7. The Tournament Begins

"Isn't that like your third plate?" Téa asked Joey as he sat down with her, Yugi, Serenity, and Duke in the dining room Sunday morning, his plate heaped high with scrambled eggs, sausage, potatoes, bacon, and a biscuit.

"You bet," Joey replied happily. "They said it's all you can eat, and I need my energy for dueling today. You know what they say, breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

Téa looked at his plate like she was going to be sick. "That doesn't mean you should eat all your meals at breakfast time."

Ignoring her, he dug a fork into his eggs and started eating. "Tho Yu, do yu no wha we ga ow thkedwo?"

His friends all groaned at him and Serenity cried out, "Joey, that is so gross, don't talk with your mouth full!"

Joey swallowed and tried again. "So Yuge, do you know when we get our schedules?"

Yugi shrugged. "Pegasus said we'd get information packets at breakfast, but we are a little early."

"I just wanna know who I'm dueling already," Joey said. He took an overly large bite of his biscuit.

Yugi smiled at him. "You look like you're in a better mood this morning."

"I'm just raring to go," Joey said after he swallowed his biscuit. He leaned in toward his friend. "And thanks for the pep talk, too. That did help."

"I'm glad, Joey."

"So anytime the schedules wanna arrive…." As if on cue, a young woman in a navy blue jacket with DUEL AT SEA OFFICIAL emblazoned across the back appeared at the table.

"Ask and ye shall receive," Duke grinned.

"All right, I have tournament packets for… Mutou, Yugi," she said, shuffling through a stack of folders.

"That's me," Yugi told her, raising his hand. She handed him a folder.

"Wheeler, Joseph."

"Come to papa!" Joey called out, taking his folder. He began thumbing through its contents as she found Duke's folder and handed it to him. Rebecca showed up just as she was about to leave and retrieved her folder as well.

"What, Becky, you slumming with the little people this morning? No breakfast with the Kaibas?" Duke teased.

She snapped something in reply, but Joey didn't hear because he'd finally found his dueling schedule. A slow smile spread over his face.

"Oh man, Yuge, you aren't going to believe this. The dueling gods are smiling on me today! Guess who my first opponent is?"

"Who?"

"Rex Raptor!" Joey rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "I was hoping I'd get a chance to pick him off after what he said on the pier."

Yugi raised his eyebrows. "Interesting. My first duel is with Weevil Underwood."

"Heh heh!" Joey crowed triumphantly. "We get to take them both out in the first round. Sweet!"

"Don't get cocky," Yugi cautioned. "You're better than Rex, but he always has a trick or two up his sleeve."

Joey scowled. "I ain't a greenhorn fresh out of your grandpa's training anymore, Yuge. I can take care of myself."

"I know, I'm just saying."

Téa and Serenity leaned over Yugi's and Joey's shoulders. "So what times are you guys dueling? I hope it's not at the same time." Téa said.

Joey looked at his schedule again. "I'm third duel of the morning."

"I'm fourth, just before lunch," Yugi said, checking his schedule as well.

"Oh good, then we can see you both," Serenity approved. She looked over at Duke. "When do you duel?"

"I'm in the fifth slot, first duel after lunch," he replied.

"I'm the first duel of the morning," Rebecca said.

"That worked out well," Serenity said. "We can go see Rebecca's duel first, then Joey's, then Yugi's, then Duke's after lunch."

"I wish we could see each other's duels," Joey complained. "I hate this rule about only watching your own division the first two days."

"Yeah, I haven't seen you duel since I left Domino," Yugi said. "Well, we'll get a chance when we all make it to the finals, right?"

"You said it!" Joey agreed, pounding his fist with Yugi's. He returned to leafing through his folder. "Ooh, look here, the lowdown on this top four duelists getting a job with Industrial Illusions. I'll have to look that over," he said, skimming it briefly before putting it back in the folder.

"You interested?" Duke asked. "I thought you guys were all about the Pegasus mistrust."

"Oh, I don't trust him," Joey said, "but I could get used to living in a penthouse and having Pegasus pay the bills." He looked at Yugi. "That reminds me, did you guys ever figure out what he's up to anyway?"

Yugi shook his head. "Nope. Kaiba talked to him, but he didn't say anything about why he's hosting this tournament or why he invited us."

"Figures. What do you think?"

"I don't know. He helped us defeat Dartz. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

"Hey guys, has everyone already eaten?" Joey looked up to find Tristan approaching the table. Joey made a face and took a savage bite of his bacon.

"We're just finishing up," Téa replied. "They just got their duel schedules. Yugi's dueling Weevil and Joey's dueling Rex in the first round."

