Author's notes: Here is the next chapter of this story, and it's my birthday.
Toshiro: Hashira, don't overwork yourself.
FireWing Pegasus: You're just jealous cuz I get Olive Garden tonight and you don't.
Toshiro: -sighs- Hashira doesn't own anything, but her OC, please enjoy while I try to talk to my girlfriend.
Toshiro looked at Atemu to find he disappeared, along with Bakura and Marik. He looked at their lovers to see them sighing out of exhaustion and relief. Everyone hurried to class, while Toshiro was lost in thought. His mind strayed back to what Valon said and then back to what Atemu said, but he didn't want to believe it, he just wanted to get the reports done and everything dealt with so he could return to the Soul Society, which Atemu kept referring to as the afterlife. At the end of the school day, all exchange students got their papers which said, which student's house they were to stay at and where to look for those students. Ichigo and Toshiro were to stay at Yugi's house, Orihime and Rukia were to stay at Seto's mansion, and Uryu and Chad were to stay at Malik's house.
Toshiro and Ichigo walked until they saw the familiar tri colored star that signifyed Yugi. "Hi, Toshiro, hi Ichigo, I'm going to warn you, my grandpa, might be reading a porn magazine when we get to my house." Ichigo and Toshiro looked at him weird, "Okay." They said together. Yugi closed his eyes, and all of a sudden Atemu came out from behind a tree. He looked around Yugi cautiously and they all went on their way. "Why were you looking around cautiously Atemu?" Ichigo asked. Atemu sighed and said, "I guess I never fully got out of my old habits, from back before I was able to get a separate body like this. In fact, before Yugi even solved the puzzle, he was constantly bullied, even by Joey and Tristan. So I'm always on the lookout for bullies that might try to approach him or follow him home."
Ichigo and Toshiro nodded and they came upon the Kame Game Shop. "Wow Yugi, we're almost the same, only my dad runs a clinic/hospital as our house, though my dad is a perv like your grandpa." Ichigo said as he saw an old man at the cash register with a porn magazine in his hands. Yugi stopped and said, "Wait here, Atemu and I will go in first." Ichigo and Toshiro nod not really understanding what was going on. Through the windows, they saw the boys talk to an old man in green overalls, a bandana, and spiked iron grey hair. After a while, Yugi and Atemu came out from the game shop and said, "You can come in now." The nod and walk through the door.
The old man walked forward and said, "Hello, I'm Solomon Moto. This is our home. Come I'll show to your room, though there's enough room in Yugi's room for Toshiro to sleep in." He turned to Atemu and Yugi and said, "Which means, that's you're not allowed to do anything at night so everyone can get a good nights sleep for once." They pout, while things start clicking in Toshiro's and Ichigo's heads. They walk up the stairs to a room with a bed, a desk, and toys on the floor. "I'll clean it up." Atemu said as a purplish black mist forms on his hand. He moves his arm and the mist moves to the floor and cleans everything up. They look at him shocked and he said, "Shadow magic." They nod and Yugi takes Ichigo to his room, leaving Toshiro and the pharaoh in the same room. "You should unpack your stuff, Toshiro." Atemu said not looking at Toshiro. Toshiro nods and unpacks his stuff, especially his laptop so he can give his report to the Soul Society. "So, if you're from the afterlife," Atemu said before he was caught off by Toshiro saying, "Soul Society." "Right, the Soul Society, then why are you here in this realm?" "I am here to investigate a weird spiritual pressure in this town, all I know is that it's darker than that of a hollow's and is extremely powerful. It seems that spiritual pressure is emanating from your puzzle that's around Yugi's neck." Toshiro answered with narrow eyes. Solomon called from downstairs, "Boys, it's time for dinner." The boys look at each other, before nodding and going downstairs.
