Valkyria: Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: I claim no rights to the anime/manga Yu-gi-oh
"I grew up with a silver spoon in my mouth. I was considered the "cream of the crop" by the age of fifteen. I'll admit that I was successful in what I did and felt like I owned the world. However, my sexually charged relationship with one little secretary has reminded me that the world doesn't always dance to your tune."
- Atemu Ishigami
Chapter Fifty-One - Perspective
"I take it the date didn't go well?"
Atemu scowled at the text wondering if it was beneficial to toss his phone into the pool just below his bedroom. That way he wouldn't have to put with Mana's condesending texts. Who was she to look down on him about his situation with Yuugi? He wasn't the only one making things difficult. Atemu visibly pouted at the thought. He couldn't force Yuugi to like him or rekindle the passion that once possessed them. The only thing he could do was be patient and draw the little one to him as he had done once before. Of course it would be more difficult, but Atemu was taught that if you wanted something you needed patience and the right opportunities.
Atemu snorted when his phone buzzed again-most likely Mana inquiring about his date. He didn't have the time nor the willpower to put up with her prodding questions.
Not without copious amounts of liquor.
She was a good girl and like a sister to him, but Mana had the tendency to interfere with matters that didn't include her. Her heart was in the right place-as it always claimed to be- but, this was his and Yuugi's problem. Not hers. He would make sure to inform of that notion when he saw her next.
Vaguely, he could hear his front door slam shut as he climbed out of bed. If that was Mana...
"Atemu! Darling, are you here?"
Atemu blinked, reached down and pinched himself on the cheek hard before he heard that melodic and authoritative voice again bouncing off the walls of his home.
"Atemu? Sweetie are you home?"
That couldn't be right...
That couldn't be his mother's voice asking if he was at home. What was she doing in Japan? She had no plausible reason to come to this country.
"Atemu?"
Atemu quickly bit his lip to stifle his groan at the sound of his father calling him this time around. Over the weeks, his father's health improved enough for him to participate in business matters, which was why his mother's arrival to Japan became more believable. Getting his father out of Egypt's heavy climate would be beneficial to his lungs, but Atemu was positive that there were plenty of places that benefited his father.
Hawaii to name one of them. Hell, the Bahamas would be better than Japan.
Don't get him wrong, Atemu loved his mother and father with every inch of his visible soul. It was just that his parents were a little eccentric when it came to his life. More than one occasion did Atem find himself on blind dates with woman and men that had nothing in common with him. It led to awkward situations that Atemu still had nightmares about.
It was sad that the fact that he was grown man did nothing to deter them.
The door to his room flew open and his mother in all her fine clothed glory stood in the doorway with suitcases, hat on her head and brimming grin that sent a chill down Atemu's spine. He cast a glance to the open window and wondered if he could make it to the pool without any broken limbs.
Probably not.
"Well." Rehema Ishigami huffed playfully. "No wonder you didn't hear me! You always were a heavy sleeper." Rehema stepped further into the room, her bare feet silent against the expensive blue carpet. "It's so good to see you again, baby."
Atemu continued sitting on the bed, wondering if this was a wild dream that he needed to wake up from. This was something that didn't happen very often. It wasn't often that his parents took the time to visit him mostly because they thought he craved independence-which he did, of course, but that didn't mean he didn't welcome the yearly or decade visits his parents spurned upon him. However, he wasn't exactly in a hosting mood and his mother had the tendency to make things ten times worse. It was a wonder that he didn't have premature gray hair when he was in her household. The horror she unleashed upon him when he was a young adult would have been a best seller.
"I-It's good to see you again as well, Mother." Atemu swallowed as his mother decided to look around his room, poking and prodding what he had in his closet, and on his laptop computer. She was nesting which meant she was in for a long stay.
Son of a bitch.
"It's good to see that you're up to date with fashion and keeping your house tidy." Rehema sniffed at the messy bed and clothes littering the floor of his bedroom. "Though, this room could do with a pick up. Don't you have a maid or butler?"
"No, mother, that's Seto who has the servants, not me." a the mention of his cousin, he wondered if Seto would take in his mother and father for a few days? They got on well enough and he knew his mother spoiled Mokuba rotten whenever she got the opportunity.
He began to reach for his phone when it went off with a text message that sent Atemu into a conniption fit.
Aunt Rehema and Uncle Aknamkanon have stopped by early this morning as to require about your well-being. I have no doubt that they have already invaded your territory. Before you began to call or text to beg for them to stay at my residence, let me put a stop that notion with a "No." I will not have them in my home invading my time with Jounouchi. You're "single" and have plenty of time to entertain your parents.
