Queer As Tachi – Chapter 11
“I can’t believe it,” Yugi said over the phone as he sprawled on the couch on his stomach. “It went so much better than I expected.”
“I told you, you didn’t have anything to worry about,” Joey chided him from the other end, where he ambled around his flat looking for a book he needed for class. “Didn’t I say that?”
“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Yugi sighed. It was a day later, Yami was back in the Puzzle as usual and Yugi was taking the time to get Joey caught up on the developments before the weekend ended and they would see each other back in class. He figured Joey would want to know how it had gone – enlightening Grandpa Muto about his relationship – especially since it hadn’t happened quite the way he had planned. Naturally, Joey was quite pleased to find out that his best friend’s worst fears had not come true and all was well. “He did say, after we talked a while,” Yugi went on, “that he’s surprised he didn’t figure it out sooner. And he’s got a point…Yami’s been sleeping in my room every time he comes out of the Puzzle and I never once came out to get a spare blanket so he could sleep on the floor.”
“Eh, well, when you don’t expect that somebody you know so well swings both ways, that kind of explanation doesn’t just pop into your mind,” Joey reasoned. “So you’re all good? Totally in the clear?”
“Well, I didn’t tell him the real reason I went over to your place last month,” Yugi said sheepishly, “but other than that…yeah. He trusts Yami, and he doesn’t have a problem with us being together. I think if anything is hard for him to understand, it’s how a spirit like Yami could be capable of carrying on this kind of relationship.”
“Yeah, it’s a little weird, as things go,” Joey said airily. “But not so weird for you. It’s just another day in the life and times of Yugi Muto.” Joey finally found the book he was hunting for underneath a pizza box and wiped it across his jeans just in case before depositing it in his backpack. “So what’s next? Back to class, back to the grind…”
“Guess so,” Yugi sighed, resting his chin on his fist. “Midterms are coming up pretty soon, aren’t they? And Yami’s visit next month comes on a weekday…I’ll have to wait and see if I can skip class or if he’ll have to come along with me. I can’t miss any tests.”
“We should take him someplace cool,” Joey mused. “Take him out, for once. Have you guys even been on a real date, yet?”
“Well, yeah,” Yugi replied, thinking back. “Though…not recently. I mean, we went out to lunch that one day, but we met Duke…and before that we were at the beach with everybody…hmm.” He frowned. “Come to think of it, we haven’t done anything that could be considered a date since I took him to dinner on his first day out.”
“Sounds like a great idea to me,” Joey said suggestively. “Don’t even worry about me. You two just go out and have a date. You got nothin’ and no one standing in the way of being regular old boyfriends now.”
Yugi began to smile again, rolling over onto his back and crossing his ankles over the arm of the couch. “You know, maybe you’re right. We spend so much time together but we haven’t really gone ‘out.’ I’ve wanted so much to have a real date, all romantic and stuff…”
“You don’t have to hide from anyone anymore,” Joey agreed. “You should go someplace nice, with candles and flowers and all…”
Yugi smirked at the ill-concealed snide tone creeping into his friend’s voice. “Now, Joey,” he playfully scolded, “there’s no sense getting jealous now.”
“Who’s jealous?” Joey snorted. “You can’t fool me, I know you’re a big sap deep down inside, or not so deep down. You like all that lovey-dovey stuff.”
“Maybe I do.” Yugi smiled up at the ceiling, stretching out the arm that wasn’t holding the phone. “And someday you’ll find out that it’s not so bad. Besides…” He paused to listen, to make sure Grandpa wasn’t in the room, and then lowered his voice. “…when Yami’s sweet to me, and holds my hand and kisses me in that romantic way…it gets me excited.”
Joey laughed sneakily. “Now I get you,” he teased.
“I’d tell you what he did to me last night, before he returned to the Puzzle, but you don’t want details.”
“Maybe later.” Joey finally finished putting away his schoolbooks and plopped onto his couch, looking at the clock. “Aw, man. It got really late. I guess I should go if I want sleep.”
“Yeah, I guess. See you in class tomorrow.”
Mid-term exams came upon them in the closing days of October, requiring Yugi to spend much of his time at home closed away in his room studying or working. Late nights and too much thinking left him drained of energy and too tired to properly succumb to the trance that would allow him entry into the Puzzle, the few times he tried he simply fell asleep first. Yami assured him that it was all right, they now had the embodiment ritual to placate their need to be together and didn’t necessarily have to meet in the Puzzle in between, but Yugi still felt a little bad about not being able to make time to get away and lavish his partner with affection. At least the nights he sat up late studying, he had the pharaoh’s spirit there with him, a comforting presence enfolding him in the quiet reassurance that he could get through this, so long as he stayed strong and didn’t give up on himself. They thought about having Yami quiz Yugi on his facts for some tests, but unfortunately, the nature of the bond between their minds meant that Yugi knew the answers as soon as Yami could think of them. The pharaoh settled for simply cheerleading, hovering close enough to watch what he did and encourage him when he needed it.
