Another story? Gawd…well, a comeback is a comeback, ja? Both stories have quite an extensive amount of research time put into them; I probably spent about 12 hours over three days researching and typing this chapter up.

Hopefully, that means it's good, and hopefully, you guys'll like it. A little less serious than my other fic; still Egypt centred, but less…morbid. Yaoi is, of course, my life blood. I doubt I'll ever write more than a one-shot without it.

Enjoy!

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Who I am from the start

Take me home to my heart

Let me go

And I will run

I will not be silenced

Shattered- Trading Yesterday

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Yuugi couldn't remember a time in his nineteen years when he had ever been this nervous.

Wiping sweaty palms on his pant legs, he smiled nervously up at the waiter who'd just set two glasses and a bottle of water on the table in front of him. Whilst the waitress was making more than interested glances at him, she did her job well, placing the glasses with the skill of precision beaten into her and lighting the candles set on the table meant for two. She didn't make any small talk with him as she did this, which was more than fine with Yuugi; he was so nervous he probably would've been sick.

And tonight was too important a night to throw up on the waiter.

Though definitely nervous, Yuugi refused to be worried that Anzu wasn't there yet. Girls, Yuugi understood, often needed that extra five, ten minutes to get ready when going out, and Anzu definitely wasn't the more organized person when it came to setting herself the needed time to get ready and arrive anything less than ten minutes late.

As ten minutes past the scheduled time to meet past, Yuugi's nerves were completely shot. At twenty minutes, he was gratefully accepting a glass of red wine the waitress gave him- "On the house" was all she said, smiling encouragingly. He gave her a strained, but thankful smile in return.

When thirty-five minutes had passed, and the glass of wine had been thoroughly finished, Yuugi got out his phone. He bit his lip, before quickly punching in a message.

Where are you?

Sending it, he found himself smiling stupidly, remembering the argument he and Anzu had had about "txt spk". She had thrown a dish at his head, yelling that it was convenient and quicker to type on a mobile than correct spelling, whilst Yuugi had grumbled sulkily about how it butchered their native language. The night had finished with them snuggled up together on the couch, watching "You've Got Mail". It was a stupid thing to have an argument over, but the end result was an endearing memory Yuugi was uninclined to forget.

His phone then went off, distracting him from his musings as he opened it to read what she'd said. Standing a few feet away from him, the busty blonde waitress felt that she had never seen anything so sad in her entire life as the young man sitting alone at the table set for two, the candles slowly dripping wax onto the expensive tablecloth and an empty wine glass placed in front of him. He seemed to be unwilling to look away from his phone, as if whatever it was that was written on there, the message that made his whole form droop and his eyes fill with tears, was a figure of his imagination, and the message would change in a minute.

With bravery that made her heart ache, he looked up at her and smiled painfully, indicating for her to come to his side. She did so without a word, trying hard not to get teary at the heartbreak in those gorgeous violet eyes. She glanced down at the phone in his hand, and the message she saw filled her with a cold, impassioned fury.

sry, wnt 2 brgr wrld w/ abby. Call u l8tr

"Um, I would really appreciate it if you could go to the chefs for me- I need my, uh.." He stuttered, his voice embodying the obvious distress he was feeling inside. She gave into her motherly instincts and cut him off with a quick hug, which turned into a longer one as he returned the gesture, shoulders shaking miserably. When they broke away, he smiled and wiped his red rimmed eyes with the handkerchief she offered him.

"Thank you, miss, uh…"

"Mai," She gave him a friendly smile and straightened. "Its fine, sir. If you'll give me a second, I'll be right back." Yuugi looked down at his phone, sitting on the table top, and clenched his hands on his lap.

"Thank you." He repeated quietly.

She didn't allow her smile to leave her face until she had her back turned to him. Then she scowled heavily, cursing the bitch who'd rejected that beautiful creature with as much pain and suffering as she could think of, before entering the kitchen to explain to the chef why he needed to take the engagement ring out of the pre-ordered dessert, so Yuugi could go home.

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Sugoroku Mutou hated to see his grandson cry. There were few and far between instances that had made him sad enough to do so; the death of his parents, the first time someone had hit him, when he'd blurted to his jii-chan that he was bisexual and burst into tears moments after out of fear of his reaction… but none of these could quite compare to the emotional agony that he had seen on his child's face when he'd walked through the door that night.

