Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or anything associated with it.

A/N:Since this is an AU I feel it important to mention here, there will be some appearances from characters that may/may not be only from one aspect oft he series(Just from the manga, movie, etc...) Also since this will be a mix of anime and manga expect some level of violence. Swearing too.

Mayumi Muto

What is there after death?

Surely everyone must have wondered at some point or another, maybe after the passing of a loved one. Some believe they'll get reincarnated somewhere; others believe it's a choice or heaven or hell; some choose to simply wait and see for themselves.

I'm not entirely sure what I'd prefer if I'm being completely honest.

Though, if I were to be reincarnated somewhere, I would still wish to be with everyone who I've met, the ones who I hold dear. Then again, I suppose if reincarnation were the path chosen, we'd probably have no way of remembering one another so it might not matter. I wouldn't even know who half the people I missed really are.

Still, if I were reincarnated somewhere-preferably with my sister fitted with a better life-would you still find me I wonder? Would fate still bring us together as it had?

Perhaps it is a mystery better left unsolved.

~/~

Mayumi Muto – better known as Yumi or May to her peers at school – was having that dream again. It always happened on the nights she stayed up late trying to finish the golden puzzle her grandpa had brought back from his last big expedition in Egypt. On more than one occasion she'd caught herself dozing off just as she slid another jigsaw piece into place.

Perhaps the puzzle was trying to tell her something? Ridiculous though it may be.

Sharp, tiny pebbles pressing into her cheek – the tortured spot of skin flaring in pain – was what she awoke to.

Along with someone screaming.

Yumi had seen darkness before, the kind that made the familiar street where her grandpa's game store sat look like something from one of those old-school slasher films. The darkness she saw now wasn't like that, taking on a more physical form. The far stretching pillars of inky blackness came shooting towards her and a few others creating a sense of dread that went all the way down into her bones.

"Now begone!"

The horrible sounding voice cut through Yumi's thoughts, drawing her attention forward despite her screaming urge to run. Barely catching a spot of white before that same horrid darkness began to spread aimed somewhere other than herself, zeroing in on a man she didn't recognize-

No, please! Stop-

Her feet moved of their own volition, without waiting for her mind to catch up.

When it did her mouth opened to scream, the voice that came out being different from her own. "STOP!"

"No! SERA!"

The piercing rays of darkness met soft, pudgy flesh and made a satisfying squish just as Yumi let out a bloodcurdling scream. White exploded around her, her senses turning dull. The last thing she saw was a pair of tearful golden eyes looking at her, glinting with anguish and despair.

She screamed again. Something hard rising up to meet her face, her limbs getting tangled in a heap of sheets falling straight out of bed.

Her amethyst-violet eyes snapped open, head whipping from side to side in panicked confusion. "W-what? Where...am I?" She muttered, still half-asleep before the blaring of her alarm had her up on her feet slamming a hand down on the snooze button.

"Just a nightmare…?" She frowned, her eyes falling to the floorboards of her bedroom. "But...it felt so real."

~/~

"It's lunchtime! Let's play basketball!" A teenage boy shouted as he leapt up from his desk and sprinted out of the classroom as fast as his legs would carry him, the rest of the students following closely behind.

While the majority of students went rushing out the room into the halls, there was one exception; A young girl remained sitting at her desk in the second row, paying little attention to her classmates as they went whizzing on by, too engrossed in the elaborate house of cards she had spent the last ten minutes or so working on. She was just in the midst of placing the final card on top when one of the more careless teens bumped into her desk, causing it to rock and sending the castle of cards tumbling down.

"Hey, Yumi! Why don't you quit playing games all by yourself and come play basketball with us for once?" One of the boys called out with an irritated look in his eye, no doubt from having been elected by Anzu as the one to try and goad her into playing with them.

Yumi sat, staring down at her pile of fallen cards silently weighing the pros and cons; on the one hand it did get rather lonely being the only person inside the classroom all day long,and ones like Anzu and Miho would be there. as well, for her to talk to! But on the other…

"Yumi!" He snapped, getting a bit more impatient.

"Uh...thank you for the offer, but I-I think whatever team I'd be on would just lose anyway." She responded meekly, her words accompanied by a meager laugh.