Earlier at school with Orihime and Rukia, they were looking around for Joey and Seto before they saw a limo approach. Seto and Joey appear, and Seto said, "Come on, we're going to my mansion." Orihime gawks at him while Rukia keeps on getting reminded of her brother, Byakuya Kuchiki. They step into the ride and Rukia said, "You know, my brother lives in a mansion too. So, I can be as polite as you want me to be." "You know, I'm starting to like you." Seto said. "So you like food, Joey?" Orihime asked. "Of course, If I wasn't as rich as I am, I'd go bankrupt from just the food bill alone." Seto laughed at Joey shot him dirty looks. "Well, even though I'm a guest, I'll make you all a treat." Orihime said as Rukia looked sick to her stomach.
The limo comes upon a huge mansion and Orihime said, "It's official this mansion is bigger than your brother's mansion Rukia." Rukia looked kinda ticked off and all of a sudden, a little boy with long black hair, grey eyes, red shirt with orange and white sleeves, jeans, and a blue bandana around his neck, ran towards them, mostly at Seto. "Big brother, you're home. And you brought girls." Orihime got one good look at him before squealing, "Ah he's so cute! He's absolutely adorable! What's his name?" The little boy looks at her like she's crazy and Seto said, "He's my little brother Mokuba." "Wow, it seems we all have siblings." Rukia said with curiosity. "What?" Seto asked. "Orihime had an older brother, who saved her from their abusive parents, until he died in a car accident 3 years ago." Rukia said while Orihime became sad. "Ah that's too bad, hey maybe I'll introduce you to my younger sister Serenity, some day." Joey said as they entered the mansion. "Here's a map, in case you get lost. I'll lead you to your rooms."
They nod and follow the hyper boy, who reminded them off a happy Ichigo, through the mansion. "Tomorrow, all of our friends are going to come here to the mansion, for the 1 year anniversary of Atemu and Yugi's Ceremonial duel. So, all of your friends can come as well." Joey said so they would know which totally confused the girls. "Well, here are your rooms." Joey said. "Thank you Joey." Orihime said as Rukia nodded. "So, are you really not of the living Rukia?" Joey asked with a slight shiver, as Mokuba came down the hall. "Three things that Joey is afraid of, besides losing the lives of everyone he cares about: Ghost, Zombies, and Mummies. Seto told me what you told him at school." Mokuba said as Joey looked ready to beat the kid up.
"So why are you here instead of the afterlife or whatever you wanna call it?" Joey asked as he calmed down. "I was already here in the world of the living, dealing with hollows along side Ichigo, when Captain Hitsugaya came to us and explained why he is here. You'll have to hear it from him." Rukia informed Joey.
"What are hollows anyway?" Joey asked slightly scared. "Fallen souls, souls that have not had the chance to go to the Soul Society or pass on as you would say. The soul wanders around in the world of the living until they are either eaten by another hollow or lose their hearts and become a hollow themselves. The body explodes and reforms to that of a monster and their heart disappears before becoming a skull mask on the hollow. Hollows eat the souls of the living and the dead. Hollows don't eat for the food, they eat to ease the suffering in their souls. Also when they become hollows, they usually attack those they were closest to in life first before eating other souls. Have you heard of widows soon following their husbands to the grave?" Rukia asked as Joey and Mokuba nod. "Their husbands ate their souls." Joey and Mokuba get a grim look on their faces.
"Hollows also usually target those with high spiritual pressures as their food. So, a hollow could attack any of your friends." Rukia informed them while Orihime looked like she was going to cry. "What's wrong Orihime?" Joey asked. "My brother became a hollow, he tried to attack me one night, he removed my soul from my body and so since I was technically a soul, I could see him even though I didn't know it was him. He was going to eat me, but Ichigo and Rukia saved me. Then when Ichigo was injured, he raised his hair out of the way and I saw where Ichigo removed part of the mask, it was him. Then after I got injured, he regained what humanity he had lost and took Ichigo's sword and removed the rest of the mask, and then went to stab himself with the sword. Rukia told me, that slaying a hollow isn't technically killing them, the zanpakuto just removes all sins created after death, it allows them to pass on, and so he stabbed himself so that he wouldn't kill me, as I was his younger sister. I still wear the hair braids he gave me the day he died." Orihime said as she was crying. Joey walked over to her and said, "I understand, if I was in the same position with my younger sister Serenity, I would do the same."
