Intertwined fates (book 3)

Chapter 9: Home

   "What do you mean I'm not going to school anymore?!" Yugi shrieks from the other room, I can't help but wince at the sound. The sheer glass shattering pitch of it is making my ears ring. Solomon has seemed to have come to a decision about the homeschooling and at least had the courtesy to give me enough time to vacate the premises before he broke the news to Yugi. It hadn't even been thrifty seconds since I had sat down before the screaming began.
   "You can't do that!"
   "Actually I can." Solomon replies softly. "I want to be able to spend more time with you here at home an-"
   "And isolating me from everyone my age is the best way to do that?!" Yugi interjects. I close my eyes and allow my arms to cross themselves snugly across my chest as I listen to their heated exchange.
   "You won't be isolated!" Solomon shouts over Yugi's ranting. "I am planning on teaching your friends as well."
   "But what's wrong with school?!"
   A long painful groan escapes my lips. It feels like this argument has been going on for days even though it's only been a few hours, the sun has long since vanished from the sky. Yugi continuously restating his discontent with the proposed plan no matter what Solomon says. With every passing second it is beginning to grow more and more difficult for me to remain uninvolved...just to return the house to the blissful silence that it always seemed to have.
   "Yami!" Yugi shouts as he storms into the room. "Tell him that he can't remove me from school!" Solomon walks in after him, looking at me expectantly. I sigh as I rub my face roughly, trying to diffuse the stress coiling beneath my skin.
   "I am not getting involved." I groan from behind my palms. "You two can come to an understanding without my help."
   "He was in on this wasn't he?!" He growls as he glares daggers at Solomon. "You turned Yami on me." Something inside me snaps and I jump to my feet.
   "Enough!" I boom. Yugi looks up at me in shock as I tower over him, even Solomon looks at me with a slight sense of fear. "This has gone on for long enough! Yugi you are being homeschooled not executed so cease with the dramatics!" He flinches at my words but his eyes seem to glow with an even brighter flame of rage.
   "That isn't your decision to make!"
   "You made it my decision as soon as you decided to begin acting like a child."
   "Now Yami, that is quite en-" Solomon interjects but I growl menacingly making him fall silent.
   "I'm a child?" Yugi asks in challenge. "Sorry that I don't want to be taken away from my friends!"
   "Open your ears!" I shout in pure aggravation. "Your friends will be here with you!" Yugi's eyes widen briefly in understanding before narrowing once more. His lips are pulled tightly into a thin line as he glares at me. If looks could kill then I would have been brutally murdered from the expression on Yugi's face. He remains silent as he storms up the stairs and the only sound being the loud thunderous slam of the bedroom door slamming shut behind him.

   Solomon keeps peering at me with a slight look of distaste. My skin bristles as my anger crackles beneath my skin, yearning for the chance to explode out towards the older man. Another brief distasteful glance. A deep growl rolls past my lips as I glare into those dull purple eyes.
   "Just say it!" I hiss through clenched teeth. "You obviously have something to say." Solomon frowns at me as he sits on the chair across the room from me.
   "You didn't have to talk to Yugi like that."
   "He didn't have to be so childish." I retort harshly. "It's not like you're imprisoning him."
   "Perhaps that's the way he sees it." Solomon says softly, the thinly veiled challenge still present in his tone. "Have you ever considered that?" My eyes narrow dangerously into crimson slits as I stare at Solomon. "I take your silence as a no."
   "Hold your tongue." I hiss. "You are teetering on the edge of my patience." Solomon shrugs as if I had never even spoken. My words completely disappearing as he stares at me with those overly compassionate eyes.
   "Maybe you need to lose your patience."
   I growl in aggravation, "Stop speaking in riddles."
   "Then start listening." Solomon snaps. "Calling my grandson a child is no way to earn his trust."
   "I already have his trust."
   "Really? That little display sure didn't prove that to me." He retorts harshly. "Perhaps you don't even love Yugi." My whole body freezes as his words chill me to my bones. Maybe I misheard him. That could have just been something that I wanted to hear him say to push me over the edge. It couldn't be real, yet this nagging voice in the back of my mind reassures me that it is all too real.
   "What did you say?" I hiss through suddenly parched lips.
   "You know precisely what I said." He says coldly, those usually warm eyes have chilled to a frigid shade of purple. "Do you even love Yugi?"
   "I do." I choke out. "I do."
   "I find it hard to believe you at times." My fingers curl harshly into my hair as I struggle to contain the sobs. Tears dripping off of my chin and into my jeans leaving dark puddles on the fabric. My fingers and shoulders tremble viciously as pain courses through my body like an electric current. "Maybe you should just leave for the night."
   "Stop it!" I flinch in surprise as familiar arms wrap themselves around my neck protectively. "You have said more than enough grandpa!"
   "Yugi?" I whisper through thick lips. My voice sounding absolutely broken in my ears.
   "I won't let you kick Yami out!"
   "It's alright Yugi." Solomon says gently, soothingly. "Yami isn't going anywhere."
   "Damn right he isn't!"
   "Yugi." I murmur, he holds me tightly to his form. His small body shielding me from the barrage of pain that Solomon has set upon me.
   "How could you say those things to Yami?!" He shouts furiously. "He has always been by my side and you are treating him like garbage."
   "I just wanted to see if he really did care about you." Solomon says softly, sheepishly. "I didn't mean a word of what I said."
   "Does it look like simply saying you didn't mean it makes it hurt any less." Yugi growls as he looks back at my pale, tear streaked face. "Just look at his face. You did this!"
   "Yugi..." I groan as I try to break free of his grip. He looks at me curiously as I pull his arms off of me.
   "Yami?" His fingers gently trace my cheeks. "Are you ok?"
   "I...I..." Yugi stares into my eyes with those large loving eyes that make my chest hurt even more. My heart aches just from the sight of those eyes. "I can't stay here." I scramble away from Yugi and rush towards the door, my heart pounding in my chest.
   "Yami!" He cries as he pursues me. My breath comes in wavering panicked gasps as I rush out the open door into the cool night air. The faint reminders of rain pelting against my skin as I take off down the street. "This is all your fault!" Yugi screams as he chases after me into the night.

