Yu-Gi-Oh! Return of the Pharaoh

Chapter 1: A New Friend

"Hey, Yugi! Wait up!"

Yugi turned to see two of his three best friends running towards him.

"Hey, guys," he said as they finally reached him, bending over and trying to catch their breaths. "You guys actually made it to school on time today," he added, jokingly.

Both lifting their heads simultaneously, they stared at Yugi, flabbergasted.

"On time? We thought the tardy bell rang!" Tristan exclaimed.

"Yeah! We were gonna walk in with you and make up an excuse, and they would have had no choice but to believe us, seeing as you're never late," Joey added, still panting from the clearly pointless run.

Yugi shrugged. "Sorry, guys, but you're not late. And the tardy bell doesn't ring for another five minutes." Yugi shook his head. "You guys really need to get a watch so you won't keep having so many close calls."

"Keh! Maybe next week. I mean, since this is the first week of school, they gotta go easy on us," Joey brushed Yugi's suggestion off, folding his arms behind his head and looking casually up at the sky.

"Don't ya mean our first week as SENIORS? We made it, guys! We're the kings of the school!" Tristan shouted, striking a pose befitting of royalty.

"Yeah, as well as the other 300 senior guys at Domino High," Yugi joked, poking a hole into Tristan's balloon of fantasies.

"Oh, right," Tristan murmured, "but a man can still dream."

"Well, the point is, we're still seniors!" Joey interjected. "Even if we have to share it with the other guys, we still rule this school."

Yugi smiled, but a familiar aching pain in his heart made him change the subject. "Yeah, well, we won't be ruling anything if we're late to first period."

"Good, thinking, Yug," Tristan replied, before all three jetted to homeroom. Luckily, the Gods of School Schedules placed them all in the same homeroom- Téa included.

RRRRIIIINNNGGGG!

"Phew! Just in the nick of time," Joey gasped as they threw themselves into Mr. Hoji's Mathematics class.

"Yeah, well, thanks for almost making me late," Yugi choked out as he quickly took his seat.

"Sorry, man," Tristan said. "We owe ya one."

"In your seats, everybody," Mr. Hoji ordered as he closed the door to his class. "Now until we all get acquainted, I still need to take attendance." Pulling out his pad, he scrolled through the names.

"Asher." A boy raised his hand.

"Ashumi… Barnes… Benson…"

"Hey, where's Téa?"

"She isn't here?" Yugi looked over at Joey before scanning the room for her… no Téa.

"Where can she be?" Yugi thought aloud, his brow furrowing with worry.

"I don't know… hey, Yug… Yugi! Look! I think that girl's checking you out, man," Joey whispered loudly to his friend, momentarily forgetting his missing friend.

"Huh?" Yugi looked in the direction that Joey indicated. Overhearing, Tristan looked as well. Sure enough, a girl was staring with awe at Yugi. Catching Yugi's gaze, she blushed and looked down. The girl was very pretty, with short-cropped brown hair, dazzling blue eyes, and a face that was adorned with delicate features. But despite her attractiveness, Yugi wasn't interested. He was only interested in one girl- and said girl was still missing.

"Fuji… Fyerson… Gardner… Gardner?" Mr. Hoji raised a brow, but marked his first student absent.

"Dang, where is she? She was in class yesterday," Tristan pondered.

The trio exchanged worried glances, because they all knew that ever since they met sophomore year, Téa was almost always at school, and she always let them know if she would be late.

"Yea, it's weird…" Joey was interrupted by his sudden spurt of laughter.

"What's wrong with you, Joey?" Tristan demanded.

"She's staring again," Joey snickered. "Yet another fan girl."

"Oh no… and I don't have fan girls!" Yugi groaned softly before looking in her direction. Catching her gaze yet again, she turned away quickly. Yugi sighed. Ever since his 16th birthday, Yugi encountered this problem every year because he finally met up with the growth spurt that had evaded him. Now 17, Yugi was a staggering 5'11", and his torso was smoothly cut with nicely toned muscles. His face matured in a way that gave off 'sensuality' to Domino High's female population. Not to mention he was the King of Games, Yugi had quickly become one of the most sought out boys at the high school.

Yugi groaned again, this time thinking about the face he saw in the mirror every single day. It was almost an exact replica of Atem's, minus the golden bangs that shot up like lightning in Atem's hair. The only true difference that could immediately be seen was that Yugi's eyes still retained their child-like gleam, even after losing Atem to the afterlife.

"Morrison… Motou…" Yugi raised his hand, finally brought back from his silent reverie.

