A few days later, Umi felt the hum once more in Yugi's room. It drew her towards it while it also made her head turn to mush. In the humming the whispers seemed to grow louder. She could still not make out what they were saying, but the voices seemed familiar.
"It is the voices of the Gods." Neferet explained once Umi could think once more.
"But why can I hear them?" Umi asked.
"Because you are my successor. You are God's Wife."
"What does that mean?"
"I've tried to tell you. You are the conduit through which the Gods may act. You can command and control their chosen."
"How exactly would I go about doing that?"
"You need to focus your ka."
"My what now?"
"Your ka. You know, Umi, part of your soul. The part that you share with me."
"I know what a ka is, Neferet, or at least what you all believed it to be. I did learn a thing or two working with Mom in Egypt."
"Then it should be easy."
"Having an academic understanding of something and being able to actually do something are two different things, Neferet." Umi complained. "Besides, I don't have time for this. I have my exam in the morning."
"Your school acceptance will be the least of your worries if the darkness rises."
"Good night, Neferet." Umi hoped that the spirit would take the hint, but Neferet gifted her with dream memories of her own training with her ka.
Neferet stood on the summoning field, facing down her opponent. The old priest stood behind her, offering her suggestions and advice on her stance and posture, on her focus and how to draw forth the energy within to combine it with the energy from beyond. Her lover stood behind a hybrid of a man and a horse that Umi knew as a centaur, waiting for her to take action.
"Come on, Neferet. Attack." Seto goaded. He smiled when she glared at him. Oh, she thought, is he going to get it. She could feel his desire for her tugging at her soul even now as they stood opposed. She closed her eyes and felt her ka expand. It spread into the ground beneath her and the air around her. The other priests observing the practice duel ducked for cover as the dust in the room swirled into the air and lightning flashed. Monsters of all shapes and sizes seemed to pop into existence around her. With one word, Seto's lone monster was obliterated. He looked from where it had been to the one who had destroyed it. Fear gripped his heart as he saw her eyes blaze with the white heat of the sun itself. The old priest grabbed her arm and called for an end to the duel. Neferet collapsed unconscious in his arms.
She awoke some time later in a familiar room. The light from an oil lamp cast long shadows over her as Seto sat recording something at the small table in the corner. She watched his shoulders hunch as he worked, the muscles there tense and relax. He eventually stretched his long arms over his head before leaning back on them. He rolled his head in a circle. Her sneeze drew his attention away from his work. He crawled the short distance to the side of the bed.
"Are you feeling alright?" He brushed a hand across her brow, checking to see if she felt feverish.
"I'm fine."
"Good. I was worried." His hand caressed her cheek as she leaned into his touch.
"What happened?" she asked, her green eyes meeting his blue.
"You passed out. The High Priest thinks you may have used too much of your own ka to call them. But did you call them." He sat on the floor looking up at her. "I have never seen that many summons at once. It was as if you called everything from the Duat."
"Except what I had intended, what I was supposed to call."
"You'll get there, Love." He said before kissing her. The kissing turned to more and Umi woke in the morning wishing that her Seto was there to greet her.
"Gee, thanks Neferet." she muttered to the sleepy spirit.
The test took much longer than Umi had ever thought possible, and she had taken the SAT with writing, and subject tests. She felt absolutely drained as she left the middle school where she tested with the younger students hoping to gain access to the high school of their choice. She walked the short distance to the high school and arrived just as Yugi was leaving.
"How was it?" He asked, his smile sympathetic.
"Long." She said, yawning. Yugi's friends joined them as he laughed. "Harder than I imagined."
"Yeah. It is pretty tough. But maybe we can cheer you up?"
"Congrats, Umi!" Tea exclaimed.
"I don't know if I passed yet."
"Yeah, but you finished. That alone is worth celebrating." Tristan chimed in.
"Soon enough you'll be sitting in boring classes with the rest of us." Joey winked at her.
"Oh. Joy. I can't wait." Umi said emotionless.
A white haired student walked past the group.
"Hey, Bakura, wanna come hang out with us? We are celebrating Umi here's pending acceptance into class with us." Tea asked.
"I just finished the stupid test. I don't know if I passed it yet." Umi reiterated.
"Of course you passed." Yugi sounded convinced, but Umi was still nervous.
"So this is Yugi's infamous sister. It's a pleasure to meet you finally." The white haired boy said.
