Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Past is Present ❯ Ch. 1: New Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

PT: Hi everyone! This is my first official Yu-Gi-Oh fanfic, and I'm really excited to finally get it up! I really hope it turns out! I have it all written out, so I won't wait a month between chapters, like some writers (cough cough). Aaaanyway, I'll try to update every few days or so, and I would really appreciate feed back; even if it is a flamer. I don't really care as long as it's not someone writing to complain about the couples or something like that. Oh yes, one more thing. This <i>is</i> going to be an Ancient Egypt fic, but it just starts out in the present.

Seto: You know, some people might actually be here to <i>read</i> the fic and not to listen to your pointless babbling.

PT: I think we're going to have to work on that attitude of yours, Kaiba-kun.

Seto: (raises eyebrow) Oh Really?

PT: Yep, I'm gonna find a way to break down that wall around you. So…..wanna do the disclaimer? (receives glare) Oh fine then, I'll do it. I do not own any of the characters or events associated with Yu-Gi-Oh.

~Chapter 1: New Arrival~

Monday, August 15, 2002

Domino City, Japan

"Mary Ann! Wake up! You don't want to be late for your first day of school."

Mary Ann Hilton, or Marie as she preferred to be called, opened her eyes slowly and mumbled a response before forcing herself out of her warm bed and rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"Come on Mary Ann don't make me come up there!" The impatient voice shouted at her from the bottom of the stairs.

"Alright Becky, I'm getting up!" Marie growled at her adoptive sister, "And don't call me Mary Ann it's annoying," she muttered grumpily before heading into the bathroom.

Marie was a 17 year old Japanese/Egyptian girl who had just transferred to Domino City, Japan from Cairo, Egypt. She had long blond hair, which was very unusual for someone with an Egyptian heritage, and she loved studying art and history, especially Egyptian history. She wasn't sure why, but the ancient Egyptians fascinated her. Her adoptive Grandmother Sandra said it was because she and Becky had found her asleep under the scriptures of an ancient Pharaoh's tomb in a museum in Cairo.

Marie finished in the bathroom and hurried downstairs to the kitchen. "G'morning Gran, g'morning Becky," she greeted them with a wide yawn.

"Good morning sweetheart, did you sleep well?" Sandra asked. "I made you some of my special blueberry pancakes for breakfast!" she added before Marie could reply. She smiled and walked over to the kitchen table with a large, steaming plate of pancakes, oozing with maple syrup.

"Mmm…they look good Gran, but I already have butterflies, and I don't think pancakes'll help."

"Don't be nervous, Marie," Becky said with a reassuring smile, "I'm sure you'll have a good day no matter what happens."

Marie frowned at Becky and asked, "Why did we have to move here? I liked where we lived."

"Marie, we've been through all this before; my promotion made it difficult to stay in Cairo, you know that."

"Whatever," Marie replied tartly," I'm going to school."

Fifteen minutes later, Marie walked up the stone steps of Domino High and peered up at the large building in front of her. The butterflies in her stomach were revolting and trying to escape, but she managed to keep them down. She fished in her purse for her schedule and began glancing over it. She had a double block of history, Japanese, Latin, math, and science, English, and reading. Marie walked into the school and found her first class. She stepped into the large, noisy room and looked around. Everyone was chatting happily amongst themselves, comparing schedules, and relating their summer adventures to their friends. Marie, who didn't know anyone, noticed a group of teens sitting in the far corner of the room. She gathered her things, took a deep breath, and walked over to introduce herself.

"Hello, I'm Marie, is anyone sitting here?" she asked timidly.

"Konnichiwa, I'm Tea, nice to meet you," said a girl with short brown hair.

"Tristan," nodded the guy sitting in front of Tea. "No one's taken that seat yet, if you'd like to join us."

"Thanks," Marie replied gratefully, taking the seat next to Tea.

Tristan elbowed the guy in the seat next to him, and the boy shot an annoyed glance toward him before turning around in his seat and facing Marie. "I've neva seen you around here before. Are ya new?" Maria just smiled.

"Oh, this is Joey by the way," Tea told her.

"He's a little slow," added Tristan.

"Eh? You talkin' `bout me? Hey! I'm not slow!" Joey exclaimed angrily.

Tristan started sniggering, "Just keep telling yourself that, Joe."

Joey glared daggers at Tristan and then drew himself up taller and asked defiantly, "Well, how come I can beat allo' ya at the arcade games if I'm so slow?"

