Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Breaking Barriers ❯ A Change Of Pace ( Chapter 1 )

NEW FLASH:: I don't own Yugioh! the title or characters. I'll give the credit to the brilliant minds of TV Tokyo and the original creator Kazuki Takahashi of Studio Dice.

A/N: I planned on always doing a short skit thing for the disclaimer, but I couldn't find a good one to do… so you'll just have to deal with the boring one. Sorry!

Japanese mini-dictionary:

`Iku yo' = it's just one of the many ways to say `let's go'

`Hontou ni' = `really'

`Gomen nasai' = polite `I'm sorry'

`Bakarashii' = `ridiculous'

`Ano' = `um'

`Shihaisha-sama' = `ruler' (a person NOT an object)

`Nani' = `what'

`Demo' = `but

`Saa' = `well'

`Okaa-san' = `mom'

`Otou-san' = `dad'

`Jii-chan' = `grandpa'

`Nandemo arimasen' = `nothing' (polite)

/…/ Yuugi's thoughts

//…// Yami's thoughts

A Change of Pace

Chapter 1

/Well, this dream is a little different./ A short boy walked around a market place with his two friends, Jounouchi and Anzu.

"Oi, Yuugi! Look at those!" the girl named Anzu called out.

Yuugi turned to see where she was pointing. It was a gold box with an Egyptian symbol on it. The symbol of `Dark Wisdom.' Yuugi stared at the eye-shaped character.

"Hey, don'tcha think the symbol looks like the one that thing the Pharaoh wears?" Jounouchi asked.

Yuugi said nothing.

"Yo, Yuugi, are you gonna answer me?"

/This is defiantly a dream. No way would something that important be allowed to be molded on something so common./ The short boy turned to his friends and watched them vanish. /Yep, just a dream./

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~END OF DREAM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yuugi woke up. /Wow, that was weird./ He slowly got up, the hard ground is a friend to no one. /How long has it been? A month? Two?/ It was two months ago Yuugi was put into the prison. His crime: looking like the Pharaoh. It had been decided that he is a curse for the Pharaoh and as such had to be locked up. /If anyone is cursed it's me for looking like him./

CLANK!

The door to the dungeon opened. Yuugi went to the bars to see who was brave enough to come down here. It wasn't a meal time, so what could I be? /Oh, no! Maybe they're here to punish me! Or maybe sentence me to death! No!/ He saw the darkened figure close the door. He was only able to make out the person's eyes, but the figure was that of a man's.

/That has to be it!/ Yuugi let out a small whimper, he knew this day would come soon. The figure heard him and started walking to the imprisoned boy. Yuugi backed away from the bars. There really wasn't much room to go anywhere, but the thinking process in Yuugi's mind had been overwritten by the fear he possessed.

"Why, you're just a child," the figure spoke. "Tell me, how old are you?"

"I-I'm 15, sir."

"As I thought. What was your crime?"

"I ran from the guards."

The figure's eyes narrowed. "Hontou ni? Come closer, I can't make out your face."

Yuugi did as he was told. As he inched closer, the mysterious person's face also became clearer. "Ra, you resemble me!"

Yuugi blinked. The young boy looked closer and saw that it was none other than Pharaoh himself. "Gomen nasai, your worshipfulness! I did not know it was you!" He threw himself to the ground.

The Pharaoh looked at the boy and clucked. "Come, stand up." Yuugi stood and the Pharaoh continued to look at him. "So, they say you ran from guards?"

"They thought I was going to kill you, Pharaoh."

"Bakarashii! You are just a child."

Yuugi looked up. "Pharaoh…?"

The young Pharaoh took out a key and unlocked the door. "Come with me."

Yuugi was confused. Is he free? He obediently followed, yet his arms were made off steel. "Ano… where are we going, Shihaisha-sama?"

"To my palace."

"Nani?!" Yuugi stopped walking. "Demo… I'm a criminal! I don't belong there!"

"I told you; it's ridiculous for you to be an assassin. The gods would not punish me." The Pharaoh turned around. "Saa, it's not that far from here."

/The Pharaoh thinks rather highly of himself; with all rights, too. The last attempt made on his life involved the death of an entire neighborhood./ Yuugi slowed down. /My neighborhood and my parents; gone in an instant. That was how I got caught./

*~*~*FLASHBACK*~*~*

"Okaa-san, why are there a lot of people outside?" young Yuugi asked as he saw the Pharaoh's army alight the small neighborhood. Yuugi looked back, but didn't see his parents or his grandpa. "Jii-chan?! Otou-san?! Okaa-san?! Where are you?!"

Yuugi wandered helplessly around, trying to find his family. And he did. "NO!" Under a burning, collapsed rooftop, his parents lie, barely alive.

"Yuugi, go! Run! Find Grandpa and go with him!" his father urged him.

Yuugi shook his head. "No, I can't leave you here. You'll die! I have to get you out from there." He knelt ne

His parents smiled at him. "Yuugi, you're our only son, you can't let the Pharaoh catch you. We love you… Go… please…" his mother strained.