"Oh right I forgot you two hadn't met. Umi, this is Bakura. Bakura, this is my sister Umi."
He reached out to shake Umi's hand. Umi felt that there was something familiar about him, but she could not place it.
"It's nice to meet you."
"So are you coming or not, Bakura?" Tristan asked as he and Joey started walking up the road.
"I think I'll pass this time." Bakura started when a group of girls noticed him. He quickly darted behind Yugi. "On the other hand, it seems like I never hang out with you guys. Come on." He jogged after Tristan and Joey. Yugi laughed and explained to Umi how Bakura was always surrounded by their female classmates.
"Why?" Umi asked. Tea looked at her like she was crazy.
"Because they think he's cute?" She suggested.
"Well he is, but he's gay."
"What?" Tea gasped. Yugi just cracked up laughing.
"You mean, you didn't know?" Umi asked bewildered. "Oh shit. I'm sorry. I thought you all knew. I mean it is pretty obvious. Now I feel bad."
"Why?" Yugi asked
"Because I outed him. It's a really personal thing, and I shouldn't have made assumptions."
They caught up with the other half of the group and stopped in to get some ice cream. Umi took Bakura aside and told him what had happened. He looked at her and then to the rest of the group.
"I can't believe they didn't know." he said. "Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now."
"I'm really sorry." Umi apologized again as they rejoined the group. Eventually, Umi began to feel some semblance of normality as she regaled the group about her adventures traveling with her mother.
"Bakura, didn't you spend time in Egypt as a kid?" Tea asked.
"Uh, yeah, right before we moved here." He explained. They talked for the rest of the afternoon about adventures they had had and dreams they hoped to fulfill. As they said their good-byes and went their separate ways, Umi felt Neferet stir.
"The Darkness. Behind you." the spirit whispered. Umi turned around only to see Yugi's white haired friend with whom Umi had much in common.
A few days later, Yugi had left for school early and the house was quiet as Umi awoke. The humming had kept her up later than she liked, and she was sore and stiff as she crawled out of bed. Her entire body ached and she felt dizzy as she stood.
"What is he doing to us?" Neferet asked as Umi took the stairs slowly, one-by one for fear of falling.
"What are you talking about?"
"Our brothers. The humming sound, the voices from his room. He is sabotaging us, making it so we cannot fulfill our destiny." Umi rubbed her temples as she shuffled her way into the kitchen. Her head was pounding though she could not be certain it was not due to Neferet's prattling alone. She rummaged blindly for some pain relief when she sneezed. A snotty mess came out of her nose. She grabbed a towel to clean it up, but sneezed again before she was able.
"Great." she muttered as she wiped up the mess and tossed back a couple of ibuprofen.
"Umi. This is serious." Neferet demanded, her voice echoing through Umi's head like a fog.
"I don't know, Neferet. You're supposed to be the expert on destiny here. And isn't the goal helping him fulfill his destiny? Why would he sabotage that?" Umi grabbed the thermometer before laying back on the couch. She stuck the metal tip into her mouth and waited. The alarm on the thermometer sounded harshly and its screen glowed a bright red. Umi sighed as she tossed it on the table and curled up in a ball. She pulled a blanket that had been draped on the arm over her and fell back to sleep.
She awoke a few hours later, still feeling awful, but with a little more energy. Tomoe had placed a cool rag on her head in an effort to ease her feverish discomfort, and was sitting on the floor next to her.
"What time is it?" Umi croaked.
"It's lunch time. Are you up to eating?" The older woman asked. Umi felt her stomach turn at the thought of food. "No? Perhaps some soup?" Umi's hand went to her mouth as she sat up. She shook her head. Tomoe pressed a glass of water into her shaky hands. "Drink. You need it." Umi sipped on the water slowly. It was cool in her throat and settled easily in her stomach. Umi felt a little stronger.
"I'm going to go to my room." she said, slowly standing, clutching the blanket with one hand and her glass with the other. She shuffled toward the narrow stairs.
"Call if you need anything." The older woman said as she continued watching her dramas.
Umi took the stairs slowly once more as she went up to her room. As she passed Yugi's door, Neferet urged her to go inside. Umi had rarely been in her brother's room since her own was prepared to her liking. She stood, staring at the wooden barrier, her fingers clenching in a fist where she held the blanket around her.
