Took me awhile, I know. YuugixAnzu, SetoxIsis, JouxMai, and HondaxShizuka.

Photographs and Memories

"I wonder when Grandpa is going to be finished…" The girl wondered aloud. She was Elizabeth Mouto, and she was visiting her Grandparents for the weekend. They were on her mother's side, which would explain why her dad was slightly uncomfortable with her going. He thought they, well, at least Grandfather, was weird. He thought a man sixty-six years old should be retired and relaxing on some beach, not running a game store that was owned by his grandfather. At any rate, Mom had convinced him and here she was. However, said grandparents were busy running the shop at the moment, so Elizabeth was bored.

Very bored.

Grandpa poked his head into the storefront where she was, looking slightly sheepish.

"Sorry if you're bored. We're a bit busy right now, so why don't you go wait in the living room upstairs? I'll be up in a few minutes. " He asked. She nodded, jumped of the counter and walked upstairs. She hadn't looked in there yet, anyway.

She stopped in awe as she entered. The walls were covered with pictures.

"There must be hundreds…" She whispered. Indeed, it seemed that way. She walked around for a few minutes, staring at the photos. A lot of them were of Grandpa's friends (He had plenty of them,), or of people that he apparently knew. A small group was of Grandma when she was younger, and maybe one or two of Grandpa.

"Yeesh, he was always short…." Elizabeth muttered.

She looked at the table in the center of the room, and saw an old photo album. Curious, she walked over and opened the first page. It looked like a newspaper clipping, with a date that said it was at least thirty years old.

'Hiroto Honda: Country star's wedding!' The headline read. The picture with it was of a man who looked like someone who was on the walls, but younger. Next to him was a lovely red-haired girl, who Elizabeth assumed was the bride. They looked good together.

Lower on the page there was a picture of a man (At least she was fairly sure it was a man,), with short white hair and wise, doe brown eyes. There was a large golden ring on his chest, with an eye on the center. There was a small note next to the photo that said: Bakura before he moved to England.

"Hmm, Grandpa Mouto knows a lot of people…." She murmured

"Having fun?" Elizabeth spun around to see her Grandfather standing in the doorway. She blushed.

"Grandpa Mouto!"

"Call me Grandpa Yuugi."

"Sorry for looking at-" She stammered. Grandpa shook his head.

"It's okay. Do you want me to show you some people?"

"Umm, sure."

He walked next to her, scanning over the open album. Elizabeth couldn't help but stare at him. Grandpa Yuugi's hair was spiked up like he was a teenager (In fact, from what she had heard, his hair was like that then), and tri-colored, if fading to gray. He was wearing a pair of black jeans, a dark blue shirt, a dark gray coat, spiked bracelets, and on a heavy chain, a golden, upside down pyramid. She idly wondered what he looked like when he was younger.

"Why don't we go sit down?" He offered. She nodded and they walked over to the couch.

Grandpa Yuugi sat down, but before Elizabeth sat down, she had to ask.

"Umm, Grandpa?"

"Yes Elizabeth?"

"Did you always dress like this?" Grandpa just laughed.

"Like a rebellious teenager? Yeah, mostly. I guess that's probably why your father thinks I'm weird." She blushed again.

"Sit down." He said. She obeyed and sat next to him.

"Okay, first, do you recognize anyone? Ah, never mind. I'll just tell you about everybody. Here," He pointed at the man in the first photo. "Is Honda. He's one of my old friends from high school. You might have seen him before. He's a country singer. The woman next him is Shizuka, his wife and PR agent. She sings with him sometimes as well, but not often."

"Yeah, I recognize them. They're pretty famous."

"Now, this one is Bakura." He pointed at the white-haired man. "He's one of my other friends from high school. Most of the people in here are. Anyway, he's a sculptor. He's really good, too."

"What's that pendant?"

Yuugi seemed to falter. "Well, It's kinda hard to explain, but…"

"If it's that hard to explain, then lets keep going and get to it later, okay?"

"Sure. Okay, next is Jou." He pointed at a blond-haired man on the next page. "He was one of my best friends, even if we started off rocky. Down here near the bottom of the page is him and Shizuka. They're brother and sister." Yuugi turned the page. "Here's Mai. She's… eight years older than me. We met in my first tournament. That picture over there is of her and Jou's wedding. They both were in the police, but I think they're retired. I'm not sure if that would stop Jou though." Yuugi laughed. It wasn't a harsh laugh, but one of light and cheer. It could make someone happy just by listening to it. It certainly was doing that to Elizabeth.

