Fan Fiction / Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Fourth God ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

The Fourth "God"

A Yu-Gi-Oh!/X-Men: Evolution crossover fic.

Written by Rogue Moon

"They are outcasts. They are mutants. Every day, they put their lives on the line to protect a world that fears and hates them. They are the X-Men.."

*****

Chapter Two

Logan, aka Wolverine of the X-men, easily dodged the fist coming at him from the left, "Is that all you got, kid? I could see that coming from a mile away."

Scott Summers threw a kick to Logan's stomach, but that too was dodged. Instead of replying to his teachers taunts, the 'boy-scout' of the group feinted with another left and then threw a right cross, barely grazing Logan's chin.

Logan grinned and swept Scott's feet out from under him. The boy landed with an 'oof' and stayed down, panting hard , "I give."

"Good. We're done anyway. I have to get cleaned up and go meet that exchange student at the bus station."

"Has it been 12 hours already? Geez, time flies when Kitty's not around to stretch it out with her mouth."

Logan chuckled and rubbed his neck with a towel. He knew Scott was only making fun to keep from missing Kitty too much. That was part of why he had volunteered to spar with Logan. He wanted to keep his mind off the fact that Kitty would be gone for the next two months, with only written letters and occasional phone calls to keep in contact. The kids were all very close to each other and were more of a family than just a group of friends.

The Canadian tossed a second towel to Scott, who caught it with his head, having not seen it coming. He was lying on the floor after all, "Get up and clean up. Remind the rest of our mourning students that the kid from Japan will be here in a little more than an hour, will ya? Charlie said you all had to greet him at the door. Make the poor unfortunate soul feel welcome and all that."

Scott groaned and rolled himself up, then slowly, ever so slowly, forced himself into the locker room for a nice hot shower.

Logan hadn't worked up a sweat while sparring with Scott, the kid hadn't been using his force blasts so the Canadian hadn't needed to use much effort. This being the case, Logan simply went up to his room and switched into clean clothes. He did a quick check of his pockets for all the essentials- keys, wallet, cigars- and headed down to the garage. Pausing for a moment at the entrance, he decided to take the jeep. The weather was nice and the exchange student would probably feel more comfortable in the open air than in a more conventional car.

*****

Yugi Motou ran as fast as he possibly could to the airports baggage claim. The flight had been long and he hadn't been able to sleep. Not that he hadn't wanted to, but there was something about a plane that wouldn't let him. Yami on the other hand…

//Is it that big of a deal?//

/I couldn't get to sleep! I was bored! And you wouldn't wake up!/

//…//

/Not that it matters right now… Anyway, you're faster. Can you take over and get us to the baggage claim? I want to make sure no one steals our bags…/

In response, Yami simply took over. Even though it was the same body, Yami could some how make it perform at its peek. Something Yugi couldn't do no matter how hard he tried. And he did try. He had become far more athletically active since 'meeting' Yami.

The darker-half ducked them out of the way of a hurrying businessman and then slid them under and between a pair of legs belonging to a woman with an extremely short skirt. A loud 'Eek!' echoed through the Airport, followed by many, many words in the woman's extensive vocabulary. Yami and Yugi were both grinning hugely. It's not everyday a guy sees a girl that wears a hot pink thong and obviously gets a bikini wax on a regular basis.

/We'll have to tell Katsuya and Hiroto about all the …'sights' we've seen./

//Think Jou will loan us that 'sight-seeing' video he was taunting us about if we do?//

/I hope so! He said it was uncensored…/

///Score!/// Both halves shouted to each other. A 16-year-old boy is, after all, a 16-year-old boy, no matter how old his soul.

Yami came to a skidding halt in front of the baggage claim. Only three bags were on it, none of them belonged to the small boy. Yugi had only packed two suitcases along with his carry on bag. The suitcases had been a gift from Grandpa for being a good enough student to be picked for the program. Katsuya and his other friends had all given him small going away presents at the airport. Well, most of the presents had been small. And since everything Yugi had packed only took up one and a half of his suitcases, he had put most of the presents in the last half. He really didn't want to lose the gifts his friends had given him. And they had even made him promise not to open them until he got to his host's home; he was dying to know what the gifts were.