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

Yugi winced at the other's more flippant tone, watching with a growing frown as he darted out of the room. Yumi was more often than not left all alone, with only her games. Yumi gave out a depressed sigh when the door of the classroom slid shut.

"I really do wish I could play games with everyone else," she remarked sadly, gathering up the fallen cards now. Standing at a lowly height of just barely 5 feet and with zero flexibility to speak of, Yumi pretty much was a liability in any sport. Her lack of coordination with a ball didn't help matters any. "I always bring a lot of games to school, too…" she added as an afterthought, missing how a single card went slipping off the edge of her desk slowly fluttering down to the floor as she shuffled them back into a deck to stuff into her backpack.

"Ah, that's right! What if I finish THAT today!" A smile lifted at the corners of her lips when she caught of a familiar golden Eye of Horus symbol from the golden box she'd taken from home. The ornate Egyptian-style carvings shone brightly with the light of the sun. "I always try and take it with me wherever I go – it's my treasure after all; Something you can see, but have never seen before!" 'An intriguing riddle for a puzzle,' Yumi thought to herself proudly, starting to slowly lift the lid of the box containing her 'treasure'.

"The answer is-"

Just as Yumi had opened the lid completely, a hand snatched the box out from under her nose and held it high above her head, out of reach of her short little arms.

"J-Jounouchi!"

"What are you doing talking to yourself, Yumi? You definitely win the prize for most creepy!" The hand belonging to Katsuya Jounouchi brought the box closer to his face, examining it with bored eyes and a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. "Something you can see but can't see, saying a bunch of stuff I don't really get." Yumi didn't pay attention to his words all that much, stumbling out of her seat in a hurry and jumping to try and grab the golden box back from the blond.

"Ah, p-please return that! Return…" Jounouchi tossed it instead, not caring for the horrified way Yumi's eyes widened at the utter lack of care for what befell her treasure. She bit her lower lip to keep it from quivering in frustration. Lazily catching the box midair and scoffing, Jounouchi hopped over a few more desks.

"Tch! Timidly treasuring a box of all things...a girl like you would do something so stupid. Watching you makes me sick!" He added, noticing her lack of attention towards him and seeing the way her eyes zeroed in on the small little golden box. He carelessly tossed it towards his longtime pal Honda who was standing a few away. "Here, Honda, catch." Yumi went darting over, jumping and failing to catch the ever-important item as it went sailing back to Jounouchi.

"That's the part of you that really pisses me off." Jounouchi announced, his words hitting Yumi like a mental slap, causing her eyes to tear up a little; she had always thought better of him than most others who bullied her. Both he and Honda seemed all around better people than those she'd run into elsewhere, being an easy victim from a younger age due to her lack of parents and shy attitude. Her love of games only further isolated her from her peers, and all except for Anzu either ignored her or treated her like some kind of nuisance. When Anzu had introduced her to Miho, Yumi quickly deduced Miho Nosaka was nice if not a bit odd – referring to herself in the third person whenever they talked – but even so Yumi was glad to have found another friend.

"Tell ya what, though, you want this box back, right?" Jounouchi said, leaning down so he was more eye-level and tapping himself on the cheek. "Why not try and take it by force; slap me and maybe I'll give it back to you?"

Yumi froze, feeling her heart pounding harder in her chest, her palms starting to sweat from the anxiety. "I... I hate fighting and violence!" She yelled, fists clenching against her skirt.

"Ahh! You've got no guts, but you've got a loud voice!" Jounouchi complained, his eardrums ringing from the high-volume yell.

"A-anyway please, just give me my box back." Yumi pleaded, switching to a more subdued tone. "It's very special to me."

"Say, what's in here, anyway?" Jounouchi asked, wanting to know why Yumi cared about it so much anyway. Lifting the lid slowly to peer inside, he made a brief noise of irritation upon seeing what is inside, however, and frowned in displeasure with the contents of the box. "What? How boring and dumb."

A screech followed his words that Yumi and Jounouchi recognized as that of a chair being moved abruptly. Both teens turned their eyes towards the back of the room, staring at the corner seat of the last row, when Yumi felt her heart drop down into her stomach –

"A-Aigami…!?" She muttered, cheeks burning in humiliation at not realizing someone besides her was still in the classroom; she had thought everyone else had gone out to join in the game of basketball going on.

