Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters from the anime. I do own the plot and the OCs.

A/N: I have got to stop reading things. Seriously this is ridiculous. I am trying to focus on CG and yet all of a sudden I get slapped across the back of my head about a brand new story that demands to be written, as I was in the middle of reading a transition type story on this site. So, I decided that I would make this oneshot (Perhaps it will turn into a twoshot, but however I choose to write it as, it shall be a short story) and then I would go on straight to the next chapter of Crimson Guardian, since I already know how I'm going to go about chapter twelve. So, here's my short story (Yes, it is mild/hinted prideshipping). Hope you like it, and hang tight because CG is coming at you real soon. (Probably later today, since it's already 2 in the morning here and I need some sleep).

A Butterfly is Just a Caterpillar with Wings

Part One

"Out of my way, loser."

Yami Sennen yelped quietly as he felt himself being shoved forcibly to the ground, his schoolbooks and notebooks scattering all across the linoleum floor of the hall at Domino High. He wordlessly tried to collect his things while trying to ignore his daily tormentors as best as he could. Mocking laughter could be heard going on over his head, but Yami had grown so used to this kind of ridicule that it hardly registered.

Unfortunately this particular bully wasn't easily ignored, as was proved when a large, shoed foot stomped down on Yami's hand as he reached for his chemistry textbook. He had to bite his lip to keep from crying out in pain.

"Do you really think that you could just get away with being a burden on me?"

Yami looked up, his eyes narrowing behind his thick, wire, coke bottle glasses as he glared up at Preston Blakely, football quarterback and most likely to be voted Senior valedictorian. For all of his looks and suave attitude with the ladies, and his surprisingly remarkable marks in academics, Yami seriously questioned Preston's intellect in thinking up original ways of making Yami's school life hell.

"Heaven forbid I even try to make that attempt, ass munch." Yami shot back.

Preston was tall, about five-eleven in height, and with his record in athletics he had developed a considerable amount of muscle. He had short, platinum blond hair and striking ice-blue eyes that most people found alluring, but Yami honestly didn't see the appeal. Preston was vain and he treated everyone around him as though they were inferior.

Preston's face turned a light shade of purple as his anger at being talked down to pooled within him, and he gripped the front of Yami's collar and pulled the smaller boy up off the ground until he held Yami several inches off of the ground so that they would see eye to eye.

"I will make you regret those words, scum."

"Oh, believe me I already do. Have you ever heard of a tick-tack, man?"

Yami really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut, as was proved when Preston slammed Yami back against the lockers. His head banged against one of the padlocks, dazing him slightly.

"I will kill you."

Just as Preston was reeling his fist back to connect with Yami's face, a cold, menacing, commanding voice coming from their left caught their attention and stopped Preston cold.

"What is going on here?"

Both boys turned to see that they had attracted quite a crowd around them, but it was the boy at the front of the group that held them riveted.

Seto Kaiba stood there, tall and proud, his cold cerulean eyes burning holes into Preston as he scowled his displeasure at him.

"Have you no more dignity that you would lower yourself to beating on a guy who is clearly smaller and weaker than you? Where is your pride, Blakely?" Kaiba demanded.

Preston couldn't make a sound in reply. If there was one person more popular or influential in this school, it was Seto Kaiba. He was the teenaged CEO of a major, multibillion dollar international gaming company, was one of the richest men in the entire world, was the world's greatest Duel Monsters champion, and to top it all, the man was drop-dead gorgeous. Taller than Preston and lean yet muscular in stature, Kaiba had shoulder-length, thick chocolate-colored hair, the most beautiful pair of blue eyes, was a little of the pale side but that also worked well in Kaiba's favor. His main flaws, however, was his arrogance, his ego, and that monstrous coldness he directs toward everyone and everything in his presence.

Preston dropped Yami, who landed easily on the balls of his feet, and stalked off in hopes of avoiding further conflict with the unofficial King of Domino.

Yami finished collecting his books and papers off of the ground, murmured a quick thank-you to Kaiba and started off in the direction of his next class.

"That's quite the bump you've got forming there. How did you say you hurt yourself?" Mai Kujaku, the school nurse, asked as she placed an icepack on the back of Yami's skull.

"I didn't. And I would think that it would be obvious even without my telling you how and who had given me this injury." Yami growled low.

Mai tsked at Yami, "Yami, you've got to learn to pick your fights more carefully."

"It's not like I ever asked for them in the first place! I just want to be left alone." Yami said, his agitation at the massacre his high school life had become. He was only glad he only had the next two weeks and next year to put up with this, and then he could go off to university to begin his studies in the hope that he would one day become an archaeologist, like his grandfather.