It was obvious to Sugoroku, that this was the type of hurt he'd never truly had to deal with. The soul hurt of complete and utter loss, not only of a precious person, but of something that had become a part of him, a love he had for something that had pulled away when he had embraced it so openly. Unfortunately, unlike his parents, he was old enough to understand why he was hurting.

It took a call to the restaurant that Yuugi had booked into and a quiet chat with the head waitress, Mai Valentine, to find out the full story. He was immediately full of scorn for the girl, Anzu. She had been a big part of Yuugi's life since he was a small boy; his only friend for a long time and his girlfriend of five years. Yuugi had been besotted with her from a young age; the two had been their old high school's sweethearts and had reacted to jokes of marriage with soft looks and gentle kisses.

But Sugoroku knew it was not meant to be. Whilst Anzu was a good girl, that essentially was part of the problem. Good girl she may be, but Yuugi was better. Yuugi was more sensitive. Yuugi was cuter, and more beautiful than the girl could ever imagine being. She had the right personality to make Yuugi comfortable, but she lacked the qualities that were needed to truly fill the holes in Yuugi's soul.

Even if Yuugi had never told him that he was bisexual, Sugoroku would've bet his own game shop that Yuugi's true soul mate was a man.

Either way, after a few minutes pondering what it was that would make his grandson feel better, Sugoroku came up with a brilliant idea. It would have to be Yuugi's choice, but if he knew his grandson (and he did) the poor boy would jump at the chance, not only to help soothe away his troubles, but to experience something he'd always wanted to experience, to see.

It was the best choice for Yuugi, and so, when his loving jii-chan left a cup of hot cocoa on his desk, he also placed a leaflet underneath it. It was up to Yuugi now. He hoped he would take his chance.

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The roof, strange as it seemed, was the place Yuugi always came to when he was sad or melancholy. Because of the light pollution from the city, the stars didn't come out; instead, an orange and purple hue overtook the sky. The later the time, the less orange dominated, until the sky was what most would call "an eerie, shadowy purple". Yuugi loved watching it changed; loved the colours, the change in colour dominance as the night wore on. The few times he had been out of Domino were to go to other, even more heavily populated and industrialized areas; Tokyo, Kyoto, and once, to his delight, Hong Kong. His experiences in the world were predominantly Asian and the only timed he had seen the stars lighting the sky was in a plane over the East China sea.

He released a slow sigh. Anzu had been accepted to a dance school in New York, America, and his hope had been that by the time she left, the two would be engaged. He had saved up as much money as he could, not to leave home, or buy a car, but to be capable of visiting her once every couple of months, so that they could retain the strong ties they had now. Or that he'd thought they'd had.

She obviously hadn't been the one, like he'd thought she was. Little disagreements over opinions became huge, morbid fights, and the two had vastly different ideals on how they wanted to live their lives. Anzu wanted to be in New York, dancing her heart out, and Yuugi intended to work part time for Kaiba Corp, at the request of his rival, Seto Kaiba himself, earning a wage that would allow him to pay for studying archaeology in university three times over. Anzu wanted to be where the music was loud, people never slept, fashion changed by the minute and excitement lurked around every corner, and Yuugi… well…

Yuugi just wanted to be in the shifting sands that had fascinated him if not as much, than more than the game he was undefeated Japanese champion of.

Distantly, he heard his door open, and the sounds of something being placed upon his desk. Jii-chan. Yuugi smiled warmly at the perfect attention only his grandpa knew to give; leaving him alone to sort out what it was that he was feeling, and how to resolve it… but still sneaking a warm cup of hot chocolate into his room to show that he was there.

Waiting till the door to his bedroom closed, Yuugi nimbly climbed down to his window, swinging himself in and padding over to the hot chocolate left on his mildly messy desk. Even though he'd finished school, it was still covered in papers, blue prints for a new duel disk Kaiba was working on, several new card designs from renowned artists, and several remarkably talented ones from Kaiba himself, pending his approval. He might not get kind words from him often, but the fact that Seto cared for his opinion in up and coming innovations to his passion showed Yuugi that at the very least he was held in high regard.

