Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Reflections of the Past ❯ Prologue/Mitsurugi and Yugi ( Chapter 1 )

A/N: alright, I'm not exactly sure how this idea came about, but I think it came from several different things. ^^;; oh, well... I just hope you ppls like it! Also, if any of you have an idea for a short, simple title that would suit this fic better, please tell me! I need a better title! -_-

Disclaimers: I no own YGO or Inu-Yasha! they belong to Rumiko and Kazuki Takahashi! I wouldn't have any objections if either of them decided to give me the copyright, however! XP But I doubt that's ever gonna happen...

Reflections of the Past

Prologue

A demon with long golden hair and deep amethyst eyes looked down at his son; an infant with spiky black hair with golden bangs and eyes the same shade of violet as his father's. He looked at the boy's mother, a human woman that was barely old enough to have a child. "Mitsurugi, he's so small..." the girl said, holding the baby close to her.

Mitsurugi smiled gently. He didn't want to tell the girl that he himself was fatally sick, since he wanted the child to grow up loving humans, not wanting to kill them. "You take care of him, I have things I need to take care of before I can allow you to come with me. Remember, though, since no one knows I'm his father, please don't mention that he is a hanyou... I would hate for you to be driven out of the village just for being the lover of a demon..." Mitsurugi said, leaving.

"Demo..." the girl started, protesting.

"I'll see you and my dear child later. I know you can take good care of him..." Mitsurugi smiled before seeming to disappear.

Chapter 1

Yugi Mutou was the pride of his village. Though small, his slender frame hid enormous strength. And yet, he would never hurt anyone despite having been trained to be a master swordsman and fighter. His black and gold-highlighted hair stuck out in every direction, his amethyst eyes saw everything in clear, vivid detail. So it was he who first saw a strange young man about his own age coming towards the village.

The young man also had black hair with golden bangs, tied back into a small ponytail. Yugi saw, however, that he had crimson colored eyes that held a hint of hidden cruelty. He was dressed much as a monk might be, and even carried a staff similar to a monk's. But Yugi noticed that there weren't any rosary beads around his hand or neck, so he knew that whoever the strange young man was, he wasn't a monk.

Yugi jumped down to meet the young man who resembled himself so much. "Who are you?" Yugi asked, ready to draw his sword if necessary.

The stranger looked at Yugi oddly. He obviously saw the only subtle differences between them. "I am Yami. What would your name be?"

"Mutou Yugi. Why are you dressed so much like a monk when it's obvious that you aren't one?" Yugi asked suspiciously.

"That would be a long explanation, maybe I will tell it to you someday. But at the moment, I have a message to deliver to you..." Yami said, handing Yugi a scroll.

Yugi glanced at Yami before starting to read the scroll the other had handed to him.

Yugi,

I have sent my trusted advisor and servant to give this message to you. Since I've never had the honor of meeting my only son, I pray that you'll forgive me for never having been there for you. I had well-intentioned reasons, but I still can never make up for walking out on you and your mother. In this letter, I will reveal to you the truth of your heritage, and if you doubt what I say, ask your mother, I know she will not hide the truth from you any longer. You are a hanyou, and soon shall be Lord of the Nothern Lands. Though you will have skirmishes and all-out fights with the other Demon Lords, I have faith in you. I have already made peace with Kiryu and Rotsumigi, Demon Lords of the Eastern and Southern Lands, so hopefully they will not bother you. If that is the case, then the only other Demon Lord you will have to worry about is Sessho-Maru, Lord of the Western Lands. Send your mother my greetings and apologies.

Mitsurugi, Demon Lord of the Northern Lands

Yugi's eyes widened. If this person had so much faith in his mother and himself, there was only one thing he could do. "OKASSAN!!" Yugi cried out, rushing to meet his mother.

Yugi's mother looked up, puzzled. "What is it, Yugi?" she asked.

Yugi handed the scroll to his mother, and looked impatient for an answer. As his mother read it, her eyes widened. "Mitsurugi, it's been so long since I've heard from him... Yugi, it's a shame you never got to meet him, he's kind and gentle, just like you."

"Then it's true...?!" Yugi asked, slumping to the ground.

"Hai, you are a hanyou, and I'm sorry to have kept it from you for so long. But, Mitsurugi, he told me to keep that fact from the villagers, for your sake..."

Yugi turned to Yami, who had been silently watching the entire thing. "Who said you could listen in on a private conversation?"

"If you want to see him, I will take you to him. His greatest wish is to just see you before he dies..." Yami said gently.

"Nani?! He's... dying?" Yugi's mother asked, shocked.

"Hai. I'm very sorry to have to tell you that, but if we hurry, Yugi may still be able to see Mitsurugi-sama before he leaves this world..."

"Go with him, Yugi. Not only to claim the title your father is passing on to you, but to maybe see him for first and last time..."

"'Kassan, don't you want to come...?" Yugi asked, puzzled.

"No, I can't bear to see him so close to death, but you must meet him, Yugi. Go before it's too late..." Yugi's mother smiled gently and helped him get ready to leave.