The next page was a little odd. There was a picture, a newspaper clipping, and what looked like a card with a proud blue-and-white dragon on it. The card had been torn, but taped together. Its name was Blue-eyes White Dragon.

Yuugi stopped when he looked at the page, amethyst eyes filling with tears. Elizabeth looked at the newspaper. She blinked at the headline. The date was thirty-four years ago.

World famous Kaiba Corp CEO Seto Kaiba kills himself at Thirty-Two.

"Grandpa?" Elizabeth asked. Yuugi seemed to be frozen looking at the page, tears steaming down his face. He turned to her and brushed the tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's just been a while since I've looked at this…"

"You knew him?"

He nodded. "He was my rival since we were both fourteen. We had a interesting past together, but eventually we were great friends."

"Who's that woman in the newspaper?"

"That's his wife, Isis. She's holding her newborn son, Siris. I think I have a more recent picture of him in here somewhere. Next to Isis is Seto's younger brother, Mokuba."

"Why did he kill himself? If you don't mind me asking."

"Oh, no, that's all right. He… Well, I suppose what was so hard for me was no one who really knew Seto was surprised that he died the way he did. He was so stubborn that the only way he would die is if he wanted to. And he did. I guess why he killed himself is because it was the final move in a war. It's really complex, and you would have to have known Seto personally to understand."

"Grandpa, on a completely different subject, is it just me or are the eyes on that dragon the same as the baby's eyes?"

"Hmm?" Yuugi looked at the card and the baby. "I wouldn't be surprised." Yuugi pointed at the photo, which held a tall man with intense blue eyes. "This is Seto. This was taken about a year or two before he died."

"He's tall." Elizabeth observed.

"Yeah, he was. Maybe a foot taller than me, at least. Anyway," Yuugi turned the page. "Here's Isis and her two brothers, Malik and Rishid. Rishid is the taller one, on the left."

"How did you meet them? They look Egyptian."

"They are. How I met the Ishtals… Well, I've been in three or four large tournaments. I met them just before my second one. Isis told me that I should compete in Battle City,"

"Wait, Battle City?" Elizabeth interrupted. "The Battle City? The first? You were in that?"

Yuugi laughed. "Yup, I was in the first Battle City. The winner, in fact."

"Really? Wow! That's so cool! I mean, not many people duel anymore, but I love it and it's just so cool!"

"See, I'm not as weird as you thought. But, back to how I met Malik. It's a bit of an odd story. We actually met with him try to kill me, and Rishid was working for him. But eventually it was all sorted out."

"Is everyone who was your friend originally trying to kill you?" Yuugi started ticking off people mentally.

"Well, not trying to kill me, not all of them anyway, but yeah, most of them were my enemies at first. Except for your Grandmother. She's always been my friend. Speaking of which, here she comes." Yuugi stood and offered his seat to Anzu, who had just entered the room. She smiled and refused.

"It's okay, I'm only staying up here for a moment. I still have to take care of the store, you know."

"Why did you come up, Grandma?" Elizabeth asked.

"I wanted to see what you two were doing. What are you doing, anyway?"

Yuugi laughed. "Oh, nothing. I was just showing Elizabeth one of our old photo albums. She apparently has my dueling blood."

"Oh, really?" Even at sixty-six, Anzu Mouto still looked like a dancer. Her blue eyes were as shining as ever, even if her hair was a bit gray.

"You should have see her when I told her I was in Battle City. Anyway, I think we're actually close to your page."

"Huh? Her page?" Elizabeth asked, confused.

Yuugi looked at her.

"Oh, right, I didn't explain that, did I? In most cases, each person or family has one page. The exceptions are Ryou and Honda, but they're camera shy, so it's hard to get pictures of them. But we have more pictures of them coming up, so wait a bit." Yuugi turned the page. Indeed, all of the pictures were of Anzu, except for one of her and Yuugi's wedding day.

"Were you a dancer when you were younger, Grandma?" Elizabeth asked, looking at the pictures.

"Yes, I was. I lived in New York for a while, but I moved back here and married your grandfather. Now I help run the shop." She winked.

"I don't know what I would do without her help!" Yuugi laughed.

