Chapter Three
Yami followed Seto into the school, Yugi trailing behind.
"You'd need to pick up your schedule." The taller of the three said.
Yami looked at him, confused.
"You need a schedule to know what classes you go to." Yugi said, once more as if talking to a child.
"Don't talk to him like that." Seto snapped.
"You talk to Joey like that." Yugi snapped back.
"Yeah, but Wheeler's a dumba-"
"Kaiba, I'm sick of you treating him like garbage!" Yugi shouted, "You only do it because he has friends, and you don't!"
Seto stared at him for a second, looking as if he wanted to cry.
Well, of course he did.
The only real friend he'd ever had -family aside- was dead.
But, he stood up straight, and turned away.
"Come along, Yami. Please."
"You go ahead." Yami replied, "I'll be right there."
"Bu- Fine."
He walked around the corner, and Yami saw him lean against the wall.
"What in Ra's name do you think you're doing?" He growled at Yugi.
"It was rude... But so is he." Yugi said.
"You've no idea what he's gone through the past few weeks, Yugi. He's lost someone he loves dearly, and saying that was very out of line."
"Oh... I didn't know that..."
Yugi really did sound sorry.
"Alright. But perhaps you should assume that someone acts the way they do for a reason before you judge. As I said earlier, it's obnoxious."
He turned and walked down the hall, people looking at him in surprise.
Though he didn't notice it, the young Prince- now Pharaoh, technically- issued a sense of importance in himself as he walked. Eyes turned to him automatically. He did not question it, being used to it, but did think it was quite odd where no one had heard of him.
"Are you alright, Seto?" He asked, coming around the corner.
"No..." Seto said quietly.
"He didn't know."
"I realize that... But now it's playing over and over in my head and I just..."
He put his face in his hands.
Though he knew he'd be chastised for it at home, he hugged his cousin.
"Thank you..." Seto whispered.
"You're welcome."
There were several people staring at them.
Seto stood up straight.
"What the hell are you looking at?" He snarled at them, and they looked away, "And just so your overreacting teenage brains go overdrive, he's my cousin." He looked at Yami, "Schedule."
"Yes."
…
NOTE: When anyone speaks in another language, I'll put the translation (Most courtesy of Google Translate, some French aside) in brackets, for all except Ancient Egyptian, because you can't really translate that. KK?
Seto lead Yami to the French room.
"Oh, bonjour, Kaiba!" (Oh, Hello, Kaiba) The teacher said.
"Bonjour, Madame." (Hello, Ma'am *Directly, madame means "Mrs." but it is used to refer to a teacher or someone who is a woman that is not related to you*) Seto replied in that stony tone of his, "C'est mon cousin, Yami. Il est ici de l'Egypte. Troubles de la famille, pas grand-chose. Mais, disons simplement que je veux maintenant poignarder mon pere dans le visage." (This is my cousin, Yami. He's here from Egypt. Family troubles, no big deal. But let's just say that I want to stab my father in the face.)
"Seto!" Yami scolded, "You will do no such thing!"
"I might."
Yami's eyebrows shot up.
"Well, not in the face. But, like, in the stoma-"
Yami raised a hand, and Seto ceased to speak.
"Parler-vous français, Yami?" The teacher asked. (Do you speak French, Yami?)
"Oui." (Yes) He said, "Je parle ... français, de toute évidence, anglais, arabe, néerlandais anciens égyptiens, l'allemand, un peu de l'hébreu, le japonais, le chinois et le grec ancien." (I speak... French, obviously, English, Arabic, Ancient Egyptian, German, Dutch, a little bit of Hebrew, Japanese, Chinese and Ancient Greek.)
"Wow. Where'd ya learn all that?"
"My father, mostly."
Seto wheeled around.
"Hey, I taught you Japanese."
Yami smiled.
"Yes you did." He said, nodding.
"So you two are cousins, then?" She asked.
They nodded.
"Then I expect nothing but the best from you, Yami. If you and Kaiba grew up that close, then you'd best live up to him."
Yami's eyebrows shot up, and Seto started laughing.
