Memories Should be Treasured

Clunk




Clunk.

 

Yami rolled over and hid his face in Yugi’s back, ready to
go back to sleep.

 

Clunk.

 

Ruby eyes clenched as the sound echoed in his mind.
Grumbling, he tried to block out the sound as another clunk sounded on his
door.

 

“Yami, you awake?” A sweet voice called out to him.

 RealRealizing he wasn’t going to get any more sleep that morning
Yami opened his eyes and sat up, careful to keep the sheets on Yugi so he
wouldn’t get cold. He opened the door and smiled at his mother and little
sister.

 

“Yeah, mother. I’m awake.” He yawned and glanced back at his
sleeping koi before turning his gaze back to his mother.

 

“Good, I need you to make breakfast this morning. Could you
do that for me?” She smiled apologetically at him.

 

“Sure, but why do you need me to do it?” He rubbed the sleep
out of his eyes.

 

The little one-year-old giggled at her older brother and
reached out for him, whining because she couldn’t reach him.

 

Yami smiled at her and took her from her mother. “Hey,
Shiro. Are you causing problems again?” He joked and tickled her little tummy.
She squealed with delight and half-heartedly tried to get away.

 

“Well, your step-father…”

 

“Keith.” Yami interruptedrnlyrnly.

 

Kiore sighed and continued, “…step-father,” Yami growled and
looked away from her, “is still asleep and you’re usually up at this time. I
have to run to the post office really fasforefore they mail out the bills from
yesterday. For some reason one of the bills didn’t make it with the others
yesterday. The mailman just left it in the box.”

 

Yami held back a snort of disbelief. ‘Yeah, Keith, now we’re
tampering with the mail. That’s real smart of you.’

 

Something wet dripped onto his neck and he looked down. “Ah!
Shiro, no, don’t do that!” Yami pulled her away from his locket that Yugi had
given him two Christmas’ ago, he had yet to remove for the first time.

 

The silver locket was removed from her mouth and moved out
of her short reach. Realizing that it was taken away after a second she began
to cry for it, waving her hands around.

 

Kiore took the baby from her son’s arms and held her close,
rocking her back and forth to quiet her down. After giving a pacifier to her
that she produced from her pocket she frowned at Yami. “Honey, you can’t yell
at her like that; she doesn’t know any better, she’s only one year old. You
don’t mind if she touches anything else.”

 

“One or not, she’s not going to be touching my locket,
especially if she’s just going to drool all over it.” Yami held back from
yelling out as he picked up the towel he hsed sed the night before off the
ground and dried it and his neck off.

 

“It’s just a locket. It won’t break if she’s just playing
with it.” His mother tried to reason.

 

Yami could feel his temper rising but he did the best he
could to hold it back. “It’s not ‘just a locket’, mother. It’s very special to
me. And what happens when she starts teething and she gets in the habit of
putting it in her mouth? She’ll put teeth marks all over it and it’ll be
ruined.”

 

“We could just get you a different one. You never take that
one off to look at it so I’m sure you won’t realize the difference.”

 

Yami was about to scream at his mother’s stupidity, the
woman had no grasp of sentimental value! His teeth were just beginning to grind
together when he froze at the sleep-filled voice that called out to him. He
turned around and his anger melted away at the disheveled look Yugi wore in the
morning. “Morning, love. Did you sleep well?”

 

Yugi smiled at him and nodded before violet-eyes turned to
the blonde women standing at the door. It took a minute to figure out who the
unfamiliar lady was before he blushed and tried to hide himself in the covers.

 

Crimson eyes rolled at his lover’s antics and turned back to
his mother. “I’ll make breakfast and have it ready by the time you get back.”
He told her in an icy tone that said he wasn’t going to talk about the locket
again.

 

She sighed and nodded, closing her emerald eyes to hide her
disappointment. Smiling at Yugi she nodded a goodbye to the couple and left.

 

“Get dressed, Yugi. We’re going to go downstairs and make
breakfast.” He said in a stern voice that booked no argument.

 

Yugi nodded and got up, pulling on some jeans and a pullover
black shirt. Yami looked him over quickly and nodded, leading the way
downstairs after pulling on some clothes as well.

