Wow, when I posted this fic I thought I'd get a lot of bad comment but so far I'm only getting good feedback. Thanx to all my reviewers, I love you all! Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy.
--: 3 :--
Meet Jounouchi and Teana
"Come on Seth! Would you hurry up!" Atemu snapped irritated at his best friend as they walked to the duel ground in the city.
"Hey, you know where it is so I have to follow you while having no idea which way to go! Now stop nagging me to go faster and slow down yourself!" Seth bit back.
"I just want to get there fast," Atemu muttered, slowing down his pace just a little so Seth could catch up with him.
"I know but you hit everybody the way you're walking, and I'd like to avoid most of these people. Have you noticed all the glares you've been getting?" Seth muttered as he finally caught up with Atemu.
"Yeah but I don't really care. What are they going do to me? Go to the Pharaoh and whine?" Atemu smirked, "My father would have them thrown in some dungeon or prison without even listening to what they had to say to him."
Seth rolled his eyes, "Just go a little slower and watch where you're going would you?"
"Fine," Atemu muttered as he turned a corner, not paying attention to the people there, and bumping in to a few. Seth shook his head defeatedly.
"Are you sure this is the right way?"Seth asked.
"Not completely but I think so," Atemu said as he got a glare from Seth. "What! I've only been there once!" he defended himself.
"Great, we're lost," Seth grumbled and rumbed his temple to try and lessen the upcoming headache.
Atemu glared at him before looking ahead again and smirking, "Oh yeah? Well if we're lost, then what is that building over there?" he asked, pointing at what he knew was the duel ground.
Seth looked at it and shrugged, "How am i supposed to know."
"That's where we're going Seth; the duel ground. Now remember; I'm Yami, you're Seto."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've only said this a million times so I think I'll remember. Besides, it's not like I want to get caught or anything. I don't have a death wish like you."
"I don't have a death wish!" Atemu glared, "I just want to have some fun. It's not like there's any fun to have around the palace."
"True. But at least we don't break any rules by being bored," Seth replied with a sigh and a sarcastic eye-roll.
Atemu rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever. Can you try to be a bit more cheery Seth? You're ruining my mood."
They entered the building and Atemu immediately spotted Jou in the crowd. He smiled and dragged Seth through the crowd - Seth apologizing to everyone on the way for hitting them - and went over to Jou.
Jou was in the middle of a duel against a kid that looked about 2 years younger than him, and Jou was about to win.
"And now I attack you wit' my Gearfried to finish ya off!" Jou said grinning madly, "Oh yeah! I'm good!" he exclaimed.
"Nah, you just have a big ego," Atemu mocked.
Jou turned around to faceAtemu and smiled, "Hey Yami, glad ya could come," he then noticed the - at the moment - extrememely bored looking Seth, "Is dis your friend?"he asked.
Atemu nodded, "Yeah, Jou, this is my best friend and cousin Seto, Seto, this is Jou," Atemu introduced.
"Nice to meet ya," Jou said as he held his hand up for Seth to take.
Seth just nodded and took Jou's hand.
"Where're Teana and Yuugi?" Atemu asked, looking around as he tried to find the two.
"Teana's duellin' over dere, she's losin' by da way, and Yuugi has to work at da palace again remember? He'll be here after dinner." Jou answered.
They started off to where Teana was duelling and as they got to the table where she was sitting, saw that she had just lost the duel. She smiled at Atemu, but gave Seth a questioning look as she had never seen him before.
"Hey Teana, I'd like you to meet my best friend Seto, Seto, this is Teana," Atemu said.
"We've heard a lot about you," Teana said as she shook Seth's hand with a warm smile.
Seth raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Then I suppose they can only be bad things because Yami likes to torture me a lot."
Jou laughed, "He likes to torture everybody if ya ask me," he said.
Atemu pouted, "Hmpf, I don't always torture people," he said, crossing his arms.
Seth huffed, "Yeah right. Shall we ask your father about that?" he mocked, smirking as he saw Atemu's reaction..
Atemu cringed, "No, let's not."
"Ya don't like your father, Yami?" Jou asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Let's not go there Jou," Atemu said, glaring a little bit to no one in particular as he though of his father.
Jou blinked at Atemu's reaction, but then just shrugged, "Whatever ya want, Yami."
Atemu smirked, already forgetting all thoughts about his father and going back to the good mood he'd been in earlier, "What I want is to see you duel Seto here."
Seth raised an eyebrow, "You want to let him duel me? Why? You already know the outcome. I've never lost to anyone except you."
"Really? How many duels have ya had?" Jou asked impressed.
"A lot, and against a lot of different people," Seth answered.
"He's a good duellist cous; trust me," Atemu reassured.
"Trust you?" Seth mocked, "If I'd do that, then I'd be dead by now."