"We need to know, Umi." The spirit urged. Umi placed her glass of water on the floor next to the wall and pushed the door open, creeping inside. His room was just as she had remembered it, minimalist except for a collection of drawings and notes tacked to the wall near his desk. She felt nothing in here that was out of the ordinary. She had turned to leave when she heard the whisper. She would have chalked it up to the fever if the voices had not seemed so familiar. The whispering drew her to the desk that sat near the window. Umi's heart beat in fear as she was drawn toward the sound. She moved as if in a dream. The voices grew louder as her hand touched the drawer at the bottom on the desk.
"The Gods are calling, Umi." Neferet whispered as she pulled the drawer open. A golden light nearly blinded her as she looked at the items within, each emblazoned with the eye that had been a constant presence in her life. She picked up the golden staff and felt as if her heart was going to burst open.
"Seto." Neferet cried. Umi could feel his spirit within the object, tied to it with invisible threads. "It was given to him when he became High Priest." the spirit explained. She seemed to be weeping. "It should have been buried with him." Umi pitied the spirit within. "If I had been there, if I had stopped this..."
"You cannot blame yourself, Neferet. Just as I cannot blame myself for what happened." Umi laid the staff on the floor next to her. She reached into the drawer once more and pulled out what looked like a necklace. It seemed familiar, more so than just for the eye that seemed to follow her. She had seen it before, though she could not place where. It glowed with a brilliant light as she picked it up. When she opened her eyes after its brilliance faded, she found herself in Ancient Egypt. She floated above the Chamber of Monsters, where Neferet had made love to Seto and Atem had forced her into the darkness. The priest stood yelling at the pharaoh.
"What did you do?" Seto demanded, his voice filled with pain. "Atem! What did you do? Where is she?" Umi could hear each fracture in his heart echo through his voice as it shattered. The taller man grabbed the pharaoh by the shoulders and turned him from the spot where the queen been sucked into the abyss. He shook him, trying to elicit a response, but when the pharaoh looked up at him tears streamed from his eyes.
"I don't know." his voice was barely audible. Seto cried out in anger and heartache and tossed the smaller man to the ground before storming off. In the next moment, Umi saw Seto, stripped of his priestly regalia, his long hair partially obscuring his eyes and face. He threw a bag on the back of a horse, holstered the golden rod that was the only thing of his former life he brought with him and rode off into the dawn.
The light flashed once more and Umi was back in her brother's room with the golden eye staring up at her. She hastily placed it next to the rod, her heart thudding in her chest. The whispers continued in the drawer. Umi looked in only to see three small cardboard rectangles covered in intricate artwork that seemed somehow familiar. Despite the seeming ordinariness of the cards, Umi felt power emanating from them. She picked up the cards and spread them in her hands. The whispers were deafening now as she looked at the images: monsters that looked ready to devour the world if only given the command. One word echoed through her mind as she imagined them brought to life.
"Sister." the voices said. And Umi blacked out.
Yugi found his sister unconscious on the floor of his bedroom with his treasures arrayed around her. He felt a stab of anger at the violation but his anger was quickly replaced by worry for her. She was not moving. The Pharaoh, on the other hand, was livid.
"How dare she!" his voice echoed in Yugi's mind. "She could have damaged something, or lost it. And how will I recover my memories without them? How will we stop the darkness?"
"Hush." Yugi told the Pharaoh in a harsh whisper as he kneeled next to her and went to pick up the cards that lay across her hands. Umi's hand grabbed his wrist in a death grip as her eyes shot open.
"Umi?" He tugged against her grasp. Her eyes glowed white. "Umi, let go!" The cards fell to the floor between them as she released her brother's wrist.
"I need these." she said uncertainly. She looked up at her brother's fear filled face. He watched her for a long moment before reaching for the cards.
"They are mine." Yugi said, confused by her actions.
"No. I need them."
"You don't even play the game." Yugi countered.
"Oh," Umi chuckled menacingly. "This is so much more than a game." Yugi stared at his sister. Her voice sounded strange to him. It looked like Umi and sounded like her a little, but something about the young woman sitting before him made him question if it was indeed his sister. She seemed to wilt then, if only for a moment. And when her eyes opened once more, Yugi knew that whatever had taken hold of her had fled. Her eyes were fixed on the puzzle he wore around his neck. Eventually she looked up and met his eyes.. Yugi saw no trace of the strangeness from before, but he was still shocked by the seriousness in her face.
"I need to speak to him."
"Him?"
"Yes."
