Hey, everyone! Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? So, so, so sorry for taking so long with this! But, hey, I hit an inspirational vein this weekend, so yay! Updates for all! XD

Sorry this chapter is a little rambling or boring... I had to get Atem's little "backstory", so to speak, out of the way. And, I mean, what Yuugi encounters in the chapter (you probably already know, but hey, no spoilers here. So... read and find out! XD) is a really big deal/decision to make! So I feel it was only necessary. Well, that's enough drawling from me, so continue onwards and enjoy the chapter!

~Fallen

~ Chapter IV ~

Coming Home

"So, let me get this straight... you have... absolutely no idea on how he even got here?" Yuugi drawled slowly, trying to make some sort of sense of the current situation. He had since been removed from what he had pinned as an interrogation room, of sorts, and was now in the space that had been hidden behind a one-way window. One of the officers, whom he had seen the silhouette of upon first entering, was now seated across the table from the young Atem, trying to interact with him. Possibly to be a distraction.

Yuugi felt himself subconsciously shift on the balls of his feet, glancing out the elongated window, with a sense that he could only pin as longing thrumming beneath his skin. After Atemu's embrace had ended, Honda had pulled the young adult into the viewing room mere moments after, much to the pair's extreme disappointment. The young one had insisted on "being with his Aibou", and had seemed ready to start clinging onto Yuugi's legs, before the kind-spirited woman who was out there now had offered to play a few games with the child as an "apology" for making Yuugi leave.

At the moment, the officer seemed to have magically produced a pack of playing cards from her person, and they were now deeply engrossed in a game of War. The twenty-seven-year-old smiled at a brief memory, of when he and his grandfather had played the game in his early youth. Each person received half of the deck, and had to simultaneously flip over the top card on the miniature pile. Whomever had the card with the highest value, received both as a prize. If the values were the same, each player had to place three cards face-down as a bidding. Then, they declared "war", and played the next card that lay on top of their mini-deck, and again, the one with the highest value won all cards as a reward. When all cards were used, the player's earnings were shuffled, and recycled. The point was to deplete one another's deck to zero. Whoever won over the entire deck was the victor.

The softest of smiles formed on his face, as he saw Atemu throw up his small hands with a victorious sound, as he won the draw, and reaped his earnings with pride glowing in his eyes. But, he did not gloat, and wasn't arrogant about it. Instead, Yuugi heard his bell-like voice offer only encouragements to the young woman he was playing against, assuring her she'd win the next one. She chuckled, and thanked Atemu for believing in her, before they continued. Yuugi almost laughed at the intensity on Atemu's face, as their cards matched in value, and War was declared. He lost this one, but took it with grace and a sense of maturity that seemed fairly unbecoming of one his age. Any other child, Yuugi thought with admiration, and they probably would have been throwing a tantrum over pride right now. Even as a young boy, he still has that... regal, gratifying aura about him.

He glanced back to Honda when he heard the other give a heavy sigh. "No...? Well, yes, but... not entirely," he began, and Yuugi turned to face him, as well as the second (third? he absently mused) police officer that had joined them. He blinked as the middle-aged male, with a finely-trimmed head and beard of slightly-grayed, chestnut hair and dark eyes, plopped a manilla file-folder on the long table, lined in front of the glass, with two seats standing beside it. Honda leaned slightly on the back of one of them, and Yuugi eyed the folder curiously. Someone gave a motion of permission, and the former duelist quietly seated himself, before flipping the top away from the contents hidden inside.

Sadness filled him after his eyes skimmed over a particular document...

"He's an orphan," Yuugi observed, puffing a long breath from his cheeks, and leaning back in his chair.