Tristan laughed. "Oh, that totally rocks! Annihilate them both!" Téa then detailed the schedule for the day. "Sounds good," he told her. He looked over to the buffet line. "Let me get a quick bite first and then we can take off."

As soon as he left, Téa leaned over to Joey and whispered, "I saw that face. You be nice, Joey Wheeler. Tristan is your friend and he's just being protective of you."

Joey said nothing, just took another bite of bacon, to which Téa responded by pulling on his ear.

"I mean it, you be nice!"

"OW!" Joey cried out. "Would you cut it out! I'm gonna have bruises from all the times you keep poking me or stomping on me!"

"Then don't be a jerk," she replied primly, letting go of his ear.

Joey mumbled a long diatribe under his breath, the word "bossy" featuring prominently.

"What did you say?" Téa asked with a menacing glare.

"Nothing," he muttered, eyes on his plate.

Tristan returned to the table with a ham and cheese omelet and a glass of orange juice. "Man, what a spread. How many plates did Joey go through before I got here?"

Téa and Yugi laughed, but Serenity rose abruptly. "Rebecca, isn't your duel starting soon? We should get going."

Rebecca looked at her watch. "Oh, you're right." She stuffed a biscuit into her mouth then stood up.

Téa flashed Tristan an apologetic look. "We really should get going. The Yellow Division is dueling in the Siren Lounge. Meet us there when you finish eating."

"Yeah, fine," Tristan grumbled as Serenity stalked off. Rebecca followed.

"Yugi, Duke, you coming?"

"My duel's not until—HEY!" Yugi cried as Téa hauled him out of his seat by the arm.

"I think you should wish Rebecca luck first," she said. "You too, Duke."

"Okay, okay, I'm coming, don't rip my arm off, too!" He turned to Joey. "Good luck against Dino Boy."

"Yeah, Joey, good luck… would you stop pushing, Téa, I'm coming!" Yugi added.

Joey just shook his head. Bossy.

Tristan stood still for a moment then sat down. "So… am I persona non grata to the entire Wheeler family, or is it just Serenity who hates my guts?"

Joey sighed. "She doesn't hate your guts, Tristan. She'll just torture you for a day or two and then it'll be fine."

"And you?"

He sighed again. "I don't hate your guts either, you know that. I'm just a little ticked about you being so hard on Mai."

"Because you're not hard enough on her."

"Tristan—"

"No, just hear me out for two seconds, okay? It isn't just the Orichalcos thing. That girl has had you running in circles since we met her. She thrives on attention from guys like you, but does she give anything in return? What has she ever done for you?"

"She got me into the finals at Duelist Kingdom," Joey replied softly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Remember how we needed those cards to compete and I'd lost mine? She gave me hers. That's why I was able to duel Bandit Keith in the semi-finals."

"Huh," Tristan replied. "So that's where you came up with that card." He shifted in his seat. "Still, it's not like she needed it anymore. Yugi had already beaten her."

"That's not the point, Tristan. She's my friend. She's been my friend ever since then and whatever happened in California is between her and me, not you."

"Yeah, except I'm your friend, too. You know what it was like, finding you slumped over in that vacant lot?"

"Probably a lot like the Pharaoh telling us Yugi was gone. I get it, okay? We got past that, didn't we? Why can't you get past this?"

"Because the Pharaoh screwed up. Mai messes with people. She messes with you and I can't stand to watch her do it. She doesn't care about anyone but herself."

"You're wrong."

Tristan threw his head back in frustration. "Whatever."

"Come on, look at the two of us. Who are we to be judging other people? Where would we be if Yugi hadn't called us his friends even when we didn't deserve it?"

Tristan chuckled. "I don't know, hitting up little kids for their milk money?"

"Exactly. We both know what it's like to be screw-ups and to have someone reach out to us anyway. The thing is, Tristan, like it or not, she's important to me. I want to be her friend and if I get a chance to talk to her, I will. All I'm asking is that if she ends up hanging out with us again, be nice to her. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I suppose." He looked at Joey. "I've always got your back, you know that, right? I just don't wanna see you get hurt again. You're like a brother to me—a pain-in-the-butt brother I never wanted, but still a brother."

Joey smirked at him. "Yeah, I know." He raised his hand in the air, palm flat, for a high five. "Up high or down low?" he asked, but before Tristan could answer, Joey gave him a sucker punch in the gut. It wasn't very hard, but it got the point across. "That's for being a putz."

"You are such a jerk!" Tristan shouted back.

"Nimrod!"

"Doofus!" Tristan paused a moment then in a perfectly friendly tone asked, "So, we're good then?"

"Yeah, we're good." Joey stuffed the last forkful of eggs in his mouth and pushed back from the table. "I gotta get going. See you at my duel?"

