Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Nightmare Before Christmas ❯ Lament ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: HikariandYami 
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.21.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 286 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 01.21.2009 | Pages: 2 | Words: 3.6K | Visits: 286 | Status: Work In Progress
…Lament…
Slow and steady breaths could be heard coming from the bed and, if one looked over, the sight of a small spiky-haired youth sleeping peacefully on the bed could be seen. However, Yugi was no where close to 'sleeping peacefully.'
In fact, Yugi was wide awake. He had been for about an hour now. He had just hoped that if he didn't open his eyes then what had happened the night before would just become a dream; a figment of his imagination. He knew that he was being naïve but it didn't hurt to pretend. The sound of barking reached his ears causing Yugi to sighheavily, his hopes having been crushed into the ground.
There were no dogs allowed at the orphanage.
Despite the immense fear eating away at his mind, Yugi ripped the blankets off of his body and sat up to see a transparent dog floating above him. The ghost dog was small, maybe slightly bigger than his hand. It had long ears and an adorable button red nose. A collar lined its neck and round black eyes stared at him with untouched excitement. To say the least, it was without a doubt, the cutest thing that Yugi had ever seen in his life.
Another bark from the small dog brought Yugi out of his musings and, the next thing he knew, the ghost flew up to his face and licked his cheek. Yugi didn't feel anything, of course, but it was still a nice gesture of affection.
"H-hi," Yugi said unsurely and was rewarded with another bark for his efforts. Yugismiled, suddenly feeling at lot more at ease. So maybe not all ghosts were scary.
Yugi scanned the room that he was in and bit his lip. He hoped that he wasn't in some crazy vampire's house. He was pretty sure that another repeat of last night would send him to an early grave. His heart wouldn’t be able to handle it. Turning back to the dog, Yugi scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly before saying: "U-um, do you know where I am? Like, whose house I'm in?"
He had to admit that he felt kind of silly talking to a ghost dog but he figured that in this world anything was possible. The dog gave him a curious look before realization flashed in those round black eyes. As if understanding what Yugi was saying, the dog barked and then flew to the door. Yugi immediately understood that it wanted him to follow it.At first, he wasn't too sure. If he was in a monster's house then he really didn't want to go wandering around. However…
He trusted the dog. He also figured that if someone was nice enough to put him in bed and tuck him in then they probably weren't that bad. Suddenly, the dog flew out of the room and, almost falling as he did so; Yugi quickly stumbled out of bed and ran after it. Once he got out of the room, he noticed that he was in a long hallway, filled with several doors. He watched as the ghost dog went through one at the end of the hall and Yugi cautiously followed it.
When he opened the door, Yugi was surprised to find himself in what looked like a library. It was absolutely huge, probably the size of a half a dozen bedrooms put together, and it was littered with hundreds of books. 'Wow,' Yugi said to himself as he walked over to one of the shelves where the dog was and glanced over the books. 'This person must really like to read.'
"I see you've had the pleasure of meeting Zero," a charming voice said and Yugi turned on his heels to see the same pair of hypnotizing crimson eyes that he had seen the night before. Yugi furrowed his eyebrows at the stranger's comment but then realized what the man was talking about.
"Zero? Oh, that's his name?" Yugi said while looking over his shoulder at the small dog.
"Yes, it is," Yami replied and, with a snap of his hand, the dog flew over to him. "Zero, go to bed alright. I'll come get you soon."
The dog barked in compliance and then disappeared before Yugi's eyes. The smaller frowned at this and Yami immediately took notice. "Don't worry, little one. He's just taking a nap. He'll be back."
Yugi nodded. "W-where does he sleep?" he asked still very cautious of the handsome stranger.
"In the graveyard," Yami replied while taking in Yugi's nervous composure. With elegant grace, Yami walked up to the smaller one and smiled. "I don't believe that we were formally introduced yet. Yesterday, you kind of…well, passed out on me. My name is Yami."
"My name’s Yugi," the other replied quickly. "And I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm still having a hard time accepting that all this is real, you know."
"Accepting that what is real?" Yami inquired with a puzzled expression.
"This!" Yugi repeated exasperatedly while making a gesture with his hands.