"According to his files, Atem's been in the system of a local adoption agency since sometime within the past year or so," the brunette explained as Yuugi glanced over the very professional-looking document, with the mugshot of a slightly-younger-looking Atemu attached to it by a paperclip. His expression was blank, and Yuugi found worry spiking in his chest at the way his eyes seemed to be lacking a certain, lively glimmer in their ruby depths. "He's been with a few foster families, but he was always sent back to the center within about... five weeks, on average. Complaints about unruly behavior, not acting civil with other family members, and something about..." he trailed off, and Yuugi glanced up, his confused gaze matched with Honda's own. "To put simply... uh... a disruptively over-active imagination, and one family said something about... apparent visual and auditory hallucinations?" He waved a hand, almost dismissively, but Yuugi felt a deep worry sink in his chest. "Either way, something about his mentality or mannerisms... seemed to really put the parents off, and had them deciding to not adopt. There's nothing in his medical history to attribute to the reason, and he checks out as completely sound mentally. So, we think it might have just been a ruse to dump the kid back at the center."

Sympathy flickered in Honda's gaze, and Yuugi went back to browsing the papers at his hands, removing a few and gently laying them off to the side as he read. "He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and moved to Japan with his parents two years ago. They lived in Aizuwakamatsu, in the Fukushima Prefecture before his mother and father were both killed in an accident, two weeks before his admittance into a care institution in the city of Fukushima." There was a pause, and Yuugi slowly moved Atem's documents back into their file, making sure they were properly organized. "But, four days ago, we were contacted by the region's police force, saying that he'd run away about... five days before the call. People were told to keep an eye out for him, and some pedestrians reported seeing a kid matching Atem's description either walking around in the city, or sneaking onto transit lines, and they had a reason to believe that he was headed for Domino City, or a town nearby."

Honda hummed, "Lo and behold, we find him sitting outside the door of the station this morning. Says he's been there since late in the evening, after everyone went home for the night." He stopped again, rubbing his neck with a somewhat saddened expression. "Poor kid. He must have slept out there. And God knows how cold the nights have been this past month. I'm honestly surprised he didn't get sick, or end up freezing to death, for that matter."

Yuugi's hands suddenly faltered, and his eyes widened slightly. He could feel the blood drain away from his face.

Domino Police received a call four days ago. Which had been five after Atemu ran away. Altogether, nine days. Which was when...

Oh, Gods, the meteor shower! his head screamed, and Yuugi had to keep himself from choking. At the skeptical glance he received from the two officers at his sudden pallor, he managed to stammer, "N-Nine days, stuck out in the cold?" he murmured, hoping it would be a good enough excuse to play his developing wariness, "He probably hasn't had a bath or a warm meal ever since he left the care center..." The mental image of little Atem, shivering out in the cold, with unsuitable clothing and an empty tummy, for nine days, made Yuugi's gut twist unpleasantly. "The poor thing..." he whispered, again looking out of the one-way glass to observe the little boy.

"I got him a few snacks from a vending machine down the hall to hold him off, but I haven't had time to run down to someplace that could offer something, y'know, sustaining yet."

Now that he was looking, there was a certain... uncleanliness to the boy's appearance. His shirt and shorts had a few, dirty smudges on their fabric, and a few sections on his visible skin were discolored, compared to the rest of his even, Egyptian tan. That, and the raven-and-red tresses of his hair... did look a tad greasy, and unkempt. And though the child was obviously much happier and excited than he must have been beforehand, his eyes still held a deep fatigue to them.

The sight made Yuugi's heart hurt.

"So why are you telling me all of this?" he asked suddenly, gaze still fixated to the five-year-old outside.

He didn't notice the look that his high-school friend shot his coworker, nor the brief flash of understanding in the other's gaze. The only reason he noticed the nameless man had actually left was because Atemu's eyes had shot up towards the opening door with so much excitement, only for his face to fall into a displeased pout moments later, when he found out that the person exiting the room wasn't his aibou. Gods, how Yuugi wished he could just... go out there again, and hug the life from the poor little thing. Buy him a meal from a local fast-food restaurant, or something. And give him a bath, or at the very least something clean to wear.

There was a small sigh behind him. "Because..." Honda murmured, sounding a tad unsure of himself, "We – well, I – was hoping... that you might be interested... i-in adopting him."

