Title: At the Beginning
Theme: 06 – First Meeting
Summary: He'd been here for a year already. I just wanted to introduce myself for the first time. Formally. Officially.
Rating: K
Genre: General/Friendship/Romance if you want it to be.
Notes: There's one part in the show at the end of Duelist Kingdom when Yami and Yugi officially talk for the first time. (In TAS, Yami says something like "We saved the world, rubbed it in Kaiba's face, you can call me Yami, don't spoil my name for those who don't know it, all right?") Okay, now disregard that entire scene. And this happens about a week after they get back from Pegasus's island.

His door is really, really intimidating. There is a huge eye, similar to the one on the Puzzle, plastered to the front of it with dark, vein-like rope things stretching across the door itself. Given how the spirit always seems so confident, powerful, threatening – and occasionally frightening, even – I suppose the door to his "Soul Room," as I guess this is, should match his personality.

But still…

I shake my head, tell myself to get a grip. He's been here for a year, at least, so it's only common courtesy for me to stop by and say hello. Officially.

Am I supposed to knock, or what?

Without knowing the answer, I still move my hand up to the door; my knuckles are ready to tap against it when it opens.

Without me touching it.

With no one inside.

It's not too late to turn back…

But I step over the threshold anyway – because really, I have to give it a good shot at the very least – and when the door doesn't slam behind me and lock me inside this place, I heave a sigh of relief.

I've been in this crazy maze before, but that could never mean that I know my way around it. Last time, actually, the staircase directly on the left led to a door, not a brick wall, as it does now. I suppose this place is like those magic staircases from the Harry Potter books.

I don't want to sit here and wait for something to happen, but I don't want to start running around and getting lost, either. At least here I'm standing near a constant in this place: the door to the hallway behind me.

I turn around, just to check – but it's gone.

Of course.

"Yugi."

I turn. "Oh. Ah, hi – er, hello."

The spirit does not raise an eyebrow or give a questioning gaze at how I'm stumbling over these words. I kind of want him to show some emotion, at the very least; what happened to all of that enthusiasm that he throws out on the dueling field?

"See, I know that this is probably really awkward for the both of us, but I figured we should meet up officially. I know that you know who I am, but I don't really know who you are, and while I don't mind that you're here, I'd still kind of like to know. Please."

He takes a long time answering. His eyes are staring into mine; it's unnerving, and just as I'm starting to feel uncomfortable over the silence and the lack of a response, I realize that he's only thinking, and not doing it specifically to weird me out.

"It will set your mind at ease, to know my identity?"

I blink. "Well… yeah. I guess you could say it like that. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but it'd just be cool to know who you are. I'm assuming that you reside in the Millennium Puzzle, and since I completed that last December, you've been here for a little over eleven months… I just think we should introduce ourselves. Formally, you know."

I clear my throat, and, after consideration, stick out a hand. "So, hello. My name is Yugi Mutou, I'm a sophomore at Domino High, and I solved the Millennium Puzzle last year. As of last Saturday I'm apparently the King of Games, too – though perhaps that only applies to Duel Monsters – but I know that someone else deserves the title a lot more than I do, and even though he's been with me for a while, I don't know him all that well, though I'd really like to, and… I'm hoping that he feels the same way."

The spirit eyes my hand for a while, as if contemplating whether offering it to shake is normal in conversation for this day and age. After another long, nervous moment, he puts his hand in mine and squeezes it firmly. I'd expected it to be warm, but I realize now that there is no essence behind his hand, no real skin or blood to back up the nonexistent flesh.

He's there, but he's not… there.

"I have gone by many names, but… if you so choose, you may call me 'Yami.'"

I don't question the meaning behind this name, or why he picks it. "Okay… Yami."

He nods. "What do you wish to know?"

A lump rises in my throat; I swallow it down. "Well I don't mean to be rude with this one, but…" He waves a hand for me to continue. "…Who are you?"

The spirit – Yami – looks surprised. "I was hoping that you could tell me."

"Wait, what?"

"Allow me to rephrase that. I was hoping that someone could inform me of my identity. Since you are my vessel, the one who completed my Puzzle, I made one too many assumptions and concluded that you might hold that knowledge. I apologize."

"No – it's fine, but – you don't know who you are?"

If he is annoyed by how long it's taking me to comprehend this, he doesn't show it. "Yes."

"And – you don't know how you came to be in the Puzzle?"

"…No." He looks around, up at the staircases and doors and hallways… and sighs. "No. I do not know."

This is depressing. I can't even do anything to help; I feel as if I've let him down, not knowing anything that could help him figure out who he is. He's done so much for me, and now, when he needs something…

"I'm really sorry," I say quietly. "It must be horrible, to lose your memories like that."