"I'm glad you admit it. Now, I need to get back to the shop." She turned and walked back down the stairs.

"It's true. I don't know what I would do without her." Yuugi smiled as he retook his seat and picked up the photo album again. "Here is her first dance performance." He pointed to a photo showing a younger Anzu on stage. "She was in New York, but me, Jou, Honda, Mokuba, and Ryou surprised her by having front-row seats. Seto had paid for them. Here, in this next one," In this photo was Anzu accepting a golden-looking award. "Is when she got her first dancing award." He pointed at the last one, "Here is our Wedding. Jou was my Best Man, and Mai was the Maid of Honor. They both cried, though if you ask them they'll both deny it." On the next page were four pictures. One was of Elizabeth's mother, one of a blue-eyed young man, one of Ryou, and one of Honda and a black-haired man.

"Who's the blue-eyed person there?"

"That's Siris, Seto's son. This was maybe ten years ago." Even with his mother's hair, Siris still had the same stubborn fire in his eyes as his father, and the same cold gaze.

"Here's your mother when she was younger. She looks like you, now that I think about it." He pointed the picture of Elizabeth's mother.

"Except for the eyes." She noted. It was true: the eyes were very different. Her mother had Anzu's blue eyes, but Elizabeth's were violet, just like her grandfather's.

"Yeah. For some odd reason, the purple eyes always seem to skip generations. My grandfather had them, then me, and now you. It's weird. Anyway, here's Ryou before he cut his hair. And yes, before you ask, that is a guy." Elizabeth, who was about to ask that, blushed. "Ryou's a really kind person, if a bit of a trouble magnet."

"I can see that. No offence, but he looks a bit like a wimp."

"That's not nice." He chided gently. "Anyway, in this next one is of Honda and Otogi. They were rivals over Shizuka for awhile, but eventually they were best friends."

The next page only had one picture on it. It was a group photo, and it looked like most of the people were in it, except that there were two people Elizabeth didn't recognize.

"And this…" Yuugi paused. "Is the picture we took after our high school graduation. Yuugi pointed to each one in turn. "In the back row are Jou, Seto, Otogi, and Honda. In the front are Ryou, me, and knelling next to me is Anzu."

"Grandpa Yuugi?"

"Yes?"

"Who are the people next to you and Ryou? And why are your pendants glowing?"

A tear fell from a violet eye and splashed on the page.

"Grandpa?"

"Do you remember that I was going to explain about Ryou's pendant?"

"Yeah."

"Well, the thing about his pendant is, and this is going to sound really weird, that it housed an ancient spirit. With me?"

"I…guess so."

"Well, for a long time, they shared a body, but eventually they learned how to separate."

"And that's who that guy next to Ryou is. An ancient spirit that shares his body."

"Yeah."

"Okay…"

"And I had one too. He lived in my puzzle." He picked up his puzzle. "He was my best friend, no, he was half of my soul. Literally."

Elizabeth didn't know what to think. This was just crazy, but somehow she couldn't help but believe it. It actually made sense, somehow.

"So, he's who Mom's talking about when she talks about Uncle Yami, right?"

Yuugi chuckled. "Yeah, that's him."

"I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"If you don't mind, how did all this happen? I mean, it makes sense and all, but it doesn't, well, you know."

"Yeah, I do know. It's confusing, and it will take a while to understand."

"Why don't you tell me about Yami first."

"Okay. His real name was Atemu, but we didn't know that at first. He was a pharaoh…."

Owari.

Yes! I got off my bloody rear and updated! Took me long enough, I know. This particular fic has been in the works since July. (Yes, five months.) I was at my Grandparents house for the week, and was staying in my mom's old room from high school. Found some cool stuff, like a newspaper clipping from the first manned Apollo mission.

Okay, I know I need to give some explanations. First, Elizabeth has an American name because I like it, and it's my middle name. So her father is American, m'kay? Second, yes, I killed off Seto. Yami no Yuugi and Yami no Bakura too, but that's only hinted at. Third, the pairings. These are the ones I think are most likely. So don't rant about the ones I did. And I like SetoxIsis thank you very much, so don't yell about who they should be with. Fourth, yes, I made Honda a country singer. Couldn't resist. I have a list of what all everyone does if anyone wants it.

Well, I hope you like this story, and I hope it was worth the wait.