Okay, so I wanted to put this up now because I know I'll forget to do it on Saturday...so here it is!

Also, a note: This story won't be your typical romance fanfic. Although telling you everything right now would spoil it, I can say that there's a reason Erin's soul isn't in the afterlife.

Do you feel a subplot coming on? o.O

Anyway, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh or any of the characters in this story except for my OCs. All rights belong to Kazuki Takahashi.

Chapter 2: The Game Shop

"Can I help you?" Asked the older man behind the cash register when I walked into Kame Games. The shelves around me, though there were tons of different types of games on sale, seemed to center around one in particular: Duel Monsters. Glass cases protected rare and valuable cards, and packs of random cards were plied in boxes. As I approached the register, I admired the posters of fire-breathing dragons and robot monsters engaging in battle.

When I reached the counter, I looked back at the old man. "Hi. I'm Erin Stephenson. Is Yugi here?"

"Depends who's asking." The old man said, his face suspicious. Was it really so strange that another teenager was there asking for the teenager that probably worked here?

I cleared my throat awkwardly. "Uh, I'm new at Domino High. He asked me to meet him here."

The old man was about to reply, but just then, Yugi appeared from somewhere in the back of the shop. "There you are, Erin! We were almost afraid you'd gotten lost!"

"You know this girl?" The old man asked Yugi.

"Grandpa, this is our new friend Erin." Yugi introduced. I smiled at the fact that he called me a friend. "Erin, this is my grandpa."

I felt like I had said the phrase a million times already that day, but I repeated it once more. "Nice to meet you." I told Yugi's grandpa. I looked at Yugi. "Sorry I took so long. I had to find my cards." Sheepishly, I held up the seven trading cards that I owned. I wasn't stupid – I knew that seven cards wasn't even the beginnings of an actual deck. But it was a start.

"Great! Come to the back, and we'll take a look at them."

I followed him through the door to the back, giving one last friendly glance to his grandpa, who returned it. "Any friend of Yugi's is a friend of mine." He said, and I nodded in thanks.

We emerged into a sort of storage room, with boxes of all shapes and sizes piled and stacked around us. Upon further inspection, I noticed that most of the boxes seemed to be chock-full of Duel Monsters cards. "Quite a collection you guys have here." I said.

Yugi laughed. "Grandpa never lets the stock run out."

We turned a corner formed from boxes and not from actual drywall. We approached a small open area where a makeshift Duel Monsters battlefield had been made out of an empty cardboard box. Sharpie marks made up the card places. Sitting on ether side of it were Joey and Tristan, locked in an intense duel.

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon, go!" Joey said, pointing at a card that Tristan had on the field. "Attack his Magna Warrior!"

Tristan growled in frustration as he took his card from play.

"Now you're at twelve hundred life points, and my mercy!" Joey pumped his fist in the air.

Tea shook her head, still staring at her homework in her lap. Leaning against the wall behind Joey was Atem, watching the duel with amused interest. They all looked up when they realized Yugi had returned.

"Erin! You decided to show after all!" Joey said, waving at me excitedly.

I waved back. "Hey." Feeling Atem's eyes on me again, I glanced at him. He pretended he hadn't been staring, instead focusing on the duel in front of him. If he didn't like me, he could've just said it. "What's going on?"

"Joey and Tristan are in the middle of a duel." Yugi explained, leading me closer to the group.

Tea rolled her eyes. "They've been at it for an hour."

My eyebrows shot up. I had no idea duels could last that long. The childish idea that I had was that the game was simply a more complex version of go-fish. "So, who's winning?"

"Joey is right now, but I feel a wrestling match coming on." Tea replied, jotting down an answer on the worksheet in front of her.

Tristan looked at the cards in his hand, then at Joey's Red-Eyes Black Dragon. "I hate it when you play that card, man!"

Joey laughed maniacally at this. "I know."

