(A/N: TAKE INTO CONSIDERATION THAT I IGNORED MY HOMEWORK AND STAYED AWAKE TO FINISH THIS! SO YOU BETTER BE GRATEFUL! Haha, I'm kidding, guys! :3 I mean, I DID ignore my homework and stay awake, but I don't blame you xD. I wanted to finish this! And I must say, I'm very proud of how it came out! 8D So I really hope you like it as well! Um, where should I begin?

WARNINGS: Fluff. SHAMELESS PUZZLESHIPPING FLUFF. And I mean it! This might be the fluffiest chapter of this story, like, EVER. It'll get even MORE fluffier (yes, I went there!), but for now, this is the top! 'MINI-ME' IS BACK! Cuz I know most of you adore him :3 And I missed him too. MAYBE OOC Yami, but we all love him as a lovesick little girl, so it should be okay. Lovesick!Yugi, perhaps, depending on how you see him. FLUFF. Seriously, I'm giggling just by thinking about it. I'm a crazy whacko... any grammar slips or typos, please let me know! 8D

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh! I wish I did. -sad sigh, sad sigh- On with the story! I hope you like it! :3 Can I just say that I LOVE the opening line of each chapter?)

Chapter 9

The first time Yami kisses Yugi, it's not on his lips.

Three weeks after the two best friends visited Rebecca's tomb, Yami is almost completely back to being his usually upbeat self. First thing he did when he got back home after dropping Yugi at his own house was to tell his parents about the entire trip. He sat them on the couch and told them they had to talk. Both of them were hooked into the conversation as soon as their son started with the sentence, "Yugi and I went to visit Becky."

"It was like nothing I've ever done before," he said, still pretty much in shock. Every few words he had to pause to take a breath. "For the first time since she… since she died—" The three flinched at the hideous word, but Yami decided he had to stop going around it and take the tragedy as it was, "—I… I truly felt… like she was still here; like she was still part of the family, and it was really an amazing feeling. But I probably wouldn't have had the… the courage to do it… if Yugi hadn't been there with me."

Chiyoko and Mamoru held each other's hands. Their son had made so much progress in such a short time—and it was all thanks to this boy whom he'd met by a mere coincidence.

"The thing is," Yami continued, "that I'd like to ask you a favor." Mr. and Mrs. Atemu waited for their son's petition. "I-it'd mean… the world to me… if you could also visit her."

"Yami…" Mamoru said. He and Chiyoko looked at each other. They couldn't. They weren't that strong.

"I know it's something hard to think about!" Yami yelled, rushing the words out as if he were afraid they'd get stuck in his throat. "But it's only the first step. The rest of the way is a lot easier… once you take that first step. Besides, I bet… I bet Becky would be really grateful… if you went to talk to her."

Chiyoko looked down at her knees. Going to her baby daughter's funeral was the most difficult thing she ever had to do. Staring at that gravestone—at that terrible piece of stone with her beautiful name engraved on it—and knowing that her little girl would never hug her or call her "Mommy" again shattered her heart into a thousand pieces. But her dear Yami had been the most affected of this: both of her children had been the closest pair of siblings anyone had ever met.

And, even with that, her son had been able to take that incredibly huge step forward. They couldn't stay behind. They had to do this; they had to move on and catch up with Yami so that the three of them could keep going.

"We'll go… sweetheart," Chiyoko finally said, gripping her husband's hand. "We'll do it."

"Did they go?" Yugi asks Yami as he takes his History book out of his locker. Yami's leaning against the row of lockers, and he looks at Yugi with a smile.

"Yeah, they did," he says. "I think they needed it, just like me. And who knows?" He shrugs happily. "Maybe one day we'll all sit down at the table and… be able to laugh about all the good memories we have of her."

"I hope that day comes soon," Yugi tells him, smiling to himself.

"I'm going to go visit her today. Will you come with me?"

"Of course! There are thousands of things I'd like to tell her!" They walk to their History class together; chatting, laughing. It's almost like the first days they knew each other, and Yugi's heart is soaring with joy.

They spend the class stealing glances from the other one, and by now, everyone else has noticed the boy (contrary to the beginning, when only Yami knew he existed), and they all have also noticed that their looks, their giggles, and everything else going on between them has to mean something more than mere friendship. Because, seriously—for being best friends, they're acting a little too much like a will-they-won't-they couple, and it's driving the rest of the school completely insane.

They hadn't been the center of attention all of a sudden. There was this guy that noticed their interaction first around six weeks ago, and he began to spread the voice until everybody (even freshmen and seniors, go figure) knew of the strange pair. After that, they all started to put bets on how long it'd take one of them to confess to the other, because their feelings were as obvious as if they wore giant neon lights over the top of their heads that read "I LOVE MY BEST FRIEND!" If they didn't soon, though, someone else would have to intrude, but they were hoping there was no need to intervene.

Luckily for them, today, Yugi is ready to take the first step towards a confession.

History is their last class of the day, and they walk to the doors shoulder to shoulder after the bell rings. Once they're outside, beneath the beautiful sun of the early afternoon, Yugi stops before they climb down the stairs.

"Yugi?" Yami turns around to him, a bit worried. "Everything okay?"

Yugi has no idea of how this is going to go down. He's trying to work something out in his head. Today he wants to give Yami the purple lilac he created more than a month ago, but he's not sure of how that will happen. Should he wait until they get back from Rebecca's tomb? Or should he give it to him when they're there?

He opts for the first one.

"Yeah," Yugi responds, catching up to Yami. "Everything's great."