"I'm just gonna leave." He said, "First period starts in two minutes."
"The business office is literally around the corner." The teacher said.
"Yeah, but I don't want to be late."
With that, he turned and walked down the hall.
"Oh!" The teacher said, "J'mappelle Madame Sosa." (I am Mrs. Sosa.)
"Bonjour." (Hello.)
"Asseyez-vous à côté de Téa, s'il vous plaît." (Sit beside Téa, please.)
"Bien sûr." (Of course.)
He walked over and sat beside Yugi's friend, who was staring at him as if he'd stepped out of a portal from another dimension.
He looked over at her.
"Um..." He twirled one of his long, sharp blonde bangs around his finger and asked, "Not to sound rude, but, uh... Why are you staring at me?"
"You speak Ancient Egyptian?" She demanded.
"Yes." He replied, "As does Seto. Our family has roots in the Ancient days, before the Romans took over." He chuckled, "My father always liked to joke about how we were descended from the Pharaohs."
He smiled sadly.
"'Liked to'?" Téa asked.
"Erm... Yes. I'm afraid he passed on a few weeks ago." He twirled the string that held the Puzzle around his neck nervously.
"Really? Is that why you're here?"
He nodded.
"Yes."
"I'm sorry." She put her hand on his arm.
"There is no reason for you to be." He replied, "His life was well-lived. It is the circle of life, I'm afraid."
"But.. Kaiba was talking about his dad. Is he-"
"Aknadden?" Yami asked, "He's still alive."
"Kaiba seems to hate him." Téa said.
Yami shifted in his chair.
"Aknadden has some- er- issues over my father gaining the th-" He stopped himself, "Over gaining most of my grandparents' fortune. Though, Aknadden did get quite a lot. Seto would probably be rude about it and say he was a- and I quote- 'money-grabbing-family-abandoning-only-took-me-in-because-he-needed-someone-to-rant-to-about-his-brother-fucking-awful-father'. Pardon my language."
"Oh wow." Téa said, "That's some daddy issues right there."
Yami gave a nervous chuckle.
"Yes. Yes they are."
…
Meanwhile, Yugi tapped his pencil nervously.
He felt so bad about what he'd said to Kaiba.
He hadn't known... He hadn't...
He wanted to apologize so badly, it might have been literally eating him up from the inside out.
He felt awful about how he'd been so rude to Yami. If he could be so kind and make friends with someone like Kaiba, who pushed everyone away, for reasons Yugi honestly couldn't say, then he had to be a wonderful person.
"Yug." Joey leaned over to whisper to him, "You okay?"
"Not really." He said, "I feel like such a douche."
"Kaiba probably deserved-"
"JOEY, JUST DON'T!"
He realized he'd said it way too loudly.
"Is there something you wish to share with us, Yugi?" The teacher asked.
"No." Yugi replied, "Not at all."
"Well, finish the argument outside, then." She said.
"That's not really necessary." Yugi said, turning to glare out the window.
The teacher sighed, and continued the lesson.
…
Once second period had ended and the lunch bell had rang, Yugi ran to find Kaiba. He found him leaning against a wall talking to Yami.
"Kaiba!"
Kaiba looked over and pulled his eyebrows together, probably surprised Yugi wanted to talk to him.
"Look," Yugi said when he got over there, "I'm sorry about what I said. It was pretty out of line." Kaiba looked surprised.
"Are you apologizing to me?" He asked.
"Erm.. Yeah."
"Well.. Thank you." He gave a slight smile, "Thanks a lot, actually."
"You're welcome. You know, you two are more than welcome to eat with us."
Kaiba looked skeptical.
"I'll keep Joey at bay. But you need to keep your comments to yourself. Otherwise both myself and Yami will smack you."
"Well.." Yami said, "I wouldn't smack him..."
Yugi's eyebrows shot up.
"Okay, perhaps I've wanted to at times, but, uh..."
"It's fine." Kaiba said politely. Anyone who didn't know who Yami was probably would be surprised that Kaiba was nice to anyone.