"You got it, bro. But hold up a sec. Do you think…?" Tristan shifted uncomfortably. "Could you get your sister to stop giving me the cold shoulder? You gotta admit there's some irony here in not forgiving me for not forgiving someone else."

"I like it just fine when she's not talking to you."

Tristan let out a puff of air. "That's another thing. What exactly is your problem with me and Serenity? What is it you think I'm gonna do to her?"

"You don't even want me to think about it," he warned.

"I'm serious! I'm not a bad guy. I don't even know her that well. I just like her and I want to get to know her better, that's all."

"Which is exactly what worries me."

"Dude, she's your sister and you're my best friend. You think I'd mess with her? You're crazy!"

"Hmm, let me think," Joey said, stroking his chin. "Remind me again who it was who told Serenity he taught me 'everything I know' about Duel Monsters?"

Tristan gave him a sheepish grin. "Oh, give me a break, I was only sixteen. You and I were both stupid punks at sixteen."

Joey couldn't argue with that.

"I tell you what. You give me and Serenity a break, and I'll give you and Mai a break. All right?"

Joey considered a moment. "Yeah, I guess."

"So you'll talk to her?"

Joey clapped his friend on the shoulder. "I told you, she'll just torture you for a day or so and then it'll be fine, you'll see. She doesn't stay mad long." He rose from the table. "But listen," he added dangerously, "if you do mess with my sister, I'm still gonna have to kill you."

Tristan gave him a half grin. "I'd like to see you try."

Téa couldn't remember the last time she'd had such a good day. It was like coming home after a long time away. Ironic, really, that she, a non-duelist, would feel more at home at a Duel Monsters tournament than dancing on a New York stage, but for the first time since leaving Domino, she felt like she was in her element. Watching with Tristan and Serenity as each of her friends dueled, it surprised her to find how much she had missed it. She'd expected to miss her friends but she'd never expected to miss the game. The only thing that marred an otherwise fabulous morning of watching her friends duel was that Serenity was still refusing to speak to Tristan, and as all their other friends were dueling and not allowed to watch each other's matches, Téa alone had to act as a buffer between them at Serenity's insistence. Tristan retaliated by behaving like a child and trying to monopolize Téa's attention, which resulted in her spending much of the day feeling something like the rope in a tug-of-war. Had the duels themselves not been so enjoyable, she likely would have strangled them both by the end of the day.

Rebecca's duel against a large Russian man named Boris Kazakov had set the tone for the day. Kazakov spent most of the duel talking down to her like she was three, which was probably the biggest mistake any competitor could make when facing Rebecca Hawkins. Dressed in her usual dueling attire that resembled an elementary schoolgirl's uniform, knee socks, and her hair in pigtails, she very intentionally evoked that sort of underestimation of her ability, right up to the point where the combination of Marie the Fallen One in her graveyard and Fire Princess on the field leeched away his Life Points. When they hit zero, her back straightened, she looked Kazakov in the eye, and told him, "Perhaps in the future you should not rely on your suppositions about your opponent's acumen based solely on outward presentation and should instead pay attention to strategy as can be evinced in her cards. Or, to put it in a little words you might understand, don't judge a duelist by her pigtails."

Joey's duel about an hour after Rebecca's had ended was even more satisfying. Rex was a predictable duelist who depended on the raw power of his dinosaur cards to overwhelm opponents. He'd managed to get both his Giant Rex and Horned Saurus onto the field, the latter of which could attack Joey's Life Points directly when first summoned, but a lucky roll of Joey's Skull Dice divided Horned Saurus' attack to a fifth its original strength and soon after Joey was able to finish off both monsters with his Thousand Year Dragon and Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Rex threw a tantrum like a two year old when he lost, shrieking that Joey was a cheat and had stolen Red-Eyes from him, even though he had won it in a fair duel years ago. Tournament officials had to remove Rex from the Acropolis Club where the Blue Division was dueling and even threatened to have him put off the ship in Ketchikan if he continued his outburst.

Yugi's duel was next. Weevil was at least as obnoxious as Rex and twice as full of himself, but he was a more careful strategist. He managed to successfully infect Yugi's Big Shield Gardna with his Parasite Caterpillar and to use DNA Surgery along with Insect Barrier to change all of Yugi's monsters to insects and then prevent them from attacking, both strategies he'd used before. Yugi destroyed Insect Barrier with his Dust Tornado and then used the Poison Butterfly, which the infected Big Shield Gardna had evolved into, to take out Weevil's Great Moth and Dark Magician to finish off Armor Centipede and the rest of Weevil's Life Points before Poison Butterfly's effect could bring Yugi's Life Points all the way to zero. Weevil took his loss better than his friend Rex, but just barely.

