Notes:Oh, goodness! It's been ages. I managed to get caught up in life, and before I knew it a month had gone by! Anyway, mea culpa, in pennance I give you: an update. Feel free to toss rotten tomatoes and the horrible author, I deserve it.

If anyone's still out there, reviews are always appreciated. Again, sorry for the wait. The good news is: this is almost complete! Just a chapter or two more to wrap a couple things up and that will be the end of it. (My goodness, a near-completed story… o.O It boggles the mind).

Much love,

the Second Coming.

- - - -

Finally, after days and days of endless searching, I'd found it. I could barely believe what I was reading, the words on the page before me seemed far too good to be true. I had found it. I had found him. I'd found him, not in an encyclopaedia or a weighty history text as I'd been expecting, but in a battered paperback edition of a little-known guide to Egyptian myths and tales that had been stuffed in the furthest, dustiest and remotest corner of the library. Mou Hitori No Boku, I called out, bubbling over with excitement. I felt his presence instantly, he must have sensed the urgency of my call. I could tell that he was reading the passage, but he seemed exceptionally schooled and blank.

It is said that there remains one Pharaoh unaccounted for. The Nameless Pharaoh, who was reputed to have given his own life for the sake of his people in order to seal away the darkness.

I wondered what he was thinking. I wondered if this had sparked any memories for him. I wondered if he'd leave me. The last thought drifted, seemingly randomly, through my consciousness, but managed to fill me with a deep-seated fear. I knew that I did not want him to go. But, at the same time, I had no right to force him to stay either. If this information should prompt the return of his memories, than who am I to stop him from leaving? The words that had seemed at first to be a godsend now taunted me from the pages of the open book.

The Pharaoh was said to have been the wielder of an item of magnificent power. The Millennium Puzzle, chief amongst the seven Millennium Items, was the symbol of his house, and his power. It was with that puzzle that he drew forth his power to seal the darkness away forever, sacrificing his own life in the process.

"I remember," he said softly. He was staring at the page blankly, clearly lost in thought. "I remember… Pharaoh."

"I'm guessing that you were sealed in the puzzle by accident then," I said quietly. "But at least now you know."

"The Nameless Pharaoh," he said. "I recall voices, but they are faint and indiscriminate. And the darkness, ever present…"

I reached forward, unsure how to comfort him. I settled with grasping his hand with my own, giving it a gentle squeeze for reassurance. I gave a decidedly un-manly squeak of alarm when my arm was suddenly yanked and I was pulled towards him, colliding with his chest. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me even closer, and I felt a warmth run through me that rushed out to the farthest reaches of my extremities and then back, to settle somewhere in my abdomen. He was so horribly distracting.

"Mou Hitori No Boku?" I ventured, my voice somewhat muffled as my face was pressed snugly into his shoulder. I felt him exhale, and warm air rushed past my ear. The strange tingly feeling in my stomach intensified tenfold.

"Thank you," he said, and I'd never heard anything more sincere in my life.

"Don't mention it," I managed to squeak back.

"I do not remember much," he said, his chest rumbling delightfully with each word he spoke. "But what I do recall is owed entirely to your efforts. I am very grateful, for all you have done."

"I wanted to help," I said, slowly relaxing and resigning myself to being trapped in his arms (truthfully I didn't really mind all that much). "I'm glad something's come back. That's a good sign. Memories take time, the rest of them will come eventually, I'm sure."

"You give so freely, hikari," he murmured.

"I give because I can. I'm glad I can give. I grateful for what I have, and will gladly help anyone who is in need."

"You are truly extraordinary," he said softly.

I was glad that I was stuffed in his shoulder, at least this way I was fairly sure he couldn't see how brightly I was blushing. "I'm really not. I'm not anything exciting. I can't do much of anything. I've never been particularly athletic or good-looking —"

"You give yourself no credit, hikari. You solved the puzzle, and thus managed to outwit all those who tried before you. You have an uncommon kindness, and a willingness to help others that is rare." He pulled back a bit, and looked down at me, smirking deviously. "And as for your looks… I find you very good-looking."

I blushed again. Amazing how I could do that without ever actually internally combusting. It's a gift, my single natural talent. "Yes, but you're biased," I mumbled. "You look almost exactly like me."

"Hm," he agreed, still smirking. He seemed to be looking for something, and he stared at me with an intensity that made me shiver in anticipation. The air around us seemed to almost crackle with energy, and his touch against my skin burned like a brand. Every tiny movement left a trail of tingles running madly across my skin. Almost painfully slowly he rubbed his thumb across the back of my hand.

"Yugi…"

I licked my lips, wondering when and how my throat had got so unbelievably dry. Suddenly his lips were on mine, and I was once again pressed flush up against his body. It was complete and undeniable bliss. I'd never felt bliss before, but I was certain this was it. Every nerve ending in my body seemed to be standing up on end. I had never, ever felt this alive before.

