Notes: Hurray! So I found access to a wifi network, which is really good. I had this done last night, but there were a couple bits in need of some clean up and I didn't want to post it until I'd at least fixed a couple things. So I figured I'd just take my laptop with me on the off chance that I found a free network on this wacky road-trip I've been roped into, and sure enough I found one. So, luckily, you get an update. A big thank you to everyone who reviewed. I hope you enjoy this one! Remember to drop me a note and tell me what you think.
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"Greetings Joey, Tristan, Téa." Mou Hitori No Boku inclined his head politely to each of my friends as he addressed them. "I am Mou Hitori No Yugi."
They looked decidedly nervous. Admittedly, Mou Hitori No Boku can be a bit of an imposing personality.
"Hello," said Téa nervously, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly.
"What is it that you wished to speak to me about?" he asked, not unkindly. He was holding back, out of respect for me, I suspected. Though I could feel the tension in him, and I knew he didn't wish to be having this conversation. He was out of his element, as it were, having no bad guys to fight off, and no shadow games to play. I was touched that he was willing to come out of his shell and speak to them, as I knew he was doing it only for me. He truly wished for peace between us once more, and wished for it simply because it would make me happy. It was moments like this when I couldn't understand why my friends feared him so. He was so kind, so willing to bend to my every whim. He was willing to go out of his way, willing to belay the search for his past, simply in the hope that my friends would make peace with me, because he knew it would make me happy.
And these were the same friends that feared him and wanted to trap him in the darkness once more. The bizarre irony was startling. I sent wave after wave of gratitude and reassurance to him, and finally, slowly, felt him relax a bit. He was still very cautious, waiting to see what they would say.
Téa cleared her throat nervously. "Well, as we told Yugi earlier, we don't really know you."
"We just wanted to meet you for ourselves," added Tristan, equally nervously.
"And, you know, make sure you aren't gunna hurt Yug," Joey said, more bravely than the other two, and perhaps more unwisely.
I felt Mou Hitori No Boku flare with indignation at the accusation, but he promptly squashed it and replied civilly, "you may ask me any questions that you wish. I will not answer all of them, most likely, but those I do answer I will answer truthfully."
"Where do you come from?" asked Téa intently.
"My spirit was housed in the Millennium Puzzle, and I was only released when Yugi completed it," he said simply. A euphemised way of phrasing things if I've ever heard one.
"What do you want with Yug?" asked Joey harshly, scarce seconds after Mou Hitori No Boku had stopped speaking. I winced inwardly. Oh, Joey, please don't make this difficult. Once again I felt his words grate Mou Hitori No Boku's patience, and once again he steeled himself and replied calmly, "I want only to see Yugi happy. He is my aibou, and as such I cannot yet live without him. But he has been very kind to me, perhaps undeservedly so." Oh, Mou Hitori No Boku, it was never undeserved, I thought, and sent him another wave of reassurance. I felt him acknowledge it, but derived no definable feeling from his response. He continued aloud, "and I wish to repay him in any way that I can."
"So yous can't live without, Yug, huh?" said Joey, clearly ignoring all the important points of what Mou Hitori No Boku had just said and focusing instead on what he considered the incriminating details. "You're some kind of parasite then."
Mou Hitori No Boku stiffened, slowly becoming truly angry. "I am more of a symbiotic partner, as I, in turn, provide protection for Yugi, while he gives me light, and life."
Joey processed this silently, frowning deeply, as Téa cast both him and Mou Hitori No Boku anxious looks and Tristan simply looked contemplative. Surprisingly, it was Tristan who broke the silence.
"I honestly don't quite know what to make of you," he said simply, "but you've protected us before, and if Yugi reckons you're trust worthy, then I suppose that's good enough for me." He held out his hand to Mou Hitori No Boku, and stepped forward.
Mou Hitori No Boku grasped his hand firmly, and sent him a small look of gratitude, before nodding politely and saying simply, "thank you."
