Yush! A Yu-Gi-Oh story that sorta sprung into my head randomly, and I hope my Muse will carry on with the idea. If you'd like to give her some support and motivation, leave a review with your thoughts, comments, suggestions and all and anything else you'd like to say via the comment box or PM.

Main pair is going to be SetoxAnzu, but I'm sorta toying around with an AtemxShizuka inclusion, and I do love JounouchixMai. I'm also kinda tempted to pair Ishizu up (because I love her) and somehow I keep imagining her with Thief Bakura. So let me know if you would like to see all or any of those couples included in the story, and I'll see what I can do ^_^

And now, without further ado, read on and enjoy; here goes:

Sorrow of the Deceiver

Chapter 1

Unfulfilled Wish

The outpour of stark, glaring white light blinded him completely during the few seconds where the thick, heavy doors before him were drawing themselves asunder like a curtain. He heard the grinding of stone against stone and the meek rustle of falling pebbles, the gasps of stun from behind him as his friends all squinted or raised their hands to shield their eyes from the garish radiance as well. Finally... Finally. Almost home. He was almost home, released, liberated, free... Soon to be dead, too, but more than ready to walk the Otherworld with everyone who had waited patiently for him to join them. For thousands of years they'd waited and now, at last, they would be reunited.

His heart was pacing, pounding, leaping over itself as his eyelashes fluttered gently, hesitant in parting their thin mesh in front of his vision which was blurry at first but began clearing itself up until he was staring ahead of himself with wide, open eyes. They were all there... Everyone. Karim, Shada, Isis... Mana, boisterous and happy as always, waving her hand at him with joyful zest. Master Shimon, Akunadin and the Pharaoh, his father, standing strong and solemn behind them, a hint of a smile on his veteran face. Priest Seto, and Mahado... All of them, right there, in the light. Waiting.

He looked down on his hands and noticed his skin. It was his skin, not the pale substitute but the perfect, dark tan of a boy who had spent his life under the blazing sun of his homeland. The clothes of the present were gone as well, replaced by a garb much more suiting and so undeniably familiar now that his memories was fresh and vivid in his mind again. The white tunic and all the gold adorning it, the blue coat and the exquisite jewelry wrapping itself around his toned body - wrists, shins, upper arms, shoulders, ears and... reaching up, he touched the aureate millennium symbol gracing his forehead, held in place by the equally aureate circlet buried in his spiked hair.

He was no longer a prisoner of the puzzle, a ghost trapped in a teenager's subconsciousness, the Other Me. He had a name now. He was himself now. Atem. A ruler, a friend, a person... A pharaoh.

He took a tiny step and then one more, towards the opened door, towards the light, towards his family and friends. So close, he could almost reach out and touch them. The smile drew itself upon his lips lightly and naturally and all of them smiled back, warmly and invitingly. Almost as if saying... Welcome home, Atem.

His father stepped forward and extended his hand out, and he mimicked the gesture, reaching... Until his fingers bumped into an obstacle. His eyes narrowed in confusion and shock both, pressing his hand flat against the invisible wall that was right there even though he could not see it. The dear, precious faces behind it mirrored the same expression - incomprehension, stun, agitation. What...? How? Why...? He pressed his hand to the unseen blockade in his path and pushed, but whatever it was, it didn't bulge. It wouldn't let him pass and his heartbeat exploded into an anxious staccato within his swiftly constricting chest. No. No, no, no.

"Atem! What's wrong?" Yugi's voice sounding from behind him, still affected by the tears of sadness and departure he'd just been spilling.

"I- I don't know..." The pharaoh whispered, aghast, and tried pushing at the invisible wall in front of him again, with both hands and the entirety of his weight now. To no avail.

Running up to him, Yugi tried it as well, with the same effect. Whatever it was, it was there and it was solid, and it would not let him pass. It would not let him cross over to where all the most important people of his past were. All of them had come up to the other side of the wall by now, trying to touch it and push it and hit at it yet there were a few feet distance between them and him and it remained there, insurmountable.

"Father..." A stifled word passed his lips as he watched the man standing right there on the other side. In that moment Atem had sounded nothing of a mighty ruler able to summon godly beasts to fight his battles. In that one moment, he had sounded like a lost child calling out for their parent to help them.

He couldn't hear the answer, he just saw his father's lips moving, mouthing his name. Mana's eyes were filled with tears and her lips, too, kept forming those syllables. Atem... Atem... Atem...

"Atem!"