//There they are!// Yami warned his lighter half just before he lunged forward and snatched their bags from the belt. The small boy then trudged to the nearest terminal map and let Yugi take over once more. Yugi searched one side of the map while Yami, in spirit form so no one could see him, searched the other half. Yugi was the first to spot the bus terminal they wanted, "Here we are. The bus we want stops at Terminal B. Our ticket will take us all the way to Salem Center. The info packet the school sent says that the ride will take about a half hour. Someone should be there to pick us up when we arrive to take us just a bit further north to a town called Bayville."

//Where are we staying, again?//

"Let me check… Some place called the Xaviieru Institotou. Apparently it's a live-in secondary school. Kids stay there and take classes they offer along with going to the local high school," Yugi answered aloud and picked up his bags. It didn't matter if anyone heard him; he was speaking in Japanese. And even if anyone could understand him, they'd probably just think he was repeating instructions to himself.

//The person we're 'exchanging' with comes from this place?//

"Apparently. I wonder what it will be like? We'll probably have to wear uniforms there, too." The last sentence was filled with a bit of regret. Yugi had been hoping that he could wear his own clothes to school, just like he saw people doing in the American movies.

*****

Scott finished his shower with a long, loud moan of regret. How he would love to stay under the hot water's pounding spray. But such was not to be if he was going to get the rest of the Institutes inhabitants ready to meet the exchange student. None of them had even learned the guys name, or if it was a guy. When asked, the Professor smiled and said that it wasn't important at the moment and would then send the querent off on some errand. For almost two months, Professor Xavier, Logan and even Ororo had kept the secret of the student's identity. And not knowing was driving most of them crazy.

Scott finished drying off and headed upstairs, clad in only a pair of dark gray, drawstring sweat pants. The first person he saw was Rogue, who was blushing about something as she came off the elevator.

"Better make whatever you're doing down here go fast," Scott said, going past her. "We're meeting the exchange student at the front hall in about twenty minutes."

"R-right. Twenty minutes. Sure thing," Rogue smiled, trying to make her blush go away. Seeing Scott without his shirt on had been an unexpected and pleasant surprise. She had been crushing on the boy since their first joint assignment in English class. The way he had read Shakespeare's words to her made butterflies fly around in her stomach. Scott smiled back as the door closed on him. As soon as the doors shut completely, Rogue spun around, letting a wave of giddiness take over. Something she would never do in public.

When the elevator let him off, Scott headed up to Jean's room. He knocked twice on her door, paused, then knocked twice again.

"Come in Scott!" the redhead's voice filtered through the wood.

Scott opened the door and glanced around. Spotting the girl he thought was an angel come down from Heaven at her desk, he entered fully and walked over. "What you working on?"

"Just some calculus. What do you need?"

"I'm supposed to tell everyone to meet in the Entrance Hall to meet the exchange student in about 15 minutes. I was wondering if you'd do a quick call for me?"

"Sure. I could use a break from all these numbers. Give me a second," Jean replied, closing her book and then her eyes in concentration. "There. Done. Everyone on the estate knows. Now go get dressed. We don't want the kid thinking we're all a bunch of pigs or something, do we? And thanks for the warning."

Scott waved behind him as he left, "No problem."

*****

Yugi stumbled off the bus and out of the way of others who needed to disembark. Stretching his arms, he wandered over to where a man was removing baggage from the bus' side. Unnoticed by the taller attendant, the violet-eyed boy quickly snatched up his suitcases and picked his way to where a line of cars was waiting. Most of the cars had a person in front of them holding signs written in English. Each sign had a name, and none of them said Yugi or Motou.

