My Eyes Are Open
-For The First Time-
Summary: Yugi has been homeschooled by his Grandfather and an occasional tutor since he was in sixth grade (why will be explained); unfortunately for his Grandpa's nerves, that is, little Yugi is seeking further education. He will be attending University/College in the coming days… What will this culture shock have in store for the young and gifted boy? Only time will tell.
Disclaimer: This is an alternate universe fan fiction, so pretty much everyone's stories are changed at least a bit. I'll try to explain things as they come up – as long as it doesn't detract from the main story – otherwise I'll include a note on in my ending statements each chapter. Should I not explain something thoroughly, please feel free to ask about it via review or send me a personal message and I will message you with an extended explanation or include it in the next update ^_^
Chapter One
"But Grandpa," the boy started before he was cut off by the short old man.
"No buts, Yugi." The old man said with a grin. "If you would rather go off to school in the big city, leaving your poor old grandpa to run his game shop all by himself…" He trailed off, clearly distraught by his own intended jest.
"Grandpa, I'll just be a few hours away." Yugi said with a smile. "I can come back right away if you need some help here and there."
"I know, wait where was I?" Mr. Motou rubbed his chin thoughtfully while trying to recall exactly what they were talking about – he knew it wasn't the overdone topic of his grandson's academic ambitions.
"Your friend from the conventions…"
"Oh yes!" He shouted, as if pleased that he had remembered, despite having been reminded. "Well you see, my colleague, Mr. Fuyu's wife works in an orphanage…" He frowned slightly. Even though the topic of Yugi's parent's deaths' was one that the two had become well-adjusted to, the older of the pair still felt uneasy discussing death around the young boy. He was after all only sixteen… Albeit, very bright for his age – otherwise he wouldn't be off to University already.
"Grandpa?"
"Oh, sorry, I got lost in thought for a moment… Where was I again?"
"Mrs. Fuyu's orphan-"
"Orphanage! Yes, I knew that." He blurted out, "She has a boy there, and he too is bright like you and will be attending Domino University in the fall."
Yugi felt himself growing uneasy, he knew where this was going and had put this seemingly inevitable conversation off for what seemed like weeks; however, at this point, with only a few days left before the start of the semester, he didn't feel he could plausibly avoid what his grandfather was going to say next, any longer.
"We thought maybe you two could get together? Maybe see if you have any classes together?" He said with a wide smile.
"Grandpa, that's a really great idea, but-"
"Ah, ah! I already said no buts, Yugi!" Mr. Motou wagged his finger at the young man before him, across the counter of his game shop's checkout section. "I've invited Mrs. Fuyu to bring him over for tea this afternoon and perhaps you two could hit the town? Maybe we can see if he can stay for dinner, as well!"
The boy plastered on a fake smile and nodded, feigning eagerness. "Alright Grandpa, you win! Maybe the two of us will really hit it off." He forced a chuckle as he turned toward the steps up to his room above the game shop.
"That's the spirit!"
Yugi could only frown as he climbed the several flights of stairs up to his room. He appreciated what his grandpa was doing and he felt that Mrs. Fuyu was probably only trying to do the same for this other kid as his grandpa was doing for him, but seriously?
'What if I wanted to make my own friends…?' Yugi thought to himself. 'What if I didn't want friends…?'
The boy flopped down on his bed, face down, and sighed into his pillow. He rolled over onto his back, keeping the pillow over his face. Once he left for school he was going to miss his room, his warm comfy bed, and this pillow; one of the only things that had survived the house fire that had claimed most of his childhood memories and his parents and sister. This one pillow was what he had taken with him outside that cold autumn night. This one pillow was what he had sought comfort in while he watched his father running back into their burning house to find Yugi's mother and older sister… This one pillow was all he had to remember his entire family by and yet he didn't want to risk taking it with him at the risk of seeming like a wuss or a child; or worse, losing it.
A knock at the door shocked Yugi into an upright and awake position, sending his pillow jolting from his face a meter or so away.
Yugi turned still recovering from being woken in such a manner to see his bedroom door push open slightly. A blonde haired boy poked his head into the room.
