Clichés Chapter 2

"One of these stories ties in with history and speaks of games, darkness and monsters. This is actually where Pegasus got Duel Monsters from," Mariko said.

Tristan gave an impatient little wave. "Yeah, we know that part."

Mariko raised a slender eyebrow. "Do forgive me, I'm not used to people knowing that as it isn't exactly common knowledge."

The others could see a large sweat-drop slide down the back of Tristan's head as he clumsily apologised.

"Don't worry about it," she said with a smile.

Téa cleared her throat quietly. "We only learned of that when we were at Pegasus's Castle for a Duel Monsters tournament. How do you know about it?"

Mariko's smile took on a mysterious air. "I've been in that castle myself and I've met Pegasus," was all she said.

Yugi mentally prodded the pharaoh to see if he was paying attention. The spirit gave Yugi a return poke that felt like it hit his arm. Yugi wondered how the others would react if he broke down and squirmed around laughing because the spirit had decided to tickle him. He sincerely hoped that the spirit never got it in his head to try such a thing.

\I wonder what she was doing at Pegasus's Castle. Pitching a game idea like Duke Devlin?\

\\Flamboyant Pegasus with a teenage girl…\\ the spirit replied magnanimously.

\What do you mean?\

\\Later.\\

The pharaoh appeared beside and slightly behind Yugi; a semi-transparent being dressed almost exactly like Yugi, only with some of his clothing being a darker shade and with different shoes for no reason whatsoever.

Yugi's eyes automatically slid across to track his partner's movement for a split second.

It was a movement too quick to really notice and none of Yugi's friends had. Yami was surprised when Mariko's eyes flicked across to meet his. He tensed but kept eye contact and gave the girl a small nod to see what she would do. He found himself unsurprised when she gave a tiny nod in return. The pharaoh was uncomfortable with the idea that she could see him sitting there so he stood up and walked a short distance away and partly around the group, taking him out of her immediate field of vision.

"Since you know about the origins of Duel Monsters then I'll tell you another story," Mariko said, tucking some hair behind an ear. "What was never recorded in stone has been passed down the generations by word of mouth. One of these stories tells of The Nameless Pharaoh and a girl."

Yami, who had walked around to stand almost behind Mariko, stopped several feet back from her and quirked an eyebrow. Yugi matched the movement, but he directed it at Mariko's face. Téa was even less subtle.

"A girl?" she exclaimed a little louder than she intended.

\\Just one? I feel insulted,\\ Yami said to Yugi via their link as he didn't want Mariko to hear. \\According to books on Ancient Egypt most pharaohs had a whole harem of girls and that wasn't counting the concubines.\\

Yugi clapped a hand over his nose and mouth as he snorted out a laugh, ducking his head. When he looked up he was being eyed by everyone else. "Sorry, just a stray sneeze," he said with an embarrassed grin.

\Do you mind?\ he half shouted at the spirit.

Yami sent him a wicked grin. \\No, I rule.\\

\Oh Ra…\

\\Why are you swearing by an Egyptian God?\\

\Don't you?\ Yugi shot back, confused.

Yami shrugged. \\Why would I? Just because I know I was once a Pharaoh of Egypt millennia ago doesn't mean I know anything of their ways such as customs, speech etcetera. As fun as it is to see, it just…makes no sense. It makes more sense for me to say 'Oh Cheeseburger' considering the way you worship them,\\ he replied with a shrug. Although Yugi could see the spirit physically shrug it still came across the link as a feeling.

\Do not!\ Yugi gave as his weak, token protest.

"Yes, a girl," Mariko said, giving Téa a strange look. "There are no carvings of her and almost every Egyptologist says that she never existed outside of tales. Mention of her has been passed down by families in Egypt, although various retellings have blurred the girl's true name as several families have several different names for her. Each family agreed on one point though…"

"Yeah? What was it?" Joey asked, completely sucked in as Mariko had trailed off.

Mariko tilted her head and brought a finger to tap against one side of her mouth. "They all agree that this girl, no matter her name, was actually the sister of the Nameless Pharaoh."

Yami and Yugi's shock mingled together, slamming into both of them twice as hard.

\You had a sister!\ Yugi mentally shouted.

"A sister?!" Téa, Tristan and Joey shouted.

\\...well everyone else has already shouted it, so I think I'll refrain…\\ Yami said somewhat absently, Mariko's words obviously affecting him.

The new girl nodded, pleased at the reactions. "Yes, a sister. Some say she was born a year or two after him and was cast to the background, some say she was his overlooked twin, others say she was a slave girl that was taken in," she said a little dramatically.

"What do you think she was?" asked Yugi, his gaze flicking between Mariko and Yami.

"My father belongs to one of those Egyptian families who have passed stories down, so I'd rather not say," she said primly.