As part of the exchange program, it was required that the students learn to at least speak a second language. Yugi had learned to read, write, and speak five; not including his native Japanese. One of the languages was pretty much extinct, considering that modern Egyptians used Arabic as their national language. But with Yami in his head, Yugi had learned ancient Egyptian rather fast and could now read the Hieroglyphics found in so many museum displays. On top of that, he knew Arabic, Hebrew, and Latin. Those three had also come from Yami's memories. As Pharaoh, it was required that he learn them. Yugi had decided he wanted to learn English so he could travel to America and England for Duel Monster Tournaments and be able to understand what was being said around him.

Sighing, Yugi went over to a nearby bench and sat down. /Guess our ride's not here yet./

//I don't want to upset you, but there is a very …rude looking man heading our way. Be ready for trouble.//

/Great! Just what we need. A bully right off the bat./ Yugi looked up from under long lashes and spotted the man Yami was talking about. The man couldn't have been taller than five foot, but then again, he didn't need to be. Not with all the muscles rippling over his chest as he walked, his eyes locked on Yugi. The man was wearing a black leather jacket over a white wife-beater. Plain blue jeans covered his legs, but did nothing to hide the muscles there. On his head was a cowboy hat and in his hand was a lit cigar. Just as Yugi was worried about, the man stopped in front of him. After studying him for a minute, the man spoke. In Japanese.

"<You the kid named Yugi Motou?>" Logan asked the small, very frightened looking Japanese boy in front of him. The Canadian had seen the boy when he got off the bus, but hadn't thought that he was the exchange student. The kid he was picking up was supposed to be 16 and the boy in front of him looked more like 13. A frightened, deer-caught-in-the-headlights 13. Kid probably got picked on a lot. But since he was the only Japanese kid, and the only one wearing a Japanese school uniform, Logan decided to check him out. If it ended up he had the wrong kid, then he would just call the Institute and tell Charles that the kid wasn't on the bus and then wait for the next.

Yugi gulped, "H-hai." /Please don't be from the Institute. Please don't be from the Institute. Please…/

Logan took a long drag on his cigar, then held out his hand in greeting, "<Name's Logan. I'm from the Xavier Institute. Since I'm the most fluent in Japanese, I was sent to pick you up.>"

/Kuso!/ Yugi cursed to himself and timidly took Logan's hand. Said man gave him a quick, firm shake then grabbed Yugi's bags.

"<Jeep's this way,>" he grumbled and headed off to the far end of the car line. There was something about the kid that made Logan uneasy. Something about his scent. He smelled… old. Kind of like Mystique smelled, only older, more experienced. And at the same time the kid's scent reeked of…well, innocence. Weird.

"I can speak English…" The small boy offered, trotting slightly to keep up with the short man's stride. Logan was naturally much faster than anyone Yugi had ever met.

At Yugi's words, the Canadian looked over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow. He then shook his head and a moment later came to a stop in front of a black Jeep. Tossing the boys bags in the back, Logan went around the other side and climbed into the drivers seat. He leaned over, unlocked Yugi's door, put on his seat belt and waited for Yugi to get in. Gulping once more, Yugi climbed into the car and put his own seat belt on.

Logan grinned, "<Relax kid. I'm not going to bite.>"

" 'Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly' I believe is the quote I am looking for," Yugi replied in clipped English, shifting himself closer to the door. Just in case.

"<Flies bug me and I have a habit of stomping on spiders. What music you like?>"

"<Music?>"

"<Yeah. Music. What do you like? It's a short trip to the Institute, but I like listening to tunes when I'm in a car,>" Logan replied as he pulled out and headed into traffic.

"Techno?" Yugi pronounced slowly, making sure he had the word right, but still turning it into a question.

"Techno it is."

*****

Kurt adjusted his shirt for the fifth time, "Are you sure I look alright?"

Jean rolled her eyes and lightly shoved Kurt into the Entrance Hall, "You look fine, Kurt. Nothing is out of place. Now move it. The exchange student will be here soon."