Yugi wanted to ask her why, but he could see the determination in her face. He closed his eyes and triggered the pharaoh's appearance. She stared at him unblinking as the golden glow of the puzzle washed over him and he was transformed. The Pharaoh's ancient eyes met Umi's. They too grew wide though they were more curious than fearful. Umi met him with fierce determination.
"I know who you are." She said. He leaned forward in anticipation. "And I know what you've done. You do not deserve him. You did not deserve any of them." Umi's anger erupted in tears on her face.
"I do not know what you are talking about." He said, finally finding his voice.
"Of course you don't. I would hide as much as I could too, if I were you."
His face was a mixture of pain and confusion.
"Since you have buried the past so deeply, I will leave you a hint. Neferet." Umi said, her voice flat, despite the angry tears that still flowed. The Pharaoh looked as he had been punched in the gut. He sat paralyzed as she collected the cards that lay between them and left the room. She collapsed on her bed next door after placing the cards on the top of her dresser. The fever that had plagued her all day hit her once more with a vengeance. Umi pulled her blanket up to her chin as she shivered.
"Umi?" Neferet called. "Why did you not tell him more?"
Umi sneezed again.
"I... I don't know, Neferet. The vision... it wasn't like your memories. It just made me so angry, what he had done to you. And he doesn't even remember it." She sneezed again, several times in a row. "But at least I have them now. Hopefully I can learn to control them." She said as she drifted off to sleep.
Yugi felt his Other Self retreat in contemplation. The spirit had not answered his calls for information, his questions about who or what Neferet was. He put the rod and necklace back in their hiding spot and slid the drawer shut. The drawer seemed empty without the God Cards. Umi had said that she needed them, though Yugi could not imagine why. He poked his head into her room after knocking several times with no answer. The cards were scattered on her dresser and she was bundled up in her bed, asleep. He watched her for a moment, her restlessness worrying him. He tiptoed toward her bed and sat next to her. Heat poured off of her and she shivered in spite of it. Her skin burned to the touch. Yugi rushed from the room to get help for his sister.
She had the flu. At least that was what the doctor had said. Umi sat bundled in blankets in the living room sipping on some soup at Tomoe's insistence. The medication made her feel a little better, but she still felt weak. Neferet had been eager to begin her training, but quickly realized that Umi did not have the strength for anything. And so the God Cards sat, useless, and Neferet grew more restless. Yugi looked on sympathetically at his miserable sister from a distance as he made his way down the stairs. He could not afford to get sick during finals week.
"Yugi, the test results should be available today. Can you see how Umi did on your way home from school?" Solomon asked as Yugi stepped out of the door. He turned back to his grandfather and nodded just as Tea walked up. "Oh, and Yugi!" His grandfather called after him. "Don't forget to pick up the pastries for Tomoe's birthday dinner."
"I won't!" He let the door close behind him as he caught up with Tea. He looked up at her and smiled. She seemed so carefree to him as they walked together. He wondered what she was thinking about, if she ever thought about him. He shook his head trying to clear it. There were too many important things that needed his attention. As they walked, he tried to ask his Other Self once more about the name Umi had given him.
"Neferet." he whispered. Tea turned to him, her eyebrows raised questioningly. He smiled and shook his head. "Something Umi said." He told her. She turned back to the road before them. Yugi chewed his bottom lip feeling that the word was important, though he could not figure out how. The Pharaoh was still quiet on the matter.
"Is everything alright, Yugi?" She asked, noticing how withdrawn he was.
"Huh? Oh yeah. Umi's got the flu though, so it's been kind weird at home. She's not a very good patient." Tea giggled at the description. and Yugi's heart flipped. He once again wondered if she might possibly think of him as more. He sighed, as his train of thought derailed once more. "Tea, can you remind me to check the entrance exam scores this afternoon?" He asked as they walked into the school yard.
That afternoon, Yugi joined the cluster of middle school students eagerly awaiting their test results. For once in his life, he did not feel like the smallest one in the room, but he felt awkward surrounded by the kids. He had been mistaken at least twice as a student before people had noticed his uniform. He sighed, embarrassed at the misunderstanding. When he finally was able to look at the results, they did not surprise him. Sitting right at the top of the list was his sister's name. What was a surprise, however, was the perfect score she received. Yugi felt a twinge of jealousy. His own score had been surprisingly high given the constant bullying he had endured throughout middle school, but he had not even broke the top fifty.