Yami tilted his head to the side at Yugi's reaction. 'Hmm, Malik was right,' he mused and then said aloud: "You're very strange, little one."
Yugi couldn't help but roll his eyes. 'Yeah, I'm the strange one,' he said to himself, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You know, Yami," Yugi began in a tired voice. "Before yesterday, I didn't know that there was a world where people could just take their heads off when they felt like it."
Yugi flashed Yami a sideways glance and added: "And I certainly didn't know anybody who could swallow a knife, burst into flames, and survive."
A spark of interest lit up in those ruby eyes. "You’re not from here, are you? Where do you come from, little one?" Yami inquired curiously.
Yugi sighed and leaned his head back against the book shelves. With eyes staring up at the ceiling, he said: "I don't know how to explain it to you. I was just in the woods yesterday walking around. All of the sudden, I came to an opening with all these weird paintings on the trees. Some woman came out of no where and opened one of the paintings like it was a door. Then she pushed me in. Thus how I wound up here. You see, back in my world, there are no monsters, no ghouls, and no…whatever you are. There are only humans."
Yugi looked back down at Yami and was very much surprised by the other's face. He had expected Yami to be skeptic, maybe even laugh at his story. But instead, the other had a glimmer of fascination in his eyes. For a moment, he thought he saw hope too…
"Will you help me get back?" Yugi said suddenly rising Yami out of his thoughts.
"Yes," was all that Yami said. Truthfully, even though this 'other world' still puzzled him, he had never been so excited in his entire life. The thought of there being something more out there than Halloween Town thrilled him to no end. He gazed at Yugi curiously andsmiled. Maybe, just maybe, there was something more…
Offering the smaller a comforting smile, Yami said: "Your family must miss you."
Yugi’s eyes instantly dropped. Yami noticed this reaction and frowned. "Did I say something wrong?" Yami asked.
"I don't have a family Yami. They're dead," Yugi whispered bitterly and then glanced at Yami before adding: "But apparently being dead doesn't mean much anymore."
Yami felt a pang of hurt stab at his heart due to the sadness radiating off of the small youth. For a moment, he wondered why he felt so close to the other but then quickly remembered his stolen kiss from the night before. Yami immediately tried to push those thoughts from his mind. "I'm sorry to hear that, little one."
Yugi nodded and then unexpectedly said: "Yami, what am I?"
Yami looked slightly surprised by the sudden shift in topic but figured it was for the best. "You, little one, are a doll," Yami said with a small smile.
Yugi furrowed his eyebrows. "What exactly is a doll?"
“A doll is an extremely rare creature in Halloween Town,” Yami began but then burst out in laughter at the way Yugi’s face grimaced at the word ‘creature.’
“Creature? What am I, a diseased raccoon?” Yugi huffed out and Yami couldn’t help but obsess over the cute pout on the other’s beautiful face.
“Sorry, little one, but everyone here is a creature,” Yami explained and Yugi reluctantly agreed.
“Anyways,” Yami continued. “I believe the only other doll in Halloween Town, at the moment, is Ryou. Dolls are made out of leaves, you see. They’re–“
“Wait, what do you mean ‘made out of leaves?’” Yugi interrupted.
Yami scratched the back of his head and sighed. “It’s difficult to explain. It would be a lot easier to show you. However, I don’t want to give you a heart attack. Maybe, it’s best if I get Ryou to explain this to you. He would be able to give you all the answers you want more clearly than I could. You trust him, right?”
Yugi slowly nodded his head. Sure, he was still skeptic of the citizens in this town but Ryou seemed nice enough.
“Alright then, I’ll have him and Malik stop by later,” Yami said.
"Yami?” Yugi said catching the other’s full attention. “What are you anyways? I mean, you don’t look like a vampire or a monster or a ghost."
Yami smiled. "I'm a skeleton."
Yugi shook his head in confusion. "You don't look like a skeleton. You have skin and eyes and hair and, you know, all the things that skeleton’s aren’t suppose to have.”
Yami chuckled at Yugi’s puzzled expression. So adorable.
"I'm a special kind,” Yami answered.
Yugi arched a thin eyebrow. “Can you show me?"
