Coalescence

32) Explanations

Summary: Yami explains all to Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu.

At 6 pm, Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu met in front of the massive Kaiba Corporation office building. "This place creeps me out," Honda admitted, and indeed all three looked a little nervous, remembering the last tihey'hey'd been here. That was - they hoped - a Seto Kaiba they'd encountered on these steps who didn't exist anymore. That was what Yugi had led them to believe, anyway. But the jury was still out.

"I know what you mean," Jounouchi muttered, glancing around as if he expected some nasty suits to jump out and grab him.

"Someone's coming," Anzu mentioned, pointing toward the semi-reflective glass doors.

The tension rose until they could see an unmistakable head of hair coming toward them from within. Black... red... and those gold spikes... The door opened and all three leaned forward unconsciously, ready to pouon ton their little friend and grill him for answers.

But it wasn't Yugi Mutou. "Konban wa," Yami murmured, coming outside to face them, one hand casually stuck in a pants pocket. "Glad all of you could make it!"

"Yami!" Jounouchi and Anzu breathed together, and the former's eyes widened as he remembered what had been revealed to him that very morning. [He and Kaiba are dating! Whoa, that's so...] "Um, yeah," Jounouchi murmured lamely.

"I thought Yugi left us those notes," Honda commented, frowning.

"He did," Yami replied mildly, wearing a minute little smirk. "Seto Kaiba has invited all of us here to view the final demonstration of the new Duel Disk system which will be used in the upcoming tournament."

"Yeah, and you guys are going to tell us all about that, right?" Anzu wanted to know, itching for the answers she knew she still didn't have. "Like why Kaiba-kun invited US in the first place?"

Yami looked at her with mild curiosity, then let his glance slide over to her blond companion. "Jounouchi, you didn't tell them?"

Jounouchi blanched. "Er, didn't think it was for me to tell!"

"Daijoubu," (It's all right) Yami replied, smiling. "We have a lot to explain as well."

"Tell us what?" Anzu asked. [Here it comes... finally!]

Yami turned back to the girl, still relaxed and faintly smiling. "Seto Kaiba and I are dating," he explained succinctly. "There's more, of course."

"D...dating?" Honda gasped, unconsciously taking a step back. "Okay, so I assume Yugi knows about this?" he added, frowning.

"Knows and approves," Jounouchi murmured.

Anzu was nodding. "That explains a few things..." And it did, though she wondered whether Seto Kaiba's interest lay in Yugi's dark half alone. [I wonder... hmmm...]

"Yugi knows you're here now?" Honda asked, his voice a little shaky. This was turning around what he thought he knew of their little friend... and he wasn't sure yet of the implications.

"Yugi *is* here, with me now," Yami explained smoothly. "Either of us can choose to be aware when the other is manifest, or not. Yugi is not involved with this relationship, I assure you."

"He told me he didn't think he was interested in dating," Anzu commented thoughtfully.

"But he doesn't mind if you... with Kaiba??" Honda inquired.

Yami was still faintly smiling, undeterred. Within, Yugi was merely listening quietly, trusting in his dark half. They'd decided it might be best if Yami talk to them about this himself. Very soon their friends were going to have to relate to Yami separately from Yugi, so they might as well have to deal with it now. "Yugi has encouraged me. When Seto revealed his interest to me, Yugi thought we'd be good for each other." He bowed his head humbly. "Seto means a great deal to me. I love him. But all of you are important to us - Yugi ayselyself and now Seto - as friends. We wanted you to know. There are some events coming up that will be very unusual, but we want you to know what's going on so you can continue to help and support us, if you choose."

Jounouchi listened quietly, but he felt a growing level of comfort about Yami and Kaiba the longer he was around the ancient spirit. He knew he cared deeply about his little strange-haired classmate, knew that the depth of their friendship ran true, especially after all that had happened at Duelist Kingdom. He couldn't help, somehow, but extend that caring to Yugi's other self. [He's quite a guy, this Yami... and if someone could get deep into that Kaiba's cold heart, it'd be him... and we'll all be the better for it. Not that Kaiba's any sort of danger anymore, but he was such a screaming asshole so recently...]

"You... love him..." Honda whispered. "Whoa. Sorry, but somehow 'Kaiba' and 'love' in the same sentence is just a bit hard to accept."

"I think it's wonderful," Anzu gushed, grinning at Yami. "The ancient Egyptian spirit taming the heart of a techno-freak ice-heart like Kaiba-kun!"

Yami managed not to wince visibly. "I think we have a lot to talk about..." Taking a deep breath, he added, "Let's go inside and sit down. The test of the Duel Disk isn't going to take place until 7 pm. That should give me enough time to tell the rest."

