Adult-FanFiction.org : Yu-Gi-OH

Rending the Veil	By : SangoHuntress1977 Category: Yu-Gi-Oh > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 3154 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: YuGiOh and all characters thereof are the sole property of Kazuki Takahashi and all media rightsholders. I am merely a fan borrowing for fun and entertainment and derive no profit therefrom.

Chapter List
- 8
- 9
- 10
Nichiyobi, Sunday, July 21, 2002
The sun’s light streaming in through the window made Atem’s eyes flicker open. After a week straight of rain and clouds, Ra once again graced the world with his white light. The Pharaoh yawned and stretched out, feeling deliciously rested in mind and body.
Looking to his side, he saw Yugi, curled up tightly against him, still fast asleep under the blanket. A tender smile crossed the Egyptian’s features, ruby eyes softening with love as he brushed a few stray blond bangs from the sleeping man’s brow. Yugi’s face wrinkled, but he remained asleep.
‘Paiå meriu,’ Atem thought. ‘My beloved.’
Peeling back the blanket, Atem rose from the bed. After tucking the blanket around Yugi, Atem approached the window and stood with his palms turned toward Ra’s hot light, allowing it to caress and warm his exposed flesh, eyes closed and head thrown back in ecstasy. The warm tingly feeling enveloped his whole body, galvanizing him, brightening his eyes and awakening his mind fully.
Looking through the window, Atem’s eyes fell on a tall oak tree, branches gently swaying in the light summer breeze. The green leaves stood in such a contrast to the brilliant blue sky that it almost hurt to look at them. Sharp eyes could make out each nodule of bark on the tree’s trunk. Was that a songbird flitting about in the branches, trilling its matutinal cant?
At length, Atem forced himself to pry his eyes away from the outdoors and decided that he must now focus on practical matters, such as clothing. His white shenti lay folded on a shelf. However, he quickly dismissed the thought of donning it.
With a quick glance at the still sleeping Yugi, Atem stole from the room and crossed the hall into Yugi’s room, blissfully unbothered by his current state of undress.
In his partner’s room, Atem opened the closet and noted all the leather goods with cool approval.
‘Looks like my fashion sense rubbed off on him,’ he thought with a wry smile.
However, the summer heat made wearing black leather an unpalatable thought, even for a leather lover like Atem. After picking out a pair of shorts and a tank top which left little to the imagination, the Egyptian made his way to the shower, desperate to wash a week of being bedridden from his body. In the shower, Atem looked over the equipment, reading what he needed in order to operate it.
After getting the water to a comfortable temperature, he turned the sprayer on himself, closing his eyes in ecstasy as each droplet of the hot spray seemed to explode against him individually as it washed over his skin.
‘Ra, how I’ve needed this!’
Atem drenched his spiky hair until it hung over his shoulders. After reading the instructions on the shampoo bottle, he lathered it into his hair, which took five minutes due to the length and volume of it.
After taking care of his hair, Atem soaped himself from neck to toe, the soap’s smooth friction simultaneously rubbing against and soothing his skin. When the hot rinse pelted against his sensitized skin again, he was in knocked into a state of bliss.
‘I must bring Yugi in with me one day,’ he thought as he worked the sprayer lower and lower.
A groan of ecstasy filled the shower room.
After washing, Atem wrung out his hair, toweled off, and donned his purloined clothes.
Feeling refreshed, the Pharaoh returned to the guestroom and retrieved his earrings, armbands, bracelets and rings. Even if he couldn’t wear his shenti, the jewelry was still fair game. Standing before the mirror in Yugi’s room, he clipped his earrings to his lobes and slid his rings, armbands and bracelets back into place. He was about to pull away, when he spied a rubber band on Yugi’s desk.
‘Why not?’ he thought as he picked the rubber band up.
Because his hair was still damp, it was easy for Atem to gather it at the back of his head and fit the band around it, doubling it up for security. The feeling of his hair being pulled back was a strange, but not unpleasant one.
‘I knew I looked good, but not this good,’ Atem thought as he struck different poses before the glass, admiring his new hairstyle mixed with his ancient jewelry. ‘Although, I could use some kohl.’
Quite pleased with his appearance, Atem glanced to his right and saw the gaming PC sitting on Yugi’s desk. He went over to the machine and inspected it.
‘How I would love to play with these new toys,’ he thought with a smile as he ran his fingers over the plastic keyboard and picked up some of the game CD-ROMs to inspect.