"Oh, you're that new kid...what was it, again? Aigu-OWWW!" Jounouchi let out a hiss of pain after Aigami came stalking towards them, slamming the heel of his shoe down onto Jonouchi's foot, hard. He quickly snatched the box away while the blond whimpered a bit and gave the other two boys a disapproving glare.

"Picking on girls? What a boring pair of idiots you are." He said plainly, meeting Jounouchi's glare head-on, arching a quizzical brow. "Idiots." He repeated – watching the other two boys bristle at the word.

"Why, you lousy –" Joey grabbed the front of Aigami's shirt. Yumi tackled Jounouchi in a fit of panic.

"S-stop!" She yelled, not wanting to bear witness to such violence.

"What's going on here!?"

"Anzu!" Yumi cried out in delight at seeing the familiar head of short brown hair and stern looking eyes directed at Jounouchi and Honda. The taller girl placing her hands on her hips while stalking towards them in that scary way that only Anzu could pull off. The two girls had been friends since early childhood; Anzu always looked out for Yumi, knowing full well how others loved to pick on the shorter girl because of both her demure nature and her love of games. As soon as she saw Anzu standing in the doorway, Yumi knew Jounouchi and Honda's fun had ended; no one would dare face an angry Anzu; They were like sisters and Anzu – filling out the role of big sister – always protected her younger, defenseless sister.

Standing behind Anzu with a noticeably less fierce expression was the head of lilac-colored hair that Yumi recognized as that of Miho Nosaka. Miho wasn't always as good at rooting out the problem as Anzu, though; even so, Yumi felt a small pang of warmth whenever Miho tried – however minor the help was.

"I was just –" Jonouchi began, attempting to stare Anzu down. He wasn't intimidated by her. Honda, on the other hand, was trying to edge his way closer towards the doorway where Miho was standing, developing a goofy grin when he saw her. Honda – being wise enough to try and not draw any attention to himself (He already bore witness to an angry Anzu earlier that week)and if he were ebing honest – much preferred the company of a certain lilac-haired girl instead.

A trip to the nurse was not on his agenda for that day, thank you very much!

"Yumi is a GIRL!" Anzu ground out, annoyed. Her words were punctuated by a loud slap across Jounouchi's face mere moments after the words left her mouth. "If you two have the time to waste bullying someone who's weaker than you, why not mop the floors or clean out your lockers or find some other method of killing time! Now leave!" She commanded, eyes drilling holes into their backs as they each yelped and ran like frightened children and raced down the hall.

"Those two…" She grumbled under her breath, giving out a satisfied huff once they were out of sight, before she rounded on the last male in the room. "And you! Are you harassing her as well?"

"Ah, no, Anzu, wait a minute!" Yumi hurried to say, positioning herself between the still-irate Anzu and the owl-eyed Aigami. "He was trying to help me! He's the one who took my box back for me…"

"Oh really?" The annoyance disappeared from Anzu's face immediately, and she glanced back up at Aigami, who was placing the object of conversation back onto Yumi's desk. "Well, that's good to hear, makes me think not all the boys in this class are idiots."

Anzu's words were followed by a bit of nervous laughter from Yumi before Miho gasped and approached with rapidly growing hearts in her eyes. "Miho remembers you! You're that new transfer student, the one from Egypt!"

"Egypt?" Yumi repeated, curious and glancing down at her box.

"Yes, that's right." Aigami replied, smiling politely at the two other girls. "My name is Aigami. And you're… Anzu Masaki and Miho Nosaka, correct?"

"Yes, that's right." Anzu responded, returning his smile with one of her own before blinking in confusion and momentarily putting her hand to her chin in deep thought. "It's odd though, didn't we... meet already?"

"Oh, yes, but of course." Aigami commented with a soft bout of laughter, rubbing the back of his head. He turned his gaze onto Yumi, amethyst-violet meeting molten gold. "That box of yours, it looked like you treasured it dearly... is it some kind of heirloom?"