"Of course." he muttered as he backed out of the crowd. He overheard several students mention how unfair it was that some foreigner got a perfect score. He smiled at their shared frustration, and out of pride in his sister as he hurried to his next errand.
The bakery was packed when he got there, but fortunately they were also well stocked. Unfortunately, the crush of people made it difficult to move.
"Excuse me." a familiar voice said as Yugi was jostled forward. Yugi turned to the sound and saw Bakura.
"Hey, Bakura. What are you doing here?" Yugi asked his friend.
"Just picking up some scones. They make the best ones I've had outside of Britain. You?"
"Grandpa asked me to pick up something for Tomoe's birthday."
"That's his girlfriend, right?"
"Yeah."
"How's your sister?"
"At home with the flu."
"Oh that's awful. Tell her I hope she gets better. And that when she does, I'd love to talk to her more about growing up on the dig sites."
"I will." Yugi said as the crowd pushed him forward toward the counter. He ordered some kasutera and hurried back home with the desert and good news.
Seto sat at his computer in his office working like a demon possessed. His feet were tucked underneath him as he drained another cup of coffee. Mokuba had begged him to come home that night, but he had to run damage control after the company stocks had crashed. He had dipped into his personal funds to bankroll the start of several projects, buying up pieces of property throughout the city and the surrounding areas. He had sat through meeting after meeting with designers and architects, with marketers and accountants. They had slowed the hemorrhaging significantly, but it had not stopped just yet. Plans to expand the KaibaLand brand were put on hold as he tried to stitch together the rest of the company. Several other companies had approached him about a buyout. He had refused. He had fought too long and too hard, he had given up too much to give up. He barely noticed when Roland came into the office with a change of clothes and another cup of coffee. It was not until the cup appeared next to his hands that Seto looked up.
"Oh, thanks, Roland." He looked up briefly before turning his eyes back to the screen.
"You should get some sleep, Boss."
"Not until I finish this." Seto blinked. The code on the screen swirled. He blinked again and it steadied. He continued writing. He needed a new product, something that would change the world. It couldn't be just another refinement of the Duel Disk System. It needed to be something new. He looked at the screen. Something did not seem right, but the text was too blurry for him to make it out. "Ugh, maybe you're right, Roland." Seto looked up, but his bodyguard was nowhere to be found. He swallowed a hot mouthful of coffee, oblivious to the burn it was leaving. He pulled a pair of glasses out of his desk drawer and slipped them on, hoping that the characters would clear up. They didn't help. Seto squinted at the screen and then his eyelids slid shut. He was jolted awake as his head lolled forward. He tossed the glasses back in the drawer and stood up from his chair. He stretched and padded his way to the couch that had been his bed this last week or two. He looked at his phone, skimming the international stock markets, but he could not focus on them. He instead looked at the photographic documentation of Umi's life since she had come back to Japan. He lingered on the photo she had taken of them on the plane, a sleepy smile on his face. He closed his eyes, clutching the phone to his chest and tried to remember what it was like to have her next to him.
He slept through the first meeting of the morning, and woke with his mind filled with thoughts of her. Their encounter in the graveyard had put to rest any concerns he had about what she wanted. He rolled over onto his side, pillowing his head on his arm and scrolled through the pictures of her. He missed her. He knew that things were bad and he needed to focus on fixing the problem, but the more he worked on it, the more he missed her. He was still lazing on the couch when Mokuba walked in.
"Where were you?" Mokuba said, as he took a seat across from his brother.
"Sleeping." Seto sat up, his smile fading as the world intruded on his thoughts.
"Well, that's good at least. Except that you missed the meeting with the new investors. I had to wing it. We'll be lucky if they don't try to buy us out, Seto."
Seto looked at the picture on his phone, wondering if maybe it was not such a bad idea, trying to see her.
"I'm taking the rest of the day off, Mokuba." He said, standing and stretching. He needed to see her.
"You can't do this to me, Seto."
"It's already done." He started to walk toward the door before he remembered that he had slept in his close from the night before. He walked back to the change of clothes Roland had brought the night before and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Mokuba called to him through the door.
"Is this about Umi?"
Seto did not want to answer. He needed to see her. It wasn't just a want. He needed her like he needed oxygen to breathe. She kept him centered in a way that nothing else had before. He wanted her too, no doubt. Being near her made his blood boil. But he was not in any rush. He just needed to be near her, to have her lips on his.
"It is, isn't it, Seto?" Mokuba asked through the door.