"I don't know… What if he finds out about us? About me? What if…"

"If he does, then he does. Hopefully he won't, but if he does, I'm sure we'll have made a nice enough impression on him that he, or she, won't come up with a case of Mutant-phobia. And if worse comes to worse, then the Professor can do something about it."

"But…"

"No more 'buts' Kurt! Now stand up straight and…"

Excuse my interruption, Professor Charles Xavier, Founder of the Xavier Institute and most powerful psychic in the world, interrupted his students' thoughts with his own. He entered the Hall, pushed by Ororo Munroe, aka Storm, "Logan is about five minutes away, and I believe it's time to tell you the identity of the young man who will be staying with us. I did not wish to inform you of this before now because it would only give you time to contemplate many more ways to make fools of yourselves. No insult intended, but I have seen how you react to his name. As you know, he is from Japan. And saying that, Yugi Motou will be staying with us for the next two months."

Whatever reaction Xavier was expecting, he got it within two seconds. Namely in the form of a sputtered gasp from Evan Danials aka Spike.

"The Yugi Motou? World Champion of Duel Monsters? Tell me it's a joke."

"It's no joke. Apparently he was chosen prior to his fame and since the second choice was as equally famous, they decided to let him come. Now I don't want you treating him like a celebrity. He is to be treated the same as you would treat anyone else. That being said, here he is now."

Logan pushed open the front door and held it ajar so an extremely short young man with spiked hair so dark a red it looked black except for the tips where light filtered through could enter unhindered. His bangs were golden blond and he had the most vibrant violet eyes. He was dressed in a dark blue suit and polished black shoes. Around his neck was an industrial steel chain that held a large gold pendant in the shape of an inverted pyramid adorned on one side with the Eye of Ra.

Yugi looked around at the group set up to greet him. One was a bald man in a wheelchair and behind him was beautiful black woman with long white hair. Next to those two stood a boy around Yugi's age who had brown hair and wore ruby sunglasses. Then came a boy with shoulder length black hair and rather baggy clothing who was standing half behind a very attractive redhead. Next to her, on the other side, was a black boy with bleached strips of fuzz covering his scalp in some sort of pattern. One more boy stood slightly apart from the redhead. He was a regular looking brown haired boy with no real distinguishing features. Standing still further from the group was a pale girl who sported a white streak through her brown hair and was wearing clothes closer to Yugi's taste. /Maybe I won't have to wear a uniform, after all./

The man in the wheelchair was pushed forward, "Hello and Welcome to the Xavier Institute. I am Professor Charles Xavier. The lovely lady behind me is Ororo Munroe, one of the four teachers who reside here. I am one as well as Logan, whom you've already met. The forth hardly ever comes out of his laboratory, so I doubt you'll be seeing him at all. These other students with whom you will be sharing a roof are called Scott, Kurt, Jean, Evan, Bobby, and Rogue. Scott and Jean will show you to your room. I regret that I will not be able to go over things with you until tomorrow, but I have a very busy day ahead of me yet."

"Thank you, Xavier-sama," Yugi bowed, trying to remember everything Grandpa had taught him about manners. "It is a pleasure to meet you all."

The Professor smiled and had Ororo push him out of the hall and to his office, leaving Yugi to the wolves. The first to pounce was a bleached blond skater boy.

"Hi. Name's Evan. Nice to meet you," Spike came up and held out his hand.

Yugi smiled shyly and took it, "Hello, Evan-san"

"So, are you really the Duel Monsters World Champion?"

Yugi blinked in surprise, his face breaking out in a wide grin, "You like Duel Monsters?"

"A little… So, you the champ or what?"

Yugi laughed and scratched the back of his head, "If by champ, you mean 'have I beaten Kaiba-kun?' then yes. I am the World Champion. Although it is not really official since I have not competed in an official World Tournament. Although," Yugi thought for a moment, trying to remember. "Pegasus-san's man, Croquet-san did say I earned the title of 'King of Games' by beating Pegasus-san."