 

~~

 

Yami pulled out a few things he would need and looked around
before sighing. Looking to Shiro and realizing he couldn’t leave her here
without somebody to watch her, he glanced back to Yugi and strained his ears
for any noises upstairs. Not hearing anything he glimpsed back at his koi
sitting on one of the stools beside his little sister. “Yugi, could you go
upstairs and get something for me? I need to watch Shiro and I don’t want you
to have to watch her and not really know what to do.”

 

Violet eyes sparkled as a smile lit up on his face. “Sure
Yami, What do you need me to get?”

 

“There’s a book on my desk with ‘sketch’ written on it with
black ink. Inside is a loose piece of paper with instructions on it. It’s
something I’ve been meaning to do and since I kinda lost my temper on my mother
this morning I’d like to do it as a way of saying sorry.” He explained, staring
at his feet, he really did feel bad about the conflict with his mother.

 

“Okay, Yami.” He walked over to the door and looked back curiously.
“How’d you lose your temper?”

 

“She just said something about the locket you gave me and it
ticked me, that’s all.”

 

Yugi nodded and rd oud out the door.

 

‘Keith, you better keep your fat ass in bed until Yugi’s
down here where I can protect him again. As long as my mother isn’t here you
wouldn’t care if anybody else saw.’

 

~~

 

Yugi opened the door to his and Yami’s room and closed it
quietly so the noise wouldn’t wake Keith. He went over to his koi’s desk and
shifted through the papers for the notebook he was looking for. It wasn’t where
Yami said it would be, so he looked around on the floor it case it fell off and
Yami noticed.

 

Crawling around on the floor he checked under the bed and
found a blue notebook hiding halfway underneath it. Pulling it out from under a
pile of junk, he found the word ‘sketch’ across it diagonally and smiled. He
was about to stand up when he caught a glimpse of loose paper and a notebook
cover peeking out from under the mattress of the bed.

 

Hearing one of the doors open from across the hall, Yugi
jumped off the floor. Feeling insecure and overly paranoid at the moment, he
opened the door and glimpsed out and saw the bathroom door close. Tensing he
quietly walked out of the bedroom after taking the paper out of the notebook,
closed the door, and tried to get to the stairs before Keith came out.

 

“Good morning, Yugi.” A rough voice called behind him.

 

Yugi cringed and his violet eyes closed in defeat before he
turned around with a fake smile is fis face. “Good morning, Keith. Did you
sleep well?” He asked cheerfully.

 

“Very well, thank you, and you?” Keith asked with a smirk
seeing that Yami was nowhere in the vicinity.

 

“I slept just fine too. I should go though, Yami’s waiting
for me in the kitchen.” Yugi made to leave but a calloused hand on his shoulder
stopped him.

 

“You shouldn’t have to be with Yami the whole time you’re
here. I would personally get very sick of him even if he is my stepson. Why
don’t we sit down somewhere and get to know each other a little better. You
wouldn’t want to be here the whole time and be complete strangers, would you?”

 

Yugi relaxed some and shook his head, Keith’s logic striking
a truer note than Yami’s warnings had. ‘It does make sense and he is very nice
right now. Maybe what I saw last night was just nerves or something. Maybe he
doesn’t want me like Yami thinks he does.’ A real smile replaced the fake one
and nodded. “No, I don’t suppose I do. I would feel just awful about that. But
I do have to give this,” he held up the paper in his hand, “to Yami. I’ll just
give it to him and then we could talk. How about in the library? I’ve always
been more comfortable with books anyway.”

 

Keith nodded and removed his hand with a smirk. “Okay. I’ll
just meet you in there then.”

 

Yugi nodded and rushed down the stairs for the kitchen door.
“I won’t be long,” he called over his shoulder.

 

Yami looked at Yugi curiously as he burst through the door
with a bright smile. “What’s up with you? It certainly can’t be very exciting
and fun just retrieving something for me, can it?”

 

“I’m going to talk to Keith.” Yugi smiled, not thinking in
the slightest about what he said. “I would feel really bad if I was here the
whole time and stayed complete strangers with somebody who’s practically
family.”

 

Yami’s eyes widened at what he was hearing and before he
could stop himself he lost his temper. He grabbed Yugi’s arm harsher than he
would’ve liked and forced Yugi to stay where he was. “What do you mean ‘talk to
Keith’?” He all but screamed.