Tristan turned his head away, and Marie heard him mutter something that sounded suspisiously like `Arcade games require reflexes not brains.' Joey obviously heard this as well and attempted to knock his friend upside the head, but Tristan ducked out of the way. "Whoa! Chill out dude, it was just a joke!" he exclaimed defensively as he scooted back away from Joey's wrath, "Man, you really need some anger management or somethin'."

Tea grabbed Joey's arm before he could lash out at Tristan again. "He's right you know," she grinned at him.

Joey glared at her, and she quickly shut her mouth. Tristan chuckled half heartedly, and Marie smiled. She was glad she had found the courage to come over and talk to these people; they seemed pretty nice. Perhaps this school won't be so terrible after all, she thought.

"So where are you from?" asked a soft spoken boy with white hair and a British accent. However, before she could answer, a short woman, appearing to be in her early forties, came bustling into the room. She smiled apologetically at her class and said," Sorry I'm late; the copy machine was acting up." Then she took a deep breath and began what seemed to be a well rehearsed line.

"Welcome to your first day of school, class! My name is Nanase-Sensei, and I'll be your history teacher this year. I know you all hate the beginning of the year lectures, and quite frankly so do I, so we're going to skip that and move on to something more exciting."

Everyone became quite as Mrs. Nanase continued, "Now, I have a seating arrangement for you all," she paused as the class began a chorus of groans and sighs, and then she added, "and I also have to take attendance, so let's get those things over with first. Raise your hand when I call your name. If I pronounce your name wrong, or if you have a nickname that you'd rather go by, just tell me and I will make the changes ok? Good. Ryou Bakura?"

"Here," said the boy with white hair, raising his hand.

"Ok," You'll start off the front row of the window section," Mrs. Nanase instructed. "Janet Chaleb?"

"Here, Janie."

"Alright Janie, you sit next to Ryou. Tea Gardener?"

"Here," said Tea as her head shot up, and she raised her hand quickly.

"You're next to Janie then, Tea." Mrs. Nanase smiled, "Mary Ann Hilton?"

"Umm…here, it's Marie," she said, trying to keep the hint of exasperation out of her voice.

"Ok then, you may take the last desk of the row." She called out several more names and then came back to the window section, "Tristan Taylor?"

"Yep? Here!" He said quickly, snapping out of his daydream.

"Your seat is behind Ryou….. And get your feet off the desk, this isn't your home!"

"Yes ma'am!" Tristan replied sweetly as he hoped out of his chair and went to join Tea and Ryou. Normally, he would have argued with his teacher on the last comment, pointing out that he was forced to be at school for more than seven hours a day, practically making the school his home. Today however, he thought better of it considering the teacher had let him sit near his friends. He didn't want to spoil his luck by arguing points that he was sure to lose anyway……

"…..And finally, Joseph Wheeler?" Mrs. Nanase called.

"Present! It's Joey!" he shouted with a grin.

"Hmm….alright, you sit next to Tristan."

"Aright!" Joey exclaimed as he and Tristan exchanged high fives.

After the class had settled down, and everyone had taken their seats, Nanase-Sensei walked to the front of the room and smiled as she said, "I hope to make this year an enjoyable one. We are going to study the history of-" but just then there was a soft knock at the door. "Come in," she called pleasantly. A small boy with spiky hair and something that looked like an upside down Egyptian pyramid hanging around his neck entered the room, looking very nervous.

"Look! It's Yugi!" Tea exclaimed, "hey Yugi!" she waved.

Yugi looked up and smiled when he saw his friends, "Hey Tea, hey guys!"

"What's up Yuge?" Joey asked, but Yugi had already walked up to the teacher and given her his schedule and was now staring down at the floor, focusing on his feet in embarrassment.

"Alright Mr. Motou," Mrs. Nanase smiled, after glancing over his schedule, "welcome to Egyptian history. You may sit behind Miss Gardener over there."

Yugi started to make his way over to his friends.

"Wait a minute! YOU'RE YUGI MOTOU?" exclaimed the voice of a huge kid sitting at the other side of the room, "The Yugi that supposedly beat Maximillion Pegasus at duel monsters?"

"Ye-ah," said Yugi hesitantly, not sure whether this was a good thing or not.

"Whadda ya mean supposedly?" Joey asked in an annoyed tone, "Yugi mopped da floor widdat psycho!"

