Chapter Two: In Which Atemu Diappears and Reappears

Inari: I got no reviews last chapter. This means that I don't need to write lengthy responses to reviewers, but it also makes me feel like a failed writer.

Yugi: Which you are.

Inari: So please, please, please, please with sugar on top, read and review this chapter!

Atemu: Well, since she's busy crying her eyes out (sobbing noises) I think that I can do the disclaimer. Heh heh heh. Inari is a terrible writer. You can see that by the rushed plot later this chapter. Terrible writers aren't even allowed to look atthe rights to Yugioh. So it's safe to say Inari does not own Yugioh. Ot Tylenol, for that matter. Or pizza.

"words here": Any hikari or yami to their other half.

Character names will be the Japanese ones. Ryou will be Ryou. Yugi will be Yugi. Atemu will be Atemu.

Important note: All spelling mistakes in this chapter are intentional. Yugi has a cold, after all. I do spell check my work.

Chapter Two

"Yami. Out. Now."

The words echoed in Atemu's mind. It looked rather like an Ancient Egyptian tomb, as was intended. Hiroglyphs adorned the walls, each slightly faded. There were many doors, some leading to traps and others to memories. But Atemu cared about none of tghis now. He knew that he was in trouble. Yugi never called him by his fake name anymore.

The spirit left his soul room and appeared in front of Yugi and Ryou. Atemu couldn't tell what was going on, but from the looks on the two boys' faces it wasn't good. Ryou seemed agitated, and was wringing his hands. Yugi didn't seem to know just what to do, and kept looking around as though something would appear to him from out of the wall. Evidently, Atemu was the only thing there.

"What happened?" Asked Atemu.

Yugi raised an eyebrow and gestured at Ryou, who was looking with confusion at the spirit and wondering why he couldn't hear what Atemu was saying.

"Sorry," said Atemu, this time out loud. "Can you hear me now?"

"Oh, we can hear you alright," said Ryou angrily."Out with it. How do you know my sister, why is she in all your drawings, and what the heck is going on here?"

"Um... can I ask you something?"

"Yes, Atemu," said the boy.

"What are you talking about?" Yugi and Ryou sweatdropped.

"Dust take a look ad this," Yugi said stuffily, handing over the sketchbook.

Atemu turned the pages of his sketchbook slowly, Yugi and Ryou alternately pointing out Amane in each picture. As they reached the end, Yugi bit his lip.

"What do you make of it?"

The spirit scratched his head thoughtfully. "Wow..." he breathed. "Did I...? Wow..."

"So you've never seen her before? Not once?" Asked Ryou hopefully.

"No. I'm sorry. Your sister, didn't she die in a car crash?"

"Yes," said Ryou. "I was kind of hoping that you... well, you're dead and all. And she always liked magic. And dueling. So you never...?"

Atemu sighed. "Ryou, I'm not a ghost. I can't contact the dead. But if Amane's spirit was anywhere around here I would be able to sense it. I haven't felt anything as of yet."

"Sorry for asking. I guess I kind of got hopeful I could see her again."

"No, it's okay," said Atemu. "She sounds like a very interesting character. It is unfortunate she died before I could meet her."

"Yeah. I think you two would have gotten along well."

Atemu smiled. "I wish I could. Meet her, I mean."

Yugi closed his eyes. "Ademu, sometimes I dink that dust by saying somedig is impossible, id makes you want id." The boy looked over to Atemu, and was surprised to see that he was leaning heavily against the closet door. "You okay, mou hidori no boku?"

Atemu spoke in a strained voice. "Yugi, I don't feel well. I think I'll go..." Atemu suddenly faded out.

"Wow Ryou. I don't dink I've ebber seen the odder me sick before." Yugi said. "Remind me do check od him dommorow."

"Okay..." said Ryou, slightly uneasy. "Yugi, are you sure? I'm getting a bad feeling about this."

"To dell you the druth Ryou," Yugi replied, "so am I..."

Atemu reappeared in his soul room. There were many doors in there, that he knew. Most lead to traps. Of all the doors in it though, only one was the one he was looking for. His favorite door, the true room; and, on the rare occasions where he rested, that was where he did it. He never slept.

Right now, he thought, is the time to rest. He started walking towards the room.