By the time November began, Domino City had turned from lush fall color to drab brown, the city crews even diligently removing all the fallen leaves that carpeted the sidewalks and parks with speckles of red and gold. Yugi still walked to Joey’s every morning to catch the bus to the university, though now he had to button up his jacket and bundle himself against the chill. Both boys were finding it more difficult to spend much time outside of class together, and even Tristan had to cancel on them as his job required long hours out of him, and he was usually fairly exhausted when he got home. The one thing Yugi could say positively about school hitting full stride was that it excused him from having to work in the shop most nights. He looked forward to the full moon with renewed excitement, for he was starting to plan around Joey’s idea of taking Yami out for an actual date, since the concept thrilled him. They rejected the option of going to the movies, as Yugi didn’t want to sit for a couple of hours in the dark saying nothing, and cautiously hunted around for a nicer restaurant where they could be pretty sure no one would deny them a table based on their relationship. Joey insisted that a date meant they shouldn’t bother trying to fit in a visit with any of their friends, so dropping by Duke’s was out of the question. Yugi managed to do that once, anyway, before October was out, just to say hello and see all the new improvements his friend had been bragging about. In the end, the lovers agreed on a long walk, a visit to Domino Museum where the tablets from Egypt were still on display, and a nice dinner at a more upscale place, all completely by themselves. Yugi had been saving his money for these full-moon days, so as to treat his partner to anything he wanted. When he shyly mentioned to his grandfather that their plans included a real date, at last, not just “experiencing the world” for Yami’s benefit, he found himself given a little extra in his allowance. Grandpa didn’t say anything about it, except that Yugi had been working so hard on his exams and classes that it made up for not being able to man the game shop as often. Yugi was grateful, though even more so when his grandpa pretended to turn a deaf ear to the idea of skipping class for one special day.
The sun gleamed coldly through thin clouds as if through frosted glass, filtering through the bare branches of trees to sparkle on the corners of the Millennium Puzzle swinging around Yugi’s neck. He and Yami walked hand in hand, snuggling close to keep each other warm in the brisk November afternoon, content to smile at one another and peacefully enjoy the company. Domino was certainly far less interesting to look at now that autumn had robbed it of its trees and flowers, but the weather was at least tolerable for people to be out and about. It never got truly cold, Yugi confessed, though there were occasional winter days when he refused to go out just because it was a little nippy. They had slept in and indulged each other in foreplay, but Yugi felt like saving the big fireworks for later at night, after they had returned from dinner and were so wrapped up in each other that lovemaking would be a natural next step. They were nearing the museum, which may not have been the most romantic of destinations, but considering the significance for both of them of the artifacts they were going to see, it felt right. Yami had grown quieter than usual throughout their leisurely walk, and as they passed the marble sign for Domino Museum of Art and History to mount the stairs, Yugi could feel his partner tense slightly. The tablets bearing witness to his life and history were on semi-permanent loan to the museum, perhaps because those who had provided them in the first place knew that the pharaoh dwelled now in Domino and it would be appropriate to keep them near him instead of in Egypt. Yami had seen them enough, as had Yugi at other times, but they had not been there together, nor lingered on the exhibit to see what else was there besides the giant stone carvings bearing their collective likeness. Once inside, they hung up their coats and meandered through the museum to the Egyptian collection, clasping hands once again out of need for the comfort and encouragement the tender touch provided. The first room of the exhibit was full of dioramas and models, dimensional snapshots of what researchers thought life was like in ancient times, how the temples and pyramids looked fully restored, that sort of thing. Smaller artifacts, shards of pottery and the like, populated the glass cases in between. Yugi peered at everything in interest, and then glanced up at the deeply thoughtful look on his partner’s face. “This jogging anything in your memory?” he asked hopefully.
A flicker of pain registered amid the pensiveness. “No,” Yami replied. “None of this is any more familiar to me than it would be to you.”
“That’s okay,” Yugi said kindly. “I don’t expect you to have a sudden revelation over some ivory beads and a pot. There’s a lot more to look at…at the very least, you’ll have some idea of what life might have been like for you.”
“Much different than what it is now,” Yami said dryly, mustering a smile for his lover as he moved on to the next display case.
Several high-ceilinged rooms connected by wide archways housed most of the exhibit, which increased in opulence as they passed through one by one. Soon, instead of pottery and old sandals, they beheld jewelry, implements, and other objects made of gold with jet, jade, and other precious stones. Sculptures, busts, and even a giant sarcophagus – empty now – stood in the last room before the long hallway that led to the stairs down to the special room where the stone tablets of the pharaoh were kept in climate-controlled safety. Yami took the time to look at all the pictures and smaller tablets framed along the hallway, curious about them but still not understanding a thing about them. He only recognized motifs from having seen them before in Yugi’s lifetime, scarabs and hounds and other symbols that may have been much more important to him in his past life. Yugi was fascinated by much of it, and dragged his partner eagerly from one case to the next, talking enthusiastically about how each thing related to the other in the broader sense of Egyptian culture, at least what he knew of it. “Grandpa knows a lot more than I do,” he confessed as they neared the end of the hall. “He’s researched a lot, not just about games in ancient times. He told me he’s pretty sure that you came before a lot of recorded history, which is why it’s so hard to find out who you were…what your name was.”
Yami turned a curious look on him. “Did he say what gave him that idea?”
“I don’t know…something about, a shift in who Egyptians called their gods. Even I know, from school, that the more recent pharaohs that everybody knows about, like King Tut and all those, were considered gods. But you…” He started down the stairs into the refreshing cool of the special archive. “…seemed to have had other gods serving you. The three god cards…”
They emerged from the stairwell into the room, finding themselves immediately in the presence of three stone tablets more than twice their height, housed in thick glass cases to keep dust and inquisitive hands out. The first one on the far end was the one they were most interested in, with carvings of the three ancient gods hovering over a depiction of a long-past duel. Their clasped hands tightening around each other, Yugi and Yami headed straight for that one and paused before it, gazing up in awe. For the first time, Yugi was able to look back and forth between the pharaoh standing beside him and the one carved on the stone. Yami wore a faint smile as he looked up at the image before him. “No matter how many times I see this,” he murmured, “it still amazes me. This stone is as old as I am.”