Mokuba looked at the time and said, "You know, if you want to make a dinner than we should do it now." Everyone looked at him and Joey said, "Alright food!" He ran down the hall until everyone heard a thump and yelling before quiet. They all walked down the hall and saw Seto making out with Joey. They all just passed by them and carried on to the kitchen.
Earlier at school with Uryu and Chad, they walked until they came upon the blond Egyptian with his rod in his hands. The thing glowed and they saw Marik come out from behind a tree. He came over and laid a kiss to Malik. Malik said, "Come on, we have to get home before I get in trouble with my sister and brother for being late. Chad, you'd like Odion, he's tall and quite like you. He can be very intimidating. Uryu, since I saw you entering the beautification club *cough* janitor's club* you would like my sister, for she likes to dress in the outfits from Egypt. Just don't go touching her or you will die by Marik and me." They look at him odd.
On the way to Malik's house, Malik sees them still looking at him odd so he said, "My family is weird, you can say. My family are the guardians to Atemu's tomb. We lived underground and only my mother and sister were allowed to leave, because of food. My mother died giving birth to me, so it was only our abusive dad, my sister, Odion, our adoptive brother, and me. When I was old enough, they dragged me to a room so I could have the Tomb Keeper's initiation carved on my back. I cried for Odion to help me, but he had to follow our laws so he could do nothing, even though he pleaded with father to do it on him instead of me. Odion was the most abused of any of us. Ishizu never got on his bad side and I never got that much. After the initiation, I was upset and blaming it on Atemu for the pain, that was when Marik finally reached me and tried to possess me in order to make me happy, and Odion appeared and had tattooed his own face to show his loyalty to me, my family, and also as a way to keep Marik from taking me over."
"I still want to get him back for that." Marik mumbled as Malik continued the story, "One day, I asked Ishizu if she could take me up here to the surface world and she was afraid of dad's wrath. I finally convinced her and I loved it up here compared to down there. When Ishizu finally got me back, we found dad, whipping Odion for helping us. He said he wanted to kill Odion and never wanted him to be part of the family and he was just a servant. Odion fell unconscious and Marik took over me."
"I had finally been able to take over Malik, and grabbed the Millennium Rod enabling me to have the rest of my soul flow into him. Ishizu tried to stop me, but I used the shadows and pinned her to the wall. I went over to the father who was yelling insults and me, or Malik, I couldn't tell. I pinned him to the wall and stabbed him to death with dagger feature on the Millennium Rod, while sending his soul to the shadows. Malik had forgiven me, a while back, because when you get sealed away in those items, you lose most of your memories, except in the pharaoh's place when he sacrificed his memories and name to seal away the evil destroying Egypt, leaving him with no memories at all and not even knowing his own name. I had very little of my memories as back in Ancient Egypt, I was know as the most psychotic of the group, even more than Bakura, as we were the terrible two who had pulled pranks ever since we what pranks were. So, by the time I had finally gotten free and was attacking Malik's father, I was about 98% insane, 2% just trying to help Malik out of what little memories I had along with having Malik's memories to rely on as well. After I was done with Malik's father, I went over to Odion, planning on doing the same thing so that I would be free from being sealed away again, but then he woke up and Malik got back control and he thought that it was his Atemu that killed his father. Anyways, if I hadn't done what I did, Malik's father would have killed Odion and punished the two of them, and they would still be stuck in that tomb." Marik explained as he saw Malik trembling slightly and he wrapped his arms around his lover to calm him down.
Uryu and Chad looked at the two with great pity while keeping a little distance between them, because Marik had killed someone. They all saw that they had made it to Malik's house. As they got to the front door, it was opened by a man as tall as Chad, deeply tanned, bald except for the ponytail on the back of the head, and a tattoo with hieroglyphics on the side of his face. Chad and him looked at each other, as if they were having a silent intimidation contest before they all entered the house. They saw a tall Egyptian woman, with long black hair, gold bands in her hair, a wise knowing face, a long Egyptian style dress, and a gold necklace around her neck, with an eye on the front. The woman said, "I am Ishizu, you have already met Odion, Malik and Marik. Odion will show you to your rooms, Uryu Ishida and Chad." They looked at her and asked, "How did you know our names?"
