The Calm Before the Storm

Disclaimers: Yu-Gi-Oh characters are owned by Kazuo Takahashi and Toei Animation and are all copied without permission. I have made this story for fun and not profit.

Writer's Note: I had just recently got reintroduced to the franchise and it may be a bit hard for me to get the characters' mannerisms right so a lot of the characters may be out of character and the plot may not make much sense, so please bare with me? (Rated for Drama and Suspense)

Prologue

Yugi took in a breath of the cool and crisp air as he stepped out of the game shop, tightly gripping the straps of his backpack. After taking a moment to bask in the autumnal weather, he turned back toward the interior of the shop.

"I'll cya later, Grandpa! I'll be back later tonight!"

Without waiting for a reply, Yugi hurriedly closed the door and sprinted down the street, the pyramid shaped Millennium Puzzle lightly bumping against his chest as he ran. As he continued to school, he noticed the streets seemed busier than usual. He nonetheless managed to weave his way through the crowd.

While he was sad that summer was over, he was glad he could spend time with his friends, even if it was during the school days.

"Is something on your mind?"

Yugi nearly jumped as he heard the voice in his mind. It took him a moment to remember who's voice it was. After calming down a bit, he smiled a little.

"I'm fine, Yami." he replied.

His sprint slowed to a jog, then a walk as he felt suddenly winded. Yugi's shoes lightly scraped against the pavement as he continued his way toward the school.

"Please, tell me what is on your mind?"

Yugi glanced around, noticing others looking at him and decided to respond in his thoughts.

'I'm just not sure-.'

He was cut from his thoughts as he took notice by a shadow within a nearby alleyway.

"Huh?"

He stopped for a moment to gaze into the alley, unsure if he should investigate or continue walking.

"Yugi? What is it?"

"Ah, Yugi.. It's been too long hasn't it?"

Yugi froze as he heard the unmistakable voice of someone he would recognize from anywhere.

"Kaiba!?"

Seto Kaiba stepped out of the shadows, his gaze cold and calculating. He leaned back against the nearby wall, crossing his arms across his chest.

"We hadn't yet had our rematch." Seto stated, a cold smirk spreading across his lips. "You didn't think I'd forget, did you?"

He stepped away from the wall and took a step toward the shorter teen. Yugi, however, didn't take a step back, but stood his ground.

"Kaiba, I thought that after everything that happened with Pegasus and the Big Five, you'd put that behind you."

"You HUMILIATED me in front of EVERYONE in Domino CITY." Seto snarled, clutching his hands into tight fists. "You think that because you saved my brother and got me out of that virtual h*ll-hole that I'd just FORGET!?"

Just as Yugi opened his mouth to respond, a bell chimed in the distance, causing him to snap his head to the right, his eyes growing wide in realization.

"I'm LATE!"

He turned back to look up at Seto.

"Can we continue this later? We have to get to school."

With that being said, Yugi spun on his heels and took off in the direction toward the school.

"This isn't OVER, Yugi!"

Yugi only continued to sprint toward the school.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As the students took their seats, Téa continued to glance from the door to the vacant seat.

"You alright, Téa?"

Téa turned to look at Joey. Just as she was about to speak, the sudden thumping of footsteps echoed through the hallway.

They turned toward the door just as Yugi burst into the room, gasping for breath as he leaned against the doorway.

"There you are!" said Joey. "What took ya?"

"Sorry.. I'm.. Late.." Yugi gasped. "I got.. A bit.. Distracted."

Yugi took a deep and steady breath as he slowly made his way into the room and roughly took a seat at his desk.

"So, got any plans for after school?" Joey asked.

As the conversation about the after-school plans began, Yugi became lost in his thoughts. He thought back to his encounter with Seto Kaiba. He couldn't understand why Seto couldn't let go of the past. While Seto had acted hostile toward him and immorally forced him to give up the ability to save his grandfather from Pegasus, Yugi had forgiven him, knowing Seto had only done what he had in order to save his brother from a horrible fate.

"Yugi? Hey, Earth to YUGI!"

"Huh? what?" Yugi snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Joey's voice.

"We were asking your thoughts about going to the Plaza." Téa responded.

Yugi looked at them for a moment and was about to respond when something caught his attention, causing him to turn toward the doorway, the others soon following suit. Seto stood in the doorway, his icy cold gaze locked on his.

There was a long bead of silence before Seto made his way into the room, never taking his gaze off Yugi as he took a seat at the far end of the room. Yugi silently stared back as he watched Seto take his seat.

There was another moment of silence before Joey spoke up.

"What's HIS problem?"

Yugi continued to watch Seto for another moment before turning to look at his friends.

"I ran into him on the way here." Yugi stated. "That's why I was late.. He said he wanted to duel me again."

"You mean that jerk hadn't moved on yet?"

Yugi scratched at the back of his neck.

"Well, he said that we hadn't had the chance to duel fairly and-"

"'Duel fairly'?" Joey echoed, eyes narrowing a bit. "When has that guy EVER dueled fairly?"

"Well-"

"I say he's just mad that you beat him in that FIRST duel."

"Joey-"

"I mean, yeah, I'd be upset about losing a duel in front of everybody, but I'd move on and forget the whole thing."

"Are you sure about that?" asked Tristan, crossing his arms. "I think you'd keep trying until you beat whoever first beat you in a duel."

"Nobody asked you!" Joey countered.

"You're the one who brought it up."

As Joey and Tristan began going back and forth, Yugi took that moment to glance back at Seto and let out a sigh as he saw the older teen's attention had turned to the front of the classroom. Yugi sighed, soon turning toward the front of the class as the instructor entered the room.

Author's Note: I apologize for making them out of character.. I had just been reintroduced to this fandom so I still don't really know how they act.. If anyone could help me in getting their mannerisms right, it would be greatly appreciated..

*UPDATE*

I re-edited this to try and make Yugi sound more confident, since I think I made him sound a bit too timid.. Hopefully I can get their mannerisms with my later chapters..