What is this? A new chapter, up just two weeks after the previous one was posted? Some very strange sorcery must be afoot here…

Anyway, thanks to everyone who's been reading my story, and digital cookies to everyone who's reviewed. You people are amazing!

Content warning(s): none that I can think of

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter start!

Submersion

By: The Half-Blood Guardian

Chapter 12: News

Yuugi stared down at the newspaper in his hands, one from a couple of days prior, while his grandpa peered over his shoulder curiously. He re-read the main and secondary headlines one more time.

NEW TOMB FOUND IN EGYPT
Domino University Archaeological Team Discovers Tomb From New Kingdom Era (1580-1314 BC)

"Wow! Domino's archaeology team found a pharaoh's tomb!" He exclaimed rather unnecessarily, too immersed in the headline and the text that followed to care. His excitement was a good distraction from the nervousness he was feeling about starting high school in a few days. His eyes widened further at the next bit that caught his attention, and he added, "It was still full of treasure when they uncovered it; nothing seemed to be missing. That means they really were the first ones to discover it!"

Four months later, Yuugi stared down at the main and secondary headlines of another newspaper, one from a couple of days prior, and was struck with a sense of déjà vu.

EGYPT UNEARTHED
Domino City Museum Now Home to New Egyptian Exhibit

"Yuugi, if you're still here in five minutes you'll be late for school!"

The voice of one Sugoroku Mutou coming from not too far away stopped him from reading much further. He glanced at the clock on the microwave and realized that the man had spoken the truth.

Having no time for the jar of strawberry jam sitting next to it, he snagged a piece of dry toast from the kitchen table and dashed for the stairs to the shop, catching up to and surpassing his grandpa halfway down them.

"Whoa, slow down there! You've still got a couple of minutes to spare; there's no need to be bowling over any old people just yet!" Sugoroku admonished playfully. Yuugi's cheeks flushed pink.

"Sorry, Jii-chan," he apologized. He ducked his head sheepishly, almost smashing his toast when he went to clasp his hands behind his back.

"Don't you worry about it, my boy." The man said, chuckling.

Then Yuugi remembered what he'd just read in the paper, and a smile spread across his face.

"Hey, Jii-chan! The paper said there's a new exhibit at the museum, one on ancient Egypt! And it's opening tomorrow! Isn't that great?" He gushed excitedly.

"Yes, that's wonderful, and yes, I'm aware of that." Sugoroku smiled in fond amusement at his grandson's enthusiasm. "In fact, I just so happen to be friends with the man who discovered the tomb and the artifacts that will be on display." Yuugi looked interested at that bit of information. Sugoroku's grin widened and became more amused, his eyes sparkling with a lighthearted (if not completely innocent) light. He quirked an eyebrow. "Besides, who do you think opened the paper to the page it was on?"

Yuugi blushed again, gaze wandering in embarrassment until it landed on the clock on the wall of the shop.

"Gah! Gotta go!" He narrowly dodged a shelf stuffed with merchandise and headed for the door.

"Yes, you'd best be off, now!" Sugoroku agreed. "After all, if you get in trouble at school, it could interfere with any plans you might have to, oh, say, visit the museum tomorrow? Perhaps with a few friends?"

The teenager spun back around to look at him with wide eyes. The old man winked. Yuugi beamed.

"Thank you, Jii-chan!" He exclaimed, then resumed his dash for the door. When he went to open it, he noticed the piece of toast he was still holding and stuffed as much of it as he could into his mouth, the rest of it poking out comically. Sugoroku saw this and frowned, heading after Yuugi. He caught the door just in time to stop it from closing and poked his head out to call to his grandson.

"Yuugi! How many times do I have to tell you to finish your breakfast before you leave?"

A muffled, barely audible apology drifted back to him from farther down the street, and Sugoroku shook his head, both in exasperation and affection. Then he grinned. He would tell Yuugi that he'd gotten them free admission to the museum – along with their very own guide who just so happened to be the man who'd discovered the tomb – when the boy got back from school.

Yuugi couldn't stop smiling. Not during the bus ride, not on the walk into the school building, and not as he sat down at his desk. His unwavering expression of joy had attracted more than a few odd glances, but honestly, he couldn't care less about that. He was just too excited and happy for it to really matter.

A few minutes passed, and students went from trickling in at an unhurried pace to rushing through the door as the clock ticked closer to the start of class. Jounouchi raced into the room and dove for his seat, making it there with one whole second to spare before the final bell went off.

Class began, and Honda noticed Yuugi's smile not long after. He seemed a bit curious about it, but apparently decided it wasn't worth it to inquire about it at the moment. Jounouchi finally noticed the huge grin on Yuugi's face when his friend's name was called during roll. He sent a quizzical look the smaller teen's way, but Yuugi just shook his head and tilted it towards the front of the room, signifying that he'd tell him once class was over. A tiny, unintentional pout graced Jounouchi's lips, and Yuugi had to fight not to giggle at seeing that expression on the face of a supposed ruffian.