"Huh? Oh! I – well...n-not exactly…" Yumi felt her cheeks burning brightly, realizing Aigami had no doubt heard all the things she was saying aloud earlier, and wanted the floor to swallow her up right then and there. "It's um…" She struggled to find the right words.

"Earlier you called it your treasure, right?" Yumi's face resembled a tomato, his words confirming that he did, in fact, hear her rambling to herself.

"Yumi?" Anzu said softly, wondering why the girl wasn't answering. "Are you feeling alright? You're looking a little red… maybe you should go to the nurse?"

"It's probably a good idea. After all, she may have overexerted herself from jumping around earlier." Aigami said after a few more moments of silence, and he offered a small smile Yumi couldn't see because she was looking down at her toes. "I should be going, anyway; I have a few things to take care of down in the main office. It was nice seeing you Miho, Anzu! You as well, Yumi!"

"W-wait!" Yumi called, finally plucking up her courage, only it was too late.

'Thank you,' she thought, wishing she had been just a little faster. The words were left unspoken.

Her eyes drifted back towards her treasured golden box that was now on her desk, and she only just noticed the card stuck underneath it. She reached to gently pluck it out from underneath and saw that it was an ace of hearts. Yumi's blush deepened.

~/~

"Wow, Anzu. Just a few words from you and they ran away." Yumi complimented while Anzu and Miho each pulled out a chair. "I think Honda was just distracted by your looks though, Miho." Yumi added a moment later, directing the compliment towards the violet-haired member of their little trio. Miho giggled at the thought.

The last time Anzu had caused someone to run away with their tails between their legs had been at the start of the semester; a few of the more 'privileged' girls in Yumi's class found out Yumi had beat quite a few of them out on the entrance exams. Red-faced with humiliation, they cornered Yumi out on the tennis court one day and convinced some of the pettier guys to throw some trash at her. Needless to say, Anzu was waiting for her at home that day, and when she saw the shorter girl covered head to toe in everything from half-rotted food to used tissue paper, she marched into class the very next day and gave the ones responsible a tongue-lashing so brutal that even some of the teachers became more afraid of her from then on. Yumi thought they were more impressed with her friend that day, seeing as how they gave the ones she was yelling at detention afterwards.

Of course, Miho was no slouch in the 'protect Yumi' campaign either; Yumi could recall several instances that demonstrated how good the more romance-obsessed girl was at tearing down others' confidence. While not as direct as Anzu, at times, Miho could be conniving when she truly set her mind to something. Especially if that something was looking out for a friend.

"Their heads swell if you don't knock them down every once in awhile, right, Miho?" Anzu retorted, earning a nod from the other girl. "You need to be tougher, Yumi. Show them you can't be pushed around."

"W-well…"

"Although, Miho was surprised to see Aigami getting involved," Miho remarked curiously. "He's always so quiet, I've never really seen him talking to anyone, either. I didn't know you were on such close terms, Yumi."

Yumi pushed her two index fingers together, unsure of how to respond to the other's suggestive tone of voice.

"At the very least, it's a nice reprieve from the usual idiocy exhibited by most of the male students here." Anzu commented with a huff, "Take those guys playing basketball, for starters. I thought at first they were just passing to the girls a lot, turns out they were up to their old tricks of trying to peek under their skirts whenever they would shoot." Anzu shook her head in disgust, folding her arms against her chest.

Yumi was immensely glad she always refused their offer to join, subconsciously flattening her skirt against her legs.

"We quit and decided to come inside after that. What a bunch of jerks! Promise you'll never play basketball in a skirt, Yumi." Yumi immediately nodded her consent. Anzu smiled, then leaned closer towards the golden box Yumi had been cradling.

"By the way, Yumi, what is this?"

"That's right, you haven't seen this yet, Anzu. If you two promise to keep it a secret, then I'll show you!" Yumi said excitedly, looking from Anzu, who nodded to Miho, who looked just as excited. Yumi felt a little guilty over the fact that neither of her friends had ever seen the contents of the box until just now. Yumi went so far as to keep it up high on one of her many bookshelves whenever they came over to work on homework or play games so it would blend in with the other various odd knick-knacks Yumi kept stored up in her room.

It is her treasure, after all; she wouldn't want some random thief to see it and take it during a break-in or something.

