Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Differences Don't Matter ❯ Nothing is as it Seems ( Chapter 14 )

Yami glared at Makoto with a hatred he didn't know existed within him. Or maybe it's jealousy and I'm trying to convince my conscience otherwise the teen told himself sarcastically.

 

No matter which way he looked at it though, he didn't like the fact that Makoto was there, in his house, talking to Yugi in his living room.

 

“Why don't you just go in and sit down with them,” Tea repeated exasperatedly for the tenth time since Makoto had arrived.

 

Yami ignored her. He would no lose his self control over something that should've been so simple. Besides he added mentally I don't even know if Yugi would like me in there or not. I don't want to intrude.

 

Tea threw her hands up in defeat, almost losing hold of the duster in her hand causing two younger maids who were eavesdropping to giggle. “This is ridiculous,” the head maid mumbled under her breath with annoyance. “Back to work; come on, this isn't a drama fit for an audience. Let's go,” she scolded, pushing them towards the kitchen.

 

The crimson-eyed teen rolled his eyes at her antics, but quickly turned back to the scene unfolding in his living room. Yami grit his teeth as he watched Yugi and Makoto continue to talk, their lips moving but his ears unable to catch the words coming from them. With an annoyed huff, he turned and stalked back to the library, going around the long way so he wouldn't pass by through the living room and be tempted to listen in anymore.

 

Throwing himself into his chair, Yami pulled up the book he took from the castle and continued to read. The words on the old, musky pages served their purpose to distract Yami's thought of his unwanted guest and his Yu - his good friend talking in the next room. He became absorbed in the text once more and never heard the sound of the door opening or the gentle call of his name. He turned the page and this time he did hear the startled gasp.

 

Yugi tripped over his feet and landed on his back after catching sight of what the next page, the last page in the book held. He didn't need to look long before it registered. He'd seen the scratchy picture enough times to only need a glance. Yami peeked over the top of the chair and chuckled at the humorous sight of Yugi sprawled out on the floor.

 

“Is something wrong,” he asked jokingly, moving around to kneel next to the elf.

 

Instead of answering the question, Yugi jumped up and grabbed the book from where Yami sat it on the seat of the chair. He flipped through the pages fervently. Yami looked over his shoulder to see what the elf was looking for and when he did his eyes widened at the plant placed decoratively on the table. The flower was growing at a phenomenal rate and he looked at Yugi who was breathing heavily next to him. Something about the elf was definitely off and it worried him not knowing what it was.

 

“Here,” Yugi shouted suddenly beside him.

 

Yami jumped and then looked over his shoulder quickly, looking at a picture Yugi's small finger was pointing at.

 

The design was scratched out like someone was in a hurry to draw it. It was simple and yet intricate at the same time, almost as if it had some important meaning behind it. It was a circle with three lines inside it to form a detached triangle at the center.

 

It can't be all that simple though if Yugi looks terrified at the sight of it Yami told himself, watching Yugi helplessly as tears squeezed out past his tightly shut eyes.

 

“Yugi,” Yami started quietly, wrapping his arms around Yugi tightly, “what's wrong?”

 

The elf turned in Yami's arms and sobbed dryly into his shirt. His small hands clenched into fists around clumps of Yami's shirt and his shoulders shook with slight tremors with each raspy intake of air the elf took. Sooner than expected and to the teen's surprise, Yugi pulled away shortly after, eyes red-rimmed and little body still quivering, and did something that he'd never done before: he pulled up his sleeves. To anyone but Yugi, the movement was quick and deliberate, as he was merely someone wearing long sleeves on a hot day and was moving the sleeves to cool off some. However, to the elfin teenager, the action couldn't have been any slower. It was more of a teasing gesture and even the mark itself took forever to appear from behind the curtain of his sleeve. Crimson eyes widened and the muscles in his arms tensed with disbelief. His hands, which were still settled on Yugi's shoulders after the elf had pulled away, fell limply to his sides, swaying for a moment before all Yami could do was stare at the blemish on Yugi's wrist.

 

The image itself looked only like a mere tattoo recently done, nothing like the chicken scratch in the book. It was bolder and much more intricate than the book as well, but it was obvious that the two were indeed one in the same design. Where the circle in the book appeared more like an oval the one on Yugi's skin curved perfectly, almost like someone had used a stencil rather than freehand. Also, the spaces between the sides of the broken triangle were much more obvious in the book to show that the triangle wasn't connected at all and were exaggerated. However, the spaces that showed on Yugi's wrists were mere slits where the edges of the triangle would connect, but it was still obvious that they weren't connected since the paleness of Yugi's skin contrasted greatly with the pure black of the marking.