"Sorry." He spoke softly and with an accent – British was it? "Your grandpa just said to come up…"
The stirring boy rubbed his eyes with the backs of his wrists and yawned slightly. He blinked rapidly and tiredly as he spoke, "It's alright, and I didn't even plan on falling asleep when I came up here," he glanced at the bedside alarm, "wow… three hours ago…" He said in astonishment.
The boy smiled and gave a light laugh, "You must have been pretty tired." He said delicately.
Yugi swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up – of course… this kid was taller than him too… He rubbed the back of his neck, illustrating a degree of unease. "So, my name is Yugi…"
"Oh, how could I be so rude?" He stumbled over his words, chiding himself lightly. "I am Ryou Bakura, pleased to make your acquaintance." He said with a bright smile and an outstretched hand.
The shorter of the two smiled back and took the hand of the boy opposite him and shook it.
'At least he's polite.' Yugi thought.
"So, would you care for some tea?" Yugi suggested after releasing the boys handshake.
"Oh, your grandfather said it would be a while – he's waiting on some new biscuits he got at the market to cook, I guess." Ryou said with a somewhat questioning face, as if he were trying to recall the conversation he had had with Mr. Motou before coming up to meet Yugi.
"Hm, well, what would you like to do while we wait?"
"I suppose we could do what our guardians want us to do and compare schedules?" He made the suggestion more as a question and laughed a little, signifying he was probably more comfortable with Yugi making the decision.
"Sure, we could do that!" Yugi said with a smile as he went to his desk and grabbed his class schedule he had printed earlier that week. He turned back to see Ryou holding his schedule, that he had obviously just unfolded from his front pocket, in one hand and holding his head with the other one.
"Ryou?" Yugi asked in a somewhat concerned tone. "Are you okay?"
It was a moment before the platinum blonde boy responded. "Y-yes." He stammered, "I'm sorry, I uh, I just got a little… Uhm, lightheaded for a moment."
"Do you want to sit down?" Yugi asked as he took a step and a half toward the boy and gestured toward his bed.
Ryou shook his head and looked up with a smile, "No thank you, I think I am better now. I just, I have a bit of a tendency of getting overwhelmed rather easily… It's something I've been working on."
"Okay." Yugi returned his smile. "Are you sure you don't just want to take a breather before we get into the chaos that is college schedules?"
The boy laughed, "Well we'll be sitting while we go over the schedules anyway, I assume?"
Yugi nodded.
"Then I don't see why we should make a fuss." Ryou smiled as he took a seat on the floor, crisscrossing his legs in a pretzel shape known fairly well as 'Indian style'.
The shorter of the two took up an identical position opposite the other. They placed their schedules side by side and began to tentatively examine one another's schedules. Nervously unwilling to invade the other's personal space, they reluctantly moved their eyes and guiding fingers over one another's schedules.
"It looks like we have Calc. 1470 together." Ryou said looking up with a smile at the boy beside him.
"And Linguistics 1300!" Yugi exclaimed. "I can't believe you are taking linguistics! Most people hate that kind of stuff!"
"Not me!" Ryou shouted, "I find it all so interesting! I wanted to take some languages this semester as well, but the University told me I had too many credit hours… Who says twenty four credit hours is too much?"
Yugi blinked at the boy in amazement. "Twenty four?!" He asked dumbfounded. "I'm only taking twenty." He mumbled to himself in a somewhat disappointed manner.
"Oh, I think you've misunderstood me. I too am only taking twenty hours; the Dean made me cut Ancient Egyptian for a language since it put me four credit hours over the supposed limit." Ryou frowned at the institution and then laughed.
Yugi began chuckling as well. "We are such nerds." He exclaimed in a fit of laughter; however, the spikey haired boy stopped laughing when he saw Ryou had stopped his giggling and was now holding his head with both hands. "Are you okay? Maybe you should lie down for a moment?" Yugi suggested.
"Oh, no…" Ryou said, bringing his knees up near his chest and resting his forehead on his hands and his elbows on his knees. "No thank you, that is. I will be alright, I'm sorry…"
"Don't apologize. You're fine."
A moment passed and Ryou came back around, "I'm sorry again." He said as he returned to his crisscrossed position.
"Don't worry about it, Ryou." Yugi said with a smile.
"Yugi! Tea is ready!" Mr. Motou's voice called from downstairs.
"Oh, we should get down there." Yugi laughed as he pulled himself up and outstretched a hand for Ryou to take to get up.