"Yeah." he admitted. He remembered clearly now the first time they had kissed. It was the first real kiss he had ever had and it was more intimate than any act he had ever experienced before. It held within it far more than sex with any prostitute or groupie. It had only been brief, but it had changed everything. Or it would have had his memories not been fractured.
"Seto, look, I think it is absolutely great that you've found someone. But you really need to think about your priorities, about the company."
He pulled the door open and stepped out. Mokuba backpedaled to get out of his way.
"I am thinking about my priorities, Mokuba. I haven't had a cigarette or a drink since the cemetery. For the first time, I can see a future, Mokuba. And it's with her."
Mokuba threw his hands up in defeat.
"Well, if you're going to do this, whatever it is, best of luck to you, Big Bro."
Seto put his hand on his little brother's shoulder.
"One day you'll understand. I just hope it doesn't take you as much to get the message as it did for me." He smiled at Mokuba before he darted for the door. Mokuba thought that it was one of the most genuine smiles he had ever seen on his brother's face.
"Congratulations, Umi! A perfect score!" Solomon exclaimed as Yugi told everyone the news.
"That is unheard of!" Tomoe said, taking a small bite of her cake.
"Thanks." Umi said shyly from the other side of the room. She still felt sick, but had forced herself to join the celebrations.
"I heard some middle schoolers say how unfair it was that you got to take the test with them and all of the accommodations that you go on it were practically cheating."
"They aren't wrong." Umi said. "Not entirely. I was enrolled in college level math and science back ho... in America. I did have a little bit of an unfair advantage in some subjects."
"You will have schools from all over begging you to attend." her grandfather said, beaming. The buzzer downstairs sounded and Umi felt her pulse quicken. Everyone looked at the stairs as the buzzer sounded once more. Yugi stood to answer the door.
"Kaiba?" Yugi asked as he pulled the door open to admit the visitor.
"Yugi." Seto greeted. He looked at the door behind the counter that he knew must lead to their home. He could feel her somewhere on the other side, drawing him to her. But now that he was here, he was not certain it had been a good idea.
"Kaiba, I said 'what are you doing here'?" Yugi tugged on his sleeve to get his attention.
"Is Umi here?" His eyes drifted back to the door. He knew the answer already.
"Yes, but she had the flu. She's resting."
Seto's face fell.
"Oh." It had taken him hours to work up the nerve after leaving Kaiba Corporation headquarters to actually come to her home. He had been so certain, so sure of himself when he had left Mokuba in charge for the day, but that certainty had fled the minute he stepped foot outside. He had meandered through the city for hours, wondering what to do, what to say. And now that he was here, she could not see him. "Yeah. yeah that's for the best." His eyes darted from spot to spot on the floor.
"Yugi, who is it?" An old man asked from the doorway that separated him from his soul. The old man's eyes narrowed as they fell on the visitor. "You. Get out of my shop."
The words cut through Seto like a knife.
"I'm here to see Umi." he tried to explain.
"Like hell you are. You've done enough to hurt this family. I will not let you do any more. Get. Out." Solomon Muto's voice was tense and dangerous, like the growl of a cornered animal. Seto glared at the old man. He did not want to back down. He wanted to slam his fist into the old man's gut. He wanted to go up there and take her and have her be his forever.
"You should go, Kaiba." Yugi's voice was soft, but sympathetic at his elbow. It drained his fury and when he looked back at the old man, Seto saw him for what he really was: The patriarch trying to protect his family who had already lost too much.
"Yeah." He turned and pulled the door open. The bells jingled cheerily as it shut behind him. Seto started down the street. Yugi's voice behind him stopped him in his tracks.
"Kaiba, wait!" Yugi panted as he covered the distance marked by Seto's long stride. He rubbed his belly where the puzzle had slammed into his diaphragm. Yugi handed him a piece of paper. "She misses you too." He turned and trotted back to the shop.
Seto unfolded the piece of paper and read a number. It was the number to her cell phone. He smiled as he pulled out his own phone and called for a car to pick him up.
Umi was in the stairwell that led to the shop when Yugi came in through the door.
"Who was it?" she asked as his eyes met hers and then looked away quickly. "Grandpa was mighty pissed when he came back upstairs."
Yugi sighed. He had never told her the story of his first duel with Kaiba.
"Come on. You should be in bed." He tried to usher her upstairs.
"First, tell me." she demanded.
"It was Kaiba. He came looking for you."
"And why was Grandpa so angry?"