The four entered the building via a key card Yami had been given, and proceeded to find a quiet group of chairs in the corporation's expansive lobby, now deserted as it was after office hours. /It's going okay,/ Yugi commented to his dark half before Yami took up the explanations again.

//I think we've underestimated the ill will the others still bear against Seto,// Yami worried. //Perhaps we should have come out to them sooner...//

/They'll be fine,/ Yugi assurim wim warmly. /I think they'll surprise you. Look how calm Jounouchi is this evening. It'll be fine, Yami!/

//Hope so...//

When the other three looked expectantly at Yami, the spirit took a deep breath again and started in. "Recently it was revealed to me and Seto that I am, in fact, the Egyptian Pharoah who originally sealed away the dark Millennium magic with my loyal staff of six magicians. We sacrificed our lives, apparently, for the sake of this massive undertaking in order to protect the world. My soul, however, was trapped in the Puzzle as a result. For three thousand years my spirit lay dormant there until Yugi Mutou put together the Puzzle... and awoke me..."

He went on to relate about Isis Ishtahr and the Egyptian exhibition at the Domino Museum... and what she'd revealed to them both there. The news, understandably, shocked the group of friends. Yami had been a Pharoah! Another Millennium Item bearer! Seto Kaiba, the reincarnation of the Pharoah's High Priest and his rival? And...

They looked on in awe at the four new Duel Monsters cards that Yami now held out to them. Gingerly, Honda took them and read aloud the names. "Bond of the Gods... a Ritual magic card... and Protectors of the Scepter, a continuous magic card. And another continuous magic card - 'Dark Manifestation' - with a picture that could be Yugi? Then there's this monster card... only the background is white, not gold... Weird!"

"Who are the 'gods' pictured here?" Anzu wanted to know.

Somberly, Yami regarded the card. "Osiris and Horus. They represent the never-ending cycle of life, death, and rebirth. And... we've come to understand that they represent myself... and Yugi." He took a deep breath, feeling his hikari's emotions as closely as his own. "The ritual magic will forge an eternal bond between Yugi and myself that will last beyond the regaining of my memories... and, we believe, beyond the final sealing away of the Millennium magic for all time."

"You mean... like what you guys have now?" Jounouchi asked quietly, awed. He'd already heard about it all this morning. For some reason, he had to ask about this again, needing to be sure of his best friend's other half. "But permanent? What if you don't do it? What would happen?"

Yami closed his eyes briefly. "Besides the fact that dangers soon upon us would likely cause great harm, I understand that if I regain my memories and seal away the magic again, my own bond with the Puzzle would cease and my spirit would finally pass on to the hereafter. That's what I think would happen."

Before any of them could react to that startling statement, the Puzzle began to glow strongly. When they looked again, Yugi was sitting before them.

"Yugi... you know about thisthis, right?" Honda asked anxiously. This was heavy stuff, worse than he'd suspected.

"Yes, all of it," Yugi replied simply, but to their relief, he did not look worried. Actually, he seemed to be very much at peace. "I've told Yami I want to take the Bond ritual with him." He reached over and took Dark Manifestation from Joey. "That ritual is critical if this card is to be activated. And it's something that we all want..."

"What does Dark Manifestation do?" Honda asked. He'd been stunned to see that the silhouette picture on the card seemed to be Yugi... or was it Yami?

Yugi smiled. He was at peace with it now, and even looked forward to the separation, knowing that he would not lose any of his own intimacy with the ancient spirit. "The Dark Manifestation, of course, is Yami's own body. This magic card would allow Yami to be able to separate from me... to be alive in his own body again."

For a very long moment no one could speak. Jounouchi shook his head slightly, still stunned by the implications of these new magic cardAnzuAnzu blinked several times, processing. Honda was the one who finally screamed, leaping out of his chair. "THESE ARE GAME CARDS!!!!"

//Aibou...//

/Be my guest!/ Yugi replied, relieved to turn things back over to his dark half.

"Honda," Yami said aloud after hastily transforming back, "These are no more normal Duel Monster cards than were the cards Pegasus possessed in which he'd captured the souls of Yugi's grandfather, Mokuba and Seto Kaiba. This is true magic and extremely powerful. We believe they have been called to this time - whether from the future or actually the past I have no idea - by the power of the Millennium Puzzle itself."

"But... how can this card actually make your body come back to life?" Honda asked, bewildered.

"How is it that Yugi's soul possesses two spirits and minds? How is it that I am here at all, Honda?" Yami persisted calmly. "How does one man take control of another's body and mind?"

"Magic," Jounouchi murmured, glancing over at Honda, who still stood, arms wrapped around himself, subtly rocking back and forth. Jounouchi knew the whole business still disturbed him, though he knew Honda wanted very much to support them... that he believed igi agi and Yami. He just had to process the weirdness, get beyond it... like Jounouchi had to this morning.

