Chapter 1: The Return Home
Yugi Muoto sat at the breakfast table absentmindedly listening to the news that had had his Grandpa and Mother glued to the screen for days. All he knew about it was that a few families with some Japanese roots were relocating back to Japan after the recent unrest in Egypt.
The pain momentarily overwhelmed him before he got himself under control. Over the summer before his senior year of High School, they had set the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, Atem, free. His partner was now resting in the afterlife. It had been a heartbreaking summer, where his friends and he had had to mourn the loss of the friend that had brought them all together. Yugi and Anzu had ended their relationship because they thought they were better off as friends.
"A noble family from Egypt, the Sultan family, is moving here to Domino City along with their company known as Heka Industries. The company invents and sells magic tricks as well as giving lessons for burgeoning Magicians. Mrs. Sultan is a native born and raised in a small community outside Domino City."
The word Heka caught Yugi's attention. He looked up in time to see an Egyptian man and a pale faced Japanese woman that looked oddly familiar. Though he couldn't put his finger on it, he felt like he'd seen that woman somewhere before. Shrugging off the experience, Yugi put his dishes in the sink and told his family to have a good day.
Anzu was waiting on the corner for him and along the way they met up with Jonouchi, Honda, and Bakura. On the school grounds was where they met up with Kaiba, whom was looking off in the distance deep in thought. He hadn't even noticed his friends approaching.
"Kaiba," said Yugi to catch said person's attention. Kaiba looked up in surprise. "What's up?"
"A lawyer got in touch with me late last night. It appears as though my adoptive father kept a relative away from Mokuba and I. My mother's identical twin sister has returned to the country after some unrest in Egypt where she was living and working. She's also recently won her battle with breast cancer and is eager for us to be reunited. I vaguely remember her. I was around three years old at the time and Mokuba was an infant. I have two cousins around my age as well as an older one," whispered Kaiba with a nostalgic look on his face.
"That's great news, Kaiba," the group exclaimed.
Jonouchi got a suspicious look on his face as he asked, "You're not thinking that she's looking for a payout are you, Kaiba? 'Cuz not everyone's like that. My Dad? Yeah, but this woman probably just wants to reconnect with her only family left to her."
"No. From what I recall, she used to buy me expensive birthday presents and I remember her husband is really wealthy, so it honestly hadn't crossed my mind. It's that I was so young the last time I saw her. I don't even remember her name. She married a Muslim man and converted to Islam, so she changed her given name," said Kaiba.
"You're nervous," said Bakura with a burst of realization. Kaiba gave a tentative nod.
"We're you're family, too, Kaiba. We may not be related by blood, but we're the family we chose," said Yugi with a hand on Kaiba's shoulder. Kaiba gave a grateful nod.
The group was tense with nerves after picking up Mokuba and the tension just amped up as they waited in a luxurious family room furnished in an Egyptian style. Yugi felt a familiar presence, but pushed the thought away.
A tall Egyptian man with a neatly trimmed beard and mustache and a business suit walked in pushing a pale woman whom bares a strong resemblance to Mokuba in a wheelchair. She was modestly dressed in a silk dress that covered her from her neck to her ankles and she wore a hijab.
"Seto. Mokuba. You've grown so much," she said with tears in her eyes.
The group was stunned when Kaiba blinked rapidly until a tear slipped from his eye.
"Atiya-obasan," whispered Kaiba as he got up and approached his aunt. He kneeled next to her wheelchair and gingerly picked up her hand and held it in his own.
As tears fell from her eyes she pulled her nephew into a gentle embrace, that Kaiba returned. Mokuba approached her and entered the embrace, making it a group hug. Their uncle lay a hand on each boy's shoulder. When the embrace ended they got comfortable.
"You remember your Akhenamkhanen-ojisan?" asked Atiya. Seto nodded as he was overcome with emotions.
"These are our friends, our family. This is Anzu Mazaki, Ryo Bakura, Ryugi Otogi, Hiroto Honda, Katsuya Jounouchi, and Yugi Mutou," said Kaiba, pointing at each person in turn. Each person greeted her politely in turn.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of footsteps on the marble floor. A tall, broad man walked in and bowed as he addressed the owners of the house.