The sudden boom of the insistent voice to his side startled him. He glanced to his left, seeing Jounouchi and Honda there. What were they doing? Why were they holding at one side of the door... Benumbed, it took Atem a long moment to realize that the doors were slowly but surely sliding back shut again. The grinding of stone on stone... the rustle of pebbles...

No. No, no, no, no...

"No!" He exhaled in a desperate whisper, the ground slipping from under his feet as he fell to his knees instead, uncaring about the split of skin upon impact. Wet warmth on his cheeks, trickling down to leave a salty taste in his mouth as it slipped over his lips parted a crack in a perpetual, silent scream. It couldn't be...

His friends, his family, his home, all right there in front of his misery-filled eyes and yet unattainable. Unreachable, like fate was laughing cruelly in his face while it twisted up in a mask of sheer agony. They were calling for him, he could see it, and yet their voices remained muted. He could do nothing... Only reach up and put a hand to that accursed, invisible barrier, feeling the coldness against his palm while the doors kept closing on him, despite his friends' best efforts to stem against the sliding halves with all their strength.

Soon enough there was all but a small crack left, his hand in danger of being squashed between the two stone halves of the door even though he could not have cared less in that moment, watching all he had ever wanted disappear in front of him. Somebody gripped him from behind and yanked him away; he neither resisted nor protested, continuing to stare ahead with a transfixed stare until the doors met in the middle with rough, booming sound that echoed thousandfold inside his head, reverberating in his ears.

"What the hell just happened?!" Honda's agitated voice, followed by Jounouchi's: "How would I know?!"

Somebody touched his hand, gripping it tight with both of their own. "Aibou. Aibou! Can you hear me?! Answer me, please!" More people gathering all around him, someone giving him a light shake.

"Oi! Oi, Atem! Come on, man, snap out of it!"

"What's wrong with him?! Do you think his soul is-" Anzu broke off, he heard her stifle a sob.

"I hear you..." His own inflection, soft and hollowed out, rang throughout him in a tremble of his body. "I hear you. I'm still here. I'm still here..." He didn't register the tears that kept pearling down his sorrow-traced face. He was still here. Still here... He shouldn't be. He shouldn't be. He didn't want to be. He had almost been home... Home...

"We'll fix this, Aibou. We'll get you home. I promise." Their minds were not one anymore, but it seemed like his partner could still intuit his thoughts and emotions well enough, or maybe his crushed expression and slumped posture simply spoke for themselves.

"Hey Marik, what gives?! Did you read that prophecy of yours correctly? Maybe Atem was supposed to win in order to go back?!"

He kept on staring at his hands while Jounouchi shouted his questions. They were still his hands. Tanned and calloused and graced by gold at the wrists. He'd been supposed to go home. Why was he still here? Why...

"No, I'm sure it was correct." Ishizu answered for her brother, sounding as lost and baffled as any one of them. "He changed his appearance... he was ready to go... I'm sure he saw the Other Side, too, he'd seemed so happy..."

"I saw them." He confirmed dully, still staring at his hands, useless and powerless as they were. "Mahado, Mana... Master Shimon... My father... They were there. They were waiting..." Waiting for him. Five thousand years long... and the chance at reuniting with them had been taken from him. Was he to wait another five thousand now? He couldn't... He didn't want to... Gods of Heaven, please don't make him do this all over again.

He raised his hands and gripped his head, dropping it down as he slouched over on the ground and stilled, silent and motionless, his eyes clenched shut.

"I'm so sorry, Aibou..."

A hand on his back, stroking it forlornly. He couldn't feel any comfort from that touch. Just a sharp ache in his chest, tearing at him from the inside until he felt like punching through his own ribcage and ripping that crippled, suffering, beating muscle out of it. Toss it off and away, just to stop the pain.

"Something must have gone wrong. Someone or something must have interfered." Marik murmured helplessly. The prophecy could not have been wrong, it simply could not have. The doors had opened. But why had the Pharaoh been unable to pass through them? Neither he nor anybody else present in the room knew the answer.

"Whatever this is... Maybe we should all take a breather for now. All of this has been emotionally taxing, especially for Yugi and the Pharaoh, I'm sure." Shizuka's quiet remark refocused everybody's attention on the two people in question, one cowering on the floor and the other fruitlessly trying to comfort him.

"Shizuka is right. Come on, Yugi. Atem." Gently, Jounouchi placed a hand on the pharaoh's shoulder, supported by Yugi's brokenhearted "Let's go, Aibou..." It still felt rather weird, not to have his Other Self around in his subconsciousness anymore. Strange, and a bit... empty. But Atem was his own person now, a real individual with a mind and a body of his own as well. He had felt the yearning to be back home from the him when they'd still been one, and it was breaking his heart to know that wish had been denied. He couldn't image how much his Other Self must be hurting right now, and he didn't know how to make it better either.