Atemu rolled his eyes, "I don't get us into that much trouble, now would you just duel Jou!"
"Whatever," Seth saidas he looked back at Jou, "Ready too lose?"
Jou raised an eyebrow, "You're really confident. Well we'll just see who's goin' ta win dis duel."
They sat down at one of the tables and shuffled their decks. Atemu sat down next to Seth and leaned closer to him, "You know you can't use those Blue Eyes White Dragon cards right? Even though this isn't a shadow game, everybody knows only the High Priest has them. It would be like me using my Dark Magician."
Seth rolled his eyes, "I'm not stupid, I know I can't use them."
Jou: 4000
Seth: 4000
"I'll start." Jou said as he drew his first card, "I summon Alligator Sword (1500/1200) in attack mode and end my turn."
"That's all?" Seth smirked and drew a card, "I summon Luster Dragon (1900/1600) in attack mode and destroy your Alligator Sword. Then I put down 1 face-down and end my turn." Seth said.
Jou: 3600
Seth: 4000
Jou growled as he moved his Alligator Sword to the graveyard and drew a new card from his deck, "I summon Little Wing Guard (1400/1800) in attack mode and activate my Graceful Dice." he said as he got a die from his pocket, "Now my monster's attack will be multiplied by da number dat I roll." he continued smirking. Jou threw the die and it landed on a two, "Ha! Now my Wing Guard's attack is doubled givin' it enough power ta crush your Luster Dragon!"
Seth smirked and flipped his face-down cards, "I activate Ring of Destruction. Now your monster is destroyed and we both lose points equal to its attack."
Jou: 800
Seth: 1200
Jou stared at Seth's trap card in shock, but removed his Little Wing Guard from the field, "I put down one face-down and end my turn." he said, wondering where Seth had gotten such a powerful and rare trap card.
"Thought so." Seth said and drew a card, "I summon Vorse Raider (1900/1200) in attack mode, and attack your life-points with Luster Dragon." Seth said.
"Nuh uh, I play Scapegoat." Jou said as he flipped his face-down card. He placedfour sheep tokens on his side of the field to protect his life points from the monsters on Seth's side of the field.
Seth just shrugged, "Then I attack two of those tokens with both my Luster Dragon and my Vorse Raider."
Jou drew a card and smirked, "I summon Panther Warrior (2000/1600) in attack mode. Den I sacrifice one of my Scapegoat tokens so it can attack your Vorse Raider."
Jou: 800
Seth: 1100
Seth removed his Vorse Raider from the field with a look of indifference, "My turn." he drew a card and frowned, "I change my Luster Dragon to defense position and end my turn."
Jou grinned and drew a card, "I summon Battle Warrior (700/1000) and den attack your Luster Dragon wit' my Panther Warrior by sacrificing my last Scapegoat token." Seth removed his Luster Dragon from the field, "Den I attack you directly with my Battle Warrior. Last I'll put down one face-down and end my turn."
Jou: 800
Seth: 400
Atemu stared at his cousin in shock and disbelief, was Jouactually going to beat Seth? There was no way!
Seth drew his next card and smirked, Atemu glanced at the card in Seth's hand and sighed, "I summon X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) and attack your Battle Warrior." he said simply.
"I activate Skull Dice. Da attack of your monster is divided by da number dat I roll." Jou once again rolled the die. It landed on atwo again.
"Guess that's not enough to destroy my monster." Seth said smirking, "I put down one face-down and end my turn."
Jou: 400
Seth: 400
Jou drew a card, "I summon Baby Dragon (1200/700) and attack your X-Head Cannon wit' it." Jou declared.
"Then I activate my face-down card, Attack Guidance Armour. Now your attack is redirected to a new target on the field, and I say the new target is going to be your Panther Warrior." Seth said as he flipped the card.
"But… den my life-points…"
"Drop to zero." Seth finished smirking.
Jou: 0
Seth: 400
Teana was staring at the field in shock and disbelief. There weren't that many duellists that could beat Jou, and even then it was mostly because he didn't get the right cards, but now… Jou had drawn good cards and, had still lost.
"Wow…" Jou said but then smiled at Seth, "Ya were right, ya are a good duellist."
"I know." Seth said, smirking at which Atemu rolled his eyes.
"Don't be so overconfident cous." he said smirking himself, "Or do you want me to beat that new reputation of yours into the ground by beating you."
Seth glared mildly at Atemu, "Now who's being the overconfident one huh?" he taunted.
Atemu grinned, "I'm not overconfident, I just know I'm the best." he said innocently.
Jou shook his head, "Overconfident wit' a huge ego." he said.
"Are we talking about Seto?" Atemu asked smirking.
"Boys, shut up!" Teana suddenly snapped. All three looked at her, "Thank you. What I wanted to point out is that Yuugi just walked in and is looking for us."
