Whispers in the Dark-Chp11

“Yugi, you feeling sick again?”

Demetrius, hall monitor and student council rep in charge of looking out for the wellbeing of the five while they were in their condition, came up to Yugi when he noticed the little frail boy leaning against the window of the school hall after finishing his cleaning duties, breathing heavily. It was obvious that Yugi was still not used to holding his nausea.

“I…I’m alright, Demetrius. Just a little woozy.”

“I think it’s about time you paid a trip to the infirmary.”

“Th-Thanks, Demetrius, but I think I’ll just go home. It’s end of school hours anyway.”

During this morning sickness period, he and his fellow friends have spent most of their school hours in the infirmary trying to ride out the nausea and keep whatever they ate in and not out. Many of their fellow classmates come in to visit them and ask how they were doing, and sometimes even make use of these visiting moments to skip class, but of course, Illust-chan and Dr. Karita shooed them out the moment they figured those classmates were doing more than just showering concerns over the five. The school had given them exceptions from P.E. and tried to give them less homework as possible so that they could pass this period in peace, and it had lessen their burden more or less. They have personally received a permission letter each from their principal that they would be allowed to be home-schooled once their pregnancies start to show, and Mai had assured them that all expenses would be covered when it comes down to midwifery services. And of course, the student council assigned Demetrius the hall monitor as a rep to look after the five while they were still able to attend school since his big built is enough to scare away any possible wrongdoers towards them.

Demetrius decided that Yugi was too weak to walk home and gave him a piggyback ride instead, offering to carry his bags along with his own. Demetrius used to have a crush on Yugi and had offered his protection services when the attacks by hormone-crazed men were taking a slight toll on Joey, Tristan and Malik, but him being a pure male, Joey went straight into overprotective mode and warned him to keep his hands away from Yugi. Later during the day, Yugi apologized on Joey’s behalf for his brashness, and softly rejected Demetrius of his love for he wasn’t really into big, bulky guys like him. Demetrius stomached the rejection fairly well, and without the five knowing, had been secretly teaching the pure men who tried to tackle Yugi a lesson all the way to the day they were officially pregnant.

“Thanks, Demy,” Yugi said, calling him by his nickname he gave him when he told Demetrius that they would always remain friends. “You’re a life saver.”

“I’m the student council rep, it’s my duty to look out for you guys,” Demetrius replied good-naturedly, “although Joey, Tristan and Malik weren’t exactly making my job any easier.”

“They’re a little hot-headed, I must admit,” Yugi chuckled. “But they have a heart of gold. Don’t mind anything they said.”

“If you say so.”

The sun was setting as the duo was crossing the bridge on their way towards Yugi’s home. Since Yugi’s grandfather was an advisor of Mai Valentine, he and Yugi were considered one of the well-off people of Domino Island, and usually well-off people’s homes are slightly further away from the rest of the community at the other side of the island, and to get there, they had to cross the border that separates the well-offs and the commoners through that bridge.

“Nice view from here,” Yugi said. “This is one of the reasons why I love living in the other side of the island: so that I can get to see the sun rise and set everyday. I’ll never get tired of it. No one understands why I’m willing to live so far away from school. If only they could.”

“Then I shall be the first person to do so,” Demetrius replied, grinning as he watched the sunset together with Yugi still on his back.

“I’m glad that we’re friends, although I cannot return your feelings the way you want it. I still feel bad about…”

“Don’t worry about it, Yug. I’ve gotten over it. I understand that sometimes things are not meant to be. I’m contented to be just your friend.”
 
“I’m glad we’re on the same turf, Demy.”

While they continued on their journey towards Yugi’s home, they noticed a figure waiting at a distance. It was sitting on the railing of the end of the bridge and was glaring at them with murderous eyes. Only when they managed to get within eyeshot that they noticed it was a Whisperer.

Yugi held his breath as he stared at the Whisperer. Instinctively, he knew who it was. Its spiky tri-coloured hair shone under the setting sun and kissed its dark tanned skin, making it radiantly majestic. It was wearing a bangle across its forehead that made it look like it had a sort of third eye, and it sort of illuminated its sparkling amethyst eyes. It was wearing a Roman style garment and a pair of sandals, and was sporting wristlets and anklets, with an armlet on its right arm. It also had shoulder-blade armour around its shoulder made of real gold, and it was rather surprising for a quite small but slim and muscular built like to be able to withstand its weight. Its wings spread out like a huge menacing being with a life of its own, and the look on its face could spell a thousand deaths to whoever crosses it.

“Uh…Is he like your older half-brother or something?” Demetrius asked, his body slightly trembling at the sight of it. It was then Yugi realized that he and his mate were sporting the exact same identical looks, only it was more mature and adult than he was, thus Demetrius’ assumptions.

“Um…Demy, why don’t you go home? I’ll take care of this,” Yugi gestured Demetrius to put him down.

“But…”

“It’s alright, I’ll be fine. I can’t guarantee you, though.”