Yami took this request into consideration but eventually shook his head. Yugi was obviously still adjusting to all the things that Halloween Town had to offer. He wanted Yugi to get use to this first…use to him. Especially before he revealed his true form. He wasn’t known as the scariest thing in all of Halloween Town for nothing. "Not just yet, Yugi," Yami whispered while running his fingers through his spiky hair. “But I will.”
Yugi didn’t question Yami’s reasons for telling him to wait. Part of him already knew that Yami didn’t want to scare him. And that thought, to say the least, was…touching. Even though he was still a little shaken by everything, Yugi flashed Yami the best smile that he had to offer. “Thank you, Yami,” he whispered and he could see the taller’s face soften.
“For you, anything,” Yami replied with a small smile. He reached over and brushed Yugi’s soft cheek with his fingers. He felt Yugi’s face heat up under his touch and watched as a large blush spread throughout the other’s face. Realizing what he was doing, Yami quickly withdrew his hand from the Yugi’s face and looked down.
"Yugi, I'm going to go out. I'll be back later," Yami said as he turned to leave.
"But…I…" Yugi started but couldn’t finish. 'I don't want you to leave me,' was what he wanted to say.
"I won't be gone for long, little one,” Yami assured at the other’s crestfallen expression. “And I'll tell Ryou and Malik to come over until then. Is that okay with you?"
“It’s fine,” Yugi replied and, after a few more words, Yami was heading out of the door.
Before closing the door behind him, Yami turned and smiled at Yugi one last time. And then he was gone. The moment the sound of the door closing reached Yugi’s ears, he exhaled. He hadn’t noticed that he had been holding his breath until that very moment. That look…that smile…was that for him? Or did Yami always look at people like that?
Secretly, Yugi hoped not. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself.
Looking back at the books on the shelves, Yugi couldn’t help but be curious as to where Yami was going. He had always been like that. And the sad thing was that once he was curious about something then it took almost all of his will-power not to do anything about it. Well, it couldn’t hurt to check where Yami was going to, right? No, of course not.
And with that final thought, Yugi left the room and headed out of the house.
…
Yugi was surprised when he had followed Yami to the graveyard. He was sure that Yami would be heading to the city square to meet some people. Why did he want to be all alone surrounded by all these tombs? Using his detective skills that he had learned from watching all those shows as a child, Yugi snuck up behind a tombstone and watched Yami closely. What was he doing here?
With a finger resting gently on his chin, Yami walked through the graveyard completely lost in a world of his own, oblivious to the amethyst eyes that were watching his every move. Without even thinking, he momentarily stopped at a small tombstone, bent down, and padded the bottom of his leg. Within a moment, Zero arose from the grave and immediately flew over to his master.
Finding a spot to lean on, Yami rested his cheek on his closed fist and sent Zero a sideways glance before speaking out thoughtfully to no one in particular: "There are few who deny, at what I do, I am the best for my talents are renowned far and wide. When it comes to surprises on a moonlit night, I excel without ever even trying."
Zero barked happily at his master and watched as Yami jumped on top of a tombstone with effortless grace. Yami smirked at the encouragement and then jumped to another. "With the slightest little effort of my ghostlike charms, I have seen grown men give out a shriek," he spoke and then quickly added: "With the wave of my hand and a well-placed moan, I have swept the very bravest off their feet."
Zero smiled at his master's playfulness but whined when Yami's demeanor suddenly changed and his handsome face twisted with agonizing confusion. Yami slowly leaped back onto the ground and turned to his pet with a frown. "Yet year after year it's the same routine and I grow so weary of the sound of screams. And I, Yami, the pumpkin king, have grown so tired of the same old thing..."
At this point, Yugi was leaning up against the tombstone that he was hiding behind even more so that he could hear Yami's words that had both captivated and surprised him. He could practically hear Yami's heart breaking in those words. He could hear his frustration and confusion; his sadness and longing. Without even realizing it, Yugi placed his hand over his chest. For some reason, his heart hurt too. The amethyst-eyed doll watched as Yami walked onto a steep hill, which seemed to twirl at the very top, with Zero close in pursuit. He smiled when Yami's memorizing voice blew past his ears, tickling his cheeks as it did so.
"Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow. There's something out there far from my home; a longing that I've never known," Yami whispered aloud to himself. Or so he thought.
Yami smiled ever-so-slightly when he glanced down at the scenery below him to see a pumpkin patch. With a small movement of his hands, the pumpkins let out a scream and several ghosts flew out of their mouths and disappeared into the night sky. Yami's smile then turned at the corners before he spoke to his hovering pet beside him: "I'm a master of fright and a demon of light and I'll scare you right out of your pants. But who here would ever understand that the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin would tire of his crown, if they only understood, he'd give it all up if he only could."
Yugi felt tears brim his eyelashes. Was that really how Yami felt? Was he really that tired of being the center of attention? Of being a king? Maybe, it wasn't that so much as it was that Yami had no one to share it with. Yami was…all alone. Just like him.
Yugi cautiously peeked out from behind the tombstone but then gasped quietly when Yami turned around. Luckily, the younger was quicker, and had managed to hide back behind the stone before Yami saw him. After realizing that Yami hadn't seen him, he exhaled slowly and his heart rate came back to a steady pace. When Yugi had managed to muster up enough courage to peek out again, he saw Yami walking down the other side of the hill as the twirled section at the top began to unfold beneath his feet as if it had a life of its own. Soon enough, Yami had arrived at the opposite side and the skinny section spun itself right back up again at the top of the hill. Yugi frowned knowing very well that there was no way that the creepy, scary, hill thingy had any intention of letting him cross as well. The last thing he heard finally triggered the release of the tears that he had been holding back up till this point.
"Oh, there's an empty place in my bones that calls out for something unknown. The fame and praise that come year after year does nothing for these empty tears..."
And then, Yami was gone. Yugi could no longer see him or Zero since the two had walked straight into the woods on the other side of the graveyard.
"Yami," Yugi whispered sadly. "I know how you feel."
With a heavy heart and conflicting emotions, Yugi made his way back to Yami’s house. The moment he had opened the front door and walked into one of the rooms, someone grabbed him from the back of his shirt and yanked him back. For a moment, he panicked. That was until the one behind him spoke.
“Hey Ryou! I found the little devil.”
Yugi turned to see Malik and, a second later, Ryou appeared through the door. “There you are!” Ryou said relieved. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Yami would have had our heads if we lost you.” The pale boy chuckled. “Literally.”
“Oh, sorry about that. I was…doing something,” Yugi apologized. At this point, he wasn’t really scared of the other two boys. They were both nice enough and, right now, they were the closest things to friends he had.
Ryou nodded and then gestured to a table with a few chairs. “Yami mentioned that have some questions for us.”
“I do if you don’t mind,” Yugi said sheepishly.
“Aw, he’s so cute,” Malik teased only to be slapped lightly on the arm by Ryou.
“Leave him alone. He’s already going to have to deal with Bakura’s and Marik’s incessant teasing. He really doesn’t need your input too,” Ryou said with a playful glare.
“Bakura and Marik?” Yugi questioned suspiciously.
Malik shook his head. “Hopefully you won’t have to meet those two for a little while. At least until you more accustomed to Halloween Town. I can tell you’re not from here.”
“You’re right, I’m not,” Yugi replied.
“Well, I’m sure you have a lot of questions for us then,” Ryou mused as they all took a seat. “Shall we begin?”
Yugi nodded. “Well, to start, what in the world am I?”
Yugi listened intently to Ryou’s explanation and Malik’s comments every now and then. However, no matter how interested he was in the conversation, he could not shake Yami out of his thoughts. He was so drawn to the crimson-eyed youth. He couldn’t explain it. The way that he felt when Yami smiled at him or touched him was indescribable. Yugi subconsciously bit his lip as realization hit him like a bullet. No matter what happened from this moment on, thoughts of Yami would plague his dreams for as long as he lived.
…TBC…
Yuri: So, this chapter is a song in the movie too. Most of the movie is songs so that will be how most of the chapters are. If you want to see the part of the movie with thing song then go to youtube dot com and type in Jack’s Lament from the Nightmare Before Christmas. Review please! Love you all!
P.S. For those of you that have seen the movie, the part of the movie that Jack's sings 'What's this?' is next! That's my favorite part in the movie! See you guys!