Once they're back on Yami's car, riding to Yugi's house, Yami's a mess of tears (he's been ever since he started going to the graveyard), but they're happy tears and tears filled with feelings he kept inside him during six years. He laughs while wiping his puffy eyes, because he's just an emotional wreck every time he walks away from his sister's tomb. But Yugi has noticed—oh, he has definitely noticed—how much progress Yami has gone through since the first time they came here; especially because Yami now perfectly pictures how Becky would react with each thing they tell her tomb. It's been more than twice that he says to Yugi, "Now she'd be crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. If Mom were here, she'd tell her, 'now, sweetheart, don't do that! That's not the proper behavior for a well-behaved little lady like you!'"

They stop at Yugi's house, and Yami (although he doesn't need to) gets down his car to accompany Yugi to his door. But before Yugi walks inside, he turns to Yami.

"Will you wait for me just a minute? I need to give you something," he says. Yami, slightly confused, can only nod as his best friend walks through the door and closes it behind him.

What does he want to give me? Did I forget something the last time I came over? he wonders.

OH MY GOD! Maybe he'll give us a present! 'Mini-me' is on the top of Yami's head, wee hearts on his eyes and around him. How amazing would that be? He leans his chin on his hands, sighing dreamily. Yami doesn't know why he keeps 'mini-me' around anymore—the fellow was created because Yami needed to remind himself that he was once a happy kid when his sister died. It was like the child inside of him that would never die. But now that he's started to truly get over the death of Becky, he really has no reason to keep 'mini-me' other than for company when he's alone.

Amazing, yeah… and totally improbable, Yami thinks. Why would Yugi give him a present, anyway? But the little guy completely ignores him.

Oh, no! We didn't bring him anything! What's he going to think? THIS IS A DISASTER!

WILL YOU STOP THAT? Yugi comes back before Yami has a chance to continue his argument with himself. The boy's holding a small but long crimson thin box with a purple ribbon in his hands.

"Here," Yugi says, handing him the box. "I want you to have this."

Yami is astonished. So… it is a present? "What's the occasion?" he asks.

Yugi shrugs. "Nothing, really. I just wanted to give you something."

"But I didn't get you anything," Yami mutters, kind of ashamed. "If I'd known you were going to give me—"

"It's fine!" Yugi sort of yells, except he's not angry or anything. "I-I did this a while ago… I just hadn't found the chance to give it to you." Yami decides to stop arguing and he undoes the ribbon to open the box. And when he sees its content, he feels like his heart's suddenly racing a thousand miles per second.

Inside the box is the gorgeous glass figure of a purple flower that he unfortunately doesn't recognize. But… damn it, it's absolutely stunning! And he has no idea if Yugi knows this, but the crimson-eyed has always had this fascination with glass figures.

"Wait, you… you made this?" he demands in shock. Yugi nods shyly.

"Remember the day when my dad told me Anzu had brought me some material?" Yami agrees with his head. "Well, it was the material to make this. My dad's a toymaker, remember? These are the only things he's taught me to do for now."

Yami stares at the beautiful flower in front of him. God, it's… it's… perfect.

"It's called a purple lilac," Yugi adds. "I wanted you to have it…" He rubs the back of his neck, and there's this oh so cute blush on his cheeks. "S-so that you, you know… so that you knew that I'd a-always be here… if you ever needed me…"

And then Yami just can't take it anymore.

"Oh, Yugi, I love it!" He closes the box and swings his arms around his best friend so quickly that Yugi nearly trips on his own feet, but Yami's grip on him is so strong that tripping seems impossible. The boy's blush goes up to his ears. "Thank you, thank you! It's beautiful!" And without even thinking about it (because, honestly, this thing he's about to do has only happened in his dreams), Yami pulls only slightly apart and kisses Yugi's cheek.

And the world pretty much seems to have stopped.

When Yami breaks off, they're both staring wide-eyed at the other, mouths wide-open, and crimson blushes on both of their faces.

"I-I…" Yami stammers, because he's almost positive that his vocabulary storage right now is empty. "I-I'm sorry, I… I d-didn't… I didn't mean to do that…"

"I-it's fine," Yugi mumbles, feeling like his heart's stuck in the middle of his throat yet is still pounding and beating like crazy. If a kiss on the cheek (by Yami, OH MY GOD! He can die a happy man now) was enough to get his heart racing like that…! "I-it's… completely okay, d-don't worry…"

"I-I really love it, though! T-the flower, I mean, it's… it's amazing! Thank you." Yugi tells him that it was no big deal, he really likes to make the glass look so beautiful, but Yami just thinks this kid's way too modest.

They say their goodbyes (with a firm but awkward handshake and a hug that lasts quite a while), and Yami gets up his car and drives home, trying to ignore the joyful and LOUD screams of 'mini-me', who has for some reason grown wings and begun to fly around his head with a cupid arrow stuck across his chest. On the other hand, Yugi stays on his door, watching his best friend's car as it gets lost in the distance. He puts a hand to his cheek, and he kind of giggles girlishly because it still feels a little warm. Well, that went a lot better than he thought.

That night, as both best friends lie awake in bed, both thinking on the sort of couple-y moment they shared on Yugi's doorstep, huge smiles spread across their faces. And when they finally fall asleep, the two of them share the same dream—a beautifully decorated salon with gorgeous background music, where no one else but them exists. They stand face to face, dressed in super elegant clothes; they bow, take each other's hands, and start waltzing together.

And in the middle of their slumbers, both Yami and Yugi heave a content sigh.

(A/N: OH YES I WENT THERE! I'M WATCHING BEAUTY AND THE BEAST AS I FINISH EDITING THIS, SUE ME FOR THINKING THAT THE MOST ROMANTIC SCENE IN A DISNEY MOVIE WAS PERFECT TO FINISH THE CHAPTER! Whatever you think, please let me know through a review! 8D BTW, thank you all for your wondrous support on last chapter! Hope this one topped last one!)