"Ta-da!" Yumi said and lifted the lid slowly, watching the two taller girls leaned in close, the suspense building until finally they could see the pile of beautifully glittering golden pieces laying inside. All of them were in various jagged forms like a puzzle.

"So pretty!" Miho breathed, carefully picking up two of the golden pieces and looking them over with wonder and fascination.

"Huh, their shape...are they pieces of something?" Anzu remarked, picking up two more pieces and looking them over, and she noticed they were shaped differently from the ones Miho was holding. As the brunette began fiddling with some more of the pieces, substituting the ones she was holding for others in the box, she couldn't help but notice how each piece caught the rays of the sun pouring in through the windows in just the right way; they looked like stars.

"Yeah, it's a puzzle! I've never finished it before, so I don't know what it looks like... so it's something you see but have never seen before!" Yumi repeated her grandpa's earlier riddle from when he first presented it to her, and she bounced in her seat a little from the excitement in her own voice. "This puzzle was given to me as a memento... of my mom."

A blanket of silence descended over the three friends, and Anzu noticed Yumi's fingers clench around the box a little more. Yumi's lip quivered ever so slightly.

"That's right...your mom, I-I heard she passed…" Anzu said weakly, mentally kicking herself for forgetting something so serious. It happened not too long ago, during a time when Anzu had left the country on family trip of sorts. When she came back, Yumi seemed more withdrawn and antisocial than ever before. "I'm sorry...Yumi."

'That really does make it special though…' Anzu thought, glad that nothing had happened to her friend's treasure.

"It's alright." Yumi said after a moment, looking down at the golden box. "Grandpa told me that this was found in an Egyptian ruin, and she always wanted to go to Egypt! Mom used to say how all games started back in the olden days when Pharaohs and servants would play them- you know, probably since they didn't have television and stuff." Yumi said with a sheepish laugh.

"Pharaohs are like royalty, right?" Miho asked, eyes glittering with excitement, thinking of all the expensive jewels and whatnot they could afford. Anzu laughed a bit as the other two spent a few moments fantasizing over what it must have been like back then.

Yumi shook her head to get it back on track, seeing Anzu looking at the different symbols running along the sides with intrigue. "See these hieroglyphics carved around the box?" Yumi said, pointing to said symbols. "Well, I'm not entirely certain, but I bet they say something like 'who so ever solves this puzzle will be granted one wish…' or something like that. You know what I mean?" Yumi's face was reminiscent of a little kid on Christmas morning. "It's like the Dragonballs or something!"

"Dragon Balls?" Miho repeated, confused by the reference.

"It's from this show she watches, don't even ask." Anzu explained, shaking her head in exasperation of the reminder.

"So, what is it then?" Anzu said, after a few more minutes of idle chatter between them. Yumi blinked in confusion. "Your wish?" Anzu pointed towards the box in Yumi's hands with a friendly smile.

"Ah...no way! Sorry, Anzu, but that's absolutely, positively a secret!"

~/~

"Damn that Anzu! She makes me so mad!" Jonouchi grumbled in a heated frenzy of rage as he and Honda walked down the hallway, struggling to resist the strong urge just to hit something. "And who does that jackass Aigami think he is, too!?" Neither of them could still believe the 'new kid' had joined Anzu in telling them off today. He seemed the type to avoid sticking his nose where it didn't belong, so why now?

What surprised him even more was that Anzu and Aigami did it despite the bad rumors circling about his and Honda's reputation – though it was really the one gang in his case – and how they would beat on people for fun; granted, only some of the things being said were even remotely true, still! By all rights, Anzu should've been terrified of them. The new kid might get more of a pass on it, seeing as how he hadn't been around super long yet.

Although Jounouchi could've sworn someone mentioned having gone to elementary school with that Aigo- aigi— whatever his name was! – Jounouchi was too pissed to give it much thought. While his methods maybe weren't always thought of as the best, Jonouchi seriously did think he was helping Yumi in the long run with his little 'lesson'. The way she was fawning over that dumb little box really was sickening, and what if someone bigger and badder came along to try and take it?