"Then why do you still play it?" Before I knew what was going on, Tristan had jumped across the "table" and tackled Joey. Cards flew everywhere, and the box collapsed under Tristan's weight. This didn't distract the two, however, who, as Tea had predicted, engaged themselves in an all-out wrestling match. They rolled around on the floor, shouting and kicking and laughing.

"Do they do this often?" I asked, watching the tousle.

Yugi sighed. "Unfortunately."

Atem shook his head at the two, a smile on his lips. That was the first time I had seen him smile that day, and it was...nice. I definitely saw him as more approachable when he was smiling.

Yugi turned to me after chuckling at his friends' antics. "Why don't we look at your cards?"

"Uh, sure." I said, handing him my meager supply. "I know that it's not a lot, and I've got a ways to go before it actually qualifies as a deck –"

"No way!" He cut me off mid-word vomit. "You have Rainbow Dragon?"

Even though I had stared at that same card for hours on end, I still had to look over top of the cards to see the one he was talking about again. "Yeah. It was my brother's favorite, but he gave it to me when I left Columbia. Why? Is it a good card?"

"A very good card." A deep voice said from beside me. I looked up. Atem had moved from his position across the room to my side in the ten seconds I hadn't been watching him. For once, his eyes weren't trained on me, but on the cards in Yugi's hand.

The scuffle had ended while we were talking, and Joey and Tristan jumped up and raced to our side. In a calmer fashion, Tea stood and followed them. "Rainbow Dragon?" Joey asked, his voice obnoxiously loud. "That's one of the most powerful cards in Duel Monsters!"

"Where did your brother get it?" Yugi asked.

I shrugged. "He's pretty resourceful. He could have gotten it from anywhere."

Atem stepped to Yugi's side to get a better look at the card. "Your brother must be quite the scavenger."

Joey pounded me on the back, partly scaring me, but mostly just reminding me of Landon's playful punches on the arm. "Looks like you and I are gonna have a little competition when you get your deck built."

"It would be an easy victory for you, regardless of the cards I have," I said as Tristan stared over Yugi's shoulder, mouth slightly agape. "I don't know the first thing about Duel Monsters."

"That's why we're here!" Yugi grinned and walked to one of the many boxes piled around us, eyes still on my cards. "Now, since you have Rainbow Dragon, you're going to need the seven different Crystal Beasts." He dug through the box a bit, pulled out a smaller plastic box, and opened it. Seeming satisfied with what laid within, he nodded to himself and brought the box over to me.

When he held the box out to me, I took one look at the monster on the card and the first thing that slipped out of my mouth was, "That's a monster?"

This was obviously the wrong thing to say. I swear Tea would have facepalmed if she hadn't been standing less than five feet away from me.

"Appearances can be deceiving." Atem said, his voice soft, overlooking the fact that I had just insulted their hobby.

"I'm sorry," I blurted. "I really didn't mean to say that out loud. And I am really not making myself sound much better." I pursed my lips so I wouldn't say anything more.

"It's okay, Erin," Yugi said, his smile making me feel better. "You're new to all of this. Here," he gestured for me to take the box, "this is yours."

Grabbing the package, I glanced back up at him. "How much?"

"Nothing. Consider it a gift."

"But Yugi..." Although I was grateful for his generosity, I knew that a card that got its own box instead of being put into a pack was something special. And probably expensive.

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Grandpa won't even know it's gone."

Disbelief flooded through my veins. Yugi had known me for maybe the better part of five hours, and he was already willing to give me a rare card for free. I had never met someone so trustful. Heck, even I had to know someone for at least a day before I entrusted them with my schoolwork, much less my valuables. "Thanks," I said, hoping my gleaming eyes told him just how grateful I really was. "I don't know what else to say."

Yugi beamed back at me.

Joey broke the moment quickly. "Hey, uh, Erin?" I looked at him, an eyebrow arched inquisitively. "Is that a birthmark, or a bruise on your face?"

