Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ A Different Kind of You ❯ On Guardian's Wings ( Chapter 16 )

Yugi walked to the apartment buildings nervously, still wondering if this would be a bad idea or not. Marik had informed him that he met Yami and had been working with him in and effort to `rescue' him from his old life. Malik had also added on that they had tried calling his look-a-like several times the night after he arrived to let him know he was back, but Yami never answered and didn't return any of the calls. Now he found himself walking towards the last place he'd been to before he left and praying to anyone listening that nothing would go wrong. Okay, so I deserve a good kick the butt and a whole lot of yelling for what I did, but he's got to a least look at me, right? At least…I hope he'll look at me even if it is with anger.

Shyly and shaking with nerves, Yugi's pale hand rapped gently on the door a few times and stepped away, hoping his crimson-eyed friend would answer, even if it was a shout through the door to go away.

Almost in slow motion the door creaked open and Yami, wide-eyed and motionless, stood at the door. The surprise was quickly thrown off though and asked, "What are you doing here?"

I knew he'd still be angry with me Yugi thought to himself, watching as the crimson pools hardened to frozen fires at the sight of him. Of course he'd still be angry with me. He has every right to be; doesn't he? After all, we did have a big fight before I ran off and we never really settled it so he should be upset with me still. Then Yugi started to wonder if it was a bad idea to come here, but it's too late for me to back out now.

Taking a deep breath, Yugi put on the most apologetic expression he could and admitted nervously; pleading silently that Yami wouldn't turn him away. "I missed you. I wanted to see you again, Yami." His words were spoken silently, so much that Yugi didn't think Yami even heard him, but then again there wasn't much noise in the halls so he could be wrong.

Yami couldn't understand why Yugi felt that way when he obviously had Duke Devlin's company now. I saw him kissing him so why would he come to me? He decided it was best not to bring that topic up again, lest he begin tearing up again and then breaking apart completely.

"Did you even notice I was gone all this time," Yugi asked hopefully. He knew the answer to that, but he still wanted to hear Yami at least say it.

The crimson-eyed teen offered a slight nod. "Yes, I did. I've been helping your friends to try and locate you."

Yugi doesn't say anything to that. Just to know that Yami told him meant more to him than anything. He could've just denied it and left it that, obviously not wanting the amethyst-eyed teen to know he cared, at least to some extent at least. Instead, he just nodded and looked away.

After a long, stretched out moment of uncomfortable silence that settled between them, Yugi moves his cramped legs and mumbles, "I should be going. I just wanted to see you and make sure you're doing alright."

Yami nodded and makes up the excuse that he had a lot of important things to that day. After he closed the door, however, hot tears started escaping him for the umpteenth time since he saw kissing that dice head, Duke Devlin.

~~

Yugi had been in his room for a few hours, since he arrived back at the whorehouse after visiting with Yami. The tension between them, it was enough to make him quiver at how uncomfortable he felt in his crimson-eyed friend's presence now. He could only hope that things between them could be fixed or he might not ever be able to forgive himself for leaving like he did.

A knock rapped on his door and he just glanced up to stare at it, not offering any kind of noise to allow the person to enter. The person on the other side of the door didn't seem to care though and cracked open the worn-out wood and peeked in. Yugi was utterly surprised to see it was Yami, and the crimson eyes glimmered with nervousness and unsure confidence. "Hey," he rasped out, his throat obviously dry.

Yugi nodded, not trusting his voice right then. Why did he come here? He said he had things to do.

As if reading his thoughts, Yami closed the door behind him and looked away from his look-a-like on the bed. "I lied," he whispered.

"Lied," Yugi asked innocently, pretending like he didn't know what he was talking about.

"About saying I had things to do today. Intentionally, I had wanted to be alone and not want anything to do with you after I saw you kissing that Devlin guy, but…" his voice caught in his throat and wide eyes glanced over and saw an equally shocked Yugi, mouth hanging open for all the flies in the world to glide into. "Sorry," he quickly spat out, more angrily than he wanted, "I hadn't meant to say anything about that."

