Chapter 3

It had been six years since Yasamet, now named Yugi, had seen his brother alive. He had been adopted by a Japanese archeologist named Solomon Mutou when he was ten years old, he didn't tell his grandpa about his twin.. He couldn't bring himself to tell anyone, like he was his dark secret. When he entered his new school in Japan he quickly made friends with three locals. He entered into local newspaper clubs and helped local law enforcement just so he could get a small glimpse into the criminal world, hoping for something small.. One small clue that could help him..

He was now fourteen years old, high school was just starting for the Japanese teenager and he never felt more like he never had a life til now. He worked hard to get into a good high school and had even helped his friends get into the very same school. At times like these, sitting with his friends; Joey, Tristan and Tea, Yugi would stop to think to himself, maybe he needed to just let Atem go.. Atem was part of his old world, not part of the world he lived in now. Eating at Burger World with his friends, studying for exams night and day, and helping his grandpa at his game shop was his new life. He needed to focus on college and working on his friendships... Atem wouldn't want him to throw away his life trying to find him, it had been six years and not a single clue had popped up anywhere.. Hell, he might not even be alive...

"Hey Yug'! Ya in there?" Joey laughed as he gently smacked the smaller teens forehead, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh, what? Sorry guys, just over thinking again" he replied with a cheesy smile, making Tea giggle.

"Nah man it's cool, just ya haven't touched ya burger in a couple minutes" they all laughed as Yugi blushes and quickly began eating his food.

"So how do you feel about that test we took? Think you guys passed?" Tea asked with a smirk, knowing that Joey and Tristan hadn't even studied.

"I'm sure we did fine!" The brunette replied sheepishly, looking at Joey for support but found none.

"I think I did pretty.." Yugi's answer was cut off as a young albino boy walked into the restaurant. Yugi had never looked at anyone this way before, usually to busy studying to focus on his classmates appearances. The boy's hair was as white and pure as freshly fallen snow, his skin could easily rival snow white's with his pure white complexion, his build from what he could tell was pretty lean, his face was still young enough to have a gentle rounding to it like his own.. But it was those eyes that enchanted him the most, they were emerald green with an almost ethereal glow... There was no doubt in Yugi's mind, he thought this boy beautiful..

"Earth to Yugi! Are you okay today?" Tristan laughed as he grabbed their small friend and rubbed at his head, making Yugi protest loudly. His friends were laughing having a good time with some of the other patrons were looking at them... This included the 'to damn attractive' albino boy.

"Alright guys, leave Yugi-kun alone" Tea giggled, patting at Tristan's arm so he would release him. The friends sat or the rest of their meal with idle chatter and chuckles, but never once did Yugi let his eyes off the new boy. He sat alone in the corner booth with a hot tea and.. was he sketching?

"I really wanna know what's bothering you Yugi. You've never acted this way before and it's starting to worry me" Tea's voice rang through his mental barrier and he quickly moved his amethyst eyes to stare into her sapphire ones. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out, he opened then closed then opened it again several times but got the same results.. He probably just made himself look like a huge idiot.

"I'm sorry Tea-chan, I've just got a lot on my mind today..." He replied softly, his hand, out of habit, gently grasped his necklace...

' Atem.. I need your guidance..' he thought with a soft sigh

About thirty minutes later the group decided to go to the arcade, that always cheered Yugi up, though he reassured them he was perfectly fine. They spent a couple of hours here, playing different arcade games or playing duel monsters at the challenge tables. Yugi walked up to the arcade game, "Mortal Combat" and looked at his friends with a smirk.

"Come on guys he wants you challenge me and lose today?" He laughed along with his friends, though theirs was more cynical

"Laugh it up Yug', I almost beat ya last time!" Joey huffed with good nature, crossing his arms and smirking

"Yeah right! Dieing a few minutes into the battle was so almost beating me" the smaller teen laughed.

"Excuse me, do you have a rival for this game?" A soft accented voice asked him from his left. Yugi quickly turned to look at the beautiful albino boy from the diner, his smile was heavenly! He went to answer but like before with Tea his mouth gapped open again like a huge stupid fish!

