Author's Notes:

Okay, here's Chapter 2! What happens after this chapter is going to get pretty hyped up, and for a while you're going to think I've made a bad girl out of Isis, but it isn't so, you'll see!

' italics ' -signifies thoughts

[...] -signifies Yami Yugi speaking to Yugi

{...} -signifies Yugi speaking to Yami Yugi

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of its subsequent plots and characters. All of these wonderful things belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

Japanese Translation:

Iie = No

Aa = Yes (male specific)

Un = Yes (female specific)

Itsumo = Always

Quick Note: A burqa is the long, flowing head-garment that Egyptian and Middle-Eastern women wear on their heads, that covers their hair, falls over their shoulders like a cape, and usually reaches down to the calves.

Reviews much appreciated!!!

-Pharaohess Yami Anzu

Resurrection of Old Memories

Chapter 2- Unable to Face the Truth

"HEY! TÉA! WAIT UP!"

Startled, Tea turned around, trying to discern who was calling for her over the heads of students milling about in crowds as the start of a new school day approached. Her massive blue eyes sweeping the jumble of heads, Tea couldn't locate the source. And with the voices of a couple thousand students blaring cacophony into her ears, she couldn't identify the speaker by voice alone.

"Téa!"

Téa smiled as she turned about, recognizing the voice instantly. "Yugi! How are you?" Téa greeted warmly, smiling at her friend, feeling her heart and stomach leap forward with massive bounds as she locked eyes with her best friend. The teenage boy smiled at her, his expressive purple eyes as he hooked his thumbs into the straps of his backpack. "I'm fine. What a crowd! Have you spotted Joey and Tristan yet?" Téa shook her head, and stood on her tiptoes trying to see over the milling heads in front of her. She glanced at Yugi in accusatory wonder. "You're taller than I am now. You should look for them too!" Téa then clamped her mouth shut and bit her lip. It was true. Ever since their trials at the Duelist Kingdom, Yugi had grown taller, so that he was now the same height as Téa, but still shorter than Joey and Tristan. 'And he looks so much like the incredible vision...in that dream...'

Téa didn't want to admit to anyone, least of all herself, that she found Yugi even more attractive now than she had before. Sometimes, he was all she could think about! Ever since that day when Yugi had saved her from that horrible criminal in that old abandoned warehouse, she had harbored a crush on him. Ever since that amazing dream she had had a few nights ago, her love and desire for him had reached heights that she didn't even know she could reach! And yet, the Yugi with her now was different, and yet the same, as the older, wiser version of her friend that had saved her then. 'Of course it would be...after all, it was the Pharaoh that had rescued me that day...the Pharaoh inside of him and the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle...the same Pharaoh...from those ancient times in Egypt...'

Blushing somewhat when he saw Téa bite her lip, Yugi held his hands up in entreaty. "Téa, don't worry...I'm not taller than you, see? We're the same height now. At least I'm not short anymore, like I was at the Duelist Kingdom and Battle City. And look, there's Joey and Tristan now!" 'And yet,' Téa thought unhappily, 'I'll never be more than a friend to him...he has to save the world...he needs the others...Tristan and Joey...he needs friends to support him...and that's all I am...that's all...I have to give...' Shaking her head to clear her mind of her maddening thoughts, Téa's bright blue eyes spotted their friends.

"Un...I see them too! GUYS! OVER HERE!" Téa called out, temporarily deafening Yugi.

Tristan and Joey waved an acknowledgement back, and made their way over to their friends. "Can you believe this madhouse?" Joey complained. Tristan punched his friend in the shoulder lightly. "We would have gotten here before the stampede if you hadn't stopped at that doughnut shop to stuff your greedy stomach..."

"I was hungry!" Joey exclaimed defensively.

"Well, if you'd gotten up on time you wouldn't have been so hungry!" Tristan shot back.

"You didn't complain when you bought half a dozen donuts and ate them all!" Joey retorted.

Back and forth, Tristan and Joey argued, their easy-going teasing evident underneath their insults and retorts. Téa felt her blood begin to boil. 'Oh for the love of it all...can we just go to class!? I can't stand being here anymore...so close to Yugi...it's driving me insane!' Téa's ire escalated as Tristan and Joey continued to bicker, and without warning, her fury erupted. In a split-second, her leather hand-carry book bag struck the arguing friends squarely on the backs of their heads, slamming both of them into the ground.

Both of the taller teens fell over, bumps becoming comically obvious on the backs of their skulls. Téa had hit them both upside the head. "Would the two of you just GROW UP!?" she fumed. In an uncharacteristic show of anger, the brown-haired girl turned and stalked off, disappearing into the crowd of students.