The boy started to laugh, "What a little dork! He couldn't fight anyone if his life depended on it." Yugi stayed silent and Marie noticed Joey's hands ball into fists at his sides as the large boy turned back to Yugi and continued, "Was your mom drinking when she became pregnant with you or somthin'? Seems like the only way you could ever be noticed is by that hair o'yours!"

At this Joey and Tristan stood up so fast that they knocked their chairs over. "Wha'd you say ta him?" Joey snarled.

"Don't you dare talk to our friend like that, you creep!" Tristan spat in disgust, "Who are you anyway?"

"The name's Justin, and I'll talk to your friend the way I like." He stood up and the class began to murmur excitedly.

Then Mrs. Nanase broke in, "Boys, sit down; Justin, apologize to Mr. Motou for your rude comments."

However, Justin didn't apologize, and none of them sat back down. Joey raised his fist and took a step forward. "Cool it Joey," Tea said shortly, "he's not worth it."

"Honestly, Tristan!" exclaimed Ryou, who was trying to keep Tristan from jumping Justin, "do you want to get expelled on the first day?"

Joey and Tristan stood seething at Justin. Yugi looked both amazed and worried, "You guys it's all right! Just calm down, it's not that big a deal."

"Yes, it is Yuge," snarled Joey, "Nobody gets away wid insultin' our buddy!"

Yugi walked over to his chosen seat behind Tea, who was also frowning at Justin. "You guys, I really think you should sit down and chill out," he said seriously, "I don't want you getting in trouble just because of me." Joey and Tristan glanced down at him.

"Well, ok Yugi, if you're cool wid it, then so are we." Joey said. They sat down, but still looked annoyed.

"Ha!" Justin sneered, "I knew he was too afraid to stand up to me. He's too much of a wuss to fight his own battles. He needs his little gang to back him up."

Tea banged her palms on the desk and shouted, "That's not true Justin! He's just too smart to let an arrogant moron, like you, bring him down. At least HE doesn't need to pick a fight with someone smaller than him to feel good about himself!"

"THAT IS ENOUGH!!" Mrs. Nanase shouted, "Tea, out in the hallway!"

Tea looked up at the teacher in surprise, "What? But that's not fair! You heard-"

"Would you like a detention Miss Gardener?" Mrs. Nanase snapped. Tea glared at her, and then abruptly stood up and stomped out the door. "Now," Mrs. Nanase said angrily, turning to Justin, "Apologize to Yugi Motou, or I will send you down to the office." Justin eyed her coolly, but didn't answer. "Don't test me Mr. Knotts," Mrs. Hampton snapped, "either apologize to Yugi or get out of my classroom and don't come back until you do."

Justin stood up and gave Mrs. Nanase, who he towered over, a dirty look; then he glared icily at Yugi before leaving the room himself. The class began to murmur again and it took a few minutes to get everyone calmed down. "I hope you have all learned something from this experience, class." Mrs. Nanase said slightly annoyed, "I will not tolerate rude behavior in my classroom." Then she launched into a speech about respect to others and the rules. Yugi's friends must really care about him to risk getting suspended on the first day. Marie thought. Maybe I should get to know them better.

20 minutes later, when Mrs. Nanase had finally finished talking about rules, she smiled and said, "I hadn't been planning on giving a lecture, but I guess I did anyway. I don't think I made a very good first impression on all of you, so let me start over. Again, my name is Nanase-Sensei and you are taking Egyptian history. If you would all open the books at your desks to page 6, we will get started. Oh and Tristan, would you be so kind as to let Tea back in? I really don't think she deserves any more punishment, considering she was just standing up for her friend." Tristan smiled and went to call Tea back inside.

"Now, we are going to be learning about several important Egyptian Pharaohs, and how they influenced Egypt."

Joey's hand shot up in the air, but he asked his question without being called on, "Are we gonna learn about the pharaoh who saved the world from the shadow games?"

Mrs. Nanase looked confused, "The shadow games? I'm not sure what those are, but we are going to learn about a Pharaoh who helped shape Egypt into what it is today. Now, can anyone tell me-"

"How boring," drawled the voice of a boy sitting in the very back of the classroom.

"Is there something you'd like to comment on Mr…" she glanced down at her seating chart, "Seto Kaiba?"

Marie started in her chair.

"You can't change what happened in the past; you'll only get anywhere if you move forward and don't look back," Kaiba said, "Why don't you teach us about something worthwhile? This is a waste of my time."

