Chapter One – Weekly Occurrences

"Are you sure you don't wanna go to the arcade with us, Ryo?" Yugi asked as their teacher began wrapping up the class.

Ryo looked up from his notebook, an apologetic smile on his face. "I'm sure. I just don't feel up to it today, I think I'm catching something."

"Alright," Yugi said understandingly. "Well, I hope you feel better." He turned back around, no doubt pretending to pay attention to the formulas that were scribbled over the blackboard.

The bell rang only moments later, and the fidgety students immediately got up in excitement as they started packing their bags and chatting amongst their groups of friends. Ryo slowly got up, not as eager to leave and start the long weekend. After all, today was Thursday, and on Thursday's he visited his family. But, unlike other students who thought family gatherings were boring and pointless, Ryo took them seriously.

After all, he was visiting their graves.

"Hey, Ryo, if you're feeling better later you can always join us for pizza at my place," Yugi told him. "You're always welcome."

"Thanks Yugi. I'll see if I can."

The graveyard was covered in a dense fog, making it hard to see most anything beyond a few feet. Ryo didn't have trouble finding his mother's and sister's gravestones though, as he had memorized the route long ago. The flowers he bought earlier were grasped tightly in his hand, and when he finally got to their graves, he set them down gently on the newly-cut grass.

He wondered vaguely whether that man, Bakura, would be in the graveyard too. According to their conversation, he seemed to be there a lot.

"Mom, have you seen him before? Apparently I'm new here, but I've been coming to visit you for a year now," He said aloud, voicing his confusion.

He shrugged, sitting down and crossing his legs. He pulled out his leftovers from lunch, feeling his stomach begging him to eat. Pizza at Yugi's sounded good right about now. He bit into the sandwich he had made that morning and, after chewing slowly, admitted to his mom that he had gotten better at making the special curry she always made. Turning to his sister, he smiled sadly, telling her that she would have probably spit it out because the last time he made it, it had been too spicy.

When he finally finished his leftovers, he got up, slinging his bag over his shoulders, and waved. "I'll see you again next week, Mom, Amane..."

As he weaved his way back through the foggy field, he shivered. He looked back, feeling as if someone was watching him, but shook it off. No way, he thought. There's no one around but me and the fog.

He vaguely wondered about the man he'd met the last time he came, but quickly dismissed the thought. He had already decided that it had been a dream and nothing more. Dreams about death were normal occurrences, so Ryo didn't doubt that their meeting had been another one. He fingered the gold ring around his neck, toying with one of the points that hung from it. Maybe he would join Yugi and his friends at the arcade. After all, anything would be better than dwelling on graveyards and death.

Hey all! So, I decided that since I'm going to be super busy with university, exams, assignments, and life, I'd go with shorter updates on this story. That way, there's less of a chance I get writer's block, and more of a chance that these updates won't be stressful and far-in-between! :D

Sorry if that's not what you were expecting :(

Anyway, I'd love to know what you guys think. This will be a darker toned story, so a major theme will be death. I've taken some liberties because of the AU-ness of this fic, but they shouldn't be too jarring from the original!

Thanks a lot for reading!

astrya02