Atem looked about the rest of the room until his gaze fell on the wooden butsudan in the corner. Slowly, he approached the small shrine and knelt before it. As he ran his fingers over the wooden surface, he was struck by a wave of sorrow, as though all the grief that Yugi had poured out in front of this shrine were inundating his heart. With a shudder, he backed away from the butsudan.
The Egyptian made his way down the staircase and into the kitchen, eyes darting about as he got his bearings. Off to the left was the side door and the genkan, where the shoes reposed when not in use. Atem went over and looked down at the single pair of shoes that waited, toes toward the door, for someone to step down into them and walk them out into the sunny sky beyond the door.
‘The only way to get to know this new world of mine is to venture out into it,’ Atem thought as he started to lower his foot.
Then he stopped, remembering that newscast he and Yugi had watched about people being caught without ID. Atem beat a quick retreat back up to his room and pocketed his forged ID card. Then, pausing to bestow a kiss on the still sleeping Yugi’s temple, left the room and hastened downstairs once again.
After stepping into Yugi’s shoes, Atem set foot out the door and began his walk. Since it was just his first day out of bed and he didn’t know the geography of the city, beyond a few scant memories from his days in the Puzzle, he decided to just walk around the block.
The sun’s warm rays shone down on Atem’s bronze skin, kissing it with its glad light and warming him, as though to say, “Welcome back to the world, Atem. I’m glad you’ve decided to live again.”
A gentle breeze caressed Atem’s face and ruffled his blond bangs, causing a smile to break upon his swarthy features. The feeling of the sun on his skin made him stop and look up at the the vault of blue sky.
‘Yes. I am back. This world is my home now and I will do something here that I could never do in Kemet: live!’ Atem thought as he started forward again.
As Atem walked briskly, his sharp gaze swept over everything, never staying on anything for more than a fraction of a second, allowing him to build a picture of the block in his memory. The sidewalks were lined with tall maple and oak trees.
As he walked along, several people stopped and stared at him, at which he smirked.
‘I can’t blame them after all. If I were one of them, I’d stare at me too,’ he thought as he strutted magnificently down the sidewalk.
When a car drove by, Atem winced at the engine’s noise and wrinkled his nose at the noxious exhaust, which he felt like he would choke on. Thankfully, the gentle breeze would always dissipate it quickly.
‘Those metal monsters are so foul. A herd of hippos would exude a more pleasant odor!’
As Atem rounded the second corner, a pretty black and white cat sidled up in front of him. Smile crossing his features, Atem stopped walking and squatted down to look at the cat closer. Meowing softly, she approached him, arching her back as his hand found its way to the top of her head, then stroked down her spine, all the way to the tip of her twitching tail.
“Nefer mau,” Atem spoke to her in soft tones as he continued to stroke her slowly and softly.
At length, with a parting ‘meow’, the pretty little cat continued on her journey and a smiling Atem continued on his.
As he walked, Atem’s sensitive ears picked up every susurration of wind through the tree leaves, every flutter of a bird’s wings and trilled song. The voices of children riding bikes and running up and down reached him as though they were merely feet away from him.
Finally, the game shop came back into view. Atem stepped in through the side door, closing and locking it behind him and stepping out of his shoes.
Growl!
The gnawing empty feeling that accompanied that sound told Atem that his stomach desperately wanted to be filled up.
‘That was a good walk. Now, what’s for breakfast?’ he thought to himself as he approached the pantry.
Atem’s countenance fell when all he saw were the bags of Doritos and Mountain Dew bottles.
‘Doritos and Mountain Dew…’ he thought in consternation. ‘Since my Partner’s been eating this detritus for the past few months, it’s no wonder he’s been having nightmares.’
Atem abandoned the pantry and went to the fridge, to find all the takeout Jou had brought by every day for the past week.
‘Somewhat better,’ he thought as he looked around. ‘I know what I need.’
Turning his attention to the cupboard, Atem rifled through it until his fingers felt the cover of what he was looking for and pulled out Grandpa’s recipe book.
‘Ah! Ra bless you, Shimon!’
Atem leafed through the book until he found a recipe that could accommodate the leftovers. Returning to the fridge, he acquired what he would need.
‘I can do this. It’s just another challenge to surmount,’ he thought to himself.
Atem had never cooked in his life, having been waited on hand and foot as a Pharaoh, but he could read and follow instructions. It really wasn’t any different than learning the skill set of a new game, then memorizing and following it until it was second nature. Soon enough, the entire kitchen filled with a delicious aroma as Atem cooked his first ever dish.
