Set in Season Zero of Yu-Gi-Oh, and Rinne/Ombra is a reincarnated Atem. The reason he's not in the line of succession is due to the fact he's mistaken as "flameless". In reality he has the Flames of Night instead of his original Sky.
"As you can see Ombra-san, we are rather tight on money," said the board member.
Ombra looked at the museum and was already mentally calculating how much money would be required to make it legitimate again. The previous curator, who had died under VERY suspicious circumstances alongside a foreigner, had pretty much strip mined the place and sold damn near anything that had any monetary worth.
The exhibits were a complete joke, the museum now had a rather negative reputation thanks to the police investigation, and don't get him started on the stink the Egyptian government was giving them over the desecration of a mummy.
Needless to say there number of people willing to come and handle the problem were pretty much nonexistent at the moment.
It did not help that the board had to have a professional come in and examine the state of the current exhibits, only to find that the majority of them were either set up incorrectly, fakes, or were stolen goods.
On the plus side, he was being given a near blank slate to work with and as long as he could pull the museum out of the mess it was in, the board would remain more or less hands off.
"I have an idea of how to fix things, but I'll need a few accommodations first."
"We can't afford to pay more than the posted salary," said the board member. He considered himself lucky this foreigner was at least fluent in Japanese and had even answered the job application.
Ombra barely hid a smile.
"It's not about that. I have a younger sister, and I would like a few recommendations for which school to transfer her into," he clarified.
"That can easily be arranged," said the other board member, with open approval.
"Also, are there any real restrictions as to what sort of exhibits I can make?"
"As long as you don't cause a repeat of the bungling fool who caused this mess, you can have any exhibit you like," said the board member flatly. "We can't afford any further scandal, and it has to be family appropriate. This is a public museum after all."
"So if I wanted to have a few exhibits showing games through the ages and how it has evolved, or lesser known parts of history..."
"Acceptable, but you'll have to source the games yourself," said the board member. "Also, because of what that idiot pulled with his last exhibit, we're on thin ice with the Egyptian government, so no mummies or anything culturally significant. We'd be lucky to get an ankh out of them at this point."
"Fair enough. What about living accommodations?" he asked easily.
"I'm afraid you'll have to source that out yourself. You'll have a strict budget to work with, at least until things smooth over again."
The board members relaxed, as Ombra's requests were perfectly reasonable, and he seemed to have an idea of what to do with the museum.
Once he was given a card linked to the account with his budget, Ombra went to work.
At a nearby college...
"You want our students to paint the walls at the museum?" said the professor.
"It's too expensive to hire a professional crew, and I know college students are always looking for a way to make some easy money. Plus if they pair up with those studying history, then it could easily be added to their grades," said Ombra. "I want them to submit a painting that will cover all four walls and fit a set time period. If they do well I'll hire them again to do the other rooms for other projects."
"And what exactly is it you want painted?" asked the history teacher, intrigued.
"I want a proper Egyptian mural, as I plan to do a soft reboot for the museum and hopefully start healing over the damage done by the previous administration. The hieroglyphics have to be historically accurate, and not just a random hodgepodge of symbols they've found. If they want to follow a specific pharaoh or time period, then the painting has to be as accurate as they can make it, so the art students can put it on the walls."
"And what exactly is the exhibit about?" asked the art professor.
"I'm doing a game-themed exhibit. Namely I plan to source actual games played by ancient Egyptians, though the contents will vary depending on which time period the students choose. If it goes well, then I'll do the same for a Greek/Roman exhibit and so on," explained Ombra.
Ombra could see he had the men very intrigued by the idea, and this would be an excellent project for their students. A practical use of the knowledge they had...plus it would look good for them later.
"Do you have any staff in mind?" asked the history professor.
Ombra grinned.
"Who better to help explain the games and time period than the students who helped work? I can't hire them full time, but part-time paid volunteers work just as well."
Cheap work force secured, Ombra went to secure the games he would be putting in the exhibits themselves. He had a credible rumor that there was a game store in town that could source what he needed. It would be a win-win for everyone involved.
Ombra walked in, took one look at the games, and knew he had found the perfect place for what he had in mind.
"Welcome to the Kame Game shop!" said the old man behind the counter. Ombra liked him immediately, and had an odd sense of familiarity with him.
"I'm looking for some special games."
"What sort of games?"
Ombra grinned.
The more he described what he was after, the bigger the smile on the old man's face as he realized what was going on.
"You're going to hold a proper exhibit on games most people have forgotten?" said Solomon. He could already see the potential profits as the exhibit would drum up actual interest in the older style of games.
And as the only source of those games, he was sure to make a decent amount of money from this deal.
As Ombra was cheerfully hammering out the details with Solomon, a young man entered the store. Ombra had to stare at the pendant around his neck.
"Is that the Millennium Puzzle?" he said in disbelief.
Yugi had to stare as well, because Ombra could have passed for his older brother, hair color and all.
"Grandpa, who is this?"
