SUMMARY: The Yu-Gi-Oh! gang are going on a cruise for some R and R… but why is Shadi there, watching the Pharaoh? What is Ishizu hiding from them about Shadi's mysterious appearances? And does it have anything do to with Yami having dreams about his ancient self and a lusting for power?

Meanwhile, will anyone be able to separate Joey from the buffet? How will Yami Bakura and Marik be able to explain the phenomenon known as flying fish? And why is Serenity being so moody? This is, in a nutshell, the summary of Desert Aqua.

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Disclaimer: I, Angel's Nocturne, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, the coolest, most amazing anime/manga in the entire existence of the world. Takahashi is a lucky guy to have been so smart in making it up… he gave birth to the sexy Yami so we love him a whole lot!

… Actually, the "giving birth" part was slightly weird… imagine that for a second as you read the author note that follows this.

Author's Note: Hello my peeps! As you know, it is after April 16th of the year 2006, so I have returned from my cruise! And with it I have discovered a new fan fiction idea: one that I am sure has already been done before (the cruise idea, not my plot, which is as unique as meh!) but not as I shall do it so it does not count! Ha!

…Ahem… and this will be a really fun little fanfic, so let's get it started!

Yami: Hey, since when do you let the cast talk to you in your author's notes?

Me: … I don't know, I just feel like it! (grins maniacally)

Yami: (sweatdrops)

Me: On with the fic!

#2 Author's Note: All thoughts are in italics, let's just get that straight….

Desert Aqua

By Angel's Nocturne

Chapter 1: A Need for the Sun

"Hey Yami! I have a surprise for you!"

Yami's head perked up from the downward slump it had previously been in while he read a magazine on the glass counter. He had been standing by the cash register, reading and watching the door for any customers that might make a purchase at the Kame Game Shop; both he and Yugi took such shifts for Grandpa whenever he needed some time off. At the present moment, Solomon was out buying groceries, so Yami was tending to the store as his aibou did his homework in the upstairs bedrooms.

"Hold on a second, Yugi! I'm coming up" Yami called so that his deep baritone voice was loud enough to be heard on the second floor; a muffled "okay" was heard from Yugi's bedroom, as the Pharaoh closed the magazine that he had been examining and silently rushed up the creaky wooden stairs, his blonde bangs shuffling along with him as he jogged up to the door effortlessly.

Yami smirked at the youthful vessel that was his own. It had been a long time since he first got it, but it still felt like yesterday that the fateful events that separated his soul from his hikari's body took place. It had been after his visit to the Memory World, and with the Ceremonial Battle as his final test, he learned that the entire battle had actually been just that: a test. It was to see if he was worthy, after all the trial and error of his long extended life, to remain in the living world with his new friends and hikari. Though he had lost to Yugi, he had proven himself to Shadi and the Gods and was allowed to stay in a vessel of his own.

So far, in the year that he had been in his new body, he started to attend school with Yugi so that he could apply for an education, and gain access to a normal human life. Despite complications with their "similar" appearances, both Yugi and Yami came up with the excuse that Yami was Yugi's twin brother, who had been living with Yugi's father in another country due to their parents' divorce.

This suited him fine though. Life did seem to go quite well for Yami as he learned how to act outside of duels and interact with people on a daily basis. He attended school with Yugi, Joey, and Tristan, and he had become somewhat popular amongst his fellow classmates. He was a bit uncomfortable with the sudden rise of interest in him, though it did prove to boost Yugi's stasis from his peers and that was enough to keep Yami from complaining. Yami was a straight A+ student, with remarkable athletic abilities for being locked up in a puzzle fro over five millennia. His obvious talent lay in games, whether they took the form of word problems, algebraic expressions, or a History pop quiz—everything could become a game, and if that was the case then it was no wonder that Yami managed to ace anything he put his mind to in class or in gym.

It also helped to be the dueling king of the world, since such a ranking kept anyone from bothering Yami or ever bullying on his friends—Yugi was now officially out of the line of bully fire. His exotic looks made him the apple of almost ever girl's eye in the school, yet it failed to dawn on Yami as to why Yugi, who looked exactly like him, couldn't obtain the same attention. And Joey was just as perplexed, if he could retain sane thought for just a moment before returning his gaze to either the nearest plate of food. Nope, some things failed to change, and when it came to Joey Wheeler, some things were to be written in stone for the remainder of eternity….

