Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Devotion ❯ Friendship ( Chapter 10 )

Oh god.

I feel so horrible.

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

No, Kaiba may be a cold, heartless bastard, but he doesn't deserve to die.

Quite.

Poor Yugi.

Poor, poor Yugi.

He's so afraid now.

Why did the other Yugi do that?

He must have had a good reason.

I know he's a good person.

He saved me all those times.

My mysterious stranger. God, I had such a crush.

I still do.

But I like Yugi too. It's not betrayal, is it? Liking my oldest friend and this spirit?

But, if they're the same person…

I look at Yugi when he's dueling, and I see Yugi.

What he could be.

That fire, that confidence…it's as much a part of him as his kindness. It's just that his kindness is stronger: he never fights seriously, because he never wants to hurt anyone.

The other Yugi is his other side, they're different faces of the same person.

So I'm not betraying either of them by liking both.

You bastard Kaiba.

How can you say that to him? Do you know what he's going through!? Do you even care!?

God, I really shouldn't say such mean things to him. Not that they seem to have hurt him much.

You see, I'm just like Yugi. There's a part of me that is nice and kind, and devoted to my friends, but there's another part that's just as devoted, but… nasty about it.

Willing to do anything, anything, for the ones I care about.

I think everyone's like that. I mean, we have instincts from evolving, and isn't protecting your family the most noble instinct?

But strangling Kaiba isn't exactly something a modern person can get away with.

And the civilized me knows this, and restricts my desire to protect my friends to moral support.

Other Yugi, I know you. Isn't having your life saved by someone supposed to connect you to them?

You're a good person. You're just like me.

You'll do anything to protect the ones you care about, won't you?

Friends and family are the only things that matter.

And you consider me a friend. And Joey, `cause you rescued him from that gang. And Tristan, because you used Monster Reborn for him even though he was a really weak card. And Ryou, `cause you wouldn't kill him even when he practically begged you to. And Yugi.

You'd do anything for Yugi.

I saw how you looked at him when he wasn't looking at you. No one, no one, who can care about someone that much can be evil.

Gods, I've had a crush on you for years, I just didn't do anything because if we broke up, you'd lose your only friend and I couldn't do that to you.

But now you have Joey, and Tristan, and Ryou, and the other you.

He loves you, you know.

He must be crying. You're crying, so he is.

I have to do something. I can't let the two of you suffer like this.

Not when I love you.

I just wished I knew how I loved you.

According to the Greeks, I heard somewhere, there are three kinds of love.

Philios, love of the mind. What you feel for your friends.

Friendship.

People roll their eyes when I talk about it, but that's because the idiots have no idea.

Friendship is something you can't live without.

Even Kaiba has his brother.

That's why he's so desperate to get him back. You'd think, after what he said to him and did at Death-T that he didn't care, but Kaiba, you'd die without someone to care about you.

I know what it's like to be alone.

Yugi, you were my first friend. The first one I approached who didn't tease me.

Is that why you are so important to me?

Is what I feel just Philios?

JUST Philios? What a stupid thing to say.

The second type of love is the one I'm not sure about.

Eros. Love of the body. Romantic love.

I mean, I've thought it would be great to go out with you. But is that just because we're teenagers, and dating is the kind of thing we're supposed to do?

I mean, I wouldn't mind spending my life with you. I know that you'd never hurt me, and we'd be great friends.

Friends. I think that, even if I do love you love you, my friendship is stronger. When I think of us, I see us talking, not kissing. I love you for your mind, who you are, not your body.

The last?

Agape. Love of the soul.

What else could it be?

What else could you feel for yourself?

Man, I envy you.

Soulmates is the kind of thing people dream about.

And that's why you feel so horrible right now.

Only the ones we love can hurt us like that.

You think he's betrayed you.

Can't you see he never, never would?

He did it for you, Yugi. He does everything for you. Except the things he does for me and the rest of us, because he, like the rest of you, is the kind of person that cares about others, but that doesn't mean you're not the center of his life.

If I was stupid, I would feel jealous. But caring is caring, and I know you, both of you, care for me. What you feel for yourself won't change that.

I want you to be happy.

And that means getting the two of you to kiss and make up.

Oh, no Mai.

Do not go there.

Make him feel any worse and I'll kick your ass.

You do not mess with my friends.

Right, Yugis?

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