Yuugi's eyes widened to the size of saucers, and he whipped around in his seat so fast, it actually hurt. "What?" he demanded, voice going shrill in shock, and Honda gave a small wince, "H-Honda, what in Ra's name makes you think that I, of all people, could possibly ra-raise a child?" Yuugi continued in a stammering rush, though his voice had lowered some. His hand was in an anxious vice-grip over the back of the chair, knuckles gone white with the strength of his hold. "I'm a single, twenty-seven-year-old only-child, the retired champion for a children's card game, with no education outside of a high-school diploma, and absolutely no plans for his future! I get my money by running an out-of-home game shop, for Christ's sake! What could possibly make me eligible enough to raise a five-year-old, runaway orphan? I know absolutely nothing about caring for a child! How am I supposed to support him, when I can hardly even care for myself half of the time?!"

Honda's gaze became serious, and his voice was stern when he spoke. "Yuugi, you know as well as I do, that if this really is him-" and they both knew, without the shadow of a doubt, that it was "-then there is no way in nine hells that that kid is going to let himself be put with another family. This little, five-year-old kid, with no family, and nowhere else to go, who you've apparently never even seen before, who just magically recognized you and greeted you as if you've been in his life since the day he was born?"

Yuugi allowed the tensity in his limbs to lessen some, and he sighed, looking at the floor.

Honda did the same. There was a brief stretch of silence, before, "He... asked for you, you know."

Amethyst eyes blinked in surprise. They glanced over to the officer. "Wh... What?"

Their gazes met, and Yuugi was taken aback by the intensity that lay within them. "He asked for you," the man repeated, "First thing he said when I got him settled down in here. 'Do you know where Aibou is? I need to find him.' That was the first thing that came out of his mouth. We weren't even in here for a full minute yet! I tried to ask him about... about what happened, before, but..." Yuugi's breath caught. There was another sigh, and Honda shook his head. "He doesn't... remember it. He doesn't remember us, or even you, but he does, at the same time."

Yuugi raked his fingers up through the front of his hair at that little tidbit of information, blowing air past his cheeks. The situation threatened to overwhelm him. It just didn't make any sense.

He made sure Honda was aware of that.

"I know it doesn't," the slightly-older male replied, sounding just as lost as Yuugi felt, "It makes absolutely no sense, and it's impossible, and this shouldn't be happening, but it is, and it's just so messed up. It's happening, and he's here even though he's supposed to be dead, only now he's just a mindless little kid without any family and no-one to take him in." Yuugi winced at the complete agony in his friend's tone. His heart clenched at the thought of that.

Atemu, spirit or otherwise, was an orphan. As far as they knew, he didn't have any extended family, and he seemed hellbent on not being adopted by any of his foster families thus far.

"Yuugi... I hate to push all of this on you like this, but... You and Atemu have history, whether this form of him can remember what happened, or not. You know him better than anyone else could ever dream of, and I think you and I both know that he won't be settled with another family. He wants to be a part of yours, and I know that it will probably be difficult for you... but..."

No shit, Yuugi thought, tilting his head back slightly, and squeezing his eyes shut. Gods above... I know I said I'd be grateful for whatever I was given, but... Of all things, I didn't expect this to be my reply! How can I possibly raise him, when I am the way I am? I can hardly care for myself half of the time! he mentally repeated. But... what Honda's saying is true... I doubt Atemu would let himself be adopted by another family. And when he's a legal adult, he'll be homeless, maybe even without a job or even friends to go to for help. His entire childhood... would be utterly horrible.

Yuugi's heart clenched at the thought of that.

"But, Yuugi..." Honda continued solemnly, "If you don't take him in, he's going to be stuck in an orphanage. And when he turns eighteen, he's gonna be kicked the curb with no connections, no-one to turn to, and nowhere to go. Again. He'll be miserable!"

He swallowed painfully, trying to withhold the emotion that swelled up in his chest. "You think I don't know that?" he asked sharply, though his tone was hushed. His eyes began to burn with the threat of tears, though Yuugi would not allow himself to cry. He wouldn't. "Honda, believe me, you have no idea how happy I am to see Atemu again... Child or not, Gods, when I saw him I could have flown. I'm so, so happy to be able to have others that are actually able to see him... and... and finally be hugged by him. But..." He inhaled sharply, "How can I take him in, and help him grow, when I haven't grown up, myself?"