All of them really needed to get a reply…a detailed one, too. He'd just been so busy trying to arrange how to ask Anzu to marry him that everything else had been pushed away…

Another sigh, and Yuugi slumped down into his office chair and set up the laptop Seto had bluntly refused to allow him to go home without, after hearing Yuugi didn't have a computer. It had Broadband on it; the top of the line, unlimited world-wide connection type that made Yuugi wonder whether he'd meant that as an affectionate gift or just hadn't been bothered to disconnect the thing after he'd stopped using it himself. He quickly connected to his inbox, and, glancing at the many emails that had piled up (several from said CEO, who was probably rather irate with him by now) he reached over and took a swig of his hot chocolate, loving the taste and knowing he needed it.

It took well over four hours to complete his work for Seto and politely decline all invitations to tournaments, one on one duels, and to sign his name over to several different companies who wanted to sponsor him. His reply to all was namely the same after the initial work done for Seto; an issue had arisen in his personal life that made such an offer impossible to accept, but that he hoped the same warm invitation would be open at a later date. His hot chocolate stood half empty and cold beside him, and as he lifted it up to take to the kitchen he noticed a pamphlet, now covered with chocolate rings, he noted guiltily, laying where it had been set down.

Curious, he picked it up and read it through. His heart started beating faster, and whilst his head said no, he actually sat back down and considered what opportunity was lying before him.

Egyptian cruises; 11 nights across the Ancient Nile

Anzu was no longer an option; Yuugi had already figured that out. Someone who couldn't even be bothered to come to a dinner he'd been organizing with her for the past week, just so they could go to Burger World, was certainly not the one for him. He hadn't started uni yet; preferring to have a gap year and help Anzu settle in New York before his schedule became so busy that he couldn't stay for more than a few days a month. And if Kaiba was really that worried about him doing work, he could take his laptop with him and do some in a more relaxing setting…

But, should he go?

He padded down the staircase and into the living room, where, surprisingly, Sugoroku was still up, watching TV. He sat next to him, pamphlet in hand, and waited patiently for a commercial break before voicing his latest question.

"Do you really think I should go?" Sugoroku pursed his lips and took his time to answer, an endearing quality that Yuugi loved, because it meant he was seriously studying the question, rather than just voicing his opinion straight from the get go.

"I think…" His grandfather started, glancing over at his beloved grandson, whose eyes had yet to stray from his hands. "that you deserve the chance to do something for yourself, rather than arranging your life around what others want. Even if only for a few weeks."

Yuugi was silent, and when the program came back on, he allowed himself to lay his head in his jii-chan's lap. There were no tears, but there was sadness. And hope.

"Thanks, grandpa." Sugoroku smiled.

"Anytime."

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The city of Luxor, Egypt. Actually, what most people don't realize is that Luxor is made up of three different areas; the city of Luxor, on the Eastern shores of the Nile, Karnak, a town to the north, and Thebes, called Waset by the ancient Egyptians, on the Western side of the Nile.

It was everything Yuugi had imagined it to be. Screaming of a heavy influence of ancient culture, full of tourists and a historical site around every bend. The town, he remembered reading, relied on tourists for 85 percent of its economy, and it showed. Not a step could be taken without a shoe shiner at your feet, a woman trying to sell you flowers, or a man offering to hire out his boat for the day. It was like being thrown into one giant soap opera, where hundreds of thousands of people had a part, be it the native people of the ancient city, or the many tourists to who flocked to its destination.

It was so much better than New York could ever be. The mystery and exotic nature of the land had sucked Yuugi in when he was young, and being here enthralled him. It held life in an area where life should not be; a gem in the middle of an arid desert, with so many keys to fill the blanks of it's past… New York could never be like that. It was a grey slate, with florescent lights the only part giving off a sense of life, and a fake one at that. Yuugi had known, as soon as he stepped out of the airport and seen the cultured, thriving society around him, that he would never regret making the decision to spend a month in a country he loved possibly more than the one of his own birth.

It might not be the city that never sleeps, or the city of love, but it certainly was, in Yuugi's mind, a city of endless mystery and possibilities; from the extravagant bazaars full of old and new goods to enthral the senses, or the great temples which Yuugi had walked through in quiet awe. He had been there for merely two days, and even with an hour or two of evaluations of artworks and ideas for new competitions and arenas to do on his laptop everyday, he felt more relaxed than he had in five years.