“That’s you,” Yugi breathed. “My friends were quick to say it’s me, but it’s not, not really. Not when you still exist…”
The smile became a little more pronounced. “Yet, I believe our connection runs deep. There is a reason you look like me. The choice of vessel isn’t random.”
“It’s so complex.” Yugi raised a hand and gingerly touched the glass, wishing he could run his fingers along the lines that described the pharaoh’s noble profile. “It’s so amazing. Five thousand years ago, someone made this, just for you, and now here you are, able to see it again. And those gods are ours.” He lifted his eyes further to the top of the tablet, where the three Egyptian gods now immortalized on cards stood, along with his Millennium Puzzle. “It makes me feel so…small.”
Yami glanced at him curiously. “Small? Why is that?”
Yugi found himself staring at the Eye of the Puzzle at the top of the tablet. “Well,” he murmured, “think about it. So much of human history has gone by since this carving was made, since you were pharaoh. I’m such a small drop in a vast ocean…and even though I’m chosen to be with you, I’m no epic heroic figure like this. There’s so much of history behind me…and so much ahead of me.”
The pharaoh let go of his hand and draped an arm around his shoulders instead, hugging him to his side. “And yet, who knows? Perhaps in another five thousand years, civilization will look back on images of our battles in the shadow realm and consider them as epic as we do the battle of sorcery shown here.” His eyes wandered not over his own likeness, but that of the priest stationed opposite him, one hand raised in defiance. “If only Kaiba were not so adamant in his denial. I don’t know what it is about having a connection to the past that scares him so, but his fear is what strangles his belief. We have no way of knowing whether I will need his help to destroy the shadow games…or whether he will give it if I do.”
“I think he’s just upset at the insinuation that he was ever second-best in anything,” Yugi smirked. “He wouldn’t want to be subservient to anyone, least of all you.”
Yami chuckled quietly. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. That’s a good point.” He smiled wryly at the priest-figure with his glowering eyes. “He’s the one to whom everyone bows, here. But back then, he was my servant.”
“Up until the point of whatever this stone tablet shows,” Yugi admitted. “It looks like he went against you, for some reason.”
“If only I knew what it was.” Yami frowned thoughtfully. “I used to think that the semi-final round of the Battle City tournament was a replay of this moment in history, but now I’m not so sure. I have no doubt that the two are intricately related, but perhaps this tablet depicts more of an ongoing conflict, rather than a single particular event.”
“Well, we certainly have an ongoing conflict with Kaiba right now,” Yugi sighed, cuddling against Yami. They were alone in the archive, free to discuss their unique connection to the artifacts and be close to one another. “Though, I’d almost wish for a tournament to happen even if it means battling him and his attitude all over again. It would sure be a nice break from school.”
The smile returned to his face as Yami turned away, pulling Yugi with him to go and look at the other two tablets. “The perils of reality, hm?”
“Having to worry about shadow games and people coming after the Puzzle may be hard,” Yugi mused, “but at least it’s never a dull moment.” He looked up at the second tablet as they meandered in front of it, studying the story laid out row by row of monsters attacking and the Egyptian people fleeing or seeking help from their pharaoh and his servants. “Though, the next time there’s trouble, I’ll probably say the exact opposite.”
An uneasy feeling stole through the pharaoh’s heart as he followed his partner’s gaze to the scenes of monsters storming innocent villages. “As peaceful as it is now,” he said in a very low tone, “I know without a doubt that trouble will come. Perhaps not today, or next week or next month, but it will return. Holding three Millennium Items almost guarantees it.”
Yugi scowled. “I wish I knew how the Ring got away from us. It had to have happened a while ago, I just checked up on them that one day and bam, it was gone. It’s a good thing I didn’t keep it with the others.”
Yami shook his head slowly. “I should have expected that even though Marik gave it to us, it wouldn’t stay with us. The Millennium Ring has an uncanny ability to make its way back to Bakura of its own accord, I doubt we would be able to hang onto it unless he were to give it to us himself.”
“I haven’t even seen him since school ended to ask him about it,” Yugi said thoughtfully, turning away from the artifacts. “Though…he may not even know.”
“I’m certain it’s in his possession again,” Yami said darkly. “Whether he knows how it got there or not. We’ll just have to be on our guard in case the spirit of the Ring decides to come after the Rod and the Necklace as well.”
“At least those are safe.” Yugi glanced back to the first tablet, to the priest who opposed the pharaoh and the Millennium Rod in his fist. “You’re right. Having those, now, means we’re basically walking around with a big target on our heads for your enemies to follow. And who knows who else might be after the Items?” He pursed his lips thoughtfully. “If only Kaiba could let go of his stubbornness just enough to accept that he’s the rightful owner of the Rod. He probably has super-secret vaults at KaibaCorp where it would be perfectly safe, no one would ever get it away from him.” He turned curious eyes to his partner. “I wonder if that means he has shadow powers, too…”
“I don’t know.” Yami considered that he had witnessed Kaiba’s desperation activate the power of the Rod at least twice, but he couldn’t be sure what it meant. Seto Kaiba had to accept the Rod as his before he could tap into any latent powers that might be slumbering deep inside him, but the pharaoh was certain that was not going to happen anytime soon. He sighed long and gave Yugi’s cheek a loving caress. “Come, I’ve seen enough. Though this stone carving is part of the secret of my past, and perhaps part of the key to unlocking it, it isn’t helping me today.”
