Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Differences Don't Matter ❯ Twists to Tricks ( Chapter 18 )

Yugi stared with an unspeakable shock at the worn pages in front of him. His hands were shaking and his whole body was tense. Violet eyes stared blankly as something warm started pouring into him.

 

Mommy? Can I play outside today?

 

No, Yugi, it's too dangerous for you to go outside.

 

Clenching his eyes tightly, he shook his head to rid himself of his bombarding memories. Each one hit him one after the other and everything became clearer to him.

 

Papa, why do I have to wear long sleeves? It's hot.

 

Because you have to, son. It's too dangerous for your bare arms to show.

 

An unspeakable rage started to fill the young elf as lie after lie spilled from his parents' lips.

 

Why do I have this funny mark on my wrist?

 

Sweetie, it's a scar; we've been over this. You were very young when you burnt yourself and got that mark.

 

What could make such a symbol though?

 

I don't know, honey. You just came home crying and saying how you burnt yourself.

 

“They were lies,” Yugi ground out. “My whole life has been a lie.”

 

A tapping sound at the window caused Yami's head to spin around. He gasped as he saw a vine tapping at the window and numerous other ones were beginning to join it. The whole room darkened as the window was overtook by the plants and there was no proof of the town outside left.

 

Suddenly, a woman screaming echoed through the house and a minute later Tea burst in. “Master Yami,” she gasped, “I don't know what happened. All the flower pots exploded and the plants are going crazy!”

 

Yami looked back at Yugi and felt a loss at what to do. He cautiously moved towards him, calling his name gently. He was just in arm's reach when the window burst and glass flew inward into the room. Tea's screamed echoed around the room and she collapsed to her knees as shards bit into her arms and legs. She covered her face with her hands, crying loudly out of fright.

 

Tiny glass fractures embedded themselves into Yami's face and he flinched lightly at the slight sting to it. He recoiled his arm when a large piece had spliced through his shirt and stained with red as blood dripped from his slashed limb. His face was cut up and rivulets of blood snaked down his cheeks and soaked into the white collar of his shirt.

 

The entirety of the room managed to get covered with either large or small shards of the broken window. The vines were the only thing that had managed to get out of the outburst unscathed. Winding and bending like earthworms in the rain, the vines slithered into the room through the broken window and wound their way around the three occupants.

 

Tea slapped away the offending green plants as they crawled closer to her. She shrieked as more and more came towards her and she jumped, running over to Yami and hid desperately behind him. Both of them were backed into the wall and along the barrier until they hit the corner. Yami placed himself between the attacking plants and Tea, his body entirely focused on the problem in front of him but his eyes and mind more attentive on Yugi's huddled and quivering form on the bed. Now that there was only two directions the vines were going in, however, Yami's eyes widened with realization that the plants were in fact purposely separating Yugi from the room's other occupants.

 

Yami dashed forward, calling out Yugi's name. He was still sore from his father's outburst downstairs and being slammed repeatedly against the walls and even against the stairs a couple times, but he was intent on getting to the elf. The vines had different plans. They twisted and tangled themselves around the crimson-eyed teen's feet and pulled violently and all air rushed from Yami's lungs as he hit the carpet face first. Fear burrowed deeply in his chest and his heart raced with desperation as he saw the form of his dearest treasure disappearing more and more with each second that past.

 

He pushed himself off the floor and tried once more to reach the bed. The green snakes knotted around his arms and across his chest to pull at him. The very force they used made it harder for Yami to breathe, but nothing mattered more to him than reaching his Yugi. With tears burning in his eyes and his whole body made up almost entirely of the weaving plants now, he used the last source of energy he could find within his weary form. He found himself suddenly free and at the foot of the bed, Yugi almost entirely hidden from sight beneath the tangle of green. He knew there wouldn't be much time before he was fighting to get away from the vines once more and Yami started to pull hastily, shouting for Yugi.