"Why are you being so mean," Yugi hadn't meant to let that out, only to think it, but apparently his mind had taken a field trip and wouldn't be back until much later.

"I'm not," Yami growled out, not meaning to get so angry. He didn't even know why he was getting angry in the first place. Jealously was the first thing that crossed his mind, but he quickly pushed that thought away, not wanting to believe such a thing. "I'm really happy for your new found love," he ground out, not really meaning to say that either. Gods, why can't I control my mouth!

The younger easily sensed the bitterness radiating off his companion and irrationally asked, "Are you mad at me because I found love in my life after telling you once that I didn't like it? Is that why you're acting this way?"

Yami quickly looked away, growling out, "You should mind your own business." He turned towards the door and slamming it open, ignoring everything Yugi cried after him as he did.

After his once close friend disappeared from sight, Yugi burst into tears, sobbing into his pillow. Thinking quickly, he grabbed up the closet jacked and made a mad dash to Duke's house, needing his `new found love' as Yami called it, and his warm presence.

~~

Just as Yugi opened the door and went into the living room to look for his boyfriend, a girl with long, light brown hair stormed out of the house in tears and he Duke calling, "Serenity, come back."

Realization dawned on Yugi then, something he had tried to block completely from his memories. Not bothering to wipe his face off of stray tears or the red blotchiness that had to be there when he had cried, he made his presence known to the game creator, who was startled to see him. He quickly asked, "Yugi, what happened, your face is all red. Have you been crying? What happened?"

Ignoring his questions, Yugi asked, "Is that the girl I heard you talking to on the phone that night?" He knew he wouldn't have to elaborate on which night he was talking about. After all, he'd only stayed there one night.

Eyes wide and with great hesitation, Duke nodded faintly, hoping extravagantly that Yugi wouldn't have even noticed it. He would lie, but he'd feel even more terrible that he already did doing something like that to the innocent looking and broken creature standing in front of him.

Yugi nodded, proving that he had seen Duke's small affirmation, and turned away from Duke. "Coming back with Malik had obviously not been the right thing to do. I'm always doing this, it seems: bringing complications into other people's lives like this."

It didn't take much for the game creator to understand what Yugi was trying to say. He practically ran to the small teen and grabbed his shoulders. "Don't you dare go back to your parents' house, Yugi," he demanded, though his voice not as steady as he hoped it would be. "You have family here, you're true family that loves you and wouldn't do anything to hurt you. I love you, Yugi. I'd die without you, not knowing if you were safe or not. That place will tear you apart if you go back. I'm surprised that you're even as sane as you are after coming back from that hell hole!" He finished in a yell, and quickly looked away, not meaning on getting so emotional as to stoop to that.

To say Yugi was surprised by the outburst would be an understatement. He shook it off quickly though and looked away, shaking his head as he tried to hide his tears. "No, my friends and my surrogate family may be here and I'm grateful that they are. Being here though only causes complications." He didn't mean to continue, but he did anyway. He decided to blame it on his lost state and the tears that started to cascade down his cheeks. "Marik doesn't know whether to line up customers for me or to just let me stay there, Malik's too scared to even talk to me, lest he say something that'll make me turn further from him. Bakura was never close to me to begin with and Ryou, Ryou was already turning away from me and now we're even further apart than ever. Joey's still too rapped in Seto and Seto doesn't like to me to being with. I was never friends with anyone else in that horrible place." More tears made waterfalls down his cheeks as he continued, "You and that girl, Serenity, are in ruins because I'm back. I broke your relationship apart because you're with me now. Even somebody I've never met is hurt because I came back. Then there's Yami," Yugi completely down and fell to his knees sobbing out more loudly and harshly than could ever remember doing in life, "Yami completely hates me now. I can't talk to him now without feeling tense or getting into an argument with him!"