Slow and steady breaths could be heard coming from the bed and, if one looked over, the sight of a small spiky-haired youth sleeping peacefully on the bed could be seen. However, Yugi was no where close to 'sleeping peacefully.'
In fact, Yugi was wide awake. He had been for about an hour now. He had just hoped that if he didn't open his eyes then what had happened the night before would just become a dream; a figment of his imagination. He knew that he was being naïve but it didn't hurt to pretend. The sound of barking reached his ears causing Yugi to sighheavily, his hopes having been crushed into the ground.
There were no dogs allowed at the orphanage.
Despite the immense fear eating away at his mind, Yugi ripped the blankets off of his body and sat up to see a transparent dog floating above him. The ghost dog was small, maybe slightly bigger than his hand. It had long ears and an adorable button red nose. A collar lined its neck and round black eyes stared at him with untouched excitement. To say the least, it was without a doubt, the cutest thing that Yugi had ever seen in his life.
Another bark from the small dog brought Yugi out of his musings and, the next thing he knew, the ghost flew up to his face and licked his cheek. Yugi didn't feel anything, of course, but it was still a nice gesture of affection.
"H-hi," Yugi said unsurely and was rewarded with another bark for his efforts. Yugismiled, suddenly feeling at lot more at ease. So maybe not all ghosts were scary.
Yugi scanned the room that he was in and bit his lip. He hoped that he wasn't in some crazy vampire's house. He was pretty sure that another repeat of last night would send him to an early grave. His heart wouldn’t be able to handle it. Turning back to the dog, Yugi scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly before saying: "U-um, do you know where I am? Like, whose house I'm in?"
He had to admit that he felt kind of silly talking to a ghost dog but he figured that in this world anything was possible. The dog gave him a curious look before realization flashed in those round black eyes. As if understanding what Yugi was saying, the dog barked and then flew to the door. Yugi immediately understood that it wanted him to follow it.At first, he wasn't too sure. If he was in a monster's house then he really didn't want to go wandering around. However…
He trusted the dog. He also figured that if someone was nice enough to put him in bed and tuck him in then they probably weren't that bad. Suddenly, the dog flew out of the room and, almost falling as he did so; Yugi quickly stumbled out of bed and ran after it. Once he got out of the room, he noticed that he was in a long hallway, filled with several doors. He watched as the ghost dog went through one at the end of the hall and Yugi cautiously followed it.
When he opened the door, Yugi was surprised to find himself in what looked like a library. It was absolutely huge, probably the size of a half a dozen bedrooms put together, and it was littered with hundreds of books. 'Wow,' Yugi said to himself as he walked over to one of the shelves where the dog was and glanced over the books. 'This person must really like to read.'
"I see you've had the pleasure of meeting Zero," a charming voice said and Yugi turned on his heels to see the same pair of hypnotizing crimson eyes that he had seen the night before. Yugi furrowed his eyebrows at the stranger's comment but then realized what the man was talking about.
"Zero? Oh, that's his name?" Yugi said while looking over his shoulder at the small dog.
"Yes, it is," Yami replied and, with a snap of his hand, the dog flew over to him. "Zero, go to bed alright. I'll come get you soon."
The dog barked in compliance and then disappeared before Yugi's eyes. The smaller frowned at this and Yami immediately took notice. "Don't worry, little one. He's just taking a nap. He'll be back."
Yugi nodded. "W-where does he sleep?" he asked still very cautious of the handsome stranger.
"In the graveyard," Yami replied while taking in Yugi's nervous composure. With elegant grace, Yami walked up to the smaller one and smiled. "I don't believe that we were formally introduced yet. Yesterday, you kind of…well, passed out on me. My name is Yami."
"My name’s Yugi," the other replied quickly. "And I'm sorry about yesterday. I'm still having a hard time accepting that all this is real, you know."
"Accepting that what is real?" Yami inquired with a puzzled expression.
"This!" Yugi repeated exasperatedly while making a gesture with his hands.
Yami tilted his head to the side at Yugi's reaction. 'Hmm, Malik was right,' he mused and then said aloud: "You're very strange, little one."