After lunch came Duke's battle. Not as seasoned as Yugi, Joey, or Rebecca, Duke's duel was a little more touch-and-go, but he finally beat his opponent, a Brazilian girl named Renata Reis, with his Orgoth the Relentless. When it was over, Duke stayed to watch the other Red Division competitions, but the rest of them took the afternoon off and spent a few hours at the pool. Serenity continued to use Téa as something of a shield to keep herself away from Tristan, but at least with Joey and Yugi there, he had people to talk to without dragging Téa into the middle of it.

"You really should give Tristan a break," Téa told Serenity as they sat with Rebecca in the spa while the guys horsed around in the pool. "He's only got Joey's best interests at heart."

"I know," Serenity told her, "but Mai's really a good person, I know she is. I just want Tristan to see what it feels like when someone won't forgive you for a mistake you've made."

Téa shook her head. "You are really evil."

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Rebecca quipped. "I say guys deserve all the grief we can give them."

"Even Mokuba Kaiba?" Téa asked, eyebrow raised.

Rebecca smiled brightly. "Depends on whether or not he asks me out for a walk or something after dinner."

Dinner that night was less formal than the night before and the seven friends celebrated Rebecca's, Joey's, Yugi's, and Duke's victories in the first round. They also learned that both Kaiba brothers, to the surprise of no one, had won their duels, as had Mai Valentine, although the latter they only learned from reading a posting of results in the dining room as she continued to stay away from public areas, including meals. Téa noticed Joey became increasingly sullen as the evening wore on and he still had not had a chance to so much as get a glimpse of Mai, let alone talk to her. Rebecca, on the other hand, got her wish when Mokuba came over to their table and asked if she wanted to go see a vaudeville-style show in the Dionysus Ballroom after dinner. Yugi, who was acting as her chaperone on the trip, suggested they all go together and Duke, Rebecca's other self-appointed "big brother" readily agreed, but no one other than Serenity really wanted to see the show. She and Duke volunteered to go with them, over Rebecca's protests that she didn't need a chaperone, so the others could hang out together. This arrangement made, Mokuba left the dining room with his brother and the rest of them were starting on their dessert when Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor approached their table.

"Wheeler!" Rex snarled at the same time as Weevil sneered "Yugi!"

Téa groaned and slumped down in her seat as Yugi and Joey exchanged eye rolls.

Weevil began, "Don't think because you defeated us—"

"By cheating!" Rex interrupted.

"—that you've seen the last of us!"

Joey jumped up from his seat and glared down at Rex. "Who you calling a cheat, Raptor?"

"Your Skull Dice is loaded!" Rex shot back. "There is no way you could've beaten my Horned Saurus!"

"You better watch your mouth, Dino Breath," Joey seethed with enough venom to bring the rest of the table to their feet as well. "Joey Wheeler doesn't cheat."

"Oh please, how else could a couple of third-rate losers like the two of you keep winning? I haven't figured out your scam yet," Weevil said, turning from Joey to Yugi, "but I will."

"This from a guy whose best dueling strategy was to throw his opponents' cards into the ocean?" Tristan scoffed, referring to their trip to Duelist Kingdom when Weevil threw Yugi's rare Exodia cards overboard.

Weevil's lips curled into an ugly grin as he kept his eyes on Yugi. "Next time it won't be just your cards."

Yugi's eyes narrowed. "Is that a threat, Weevil?" he asked, his voice dangerously low. His game voice.

Téa sucked in her breath. There wasn't a trace of Yugi in his expression, only the Pharaoh.

"Is there a problem here?" Mr. Goradon materialized at the table, flanked by another tournament official and two pursers. "Mr. Underwood and Mr. Raptor!" he said angrily, "You each have already been warned once today. I will have the captain put you off the ship at Ketchikan when we dock if you continue to cause problems!"

"Not to mention send you to the brig until we get there," one of the pursers added.

"Oh who cares about your stupid cruise," Rex grumbled, but Weevil gave the purser an icy smile.

"We don't want to cause any trouble, officer," he said in as close to a silky tone as his shrill voice could accomplish.

"I don't care if they put us off the ship!" Rex cried. "I want that cheat Wheeler out of the tournament!"

"Shut up, Rex," Weevil barked, "I'm not going to spend the night in the brig!"

"I already told you, Mr. Raptor, we have examined the videotape of your duel thoroughly and find no evidence of any cheating," a thoroughly exasperated Mr. Goradon put in.

"I'd be happy to turn over my deck and duel disk and have them examined," Joey growled, glaring at Rex. "I've got nothing to hide."

"That won't be necessary," Mr. Goradon hastily assured him. "Really, Mr. Raptor and Mr. Underwood, I must ask that you leave the dining room immediately."

