No. 2: Thou Shall Let Sleeping Pharaohs Lie

The first thing that Li made Yami do was introduce her to her friends. Wait, not just his friends, everybody! She pulled him downstairs, clinging to his arm. Everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them. Yami felt so humiliated.

When they got to the table where his friends were, he saw they had already emptied their trays and were waiting for the bell to ring.

"Oi, there you are, Yami," Jounouchi called to him. Then he noticed Li clinging to him like a dryer sheet. "Why do you have a munchkin with you?"

Yami had his face turned down to the floor as he stepped on one of the seats and stood on the table. He cleared his throat. People were already looking at him when he stood on the table. He glanced down at Yugi who was utterly confused at his friend's actions.

"Everybody," Yami began. He didn't realize how quiet the commons could be. "This…This is my girlfriend, Li Yarutso."

Li jumped on the table and took his arm as she kicked her leg up. "That's right!" No one said anything; they only looked at the pair with shocked faces. Yami looked down to see Yugi, but found to see that he had disappeared.

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"So, Yami," Jou said as they entered back in the classroom, "You have a girlfriend. I thought you said you didn't want one right now. She different?"

"Oh yeah," Yami said, nearly sarcastically, "She's different alright." Then he noticed that Yugi had not returned. He looked at up at his friends that had circled around him. "Where's Yugi?"

"He got a pass to go to the library," said Anzu. Yami looked away; was Yugi mad at him?

The teacher came in and it was back to work. Yami gazed out the window again and was only left with his humiliation. He could even see the pharaoh him smacking him in the head with a rock that said 'no dignity'and 'shame' . To make his day worse, the teacher gave out a pop quiz, and Yami was definitely not good at trigonometry.

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"Damn man," Honda said, "You made a sixty? That sounds like one of Jou's grades."

Yami looked down at the quiz paper he had in his hands. "I just had my mind on other things." He looked around. They had just exited the school and were crossing the grounds when Yami realized Yugi had never come back. "Where's-"

"Hey guys," Yugi came running up to them from inside the school.

"Where've you been?" Yami asked.

"In the library, I had to work on a project that's due sometime." Yugi said as they began walking again. They got half way down the street when a high-pitched voice called out-

"Yoo-hoo! Yami-koi!"

They looked to see Li sitting on one of the rails with her legs crossed and her blonde hair flying in the wind as she smiled her brilliant teeth at them.

Oh no, Yami thought as she walked over to them.

"I was thinking that you and I could go to the arcade or something together," she said as she snaked her arm around his.

"Uh, I was hoping to go with my friends down to the docks." By her glint in her eyes, she was not happy.

Li turned to Yugi and smiled at him. "Yugi Mouto, right?" He nodded. "I really like your wardrobe, very….school-like."

Yugi looked at her confused. They all were wearing the exact same school uniforms so why should his be different? "Um, thanks."

"Do you always wear your school uniforms or do you-"

"Ah, you know what? The arcade sounds great," said Yami hurriedly. He put a hand to Li's shoulder, "Let's go, Li. I'll meet you up later guys." He waved bye to them as he walked in the opposite direction.

"He has been acting so weird today," Anzu said.

Serenity agreed with her. "And why would he want to date someone like Li?" she asked.

Her older brother turned to her, "You know her?"

She nodded. "She's in my class, and is known for grabbing the spotlight and getting what she wants. There's rumor she blackmails the teachers to get her good grades."

Honda gazed down the road where his friend and his girlfriend traveled down. "You don't think she's blackmailing Yami, do you? Like maybe she found out about him being a pharaoh."

Jounouchi shook his head, "Nah, who would believe her story. She going around saying Yami is actually a five thousand year old spirit? They'd have her in the nut house."

Anzu nodded. "Still, I'm unsure about this. What about you, Yugi?"

Yugi was gazing at the ground and his gaze followed up to hers. It looked like he had just woken up from a daydream. "Uh, you guys think too much about it. C'mon lets go." He nodded his head in the direction they were going.