"Okay, so we know the Millennium Magic is real stuff," Anzu summarized, but she still looked worried. "But does Yugi really want to separate from you? I thought... you meant a lot to each other."

Yami cocked his head at her. "It's not like you think. We can still blend for dueling exactly as before. The difference is that I *can* physically separate from him. Not that I have to or that it's permanent. Though I suspect that once the Magic is sealed, it will be a permanent separation. Even so, our bond will maintain our closeness. Neither of us wants to lose that."

"Um, Kaiba's okay with this closeness stuff between you and Yugi?" Jounouchi asked.

Yami smiled as he took back the cards from Honda, who sat back down, his composure scraped back together. "Yes, he is. I told him from the very beginning that I couldn't think for a minute about being with him if I didn't think he understood about Yugi and myself. Yugi is my hikari, my light; I'm his darkness. We must be together. Seto has worked hard to accept this, and I believe he does."

Jounouchi narrowed his eyes at him. "That is why Kaiba offered Yugi that job, isn't it?"

Yami wasn't in the least perturbed by the insinuation. "Perhaps initially. I believe he sincerely wants Yugi to work with him now." To further reassure, he gave Jounouchi a wink.

[Thought so... but if Yami thinks he's sincere... aw, hell...] Jounouchi took a deep breath.

"Whoa!" Honda was saying. "So you and Yug are going to Bond, then you're getting your own body..." He gestured at the cards again. "What're you going to throw at us next?"

The spirit's faint smile deepened. He held up the Protector of the Scepter card. "Seto has the match to my Bond card, which we believe will be used with this one. His is the ritual magic card, 'Bond of the Protectors'. That would be Seto and myself. Yes - he and I shall bond as well!"

"Whoa, well..." Honda couldn't help but noted how happy Yami looked at that statement. "That's... awesome." [Man, he really seems to love Kaiba... and how exactly does Yugi feboutbout all this? I can see Yugi wanting to bond with Yami, but how will this other bond make him feel? Are we talking... threesome here?] He didn't know whether the thought disturbed him... or reassured him. [Protectors... yeah, that's gotta be a good thing, right?]

"What's the Scepter?"u asu asked.

"Another Millennium Item," Yami explained. "I'm not entirely certain where it fits into all of this." He held up the blank monster card. "As you can see, there is more to be learned about our new cards. Two of Seto's are blank, a fusion monster card, and another ritual magic card."

"And his fourth card?" Honda wondered.

"Obelisk the Tormentor, Power of the God Set," Yami murmured. "One of the three God cards. Isis Ishtahr gave it to Seto to be used in the tournament to attract the Rare Card Hunters who will surely be trying to get it."

"Right, since they got the other two," Jounouchi murmured, nodding. "You mentioned this morning that they were very danger Th That... they may be involved with the guy who controlled Bandit Keith when he stole your Puzzle."

"No way!" Honda exclaimed.

"Mind control's a serious matter," Jounouchi added, relieved when Yami gave him a firm nod. "Yami here thinks they might be out to kill to get what they want, whether it's Rare Cards or Yugi's Puzzle."

"Kill?" Anzu gasped. "You mean your life's in danger?"

Yami nodded somberly. "And the lives of all those close to us. That is why we believe the Bonds may give us the edge we need to both vanquish the Rare Hunters and keep all of you safe as well."

Jounouchi got a sudden flash of insight. "This test Kaiba's doing of the new Duel Disk... he ain't using Obelisk with that thing, is he? I mean, something like a God Card has to be pretty powerful, right?"

Yami frowned minutely. "I hadn't thought about it, Jounouchi, but you could be right. I suppose he is anxious to see its powers. And I don't think, from what Isis told us about the God Cards, that they're ordinary game cards either. Well, we'll have to see, I suppose."

Honda sighed, finally relaxing a little. "So we're going back into some pretty dangerous stuff it sounds like," he commented. "Actually, if you don't mind my saying so, I think this is worse!"

"I agree," Yami spoke before Jounouchi could. The blond nodded instead. "We had but one enemy in Duelist Kingdom - Pegasus. Other obstacles were just that, obstacles, and dueling successfully allowed us to overcome those. I believe the stakes have risen this time... and if this mind controller has a flock of minions working for him, we are in more danger than before. So you are correct, Honda."

"Wish I wasn't," Honda muttered ruefully.

"Yami, we're going to be there with you through it all," Anzu declared firmly. "You can count on us!"

"But you left out Bakura... and Otogi," Honda added. "What's with that? Aren't we going to be better off in greater numbers?"