"C'mon." Yugi said, leading him down the hall, "We were gonna go out for lunch. That Chinese place down the street."
"Sounds brilliant." Kaiba said.
Yami frowned.
"Chinese...?"
"Well, because America's so culture-rich, we usually have a lot of different ethnic foods around. Trust me, you'll love it."
For once, his voice held no sarcasm.
They met up with Yugi's friends outside the front doors.
Téa grinned at Yami, but Joey was mad.
"Why da hell'd you bring Kaiba along?"
Kaiba opened his mouth to retort, but Yami raised a hand, and he closed it, causing Joey to raise an eyebrow.
"You," He pointed to Kaiba, "keep your mouth shut, or, as Yugi suggested, I will smack you. And you," He looked at Joey, "please don't be so rude. Seto needs to keep his mouth shut, but as do you. So both of you, argue once more and I'll send you," He looked at Kaiba, "as far away from me as possible. And you," He looked at Joey, "I'll merely ignore you."
"Wait." Joey said, "Why would you 'send Kaiba away' but just ignore me."
"I hold no authority over you." He said bluntly.
"Oooo-kay!"
Kaiba dragged his cousin to the other side of the courtyard, and the two of them had a very animated-looking discussion.
Their friends should be glad they couldn't hear.
…
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Seto demanded of him.
"What?" Yami asked, legitimately confused.
"You can't parade around your authority around here. Why? For one thing, people don't like it. For another, anyone in this school could be working for Bakura."
Yami had almost forgotten about Bakura.
"And you look nothing like a king, but throwing it around casually, like it's no big deal, especially around here, will make you obvious. I've kept Seto and Kaiba as two very separate people. I'd suggest you be very careful, and keep Yami and Atem the same."
He took a breath, having ranted the whole time with no breathers.
Yami looked down.
"I apologize." He said, "It was rash. But," He looked up at Seto, "what will we tell them the explanation is?"
Kaiba frowned.
He read a lot of books where characters had to make up a story about things that they couldn't tell others.
For example, in Percy Jackson and the Olympians the main character, Percy, had often told his mortal friends- when he had them- that he'd met his long-time friend (and eventual girlfriend), Annabeth, at a summer camp on Long Island.
Not a lie.
But not the whole truth, either.
He quickly explained this to Yami, who nodded.
"I see." He said, "So... Perhaps we could tell them that I hold authority over you due to the fact that my father had authority over yours due to the whole 'older sibling' thing... And by default, I now have authority over you and Aknadden."
Kaiba nodded.
"Perfect."
…
"I apologize." Yami said as he and Kaiba returned, "Shall we?"
Yugi walked right up and started chatting with him, Tristan and Téa following, leaving Joey alone with Kaiba.
It wasn't that Joey hated Kaiba, as he hated very few people, but Kaiba was just so arrogant, like he thought his money made him better.
But, ever since Yami showed up this morning, he'd listened to him.
Which was surprising, because the only person Seto Kaiba listened to was himself.
But now, Joey learned that Yami had authority over him.
What kind of person would Seto Kaiba let have authority over him?
"So..." Joey said, "Let's not fight for one day."
Kaiba nodded, surprisingly.
"I'd rather not upset him." He nodded towards Yami, "I don't like to. The poor guy's been through so much in the past few weeks. I just hope he hasn't heard all the accusations..."
Kaiba seemed to wander off.
"What accusations?" Joey asked.
"It's not your business." Kaiba spat, "All you need to know is that once Yami returns home safely, my father will be put to trial for-"
Kaiba suddenly shouted, but was silenced just as fast.
But he moved faster than Joey had ever seen him move, grabbing the hand over his mouth, flipping the person over his shoulder, then grabbing the front of his white clothes and slamming him into the wall.
But his anger faded to surprise as he said quietly,
"Father?"
…
Oh shit son
Well, we all know Aknadden's bad news
Sorry I took so long
I had writer's block for weeks
It was awful
But yeah
Cliffhanger
I'm slowly turning into Rick Riordan
Just not that bad
No one's that bad
No one
*fades into shadows, whispers*
K thanks love y'all BAI