"Ouch!" Atemu said as he crashed into a wall. Funny, I don't remember that being there before.

The spirit looked up and got a shock. He was standing in front of a large glass building. That had definitely not been there before. There was another building similar to the first one next to it. Atemu already had a bad feeling.

"Alright... calm down..." he said. He turned slowly, trying not to panic. After looking, he nearly panicked anyway.

This was definitely not his soul room.

In fact, it wasn't even Domino.

He was standing in what appeared to be a city, but not a particularly busy one. There was a lot of people; teenagers talking, parents shopping, people going to their jobs, but the glass building was the largest one there. It dominated the city, towering high above all the other buildings. What surprised Atemu, though, was it's sign.

"Kazami Bio Ware, a division of Kaiba Corp. Military Technology...?" He stared. "What? Kaiba Corp. hasn't been a military company for over two years. Where am I?"

Atemu looked back at the people on the street. If this is a vision, then I'm like a ghost. No one will be able to help me get back. Well, that's nothing new. Maybe I'm supposed to see something that could help me out back in Domino.

He scanned the crowd for familiar faces. No one.

"Hey kid, move it!"

Atemu jumped out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by a large blue bicycle, driven by two kids, a boy and a girl.

"Sor- wait a minute, you can see me?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Duh. What, do you think we're all that stupid?"

"N-no," he said, staring at the girl. She was almost pretty, in a way, but that wasn't why Atemu was looking. She didn't have a lot going for her, with mouse brown hair and freckles. But she looked kind of familiar. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bother you."

"Then get out of the way before you cause a traffic accident." The girl giggled at Atemu, and the boy sighed. "You have to stop doing that," he said.

"Doing what?"

"Flirting. You remember when Yukio and Kaemon asked you out on the same day? I had to get you out of it, they almost beat me up."

"Okay, whatever. Let's go," The girl said, twirling black bangs. "Buh-bye, kid." They started to peddle off.

"Wait!" Atemu said. The bike paused. "What's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Ka-" Atemu stopped paying attention there. A shadow had just flitted across his vision.

"-go to Kozue Private School. You can always reach us there. Hey, I never asked your name kid... kid?" The boy turned around. The other was no longer listening and was staring intently at an alley between two buildings. The boy sweatdropped. "Well bye then, if you don't care."

Atemu waved distantly, still looking at the alley.. He could swear he had seen a figure lurking in the shadows for a second there. Frowning, he went to investigate. There was something going on here. Why had he suddenly and mysteriously appeared in a city that was two years behind the times?

And how was everyone able to see him?

Yugi awoke the next morning after a fretful sleep. His dark half had not spoken to him all night. Wondering if he had done something wrong, Yugi tried talking to him again.

"Atemu? Are you there?" No answer. Yugi sighed and got dressed for school. Then he remembered it was Saturday and changed into his pyjamas.

Finally, after working out the correct time of day and day of the week, he changed into a red T-shirt and put on the millennium puzzle. The boy went over to wake up Ryou.

"Ryou, id's mording time," Yugi said. He realized he was still sick and scowled as the other got up. "Wha-" Ryou took one look at Yugi and burst out laughing.

"What's so fuddy?" Ryou started rolling around on the floor.

"Oh come odd, stop laughig!" Yugi yelled. Ryou was now laughing so hard his face was turning purple.

Yugi rolled his eyes. "You know, you cad die laughig for all I care." Ryou finally stopped, giggling a bit. "Sorrry Yugi, it's just- ahaha, your clothes and -wahaha, you scowling like that, and your voice-" he burst into peels of laughter again. Yugi looked down and realized that he was only wearing a T-shirt, and that the T-shirt was one of his mother's. It had a large gold flower and the words 'I love gardening' on it.

"How the heck did I ged dat on?" Yugi wondered. He went back and changed again. "Bedder?" he asked. He realized that Ryou had gone down to breakfast already. He sighed and went downstairs. "Good mornig everyode," Yugi said as he walked into the kitchen. "Me and Ryou are goig down to the arcade avder breakfast."

His mom gave him an odd look. "Yugi, I think you're still too sick to go out."

"No, I'm perfecdly fide. Why would you say dat?"

Mrs. Mutou raised an eyebrow. "Well for one thing, you're wearing your swim trunks..."