“At least we got to see it together,” Yugi enthused, willingly slinking up beside Yami and hooking an arm around his waist. “That’s more than worth the visit.”
Yami smiled in agreement as he slung his arm comfortably about Yugi’s shoulders and walked with him back up the stairs to the rest of the museum. Out of curiosity, the pharaoh suggested they glance at some of the other exhibits, particularly the historical ones, for he wanted to know more about this land he now called home and the history that shaped Yugi’s people. It wasn’t very busy, for a weekday during the school year with no classes taking field trips, so they took their time and wandered upstairs to look at perfectly-preserved suits of samurai armor and mannequins draped in centuries-old delicate silk kimono. The afternoon was wearing on by the time they went to collect their coats and return to the chill outdoors, Yugi regaling Yami with a few old traditions and legends he knew as they descended the stairs and walked across the museum campus, where sidewalks criss-crossed the muddy grounds and bare-limbed trees stretched toward the pale sky.
It was an odd coincidence that the lovers’ discussion turned briefly to Bakura, for at the very same moment, he was stalking across the park that lay across the street from the Domino Museum, hands thrust deep in his coat pockets for warmth. With his head bowed, a sheaf of silvery hair hid his eyes, though his attention was not so much on where he was going. It wasn’t gentle, brown-eyed Ryo out for this walk, no, the spirit of the Millennium Ring had taken over his mind and sent him looking for the source of the unsettling disturbance he could sense deep inside. Ryo had been out on the town when the strange feeling came across him, a feeling that awoke the presence of the dark spirit and made him curious enough to want to find out what was causing it. He was fairly certain it had something to do with the Millennium Puzzle, but exactly what, he needed to know. He felt close to it now, as he walked briskly through the trees, his head down to ignore all passersby. Hidden beneath his coat, tucked inside his shirt, the tines of the Ring jingled faintly as they bounced against his chest. Bakura felt a sudden movement against his skin, as one of the tines tugged him in a completely opposite direction, and changed his path to follow its prompting. He paused at the top of an embankment, screened by trees and leafless underbrush, to look around and see if he could spot what the Ring was telling him should be near. He frowned at a movement on the path below him, and perked up in interest when he recognized the unique hairstyle of the Puzzle’s keeper. But then, his dark heart went cold within him – who was that beside him? Similar and yet different, taller, sleeker, a carbon copy but without the Puzzle hanging around his neck. It can’t be, the spirit growled to himself, feeling a shiver ripple down his host’s spine. Such a thing is not possible, not that I’m aware of. Could it be? He glared down at the passing figures, who seemed rather oblivious to his presence as they walked and talked. He has discovered something about himself that I have not heard? What does this mean? I must know. Turning sharply, Bakura darted back through the bushes the way he had come and made for the nearest intersecting path in a hurry.
Yugi fell silent as he walked with his partner through the trees, making for the other side of the park where they would return to bustling city streets and sidewalks, content to just share this moment in peace. The hand in his was warm and firm, bringing a comfortable smile to his face. Then, off to his left somewhere he heard someone call his name, and paused at the intersection of two paths to peer around Yami and see who it was. He started in both interest and trepidation to see Bakura walking swiftly towards him, warmly wrapped in a navy peacoat, waving one hand in the air. There was nothing about him to suggest that he posed the pair any danger, he looked perfectly normal and cheerful with brown eyes smiling, but considering the discussion they had had some time earlier in the museum, Yugi couldn’t help but be wary. “Bakura!” he called back, giving a little surprised smile to see his friend. “Hi! Wow, it’s great to see you…”
Bakura smiled cutely as he came up to the pair. Yami kept himself closed and quiet for now, wanting to see whether there was a reason to be on his guard, but his skin prickled uncomfortably and he placed himself subtly in front of Yugi to protect him all the same. “Hello, Yugi,” Bakura said brightly in his lilting accent. “What a surprise, running into you here.”
“Yeah, same here,” Yugi said in return. “I haven’t seen you since school let out. What have you been up to? Are you going to university?”
Bakura tucked his hands back into the pockets of the dark blue coat. “Well, I will be,” he replied casually, “but not just yet. After I graduated, my father convinced me to take a year off and travel with him, first, to see the world. I just got back from Europe, and we’ll be spending the holidays in England.”
Yugi’s eyes widened. “Oh, wow! Lucky you! That must be a lot of fun.”
The smile faded and Bakura shrugged. “Seeing the world is interesting, but I can’t say as I’m enjoying the considerable time spent with my father. It’s a little too late for bonding, it’s somewhat awkward.”
“Oh…I suppose,” Yugi said sympathetically. He knew Ryo did not know his father well, on account of him constantly being away on world travels, but it seemed to him that it might be worth putting up with his company if the payoff was getting to see exotic countries. “Are you at least getting to do some interesting things?”
“Oh yes. Very interesting.” Bakura smiled again, though it seemed tight and forced. “I expect I’ll get to see America and maybe some of the Middle East before I return next summer and prepare to enter university, here in Domino.”
“You’re going here?” Yugi perked up again. “Cool, I’m going to school here! Me and Joey both, we’re in our first year at Domino University.”
“Excellent,” Bakura remarked. “I’ll get to see more of you two, then.” He glanced aside at Yami for the first time, then, neither frowning nor smiling. “So, who is your friend, Yugi? He seems very familiar.”