"I know you don't, hun, but I also know how stubborn you can be, or how violent you become when cornered. But you're only human, and one day you're going to push a little too far. I hate to see you hurt like this."

The sincerity in Miss Kujaku's eyes burned Yami to the core. Very few people truly cared about him personally, and of those people, only three of those people are not related. Yami inclined his head in acknowledgement and silent gratitude before quieting down, hoping his horrid migraine would go away.

"I won't call your grandpa about this, but I really wish you would talk to someone about this before it becomes any worse."

"If it does, then I will. There is no reason to bring them into something this trivial."

Mai looked disapproving, but Yami was dead set in his resolve. This boy was selfless to a fault…but sometimes that selflessness could become selfishness if one doesn't remember where the line is drawn.

"Well, lay back and rest for a while. I'll come and wake you once school lets out." And with that, Mai went into her office, leaving Yami alone to wrestle with the same insecurities he had to fight back every night before he went to sleep at night.

What was it about him that everyone seemed to detest so much? They all seemed such superficial reasons, like his glasses. He had always had problems seeing as he was growing up, but his grandfather's income wasn't enough to pay for so-called stylish "shades", and yeah he was shorter and waif thin, but that wasn't his fault either. Shortness seemed to run rampant in Yami's family, and he had been born with a very fast metabolism that made gaining weight near to impossible. He was fairly pale, but what did that have anything to do with the way people seemed to hate him so.

Would he change these things? Truthfully no. They were such stupid reasons for ridicule, and Yami couldn't care less what Preston Blakely and the others had to think about him.

What seriously sucked was that he couldn't say the same about how Seto Kaiba might see him.

Gah, that's something he could do without. The physical things he could cope with, but being gay was a whole different story. And having a longtime crush on the world's most eligible bachelor is a whole new level of stupid.

Once again, he repeated the litany of truth in his mind that made things both better and worse for Yami.

Two weeks and nine months to go, and then you'll never have to see him again.

While these dismal thoughts spun circles in Yami's head, he slowly dropped into a light doze. It was a pleasantly welcome distraction to the distressing thoughts he had begun to turn to.

"I'm home." Yami called out lamely, his head still aching.

"Good afternoon, Yami. How was school today?" His grandpa, Solomon Sennen, called out from the living room.

"It was fine. I'm going up to my room to sleep for a bit. I'm wiped out." Yami announced as he made his way to the stairs leading to his and his little brother Yugi's rooms.

"Hold up a second." Solomon said as he appeared in the doorway connecting the foyer to the living room, "I've got some good news for you. You remember my friend Arthur right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he is scheduled to go on an archaeological dig in Egypt this summer, and when I told him that you wanted to be an archaeologist, he suggested that, if you were willing of course, that you could go with him and get some field experience under your belt."

Yami held in his excitement for a moment, trying to figure out if there was a catch to this, "What about you?"

"Ah, my back is giving me too many fits for me to go on an expedition. Plus, it would look great on college applications, and it gets you out of Domino for a while. I know you didn't have too many things planned this summer, so I thought you might like to go."

"Yes. That's perfectly all right. Thank you!" Yami grabbed his grandpa in an enthusiastic hug as he laughed and cheered while he headed p to his room.

"You'd best start getting packed then, Arthur says that he's got a plane leaving for Cairo on Sunday."

"But today's Friday." Yami said, slightly stupidly.

"Yes, which is why you'd best hurry and pack."

Sunday morning, Yami stood in the airport terminal waiting to board the airplane, his carry-on duffle hanging off of his left shoulder as he practically vibrated in his excitement. An entire three and a half months of digging, exploring, and discovering things that were years, decades, even centuries old. Three and a half months of no stupid bullies. He didn't have to spend those same three and a half months feeling slightly lonely, watching as everyone else has things they could enjoy over the summer while Yami used his time t read and research. Yugi, Yami's younger brother, was sweet and kind, and he would try to get Yami to join in the fun time he shared with his small group of friends, but Yami would only feel awkward around Yugi's friends.

Now, he didn't have to worry about anything.

"Flight 737 to Cairo, Egypt now boarding. Please proceed to the dock and have your tickets out and ready for inspection." A male tenor said over the loudspeaker.

"Are you ready, Yami?" Arthur Hawkins asked as he rejoined Yami after his trip to, most likely, the restroom.

"Oh yes."

Arthur laughed at the boy's excitement as the two men stepped up in line to board their plane.