Note: I've currently fallen back in love with my very first anime, Yu-Gi-Oh. And this little drabble fic. has been bothering me ever since seeing episode 10 of Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 0 (The episode with Yami and the shattered mirror puzzle shadow game, hince the title). It's a bit of a cross over from that episode and Chapter 7 of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Shadow Games Manga that I've finally finished reading.

Also I'm leaving it up to you readers to interpret this how you wish. You can call Yami's feeling platonic, or you can call it implied Puzzleshipping. I only wrote it like this because I see their relationship as going either way since the chemistry between them is just so freaking adorable. Not only that but I also find myself going for the asprin everytime I hear Tea/Anzu give another damn speech.

So anyway, I do hope you enjoy and tell me what you think.

Face in the Shattered Mirror

A name.

That's one of the few things that the unlocked spirit of the Millennium Puzzle knew about the boy who had released him. It was a name that the spirit heard Ushio-san, the first wicked soul to cross his path, uttered at his sudden presence. It was a name that sounded odd in the spirit's ears; a name in a language that, he knew for certain, was not his own even though that language was lost to the winds and forgotten.

Yugi.

It was strange to his ears at first. The mind of the boy whose body he possessed allowed him to gain the knowledge of their language to know it meant Heba or "Game" in his own tongue. An ironic name to be certain, especially when this boy had the spirit of the King of Games now living in his soul.

But there was another thing the spirit noticed. In those rare moments when he would leave that dank labyrinth known as his Soul Room, the spirit would venture into the corridor that separated the door to his room from that of the child's. Noticing how the bright sky-blue door of his host's contrasted to the iron-wrought door of his own; a small stream of light coming from under the door where as his own was as dark and oppressing as a tomb. Every now and then the door would be left open enough for the spirit to peer inside. Revealing to him a brightly colored room filled with scattered toys and games; the owner of this room nowhere to be seen. Just from this knowledge the spirit could tell that the boy was an innocent. Yet with the scum the spirit of the Puzzle challenged with the Shadow Games, the being wondered how could someone who owned such Soul Room exist.

Then again he had lived in darkness for as long as he could remember. Even his own memory was lost to him, faded away like carvings of a forgotten temple etched away by the sands of time. His own sanity had suffered from his soul being trapped, unable to move either foreword or backward, just suspended in lifeless shadows. Perhaps this was why his sense of justice was so cold, and unforgiving.

But still, the spirit in the darkness of the puzzle couldn't help but be… curious of the owner of the room across his own. Just as he couldn't help but wonder what the boy looked like. On rare occasions the spirit could have sworn he heard a voice, as light as the chimes that would ring in the wind yet still boyish, coming from beyond that door across from his own.

Yet he knew he couldn't open the door to the child's room to satisfy his deepest curiosity and see the boy with his own eyes. He may be stern, cold, dark, and even a bit mad but he had a sense of propriety and respect. This body was not his own, he would not barge into the boy's own soul room and make himself known. Rather he would let the boy come to him; the boy would discover it soon enough as he had been noticing increasing losses of memory. The spirit could only hope that the boy wouldn't lose all grip of sanity when it would happen.

Until then the spirit lived on, promising to protect this stranger, whose face his eyes still hadn't laid on, as he lived within him as well.

Not knowing he would gaze upon the boys features soon enough.

The Spirit of the Puzzle couldn't help but give a wicked smirk under the blue cloth that hid his deep crimson eyes. He had taken over the body of the boy who had solved his puzzle. He may have been blinded, but with his powers activated, he didn't really need his sense of sight.

He was the King of the Games, this was his domain. His every sense was on full alert.

But his opponent didn't know that. Oh no, the pretty looking fiery haired teacher that sat across from him didn't suspect a thing. This teacher, Chouno-sensei, accepted the terms of this little game he had set up. They were to assemble a shattered mirror shards like jigsaw puzzle under the guise of a blindfold, gloves protecting their fingers from the sharp glass.