"Arrrggghhhh!" Yugi followed with a long string of words not appropriate for a low rating story which deeply shocked his mother and Grampa.¹

"Wow Mrs. Mutou," said Ryou over Yugi's noise. "I never knew your son had such a colourful vocabulary."

"Ryou, dis has got to stop," Yugi complained. He was sitting in his bed with a thermometer in his mouth and a hot water bottle on his head. "My mom dinks I'm too sick to do anyding."

"Your mom 'dinks' a lot of things."

"Ha ha. How come you didn't ged sick?"

"Um, because I take my vitamins?"

"Nah. I dink it's because your Yami is evil."

"Not anymore he isn't." Ryou smiled proudly. "I've taught Bakura common ettiquette. He now knows all the secrets of getting into a fancy restaurant with no reservation."

Yug raised an eyebrow.

"I-I mean... gosh, I've become as bad as him."

Yugi sighed. "I just wish Ademu was back from wherebber."

"Who are you?" Atemu got no reply from the alley, despite his hopes. The boy grimaced and walked farther between the two buildings. "I know you're here, come out! You can't hide forever, I want to know what you were doing back there!"

There was a slight clatter from behind a trash can. Atemu grinned. "Gotcha."

He ran over to the garbage bin, skidding slightly. "Now that I know where you are, you can't run... anymore?" The person had disappeared. "What kind of magic is thi- aarrrggh!" Hands grabbed him from behind. Atemu struggled against whoever was behind him, but the hand held firm. He couldn't see who was holding him, but Atemu doubted it was a friend. He kicked his attacker in the shin and the grip tightened.

"Come now Pharaoh, play nice." The voice sounded icy.

"Wh-what do you want from me?" Atemu managed to say. The other chuckled.

"You have to ask that question? What do you think I want? I want to know how you followed me."

"Follow you? All I had to do was walk into an alley." There was a sudden change in pressure on his right arm and a resounding crack. Atemu's eyes went wide in pain, and he looked down at his broken arm. Oddly enough, there was no pain from it, other than the initial shock.²

"Stop being impertinent. I can break the other one, you know."

"But I'm-"

"Telling the truth? Being vague won't get you out of here."

"I'm not being vague. I don't know what you're talking abou- ah!" The man, as Atemu assumed it was, was starting to squeeze his left arm.

"Don't be stupid, Pharaoh, it doesn't suit you. I want to know how you got back in time."

"You mean... I don't know how I got here, and if I did I wouldn't tell you."

This time the attacker laughed aloud.

"What's so funny?" Atemu growled.

"You mean you honestly don't know how you got here? Hah! I don't believe you. But you can't do much now. It appears your spell is wearing off." The boy looked down at his body, which was quickly turning transparent again.

"Wait, I-" Atemu started to say, but it was no good. The scene around him was already starting to change. The alleyway disappeared, and he was falling in darkness, the unknown other's voice carrying after him.

"Goodbye for now Pharaoh, but trust me, we will meet again."

Atemu awoke an hour later and groaned. He was sore all over. The spirit didn't even want to move. He felt something large and heavy on his chest. He opened his eyes to investigate-

And got a faceful of red and gold hair as his hikari hugged him tightly. "Atemu! You're alive!"

"Wha...?"

Yugi smiled happily and jumped up and down on his darker half. "Weweresittinghereforageswaitingforyoutogetup, youwern'ttalkingtomesoIdecidedtoinvestigateandyouwereherelyingallfunny," Yugi paused to breathe then started again.

"Ryouthoughtyouweredeadandweweresoworriedbutnowyou'reokayandI'msogladyou'renotdead!"

"Two things, aibou. One, I'm not alive either, and two, can you please get off my chest? I can't breathe!"

Yugi stood up. "Gomen. I was worried though, when you didn't get up."

"Do you think it was because you were sitting on my chest for however long?"

"Oh yeah... didn't think of that..."

Now that Atemu had woken up, Yugi told him about all the things that had happened that morning.

"And my mom says that I'm too sick to go to the arcade. Why is she so annoying?"

"She kind of has a point there, Yugi. I'm surprised that you were well enough to get down the stairs."

"You know, one of the things Honda taught me about modern life is that you can never do anything your parents say if you want to look cool."

"What?"

"That is completely moronic."

"So?"

"I can't believe you go to Honda for coolness advice."

