CHAPTER ONE: Murder

Rain pounded relentlessly against the window of the Domino City Game Shop with such force that Yugi Mutou was almost certain that the glass was going to crack. It had been pouring for at least three days, which wasn't the best of luck, as summer vacation had just started. The tempest – for, to the fifteen year old boy, it felt like a storm so epic that even Shakespeare couldn't properly describe it – had washed ashore from a leftover hurricane far out in the ocean. (Personally, Yugi was just thankful they were getting the leftovers.)

Until the massive storm decided to move on from the shores of Japan, Yugi was stuck inside behind the desk of the Game Shop. His grandfather had recently been bedridden with a nasty cold, which left it up to Yugi to mind the store. The teenager didn't really mind; after all, it was raining cats and dogs outside, and there wasn't really much to do otherwise in town for the King of Games.

Domino City had been eerily quiet since the end of the Battle City tournament.

Yugi sighed, turning the pages of a magazine that he was supposed to be selling, relishing the normalcy and peacefulness of the moment. It's not that he minded the tournaments – he loved them! – but it was nice to take a few days and not have to worry about ancient Egyptian forces, Millennium Items, or a dark power coming after him with a maniacal laugh and Duel Monsters that looked too real for comfort.

For the first time in a long time, Yugi Mutou felt like life had returned to a thing of normalcy. What could be more average than minding a game shop in the middle of a thunderstorm? Yes, this was a nice reprieve from the hell that he had had to endure just a few weeks ago…and yet, Malik's words constantly nagged the boy from the very dark recesses of his mind.

You need all seven Millennium Items in order to lay the Pharaoh to rest and restore his full memory.

Yugi could still see the fellow teenager smiling a little ruefully as he spoke the words, baring the horrendous scarring on his back, revealing the secrets of the Pharaoh's past once and for all… and yet, the Pharaoh residing inside the Millennium Item that Yugi Mutou had been fortunate (or unfortunate?) enough to receive was still shrouded in mystery.

Yugi glanced over his shoulder to find the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle just behind him, looking out the window intently with hardened violet eyes. In the three years that Yugi Mutou had known the spirit, they had had an unusual relationship. For a good year, Yugi was positively terrified of the mysterious force that dwelled inside the equally mysterious Millennium Puzzle. However, since that night (a night just as rainy as the day they were now facing, come to think of it), the spirit and the teenager had forged a powerful bond.

The one complaint Yugi had about the spirit – now one of his best friends – was that he was always so intense. There was next to no nonsense when it came to the Nameless Pharaoh of the Millennium Puzzle; it was this or that, no in between.

Now that Battle City was over, the spirit (which Yugi called 'Yami' out of a lack of anything to really call him) was back to being restless, insolent, and impatient. Yugi couldn't really blame him; the answers the Egyptian Gods had given them hadn't been of much use, other than to give them more clues to piece together. Until they figured out how to do that, they had no choice but to wait for another clue to fall into their laps. The Ishtar family had done all they could for the teenager and his spirit partner; now, all they had to do was wait.

"Busy?" Yugi asked, grinning slightly at the spirit, who looked over in mild surprise.

"Busy? When am I ever busy, Yugi? I am attached to you." Yami smiled and straightened his posture; he had been "leaning" against a card display (or, at least, appeared to be leaning against one; Yugi wasn't entirely sure the spirit could manage it without falling straight through).

"Yeah, I know," Yugi sighed, closing the magazine so he could talk to his spiritual friend. "This weather is awful. Jounouchi is supposed to be coming over sometime today, I think, so at least that'll give us something to do."

"I suppose we should be thankful for the lull in activity," Yami mused, glancing over his shoulder towards the door before shaking his head slightly with a smile. "It's been raining for going on three days, hasn't it?" the Pharaoh asked, crossing his arms. "Amazing the city hasn't flooded."

"Yeah, I know, right?" The teenager glanced up as something soft hit the door; the daily newspaper had arrived. "Better get that before it turns into mush…" Yugi slid off of the stool and stretched as soon as his feet hit the floor. "I didn't think the clouds had this much rain in them." The teenager pushed open the door and cringed as the cold rain immediately pounded against his face. He stooped to his knees to grab at the plastic wrapped newspaper and slammed the door shut before the monsoon managed to make its way inside.

