Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ University Daze ❯ A Kodak Moment ( Chapter 8 )

*Warning* Things could get a little bit fluffy this chapter! (Who am I kidding? They get really fluffy.) And there's a slight hint of yuri, too.

Caitlin: This is getting interesting. If you like this chapter, wait until you see the next one. ;)

Kali: Uh, oh. I recognize that look! She's going to do something tricky.

Marik: Oh goody! I like tricky! *evil grin*

Bakura: Let us in on it! No one does tricky like a psychopath and a tombrobber.

Yami: Ra save us.

Hikaris: Please!

Caitlin: Um, yeah. Anyway, same warnings and disclaimers, except that I don't own Kodak or I'd be a gazillionaire.

Pairs: Yugi/Yami, Ryou/Bakura, Marik/Malik, Joey/Mai, Tristan/Serenity, Kaiba/OC?, Ishizu/Isis

Chapter 8

A Kodak Moment

Yugi had just made a move when he felt Yami's Power pour through him. He dropped the cards in his hand, startled.

Ryou, too, had looked up at him sharply. "What was that?"

"You felt that too?"

"How could you miss it?" A loud snore came from behind them. "Unless you're Bakura and asleep?" Ryou amended, rolling his eyes.

"Or my brother and his Yami." Ishizu said, stepping over Malik's outstretched leg in the aisle. They, too, were dead to the world, oblivious.

"Let me ask Yami what's going on." Yugi closed his eyes and spoke briefly to his Darkness. (A/N: I'm not going to repeat the entire conversation). When he opened them, he had a look of intense curiosity on his face.

"Yami wants us to wake everyone up and come up to Kaiba's cabin. Our friends, I mean. Oh, and Ishizu, you're supposed to pretend to be giving us a tour of the plane or something, in case the other students wonder why we're all leaving together."

She looked puzzled but nodded. "I'll wake up Malik and Marik."

"What's going on?" Ryou asked his friend, gathering up his cards.

"I don't know. Wake up Bakura and we'll go find out. I'll get Joey and Serenity."

While Ryou and Ishizu woke up the sleeping Yamis and Marik, Yugi walked back to get Joey and his sister.

"Hey, Yug! Something on your mind?" Joey looked up from his magazine and Serenity took off her headphones.

"Yami wants us to come up to Kaiba's cabin."

"What for?"

"I don't know. He said he had something to give me." Yugi looked curious and a little worried. "He spoke to me after I felt him use his Power for some reason."

Joey frowned. "And he's with Kaiba? Yikes. I hope they aren't fighting."

"No. I don't think it's that. But still."

"Well, come on. Let's go." Joey and Serenity left their seats and followed Yugi, though they didn't get far, since Ryou was still trying to wake up Bakura and Ishizu had managed to wake Malik but not Marik.

//Bakura!// Ryou finally got annoyed and screamed mentally at his Darkness. //WAKE UP!//

Bakura jerked awake at that, clutching the seat. "Ra! What the hell is the matter, Ryou?" He glowered at his annoyed Light.

"You sleep like the dead." He replied. "Yami wants us in Kaiba's cabin."

"I am dead-sort of. And what for?"

"Don't know. Come on."

Meanwhile, Ishizu had given up and told Malik to wake Marik up himself.

To do so, in the only way Malik knew of that was guaranteed to awaken his sleep-like-a-stone Yami, he got up and crawled into Marik's lap, straddling his sprawled body, and planting his mouth on Marik's, all the while speaking through their link.

//Marik, my Yami, I'm so horny. Wake up and do something about it.// Malik grinned when Marik stirred under him and answered by wrapping his arms around his Light and pressing his mouth to Malik's harder.

//Hmm. Hikari.// Marik opened his eyes groggily to see Malik grinning at him.

"Good. You're awake. Let's go Marik. Yami wants us."

"Don't tease me like that!" Marik growled and yanked Malik's head down to crush their mouths together again.

Bakura, who seemed to have recovered from his bout of airsickness, chuckled when Malik moaned loudly. "Marik! Get a hold of your hormones and let him go. Besides, your shocking the other passengers."

Sure enough, some of the other students were watching with interest, goggling at the sight of the two teens that looked like twins tongue wrestling.

Marik pulled away and glared at Bakura. "So what? They don't have to watch."

Yugi stepped in at this point to prevent a fight. "Yami has requested our presence, Marik. Something's up."

Malik, a bit dazed, got off Marik and pulled him to his feet. "Lead on, Yugi."

Feeling a bit like the pied piper, Yugi led everyone to Kaiba's private cabin, stopping once so Ishizu could use the 'plane tour' excuse.

Yami smiled at them as they entered and gave curious questioning looks his way. He waited until they had all filed in, holding the band behind his back out of view.

