"Yugi?" Kaiba's eyes flicked to him as he sank into the chair Atem had vacated earlier. "God, Atem. What did you do? Explain yourself."
"No." Atem folded his arms over his chest and set his jaw. Yugi could feel the power and authority radiating off of Atem, and he wondered why. "I don't think I need to do that."
"Oh, yes you do!" Kaiba said back. "You broke the law, and—"
"I'm pretty sure we can overlook it in this case."
"I am so sick and tired of your shit!" Kaiba yelled, finally snapping. "Here's a news flash, Atem. You may be king, but that doesn't mean you are exempt from the law. They were here before you!"
Yugi frowned and looked at Atem sharply. King? What was that supposed to mean? He noticed Atem's shoulders tense, and a pair of ruby eyes cast a look to him, then quickly looked away with guilt when the owner saw that Yugi was staring back at him. Yugi's jaw almost hit the floor. King. The fucking king?
Yugi opened his mouth, "What do you mean 'ki—'"
"As you can see," Atem cut over him, avoiding eye contact. "Yugi is only half human."
"Oh, this just gets better and better!" Kaiba called out, throwing his hands in the air. "God forbid, not only does he break a law, but then he turns a human into an angel! And then he has the nerve to show his face around me!" Yugi flinched. Kaiba said the word 'human' almost like it was dirty.
"What was I supposed to do?" Atem yelled, getting angry and gripping his fists. His eyes were slowly becoming lighter, and Yugi watched as Atem's shadow twitched.
"I know!" Kaiba hollered. "How about you do nothing? Stop intervening! Let the humans live in their world in peace as we do ours!" At his words, Atem's eyebrow twitched. Yugi reached out and touched his shoulder gently, and Atem spun around, his face still fixed into an angry look. After a second of looking at Yugi, the anger on his face left him and his eyes darkened back to ruby. He gave a stiff nod to Yugi as a thank you and faced Kaiba again.
"I couldn't let him die." He told Kaiba in a quieter voice.
In the ringing silence after that statement, Kaiba looked like he'd been bashed over the head with a bag of bricks.
"Whoa, whoa. Back up." He blinked. "Die? What happened? How could you let a human get mixed up—"
"Don't worry. He wasn't dying because of anything I had done." There was bitterness in Atem's voice. "I found him two nights ago. He was stabbed." He stopped and looked at Kaiba with a helpless expression. "I couldn't just let him die, Seto. You know I could never do that."
Upon hearing Atem's almost plea and the use of his first name, Kaiba relaxed and seemed amazingly composed. "I see." His eyes fell on Yugi. "But what do we do about this? There's never been a half-angel before…there's a lot we won't know about him. What if this turns out to be the downfall of our kind?" Yugi bit his lip. Surely Kaiba wouldn't make him leave, though? Atem said he could stay, and Yugi had no where else to go. "Wait, who stabbed you?" He asked Yugi.
"My…my father." He said quietly, unable to make eye contact with him.
"Your father?" Kaiba suddenly looked absolutely sick. "Atem, Did you know that?"
"Yes." Atem stared out at the balcony. Kaiba was at a loss for words. Finally, he sighed.
"I don't know how we're going to do it, but we're gonna have to keep this under wraps for awhile. I won't tell anyone." He stood up and looked at Atem, Kaiba was back to his original self. "But he is your responsibility. I have a hard enough time baby sitting Marik and Bakura. You do well to remember that." With that, he swept from the room, shaking his head in disbelief. Atem finally looked away from the balcony over to Yugi. Surprise and even arrogance were the dominant expressions on his face.
"Well, that sucked." He said, but a grin was starting to form. "But it was easier than I thought it would be. He must feel bad for you." He suddenly chuckled. "Well, as bad as Seto Kaiba could possibly feel about someone else. He's got an ego the size of Russia. No, bigger. The sun." Yugi laughed as well.
"What did you think he would do?" Yugi then asked curiously.
"Well...I was actually expecting more yelling." Atem admitted with a shrug.
"Ah. Well I have a question."
"Shoot."
"Why didn't you tell me you were the god damn king?" Yugi shouted, placing his hands on his hips and giving Atem a severe look. Atem flinched and looked away, scratching his chin.
"Because I never wanted to be. And I thought that you would feel...I don't know…obligated to call me, 'king' and 'your highness' and treat me as such." Atem looked down at the floor. "I didn't mean to lie to you—technically I didn't lie at all. I just like it when people treat me like a normal person. A normal teen." Atem suddenly laughed. "Well, maybe not as a teen anymore. We stop aging at eighteen, but I'm actually three thousand twenty [3,020] years old."
Yugi choked on his own tongue. "Three...three t-thousa...!" He tried to find the right words, but they eluded him. There were no words he knew that could describe this moment. "That's impossible!"
"I told you we live forever—unless, you know, we're murdered." Atem studied Yugi appreciatively. "What about you? Are you fifteen?"
"Oh, god," Yugi slapped himself in the head with the palm of his hand. "I guess I should be happy that you didn't guess twelve, at least. I'm actually—" he broke off.
"What?" Atem tilted his head.
"I'm actually..." Yugi couldn't believe it. His birthday was yesterday, when he had been unconscious. He's been a year older and he didn't even know.
"Yugi?"
"I'm sorry," Yugi sighed. "I guess I'm seventeen now, huh?"
"Now?"
"I'm so stupid." Yugi couldn't believe he'd forgotten his own birthday. Granted, over the years it's never been anything special, but still.
"You forgot your birthday?" Atem was astonished. He grabbed Yugi's hand and started towing him along. "Then we have to do something for your birthday!"
Yugi blushed and pulled away from Atem, shaking his head quickly. "No, it's ok. Really. I don't need anything. My birthdays never got celebrated, anyway. I mean…he acknowledged it, but it was just like any other day…" Instinctively, Yugi held his right arm close to his body.
"What's wrong?" Atem asked, not missing the movement.
"Sorry." Yugi instantly let go. "I was just remembering how he broke my arm on my fifteenth birthday."
"Are you…" Atem raised his hand like he was going to comfort Yugi, hesitated, and let his hand fall back away. "Are you okay?"
"Of course. I'm fine." The words slipped out of him before he could stop them. He had said that word so many times in the past to his friends and teachers. He wanted to trust Atem, but he still couldn't keep himself from lying. He'd practiced the two words over and over in the mirror so he wouldn't cry when he said them. I'm fine, He'd say. And they all believed him. Nobody bothered to look twice.
Nobody until Atem. Yugi knew that Atem knew he was lying, but instead of questioning him, Atem simply looked at Yugi, grimaced, and then plastered on a smile.
"Where would you like to go for your birthday?" He asked brightly.
"Atem…" His name blew past Yugi's lips in an almost sigh. "You don't have to do that for me. You've done enough as it is."
"I want to." Atem told him strongly, but in a tender tone. He bent down so they were at eye level, and he gave Yugi a look that he couldn't decipher. "You know, sometimes you should just let people care for you."
Yugi didn't reply. He just looked away from that piercing ruby gaze.