Yugi glanced at his partner as well, noting that he seemed rather tense and didn’t twitch a muscle as conversation turned to his presence. “He should,” Yugi answered, beginning to sense some of Yami’s apprehension. “He’s the pharaoh…from the Puzzle.”
“Really?” Brown eyes went wide. “But how did he escape?”
“It’s only for this day,” Yami said curtly, his first comment so far. “It’s a temporary condition.”
Bakura blinked at him in astonishment. “I don’t understand. How is it even possible for you to be here, as a real person?”
“Well, you see, there’s a magic ritual,” Yugi began, but he suddenly felt the hand holding his squeeze tightly, so tightly as to be painful. He swallowed the yelp he almost gave, but cut himself off there. “It…uh…has to do with the Puzzle,” he concluded lamely.
“Oh.” Bakura still gazed at them both with wide-eyed innocence. “It seems so fantastic. The pharaoh’s spirit, restored to a body for a short time? I didn’t think it was possible. How did you know you had the ability to do this?”
Yugi glanced at his partner before trying to compose an answer, noticing Yami bristle over seemingly nothing. He looked back and forth between pharaoh and friend, and finally caught on. Bakura was a little too composed, even for him. The smile in his eyes was false, his posture far too self-assured for his usually meek, non-confident friend. Though the amiable exchange about school and travel had been in his voice, his guise, he realized he had not been talking to Ryo at all the entire time. With a gasp, he shrank back behind Yami. “You’re not Bakura!” he breathed.
Bakura bowed his head and gave a low chuckle. “But I am,” he said, though the innocent lilt had gone out of his voice. “Once and forever.”
“Yugi,” Yami said warningly. “Be careful. You must not give too much information to this creature. He doesn’t need to know how I got here.”
“On the contrary…pharaoh.” Bakura looked up again, and they could see the change that had come over him. His eyes were darker, more sinister, his face more mature and shadowed beneath the layered locks of his white hair. He smirked slightly, though it was clear he was not taking any glee in being confronted by the embodied spirit of the pharaoh. “You wouldn’t want me to resort to something drastic in order to obtain that information from you, do you?”
Yami faced him squarely, standing as a barrier between Bakura and Yugi, though his young love still clung to his hand and stayed at his side, glaring just as much as Yami. “What I have done to be here, you would never be able to do,” he declared. “At the end of this day, I will return to the Puzzle, so you need not worry that I am doing anything you might find interesting.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that…” Bakura’s eyes traveled to the clasped hands. “What’s this? Are you fucking him?”
Yugi twitched and glowered. Yami seethed angrily. “That’s none of your business.”
The spirit of the Ring chuckled knowingly, able to read their reactions like a book. “You are fucking him,” he noticed. “Ah, what a splendid purpose for regaining a body. Reminding yourself what it feels like to be buried hilt-deep in a tight little ass…” He chuckled again, because both Yugi and Yami were glaring and blushing and trembling with their suppressed anger. “I suppose you don’t remember what it’s like to fuck a sweet, slender concubine. I’m sure you had enough of them, back in your day.” His wicked grin widened. “Do you make him call you ‘Pharaoh’ when he comes?”
“That’s enough,” Yami snapped, raising his voice. He would have just taken Yugi and left, but he knew better than to turn his back on the dangerous Ring spirit, particularly when he had no idea whether he could access his own shadow magic. The Puzzle was around Yugi’s neck, not his. “We don’t have to stand here and listen to your mockery. I will not tell you anything about my embodiment – that’s for myself and Yugi to know alone.”
The spirit’s countenance changed like the flicking of a light switch, to a sullen glare. “If you think I’m going to let you leave here without telling me how you’ve done it…”
“You wouldn’t be able to do it anyway,” Yugi declared defiantly. “Ryo would never help you.”
Bakura arched an eyebrow in his direction. “How do you know?”
“Yugi,” Yami warned again. His lover backed off, hiding behind him. “Leave us,” the pharaoh demanded of Bakura. “We are at stalemate. There is nothing I could say that would help you, even if I could somehow be convinced that it would not be the worst idea in the history of the world to tell you. You’ll just have to exist with the knowledge that you saw me restored to a body for one day.” A very slight smirk awakened on his lips. “I’m sure the curiosity will drive you mad, but that’s not my problem.”
Bakura growled at his taunting and took a step forward, drawing his hands from his pockets in confrontation. “Regaining a body of my own is but one concern,” he said darkly. “I can’t help but notice that you, pharaoh, are not in possession of your own Puzzle. Your vessel has it. It makes me wonder exactly how vulnerable you are in this form.”
Yugi gasped and seized Yami’s arm, wrapping himself around it protectively. Yami stood his ground, though his hands at his sides clenched into fists. “Try it,” he dared. “I will not break.”
The dark eyes shifted slightly, to the smaller figure half-hidden behind him. “Perhaps the little one is more fragile than you are.”
Yami lowered his head as if to brace himself for a fight. “You’ll have to go through me,” he muttered threateningly, “and I don’t intend to let you pass.”
Yugi held onto his arm, doing his best not to look scared even though he had no idea how the two of them were going to repel this wicked spirit, if he decided to attempt to steal the Puzzle or harm Yami while he was out of it. “It’s okay,” he said quietly to his partner. “I won’t let him hurt you, either. I’m right here with you, Yami.”