"How come he gets to sneak out when he's sick..." Yugi made puppy eyes.

Atemu sighed. "Fine then. If you really want to sneak out today, I can get you out. Just promise me never to try this ever again. It's very risky."

"What's the plan?"

"Well..."

Ten minutes later, Yugi was being dragged to bed by his ear. "What the heck were you doing? I really think you should stay home from school on Monday, after trying that idea," said Mrs. Mutou.

"I really think I need to skip school on Monday," Yugi said through his end of the mind link. "What was I thinking, listening to you? Sneaking up the chimney was a dumb escape plan."

"I hate to say I told you so, but..." Atemu grinned.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!" Yelled Yugi aloud. His mother gasped. "And you're delirious! We better get you to bed!"

Yugi was hustled into his room. "Ryou, you keep Yugi company." The other boy did so.

Yugi sighed. "So, back to where we starded. Whad do you wand to do, Ryou?"

"Duel Monsters?"

"You're on."

It was Monday.

Or at least, Yugi assumed it was. He and Ryou had stayed up playing Duel Monsters until two in the morning, at which point they had collapsed in exhaustion. The floor of Yugi's room was littered with pop cans, empty pizza boxes, and cards; the scene of a catastrophic battle against parents.

He now knew exactly why never to stay up on a school night. Yugi got dressed quickly and walked to the washroom to get some Tylenol. Boy did he have a headache...

Ryou was up not long after Yugi. His first morning words were "Screw time!" before he ran for the Tylenol. The latter, however, had been used up by Yugi, and so Ryou had to walk to school with a splitting head. Jonouchi, Anzu, and Honda were waiting outside the game shop.

"Hey guys, what kept ya? We were waiting for hours at the arcade. Ya weren't there yesterday either."

Yugi smiled. "Sorry Jonouchi. I was sick, and we had a late night playing Duel Monsters. I managed to beat my mom out the door before she could make me stay home."

Anzu gave him a look. "I really hope you don't have some sort of infectious disease."

"Just a head cold. It's gone now."

"Well then, we'd better get going. Only ten minutes until school starts."

The five set off for Domino High. They made it to class just as the bell started ringing, managing to get into their individual seats in the three seconds they had before class started. Luckily for Yugi and co., the teacher didn't seem to be as quick as them, and had not arrived yet.

"Hi Yugi!" Yugi recognised the voice. He turned and saw Hanasaki Tomoya, his neighbor, sitting next to him.

"Hi Hanasaki," said Yugi. "I didn't know you sat here," he added.

"I don't. Not usually. But there are a bunch of kids who changed schools to Domino. Since most of the kids who disappeared were from Kozue, the police think that the kidnappers are after Private School kids. One took my seat."

Yugi noticed Atemu had come out of his soul room and was listening very intently to the conversation.

"What's wrong Atemu?"

"Just something Hanasaki said. Ask him the names of the missing people." Yugi nodded just enough that Atemu could see.

"Hanasaki, do you know who the missing kids were?"

"No... but one of them was found. No one knows who it was though, it wasn't disclosed to the press."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But what I heard was a lady found this kid on the street. They were lying there bleeding and muttering things. The woman called the police. It might be a rumor, but people say," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "that when the woman tried to pick this kid up off the road, her hands got burned."

"What? How?"

"No one knows. That's why the police are trying to keep it quiet." He shrugged. "But that kind of thing gets out. There are witnesses. People get paid to tell."

Just then the homeroom teacher, Mr. Nori, walked through the door. "Settle down please, class." The room quieted. "As you know, there has been a rise in missing persons reports near Kozue High-"

"Well duh, with all the students vanishing into thin air," snickered one boy in the back row. There were giggles from the students.

Mr. Nori pretended nothing had happened. "And so some of their students have come to Domino. You may have noticed three new classmates have joined us. Put your hand up if you are new to Domino." Two hands were raised, a blonde girl and a well-groomed boy who looked disgusted at the normality of Domino high school students. He seemed to be in Hanasaki's seat. "Names?" said the teacher.

"I'm Hiroshi Aiko."

"My name is Masato Kamin." Neither face was familiar to Yugi.

"Hiroshi... Masato... check. Welcome to Domino. But wait, where is the third student?"