"Oh, no." I whispered, putting a hand to my cheek self-consciously. I had almost forgotten about my little brawl this morning. I must have rubbed some of Tea's concealer off my face by accident while I was changing clothes.

"So, I'm guessing it's a bruise." Tristan said, judging my reaction.

I shook my head quickly and prepared to lie, but Tea jumped in for me instead. "She was defending a freshman this morning after second hour. Regis was up to his old tricks, but she stepped in and took a hit. But not before she made a buffoon out of him!"

I bit my lip and closed my eyes for a long moment. I really hated it when people acted like I was a hero when I was actually just defending myself because my mouth didn't stop running. I opened my eyes again to find everyone staring at me.

"Is that true?" Atem asked, something that sounded like hope lying beneath his even voice.

I shrugged to show them it really wasn't that big of a deal. "Yeah, but I'm fine. Regis' dignity might not be, but I am." Realizing this, I also came to terms with the observation that when I got to school tomorrow, I could possibly be hunted down and beaten to a pulp for humiliating Regis. Great. First day of school count: prospective friends: 7; definite enemies: 1.

Joey was the first to laugh. "Man, I wish I could've seen his face! No one's ever stood up to him before!"

The others followed suit, except Atem and I, laughing about my adventure that morning. I exchanged a look with Atem, a sheepish smile on my lips. His eyes held a confusing combination of emotions – it was like he wanted to laugh, but he was still worried about me. And then there was that one that I had noticed when I had first seen him, some form of recognition and surprise, but about ten times more prominent than before.

Tea was the first to stop laughing. "Oh, man, I'm so glad I met you today."

"Me too." Joey added, clamping a big hand on my shoulder. The others agreed, even though they really didn't know me quite as well as the first two did.

"I'm glad I met you guys today, too." I said. "Now I won't be so nervous about walking around a place where I don't know anyone tomorrow."

Everyone smiled at me. Yugi opened his mouth to say something, but just then, my phone went off in my pocket. I checked the caller ID to find that my mother was calling me. I glanced back up at Yugi. "I'm really sorry. I have to take this. It's my mom." He nodded to show he accepted my apology, and I put the phone to my ear. "Hello?"

"Erin, it's Mom."

"I know, Mom. I have caller ID, remember?" I had stepped away from the group and turned the not-bruised side of my face towards them.

A sigh. "Right. Anyway, do you remember what time Miri gets off school?"

I knew what was coming before I even asked why she was asking. "Yep. 3:00. You want me to get her, don't you?"

"Please? It would be such a help. I'm stuck at the office helping out with a new project, but I'll be home in time to make dinner, I promise."

Hearing the tension in her voice, I shook my head, though she couldn't see me. "No, it's fine. Stay at the office as long as you need to. I'll pick Miri up and cook dinner."

My mother scoffed at that. "Your idea of cooking involves a phone and a delivery man."

"But Miri does love pizza," I said matter-of-factly. In reality, Miri had told me last night that she was tired of Chinese, which we had been ordering out since we moved in four days ago because the kitchen had been too cluttered with boxes to actually make anything. Mom had cleared the kitchen the night before, but she was going to work late, and I was no sous chef. Miri would be fine with anything that wasn't Chinese food at this point.

Another sigh, this one dramatic to show she knew my words were true. "I suppose. Are you sure you'll be fine? Do you remember how to get to her school?"

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, I dropped her off at school this morning. Yes, I know where it's at."

"Just checking." I heard the clicking of computer keys, and shuffling in the background. "Okay, sweetheart, I have to go. Be careful. Love you."

"I will. Love you, too." I hung up and turned back to the group, who had resorted to a new conversation about Duel Monsters in my absence. Tea looked pretty annoyed with the boys for bringing it up again, and Atem was trying to cover up the fact that he had been staring at me. What was up with him? I checked the clock on my phone, and pursed my lips. It looked like my fifteen minutes of hang time with my new friends was going to have to end. Not wanting to interrupt the boys' heated argument over whether Joey's Red Eyes Black Dragon could possibly beat the Blue Eyes White Dragon, I planted myself next to Tea. "What did I miss?" I asked.

