Dandelion Fluff

By Tawnya Kisaragi

 

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Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Knowledge is limited.

Imagination encircles the world.

                        ~Albert Einstein

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Autumn had finally come to Domino City, turning the city red and gold.  The crisp breeze danced through the swaying treetops, filling the air with their sound of laughter.  Yugi smiled as he stopped in the middle of the park on his way home.  Fall was his favorite time of the year, right next to spring.  Only in these two seasons were the colours of nature at their brightest.  Both brought new beginnings, new chances, new challenges.

 

He smiled as he spotted a dandelion on the side of the path, accidentally forgotten by whatever gardener was tending.  Chuckling, he plucked it up, twirling it between his fingers.  He stared at it thoughtfully, then giggled and gave into his sudden childish impulse.  He closed his eyes and made a wish, blowing the feathery seeds from the stem.

 

With one last look at the naked stem, Yugi tossed it into the nearest garbage bin and hurried on his way.  Within minutes, he entered the Game Shop.  Waving to his grandfather, he entered the house only to be confronted by an intense pair of violet-crimson eyes after he closed the door behind him.  Yugi blinked at Yami’s unflinching stare.  The shadow spirit, seemingly having found whatever he had been looking for, turned without a word and walked away moments later.

 

Yugi continued to blink after his yami.  He had been acting weird for the past week, disappearing for hours at a time without explanation, staring rather blankly at absolutely nothing, drifting off into daydreams, even going as far as to lock his Soul Room door.  Very un-Yami-ish behaviour.  It was slightly disturbing, to say the least.

 

Shrugging it off, the boy took a seat at the table and began his homework.  Yami would wander in at odd points, look at his hikari thoughtfully, then disappear again only to return a while later and repeat the process.  At least he’s trying to be unobtrusive… Yugi thought with a grimace as the shadow once yet again walked in.  He was about to say something when his grandfather waltzed in after closing the store.  The Puzzle warmed against Yugi’s chest, signaling the spirit’s return to his Soul Room.

 

“Thank you, Kami-sama…” Yugi sighed.

 

“Eh?  Did you say something, Yugi?”  Sugoroku asked as he entered the adjoining kitchen.

 

“No, just finished my homework.”  To emphasis his point, he began packing away his books.

 

The rest of the evening was spent with a semblance of normality.  Dinner was quiet, as was the restocking of the store.  Evening fell quickly and before Yugi knew what was what, he was trotting upstairs to bed.  He was in the middle of changing when Yami decided to make his presence known again. 

 

“You’re bringing home strange friends again, aibou,” he said, startling the boy.  A strong hand kept him from turning while the other pulled something from his hair.  Once released, Yugi quickly finished changing before turning to glare at his darker half.

 

“Yami, we have to work on your timing…”  Yami wasn’t paying attention, though.  Instead, he was examining whatever he had pulled from Yugi’s hair.  His curiosity getting the better of him, the young duelist peered into the spirit’s hands.  Nestled there was a dandelion seed.  Yugi held out his own hand, to which Yami carefully dropped the piece of fluff.

 

“Drat,” he murmured, opening a window and releasing the seed into the night air.  “I guess my wish won’t come true…”

 

“Wish, aibou?”

 

A guilty flush crossed his face.  “It -- it's just something stupid and childish.”

 

“If it’s important to you, then it’s neither stupid nor childish.”

 

Yugi grimaced and ducked his head.  “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”  Yami continued to stare at him expectantly.  “Okay, okay.  I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to laugh!”

 

“I swear it.”

 

Suddenly finding it very hard to face the shadow spirit, Yugi turned back to the window.  “When I was really little, and my mom and dad were…  My mom once told me that all the little seeds of dandelions were faeries trapped by evil magicks.  She said that if you close your eyes, made a wish, and blew the faeries free without seeing where they went to hide, then the grateful faeries will take your wish to heaven and it will be granted.  By seeing one of the off, the evil would find them and the wish wouldn’t come true.”  He chanced a glance at Yami through the glass.  He looked locked deep in thought.

 

“What did you wish for?” he asked softly.  The boy shrugged as he climbed into bed.

 

“If I tell, it won’t come true.”

 

“I thought seeing the faerie off was going to make it not come true.”  Yugi couldn’t help but giggle at the adorable look of confusion on Yami’s face.

 

“Well, so does telling the wish to someone else.”  The young duelist shook his head.  “Forget about it, Yami.  It’s just a piece of childish fluff.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s late and I really have to get up in the morning.  Good night.”  He clicked off the bedside light.

 

“Oyasumi nasai, aibou.”

 

*~*~*

 

“Yami, yer crazy, ya know that?”

 

“You said you would help me find my gift for Yugi.  Now shut up and help me.”

 

Joey sighed and rolled his eyes, continuing his wanderings around the park.  “The things I do for friends…” he muttered under his breath.