Slightly nervous, Tristan stepped back again. "Yeah, man. You're welcome."
Mou Hitori No Boku turned to Téa and Joey with the air of someone calmly waiting to receive judgement. To an outsider he appeared at ease, standing calmly with his arms crossed and an inscrutable expression on his face. To me he seemed like a panther ready to strike. He had been irked by Joey's words, and was, so far, keeping himself in check, clearly waiting for what Joey would say next.
"I don' trust you," said Joey finally. Mou Hitori No Boku un-crossed his arms, his body tense with pent up anger. "But I won't get rid of you. Yug wants to keep you, and it would ruin our friendship to take you away from him. So I want you to swear to me dat you will never hurt him." Joey took a step forward as he said this. If he was nervous of Mou Hitori No Boku he didn't show it.
"I want you to swear dat you'll never harm so much as a hear on his head, or I will hunt you down and hurt you."
Oh, Joey, what have you done?
"I would never harm my aibou," Mou Hitori No Boku hissed, the air around him crackling with suppressed power. "How dare you even suggest such a thing?" This was definitely not doing wonders for his reputation amongst my friends. Téa looked terrified as she silently moaned the word, "Joey" and backed away slowly.
"Back down, man," said Tristan, also moving away, and trying to pull Joey with him. But Joey would have nothing of it.
"Yous living in his body! Takin' over his mind! And dat's not hurtin' him?" Joey said, moving forwards, completely mindless of the complete volume of Mou Hitori No Boku's suppressed rage, and how little was holding it in check.
Oh, Joey, please, stop, I pleaded silently.
"I would never hurt him," repeated Mou Hitori No Boku.
"Well I think different," said Joey flatly. "It's obvious yous dark, and yous just using him 'cuz you got no body of your own. Maybe there was a reason yous was trapped in that puzzle. But, oh, yes, you can' remember. How very convenient."
Mou Hitori No Boku recoiled as if he'd been slapped, and the last of his self control snapped. Gathering the shadows around him, he used them to shove Joey back through the air, so that he fell sprawling several feet away.
Mou Hitori No Boku walked right up to him and pinned him to the ground. "I spare you from the shadow games because, and only because, you are my aibou's friend. If you did not mean so much to him, I would not hesitate to doom you to the shadow realm. But know this, I do not take well to being threatened. Do so again, and I will not be so lenient." Then, having said all there was to say, he promptly released Joey and strode out of the park.
We walked all the way home, Mou Hitori No Boku seething the whole while, despite my feeble attempts to console him. As soon as we passed through the front door of my house Mou Hitori No Boku suddenly retreated, without warning, to his soul room and left me standing stupidly in the entrance hall.
"Oh, Joey, what have you done?" I said aloud, before trudging dejectedly up to my room, and falling face down onto my bed. I buried my face deep in my pillow hoping that suffocating myself would help solve some of my problems.
Maybe if I just rolled over and died everything would get better, I thought absently. Almost immediately a wave of alarm passed through me, and Mou Hitori No Boku stirred agitatedly.
I actually smiled, though it was perhaps a vastly inappropriate reaction. Closing my eyes, I focused and drew myself into my soul room once more.
He was standing in the doorway, waiting for me. "I didn't mean it," I said immediately.
He nodded, and strode jerkily to the bed, throwing himself onto it with perhaps a little more vigor than usual. I could feel the anger radiating off him in waves, and moved cautiously towards him, finally sitting down on the bed next to him.
"I am sorry," he said, at the same time I said the same thing. I looked at him, completely bewildered, as he gave a rather startling impression of a deer in the headlights. "What are you sorry for?" I asked finally, after having gotten over the shock of having said the same thing at the same time. Perhaps sharing brains was effecting us more than we knew. I filed that tidbit away as something to ponder at a later date.
"I have damaged the friendship between you and Joey, perhaps irreparably," he said, with what I suspected was a hint of shame. He looked steadfastly at the wall, something which, I was beginning to realize, signified that he was unsettled in some way.