Demetrius, though reluctant, nodded and set him down. Giving him and his mate one last look, he took to his heels and trotted off, a little afraid to find out what the Whisperer might do to him. Slowly Yugi walked towards him and tentatively reached up to touch his mate to see if it was real, only to be slapped away and given a very angry glare.

“Who…”

“Huh? What?” Yugi was taken aback by his mate’s sudden reaction, and his lack of understanding one syllabus words was not helping.

“Who…?!” his mate demanded, its finger pointing accusingly at the disappearing Demetrius.

“Oh,” Yugi finally got the question. “That’s Demy. He’s my student council rep. He was taking me home.”

“Not…mate…?!”

“Huh? Wha…No! Of course not! He’s just a friend! He’s just helping me to get home. I wasn’t feeling very well and…”

“Lie…!” his mate looked away, its face looking very upset indeed.

“Are you…jealous?” Yugi widened his eyes in surprise, his face blushing at the thought of it.

“He…mate…! You…lie…!” his mate insisted, not looking directly at him.

“I don’t lie, not unless the situation needs it,” Yugi replied, annoyed at the stubbornness of his mate. “And for this situation, I don’t have to lie. You don’t believe me, then fine. Goodbye.”

Before he could walk off, he felt a pair of arms and wings wrapping him close to a thumping chest.
“Sorry…” his mate whispered, its tone sounding almost hurt.

“It’s…It’s alright…” Yugi blushed, feeling the warmth of his mate’s body and its thumping heart near his ear. “Were you…were you jealous? I mean, your reaction just now. Were you actually jealous of Demy?”

The movement against the back of his head signified that his mate had just nodded in admittance.

“What brings you here?” Yugi asked as he turned to face his mate. “You know you guys can’t really withstand the sun. You could’ve gotten a skin disease or something.”

“Missed…you…” his mate said, scratching its chin in a sort of sheepish way without betraying its pride too much.

“I’m glad…” Yugi smiled and hugged his mate lovingly, his hopes and dreams finally bearing fruit after hearing those words coming out of its lips. He didn’t care if this was breaking tradition. He didn’t care whether this was lawfully right or not. He didn’t care if he and his mate were really related by blood or not or even if their relationship is considered incest. He didn’t care if anybody or anyone or anything would find out about this. All he cared about was his growing love towards his mate. He never thought he’d believe in love at first sight—or for his case, love at first sex—but now all the disbelief totally melted away into nothingness and his mate’s presence was all that mattered at this very moment of their existence. The sun had disappeared into the horizon by now and the star began to shine in the sky along with the moon, and on the bridge were two figures: a Whisperer and a little teenage human in each other’s arms. People rarely crosses the bridge because both the commoners and the well-offs have their own towns to lighten the burden of constant travel to get supplies and necessities, so unless they were there to visit friends and relatives living on the other side of the island, no one would pass by and notice them there.

Suddenly Yugi’s cell phone rang. His worried wart of a grandfather had bought it for his 12th birthday as a sign of him finally reaching puberty and also means to keep in touch wherever he went. As he looked at the caller ID, it was no surprise that it belonged to his grandfather’s.

“Yes, Grandpa?”

“Yugi! Where are you? I got a call from the student council rep saying that you were in trouble!” his grandfather’s frantic yells were enough to force Yugi to move the cell phone away from his ear. Trust Demetrius to be overprotective and spread the word.

“Grandpa, I’m fine. It’s just a little misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding? He was calling me to say that he saw a Whisperer parked at the bridge where you kids were on the way home! He thought it could be your half-brother or something, judging by the likeness. So is it really your half-brother??”

“Well…it’s kinda complicated, really. But he’s not my half-brother or anything…”

“Then who is he???”

Yugi sighed. He was tired of being babied and pampered by the ever haphazard grandfather and was about time to have his own secrets and his own way of life. He just briefly replied, “I’ll get back to you, Grandpa” and turned off the cell phone despite the lingering protests from the other side.

“Is…alright…?” his mate asked, pointing at his cell phone.

“He’ll get over it,” Yugi grinned, for once letting his inner demon taking control. “Now, how about telling me your name? My name’s Yugi, by the way.”

“Yami…” his mate smiled and reached down to kiss those wanton lips it had yearned for ever since the day after the ritual.

“I…I’m sure you know that I’m with child…” Yugi said, blushing like a little girl. “And um…I’m having twins, so…”

Yami gave him a knowing look. Of course it should know; it had the keen sense of smell to be able to tell.

“So, uh…since you’re here…what do you want to do tonight? Can’t do dinner though, the morning sickness is a little…unsettling right now.”

Yami just smiled and reached down to carry Yugi bridal style, and before he knew it, he found himself up in the air looking at the island through a bird’s eye view. Yugi couldn’t believe his eyes as he saw the island below looking like a miniature version of Domino Island, and its buildings almost as small as those doll houses his girl friends used to play with back when he was in kindergarten. He laughed and whooped as they soared up higher and higher into the night sky, then dipped down towards the island like one would when they were doing bungee-jumping and back up again. Yugi was having the time of his life.