"I'm sorry you feel that way Mr. Kaiba," Mrs. Nanase said slightly frustrated, "but don't look at it like that; try to imagine where we'd be if the past was different."

Kaiba just rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, and why'd ya take dis class anyway if you don' wanna learn about Egypt?" Joey asked. He and the rest of the gang had been excited about taking Egyptian history because of the tie it had with Yami.

"Uh, Joey, he probably took it because it's required," Ryou pointed out.

"I KNOW DAT BAKURA!" Joey shouted, nearly falling out of his seat. He grinned sheepishly and felt his face grow slightly warm as he noticed everyone staring at him.

"Maybe if you kept your mouth shut, Wheeler, you wouldn't embarrass yourself like that," Kaiba snarled, "but I guess that's too hard for your puny brain to comprehend."

"Aaarrrrrrr, watch it Kaiba," Joey growled back.

Ryou started chuckling. Marie smiled and turned back to the front of the room, but her mind had drifted. Where have I heard the name Seto before? She asked herself. It rang a bell, but she couldn't place it. Oh of course! She thought. Seto Kaiba is the world champ at Duel Monsters, or at least he was until Yugi Motou beat him. I must have heard his name on TV or something. She looked over at Yugi who was trying to listen to Tea and take notes at the same time. How could such a timid looking kid have beaten the most ruthless duel monster's champ the world has ever known?

Marie then turned her head to get a closer look at Kaiba, who was listening to Mrs. Nanase talk with a bored expression. He was tall-very tall with thick brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He looked up and noticed her watching him. She quickly averted her eyes from his gaze but continued to watch him out of the corner of her eye. She could no longer concentrate on what Mrs. Nanase was saying. Something stirred in Marie's mind, and somehow she just knew that TV wasn't where she had first heard his name, but she had never spoken a word to him in her life, so……..why did it feel like she knew him?

"Marie? Are you with us?"

She jumped and twisted back around to face the front of the class. "W-what was the question?" she asked sheepishly. The class began to snigger.

Mrs. Nanase smiled and said, "I know Seto Kaiba is a very nice looking young man, but would you please try to reframe yourself from staring at him during my lesson?" The class erupted into laughter, and Marie felt her face heat up.

After about forty five minutes, when Mrs. Nanase had finished her discussion for the day, she let them all have free time to talk to their friends. Marie glanced casually over at Kaiba, who was reading a book called Timeline, and then blushed as she heard Joey snap his fingers in her ear.

"Helloooooooooo? Earth to Marie…..anyone awake in there?" Joey asked impatiently as Marie whipped back around to face her new friends.

"Sorry, what did you say?" She asked feeling rather flustered that she had been caught off guard for the second time that morning.

"Do you have a thing for Kaiba or something?" Tristan asked suspiciously.

Marie's stomach dropped. "No!" she denied, a little too quickly. "Why would you think that?"

Tristan and Joey began to snigger and Marie looked down to avoid their gazes, seeming to find the bits of eraser pieces littering her desk much more interesting than answering the two boys.

Joey grinned broadly and turned to face Kaiba. He opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "HEY KAIBA! DIS GIRL OVA HERE LIK-"

Marie clapped her hand over Joey's mouth, her face burning a crimson red, and hissed angrily in his ear, "Shut up Joey! If you do that again, I swear you'll be sorry!" She brought her hand back to her side but continued to glare at him, feeling the anger well up inside her as she thought about what he had been about to do. She had already had enough embarrassing events happen to her for one day, and he wasn't helping. Joey stayed quiet, but didn't appear at all fazed by her threat, in fact, the grin on his face broadened, and he leaned back casually in his chair.

"Ya know Marie," he said matter of factly, "if you're gonna go afta Kaiba, you should just know that he's the most cold hearted, arrogant, jerk, that you could eva meet."

Marie felt on the verge of strangling Joey. "I'm not going after anyone!" she snapped icily, "And would you please keep your tone down; he does have ears you know!"

Joey put his hands up defensively, "Hey, ya don' have to get ticked off about it. I'm jus' layin' out the facts like they are."

Marie cautiously glanced at Kaiba to see if he had heard any of this and found him silently watching her with a smirk on his lips. She cringed slightly and made a mental note never to tell Joey any of her secrets if she didn't want them spread around. When the bell finally rang, she was the first out of the room.

PT: Yeah! Another chapter up. Please, please, PLEASE leave a review to let me know what you think. I'd be much obliged!