Small Note

Sakura: Last time Atemu went on a trip to Domino so he could maybe get some of Yuugi's friends back to being Yuugi's friends. I promised everyone Joey would appear and she will, because what's a story without Joey…

Chapter 18: Too Much To Ask

The one day he gets to sleep in and relax and not have to worry about work, his phone rings at seven in the morning. Atemu groans as he rolls over and grabs his phone off Yuugi's desk. He pulls the phone under the covers with him before answering.

"Hello?"

"Hey Atemu, did you sleep well last night?"

Atemu sighed and closed his eyes again. Of all the people to call him it was the one person he thought wouldn't call him at seven in the morning. "Yuugi, why are you up so early?"

"I couldn't sleep and I wanted to make sure you were okay. I know my grandfather invited you to supper, but then the storm hit and I was worried about you getting to your hotel."

"I'm fine and so it Kek. We decided to stay the weekend at your grandfather's place. He's a kind man and this gives me a chance to talk with him. I mean I am marrying his granddaughter so I better be on his good side." Atemu informed Yuugi with a smirk on his face.

He heard Yuugi giggled on the other end. "Don't let him be too hard on you sweetie. My grandfather can be a little threatening when it comes to me."

Atemu smiled although Yuugi couldn't see it. "I think I'll be okay. We talked a good bit during supper and I'm sure I'm in his good grace."

"Well I just wanted to check up on you. I'm sorry if I woke you but I figured you would be up at this time."

"Well since I didn't have anything to do early, I wanted to sleep in, but it's okay. I should probably get up anyway. The faster I get this task done the sooner I get home to you."

"What about me?" Atemu all of a sudden heard Amun say over the phone.

"Yuugi I'm on speaker phone aren't I?"

Yuugi and Amun both laughed.

Atemu sighed. "You two are horrible sometimes."

"Love you too!" The two shouted into the phone.

"Yeah of course you do. I love you Yuugi and I'll see you soon." After the goodbyes were exchanged Atemu hung up his phone. He placed it back on the desk before turning over to get some more sleep.

It wasn't but two hours later Solomon walked into Yuugi's old bedroom and shook Atemu awake. "Atemu, I'm not sure what time you normally get up but it's nearly nine thirty and I have some breakfast made up if you want it."

Atemu groaned but rolled over and opened his eyes. Solomon smiled at him.

"Kek isn't up yet, what time does your brother need to be up?"

"Let him sleep…" Atemu told him before letting out a yawn. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. "He had early mornings all week with the practicing he does for his soccer team."

Solomon nodded. "Do you need any help getting ready?"

"I think I'll be fine. I just need to know if you have a bathroom with a tub." Atemu told him as he moved himself into his wheelchair. He rolled over to his suitcase and pulled it onto his lap before looking though it for some causal clothes. Once he had what he wanted he put the suit case back down and turned to Solomon. "Lead the way."

Solomon led Atemu to the bathroom just down the hall, but sadly the wheelchair wouldn't fit in the small bathroom.

"Well I might need your help with this part…" Atemu said as he carefully got out of his chair and sat on the floor. He scooted across the floor before looking behind him at Solomon. "You wouldn't mind helping me get in the tub. If I had my wheelchair I could do it, but it won't fit in here."

"Not a problem…" Solomon said as he entered the bathroom. He waited as Atemu stripped to his boxers, before helping Atemu hop up on the side of the tub. Atemu got his legs in the tub, before lowering himself down. "I'll bring you some towels…"

Once Solomon had left, Atemu pulled the curtain so no one could see him, before taking of his boxers and setting them on the floor. He then started to run his bath and relax.

Kek woke up on his own thirty minutes later, so Solomon allowed him to help his brother get out of the tub. It took another extra thirty minutes before the brothers got downstairs to eat their breakfast. Solomon heated it up for them, before informing them he needed to open the shop and if they needed anything to come down and get him.

As they ate Kek asked his brother, "Do you have a plan to get Yuugi's friends over here?"

Atemu nodded his head. "Four of Yuugi's friends that I know of are still in Domino. I made a phone call to Ryou while we were on the train and she said Tristan, Joey, Duke, and Serenity should still be in Domino. Tristan, Duke and Joey are in college, while Serenity is still in high school." He took a drink before continuing. "The one Yuugi is most close to is Joey and Anzu, but Anzu is in New York. I figured I could ask grandpa to call Joey over here so we could talk."

"Do you think she will come?"