Atem chose to rise without aid, mildly jerking his arm out of Jounouchi's grasp as the blonde tried to help him get back onto his two feet. His steps were burdened but firm when he walked out of the circle his friends had formed around him, keeping his head low and the detached expression on it halfway hidden, stopping near Ishizu who was standing a bit aside.

"Which way is the sleeping chamber...?" He asked, the woman needing a moment to comprehend the meaning behind it.

"You wish to stay in the tomb?" As was his right, she guessed... This one-

"It was meant for me, wasn't it?" He finished her trail of thoughts out loud. "It's as close to home as I can get right now."

She bowed her head small. "As you wish, Pharaoh." There was a note of reverence in the title as it passed her lips, with his memories back and dressed down like a true ruler of the lands of Nil, his presence was formidable even with the emotional oppression that currently weighed on his spirit.

"Aibou-"

"Forgive me, Yugi, all of you. But I wish to be alone for a bit."

Yugi lowered his head in wordless understanding to the quiet yet resolute statement. He guessed it was only fair... Given all he'd just been through and the fact that he never really had some alone-time ever since they'd met...

About to proceed and follow after Ishizu who'd stepped ahead, Atem was forced to stop as another obstacle got into his path. It had the form of a young, slender girl with short brown hair and clear blue eyes which shone brightly with compassion and sympathy, both something he could barely bear to see right now.

"Atem... I know it's hard for you right now but-"

"Not now, Anzu, please." He interrupted with a detached, resolute kind of way. Not this, not here. Not now.

"I just want to help." She insisted softly. "I'm your friend-"

"Forgive me." He cut her off midsentence again, feeling a sting of vexation. He didn't want to be snapping at people in his grief, and she needed to get out of the way. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and feelings, for a moment in time he simply wanted to unravel, away from prying eyes. "I don't feel like I can stomach a pep-talk right now. I know you're good at them but this is nothing words can fix."

Seeing him like that hurt. Hearing what she heard hurt, too. Anzu wanted to make it better, all of it. Something. Anything. He attempted to get past her, causing her to run ahead of him again and place herself in his way another time. "Atem, please, I just want to help. Please let me help you. Tell me how."

It was then that something flashed up in his eyes, something authoritative and vexed and... distant. He gripped her by the shoulders, his hands leaden in their weight as they squeezed down hard. "Anzu. I can't." He stressed that word desperately and exasperatedly alike, and what he said next struck her with the force of a tornado. "I appreciate your sentiments and I'm flattered, I truly am. But I can't return your feelings. I'm really sorry." They both seemed very clearly aware of what he was talking about in that very moment, and it had nothing to do with her harmless try to offer succor and alleviation.

He'd known. He'd always known, hadn't he... And this was how he'd always felt about it, too... She had made such a fool of herself. She looked past him to her friends, the expressions on their faces, the looks in their eyes. They all understood, didn't they. They all knew exactly what was happening. What had been happening... What would never happen, too.

His grip on her shoulders slackened and she stepped away, saying not a syllable more and appearing like she'd shrunken ten sizes in that one moment. Unrequited... It echoed dumbly in her head. Unrequited, unrequited, unrequited. All this time... From here on out... Always.

Once Ishizu and Atem exited the room, Seto Kaiba was the next to depart.

"This was a monumental waste of time on my part, but you kids enjoy your drama."

Jounouchi grimaced at the aloof comment. "Yeah, screw you too, Kaiba. Get a heart transplant or something, since you seem to be severely lacking one."

Scoffing, the young CEO gave his brother a little nudge to get going. "Idiocy like that is why you will never have either money or success, mutt. Jealousy doesn't become you, either."

"You-!"

"Leave him be, Jounouchi." Honda tried to pacify, holding his hot-tempered friend back while Otogi added an offhanded: "Yeah. Trying to change Kaiba is like trying to freeze the sun."

Starting off towards the exit to the loose swish of his impeccable silver coat, Seto snorted in mock amusement. "Well, at least one of you brave little power rangers gets it. Have fun continuing to dabble in your fantasies of saving the world from monsters." And with that, he was gone.

Jounouchi huffed in a mix of affront and anger. "What a jerk. Like he hadn't been in there with us, seeing it all with his very own two eyes." He sighed in resignation then, and waved his hand dismissively in the direction the gaming industry mogul had vanished in. Otogi was right, there was no changing that pompous bloke.

