Chapter 5
Second Meeting
Night has fallen. The first floor is clean and in the kitchen, stew is being cooked over a fire. With a candle in his hand and his spirit friends close behind him as he approached the stairs, Yugi said when he turned to his friends, "Let's see what's on the second floor." Climbing the stairs, the spirits stayed close behind the prince.
On the second floor, Yugi noticed a long hallway with five doors; three on the right wall and two on the left. Approaching the doors, Yugi noticed names written on the doors. "Look, they have their names written on the doors. Atem, Seto, and Bakura on the right wall. And Marik and Malik on the left wall." Feeling how tired he is from the long day, Yugi entered Atem's room, heading straight for the four poster bed with curtains. Laying down, Yugi fell straight to sleep.
Iru blowing out the candle on the nightstand, Winged Kuriboh covering the young Prince with the blanket and then snuggling right into Yugi's arms and the other spirits found the softest spot to them in the room and fell asleep as well with the curtains of the bed drawn shut.
But the spirits only got ten minutes of sleep until they heard singing outside a window. Looking out, the spirits saw it was the Egyptians coming home from the mines. Not wanting to be in trouble, the spirits ran out of the mansion, with Iru trying to get Winged Kuriboh from under Yugi's arm, but the fury spirit just kept on resisting the fairy and pushing her away. Seeing that she can't budge the sleeping spirit, Iru just hid somewhere close to the door.
Outside the mansion, the other spirits hid among the trees of the forest as they watch the Egyptians draw close to the mansion. As they approach their home, Atem noticed something. "Guys, there is a light on in our home."
Looking from behind some trees, the other Egyptians saw that Atem was right; a candle was burning inside, the front door was open and smoke was coming out of the chimney. "Who or what could be inside?" Marik said.
"Don't know Marik, but let's check it out." With Atem leading, the Egyptians made their way stealthily to their mansion. Quietly entering the mansion, the Egyptians noticed that the mess left behind this morning was no longer there.
"Whatever happened to the mess in here?" said Malik.
"Maybe the house was fed up of you two leaving a big mess that it decided to put everything away." reply Seto sarcastically.
"Let's just search the mansion." said Atem, getting a little annoyed. Split up, the Egyptians checked the entire first floor, finding that the floor was swept, chairs dusted, windows washed, rooms been straightened up, and something cooking in the kitchen. When they regrouped in the hall, Atem said, "All that is left is to check upstairs in the bedrooms." And so, the Egyptians went up the stairs and the first thing they saw was that one of the bedroom doors was open; someone or something was in Atem's bedroom.
With a lit candle, Atem lead the other Egyptians into his room. Looking at the bed, the five tan teens saw a figure sleeping on the bed through the curtains. Approaching the bed, with Atem really close to the figure's head, the other tan teens gathered around the bed, getting ready to attack the imposter.
The moment Atem opened the curtains, removed the covers and saw the face, he signaled the others not to attack. Looking upon the familiar face, Atem recognized the imposter to be the boy he met this morning and instantly fell in love with. Watching the beautiful boy sleep peacefully with a sleeping Winged Kuriboh tucked under his arm, unaware of the presence of the Egyptians, Atem couldn't help but swoon just by looking at the peaceful expression on the boy's face.
Noticing the way Atem is looking at the boy, Bakura said, "What's wrong, Atem?"
"I know this boy. I met him this morning while I was on my way to the mine."
"No wonder you were taking so long this morning." reply Seto, learning why his cousin arrived at the mine late.
Taking a really close look upon the boy, Marik said, "I have to admit; he's mighty cute."
"He's innocently adorable. Just like a new born puppy." Malik nodded, agreeing that the boy sleeping in front of them was very cute.
Not happy that the boy is even here, Seto crossed his arms and said, "He's an intruder and he must leave."
Not liking the idea of forcing the boy to leave, Atem said to Seto, "The boy is not leaving. There may be a reason why he's here. Besides, don't be loud or you'll wake him up."
"So what, let him wake up. He doesn't belong here anyway."
Then the five tan teens saw the boy move, stretching his arms. "He's waking up!" said Bakura.