Yugi floated up from heavy contentment toward wakefulness, memories of last night’s encounter with Atem as vivid as though they had just happened moments ago. Opening his eyes, Yugi rolled over to greet the Egyptian… only to find an empty spot on the bed next to him. He touched the spot, finding it quite cool. Heart thundering from the panic that was setting in, Yugi sat up and darted his eyes about the room, of which he was the only occupant.
‘Where is he?!’ he thought as the panic grew unbearable.
Pausing only to throw his PJs back on, Yugi went tearing downstairs, desperate to find Atem. So focused was he on running that he neglected to watch where he was going and pitched forward about halfway down the staircase.
Everything seemed to happen at once. Yugi tumbled through space, expecting to crack his skull on the hard tile floor at the bottom. Imagine his surprise when he hit a solid, warm body instead.
“That’s certainly the most unique way of descending a staircase I’ve ever seen,” Atem’s deep voice rumbled. “Are you thinking of trying out for Idiot Zone?”
Still reeling from his almost brush with the floor, Yugi pulled back a bit and looked his savior over. He beheld one Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh, clad in his shorts and tank top and adorned all over with golden jewelry, staring at him with a mixture of amusement and concern dancing in his ruby irises. Yugi found himself mute and immobile, only able to stare stupidly up into the Pharaoh’s face.
At Yugi’s silence, Atem frowned and cocked his head.
‘Say something to him, idiot!’ Yugi’s brain screamed at him.
“Um, are you sure you should be up?” he faltered forth. ‘Brilliant…’
“Quite sure,” Atem answered with a small smile as he stood Yugi on his feet. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah. Sorry for being so clumsy,” Yugi murmured.
“Ha ha! You’re far from the clumsiest I’ve seen. Seth was always tripping over his robes,” chuckled Atem as he pulled back from Yugi and returned to the stove. “Would you mind setting the table?”
Yugi made short work of setting the table with plates, bowls and chopsticks. He then sat down and waited, mouth watering the whole time.
Soon, breakfast was finished and Atem brought everything over and served two equal portions on their plates before returning the pot and sitting down at his place.
“I didn’t know you knew how to cook,” Yugi ventured.
“Oh, I don’t. This is my first time, so I make no promises,” Atem warned as he sat down.
The tricolors exchanged a smile as they folded their hands before themselves.
“Thanks for the food!”
Yugi dug his chopsticks in and took a bite. The taste was more than passable and he went in for the kill, shoveling everything into his mouth. He felt a pair of expectant crimsons on him as he ate.
“It’s good,” he said around a mouthful.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Atem returned truthfully, only now trying some of the food.
“I noticed you let me taste it first,” commented Yugi with a smirk.
“A king never eats without letting someone test his food first,” Atem responded with a wry smile.
“Your food is safe to eat, Oh My Pharaoh!” Yugi announced.
The tricolors snickered at each other, grasping each other’s hands for just a second.
As the meal proceeded in silence from that point, Yugi sent surreptitious gazes in Atem’s direction. On only his first day out of bed, the Pharaoh had figured out how to use the stove well enough to make a more than passable breakfast. Yes, there was a lot to discover about this version of his Other.
“The food was great,” the tricolors declared as they set their chopsticks down and stood up in unison.
Since Atem had made breakfast, Yugi insisted on washing the dishes, to which Atem gratefully acceded.
After the dishes…
“Now that you have your own body, I can take you to all the places I wanted to before and show you them!” exclaimed Yugi.
Atem glanced at the beautiful vault of blue sky outside the window. After a week of rain, he and Yugi both ached to get out into the sunshine.
“I’m game. Where to first?” he asked.
Yugi thought a moment. Of course he wanted to take Atem to all the places Jou had suggested, but decided to wait a bit on that, not wanting to overwhelm his poor Other on only his first day out of bed.
“We could go to the park,” he suggested at length. “Not the most exciting place, but it’s pretty.”
“Lead the way then,” said Atem.
“OK, but first you need a wallet for your ID card,” said Yugi, looking around a bit, until he remembered something. “Wait here!”
Yugi ran up to his room, opened up his desk drawer and found his quarry: the old leather chain wallet that had served him faithfully in junior high and high school. Wallet in hand, Yugi all but ran back down the stairs.
“Remember this?” he asked, holding up the wallet for Atem.
