Pharaonic Heredity
CH2: The Day In Total
That seemed to explain what had occurred to Yugi, and with his new awareness he tried to see what possessions he still did have on him. Reaching through the tight pockets of his pants, adjusting his various belts to get into them, he noticed the indention that was now void that at one point represented where he had kept a cellular phone. His coat obviously removed, there was no consolation of warmth available detached from it. The only thing that seemed relatively unscathed was the leather box pinned to the waist of his pants, containing various memories that he knew as his deck of Duel Monsters cards.
Still lacking the strength to rise to his feet, Yugi opened the box of cards at his waist with one hand. Not ready to recieve the contents, the deck spilled forth and his entire story was strewn onto the floor. It was too dark to read any of the cards, but he could still see the images well and recognize if anything had been taken in addition to his more important belongings. It seemed as if there were fourty cards, and he set out to counting them.
"There's Pot Of Greed, there's Graceful Charity. . . I think that's the Magician Of Faith."
Magician Of Faith; this had been Anzu's favorite card. Years ago when the collective of friends had first began to become aquainted with one another, they had all sat down before a campfire on the isolated island that became the battlefield for Yugi's first acts of destiny. Here, everyone professed their dreams, tastes, and aspirations.
"Anzu. . ."
"Why are you getting all dressed up? We're just going to that place up the block."
Lately, the man that Yugi had always looked up to since he'd first been really taken in as an apprentice gamer had been showing his age. Yugi was now being paid to relate and mind the needs of the various customers to the established business. While not the most illustrious place of dealings, there was a strong following that must have been responsive to the good service and insight of Sugoroku Motoh over the years.
With Yugi's first accrual of wages from the previous in hand, he had arrived at the living space of his dear friend Anzu Mizaki in midday during his break. Everyone he knew was really beginning to show their independence as of late. Jounouchi had moved back in with the mother and sister he'd been disenfranchised from since the terrible divorce in his early childhood. Honda was already into his second year at the local university trying to make something of himself as a provider. Here he was at the apartment of Anzu, who had finally decided to settle in to her native Japan instead of leaving for America with her previous intent. She was still studying dance, but her plans were to leave her here. For that, Yugi was glad.
"What? I can't look good for a friend?" Yugi watched Anzu bustle in and out of her room for the fifth time, and just like the last four instances there was something altered about her appearance. This time her hair was a little more vibrant than before, some kind of spray shine that must have just been applied. The scent of products tinted the quality of the air, and Yugi just rocked back and forth on the stool he had settled into since he arrived. The apartment was small, and the kitchen had a good view of the hall where the sole mirror was that Anzu was using as a point of reference.
"I know, I know. But it's just that cafe, we used to go there all the time with the gang." Yugi smiled at the thought of Jounouchi, Honda, Anzu, and himself all in one place. With everyone busy as they had been, there was little time for the group to get together like it used to. Yugi was probably the least occupied of the four. He hadn't started into any kind of higher academics yet since he graduated. Short in stature as he may have been, he was still part of the same graduating class rank as his friends. He'd spent the past year just spending time in the company of his grandfather, the man who had raised him when his parents had their falling out.
"That place is becoming a real hot spot, y'know. It's not the same quiet place we discovered back then." Anzu's voice called out from the room again, muffled from the distortion of distance. Yugi did realize that Domino City was becoming an expanding metropolis that rivaled the other neighboring cities. There was no reason for him to take the train anymore to anywhere outside of the town he grew up in, as everyone accomodation could now be found within.
"There, I'm done." With these words, it was veritably a short time that Anzu appeared before Yugi again. Her attire wasn't too much different, Yugi seemed to notice that her purse was different than before. Other than that, he had seen the particular outfit before on her. The yellow sleeveless number marked with the name of some American band that he couldn't quite pronounce, and the leather skirt that hadn't seem to lose its shine since she first wore it. She had worn this same outfit years ago, but he hadn't seen it in a long time. Perhaps that was why she was fondling through her belongings for so long.
Filing down the steps of the complex, Yugi kept the lead as he could hear Anzu's steps behind him. He had just wanted to treat her out to something and catch up on old times, but she had made a scene trying to find the right things to wear. He couldn't quite piece together what she was fashioning herself to parade around for. Lacking focus on his own steps, he lost his footing against loose cracks in the sidewalk. A great weight against his chest, the Millenium Puzzle pushed into him with a small amount of inertia. It was with this force, that he realized what was going on.
"It's for him, isn't it?" With these words, Yugi clasped the chain that strung the monstrosity of gold around his neck. He raised it slightly to present the artifact as a solid form to his accusation. Anzu hesitated, still standing a few feet behind in the path, her eyes matched on his. She looked guilty, but regretful, chewing on her lower lip and eventually trying to keep from looking directly at him as she had been.