He felt a little bad for not trying to send any written messages explaining things to his friend, and a little worse for not acknowledging the two crumpled messages Jounouchi had surreptitiously chucked his way before giving up, but he wanted to be on his very best behavior to eliminate any chance of getting in trouble. He'd never been caught in his note sending before (probably due in part to him only recently gaining anyone to send notes to) but he figured it was better to be safe than sorry, so he didn't risk it. He was sure Jounouchi-kun could handle the wait.

The teacher's voice was an annoying drone in Jounouchi's ears, like an invisible fly that he couldn't swat buzzing around his head. He glanced up at the clock on the wall for what had to be the hundredth time since class began. His left eyelid twitched. Time seemed to be progressing at an agonizingly slow rate, and he wasn't sure he could take much more of this waiting. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Two more minutes. Just two more minutes, and then he could ask Yuugi just what was going on. Though at this rate, two more minutes would probably feel more like half an hour.

He didn't really know why he was so curious. All he knew was that his strange curiosity was driving him absolutely nuts! He wracked his brain for some explanation, but came up with nothing. Then he found that he really wasn't curious about why he was interested in knowing what had made Yuugi so happy. Which was weird, considering how curious he currently was about other things, such as, well, knowing what had made Yuugi so happy. He glanced over at the other boy again to see that, though it was smaller and more relaxed than it'd been when class had started, there was still a smile on Yuugi's face.

Jeez! What the heck could be so amazing that he still hasn't stopped smiling? Haven't his cheeks started hurting yet?

Maybe he hadn't been smiling the whole time. It was entirely possible. Even if that smile had been there during every one of the thirty or so times Jounouchi had checked.

Suddenly the bell went off, and Jounouchi nearly fell out of his seat in surprise. Then the meaning of the noise sank in, and he was filled with delight, forming a smile of his own. It seemed that his musings had managed to preoccupy him enough to make the two minutes actually feel like two minutes instead of thirty.

He immediately dashed towards Yuugi, slapping his hands down on his desk. Startled, the smaller teen jumped. His smile dropped for what Jounouchi suspected was the first time all day as he froze, an automatic reaction he'd been unable to shake. Jounouchi frowned a little at the response, realizing his mistake and feeling bad about it. Honda had gotten up by now and was wandering over to listen in.

"Alright, spill," Jounouchi said, his voice coming out calmer and quieter than what he'd previously planned in an unconscious attempt to soothe Yuugi's nerves, though his natural impatience didn't allow for too much change from his normal, boisterous tone. "Why the heck are you so happy?"

That snapped Yuugi out of his startled, rigid stance. As if a switch had been flipped, his grin returned in full force, his muscles relaxing for a moment before tensing up again, this time with excitement, and he almost seemed to start vibrating in anticipation of finally being able to share the good news with his friend. He glanced to the side and saw that Honda was there, too. Make that friends, plural. Somehow, his grin widened further. He happily told the two about what he'd read in the paper.

"An Egyptian exhibit?" Jounouchi and Honda said at the same time and in the same tone, glancing at each other in surprise for a moment before focusing back on Yuugi.

"Yup! It's opening tomorrow at the Domino City Museum! Jii-chan used to be an archaeologist – still is, I guess, even though he doesn't do the digging and exploring parts anymore. But that's probably how he met and became friends with the man who found the tomb. Anyway, Jii-chan said I can go see the exhibit, and that I can invite friends!" Yuugi told them.

"Now that you mentioned it, I think I might have actually read about that exhibit in the paper, too." Jounouchi said thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's right. And I remember it talked about the guy your grandpa knows, too. What was it, Yoshi… Yoshimori or something?" He asked, looking to Yuugi for confirmation. The other teen just shrugged.

"I'm not sure, actually. I didn't find out about it until earlier this morning, and I was kind of pushed for time."

Jounouchi nodded in understanding. Then he got a more focused look. "I kinda forgot about the exhibit 'til now, since I figured there was no way I was gonna get to see it." He grinned. "But hey, your gramps did mention you could invite friends. Me and Honda wouldn't happen to fall into that category, would we?"

"Of course you do, Jounouchi-kun!" Yuugi replied. He turned to the brown haired teen, who had been quiet thus far. "Do you want to come, too, Honda-kun?" Honda looked a little surprised at being so directly and comfortably addressed by someone who, just three months ago, couldn't look him in the eye for more than a second or speak to him without stuttering. He quickly shook off his surprise and answered.

