grins sheepishly Well, I'm back, after a very long time. I have two pending stories; this one, and a Kaiba/OC. I'm really sorry I take so long in updating. I'll try to keep updating more frequently. At the very least, I hope I'll be able to update at least once every two weeks. My school just started, so I won't have as much time on my hands… So, here is the second chapter of 'Return of the Pharaoh.' Thanks for all your kind reviews!
Judai stood up tentatively, examining the man standing in front of him as he dusted off his clothes and looked at his hands. "I miss being like this," he sighed. Kuriboh nudged him affectionately.
The man in front of him looked like Yugi Motou, but definitely couldn't be Yugi Motou. He was slimmer than him in the pictures, and instead of the uniform all the students were so accustomed to see him in, he was wearing threads that seemed Egyptian made. Indeed, he was wearing a sandy cloth tunic and a long flowing cape, while a golden Eygptian crown adorned his forehead beneath his tri-colored hair.
Judai continued to gawk. The Yugi look-alike looked up, saw him staring, and smiled. He held out a hand. "My name is Atemu," he said. "I was former pharaoh of Egypt and just recently shared a body with Yugi Motou. I'm very pleased to meet you. I've been watching a lot of your duels and I must say I'm very impressed."
Judai couldn't seem to get over the shock. "You're—you're—you're Yugi's alter-ego!" he exclaimed, not realizing his hand was being shaken by a spirit. "I—I—I thought that was only in rumors!"
Atemu pondered this for a moment. Then he asked eagerly, "What exactly have they been saying about me?"
Judai was taken aback. "You're—you-re for real, aren't you?" he said finally. "You really did share a body with Yugi Motou… wow. How did you—"
"Aniki!" screamed a voice from the nearby dorm. Judai leapt to his feet as he heard his best friend calling again.
"I have to go," Judai said miserably, beckoning to Hane Kuriboh and quickly opening his deck case so he could jump in. "You could come with me though. That is," he added hastily, "if you want."
Atemu smiled and shook his head. "I'd like to go. No one else can see me anyway. But I've missed being able to feel the breeze like this. You don't feel it if one is invisible. I'll just stay out here for the rest of the night and come looking for you tomorrow morning." He sat down on a rock and stared out to sea, closing his eyes in ecstasy at the breeze playing on his face.
"Alright," Judai said. "Just come in if you feel like it. My room's on the—"
"Aniki! Where are you?" Sho's voice was slightly hysterical now.
Atemu smiled. "I'll find it. Don't worry. I'll be fine. Get a good night's rest. We'll begin tomorrow. And don't forget that this must remain a complete secret."
Judai nodded and hurried off, waving at the pharaoh before disappearing into the dark.
"Aniki!" Sho squealed, as soon as he spotted him coming around the corner. Leaping for him, he gave him a big hug around the middle. "I thought you were gone."
Hayato chuckled. "You've only been looking for him for fifteen seconds, Sho."
Sho hugged him tighter. "But he promised he'd be back at the dorm by seven!"
"And it's just thirty seconds past seven," Hayato said soothingly, trying to calm him. "He's not technically late."
Judai laughed and patted him on the head. "It's okay, Sho. And I'm sorry I was late."
"That's alright," Sho said happily. The three friends made their way back up to their dorm, Sho talking all the while about Asuka. "And she's really filled out her uniform, Judai, you should see… or maybe she just picked a smaller uniform to accentuate her—"
Judai laughed and ruffled his hair. "Typical green-minded Sho," he commented. He didn't really care how Asuka looked right now. To him, she was just a friend. No more than that.
Sho flushed furiously as they opened the door to their room and said no more after that.
Judai could hardly sleep that night. His mind was full of questions, and his heart was racing with excitement at his visit from the pharaoh. He didn't even know who Atemu was—all he knew was that rumors had been flying around that the legendary duel king, Yugi Motou, had been possessed by not one, but two personalities. Judai had thought that impossible at first, but now—well, Atemu was living proof, wasn't he? Okay, so he wasn't living, but still…
Suddenly he wanted to find out all he could about this second personality of Yugi Motou's. I mean, why shouldn't he? Here was a spirit who suddenly popped out of the ground in front of him in the middle of the night, and yet he barely knew anything about him, except that his name was Atemu, he was a former Pharaoh, and that he was Yugi Motou's second self.
Judai kicked the blankets off his body, then quietly slipped out of bed and made it up sloppily. Tiptoeing across the floor in his socks, he picked up his shoes by the door, and after glancing back to make sure his bunkmates were asleep, tiptoed quietly out of the room and closed the door behind him.
After quickly cramming his feet into his shoes, he quietly hurried down the steps and past Daitokuchi's room, then padded across the firm, packed earth as fast as he could without making a lot of noise.
Screw the teachers thinking he had gone mental; he had to find out about Yugi Motou, even if he had to stay all night at the library. It was always open anyway; and since it wasn't a piece of electronic equipment that had to be maintained every few hours, he could use it without getting into TOO much trouble—sure, they would find something suspicious about him going there ten o' clock at night, but that's why he did it—for the thrill.
A dead silence crept all around him and plugged his ears. Judai always found thick silences like this eerie; it was like having earplugs that blocked out all sound and kept you in the suspense that someone may be dogging your footsteps that very moment.
Judai grinned, however: eerie as the place may be, and as educational as it may seem, it was worthwhile to be here, just to experience this thrill again.
Too bad the computer system that held the massive list of books and references was offline, so he'd have to go by card catalog today. Quietly passing the abandoned librarian's desk (people who came at this time of night were not blessed with the benefit of a librarian in their presence) and computer system that sat quietly against the wall, he headed for the brown oak shelf crammed into a corner.
He ran a finger down the various small drawers until he came to the one marked 'Me-Mu.' Sliding it open quietly, he began to search through the neatly filed, hand-scripted index cards that the librarian always made sure to keep updated. Judai continued to shift through them for fifteen minutes until he found an index card that advertised a short biography of Yugi Motou, which included a short interview.
After copying the information down, Judai eagerly headed for the shelf the card said he'd find it at, and he ran his fingers along the spines, his heart growing more excited by the minute. This shelf was full of interviews of famous duelists! He spotted Jounouchi Katsuya's name; even a thin booklet that provided a copy of the interview with Seto Kaiba that he had glimpsed on TV when he was a little younger.
Sighing with happiness, Judai found the book he was looking for and pulled it from its shelf. He would have liked to take it out, but he didn't have his library card, and besides that, there wasn't any librarian to sign it for him. He couldn't just take it, after all.
Judai found a desk supplied with a lamp, and he switched it on, sliding slowly into the chair. The worst part about deathly silences like this was the fact that every minute sound you made would echo as loudly as if you'd have shouted.
Safely in the chair, Judai opened the book, and began to read.
Well, there, that's all for now. I know it sounds a little boring, but hopefully it'll get better soon! (Yeah, I know, when I came up with the plot, I just rattled off whatever was in my head.) Please review, as always.