The reward: if the spirit won Chouno-sensei would forget about the puzzle found in Nosaka-san's desk; a love letter from Honda-kun whose expulsion she hung over Honda-kun's, Jounouchi's, and (his "host's") Yugi's head as the bell rang before she could finish the puzzle and discover the true sender's name. If the "Expelling Witch" won then the spirit would do whatever she commanded, even turn on "his" fellow classmates.

However, the spirit knew he would not have to worry about doing such a thing to his "host". After all the main purpose of the Shadow Games was to discover a person's true character and punish those whose souls had become rotten with any of the so called "deadly sins" that were as horrible in this time as it had been when the Game King had lived in a body of his own. And the character of the "beautiful" Chouno-sensei was soon reviled as he sensed her pull off the blindfold. Her blue eyes surveying him as if this game was already won.

…Little did she know how right she was, yet it was only a matter of time until the true victor was reviled.

He gave another smirk as he slid another shard into it's place, feeling every sharp edge carefully with gloved hands.

"You seem to be doing well," Chouno-sensei told the spirit in a honey like voice that, for those who knew her, seemed to hide a blade in it's midst.

Indeed, The spirit thought to himself, you have shown me your true character, Sensei. I could not have expected any less from the women who harmed the secret within hearts of others.

"One thing I forgot to tell you," He spoke suddenly, his voice a strong baritone that seemed to resonate across the room even though he was merely speaking and not shouting. "This is a Shadow Game."

"A Shadow Game?" The Sensei repeated the words of her 'student', being honest (for once) with her curiosity. "What's with that?"

"If you break the rules…" The spirit had to suppress a wicked smirk. "You will be punished."

And the truth of your heart will be revealed, the spirit added quietly in his mind.

"Really?" Chouno-sensei said in mock interest, obviously not taking heed to his words. "It's really hard to do it like this…"

At this the spirit had to smirk as he heard the sensei slip several more pieces back together.

They never learn, even after a thousand years, do they? He couldn't help but think, playing along with his supposed ignorance at the teacher's cheating. Slipping several more pieces together, acting as if he had all the time in the world.

As more pieces where slipped together, there was more moments of silence. Both players of this silent and deadly game working hard to accomplish their goal.

Well, at least one of them were.

"How's it going?" The spirit asked "his" sensei suddenly. "I'm half finished already."

Indeed, he smoothed the glass out before him with gloved hands, showing him without seeing what he had accomplished

"Aww! I'm going to lose!" Chouno-Sensei cried in supposed despair, well one would have called it that had the spirit knew with some inner knowledge that she had given a small chuckle in satisfaction.

It was then, the spirit sensed in a way only the King of Games could, that Chouno-sensei was almost finished. He stopped, his ears listening as another piece was put into the shattered mirror puzzle. Then the final piece was put, echoing as if the sound it were a tolling bell around the room. Such a strange occurrence was unnoticed except by one.

"The Door to the Darkness has been opened." The spirit spoke suddenly, getting the teacher's attention.

"What?" she said suddenly surprised.

What on earth was the boy talking about? But before she could inform the boy of her so-called "victory," he beat her to speak.

"Chouno-sensei," He said suddenly. His voice held the authority of a king's, growing with unsuppressed power and conviction yet never rising in tone.

"How dare you harm the hearts of Honda-kun and Nosaka-san! Everyone cherishes a secret in their heart! It is something important to them, never shown except to someone equally important to them!"

Just when Chouno-sensei was taken by surprise there was the sound of something cracking like glass. The teacher could feel it; something was… happening to her revered face. Meanwhile the spirit under the guise of a student stood up from his seat.

"You merely wear the mask of a teacher on your face and heart!" The spirit proclaimed. "Under those masks you hide your true hideous self!"