"Yugi here never loses at any game! We just don't wanna get beat again" Tea chuckled at Yugi's actions

"Oh? That sounds like a great challenge! Mind if I challenge you then?" The new boy asked with another beautiful smile

"Umm... Sure!" Yugi finally answered, his voice a little more high pitched then he'd like it to be. With the challenge accepted the two started playing the game, a couple of minutes go by and the 'Fatality' came up the screen... Yugi lost!

"No way!" All his friend's gasped, looking at the smaller teen with wide eyes. To be honest Yugi was just as surprised, he didn't expect to lose, he actually was a sore loser but when he looked up at the happy boy his scowl turned to a small smile.

"Great game Yugi! Should we try a best two outta three?" The foreign boy chuckled, smiling brightly. Yugi could never refuse that face anyway so he chuckled along with him and nodded his head.

"Yeah, that would be great! Quick question though, what's your name?"

"My name? Goodness, how rude of me! My name is Ryou" he smiled with a blush.

Hours went by and the two had become inseparable. Yugi had never found a person with as much love for gaming as him, someone who could, at least half of the time, beat him in games! Ryou was prefect for him, he was smart, funny, respectable, a good gamer and loved food. They were constantly going up to the food stand to retrieve stacks for the both of them, Ryou insisted on paying but only got his way half of the time. They could talk and relate to almost everything, and when they didn't agree they could talk about it and understand both sides of the argument. Yugi sadly couldn't deny that he was falling extremely hard for this boy, though he was a tad bit off, always saying "we" instead of he.

"Hey Yugi, I heard there was a skating area on the other side of the arcade, do you mind accompanying me over there to check it out?" Ryou asked right against his ear. It was a normal thing to do when you were in such a noisy, crowded place, but Yugi felt his blood light on fire at the ghosted warm breath that softly tickled his ear like the faintest of caresses.

"Umm.. Yeah sure! I'll ahh.. Just go tell the gang" he stuttered, all to quickly rising from his seat to run off and find Joey.

"Hey Yug'! How goes hangin' with the new kid?" He smiled, waving off Tea's huff.

"It's going great! He's really good at games and we have a lot in common! Ryou is definitely a good guy to hang around. Hey, he asked me to escort him over to the skating arena if you guys wanna come" Yugi stated with a huge smile, bigger and brighter then it had been in a very long time.. What in the world was Ryou doing to him? Tea huffed and walked away from the boys, Joey and Tristan sighed dramatically but when Yugi raised his eyebrow to ask they both shook their heads.

"You don't want to know dude. To answer your question though I'm sorry but I promised Tea another round at that dancing game she loves. Sorry Yugi" Tristan replied while he rubbed the back of his head.

"I actually have to be going you guys, Serenity called and wants to talk some more back home" Joey stated with a large smile, patting Yugi's head

"That's fine guys! I'll see you two tomorrow at school". With that said the teens went their separate ways, Yugi started walking back towards where he left Ryou. He was walking pretty quickly to get back to him but his pace slowed when he saw the snow haired teen on the phone, not looking the least bit happy.

"... I know that's what I said but could you please give me a few more hours? ... I don't act like this when you leave for a couple of hours! ... Look! Hey! Let me talk! ... I'm at the arcade downtown. ... I know, I told you I'm fine... Just... come on... Don't be like this... I promise. .. Okay... Goodbye" he ended the call with a loud sigh, rubbing his temples gently. He looked up to see Yugi standing there and he almost squeaked in surprise.

"Yugi?! Geez mate, you scared me half to death!" He laughed nervously, clutching at his heart.

"Sorry just.. Didn't want to interrupt that phone call" the smaller teen replied softly, his heart flipping around in his chest... He knew things were to good to be true, Ryou had a relationship already... Just his luck. The taller teen blinked several times before he sighed and looked away, gently biting at his bottom lip, his fingers picking at one another nervously.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about this... That was my brother. He was kind of upset that I wasn't home yet..." He softly murmured, looking back up at the multi-colored haired teen with his sad green eyes.