"Get to bed and I'll tell you, alright?"
Yugi brought a warm cup of herbal tea for both of them up to Umi's room. He sat on the edge of the bed sipping on the cup as Umi pulled her knees to her chest, gripping the cup tightly in her hands.
"You know Kaiba was not always like he is now, right? He used to be much worse." Yugi prefaced the story.
"I have heard, yeah."
"Well, he hurt Grandpa pretty badly a while back." Yugi explained. He sat on the bed sipping tea and telling the story. There were times when he felt like Umi did not believe him, but he knew the truth.
"He has changed, Umi. He's changed a great deal, but Grandpa may never see him as anything but the delinquent who sent him to the hospital."
"I see." Umi sipped her tea as she processed the tale.
"I... I didn't tell you this to try to change your mind about him." Yugi stammerred. "I just wanted you to understand."
"I know."
"Besides, I know that once you set your mind to something it would take a force that could move mountains to make you change it."
Umi laughed and then coughed. She sipped the tea again once the coughing fit subsided.
"But I do have a question."
"What's that?" Umi had the sense that he had several questions.
"What or... who is Neferet?"
"How do you know that name?"
"You told it to Him. To my Other Self."
"Your Other Self? You mean the Pharaoh?"
Yugi nodded.
"Just how much do you know about him?" She asked.
"Not enough, but then he knows so little about himself to begin with, I don't know where I would go to learn more. A woman told us that he was an ancient Pharaoh and that I was his vessel, his reincarnation of sorts, but that's all I really know about his past."
"This woman? What was her name?"
"It was Ishizu. Ishizu Ishtar."
Umi's eyes grew wide at the mention of her former boss. And suddenly, she remembered where she had seen the necklace before.
"Ishizu."
"Did you know her?" Yugi asked as a flicker of recognition crossed Umi's face.
"I worked for her last summer."
"Huh. Small world." Yugi said, though he did not seem convinced that the encounter had been coincidence. "She showed us, or rather him, a tablet that convinced him of what she said." Umi held her finger up to stop him as she pulled out her phone and searched through the pictures she had taken. She showed him a photo taken from a warehouse in Egypt.
"This tablet?" The dumbfounded look on her brother's face told Umi that it was the same piece of stone.
"How did you...?"
"She had me scan a digital version of it and Mom was working with the translation team." Umi explained. "Small world, indeed."
When their eyes met, they knew that it was part of some larger plan that they had learned what they had learned and that they had been where they were, when they were.
"She had an item, one that she could use to see the future and the past." Yugi tried to explain. "I've never seen it in use, but that's what he told me about it."
"I have. She used it on me. She said that I had a role to play, but would not tell me what that role was."
"Do you know what the tablet says?" He asked. Umi shook her head.
"I can only read a few bits and pieces. And not from a photo this small. or with my head pounding as it has been for the last few days."
"So a dead end." he said frustratedly.
"It would seem so."
"And Neferet?" He prompted.
Umi sighed and felt the spirit stirring within. Neferet felt as if she wanted to flee, but she was trapped, tied as she was to Umi's body.
"Tell him if you must." The spirit said fearfully.
"Let me tell you a story, Yugi. I will get to Neferet, but first there is more to all of this than either of us know." She took a deep breath before launching into the tale of Ancient Egypt that had been unfolding within her dreams since childhood. She told him of betrothal and betrayal, of war and love, and of Gods and monsters.
"And the princess who became queen, who was to sit at the right hand of her husband-brother, her name was Neferet. She was to rule with him and serve as guardian of the two kingdoms. She was the honored wife of the Gods, their chosen as well. She could have stopped the darkness that came to devour the lands, but it was not to be. Her husband-brother in a fit of jealous rage, used his power to banish her-not just from the kingdom, but from their realm of existence all together. She disappeared, body and soul, until she was able to break loose five millennia later where she latched on to a newborn baby girl who was destined to have eyes as brilliant green as her own and whose brother would one day be given a puzzle with a dark secret."
"Neferet was his wife. Huh. That explains a lot." Yugi said as his quick mind pieced together the puzzle.
"What do you mean?"
"Well." He blushed. "He has been sort of attracted to you. It's been... weird."
"Oh."
"I'm sorry." Yugi bowed his head in shame. "I've tried to keep him in check. It's been difficult sometimes and I was afraid to fall asleep."
