Title: Paradox
Author: Alice
Fandoms: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Spoilers: None since this is AU!
Pairings: Yami no Yuugi x Bakura Ryou. Side Jounouchi Katsuya x Mazaki Anzu and possibly others.
Summary: Bakura Ryou was always an average student, until his mother got a new job that required their family to move constantly. As a result, Bakura fell behind. His luck might change when he begins school at Domino High and finds himself sitting next to boy genius, Atemu Yami.
Part: 2?
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Shounen-ai and language.
Recommended Listening: None.
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! Is not owned by me. Unfortunately.
Author's Notes: On the first day of being posted, the prologue got four longish reviews. ; To say the least, I was thrilled. It helped brighten my pretty unhappy birthday. XD So I thought I'd bring you chapter one as quick as possible in thanks! And thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Paradox
by Alice M.

CHAPTER ONE

Moving into the new flat had been a surprisingly quick process, at least compared to previous times they had moved that had taken up to a month or more. By the end of the first day, most of the furniture had been properly organized and they had begun to unpack most of their belongings. By the end of the week they had, for the most part, completely settled in. There were only a few pictures that needed to be hung and a few utensils for the kitchen that needed to be put away. Very speedy process indeed. Bakura also had to admit that their new place was possibly one of the more comfortable places they'd lived in. It was larger than many of their previous apartments and quite…simple and nice. They also had nice neighbors in the rooms around them, mostly people in their late twenties, but there were a few older couples with kids around. There were no kids Bakura's age but that didn't particularly bother him. He was used to being the only teenager around.

But this second week in Domino was going to prove to be the difficult part of the move. This was the week Bakura Ryou began school at Domino High. The previous Friday, his father had taken him to the school and he had been given all his necessities – his school uniform and such. He had then been taken on the grand tour by one of the members of the student council, a nice young girl named Aoi Kisara. Miss Kisara – as she apparently hated her last name and preferred people call her by her first – had showed him around the fairly large school a few times, specifically showing him how to get to his classroom. He was sure that he wouldn't get too lost on the first day. Or at least, he hoped not.

And so on the bright Monday morning the week after the Bakura family had moved to Domino City, Bakura found himself staring angrily at his reflection in the wall mirror hanging from the back of his door in his new room. His eyes were boring into his own reflection, apparently with the intention of shooting out laser beams and completely eliminating the hideous blue Domino High uniform. Now, Bakura had worn many a school uniform, most of which were quite ugly…but the Domino uniform was the worst. And it was so uncomfortable! Bakura was sure that the school had given him a uniform that was at least two sizes too small.

But there was no time to complain for Bakura's father was already calling him to get a move on. So, with a bitter look on his face, Bakura grabbed his back, swung it over his shoulder and headed off to his first day at Domino High.

The ride from the apartment to the school was a familiar blur to Bakura. It consisted mainly of Bakura's father telling him over and over not to be nervous and that everything would be all right and Bakura would nod and say that he knew everything would be fine and that his father needn't worry. It wasn't long before Bakura was making his way through the crowded halls of Domino High, following the path he was sure Kisara had told him to follow in order to reach his class. And of course, because Bakura's listening skills when it came to getting directions were unmatched, he found his way their in no time at all. Once he was inside the classroom, Bakura cast a glance over the small crowd of students already congregated there. He moved in and stood next to the doorway, awkwardly, and waited several minutes before the teacher came in and called for the classes attention.

"Class, take your seats, take your seats!" the woman called as she entered, completely ignoring Bakura. "Come on, settle down now. Class has started." The small group of students hurriedly made their way to their respective seats while the teacher moved to stand behind her desk, leaving Bakura standing quite alone and blushing from embarrassment. It wasn't until all the students were seated and quiet that the teacher finally noticed Bakura standing there and turned to give him a smile. "Oh, you must be the new boy! Bakura Ryou, correct?" Bakura nodded. The lady beamed. "I'm Ms. Chono, your homeroom teacher and your history teacher. Would you like to come introduce yourself to the class?"