After a second, Yugi forced himself to stand, denying any help Duke tried to offer to him. He dragged himself to the door, trying to ignore the outburst he'd just had. Before leaving, however, Yugi looked over his shoulder and said, "My heart might not truly be with you anymore in the way it once was, but it is with you when I say I love you as a brother. I hope you can find some semblance of forgiveness for me for ending our relationship so soon like this." He left without another word said between them, letting his tears fall silently as he walked the long road to the gate. Afterwards, he ran to the whorehouse and locked himself in his room, never talking to anyone who came by the door.

Yugi had been in there for days, quickly turned into weeks. Marik tried everything to get him out of there, but eventually even he had to give up. He could easily just unlock the door with the master key, but the fact that Yugi was his friend kept him from doing it. Malik pleaded with him to open the door, but Marik couldn't bring himself to do it. Even Bakura had gone to the undisturbed door when Ryou had come to him in tears explaining what happened, but he too failed in getting the door to open. There was even a small instant where Joey and Seto tried coaxing Yugi out, Joey for his friend and Seto doing it for his lover, but they also couldn't budge the door.

Malik, worried for his friend becoming so depressed like Ryou had once been when he first came to the house, locked himself in Marik's office, curled up on his lover's chair with the phone and a special number in hand. He dialed the number and prayed someone would pick up this time.

When the ringing stopped and a hoarse voice answered, "Hello," Malik's stomach jumped in relief.

"Please," he begged with everything he had in him, "Please, you have to come speak with Yugi. He's locked himself in his room, he won't talk to anybody, and all we can hear is the sound of him crying. He hasn't come out for weeks now and won't even open the door for food. I'm scared for him and you're the only one who can get through to him. I just know it."

A long sigh echoed in the ear piece of the phone before Yami's tired voice promised to be over in a short while.

~~

Seconds ticked by, minutes passed by slowly, and all too sluggishly a half an hour went by before Malik saw a lone figure walking towards the whorehouse. The amethyst-eyed teen perked up just slightly in hopes that Yami might be the one to save his friend.

When Yami stopped in front of him with worrying drowning in his fiery depths, Malik silently led him to Yugi's room and waited.

With slight hesitance, Yami knocked lightly on the door and listened intently for any sounds. He didn't hear anything, but that didn't mean that Yugi wasn't in there. If the phone call was anything to go by, then this door was monitored thoroughly for any signs of Yugi coming out. He knocked and called out for the younger teen this time, asking him gently to open the door.

~~

Yugi was roused from his sleep by more knocking. He thought that if he just didn't make any sounds that the person would just go away and leave him alone. His stomach growled irritably at him, but he chose to ignore it just like every other time it argued to be fed. His throat was parched from crying and his eyes itched terribly, but he couldn't just leave his room. He didn't see a point now that he had nothing in his life.

When another knock echoed through the room and then a soft voice Yugi could unmistakably recognize after a few seconds, his eyes widened and his head turned in disbelief towards the door. He doesn't want to belief that his red-eyed look-a-like could possibly be on the other side of the door, but at the same time he knew.

~~

"Yugi, please, open the door. I want to talk to you," and after a small second he admitted, "I miss you. I'm worried about you. Please, let me in?"

~~

The amethyst-eyed teen gently stood from the bed, not even knowing he was heading towards the soothing voice until his hand rested on the knob. He contemplated just backing away from it, but his undeniable urge to see the person who he felt he let down the most compelled him to continue with what he started.

~~

Malik squeaked with utter relief when the unmistakeable sound of the lock clicking reached his ears. His hands clenched each other tightly as his eyes glued on the door knob, watching as it turned.

Yami stepped away from the door and offered a small smile as his determined crimson eyes stared down into Yugi's broken ones. His smile only wavered slightly as he took in Yugi's complete form, but chose to ignore it in favor of just being there for Yugi. After everything was settled down then he'd worry about Yugi's health, but for now he'd take it one step at a time.