Evan opened his mouth to ask another question, but was politely pushed to one side by the boy wearing glasses, "You can interrogate him later, Evan. Right now, Jean and I are going to show him to his room and then give him a quick tour of the Institute." The brunette smirked and picked up one of Yugi's bags, "My name's Scott. The girl with red hair is Jean. And your room is right this way."

Yugi turned around to thank Logan for the ride, but found that the short man was already gone. /I will thank him later…/ Turning back around and smiling shyly to Jean and Scott, who were waiting at the base of the stairs, Yugi timidly walked to them and followed them up to his new room.

*****

Logan followed Xavier and Ororo into the bald man's office. Once inside, Xavier pushed himself behind his desk and turned on his computer. Logan and Ororo sat down in the leather chairs facing the head of the Institute.

Satisfied that all was still well with his computer, Xavier turned to his friends, "Thoughts?"

Logan pulled out a cigar and lit it, taking a puff, and then blowing a smoke ring as Ororo gathered her thoughts. She was the first to speak, "He is very shy. Much like Kurt was when he first came to us. It is unfortunate that we cannot reveal ourselves to him. Not unless he is a mutant himself…?"

Charles shook his head and waved to the monitor, "Not according to Cerebro. And this close, its very hard for her not to detect a mutant bio signature. This will be hard on the others."

"Did he have any negative thoughts or feelings that we should be aware of?"

"Actually, no. He has a very strong natural shield over his thoughts. Although, the shield did feel strange…"

"Kind of old?" Logan asked, joining the conversation and kicking his feet up onto Xavier's desk.

Ororo turned to her friend, "What do you mean?"

"Kid smells old. Not age wise. But there's this impression of great age and experience that I get from his scent. Kinda how you smell, only more intense."

"Really? Perhaps he has grown up on the streets? One does earn life experience quickly that way."

Charles shook his head, "I don't believe that's the case with this young man. While his thoughts were shielded, his emotions were not. He seems to feel emotions at full intensity. When he arrived, I was somewhat overwhelmed by his feeling of embarrassment as he walked through the door. Embarrassment over what I am unsure of, but just the same, if he had grown up in an environment as you describe, Ororo, he would have had other emotions underlying his embarrassment…" The bald man focused on Logan, "How was he in the car?"

"Quiet," the Canadian replied, letting out another smoke ring. "Found out he likes Techno music. Him and Rogue should get along. He's also got a healthy dose of suspicion in him. He doesn't trust as easily as he seems to. It took me stopping at the Institute door for him to relax and stop acting like he was about to jump out of the Jeep."

Ororo laughed, "I am unsurprised. I, too, would be suspicious if someone from a school looking the way you do picked me up at a bus station."

Logan shrugged, "He'll get used to it. Laughs at the oddest things. I was trying to make conversation and asked him if he wanted to do any sight seeing and he replies that he'd already been sight seeing. Then he starts giggling uncontrollably. Anyway, I'm more worried about something else." The Canadian put out his cigarette, put down his feet and leaned forward in his chair. "When we were driving here, there was someone watching us. Following us. I don't know who, or how, or where, but it felt like they were right behind me the entire time. And by behind me, I mean in the back seat with their feet kicked up."

*****

After Scott, Jean and an extremely enthusiastic Evan had taken Yugi to his room, the small boy had begged off the tour until later. Honestly tired and wanting to get some sleep, he asked that the tour wait until after dinner, which would be in a couple hours. His real reason was so he could open his presents. Jean smiled another dazzling smile at him and said she'd be up to get him for dinner, then left, pulling Evan with her as she reprimanded him for being so rude.

Giggling to himself, he quietly locked the door behind them and trotted to his bed. The room he had been given was huge. In comparison to his own at home, anyway. Three rooms his size could have fit with in this one, and that wasn't even counting the own private bath this one came with. It was decorated in 'Guest Room Chic' brown, tan, and cream. Not exactly to Yugi's taste, but he wasn't about to complain.