"I'm the one who asked you to come out. It was me, not him!" Yugi's voice was waivering with strain. He felt decieved, standing here in the noon sunlight. He had walked all these blocks to get lunch with his dear friend to interupt the lull of the day between now and when he would close the shop. And here she was, accepting his request only that "He" might come out; the other half of Yugi known only as the "King Of Games" or "Pharaoh" who had been silent this whole encounter. Tears beginning to form from startled indignation, Yugi began to run. He didn't know where he was headed, but he didn't want to see those regretful eyes.
"Yugi, wait! I didn't mean to. . ."
Yugi turned the Magician Of Faith card face down and pushed it aside in the pile of cards that he had already mulled over, continuing to count.
"Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight, Card Of Sanctity, D.D. Warrior Lady."
Warriors had always been the card set-up that Jounouchi had used. This particular card was even formerly the property of his pupil and dear friend. He had only just acquired it today from his earlier encounter at the Jounouchi residence. Yugi smiled, he stilled hadn't been able to call his friend anything other than his "street name". The family name was "Jounouchi", but his friend was "Katsuya".
Yugi could feel the dried salt on his face, but attempts to wipe it clean with his hands failed. He could feel his dark eyeliner clumping together from the moisture, and he was sure that he looked like a mess. It had been a good half an hour that he had walked in this direction, any hope of returning to the shop to reopen past his self-declared lunch break would have to involve the train service. He was however in the area of the Jounouchi residence, and it was in the relative vicinity of such that he decided to pay another dear friend a visit. Surely "Jou' " would not be looking for the older avatar of the young boy, he would smile simply from seeing Yugi's face and hearing his innocence.
It wasn't long before Yugi had arrived at the gated residential community that the Jounouchi family now occupied since their reconciliation. Ignoring the lack of a father figure, Jou' had managed to return to a normal family life in recent years. Yugi was comfortable that he remembered which button he should push to call attention to the intercom unit to his friend's housing, and doing such caused a tone to sound off. He waited patiently for a responding voice.
"Yes, who is it?" The voice he did recieve calling from was quiet and shy, feminine as well. It must have been household's young lady, Shizuka, who Yugi had only come to know some time after his first encounters with Jou'. This sister had always seemed kind, and knowing this person to be a motivating force for Jou' had always made Yugi feel comfortable interacting with Shizuka.
"Oh, it's Yugi. I wanted to know if Jou' was around?" Yugi tried to speak as well as he could into the microphone slot of the speaker unit attached to the gate. There was no response to his words, but the gate creaked its way open on automatic hinges. A few homes down into the heart of the community, Yugi could see a door open and the young brunette figure wave him over. He nodded, and made his approach until he was well into the suburban household of the Jounouchi family.
"So is he around?" As Yugi repeated his query, Shizuka seemed to shy away closing the door behind the colorful youth. Yugi always wondered if the way people reacted to him had to do with his individuality in appearance, but this was just how he felt presentable.
"Katsuya went to go see his father." Shizuka stifled these words out as she pulled up a chair for Yugi at the coffee table in the center of the dining room. This room was easily able to be accessed from the vestibule of the house, and the entire layout of the home seemed very Western for a Japanese family. It was a large house, probably as large as the game shop but lacking the place of business that had been the default set up for the lower floor of his own home for quite some time. Yugi took a seat, and turned his attention to hear out more from Shizuka about this awkward event.
"You know that Katsuya and his father haven't exactly been on good terms since we all got back together under this one roof, right?" Shizuka seemed to be loosening up, the long hair that was framing her face had been pushed back so that she was more visible when speaking to Yugi. He tried to remember when Jou' had actually moved out from his home with his father. It must have been three years ago, just after the incidents on the island known as "Duelist Kingdom" where his friends had really began to become close. It was by that campfire that Jou' had spoken about trying to win the prize for the tournament being held on the island in hopes of restoring his sisters eyesight. Yugi remembered that motivation in Jou's eyes, the spirit of fire that was apparent with the words of his friend. Donating the profits of his own victory at Duelist Kingdom, Yugi was responsible for the reconsiliation of this family, but also the alienation of the lead male of the separated household.
"Well, my brother went to go patch things up with our old man. . ." So that was the reason for his friend not being as close as initially thought. The man that had borne this young girl and her brother into the world lived in another town, and that meant that Jou' was far from walking distance. Yugi rose to his feet, nodding his head in thanks for the information. As he went for the door, he felt his arm pulled at with a feigned force.
"Here, he said that if I saw you I should give you this. He said he just got a new one, and that you should have this one 'filled with memories of battle'." Shizuka pressed something into Yugi's hand, clasping it with his fingers he began to examine the new find. It was a Duel Monsters card, a warrior card that Jou' had relied on for quite some time. The gift was valuable, and Yugi bowed in thanks to Shizuka for carrying out her brother's request. He took out to the door, and made his way back towards the train station he knew to be nearest his current position so that he could return to the work his grandfather had been paying him for.