"Fine, we were just leaving anyway," Weevil sneered. "Come on Rex." They started to walk away, flanked by the pursers, but as they rounded the table and passed Yugi, Téa heard Weevil whisper, "Watch your back, Yugi."

Yugi's only response was to follow with his eyes, his expression icy, as the two duelists were led from the dining room.

When they were gone, Téa put her hand on Yugi's arm. "Okay, they're gone, can we just finish our dessert and get out of here?"

"What are you staring at?" Joey glowered at the tables around them where their fellow duelists had all stopped to gawk at the commotion. People quickly looked away and went back to eating their dinners as the seven friends returned to their seats.

"What is the deal with those two?" Serenity asked. "Are they always this obnoxious?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Duke replied. "Little worms, I hope they do get put off the ship when we dock."

"What was with all the threats, though?" Tristan mused. "You think Weevil's planning some sort of revenge?"

"Eh, those two windbags are full of it," Joey replied, waving it off.

Yugi said nothing, his eyes still cold and hard—the Pharaoh's glare.

Téa shuddered. "Forget about those two, all right? Let's just get back to the suite and relax." She put her hand on Yugi's arm again. This time he responded, his eyes softening at her.

"You're right, Téa. We're not going to let those two ruin our trip."

She relaxed a little as they all headed back to the suite, and by the time Mokuba showed up to pick up Rebecca, Duke, and Serenity for the show, they had forgotten all about Rex Raptor and Weevil Underwood.

"So what should we do?" Tristan asked when he, Téa, Joey, and Yugi were left alone. "We could go to one of the lounges or check out the shops on the Promenade. I need to get my nephew a souvenir."

"Oh, we have such a nice suite, let's just stay here and enjoy it," Téa said. "We haven't had any time just the four of us."

They decided to play penny Mahjong and Joey dug his set of tiles out from his luggage. For two hours they played and joked together. At the end of two rounds, Téa had pretty much broken even, Joey had lost about seven dollars, Yugi was up by two dollars and Tristan ahead by five.

"And you call yourself the King of Games," Tristan taunted Yugi as he scooped up his pennies. "This oughtta be enough to buy a little toy model of the ship for my nephew."

"We're not finished yet," Joey complained. "You've gotta give me a chance to win back my seven bucks."

Tristan stood up and stretched. "Give it a rest, dude. You suck."

Joey scowled. "No way, we'll take a break and then we're going another round. We can order room service, get some chips and soda or something"

The others groaned. "Joey, we had a huge dinner and you had at least two different desserts," Téa moaned. "How can you eat so much and not be the size of a sumo wrestler?"

Joey leaned back on the couch with his hands behind his head and propped his feet up on the coffee table, scattering a few Mahjong tiles. "I'm just blessed with a fast metabolism and a naturally muscular physique."

Tristan gave him a small shove that sent him crashing to the floor. "Oh yeah, you da man, Joey," he said, rolling his eyes.

This sparked a wrestling match between the two of them that flung Mahjong tiles everywhere and threatened to overturn the coffee table. Yugi and Téa beat a hasty retreat to the corner of the suite and sat on the floor a safe distance from the melee.

"Think those two will ever grow up?" Téa grumbled.

"Not likely," Yugi chuckled. "And I wouldn't have it any other way, would you?"

Téa smiled. "Nope."

"Man, it's good to be back," he said, leaning his head back with a contented sigh and patting her leg.

His unexpected touch was like a live wire and Téa found herself staring at his hand as it rested casually on her knee. She loved his hands. They were rough and calloused from six months on an archaeological dig, but with long, graceful fingers that didn't seem like they should belong to someone so small in stature. They were like an artist's or a musician's hands. Last night, just putting her hand on his as they stood on deck at the rail had almost made her knees weak. Now she found herself imagining those hands stroking her hair, her face, her lips….

"So, we didn't get a chance to talk last night," Yugi said, patting her leg again and startling her. She looked up to find him watching her and she felt her cheeks get very warm.

"Yeah, that's right," she said, swallowing, suddenly very nervous. Six months without him, six months of waiting to find out if he might possibly feel the same way about her that she felt about him, and now that they finally had a chance to talk, her courage completely failed her. And whatever Duke might say about everyone seeing her as Yugi's girl, she still couldn't tell if his affection for her was any different than his affection for any of his other friends. She could no more say how she felt or ask him how he felt than she could sprout wings and fly. But there were other, safer things to discuss. He'd mentioned wanting to see her dance and she still hadn't told him she was quitting and moving back to Domino. That seemed a place she could begin, anyway. "You were saying you wanted to see me dance on stage."