"Joey also damaged the friendship," I said resolutely. "He shouldn't have said that to you."
"Shouldn't he?"
I blinked. It had never occurred to me that Mou Hitori No Boku could be experiencing self-doubt. Before I could comment on this he continued. "You have given me so much… Given me light, and life. What have I given you in return? I have used you. And he was right about the puzzle, what if I was imprisoned in it because I committed some crime? It must surely have been a punishment." He shuddered slightly, clearly lost in recollections of his time there.
"I don't believe it," I said, placing my hand on top of his as a tactile reassurance. I was surprised at the feeling of his hand under mine. I'd always expected it to feel a bit transparent, as I'd always considered Mou Hitori No Boku to be simply an independent spirit. But it felt warm, and real, more real than anything I'd ever felt. I felt a tingle run up my arm, touch every fibre of my body, then rush back out again. I shuddered, and looked up at him, only to find that he was looking back at me with eyes wide. I swallowed, my throat suddenly uncomfortably dry, and licked my lips nervously. "I don't believe it," I repeated, slowly gaining my confidence. "I don't think that you were a criminal. And I don't care if you're dark. You call me your light, and therefore you must be my darkness. But darkness isn't all bad. The moon and the stars are some of the most beautiful things in existence, and you can't see them by day. You are my darkness, my yami. I wouldn't have it any other way."
He was still staring at me, eyes wide. Slowly, his eyes travelled down to our hands, and with a sort of precise deliberateness that only he could accomplish, he turned his hand over and laced our fingers together. Once again I felt that same explosion of feeling. He felt so solid, so warm, so alive; I found it completely astounding. I squeezed his hand, and felt him squeeze back just as tightly.
"You've given me confidence," I said finally. He looked at me inquisitively, and cocked his head to the side.
"You said you hadn't given me anything in return," I said, clarifying. "Which is blatantly untrue. You stopped the bullies that were out to get me. You protected me, I'd hardly call that nothing. But more than that, I'm not the same person I was when I solved the puzzle." I looked up at the same wall he was so fond of staring at. "When I solved the puzzle, I made a wish. I wished for friends. At first I thought that Joey, Tristan and Téa had been the answer to my wish, but now, I think I may have been wrong. I think it was you."
"You've changed me," I continued, slowly gaining speed and confidence. "I'm not the same person I was before. Before I met you I couldn't stand up to a wet paper bag, but now, now I feel like a braver person. I feel like my opinions are worth something, that I'm worth something." I paused before adding, "I like myself better now."
There was a moment of companionable silence before Mou Hitori No Boku spoke. "I too, am not the same as I was. When I was released from the puzzle, I was… wild. I had no knowledge of anything, and wished only to bathe in the light that I had lacked for so long. But over time, as I came to know you, I have changed. There was a time when I would have sent Joey to the Shadow Realm without a second's thought for what he said today." There was a brief pause before, "I too, like myself better now."
We didn't speak any more that night, simply because there was nothing left to say. I can't ever say I've understood anyone more than I understood him in that moment. But there was no doubt that something had shifted that day. That, in all of Joey's attempts to draw us apart, he had succeeded in bringing us further together. And as I lay on my bed in my soul room, with Mou Hitori No Boku resting next to me and our hands still entwined, I realized just how right all of this felt.
We truly were partners, and I knew that I could never now bear to be parted from him. He was my other half, my aibou, my yami. Partner to my mind, soul and heart. I wondered how things could change so much in such a short period of time. It hadn't been all that long since I'd solved the puzzle, yet before that I could never have imagined how complete, how whole I felt now. And now I could never imagine living without it. My entire world had rearranged the day I'd met him, and I couldn't possibly be more happy about it. Happier than I'd been in a long time, despite the horrible day I'd had, I let myself fall asleep, reveling in the warmth of Mou Hitori No Boku beside me, and wishing that we could stay like this forever.
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