   Puddles explode into a flurry of droplets as my feet crash into their depths as I race through the night. My heart hammering in my chest as I run. The presence of yugi is still prevalent in the back of my mind as I continue to run. He has done a marvelous job of keeping track of me, but now I need him to lose me.
   "Yami! Please stop!" He cries as I run even faster, rounding a corner without looking. I can't even sense his presence as I rush through the street. The street has fallen completely silent exempt of my breathing. I run around another corner and slam into someone, I try to rush past them without saying a word but they grab onto my arm and pull me back.
   "Stop running from me!" Yugi snaps as he holds me in his arms. I stare at him in shock before I begin to understand. I had never lost him he had simply taken another route to get to me.
   "Let go!" I sob as I struggle in his grip. My body has become so weak that I can't even manage to escape from his grip. "Please."
   "Why are you running from me?" Yugi asks pleadingly. "If I did something, I'm sorry...please come home."
   "I can't..." I gasp as my knees buckle beneath me. "I can't go back there...I have no home." My body trembles as I struggle to breath. I have no home. I am unwanted. Unloved. Despised. The look in Solomon's eyes made that all too clear to me.
   "What are you talking about?" Yugi holds me securely in his thin arms. "You have a home with me."
   "I should have stayed in Egypt..." I whisper brokenly. "I should have just disappeared like everyone else."
   "That was not your fate." Yugi says with a wavering voice. "You are meant to remain by my side."
   "Yugi, I am unwanted in this world. How am I supposed to keep living?" The words flow past my numb lips as I am helpless to stop them. My chest aching from my grief. "I have no true home...or family."
   "Let me be your family." The silver of his ring flashing under the orange glow of the streetlight. "I will be your home."I capture his hand in mine and admire the ring clinging to his slim finger. My fingertips gliding across the familiar surface.
   "You're still wearing this?" I murmur.
   "I never took it off." He admits with a faint blush. I can't help but smile faintly at his words. He had kept a piece of me with him always even after the long weeks that have passed since that moment.
   "I never should have yelled at you." I murmur as I kiss his hand gently. "I deserved every word that Solomon said to me."
   "No you didn't." Yugi says firmly, capturing my face between his palms. "You have done nothing wrong. He is the one who was wrong."
   "He's right you know." Solomon says suddenly as he appears in the abandoned street. Yugi glares at him as he holds me close. His eyes scorching into his grandfather's. "I was trying to see how committed you were to Yugi, but I ended up hurting you...please forgive me for everything I have done."
   "Grandpa." Yugi growls but I silence him with a brief look.
   "You are right Solomon." I murmur with a pained voice. "I should leave for the night."
   "I will allow no such thing." He says sternly. "You are always welcome at home Yami. We are a family." Solomon looks at Yugi with a forlorned expression. "Can you forgive me Yugi?"
   "How can I ever forgive this?" He whispers into my hair as he helps me to my feet. "You wounded him in every way you could...That is something I can never forgive."
   Solomon looks down at the ground sadly. "I understand." His lips are pulled tightly into a line that wavers slightly. "Let's go home and we'll discuss this in the morning."
   "You go ahead." Yugi says firmly. "We'll meet you there." Solomon nods sadly as he trods forlornly home. "Will you be ok with coming home?"
   "I am home." I reply as I wrap my arm around his thin waist. "You are my home."
   "That's right." He says with an affectionate smile. "No matter where we are as long as we have each other ,that's home." I smile faintly as we walk through the night back to the game shop. The cool night air cools my feverish skin and my heart begins to slow. For the first time since awakening in this new world, this new life, I feel truly loved.