The Guardian (Tifa and Yuffie)

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

At once, Yugi turned to face the voice, eyes widening slightly as they met those of the mysterious Yami. Strangely he wasn't so much surprised as he was intrigued. As if some part of him had suspected his presence from the start. When Yami immediately asked him how he had come to this strange place, he frowned slightly and tilted his head in thought "hmm...I don't really know, actually. I just was here. But how did you get here?" he asked, looking up at the man curiously. "and you never told me who you are, or why you look like me, and I would definitely like to know how you knew about my Grandpa...you're not some kind of future-me, are you?" he inquired, eyeing the man suspiciously.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami's expression remained unaltered as Yugi explained how he had no knowledge of how he had come to be in these strange halls that he called home.
"I have always been here," He replied simply, seemingly not the type to mince words. Despite this he seemed to find some amusement in the boy's words, the slightest of smirks crossing his stern face.
"I am not a future you," He replied reassuringly. "I am just a reflection of what you want me to be.'

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yugi blinked and frowned in a confused manner clearly not sure what to make of the man's peculiar answer to his question. But he seemed to take it calmly enough and opted to ask a few more questions now that he had he chance. "Then what are you? And how can I choose what I want you to look like when I didn't even know who you were until recently?" he asked, intent on getting answers this time. "and why would you follow me around, anyway? I don't remember asking you to do so, not that I don't appreciate the things you've been doing for me, of course"

[Tifa Lockhart]

"I am the spirit of your Millennium Puzzle," Yami replied without hesitation. He extended a hand to point at the gold pyramid around Yugi's neck. 'I have been a part of it for as long as i can remember.'
He waved a hand then, a chair rising out of the floor for him to sit on. One appeared for Yugi as well.
"The puzzle knows everything, your deepest wishes and fears... some of my kind would see the embrace your fears... but i deal only in the realms of dreams and wishes."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yugi jumped slightly as the chair rose from the floor, but after a brief hesitation he sat down carefully, as though a bit wary of the seat, and turned his gaze back to Yami, incredibly fascinated now at the man's answer. "a...spirit? So, um, what exactly is your purpose, then? What is it that you do?" he asked, seeming a little unnerved by he knowledge, but not at all deterred. Most importantly he wanted to know what exactly he had wished for from the spirit, Yami. "and what is it you're trying to do for me?"

[Tifa Lockhart]

"I told you," the Spirit began calmly, bracing his chin against a hand, closing his eyes for a moment. It was a very pensive expression. "I deal in the realm of dreams and wishes. I exist to fulfil the innermost desires of whomsoever assembles my puzzle."
He opened his eyes again then, their intense gaze locking on the young boy. "I can't tell you what I'm doing for you... because you're the only one who knows."
He raised a hand to point at him.
"Whatever it is you want from me, that is what I am trying to do for you."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yugi's expression turned yet more baffled at that answer. "How can I know what I want from you if I don't know? That doesn't even make sense!" he sighed slightly and glancing away briefly to examine the marks that decorated the arms of the chair he sat upon, seeming a bit irritated that he wasn't going to be getting an answer to that question. "but how exactly can you do for me what you don't know I've asked you to do?" he queried, meeting Yami's eyes again as he looked back up from the carvings on his chair.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami's gaze had drifted off into the dark recesses of the long halls, distant and ponderous.
He sighed softly, though whether it was frustration or something else was not clear.
"The human heart always knows what it wants," he answered, eyes slowly sliding once more to fix on Yugi's. "I respond accordingly."
He stood then, moving to stand immediately before Yugi's chair. He stared at him, purple eyes intense. After a moment, he tilted his head slightly.
"What are you afraid of?"

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yugi fidgeted anxiously as the man got up and walked over to stand right in front of him, flinching slightly when he asked what he was afraid of. "wh-what?" he seemed confused by the question, unsure how to answer. "what do you mean "what are you afraid of"? I'm not scared...creeped out, yes, but not scared." he kept his gaze fixed on Yami's, politely keeping eye contact just in case the spirit might think it rude of him to look away, or interpret it as fear.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"You don't need to be afraid of me," Yami assured. Then his manner seemed to shift. His hands slipped into his pockets, bracing against his hips. The whole thing relaxed, and the scenery around them shifted. They were now standing in Yugi's bedroom again, the boy sitting on his bed and Yami standing before him.
"Tell me about yourself, Yugi."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yugi started as the room shifted to become his room, not sure if this was just a dreamworld version or whether he'd actually been awake the whole conversation, in which case he wondered about when it had transitioned from dream to reality. He turned back to Yami after a moment, still looking a little unsettled, but seeming more comfortable sitting on his own bed then a hard chair in a strange maze of stairs and corridors. "me? well, um..." he paused, seeming to be thinking about how to start. "well...when I was little, my parents died in an accident and I had to move here to Domino city to live with Grandpa in his game store...I was always small but after the accident I got really sick, I'm not allowed to run around or play sports anymore, so I sit out of sports class and because I'm shorter than everyone else I get picked on a lot by the others at school...there's not much else to tell. I don't have friends or other family to talk about...I only ever had one friend, but that was back before I moved." he shrugged slightly, not seeming upset as such by the less-than-exciting life description, but seeming as unhappy as ever. He only ever felt happy when his Grandfather took him somewhere or played board and card games with him at home. "I guess my life basically consists of study and trying to stay out of trouble, nothing special really"

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami listened silently, focused and attentive. He seemed to be taking everything Yugi said very seriously.
"That hardly sounds like much fun..." he mused, deep harsh voice somehow managing to be soft. "I shall have to see if I can't make things a little more exciting for you..."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Yugi offered a small, half-hearted smile at that, shaking his head slightly. "oh, I'm used to it, I'm fine. Don't go out of your way orr anything, I'm sure you have more important things to do." he insisted, glancing away slightly. "Yami, could you tell me more about you? Like how long you've been in the puzzle and where you came from...and why you chose to help humans instead of harming them?" he asked, turning his eyes back to the spirit, curiously.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Yami raised an eyebrow as Yugi questioned him, looking for a moment as though he wouldn't answer at all.
"I was a Pharaoh once. I chose to have my spirit locked away in my Millennium Puzzle upon my death so that I could continue to make a difference."
He shrugged, wandering aimlessly over to yugi's bedroom shelves to inspect the statues and action figures he had displayed there.
"I wanted to help people, so I did." He picked up a little figurine, smiling down at it as he turned it over, before returning it to its place on the shelf. "That's all there really is to it."

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

"A Pharaoh? You mean you were an Egyptian King once? Wow...that must have been a pretty comfortable life...everyone doing your bidding and bringing you what you want." Yugi remarked, seeming thoughtful, as though he were contemplating what it might be like to be a Pharaoh. "I bet you were a good Pharaoh...you seem like a really nice person. I mean, you barely know me and you're being so helpful to me...nobody's ever really looked after me except for Grandpa." he said, looking back up at Yami again. He could hardly imagine what the spirit might have looked like all those millennia ago, when he was an Egyptian Pharaoh. He supposed that explained why the puzzle had all those Egyptian symbols decorating it.