"Sure." He said. "It sounds interesting, and I've got nothing better to do tomorrow." The blond took a moment to relish how free he felt now that he was no longer under Hirutani's thumb. He smiled along with the rush of gratitude towards Yuugi and Honda for their part in liberating him from the grasp of Hirutani and his gang.

Yuugi, meanwhile, looked about ready to do a victory dance.

Honda tilted his head slightly in thought, realizing that, like Jounouchi, he'd also heard something about the exhibit, and then forgotten about it until now. Though he now remembered that he'd heard about it from a short clip on TV rather than reading it in the paper.

"Didn't they find a mummy?" He asked, pretty sure that'd been on the news.

Jounouchi suddenly paled, and his enthusiasm was brought down several notches. "A mummy?!" He yelped. The blond shuddered and hugged his arms, which had developed clearly visible goosebumps. "There's a mummy?! I don't wanna get cursed!" He looked ready to bolt.

"You're not gonna get cursed, you idiot," Honda said. "Curses. Aren't. Real." He sounded exasperated, as though he'd had to tell Jounouchi the same thing many times before.

"Are too! You just don't wanna admit it 'cause you're too scared!" Jounouchi argued. Yuugi watched the exchange with interest. Then Jounouchi dragged him into it by saying, "Curses exist, don't they, Yuugi?"

Yuugi stuttered for a second. "Ah, w-well-"

"See, Honda? Yuugi agrees with me!" Jounouchi interrupted before Yuugi could finish. Suddenly he went still. "Wait a second." He slowly turned to look at his shorter friend. "Didn't you say your puzzle's from Egypt?" He eyed said object suspiciously.

He'd gotten used to seeing the thing around Yuugi's neck all the time, so looking at it no longer made him feel unsettled, but he could still remember the feeling of unease that had been present the entire time he'd had the eye piece in his possession.

"It hasn't been around any mummies, has it?" He asked. His eyes grew wide at the thought.

"Yuugi! Are you alright?" He leaned in closer to his friend, examining him with his suddenly sharp gaze as if it would reveal some previously unnoticed problem. "You aren't cursed, are you?!"

Yuugi, who had jerked back at the sudden invasion of his personal space, gaped at the panicking blond, his own eyes wide. "What? Of course I'm not cursed!" He denied. "It's been eight years since I got the Millennium Puzzle and three months since I completed it, and so far there haven't been any signs that I'm cursed. I think if the puzzle was going to curse me, it would've done it by now."

Jounouchi paused his examination at that, unable to argue with what Yuugi had said. Partly because he hadn't known Yuugi for long enough to have noticed anything wrong with him until three months ago, and therefore couldn't claim that his statement was untrue. And partly because in the three months he had known the other teen, he'd seen for himself that there was nothing that seemed off about him (except, perhaps, for the little quirks that were just a part of what made Yuugi Yuugi.) He backed off, mostly satisfied, at least for the time being.

Yuugi gave him a disarming smile, but inside a little bit of worry niggled at him as Jounouchi's fears brought a worry of his own back to the surface. Because it had been about a week since the last episode, he'd managed to bury the worry he always felt – and ignored and suppressed – when he thought about the recurring lapses in his memory that he'd recently been having. For some reason, it never took very long to bury his unease about his situation, nor was it ever as hard as he thought it probably should be.

Ever since I completed the Puzzle, there have been times when I blank out, or forget what just happened. He looked at Jounouchi, who'd started arguing with Honda again without Yuugi noticing. I'd better not tell anyone. They'd think there's something wrong with me…

The first time he'd blanked out, he'd slipped up and spilled everything to Jounouchi. That time, Jounouchi had just reassured him and accepted it, but he hadn't mentioned any of the other times since then, so the blond had probably thought it was only a one time thing, a result of the concussion he'd gotten.

Now that the topic of curses had been brought up, Jounouchi would probably come right back to the same conclusion he'd just made if he ever found out that there had been almost a dozen occurrences of memory loss since the first one. Yuugi recalled Jounouchi's reaction to the mere mention of mummies and curses, and his gut twisted at the thought of his friend fearing him in any way.

Yes, this was something that he would definitely have to keep a secret.

"So, how about it? Is tomorrow at 1:00 alright?" Yuugi was pulled from his thoughts when a question from Honda was directed at him. Jounouchi turned to look at him, too. Oddly enough, his confrontation with Honda seemed to have actually calmed him down, since he no longer looked adverse to the idea of going to the museum. Apparently, the two taller boys had settled their argument (for now).

For a moment, Yuugi wondered why they both seemed to be waiting for his permission or final decision or something, rather than all three of them having a discussion where everyone's input was of equal importance. Then he realized it was because he was the one who'd offered to bring them along.