Today, he had taken a bus to the Valley of the Kings. Peak tourist times were namely early in the morning, so Yuugi had gone to the Colossi of Memnon first.

Avoiding most of the crowd, who seemed to be interested in merely the solitary statues standing to the side of the road, he wandered further from the groups of tourists and through the grass brush that surrounded hundreds of fantastic remnants of the temple; inscribed masonry blocks and pieces of statues that Yuugi lingered over with frustrated curiosity, wondering what each piece would have looked like when the temple had first been built; where it would have been, what it would have symbolised, what great god it was meant to depict, if indeed, a great god was what it was.

Unlike the rest of the loud mouthed, namely English speaking tourists, Yuugi had taken the time to hire out a motor bike from one of the friendly people looking for a tourist willing to go that extra little mile. So when they all gathered back into their tour buses and four wheel drives, he stayed behind, to enjoy the much quieter ambience of the site. By the time he wandered back to his bike, most of the buses were returning to the city, to avoid the midday heat.

Yuugi figured this left him with enough time to visit Tutankhamen's tomb (not that he was expecting anything extravagant- but he had promised to tell Jou all about it) and get to Hachepsut's temple before the crowds started to return for the later tours. It was a round about way to do things, he was sure; he'd have to drive past Hachepsut's temple to get to the Valley of the Kings, but really… anything to skip out on the crowds.

Just as he thought, the Valley of the Kings greeted him with a small spatter of tourists and guides, but was, essentially, empty. It wasn't hard to figure out which tomb you were heading to, due to the many signs and maps littering the place, so Yuugi found his tour guide pretty quickly. He was greeted with a cheerful smile by the guide and the four tourists standing behind him; all Japanese themselves, if he wasn't mistaken.

"Yuugi Mutou?" The man questioned cheerfully; Yuugi nodded and the two shook hands. "Mako Tsunami; I'll be your tour guide today! We're only waiting for one more (had a cancellation of four) so make yourself comfortable!" He pointed to where the other four, an elderly couple and two young, fairly attractive girls, had seated themselves against the wall surrounding the tomb, comfortably out of the sun. One of the girls winked at Yuugi, and, mentally recoiling, he decided to take his chances with the tour guide in the blazing heat of the sun. Thank Ra for sunscreen…

"So, Mako, is tour guide your main job or..?" Yuugi asked, mostly out of desperation to have an excuse not to sit next to the flirtatious girl rather than out of politeness.

"Well yes… but generally, I take people on tours of the Nile, rather than inland. But one of the tour guides here have been sick, and a friend of mine who directs the site called in a favour, so..." Mako shrugged, then smiled widely. "Tutankhamen's tomb is nothing compared to the Nile; the water is so much more beautiful than a dusty tomb. It's not even the most extravagant; just more well known. Why, even compared to the finest, the Nile is..!" Mako continued to rave on about the Nile, and Yuugi began to seriously regret asking him anything. Sitting in the shade having someone flirting with him was ten times better than standing in the sun with some freaky tour guide…

"Has the tour already started, or are you boring yet another tourist to death with a detailed description of green algae?" Yuugi blinked and turned his head, and as the figure of the voice came into his sight, he could've sworn his heart stopped.

Firstly, he looked a lot like him, just… darker. His hair was wilder, and had more blonde bits in it; his clothes were black and leather (why the hell he would wear leather pants in Egypt Yuugi would never know; he barely kept my collar on) and his eyes were a deep wine red colour that oozed self confidence and sexuality as they eyed Yuugi off curiously.

The second most obvious thing about the man was the fact that he was probably the most drop dead gorgeous human being Yuugi had ever met. He left Anzu for dead twenty times over! He almost felt jealous of how those small changes made such a huge difference in how people would take them in, comparison wise, and then he shrugged to himself. He had certain things the stranger didn't have, Yuugi supposed. His entire appearance seemed to radiate danger and sex; Jonouchi had once told Yuugi that he radiated fun and innocence so much it was mildly disturbing.

He might have been gorgeous, but there was a lot different about them, and none of it was distressing in the slightest.