"Your brother?! No no, I'm not upset! It's fine, I can understand why you didn't want to talk about him! He seems kind of mean" Yugi stated quickly, his mind was swimming happily, he still had a chance with Ryou!

"He isn't mean! Just... He just gets aggravated easily.. No one understands him like I do, that's why he protects me and I protect him" The snow haired boy replied with a small amount of anger flashing through his eyes before dissipating.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to upset you! Please forgive me Ryou-kun!" Yugi pleaded...

' Well.. Blew that chance' he thought with a soft sigh.

"Ryou-kun? What does kun mean?" The foreign teen asked with pure curiosity, a soft smile finally gracing his face again. Yugi blushed softly and rubbed at the back of his head, he couldn't tell the boy he had just basically called him cute...

"Kun means.. It means... It means friend!" He stated with a nervous smile, hoping he believed this lie. Ryou's smile grew even brighter as he chuckled softly, his eyes kind and understanding.

"I like that, thank you. Come, lets go and skate".

As the two make there way into the skating rink Ryou happily chuckles, looking around at the large area with lights and loud music.

"This is prefect! Can you skate?" He asks Yugi while they walk towards the skate rentals.

"I can! Though I haven't skated in a couple of months" he laughed, buying both their rentals. They slid on the skates and within seconds Yugi watched in awe as Ryou skated away with amazing grace, skating around the small amount of people in the rink like they were still children! He didn't wait long before he got into the rink and started skating with his new friend, lights flashed and smoke screens bellowed around the skaters, but Yugi couldn't concentrate on any of that. He could only hear the music and see Ryou, his grace and movements were mesmerizing, he was almost like a dancer on wheels.

The two took a break, laughing lightly as they both were breathing heavily, gentle beads of sweat glittered their bodies.

"That was amazing! You're great at skating!" Yugi chuckled, sipping on his water.

"Thanks Yugi, you're great too! Have you been skating long?" The snow teen blushed, drinking his water, his green eyes staring intently into Yugi's amethyst eyes. Yugi went to lie but he stopped short, he had no need to lie, he knew he hadn't been skating long...

"No, only two years.."

"Only two years?! Mon Dieu! You are amazing then! You skate like you've been doing this since you were little!" Ryou laughed, leaning in on his arms so their faces were closer.

"Thanks... But really only two years. I've only been in Japan for four years" he confessed, his blush covering all across his face, thank Buddha the room was dark.

"Wait, you're not Japanese? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.." The boy asked softly, sensing he was walking on glass right now. Yugi opened his mouth to say where he was from but immediately, as is by some sort of magic, his hand flew up to his necklace that had fallen out of his shirt while he was skating... He couldn't tell Ryou about Atem, not yet anyway.

"I... I don't know if I can tell you yet" the tri-colored haired teen finally sighed, his eyes closing and looking away, his fingers leaving the warm necklace and laying gently on the table. His eyes flew open immediately when he felt Ryou's warm hand lay gently on his and give it a good squeeze.

"It's fine mon ami, I don't need to know anything you don't want me to know." He whispered close to his face, his voice warm and inviting.

"Thank you Ryou-kun, you're a great friend... Wait, you speak french? I thought you were British.." the smaller teen asked with a cocked head. Ryou looked confused for a minute then he smiled wide and started to laugh happily, the hand on top of Yugi's squeezed his again softly.

"No cherie, I'm actually French. I basically grew up in Britain though so my accent has become more British sadly" he chuckled merrily, his eyes shining brightly. Yugi smiled with him, his happiness was infectious, he never wanted to see Ryou unhappy ever again... But then there was his brother.. As if by pure magic Ryou's phone began to ring, it was some Christina Aguilera song that Yugi couldn't name. He quickly placed a finger up and ran off, answering the phone as he walked away with neutral french greeting. As he talked further away Yugi couldn't understand his words so he just decided to stare at Ryou's amazing bu.. assets. He was nice and slender, his hips gently curved and butt nicely rounded, he also had nice long legs.. God he was just gorgeous! Yugi couldn't help but stare with a deep blush on his face, he tried to focus on other things around the skating rink to look at it but his eyes kept going right back to him.

