Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Possession ❯ Witness ( Chapter 8 )

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Witness
by Edmondia Dantes

Disclaimer: Dia no own this stuff. Leave her alone.

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It seems silly, really.

Funny how often silly things can make you cry.

...Even though I shouldn't feel this way. But I do.

I do, and I don't think there's anything I can do about it.

There's a pile of tissues sitting in my wastebasket. And there are tearstains on my homework. I don't know how I'm going to explain it. My mom keeps knocking on the door, trying to coax me into coming out and talking. I suppose it isn't often that I come home in tears.

But I saw the most beautiful thing in the world today, and it broke my heart.

...Like I said, it's silly.

It wasn't much that I saw. But now I think... now I...

Now I know how silly it is.

I never had a chance to consider it before. Are they the same person? Not really. Are they the same soul? I'm not sure, but I think so.

I figured that out a while ago - sweet and generous and kind, luminous and beautiful - the counterbalance to a darkness so rich it sweeps the night around it even in daylight.

And that dark is the most alluring thing of all. And the fact that he was a part of my oldest friend - his missing half, his soulmate - it softened the harshness, warmed the darkness, and made the unreal reality.

He's very beautiful.

Slender, exotic, dusky-skinned, with ruby eyes that can sear through your soul. Dangerous. Not the kind of guy you want to take home to mother - or is he? After all, Yugi is in many ways the perfect guy any girl would want for a boyfriend. And Yugi belongs to Yami. Or Yami belongs to Yugi. You can't have one without the other.

That must be why.

Yes, I know I'm being silly, and it's surely all blown out of proportion, and I'm probably just jumping all over something completely innocent.

I'm rambling, I know. I can't keep crying like this, I won't be able to see. But -

It was so sweet.

I bet they didn't even know what they were doing, or at least thought nothing of it. I mean, they thought they were alone - and that's probably the only reason Yugioh let so much slip past his usual mask. I'm certain he didn't even think twice about it, and since the only person he fusses over is Yugi, Yugi didn't think about it either.

It was so simple. I mean, it's not like rain is a terribly unusual occurrence. Forgetting an umbrella is even less so.

While Jou and Honda darted out into the downpour, arguing over who got to use the solitary umbrella and getting themselves thoroughly soaked, I glanced over at Yugi and asked him if he, at least, had remembered his.

He chuckled rather sheepishly. "Nah. Forgot it at home, but it's not a big deal. The shop isn't that far away, anyhow."

I glanced up at my pink umbrella and back down at him. "I could walk you there," I offered with a shrug.

His eyes widened. "But Anzu, you'd be late for work!"

"So? Yugi, it's not that big a deal, and I don't really want to get in too early anyway. I have to work with Oyuki today, and she doesn't really like me," I grimaced. Any excuse to keep away from that... wench.

Yugi shook his head, alarmed. "But what if you get in trouble?"

"What if you get a cold?" I countered, pointing out to the two idiots cavorting in the storm. "Just watch those morons - they'll be laid up for a week with pneumonia or something!"

Yugi folded his arms and set his jaw. The stubborn look. No way was I winning this one.

"All right, all right," I sighed, "I'll go home. But I don't want any complaints from you when you catch cold!"

Yugi laughed. "Don't worry about me, Anzu, I'll be fine."

I shrugged again, opened my umbrella, and yelled a goodbye as I plunged out into the pounding rain.

I made it halfway across the puddle-laden courtyard before I realized I had left my math homework in my locker.

Cursing inwardly, I raced back, umbrella pulled low and close to me against the wind. When I caught sight of a slim, wild-haired figure, I almost shouted out a greeting.

I'm still not certain what stopped me.

Maybe it was his stance, or the tilt of his head, or the fact that Yugi isn't quite that tall.

Either way, I instinctively ducked into the shadow of the trees.

And so I watched as it began.

Nothing special, really.

They could have been anyone.

But they weren't.

It was him. Who else could it be? Who else would willingly take off their school coat despite a downpour and drape it over another's shoulders?

Who else but an overprotective yami?

Yugi laughed happily, shying away from insistent hands that would have bundled him up against the cold and wet. "I'm fine!" he giggled, waving off the concern, long bangs sending rainwater flying.

Yugioh folded his arms and gave him a stern look, managing to look commanding even though he was completely soaked through. "Are you certain?" a hint of exasperation flooded through the smooth darkness of his voice, tinged with something subtle and warm.

Yugi blinked innocently up at his other, shrugging. "It's only water."

"Water can kill you," he countered swiftly, neatly ignoring the fact that Yugi was sticking his tongue out at him.

Yugi blinked in exasperation, then rolled his eyes. "Then I'm sure you'll kill it for me in retribution for it daring to me wet."

A long pause. Then, "Do you want me to?"

"It was a joke!"

Another, longer pause. "...and?"