Bakura threw back his head and laughed spitefully. “How sweet,” he taunted. “Your concubine wants to protect you. I rather think he’s the one in need of protecting…”
Yami gave a short growl and flexed the arm Yugi held onto, ready to act the moment the dark spirit attacked him, thinking to himself how much he needed his powers in the event Bakura decided to initiate a shadow game. Yugi had his deck on him, as always, in the pouch on his belt, but without their minds bonded…. No, the pharaoh inwardly protested. I can’t show weakness to this evil being. I must protect Yugi with all my strength! To his astonishment, as well as Yugi’s, the Eye of the Puzzle began to glow right then and there, and Bakura’s face flickered with surprise as he saw the Mystic Eye awaken on Yami’s forehead like golden flame. Yugi simply held tighter to him, and Yami drew confidence from his presence, from the loving connection between them. “I won’t let you touch him,” he growled at Bakura. “As you can see, I’m not as vulnerable as you first thought.”
The spirit of the Ring eased his stance, as if to back away. The one thing he disliked more than anything in a fight was not being able to predict his opponent’s moves. The pharaoh held all the cards, now, there was no way for Bakura to even begin to guess how he might combat obviously hidden shadow magic. There were too many unknowns for him to continue this struggle. “You can’t protect him forever,” he spat. “Inside or outside the Puzzle, there will come a moment when you’re not ready, and that is the moment when I will slip in and take away everything you have.” He took a step back, though he still glared in defiance. “Enjoy that body while you have it. I will gladly take it from you as well.” He turned to walk away, but he leered over his shoulder for a parting taunt. “Or maybe I’ll just take you. Why should you be the only one who gets to experience pleasure again?”
The growl in Yami’s throat escalated, and the Eye on his forehead burned brighter. Bakura snickered and turned his back, walking away down the sidewalk until a curve took him from sight. Only then did the pharaoh relax, silently turning to his partner and escorting him swiftly away from that place lest they be ambushed. Once back out on the street, where there were plenty of witnesses to prevent anyone from attacking them, Yami paused, looking around. Yugi hugged him around the chest, burying his face in a fold of his coat. “I don’t believe it,” he whimpered. “We were just talking about him, and there he was…”
“Are you all right?” Yami turned to face him, smoothing fingertips across his cheek.
“Just a little rattled.” Yugi looked up, his eyes widening with awe as he beheld the pharaoh’s solemn face. The golden flame was gone, now, but he knew he had seen it there, clear as day. “What was that? All of a sudden, the Puzzle reacted, and you had that…Eye…”
“I don’t understand it myself,” Yami admitted, glancing down at the Puzzle around his lover’s neck. “I thought I had no way of reaching my powers, when you’re the one with the Puzzle at the moment. I was afraid I would have to fight him with my own hands…”
Yugi also looked at the Puzzle, picking it up in one hand to study it. “But…I was holding on to you,” he remembered. “Maybe…it’s our bond again. As long as I stay connected to you somehow, you can still use your powers.” He sighed with relief. “Well, that’s good to know. I was afraid it was going to get really bad.”
“Let’s put some distance between ourselves and Bakura,” Yami suggested, putting an arm around his partner’s shoulders. “I don’t want him following us, trying to catch us by surprise. I won’t feel good about him seeing us like this until I return to the Puzzle.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Yugi said warily, glancing over his shoulder as he snuggled up close to his lover and guided him away. “We’ll take a nice long walk in the other direction. By that time, we should be able to go have dinner, and he’ll be long gone.”
Several blocks away, Bakura was headed purposefully in the opposite direction, having some of the same idea of putting distance between him and his foes. He would have even lowered himself to the base idea of getting in a fistfight, just to see how fragile the pharaoh was and if he bled in that new body, but he hadn’t been prepared to face the sudden appearance of shadow magic. There was no way for him to know exactly what other knowledge the pharaoh had uncovered about himself. Let him keep his secrets for now, he grumbled to himself, turning up the peacoat’s high collar to protect his face from the wind. I will bide my time. If there is a way to duplicate whatever magic gave him that body, I will find it. And then, he will regret his choice not to cooperate.
As much as he kept telling himself that the encounter was long past and Bakura had not followed them, Yugi couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder now and then just to make sure. Yami understood his trepidation, and though it bemused him to see Yugi’s gaze dart around now and again, he didn’t tell him to stop. After all, he felt it too. But nothing interrupted their dinner together at a slightly more upscale restaurant than Yami had been accustomed to visiting, where conversation was kept as low-key as the lighting, and the two young men had a rather nice private corner where they could hold hands all they liked without bothering anyone. Though he still worried, the peace and quiet and Yami’s gentle eyes gazing at him from across the table helped Yugi to relax, and by the time they were discussing dessert, he had stopped glancing at the door every couple of minutes. Once out on the streets again, though, the apprehension returned, as it had already gotten dark and the shadows made it too easy to imagine evil spirits lurking, waiting to pounce. Yugi clung tightly to Yami’s arm, trying to dismiss any concerns that he might be scared by assuring Yami that he just wanted to be close to his lover. The pharaoh did not protest his need to stay close, but deep inside he was unhappy that Yugi had to worry, no matter how valid the concern. It always bothered him to see the suffering he caused his young love, and no amount of assurance that he was willing to endure anything for Yami’s sake eased the pharaoh’s mind. In the end, he had to content himself that true love meant sharing the bad with the good, and simply walked Yugi back home with his senses alert, sure that they were no longer in danger but not taking any chances.