Sitting down on the bed, Yugi pulled out the gift Katsuya had proudly shoved into his hands. It wasn't wrapped very well, and there was an awful lot of tape, but Yugi knew his friend meant well, and he was happy that Jou had even thought of a present.

The mattress beside the small boy depressed as Yami took physical form and sat down next to Yugi, crossing his legs so they didn't dangle over the side. He had been in spirit form since the airport. The car ride had been interesting because of it. When Yugi had hopped in the passenger seat, Yami had slid his spirit self into the back seat and put his feet up on the head rest of Logan-san's seat. During the short trip, he made comment after comment, trying to get Yugi to laugh and only succeeding after Logan asked about sight seeing.

The dark one reached over and picked at the oddly shaped bundle, "What do you think it is, my Hikari?"

Yugi shrugged, "Probably food. Why don't we find out?"

A snowfall of shredded paper later, the two halves were grinning from ear to ear as they each carefully held one of Kaiba Corp.'s newest prototype Duel Disc systems. These were much, much smaller than the previous two and it was obvious Seto had slaved to get these done right. The units were twice the length of the boys' normal wristbands, and slightly thicker; like metal bracers from the dark ages of Europe. On the bands were the usual deck holders, and they were missing the large knife like trays that acted as the field. Instead, there was a 'fan' of metal that folded out from the housing, making the overall design that much sleeker. The holo generators still shot out from the Disc, but the two that each system had were now only an inch square.

One of the discs' was decorated like Kaiba normally had his disks: silver and blue with red accents. And oddly enough, a chibi puppy at the clasp. The other, however, was painted black and had gold accents. This one had to have been made specifically for Yugi. On top of its deck holder was a golden Eye of Ra. Yami traced its outline with one finger, amazed that Kaiba would allow such a thing, and then allow Jou to hand it over to them.

On the bed between the two was a note written in Anzu's tidy, looping handwriting. Yugi picked it up and read it out loud:

"Dear Yugi,

"These are Seto's newest and most advanced Disc systems. One of them is yours (I think you can figure out which) and the other is Katsuya's. Jou decided to have his gift to you be the wonderful decorating job he did on your system. But since one of them is practically useless alone, he sent his along in case you wanted to duel anyone. He does expect his back in tiptop condition when you come home. Although if you end up scratching off the puppy Seto had put on there, I don't think he'd be too upset. Seto says he's only giving this to you because A) I insisted and B) you are the top duelist in the entire world and he has respect for that. I think he doesn't want to admit that he considers you a good enough friend to give a gift to. He doesn't like to think he has friends. Anyway, mine and Hiroto's part of this gift are the Duel Monsters cards in the attached envelope. Have fun in America and try out the disc system soon. Seto expects a report on their performance as soon as possible. Call and write as soon as you can.

"Best Friends Forever,

"Anzu

"P.S. Seto says that the discs are programmed to read every language Duel Monster cards are printed in, so you should be able to duel someone while you're there. If you can find anyone who wants to duel."

Yugi leaned back against Yami as his dark side adjusted their personal disc system, making sure it fit right. Yami had placed it on Yugi's left wrist while his light side read the letter. After making sure the disc wouldn't slide about, the Pharaoh opened up the envelope and pulled out five cards: 'Magician of Faith', 'Science Soldier', 'The Flame Swordsman', 'Change of Heart' and a 'Just Desserts' with the initials 'K.S.' written in silver ink.

Yami chuckled, "Well, what do you know… A soul card to for each of our friends to add power to our deck. Interesting that she would choose 'Just Desserts' for Kaiba's."

Yugi grinned, admiring his duel disc, "Appropriate, too."

Yami laughed with his light and leaned over to pull out the packages from Ishizu and Ryou. The former had given them a cryptic message when she had placed it in their hands at the airport and the latter had shoved his gift at Yugi and then ran away as if the hounds of Hell were on his heels. Yami opened Ishizu's first, eyes going wide. Inside the package was the Millennium Tankh. The Millennium Item that let one look into the future, or the past.

