alleyway...Yugi was only here because he was lost.

"Prince! Hey, wait!"

Yugi kept walking – until something crashed into him from behind.

"Gah!"

They both tumbled to the ground. Yugi flailed out – had Bakura caught up to him? Was he being attacked?

"Oof! Prince, hey! That hurt!"

The weight disappeared from his back. He groaned, and pushed himself to his feet. When he looked up at his attacker...

Wait. Who was this? He had never seen her before – but she looked rather familiar for some reason.

She was taller than him, to his great disappointment. Her skin was tan, like the other residents in the Memory World. Her brown hair stuck up in untameable flips from under her thin headdress. She held a familiar looking staff in one hand...

"Why are you ignoring me?" she said, pouting.

And then she paused.

"Wait...you're not the prince," she said with a frown.

"Ugh," Yugi said, rubbing his back. Geez, that fall had hurt more than he thought. "Uh...no. I'm not."

"Are you related to him somehow?" the girl asked. "No, you couldn't be. You look foreign. But you've got hair just like him – that's weird! I didn't think anyone in the whole world could have the same hair as the prince!"

Yugi pulled himself to his feet. It took a second for the words to sink in – prince, same hair? She must be talking about the other him!

"Wait, the pharaoh? Do you know the pharaoh?"

"Of course I know him! I'm his bestest friend!" the girl said, rocking on her heels and swinging her staff around. "And someday, I'm gonna be his best magician, too!"

She paused, and cocked her head.

"Why? Do you know him or something? I've never seen you before. Are you an ambassador?"

"Uh..."

"My name is Mana!" she said, before she could talk. "What's yours? Where are you from? Oo, I love to hear about new places!"

"Uh, my name is Yugi...I'm from...uh, Japan."

"Ja-pan," Mana said, testing out the word. "I've never heard of it. Is it far?"

"Very."

"Wow!" Mana said. "That's so cool! What do you think of Kemet?"

"Kemet?" Yugi said dumbly. "O-oh, right. Yes, it's, uh, nice."

He thankfully remembered that Egypt had been called Kemet during the time of the pharaohs. Geez, he hadn't been expecting a history test in the middle of a memory adventure!

Mana was just standing there, grinning at him. Yugi wrinkled his brow.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

Mana giggled.

"What? Did I say something funny?" Yugi asked, a little annoyed.

"No, no, no, I'm sorry," Mana said, still giggling uncontrollably. "It's – just – you look like a little mini prince! You're so cute!"

Yugi flushed.

"I'm not a kid! I'm not 'cute'!"

Mana clapped a hand over her mouth, but her shoulders continued to shake with laughter.

"Hey!" Yugi said, blushing even harder.

She just laughed out loud, unable to control it. Then she threw her arms around Yugi.

"I think we're going to be good friends, mini prince," she said.

"You're choking me," Yugi groaned.

"Hey, come on, mini prince! Let's go find Prince and I can introduce you!"

She grabbed Yugi's hand and started to drag him along.

"Gah! Mana-san! Wait –"

But Mana wasn't listening. Yugi sighed and let her pull him down the street. He wondered for a moment if passersby could see Mana pulling something that wasn't there. Why could this girl see him, anyway?

And finally, the words completely sank in. Mana was taking him to find the pharaoh.

He was going to see the other him again!

"So, uh, Mana-san," Yugi said.

"Yeah, mini prince?"

Yugi flushed and tightened his lips.

"Stop calling me that."

"What were you going to ask?" Mana said, giggling a bit.

Yugi sighed, and rolled his eyes.

"So you know the pharaoh?"

"Uh-huh!"

"How long have you known him?"

"Since we were little. I snuck into the palace garden cause I was hungry. And Prince found me! We played hide and seek. Then Master Mahad found out that I could do magic, and I moved into the palace with Prince!"

Yugi slowed a little. Mana didn't, and Yugi was forced to flap along behind her for a few feet. He didn't want to say it but...

He was a little jealous.

This Mana had gotten to know his other self for a really long time. They were really good friends. Yugi...Yugi wished he could have been there. He wished he could have been friends with the pharaoh for longer.

"We got into all kinds of trouble!" Mana said cheerfully. "We played hide and seek in the vases in the hall, and prince broke one, and it was a really important one from an ambassador. Mahad was sooo mad! And another time, we broke into the kitchen, and I pulled down a jar of honey, but there was a flour bag next to it, and it came down and broke open all over the prince! He looked so funny, he was all white and and powdery!"

Yugi nearly laughed aloud. The image of his other self covered in flour was just too funny. Mana laughed too, and then both of them were laughing as they continued down the street.

As their laughs winded down, Yugi thought to the pharaoh that he knew. A boy who couldn't remember where he came from, who he was – someone who worried that, maybe, just maybe, he had been as evil as the people he fought again. Maybe he had been in his past life the crazed person he had started out as when he first appeared in Yugi's mind. He had always tried to hide the worries from Yugi – but Yugi wasn't fooled. In quiet moments, he could hear the pharaoh's thoughts...thoughts that maybe he didn't deserve to come back. That he had been lonely in his past life, or worse, a tyrant.

"Is the pharaoh a good person?" Yugi asked.

"Of course!" Mana said. "He's the best person ever! See, the guards wanted to throw me out when they found me playing with him that first time, but he refused to let them. And once, he saw someone beating a slave, and he threw himself in the way to protect him. Prince is really, really kind – and he gets himself in trouble for it a lot! I help, of course."

Yugi's heart felt a little warmer.

"Why do you call the pharaoh 'prince'?"

Mana paused in the middle of the street. She turned around to look at him. Then she smiled widely.

"Even if he's the big shot pharaoh," she said quietly. "I'm always going to be the same for him. Because I think he needs that, you know? He's always going to be the prince to me."

They looked at each other.

Then Yugi smiled too.

Have you met her yet? He thought towards his other self. Do you remember her yet? You weren't alone! And you weren't a tyrant! I always knew you were a good person. Always. I hope you remember her.

"I don't think I said this before," he said. "But I'm pleased to meet you, Mana!"

Mana grinned.

"Pleased to meet you too, mini prince!"


A/N: Mini prince...XD I'm not going to get over that. This one was mentioned to me by AquaGirl007, so thanks for bringing it to my attention! It helped me postpone Ninjashipping. XD Anyway, next is actually Ninjashipping this time (Mai x Magnum).