The boy's eyes widened as he saw both of his parents go limp. "Okaa-san? Otou-san? No… NO! My parents… gone…" He went to his knees and sobbed.

*~*~*END OF FLASHBACK*~*~*

Yuugi had completely stopped walking, lost in his memories. /My parents died by the Pharaoh's hand. This Pharaoh!/ "I cannot go with you."

The Pharaoh turned. "Nani?"

Yuugi backed away a bit. "I cannot go with you."

"And why not? I have released you from the prison, I will not harm you."

He didn't know what to do. /I can't go with him. But what can I tell him?/ "I wish not to say."

The Pharaoh started to look cross. "You will tell me, or you will go back into the prison."

Stuck. "Please, you have done enough… you have freed me, I do not want or need more."

"Tell me, not because I'm the Pharaoh, but because I want to know."

"You will not harm me?"

"No."

"A-about five months ago, your army burned down and destroyed a small neighborhood. It was my neighborhood… my… my parents were killed. It w-was your army, you… you killed my parents!" Yuugi went to the ground. "How could you use your powers to destroy innocent people?! No one there did anything wrong! Your attempted assassin was not from our area! And you sent people to destroy everyone there… including my parents!"

"I do not control my guards' actions."

Yuugi was boiling with anger. "You can control thousands of people in Egypt and yet you cannot control a few hundred men?!"

"What is your name?"

Yuugi looked up at the Pharaoh through watery eyes. "Motou Yuugi desu."

"Well, then, Yuugi, you have three choices: you can go back to the prison or you can travel to where you please, with the chance of someone accusing you of being a curse, which is most likely to happen."

"Or?"

The Pharaoh smiled gently. "Or you can come to my palace and be protected from further harassment."

"Either way I lose." Yuugi shook his head sadly. "Either I go back to the prison or leave now, just to go back to prison sooner or later, or I live with my parents' murderer."

"It is your choice how to view things and to decide which road you travel."

"There isn't much of a choice." Yuugi stood. "I… I'll go with you."

The Pharaoh nodded "Iku yo."

//Hmm… Yuugi's been very quiet. Not that I had expected him to be talkative, but the feeling in the air…// "What is wrong, Yuugi?"

"Nandemo arimasen."

He stopped suddenly. "I know something is troubling you." The boy give the Pharaoh an angry look.

"How would you feel if you were following the person who murdered your parents?" Yuugi countered.

"Listen to me, Yuugi, it was not my doing. I'm not involved with my guards; they do as they think right."

"Including massacring a whole village?!"

"Yuugi! We are almost at my palace, will talk about that later, right now we need to be quiet to sneak in."

"Sneak in?"

The Pharaoh smiled. "Do you really think they'd let me go somewhere unaccompanied?"

"I guess not."

"Okay, just stay quiet and follow me." The pair crept around and finally made it to the palace wall. "Now, there is a set of footsteps on the side of this wall." He pointed to some extended bricks. "We use these to climb up to my room."

"UP?"

"Shh! Yes, up."

Yuugi looked downwards. "I'm afraid of heights."

"Then you go first. I can catch you if you fall."

"O-okay."

Yuugi placed his first foot on, then grabbed to bricks with his hands to pull himself up. "Good, now just keep going."

A few minutes later, Yuugi had made it to the Pharaoh's room. "See? You could do it." The Pharaoh scrambled up after Yuugi. When he got inside, he saw Yuugi staring wide eyed at his room. Treasures filled every corner, exotic smells filled the room. "Yuugi, we'll sleep tonight and tomorrow, I will announce your presence."

"Where do I sleep?"

"In here, in my bed."

Yuugi stuttered. "B-but…"

"Nothing. Unless you prefer the floor, you'll sleep in my bed."

Yuugi sighed. "You don't like giving people choices, do you?"

"I only do if I can't help it."

Yuugi smiled. The Pharaoh left the room and returned wearing silk robes. "Here," he handed Yuugi robes. "There is a bath in there if you wish to clean off, if not you could do so in the morning."

"You are too kind." Yuugi left to the room the Pharaoh had occupied. He decided to wait on the bath, but would at least clean his face, hands and feet. He went back into the bedroom and saw the Pharaoh already covered. Yuugi silently climbed into the bed and realized that two more people could have fit in the bed, too. It was the most comfortable thing the boy has ever slept on.

"Comfortable?"

Yuugi nodded. "I really don't know how to thank you, Pharaoh. You got me out of prison and I'm wearing a garment that would have taken me a lifetime of money to pay for."

"It doesn't matter. How long were you imprisoned for?"

"Since the attack on my village, well, it was actually the day after. My parents told me to run away from the guards. They knew I would get punished."

The Pharaoh looked at Yuugi. "Well, as long as you're here, nothing will harm you."

"Thank you, Pharaoh."

The ruler of Egypt laughed. "Just call me Yami."

Then both Yuugi and Yami fell asleep.

Translation:

`Iku yo' = it's just one of the many ways to say `let's go'