Still smiling, Yugi set down the D.D. Warrior Lady card with the others. It was unfortunate that he wasn't able to actually see Jou' before he had left for the day, or give him counsel to his current situation, but he was happy to have Jou' in spirit.
"Breaker the Magical Warrior, Winged Kuriboh, Silent Swordsman. . ."
Silent Swordsman was relatively a new aquisition, this card possessed multiple printings with different forms that linked up to each other. It symbolized growth and dependability to Yugi. With the three printed stages of the cards in his grip, he couldn't help but think of Honda.
"Looks like this place is in okay shape." Yugi closed the door behind him, switching the "Closed" sign in the window to a more inviting "Open". Perched behind the counter on the high rung stool, he could lean against the glass without trying to amplify his height by forcing himself more forward than natural. It was the middle of the week, so business was going to be slow regardless of his readiness to do business. The business line of the shop was situated into a phone mounted on the counter within his reach, and the inviting presence of a stable voice called Yugi's arm out to the reciever. Dialing in familiar numbers, Yugi tried to see if he could reach anyone he knew.
"Hey, you've reached Honda! If you need someone killed, press one! If you're a foxy lady looking for a good time with a real man, press two! Haha!" Yugi couldn't help but smile at the recording, even after the tone signaled for him to speak. No words came out, he just smiled at the comfort of hearing his friend's voice. Realizing he'd waited too long and the sound of disconnection already had fired off, Yugi put the reciever back into its set. Perhaps this would just be an uneventful day, and Yugi considered flipping through the text books he'd purchased on ancient Egypt to keep himself from slipping completely into boredom.
"Dark Magician Of Chaos, Black Luster Soldier, Magic Cylinder, Mirror Force. . . Alright, it's all here."
It seemed like he had been in the dark room for hours, but his shivering had stopped as he'd become less succeptible to the cold. Perhaps not focusing on the harsh climate made him unaffected by its wrath. He would watch the moon move across the night sky quietly hoping that the awkward predicament he was in would come to an end.
After some time, the door that he hadn't even realized to be there seemed to click and clatter. The sounds seem to signify as if chains were being relieved of their duties, and locks were being opened so that someone might pass through. The familiar figure appeared again, but it did not sport the same business dress as before. Silken white robes and gold trims beguiled this dark figure, and the contrast was actually somewhat majestic. It reminded him very much so of the apparel that his other half had dawned in his time, memories of the two had begun to intermingle from their extended contact. Other than the immaculate dressing, the other noticable thing was that which Abidos had in tow. The chain of the Millenium Puzzle trailing down to the floor, and the very item itself scraping against the ground.
"It doesn't work, why doesn't it work?" Abidos careless slid the ornament across the ground. Yugi staggered to his feet and hobbled over with his limping legs to pick up the chain and pull it over his neck. The weight of the Millenium Puzzle was a bit much to bear in his condition, but it was a comfortable feeling against his chest. He just faded quietly from conciousness as his body seemed to take over. His hair fell into his face, and his eyes closed. He felt safe again.
Different than before, the spirit that seemed to have taken over Yugi's body slipped the hair out of his eyes and pushed the stiffened blonde locks back into the messy sea of ebony and crimson. There was a smile on his lips, something of confidence that didn't match the visage of youth from earlier. He even did so much as to laugh out in the cold and echoing air. Yugi was no longer himself, Yugi was the "King Of Games".
"It does work because you didn't meet the clarifications of the clause I set in so many years ago." The lengthy figure kneeled to his feet to collect all of the cards that had been strewn onto the floor. After this task, he placed them back into the leather container aside his belts. Snapping the case closed, he used his now free arms to gesture and stroke the Millenium Puzzle as he talked. This was the center of his monologue, so keeping a hand on the only recently returned item was important.
"Many years ago, this item became a very hot topic. To prevent the use of it in the case of theft, a seal was placed on it by myself and the priests who served under me. To attain the rightful magic of the Millenium Puzzle, you need to defeat the Pharaoh who uses its power to transcend time while he is at his best."
"But that's so vague! It's unfair!" Abidos seemed ready to strike out at the visage of the Pharaoh before him. Eyes locked, the two young men stared each other down. One was completely in lack of control of the situation, the King Of Games still bewildered at his own determination to stand upright. The other could do nothing with control of the situation, Abidos was unaware of what could be done to appease the specifications placed on the curse of the Millenium Puzzle.
"If you truly want to take this from me, meet me tomorrow morning back where you first struck. And play my game, the ancient replica of shadows and chance that exists in the modern game of Duel Monsters. And please, dress a little more modestly. You aren't Pharaoh, yet."