"Rgh! Who's a bully!?" Jounouchi snarled, slamming a closed fist against the wall. Yumi had to learn one way or another; her friends wouldn't always be there to help her out – that was all he was trying to show her!

'Her.' Jounouchi wasn't so blind as to not recognize the fact Yumi was a girl – for Pete's sake, she wore the girls' uniform! She was shorter than Anzu, sure, with her hair just barely reaching the midpoint of her back, the blackened strands tinted the smallest amount of red at the ends with her golden bangs fanned out a bit more complimenting the downward spikes. It wasn't the most orthodox style, sure, but it was just so... Yumi. Nothing that girl did was ordinary in any way.

"Uh, that would be us, Jounouchi." Honda said in response to his earlier comment, something that only served to piss Jounouchi off further.

The two were so busy, both of them too involved in their own frustration to look at where they were going, that they all but slammed into a hard wall of pure muscle head-on. They both looked up and paled at what they saw, or, rather, who they saw.

"What were you saying about bullies ...?" Ushio, more commonly known as 'Ogre of the Halls', was the school's most feared hall monitor and leader of the Public Morale Committee; the school's disciplinary group tasked with enforcing the school's many rules and regulations.

"Nothing! Keep outta this, you –"

Jounouchi's threat was cut off by Honda's hand clamping down around his mouth and an audible 'shhhh!' being hissed into his ear.

"Ah no, i-it's nothing, nothing at all!" Honda hurried to say, offering a tight-lipped smile to the monstrous-looking hall monitor towering over them.

"Picking on people is bad!" Ushio said, turning to take his leave, sparing one last glance at the tiny first-years from the corner of his eye.

"Hai, hai! That is so very true!" Honda hurried to say, nodding along rapidly. All the while, Jounouchi's face was starting to turn purple at the lack of air. "Jounouchi, just who do you think you're picking a fight with!?" Honda hissed into his friend's ear once Ushio was a safe enough distance away. "That's that ogre of a hall monitor Ushio! He makes all the rules at school, and even the teachers are too afraid of him to say anything!" He scolded, oblivious to his friend's suffocation.

Jonouchi gasped loudly once he'd managed to pry Honda's hand away from his face. "Is he gone? He's gone…?" Honda said in panic, heading whipping from side to side just in case Ushio decided to come back.

"You jerk! I couldn't freakin' breathe!" Jounouchi screamed, looking ready to throttle his longtime 'friend' instead.

"Ushio! I'm gonna get you someday!" Jounouchi hollered, kicking at the air with an aggravated frown etched into his face while Honda let out a loud exhale of relief.

"Damn! Life is so dull!" Honda whined, kicking the wall. Forgetting how his friend had just yelled at him mere moments ago and glaring daggers. Even though he and Jounouchi were trying their hardest to live a better school life than certain others, things just seemed so repetitive for them lately, and it didn't help any that his efforts with Miho didn't seem to be getting anywhere.

"Oh yeah? Hey, I got something interesting…" Jounouchi said, reaching into the jacket of his uniform.

"Hm?"

"Check it out." Jounouchi said and revealed a familiar looking piece of gold with the shape what looked like some kind of eye on it.

"What's that?" Honda inquired, not understanding what Jounouchi was so pleased about.

"Something I snuck out of Yumi's treasure box." The blonde teen clarified with a grin, closing his fingers around the small golden piece. "I just caught a glimpse of it, but it looked like a puzzle of some kind! So then without this piece, she can't finish it, right?"

"Man, that's mean…" Honda commented with no real heat in his words – not really seeing much harm in taking it – while Jounouchi shrugged.

"So I'll just take this and... Do this!" Jounouchi said with a triumphant smirk as he hurled the piece straight out the window. He watched with a satisfied smirk as it whistled through the air and landed somewhere down in the school's pool below, no doubt sinking all the way to the bottom. Jounouchi thought Yumi's feelings towards the puzzle were clearly holding her back and making her more dependent on others. The lesson would do her some good – or so Jounouchi thought as he and Honda walked off.

Neither boy noticed the pair of golden eyes watching them, the person coming to a stop by the window they had just thrown the puzzle piece out of.