 

Yugi flinched as the pain from Yami’s grip spread in his arm
and looked up with fear evident in his eyes. “Yami, you’re holding too tight.”
He whimpered.

 

“Tell me what you mean!” Yami sed aed as he pulled Yugi
closer.

 

“I said I was going to talk to Keith. He told me that I
would get sick of just hanging around you the whole time we stayed here and it
wouldn’t make sense if I stayed here while it felt like strangers surrounding
me. Can you let go now, Yami? You’re hurting me.”

 

Instead of letting go, Yami pulled Yugi over to the stool he
was sitting in re hre he left to get Yami’s notebook and forced him down on it.
“What did I tell you last night, Yugi? Tell me what I said to you after you
told me you thought he seemed nice and not bad at all!”

 

“You said not to trust him.” Yugi whispered, trying to pull
his arm free from Yami’s death grip, he could feel the skin bruising as
capillaries burst below Yami’s fingertips. “That it was just an act and I’d
only get hurt once he got me alone.”

 

“So why are you going to go talk to him alone?”

 

“It just seemed logical, Yami.” His eyes turned to the floor
in shame that he had allowed himself to get tricked, even when he was trying to
be careful around Keith just like Yami had told him to. He felt Yami let go of
his arm at last and he buried his face in Yami’s shirt as he shook out of fear
of what he almost got himself into, cursing his own gullibility. “I’m sorry,
Yami. I tried to be careful but he tricked me.”

 

“Don’t worry, Yugi. I’m sorry I was so rough with you. I
just don’t want you to get treated like he treats me. I know this is hard for
you since you can’t seem to find it in your big heart to hate anybody no matter
what they do but you do need to understand that you can’t trust him like you
would with other people who’re nice to you.”

 

Yugi winced at the condescending tone, but nodded
complacently. “I do understand, Yami, it’s so hard to be careful of somebody
who acts really nice. I’ll try to be careful for you, Yami. I just lost common
sense about what you said when he smiled and started saying the things he did.”

 

‘Oh you’re good, Keith, but not good enough. I’ll keep Yugi
from you even if I have to give myself up for him. You won’t lay a finger on
him like you did me as long as I live.’ Yami vowed angrily as he held Yugi
close to him.

 

~~

 

‘Damn!’ Keith felt like killing someone, preferably Yami.
‘Just keep interfering, you whore, and I’ll decide to take him in front of you.
I’ll make you watch if I have to but I *will* get him alone.’ With that Keith
walked away from the kitchen door from where he heard everything. His twisted
mind was already planning new things that would get Yugi to come to him
willingly.

 

~~

 

Yami and Yugi cleaned the table after breakfast in total
silence. Neither was really sure what to say to each other to make the other
feel better about what had, or almost had, happened that morning.

 

Yugi thought it would be better if he could let his koi have
a chance to calm down on his own, knowing very well that his temper wasn’t one
to take with lightly. “Yami, can I go to our room for a while? I just need to
be alone for a while.” He looked back at Yami to gage his expression and by the
looks of it a full out ‘no, no questions asked’ was about to be screamed at
him. As an after thought that might make his lover feel more secure, he added,
“I’ll keep the doockeocked, Imisemise I will. I just want to go lie down on my
own for a little while. I won’t let anybody in either. I’ll just act like I’m
asleep if Keith or your mother wants in.”

 

Sighing, Yami decided it was better if Yugi did have alone
time so he wouldn’t feel like they were handcuffed permanently to each other.
“Only if you keep it locked, no matter what. I’ll be up in two hours to see how
you’re doing.”

 

Yugi offered a smile. “Thanks, . I . I promise I’ll keep it
locked and I’ll set the alarm so I know when to expect you.” With that Yugi
turned and headed up the stairs.

 

~~

 

Violet eyes blinked tiredly as Yugi thought about what he
was going to do. ‘Grandpa always told me that if I was ever going to settle down
I might as well make it worth my while. If I go through with this, then maybe
Yami will settle down a bit. It’s definitely going to be special though. Yeah,
I’m going to do it! First, I’ll need a…’

 

Yugi was brought out of his thoughts by an insistent buzzing
noise off to his side. Reaching over he pushed the ‘set’ button on the alarm
and waiter a r a knock on the door.

 

Knock knock.

 

Yugi smirked at Yami’s timeliness before he opened the door
with a smile. “Hey, Yami.”

