You know, I'm very bad at this. I keep promising myself that I won't post any new continuous stories and yet, here's another one! To be fair this chapter is because I'm curious to the reception that this will gain because I've had this idea for AGES and I always wanted to know what people thought of it. So I hope you enjoy this!
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, although I can't spell or pronounce the guy's name who does own it (I mean no offence to anyone in that statement).
IMPORTANT NOTICE AT THE BOTTOM
Yugi had always hated Atemu. It wasn't because his brother was taller, better looking and had matured far faster than he ever would (not that Yugi had ever seen much of him in the past ten years) but because he lived in luxury whilst Yugi was forced to live with his grandfather with the threat of eviction hanging over his head. It wasn't that they were poor, far from it in fact. It was because gaming stores were no longer doing very well and his grandfather refused to sell what he called the family business to the no good busy bodies up at the Kaiba Corporation for all the money in the world which had led to social life at school becoming a living hell (or at least until Kaiba had graduated early, leaving Yugi in peace). Atemu didn't have to deal with any of this, merely having to lift a finger to have something given to him on a silver plate. And Yugi resented him for this.
It had been a long time since the pair of them had seen each other. Probably Christmas ten years ago when they were five, just before their mother had been killed in the accident. Neither Akhnankhamun nor Atemu had bothered to turn up which had been the first parting of the ways. To learn that Atemu also lived in luxury had not been the thing that brought the two together. Except now, Yugi was being left with a whole month of a snobby twin who had never done a thing for himself. He had a feeling that Atemu and Kaiba would get along just fine and wished that Atemu was his twin and not his own.
"It will be fine Yugi," his grandfather reassured him for the hundredth time as he drove the rather battered and dented car towards the airport. "I think you will be pleasantly surprised."
"By what?" Yugi snapped defiantly. "It's not as if he's cared about us for the past ten years." Yugi could feel his grandfather glaring at him from the driver's seat but he didn't say anything in contradiction. It was well known that while Yugi may not like violence, he was one of the most stubborn people that Solomon Motou had ever met and it would take a lot more than harsh words and contradictions for him to believe anything different. Solomon had given up long ago trying to change Yugi's opinion on something once his mind was made up. And so the rest of the journey to the airport was made in silence. Yugi just hoped that they would get back in time for him to visit the arcade with his friends.
The flight that Atemu was coming in upon was scheduled to land at around three thirty but, due to some unforeseen reason back in Egypt the plane had been delayed for nearly an hour and so in reality took a lot longer than had been expected. Yugi found this as another reason to hate Atemu. Why couldn't he just get a private plane? Lord knows their father had enough money to afford one and probably did own one. But no, he had to inconvenience Yugi in his life even more by coming on a normal plane as if he was a completely normal person and then would land and act like a complete prick. The airport was also notorious for failing air conditioning and today was no difference. The height of summer and everyone was far too hot within the small cramped arrivals area where happy families disembarked for a wonderful holiday or loving wives came to meet their husbands returning from a business expedition. Yugi only wished that he could be so lucky.
Finally, someone somewhere must have been looking down gratefully upon Yugi as a flash of the famous Motou tri-coloured hair suddenly appeared. Yugi had not seen his brother for nearly ten years and the difference between his memories of his brother and the boy that stood on front of him now was almost shocking. He was taller than Yugi by a good few inches, perhaps even a foot. He was also stick thin but a layer of muscle made him look about as friendly as a jungle cat. His eyes, which had always been thinner in the more elegant Egyptian style of their fathers were no longer the innocent shade of deep reddish violet but had lightened over the years into a vibrant crimson red. His brother's skin was as tanned as it always was and he shared the same colour hair as Yugi although there was a hell of a lot more blonde in it and Atemu didn't seem to bother to gel it out of his face, the long bangs hanging over his tired face. There was an air of both majesty and confusion about Atemu as he collapsed gratefully into the waiting arms of their grandfather, yawning much like a wild cat and looking as if he had spent the entire journey clinging to the first class seat in fear of crashing (which Yugi would later learn that he had).
Yugi was surprised that the first thing to leave Atemu's mouth was not a complaint but a question. "Why is it so cold in Japan?" his brother mumbled into Grandpa's shoulder almost deliriously, which in turn made Grandpa laugh.
"Everywhere is cold compared to Egypt my boy. Now I think it's best if we head home for some rest eh?" Nobody disagreed with Grandpa when he made decisions such as these, not even Yugi. It was well known that Yugi's stubbornness had come from another certain short person within the family on his mother's side. Unbeknownst to Yugi though, Solomon had also known that the world of Japan was very much different to the one that Atemu had just left behind and it was important that these things were introduced to Atemu slowly. Egypt did not have many of the conventional things that he and Yugi took for granted and Akhnankhamun's hometown even less so. If Yugi were ever to visit Solomon knew that his grandson would be in for quite a shock.