"Maybe the land needed the rain," Yami suggested, watching Yugi shed his coat (which was now sopping wet) to hang up. "At any rate, it cannot last too much longer. It's just a rain storm." The Pharaoh paused before snorting softly to himself. "We're talking about the weather, Yugi, we must be bored."

"Seriously," Yugi agreed, dropping back down into his seat to unroll the paper out of curiosity. "Maybe there's something going on at the museum today. That'd be fun, right? I don't think we're getting any customers today, Grandpa won't mind if we run out to go do something…"

"I've had enough of the damned museum," Yami muttered under his breath, but he looked over his partner's shoulder out of curiosity despite his statement. The spirit's eyes widened as he took in the front page of the Domino City Times. "Aibou – look!"

Yugi looked to where the Pharaoh was pointing and gasped. The headline took up a good chunk of the front page with large bold print that made the story impossible to miss.

"Curator of Domino City Museum found dead." Yugi's finger trailed underneath the large black letters, his violet eyes widening in shock. "The curator…"

"Ishizu Ishtar?" Yami murmured, reading Yugi's horrified thought. The spirit gestured at Yugi to unfold the paper fully so they could read more. "Impossible, she returned to Egypt with Malik and Rishid…"

"I don't think she was the curator, Yami, I think she just went to Domino to tell you about your past," Yugi responded quietly, swallowing slightly. "Hopefully, anyway…here it is – the curator of the Domino City Museum, Yamada Hanako, was found dead in the Ancient Egyptian exhibit early this morning. The body was found within the new exhibit hall that Ishizu Ishtar, famed archaeologist from Cairo, Egypt, sponsored. Her assailant, if there is one, remains unknown…" Yugi looked up at Yami, who was staring intently at the black and white picture that contained the giant stone tablets that had changed both of their lives forever.

"She was found within that exhibit?"

"I guess so."

"A coincidence?" Yami narrowed his eyes, reading the rest of the article quickly before Yugi could protest. "I thought Ishizu took those things back to Egypt with her. Are they a permanent fixture?"

Yugi folded up the newspaper neatly and set it on top of the counter, frowning down at the photograph of the tablets. "I don't think so. I guess they haven't moved those back to Egypt yet… I wonder why someone would want to kill a museum curator."

Yami shrugged. "Why would someone want to kill another person over a puzzle?" Yami flashed a grin at Yugi's extraordinarily flat look before vanishing at the sound of a door opening upstairs. It's a valid point, aibou, Yami's voice echoed inside Yugi's head as his grandfather called downstairs to ask who he was talking to. There are some insane people in this world… and I'm afraid we've only just scratched the top of the surface!


The rain that had kept the majority of Domino City inside for three days vanished as abruptly as it had arrived. The next morning provided weather that was as bright as a clear summer day, leaving no indication that there had been any rain whatsoever, save for the massive puddles that refused to evaporate without a fight.

The curator's mysterious death hadn't gone unnoticed, either. Everyone in the city was buzzing about it, mainly because it was so bizarre. According to a leaked police report (that the Domino City Times refused to acknowledge whether or not they had actually leaked it), the body of Yamado Hanako was free of any mark. There were no abrasions, no gunshots, and no knife wounds. She didn't suffer a heart attack, a stroke, or any other freak biological phenomenon. If she hadn't been dead, you would've expected her to get up and continue her conversation about ancient Egyptian artifacts with you at any second.

The only clue Yamado Hanako left behind in the world of the living was an expression of pure unadulterated horror etched onto her face. The press jokingly said she had died of fright, which the family took great offense to.

Apparently, Yamado Hanako was an extremely brave soul.

Regardless of whether or not people agreed with the tactics the press were taking, most everyone in the city was fascinated with the case, including the local students at the Domino City High School. Most of the upperclassmen talked about in great detail, each story of the death as unlikely as the last.

Some of the students, though, didn't really care, including Yugi Mutou.

"I just don't see why people are making such a big deal out of it," Yugi Mutou sighed as he stepped out of the high school with his close friends, hooking his thumbs underneath the straps of his backpack. "I mean, what if she just, y'know, died? I feel bad for her family." He fell in step next to Anzu Masaki, who nodded in agreement.