 

Hope was the only thing that kept Yami pulling and fighting with the increasing number of vines, some of which had thorns that dug into his hands fervently with each tug, but even his hope was beginning to wear thin. Suddenly a flash of skin was visible and Yami grabbed for it, relieved when he felt his hands wrap around the smaller, yet familiar hand that could only have been the elf. In that short second all movement of the vines ceased, poised in the air like vipers ready to strike. In the silence Yami heard the equivalence of a pin dropping.

 

“Don't touch me. I want anyone to touch me.” The voice was so cold and if it was possible in the given situation Yami would've thought it was somebody else, anybody else who said it, but that couldn't have been. Tea was still in the corner completely forgotten by the vines and the only sound coming from Yami was the blood that pulsed in his ears. It couldn't have been Yugi, but Yami regrettably had to admit that the voice could have only come from the elf.

 

That moment was only a second, just long enough for the two short sentences to be heard, but they were heard just as loudly as if Yugi had spoken them into a loudspeaker. As soon as the pause ended all the vines struck at once and Yami did the only thing he could. He shouted Yugi's name as loudly and as fearfully as he could.

 

Pain exploded in his left arm, the one attached to the hand holding rigidly onto Yugi's. Red eyes were shut tightly against the bite, though the hold on the elf didn't lessen by any degree. He could feel a warm trickle of liquid sliding around the curve of his arm, gathering underneath before it undoubtedly dripped onto the carpet.

 

When nothing else came Yami cracked open his eyes. Wedged into his forearm was one of the thorny vines, the edges dyed red with his blood. All the other vines that surrounded him were only a fingertip's touch away from his skin and Yami shivered at just how close he'd become to being a shish kabob.

 

Red eyes met teary violet and Yami felt his heart clench with relief that the elf was safe. The injury to his arm didn't matter, the shattered glass nipping at his bare skin and snipping at his clothes was ignored, and all sounds seemed to have deafened. The only that mattered to Yami, his whole world in that moment involved only Yugi and himself.

 

“You're safe…”

 

Those words were Yugi's undoing. Crying out, the elf leaped from the bed and landed in Yami's lap, sobbing into his shoulder and clutching fitfully at his shirt as though the crimson-eyed teen would fade away. Stunned for the initial second, Yami wrapped his arms around Yugi and rocked him gently, cooing shushing sounds in his ear. Neither noticed when Tea left, closing the door noiselessly behind her.

 

“I'm sorry.” The vines in the room shifted and Yami tensed, holding tightly onto his charge. Instead of attacking, however, the green ropes started to move away and out the window where they were clumped together. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry!” Yugi opened cried, draped across Yami's lap. Only one vine had remained while the rest had vanished with the only trace of them being there was the mess in the room. The one that stayed was the one thrust halfway through Yami's arm.

 

Yugi pulled away. His eyes were puffy and red, strands of his hair were stuck to the sides of his face and his cheeks were wet with his drying tears. “I'm sorry,” he whispered.

 

“Don't worry about it, Yugi. I know you didn't mean it.” Yami's eyes were gentle and Yugi knew that the teen meant what he said. Even the elf himself didn't know something so extravagant would happen, but after thinking about he realized he should've known better. After all, just seeing Shigure and his family at the restaurant made him lose control; whose to say that something has high leveled as being responsible for joining together two feuding races wouldn't doing something even worse than exploding flower pots and causing their roots to grow five times their normal size.

 

“I'll pay you back for the window.”

 

Yami kissed his elf's temple. “Didn't I say not to worry about it? The window isn't what's important. What you can do for me is go to my bathroom and get a wet washcloth, a bowl of warm water, and the disinfectant bottle out of the cupboard. Can you do that for me?”

 

The elf nodded, unable to meet Yami's eyes. Instead, he could only stare painstakingly where the vine dug underneath the teen's skin. What have I done?

 

“Yugi.” The stern words knocked Yugi out of his self-reverie. The elf understood the unspoken order and he nodded.