But a surprise from Yugi was a change indeed; in fact, school had just recently been let out for the summer, and from what Yami could foretell from the condition of the past few weeks he just knew that things were going to be as sluggish as Kaiba was cold. If this new "surprise" could provide a way to banish the slow empty void that was summer break along, then he would run up those stairs as if he were Joey heading for a buffet table… only without the drool.

He failed to move as eagerly as he felt though, but that didn't change the fact that he still made it to the door that lead to Yugi's, and his own, bedroom. They shared one as that was all that the upstairs of the Kame Game Shop had to offer when he became a regular human. It was either that or sleep on the couch… not a pleasant idea considering that he used to be treated as a powerful Pharaoh.

It was sometimes hard to forget who he used to be—Yami's past was one that followed him in his quest to become a normal teenager in the modern world. He knew who he once was: the great Pharaoh Atemu, who sacrificed himself to save the world from the darkness of Zorc and the Shadow Realm. Yes, he did have a vague shadow of his former memories, which only served to aggravate him more as they infiltrated his thoughts at a constant, but that didn't help in remembering the person he once was. He could never be Atemu again, because he had become Yami with the loss of his previous memories in exchange for the ones he held dear now. With the amnesia of his past life he had become a new person from who he was born as; he had been reborn as "Yami", and from now on, that was who he wished to be… he had dealt with his past, and now the future lay ahead of him in his thoughts.

And the future contained a "surprise" from his aibou, one that he was eager to learn about before Yugi decided to leave him out of knowing… Yami had a tendency to tune Yugi out in his flights of boredom and now Yugi made sure that he teased his yami about it later. Once again, it had become a game, and Yami was sure that, even if he wanted to become detached from his past, he was still the King of Games and would dutifully keep his title secure. He placed his hand to the door knob and turned it hastily.

Yugi was sitting on his twin bed, which stood beside Yami's in their small room with only Yugi's desk to separate them. There were plain blinds over the window that loomed in front of the desk, over the small simple desk lamp that adorned the wooden furniture and the unfinished homework that was scattered across the timber surface. The room was, by all means, as plain and as simple as could be, simply because Yami and Yugi never bothered with adorning it with anything special. The bed covers were even a drab off-white tone, for both beds were only used for sleep and were not thought of as decoration by the Mutou residence.

Yugi was the only colorful thing there, as he sat crossed-legged on the plush bed with a set of headphones wrapped around his neck and the CD player it was attached to nearby. He was dressed in a red hooded sweatshirt and baggy blue jeans, which was one of the few outfits he had that did not consist of black or leather items, and his dirty sports sneakers were the most detailed thing that he wore currently with the swirling white and blue plastic and black shoelaces. He was looking at Yami with his large amethyst orbs, which were slightly masked by his blonde bangs which hung lazily over his face. His black hair was as triumphantly messy as it had ever been, his trademark red tips shooting out from all angles of his head. He had a huge smile embellishing his pale face, which meant that, whatever the surprise was, it had to be somewhat good, if not better.

"So Yugi, what was that surprise you wanted to tell me about?" Yami asked as he gently closed the bedroom door behind him and nonchalantly flopped onto his own bed. His light's grin grew larger, thus inducing more of Yami's curiosity to take hold.

"Okay, you are not going to believe this" Yugi squeaked with his slightly high voice, the excitement pouring out of his ears like he was going to explode if he did not say the surprise soon. "but...—" he paused for a dramatically long time, too long for Yami as it went on for several seconds. Finally the relentless silence took to being an irritation.

"But what!" Yami finally snapped elatedly, now caught up in Yugi's ecstatic behavior. "Come now, Yugi! Spit it out!"

"Okay, okay!" the younger teen hissed good-naturedly. "The big surprise… is that Anzu just called—"

"ANZU CALLED?" Yami exclaimed. This had to be good news, if Anzu was calling up; instead of finishing school in Japan with the rest of the gang the young brunette became a foreign exchange student and managed to get transferred to New York for the rest of her high school education. She had been gone for many months, and the wait had been killing Yami the whole time. Maybe she had called up to inform them of her fortunate findings of a dance career… now he had to know! "AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!"