"Quit tryna play matchmaker, Joey. You know Téa's the only girl for him," Tristan snickered.

Yugi tensed up, still regretting ever letting that one secret slip from his lips. But shouldn't you be able to trust your feelings to your closest of friends? After several emotional jabs from Joey and Tristan, though, Yugi quickly realized the answer was no.

"Taylor… Toshimi…" Mr. Hoji moved on after Tristan raised his hand.

"Yeah, thanks for the support," Yugi grumbled, hiding his slight brush as he lowered his head.

"Hey, Yugi, don't look so down. You know I was just…" Tristan's voice abruptly cut off, his eyes widening, his jaw dropping.

"Hey, Tristan! Earth to Tristan! Anybody home?" Joey waved his hand in front of Tristan's face, trying to wake him from his daze, but Tristan's eyes didn't even blink. They remained locked on whatever captured their attention.

And like Tristan, soon the whole class was staring in the same direction. The humming buzz of the quiet conversations in the classroom quickly dissipated, leaving only Yugi and Joey confused. Sending quizzical glances at each other, they turned to see what captivated the class… what they saw was not what they were expecting.

'Oh no…' Yugi guiltily thought as he looked at the room's newest occupant. 'Forgive me, Téa.'

For just a moment, Life paused. All of the students had their eyes glued to their newest classmate. Not one dared to utter a word.

Surprised at the sudden silence in his class, Mr. Hoji looked up from taking roll to see what his students were up to. He noticed that they were staring at a spot next to him. Turning, he found a young lady standing patiently next to him- and like his class, he too froze.

The young woman that stood next to Mr. Hoji, the young woman who stood at the head of the classroom, was a beautiful sight to behold.

She had a lithe body that stood at an even 5'10". She had curves in all the right places, but they were evenly proportioned on her tall frame. She had flawless skin, and a natural skin color that any envious girl would covet. Her skin glowed from its beautiful light-brown Earth tone, the color being dark enough to accentuate her facial features. Her perfect heart-shaped face was adorned with a luscious set of full lips, each tinted a deep pink. From a distance, it appeared as if she wore lipstick, but that amazing tint was purely natural. On top of her mouth set a full and straight nose, one that was regal enough for royalty. Her whole face, unmarred by 'puberty bumps', screamed strength and agility, but also grace and modesty. Long and beautiful hair shaped the lady's lovely face. The color was as dark as the dead of night, yet it shined brilliantly under the fluorescent lights. Straight-cut bangs fell softly over her smooth forehead, but what really set off her simple and elegant hairstyle were the five blue streaks coursing through her dark mane. The contrast in the colors of her hair was what really set off her most beautiful and enchanting feature: her eyes.

Under perfectly arched eyebrows, the new girl had the most unusual eyes known to man. The female population in the room prayed that they were contacts, but unfortunately for them, just like everything else about her, the eye color was natural. Both eyes held pupils that were a sharp-yellow, but what made them very unusual were the tints of an emerald green color that spiraled throughout the yellow pupils, its origin at the dark centers that laid in the middle of her eyes, its green arms stretching and swirling out. The dazzling green pattern could easily be thought of as our galaxy, the Milky Way, because that is what everyone saw as they got lost in her exotic eyes.

Finally regaining his senses, Mr. Hoji cleared his throat and turned his gaze elsewhere, trying to find an object of interest to look at instead of the young lady's lovely eyes- he settled with the floor.

"Er…umm… you must be a new student." Holding out his hand, Mr. Hoji gestured for her schedule, teacher-mode finally resuming. The young lady handed the schedule over to him, and he searched for a name. "So you are…"

"Miller. Desani Miller," the young lady softly spoke. The melodious tune of her voice shocked the class, who almost forgot she was human and instead an exquisite statue.

"Yes, yes," Mr. Hoji replied, grateful that she offered a pronunciation. "Welcome to Year 4 Mathematics. It's a pleasure to have you in my class," he said, reciting his professional greeting that he perfected over the years.

"Now before I ask you to take a seat, I would first like you to introduce yourself to the class and say a few things about yourself."

"Yes, sir," Desani replied, a small smile resting on her lips.

Normally the class hated it when Mr. Hoji made them perform 'bonding exercises' at the beginning of the year, but today, they all shifted forward, wanting to hear everything Desani had to say.

Surprisingly, Desani seemed to be at ease with introducing herself. Anyone else would have felt awkward and self-conscious introducing themselves in front of complete strangers, however, this didn't seem to faze her at all. With a soothing calm about her, she turned her lovely eyes in the direction of her new classmates and began.