 

-Flashback-

“So, Yami,” Joey started, slinging an arm around the shadow’s shoulders with a dopey grin, “whacha gettin’ lil Yugi for yer guy’s anniversary, huh?”

 

Yami stared at him blankly.  “Anni-versary?” he repeated slowly.

 

“Yeah, in a lil o’er a week, you’n’he will have been together fer a year…”

 

“I’m still failing to understand the relevance, Joey.”

 

“What the lecherous freak is trying to say is that in this day and age when a date that holds special meaning for two or more people rolls around, they usually exchange gifts,” Tristan said as he casually tripped the blonde and ground his face into the dirt.

 

“Hey!!!  What the hell do ya think yer doin’?  I’m talkin’ here!”

 

“No, you were making an ass out of yourself.”

 

The two friends were about to break each other’s noses when Yami’s thoughtful voice broke in.

 

“So I should get Yugi a present to commemorate the completion of the Puzzle.”

 

“Yeah!  That’s the ticket!” Joey shouted, clapping a hand on Yami’s shoulder.  “And I’ll help ya find the perfect gift.”

---

 

“And now I’m lookin’ fer weeds…”  The blonde scuffed his foot along the concrete path.  Heheh…pay dirt.  “Oi!  Yami!  O’er here!”  He bent and plucked up the two stems, handing them off.  Yami’s eyes brightened.

 

“Perfect.”

 

*~*~*

 

Yugi couldn’t decide which was worse, a wildly grinning Yami or a tense, nervous Yami.  Right now, he was heavily leaning towards the grinning.  He was finishing the last of his homework in bed before sleeping, but it was becoming more and more of a lost cause.  He couldn’t help letting some of his irritation filter through their soul link.  Yami dropped the grin long enough to let some concern flutter across his face.

 

“Problems with your homework?” he inquired.

 

The boy slammed his book shut.  “As a matter of fact, yes, I am having a problem.  You.  You keep sitting there, grinning like the cat that ate the cannery and polished off three bowls of cream.  Now what is it so that I can finish my homework?!”

 

The spirit froze like a deer in the headlights.  //Oh shit.  I was grinning?//

 

/Yes,/ came the terse reply.  /And don’t swear./

 

With a sigh, Yami pulled out a small white box with a simple gold ribbon wrapped around it.  Yugi blinked, an embarrassed blush at his earlier outburst rushing to his cheeks.  “Yami…” he stammered.

 

“I was going to wait until tomorrow to give you this, but it’s close enough now.  Happy Anniversary, aibou.”  He pressed the box towards his hikari, whose only response was to blink in surprise.  They sat in absolute silence for a few minutes, so long that Yami began to fear he had done something wrong.

 

“Yami…” the young duelist began again.  “Where did you…?  Why…?”

 

“Tomorrow, it will be one year since you solved the Millennium Puzzle.”  He suddenly looked very uncertain.  “Did I do something wrong?  I could have sworn I did everything Joey said to the letter…”

 

Joey?  Oh, now everything made perfect sense.  Yugi laughed and took the box before his darker half really got the wrong impression.  “Thank you, Yami.  I feel bad because I don’t have anything for you.”  The blush crept back into his face.  “I didn’t even really remember…”

 

Yami shook his head.  “Just open it.  I hope you like it.”  He watched the boy carefully unwrap the bow and lift the box lid.  He smiled as he watched Yugi’s eyes light up.  In an uncharacteristic display of shyness, he ducked his face behind his arms, which rested on the back of the chair he currently straddled.  “You like?” he asked softly, eyes shining behind his arms.

 

Carefully, Yugi held up the two dandelions, held together by a piece of red string.  His violet eyes shone with unshed tears.  Just as carefully, he put them back into the box and glomped onto his darker half, knocking them both to the ground. 

 

“IloveitIloveitIloveitIloveit!” he exclaimed, refusing to let go.

 

“Aibou…  I can’t…breathe…”  Yugi sat up, loosening his grip and grinning madly.  Yami pushed himself up, chuckling.  “I’m glad you like it.”  He reached up onto the bed and pulled the box down.  Handing one dandelion to his counterpart, they both stood and walked to the window.  Together, they blew the fluff into the starry night air.  Yugi took the string and tied it securely to the Puzzle.

 

“Thank you, Yami.”

 

“Un.”  He continued to stare out at the sky,  “So, hikari of mine, what did you wish for?” 

 

Yugi sucked in a breath.  “You really want to know?”

 

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t.”

 

“Okay.  I wished for a divine way to kill Joey.”  He looked up as Yami broke out into a loud, unreserved laughing fit.  “What?”  The shadow just shook his head, too out of breath from laughing.  “What is so funny?”  Yami finally managed to catch himself.

 

“I wished for the power to grant your wish.”

 

OWARI~TK’02