Yugi couldn't help but roll his eyes. 'Yeah, I'm the strange one,' he said to himself, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You know, Yami," Yugi began in a tired voice. "Before yesterday, I didn't know that there was a world where people could just take their heads off when they felt like it."
Yugi flashed Yami a sideways glance and added: "And I certainly didn't know anybody who could swallow a knife, burst into flames, and survive."
A spark of interest lit up in those ruby eyes. "You’re not from here, are you? Where do you come from, little one?" Yami inquired curiously.
Yugi sighed and leaned his head back against the book shelves. With eyes staring up at the ceiling, he said: "I don't know how to explain it to you. I was just in the woods yesterday walking around. All of the sudden, I came to an opening with all these weird paintings on the trees. Some woman came out of no where and opened one of the paintings like it was a door. Then she pushed me in. Thus how I wound up here. You see, back in my world, there are no monsters, no ghouls, and no…whatever you are. There are only humans."
Yugi looked back down at Yami and was very much surprised by the other's face. He had expected Yami to be skeptic, maybe even laugh at his story. But instead, the other had a glimmer of fascination in his eyes. For a moment, he thought he saw hope too…
"Will you help me get back?" Yugi said suddenly rising Yami out of his thoughts.
"Yes," was all that Yami said. Truthfully, even though this 'other world' still puzzled him, he had never been so excited in his entire life. The thought of there being something more out there than Halloween Town thrilled him to no end. He gazed at Yugi curiously andsmiled. Maybe, just maybe, there was something more…
Offering the smaller a comforting smile, Yami said: "Your family must miss you."
Yugi’s eyes instantly dropped. Yami noticed this reaction and frowned. "Did I say something wrong?" Yami asked.
"I don't have a family Yami. They're dead," Yugi whispered bitterly and then glanced at Yami before adding: "But apparently being dead doesn't mean much anymore."
Yami felt a pang of hurt stab at his heart due to the sadness radiating off of the small youth. For a moment, he wondered why he felt so close to the other but then quickly remembered his stolen kiss from the night before. Yami immediately tried to push those thoughts from his mind. "I'm sorry to hear that, little one."
Yugi nodded and then unexpectedly said: "Yami, what am I?"
Yami looked slightly surprised by the sudden shift in topic but figured it was for the best. "You, little one, are a doll," Yami said with a small smile.
Yugi furrowed his eyebrows. "What exactly is a doll?"
“A doll is an extremely rare creature in Halloween Town,” Yami began but then burst out in laughter at the way Yugi’s face grimaced at the word ‘creature.’
“Creature? What am I, a diseased raccoon?” Yugi huffed out and Yami couldn’t help but obsess over the cute pout on the other’s beautiful face.
“Sorry, little one, but everyone here is a creature,” Yami explained and Yugi reluctantly agreed.
“Anyways,” Yami continued. “I believe the only other doll in Halloween Town, at the moment, is Ryou. Dolls are made out of leaves, you see. They’re–“
“Wait, what do you mean ‘made out of leaves?’” Yugi interrupted.
Yami scratched the back of his head and sighed. “It’s difficult to explain. It would be a lot easier to show you. However, I don’t want to give you a heart attack. Maybe, it’s best if I get Ryou to explain this to you. He would be able to give you all the answers you want more clearly than I could. You trust him, right?”
Yugi slowly nodded his head. Sure, he was still skeptic of the citizens in this town but Ryou seemed nice enough.
“Alright then, I’ll have him and Malik stop by later,” Yami said.
"Yami?” Yugi said catching the other’s full attention. “What are you anyways? I mean, you don’t look like a vampire or a monster or a ghost."
Yami smiled. "I'm a skeleton."
Yugi shook his head in confusion. "You don't look like a skeleton. You have skin and eyes and hair and, you know, all the things that skeleton’s aren’t suppose to have.”
Yami chuckled at Yugi’s puzzled expression. So adorable.
"I'm a special kind,” Yami answered.
Yugi arched a thin eyebrow. “Can you show me?"