Godspeed.
Atemu snarled quietly and clenched the phone in his fist, hearing the plastic creak underneath his grip. His cousin was an asshole. A smart, manipulative, asshole who was always ten steps ahead and beat him to the punch when it came to his parents.
Godspeed, his ass.
The sound of snapping reached his ears and Atemu blinked when his mother's slim fingers appeared in his vision. He reached out and grabbed his mother's fingers just as she was about to snap again, smiling into her eyes when she blinked down at him slowly, giving him a curious look.
"Mana has been calling me." Rehema stated, taking a seat next to him on the bed. "She's been telling me about this Yuugi person that you've been infatuated with."
"I had no idea you were still talking to Mana." Atemu gritted his teeth at the thought of his mother and sister talking on the phone about him and his relationship with Yuugi. About all the ideas they could come up with to get them together or apart if his father had anything to do with it. It was a miracle that his father actually got around to propose to his mother seeing as he was always pleasing his own parents and being apart of Ishigami Corp.
"She loves me and I love her like a daughter which is the reason why she calls me to update me about your love life." Rehema patted him on the hand. "From what I gathered, this Yuugi person has been putting you through the ringer."
"It's not his fault." Atemu was quick to defend. "I'm as much as fault as he is in this situation, but mother, our relationship is getting better and there was no need for you to come here and-"
"Non-sense." Rehema waved his words away with a smile. "It has been ages since I've talked and looked at you, Atemu. I want to see my son." Rehema grabbed his face and pinched his cheeks. "I have missed you, Atem."
Atemu flushed at the shortening of his name. His mother was quite fond of it and always called him that when he was smaller. It made him feel like a child that was loved and spoiled. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he was fond of the name himself and loved it when his mother called him that. It was a secret that he was going to take to the damn grave.
"I missed you too, Mother." Atemu glanced toward the open door. "How is Father? What did the doctor tell you?"
"He's recovering faster than the doctors predicted." Rehema smiled, relieved at the information. "He recommended a vacation and we thought Japan would be the perfect place because he wanted to see you and the air is good for his lungs. I can't wait until he can get around again. I know he loves running the Egyptian Branch of Ishigami Corp and he misses his lunches with Bakura."
"Bakura? Asim's son?" Atemu blinked at the thought of Bakura, who was a rebellious man who never did what his father wanted. "He's a Horse Breeder now, isn't he? Lucrative business from what I heard."
"It's very successful and he's in a very committed relationship with a man named Ryou." Rehema pursed her lips at the thought. "I do hope they be careful. Homosexuality isn't looked on with favor in Cairo or in Egypt in general."
"Bakura seems like a smart enough man not to get caught, Mother. I'm sure he and Ryou will be fine. And if worse come to worse, Bakura could always move his business to another location."
"I have no doubt that Bakura will be able to recover, but enough about Bakura, I want to talk about Yuugi Motou." Rehema gripped his hand and stared into his eyes. "Tell me about him."
Atemu swallowed before pouring his heart out to his mother about Yuugi. He explained how they met and how he hired Yuugi no more than three years ago so that he could take care of his grandfather. He told her about the sexual tension that was so thick between them that it could be cut in half. He told her about the party and how they slept together and the consequences that followed. It hurt talking about Yuugi like he was in the past, but there was a part of him that felt like their relationship was past the point of salvation and it hurt.
It hurt to think there was no point of return with his relationship with Yuugi and no matter what he did, he would never have his happiness with his little one.
His mother, however, didn't seem to have the same opinion for she slapped him on the back head while giving him a withering glare. He hissed and returned the look with one of his own.
"Idiot." Rehema muttered. "Both of you are a pair of idiots and this reminds me so much of your father that I feel like I'm living in this relationship. Atemu Ishigami, I want you to go find this young man and apologize."
"But-"
"Now." Rehema rose from the bed and tugged him up and pushing him toward the closet. "Go get dressed and get your keys, I'm going with you."
"No, mother, you are not going with me to Yuugi's-"
"If you don't go get showered and dressed then I'm telling your Father about what happened when you were seventeen." Rehema folded his arms. "It's still warrants some kind of punishment."
"What did I do when I was seventeen-" Atemu paled, swallowed and practically fled into the bathroom, the memory of what he did as a foolish seventeen year old flashing into his mind. There was no way he was going to let that incident out into the open.
Yuugi, in advance, I'm so sorry about what's going to happen.