Stunned, the three boys regarded each other blankly for a moment. Rubbing his head, Joey glanced off in the direction that Téa had taken. "What's got HER so riled up?" he demanded, wincing as he prodded the tender lump that now graced the back of his thick head. Tristan shrugged, in similar straits as he painfully contemplated the swelling bulge. Yugi stared after Téa. "I'm going after her," he announced, and before Tristan and Joey could voice their surprised responses, Yugi had disappeared into the sea of students. Staring after him, mouths hanging half-open, there was little the two teenagers could do except follow

Slamming her book bag down on the desk, muttering darkly to herself, Téa found solace in her fury and anger. It was far better than contemplating the strange fluttering in her heart and chest that had started when Yugi had caught up with her earlier. She groaned, and lay her head down on the desk, shielding her eyes from the light of the classroom with her arms. 'Why? Why did I have to fall in love with him? Why Yugi? Why sweet, wonderful, mysterious Yugi? My best friend, almost all my life...and now I can't even be that...' Tears of frustration sped down Téa's cheeks. Clenching her fists tightly, Téa raised her head off the desk and sat up perfectly straight when she saw the teacher enter the classroom. She kept her head fixed firmly forward, appearing to observe, with earnest attention, the assignment that the teacher had started writing on the board. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Yugi dart into the classroom, and stiffened as he took the seat next to her. Her heart leapt as she watched him look over at her, his purple eyes full of worry.

Yami appeared next to him, visible to only the young boy.

[Something is troubling her deeply...she's afraid.]

{You can sense that?}

[Aa...talk to her.]

"Téa....are you okay?"

Téa stiffened. "I'm...I'm fine...I just couldn't stand having to listen to them arguing...over and over again...it's the same thing...every day..."

"But...Tristan and Joey have always fought like this...it's never seemed to bother you before."

"Well, it does now! Geez, you'd think they'd have grown up or something by now...the way..."

"The way what?"

Téa looked away. "The way you have..."

Yugi turned bright red. 'So she did notice...'

[Perhaps that's why she's so frustrated.]

{I don't understand.}

[You have grown older...wiser...and she thinks that your feelings for her have not

changed.]

{What are you TALKING about!? I've...I've always...}

[Loved her..?]

Yugi paused, feeling his heart race as the core of his emotions was revealed.

{Aa...I have always loved her...from the moment I met her...itsumo...}

[Then you should tell her.]

{Iie! Have you lost it!?}

[What is there to hold you back?]

{What if she doesn't feel the same way?}

[You'll never know if you don't ask.]

Furious, Yugi turned to Téa, mouth open, unable to begin to even fathom how he would ask his best friend and secret heartache of several years how she felt about him. The youth did notice, in the brief seconds before the bell rang to signal the start of class, that Tristan and Joey shuffled in, casting sour looks at Téa, who returned their stony looks with icy indifference.

Sighing as he picked up his pen, Yugi could do nothing except stumble haphazardly through the lectures, focused on the sudden change that had sudden overtaken Téa.

The day passed quickly, and Yugi's worry over Téa escalated exponentially. Téa seemed to grow more and more exhausted, more and more weary as the hours flew by. At one point, the blue-eyed, brown-haired girl had even fallen asleep with her chin resting on her palm. Yugi noticed Tristan and Joey shooting worried glances over in Téa's direction, and felt his concern stumble to new heights. 'What on Earth is wrong with her? She's normally never like this...'

[These aren't normal circumstances.]

{What do you mean?}

[I can sense something...in the future...but I cannot tell what it is.]

{Is there evil rising again?}

[I cannot tell...]

So wrapped up was Yugi in his conversation with Yami, and so intent on ignoring Téa were Tristan and Joey, that none of the three boys heard the end of the day bell ring. Nor did they see the tears on Téa's face as the girl gathered up her things and walked out of the classroom.

Glaring up at the bright, cloudless sky, Téa sighed. 'I'll go to the studio...maybe dancing will help clear my mind...and then...I'll apologize to Tristan and Joey...I shouldn't let my feelings for Yugi override my common sense...'

Feeling better already, Téa walked on, oblivious to the intent gaze of another pair of blue eyes. Long black hair rippling softly behind her, Ishizu Ishtar watched the young woman walk serenely down the street. For some time now, she had wondered if this Téa that Yugi cared so much for wasn't who Ishizu thought she was. A mysterious smile coloring her delicate lips, the priestess, her ivory veil and burqa waving gaily in the wind, followed.

Author's Notes:

Of course, reviews are much appreciated. I have a ton of plans for this fic, but nothing is definite, and I just write with my gut as things progress! Stay tuned as we find out exactly why Ishizu is following Téa...and the stunning secret she soon reveals.