He could sense the other's confusion, but continued before a single syllable could be uttered. "Every night, I have these... these horrible dreams of what... of what happened to all of us. Every day just feels like a giant blur, like I'm walking in a room full of smoke and I can't breathe, I can't function properly. There are episodes, where I spend days at a time, hardly able to get out of bed, and spending most my time sulking around the house on the rare chance I can actually be motivated enough get up and eat something. I have these crazy memory blanks, where I apparently do all of these things, but I can't remember doing it! Hell, this morning, I spent four hours, pretty much making a fucking art gallery and I can't remember a single second of it! Who's to say I won't neglect him or accidentally do something awful when that happens? That's not the kind of house a child should grow up in! He doesn't deserve that, Hiroto!"

Yuugi quickly turned away as his throat closed up around a sob as it tried to shoot its way from his lungs. He pressed a hand firmly to his neck to quell the sound, and ease the sudden knot that had formed there, momentarily disrupting his ability to breathe right. The force of it, however, couldn't be stopped, making the young man's shoulders give a light tremble. "Whether Atem remembers it or not, I do, Honda... And I don't want to end up forcing the burden of those memories on him all over again – unintentionally or otherwise. Let alone, as a five-year-old who can hardly even make sense of the world as it is. I-I can't... do that to him... after all he had to go through before... I-I don't have the right to..." he shivered, voice scarcely audible, "Ra knows he deserves so much more than that..."

Honda's eyes flashed with a mixture of concern and sympathy. Maybe even a bit of... sorrow. Grief, even. "Yuug'..." he murmured, and a supportive hand clasped over his shoulder, squeezing to get the other's undivided attention, "If anyone were to have the right to care for the Pharaoh in his next life, it would be you. You freed him from the Millennium Puzzle. You let his soul exist inside your body, and you shared your life with him. You forgave him no matter what it was he did to you, or your friends, or even your enemies, and gave a lost spirit his name and his memories. Now you've got a second chance at life! Not just the Pharaoh. Both of you. You've stuck by him before, Yuugi, no matter what. Now he needs someone to do that for him again, more than he ever did before." Yuugi glanced up to Honda, uncertainty and even a touch of... fear, in his haunted, violet eyes. He was given another squeeze of the shoulder, and a reassuring grin.

"Besides," he added, much more cheerfully, "It's not like you'd be alone in all of this! You do have friends, y'know! I'd be more than happy to help you out if you needed it, and I'm sure Jou and Mai would do the same. Then there's Ishtar-san. I mean, her family did protect the Pharaoh's tomb before you helped send him off to the Afterlife. And, she has a kid of her own around the same age! After all you've done for the people in your life, why wouldn't they want to help you two out?"

There was a moment of silence, before it was broken by the victorious cheer of a youthful voice, on the other side of the one-way window. Yuugi glanced up sharply, to see the young Atemu laughing and grinning with a warm glow of pride surrounding him. The woman across the table from him was chuckling fondly, offering a polite applause. Yuugi noticed the full stack of playing cards in front of the gleeful boy.

I appeared as if Atem had won the game.

The sight made Yuugi smile, and his demeanor just seemed to become brighter. Less... troubled.

The expression, in turn, reflected across Honda's features, as well. "You can help each other grow," he insisted quietly, following Yuugi's gaze. Atem was now thanking the young woman for playing with him, and asking if she wanted a rematch.

"You're gonna win this time! I know you can do it!" they heard him encourage when she graciously accepted, making them chuckle. Yuugi's visage became... distant, just for a few moments. When he saw the room's second door open. The man from before had reappeared, with a small stack of papers in his possession. Yuugi swallowed his nerves, able to guess what they were regarding.