If only his other friends knew about this and were OK with it, then they would’ve had so much more fun.

Finally, after enough sky-diving and getting an eyeful of the island, Yami took Yugi high up to the roof of the lighthouse which was situated at the highest mountain of the island. Settling him gently and cozily on its lap, they both overlooked the sea and towards the horizon. They just sat there in comfortable silence, watching the moon rise higher and higher up in the star-lit sky and enjoying each other’s company. Somehow, being with Yami seemed to calm his nerves and he actually forgot to be sick.

“I gotta admit,” Yugi finally spoke softly, “I’ve wanted to do something like this with you. To be more honest…I was wondering when I am gonna see you again.”

Yami smiled and purred, nuzzling its nose at Yugi’s ear, making Yugi giggle.

“Grandpa told me about you Whisperers siring multiples, but I didn’t expect you to hit twins at one shot. My friends Tristan and Malik got one each—lucky them—and Joey got two just like me. Ryou was even worse; he got triplets! I cannot imagine how Ryou would look like if he carried the babies to term.”

Yami chuckled quietly at the notion.

“I wish you could meet my friends. You’ll love them. They’re really great people once you get to know them, but unfortunately I know they’re gonna be pissed if they know I’m hanging out with you.”

“Why…?”

Yugi sighed and told him about the pact they made when they first met each other at the orientation week. He recalled the day they, after becoming decent friends, met up at the school field to have lunch together under the willow tree and them putting their hands on top of each other’s and made a promise to each other to be Whisperer haters for life and wish that their children would be born Whisperer-dominant.

“I don’t know why I even agreed to the pact in the first place,” Yugi sighed. “I guess I was aiming to please, and deep down inside me, I was afraid of Whisperers and probably over my head with anger about the ancestral deal. Now that I see it wasn’t as bad as it seemed, I feel rather stupid.”

“It’s…okay…” Yami kissed Yugi’s forehead and held him close, telling him with its soft and tender touches that everything would be alright and that he shouldn’t be bothered by such trivial matters.

“I know it’s a little early and all but…” Yugi scratched his chin bashfully, his face going pink with shyness. “I was wondering…since we know that we’re expecting twins…maybe we could, you know, give them names. You’re the father, so you can do the honours.”

Yami smirked and pinched Yugi’s nose, teasing him for having such thoughts. It then reached its hand down to point at one side of his belly and whispered, “Destiny,” then pointed the other side and whispered, “Hope.”

“Destiny and Hope,” Yugi repeated as he rested his hand on Yami’s. “I guess it make sense. Destiny and Hope it is.”

After sharing a soft kiss, Yugi thought it would be time to go home before the entire island sent for a search party for him. Yami nodded and flew him all the way home. It entered through his bedroom window quietly and settled him onto bed, then left a chaste kiss on his forehead. It was about to leave when Yugi called out, “Wait!”

Yami stopped at its track and waited while Yugi rummaged through his closet to look for something. He took out a sort of huge upside-down pyramid that was connected to a long chain from a shoebox and wore it around Yami’s neck.

“This is a family heirloom my grandfather gave it to me when my ‘mother’ died,” Yugi said as he watched Yami fingering the necklace with interest. “My parents were exorcists and this Millennium Puzzle had been handed down from Gozaburo’s line, the first person who owned it. I never really was much of an exorcist to begin with, since my power is only limited to sixth sense and seeing and exorcizing mild spirits, so I never really get to use it. I want you to help me keep it so that…well, if ever our babies are Whisperer-dominant, you can hand it down to them and serve as a reminder of me…sort of…”

Yami stared at Yugi for a while, its eyes filled both with happiness and pain, before grabbing him in its embrace and held him close to its chest. Again, Yugi felt the shivering of its body like the first time it hugged him after the ritual and was confirmed that Yami was crying. He knew that it was painful for it to think that after the birth, it would never meet again and that their relationship were never meant to be, because he felt the same pang of hurt in his heart as well.

“Please, Yami. Please don’t cry,” Yugi persuaded, although his eyes were threatening to tear as well.

“I…love…you…my Light…”

“I…I love you too, Yami…but please, you have to leave…I’m sorry…”

So saying, Yugi tore off from Yami’s embrace and pushed it towards the window, giving it a sad look in his eyes, telling him to go home. Yami gave one last kiss on its Light’s rosy pink lips before reluctantly jumping off the window and flew off. Yugi watched until it disappeared before falling onto his knees and sobbed, trying as hard as he could to convince himself that this was for the best, that he and Yami were better off apart than having to break the tradition and hurt more people, especially his friends who had trusted him to keep to the pact. After crying to his heart’s content, he wiped the tears off his sodden red eyes before turning his phone on to hear almost a dozen voicemails in it, some of them being Joey and his pals, and a very, very pissed off Tea.

“Time to face the music,” Yugi sighed, changed into his home clothes and went downstairs to be fussed over by his frantic grandfather, lectured by Tea and bombarded with questions (in which he had to figure out a way to lie about it) by his fellow friends.