Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Strange Magic ❯ Chapter 2

Meanwhile, Yugi's self-declared Yami was watching the scene. He would talk to his hikari about some of this - later. Now, as much as he regretted it, he didn't have the nerve for it, nor would he be able to concentrate on such a conversation.

Black Magician. This was the topic that had been on his mind ever since the duel with Pandora. Black Magician had sacrificed himself for him, by his own free will, breaking the rules of the game he was bound to. Or was he? Yami looked back on previous instances…of course not as spectacular as this one but telling their own story. Him being able to summon the magician in a game he wasn't even intended to be in… Yugi telling him of the encounter in Yami's mind room no less… Black Magician guarding it… And then there had always been those looks the magic user had shot him during duels. He just knew there was more to this than he could possibly know, and it made him itchy and nervous to say the least. This was important, and - the loss of his memory didn't make things easier either. But he had pretty much forsaken ever getting that back last night, for his hikari.

As he watched the boy arriving at school with Anzu, greeting Honda and looking around, his face finally falling, a tender smile spread on Yami's face. No, it had been the right decision, he belonged to this boyish rendition of himself. Whatever he really was. A rebirth? A follower-up guided by fate?

They would most probably never know exactly. But Yugi was right in such things… Sometimes the world and the theories were unimportant compared to friendship. They were light and dark, and they belonged together, and what exactly either of them was… What did it really matter?

All of his self protested against such a stance. Of course. But he would have to relax into it, because he had given a promise. Last night he had placed his hikari above the other matters entrusted to him (whatever they were), and now he was bound to it.

But, Black Magician… he didn't fit into the raster of theories and duty. This was… it was interpersonal. It was obvious they shared a strong bond, and whereas it could be dismissed before as a special trust between a player and his card, or maybe a pharaoh and his servant, Black Magician had now crossed that border by his self-sacrifice. Breaking the rules during it, and proving he wasn't as bound to them as he was supposed to. But these was the theory again… Yami perfectly well knew this was a shield. Against the other thoughts and questions that lay beneath.

The 'Why'… The 'What did it say about their relationship'… And the 'What had he himself felt during this? And all the time before? And once upon a time, before the ancient times had been erased from his life?'

Yami forced himself out of his thoughts and watched the outside world instead.

His hikari was now sitting on his place in the classroom, an empty chair beside him and moping. This could be interesting… He definitely would have to speak to his aibou about this.

The classroom door flew open, and Jounouchi rushed in. "Sorry!"

Yugi's features brightened up at the familiar voice that he had missed already this morning, and he turned around to his friend with a big smile. Jounouchi returned the smile, if with an embarrassed note, and then turned to the teacher, who gave him the appropriate stern frown. "Sit down, Jounouchi. And I will not tolerate your constant being late any longer, do you understand?"

The chided boy nodded and sat down beside Yugi, dropping his schoolbag to the floor between them with a loud thump and peeling himself out of his school uniform jacket. Yugi couldn't help smiling at him all the way through.

The teacher hushed the noise that had spread in the classroom at the interruption and went on in her lesson, while Jounouchi leaned down to open his bag and get out his books, Yugi still smiling at him. When the taller boy looked up, their eyes met and he grinned at Yugi, then piled up the books on their table. Yugi cast his gaze forward to the blackboard again, the smile still on his face, albeit a bit shyer than before.