Had the teacher been of her right mind she would have lost her so-called sweet demeanor that the spirit had rightly called false and started telling the student of his expulsion. Yet it was as if she were a cobra to a snake charmer. She couldn't move unless demanded to. She couldn't move her face to yell, as she could feel parts of her skin were… cracking. Like a mask breaking after years of wear, soon to leave something exposed to the world.

"Wh-what is this?" She exclaimed at both the odd feeling that now covered her face and this boy's voice rising in power.

"Just as a mirror reflects light, you will be hurt just as much as you have hurt others!"

Before the teacher could say anything about this decree a strange golden eye appeared above the blue blindfold in the middle of the student's proud forehead, glowing with great and terrible power. Those who saw it in this time as well as thousands of years ago would never forget it's name after only seeing once.

The Eye of Horus.

At that moment, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, the teacher's mask fell away. Her demeanor changed; her layers of make-up falling away to revile the face of a wrinkled old hag

created from years of false impressions, lies, and causing others despair. Feeling such falling away from her face the women froze. Any words she may have thought of when the student spoke to her disappearing. She looked down to her true face in the mirror.

"MY MAKEUP!" Chouno-sensei screamed in utter horror. "MY FACE!"

Covering her ruined face with her hands, she ran out of the room screaming, the expulsion of whoever had sent Nosaka-san the love letter puzzle completely forgotten in her horror. The door slamming behind her in her haste to cover up the truth once again by a mask, a mask that would never fully cover her true self now that it had been shattered once.

At that the spirit untied the blindfold, his deep crimson eyes glinting darkly dangerous in his satisfaction, the Eye of Horus fading away from his brow.

"I told you," He smirked at the slamming door. "Break the rules and you will be punished."

Yet his satisfaction was short lived as something caught the corner of his slanted crimson eye. Something out of place, on the table before him, in the shattered mirror. He turned and his breath caught at what he saw.

The face in the mirror was not his own.

The hair may have been a spiked tri-colored, black at it's base, and with blonde bangs. Yet that was where the similarities ended and the difference began.

The black hair that the one in the mirror had held no other color besides at the tips, where as the spirit had streaks of golden blonde like shocks of lightning up each of his spikes. The spirit's features where hard stern yet majestic and regal; the face in the mirror had the round face of a child's innocence. The spirit's eyes where long and slanted, the color a blazing crimson. The eyes of the boy before him were large and the color of amethysts that have caught the rays of the sun. Both had the ends of their spikes edged in the same color of their respective eye color.

Yet it was not these differences that made the spirit's breath catch. No, it was an aura he could feel resonating just from the mere image of this boy in the destroyed mirror. An aura he had sensed only when he used his powers out of curiosity to sense the character of the boy who had freed him, an aura that confirmed who this face in the mirror belonged to.

An aura of light.

Pure untainted light, untouched by any malevolent or wicked thought. It was a light that seemed to shine from the image of this boy and into the spirit's heart that was almost frozen by time and darkness; it was this light that had freed him from his private hell just recently. To still posses such light ever though the boy was, as the spirit had long found out, harassed by the most horrible people imaginable... He was stunned to know that a being like that existed. To see that boy carry that aura in a mere reflection...

The spirit was… moved.

So this is him? The spirit couldn't help but wonder, transfixed as he sat back down to get a closer look at the reflection. This is… Yugi?

Suddenly the name did not seem odd to him anymore. Names never did once a face was placed with them. In fact the name, to the lost soul seemed, to fit the utterly adorable host perfectly.

His host, the spirit couldn't help but that those words were unfeeling. This boy, this child of light, this being who had saved him from decades of his soul living in suspension was so much more than some sort of "container" for him to live in. Besides these words made the spirit feel like some sort of parasite, and now…

Now that he was gazing upon those wide violet eyes that made his breath catch, he felt something; a connection to this face peering at him in the shattered mirror, as if a part of him once lost was now found. This made the child so much more than just a host. No. This child, he sensed, was something else to him. He could feel it, yet he could not name it as he didn't remember this sensation in so long.

