Before You Read...
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is owned by its creator, Kazuki Takahashi ©1996 and not by this writer
Kindness: Please bear in mind that this is my first romance story EVER.
Background Info: This story takes place when Yugi and Téa are 20. Therefore Ishizu is 24, Rishid 32, and Marik also 20.
One – Friends in the City
Ishizu sighed as she watched her foolish brothers toil in the hot Egyptian sun, thinking about God-knows-what. Since she had parted with her friends from Domino City after the repose of the Pharaoh, her friend Atem, she had come into contact with Yugi's friend Téa Gardner, who was sappily melodramatic at times but a nice girl. Téa had been elated to hear from Ishizu, and had invited her up to Domino City to stay in her apartment. Ishizu had since lost her job as Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities because of the time she had been forced to take off in Battle City—the Egyptian government would not understand that she had been out saving the world—and now she was living a shameful existence—unable to find work anywhere—relying on her brothers, Marik and Odion, who still had their jobs.
Come on, Téa's email read. I'll help you find a job. Just come up to Domino, and trust me. It'll be nice to see you...I'm sure Yugi would feel the same way! Please? It'll be great!
Well, her brothers couldn't support her forever, and she did eventually need to have her own life...away from her siblings...like people do, she thought. Lately she had been making herself out to be a dreg of society and a twenty-four-year-old burden on her family. Maybe Téa really can help me, she thought. She smiled as she read the email again. Téa still talked like a teenager, judging from the text—well, really she wasn't much older than that. She was probably in college, or at least training full-time at some studio of dance...Ishizu smiled to think that Téa had an artistic passion. She, Ishizu, had never been allowed something like that. She hoped that, if she went, Téa and her other friends in Domino could teach her something new about herself.
So Marik and Odion accompanied Ishizu to the airport. They hugged her—teary-eyed—babies, Ishizu thought fondly. She loved her brothers and hated to leave them but there was no other choice. They were all growing too old to stay together like little children.
And she would see him again, she thought—the deciding factor had great root in that possibility. Ishizu boarded the plane, and took off for Japan, where she would see her friends again. She opened her laptop and (because there was Internet on the plane) found Téa's blog again.
JULY 19 – YAY!!
I am so excited to see my friend Ishizu! She lives in Egypt, and I haven't seen her in a few years! I am so glad she is coming to live with me and my roommate Cicely in Domino City
That was odd. Téa didn't say anything about a roommate. As she read on Ishizu couldn't imagine girly dancer Téa ever striking up a friendship with tomboy duelist Cicely Moretti—who used a dark Spellcaster Deck. She learned a lot about Cicely through Téa's blog—Cicely seemed like a nice person—but intimidating to Ishizu. While Ishizu was a quiet soul, Cicely was the biggest rock phenomenon Domino City had ever seen. But there were other things they'd have in common: both loved to read, both studied and admired Ancient Egypt, and (Ishizu's heart sank) both had lost a great potential love because they had denied it.
Ishizu's heart went out to Cicely Moretti immediately and she worried no more. The poor girl was really just another human being, a personal quality that she, Ishizu, had long ago had to defy to save herself and others. Téa wrote that Cicely was brave, strong, and tough; and that she had never lost an honest duel—even won some pretty unfair ones.
A few days later, in Domino City, a small young man gazed timidly into the mirror, as though dejectedly confronting it. Gee, it looked so much better when Atem used it, he thought, of the image therein—and heaved a sigh. Though Yugi was strong and sweet, he was still very much lamenting the loss of his best friend—the Pharaoh Atem, even though it had been a few years. Though Atem had shown Yugi courage, neither of them had ever had any guts when it came to girls. Yugi chucked fondly, remembering this...the brave Atem was reduced to juvenile cowardice when it came to girls!
His tiny hand reached for the telephone but he hesitated—would calling Téa be a good idea? He didn't know. So he would try it. When in doubt, give it a go! That was the Pharaoh's motto, at any rate.
"Hello?" said a soft yet resonating voice, as if its owner were in a daze.
"Uh—hi," Yugi said. "I think I've got the wrong number."
"Yugi Moto?" the voice asked. Yugi felt the magenta hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.
"Uh—who is this?" he said.
"This is Ishizu Ishtar," the voice said. Yugi felt surprised.
"Ishizu?" Yugi repeated. "What are you doing at Téa's place? Is everything okay?"
"Oh, yes, everything is fine, my friend," Ishizu's voice replied. "Do you wish to speak with Téa? Because she is not around right now...she's working overtime tonight."
"Oh," Yugi said. "So did you meet Cicely?"
"Cicely—no, I have not," Ishizu said. "She has been on a tour of Italy with some friends from New York, and she won't be back till this evening. Why? What is she like?"
"She's nice," Yugi said. "She reads a lot, goes to school for journalism but we all think she should duel for a living, had a horrible parting in New York with a great potential boyfriend two years ago...and she's a Christian."
"Oh!" Ishizu said. "What should I make for dinner? What do the girls like?"
"Well, there is nothing Cicely loves in the world so much as she loves chicken Caesar wraps at the diner…Téa and she usually go Dutch treat," Yugi said. "But, Ishizu—will you do me a favor? When they come home today, invite them to come to the diner—I'll pay for everyone."
Ishizu sensed Yugi's anxiousness. "Would you like your own table with Téa? That way I could get to know Cicely."
"Thanks, Ishizu," Yugi said. "And please—don't tell anyone?" He sounded a little apprehensive now that he had told someone else of his feelings for Téa Gardner. Ishizu laughed. Yugi's heart sank.
"Oh, Yugi, I beg your forgiveness—but I've never had any experience in romance...I'm new to it, and I think you're sweet. And it will be my honor to help you win Téa over, though I'm sure you already have. Please, Yugi, I'll have never been sorrier in my life if I hurt you...please, can you forgive me?"
"It's not as big a deal as you're making it, Ishizu," Yugi said. "But it's okay. Of course I forgive you. You're my friend. I heard you're going through a rough time, too. Is there anything I can do?"
"No, but you are most kind," Ishizu replied. "Is there anything I can do for you, you know, apart from asking out a girl for you?"
"No, thanks, Ishizu. What are you doing right now?" Yugi asked. "Would you like to go somewhere with me?"
Ishizu thought about it. She decided to use a modern slang. "Okay," she said at length. Yugi could almost hear her triumphant grin at the prospect of still having friends in Domino City. He smiled too.