 

“Hey, how do you feel now? Better?”

 

“Yeah. How about you though? You were pretty upset this
morning and I’m sure that didn’t heour our mood from when you fought with your
mother either.”

 

“No, it didn’t really, but I guess I do feel a bit more at
ease now.”

 

‘I might not get another opportunity to be alone. If only I
had an hour or so to get a couple things.’ Thinking quickly he blurted out,
“Yami, do you think I could be alone for just another hour? I was thinking
about a few things and it would be nice to get them off my mind now.”

 

A hurt look came over Yami’s face before he quickly hid it.
“Sure, Yugi. I’ll be up in another hour to see how you feel then. Maybe we
could go out for a movie later tonight if you want. I wouldn’t really call last
night and making breakfast earlier really spending time with each other so it
would be nice to get out and do something with you.”

 

“Sure, I’d like that, Yami. I’ll think about that when I’m
done and I’ll tell you when you come back up.” Yugi closed the door behind him,
not seeing the hurt look settle itself on Yami’s face again.

 

Yugi set the clock for another hour and rushed over to his
duffel bag sitting on the floor. He grabbed his wallet and went to the window.

 

‘Thank Kami for the close tree branches.’ Yugi prayed
silently before openthe the window and climbing out. He clambered down the
tree, started running down the driveway, and off the property down the street.

 

~~

 

Yami sighed as he sat in the library reading one of the
books he’d seen Yugi reading once at school. He found it interesting since it
seemed completely un-Yugi like to read something about action/adventure. He
especially liked it whenever a dragon showed up in the book, which was pretty
often. Closing the book after having finished one of the chapters, Yami turned
it over so it showed the back and the summary of the tale.

 

“Orphaned after her parents’ death during the war, Kokoro is
raised by a pack of dragons that found her on their ‘door step,’” He read.
“Kokoro’s free nature forces her to expand her boundaries out into the wide world
and see what she can make of herself. During her journey, she meets up with the
facetious Jakuto and joins him in his travels.

 

“In a world of dragons, demons, humans, and other
spectacular flights oncy,ncy, who knows what fate may await the dragon-raised
orphan? Will she choose to stay with Jakuto, or will she travel back to the
dragon pack where she had been raised and be free of social constraint as she
had always been before?”

 

He looked up in annoyance when loud footsteps stopped in
front of him. “What do you want, Keith? I’m busy.”

 

“And I’m in a bad mood. You know what I want Yami and don’t
try to deny that you want it just as badly.” He ground out in a husky voice.

 

‘Either he’s wanted this for a few hours, or he’s been
burning his throat out with alcohol again.’ He took a small sniff and inwardly
blanched at the smell coming off of Keith. ‘Yep, he’s definitely been at the
alcohol. I’m just glad he didn’t get to Yugi.’ He sighed in relief.

 

“Forget it, Keith. My mother’s home and I don’t fancy her
walking into any room or out to the garden to see her son getting raped by the
person she married.”

 

“It’s only rape if the person doesn’t want it.”

 

“I never wanted it, you bastard!”

 

“Do you want your mother to walk in on this? I suggest you
keep your voice down. Otherwise I’ll find somebody else to go after.” His blue
turned upward to look at the ceiling, but Yami would have known whom he meant
regardless of actions.

 

Yami snarled, “Keep him out of this, you sick twisted son of
a bi…”

 

“Ah ah ah, mouth, Yami, watch your mouth. Your mother
disapproves of it so.” He flicked his finger at him in a disappointing action.

 

“Kami, ass hole, I don’t care what you think. The only
reason I haven’t thrown you to the cops is because I really don’t want to talk about
this. Now fuck off!” He growled dangerously, setting his book aside.

 

“There’s an idea.” Keith chuckled before forcing his chapped
lips on to Yami’s. He pinned him down with his over-muscled arms and forced his
tongue past stubborn lips to explore freely, playing with the young man’s
tongue.

 

Yami bit down on Keith’s tongue, hard.

 

Blue eyes hardened and Keith pulled back harshly, he gripped
harder on Yami’s arms and enjoyed the flinch it caused in the process. He took
both of the young man’s wrists into one hand and used his free one to slapped
Yami across the face, leaving a red handprint in its wake.

 

“Try something like that again and you’ll regret dearly,
Yami.”