The pharaoh walked up behind her and waved two fingers as bunny ears behind her head. \\Wait a moment… I thought it was her mother that was the Egyptian and her father was Japanese?\\

Yugi scratched the side of his face with a finger. "Er…I thought it was your mother that was Egyptian?"

Mariko blinked, her eyes wide. "What? Who told you that? Now, back to what I was saying…"

\But…she told us that! I know she did! It was only last chapter and we can click back and double-check!\

The spirit was still making shapes with his hands above Mariko's head. \\Ah, she's one of these types who can't seem to keep her story straight. I'd be wary of believing anything she says, Yugi.\\

Yugi mentally frowned, not wishing to do so physically and appear rude. \Yeah, but if we can go back a chapter and check, surely she can too?\

\\You would think so, yes? But no, these types of people seem to be afflicted with a disease called Cannotcheckfactsduetolaziness of the strain of Evenifthefactsaremyown belonging to the more general family of Iwannawritewithoutresearching.\\

Yugi gave a little mental gasp of horror. \But how could someone be so irresponsible?\

The spirit pointed at the girl in front of him. \\Ask her if you're brave enough though beware, those types bite.\\

"So…uh…what happened to her?" Yugi ventured to ask, not quite brave enough yet to risk the righteous defensive backlash if he called Mariko out on her error again.

She adjusted her skirt a little and brushed some imaginary dust from it. "No one seems to be quite sure on that point either. She did not take the throne after the Nameless Pharaoh though, that is a fact."

"But there's no proof that she existed at all?" asked Téa.

"No psychical evidence has been found yet," Mariko answered carefully. Her eyes seemed to twinkle with knowledge she hadn't shared.

After the bell rang the rest of the day passed quickly. When the last bell rang out to signal the end of the school day there was a rush to pack up and exit the building. Yugi hung back as usual to avoid being crushed by the initial flood of teenagers.

"I'd like to thank you and your friends for being so nice to me today. Goodbye," Mariko said, brushing past Yugi and letting her fingers graze his sleeve.

Yugi flinched, startled, but the girl had already left the room but the time he was ready to reply. He met up with his friends at the school lockers and they all left. The walk was fairly quiet as most conversations were stilted. They waved each other off when they reached a junction they could split off to go to their own homes from.

As the moonlight streamed in through Yugi's window the spirit appeared, leaning against Yugi's desk with his arms folded. Yugi himself was sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. Yugi glanced at Yami and opened his mouth to say something. He shut it again after a few seconds and gave a little shrug.

Yami's crimson eyes settled on the other boy's slight frame. "What's wrong, my little hikari?"

"Your what now?" Yugi asked in surprise.

"You know…my hikari?"

Yugi just blinked.

"My light?" Yami offered.

"…no, you've lost me," Yugi said slowly, shaking his head slightly.

The spirit chuckled. "No images of yin and yang coming to mind?"

"The black and white?" he asked, receiving a nod. "Light and dark?" Another nod. "Feminine and mascu… No. No, no, no."

"No?" the pharaoh repeated curiously.

Yugi stopped hugging his knees and folded his arms, glaring at the semi-transparent being. "If I'm the light and you're the dark then that means you're the masculine aspect and I'm…" He trailed off, wrinkling his nose a bit and looking very disgruntled.

"You can't argue with the fan girls, Yugi," said Yami in a regretful and sympathetic tone.

"Yes I can," Yugi muttered darkly. "We're not the halves of Light and Dark anyway. Whoever said we were?"

Yami shrugged. "I have no idea. Probably the dub or just the fans. You're right though, we're not. I will admit that I am more dominant and you are more submissive though," he said with a grin.

"Hey!"

"So I suppose, when you look at it like that, I am the darker of the two of us and you are the lighter."

"'M not feminine…"

Yami chuckled again and walked over to Yugi, resting a hand on Yugi's shoulder. "I know you're not. Your friends know you're not. Your Grandfather knows you're not."

"What about you?" Yugi suddenly blurted out. "How are you doing? Mariko said you had a sister!"

Yami stiffened and his hand slid off Yugi's shoulders. The smaller boy actually felt the loss of the hand's touch, but the look on Yami's face made him pause. His eyes were a little blank and lost looking while his hands were now clenched into fists, betraying the fact that he was tense.

"I don't know. There's no proof of her existence apart from spoken stories passed down through old families," Yami said as though he were carefully choosing his words. "I'm honestly not sure if it's something I can believe."

Yugi was silent for a while, churning things over in his mind as he watched the spirit stand there lost in thought. It was strange to see the normally confident spirit so vulnerable and it left Yugi feeling distinctly unsettled.

"So what are you going to do?" Yugi finally asked.