"But, he's supposed to be at da palace." Jou pointed out. All three boys looked at the entrance of the building and - like Teana had said - saw Yuugi looking for them.
Yuugi looked around the duel ground and spotted his friends at a table. He could see that Yami and Seto were both there, "Hey guys." he said as he reached the small group.
"Hey Yuug, why aren't ya at da palace?" Jou asked curiously.
"Well, the Prince is missing again and it's not very safe to stick around there right now."
"Did the Pharaoh do anything to you?" Teana asked worriedly.
"Not much, just yell a lot." Yuugi said shrugging, "I think I'll be going deaf in that place if this happens too much."
Seth could already see Atemu's eyes narrowing in anger and flashing dangerously. A dim light – though it was only seen if you were looking for it – shone under the cloak that Atemu was wearing, "A-Yami, calm down." Seth hissed, hoping only his cousin would hear.
Atemu tried his best to calm himself enough so at least the Millennium Puzzle would stop glowing. He managed to do so after a few seconds, though he was still furious that his father had been yelling at Yuugi.
"But why was he yelling at you? It's not like you have anything to say about the Prince, right?" Atemu asked, trying to sound as calm as he could.
"He said I was supposed to go wherever the Prince went or something." Yuugi said, "But the Prince was already gone when I entered his chamber."
'Note to self: kill father.' Atemu thought, 'Nobody does that to my Yuugi.'
Suddenly, a group of guards burst into the building. Seth and Atemu both froze as theynaturally assumed they were caught, "Damn it." Jou cursed as he pulled Seth up and started to drag him out of the building as Yuugi did the sameto Atemu.
"What's going on?" Atemu asked, "Why are the palace guards here?"
"They come here once in a while to find good duellists to play against. If you lose a duel you're dragged back to the palace with them. None of the people who've been taken away like that have ever been seen again." Yuugi said.
"And if you win?" Atemu asked, already grinning at the chance of beating a couple of guards and humiliating them.
"Nobody's ever done that before but knowing them, you'd get killed on the spot." Yuugi answered.
Deciding that that wouldn't really be a good thing, Atemu's grin faded and he concentrated on getting out of the building.
Everybody in the building was trying to get away from the guards in full panic mode, and Yuugi and Atemu got separated from the rest of the group. Just before they could make it out of the building, a guard managed to grab Yuugi's robe and pull him back, "Guess what, you're our victim for the day." the guard said smirking.
Atemu - who had felt Yuugi being pulled back as their hands had been entwined – turned around to see one of the guards holding Yuugi's arm quite painfully. Yuugi's face was contorted in pain as he tried to get away from the guard but again, to no avail.
Atemu's eyes once again narrowed and the Millennium Puzzle reacted to the anger by shinning dimly under Atemu's cloak, though it was better visible this time.Atemu quickly ran back to Yuugi and - with a little help from the shadow magic in his Puzzle – ripped Yuugi away from the guard that was holding him. He pulled the slightly shocked boy behind him as he glared daggers at the guards – who subconsciously took a few steps back at the intense stare.
"Nobody touches my Yuugi." Atemu hissed. Although he really wanted to show these idiotic guards who he really was and send them to the deepest dungeon of the palace – either that or send them to the Shadow Realm - he resisted the urge and quickly took advantage of the temporary shock of the guard by taking Yuugi's hand and running away as fast as they could together.
Yuugi blushed at the words his – as he had come to accept it – crush, 'Did he really just say my Yuugi…' His blush deepened as he felt the other grab his hand as they started running out of the building, leaving the shocked guards behind them.
After they ran for a while and Atemu was sure that the guards weren't following them, they stopped in one of the many dark alleys of the city.
"Are you okay?" Atemu asked, casting worried crimson eyes over Yuugi's bruised wrist. He reluctantly let go of Yuugi's hand which he had been holding the entire time.
Yuugi nodded slowly, though his wrist was really hurting, "Yeah, I guess." he muttered, "Thanks for saving me there but they could've gotten you too."
Atemu grinned and pulled Yuugi closer to him, "Don't worry about me, Little One; I can take care of myself." he said as he nuzzled Yuugi's hair, smirking as he saw Yuugi blushing like mad. He wrapped his arms around Yuugi's waist and pulled the other's smaller body against his own.
Yuugi's face burned up even more as he felt Atemu's arms snake around his waist, pulling him even closer. One side of him was telling him to break free and run for his life, saying that he didn't really know his saviour from yesterday. But the other half of his mind was telling him to stay put, and was even begging for the other to go on.
Yuugi decided that since he knew the other was stronger than him anyway, he would listen to the latter part of his mind – though he tried to ignore the little voice that was begging for more which proved quite difficult as his mind was already racing with not so innocent ideas.