The somewhat ironic thought that I'd just uncovered a book declaring him dead passed through my mind. But it was gone as quickly as it had come, as Yami quickly obliterated my capacity for coherent thought.

- - - -

It felt so menially pointless to be doing something as trivial as making eggs when I had just had the most spectacular snog of my entire life. I was practically bursting with the desire to tell everyone (and in some cases, everything) that I met what had happened. So far I'd recounted the whole thing to the toaster in a strange lack-of-sleep-induced mania. Otherwise, I was coping admirably.

"Good morning, Yugi," Grandpa said cheerfully as he sat down with the paper.

I grinned cheerfully.

He raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "You're in a good mood this morning."

I nodded cheerfully.

He frowned. "You didn't take any strange medication, did you?"

"Grandpa!" I even managed to do that cheerfully. If the cheerful doesn't stop soon I think I might keel over from an overdose of happy. Grandpa would just love that.

He held up his hands in the universal sign of surrender. "Just checking." He winked. "So what has got you so cheerful this morning?"

"Do I need a reason?" Like 'I just got my brains snogged out by the strange spirit who lives in the puzzle I wear around my neck'? Yeah, because that's not remotely weird. But oh, so wonderful. The ridiculous grin had made its way back onto my face (the real question however, was, had it ever left?).

"You look like you took an overdose of something, and whatever it is, I think I might want some." He took a sip of tea and casually flipped the page on the newspaper. "So who is it?"

I dropped the fork I was using to eat my eggs. It clattered loudly on the floor, and I winced at the racket it was making. "Who is who?" I squeaked.

"I'm not a fool, nor am I young and naive. I know that look," he waved the newspaper in the general direction of my face. "I want to know who put it on your face, that's all."

I sighed and looked down at my plate. "Mou Hitori No Boku."

"I figured as much."

"You what?"

"It's not as if it wasn't obvious," he replied in a slightly haughty tone. "The two of you are very close. And you're bound to be — you've got a unique bond. Beyond that, you're a teenage boy. I know this might sound horrifying, but I was young once too —"

"Grandpa!"

"I'm not about to regale you stories of my former conquests!" I let out an obvious sign of relief, and Grandpa rolled his eyes in exasperation. "But you are a teenage boy, and it doesn't surprise me that you've decided to act on your … urges."

"Grandpa!" I veritably squeaked that one. I was blushing a rather charming shade of red. I could not believe that I was actually having this conversation. Over breakfast, no less. Who in their right mind brings up … urges when there's food on the table?! I shoved the remains of my eggs away with my fork.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about Yugi." Grandpa said mildly, as if he were discussing the weather. "It's perfectly natural."

I tried to say something along the lines of 'yes' but it came out sounding a bit more like a cat being strangled.

"What do you think of him?" Grandpa asked, suddenly very serious. He was regarding me with an indecipherable look, one that almost reminded me of Mou Hitori No Boku. What had I done to be surrounded by inscrutable people, I ask you?

"I - I think… I think he's vulnerable. He doesn't seem it — he's got this commanding personality, and astounding presence that is both forceful and reassuring. And I know that I'm not in danger when he's around. But he's lost all his memories, and he was so alone for so long… I feel like he needs me to protect him just as much as I need him to. And he makes me feel… he makes me feel complete." I stared at my now-cold eggs. "I don't want him to ever leave."

Grandpa nodded, apparently satisfied. "I'm happy for you, Yugi. I'm happy for the both of you."

"Thanks," I said, and I grinned cheerfully. Again.

- - - - -

"What are you going to do now?" I asked softly, running my fingers over the puzzle absentmindedly.

"Do?" he asked curiously.

"Where will you go? Where do you want to go?"

"Nowhere," he replied quickly, a frown marring his brow. He stood up and walked over to me, stopping right in front of me and grasping my hands in his own. "Why, do you wish me to leave?" He seemed to be tracing my fingers with his own.

"No!" I said quickly. "No. I just… I thought that now since your memory has started to return, you'd want to go off and live your own life."

He frowned. "I do not wish to leave. You are my aibou, I have no desire to be separated."

"You don't?" I asked curiously. I wondered why this hadn't seemed to have occurred to me.

"No."

"Oh."

"Hm," he said, still running over my fingers with his own. "I'm not sure I want to remember who I was."

"Why not?" I grasped his hands in my own and linked our fingers together, smiling contentedly.

"I like who I am now," he said simply as he sat down on the bed next to me. "I cannot recall who I was, but I know that I have changed since having met you. I do not wish for those changes to go away."

"But they'll still be there, won't they? I mean, you'll still remember me, right?"

"But so much of who we are is created from our memories, is it not? What if, by recalling my past, I loose myself as I am now?"

I frowned. "That's not going to happen," I said resolutely. "I won't let it happen."

"But if I change —"

"Then I'll change you back," I replied. "I'm not letting you go. I want you to stay, Mou Hitori No Boku."

He regarded me intently, and then rewarded me with one of his rare smiles. I grinned back cheerfully.

"I am not leaving," he said. "Never."

- - - -