Atemu shrugged his shoulders. "As long as grandpa doesn't tell Joey on the phone that I am here, she probably would. When she gets here, we will have to try and make her stay and listen."

"I seriously hope this works out little bro…" Kek was proud of his brother for wanting to help Yuugi, but if Yuugi's friends truly did not care anymore than there was nothing they could do.

It wasn't until after lunch that Solomon made the phone call to Joey to ask if she could come over and help him with something. It was the weekend, but he couldn't assume Joey did not have classes over the weekend. Thankfully Joey was not busy that day and was looking for something to do. Although it was weird to Solomon that she would want to come and help if she was upset with Yuugi, than again he was an elderly man living alone and he was sure Joey wanted to make sure he was okay. He wasn't proud of how Joey and the others handled Yuugi telling them the truth, but he also couldn't blame them.

Since the young adult did not live far from the game shop it took her at most thirty minutes before she walked through the doors of the shop. She smiled at Solomon, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt ready to be put to work. "So what do you need help with?"

Solomon motioned for her to follow her up the stairs to the house part. "The shop is fine it's something that I need done in the house. I'm not as strong as I used to be and I would hate to throw my back out."

"I wouldn't want you to throw your back out either. I hate that you are living here all by yourself now." Solomon took note of how Joey's tone started to change to one of anger, but it only came up when she said her last sentence. He guessed she was thinking of Yuugi and how she chose to live in Tokyo and go to school. Honestly Solomon felt he was fine on his own, because he knew his limits.

"It's quite alright, I don't mind living by myself. Plus most of my day is spent in the shop so that keeps me busy with customers."

As they entered the living room, Joey was quick to see Atemu sitting on the couch. She froze on the spot as he just smiled at her. Solomon stood behind Joey blocking the way out in case she decided to leave. It was time Joey dealt with her issues about Yuugi and now.

Atemu motioned to the chair across from him for Joey to sit in. "I'm not going to bite. I just need to talk with you."

Joey turned her head enough to see Solomon behind her. "You set me up?"

Solomon nodded his head. "I heard what went down in Tokyo and I'm not happy about it Joey. Atemu came here to talk and I want you to listen to him."

"Well I don't want to talk about it. Yuugi chose to betray her friends and lie to us." Joey went to head to the other door that lead to the side way out when Kek came out of the kitchen and blocked her path.

He shook his head and pointed to the chair. "You aren't leaving here until you hear my brother out."

Joey growled and stomped her foot. "This is ridiculous. You can't keep me here like some prisoner. I don't want to talk about it!"

"Well if it's not too much to ask I just want to know one thing…" Joey looked toward Atemu with a raised eyebrow.

"And that would be?"

"How did Yuugi betray you?" Atemu asked with a serious look on his face.

Joey was silent for a moment, before she replied. "She lied to us. We all promised each other we would never keep secrets from each other. She kept two very big secrets from us and it took her forever for her to tell us the truth."

"Yuugi never lied to you." Atemu said trying to get Joey to see the truth. "Sure she kept some secrets from you and the others, but lying would mean she told you something that wasn't true. Yuugi had her reasons for not telling you who she really was, but you left and never heard her out."

When Joey just stood there not saying a word, Atemu continued, "Yuugi has been a celebrity since she was a baby because of who her parents are. When she moved here to Domino after my accident she got the chance to have a normal life without people following her all the time wanting to take her picture. When she made friends with you and the others, she told me she was happy that you did not know the truth about her because that meant you were really her friends. She also told me how she thought about telling you guys the truth years ago, but she had the fear you would either push her away or treat her differently.

When she returned to Tokyo to see if she and I still had a chance at love, she had no idea I would propose to her. I was surprised she even agreed to marry me, but we have always loved each other since we were little and it never went away. Honestly none of you would have found out about our engagement had it not been for my older brother Amun trying to help me out. Girls left and right were spreading rumors that I was engaged to them when I wasn't. Amun wanted everyone to see the beautiful and talented woman I really was going to marry. Yuugi wanted to wait until after college before telling people about our engagement so she could have a normal chance at college." Atemu sighed as he remembered how heartbroken Yuugi looked after her first day. "It's not going the way she planned now, because people know who she is. People want to get close and be her friend to get close to me and my father. Some men want to date her because she is considered a celebrity herself. It's horrible and the people she wants the most are not there for her."