"That sounds good." He said, still a bit uncomfortable at having more say than anyone else, but also understanding why. "The museum's all I have planned for tomorrow. I'm pretty sure it's all Jii-chan has planned, too, and he seemed interested in going. The shop is closed on the weekend, so I'm sure he'd also be able to make it. What about you, Jounouchi-kun? Is 1:00 okay?"

Jounouchi shrugged casually. "Whenever's fine. I haven't got anything better to do."

Yuugi's grin returned, ecstatic that not only did he get to see the exhibit, but that things had worked out alright for everyone and they would all be able to go. He couldn't wait!

Honda suddenly smirked and muttered something under his breath. Something that Yuugi couldn't understand, but that Jounouchi, who was standing closer to him than Yuugi was, apparently had, judging by the way he immediately bristled before throwing several unflattering and rather colorful insults back at the now laughing brunet. The civility they'd displayed while they were planning had disappeared, the temporary stopper in their earlier argument having obviously been removed.

Yuugi cringed at the language Jounouchi was using, suddenly very glad that the teacher had left the room. He decided to block out the two squabbling teens for the moment. Instead, he held the Millennium Puzzle and brought his focus back to their plans for tomorrow, looking happily at the item as he imagined what a great time they were all going to have at the museum.

His eyes became slightly unfocused for a few seconds before returning to normal, and his hands went from casually holding the puzzle to gently cradling it as the draw he'd always felt towards it was renewed. Concern and anxiety about his memory loss had once again been buried in a very short amount of time.

Jounouchi growled at Honda as the jerk continued to snicker while darting out into the hall, and he was about to go after him when he noticed Yuugi again. Sheesh, he'd forgotten he was still sitting there. The guy could be so quiet sometimes that he completely escaped anyone's notice, even with that crazy hair of his. Curious and just a little concerned about the other's silence, Jounouchi settled his gaze on him.

His main concern – that Yuugi was upset about something – was immediately proven to be unfounded when Jounouchi saw the small but content smile on his lips. However, that concern was replaced by another when he noticed the way that his friend was staring down at the golden puzzle in his hands, his eyes slightly unfocused and filled with a look of dreamy tenderness, his mind obviously far away from the classroom.

Jounouchi cast a faintly suspicious glare at the puzzle, barely stopping himself from wrinkling his nose in distaste. He'd never understand why Yuugi liked that thing so much. Sure, Jounouchi hadn't gotten that downright creepy feeling from it since the first time he'd held a piece of it, but the very fact that it had caused him to feel that in the first place was unsettling by itself. Plus, now that he knew a bit more about its origins – and possible connection to mummies (he shuddered) – he couldn't just pass the feeling off as him being stupid and extremely paranoid.

The puzzle may not have cursed anyone (at least, not as far as he knew), but he would bet both of his legs that the thing itself was cursed. Jounouchi looked back at the other teen.

For now, it appeared that there was nothing going on except Yuugi still being really happy that he had finally managed to solve the puzzle he'd spent more than half his life working on. But that might change at any moment. Unfortunately, he knew that he'd never be able to separate the other teen from his most prized possession.

His mind brought him back to a day not all that long ago and repeated to him the memory of looking down into wide, soulful eyes, which looked back up at him in despair while their owner literally begged Jounouchi to return the precious thing he'd stolen and was tossing around carelessly. As always, the memory of his cruelty that day caused his insides to squirm with guilt. Later on that same day, the smaller teen had given Jounouchi a second chance, placed his trust in him, and been willing to use himself as a human shield to protect Jounouchi and Honda from someone who must have been at least three or four times his own size.

And that wasn't even touching on how Yuugi had tried to save Jounouchi from Hirutani and his gang.

It had been bad enough that he'd taken something so important to Yuugi then, before either of them had truly known each other. Trying to take it away from Yuugi now, after everything the other boy had done for him, would be a horrible betrayal. It would not only ruin their friendship and destroy Yuugi's trust in him, it would also completely break Yuugi's heart. No, he decided. There was no way he could ever do that to his friend. But that still left him with the dilemma of not knowing how he would keep Yuugi safe.

Jounouchi couldn't think of anything that would completely ensure the other's safety. While he was quite good at thinking on his feet, strategizing and coming up with sound, permanent solutions were definitely not his strong points. For a few moments, a feeling of helplessness fell over him. Before it could start weighing him down any further, he angrily grabbed the emotion, crumpled it into a ball and hurled it away.

He came to a decision then: screw strategy. He was doing things his way. If anything tried hurting his friend, he'd face it head on like he did with anything else. He nodded his head in conviction.

Jounouchi would make sure to watch Yuugi carefully, and if that hunk of metal even thought about putting a curse on his little buddy, he'd find a way to make it wish it had never been created.

To be continued…