“Oh! I loved this wallet!” exclaimed Atem, eyes lighting at the sight of the black leather and silver chain.
“You can have it if you like. I bought myself a new one a while ago,” said Yugi, holding the wallet out for Atem. “Or you can just use it until you get a new one.”
“No, this will do nicely,” smiled Atem as he took the wallet from Yugi’s hands and began stuffing his ID cards into its recesses. “Thank you!”
“OK, I have some old shoes that should fit you. Lemme get them,” said Yugi.
After ensuring that the shoes were a comfortable fit for Atem, the tricolors set foot outdoors for their first jaunt abroad as a couple, Atem slipping his hand over Yugi’s and squeezing.
Startled by the open affection, Yugi looked down at the bronze fingers interlaced with his own pale ones. For a moment, he almost pulled back, since displays of affection were typically frowned upon. But the weird thing was, Yugi really felt no real inclination to do so. After all, he and Atem had shared a body once, so what was the problem if they held hands? If other people didn’t understand, that was on them. So, hand in hand, the young couple walked toward the park, receiving only a few cursory glances, which were easily ignored.
At last, the gray concrete of the sidewalk was replaced by green grass and iron street lamps by the bark of trees.
An intake of breath told Yugi that Atem was aware of their arrival. The look of rapture in his normally severe face made Yugi smile.
Domino Park
Although the beautiful flowers from April were long gone, the park was in a state of deep verdure, with lush grass to be walked and lain upon and trees with large leaves which swayed in the breeze, perfect for basking under to get out of the sun’s oppressive heat.
As always, the park was full of people of all ages and dogs, coming and going, going and coming. Around the park a paved walkway coiled with some people jogging on it while others walked at a more sedate pace.
“By Osiris,” said Atem as he looked around.
“Whutcha wanna look at first?” asked Yugi.
Atem looked around until he spied the blue pond.
“That!” he said, pointing to the body of water.
The tricolors went over to the pond and Yugi sat down so Atem could look at the water more closely. The Egyptian strode up the shore, knelt down and plunged his hands into the cool water, brought them up and splashed the water onto his face. The wetness and coldness of the water hit Atem full on in the face as though a tidal wave had broken upon him. He turned to Yugi with long golden bangs plastered to his face and such large eyes, that Yugi couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the sight.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
“Oh, I’m that funny, am I?” Atem growled playfully, lunging at Yugi.
Fortunately for Yugi, he was far enough away to see when Atem made his move and jumped to his feet. The tricolors raced about the trees, laughing like a pair of schoolboys as Atem chased Yugi down. Yugi kept ahead for a good bit, but was finally outpaced as Atem caught up to him and wrapped his arms around his body.
Yugi squirmed about in Atem’s arms in a half-hearted attempt to break free, but only succeeded in sending them both to the ground in a heap of limbs and tricolor hair. Both boys rolled across the grass, wrestling each other and laughing, completely oblivious to the curious stares of onlookers. Yugi’s fingers found purchase on Atem’s ribs and soon he had the poor Pharaoh squirming on the ground, tears spilling from ruby irises as Yugi took sweet revenge on him.
“Ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!!” Atem guffawed.
Before Yugi knew what was happening, Atem’s fingers were on his ribs as the Pharaoh quickly retaliated. The two boys rolled over and over each other, neither one willing to yield to the other’s tickle attack.
Enjoying himself, but wanting to end the wrestling match, Atem leaned forward and captured Yugi’s lips in his, pushing his tongue between the younger man’s lips and wrestling his to the bottom of his mouth, kissing the very breath from Yugi’s body.
Gasping for air, the boys flopped happily over on their backs.
Atem turned his head and smiled at the younger man lying next to him. Yugi was so much fun to be around and Atem felt blessed by the gods for being allowed this second chance with his Partner.
Closing his eyes, Atem allowed himself to fall into a doze, lulled by the warm sun on his face and the slightly cooler wind blowing against his skin. Gradually, all the sounds around him became just a wash of white noise in the background, pushing him further and further into slumber’s embrace.
A while later, Yugi poked up his head and saw Atem’s eyes closed and jaw slackened, indicating that he was in a doze.
‘Hope I didn’t tire you out too much,’ he thought as he combed his fingers through Atem’s red fringe.
Turning his head, he looked over and saw a pavilion, full of machines stocked with bottles of all different kinds of pop. The heat of the day, plus their earlier workout, had indeed left Yugi’s mouth a bit on the dry side.