Atemu glanced down, 'Damn that Seth for being right about me liking Yuugi… If he ever finds out about this, I'll never hear the end of it.'he mused as he continued to nuzzle Yuugi's hair, very pleased at the fact that his Little One had relaxed in his arms.
Hearing footsteps coming closer and already recognizing his cousin's voice,Atemu reluctantly let go of Yuugi who - like himself – glanced in the direction of where the voices where coming from.
Yuugi was just about to melt into a puddle as his crush continued to nuzzle his hair whenhe heard voices coming closer. He almost wanted to kill whoever was coming for his crush had stopped nuzzling him, and had taken a step back. He glanced in the direction where the voices were coming from, thinking he recognized one of the voices.
"There you two are, we were worried that the guards had gotten to you." Teana said as she, Jou and Seth turned the corner and spotted the two.
"Well, they sort of did get us." Yuugi said, trying to hide the blush that was still very much visible, "But Yami saved me."
Seth narrowed his eyes on Atemu who shook his head as if saying: 'no, I did not send them to the Shadow Realm', though Seth could tell from the look Atemu gave him next, that the other would've loved to do so.
"So what're we gonna do now? We can't go back to da duel ground 'cause da guards usually stay dere for a while." Jou said.
"Jou's right." Yuugi admitted, "Anybody have an idea?" as he said this, he pushed the voice that was calling out the not so innocent ideas back into his head, trying his best to ignore it and fight off the new blush that was coming up as his mind was showing him some things he and the taller boy could do.
"Well we could just hang around and see if there's anything to do in town." Teana suggested, "It's not like we have anything else to do anyway."
They all agreed and just lounged around for the rest of the day. Seth - of course - didn't agree with everything they did – as Yuugi, Jou, Teana and Atemu just stole food when they got hungry – but kept it to himself and eventually Atemu got him to do it too.
As Ra started to set, signalling for Atemu and Seth to get the hell back to the palace or they'd be late for dinner, Seth and Atemu said their goodbyes to the group and promised to see them later.
Atemu grinned at Seth as soon as they were out of sight, "I guess I got you infected with the 'Thief-virus' after all, huh?"
"Oh shut up and come on or your father will have our heads." Seth snapped half-heartedly, "What did you do with those guards in the duel ground anyway?" he asked.
Atemu shrugged, "Nothing really. One of them pulled Yuugi back and I just ripped Yuugi away from them using a bit of shadow magic. They were so shocked that it gave me the chance to run away with Yuugi."
Seth grinned, "You were standing awfully close to that little look-alike of yours when we found you two."
"So?" Atemu tried to sound indifferently but the slight blush on his cheeks gave him away.
"I knew it." Seth said smirking, "You like him. Just admit it."
Atemu let out a defeated sigh. He knew he couldn't keep denying it, "Fine, I like him. You happy now?" he muttered.
Seth's smirk widened, "Overjoyed."
"But you like Jou." Atemu suddenly countered, "I saw the looks you were giving him today."
Seth raised an eyebrow, "I do not like that Mutt." he stated. Over the day, Seth had started calling Jou a Mutt for some reason unknown to Atemu. Seth had been doing it already when they found him and Yuugi in the alley, so he guessed something had happened while they were separated. Jou went nuts every time Seth used this little nickname of his, which only made it more fun for Seth of course.
"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Atemu said smirking.
Seth glared at him but didn't say anything as they entered the palace gardens at that moment to change back into their royal attire.
As they changed, they could already hear Aknunkanon yelling bloody murder at everyone for – to them - no reason at all.
"We're in trouble." Seth stated.
"Mostly me I think." Atemu corrected himas theywalked into the main hall.
They entered the dinning room and as soon as Aknunkanon spotted them,the manglared daggers at his son, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL DAY!" he yelled.
Atemu looked at him indifferently while sitting down together with Seth, "None of your concern."
"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR SNEAKING AWAY FROM ME ALL THE TIME! FROM NOW ON I WANT SOMEONE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES! AS SOON AS THAT SLAVE OF YOURS GETS HERE TOMORROW, HE'LL BE LIKE YOUR SHADOW AND REPORT EVERYTHING YOU DO TO ME!" Aknunkanon yelled before storming out of the throne room.
Atemu stared at his father's retreating form in slight shock, 'Damn it. If Yuugi has to act like my shadow all day… I can't sneak away without him getting punished for not paying attention' "Damn it!"
Now I know I used anime rules in the duel as I used some wrong effects and sacrifeced Scapegoat and all, but it just worked better this way. I also know I'm gonna get complains about Seth having Blue Eyes White Dragon cards and Atemu having a Dark Magician card. I know full well how these monsters were really created in themanga, but this is an AU for a reason so don't even try to comment on it.
Now that that's said, I'll leave you people alone so you can all review my oh so wonderful story. R&R people!