Yami took this request into consideration but eventually shook his head. Yugi was obviously still adjusting to all the things that Halloween Town had to offer. He wanted Yugi to get use to this first…use to him. Especially before he revealed his true form. He wasn’t known as the scariest thing in all of Halloween Town for nothing. "Not just yet, Yugi," Yami whispered while running his fingers through his spiky hair. “But I will.”
Yugi didn’t question Yami’s reasons for telling him to wait. Part of him already knew that Yami didn’t want to scare him. And that thought, to say the least, was…touching. Even though he was still a little shaken by everything, Yugi flashed Yami the best smile that he had to offer. “Thank you, Yami,” he whispered and he could see the taller’s face soften.
“For you, anything,” Yami replied with a small smile. He reached over and brushed Yugi’s soft cheek with his fingers. He felt Yugi’s face heat up under his touch and watched as a large blush spread throughout the other’s face. Realizing what he was doing, Yami quickly withdrew his hand from the Yugi’s face and looked down.
"Yugi, I'm going to go out. I'll be back later," Yami said as he turned to leave.
"But…I…" Yugi started but couldn’t finish. 'I don't want you to leave me,' was what he wanted to say.
"I won't be gone for long, little one,” Yami assured at the other’s crestfallen expression. “And I'll tell Ryou and Malik to come over until then. Is that okay with you?"
“It’s fine,” Yugi replied and, after a few more words, Yami was heading out of the door.
Before closing the door behind him, Yami turned and smiled at Yugi one last time. And then he was gone. The moment the sound of the door closing reached Yugi’s ears, he exhaled. He hadn’t noticed that he had been holding his breath until that very moment. That look…that smile…was that for him? Or did Yami always look at people like that?
Secretly, Yugi hoped not. He just didn’t want to admit it to himself.
Looking back at the books on the shelves, Yugi couldn’t help but be curious as to where Yami was going. He had always been like that. And the sad thing was that once he was curious about something then it took almost all of his will-power not to do anything about it. Well, it couldn’t hurt to check where Yami was going to, right? No, of course not.
And with that final thought, Yugi left the room and headed out of the house.
…
Yugi was surprised when he had followed Yami to the graveyard. He was sure that Yami would be heading to the city square to meet some people. Why did he want to be all alone surrounded by all these tombs? Using his detective skills that he had learned from watching all those shows as a child, Yugi snuck up behind a tombstone and watched Yami closely. What was he doing here?
With a finger resting gently on his chin, Yami walked through the graveyard completely lost in a world of his own, oblivious to the amethyst eyes that were watching his every move. Without even thinking, he momentarily stopped at a small tombstone, bent down, and padded the bottom of his leg. Within a moment, Zero arose from the grave and immediately flew over to his master.
Finding a spot to lean on, Yami rested his cheek on his closed fist and sent Zero a sideways glance before speaking out thoughtfully to no one in particular: "There are few who deny, at what I do, I am the best for my talents are renowned far and wide. When it comes to surprises on a moonlit night, I excel without ever even trying."
Zero barked happily at his master and watched as Yami jumped on top of a tombstone with effortless grace. Yami smirked at the encouragement and then jumped to another. "With the slightest little effort of my ghostlike charms, I have seen grown men give out a shriek," he spoke and then quickly added: "With the wave of my hand and a well-placed moan, I have swept the very bravest off their feet."
Zero smiled at his master's playfulness but whined when Yami's demeanor suddenly changed and his handsome face twisted with agonizing confusion. Yami slowly leaped back onto the ground and turned to his pet with a frown. "Yet year after year it's the same routine and I grow so weary of the sound of screams. And I, Yami, the pumpkin king, have grown so tired of the same old thing..."
At this point, Yugi was leaning up against the tombstone that he was hiding behind even more so that he could hear Yami's words that had both captivated and surprised him. He could practically hear Yami's heart breaking in those words. He could hear his frustration and confusion; his sadness and longing. Without even realizing it, Yugi placed his hand over his chest. For some reason, his heart hurt too. The amethyst-eyed doll watched as Yami walked onto a steep hill, which seemed to twirl at the very top, with Zero close in pursuit. He smiled when Yami's memorizing voice blew past his ears, tickling his cheeks as it did so.
"Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones, an emptiness began to grow. There's something out there far from my home; a longing that I've never known," Yami whispered aloud to himself. Or so he thought.