‘If I’m thirsty, I bet Atem is too,’ he thought to himself. ‘I think I’ll surprise him.’
Standing up, Yugi pulled out his wallet and counted out his change; more than enough for two cans of something sweet and cold. With a smile down at his sleeping Pharaoh, Yugi ran over to the pavilion to look for something for them to drink.
The pavilion was crowded by kids and teens patronizing a bewildering choice of vending machines, featuring pop, juice, iced tea and even coffee! Yugi quickly fell into walking slowly about the pavilion, looking for something good for both of them. Would Atem want a Coke? Maybe Ramune? Iced coffee, possibly?
Atem floated lazily up through the thin veneer of his doze. Crimson eyes opened and looked skyward, into that deep blue vault that is the midsummer sky. Smiling in contentment, he glanced over to his left… only to hit empty grass where Yugi should have been.
“Partner?!” the Pharaoh asked, sitting up and looking all about.
No sign of Yugi.
Atem scrambled to his feet and looked wildly about, heart already beginning to speed up in his chest. Where was Yugi? He had been right there next to him! Surely, if someone had come along to hurt him, Atem would have heard it and awakened instantly. He had heard nothing out of the ordinary the entire time he had been in a doze.
‘Alright, Atem. Don’t panic. He probably just went to the bathroom,’ Atem thought to himself.
Accordingly, he made his way over to the building with the bathrooms in it and entered the men’s room. There were a few other men in there, doing their business. They took no notice of him as he looked about. That is, until he approached the stalls and peeked under the doors.
“Yugi?”
“Hey! Git outta here, ya little punk!”
“Pervert!”
“Queer!”
Atem hastened from the dark, cramped bathroom out into the wide, bright park. Too bright! Why were there so many people? The zooming of cars from the nearby streets, the shouts of children the barking of dogs. Everything was so loud! Atem’s gaze darted wildly about the tilting world for any sign of his violet eyed friend.
He ventured over by the playgrounds, keeping a sharp eye out for spiky black hair with purple fringes. Nothing there but a bunch of little kids, running about and screaming, while their mothers did everything they could to ignore them. With their shrill screams assaulting his ears and all the bright colors coalescing around him like vultures circling a corpse, Atem hastened from the playground area.
Taking deep breaths, Atem forced himself to go forward until he found himself on the paved trail which wound around the park’s perimeter. As he walked unsteadily along it, the trail seemed to stretch out before him into eternity. The other people walking on it fell into shadow until they were nothing more than faceless silhouettes. The entire world began to melt about him, colors and shapes bleeding into one another, undulating and whirling about him until he felt like he was going to fall over and disgorge the contents of his stomach.
Jerking himself off this eternal path of darkness, Atem fled back toward the pond even as the entire world reeled about him, sideways and upside down at the same time. Finally, Atem spied the pond with its sparkling blue water up ahead of him. Surely, Yugi would be here, at this safe haven away from the spinning chaos the rest of the world had degenerated into.
Upon seeing that Yugi wasn’t here either, Atem’s heart plummeted in his chest. The sparkling diamonds of the water grew brighter and brighter as the land began to spin again, until Atem found himself surrounded by white streaks swirling around him, faster and faster. As tears of despair welled in his eyes and his legs began to buckle under his weight, he grabbed his head in both hands.
“Atem?” the voice came from behind him.
Startled, Atem whirled about, barely able to keep himself from keeling over. At the sight of his missing Partner’s large violet eyes and worried face, the land stopped whirling around him, the sounds quieted down to their normal volume and everything straightened into proper focus and shape.
The next second, Atem was right before Yugi, gripping the younger man’s shoulders.
“Yugi, where were you?” Atem asked, a hitch in his voice.
Yugi’s Other was up in his face and gripping his shoulders so quickly, that Yugi hadn’t even time to react as the cans dropped from his hands and rolled in the soft grass. His blood ran cold at the look of panic on Atem’s features. Never would he have believed that his strong, steadfast Pharaoh could fall to pieces so easily.
“I… I got us some pop,” Yugi explained, pointing down to the two cans, one of lemon and the other of lime.
“Where. Were. You?” Atem repeated, voice rising in agitation.
“I was over in the pavilion with all the vending machines,” Yugi explained softly, pointing at the pavilion. “I didn’t say anything because I didn’t wanna wake you up. I thought I’d just be gone minute, but it took so long to pick what I wanted.”