"Definitely," Yugi said with enthusiasm. "I really wish I could've visited sooner. I was so upset when I realized we weren't going to get back to Cairo in time to make it to New York before the tournament."

"I was thinking, maybe you could come back with me after the cruise before going back to Domino? Since you're already out here, I mean."

Yugi shook his head. "No way. My grandpa is already about to kill me. I haven't been back to Domino once over the past two years—he's had to keep coming to Egypt to see me—and I promised I'd come home first thing as soon as I finished my bachelor's degree, and then this tournament came up and he was very nice about me coming here first, but if I put off going home any longer I think he'll disown me."

"What about your mom? Isn't she in New York?"

Yugi shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. You know my mom; I see her when I see her." Téa always found that sad, but Yugi seemed pretty complacent about how little he saw of his mother. "Anyway," he went on, "I was thinking I could come to New York at the end of the summer, before I start grad school."

Téa sighed. Her contract was up the first week in August and she'd be back in Domino by the middle of the month. If Yugi was planning on spending the whole summer there, she might just miss him, depending on when he had to be back. If he really wanted to see her dance in New York, he'd have to come out in June or July.

"When do you have to be back in Cairo for school?" she asked.

Yugi chewed his lip, looking nervous all of a sudden. "Uh, actually, I wanted to talk to you about that. I'm not going back to Cairo."

Téa's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Since when? You've always talked about getting your masters in four years in Cairo!" She cocked her head. "Wait, does this have something to do with the tournament? Are you thinking of staying in California and dueling professionally for Pegasus?"

This seemed to startle him. "Actually, I hadn't really considered it. It is a weird offer, isn't it?"

"Would you like that? To promote Duel Monsters and get to go to all those tournaments?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. It would be interesting, I think. But right now, there are other things more important to me." He looked bashful all of a sudden and Téa wasn't sure why.

"But you're not going back to Cairo either? I don't understand."

"It's kind of a long story, Téa but… the last six months in Egypt were not very good. For any of us."

She nodded. "I'll bet it was hard being out of contact with everyone for six months."

Yugi hunched his shoulders. "It was more than that. I can't really explain it. It just was… I don't know, wrong."

"But I thought you loved Egypt."

"I do," he said quickly. "In some ways it feels like home. I know you understand that."

"Mm hm," she nodded again.

"I wish I could explain it. It's just, the last six months, the dig… it had an effect on us. Professor Hawkins was distracted and having trouble keeping track of things and he lost a lot of weight. Rebecca got depressed and withdrawn, and I felt… disconnected. Like I was becoming more and more the Pharaoh and less and less me." He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "That was kind of scary. Feeling like he's still a part of me is one thing, but I don't want to lose myself. I still want to be me. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes. I wouldn't want you to stop being you, either, Yugi," she said, although she didn't really understand why the dig would have such an effect on him. She folded her arms and rubbed them as if suddenly feeling a chill.

"It didn't get better until we started heading back to Cairo. Even with all those delays—the sandstorms and the missed buses and everything—it was like waking up from a bad dream. We all started feeling like our old selves again." He paused, then waved his hand as if trying to dispel a fog. "Anyway, before that, about two months ago, Professor Hawkins said he thought it was time to leave Egypt and go back to America. He and Rebecca are coming back home to California. And he suggested I take a break, too."

Téa's heart leapt as a thought occurred to her. "Yugi, are you staying back home in Domino?" she asked, hardly daring to hope it could be true. We'd be together again, in the same city!

But as quickly as her hopes had risen, they came crashing down again when he shook his head. "Oh, no, not Domino. There's not a very good masters program for me there. Actually," he said, shifting his seat, looking anxious again, "Professor Hawkins thought I should study in America."

Téa tried her best to hide her disappointment. "America? Then you are staying in California."

Yugi swallowed. "Uh… that's one option, I guess. There are two schools Professor Hawkins has affiliations with that he thinks would be perfect for me. One is UC Berkeley, where he'll be teaching, but I… I'm kinda leaning toward the other one. Columbia University."

The air rushed out of Téa's lungs like she'd been kicked in the chest. "Columbia University? You mean the one in New York?" she choked.

"Yeeeaah, unless you know of another Columbia University," he said slowly, looking puzzled by her reaction. "It'd be kinda nice to be in the same city, don't you think?"

At the moment she couldn't think, couldn't feel anything. She could only gape at him in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. You aren't really going to be moving to New York City?"

Now he looked a little alarmed. "Uh… I haven't decided yet, you know, which school has the better program. It's just a possibility. I… I did want to ask you what you thought. You know, having lived in New York and all, what it's like and everything."