Yugi shook his head, looking bemused. "You're impossible!" he scolded, poking his yami in the stomach with a mischievous grin.

Yugioh smirked, then abruptly lunged, tackling a grinning Yugi in the fashion of all teenage boys who have been insulted. Mature he might be, but a guy is a guy. Though I had never seen this side of his personality before - he's usually very... aloof. Regal detachment, or something like that. It seemed odd for him to be playing like an ordinary boy.

Still, why be aloof around your other half?

They scuffled for a while, Yugi surprisingly holding his own against the slightly larger figure of his yami, both somehow managing to get even more completely soaked than before. Eventually, after much splashing, they tumbled to a stop underneath the very tree I was hiding behind.

I squeaked and huddled into myself, briefly panicking about how to hide my umbrella so they couldn't see it.

Then I realized that they weren't paying attention to anything but each other. Not to the pounding rain, not to the sheltering trees, not to the thunder rumbling in the distance.

Just... each other.

Yugi was half-sitting, half-lying against one of the larger roots of the tree, hair drooping slightly from the storm, his pale face flushed with exertion, a ridiculously large grin illuminating his face. And, of course, he was drenched, rainwater sliding down his bangs and dripping off of his chin. Yami sat at his side, equally wet, with a smug smirk curving his lips and a wicked sparkle glinting in his usually cold eyes.

They locked gazes, and something... changed.

Yugi's grin softened, becoming mellower, more... inviting. His thick lashes drooped with sleepy carelessness over his suddenly smoky amethyst eyes, and suddenly the innocence that he radiated became almost coy, playfully teasing. I really can't explain what it was, but it made something in my stomach melt.

His yami leaned forward slowly, eyes darkening to the color of freshly spilled blood, smirk melting into a wicked grin as he advanced on his hikari.

I blushed bright red. I had never felt so intrusive before. I still don't know what it was that I did see.

...was it? No, it couldn't be that... that was just... no, that would never happen, Yugi is far too innocent, and his yami is... just too cold, too much a stranger to... to...

But I still shuddered when I saw the most tender, innocent thing of all.

It was just a gesture of affection.

That's all.

It had to be!

It wasn't like they would... it wasn't like they did...

I mean, I used to do it to Yugi all the time when we were younger!

It was just a small thing.

Just the faintest of touches.

Just a sweet, innocent Eskimo kiss, the yami and hikari playfully rubbing noses while delicate hands curved over slim shoulders, dark eyes sparkling with rare warmth. Nothing but the lightest of embraces.

In that moment of perfect harmony, I suddenly felt violently ill.

Silly of me. It was just a touch.

So why can't I stop crying?

Why did I burst into sobs and plunge back out into the storm, leaving them to the rain and each other?

Oh God, what's wrong with me? Yugi's my best friend! I shouldn't be feeling this way! How could I be jealous of another part of his soul? Of course they're close, of course they care about each other! It only makes sense, right? I'm just jumping to conclusions without any justification!

Aren't I?

I don't even know who I'm crying for. I don't know what I'm crying for.

Guess I don't know much of anything.

I've run out of tissues... damn it.

And for what? Because Yugi and Yami are comfortable enough with each other to express a little bit of emotion? Most guys aren't - but most guys will never know each other as well as those two do.

I don't know what to think about it.

But it reminds me of outings with the two of them, the way Yugi always clings to Yami, the way Yami always manages to keep a watchful eye out for his hikari, the way Yugi zones out so often during school, the way he rushes off during lunch to spend the time with his other half...

No. It can't be. Yugi would never- never... No! I'm being foolish! That's what it has to be! It isn't anything like that!

But I have this horrible sinking feeling aching in my stomach... God, I hope I'm fooling myself.

Because otherwise...

Otherwise, I think... I think...

I can't see because of the tears in my eyes.

Oh God.

I have to be going crazy.

I can't think like this! It's just wrong, and it could never happen, never! Not between those two - not between...

No. No.

Everything seems to be falling into place now. The constant touches, the lunches, Yugi's sudden shyness and reclusion, the way he hustles out of school so quickly, the way he sometimes comes to school exhausted...

No!

Yugi's sweet and kind and innocent! He is! Maybe that's why I feel so sick, how can I think such things about a soul that's so very gentle and pure? What kind of a friend am I?

Not a very good one, I suppose.

It's so stupid. I can't think of him, of them like this. I'm being a pervert! It's just sick and wrong of me to think this way!

Isn't it?

I just don't know! And I...

I feel like screaming. I don't know how long I've been crying.

Silly. It was just a tender touch between opposite parts of the same soul. Nothing more than that! Of course they have to touch when in separate physical form, it's probably really uncomfortable whenever their shared soul is split!

Right?

They're best friends and soulmates, but that's all.

Isn't it?

Oh God, I don't know.

Please.

Please, let it be just that.

...please?

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email: mjalta@yahoo.com

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