Yugi looked up into the Pharaoh’s panic stricken countenance and wild eyes and mentally kicked himself.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized, lowering his gaze.
“Please, please, never do that again,” Atem roughened, closing his eyes and touching his forehead to Yugi’s.
“Never again. I promise,” said Yugi, reaching up and gripping Atem’s shoulders.
The two boys stood thus, hands on each other’s shoulders and gazes locked. Yugi watched as Atem’s agitation gradually ebbed away, gaze softening to something more akin to its normal calm darkness. Only then did he release the Pharaoh’s shoulders and remember the reason for his disappearance in the first place.
“You thirsty?”
“Hm? Oh…” Atem pulled back as well with a small sniffle, finally noticing the pop cans lying on the grass by their feet. “Yes, quite. Thank you, meriu.”
“I don’t know which you want, lemon or lime. Taste them both and pick what you like,” said Yugi, picking up the cans and holding them out.
Atem took both cans and tried each one.
“The lemon,” he decided, handing the lime back to Yugi.
The tricolors sat down at the edge of the pond and slowly drank their citrus pop.
As they walked home, hand in hand, Yugi puzzled over Atem’s near meltdown to his absence. The sight of his normally unflappable Pharaoh near tears made his heart feel heavy, as he never wanted to be a source of distress for his Other.
“Hey, Atem,” he ventured, violet eyes shifting over to the man next to him.
“Yes?” replied Atem, returning Yugi’s gaze.
“W-why did my being gone upset you so much?” Yugi asked carefully.
“Because I couldn’t. see. you,” Atem answered solemnly, squeezing Yugi’s hand.
“Oh, OK, I get that. But you know, we can’t always be together 24/7,” Yugi said.
“Why?” asked Atem, as if he had never considered anything other than being together all the time.
“Well, I mean, what if one of us had an errand to run during the week? We can’t just close up the shop every time one of us has to go out. One of us would have to stay at the shop while the other went and did his errand,” explained Yugi.
Atem looked forward, jaw squared in thought.
“Hmmmm. I never considered that. You’re right, of course. But, please, if you must go off by yourself, tell me,” he responded, squeezing Yugi’s hand again and looking at Yugi with eyes so full of love and worry that Yugi’s heart felt warm and heavy in his chest.
“I will. I promise,” said Yugi, squeezing back.
“Thank you, meriu,” replied Atem, smiling at his Partner. “And of course, I’ll do the same for you.”
“I know, āa mertu,” said Yugi, smiling back.
As the white sun arced its course through the azure firmament, the Pharaoh and his Partner walked home in contented silence, hand in hand.
That evening…
Atem and Yugi sat together on the couch, enjoying the quiet after having just shut off the large TV.
“It’s wonderful to be back,” Atem said at length, eyes shining like twin sunsets as he wrapped his arms around Yugi’s shoulders. “I can’t wait to meet the others as myself for the first time.”
At this, Yugi frowned and looked away.
Worry creeped into Atem’s heart and he lowered his hands along Yugi’s arms until they were holding the younger man’s hands.
“Do you think they’ll reject me?” he asked anxiously, for he loved Yugi’s friends as much as Yugi did.
“No, no!” said Yugi, quickly turning his gaze back to Atem to reassure him. “It’s just that, well, things have changed a lot the past two years.”
“You mean aside from Jou working for Kaiba?” Atem asked sardonically.
“Yeah,” said Yugi as he took a deep breath and began at the beginning. “After we graduated high school last year, Anzu went to New York to study dance.”
“Ah, good,” said Atem with a warm smile as he recalled watching Anzu in her element at the Spider during their “date.”
“Yeah, I guess…” said Yugi, looking dismally down at their interlaced hands.
“You don’t approve?” Atem inquired.
“It’s not that. It’s just, I miss her. We’ve been emailing, but it’s not the same!” complained Yugi.
“No, it isn’t. But it’s better than not being able to talk at all,” Atem said with a smile as he gave Yugi’s hands a squeeze.
Yugi snorted.
“That’s what Grandpa said, word for word.”
“Then take it as sound advice,” admonished Atem, lips quirking in a smile.
“Pfft!” was Yugi’s response to Atem’s advice. “Anyway, Honda and Shizuka went to Hokkaido.”
“With Honda still in one piece?” chuckled Atem.
“It was a close call, but he won Jou’s approval,” explained Yugi.
“Oh, how I would have loved to witness that exchange,” said Atem with a wry smile.