She had no idea what to say, what to feel. He might be moving to New York at exactly the same time I'll be moving back to Domino. She didn't trust herself to speak, feeling like she would burst into tears. If only she hadn't been so quick to throw everything away to get away from New York. And here he was just looking for friendly advice about which program might better suit him and what the city was like, thinking it might be kinda nice to be in the same place. She felt like a crushing weight had landed on her chest and wouldn't release her. She had a pressing urge to get away, give herself space to think.

"Téa?" he asked, clearly bewildered by her bizarre reaction.

At that moment, Duke, Serenity, Rebecca, and Mokuba walked into the suite and Téa saw her opportunity for escape. "I… I think you should go to whichever school has the best program," she said quickly. "I just remembered, I promised Serenity I'd… I'd do, you know, the girl thing with her tonight. I… I think she wants to talk about Tristan. I'll talk to you later." She jumped up and without looking back, rushed over to Serenity, still standing in the doorway with Duke, Rebecca, and Mokuba.

"Serenity, I'm ready, let's go," she said, taking the other girls arm and ushering her toward the door.

"Huh?" Serenity asked, completely baffled.

"Just play along," she whispered urgently, "you owe me after using me as a buffer between you and Tristan all day."

"Uh, okay," she said and allowed herself to be dragged out the door. "See you guys later," she waved to their puzzled friends.

Once out in the hall, the door shut behind them, Téa leaned heavily against the wall and the tears finally came.

"Oh my God, Téa, what's wrong?" Serenity cried in alarm.

Téa shook her head. "Not here," she heaved between sobs, "somewhere private."

"Our room?" Serenity asked, indicating the next door over with a tilt of her head.

Téa shook her head again. "Rebecca…"

"Oh, she'll be in there making goo-goo eyes at Mokuba for a couple of hours at least," Serenity assured her. "Come on, you need to sit down," she said.

Téa let Serenity put her arm around her shoulder and guide her down the hall to the door of their room. Once inside, she collapsed on her bed, a worried Serenity beside her.

"Téa, what's wrong, what happened?"

Again Téa shook her head. "It's so stupid, I'm so stupid,"she sobbed fiercely.

"What?"

Téa took a great shuddering breath. "Yugi might be going to grad school in New York."

"What? Okay, wait. I thought he would be in Cairo for two more years."

"I know," Téa heaved, trying to catch her breath, "but I guess things didn't go well on the dig. The Hawkinses are going back to California and the professor thinks Yugi should study in America, either in California or New York."

"Right when you're leaving," Serenity said, understanding.

Téa felt a fresh round of tears wash over her and she could only nod.

Serenity hugged her. "Oh Téa, what lousy timing."

Téa pulled back. "It's not just that," she gasped, trying again to catch her breath. "I realized that I have made the biggest mistake of my life."

"You want to stay in New York now," Serenity said softly.

"Yes," Téa agreed, "which means I'm leaving for all the wrong reasons in the first place. I… I could have gone to school in America, renewed my student visa, but I missed everyone so much, so I picked Domino instead, so I could be with Joey and you, which as much as I love you guys is the totally wrong reason to pick where to go to school. But even the possibility that Yugi might be in New York makes me realize I should have stayed, I should have worked on getting a green card. I don't want to live in Japan, Serenity. I just wanted to be with my friends."

Serenity regarded her for a moment. "It's more than that and you know it, Téa. You want to be with Yugi."

Unable to deny it, Téa gave a feeble nod, sniffling.

Serenity sat back. "Okay, so how exactly did all this happen? Does he know you're moving back to Domino?"

She shook her head. "We were talking about when he could come to New York to see me dance and I was going to tell him I'm moving soon, but then he told me he wasn't going back to Cairo but to either California or New York. New York. I just… I lost it. I didn't know what to say."

"Téa, why don't you just tell him how you feel? Then the two of you together can figure out where to go to school."

Téa recoiled, horror-struck at the thought. She'd already lost her nerve somewhere in all the worry over his late arrival and then the rush of emotions she'd felt when finally did make it. Now it seemed even more impossible, like she would definitely be repeating the same mistake she'd made two years ago. "No way, absolutely not. I did that once before, before graduation, and it was the worst, most selfish thing I could've done. We couldn't be together anyway and he was going through all that stuff over Atem." She shook her head. "I can't do that to him again."

"Téa, come on, you two have got to talk. Don't you think he should know you're in love with him?"

Téa's heart raced. She'd never actually used that word when talking with their mutual friends about Yugi. Hearing it out loud from Serenity made her cry anew.

"You do know he's got a thing for you, too, don't you?" Serenity added.

She jerked her head up and looked at her friend through her tears. "Oh, Serenity, I don't think so."