Bakura shook his head fiercely. The idea of standing up in front of a group of students he didn't know and introducing himself was never a concept Bakura particularly liked. Ms. Chono gave him an understanding smile. "Alright then, let's find you a seat. Um…back there, next to Mr. Atemu. On the far left, in the very back. Yes, that's it."

Bakura quickly moved to the seat Ms. Chono had indicated and settled down comfortably. Once he was settled, he turned to glance at the boy sitting next to him. The boy was staring straight ahead, sitting with his back straight against his seat. A set of black-rimmed glasses was perched upon his nose, hiding behind them deep crimson eyes. He had sharp, angular features that seemed to fit his posture perfectly. The most unusual thing about him, however, was his spiky hair. Gold bangs fell to halo his face, while jet-black hair mixed with gold spiked in an unusually star-shaped manner. The boy – named Atemu or something, wasn't he? – paid no attention to Bakura whatsoever.

Other than the boy's strange hair and eyes, there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary about him. Until class started, at which point Bakura was horrified to learn that most of the subjects they were reviewing hadn't even been covered in his old school. He was even more horrified when, only about fifteen minutes into the first class, Bakura looked over to see that the boy had already finished his work and was reading a large book, not paying attention to anything around him. And Bakura's hopes of living up his promise to Amane seemed to fly out the window.

The next several classes proceeded in the same manner. Bakura had no clue what was going on and would be working up until the last minute before the bell rang and the teachers switched rooms, while the boy sitting next to him would be finished first and would spend most of the class reading. This cycle continued on until Bakura was salvaged the horror of the classroom by the bell announcing lunch.

The cafeteria in Domino High was large, much like the school building itself. Bakura saved himself the terror of standing in line for food by packing his own lunch and he quickly found a seat at an empty table and began to eat, pondering over the situation he was in. In all the classes he had been in thus far, he had had no clear idea what was going on. His previous school hadn't even gotten close to covering the topics they were currently discussing. So Bakura was in one very sticky predicament. Fail or fail? His options were looking all that bright.

"Hi there!" came a voice from behind him. Bakura nearly jumped a foot in the air. He turned, clutching his chest, to look at the person who had managed to startle him. If was a boy a bit smaller than the one who he sat next to in class, with similar hair and all. His features weren't nearly as sharp and his eyes were larger, amethyst in color. He also lacked the extra spikes of gold mixed in with the black parts of his hair. Even still, the similarities between the two were almost frightening and Bakura was sure the two were probably related in some way. "Mind I sit here?" the boy asked politely. Bakura nodded his consent, not trusting his voice.

The boy smiled at him before sliding down onto the bench next to Bakura, placing his lunch down in front of him. He turned to Bakura and offered his hand. "I'm Mutou Yuugi. I'm in your class. Nice to meet you!"

Bakura blinked at the boy, taking his hand awkwardly. "Um…Mutou Yuugi? You sit towards the front, right?"

The boy nodded. "Yep, that's me. And just call me Yuugi, please. And you're Bakura Ryou, right?"

Now it was Bakura's turn to nod. "Um, yes, I am. I just moved here."

Yuugi offered Bakura a wide smile. "Well, Bakura, welcome to Domino! I've lived here my whole life so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!"

A smile crossed Bakura's lips as well and he once more nodded. "Thank you for the welcome! And, actually, I do have a question. That boy that I sit next to in class…who is he?"

A strange look crossed Yuugi's face for a moment and then he offered Bakura and apologetic look. "Oh, that's Atemu Yami. He's the schools genius boy."

"Genius boy?"

Yuugi nodded. "Yep, that boys the smartest in our class, possibly our whole school! But he's so quiet, it's weird. He knows so much but he never raises his hand and the teachers never call on him or anything! And he doesn't speak to anyone. I sat next to him all last year and I didn't hear him say one word the entire year!"

Bakura blinked at Yuugi, a bit surprised. "Not once? That's…is he mute maybe? And if he's really so smart then why is he in all standard level classes?"