"You're right. They should just leave the poor people alone," Anzu sighed, brushing her brown hair out of her eyes. "It's bad enough that the poor woman died, and now all these people are hounding her family?"

"It's pretty interesting, though," Jounouchi Katsuya replied, unfolding that day's newspaper to read while they walked down the streets. "I mean, don't you think that's pretty weird? Just being found dead…" The blonde shuddered. "It gives me the creeps!"

"Everything gives you the creeps, Jounouchi," Honda Hiroto responded, rolling his eyes as the group of four rounded the corner to head towards Yugi's Game Shop, their customary hang-out spot. "Raw meat gives you the creeps, losing card games, Blue Eyes White Dragons—"

"Shut it, Honda!" Jounouchi rolled up the newspaper and swung it at his friend's head, scowling as Honda ducked it just in time. "I'm not afraid of any stupid dragons, you hear me? Kaiba can walk in here right now and I'll—"

"I don't think Kaiba is going to be visiting anytime soon, boys," Anzu interrupted, grinning a little as Honda and Jounouchi glared at one another. "No need to worry about any rogue dragons crashing through the doors, I promise."

Yugi laughed, ducking underneath Jounouchi's arm to jog to the door of the Game Shop. "I think Kaiba has more important things on his mind than finding all of us for a duel, don't you? I heard he was in America."

"What's he got to do in America?" Jounouchi asked, temporarily distracted from the urge to beat the snot out of Honda. "Is he expanding Kaiba Corp? Like the world really needs more of Kaiba's influence…"

"I think he's building a theme park," Yugi responded with a smile, pushing open the door of the Game Shop. "It's what he's always..." Yugi ended his sentence with a sharp gasp, as when he opened the door of his grandfather's store, he was greeted with the place being in absolute shambles. Posters were ripped from walls and the card display was smashed through. The carnage seemed to continue into the living quarters of the store, with a couch cushion torn open just behind the game counter and Yugi's bed sheets strewn over the stairs.

"What the hell?" Jounouchi demanded, stepping inside, careful not to step on any of the upended merchandise. "This place was fine when we picked you up this morning, Yugi!"

Yugi said nothing, hurrying into the Game Shop to go up the stairs to check to see what had been disturbed upstairs. To his astonishment, his grandfather's bedroom was relatively untouched, but his room was a total disaster. Books were ripped from the shelves and scattered around the floor. Unused duel monsters cards were strewn haphazardly all over the place. The curtains from his window were shredded to pieces and lying in a heap on the floor.

"Is anything missing, Yugi?"

Yugi spun on his heel to find the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle sitting on his bed, his arms folded and legs crossed. "I don't know," Yugi replied, turning back to look at the disaster that was once his room. "I don't know which way is up, everything is a disaster…"

"Think, Yugi," Yami commanded, the epitome of calm, cool, and collected. The spirit rose to his feet and crossed the room to his partner's side, scanning the hurricane of clothes and bed sheets. "What items of value would a burglar want that you have, but your grandfather doesn't?"

Yugi stared at him blankly for a few seconds before curling his fingers around the chain holding his Millennium Puzzle. It was the only value of real worth (next to anything in his Duel Monsters deck) that the teenager owned. "But I always have the Puzzle with me, you know that," he said. "Why would they tear apart my room?"

"Perhaps they did not know you always carry it with you. Have you looked at your desk?" The spirit gestured just over the shoulder of the teenager, his eyes narrowed. "I think you'll find your answers there."

Yugi blinked and turned to his desk. He stared intently at it for a few moments, trying to remember exactly what was on the desk before he inhaled sharply. The golden box that he had kept the unfinished Millennium Puzzle in was missing, along with a picture Yugi kept of himself and his three friends.

"The burglar probably assumed that you kept the Millennium Puzzle locked away in a safe spot rather than carry it around, which means the person knew what an item of value it is." Yami glanced towards the door to make sure no one was going to come into the room to see the spirit out and about, but Yugi's friends were still downstairs sorting through the destruction. "But the picture… that is a mystery even to me."