"What do we do, Atem?" said Marik as he and Malik clutch each other.
"Hide!" At the moment the word is said, the five Egyptians spread throughout the dark room and hid the best they could, not to be caught by the boy.
Sitting up on the bed, stretching, Yugi said, "I wonder if the Egyptians are back?" Then Yugi saw Iru fly down to him from her hiding spot and the young Prince said, noticing the look on the fairy's face, "What's wrong, Iru?"
When she lit the candle on the nightstand, revealing where the Egyptians were hiding, Yugi smiled when he saw the tan teen he met this morning. Seeing the boy recognized him, Atem approached the bed and sat on the edge of the bed, returning the smile. "We meet again." said Atem as the two gazed into each others eyes.
"It's great to see you!" unexpectedly, the boy wrapped his arms around Atem's waist. Just seeing his face made the boy feel a whole lot better after what he went through that day.
With one hand around the boy, Atem signaled the others with his other hand to come meet the boy. The first to approach was Bakura, followed by Marik and Malik and Seto taking the rear, not really wanting to meet the intruder. "This is the boy I met this morning."
"Hi there, my name is Yugi." the boy said with a bright smile on his face.
To hear his name, the Egyptians except Seto were surprised to learn who he is; "The prince?"
When he nodded, Atem said, his face blushing a little to learn that the servant boy he met is really the prince, "Well, your highness, we are honored to have you here."
Just when Atem was about to introduce him and the others, Yugi held up a hand, silencing him. "Don't tell me who you are, let me guess." Taking a good look at the five bronze teens, Yugi started off by pointing to the teen that he met this morning, "You're Atem." When Atem nodded that Yugi was able to guess his name correctly, Yugi turned toward the white haired, scarred Egyptian and said, "You're Bakura. You look like a friend of mine from home."
With Bakura thinking of what Yugi's friend looks like, Yugi turned over to the two bright blond Egyptians. "You two must be Marik and Malik." With the two looking at each other, impressed that Yugi figured who they were, Yugi turned over to the sulking tall Egyptian and said, mimicking his crossed arms as a way to playfully tease him, "That leaves you to be Seto."
Still not happy about Yugi being in their home, he said in a mean tone, "What are you doing here?"
"You see, he wants me dead, and I'm trying to stay away from him."
To hear there is someone that wants to kill him, Bakura asked as Atem felt a little concerned for the young Prince, "Who wants to kill you?"
"My stepfather, King Dartz!"
"The king?! That's awfully pleasant to hear."
"I'm warning you all;" came Seto's voice, "if Dartz finds him here, we will face his wrath for hiding the prince here!"
"But my stepfather doesn't know where I am. Besides, if you let me stay, I'll keep house for you; I'll wash, sew, sweep and cook."
To hear that Yugi would keep things going in their home, possibly while they are off to work in the mines, the four Egyptians cheered. "That's settled then, you're staying." said Malik with an arm around the prince's shoulders like a friend.
"We should all head back downstairs, the stew I'm making should be ready."
To hear that the smoke coming from the chimney was Yugi's cooking, the Egyptians, even Seto became excited about dinner, considering they had a long day. Then four of the Egyptians ran right out of the room to the kitchen and dining room, with Atem and Yugi leaving the room casually. "Sorry you had to clean up the mess that Marik and Malik mostly caused." Atem said as they went down the stairs.
"It's okay, I grew up cleaning up an entire castle when my stepfather took over my home. So I went from a prince to a slave but everyone in the kingdom and the spirits still consider me their prince." Then Yugi noticed a certain sad look in Atem's eyes and across his face. To the prince, the bronze teen next to him appeared to be remembering something. "Atem, is something wrong?"
To hear Yugi's innocent voice snapped Atem from his thoughts and he turned back toward Yugi. "It's nothing Yugi."
When they entered the dining room, the two saw the other four Egyptians arguing over the food and who would be sitting next to Yugi like little kids. Seeing their behavior, Atem and Yugi couldn't help but laugh. As the two started to have them settle down, Yugi couldn't help but smile at the fact that he'll be staying here with the bronze teen he met and fell in love with and his friends; Yugi knew his new life is going to be great with them.