He slowly nods his head. "It is…" But he starts shaking it now. "And it isn't." Yami looks up at me. "It gives me a chance to start over. I'm a new person, and while I do wish to know who I used to be…"

My eyes widen as he looks at me, eye to eye, and gives a lopsided smile – it's probably the first one that he's had on his face in a long time. "I'm very lucky to have found such a gracious environment in which I may find my bearings again. Thank you."

His words throw me off-guard for a moment, though when I think about it, I suppose he does have enough to thank me for: he thinks I'm going out of my way to be his 'vessel,' as he called it, when in reality I haven't given all that much up at all. He thinks that I should want to get rid of the Puzzle to save myself from further trouble that he would bring, though I know I couldn't bring myself to feel that way if I tried.

"Y-you're welcome," I say, smiling back. "But you've done a lot for me, too, you know."

He looks curious. Confused. I keep talking.

"Well, you've made me a lot more confident – enough to gain friends, as I have… including you."

Yami widens his own eyes, as if he's surprised that I'm calling him a friend. "You – I… thank you, Yugi. Your words mean a lot."

"You're definitely welcome," I say, a bit more comfortable now that I've gotten stared. "And, uh, you've also stopped Ushio from beating me up, as well as the other older guys."

"I do not understand why they would do such a thing to you in the first place," he sniffs. "Why would they hurt you as they have?"

"The-the bullying?"

"Yes."

"It's… well, I'm small. The older guys… they're so much bigger, and I guess they like that conformation of that knowledge. Makes them feel better."

"Do not try to justify their actions." Yami narrows his eyes, though I understand he's not angry with me. "You deserve much better."

"I know," I reply, gratefully. "I know that now. Thanks to you."

"I am only protecting you, as I should." He looks at me curiously. "Though one thing I do not understand… why were you not afraid?"

He doesn't need to clarify. "Well, I…" He's staring at me. Why hadn't I been afraid of Ushio and the others? Is it my determined beliefs of the good inside everyone's hearts? Is it how I've been through it all before, enough to know that I'm always fine on the other side, if a little roughed up, fine enough to cover it up with some makeup and go to school again the next day?

He's making it sound like I was supposed to be afraid. And I guess I was supposed to. But even I can't understand why I never was.

"Fear is a strange thing," I say finally, lamely.

Yami watches me carefully, then lets out a breath of air that could be a sigh. "Indeed."

"…I remember the first time it happened." I'm talking to my shoes. "I was just walking home, and some guys found me… I'd seen stuff like that happen before, on movies and all, so I knew what to expect. I wasn't new to it or anything. And I guess I should have assumed it would have happened to me eventually."

Yami's eyes grow concerned. I briefly wonder why I'm still talking.

"I just kind of zoned out. It happened really quickly, because as soon as I found an opening I sprinted out of there and found a safe place to hide. But they followed me, stomped around for a while and yelled all sorts of things… and I was absolutely terrified that they would hurt me even more than they already had. The fear was just so… crazy. It was just real. And I knew that I had to deal with it eventually."

I swallow. "So I made a choice. I let the fear in, let it take over – but only for five seconds, 'cause that was all I was gonna give it. I just… counted. Counted to five, really slowly. One, two, three, four… five. And when I opened my eyes, I could see they were heading off. I grabbed my bag, snuck home, and I was fine.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I didn't want to be afraid like that again. I was terrified when it first happened, and I hated feeling like that, like I didn't know what was going on. But after that I knew what was going to happen; they weren't going to kill me, not really. It was better not feeling anything than getting scared like that again."

Yami's eyes find mine; he looks… sad, almost. "That's very admirable of you, Yugi." He lets out another breath of air. "Though I wish it so that you had not deal with it at all."

"But I'm fine now," I say. "I turned out all right." If not like I wanted to. "And you're to thank for that, of course. I never had the courage that you seem to radiate."

He raises an eyebrow, amused. "You have strength too, Yugi. I wish you would realize that."

"There's a reason why you take over whenever we're dueling, Yami. You can do some things that I just… can't."

"Hmm." He steps closer, taking my hand in his, and raises it up for inspection. "You are your own person, as I am my own, and we each have our weaknesses. However, when we join together to duel, we bring out the best in each other. Our weaknesses and our strengths balance each other out. We do everything equally, as a team. As partners."

I must admit, I kind of like that word. "Partners?"

"Yes, Yugi. Partners." He drops my hand and this time, he sticks out his own to me for confirmation of our new statuses. "Will you allow me to call you such?"

I stare at his palm for a long while. Just a year ago, I was terrified of this being, this spirit. I was terrified of Yami. But he isn't the same as he used to be, and neither am I. We aren't strangers anymore. I like that.

"Yeah," I say, smiling back and taking the hand. "Partners."

Words: 2023
Notes: Technically, the challenge asks me to describe any sort of relationship between these two; in this one, you can look at the underlying hints of romance if you wish, but their beginning… well, this is always how I've liked to imagine their 'real' first meeting. Interpret as you will.