With shaking hands, the Pharaoh picked the golden piece up and placed it around his own neck. When he next entered his soul room within the Puzzle, the Tankh would come with him. Yugi reached up and gently touched the Eye of Ra that all items within the Sennen Set, with the exception of the Ankh, were adorned with.

So engrossed was he in studying it, the knock at the door minutes later made him yelp in surprise and fall off the bed with a loud thump.

*****

Just before dinner, Jean headed upstairs to get Yugi as she had promised. Scanning the area, she caught Evan's grumbling thoughts and a strange blankness from Yugi's room. She then realized that the blankness was the exchange students' natural mental shield. She had been shielding herself when he arrived, but the Professor had told her about Yugi's shield after she had shown him to his room. It was really amazing how strong it was.

Coming up to the door, she gave three sharp knocks. In response, she heard a muffled yelp followed by a loud thump. Worried, she called through the door, "Yugi? Are you alright?"

What sounded like a conversation filtered through the wood and then Yugi opened the door, looking slightly flustered. He was still dressed in his traveling clothes. He smiled up at Jean, "Yes Jean-san? Is it time for dinner already?"

"Yep. I'm here to show you where the Dining Hall is. And then give you the tour after. Evan's probably going to jump you and try to get as much information out of you as possible. You know, about Duel Monsters. If you stick close to me, he won't be able to bug you too much."

Yugi blushed and looked down, following her down the main hall to the grand staircase. Jean led him under the stairs via a large, engraved set of dark wooden doors and down a new hall. Three doors on the right later, the redhead opened a second set of large doors and brought them into the Dining Hall.

When they entered, the noise level of the room lowered considerably as the students remembered they were supposed to have manners. Yugi edged behind Jean, trying to keep out of sight of everyone. Lots of eyes on him made him feel nervous. Jean led him to the empty seat to the left of the Professor who was at the head of the table. As the small boy nervously pulled out his chair to sit down, Jean leaned over and loudly whispered in his ear, "You can take your coat off if you want. We don't have many formal meals."

Blushing in embarrassment, Yugi unzipped his school jacket and took it off, feeling relief overcome his embarrassment. Until he realized everyone was staring at him. Eyes wide, he mentally reviewed what he was wearing and couldn't see what the big deal was. He had on his normal neck collar and sleeveless black leather shirt with straps across the chest. Around his upper arms were gold bands about two inches wide and on his wrists were the Duel Disc and a black leather cuff. And of course he still wore the Millennium Puzzle. Yugi was actually dressed down. Normally he would have had on a lot more jewelry, an extra belt and leather pants or dark blue jeans.

/Rogue-san wears the same type of clothing as we do, what's the big deal?/ Yugi whined to Yami as he hunched over with his eyes on the floor, a slight pout coming to his lips.

Resentment rolled off of Yami as his spirit left the puzzle and gave everyone in the room a glare to make Kaiba flinch, //Let me take over.//

/Yami…/

//Please.//

/But you'll just be rude, I know you will./

//And?//

/And I don't want them to think I'm rude./

//Then tell them to stop staring, it's not like we're wearing anything abnormal. Just… Say something!//

Charles Xavier hid a small smile of amusement. The shock on his student's faces at what the exchange student chose to wear was quiet funny. Truth be told, it did make him wonder. A boy as shy as Yugi wearing clothes that screamed 'Look at me, I'm Goth and I want you to know it!' seemed out of place. Rogue wore that all the time, so the bald man had gotten used to the idea of shy kids wearing that style of clothes. And for some reason, Xavier got the feeling that Yugi was talking to someone, although he couldn't hear any thoughts being sent from the boy. One thing Xavier did know is that if someone didn't break the ice, and soon, the institutes newest resident would most probably sink into the floor and never be seen or heard from again.

Rogue was the first to break the silence, "That shirt is gorgeous. Can I barrow it sometime?"

*****

End Chapter Two.

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