 

“Leave me alone, you rapist.” Yami spat in Keith’s face and
looked away.

 

Keith was about to hurt Yami like he never had before when a
quiet voice reached his ears.

 

“Keith, where are you?”

 

He let go of Yami and walked out of the library as he
straightened his clothes out, fatherly countenance firmly in place. “Coming,
darling dearest.”

 

“Oh, there you are, honey. I was wondering if you would mind
coming with me to the outlet malls and help watch Shiro for me. I need to pick
her up some new clothes and, well, you know how she can be sometimes when she
doesn’t want to cooperate.”

 

“Yes, completely. I’ll go with you, of course. I’ll just get
my jacket and meet you in the car.”

 

The voices died down and Yami sighed in relief. “That was
close. How can mother stand him?” He looked at his watch and stood to go see if
Yugi was done thinking yet. He’d been a little hurt when Yugi asked to be alone
longer. It made him feel like he was being kept in the dark about something and
he didn’t like that because it made him worry about his koi. He’d been even
more hurt when Yugi had just closed the door without saying anything else. He
wanted to know what was going on in Yugi’s mind, what made him want to be alone
so much for so long? Had it been what he’d done in the kitchen? He’d done it
the night before, after Keith had left when he told him they were going to bed.
He’d yelled at Yugi and hurt him by how hard he gripped. He would definitely
make it up to his lover for hurting him and frightening him by yelling but his
little one needed to know how important it was to not trust Keith no matter
what.

 

Yami knocked on the door and could’ve sworn he heard Yugi
swear before shuffling and stumbling around was heard just before the door was
opened.

 

~~

 

Yugi stepped in through the window and praised the gods once
again for having come back on time. The clock was just going off and he pressed
‘set’ again. A knock was heard at the door just as he pressed it.

 

“Kuso.” He cursed. He stumbled over to his bag and put his
empty wallet inside one of the side pockets and then pulled out his small
package that had just used up all of his cash. He kissed it lightly, proud of
himself for following his heart like his grandfather always told him to do,
then hid it under his clothes and zipped his bag back.

 

On standing up though, he tripped over the shoulder strap of
his bag and fell on the floor. Untangling himself he stood and rushed to the
door, opening it as he caught his breath.

 

“Hey, Yami. I… saw the car drive out. Where’re your and and
Keith going?” He asked curiously.

 

“To the store. Are you okay?”

 

“Sure, Yami. Why wouldn’t I be okay? I’m here with you and
that’s all I could ever want.” He rushed, hoping that he wasn’t flushed or
sweaty.

 

Yami smiled at the answer and shook his head. “Nice answer,
but not what I meant.” ifteifted his hand and pulled down a leaf. “I meant this.
Why is there a leaf in your hair?”

 

“I’m…turning over a new leaf.” He answered lamely. At Yami’s
raised eyebrow he sighed and looked around the room. Seeing the open window he
came up with a better answer. “It was getting stuffy in here so I opened the
window. I looked out of it when I heard the car go by and it must’ve fallen in
my hair without my noticing.”

 

“Aw, so what was with the crummy joke?”

 

“Just trying to lighten the mood a bit. You’re so tense,
Yami, and I was just trying to make you feel better.”

 

Yami’s smile widened. “Thanks, Yugi, but just being around
you makes me feel better all the time. I don’t know how I lived without you
before, but I know I’ll die if something happens to you, or rather… if it’s
something bad that happens.”

 

“You’re so sweet.” He walked past Yami and to the stairs.
“Come on, I’m getting a little hungry from thinking so hard. Let’s make a
couple sandwiches and we can snuggle together.”

 

“Of course, love. And where would you like to snuggle.” Yami
joked.

 

“In the library, duh. I have yet to see it.” He answered
excitedly.

 

“The library: why didn’t I think of that sooner?” He rolled
his crimson eyes and followed Yugi down the stairs. “You don’t have to go in
there with somebody, you know that right? It’s okay to go in alone.”

 

“I know, but it would only make sense to know that I’ve
already seen one of my favorite rooms with my favorite person so why not see
the other room I know I’ll love the second I see it with the person I love with
my whole being.”

 

“You and your sweet moments,” chu chuckled, warmed to the
soul.

 

“That’s why you love me, me and my ‘sweet moments’”