"...Okay," he decided finally, and he heard Honda laugh, and quite literally sweeping him up into a hug. Yuugi grunted and gave a surprised shout as the taller man pulled a familiar move – he gripped the smaller in a headlock, and proceeded to grind his knuckles into his scalp. "Ugh, alright, alright, already!" the trinette protested, squirming away. He rubbed at his abused head gingerly, grumbling in spite of the nervously-optimistic grin on his face. "Geez, what is it with you and Jou and the attacking my head?" Honda just snickered, mischief flashing in his eyes.

"Eh, it's all that hair. Makes it more fun!" Then, his expression softened into one of gratitude. "Thank you, Yuugi. I know you won't regret this. And... neither will whoever decided he was meant to come here."

There was a knock on the door, and Honda called the other in. Yuugi accepted the documents, as well as a pen from the officer. Honda continued to elaborate as his shorter friend read over the text, signing and filling out information where it was needed. "Usually, we don't send the kid home with the person adopting them until after everything's been checked out, and they're deemed adoption-ready, but... I think we can make an exception this one time, considering there isn't a place for him stay in the immediate area. And, I, uh... might have already sent in a good part of your information already."

Yuugi gave him a befuddled, exasperated look. "Are you sure that's... y'know, legal?" he snorted with a touch of amusement. Honda's coworker chortled softly, but Yuugi assumed he had already explained the situation to the man (or, at least, as much as he could without sounding like a raving lunatic), because he seemed to already hold a... very vague understanding on what was occurring in front of him.

"Bah, they don't have to know about that. I mean, the sooner the tyke has a place to stay, the better, right? I'm sure he could use a good meal and a hot bath. Not to mention an actual bed to sleep in has got to feel like Nirvana for him at this point. Plus, hey, I can just put in a good word for you to speed things along. You're a good person, and practically everyone in Domino knows that, by now." Honda grinned, looking more excited for this than Yuugi did, "I'll send it to them for you. I'm sure everything will be fine!"

When Yuugi finished his part, signing the final line of text on the pile of legal documents with a somewhat-shaking flourish, he stood up straight, and cracked his knuckles. He spun his wrist in slow circles, relaxing the writing cramp from his hand, before pausing to shake hands with Honda, curt and business-like, though they both saw the humor behind the action.

Yuugi smiled at him. "Thank you, Honda-kun."

It was returned in full. "No, thank you, Yuugi. I know you'll be glad you did this." Then he added, "And if you need anything, you know who to call."

Yuugi gave a curt nod, before stepping past the two policemen, and into the room where Atemu and the female officer sat. As soon as the tri-color-haired adult emerged, there was a delighted cry of "Aiiiibou!" from the room's youngest occupant. Next thing Yuugi knew, a smallish mass of human had bundled into his waist, and two frail arms looped around his waist. He grunted lightly from the impact, and laughed as wide, bright red eyes gleamed up at him like that of a puppy's. Yuugi's hand fell to Atem's head, his slender fingers gently brushing through the tangled, dirty locks. The child's eyelids fluttered, a look of relaxation coming over his rounded features as the action calmed him down. "Are we gonna go home now, Aibou?" he half-sighed, half-yawned. Sympathy and concern filled the paler trinette at the realization of just how tired the kid was.

Yuugi smiled gently down at him, picking up Atemu when he held up his arms, a hopeful gleam in his eyes. The boy beamed, but gave a large yawn as he finally allowed himself to relax, feeling safe and protected as Yuugi held him in his arms. It was a little bit difficult, considering Yuugi wasn't used to holding children, obviously, but he eventually helped Atemu shift into a comfortable position in his grasp, that would make it easy for him to hold and carry around.

Honda came out of the door behind him. "C'mon," he said, grinning in amusement when he saw Atem, already nestled in Yuugi's hold, his head tucked into the bend of the other's shoulder, "I texted Jou, told him you're gonna need some help. I'll drive you back to the Shop, 'kay?"

Yuugi nodded, before giving a contented hum, feeling completely at peace.

"Yes, Até..." the orchid-eyed adult murmured to his child. "We're going home."

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