The drive home was also spent in silence, not least because the moment that Atemu had collapsed into the back of the car, he had fallen asleep. If it was really thought about it, it was late in Egypt right now and the flight had been a long and strenuous one from someone who could not remember ever hearing a plane let alone getting on one and flying halfway around the world to get to another country. Yugi spent most of the drive contemplating how someone who had spent most of their life pampered and spoilt could have half the muscles that Atemu had, or half the scars. Not that he could see half of them since Atemu was wearing a black leather jacket done up over a crimson red shirt that probably had long sleeves as well. His grandfather's comment on that everywhere was cold compared to Egypt made a lot of sense in this regard.
The Kame Game store was situated a fair ride away from the local airport but suspiciously close to the hospital, police station and private school that Grandpa insisted that he go to. Domino High was not the most expensive private school in the area (Joey's presence in the school showed that much) but it was one of the most well-known private schools where if anything out of the ordinary happened then it would be all over the newspapers. And a lot of extraordinary things happened. One time, there had been a threat to one of the students (miraculously not one of the Kaiba brothers) and the school had been surrounded by armed guards for weeks. Another time a rather shady looking man had loitered outside the school for days, following rich boy's home to their expensive mansions. The police were called in after he was caught doing this one day by a worried parent but by the time they tracked down where he lived, the man had disappeared and the building that he had been living in went up in smoke. Thankfully he hadn't been seen since.
Yugi was amazed that Atemu was able to sleep through the entire ride since his grandfather was not the best driver (considering he could barely see over the top of the steering wheel they managed to get lots of odd looks too from people who thought that the car was being driven by nothing but a pair of beady grey eyes) which made the entire drive rather scary. Even so it was clear that Atemu was not comfortable and Yugi's resentment told him it was probably due to having been driven around in a limo his whole life (Yugi was yet to learn that where his brother had lived a car was something that could have come from an alien planet for all the people knew and the idea of driving anything with four wheels was preposterous). When they finally reached the store his grandfather seemed to consider something but seemed to decide against whatever it was that he was thinking. He then wandered round to the back of the car and gently shook Atemu awake. Or at least tried to.
"Hetlanel*" Atemu murmured which made no sense to Yugi but must have been something bad for Grandpa's eyes widened in shock. The he hit Atemu over the back of the head. Atemu jolted awake with a shout of "Hey!" before seeming to realise where he was. He then blushed profusely before yawning again.
"Say something like that again in my hearing and that won't be the worst that happens," Grandpa scolded although exactly what Atemu had said was still lost on Yugi but it was probably something to do with swearing. Yugi could not count the number of times he had been grounded for swearing within Grandpa's hearing and being forced to do the stock check, which as interesting as that might be to the outside world, actually having to check through the toys that were sold both bored and frustrated Yugi to no end. For Atemu… who knew?
Atemu seemed to have been scolded enough and just slid out of the back of the car. If Yugi had been looking properly he would have seen the brief look of confusion and panic that slid momentarily across Atemu's features before they were suddenly re-schooled into a blank mask that was the most that people normally saw of Atemu. But at that moment Yugi had been distracted by Joey who had suddenly appeared and jumped on top of him from behind.
"Hey Yug!" he shouted in his usual boisterous way. Yugi yelped as he was pulled into a headlock and Joey proceeded to give him the usual nouggie on the head before he realised that they were being watched by a pair of curious crimson eyes. "Who's this?" Joey asked, still holding Yugi in a headlock. Atemu said nothing, continuing to stare at them curiously before shaking his head and grabbing his bag from the boot. Grandpa had mysteriously disappeared (probably into the store to get away from Joey's rather loud mouth). Then he too disappeared into the shop.
"Who the hell was that?" Joey asked again as he let Yugi out of the headlock. Yugi rubbed his head and glared at Joey.
"Now why would I tell you that after you try to murder me?" he asked playfully, knowing that this would antagonise Joey all the more. Joey glared back at Yugi and was about to leap on his friend and drag him into a new headlock until he relented to tell him who the mysterious person was when they were stopped by a quiet voice behind them.
"Atemu." Yugi hadn't realised how deep his brother's voice was until now, nor the cool confident aura that seemed to surround him (to be fair Atemu had been rather distracted by the dazzling lights and strange sights that he had seen in the space of a few minutes since arriving in Japan). Joey blinked and turned to face him, staring at him for a moment and taking in the relaxed yet tense way that his brother slouched against the door frame, the cool blank expression and guarded look within his eyes. Then he walked over to him (more towering really since Atemu was also quite a bit shorter than he was) and looked him squarely in the eyes.
"And what are you doing here?" Joey said barely disguised protectiveness in his voice. Joey had been the one to deal with all of the bullies from Domino High who had picked on Yugi for his size and how he sounded quite a few years younger than he actually was so it was no surprise that he thought that Atemu, with all his dangerous pride and majesty, was a threat to Yugi. But Atemu also seemed to not be intimidated by someone who was a good foot and a half taller than he was.