"Greater numbers can only mean greater chances for the mind controller to subvert any one of you," Yami red ged gravely. "We don't entirely trust Bakura because of his own dark spirit."

"That dude is gone, isn't he?" Honda asked, straightening in surprise. "I threw his Millennium Ring far out into the forest!"

"Are you sure?" Yami murmured, looking thoughtful. "Those things may have a way of finding their owners again. Anyway, I don't want to risk that spirit's interference." [And was Bakura's appearance at the warehouse merely a coincidence?]

"Heh, Otogi'll keep our Bakura-boy preoccupied," Jounouchi put in with a wink at the others.

"Yeah, it sure looked like he was putting some fast moves on him this morning!" Anzu added, giggling.

"Then that's all well and good," Yami said with a sigh.

Jounouchi looked shrewdly at their diminutive friend. "So, what's the plan, exactly? We're here for this test tonight, then... the tournament starts, what, Monday?"

"Isn't that the day of your sister's operation?" Anzu asked.

"Oh, shit, that's right... well, I'm talented, I can get both in, right, Yug - er, I mean Yami?" Jounouchi looked sheepish for forgetting to whom they were talking.

"Of course you can, Jounouchi," Yami replied, smiling. "And as for the plan..." He took a deep breath.

/Tell 'em!/ Yugi said encouragingly. /I'm excited about this, really!/

//Arigato, aibou...// Aloud, Yami related, "The three of us - Seto, Yugi, and myself - will be doing the first Bond ritual tomorrow night, then Saturday night here in a private dueling arena we'll activate the Dark Manifestation magic card... and that's what we'd like you all to be present for."

"Dueling arena!" Jounouchi exclaimed, shocked. "What, you're going to fight with the cards?"

"No, nothing like that," Yami hastily assured him. "This is a power of the Millennium Puzzle. We'll utilize some of our cards along with their holographic projections to assist in the activation of the Dark Manifestation magic."

"Sugoi!" Honda uttered, impressed. "Then you and Yugi will, er, split?"

Yami shrugged. "That's the plan. Now, whether Seto and I can complete the other Bond before the tournament begins remains to be seen. We need to finish the rest of this first, then... we'll see."

Anzu bit her lip. "Um, can we talk to Yugi again for a minute?"

The Egyptian spirit inclined his head solemnly. Then the Puzzle glowed briefly, and the Sennen Eye appeared on his forehead. A moment later, Yugi was blinking at them, looking inordinately pleased with himself.

"Yugi!" the trio of friends exclaimed, then Anzu was asking, "Yugi, are you REALLY all right with all of this bonding stuff? I mean, it sounds pretty... um..."

"Permanent?" Honda offered.

"Intimate?" Jounouchi offered audaciously with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Yugi laughed at their various expressions: worried, taken aback, suggestive. "Well, you have a right to ask, I guess," he explained, linking his hands behind his head as he relaxed back against his chair. "I want to be with Yami forever... I've always known that," he added, his voice going soft for a moment.

"Yugi..." Anzu and Jounouchi whispered together.

//Aibou... and I as well,// Yami reminded him silently.

/I know. Now, we will be, no matter what happens with your memory./

Aloud, Yugi continued. "Is it really a surprise to you that I love him? He's been my partner though so many tough duels... and will be again in this new tournament. He's a wonderful companion. And, yes, I really am okay that he wants to be lovers with Kaiba-kun." He blushed, then corrected himself. "Um, with Seto-kun, I mean."

Three pairs of eyebrows hit the ceiling at the switch to the more intimate name. "Are *you* and Kaiba going to...?" Jounouchi started to ask.

Yugi laughed. "I can't help but care for Seto-kun, too, not with as close as he's gotten to my Yami. But I told you - I'm not interested in dating... or the rest."

"So..." Jounouchi trailed off, then started again as if he'd changed his mind as to what he was going to say. "All right, Yug, if you're okay with all of this... so am I."

"Jounouchi-kun... arigato!"

"Yeah, count me in, too!" Anzu spoke up, her worries fading as she saw both Yugi's obvious contentment and happiness and Jounouchi's solid support.

Then she and Jounouchi looked over pointedly at Honda.

"Er, yeah, me, too!" the brown-haired teen chimed in belatedly, though he still looked a bit unnerved.

"Honto ni, Honda-kun?" Yugi asked to be sure, sensing the other's discomfort.

Honda looked back at his little friend's plaintive expression and large, dewy violet eyes. [Oh, man, when he looks at me like that... shit. Well, Jou's all right with this whole crazy mess, so... guess I'd better jump aboard this bandwagon!] He smiled brightly at Yugi. "Yeah, Yug, I'm good with this, too. Though I'll still punch Kaiba's lights out if he hurts either of you!"

"Deal!" Yugi announced cheerfully.


tbc