"Nothing important." She muttered so only I could hear. Her face, though she tried to keep it looking interested in the debate at hand, betrayed some of her deeper emotions. I knew that look. I had it on my face a lot when I was surrounded by my brother's friends. It was an expression that could only be caused by a lack of feminism. I realized that Tea was friends with five boys and only one girl, and immediately understood why she had that look on her face.

"Here," I said, pushing my phone into her hands. "put your number in and text me about how this turns out. I've gotta hit the road."

Yugi heard my statement, and looked over at me. "Why are you leaving so soon?"

I felt bad for showing up, taking a gift from him, and leaving abruptly, but I had to. "I'm really sorry. My sister goes to the middle school, and my mom can't pick her up, so I have to do it."

"Oh. Well, I guess we'll see you at school tomorrow, then?" He asked.

I nodded as Tea handed my phone back to me. "And thank you for the card, Yugi. Really, it means a lot to me."

He nodded in acceptance. "What are friends for?" He had done it again. He had called me a friend. My body warmed at the thought of not having to face my new situation alone anymore.

"Yeah," Joey added, "and we still have a game to teach you, remember?"

I smiled at him. "Right. And I'll definitely come back to learn it."

"You're always welcome here, Erin." Yugi said.

"Thanks." I waved as I stepped away. "See you guys tomorrow."

They all waved back, with various replies of "goodbye" and "see ya later." Well, everyone except for Atem. He kind of just stood there, hand held in a stiff, non-moving wave. I felt his violet eyes follow me until I was around the corner. I said a polite goodbye to Yugi's grandpa, thanked him for his kindness, and continued on my way out the door.

As I turned the key in the ignition, I frowned at my reflection in the rear-view mirror. Was Yugi's lookalike just shy, or was he trying to get a point across that he didn't approve of my company?

Or was it something more?

"You know, Pharaoh, I think you made her a little uncomfortable." Yugi said as soon as Erin had left.

Joey answered for the uncharacteristically-quiet king. "Well, I don't really blame him, Yug. She looks exactly like that girl from ancient Egypt."

Tea elbowed Joey in the side. "That doesn't mean she is Sagira. I mean, she doesn't really act like her, and if it is her, she doesn't exactly remember him."

Atem didn't respond to his friends' ramblings. He couldn't wrap his head around it. The riddle that Mahad had given him spoke of an exact incarnation and lost memories, but it also hinted that her past would come back upon seeing him again.

At least, that's what he had gotten out of it.

That's why he had stared at her so intently, willing her to remember. Tea's words may be true, but he didn't think so. He didn't see it as a coincidence that a girl who resembled someone from his past suddenly showed up a little over a month after he pledged to find that someone and bring her back to the afterlife with him.

No, this had to be her.

"Atem?" Yugi asked, concerned that his friend hadn't reacted to their conversation. Atem knew the name was still strange on his friend's tongue, after years of only referring to him as "Pharaoh" or "Yami." He still heard the slight hesitation in Yugi's voice when he spoke his actual given name. However, he didn't blame his other half. Yugi just wasn't used to it yet.

Atem looked up at Yugi. He had to speak his mind, even if it sounded irrational. "I think it's her."

Tea seemed set on convincing him that it wasn't, for some reason. "But Erin's just so...not regal. She's nice, but she doesn't carry herself the way Sagira did. Sure, she holds her head high, but she's, I don't know, she's not –"

"Acting like she was raised in ancient Egypt?" Tristan finished for Tea. "Maybe that's because she grew up in modern-day America, Sherlock."

"So? That doesn't mean it's her. Can't we give her a chance to prove us wrong before we drag her into this?"