Silence reigned again while Yami thought. His eyes suddenly lit up and a small smirk appeared. "We do know an old Egyptian family that would know that story…"

Yugi just blinked. "We do?"

"I think…we should contact the Ishtars," Yami said slowly but decisively.

Yugi's face lit up in realisation. "That's brilliant! Ishizu and Marik are sure to know something!" After a few seconds his happy expression fell off his face. "But they're not here in Domino anymore and they didn't leave us a phone number or anything."

Yami got a challenging gleam in his eyes. "I'm sure Kaiba can find out for us if he doesn't already know."

His host's face brightened once more. "Yes! We can ask him tomorrow."

"Tomorrow, yes. Let's leave the conversation here and get some sleep," the Pharaoh said firmly, fading out of sight as he retreated back to the Puzzle.

"Such a mother hen sometimes," Yugi chuckled to himself.

Yugi had his fingers crossed as he entered his homeroom at school in the morning. He grinned as he saw Seto Kaiba sitting at a desk with a book in front of his face. A peek at the book's cover showed that it was not a school textbook, but Kaiba had always done extra work relating to his company while at the educational institution.

Yugi sidled up to Kaiba's desk and stopped next to him. He cleared his throat quietly. "Good morning Kaiba."

The young CEO's eyes slid across to meet Yugi's and the faintest frown appeared on his face. "Yugi," he said curtly, "is there a reason you're bothering me?"

\\As rude as ever,\\ Yami chuckled.

"I was wondering if you had any contact details for the Ishtars," Yugi blurted out quietly before he lost his nerve.

Kaiba actually lowered his book a little and blinked. "You actually want to contact that crazy woman and her psychotic brother?" he asked slowly.

"Yes."

"Does this have anything to do with all that nonsense about ancient Egypt and pharaohs?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Yugi just shrugged and replied, "A little."

Kaiba sneered with distaste. "I had enough of that rubbish during my Battle City and I never want to hear anything about it ever again."

\\He's going to simply adore the Memory World arc,\\ Yami said with heavy sarcasm.

"I just want any contact details if you have them; it won't involve you in any way, shape or form," Yugi said firmly. \I hope.\

The brunette didn't appear reassured in the slightest but he gave a short nod. "Fine, come by my office after school," he almost hissed out.

Yugi nodded happily and said, "Thank you Kaiba!" before walking to his seat.

Téa got out of her seat to lean on Yugi's desk as her short friend started getting his books out. "What was all that about, Yugi?"

"Just a little side project," Yugi said shortly.

A minute later Mariko glided into the room, instantly commanding the attention of everyone. She looked a little disappointed as her eyes landed on Yugi, only to find him with his attention on Téa. She took her seat next to Yugi and sent him a radiant smile. "Good morning!" she chirped.

Yugi had actually glanced up when Mariko came in, but had instantly dismissed her from his mind. She still made him feel uncomfortable and he wasn't quite sure how to act around her. "Good morning Mariko," he replied, giving her a small smile.

"Good morning," Téa said to the other girl politely.

Kaiba twisted slightly in his seat to stare at Yugi and the new girl. He raised a brow at Yugi and got a shrug in return along with a tiny wince. 'Interesting,' he thought, wondering why the shorter boy was not taken in by the new girl. He too had given her a quick once-over as she walked in but had returned his attention to his book. Kaiba briefly considered asking Yugi about the new girl but brushed the thought aside. He just didn't care enough to bother expending the energy for some girl in his class.

\\Yes.\\

Yugi sent an inquisitive thought to the spirit.

\\Canon, Yugi. So many people ignore it, even if they haven't labelled anything AU.\\

\A…U? What do cannons have to do with anything?\

The spirit paused in front of one of the many staircases in his labyrinthine mind. \\Nevermind…\\ he said, shaking his head and sending his blond fringe swinging.

The school day passed much like the one before, although Mariko had disappeared for lunch and no one knew where she had gone. When the last bell of the day rang Yugi waved his friends goodbye and rushed out of the room to catch up with Kaiba, missing Mariko's calculating stare.

"Kaiba!" Yugi called out just as the tall brunette was about to step outside the school gates.

The CEO stopped and waited somewhat grudgingly as his duelling rival ran across the yard. "Now what?"

"Oh uh…I was just wondering if I could catch a lift to your office with you?"

Kaiba gave Yugi a considering look before acquiescing. "Hn."

"Thank you!" Yugi said with a grateful smile.

Kaiba turned and led the way to his limo that had just pulled up. The car ride was spent in silence with the taller boy staring stonily ahead, determined not to pay much attention to his guest until necessary.

Yugi simply tried his hardest not to fidget, feeling very awkward. He was relieved when they pulled up at the imposing tower of KaibaCorp. He quietly followed the CEO into the building, up an elevator, down a number of hallways and into a luxurious, if sparse, office.