~/~

'I think I'll work more on the puzzle today when I get home, maybe a little after dinner, too, if I want to finish it.' Yumi thought, humming happily to herself as she carried a large stack of thick volume books in her arms that she had checked out from the school's library to help her study. Yumi saw very few students that weren't involved in some of the extracurricular activities still going on. Having another dance lesson booked, Anzu herself was one of the ones who had to take off nearly right after the bell rang.

Miho mentioned something about having to go shopping with her mom, which she didn't seem too thrilled about, but tried not to show it, given Yumi and their earlier conversation regarding Yumi's own mother. Yumi appreciated the gesture of kindness from them.

Even so, she assured them she was doing fine, and that she had them and her grandpa still around! Her grandfather was the proud owner of the Kame Game shop, which bought and sold a variety of unique and rare games from all around the world. Yumi started helping out at a very young age. Things could get a little tough at times, between maintaining a household – she refused to allow her grandpa to cook anymore after he set off the smoke alarms for the hundredth while making eggs one morning – keeping up with the cleanliness and inventory of the store – as well as being able to keep her grades up. It made her happy, though, knowing she was helping the people she cared about.

"You're Yumi...aren't you?" A deep voice spoke out from behind her just as she passed the school's front gate.

"Y-...yes?" Yumi replied, suddenly feeling so much smaller than back when she was by Jonouchi and Honda. Even her voice sounded smaller in her own ears when faced with the block of righteousness that was the 'Ogre Ushio', and Yumi wracked her brain to try and figure out why in the world a guy might be stopping to talk to her.

"I'm Ushio, the hall monitor…" He introduced, not that he really needed to, as Yumi herself had heard the rumors and whispers about him. Yumi gave him a meek nod. "There's something I want to ask you."

"O-oh? W-what is it?" It was almost impossible to keep the tremor out of her voice now; Yumi feared the worst was about to happen.

"Are you being bullied by certain other students in your class?" He said, cutting right to the chase and watching the color drain out of her face.

"W-w-what!? N-no, I... N-nothing like that's b-been happening to me, I swear!" Shaking like a leaf in the wind, she avoided his stare. She felt like an ant about to be stepped on.

"Hold on. Victims usually try and defend their attackers," he surmised, watching her squirm.

"N-no!" She said, perhaps too quickly, based on the knowing look he was giving her. "I... I seriously haven't experienced anything like that. Honest!"

"Someone like you would say something like that." Ushio reasoned, wrapping his meaty hands around her slender shoulders for a moment. "I must properly investigate this." He announced, either not noticing or not caring about how badly she was trembling underneath his hold now.

"I-I really haven't experienced anything of that nature!" she said, shaking herself out from underneath his iron-like grip and making a mad dash away from the schoolyard. "I-I have to go now, please excuse me!" She called over her shoulder, not daring to look back as she high-tailed it out of there and back home.

"What was that all about, I wonder…?"

~/~

"I'm home, Gran-"

"Hey, Yumi."

"... Eh!? A-Aigami!?" Yumi's face resembled a tomato again for the second time that day, and she carefully shut the door behind her only to come face-to-face with one of the very last people she had ever expected to see in her grandfather's shop; Aigami, his molten golden eyes shining with mirth. The taller, tan-skinned individual was leaning over the counter with her grandpa on the other side.

She stood, fidgeting some just in front of the door, unable to keep the smile off her face – something her grandfather easily picked up on, and he threw a knowing little wink her way that made the burning blush on her cheeks turn all the darker.

"Um, wh…" she swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat and carefully set her pile of books down onto the counter, making certain they wouldn't fall while struggling to keep her eyes off of the attractive looking boy now standing beside her. Her brain short-circuited a bit when he threw another pleasant smile her way. "What are you doing here so late, Aigami-kun?"

"Oho, Aigami...kun?" Her grandfather repeated, watching in obvious amusement as Yumi clamped her hands over her mouth at the slip-up.

"Well, I overheard how that treasure of yours came all the way from Egypt." Aigami answered, flipping through the pages of a book that Yumi had only just now recognized as snapshots from some of her grandpa's old expeditions in his younger days. "And I wondered if I might find anything like that here in your family's shop – to remind myself of home, that is."