Serenity snorted. "Are you serious? Good Lord, Téa, that boy has always had a thing for you. Why else do you think he'd want to go study in New York in the first place?"

Of course that thought had occurred to her, even through her shock when he'd first said it was a possibility. But the way he'd said it might be kinda nice to be in the same city, the way he'd made a point of saying he hadn't made up his mind yet, that he didn't know which was the better school, that he just wanted her advice about what the city was like, convinced her that her presence in New York wasn't a factor in the decision. More of an added benefit. Because they were friends, nothing more.

"No," she told Serenity, "he said he hasn't decided which is the better school. Me being there has nothing to do with it."

Serenity gave her a skeptical smirk. "Well yeah, I'm sure he started back pedaling furiously if you 'lost it.' Just think about it from his perspective. He's considering moving to the city where he thinks you'll be and you act like it's the worst thing in the world. You probably scared the poor guy half to death."

"He doesn't—"

"Téa," Serenity smiled, shaking her head like a mother amused at her young child's naïve view of the world. "He stares at you whenever you're in the same room together. I thought he was going to faint when he saw you in that dress last night. I'm telling you, he's got it bad for you."

For some reason, the whole idea made her simultaneously thrilled and uncomfortable. But what did Serenity know? In all the years Téa had known him, Yugi had never so much as given the slightest hint that he saw her as anything other than a friend, even when she'd admitted that she liked him. He treated everyone like they were the most important person in the world. She told Serenity as much, which only made Serenity gape at her.

"You're joking, right? Dear God, girl, are you blind? Granted, he's never gonna be like Joey, all dopey over Mai; he's too reserved for that. But he would move the earth for you if he could. It's obvious. The only person who doesn't see it is you."

This reminded Téa again of Duke and the "Yugi's girl" thing, which only served to aggravate her further. "This from a girl with observation skills so stellar she doesn't even notice she's got the entire male population of this ship after her."

Serenity frowned and folded her arms. "I notice," she said sourly, "I just try and ignore it. Do you know what I would give to have a guy actually talk to me while looking me in the eye? They all seem to aim about a foot too low." She sighed. "Well, Yugi, Tristan and Duke talk to me like a person anyway."

Téa rolled her eyes. "See what I mean? Tristan and Duke are as bad as the rest of them, and you don't even notice."

"Oh, I know they're both horrible flirts and all that and they like to get in stupid macho contests with each other, but that's more their friendship with each other than anything to do with me, really. And they still actually look me in the eye when they're talking to me and they treat me like a real person." She waved her hand dismissively. "But you're trying to change the subject, which is Yugi, and the only person he ever looks at is you. He's always been that way around you. I'll bet he isn't even aware there are other girls on this ship, or, you know, the planet."

"You're wrong," Téa insisted miserably.

"I'm not wrong, Téa. But even if I were, you still need to talk to him. You can't just leave it like this."

Téa eyed her. "Like you with Tristan?"

"Oh, this is so not about me," she said, "so quit trying to change the subject. But for your information, I was going to talk to him tonight until someone dragged me in here." She put her hands on Téa's shoulders. "Téa, just talk to him. You know he needs to know why you freaked. If for no other reason than he's your friend."

Which is exactly why this is so hard. I almost ruined our friendship once already, she thought. But Serenity was right and she knew it. "I know, you're right. He probably thinks I'm a complete mental case," she groaned. "But… I need to pull myself together first. I… this is too messed up right now. I don't think I could tell him I'm moving without bursting into tears."

"So what? He can handle a few tears. Go. Talk to him!"

She shook her head. "No, I'm not going to repeat the same mistake I made two years ago. It wasn't fair to him to unload on him like that. Give me a day, okay? He's got two rounds of duels tomorrow anyway and I don't want to distract him from that. After tomorrow there's a whole day off. I can talk to him tomorrow after dinner."

Serenity cocked her head, skeptical. "You don't think he's already gonna be distracted if you freaked out on him? I think you should talk to him now."

"No, I can't, seriously. One day. I promise I'll talk to him tomorrow."

Serenity folded her arms again. "One day. If you don't say something, I will."

"Serenity…"

"I'm serious. You two have been dancing around each other for five years. This isn't high school anymore."

"I know."

"I mean it."

"I know," Téa repeated. "You know, for someone who spent the entire day using me as a shield so you wouldn't have to talk to a boy, you're pretty self-righteous."

Serenity threw her head back and let out a puff of air. "Okay, okay. I already told you, I was gonna talk to him as soon as we got back from the show. I'd go in there and talk to him now, but I think you could use the company right now."

Téa nodded. "Thanks."

Serenity smiled. "So tomorrow. I'll apologize to Tristan and you talk to Yugi. Deal?"

She nodded again. "Deal."