"Why are you treating this like it's not a big deal?" Tristan's voice had turned up a few notches.

Tea's face flushed. "Because." She said simply, turning her head so the boys couldn't see the look in her eyes. In all honesty, she did want the Pharaoh to find Sagira again. She wanted to see him happy. But at the same time, Erin had finally given Tea what she had always wanted: a female friend her age who wasn't stuck-up or trained on card games. Sure, she loved Duel Monsters and her friends' enthusiasm with the game, but sometimes, she wanted someone to talk to who understood her girl problems, like her crush on Yugi, or how annoying Tristan and Joey got sometimes. If Erin was Sagira, then that meant as soon as her memories were back, Atem was going to whisk her back to the afterlife with him, and Tea would never see Erin again. That thought alone made her blood boil. For once, she had found a female friend in her grade. But if said female friend was a long-lost ancient Egyptian queen, she would lose her just as quickly as she had found her.

"Ookay," Joey said, staring at his not-normally-speechless friend, but turning back to the problem at hand when he realized she wasn't going to say any more. "So, back to the original problem, Atem. What are you gonna do if it is her?"

Atem looked at the ground. "I don't know. She should have at least recognized me, even if she doesn't remember. We might have to find more creative ways to spark her memory."

"What if we just became good friends with her first?" Yugi asked. "I mean, maybe spending more time with you will help her."

"Maybe." Atem said thoughtfully.

Yugi gave the Pharaoh a disapproving look. "But that means that you actually have to talk to her, not just stare at her and hope she doesn't think you don't like her."

"Or that you're a creep." Tristan added quietly, not wanting to offend Atem, but still having to put in his two cents.

Tea gave Tristan a disapproving look. "Okay, then it's settled. We'll just be friends with Erin, right?"

Yugi nodded. "Until we know for sure that she is who we think she is."

Atem nodded with Yugi, resolve filling his chest. This was Sagira, he was almost certain. But how could he know for sure unless she recognized him? He was going to have to take personal initiative to get to know Sagira's modern counterpart better. If that meant being friends with her for a while, he could certainly stand a few more weeks of waiting, as much as it pained him to do so.

After all, they had been much more than friends in ancient Egypt...

"Ouch!" I sucked in a breath when I burnt my arm on the hot stove. I had decided that ordering out was getting old, and greasy food no longer had any appeal to Miri or myself, so I had sucked it up and gotten out a package of spaghetti noodles and sauce to make my own discount Italian food.

It wasn't going well.

Only two minutes into cooking, the water that the noodles were in had started to boil over, and after five minutes, I had pulled the pot off the heat more times than a person died at the beginning of an episode of CSI. The sauce was doing fine heating up in the microwave, and butter bread was being toasted in the oven.

My phone rang on the island. I pulled the pot off the stove again and checked the caller ID. Mom again.

"Hey, sweetie. How's dinner?"

I ran a rag under cold water and pressed it to my arm. "Still cooking."

The surprise in my mother's voice was hard to ignore, even over the phone. "You're actually cooking?"

"Oh, stop acting like I've never cooked dinner before."

"But that's just the thing, 'Rin," Mom said, giggling like a little girl, "you haven't ever cooked dinner before. I mean, unless you count TV dinners or those cakes that you make in a mug."

I rolled my eyes. "Those are some of my best creations." Putting the pot back on the stove, I turned the heat down and sighed in relief when the water didn't boil over again. "So, will you be home soon?"

Her hesitation made me stop what I was doing. "What? Are they keeping you later now?"

After a long, drawn-out silence, Mom took a breath. "Yeah. You two will have to eat without me. But I promise I'll be back before you go to bed."

"Mom, it's seven o'clock now. Miri goes to bed in two hours."

"I know." A sigh. "Tell Miri goodnight for me." She didn't even bother to hide how tired she was now.