Clearing his throat, Marik offered a change of topic. "Well... come on, you guys. I'll drive you to the hotel." The one they'd booked in hopes of taking a small vacation after this business was over with. To forget the pain of saying goodbye, to make some good memories, to relax while there was so much free time on their hands. But now... It looked like all the plans got cancelled. The goodbyes, the relaxation and the good time.

"Go on ahead, you all." Anzu said softly, causing Honda to cock a brow in confusion.

"What do you mean? You're not coming with?"

She shook her head mildly. "I sort of... want to be alone for a moment, too." She lifted her gaze and forced a smile onto her lips, crossing gazes with Marik. "On your way out, please ask Ishizu if she could give me a lift once she's done here."

He nodded. "Of course."

Passing her by, Shizuka stopped briefly, gingerly touching the older girl's arm in concern and consideration. "You sure you'll be okay down here?"

Still bravely upholding her faint smile, Anzu stroke the other girl's shoulder reassuringly. "Yeah... "

Shizuka gave her one more worried glance and a warm, strong hug before finally conceding. "Alright, then."

In another minute or two all that remained of Anzu's friends were their fading footsteps in the distance. Walking over to the solid double doors that had denied Atem his passage, she carefully brushed her fingers over the fissure marking where same doors had met together to seal off the Beyond from everyone. Why...? Did it even matter now? She could not deny that at first, she had been a little bit happy about it. She had felt and sympathized with his pain, but a small part of her had been overjoyed, chanting to her mind - he's still here. He's still here. You still have a chance. A chance to try, a chance to convey what you feel, a chance to maybe, maybe...

But all those dreams were nothing but shattered glass at her bare feet now. And now, she began taking her steps upon them, letting the realization sink in little by little, letting the sharp edges cut into her and draw first blood. The tears came all by themselves, quiet at first and flowing faster and stronger with each passing second, until a sob broke out of her pressured chest and then another and one more, and she slumped down along those closed doors, pressing her palm to her mouth and crying into it, feeling the warm, salty paths trickle over the back of her hand as it trembled against her lips.

I appreciate your sentiments and I'm flattered, I truly am.

Rejection, real and painful. The thing she had feared most, the thing that had always forced her to keep it all enclosed so deep within she thought nobody would ever notice. But he had, hadn't he. Yugi as well...? Did he fell the same, too...? Her shoulders were jerking gently in rhythm to her jagged gasps. It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt...

But I can't return your feelings. I'm really sorry.

Why...? Gods, why. Why couldn't it all be different. Why, why, why...

Anzu. I can't.

I can't.

I can't.

...can't return your feelings.

I'm really sorry.

...really sorry.

...sorry.

"Is he really worth crying over?"

She startled, flinching and shooting back up to her feet, swirling around to stare wide-eyed at the tall, well-build silhouette standing in the etched doorframe, leaned casually against it with a stout shoulder.

"Kaiba-kun..." She exhaled in stun. "What are you still doing here?" She'd thought he'd left. Why was he back? And why alone?

Seto leisurely pushed himself away from the doorframe, entering the room and approaching the taken aback girl in a nonchalant, self-assured stride. "I asked you a question first." The distance between them was shrinking quite rapidly with every step he took in that characteristically lofty, proud gait emphasized by the elegant trail of his stylish coat behind him.

"That's none of your business." She snapped defensively, embarrassed to have him seeing her in such condition and a bit intimidated by his approach as well.

The corner of his mouth twitched upward in a subtle smirk. "Then me still being here is none of yours."

And then he was so close so suddenly that Anzu stumbled back a step only to bump her finely cambered flipside into hard stone. Seto was barely half-an-armlength away now and it was causing her stomach to clench in agitation before her heart skipped a beat when he made another quick step, now definitely invading personal space. Thus her dainty hands shot out to attempt and push him away, however his reflexes were amazing in that regard, catching her wrists in a blink and pinning them either side of her smart head which began to spin, hearing the blood rush in her ears when his body pressed against hers in some incredibly clever way that left her trapped between him and the wall.

"What are you-!" She tried to wriggle free to no avail, her ample bosom fluctuating fast and rather precariously against his sturdy chest. She couldn't understand it... what was going on?! What was he doing, and why?! "Kaiba! Let go of me, you jerk!" Attempting the ultimate move of any captive, desperate woman, she tried to bend her knee right into his crotch. That only ended up with same knee captured between his thighs and a small shift of those was enough to force her to freeze in all motion altogether. It wasn't hurtful so long as she didn't try to move and thus she didn't, because the slightest wriggle of her trapped knee would strain the expertly pressured joints in a way that was legitimately painful.

