Three Days Grace

Yuugi’s face was mere inches from his, so close he could feel the other’s soft breath caress his face. He didn’t want to move away, to break out of the protective shell of Yuugi’s arm. Didn’t want to assume the responsibilities again, but…he had to.



The moment Yami moved, Yuugi became aware again. Cursing at himself for having wakened his partner, he tried to get Yuugi to lay down again.



The little one was not to be distracted. Yami watched, still sitting so close to him. Violet eyes sparkled.



“Let’s go to the museum!” No explanation, no reasoning, just an offer. “Yami, can we?”



Pleading.



Why the museum? he wondered. More importantly… Why now?



Long ago, Jounouchi and Anzu had learned to trust Yuugi. Long ago Honda and tiny Ryou had learned to depend on him. Somehow such deep beliefs had managed to escape Yami.



He trusted Yuugi, yes, but instead of the blind trust borne of no other options, the trust he placed in his partner was conditional. If you can do this, I will let you.



No further.



And yet… With the energetic, angelically bare form of his partner tugging on his arm, a winsome smile decorating that gentle mouth –



How can I say no?



Gracefully, Yami acquiesced to the strange, and altogether unexpected , request.



“But first put some clothing on,” he ordered, tossing a few articles toward the violet eyes blinking innocently at him. As if their owner couldn’t possibly decide what clothing was for.



“If you don’t get dressed, we won’t go.”



Yuugi was fully clothed in an instant, leaving a baffled Yami still wrestling with an extra set of belts.



xxxxx



Every move he made – Yami was painfully aware of every little move. Each step, the small tilt of his aibou’s head when something of interest passed.



Madness.



What was it that Mailk had told him before the Ishtars had left for Egypt?



’Once he’s in you’re head, he’ll never really leave. You’ll always feel him. Even if he’s dead to anyone else, everyone else…he’ll always be there.’



Was that the reason, then? That he and Yuugi had shared a body? Was that the ‘why’ behind his heightened awareness?



xxxxx



The museum steps loomed imperiously, the stone glittering in the mid-afternoon sun. Yami paused, simply staring at the huge building. He’d been here once before…



A sense of uneasiness rested behind the back of his throat, clenching until breath was hard to draw. But Yuugi was already ascending the steps, gliding upwards over the old rock to the gleaming plexi-glass doors. Despite his growing tension, Yami followed, compelled by stirrings he could not explain.



Right behind Yuugi he entered the building and the weight of some pending discovery settled itself on him. Once through the empty checkpoint, his aibou froze, staring up.



Yami let his gaze follow, and found himself assaulted by a reverse world of sight. Looking up, only to be looking down on a perfect copy of Egypt in her golden age.



A set of kids chasing each other brushed against Yami’s thigh, startling him. He tapped Yuugi lightly on the shoulder.



Looking up to look down… Holographic images carving out a life so many thousands of years ago. Yuugi seemed unaffected except to remark at the stunning attention to detail.



Yami’s thoughts skipped the details and centered on the mind behind the images, icy thrill and burning anger waving in bursts through him.



Two years ago… Two years ago –



Yuugi’s hand tugged him away from thought, toward an exhibit.



Leave your anger, leave your wonder, that insistent hand commanded. And, as with all commands of Yuugi’s, silent or spoken, it was one to be obeyed absolutely.



“Yami - it’s a tour group,” Yuugi exclaimed, pointing even as his other hand clutched spastically on the taller male’s jacket. So young, even grown as he was. A child, trapped forever, doomed to remain as such for an eternity.



At his abiou’s instruction, the two of them followed the group, trailing slightly behind to listen in on the speaker’s commentary. Yuugi seemed enthralled, but Yami still had the sense of unease hanging over him.



He barely listened to the woman’s monologue, absorbed in the feelings and sensations assaulting him from every direction.



There was Yuugi, a warm palm resting on his arm, a swift heartbeat and cheerful violet eyes that had seen perhaps too much of the world. Here was the erratic pulse of his own heart, flopping around as if stranded. For what reason he was unsure.



And then somewhere else, within the confines of the museum’s walls, lurking, there was another presence, brooding and vigilant.



But no time to dwell in that as Yuugi tugged his arm and they were off again. He had the strangest sense at having been caught trespassing, but dismissed such an absurd idea in lieu of the excited chatter Yuugi was pouring into his ear.



“ – and the Aztecs cut out their victim’s hearts – ”



Had that last exhibit really been Aztec? Even the mental image he’d had of it had begun to fade already.



Crushing pressure weighing down, constricting on all sides until he couldn’t breathe…



And still Yuugi, cheerful, sunny Yuugi, kept talking until his words began to drown out the feeling of being watched. Until Yami could breathe properly again. Until Yuugi’s hand no longer was giving squeezes that went unfelt and unreturned. Until he was back in himself once more.



“Are you hungry? I think I saw a café on the way in…”



xxxxx



They were lost. Impossibly, hopelessly lost. Yami had been in the museum before, but only as Yuugi. Two years was a long time to remember the layout of a place he had only seen once.



Longer still when the memories didn’t even belong to him. Yuugi’s memories, faded and partially overwritten like bad photography.



“I don’t remember this,” Yuugi said, sighing and wrapping arms tightly around Yami. A small child asking for reassurance. Yami let one of his own arms drift across Yuugi’s back, pressing them close together.



The humming was in the back of his head, fuzzy-ing his thoughts and making escape from the labyrinth they’d ended up in that much less feasible.



“I don’t know where we are.” Whimpered, a plea arousing protective insitincts within him.



“Hush, little one. Shhh – it’s okay. It will be okay.”