"Hello. My name is Desani Miller, I am 17 years old and I have been home-schooled all of my life. I decided to attend Domino High my senior year because I wanted to experience the high school life before I moved on to college. I love to read, sing, write, and run, and my main goal for my senior year is to make good friends and join Domino High's track team." Signaling to Mr. Hoji that she was finished, she bowed slightly, and started her search for a seat. Finding one, she lowered herself gracefully into it, afterwards getting out the needed instruments for her current class.

As it so happens, she chose the seat behind Téa's normal one. To the left of Desani was Yugi, sitting behind him was Joey. Tristan sat across from Joey, which was located right behind Desani.

'Wow… she's so beautiful… and she sat next to me.' Yugi blushed, looking down at his hands, folded in his lap. 'Well since she wants to make friends, hopefully she'll give us a chance…' Yugi thought, referring to his circle of friends.

"Waters… Wheeler…" Joey raised his hand as Mr. Hoji continued attendance.

After a few more names, Mr. Hoji closed his roll book and looked at his class. "Now that the attendance is out of the way, take out the review packets that you received yesterday. We will be working on those for the rest of the period."

Joey groaned. "Aw come on, Mr. H! It's the first Wednesday of the first week of school! Can't ya hold the hard stuff off 'til next week?" Several students nodded in agreement.

"It's Mr. Hoji to you, Mr. Wheeler. I do not tolerate nicknames," Mr. Hoji replied, already learning the name of a student he quickly deemed as potential trouble in the new school year. "And besides, I am holding the 'hard stuff' off until next week. Let's just call this packet a brainteaser that will show me how much you remember from last year."

Groaning at Joey's failed attempt, the kids pulled out the packets that they received at the end of yesterday's class.

"Okay, Ms. Miller, Here you go. Don't want to leave you out of all the fun," Mr. Hoji joked as he handed her a copy.

"Thank you," she replied softly as she quickly retrieved her assignment.

"Now, class, I want the first 20 of these problems done 15 minutes before the bell so that we can go over them," Mr. Hoji ordered. "If there are no questions, then you may begin."

"Phew! Boy, was that review a killer!" Joey exclaimed as he plopped down with Yugi and Tristan at their table in the cafeteria.

"That's only because half of last year you were daydreaming about Duel Monsters while the lessons went through one ear and out the other- the other half was spent sleeping," Tristan snickered.

"Whatever, man. Can't help that Duel Monsters was, is, and always will be the greatest card game of all time!"

Yugi laughed, taking in the harmless quarrel of his friends. Turning his gaze to the rest of the cafeteria, he searched the room for the one friend that he still hadn't seen. Where was she?

Yugi sighed, thinking back to his decision. Despite their frequent playful jabs at him, he knew that Joey and Tristan were proud that he finally admitted his feelings for Téa. But what they didn't know was that today he planned to tell Téa his true feelings- but up until now, said person was a no-show. Eyes scanning the rest of the room, his search ended with disappointment- until he laid eyes on her.

"Hey, guys, look. It's the new girl." Stopping their quarrel, Joey and Tristan turned and looked in the direction Yugi was indicating. Sure enough, Desani sat at a table on the other side of the cafeteria, eating her lunch- alone.

Yugi's brow furrowed into a frown. "Maybe we should go give her some company. She looks…" Yugi was cut off as the three boys looked on in shock as the cafeteria's male population seemed to surround and engulf the poor girl.

"Oh no," Joey growled. "A Damsel in Distress. Let's go, guys," he quickly said.

"Right," Tristan and Yugi simultaneously replied as all three got up and rushed to Desani's aide.

A/N: Hopefully you enjoyed the (revised) first chapter. Now that we're back on track with the gang, I believe that from this point forward there will be little confusion. As for my OC, Desani Miller, get used to her because she isn't going anywhere. My plan is for all of you to eventually fall in love with her character, however, if she ends up getting a few haters out there, I am already forewarning you that I do not tolerate flaming of her. If you don't like her, just say so (a reason would also be greatly appreciated). I have a lot of character development for her in later chapters, so I'm working hard on making her a lovable character. But if she doesn't appeal to you, do not flame or thrash her. Name-calling is not necessary for a character that doesn't even exist, so that is why I will not tolerate it. Anyways, this is the beginning of a very amazing story, so add it to your alerts, for I plan on updating very quickly throughout the story. And thank you to all my reviewers that decide to leave their thoughts. You're awesome! :D

For anyone interested in what I edited, I changed my descriptions for Desani. Though she's the most beautiful girl to me, the description I gave her was nauseating. I wanted to tone it down.

~AtemsDestinee