"But Yugi," Serenity began, but stopped. Yugi just kept walking ahead. Everybody glanced at each other before they caught up with him.

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Yami was leaning against the side of the building and Li was standing in front of him with her arms crossed and a smile on her face. Night had reached over them and the quarter moon hung in the sky above with clouds signaling a rain.

"What do you want now?" Yami asked.

She smiled at him, beaming at him. She would've been cute if she wasn't a manipulating bitch. "Well, I've decided on some grounds."

Yami raised an eyebrow, "Grounds?"

She nodded. "Since you are so cute, I will give back your cards, one day at a time. For every date, I'll give you a monster. For every time you call me your girlfriend or koi, I'll give you a spell or trap card. And for every kiss you give me, I'll give you one of each."

"What about the picture?"

"I'm saving that for later."

Yami narrowed his eyes. "How do I know you still have the picture?"

She reached in the front of her blouse and pulled up a thin gold chain with a rather large broach on it. She opened it up and showed him the picture of Yugi in the dress. She had cute around the edges to fit inside. "I'll wear this everyday so you know I'll have it, deal?"

Yami saw no way out of it so he just grunted. He looked down at his watch and saw how late it was. "I've gotta go." He tried walking past her, but she held out her arm to stop him. "What now?"

"You've gotta give me a goodnight kiss," she said, "Don't you want some of your cards back?"

Yami gulped as she inclined her head towards him. He hated to do it, but he had to. His lips met with hers.

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Yami sighed as he walked down the street with three cards in his hand. It was way past his curfew and it started sprinkling. Yami felt so low at this moment that he couldn't hang his head that low. He was about to walk into the shop, when the door flew open before he touched the handle.

"Yami!" He looked and saw Yugi looking at him with large concern eyes that were recovering from worry. "Where have you been? It's nearly midnight!"

"I'm sorry," Yami muttered.

"Why didn't you call or tell us you'd be late!"

"I didn't mean to-"

"Do you have any idea how worried I've been? An hour later I would have called the authorities!"

"Geez, I said I was sorry, what more do you want me to do, beg on my knees and cry?" He pushed past Yugi who furrowed his brows at him. He ignored the look and walked up the stairs as he heard Yugi slam the door and walk after him.

They both entered the room they shared and neither talked while they got ready for bed. Yugi brushed his teeth while Yami climbed into bed. He heard Yugi finish and walk over to his bed, but he didn't look at him. It was a tense silence as neither one said a word. The lamplight made the room glow deep orange and calming and Yami stared at the shadows on the wall.

Yugi looked at the back of Yami's head. He felt very guilty about yelling at him just because he was late coming home from a date. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Yami closed his eyes. His heart was shrinking at Yugi's words. None of this would be happening if Li wasn't in the picture. "It's okay." He could've apologized, too, but he was holding onto what dignity was left.

He heard Yugi rustle under his covers and turn out the lamp, casting everything into a deep blue darkness. Yami sighed through his nose. He hadn't felt this awful since Egypt. In addition, he couldn't sleep.

Yami watched the clock slowly tick minutes by, playing games with himself as he tried matching the seconds. He was tired, very tired, but he just sat up, watching the clock. When a pink and yellow hue streaked across the floor, Yami looked out the window to see the rising sun. He looked over at Yugi who was still sleeping; his mouth slightly slack and you could hear his even breath escape his lips. Pretty soon, Yugi would be getting up; he never used an alarm clock.

And just like he predicted, Yugi stirred and lifted his head up. His eyes were only squints as he tried to focus the room, and he blinked in surprise as he looked at Yami smiling at him.

"You're up early," Yugi said in a hoarse, tired voice.

Yami smiled, "I didn't sleep."

This made Yugi sit up. "You didn't sleep?" Yami shook his head. You could tell by his eyes he was very tired. "At all?" Again, he shook his head. "You must be tired."

"Exhausted," Yami said as he fell back on his futon.

"Then why didn't you sleep?"