"I'm telling you now, so calm down, Yami!" Yugi managed to get Yami back from his abrupt standing position back down onto his own twin bed. "But yes, Anzu did call me a little while ago."

"And why didn't you inform me of this? Why didn't I hear the phone ring?" Yami questioned, his patience growing thin—however, he felt no animosity towards his partner as this was, once again, a game to the great Pharaoh, and as always, he was a willing participant for how ever long it would take before Yugi coughed up what he wanted to say.

"I think you were busy with a customer. Besides, I picked up the phone on the first ring, once I saw that it was Anzu on the caller ID" Yugi announced importantly, pointing to the small cordless phone they had on the desk between their two beds. "And as for why I didn't tell you, I just got off with her. I called you right after I hung up."

"So there was no reason for you to NOT let me speak to her?"

"Hold on, I'm getting there Yami. Anyway, she called up from New York, and for a while we just talked about the normal stuff, like school and jobs. Then Anzu told me the real reason she had called, and that was… are you ready for this?" Yami nodded furiously, severely annoyed at how Yugi had managed to draw this out without wanting to run from his furious yami desperately. Yami was about ready to raise his voice if the situation so declared it, for he could not stand the suspense much longer. "Well, Anzu said that she had signed up for a dance competition, which was also part of an audition for this really big part in some musical playing in one of the big theatres over there. Anzu really wanted to get the part, so she went to compete…."

"And she won?"

Yugi shook his head, his black and crimson locks swishing lightly with his head. "No, she got third place. She was a bit upset about it, but the prize for the first three runners-up would be to get a trip for four on this cruise ship docked in Florida. Anzu won that, and the girl who got second place couldn't go because of something with her grandma or whatever, so guess what? She gave Anzu her set of tickets too!" Yugi's eyes went really large now, his pupil microscopic in comparison to the white that surrounded it and the violet. "Anzu's going on the ship—and she's invited us to go with her for break! Isn't that awesome?" The young teen was on his feet, looking down at Yami who still sat on the bed; he had his hands clenched into fists as he lightly hopped up and down, his bangs flopping about as he moved. "Come on Yami! This is so GREAT! Imagine, going on a cruise in the Caribbean! This will be so cool!"

Indeed this did sound like a promising vacation idea to Yami, for a huge grin was on his face and his eyes were a bit more lively now then what they were beforehand. He had never been on a cruise before, but from what he had retained from Yugi's memories and thoughts it was something like what they had been on to get to Duelist Kingdom, but much more enjoyable. And as a plus, he would finally get to see Anzu again, after such a long period without her around. He did miss her, just as he would for any one of his friends… though sometimes he assumed that it could be something more than just that, than just friendship. But that was uncertain, and for the time being Yami had more immediate matters to attend to, such as planning this vacation and finding out who they were going to bring along….

"You said that Anzu had eight tickets for that cruise ship?" Yugi looked at Yami in the middle of his slight happy dance and gave him a blank stare for two seconds while his thoughts recollected. He nodded absently.

"Yeah, she won two sets of four packs for a cruise to the Caribbean. I think it's called the White Dragon, and its sailing to, um, five islands, but I really can't remember because I got excited after she told me the news." He was smiling gleefully now, with each corner of his mouth at both ends of his small child-like face. "Who should we bring? Anzu, you, and me is three, and then Joey is four, and we have to bring Tristan, so that's five…and Joey will wanna bring Serenity and, hey maybe we can bring Duke, if we can get in touch with him in America…." But Yami was barely listening to his eager companion, as thoughts of the rolling waves, deep azure skies, soft sand, and beautiful bliss of his first cruise ship drifted about in his mind like deadwood across an ocean.

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Author's Note: Well, that's chappie one for all of ya! Hope that keeps you busy, because I will now be busy typing out Revival of the Heart and Prince of the Orichalcos.

Yami: Do you even leave to go to school anymore?

Me: I do… but my mind doesn't. It stays right next to this screen!

Yami: Oh Ra… it's a miracle you're still a straight A student!

Me: Indeed, indeed… don't know why that is myself. Guess I'm just smart!

Bakura: Or damn lucky….

Me: Shut up!