Kaiba walked over to his desk, pulled a small set of keys out from somewhere, and unlocked a drawer. He slid it open and riffled through it, pulling out a small black book after a few seconds. He flipped through it, stopping after a moment, and plucked a business card from a holder on his desk. Kaiba grabbed a pen and scribbled something on the back of the card. He swept over to Yugi, who had sidled closer to the desk, and held the card out.

"Here. I don't know what you want this for and I don't want to know. I don't want to hear anything about this from you or those crazy Egyptians, are we clear?" Kaiba said with a slight sneer.

"I understand Kaiba, don't worry. Thank you very much!" Yugi said happily, ignoring the implied threat and taking the card. He gave Kaiba a quick goodbye wave and left the building as fast as he could without running. He increased speed slightly when he was out of the imposing place and made it back to the Game Shop in good time.

"At least…all the running we do…to save people…and flee bad guys…has made me…a lot fitter…" Yugi panted as he reached his room, having snagged the cordless phone on the way.

"We have a cordless phone?" Yami asked aloud as he materialised in the room.

Yugi just shrugged. "We do now."

"Convenient."

"I know, right?" Yugi said with a grin, slowly pressing the numbers on the phone that were written on the card.

Yami watched his partner, feeling nervous and excited. He suddenly frowned. "Hang on, isn't there a time difference? What if it's some ridiculous hour in Egypt and they're all asleep?"

Yugi raised his eyebrows and gave the other a searching look. "You wanna do this or not?"

The spirit sighed but mumbled out a, "Fine…"

The shorter boy had entered all the numbers and hit the call button. "It's ringing," he whispered loudly, the phone pressed against his ear. "Oh wait, did you want to be the one to talk?"

"I probably should, yes…" Yami replied softly. A flash of light from the Puzzle later and the Pharaoh was the one holding the phone, Yugi staring at him anxiously in his spirit form.

The phone clicked.

"'Ahlaan, Ishizu yatahaddath," a female voice said.

Yami resisted to urge the clear his throat. "Am I speaking to Ishizu Ishtar?"

The voice was silent for a moment before switching languages flawlessly. "Yes, you are. Your voice sounds familiar, may I ask your name?"

"Hello Ishizu. I'm sure this is a surprise, especially as you gave me your Millennium Item and could not foresee this," Yami replied, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"My Pharaoh!" she instantly exclaimed. "This is indeed a surprise and an honour. Is there something I can help you with?"

Yami nodded, even though he knew Ishizu could not see the action. "Actually, there is something…"

A/N: Yeah-heh! It took a while, but I've been very busy and sadly haven't had much time to write. In the moments I did have free, this came to me reasonably quickly. It takes me absolutely ages to update my serious stories and I hate it…

What Ishizu said roughly translates to: "Hello, Ishizu speaking."

So did you like what I covered?

I see so many who skimp on details simply because they don't care/are too lazy to find out. I also see some who mess up facts from their own story! I mean…seriously?! (My worst offence on that front is a character who took their shoes off at the door, but mysteriously had them on later in the chapter…because I wrote those parts several months apart and didn't pay enough attention. -sigh-)

I see so many OCs that somehow know Pegasus…and so many that can see the spirit of the Pharaoh, oft times for no reason or a stupid reason, like an eighth Millennium Item. Heck, I've seen stories with up to 5 or 6 extra Items. I'll probably cover that later.

I also see a sibling for the Pharaoh mentioned a lot. If that happens, they usually end up as a spirit locked away in an Item as well or just reincarnated. I wonder who this mysterious girl mentioned in a story is?

Another peeve of mine in this fandom…and it's EVERYWHERE… is that 'Yami' (coughnotanamecough) and Yugi are referred to as Light and Dark, with Yugi often being called a 'hikari'. He is nothing of the sort. They are NOT the halves of Light and Dark. They may seem that way sometimes but they're not.

Hikari is purely a fan created thing. I have seen a number of very good fics that use this concept. It definitely annoys me, but some stories are good enough that I can deal with it.

Unless it's in the summary… Like 'the Hikaris and the Yamis are blahblahblah'. No, nonono, ohgawdno. Especially when people call Marik? Malik? …let's go with Marik, since the subs often spell names with L and R wrong due to pronunciation. When people call Marik a hikari and Malik a yami (or vice-versa). They do not have separate names. They are not separate people. Pharaoh and Thief King are the souls of people long dead, Marik's evil side is nothing more than a split personality - the distinction is made clearer when you realise there's no such things as 'yamis'. Marik's evil side is simply another personality he created that took control. This is a real thing and it happens to real people.

I'm sure I'm going to get flamed for the yami/hikari one (and by extension Marik), if nothing else.

Let me know what you think! I had some great feedback and suggestions from the first.