"Atemu!" Mako exclaimed joyfully, not seeming to notice the hinted insult in the slightest. "I was just telling Yuugi here about the difference between the tombs and the Nile, right Yuugi?" He turned to Yuugi for support, but the man dubbed Atemu jumped in before he could reply.

"And here I was thinking someone of Yuugi's age would be able to understand the difference between a giant body of water and a burial chamber with ease." He stated dryly, and Yuugi clapped a hand over his mouth before he burst out laughing. Atemu noticed his reaction, and his eyes crinkled into a warm smile.

"Ah my friend, you never truly did understand the finer arts of comparing beauty," Mako sighed, shaking his head, and suddenly, Yuugi wasn't the only tri-haired man with a hand over his mouth. Mako, still shaking his head, turned to the rest of the group, thankfully leaving Yuugi and Atemu to shake in silent laughter behind his back. "But at least the tour can start now." He finished, smiling when that statement gained a cheer from the two teenage girls.

After everyone had gathered round him, the two girls at the front, the elderly couple within close hearing distance on the left and Yuugi and the man Atemu at a politely disinterested space on the right, Mako cleared his throat and began the tour.

"Right, so if you'd just follow me down through the passageway into the ante-chamber, and we'll get this party started!" Mako clapped his hands together, and our mismatched group followed him down into the tomb, which was, as Yuugi had known, humid, dull, and far too overawed. "Tutankhamen's tomb is a bit of a mystery to archaeologists and scholars; it isn't built as traditional monarchs tombs were, but rather, like a rich lord's. This gives us two insights and theories that we can work with; one, the king had died before his proper resting place had been started or finished, and two; that he was seen as being cursed…"

Mako continued babbling on, and the four people in front of Yuugi gave him their full attention. Yuugi, however, already knew most of what he was talking about, and quickly faded out, staring in disinterest at the tiny, humid room around him; its walls blank, and covered in the sweat of thousands of tourists, as he had known they would be; the air far too heavy to breath in adequately.

Yuugi wasn't really interested in the tombs; he didn't like being underground and the heavy air didn't particularly agree with him. He found himself longing for Hachepsut's temple, and in a fit of self indulgence he slipped around the group and into the burial chamber alone.

Mako didn't call out to him, something that he was grateful for; if he'd been stuck listening to him for twenty minutes Yuugi doubted he would have stayed in the small, cramped little tomb; but he had promised Jou he would come here and as a duty to himself and his best friend he figured he should see the only thing worthwhile about the small, mismatched tomb…

The paintings. Tutankhamen's tomb (as Yuugi had known and tried to explain to Jou, who didn't seem to understand the insignificance of the tomb now that most of the artefacts inside had been whisked away to Cairo museum) only had one room painted with the ancient and beautiful works of the Egyptians- the Burial Chamber, which was roughly two thirds the size of Yuugi's bedroom. And his bedroom wasn't particularly large.

He carefully hopped down the 3 feet drop into the chamber, then walked up to the back wall with a look of awe on his face.

It was, in a sense, probably how most people felt when they visited the mosque in Israel, or the Notre Dam in Paris. Their voice leaves them, and all they can do is stare in wonder at the pure religious devotion someone who has been dead for centuries have put into what is, essentially, a work of art. Statues, buildings, panes of glass, painted and inscribed walls… they broke through the idealism of "seen that" that overtook most people in modern day and reduced them to silence through the pure fact that they were the heart, the soul, which defined the people's love for their beliefs.

"Most people would consider it rude to walk away from their tour guide." Yuugi jumped, and turned to stare up at Atemu's face once more.

…Okay, so there was one feature Atemu had over him that, might have bugged Yuugi a little.

…Why did he get to be so tall..?

"Most people would consider it rude to sneak up on people, so I suppose we're even." Yuugi kept his voice light, not being particularly mad at the man even if the scare had made his heart jump to 120 miles per hour.

Looking at his face, it was highly doubtful it would slow down, either.

"Touché," Atemu murmured, smiling down at the slightly smaller teen. "It's Yuugi, yes? Are you enjoying the wonder that is Tutankhamen's tomb?" He asked the last question with a mocking glint to his eyes, and Yuugi smiled. Not only cute, but also a gamer. At the very least, the man was a game all of his own.