For a while after the visit, Yugi stayed wary of the reappearance of Bakura, but eventually he ceased checking over his shoulder when days upon days went by with nothing happening. He remembered what his friend had said about spending the holidays overseas, and hoped that perhaps needing to leave the country had saved him from being accosted over the Puzzle and the pharaoh. There were more important things that required his attention, classes and papers and work and trying to fit in a few hours of free time with Joey and Tristan. He had told Joey about running into Bakura, but his best friend seemed far less concerned about the spirit of the Ring than Yugi felt. At least now they had an explanation for why they hadn’t seen him in so long. “Maybe Joey’s right,” Yugi mused internally to his partner’s spirit, as he walked home the same day after telling his best friend about the chance encounter. “I feel bad being all suspicious of Bakura, he’s my friend. He can’t help that his Millennium Item contains an evil spirit.”
“All the same,” Yami’s deep, noble voice sounded in the back of his mind, “I don’t think that coming face to face with me is something I would have wanted the spirit to do. It can’t be helped. What’s done is done.”
Yugi smirked to himself as he walked. “Are you going to let it scare you into not performing the ritual again?”
“Of course not.” The voice took on an unmistakable note of warmth and seduction. “In one month, I will eagerly return to the outside to be with you, Yugi. Though, let’s not forget that in the meantime, we don’t have to wait. The Puzzle is still our safe haven.”
“If I can make the time.” Yugi sighed heavily, though his conversation with the pharaoh remained inside his mind. “This is what I hate most about school. It saps all my energy, so all I want to do at night is sleep. Well, I’m not going to let it.” His face hardened into a determined frown. “One of these nights I’m going to finish my homework, or forget about it, either way, and I’m going to set aside time to be with you.”
A gentle laugh flitted through his mind. “Am I to be the one to blame for your delinquency now?”
“If you don’t want me to do it…” Yugi teased.
“I never said that,” Yami immediately responded.
While the lovers laughed and walked home safely, their thoughts on much happier ideas, they had no idea that the enemy they dismissed was forming plans of his own. The pharaoh’s fears were not far off the mark – it was indeed a terrible twist of misfortune that they ran into Bakura, for now the Ring spirit’s innermost thoughts were consumed with a burning desire to know the secret of embodiment. Even while Ryo went about his days as normal, the parasitic presence within him pondered the strange development and calculated how he might be able to find out more about it without risking himself or the Ring against the pharaoh’s wrath. If they had told him the truth, and the ancient spirit was now back inside the Puzzle, he was as formidable as ever and couldn’t be approached the usual ways. Bakura needed a new tactic, but it took him time to think of one. The days flew by, and he knew his host would soon be boarding another plane to leave the country again. He had only a short time to implement his plans before he would be whisked away and left without any means of confronting Yugi or the pharaoh.
It seemed like so long ago, now, when Yugi had nearly lost the Puzzle and his life in a fire, when the darker half of Bakura sealed a fragment of his spirit into a piece of the shattered Puzzle and thus gained access to it. He had almost forgotten about it, though seizing that opportunity had saved his spirit from annihilation in the shadow realm once. There was no way to know for sure whether he could command it from a distance, but it was his only chance to attempt to uncover the truth about the pharaoh’s embodiment which he refused to give. While Ryo slept, the spirit in his mind fed off his dormant energy and plunged deep into his darkest magic, reaching out to the piece of himself hidden in a shadowy recess of the Puzzle and commanding it to prowl forth from its place to seek the pharaoh. The labyrinth of the Puzzle was dangerous, he had never openly moved about it for fear of discovery, but this time, if he was careful, he figured he could get farther than ever and reconnoiter before deciding how to progress.
His life had finally conspired in just the right way to allow Yugi to finish his work and have a free night to himself, so he cast off all restraint and dove into the trance to allow him to enter the Puzzle’s realm, intending to forget about the outside world and concentrate on Yami alone for a good long while. He pushed open the door separating their minds and grinned cheerily to see the pharaoh’s lean figure striding up a staircase towards him, all smoldering eyes and sultry little half-smile. Yugi waited for him to approach and threw himself into his partner’s arms, melting into a deep, delicious kiss right away. The longer they kissed, the more Yugi’s giddiness evolved into desperate yearning, as he was now able to taste Yami as if he were real. The pharaoh caught him up in slender arms, reaching to touch his face with gentle fingertips and guide his kiss. At last, after a long, blissful silence full of romance, they broke for breath and leaned in, resting their foreheads together. “Tell me again why I wait for the full moon?” Yugi whispered contritely into the space between.
“It’s all right,” Yami assured. “You’ve been very busy.”
“I shouldn’t be.” Yugi opened his eyes and lifted them to his lover’s face, looking shy. “I should make time to be with you no matter what. After all…” A little, bashful smile graced his lips. “You’re my boyfriend.”
Yami smiled knowingly. “You like saying that, don’t you?”
“What? It’s true…”
“I know.” The pharaoh’s arms tightened around his lover. “It’s just something I never thought I would be.”
Yugi smiled sweetly at him. “Of all the things you are or have been in your lifetime, you’ve never been called someone’s boyfriend, huh? I suppose…they probably didn’t have that term back in Egypt. Not that it matters.” The smile took on a distinctly naughty shade. “I just wish I knew your real name…so I could scream it for you…”
Yami chuckled deeply and swept Yugi up into his arms, kissing him fiercely and beginning to pull him away from the door. “Anything you call me pleases me,” he purred, taking Yugi by the hands. “Come. Shall we retire to our room and make up for lost time?”