He held him, letting the heat of their bodies mingle. For whatever reason, this place they had found themselves in was chilled.



Cold…but doesn’t heat rise? Well that didn’t make sense then. Not if they were where they were supposed to be.



The uneasiness came back full force and his head snapped up. Yuugi was oblivious, clinging onto him, hands clutching convulsively at Yami’s shirt.



Hair prickled on the back of Yami’s neck and he cast his eyes about the dimly lit hallways, all tangled together. Impossible to navigate.



Movement –



A jolt of mad energy flooded through his veins at the sparkling ice flickering across the way. But dark, too dark to make out their owner –



Still, maybe he didn’t need to. He blinked and those eyes were gone, vanished into the miserable gloom.



And still he cradled the warm body of his aibou, whispering nonsense, but the sound of his voice seemed to soothe. He wasn’t sure how long he held the little one tightly, or how long they waited patiently in the dusky gloom. Eventually flashing beams of light split the dark, blinding Yami though he glared back defiantly, ignoring the smarting behind his eyes.



“This place is off-limits,” a hard-voice informed him.



“We were lost,” Yami replied quietly, eyes half-adjusted, just enough to pick out five shapes hidden behind that punishing brightness.



“We’ll take you back where you belong.” A more sympathetic voice, offering gentle reassurance. On the whole, Yami decided he would be more likely to trust the first speaker. There was nothing hidden behind those cold words.



Instead of a verbal reply, he offered a nod and gently pulled Yuugi’s arm. The smaller male had been extraordinarily quiet for the exchange.



Only gently, to discover Yuugi had fallen asleep leaning on him. Carefully, Yami gathered his partner into his arms, ignoring curious glances and deftly sidestepping hands that reached out with intent.



Yuugi. His aibou. His responsibility.



“Let’s go,” he told the gawking set of staff. “It’s cold down here.”



On the trail back, he thought he heard someone mutter, “Of course it’s cold; we’re underground.”



He ignored it, because of course they couldn’t possibly have wound up underground. Not when they’d taken all the stairs up.



xxxxx



The atrium looked overly large and friendly after the dungeon-like quality of wherever they had gotten lost. Since there had been a huge set of stairs the group ascended, Yami decided they had indeed wandered to lower levels. The question of how was the perplexing matter.



But in favor of his slowly awakening aibou, he pushed that question right out of his mind. Or, at least, tucked it into a corner of his skull where it wouldn’t get in the way.



“Yami, where am I?” Yuugi’s voice, shy and soft, violet eyes wide, watching the five guards that had served as an escort.



“Just the museum, aibou,” Yami replied, catching those stern-faced gazes and turning them away. There was something to be said for a commanding gaze.



“Come on, let’s go home,” Yami urged softly.



Yuugi’s eyes fluttered slightly, drooping again. “M’kay,” the small male whispered, words caught on air currents.



Yami held the tiny body carefully, protectively. Over Yuugi’s still form, he offered a nod to each of the five before walking out the exit, bearing Yuugi all the way home.



xxxxx



Not yet midnight. Still a few minutes to go. Yuugi was sleeping, curled around the Puzzle as if it were the most precious thing in the world.



Yami let the hint of a smile cross his lips. Stood, stalking across the room to the door and slipped out, leaving his partner breathing gently behind him.



The night was lukewarm, enough to feel cold on bare arms, not quite enough to raise shivers or goosebumps. He slithered through it, drawn without really knowing why. The museum was calling him, weaving a siren’s song that had caught him. And now he had no choice.



Obey, the song commanded, and obey he did.



Followed the twisting melody through the streets like a sleepwalker, unaware of anything except the destination he was called to. It was singing in his veins, pounding in his blood, contaminating, purifying.



Owned and loaned, brittle and strong, all at once.



xxxxx



The plexi-glass doors opened at a touch. The inner lobby was the same, but he hardly paused to glance up at the ceiling. Still ringing, blinding him to anything else was that ca;;, dragging him out of himself. Making him do things he never would have done in a rational state.



Leave Yuugi alone at night?



But inexplicably he had, and the chorus hadn’t even begun.



Feet moved of their own accord, guiding him lower and lower, into the very bowels of the museum. His breath came in puffs of white steam, but despite the chill he felt nothing. Cold beyond feeling, numb beyond needing to.



His body halted, released from the compulsions set upon it. Lights flickered into life, illuminating bare walls before him. Still he could feel the ringing of the siren’s song, but no longer blindly obeyed.



Dumbstruck, the cold finally began to kick in and Yami started to shiver, wondering what on earth had possessed him to go out in the middle of the night without a jacket.



The sound of footsteps startled him.



“For a duelist who is nearly impossible to defeat through ordinary means, you sure are predictable in everything else you do.”



That voice.



Flash of blue, a voice blending into a thousand words. Twisted lips, and blue, shallow enough to drown a grown man or rescue a child.



The flashes of alternating hot and cold poured over Yami as he turned slowly away from the blank wall, eyes tilted down slightly, not wanting to see him but knowing -



“Yami.” The implied command, look at me scribbled through his name. He refused, addressing the floor instead.



“Kaiba.”









Author's Notes:

You know how some behavior is acceptable for kids but n ot adults? Yuugi's flirting with that line. I can't afford the luxury of having any of my characters mentally competent at this point.



So I didn't think I'd have a chapter done before I left for Florida, but for the past two nights, houses have been falling on top of me with ideas. Thus, this got written, and chapter four is in the wings, so... Yeah, it's up. And, surprisingly enough, I actually have a plan for everything. Amazing, isn't it?