There was silence in the room. Then, slowly, a third hand was raised. It belonged to a pale boy, with just as pale near-white hair, sitting near the back of the class.

And he looked very familiar indeed.

"Welcome to Domino, mister... what is your name?" The boy mumbled something unintelligible.

"Pardon?"

"Kata. Kata Kiyoshi."

"Well, hello then. Would you three come up and tell us a bit about yourselves?" The students shuffled forward.

"I like to figure skate and design clothes, and someday I'll be a famous fashion-designing figure skater," smiled Aiko.

"Oh, how cool!" several girls squealed.

"Call me!" mouthed Jonouchi.

"I'm too rich to need a job, and I don't want to be friends with any of you unless you're rich, which I doubt," said Kamin.

The afore mentioned Domino girls swooned at his melodic voice.

The third boy seemed to be in his own little world, until the teacher called him sharply. "Mister Kata?"

"Hn? Oh yes. My name is Kata Kiyoshi in case you forgot, and I'm Icophobic."

"Mister Kata, Icophobic is not a word."

"It could be. Ico: hit, phobia: the fear of; therefore Icophobia: fear of being hit. I greatly dislike being touched by anyone in any form. If you so far as touch my skin, I will give you large amounts of pain."

A brown haired boy smiled evilly and put up his hand. "How can you hurt us if you're 'Icoophobic'?"

Kiyoshi held up his hands, which had leather gloves on them. "Your funeral." The brown haired boy scowled. "Hey, nobody messes with Haruki Maro."

Yugi feared for Kiyoshi's safety. Haruki was one of the biggest bullies in the school, and had more cronies than a crime boss, if there was a difference. He had never come near Yugi because... well, you just don't pick on the world Duel Monsters champion. You don't pick on the friends of the world Duel Monsters champion either. Yugi had never found a reason to use the millennium puzzle on him though, because you could never catch Haruki doing anything bad. Even teachers didn't know what to do with him. Yugi sincerely hoped the new boy knew what he was up against.

"Thank you mister Kata, mister Haruki, that will be quite enough. Please return to your seats, students." Haruki sat down grumbling.

As Kiyoshi walked back to his seat, the brown haired boy stuck out his foot casually. While everyone else in the class saw, Kiyoshi appeared not to have noticed. He just continued walking, until-

WHAM!

He hit the ground hard. "Gotcha back," hissed Haruki. Everyone except Yugi and his friends were laughing at the scene. The laughter died down, however, when Kiyoshi picked himself up, brushed himself off, and walked to his seat without saying a single word. "Oh man, this guy is too easy!" Howled one of Haruki's friends.

Yugi stared at the boy. What was he thinking? Those bullies were going to pick on him all year... Kiyoshi suddenly looked up to meet Yugi's gaze. He had piercing yellow eyes, and Yugi was fighting the urge to look away. Instead he started back full force. The two were locked in competition, refusing to look away, willing to stare until the other had to back down. Neither did. Then something odd happened.

Kiyoshi winked.

He's done something, thought Yugi. What's he up to?

"AARRRGGHH!" Haruki was suddenly jumping around and yelling at the top of his lungs. Yugi, along with everyone else in the class, looked to see what was wrong with him. Hanasaki saw it first.

"Hey look, his pant leg is on fire!"

Haruki danced around on top of the desks, trying to put the fire out. Mr. Nori was yelling for the class to settle down, and Aiko was screaming at the top of her lungs. Even Yugi was being jostled around by the running students. In all the commotion, Atemu was the only one who actually saw Kiyoshi smile and say, "Gotcha back."

So, Kata Kiyoshi. I finally have a name to the face. If we ever face each other in battle, you will be a worthy adversary indeed.


1) If you ever go to Japan, don't call someone a baka. It's used casually on this site, but Japanese adults can sometimes be very formal. Especially teachers. Call a teacher baka and you will be in a lot of trouble.

2) Yes, I completely made this up. Don't go breaking arms, kids.

Inari: So how was that? Review worthy? (Puppy eyes) Please review?

Ryou: But what happened to the Tylenol?

Atemu: Forget the Tylenol, I want to know what happened to Haruki's leg!

Yugi: Why was I jostled?

Inari: Patience everyone. You'll figure everything out next chapter. Or the chapter after that. Or the one after that. But there won't be any unless you review!