"What business is it to you?" Yugi blinked. Joey's threatening demeanour usually worked on all the bullies and life had gone on a little smoother (other than the episode with Ushio and the miraculous appearance of the money to pay him off with to stop him from beating Joey to a pulp) but Atemu wasn't even fazed.
Joey seemed rather taken aback by this as well and stared at Atemu for a little longer before he said, "It's my business if ya here to beat up my best bud ya hear." At this, Atemu's face creased, as if unused to hearing use the words 'ya' and 'bud' and was taking a little time to work out just what had been said to him (which in truth he was). Thankfully he seemed to be saved by Grandpa who made a miraculous appearance.
"Atemu your room's all set up for you. Ah, Joey! Just the person I wanted to see!" Grandpa said as if there was nothing odd about Yugi's twin brother appearing out of nowhere and having a rather one sided argument with Yugi's best friend. Atemu just nodded, still eyeing Joey as if he couldn't understand what had just been said to him and was wary which made him look even more unfriendly. Joey, for his part, just blinked at Grandpa's admission that he knew Atemu.
"Soooooo, who is he?" Joey said, once Atemu was gone. Grandpa raised an eyebrow and looked at Yugi.
"You didn't tell Joey that your twin was coming to visit?" he said as if they were all on good terms. Yugi cringed knowing what would happen next.
"You have a twin!" Joey shouted, looking from him to Grandpa in shock. Yugi bit his lip and looked at the ground, ashamed that he hadn't been able to bring himself to telling Joey about Atemu for the eight years that they had known each other for. Grandpa said nothing, deciding to go hep Atemu unpack.
"I was going to tell you…" Yugi said pathetically, knowing that it wouldn't make a difference. Joey just shook his head and they both headed into the shop. "So how's you dad?" Yugi asked tentatively, already knowing the answer. Joey just shrugged as he leaned against the counter. Neither Grandpa nor Atemu were in the shop.
"He's fine I guess. Not in the house more times than I am at school. Did see Bakura today though," Joey said, the last said half thoughtfully and half chattered. Bakura was a boy who also went to Domino High but how he came to be in the school was only slightly legendary. Bakura had been taken from the slums of Egypt by some kind of charity and placed into a dependable (in theory) private school as a way of saying that anyone can change the way that they live. This had occurred three years ago and Yugi could still remember the half wild boy who could barely speak a single word of Japanese and whose mouth was as dirty as his clothes (which is to say extremely). His bad attitude had gotten him into many fights throughout the three years that he had attended Domino High but the years spent on the street had made him an able fighter, many of his victims being left with broken limbs (he had once left a boy in a coma and rumour had it that whoever paid for his school fees had had to fork out quite a bit of money in compensation so that he would stay in education). Bakura had become the one guy in Domino High who could get away with whatever he wanted since even the head teacher was scared to death by him. It was no surprise therefore, that he would be found in one of Domino's shadiest neighbourhoods where everyone was either drunk or did or sold drugs.
"What was Bakura doing?" Yugi asked uneasily, not really sure that he wanted to know. Bakura had never seemed to be bothered by him and Yugi wanted to keep it that way. After all, he had been witness to Bakura's most famous fight, none of which had been made up.
"I don't know. He just seemed to be hanging around outside some warehouse as if considering whether or not he could use it as some kind of base. Probably for his new drug trafficking system," Joey joked although they both knew that even if Bakura knew a thing about drugs, while he might fight like a wild-cat, he wouldn't touch them. In fact, Bakura knew more about drugs than he did about anything else (or so Yugi thought. As it turned out he knew a lot more about Yugi than he let on).
Yugi shrugged and decided to change the topic. "So what did you want to do?" Joey's face lit up and all thought of Bakura (and Atemu for that matter) left the pair's minds.
"Well, where else is there to go with my best bud than the arcade?" And with that the pair left, laughing and joking, any thought of Atemu or the dark secrets that he held completely gone for the time being. Unfortunately, secrets can only last as long as you can hold them.
* This isn't actually a word. I made it up because he's supposed to be speaking Ancient Egyptian NOT Arabic. That will be explained later. I'm not going to say what it's supposed to mean but I'm pretty sure that you can probably guess.
Ok, notice that I put in. There is a lot more to this story but I need to hear what you think about this story rather than just a whole bunch of favorites and follows. not that I don't appreciate them, it's just I really need to know whether or not to continue this story because I am working on like four others as well, so please don't just leave it at a favorite.
Another notice: This, as you can probably guess, is not a YYxY slash. This is because they are brothers, not strangers and it would be pretty weird if they were. I'm sorry if your insulted by this comment (probably because you will all think that it's obvious, but I have made other stories where I thought this was obvious and got a question back asking if it was a slash. There may be some moment later on in the story (if it is continued) where people might think OMG SLASH MOMENT but seriously, it's not a slash fic. Ok? Good.
Ok, last thing: Please just review this story for the sake of my sanity and for all you people who love and want to see Bakura, he's in the next chapter. That's probably blackmail but I don't care! See you all next time if I get some reviews!
