Yami smiled gently. "You remember," he said. "What else do you know?"
Malik shook his head.
"Nothing else?"
"With time, maybe, Pharaoh," he murmured, his eyes downcast.
Yami could not suppress a small laugh. "I am Yuugi now. Or, more correctly, Yami Yuugi. The time of royalty has faded millenniums ago. We are to be friends, I hope."
Malik looked up and smiled. "Okay!"
Everyone else awoke to the delicious smell of cocoa and eggs and emerged to see Yuugi and Malik making breakfast and talking amiably. "Dibs on the food!" yelled Jounouchi joyfully.
"Me too!" shrieked Shizuka, diving out of her tent for a plate. Seto watched wide-eyed as the pair dug in, wondering how Shizuka had gotten her name. It did mean quiet, after all.
"Like brother, like sister, I guess," he muttered, and stepped out to get his own food in a much more dignified manner. Mokuba, however, zipped ahead and was avidly competing with the Jounouchi siblings when it came to eating. It was Honda, though, who ate more than anyone else. "Ahh," groaned Jounouchi, stretching after his last bite. "I don' wanna go home today."
"We do have school tomorrow," said Anzu.
"Duh," said Jounouchi. "I'd rather stay here any day."
Seto smirked slightly. "Well, unlike some people, I can afford to miss a few days of school. Catching up is no problem for me."
Jounouchi snorted. "Ehh, just 'cause you're good at everything doesn't mean you have to rub it in! Well…almost everything. Your social skills could use some work."
"Puppy," remarked Seto.
Jounouchi scowled. A sudden squeal of laughter cut off any further argument, and everyone looked up to see Malik and Mokuba racing in from the beach. Malik held in his hands a large sand crab of about two inches in width not counting the legs. "Niisama! Look!" shouted Mokuba. "I found it!"
Malik held it up proudly to show, holding it carefully by the back of its shell so as not to get pinched. "Can we eat it?" asked Jounouchi.
"No!" said Malik. "I caught it! You can't have it!"
Remembering the unfortunate results of a certain duel with Yami Malik, Jounouchi made a grab for the wriggling creature. Malik jumped out of reach, but lost his hold on the crab. Everyone watched in surprise as it sailed through the air and landed neatly on Seto's T-shirt. He gave something that was a little short of a yelp and jumped up, dumping the crab onto the ground. Malik quickly dodged behind Yuugi.
Seto glared at the small form shivering behind Yuugi. Actually, Malik was trying very hard not to laugh, but Kaiba didn't realize that. "Niisama," pleaded Mokuba, tugging at the hem of his big brother's shirt. Seto hesitated, but reluctantly sat down again without a word. As soon as it was evident that there would be no sudden vengeance, Malik scuttled into the open and snatched up the escaping crab.
"C'mon," said Mokuba. "Let's put him back."
"Okay."
The bigger kids smiled slightly (except for a still annoyed Kaiba) as they watched the two run off. "It's going to be different," said Mai softly.
"Yeah," said Jounouchi. "Isis'll be happy." He reflected on how glad he'd been when he saw Shizuka again.
Yuugi leaned back away from the fire. "Sure will be. I wonder how she'll take it that her little brother is…uh…very much a little brother now." They laughed, trying to imagine the look in Isis's face when she was reunited with Malik.
"She'll be pleased, though," said Anzu.
"Of course."
Packing up was quite an event in itself. Jounouchi and Honda got into a furious argument as to how to fold up the boys' tent. While they shoved each other, Kaiba quietly put it away himself. They were going to leave the eggshell because nobody wanted to carry it on the bus, but Kaiba said he'd take it when his chauffeur drove him home in his limo.
Everyone was finally packed up and waiting at the bus stop (except for the Kaiba brothers.) Malik, who had made up for missing the first day by spending as long as he could at the beach, was yawning by the time their ride arrived. On the way home, he fell asleep on Jounouchi's shoulder. The older boy would have been annoyed, except that he decided it was worth saving up the fact that Malik talked in his sleep. They sat like that the whole way, and Jounouchi decided that the little one didn't have enough interesting things to talk about yet. "Wait a few years," joked Honda in response to his complaint.
Yuugi decided he'd take Malik home with him at least for the time being. He had some room at his house, and the kid would be right at home with all the cards in the game shop. He was right. Malik's eyes lit up when he saw the shelves of duel monsters. Yuugi smiled to see him press his nose against the glass and let his eyes scan each one in turn. It took a little explaining to get Yuugi's grandpa to understand what was going on, but he agreed to let the kid stay for a while. The only thing was that Yuugi and Malik would share a room. Yuugi didn't mind and Malik was happy with a mattress on the floor, so it was fine.
As soon as he was finished unpacking, Yuugi let Malik watch over his shoulder as he looked for Isis's new address. After an hour he was getting frustrated. He didn't have so much as a phone number for her in his directory or on the lists in his computer. Isis, in her state of grief and shock, had left for Egypt with no way to reach her again. "This is so not good," he muttered, closing the files.