Yuugi shrugged, taking a bite out of his apple. "Mute? I don't know about that, I doubt it. As for why he's in standard, no one really knows. He's been offered to move up into advanced courses, he was even offered the chance to skips grades, but he always turned them down. Jounouchi says he thinks it's because he's stuck up and wants to be able to look down on us, but I'm not so sure about that. Like I said, he doesn't talk so it'd kinda be pointless."

Bakura blinked, absorbing all this information. "That's…odd. And you two aren't related, then? You look like you could be brothers!"

Yuugi shook his head, smiling a little. "Nope, not to my knowledge. No blood relation at all. Quite a few people have thought that before. It's a pretty common mistake at our school."

"Hey Yuugi, what are you doing over here?"

Bakura and Yuugi both turned to see three people making their way towards them. At the head of the small group was a boy with a goof look about him with a head full of blonde hair. Behind him was a brunet boy who kept shooting muttering to himself about stupid nephews or something to that general effect. And last in the group was a girl, quite pretty in fact, with short brunette hair and bright blue eyes. The blonde boy it seemed was the one who called out to Yuugi.

Yuugi smiled and waved to them, beckoning them over. "Whatcha doing over here, Yuugi?" the blonde asked again, taking a seat on the opposite side of Yuugi. The brunet boy sat down on his right, the girl sitting down last. All three of them stared at Yuugi and none of them seemed to notice Bakura. All of them, it seemed, except Yuugi.

"I was introducing myself to the new kid here, Bakura. Bakura, these are my friends! Jounouchi Katsuya," the blonde boy nodded in Bakura's direction, "Honda Hiroto," the brunet waved, "and Mazaki Anzu."

"Just Anzu, actually," said the girl, smiling. "Nice to meet you, Bakura!"

Bakura nodded mutely at these three new people, at a loss of what to do. He wasn't used to having people crowded around him, let alone speaking directly to him. "Um…hello. Nice to meet you all…"

Jounouchi gave Bakura a strange look for a moment before he broke out in a broad grin. "Hey, aren't you sitting next to Atemu in class?" Bakura nodded slowly. "Haha, this is great! Now we have someone sitting next to him! Oh, Bakura, you have to keep talking to him just to annoy him! I sat next to him two years ago and oh, man, the faces he'd make if you bothered him! Priceless."

"Um, I'd rather not…" Bakura muttered, sheepishly, not meeting the other boy's eyes.

"Oh, let him be, Jounouchi!" said Anzu irritably, leaning around Honda to give Jounouchi a good whack on the back of the head. "He just got here! The last thing he needs is to get people angry at him on his first day!"

"Ow! Alright, sheesh. Okay, Bakura, wait a week and then annoy the shit outta him!"

Honda let out a laugh as Anzu once more leaned around the table to give Jounouchi another whack on the head. Yuugi shook his head, bemused. From the looks of it, this was a common exchange between the blonde and brunette. Bakura could do nothing but watch as Jounouchi went on to tell Anzu that she needed to lay off the weight lifting, which didn't draw the best of responses from Anzu. It soon became a full on arm wrestling match between the two – Honda had to leap up and move to sit on Bakura's other side in order to not be sandwiched between the two – and Anzu, proudly, won. As all this went on, Yuugi tried to calm to Jounouchi down, who was infuriated at being beaten by a girl. Honda just watched the exchange, amused, before suddenly turning to Bakura and with a smile said, "Well, welcome to Domino High, Bakura."

end chapter one

I'm actually quite pleased with this chapter. Yuugi, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu…I tried to keep all of them as in character as I could and hopefully I did a good job in the little bit they were in. Atemu, obviously, made his first appearance but didn't say anything…we'll see how long that last. XP There was also reference made to Kisara…whether she will have a bigger part later on is yet to be seen. For those who don't know, Ms. Chono is based off of Ms. Chono from the first/second volume of manga. She was their teacher in that. And that's basically it for now. Leave me more reviews! They make me very happy, especially well written long reviews. Thanks to those who left a review to the prologue and I hope this chapter satisfied your need for me a bit.

Chapter Two: What's this? Atemu can speak! Stop the presses, this will make headlines! ATEMU SPEAKS!

Alice