A little metafic about Yami Yuugi. It's amazing what a little self-knowledge seems to do to the spirit. Fanfiction!Yami versus Canon!Yami … both are kinda hokey, huh?

Yami, Meet Yami

This is a tale about two Yamis. Or rather, it would be a tale about two Yamis if 'yami' were a noun and not an adjective. For the context of this story, however, 'Yami' is a proper noun. In fact, 'Yami' is the name of the main character.

It's not really his name, actually, but as 'Yami' does not know his real name, we'll call him that.

Now, I've said this is the tale of two Yamis, but in truth, both of these yamis are the same person. When most people want to distinguish between yamis, they call them 'Yami name-of-the-person-they-are-possessing'. So, this is a story about two Yami Yuugis. We will call them Yami Yuugi One and Yami Yuugi Two.

This story is short. In fact, I wouldn't be terribly surprised if this long-winded exposition is longer than the story itself. So, without further ado, my tale.

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Yami Yuugi One was pouting. He was pouting because his Hikari had left him at home all alone with nothing to do while he went to school.

(I should probably explain that Yami Yuugi One's 'Hikari' is Yuugi Mutou. He goes to school because he is school-age. Yami Yuugi One is about 3,000 years too old for school.)

Yami Yuugi One was a Pharaoh! He'd found that out only last week, and ever since then, he had realized that doing menial tasks was completely below him. Really, Kaiba and Jonouchi and Honda and heck, even Anzu – they should all have been bowing at his feet all this time. It certainly explained why he didn't remember having a Grandpa who shouted at him to clean his room every day. He was Pharaoh! He would have just had servants to clean his room for him! (Actually, that seemed like a good idea. He'd have to talk to his Hikari about that.)

Yami Yuugi One was in a funk, however, because since he'd found out he was a Pharaoh, everyone had gradually been pulling away from him. It was probably because they were awed by his majestic power, or nervous to speak with an actual Pharaoh. He wondered what kind of a ruler he'd been …

In any case Yami Yuugi One got sick of being home alone and set out to find something to do. Someone would accommodate him; after all, he'd once been Pharaoh.

Meanwhile, Yami Yuugi Two was also in a funk. He'd found out just last week that he was probably a Pharaoh – a nameless one, lost to time – and he was worried about his aibou.

(Yami Yuugi Two's 'aibou' is also Yuugi Mutou. Luckily for you, there is no Yuugi in these stories, because then we'd have to have a Yuugi Mutou One and a Yuugi Mutou Two and it would get really confusing.)

Yami Yuugi Two was concerned because if he had been Pharaoh, then he had been sealed in the Puzzle for three thousand years – and someday, when it was time for Yuugi to give up the Puzzle, Yami would have to go with it. This distressed him because as long as Yami didn't know his own past, he wouldn't have to move forward: he could just stay with his aibou.

Currently Yami Yuugi Two was straining the boundaries of the Puzzle by sitting on the school wall in spirit form. It would have been really convenient to have his own body, because then he could have gone and gotten those pretzels Yuugi liked. Yami liked them too, so it was kind of a side bonus.

In any case, for the purposes of this story, Yami Yuugi One has somehow managed to cross over a time-space continuum or something. He was on his way to meet his Hikari at school and demand a popsicle when he saw the spirit form of Yami Yuugi Two sitting on the wall.

Both were, as you can surely imagine, quite shocked. Yami Yuugi Two was the first to react. "Aibou?" he asked. "I thought you were in class." He closed his eyes and checked through the Puzzle. "You are in class! Who are you, then?"

"I should be asking the same thing of you!" Yami Yuugi One shot back. "For one thing, I haven't needed a spirit form since I got my own body. For another, how can I be here and you be sitting on that wall, if you are me?"

Yami Yuugi Two's eyes were wide. "You have your own body? How did you manage that?"

Yami Yuugi One had to think about that one for a while. "… I don't know," he said at length. "I just kind of have one, although I started out in the Puzzle."

Yami Yuugi Two thought that was an awfully useful plot device. "Well, as long as you're here, do you think you would mind buying Aibou some pretzels? He's been craving that one brand all day – I know because I've been craving it too as a result." He looked vaguely amused by this.

Yami Yuugi One however, got an affronted look. "Look," he said, "I was Pharaoh once. I don't think I know how to run an errand. Servants would have gotten me pretzels if I wanted them – you know, if they had pretzels back then. They probably didn't, I suppose."

Yami Yuugi Two raised his eyebrows. Is this me? He wondered. "You have your own body, but you don't know how to run an errand?" he asked, incredulous. "I mean, I can understand not going to school – it's kind of boring, and Aibou made me stop making fun of the teacher after he got in trouble for laughing – but you can't run an errand? Why on earth wouldn't you learn how to do that?"

Yami Yuugi One assumed an arrogant pose. "My Hikari brings me just about anything I need. The one time I went out to do something for him I ended up in loads of trouble because—"

"'Hikari'?" Yami Yuugi Two interruputed. "Who is your 'Hikari'?"

"Yuugi, of course!" Yami Yuugi One answered.

Yami Yuugi Two thought this over briefly. It made sense, in a way – if he was 'Dark Yuugi', then aibou could be considered the 'Light' Yuugi. "Don't you call him 'aibou'?" he asked, kicking his feet idly against the wall.

"Sometimes, I guess," Yami Yuugi One shrugged.

"Well, it doesn't seem very fair to make Yuugi get everything for you if you have your own body," Yami Yuugi Two observed. "Aibou is a very helpful sort of person. I'm sure he'd be able to show you how to use Japanese money and such. Or at least, you help him do his chores, right?"

Yami Yuugi One was beginning to look a little uncomfortable. "I don't know how to do those either. Why should I? I was a Pharaoh."

Yami Yuugi Two was pretty disgusted by this. "You know, I was a Pharaoh too. Probably the same one, actually. But you're not a Pharaoh now, are you? Anyway, what kind of a Pharaoh won't do any work, even to help out his best friend in the entire world?" He crossed his arms. "I'm envious of you. If I had my own body, I would definitely at least run errands. Cleaning a room would be a novelty, too."

Yami Yuugi One blinked at him, shocked. Yami Yuugi Two seemed like a much more mature version of himself. "Don't you know how to have fun?" he pouted.

"Being with Yuugi is fun," Yami Yuugi Two protested. "Besides, we're very lucky. Our job is to play games. I think that's quite enough, don't you?"

Yami Yuugi One didn't have time to formulate a reply, because Yami Yuugi Two looked up towards Yuugi's classroom. "Ah, it seems aibou's class is over. I've got to go back. I hope you treat your, eh, 'hikari' a little better than it sounds like," he said with a proud nod. "So long, other me!" And he was gone, back to the Puzzle or whatever.

But unfortunately, we'll never know if Yami Yuugi Two had any impact on Yami Yuugi One, because before he could think about this too deeply, another fanfiction author crossed the time-space continuum, grabbed his arm, and disappeared with him in tow, squealing about how Yami Yuugi One would be double-dating Yuugi with Yami Bakura and Ryou Bakura.

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And that's my story about two Yamis. Even though they were really the same Yami. Except not quite.

Even though Yami Yuugi One is a little annoying, I think he has the harder life, though. After all, amongst fanfiction authors, he's definitely in far higher demand. And fanfiction authors don't pay well.

I should know. I am one.

fin