Once Atemu was done, he looked to Joey to see if she would say anything, but what he did not expect was for her to be wiping tears away. "I never wanted to hurt her, but I hated the fact she couldn't trust me with the truth. I was her best friend for years and had always been there for her. Once everything came out in the open I felt as if she was a different person all together. It was like she had this whole double life and I feared that maybe she would want a life with you more than she would care about her friends." She finally confessed after keeping it to herself for so long.

Atemu smiled at those words. "I'm not the one who needs to hear that. You need to try and make things right with Yuugi. I would hate it if I lost either of my best friends. I can't even begin to understand what Yuugi is going through losing a whole group of friends she held close to her heart."

"I just don't know what to do…" Joey said as she finally took a seat across from Atemu. Kek and Solomon both left the room seeing that they were not needed anymore. "I mean I'm sure Yuugi hates me now and wouldn't want to talk to me."

"You never know until you try." Atemu told her trying to cheer Joey up. "I'm sure Yuugi would be willing to hear you out so long as you hear her side of the story too."

Joey nodded and agreed with what he said. "I should have heard her out before leaving Tokyo, but I just felt like I had to push her away before I got hurt. I did not want her to tell me we would still be friends and then slowly I would be pushed out of her life."

Atemu reached out and patted Joey's hand that rested on her knee. "Yuugi is not the type of person to hurt those she loves. No matter what she would have made sure you stayed friends."

"I just hope she can forgive me."

"I'm sure after a little time you both will be able to put this behind you." He said to her before moving on to the next topic he wanted to discuss with Joey. "Joey there is something else I need to ask you."

Joey looked up at Atemu ready to hear him out.

Sunday morning when sunlight hit Yuugi in the face, she groaned and put her head under her pillow. She pulled Atemu's pillow closer and hugged it since she did not have the real thing to grab onto. The young adult had tired sleeping in her own room over the weekend, but with the knowledge that Atemu was not there, she felt the need to stay in his room. If people saw her as clingy, then so be it, but she enjoyed being with Atemu and did not want to lose him again.

Although as she started to drift back off to sleep she seemed to remember that today was Sunday and Atemu was supposed to come home. She quickly sat up and lunged for her phone. The time read nine thirty and there were no missed calls or texts. That meant that Atemu was mostly likely still in Domino, since he would have texted or called if he was getting on the train to come home. She hoped he was going to get on the train soon, because she wanted some time with him before she had to go back to classes.

Even though the students were mean to her and some ignored her, Yuugi knew she shouldn't let them get to her that she would want to give up on her education. If she had to she would suffer though the four years she needed for her degree then be done with it. As long as she had her family to come home to vent to about her day, then she could somewhat relax and not keep everything bottled up.

Yuugi forced herself out of bed and toward the shower. After a quick thirty minutes shower, she found the perfect outfit to put on, before grabbing her phone. She figured she would get some breakfast before calling Atemu to see if he was going to be on the train soon. She would hate it if Atemu had to stay in Domino for a few more days.

Amun ran into her in the hallway with a smile on his face. "Sleep well Yuugi?"

Yuugi sighed. "As best I can with knowing Atemu isn't here. He forgot to call me last night before I went to bed."

"You try calling him?"

"Yeah, but his phone went to voicemail so I figured he was doing something important. I left him a voicemail to at least text me no matter how late it gets, but my phone does not show anything."

Amun patted Yuugi's shoulder. "I'm sure he is fine, no need to worry. The chef has a good breakfast set up so why don't you go eat something."

Yuugi gave Amun a weak smile back and then headed to the dining room. However as she reached the dining room, she heard an all familiar laugh. 'It can't be,' Yuugi thought it had been Atemu's laugh she heard, but he wasn't even supposed to be here. Amun would have said something if Atemu had come home this morning or last night.

It took Yuugi a minute to gather the courage to finally open the door to the dining room and what she saw shocked her. Sure enough Atemu was there eating breakfast, but it was who he was eating with that really surprised Yuugi.

Joey Wheeler, the friend that hurt her and walked away, was sitting across from Atemu both laughing at something that must have been said between the two of them.

Atemu turned his head when he heard the door and smiled at Yuugi. "Morning sleepy head…"

As much as Yuugi loved the fact that Atemu was home early, she couldn't take her eyes off of Joey.

"What are you doing here?"

Sakura: I love leaving it off in places like that. I'm surprised this story has even made it to chapter eighteen. I figured this would be a short story, but I still have so much planned out. Maybe this story will at least go to chapter twenty five.

Yumi: Review!