"Oh, that's right! Miho mentioned it earlier, too; you're from Egypt, aren't you, Aigami-kun?" Yumi recalled excitedly, and the boy nodded before watching her face fall. "Well, I don't think you'll find anything like my puzzle here, I'm sorry...oh!" Her face lit up once more. "Uh, by the way, I-I didn't get a chance to thank you for earlier, w-with Jonouchi and Honda. I mean…"

"Oh, Anzu's the one you should really be thanking, not me." He commented, before leaning down a bit closer, watching her cheeks turn a deeper shade of red. "As for the puzzle...would you mind if I were to look at it for just a moment?"

"Huh, oh uh...well," Yumi shifted, feeling uncertainty twist at her gut.

"Hmmm, tell you what, how about a trade of sorts?" Aigami offered, sensing her hesitance on showing him the box. "You show me your treasure, and I'll show you mine."

Yumi's eyes widened a bit. "You'd show me...your treasure?"

"Well, it's only fair, seeing as how I've already seen yours, and I'm asking to see it again, aren't I?" Aigami reasoned, flashing a secretive smile. "I'll even give you a clue; mine's also from Egypt."

Now Yumi's curiosity was piqued. "Really!?"

"Oh, something from Egypt, you say? Were your parents explorers, perhaps?" Her grandpa remarked fondly, recalling all the fun adventures he himself had been on over the years.

"It's...a bit complicated actually." Aigami said with a sheepish laugh while rubbing the back of his head before he turned his attention back onto Yumi. "So, what do you say Yumi?"

"Okay!"

Yumi led Aigami upstairs and into her room, not wanting to chance taking her box out and a customer walking in recounting Aigami with a tale of that very incident occurred as she led him upstairs, going on to say how her grandpa had to try and calm the irate customer who wanted to purchase the puzzle, despite her grandpa repeatedly saying that it was not for sale. To this day, she still remembered the angry slew of words and the dirty look she was given as she was sent scurrying upstairs for the night.

"Alright, here it is…" Yumi said, delicately placing the golden box between them on the floor.

Even after all the times she'd looked at it herself, Yumi was still left in awe of its presence, the beautiful design and intricate symbols carved into it leaving her without words as she slowly lifted the lid, revealing the pieces laying inside.

"I'm not one-hundred percent sure yet, but I think the hieroglyphics on the side translate to something like-"

"The Millenium Puzzle, eh?" Aigami interrupted, drawing a confused stare from the girl opposite him, a far-off look in his eyes while looking over the small golden box. And was that...sadness in them as well?

"Aigami…?" Yumi said in concern, noticing what almost looked like tears beginning to surface in his eyes before he regained composure, and he easily brushed her hand off of him and smiled the same as before. Only now, Yumi was noticing his smile never quite reached his eyes.

"Oh, I just...was able to translate a little of what it said on the side, no big deal." He said, causing her to look down at the hieroglyphics running along the sides in wonder. "Anyway, I, uh, guess I should show you mine, too, huh? I did promise, after all…"

"A cube...?" Yumi stared at the small gray-ish block in the center of his outstretched hand, noting the same Eye of Horus mark at one of its corners. She got an eerie feeling from it that was oddly similar to her own puzzle at times. Its sides were shaded more of a light blue with strange symbols scrawled along it.

Aigami laughed a little, retracting the cube and looking over it fondly. "It's not as pretty to look at as your puzzle, I suppose, but give it time...a beautiful thing is never perfect, after all." Yumi blushed yet again, looking up and seeing those molten orbs of his once more focused on her, this time accompanied by a secretive smile.

Being so close to him as she was, Yumi found it hard to ignore the warmth that radiated from Aigami's very being and chalked it up as something from his Egyptian heritage. He had probably spent a lot of time in the sun back however long he lived there. It was strange, how it took Miho reminding her that he was from Egypt to begin with... she could have sworn they attended the same elementary school…

She must have gotten him mixed up with someone else. That was all.

'Yes.' Her mind supplied earnestly, not wanting to acknowledge the slight nagging from somewhere deeper in her gut. 'An easy mistake, that's all it was.'

Review.

For those perhaps wondering, yes. Aigami is from Yugioh:DSOD. Since this is an AU, expect some differences!