 

With a trembling hand, Yami slid a tentative finger over the black on Yugi's skin, half expecting it to smear away like a newly done ink drawing. That wasn't the case with the mark. It stayed on just like a tattoo would, but Yugi flinched either way.

 

It wasn't out of pain that Yugi pulled away, but out of fright. Ever since he was old enough to comprehend that he was different and the sight of the mark on his wrist was the cause of his parents' never taking him outside without long sleeves on even it was clearing warm outside he had wanted to know why it was he that he was the one who was forced to have such an image burned into his skin. Yugi didn't like to think that he was born with such a curse, that instead he's been kidnapped very young and the image was tainted onto his skin by something evil before he was returned to his family. In his mind though, he knew that wasn't the case. If it were, he knew his parents wouldn't have been so cautious about people seeing it but about Yugi's feelings towards it when he found out. Since his truest desire about the mark wasn't real he would continue with what his parents started and hide it from everyone's sight.

 

After such a reaction to a simply sketch on an old book though, and Yami's witnessing it he knew he wouldn't be able to hide the truth without his human friend being suspicious of his change in attitude. He would have to betray what he'd been taught so young to do and he pulled his sleeve back for a stranger.

 

This isn't a stranger Yugi told himself though once he'd finally pulled the sleeve back down after Yami had pulled away at his flinch. This is Yami and Yami treats me like I'm a living thing too. He would never think of me as anything else…would he?

 

“W-what is that, Yugi,” Yami asked, unable to comprehend the meaning behind why Yugi would have the same design stained onto his skin as the drawing in the book. He knew he could've just looked at the book and read the few words that were left, but he didn't want to think that Yugi might lie to him about it to keep him from reading the book. He wanted the elf to trust him and from the way Yugi was acting about it, it was a personal issue.

 

Yugi shrugged, unable to find his voice at the moment. The shock of actually having seen the mark in someplace other than his own body and in a book from thousands of years previous was still reeling in his mind. He glanced back at the book he'd dropped on the floor and then back to his palm. He hoped Yami would understand the small action, but a small part of him wished he hadn't even seen it so he could remain ignorant to the fact that he was different from other elves.

 

As it were, Yami had seen the action and he did understand it. Hesitantly, wanting to give Yugi a chance to take back his silent request if he wanted to, he knelt on the floor and picked up the book.

 

The old pages of the tome had bent and folded when it had dropped onto the floor and where it had fallen there was a small puddle of dust when the small particles dropped from the pages they clung to at the impact of hitting the floor. Yami took his time straightening them out, still stalling on Yugi's behalf before he turned to the back of the book.

 

To his surprise, however, the writing alongside the drawing in the tome was unreadable. It wasn't in faded ink or distorted beyond recognition; he just couldn't read it.

 

The writing that was next to the drawing wasn't anything close to actual letters. It looked beautiful and intricate in its own way. What was written down looked to have been made from a different source than the feather quill the rest of the dialect in the book was written in. The letters were too thick and wavy to have been created from the thin, stiff edge of the plume. Also, they looked to have made by an entirely different hand the rest of the inscriptions.

 

“Yugi, this writing isn't even in English,” Yami explained, tilting the book for him to read.

 

Yugi took the book from Yami's hand and followed each of the designs with a finger, his eyes focusing on the complicated patterns intently. His tongue darted out to moist his lips and violet eyes narrowed as his finger reached the second line of the strange words.

 

“Can you understand it,” Yami asked curiously, paying more attention to the elf's delicate face and the curves of his cheeks rather than the writing in the book.

 

“Just barely,” Yugi muttered absently, sliding his finger along the page as he continued to read. “It's an old form of elfish writing, almost entirely lost over the ages. I only know it so well from the books my mom and dad brought me while I was stuck in the house. Some of them had writing like this, but I never thought it would come in handy until now.” He was biting on the inside of his cheek as he concentrated and never noticed Yami's eyes as they examined the contours of his face.

 

At that moment there was a knock on the door and Makoto's face appeared in the gap the door left. “Yugi, is everything okay? You've been gone for a while.”

 

Startled, Yugi jumped and dropped the text to the floor again. He turned on his heel and chuckled nervously, hiding his arms behind his back as he pushed the sleeve of his shirt back down to cover the mark on his wrist. “Yes, yes, I'm sorry,” he rushed out. “I was…helping Yami with something. I guess I lost track of time.”

 

“That's alright, Yugi. You don't have to apologize to me,” Makoto chuckled, coming in and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “I'm just glad you aren't upset with me.”

