Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! © Kazuki Takahashi
Author's Note: I wrote this for the prompt "Impressionable Youth." Thanks to Elsalhir for looking this over.

Impressionable Youth

"Professor Mutou!"

Yuugi, on the way to his office, paused when he saw Kaji running down the hall toward him. The young man was in his Egyptian Culture 101 lecture, and was a bright student that Yuugi saw a lot of potential in. He smiled as Kaji skidded to a stop in front of him, saying, "Mr. Kaji, how can I help you?"

Kaji caught his breath, and then bowed quickly. "Professor Mutou, I-I have to show you something."

Yuugi was expecting a question on the class assignment or something about one of his books. What he didn't expect was for Kaji to pull out a laminated photograph of Yuugi Mutou, King of Games, signed and dated '97. "You're Yuugi Mutou, the King of Games!"

Though he hadn't heard that title for years, the photograph piqued Yuugi's interest. He recognized from the Battle City press event, where he had to sign autographs for adoring fans. But it wasn't a picture of himself; he was looking at a rare photograph of his other self. It was the smirk, the pose: hand on his hip, duel disk up in the air like a shield, puzzle glittering. Show off, Yuugi couldn't help but think, smiling.

"Where did you get this?" he murmured after a moment, Kaji frowning. There was no such thing as a photograph now, not when everything was on your Kaiba Corporation-certified portal phone. "This must be at least 40 years old."

"I was going through my dad's things," Kaji explained. "And he apparently was part of the Duel Academy when he was in his teens, that program run by Kaiba Corporations? He was a big fan of yours, too! He had a couple posters from when he was a kid, and your action figure—"

Yuugi grimaced. The things he had done for Kaiba Corporation to pay for his schooling...

"—and he had an entire box full of Duel Monster cards," Kaji continued, and Yuugi lifted his eyebrows. Those had to be worth a fortune. "It took me a while to link two and two together, but you're Yuugi Mutou, King of Games, and Yuugi Mutou, Professor of Archaeology at Domino University and co-founder of the New Era Egytology Foundation! You're the one who discovered Pharaoh Atem and the legendary Millennium items!"

"Well I didn't discover them, per se," Yuugi began, but then cut himself off. He had spent his entire career trying to correct people about his actual work, but the misinformation came from being famous. "Yes, that is me. Was me. Many, many years ago, long before you were born even, Mr. Kaji."

Kaji nodded. "I know, Professor, I was simply surprised. But, sir, look—"

He tapped the photograph of his other self in Yuugi's hand. "You have the Millennium puzzle, sir."

Oh. So that was what this was about, Yuugi thought, grimacing again. "Yes, well..."

"Sir, you said those were an historical mystery. There is no record of their existence except a mention in the Book of the Dead and some speculative rumors of the puzzle being displayed in Domino Museum in 1996. But you have it, Professor, in this photograph!"

Yuugi grimaced again. This was getting awkward...

"And, sir, looking at this photograph, you look like him!" Kaji dug around in his book bag, pulling out one of Yuugi's first books, 'The Nameless Pharaoh: The Lost Dynasty of the New Era in Egypt.' He pointed to the cover picture. "You look like Pharaoh Atem!"

Yuugi, with his gray beard, and gray hair under his grandfather's fedora hat, no longer resembled his 16-year-old self or other self. "Yes, well..." he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. This was very, very awkward, and now Kaji was staring at him in disbelief. "You'd be surprised how often I used to hear that, back when I was young..."

"That you look like Pharaoh Atem, or that you had the Millennium puzzle?" Kaji said blankly and Yuugi chuckled. It had been years since he had heard that. Luckily, he did have a cover story, which he still had memorized from his years when such accusations were far more frequent.

"Yes, the Millennium items existed and I did have one of them," he began matter of fact, Kaji frowning. "My grandfather discovered the Millennium puzzle in Pharaoh Atem's tomb almost 80 years ago. I solved the puzzle when I was 16 and wore it as a... fashion item during my brief, but illustrious career as the King of Games."

Kaji blinked slowly, mouth opening, but Yuugi pressed on. "There was a research team underway at the time that discovered the other items in the Pharaoh's tomb. I was called in to have my puzzle complete the set, and then the team was going to present their findings to the world. Well, we used to have very freak weather back then — climate change and tectonic plates moving, that sort of thing — and there happened to be a massive earthquake in Egypt that year..."

"And they were lost," Kaji finished. Yuugi nodded solemnly.

"Fell down a chasm," he added, forcing a smile. Lie after lie after lie. "The weather back then — you would not believe it. Anyway, since they were never officially discovered, I can't claim they truly, actually exist, even if I wore one in my teens. Archaeology doesn't work that way, as you know."

Kaji blinked again, before lifting his book back up. "B-But you still look like him..."

"Coincidence?" Yuugi tried, smiling weakly. "My grandmother was Egyptian, and I might share a common gene with the Pharaoh. It's a dominant gene in my family that makes the men in our family have parts of our hair blond and red."

"But," Kaji muttered and then frowned, looking from Yuugi to the book. "Then the whole 'whomever solves the Puzzle will inherit the Game of Darkness, dispense justice to all and judge evil,' thing from the Book of the Dead...?"

Someone had been paying attention in class, Yuugi thought happily. "The Book of the Dead says a lot of things, but the only game I played at the time was Duel Monsters, Mr. Kaji."

Kaji looked confused and, oddly enough, a little disappointed. Yuugi watched as he looked at his book, and then glanced at the picture in his hand, as if still trying to piece two and two together. Suddenly, Yuugi felt like being silly, just for fun of it, just to see what his student would do.

"If you'd like, Mr. Kaji, I could say that the Book of the Dead was right and, for a time, I was a vessel for the Pharaoh Atem as he brought justice to the world in the form of dark games?" he suggested with a wide grin, lifting his eyebrows.

At that, Kaji snorted, reaching up to massage above his eye. "I'm sorry, Professor. I'm so, so sorry. I just saw your photograph and saw how you looked like him and then there was the puzzle of all things and—"

"I understand," Yuugi said, smiling. "I used to get that a lot way back when, but I couldn't really help it when it came to resembling a Pharaoh pictured on a few ancient stone tablets, could I? My artist at the time knew of the resemblance and took a little liberty with his artwork I imagine."

"The sad thing is that the Millennium items were discovered and you will never get to firmly prove their existence," Kaji said, shaking his head. "And no research team has been put together to go find them?"

"People aren't always willing to fund expeditions to the center of the Earth to find items that may or may not have existed," Yuugi joked, and Kaji laughed. "But I plan to write about it one day in an autobiography. Someone is bound to believe me when I have photographic proof, hm?"

He lifted the picture to illustrate his point and that had Kaji grinning ear to ear, and he nodded. "Do you mind if I scan a copy of this for my records?" Yuugi asked, smiling again. "I lost my copy back in '97. Does your dad remember the freak weather we had? Several earthquakes and tsunami all in one day! I'm surprised Japan survived."

Kaji nodded, saying that was fine, and thanked him again for his time. Yuugi waved as he left, before looking back down at the photograph of his other self and smiling. "The things kids will believe these days, eh, other me?" he murmured, before heading back to his office.