"This is Ombra-sensei. He's the new curator of the museum. He came to ask for my assistance in getting some new exhibits."
"New exhibits?" said Yugi with interest.
"I'm doing an exhibit on games. Specifically a history of games through the ages. With the mess the old curator made of the place, it would take a lot to rebuild lost trust...especially since a good chunk of what he did have in there was either fake, heavily damaged, or stolen," explained Ombra. "And that's before the police finish their investigation to his illegal smuggling ring of rare artifacts and the circumstances behind his death."
Yugi perked up at that. An exhibit on old games sounded like a lot of fun.
With the games secured, Ombra headed back to the museum. He planned to find an apartment once the exhibit was up and running, and was currently living out of his office to save money. He had survived college with instant ramen, and he had no issue during it a bit longer.
~*~~*~*
Hikari was absolutely miserable. She had known for years that her parents only had her because her brother had been rather 'sickly' as a baby, and her father's brilliant idea in the event Rinne needed a transplant. After all, what better source for 'spare parts' than a younger sibling?
Nana had been livid (according to Rinne) when she found out the real reason Iemitsu had been so insistent on having a second child, but the damage was done. The fact she had been born a girl had only made things worse, as Iemitsu was completely disinterested in her and had focused almost solely on her brother.
Rinne had gone almost completely no contact with their parents the second he went overseas for college, and occasionally talked to her whenever she was feeling especially lonely.
So when she got what looked like a random text sent by accident that had a series of images, it took everything she had not to cheer.
Rinne was not like their parents. He had been overjoyed with a little sister, to the point they had their own secret code.
A code he was now using to alert her that he was about to finally take her away from this awful place. It had become even more intolerable when Reborn showed up.
Quietly, she began packing anything she felt like keeping, and went to school like normal. She made no sign of anticipation, because that could alert the demon tutor from hell. If Reborn suspected something, he'd be on his guard and might interfere.
Her so-called friends were none the wiser either, which was perfect.
She deliberately 'misplaced' her phone, when in reality she made sure to dump it into one of the school toilets. It was a cheap thing so it would likely be completely ruined by the time they found it.
As she rounded the corner, heading with Takeshi to visit his dad's sushi shop for an after school snack, it happened.
There was the sound of a motorcycle coming at them at speed. Hayato made a snide remark about people having "no common sense" because it was so close to a school and the area had a restricted speed during school hours. The motorcycle was clearly going well over that, and Hikari had her bag firmly attached to her back.
The bike slowed down slightly at the curve, where the guard rail opened up to let pedestrians walk out into the street to cross the road.
"Hey, watch where you're..." started Hayato, before he registered something.
One, Hikari was no longer between him and Takeshi. Two, she had slid over the back of the bike and had swiftly secured the helmet that had been attached on the side facing traffic. And finally, the bike had some special film over the license plate, making it impossible to read by cameras, not that Hayato had the presence of mind to take a picture of the bike.
Later inspection revealed all the cameras had been hit earlier with some sort of odd paintball that blocked the view. It was easily removed, but every camera that could have seen the bike was taken out.
Takeshi was a bit quicker on the uptake, and ran to see where the bike went. Hayato followed him a few seconds later, but it would do them no good, as the driver threw his hand out and created some sort of weird black portal. Even from afar, Hayato felt an odd chill go down his spine being this close to it.
They drove in before either teen had a chance to stop them, and Hikari was gone. Reborn was there in less than a minute, already pissed for letting his guard down.
"What. Happened."
There was no joking in his tone, as he was furious and now had to track down where his student had gone...willingly, by all accounts. Even more disturbing was that he had no warning, and yet Hikari had clearly known this person was going to be there at that time and had prepared ahead. All under his nose.
He was tripling her training when he got her. She wasn't getting out of being the next boss that easily.
In an undisclosed location...
Hikari hugged the broad back tightly, pure relief on her face. She recognized the familiar scent of her older brother.
She felt an odd sensation, and the sound of the small town shifted to the ocean.
Rinne easily parked the bike and stood just far enough away that it wouldn't tip over. He held out his arms and let his sister latch herself to him, tears of relief flowing down her face.
"What took you so long?" she said, once she was able to compose herself.
"I was trying to get things settled in our new home," said Rinne gently. He rubbed his sister's back in a soothing pattern. "It took a bit longer to get an apartment than I expected."
Hikari pulled away long enough to properly look at her brother.
Rinne had styled his hair to something a bit more stylish, and made it look good. It had always spiked up in a ridiculous fashion, so he had kept it cut short to avoid the headaches. He had golden bangs, with dark red hair that was accented with black highlights.
Where he had originally been rather lanky, he had filled out with actual muscle, a proper tan and a confidence that had people following him instinctively.
He wore well worn, but well loved clothing that hugged his frame and would make any woman drool. His eyes were a crimson that almost looked like rubies in the right light.
All Hikari saw was immeasurable love and a feeling of complete and utter safety.