 

Yugi made a negative sound in his throat and shook his head quickly, his bangs tickling his cheeks as he did. “Not at all, Makoto,” he smiled. Both of them started walking out of the library, Yami watching with jealousy stirring in his eyes. He wasn't going to deny his feelings this time: they were jealousy.

 

“Now about that question I asked yo - ” Makoto's question cut off as the pair walked further from the library.

 

Question Yami repeated. His curiosity had been piqued. What question did that bartender ask Yugi…my Yugi? He was tempted to follow the two and eaves drop again, but his pride and trust in Yugi wouldn't allow him. If Yugi - my Yugi - wants to go back to work with Makoto again than that's just fine with me. His words didn't convince him and he found his feet moving towards the living room without his consent. He stopped himself before he got too close though and the only word he managed to make out before turning to head in the other direction was Yugi's voice confirming something with a confidant, “Yes.”

 

Yami froze and was tempted to go back to listen to the rest of the conversation since he'd heard probably the best part of it, but now his gut feeling was to get far away from the room as quickly as he could. So he did, he trudged up the stairs, tripping more than once, and headed down the silent, abandoned hallway to his bedroom. He knew he shouldn't be jumping to conclusions. He hadn't even heard Makoto's question, but somehow he knew that was what Yugi was saying “yes” to. And, knowing Makoto's feelings about Yugi as well as he did, he could only assume the worst.

 

Yugi's going to go back with Makoto…

 

Yami told himself that it didn't matter. He tried to tell himself that it wasn't his heart that was making it hard to breathe and that it wasn't because of the possibility of Yugi leaving that made his eyes burn with foreign tears. He convinced himself that if Yugi wanted to leave than he'd pack his bags for him since he was so eager to get out of the house.

 

When a knock rapped on the door and Yugi's angelic voice caused Yami's ears to perk up as well as his mood he stood and was about to unlock it when he remembered that Yugi was there to tell him his decision to leave.

 

“Go away,” he shouted, hiding his face in his pillow as he mentally scolded himself for allowing his feelings to be so obvious.

 

“Yami,” Yugi questioned, placing his ear on the door to hear better, “are you okay? You're voice sounds raspy…”

 

“I'm fine. Leave me alone,” Yami yelled at the door. He knew he wasn't being reasonably but he didn't want Yugi to see him in his moment of weakness…or that's what he told himself, although his heart clenched tighter as he realized his attitude wasn't going to help change the elf's decision about leaving.

 

The next thing he heard made his eyes widen and he slid off the bed, staring at the door with his heart beating achingly in his throat. Sniffles and hiccupping from Yugi's end of the door was all the convincing Yami needed to open it. He knelt in front of Yugi, who had slumped forward when the door opened and knelt in front of the door with a tear sliding down his pale cheeks.

 

“Have I done something wrong, Yami? Why don't you want to be with me anymore,” he asked pitifully, eyes wide with such innocence it was no wonder Yami was drawn to him more closely than anyone ever before.

 

Yami wrapped his arms around him tightly and shook his head. “Not at all, Yugi; I'm not mad at anything,” he promised. He didn't know where his previous anger and betrayal had gone, but he knew he could never remain mad when it came to his little Yugi.

 

Yugi returned his hug eagerly, cuddling his cheek against Yami's neck, his bangs tickling the older's cheeks.

 

“Yugi,” Yami asked, unable to resist asking, “what question was Makoto talking about earlier when you left the library?”

 

The elf pulled away, smiling gently. “He asked if I wanted to work for him as an employee in the bar. He'd even help fix up my room so I could stay there.”

 

“Oh,” Yami's spirits fell once again.

 

“I turned him down,” Yugi finished quietly.

 

Yami's head jerked up. “You did? B-but why?”

 

“I don't want to live with him or work for him. Makoto is great…but I want to be with you more.” A blush rose to his cheeks and he looked away quickly.

 

“Then…what was the “yes” you said to,” Yami inquired, remembering that was the word that caused him to get so upset in the first place.

 

“He asked if I was being treated nicely here and if I liked it here….I told him that I've never felt so comfortable in my whole life.” Yugi didn't look up when he answered, but Yami could tell his flush had reddened further.

 

Yami smiled and kissed the top of Yugi's head gently. “I'm glad,” he whispered.”

 

Yugi looked up and both stared deep into the other's eyes for the better part of the minute before Yami leant down and pressed his lips to Yugi. His heart leaped to his throat and he could feel Yugi's pulse speed up with his. He knew this moment was what both were waiting for and he didn't want to ever let it end.