"I'll just go skate" he whispered to himself, standing up and returning to the rink. He skated around the circle lost in his own thoughts, his mind spun with thoughts of many things it didn't normally think about.. Cuddling, holding hands, hugging, kissing... He was thinking about love, he was thinking about Ryou. At the thought of his name he shook his head to look where he left the snow haired teen, but with confusion he couldn't find him anywhere. His mind panicked and he glided his legs back to the main area, removed his skates and looked around more closely, but still couldn't see the french teen.

"Hey, you see a white haired boy anywhere?" Yugi asked some girl.

"Oh yeah I saw him! He was cute!~ Saw him going towards the back entrance there" she pointed towards the open door on the other side of the rink. He nodded his thanks and briskly walked towards the doors, he never did like coming out these doors, all the mean skater boys and pot heads hung out back here. He slowed his pace as he came to the doors, the smell of pot smoke was heavy but he didn't stop in his tracks and continued out the door to see... No one, all save Ryou who sat against the wall smoking a joint.

"Hey Yugi.. Sorry I didn't tell you I was coming out here... I needed some relaxing" the taller teen sighed once he saw his friend enter in front of him.

"It's okay, I was worried about you though. I didn't know you smoked pot..."

"Is it a problem?" Ryou quickly interrupted, his now slightly red eyes wide in fear. Yugi smiled softly and shook his head, sitting down next to his friend, who held out the joint to him to try. Yugi thought about it but then sighed softly, thinking what the hell he shakingly took the drug and puffed off of it, quickly inhaling to much and choked. Ryou chuckled lightly while he patted Yugi's back, helping him back to his senses.

"Never smoked before?" He asked with humour in his voice. Yugi shook his head as he felt his chest rise and fall normally again, he looked at the white teen with a goofy smile, the drug hitting his brain quicker then he thought it would. Ryou showed Yugi had to effectively smoke and within minutes they smoked the entire joint together, both giggling together and leaning against one another.

"I think we need to get home now Ry" Yugi whispered in his head, his body warm and fuzzy as his head leaned against the wall and Ryou's head was laying against his chest. Ryou's chuckle echoed through Yugi's chest and made his body tight and hot, the hand that lay in lap definitely wasn't helping.

"I think I'll stay here with you Yugi-kun" he chuckled, nuzzling his face into the warm chest beneath him. With a heavy sigh Yugi reached into Ryou's pocket and pulled out his cell phone, he knew he couldn't call his grandpa to come get them.. he would be strung up to die for sure! His only chance was Ryou's brother, hopefully he would be willing to help his brother.

"What is it brother?" The sexy, deep, heavily accented voice asked in an annoyed tone.

"This isn't Ryou, this is a.."

"Why the hell do you have his phone?! Who the bloody hell are you?!" The brother quickly yelled, his tone not pleasing yet somehow he still managed to make anger sound super sexy.

"I'm his new friend Yugi, and I'm calling for him because he is to stoned to move, let alone get home" the teen replied coolly, he wasn't the least but threatened by the angry voice on the other side of the phone, maybe he was to stoned as well?

"He... He what? Ugh... Alright, thank you Yugi. I'll be there to pick up the idiot soon." He sighed, ending the phone call as quickly as it had started, but Yugi couldn't get this men's voice out of his head... The way his name rolled off his heavily accented tongue was almost to sultry... He tried to clear his dirty thoughts quickly, but he couldn't shake his head in fear of either barfing on Ryou or waking him up. He sighed softly and let his eyes close, the sound of Ryou's gentle snores brought his mind to join it in the lands of slumber, which he gladly accepted.

He hadn't fell asleep this quickly in years, maybe having this wanting need to protect Ryou was finally breaking his never ending search for his twin brother... Atem would always be important to him, but maybe having Ryou around would finally help him work passed him, lay him to rest like the rest of world had done already..

HIs mind finally succumbed to the darkness of the dreaming world as his eyelids cause the light of head lights..