Chapter 2

The moment he sat in his seat, first class, window seat. His legs were so short that he didn't really need the extra room, but Kaiba was paying for the flight so he wasn't complaining. It was nice, though, not having someone pressed right up against you. The room to breathe was nice, room to think too. He really needed that right now. Even though he had done everything to prepare for this move, it still didn't feel real for him. Any of it, his grandfather's death, returning to Egypt, that he would not only be living without all of his friends but the very idea he would be going to the desert land for only the second time, that maybe the strange painful longing would stop and he would finally be at peace.

It seemed like a false hope though more like a dream than anything else. Maybe once he landed, it would fall real. He would feel the ground beneath his feet it would all seem really well real. He doubted that the longing would go away as quickly as the unreal feeling. The closer he got, the more he was beginning to think that maybe, it wasn't just Egypt that was calling him. It was something in the country. Something or even someone he needed to see or feel.

Yugi sighed, and rubbed his temples, all this over thinking everything was giving him a headache. He could think about what in Egypt he needed to see later, right now he had to concentrate on convincing himself that once again this was the right decision.

He was already on the plane, half way to his destination; he couldn't really ask them to stop the plane so he could get off. "I wish I could stop my life and get off", he murmured, running his hands through the purple strands of his hair. "That would nice right now, a chance to stop and think. To figure out if what I'm doing is completely insane, even for me", he closed his eyes and leaned back, the pain in his head increasing. It throbbed against his skull, like his brain was trying to expand past the bone.

The purple eyed man hadn't thought to take anything with him either, to stop the pain. He hadn't been counting on a throbbing headache to start. He should have thought ahead. "Ahead", he laughed softly at the pun, the pain spiking for a moment, before he silenced himself. The noise of the plane was enough without adding his own noise to the pain.

"Are you feeling OK sir?" Yugi flinched, the flight attendant's voice causing the pain to rise, yet again, "Oh," she backed up a little, frighteden that he was in some way seriously hurt.

"Just a headache," he mumbled, smiling at the girl, not wanting to scare her any farther.

She looked at his face, as if trying to remember where she had seen it before, "Oh! You're Yugi Muto", her voice was significantly lower than before, as she was trying to save him some pain.

"Yes, I am. Can you tell me how long before we land? I have to meet someone and I would rather not have her wait"

She nodded wisely, thinking that he would be meeting his girlfriend, so of course he would hate to make her wait, "Only another hour Sir, as long as the flight continues as expected"

"Thank you", he mumbled, his eyes closing as the light coming from the small window became too much to bear, "So far this trip sucks"

"Sir! Sir!" He jolted up in his sleep, the pounding had dissipated, and he got the distinct feeling that he was now in Egypt, though the longing was still there, "Oh god, we landed just and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wake you", the flight attendant form earlier was standing over him, her hands on his shoulders.

"Thank you miss", he shrugged her hands away from his shoulders and stood up. He removed his carry on form the upper compartment. The small bag with decorated with Egyptian symbols, his friends names, and even drawings of duel monsters. H e had been carrying it since high school and wasn't yet ready to give it up.

"Oh Mister Muto, before you leave", he turned; the girl was holding out a napkin and pen. Yugi sighed; he thought he would be used to this by now. He was after all the King of Games, and everyone knew him, it was to be expected that even here there would be fans, looking for some little bit of proof that they had in fact met the world famous King of Games.

The purple haired duellist took the materials, she had been nice to him leaving him alone when he had said his head had hurt, it would only be a small gesture to the sign the napkin. Ishuiz could wait; she should have seen this coming anyways. He quickly wrote his name, before handing it back to her.

"Have a nice day Miss", he slung the bag over his shoulder and brushed past her, the need to feel the ground and see that he was indeed in Egypt so great now, that it was almost in a way painful.

It took him almost another hour to get through to the main part of the airport. First there was the matter of his staying in the country for more than the set time limit, and the work visa. Then the fact his job was beyond explanation to normal people and that the Egyptian government didn't trust Kaiba Corp. Not that anyone did, as Seto Kaiba was an under handed slightly insane bastard.

Once he finally got through, collecting the few pieces of luggage and the little dignity he had left, it was later then he thought. The time difference wasn't helping, nor was the insane happiness he was feeling for no reason what so ever. All he really wanted to do was crash for the next twelve hours before doing anything.

"YUGI!" a hand grabbed his arm, pulling him and his luggage out of the crowd and into a small patch big enough for two people by the wall.