"Master Akhenamkhanen; Mistress Atiya. The young Masters and Mistresses have arrived from their trip to the museum."
"Thank you, Kalim," said Akhenamkhanen with a small smile on his face.
"These are our sons. You might remember them, Seto; Mahad and Atem, and our daughter and foster daughter...where are they?" asked Atiya of the young man that walked in and the teenaged boy. Shock coursed through the teenaged guests at the visage of the two that had just entered the room. The two looked exactly like the Pharaoh Atem and the High Priest Mahad. Mahad wore a silk suit and Atem wore leather pants a white tank top, a leather jacket, Ankh earrings, and an Ankh necklace.
"They ran upstairs to change for company, ChiChi," said Atem with his hands in his pockets.
"Good," said Akhenamkhanen, "Mahad. Atem. Do you remember your cousins Seto and Mokuba?"
"Of course I remember them, ChiChi. It's great to see you again," said Mahad with a smile on his face.
Atem crossed the room to an unnoticed Go board, picked up a white stone and placed it expertly on the board and finished the game. He lifted his head and stared his cousins in the eye.
"I remember a cooing and giggling baby that Seto stood guard over like a mother hen and that the only person to push me to my limits in Chess, Shogi, and Go was Seto. The question is...does he remember us?" asked Atem as he sat down on an chair, crossed his legs, and rested his arms on the chair with a smirk on his face.
"I remember," said Seto automatically.
"HaHa, you need to rest," said Atem at the sound of his mother's chair creaking as she started to doze. When she started to protest, the three men ganged up on her citing that she needed to rest because she was still recovering until she complied. Mahad and their father pushed her out of the room with their apologies.
"She got a little overexcited when she saw all of you. After all, she knows you all mean the world to me," said Atem as he faced them.
"You're really...?" asked Yugi in a hoarse voice as desperate longing and caution filled him. He could not bare it if it was not true.
"These past couple of months memories started flooding my mind. Memories of an ancient past and of sharing a body with a young man and making friends through our journey. I told my family and we waited for HaHa to get better enough to travel. We had already been preparing to leave when she fell ill. So when she saw all of you here, she got a little overexcited because the young man that is the other half of my soul, the man I love is here," finished Atem.
Yugi felt his swell with the knowledge that Atem felt the same way. He stood and walked until he was standing in front of Atem.
"I love you too," he whispered before being drawn into a gentle kiss by Atem. They were so lost in each other, they hadn't noticed the clearing of throats. At least, not at first. Eventually, they pulled away from each other; Atem with a satisfied smirk and Yugi with a small smile with a blush across his cheeks. His friends knew he was bisexual so he wasn't worried.
He noticed that he was right, though his friends looked embarrassed. In a way he was glad that they were all as embarrassed as him, but he couldn't have wished for a better first kiss. His and Anzu's relationship was very chaste and childlike in a way. They had been each other's first loves in a way, but they had only held hands and pecked each other on the lips. This kiss had stirred his soul.
A teenaged girl the same age as Atem attempted a flying tackle hug, but instead Atem side stepped her and grabbed her by the collar of her Egyptian style dress.
"All of you should remember Mana. She was reincarnated as my twin sister," said Atem as he let her go.
"Hi everyone!" Atem turned to the right and smiled.
"This is our foster sister, Kisara Shegowski."
Seto froze as every cell in his body came alive. It was like having been blind your whole life and then finally seeing the sun for the first time. The teenaged girl that walked in was pale with snow white hair and deep blue eyes. She wore a white lace flowered dress and flats. She was smiling radiantly. She stopped in front of him and gently touched his cheek.
She was real. The young woman that he had been unable to stop dreaming about since his foray into the World of Memory. Carefully, he cupped her face and brought her into a gentle kiss. When he heard Mokuba saying "Oh Yuck" he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.
"You are the light that shines in my soul filled with darkness," said Seto in Ancient Egyptian Domatic.
"You are the anchor of my soul," Kisara responded in the same language with tears in her eyes.
He wiped her eyes and pulled away, but still stood there holding her hand.