 

“I'm sorry,” he said again.

 

Yami shook his head and kissed Yugi sweetly on the lips. After separating a short second later, Yugi sucked in his bottom lip nervously and hurried from the room. The teen waited for him to leave before turning back to the vine. Sighing and biting the inside of his cheek, he grabbed the fat, thorny vine and pulled upward.

 

He could feel the thorns sliding up inside him and he gave a silent cry before yanking the rest of it from his arm. Warm blood pooled the deep wound and trickled around his arm to drip repeatedly onto the lush carpet to join the other red stains. It was at that moment Yugi returned from his short errand.

 

“I also got some bandages and towels.” Yami nodded and motioned Yugi beside him. The elf placed the bowl with the washcloth floating on the surface of the water next to him and he knelt beside the teen's left side.

 

Soaking and wringing out the washcloth in the bowl, he made sure the towels were underneath Yami's arm, now catching the beads of red as they fell from his arm, and the antiseptic was nearby. Yugi wiped off the excess blood, choking back his unwanted tears.

 

Look at what I did. Some savior I'm turning out to be.

 

They both sat in silence as the elf worked. Some time during the quiet procedure Yugi allowed the blood-tipped vine sprawled out on the floor in front of Yami's legs to leave. Yami hadn't noticed the action. His eyes were closed and he was trying to focus on anything that wasn't the gaping hole in the center of his forearm. He only opened his eyes when the ripping sound of the bandaging tape sounded through the room.

 

Red eyes watched as the pale, nimble hands belonging to Yugi worked easily with the bandages and tape. He remembered when he was little and he hurt himself his father would curse and fuss with the stuff before he finally let one of the maids care for him while he sulked in his office. Yami didn't care. He preferred the maids' companies to hi father's any day.

 

Wrapping the last of the white strap around Yami's arm, Yugi taped the ends down tightly. The elf then took the crimson-eyed teen's left hand in his and kissed the wrist softly. “All done.” He was silent for a moment longer before inwardly nodded and, smiling, added, “Mei yadi hisorica kanai isaka nori.”

 

Yami looked at the elf with wonder. “Is that…is that elfin?”

 

Smiling, Yugi nodded. “It's something all elves say to another when they patched up an injury. It means: May you live on for thousands of moons.”

 

“I don't know about thousands, but I'll definitely live on for a while longer,” Yami chuckled. He embraced Yugi with his good arm and then stood up. “We should get this mess cleaned up.” Yugi nodded. He carried the bowl and washcloth away while Yami picked up the towels and bottle of sterilizer. To be honest with himself, Yami was actually amazed that Yugi knew what to do with it. The teen thought he would have had to explain it, but it was silent the whole time.

 

A few minutes later the glass was piled up against the wall and the two young men were sitting on the bed enjoying each other's presence. Yami was leaning against the bed's headboard and Yugi sat in between his legs, lying mostly on his chest with the older's arms wrapped around his upper body. The elf was sketching invisible squiggles and shapes into Yami's shirt while the older watched with a clouded expression. A knock on the door caused both of them to look up.

 

“Master Yami,” Tea peaked her head in through the crack she made in the door. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yes, Tea, of course; come in.”

 

The head maid walked in, her hands fidgeting behind her back with a piece of crinkling paper. “I see everything's cleaned up. I'll send someone in later to get rid of the glass.”

 

“That would be nice,” Yami stated, more interested in what she was trying to hide from his view. “Is something the matter?”

 

“N-not at all, Master Yami,” Tea stuttered. “It's just that…well…this just arrived for you.” She pulled out the paper from behind her back and handed it to Yami. The address was the thing that made Yami's insides cringe.

 

“It had to be them, didn't it? Why on earth are they writing to me?”

 

Tea shook her head. “I haven't heard your father mention anything about it.”