The blonde boy looked at the hand blankly for a few seconds before taking it. As if trying to decide whether or not he should or if it would be improper. "Thank you." He said as he got up.
"Don't mention it." Yugi smiled and motioned for Ryou to take the lead down the stairs.
The smell of burnt almond tea cookies filled the main living area of the second floor of the game shop. Yugi shook his head at the scent, 'Oh grandpa…' He thought.
"Oh there you are Ryou." Mrs. Fuyu said. "I hope you two are getting along well enough?"
The blonde boy turned around to face Yugi, either to allow him to answer the question in the form of a statement posed to the two of them or to allow him to pass into the kitchen/dining area.
"Well enough, I think." Yugi said with a smile.
"Oh that's good." Mrs. Fuyu responded with bright eyes. "I'm so happy you two will be able to be friends at DU, it's a very big campus you know? That's where I met Mr. Fuyu… Ah, DU." She said in reminiscence.
"Tea's ready!" Grandpa said as he popped up from behind the kitchen counter. "I hope you all like your tea black… We appear to be out of milk…"
The group nodded that black tea would be fine.
"And I hope you all like your biscuits black… They're a little burnt." He smiled embarrassedly.
As the four of them sat and drank their tea, Yugi noticed Ryou crunching on a blackened tea cookie. He leaned into the boy covertly, "You don't need to eat that, Grandpa won't be offended." He whispered.
"Oh thank god…" Ryou sighed, "It's terribly burnt." He made a sickened face causing Yugi to almost spit his tea.
After a bit of idle chitchat, Grandpa opened his big mouth pushing his ideas on un-wanting individuals, yet again. "Say, Ryou, do you plan on rooming on campus or commuting?"
The boy turned a deep shade of red in record time. Yugi had never seen someone turn so red so quickly.
"I, uh, I am rooming… I, I can't stay at the orphanage any longer…" He formed his sentence with great difficulty.
Yugi subtly facepalmed.
Mrs. Fuyu frowned, "You will always be welcome with us, Ryou. But the law says that once you are of age or go off to school we can't support you anymore…"
"Oh my," Grandpa said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know."
"We know, it's alright." Mrs. Fuyu said with a reassuring smile toward her host.
"Well Yugi will be staying on the DU campus as well, perhaps, if you don't already have a roommate, Ryou, you two could consider rooming together?" Grandpa suggested.
Yugi subtly facepalmed again.
"Oh that is a wonderful idea!" Mrs. Fuyu exclaimed.
"I, uh," Ryou looked to Yugi with uncertainty, but Yugi just sipped his tea. "We'll have to talk about it, I think." Ryou responded to the overly involved elders. He glanced back to Yugi as if seeking silent confirmation for his response. The spikey haired boy smiled and nodded slightly in Ryou's direction.
It was about four o'clock once the group had finished their tea and the biscuits had been thrown out, Mrs. Fuyu announced that she would be unable to stay for dinner but could send her husband to pick Ryou up later that evening if he wished to stay and their hosts wished to continue to entertain. Of course Grandpa accepted the offer without consulting Yugi; albeit, the young boy would not have objected regardless of whether or not he was having a good or bad time – which at that point he wasn't quite sure which it was.
"How about I man the shop and you two hit the town?" Grandpa suggested.
Both of the teens glanced at each other and then back to Mr. Motou.
"If you're back by seven we can have dinner and maybe watch a movie afterward before Mr. Fuyu gets here?"
The spikey haired boy nodded and said, "Alright, Grandpa! We'll be back around six thirty or so."
"So how old are you?" Yugi asked. "I'm sixteen."
"I'm seventeen." Ryou said somewhat distantly. "Almost eighteen."
"Cool!" He smiled widely. "I only just turned sixteen this summer." He frowned.
"Are you disappointed about that?" Ryou asked seemingly returning to the real world.
"Well, I'm so young… I mean, for crying out loud I'm going to college and I'm not even tall enough to see over the dashboard of a car…" Yugi said with a pouty face.
"You could probably drive a smart car?" Ryou suggested, seeing one of the vehicles zoom by them on the street.
Yugi laughed, "Because I can afford a smart car."
The taller boy joined in the laughter, "Just a thought."