Kaiba returned at this point. His preparations had mostly been mental-prayers and the like. But he'd ditched his clothes for a simple white robe trimmed in gold and a heavy purple cloak. Around his neck he wore a thick gold chain with a gold ankh medallion hanging from it. He also wore gold wristbands like Yami's. (A/N: If you don't know what an ankh is, you'll have to look it up because I can't really describe it well enough to give you a picture. Sorry!)

Everyone stared. He definitely looked like a High Priest.

Taking up that role once again, Kaiba walked over to stand near Yami, waiting.

"Yami?" Yugi came over to his Darkness. "Kaiba? Why are you dressed like that?"

"Yugi, Kaiba has agreed to do me a favor. But only if you agree to it, also." Yami looked into his Light's eyes.

(A/N: Ok people! Here comes the fluffy stuff! Prepare to go 'Awwwww.')

Something in Yami's voice told Yugi that this was a very big, very momentous, and very important favor.

"What is it?" He asked, looking back and forth between them.

Yami brought out the armband and held it out. "I want to give you this, Yugi. It's for a special ceremony I've asked our High Priest to perform. The Osiris Binding Ritual."

Isis, Marik, and Bakura gasped in total shock, gaping at the Pharaoh as if he'd just sprouted a second head. The others looked at them, puzzled.

"Someone want to explain?" Joey asked.

Isis stepped forward. "My Pharaoh! Forgive me, but that ritual …"

"Have you lost it?" Bakura inquired, studying Yami curiously. "That ritual hasn't been used in millennia! Or in our case, in centuries-before any of us were born!"

Surprisingly, it was Marik who shushed them. "He hasn't gone crazy, Bakura." He said quietly. "And I can understand why he's chosen that particular ritual, as should the two of you. We do, after all, have a similar sort of relationship with our hikaris."

"I'm lost." Ryou complained. Bakura pulled his hikari into his arms and held him tightly. Ishizu had wrapped her arms around her Yami from behind. Marik yanked Malik in front of him and he, too, wrapped his arms around his hikari, resting his chin on Malik's shoulder in an uncharacteristic display of affection.

Yugi, who hadn't been able to look away from his Yami's intense gaze, was completely confused. "I don't understand. What is this ritual?"

"It's very ancient." Yami quietly explained. "Osiris is the name of an Egyptian God. The father of the Gods, actually. He is Lord of the Afterlife and the Judge of Souls. The ritual is one where the Pharaoh binds his soul to that of another through Osiris' Power. The person who is chosen for this, in essence, becomes the second most powerful person in the kingdom, answering only to the Pharaoh and the Gods. Whenever that person speaks, it is with my voice. Whatever acts the person performs, it is with my will. The armband, once put on, does not come off. And like the Millennium Items, the gold will never tarnish, nor can it be destroyed or broken."

"Basically, Yugi, the Pharaoh is asking you to become his soul mate for eternity." Seto summed up. "It's the most intimate binding there is-even more so than any marriage ceremony."

"Yes. And there's one more thing." Yami showed Yugi the Dragon.

"The Winged Dragon of Ra?" Yugi gasped. The Egyptian God monster was so lifelike, Yugi was sure it would fly away at any moment.

"If you agree to this Yugi, I will place the armband on your upper arm and it cannot be removed once the clasp closes. But I've also worked some Shadow Magic on it. Anytime you are physically or mentally threatened, and I am not there to protect you or unable to help you immediately, my magic will call the Dragon to you and protect you until I get there."

Yugi stared at the armband in silence, trying to digest all that information.

//Aibou. I know it is a bit sudden. But if you wish to wait, or think about it, that is fine. Or if you don't want this …//

Yugi's head snapped up to Yami's at that. There he saw something he had never seen in his Darkness' eyes before. Fear.

//You're afraid? Why? Does the ritual involve some sort of risk you didn't tell me about?//

Yami's eyes closed and he shook his head. //No, my Light. Not at all. I … I'm afraid that … Perhaps your love and mine … is not enough for you … that you will refuse and I will … lose you.// His voice was low and husky, and he opened his end of the link, allowing Yugi to see everything inside him.

As Yami spoke, Yugi had begun to cry. Tears flowed in a silent stream down his face as he raised his hands and lay them over Yami's.

//You won't loose me Yami. I love you. And I can't tell you how much this means to me.// Yugi opened his side of the link and now they could both see everything in each other. //I want to do this.//

Yami's eyes opened wide in relief, tears rolling down his cheeks, and he smiled.

A discreet cough got their attention. Seto had come up between them. They both gave him a questioning glance.

"I don't mean to sound impatient, but are we doing this or not? This cloak is really heavy and hot." He tugged at his collar uncomfortably.

"We are." Yugi stated firmly. "What do I have to do?"