 

Yugi looked at the scratchy human writing. “What's it say? Whose it from, Yami?” Curiosity was etched across the elves face and Yami was sad to admit that he too was a bit interested about what the devastating duo themselves had to say to their only other cousin.

 

“You remember those two boys I showed you in my photo album, Yugi. Bakura and Marik?”

 

Yugi nodded. “It's from them.”

 

The crimson-eyed teen tore the top of the envelope off and pulled out a folded and wrinkled piece of parchment. He stared at with distaste as though something nasty might crawl out from the inside of the paper, but when nothing came he opened the letter and read the contents aloud.

 

In the letter there were two different handwritings. One of them, something more like a scribble than actual writing, Yami recognized as Bakura's. The other, which was undoubtedly Marik's, was only a little bit neater and slanted more to left than straight up-and-down lettering. It started in the scribble.

 

To Our Dearest `Lord Yami',

 

We know you miss us terribly so we've devised a plan. Alright, so it was my mother's idea, but still. Lady and the old man were invited to some fancy Christmas party and the invitation strictly says no children. As you know, those crackpot, old fools some people call my parents still think of myself as nothing more than an infant and the same goes for Mar's.

 

The last word, which Yami knew was Bakura's cheap way of writing his partner in crime's name, was scratched over multiple times but the word itself was bolded as if to stand out from the scribble. The letter continued.

 

Any-who, that bastard of a father of mine decided that I haven't seen you since years ago and thought it would be nice to spend Christmas together. Hope you don't mind, but even if you did there's nothing you or anyone else can do about it now.

 

Multiple dot marks were blotted on the parchment like Bakura was tapping while trying to think of something to write next.

 

Well, see you in a week. Will it be a week? Yeah, by the time you get this letter from the snail mail postman it should be about a week.

 

The writing changed to Marik's barely neater writing.

 

If I find out that you laughed at Baki's stupid nickname for me I swear I'll hang you by your neck from your chimney when I get there.

 

Just like “Mar”, “Baki” was also scratched out repeatedly with the same bold trying to stand out against the chicken-scratch lines.

 

Oh yeah!! Baki and I have a surprise of sorts for ya. Pops and old maid got us... “presents” you could say. Although, it was months ago when we got em, but you'll see. Later Lordi!

 

Devilishly,

Bakura and Marik

 

Both of them had signed their names with flourishes. The two names were the only thing remotely neat about the letter, but Yami knew that was because both of their parents had at least forced them both to do a proper signature since they were able to write their names. Just in case by some miracle they actually had to sign some important document or another.

 

“They have…interesting ways of writing,” Yugi commented, taking the letter and tracing the ink marks with his fingertips with amazement. “I like the way you read,” he added offhandedly, a blush staining his cheeks.

 

Tea chuckled behind her hand. “Your father will want to hear of their arrival. I'll let him know they're dropping by for the holidays.” She left swiftly.

 

Yami nodded and watched as Yugi stared sadly out the window. Even his ears seemed to have drooped with his sudden drop in his mood. “Is something the matter, Yugi?”

 

“The holidays - that's why they're coming right? It seems like some kind of important tradition.”

 

“It's something like that, yes. It's supposed to be a time for families, but it's just been some of the closer maids and me for so many years. My dad doesn't really celebrate.”

 

Yugi nodded. “I see.”

 

“There's only one thing I don't like about any of it. Of all things, the place I have to live is located in such a place that Christmas doesn't get to be white.”

 

The elf looked up curiously. “You mean snow?”

 

“Yeah; a white holiday season would be great I think, but it'll never happen,” he sighs. “Nope, what I'm worried about now is what their parents got for them this time. As long as it doesn't blow up or make too much noise I'll be happy with it.”

 

“Yami?” The older teen looked up questioningly. “You'll teach me about this `Christmas' and `holidays', won't you?”

 

The crimson-eyed teen laughed, and hugged Yugi closely. “Of course, Yugi. I'll make sure you aren't left in the dark.” He kissed the top of his head.