"Ishuiz?" If it hadn't been for the Millennium Necklace glittering from around her neck, he wouldn't have recognized her. In place of the dress he had last seen her in, the Egyptian woman was wearing a cream colour blouse that almost appeared to big, pants the colour of sand tucked into brown walking boots. Besides the necklace, her body of bare of all other jewellery, her hair pulled into a high ponytail.

"The very same. When I left the government, my clothing wasn't just restricted to skirts and dresses. I wear pretty much this all the time," She said, smiling brightly, obliviously happy to see him again, "Besides, from what I understand about our job, running through an ancient temple in skirt, is just inconvenient"

"Good point, your government is evil", he informed her, his dignity still bruised form the experience, "I am never flying ever again"

Ishuiz rolled her eyes at the dramatic exclamation, "What none of them were fans of yours?"

"I've met too many fans, all of them annoying. And their constantly asking, why did you quit duelling? Are you ever going to start duelling again? Give me some duelling tips?" he sighed, rubbing his face violently, "It's tiring, I retired nearly five years ago and yet they still can't let it go"

"You won't get much of that here, maybe a few people but not nearly as many as you would in Domino", she chuckled a little, "I'm still amazed when someone knows who I am, form Battle City! That was over six years ago, and I don't even dress like I did"

"Fanatics, they'll find you anywhere", Yugi said with a shrug and a yawn, "Can we get out of here now? I'm tired as fuck and there are too many people here"

The Egyptian woman nodded her head in agreement; the crowd was too large for her as well. Everyone was pushing and shoving, but she had to come, otherwise he would get lost, then Kaiba would blame her and it would just be a huge shit storm. She blinked, only just noticing something about Yugi's hair that she knew had not been that way before but was somehow familiar.

"Yugi, what did you do to your hair?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah I forgot about that", he touch the hair lightly, all, but his blond bangs were pulled back into a low ponytail, "It's something I started doing, keeps it out of my face and kind of keeps people from seeing who I am so quickly"

"It doesn't work according to your protests", Ishuiz said, steering him through the edges of the crowd, carrying a few of his bags herself, "I was expecting you to have more"

"I just brought clothes and stuff. Some books sure, but I know you have a huge collection", Yugi explained, "Most of my stuff is games anyways and...I'm thinking to make a new start, I don't need them"

"You did bring your deck though?" Considering in the past how many of the supernatural situations had been solved by duelling it would have been foolish on his part not to bring the deck.

"Yeah, I haven't, not since Yami left, used it I mean, I haven't duelled at all lately", someone slammed into Yugi, nearly knocking him over. As he was yelling at the person, for his clumsiness he didn't noticed the sad smile that crossed Ishuiz's face as she touched the Necklace lightly, "Freaking people"

As soon as they arrived, she showed him to his room, in the small two bedroom house that she had bought just after returning for Japan, to his surprise Malik wasn't living with her. He was living closer to the university he was attending, away from where his big sister could tell him what to do. Which form what he gathered annoyed the woman, as the last time she let him out of her sight he went insane and tried to take over the world. He could see her point though; Malik probably shouldn't be left alone.

He fell on to the bed, his mind still spinning. It seemed nothing was forever, not even Ishuiz's taste in clothing. Though, she was still wearing the Necklace, so maybe that everything changed. He curled himself up; closing his eyes he tried to drift off to sleep.

"Yugi", Ishuiz shook the sleeping body of her guest, "Wake up, you need to eat", the small male kept sleeping, his peaceful face not betraying any his sleeping thoughts. The Egyptian woman sighed, and decided to resort to more drastic measures.

A few moments later she returned, carrying a bucket filled with cold water. She stood beside the bed for a moment; giving the purple haired man a chance to wake up before she did what she felt had to happened. When he didn't wake up, she turned the bucket upside down, dumping the contents on her guest's head.

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Yugi yelled, sitting up violently, his hair and upper body soaked with water, "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

"You wouldn't wake up, and it works on Malik. Breakfast is in an hour, and then I'm showing you around town, so get ready to go," she took her bucket and left the room, humming something tuneless to herself as she went.

The lavender haired man swung out of the bed, the water dripping off his body. He shook out his shirt, as he did, he realized that he was still wearing the same clothes that he had been traveling in and hadn't even bothered to get under the covers. "Gah, I'm wet...and not the fun way either. Haven't been the fun kind in months", he mumbled to himself as he went through the motions of getting dressed. He didn't need an hour, she had just woken him up earlier to annoy him.