“Yes, please,” Yugi said cutely. The two of them were so engrossed in each other as they headed down a nearby corridor to the stable room of recent memory where their private bedroom awaited, neither noticed a shadowy figure lurking behind the edge of a wall, observing everything. He was under no desire to follow and play voyeur to their mental sexual play, but simply having been in the right place to see Yugi’s entrance was discovery enough. The dark-eyed figure snickered to himself and faded away into the maze of shadows, off to bide his time once more until he could make this spiritual connection again.
Thankfully, Yugi discovered more free time for himself in the coming days, mostly through completing just enough work to be considered satisfactory for each class rather than overexerting himself. It turned out that one of his courses could be passed easily without even doing the readings assigned each night, so by this time in the semester he was too glad to simply stop the extra reading and concentrate solely on what he would need to pass the final exam in another month. That gave him extra time to relax each night, and by the weekend, enough freedom to enter the Puzzle once more. He and Joey had fun plans for the next day, but he figured Joey wouldn’t care if he was a little tired after being up late in order to visit Yami inside the Puzzle. In fact, Yugi considered, Joey would probably just laugh and tease him about it like usual before they went about their day. He flopped onto his bed still clothed, his hands clasped around the Puzzle, as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to calm himself. In a few short minutes he was able to quiet his thoughts, and then he was slipping into the trance.
Yami was aware of his younger half’s plan, and made his way to the imposing iron door as always to meet him, but as he stepped out of an adjoining corridor, he saw that the door stood a crack open. That’s strange, the pharaoh mused to himself. Does this mean he’s early? “Yugi?” he called out, looking around. There was no response, but after a moment or two in which he held his breath, he heard the soft shuffle of a step on stone away to his left. His head turned sharply toward the sound. “Yugi? Are you there?” Without waiting for a response, Yami headed off in the direction of the footstep. If Yugi had come looking for him, he might get lost in the Puzzle, so Yami hurried to catch up before such a terrible thing could befall his lover.
A similar sense of curiosity and apprehension prickled at Yugi’s mind as he crossed the corridor that separated him from Yami and pushed open the door, not sure why it would be ajar. As he feared, Yami was not there to greet him. “Yami!” he called out, keeping his voice light. “I’m here! Hello?” He paused and looked around, unable to hear or see anything that told of the pharaoh’s presence. Weird, he thought. It’s like he’s not even here. “Yami!” he chanced again. “Where are you? Yami?”
His voice echoed from the silent reaches of the Puzzle, its million wrong-facing staircases and doors to empty chambers, never reaching the one he was calling. Confused and a little scared, Yugi started off in the direction of their usual room, wondering if he was meant to come seek the pharaoh in a familiar place – maybe a pleasant surprise awaited him. But the bedchamber was empty and the hall leading to it dark. Yugi backtracked to the door and looked around again, beginning to grow rather upset. Yami was not the type for practical jokes, but Yugi could not begin to conceive of anything else being responsible for his absence. He trusted his lover, but the silence unnerved him. “Yami?” he called again, clutching his hands around the representative image of the Puzzle around his neck. The pharaoh could not have been removed from the Puzzle, not without the ritual, so where could he be? Frowning, Yugi started away down another corridor, intent on finding him one way or another.
At the moment, Yami was far from his partner’s position, his senses alert for the shadow he had been following, thinking it was Yugi. Enough time had gone by that he realized he had been mistaken, somehow, but returning to the small corner of the Puzzle that he knew well, that never seemed to change position, proved more difficult than he expected. Something was wrong, and it annoyed Yami to think that he had been duped by his own imagination. He refused to consider himself lost, but he knew it would take cautious patience to return to the familiar places near the Puzzle’s door. Meanwhile, his innermost spirit could sense Yugi clearly, so he knew the young one was not in trouble. They would meet at the door as usual, and forget about this little mistake so they could enjoy their evening together in the mystical realm. At least, that was what he hoped as he navigated the dark corridors.
Yugi wandered absently through the twisted maze, confused and slightly concerned that he couldn’t find the Puzzle’s inhabitant. Yami should have been there waiting for him, where could he have gone? He’s in here somewhere, but this place is so huge and crazy, I could wander forever and not find him! Maybe I should just go back to the door, at least I know that place well enough. Yugi frowned at the stairwell rising above his head. If I could just remember how to get back there…
He ducked through doors and under arches and tried to retrace his steps back to the entry, but the constantly shifting labyrinth shrouded in darkness bewildered him and led him only further into places he had never been before. Once in a while he called out, but no one answered. Annoyed and anxious, he tried to quicken his pace, but a turn of a corner and he realized he was hopelessly lost. Yugi stopped there, in a narrow, angled corridor surrounded on all sides by stone structures and stairwells, and decided it was better to just stay in once place and hope that Yami knew how to find him. That the pharaoh’s spirit seemed to be nowhere in reach alarmed him greatly, but since there was no way to remove him completely from the Puzzle barring a complex, ritualistic loss in a duel and subsequent magic ceremony, Yugi knew he had to be around and willed himself to be patient and wait to be found. He backed against a wall, reaching out a hand to brace himself, but suddenly thought he heard a step that wasn’t his. “Yami?” he breathed into the shadows, turning to look.
“No,” a voice rasped, “but I am the darkness you should fear.”
A figure materialized from beneath a staircase, but a second too late Yugi saw that it was not the spirit he expected to see. The flash of evil eyes and glint of a wicked leer made him gasp. “No! It’s you! What are you doing here?”
The white-haired spirit chuckled savagely. “There you are, little Yugi. Lost something, have we?”