"I dunno. I guess I didn't feel like sleeping." It seemed they both forgot about last night. "I'm okay though, I'll get through school and probably take a nap after school."

Yugi nodded as he stood up and got ready for school. Yami also got ready and they both went down for breakfast that Yugi's grandfather was cooking. "Morning Jii-chan," Yugi said as he came bounding down the stairs.

"Morning Yugi," Grandpa said as he flipped bacon over onto one of the plates.

Yami came down the stairs a little after Yugi. "Hey Jii-chan."

"Hey Ya-Holy crap!" Grandpa turned around to see him, and Yami raised an eyebrow at him. "Were you hit by a truck in your sleep?"

"Do I look that bad?" Yami moved over to the mirror that hung on the wall. "Holy crap I do!" His face was pale and his eyes had bags under them, and he looked just plain tired.

"You gonna be okay for school?" Grandpa asked as he set down the boys' plates.

"I'll be fine, Jii-chan."

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The history teacher droned on and on with her monotone voice. Jounouchi was passing notes between Honda and Ryou, Anzu was reading a novel underneath her desk, and Yugi was dotting down some notes, but his cheek was in his palm and he looked bored.

"-then when Germany crossed into Russia, that would be this country here, the Russians retreated and burned down their lands. Can anyone tell me why? Anyone? They burned down their land so the Germans wouldn't be able to get supplies because it was winter and Russia has very harsh winters. Can anyone tell me why? Anyone? That's because Russia is in the nor-"

:Thunk:

"Waah!" Yami lifted his head up after it hit the desk.

"Mr. Atemu," said the teacher in the same monotone voice. Everyone looked at Yami who blinked at the teacher. "Do you think you can stay awake for my class?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry. I didn't get much sleep last night," Yami told her, very embarrassed when the class started giggling.

"No excuses, Mr. Atemu. Get more sleep next time." He nodded and class went on.

As school continued, Yami didn't get any better. During gym he spaced out and got hit in the head with a basketball. During chemistry, he couldn't concentrate on what chemicals he was using and it overflowed. During lunch, he got hot sauce confused with mustard and freaked when he bit into his hamburger. Now it was break and the gang was sitting in front of the school with their dueling deck out. Yami gazed at them in envy.

"You wanna duel Yami?" Yugi asked as he pointed to his own deck. Since today they had a break, they were able to bring anything they wanted to use for break.

Yami sighed sadly. Damn, he missed dueling. It was like a drug for him, and he was forced not to. "Sorry, I can't. I forgot my deck."

"You forgot your deck on break day?" Jounouchi shook his head, "That ain't like ya, man. You must be out of ya mind."

"C'mon, he didn't get any sleep last night," Yugi defended.

"Yeah," Yami said lowly. That's why he didn't have his deck. Then to hear something that made his ears sting.

"Yoo-hoo! Yami!" Li was waving him over and he had to hold in a groan. As he walked over to her, she grabbed him by the jacket and pulled him behind one of the buildings. "You were supposed to meet me in the library during lunch!" she hissed at him.

Yami raised an eyebrow at her, "I was?"

"Yes you were!" She put her finger and wiggled it in front of his face, "I wrote you a note and stuffed it in your locker. It told you specifically when and where to meet me, but instead you had lunch with your moron friends."

"Hey don't call my friends morons."

"Do you want this picture back?" She pointed to her broach. Yami didn't say anything. "Then you do as I say, or this'll be all over the school. I'll make copies of them and send them to every student to humiliate your little friend."

Yami balled up his fist. If she had only been a guy. If only he was pharaoh and ruled over her. He played different scenarios in his head that amused him. "Then what do you want me to do?" He didn't like it when she gave him that evil smile.

When Yami came back over to his friends, they all just stared at him. He glared a warning at them not to laugh, even though it was hard not to.

Across his forehead read 'I love Li-chan'.

Yugi only glanced at it while the others were awestruck. He definitely did not like Li, and there were few he didn't like.

This was war.

(A/N): drool