The two of them turned off the side street they were walking down onto one of the major streets. Needless to say, it was quite crowded. Ryou watched Yugi merge into the large group of bodies, lumbering across the wide sidewalks as if they were a herd of cattle, mindless following one another.
Ryou got into the crowd in an attempt to keep up with Yugi, but the short boy quickly faded into the throng of people. The tall blonde teen twisted and turned in the mess of people; his long hair whipping about himself as he scanned the area around him trying to find any sign of Yugi again. The crowd of people passed and knocked into him, throwing him dirty looks and hissing insults to one another about the "strange boy lost in the streets was getting in everyone's way".
The boy shook his head and felt a growing nauseous dizziness growing inside him. "I…" He mumbled, "I, I can't find my friend…" He whined out, as if trying to get the crowd to help him. Tears began welling up in his eyes. "Yugi." He called out, unable to see anything around him very clearly through his watery vision.
He stood there on the verge of breaking down for what seemed like hours.
"Ryou!" He heard Yugi's voice calling in the distance, but he didn't look up to acknowledge the voice. "Ryou!"
The thinly framed teen finally got back to Ryou, who was still standing where he had been when he lost Yugi. "Ryou, I'm sorry, I thought you were right behind me…" He said as he reached out and loosely grabbed the taller of the two's elbows.
Ryou jerked his arm away and shot a menacing glance at Yugi, causing the boy to take a small step back – a small step was all that the mass of people passing by them allowed.
"I'm sorry." Yugi said with a frown.
The older teen shook his head and held his face in his hands. Yugi couldn't be certain, but he thought Ryou was crying… At least a little, perhaps?
"Come on, Ryou. I'll get us off the main street." Yugi said as he guided the teen out of the mess of people and back onto a moderately empty side street they had come from. Yugi lead Ryou to the side of a building so he could lean against in and regain his bearings. After a few minute the short teen heard the taller teen sniffle. He looked up from his previous position of naval gazing and over toward Yugi. His eyes were damp and his face was red.
Yugi frowned, he felt his heart sink. "I'm sorry Ryou, I thought you were right behind me…"
The blonde boy wiped his nose and rubbed his face. "No, I'm sorry… I, I'm a mess. I, I'm sorry."
"No, don't be sorry, this was my fault I didn't realize you didn't like crowds…"
"I don't even know what it was…" Ryou started, "I mean, I'm usually fine. I've been sort of out of it today."
"Well, just let me know if you're ever feeling out of it again, I don't want you going through something bad…?"
"Alright." Ryou said with a smile, finally seeming to have regained the majority of his external composure. "I think I'm good to go now."
They continued walking down the street, engaging in idle conversation, for a while before Ryou asked where they were headed.
"I thought we could head to Domino Park, there's a little lake thing with a fountain that I really like. It's really calming."
"That's good…" Ryou said. "I think calm is something that I could use right now…"
"Do you want to take a rest?"
"No, no. I'm fine. I just, I want to get to the park." Ryou shot Yugi a brief smile before letting it fade back into obscure aloofness.
Once they arrived at the park's lake-fountain they sat on a couple of large rocks watching and listening to the water.
After a bit Yugi took his shoes off to wade in the water for a bit. "Isn't this nice? I like to come here when I have a lot of my mind… It helps me get myself sorted."
"Yeah, it is nice." Ryou said as he watched some ducks off on the other side of the lake. "Yugi,"
"Hm?"
"I think I might be crazy."
"What?" Yugi said surprised. "Why do you say that?"
"Nothing. Never mind." Ryou said after a moment of contemplation. "It's nothing."
Notes: Well this is the first chapter of 'My Eyes Are Open: For The First Time'. I hope it is at least somewhat entertaining…
-I know it's pretty long and sort of off to a slow start, but I hope those of you that read this follow it and review it and all that jazz. That stuff is all pretty motivating and will obviously get me to write more sooner rather than later ^_^
-I have wanted to write a Yugioh fan fiction for a pretty long time but have not gotten around to it and just decided that I would do it today. I was conflicted over whether or not to do something Yugioh-specific or an alternate universe story and ended up settling on an AU. If you have any ideas for a Yugioh-specific story that you would like to see me write feel free to send me a personal message. We could co-author! :D
-Uh, that's it? I guess haha :P