"She is the bearer of the Millennium Necklace, my sister 5,000 years ago, also wore it and reincarnated into her. It's powers is the ability to see the future. Trust me, once I saw her duel Seto in the Battle City tournament, and she could predict Seto's next card and move before he even drew the card and came up with a way to play it. The only reason she lost the duel is, because the Millennium Rod acted on it's own showing Seto a vision of the past, since High Priest Seto 5,000 years ago, was the previous owner of the Millennium Rod. Then, he did something no one else could expect, not even her, as he sacrificed one of the three most powerful cards in the game, so he could summon his Blue Eyes-White Dragon, why the hell would anyone sacrifice an Egyptian God monster so they could bring out a dragon. Anyways, since the necklace can't predict the future of those with Millennium items, she didn't see it coming and lost." Marik explained with an annoyed look on Ishizu's face. Uryu and Chad nodded and followed Odion to their rooms. Odion showed them their rooms and explained his past before they were called to dinner.
Back with Toshiro, Ichigo, Atemu, and the Moto family, they had finished dinner and Toshiro had taken out his laptop to give his report to the Soul Society, with every detail. Atemu was aware of this, but he didn't stop Toshiro, or use his shadow magic to get rid of the report, he just sat back and decided that if Toshiro was going to do that, then he would explain everything that happened today, with everyone that was going to meet at Seto's mansion tomorrow. When Toshiro finished the report, he saw Yugi was asleep on his bed curled up to Atemu, who was in spirit form. Atemu looked at Toshiro and said, "You know I could tell that you were giving a report on everything that happened today, to the Soul Society or whatever you want to call it." Toshiro looked at him with seriousness before climbing into his sleeping bag.
"You know, from what you had described of the Soul Society, I think the afterlife is better. The afterlife is something all Egyptians know about and look forward to. It is, in a sense, paradise. You can't die at all, you never get hungry, you get reunited with your loved ones unlike with your Soul Society, you can just relax and be with your loved ones and friends for all eternity. Though, there is one step before one can enter the afterlife, we must go through the Judgement of the Dead, also known as The Weighing of the Heart. It takes place in The Hall of Two Truths. There sits Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, and we are lead to giant scales by Anubis, the Egyptian god of mummification, he has an ankh, the Egyptian symbol for eternal life, in his left hand. We must present our heart to the gods who place it on the scales against the feather of Ma'at, the Egyptian goddess of order and justice. Then Ammit, the demon devourer of the dead, waits for the result. Thoth, the moon god records the result. If the heart and the feather are in balance with each other, Thoth will say to Osiris that the heart being weighed is true and just. Then we can proceed to the afterlife in freedom and peace, but if the heart is heavier than the feather, we and the heart, will be fed to Ammit, who is part crocodile, part lion, and part hippopotamus." Atemu explained to Toshiro, who was shocked that Egyptians had to go through that in order to enter their afterlife. "And, if we fail the test on account where it had already been proven of wrongs, we get sent to the underworld, where lies Osiris, Anubis, and Seth."
Toshiro stared at him, because of the differences in the way their cultures see the afterlife. Atemu looked at the time and said, "It's getting late, we will need our rest so we can cope with everything tomorrow will bring." Toshiro nodded and they both fell asleep.
Author's notes: That was a lot of info, and I didn't really pay attention for what happened with Malik's family, that is just from what I knew.
Toshiro: Different cultures have different afterlives, huh. I think this is a cliffhanger. Why do I have to sleep in Yugi's room.
FireWing Pegasus: So I can have 'the two hottest guys I know' both in the same room. -devilish smirk-
Toshiro: Why do I not like the way that sounds? Please review while I figure out what is wrong with Hashira's mind.