"Oh, it's amazing! I can't believe how absolutely wonderful it is!" Yuugi clapped his hands together and beamed, before laughing at Atemu's rather disappointed expression. "To be honest, I'm only here because a friend begged me to go. Kind of pointless, seeing as I can't take any photos, and even if I could there's not really anything to see, but…" Yuugi shrugged and Atemu quickly regained his composure, pouting slightly at the younger one for besting him before returning his beaming smile.

"You must be a good friend to come to a place that you have little interest in." He said, eyes twinkling with humour.

"Its not disinterest, per say, but I've studied Tutankhamen to death and honestly, there are better tombs that I could've visited if I was interested."

"Is that to say you don't?"

"There's something much airier about temples than tombs, don't you think?" Atemu laughed, and Yuugi revelled in the thrill of knowing he'd made him laugh; he looked even more gorgeous when his eyes were shining in mirth.

"Well Yuugi, may I be rude and suggest something to you?" Yuugi grinned and nodded; he highly doubted Atemu was capable of being rude to him. He was a natural flirt. "How about we ditch this tour and I treat you to dining cuisine before viewing Hachepsut's temple? After the less knowledgeable tourists are finished with it, of course." He added as an afterthought, a small smirk flittering across his face. Yuugi frowned.

"The later we leave it the more tourists there will be." He pointed out, seemingly unconcerned with the fact that he'd just agreed to go with Atemu. If anything, this made the red eyed man's smile wider.

"I have a few connections; calling in a favour to be let in after visiting hours won't be a problem. Though it will be slightly more chilled…" He trailed off, concerned, but when Yuugi laughed, the concern turned to mild confusion.

"I live in Japan," Amethyst eyes continued laughing at him, smoothing out any offence taken by Yuugi's laughter and causing Atemu to smile affectionately at him. "Trust me; I have more than enough warm clothes. The trouble is dressing down." He gestured to his outfit; a black singlet top and full length cargo pants with hiking shoes. Atemu took his time to look Yuugi's outfit over; red eyes slowly trailing over his leather collar, singlet, and pants… Yuugi shuddered to think of how much was left to the imagination that Atemu seemed to have in spades.

"Personally, I think you did it perfectly." The last word was almost purred at him, and Yuugi blushed, looking away towards the painting of Anubis, the Pharaoh, and Hathor. Atemu smiled at how… cute his new friend was, before calling to him softly to obtain his attention.

"What do you think?" He asked softly, gazing into Yuugi's eyes and capturing his violet hues with whirling red wine. Yuugi gulped, and almost felt, in the pit of his stomach, that accepting might be a bad idea…

But he and Atemu had hit it off really well in a very short span of time. He wasn't in the least uncomfortable around the man, and indeed, was more embarrassed that Atemu's compliments were pleasurable rather than alarmed he was hitting on him. It wouldn't harm him to spend a day around the sexy Egyptian (was he Egyptian? He spoke Japanese so fluently…and Yuugi had forgotten to ask), in fact, it could potentially be a great step towards healing emotionally and moving away from the large gap Anzu was supposed to have made in his life.

The gap that, Yuugi realized sadly, hadn't been very large to begin with.

With this in mind, Yuugi looked over to where the tour group was clambering into the chamber, then turned back to Atemu with a nod and a smile.

"What are we standing around for then? Adventure awaits!"

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So that's it so far. It's really unbelievable how much effort I put into researching this one… and there was so much to research! I hope no one took offence to Atemu and Yuugi dissing King Tut's tomb…honestly, I did a lot of research on it and really, I took their point of view from a couple of online journals as well as descriptions of the site.

I also did the same thing with describing Luxor; I found out the city plan and took a look at a few descriptions people had of the city life. Apparently its a lot friendlier than Cairo… and an absolute goldmine when it comes to ancient Egypt. I'm sighing with envy over each word I type for Yuugi, I really am…

It might seem like Yuugi's bounced back from Anzu very quickly; especially when they've been going out for five years. But hopefully its not so bad that people can't wait for Yuugi's explanation in the second chapter... believe me; Yuugi is not bouncing back as quickly as it might seem.

Review would be hugely appreciated. Hugely. I doubt the next chapter for this will be up in the next week, but hopefully in the next two I should be capable of getting the next chapter of Neteri Ka Xaibit and this up. Thanks for reading!