“Yeah,” returned Yugi with a small smile. “Anyway, Otogi’s still running the Black Crown and Bakura’s working at the museum and studying archeology at Domino University.”
“Hmph! Once a tomb robber, always a tomb robber, I suppose,” Atem growled, a spiteful frown marring his handsome features.
“Bakura’s not like that! He’ll be respectful!” protested Yugi, fixing Atem with a direct gaze as he stood up for his friend.
“Breaking into someone’s eternal resting place is never respectful, Yugi,” the Pharaoh admonished, meeting Yugi’s direct gaze with his own solemn one.
“Well, if Grandpa hadn’t broken into your tomb, I’d never have assembled the Millennium Puzzle,” pointed out Yugi.
The Pharaoh opened his mouth to reply, then promptly closed it.
“Point… taken,” he said quietly at length.
Yugi couldn’t help but smile impishly.
“I… noticed you have a computer now,” Atem said by way of changing the subject.
“Yeah. Grandpa got it for my birthday last year,” Yugi answered, face lighting at the thought of his beloved gaming rig. “I have to upgrade the memory pretty soon.”
“Might I try it some time?” Atem asked, gazing at Yugi.
Yugi’s face lit at the prospect of teaching Atem the art of PC gaming.
“Yeah! Let’s do it right now! There are so many cool games!” he cried, jumping up and grabbing Atem by the hand.
A chuckling Atem allowed Yugi to lead him upstairs to Yugi’s room.
“Do you want me to show you what to do, or do you just wanna try it yourself?” Yugi asked.
“Let me try it. I learn better by doing things than having them shown me,” answered Atem.
Yugi sat down on the bed while Atem awakened the PC. He began by double clicking on the UT icon. Atem watched the game’s loading screen, then flinched when the music started to play, quickly muting it in the game’s settings, much to Yugi’s disappointment.
“This game rocks,” said Yugi. “The object’s beautifully simple: you kill people before they can kill you. Jou got me into it.”
“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Atem snorted in amusement.
He clicked on deathmatch and watched as a list of different maps was loaded and scrolled the menu until he hit DM-Osiris and clicked it. The map loaded and showed a beautiful, but quite desolate Egyptian tomb with several statues of the jackal head god, Anubis.
Atem clicked the mouse button and the game counted down to start. When it started, there was an explosion of activity as the players spawned and went for weapons. Atem was in action instantly, picking up the Shock Rifle and shooting shock globes toward a bot that came at him with a minigun, then setting off the shock combo by shooting the beam at them.
As he watched his Other master this game so easily, Yugi saw the old arrogant and aggressive aspect of him from their dueling days gradually emerge.
“Take that, bastard!” Atem barked, a feral grin crossing his features.
‘So you are still in there, Other Me,’ Yugi thought with a small smile.
Atem leaned forward, eyes riveted on the screen as he got deeper into the game. Fingers flying across the keyboard, he moved swiftly and efficiently to shut down anything that challenged him with glittering crimson orbs and shouts of invectives from his clenched jaw.
“I don’t think so!” Atem barked, grinning from ear to ear.
Yugi watched as Atem continued to play, fragging and being fragged in turn. To say that he was astounded by how well Atem was doing with his first time playing would be an understatement. At the end of the last map, the Pharaoh pressed the keys to make his player do the victory dance.
“Wow! You’re so awesome!” said Yugi. “I got my ass handed to me for a whole hour before I got my first frag. How can you be so good your first time playing?“
Atem turned to Yugi with a warm smile and caressed the younger man’s cheek, stroking it with his thumb.
"I had an excellent teacher,” he answered warmly.
“Huh? But I never…”
Yugi’s protest was cut off as Atem leaned into him, capturing his lips in a brief kiss, before resting his forehead against Yugi’s, eyes boring into the younger man’s as his lips quirked up in a warm smile.
“Why don’t we download some MP3s now?” Yugi suggested suddenly.
With a nod, Atem shut down the game and promptly fired up KaZaa.
“Hey, how’d you know what to do?” Yugi asked.
Pointedly ignoring Yugi’s question, Atem typed in a band’s name and hit Enter. Within seconds, thousands of hits showed up on the screen.
He stole a glance at Yugi.
“Is this legal?”
“Strictly speaking, no. But everybody does it,” said Yugi with an innocent smile.
“Ha ha!” laughed Atem as he clicked on a song for download.
Yugi and Atem spent the next hour downloading and listening to songs from different bands.