***

"So, what's the deal with you? Why are you Father's servant, and why in seven hells are you dressed like a monk when you aren't one?" Yugi asked Yami as they ran fervently to see the dying Demon Lord.

"I used to be a monk, but I was excommunicated from service for practicing Shadow Magick. The priests said that the magick was 'evil,' but the magick itself was not evil, it merely turned the weak-minded and power-hungry into beings that served the Powers of the Shadow Realm... These 'Powers,' whether creatures, gods, or devils, are the true evil. Yes, I've taken risks, and I've killed humans, but I would never shed the blood of an innocent... My eyes are the color of the blood that I've spilt, and my hair has been shocked from solid black to represent the lightning I've struck onto others. Since I am neither weak-minded nor power-hungry, the Shadow Magick has not even dared to tempt me. I have also been given an official title of the Shadow Realm: Game King. Whether this title makes me one of the Powers of the Shadow Realm, I don't know, but I have never lost a Shadow Game," Yami explained, his eyes focusing elsewhere.

"Shadow Game?" Yugi asked, curious.

"I'll show you a Shadow Game later, but we are nearing your father's palace. Follow me, few know about and even fewer dare to use this path..." the ex-monk said, turning down an ill-used path.

Yugi followed without hesitation. If the ex-monk wasn't afraid to use that path, why should he? He was a hanyou, after all... Before long, Yami stopped in front of a huge palace with beautiful gardens. "Don't touch the flowers, the thorns give out a blood-colored poison that will kill you slowly but surely. I planted them to try and find a cure for their poison. However, none of the treatments have worked, only slowed down your father's death..."

"You mean, he was poisoned?" Yugi asked. To think that a simple flower's poison was the reason for his father's coming death was staggering to Yugi.

"Hai, and he would never have lived this long if it were not for some of the remedies I made. When he met me just five years ago, he was nearly dead. I was only twelve years old at the time, but I knew how to mix the poison of herbs with other plants to form cures. I had also just been excommunicated, if you can imagine a twelve-year old monk..." Yami smiled slightly. "As an orphan, a monk took me as an apprentice when I was only five or six, so I was already a monk at the age of ten. I knew everything from medicine to exorcisms. I was perfect for your father to hire as a servant... I got one plant like the one that had poisoned him, and made what I thought should have been a cure. Although it helped him get better, it only delayed his death, and I knew it. I kept making more remedies, hoping one would work, but none did. Finally, your father became immune to all of the remedies I could think of. That is why he is dying now..."

"Where is he? I want to see him!" Yugi cried out.

"I'm right here..." said Mitsurugi, walking out of a small, unnoticed door.

Yugi looked at the man that was leaning against the wall for support. He looked so fragile, so helpless... Yugi was afraid that if he even hugged him, the man would fall apart. "Mitsurugi-sama! You shouldn't be out of bed! You need to..." Yami started reprimanding the demon lord.

"Yami-san, this is my last day of life, let me enjoy it as I wish," the demon said, gathering his strength to walk towards Yugi. "Who is this?"

"Mitsurugi-sama, this is your son, Mutou Yugi..." Yami said, slightly surprised. The demon lord said that he had not seen Yugi in a long time, but how long it really was Yami never knew. To not even remotely recognize him must mean that Mitsurugi hadn't seen Yugi since he was an infant...

"Yugi..?! At last, I finally get to meet you. You're a fine, handsome young man, with the grace of your mother. At least I've met you before I die, I'm glad for that. Yami," Mitsurugi said, turning to the ex-monk, "do you have that new treatment you told me about before you left?"

"H..Hai, Mitsurugi-sama. This remedy would undoubtedly kill a human, since in it is the flesh of a dragon..." Yami said, slightly worried that it might kill his master, as well.

Yugi looked at Yami with wide eyes. "Dragon meat?! B..but dragon meat is..."

"A powerful curative for demons and hanyous alike, Yugi. But remember that there are two types of dragon, the ones that would eat humans and youkai alike, and the ones that would never harm anyone. The one that I killed was a Shadow Creature, of the type that would eat humans and youkai," Yami explained simply.

Mitsurugi gladly took the potion and drank it, immediately feeling some of his strength coming back. "I haven't felt like this in ages, Yami. It may only be enough to last me a few more days, but it will do. I want to get to know my son..."

Yami looked at his master. 'That dragon was the most compatible in powers to Mitsurugi-sama. I only hope that the dragon meat doesn't kill him as it would a human...' Yami thought, going to kill all of the poison flowers in the garden. He muttered a spell in an odd language very different from Japanese, and every last one of the poison flowers burst into flames. When the fire was done burning, nothing was left but a fine red ash. If Yami had bothered to look into it, he would have found that the red ash mixed with Mitsurugi's poisoned blood was the only cure for the flower's fatal poison........

A/N: yesh, yesh, Mitsurugi is going to die. It's essential to plot. I'm sorry if anyone was already starting to get fond of the guy, but his last appearence is in the next chapter, as he's getting to know Yugi better. Also in the next chapter, Miroku knows Yami?! How is that? Watch out for heated arguments and hints of yaoiful twists! XD