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Stops my mind from wandering

To: 'Aibou'

From: 'The Pharaoh'

Yugi,

My flight arrives at 8:00pm. Don't forget to pick me up!

Yami

p.s. I can't wait to get home!

Yugi re-read the short e-mail and sighed to himself.

He couldn't wait for Yami to get home either. It had been a long four years. Though he supported his other half's need to go, he still didn't fully agree with it.

It was day two of spring break in his freshman year of college, when Yami sprung the news. His other self would be leaving that summer for a dig in Egypt and wouldn't be back for two to six years. Grandpa had pulled some strings and gotten him on the dig to unearth some of Ramses III approximately 100 children.- He'd be working on kids number 40 to 50 or thereabouts. Yami wasn't sure at the time. He just knew his time of arrival and the location of the site they'd assigned him. As it turned out, he worked on kids' number 26, 32, 38, 40, 45, 47 and 52.

"I don't understand, Yami. Why do you need to go back to Egypt? And what's the point of working on a dig? You know who you are now. You have all of your memories back. What more is there?"

"Aibou, I just need to do this. I need to spend some time in my own land. I need to go home."

"This is your home! Here! Domino! This is where your heart is. Where your friends are! You have no one there!"

"Aibou…"

"And you don't even know how long you'll be gone! What am I supposed to do while you're traipsing off around the world?"

"Traipsing? Is that even a word?"

"This is no time for jokes, Yami! Why'd you even come with me to college if you knew you weren't staying? I had things all planned out for us to hang together when I had some down time."

"I wanted to make sure you got settled alright."

"I would have been fine! I'm not a baby!"

"I know, Aibou."

I remember that his calm just made me angrier. Especially knowing that he and Grandpa had planned all of this behind my back.

"Whose idea was it for you to leave now? Grandpa's? He's always wanted to go back to Egypt. I'm sure he couldn't wait to get you back there so you could help him relive his glory days again. I remember that he asked you millions of times about it the last time you went."

"Actually, Aibou, I wanted to leave right after graduation. Grandpa asked me to stay with you for your first year."

That had shocked me. Yami wanted to get away from us - from me - that badly? I remember feeling very hurt. It must have shown on my face because the next thing I knew, he'd hugged me to him, re-assuring me that he wasn't leaving because of me and that he would be coming back.

"I need to do this, Aibou. I know you don't understand, but I need you to be all right with it. I promise I'll be back once my part of the dig is over. Because, like you said, this is my home."

Embarrassingly, I'd turned into a sopping wet mess then. Ugh! What a wuss.

Closing my laptop, I take a moment to stretch my back out. I'd been sitting at the kitchen table of my hotel for hours reading my e-mails, checking my LJ and generally playing around and now I was a little stiff.

Checking my watch, I note that I have about three hours before I need to leave for the airport. At that moment, my stomach chooses to remind me that I'd skipped lunch with my real life friends to bond with my on-line friends. Hmm. Maybe I could meet my real life friends for dinner.

As if on cue, my cell rings, announcing Jou's call.

His ring tone is "Who Let the Dogs Out", but I'd never tell him that. Back in high school, Kaiba got a hold of my phone one day and programmed it in without my knowledge. That afternoon, when Jou called me at the shop, I remember seeing his name on the caller ID and laughing so hard I couldn't breathe.

I've kept it all these years, adding it every time I got a new phone.

Breaking from my musings, I grab the phone before it goes to voicemail.

"Hey Jou!"

"What took you so long to answer? Were you laughing at my ring tone again?'

"W-What," I sputter.

"You know. 'Who let the dogs out?' You were laughing about it again, weren't you?

"No, I…. You knew? How long have you known?"

"Pfft. Since high school, man! Did you really think Kaiba would pull such a prank and leave it be? He told me the next day, proving it by calling you from my phone at lunchtime. You know he was never one to 'let sleeping dogs lie.'"

I laugh out loud at that. Every since he and Mai made it official, Jou took a lot of things much less seriously. Though strange at first not to see 'hothead' Jonouchi and his 'backup man' Honda beating up anyone in sight for the smallest infraction, I have to admit it was a welcome change. Not to say that there aren't still occasional ass-kickings going on, but the reasons are usually loftier than 'He looked at me funny.'

"So, Mutou," Jou begins once I've calmed, "What are you doin' for dinner?'

"I'm eating whatever you and Mai are feeding me," I reply with a smile.

"Good! Be here in 20 minutes."

"You got it. See you then!"

"Right. Bye!"

"Bye!"

Man, Mai can cook. I haven't eaten that well in weeks.

As I make my way to the airport, I remind myself that Otogi's flight comes in later tonight.

"Humph. I might as well camp out at the airport," I grumble.

I tried to get Otogi to fly in earlier so I wouldn't have to make two trips, but he wanted spend more time with Lalani.

"Otogi, you're only going to be gone two weeks," I'd argued over the phone. "She can live without you for that long can't she?"

"I know, but I don't want her to forget me while I'm gone."

"For crying out loud, it's only two weeks!"

"You wouldn't understand, single-man."

"Oh, please. I'm single by choice."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Otogi, it's stupid for you to take a later flight just to spend time with a girl you've only known two months."

"Love has bloomed in shorter periods."

"Are you saying you're 'in love', Otogi," I'd snarfed.

"Always, Yugi. Always."

"You'd just better be on that plane."

"I promise. After a few hours of bliss, I'll shower and fly home."

"TMI, Otogi."

"Right. You know you want details."

"Hanging up now."

"Catch you tomorrow. My flight gets in at 1:30 am."

"Tomorrow. You owe me. Next month's inventory is all yours."

"Trust me, she's worth it; quite the limber little minx. I can't tell you all of the positions we've tried."

"Ewww! Don't want that image in my head! Really hanging up now!"

He laughed.

"Yugi, you're still such an innocent. When's the last time you got laid anyway?"

I hung up on him then.

I look at my watch again.

8:55 pm

Yami's plane landed, supposedly, at 8:15 pm after a short delay. I've been standing in baggage claim for 30 minutes. Where the hell is he? Did he miss his plane? I check my phone again for messages. Nothing.

Twenty minutes later, I see a familiar head of red, black and blonde heading my way and all questions about his whereabouts fly out of my head. I can't contain the grin of delight that erupts from my face. It's been much to long since I've seen my other half.

"Yami!" I call waving frantically.

A grin almost the size of mine splits his face. Gleefully, I practically tackle him when he reaches me, laughing with joy at finally having my Yami back with me after all these years.

"I've missed you too, Aibou," he affirms, nearly crushing me with his hug.

Finally pulling back from each other, I give him a once over. He's darker, by a lot. And taller, though not by much. (He's still taller than me by about three inches. My late college growth spurt of two-and-a-half inches didn't help at all.)

"You look great, Yami."

"You too, Aibou."

We stand there grinning like idiots for a while longer.

"C'mon, let's get your stuff and get out of here before I start bawling like a baby," I suggest, heading for his flight's baggage claim.

He laughs.

"Sure. And then can we get some food? I'm starving."

A/N: The entrance to this series of tombs was discovered by archeologists about six years ago.