"Sounds like you've been held hostage in your own body." She noted. Yugi wondered how much of that might be true. "So that's why you were so insistent that I sleep in my own bed?
"Yeah. I didn't want to risk him hurting you."
"Thank you." She hugged him, before pressing her forehead against his as they had done when they were children. He laughed infectiously, which made her erupt in a fit of giggles. After a long time they looked in each other's eyes.
"So what do we do now?" He asked, seeing the puzzle before them and feeling the urgency even more acutely.
"I guess we figure out what we're actually supposed to do with all this information." She reached over and picked up the cards she had taken from him. She could feel power pulsing through them.
"No, what's important now is that we try to get some rest." Yugi took the cards from her hand and placed them back on the dresser. "You need sleep and I've got tests tomorrow." Yugi yawned as he took the cups.
"Good night, Umi."
He slipped out of the room as Umi snuggled down into the bed. Her phone was still gripped in her hand as she pulled the blankets up. The small black box vibrated in her hands. Someone had sent her a message. It could not be either Terese or Christa as they exclusively used WhatsApp to contact her, and this was a normal, straightforward text message. She did not recognize the number and had half a mind to delete it without reading it. Her finger hovered over the commands to do so for a brief second before she changed her mind and read the message. It was from Seto. Her heart felt suddenly lighter. He said that he hoped she felt better soon, that he was sorry she was sick. He also asked if she would want to go out on Sunday if she was feeling better. She quickly saved his number and typed up a quick message saying thanks for the well-wishes and that she would love to see him if she was better then. She took a picture of herself, bundled up sick and shared it, hoping that he would see it.
Seto sat in the parked car trying to decide what to do. He looked at the scrap of paper Yugi had given him. After a long period of contemplation, he sent her a message. He wanted to call her, to hear her voice. He wondered if it alone would soothe him as much as her touch. But Yugi had said she was sick. He did not want to disturb her if she was resting. The note was brief, but typing it out was the most nerve-wracking thing he had ever done. So much of what he had done that scared him was done out of a sense of need: he needed to get Mokuba out of the orphanage, he needed to protect him from Gozaburo, he needed to make Gozaburo pay for what he had done to him, he needed to rescue Mokuba from Pegasus and protect the company, he needed to consolidate his power to protect his family.
But everything surrounding Umi had always been because he wanted it. He somehow found acting out of that desire far more terrifying. When he acted out of want, rather than need, he had to admit that he was human after all. Every time he chose to do something because he wanted to, he felt like he was rolling the dice, taking a chance. And he had never been much of a gambler. He was more focused on strategy and skill. Luck had never been his strength, neither had trusting in it.
But he rolled the dice anyway and sent the message. He released an uneasy breath once he hit send and closed his eyes, leaning his head against the car's headrest. The message notification sounded far more quickly than he imagined. A smile crept on his face as he read her response. She said that she would love to see him on Sunday, but she asked if it would be as friends or more like a date.
"I don't want to be friends." he said to himself as he typed in "A date? If you want?"
She sent back a grin emoji with a hope that she is well enough by then.
He also got a notification that she had posted a picture of herself bundled up in her blankets. Objectively, she looked like crap. Her illness had definitely taken a toll on her, but he still thought she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She had captioned it 'when you're stuck in bed and someone asks you out. hoping to feel better soon'. Her lack of capitalization and punctuation make him chuckle. He commented that he hoped she felt better soon before posting his own image. He was making a frustrated and dissatisfied face. He captioned it, 'When your girl is sick but her grandfather low-key hates you.'
She responded via text.
"I'm 'your girl'?"
"Well... if you want to be. I mean... I would like for you to be." he wanted to reply, but his fingers only hovered over the digital keyboard.
"I'll see you on sunday." She replied eventually. "Good night."
He hastily texted a good night back to her. He reviewed the conversation in detail. He wanted to tell her so much more. His eyes fell on the string of numbers at the top of the screen. It was impersonal and sterile. He pressed his lips in a tight line as he saved her number. He had not noticed that he had typed in Kaiba Umi until he had finished. His heart seemed to stop as he looked at the name. He sighed as he erased it and forced himself to enter in her name as it was.
"One day." He muttered to himself as he saved the changes in his phone.
Umi lay in her bed looking up at the ceiling. He had called her 'his girl.' She was both elated and concerned. If she was to be anyone's, she wanted to be his. But after everything, she was not sure she wanted to ever belong to anyone again. Still, she wanted him. She could not deny it.