Yami smiled ever-so-slightly when he glanced down at the scenery below him to see a pumpkin patch. With a small movement of his hands, the pumpkins let out a scream and several ghosts flew out of their mouths and disappeared into the night sky. Yami's smile then turned at the corners before he spoke to his hovering pet beside him: "I'm a master of fright and a demon of light and I'll scare you right out of your pants. But who here would ever understand that the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin would tire of his crown, if they only understood, he'd give it all up if he only could."
Yugi felt tears brim his eyelashes. Was that really how Yami felt? Was he really that tired of being the center of attention? Of being a king? Maybe, it wasn't that so much as it was that Yami had no one to share it with. Yami was…all alone. Just like him.
Yugi cautiously peeked out from behind the tombstone but then gasped quietly when Yami turned around. Luckily, the younger was quicker, and had managed to hide back behind the stone before Yami saw him. After realizing that Yami hadn't seen him, he exhaled slowly and his heart rate came back to a steady pace. When Yugi had managed to muster up enough courage to peek out again, he saw Yami walking down the other side of the hill as the twirled section at the top began to unfold beneath his feet as if it had a life of its own. Soon enough, Yami had arrived at the opposite side and the skinny section spun itself right back up again at the top of the hill. Yugi frowned knowing very well that there was no way that the creepy, scary, hill thingy had any intention of letting him cross as well. The last thing he heard finally triggered the release of the tears that he had been holding back up till this point.
"Oh, there's an empty place in my bones that calls out for something unknown. The fame and praise that come year after year does nothing for these empty tears..."
And then, Yami was gone. Yugi could no longer see him or Zero since the two had walked straight into the woods on the other side of the graveyard.
"Yami," Yugi whispered sadly. "I know how you feel."
With a heavy heart and conflicting emotions, Yugi made his way back to Yami’s house. The moment he had opened the front door and walked into one of the rooms, someone grabbed him from the back of his shirt and yanked him back. For a moment, he panicked. That was until the one behind him spoke.
“Hey Ryou! I found the little devil.”
Yugi turned to see Malik and, a second later, Ryou appeared through the door. “There you are!” Ryou said relieved. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Yami would have had our heads if we lost you.” The pale boy chuckled. “Literally.”
“Oh, sorry about that. I was…doing something,” Yugi apologized. At this point, he wasn’t really scared of the other two boys. They were both nice enough and, right now, they were the closest things to friends he had.
Ryou nodded and then gestured to a table with a few chairs. “Yami mentioned that have some questions for us.”
“I do if you don’t mind,” Yugi said sheepishly.
“Aw, he’s so cute,” Malik teased only to be slapped lightly on the arm by Ryou.
“Leave him alone. He’s already going to have to deal with Bakura’s and Marik’s incessant teasing. He really doesn’t need your input too,” Ryou said with a playful glare.
“Bakura and Marik?” Yugi questioned suspiciously.
Malik shook his head. “Hopefully you won’t have to meet those two for a little while. At least until you more accustomed to Halloween Town. I can tell you’re not from here.”
“You’re right, I’m not,” Yugi replied.
“Well, I’m sure you have a lot of questions for us then,” Ryou mused as they all took a seat. “Shall we begin?”
Yugi nodded. “Well, to start, what in the world am I?”
Yugi listened intently to Ryou’s explanation and Malik’s comments every now and then. However, no matter how interested he was in the conversation, he could not shake Yami out of his thoughts. He was so drawn to the crimson-eyed youth. He couldn’t explain it. The way that he felt when Yami smiled at him or touched him was indescribable. Yugi subconsciously bit his lip as realization hit him like a bullet. No matter what happened from this moment on, thoughts of Yami would plague his dreams for as long as he lived.
…TBC…
Yuri: So, this chapter is a song in the movie too. Most of the movie is songs so that will be how most of the chapters are. If you want to see the part of the movie with thing song then go to youtube dot com and type in Jack’s Lament from the Nightmare Before Christmas. Review please! Love you all!
P.S. For those of you that have seen the movie, the part of the movie that Jack's sings 'What's this?' is next! That's my favorite part in the movie! See you guys!