"Maybe to know what I looked like," Yugi responded weakly, sitting down on the bed. "But after Battle City, everyone in this city knows what I look like! How could someone not know I have this thing with me everywhere I go?"

"Perhaps they aren't from around here. You give the criminal mind too much credit."

"But they knew enough to know that I was the one who had it, right?" Yugi retorted. "Maybe they just wanted the box… I guess it's valuable enough. It's made out of gold, I think."

"And leave behind all of the electronic equipment in your living room? And to leave your grandfather's room untouched except for an open door?" Yami shook his head slightly. "No… they wanted that box specifically, and they knew it was in your room."

The teenager pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a familiar pressure building in his sinus cavity. He was beginning to get a headache. "Grandpa isn't going to be home until later tonight," the boy said finally, looking out the window almost tiredly. "We need to call the police and—"

BRRRRRING.

Both the teenager and the spirit jumped and spun towards the abrupt noise, the Eye of Ra glowing on Yami's forehead and Yugi's hands up in a defensive stance. Both nearly burst out laughing when they identified the source of the shrill sound; it was nothing but the telephone.

BRRRRRING.

"We need to relax," Yami chuckled, gesturing at the phone with a free hand. "Answer it, then. It might be your grandfather."

Or the person who tore this place apart… Yugi thought, grimacing slightly at the thought. Yami shook his head at the teenager and Yugi laughed nervously; he had forgotten Yami had every insight into his mind.

BRRRRRING.

"I'm being stupid, huh."

"A little," Yami admitted. "If you're that paranoid, just let the machine pick up." The spirit watched the phone ring one last time before the answering machine clicked. "See? No need to worry, Yugi."

Kami Game Shop! Leave a message after the beep. Yugi's cheerful voice echoed in the perfectly silent room. Though the spirit had poked fun at Yugi, the teenager could feel the spirit tense involuntarily.

There was a brief moment of silence before the caller spoke with a tone of disgust that both Yugi and Yami knew only too well.

"Yugi…" The caller stopped himself, as if forming the words was extraordinarily difficult. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but I need you to come to the corporation immediately. I… I need your help." The young man cleared his throat and coughed before continuing with a low growl. "I can't say anything over the phone. Just calling you is probably a stupid idea...but you need to see something. Hurry." The answering machine clicked as the young man hung up.

Yugi turned to the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, who was looking at the answering machine with an expression of the utmost shock and disbelief. The Pharaoh was silent for a few more minutes before turning to Yugi, his violet eyes narrowed with sudden determination.

"Was that Kaiba?" Yugi asked, stunned. "Kaiba…was asking for help?"

In all the years Yugi had known the arrogant billionaire, Seto Kaiba had never asked anyone for help, much less the King of Games. He was proud and entirely self-sufficient; he believed he needed help from no one. For Seto Kaiba to ask help from his arch rival…Yugi didn't want to think of what trouble he had to have been in.

"We need to go to Kaiba Corporation." The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle apparently felt the same way Yugi did, as Yami abruptly vanished. The Millennium Puzzle felt warm against Yugi's chest as the spirit entered his soul room. If he's asking us for help, he must be in trouble.

But what about Jounouchi and the others? Yugi asked, thundering down the stairs and rushing past his friends without any explanation. For some reason, Yugi felt that Kaiba needed his help more desperately than his detached tone on the phone implied. The thought spurred him to race down the street faster than he had ever run before. Maybe I should bring them?

I don't think Kaiba will want the extra intrusion.

"Yugi!" Jounouchi yelled after his best friend, jumping over a fallen card display to skid to the front door. "Yugi, where the hell are you going?! We need to figure out what happened here!"

"I'll be back later!" Yugi yelled over his shoulder, waving without looking back. "Emergency! Call the police for me, will you?"

"What?" the blonde yelled after him, staring incredulously as his friend rounded the corner. "What emergency? Your shop just got torn up! And what about your grandpa? What do you want us to do?"

Though Jounouchi couldn't hear exactly what his best friend said, he thought (for the craziest moment) that the King of Games yelled back "I need to go to Kaiba Land!"

"Kaiba Land?" Jounouchi muttered, looking confused. "Yugi – now isn't the time for a card game, we've got things to figure out!"

But it was too late. Yugi Mutou was already gone.