The gaze of her frightened eyes cut into the equally blue pair right in front of them, even though fright wasn't the only thing that her clear, blue orbs reflected - there was also fight in them, a headstrong kind of ire that graced her with a very particular, attractive sort of charm, bringing an indefinable flicker to the icy counterparts that stared into her own with a haughty and yet curious expression.

"What is it you see in him, anyway? I know girls like older guys, but five thousand years old guys? What's so appealing about a walking mummy?" The ridicule in his voice brought a healthy red color to Anzu's cheeks, the hue born out of a mix of anger and mortification.

"Shut up! What would you know about appeal, anyway?!" Hissing, her delicate hands yanked against their living shackles, however his long fingers were too firm a bind around her thin wrists and he was actually a lot stronger than she would have given him credit for. "He's ten times the man you are!" If she couldn't hurt him physically, she could at least dish out a blow to his ego, even though she didn't stop to think if that was all too advisable considering her current position.

He chuckled; a smoky, dark sound that caused her to shiver involuntarily. "Ah. Perhaps that's too much man for somebody as weak and naive as you then." She rebelliously refused to jerk her head away as he leaned in to her ear, feeling his breath ghost against the sensitive skin there. "All this time you trailed after him so faithfully, and he kicked you like a puppy he didn't want."

The sentences were poison, a knife twisted in fresh wounds, smothering her voice to a shaky whisper. The trails of her tears still fresh on her cheeks, they were now being renewed as those crystal droplets began escaping her eyes yet again. "Shut up, you goddamn asshole! Just shut up..." Why was he doing this?

Reclining, Seto met her eyes once more, filled with brilliant moisture as they were, and yet still they valiantly stared right back at him through the salty veil clouding them, stubborn and spirited and beautifully rancorous. She looked ready to kill him on the spot if she only could, yet all she did in the very next moment was suck in a sharp gasp when he angled his head and claimed her lips with his in a keen, forceful kiss.

Anzu's whole body tensed up against his, only bringing them all the closer together and the feel of his mouth on hers was... infuriating, pleasant, unwanted, comforting, offensive, good, confusing... Overwhelming. Overpowering in a sense that she was unable to protest despite herself, by sound or motion or even thought, just... accepting it and letting it happen because underneath the refusal and indignation, it also brought a warm and inviting sensation with it that, for a moment, allowed her to forget all the pain, misery and despair which had been maltreating her dejected spirit barely minutes ago.

He was a skilled kisser, too, her clumsy inexperience absolutely no match for him and maybe that was another major reason that caused her to hold so still against him, as if mesmerized by this new perception that he introduced to her senses. The way his lips moved against hers - smooth, enticing and confident, it was clouding her head and spreading a titillating tingle throughout her slinky body. Enjoyable against all her better judgment, and almost like a band-aid applied to the throbbing injuries on her faithful little heart now beating so erratically in her frail chest.

It swept her up and away, to the point where she only noticed that she was no longer restricted in all and any motion when his lips parted away from hers and he reclined, her long lashes fluttering apart to let their gazes meet. Neither her knee nor her wrists were captive anymore, to her own shocked surprise her hands were loosely gripping at his firm shoulders instead, her slender figure holding itself pressed against his sturdy frame all on its own accord. Her chest was gently heaving with a hastened rhythm of uneven breaths, watching the corner of his mouth twitch in a cavalier, superior smirk as though he had just exposed every single secret she might have had.

She remained frozen against him as he spoke up in quiet, amused poise, almost mockingly didactic. "Somebody as callow as you really shouldn't presume to understand what a real man is, Anzu." The unexpected use of her name startled her, hearing him say it for the first time ever, and for a hundred reasons she couldn't begin to grasp it caused her heart to skip yet another beat because it made all of this even more personal than he had already turned it to be by simply up and kissing her, and maybe it was why his next sentence struck her all the harder. "What would you even know about it, vestal little girl that you are."

Those words cut deep, leaving her lost and benumbed while he stepped away and turned around in a casual, aloof manner accompanied by the easy flutter of his sleeveless coat. She watched him walk away, prideful and unruffled as he ever was, and she wanted to hate him so, so badly. She wanted to blame him for every single, bad emotion she was feeling right here and now regardless whether or not he was actually responsible for it.

Yes, she wanted to hate him. Wanted to. Wanted to, wanted to, wanted to and yet, somehow... couldn't.