"You and Yami just stand right here and face each other. The witnesses-that's the rest of you-can gather around." He looked at Serenity and Mokuba. "Sorry, but the ritual is in ancient Egyptian so you won't understand a word I say." Mokuba grinned and Serenity shrugged.

"We'll get the general idea." She said.

"Alright. Yugi, ditch the jean jacket."

He did so, handing it to Ryou, who was closest.

"Here we go." Seto switched languages. He began, speaking in a language that had all but died out thousands of years ago.

"Osiris, Lord of all Gods and Supreme Judge, we call upon you this day to fulfill the Pharaoh's greatest wish. Before him stands the young man to whom his Majesty has chosen as his life-mate and greatest love. We ask, Great One, that you hereby bind them together with the Ultimate Binding of Souls." Seto held out a hand. "Give me the armband for a moment, please." Yami turned it over. "Let this armband be the instrument and symbol of their eternal binding. Osiris, invoke your Power and infuse it in this armband."

Seto felt a tug and somewhere deep inside he felt a door open that he had barely known was there. Power flowed through him in a rush of energy that made him a little dizzy. He had to close his eyes for a moment to regain his equilibrium.

The others gasped as the band began to glow with a bright, intense, white light. When the light faded, the Dragon now had two sparkling diamonds for eyes.

Seto, still riding the power rush, handed over the armband to Yami once again. "Take this, Pharaoh, and place it on your hikari's right upper arm, but don't latch it closed yet."

Yami nodded and did so, staring down at Yugi, who had held his arm out for Yami.

"Osiris has spoken. He has given his blessing and Power, and with the closing of the clasp …" he nodded at Yami, who closed it with a soft click that resounded like thunder in Yugi and Yami's minds. " … The Light and Dark are forever united. We thank you, humbly, Osiris."

And with that, it was over.

Yugi grinned wildly and launched himself at Yami, who caught the smaller man in his arms and hugged him tightly, burying his face in Yugi's hair.

Around them there were cheers and laughter and happy clapping.

Joey and Serenity watched with amusement when the other three Yami's grabbed their hikaris and began kissing them enthusiastically.

Kaiba just rolled his eyes and went to change since he couldn't stand it any longer. Mokuba went with him.

Yugi pulled back and smiled, raising a hand to rub his thumb over Yami's bottom lip. //I love you so much.//

//I love you too. My little hikari, my soul.// Yami bent and captured Yugi's mouth in a passionate kiss, arms banding tightly around Yugi's waist.

//Hmm. Yami, I can't wait for the honeymoon.//Yugi grinned against his Darkness' eager mouth.

The Pharaoh groaned. //Neither can I.// He sent Yugi a few images that made Yugi blush furiously and squirm.

Marik laughed. "Good! I'm not the only one that has to deal with being horny beyond belief!"

"Marik!" Malik suppressed a giggle and slapped a hand over his Dark's mouth.

Yami, who was in the best mood he'd ever been in in his entire life, threw back his head and laughed.

Kaiba returned, back in his usual outfit and a hell of a lot more comfortable, though he'd decided to leave the necklace on.

"Alright! Party's over! We're landing soon so get back to your seats and get out of my cabin!" He tried to sound his usual coldness but couldn't quite achieve it since he was still a bit giddy from the power rush. He knew when it was over he was going to crash-hard.

They all returned to their seats, chatting happily and congratulating Yugi and Yami. Yugi had put his jacket back on to hide the armband from the rest of his classmates.

He discovered that if he even thought about the armband for a second, it would tingle and grow warm, as if it had a life of it's own.

The captain announced their arrival and passed out the usual instructions for final descent.

When the plane angled down and began to loose altitude, Bakura went pale, then green. Luckily, Ryou had been prepared and shoved a barf bag at him just in time. The hikari pet and stroked his Dark's hair in sympathy, making soothing noises.

"Ra damn all planes to the Underworld and back!" Bakura cursed, hating his weakness.

"It's almost over, 'Kura. Just hang on a little bit longer."

"Fuck this. I'm walking home." Bakura rasped, the bile he'd up-chucked making his throat raw. Ryou winced.

Malik leaned around his seat, though he was strapped in, and said, "We'll get you some drugs for the ride home, Bakura."

Bakura hissed. "Poison, more like."

Ryou shook his head. "No, there really is some medication you can get for airsickness. We'll see about getting some before we go home, 'Kura."

**************************************

Kali: Awwww!

Caitlin: See, I told you so.

Bakura: That was so sweet! *sniffles*

Marik: *stares* Are you crying, Tombrobber?

Bakura: *turns his back to the room* NO!

Ryou: I like the whole ritual thing.

Yami and Yugi: Us too!

Malik: R/R! Don't forget the poll!