“Thank you, Partner! I really enjoyed myself!” Atem said at length, gazing over at Yugi with mirthful irises as he exited KaZaa and broke the connection.
“Any time, pal. Go ahead and use it whenever you want, unless I’m on it of course,” said Yugi.
“Hn!” nodded Atem, swivelling around in the chair.
Just then, his gaze was drawn to the butsudan, causing the smile to fade from his features as he remembered the wave of sorrow that had broken over him earlier. Slowly, he rose from the chair, approached the small, wooden shrine and knelt before it.
“Yugi… may I?” he inquired at length, to which Yugi nodded.
Atem pulled the doors open, his eyes falling on the memorial tablet with his name inscribed on it.
Yugi felt tears pricking at his eyes again and blinked rapidly as he fingered the cartouche around his neck. He saw Atem’s gaze turn to him, as if the Other had sensed his rush of emotion. Yugi approached his Pharaoh and, slipping the cartouche from around his own neck, put it around Atem’s neck, fastening it in the back.
Atem’s hands grasped Yugi’s arms, sliding down them until their hands met. Holding Yugi’s hands in his own, the Pharaoh gave a gentle squeeze and smiled at his Partner.
“Why don’t we dismantle this shrine to the dead together and get on with the business of living?” he suggested in a low voice.
Yugi nodded as a small smile lit his eyes.
Moving carefully and respectfully, Yugi and Atem began pulling everything out of the butsudan and then carried it from the room when it was empty.
That night…
“Wanna take your shower first?” Yugi asked as he gathered his PJs.
“No. You go ahead. May I ‘surf the Web’ while I wait?” asked Atem hopefully.
“Sure,” said Yugi as he headed for the door.
While Yugi showered, Atem had a fine time exploring the Web. He looked up stuff on Ancient Egypt and other ancient civilizations and was both amused and appalled by what he read.
‘What are some of these so called historians on?’ he thought disdainfully.
Just then, Yugi came back, now clad in blue PJs. Atem noted that Yugi had only been gone for 15 minutes instead of the hour he had always taken in the old days. Had he skipped the bath?
“Your turn,” he said. “Don’t worry. There’s plenty of hot water left. Don’t forget to drain the bath when you’re done.”
“Mm!” was Atem’s response as he collected one of Grandpa’s too-large robes that Yugi had laid out for his use.
After showering, Atem uncovered the deep bathtub and stuck his toes into the water and flinched. It was hot!
‘Honda wasn’t joking when he said the Japanese like their baths hot,’ he thought, remembering snatches of idle conversation he had picked up while residing in the Puzzle.
Moving slowly, he put his foot into the water, then gradually lowered himself in, allowing his skin to adjust to the heat. Once he was in, Atem closed his eyes and tilted his head back, breathing in the warm moisture. The heat and moisture fogged his mind and loosened his muscles, relaxing him from head to toe.
‘By Ra, I wish we had had such luxuries in Kemet,’ he thought idly.
As he sat, Atem allowed his thoughts to wander and his senses to listen to everything around him. He heard the sounds of Yugi clicking and typing on his computer for a while. Soon, the typing stopped and Atem heard footsteps exiting the room and walking the length of the hall to open the door next to the bathroom’s.
‘Grandpa’s room,’ Atem’s foggy mind lazily supplied.
After a few more minutes, Atem decided that he was waterlogged enough and pulled the cork to drain the tub before rising and finding his towel. After toweling himself off, Atem donned the robe and went to find his Partner.
Yugi knelt before Grandpa’s butsudan and opened its wooden doors. He struck the singing bowl, sending a chime to heaven, then folded his hands and closed his eyes. He stayed this way for a long time, as this was the first time in days he had been able to perform this oblation and felt he owed it to Grandpa to apologize for his extended absence.
‘Grandpa, sorry for being away so long. Everything’s been crazy the past few days. Atem’s back! I don’t know how it happened, but he’s here, in this house, as alive as me! Everything’s gonna take some getting used to, but I’m so glad he’s here. I hope you’re happy in the afterlife. I miss you…’
With a sigh, Yugi closed the wooden doors again. No matter if Atem said that his wish for Atem’s return hadn’t caused it, Yugi refused to wish for his grandfather’s return. He would not be selfish a second time.
Unseen by the young tricolor, an ancient Pharaoh stood in the doorway, keeping a silent vigil over him.
- 8
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- 10
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Rending the Veil