Overcome with this emotion his still gloved hand moved forward, not even appearing in the reflection of the mirror but he didn't pay it any mind. Moving towards the image of the boy, like creature who had spent such a long time in the dark would move towards the light. As if he was trying to convince himself that this being before him was real.

A noise outside the room snapped the Spirit of the Puzzle back to his senses.

With a great amount of effort he pulled his hand back and stood up from the chair. He probably should be leaving; he didn't want the boy's- Yugi's, he reminded himself- mother and grandfather to be worried about him, not to mention the two friends who said they would be waiting for him at the gate of the school to walk home.

Pulling his eyes away from the images before him he went to nearby wastebasket, going over to were Chouno-sensei had sat mere moments before, before moving all the shattered mirror shards into the trash. Finished with that, and with wastebasket in hand, he went to the mirror that he has used himself for the Shadow Game. Gazing upon the face in that mirror for the last time, he reached out to trace the outlines of the young boy's face.

I swear from this moment on I will protect you and those you hold dear Little One, The age old spirit vowed silently; reluctantly moving his hand away from the image to push the mirror shards into the bin.

After scrolling down a quick note to the Janitor that there was broken glass in this bin and posting it nearby. The spirit readied himself for the switch, the change of letting himself walk about the people among this world and the world of his Soul Room always being a draining one.

His last thoughts as this world faded away around him was barely an echo in Yugi's subconscious. Just as the spirit wished it to be.

I hope to see your face again very soon…

…My Hikari… My Aibou.

He felt dazed, confused, almost as if he were waking from a deep sleep. Blearily he thought he could hear a voice calling out to him. But he wasn't sure. Still dazed he walked out of the empty classroom into the hallway. It was then suddenly his senses snapped into full alert.

Wait…

W-when had everyone leave that classroom? Did the school-bell ring? He didn't remember it. In fact he didn't ever remember Chouno-Sensei dismissing class!

The last thing he did remember was her finding the puzzle Honda, Jounouchi, and he himself worked on for Nosaka-san in one of Chouno-Sensei's feared "inspections". He remembered feeling that is was so cruel of the Sensei to embarrass Honda-kun and Ribbon-Chan in such a way…

…And then, nothing.

He had had another lapse in memory didn't he?

Feeling that odd feeling in his veins, he looked to the golden puzzle that hung around his neck. He couldn't explain it but… He had this strange feeling that ever since putting the puzzle together that something had awoken.

Something within him.

Come to think of it there were several odd times. Times when he felt emotions that he could swear was not his own. There were also moments when he could feel something within him… Something almost physically growl like a tiger laying in wait when someone had hurt him, and purr like a kitten when he had felt a burst of joy from beating another game. But each time he had noticed (which was few and far between) it disappeared as soon as he could concentrate further on it.

What was going on with him?

"Oi Yugi!" A voice rang throughout the hallway, making the little one jump until seeing the owner of that voice.

Jounouchi gave Yugi a bit of a smirk, blonde hair falling into his warm brown eyes.

"You comin'! Honda thinks this maybe his last day at school so he's going to confess to Nosaka-san (HA! I wish him luck)."

Suddenly feeling a lot better, and wondering if he had just been dozing off and letting his imagination get out of hand again, Yugi flashed his famous adorable smile.

"I'm coming Jounouchi!"

He started running towards his friend when something caught the corner of his amethyst eye. Something about his reflection one of the glass windows…

He froze in shock.

Seeing Yugi stop suddenly, as well as the look on his face, Jou's back straightened in alert. Running to his smaller friend.

"Yugi?"

As if snapped from a trance Yugi looked up to him.

"Sorry Jou. Come on, let's go cross our fingers and hope Honda is lucky!"

Running ahead, Yugi couldn't shake the fact that he had see a reflection in the window that hadn't been his own or Jounouchi-kun's…

…or the that he felt a pair of eyes, somewhere, watching over him carefully.

Owari