My fist clenched around the handle of the pot. "Why are they keeping you so late after only a few days on the job? That's not fair."

"Erin, please. I'm not in the mood for arguing right now. When you're older and get a career, you'll understand."

I glared down at the limp noodles, which I had probably boiled the life out of. "I'm sorry. I just think it's stupid."

"That makes two of us." Mom yawned. "I have to get back to work now. Save some of whatever you're cooking for me."

"Eat it at your own risk." I tried at dry humor.

She laughed weakly. "On second thought, I think I'll just get something on the way home."

I smiled, despite my urges to march up to her office, pot of boiling water and dead spaghetti noodles in hand, and dump it all over Mom's boss. She hadn't been nearly as overworked in Columbia. "Love you."

"Love you, too. Take care."

As soon as I hung up the phone, I growled in frustration and turned the stove off. "Miri, dinner!" I shouted.

I heard the door to her room open upstairs, and soft-footed steps make their way down the wooden hallway to the stairs. My little sister soon appeared in the kitchen, her silky blond hair swaying with her walk to her barstool. "What are we having?" She asked warily, seeing that I was holding cooking utensils.

"Spaghetti." I said, grabbing a pot holder out of a drawer and setting the pot of noodles on it.

Her blue eyes watched me tentatively. That was the only trait that I shared with either of my siblings: our eyes. Other than that, they had the pale skin and blond hair from Mom's side of the family, and I got the olive skin and black hair from Dad's side. Not that I was complaining – because my skin was already naturally tan, I had no need to sit out in the sun for countless hours, and lots of people envied it.

I handed her her plate and sat next to her. We ate in silence for a few moments, then Miri looked up in awe. "This is actually halfway decent, 'Rin." She said, grinning wryly.

"Oh, shut up," I said, hitting her playfully. She laughed quietly and went back to eating, blue eyes gleaming.

After dinner was over, I got her to do the dishes while I cleaned up the mess of empty boxes in the living room for Mom. The last thing I wanted was for her to come home from a long day of work and have to clean the house. When Miri passed the living room to go back upstairs, I glanced at her. "Hey, can you make sure your room and the bathroom are clean before you go to bed?"

She nodded. "Sure."

"Do you have lots of homework?"

"No. Just a few math problems."

I nodded. "If you need help, just holler, okay?"

With a nod, she retreated to her room. Miri wasn't really keen on talking to anyone except Mom, Landon, and me, and even then, I was the only one that she would ever actually have a conversation with. She wasn't shy, per-say, but reclusive. And incredibly smart. She probably didn't get along with people her own age because her wisdom far surpassed theirs. While the other girls in her grade were obsessing over boy bands and makeup, she was reading history books and holding a steady A-average, which was more than I could say for myself. Mom was hoping moving to a new place would give the both of us a chance to reinvent ourselves, but it seemed we found ourselves acting the same as we always had.

I finished with the clutter in the living room and moved to the laundry room to collect my clean clothes, then followed Miri's example and headed to my room. Shutting the door behind me, I looked around at the war zone that was my resting place. I tossed my laundry over my desk chair. I would get to it tomorrow. Or the next day. Or next week. I had homework to do, not that it was horribly crucial that I finish it tonight – Domino High followed a block schedule, which meant that the work I was assigned today wasn't due until the day after tomorrow. However, I wasn't too eager to fall even farther behind in my classes than I already was as a mid-semester transfer student. With a groan, I settled onto my bed and cracked open my history textbook.

This was going to be a long first week.

A/N: Yes, I know it's really slow right now. I promise it will start to pick up in the next couple chapters. I'm horrible about exposition...

I'm not sure if Rainbow Dragon, or any of the Crystal Beasts, are technically supposed to exist in this series yet, but Erin needs something to build her deck around. Let me know if I got anything about the cards wrong. Help would be much appreciated ;)

Please, PLEASE review if you liked it. You guys are my motivators!

-Creativelybored