Yugi Muto looks like just a normal kid. He's very shy, refuses to sing in front of anybody, even Grandpa Solomon, he gets average grades, is about thirteen, and has friends in Joey Wheeler, Tristan Taylor, Serenity Wheeler, Tèa Gardner, Seto Kaiba...
A small child, about fifteen years old, was standing in front of Domino Elementary School. He was waiting for his friends, Ryou, Malik, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, Tèa, Seto, and Mokuba. He took a quick peek around. Nobody was watching. He let an odd sound escape from his lips, quiet and gentle, but fierce. Haunting, yet strangely compelling. A call.
Instantly, a boy with mussed blond hair and a beautiful girl with long brown hair came rushing up. "Sorry we're late, Yugi. Serenity insisted on walking sooooo slowly!" The blond boy said, throwing his hands in the air. The small boy, Yugi, laughed. "Oh, Joey, don't pretend that you don't slow her down more than she slows you down!" He scolded lightly. "Yeah, Yugi's right!" A tall boy with brown hair slapped the blond boy, Joey, on the back. Serenity giggled. Joey snarled. "Don't do that, Tristan! You hurt me!" Tristan laughed good-naturedly. "I love ya too, Joey." He mussed Joey's hair quickly. Joey grumbled good-naturedly, pushing Tristan's hand aside. Tèa, who had shown up right after Tristan, shook her head, smiling.
After a minute, Ryou, Malik, Seto, and Mokuba walked up.
Ryou smiled kindly at Yugi. "Hello, Yugi. How are you today?" Yugi smiled shyly right back. "I'm good. You?" Ryou shrugged. "Eh."
Seto started walking towards the building. "Come on. We don't want to be late." He called back. Mokuba laughed delightedly. "Come on!"
Everybody followed at varying paces.
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Yugi shared a homeroom with Ryou, Malik, Joey, Tèa, Tristan, and a bunch of other kids. Seto was older than them, and Serenity and Mokuba were younger than them.
The entire grade shared a homeroom. Being in 9th Grade meant that the teachers were always trying to lump as many kids into one room as possible. There were often two or even three teachers for each class, and over half of the classrooms were empty because of their consolidating. A class could consist of anywhere from 30 to 80 children. The younger grades could have even more, some going up to 120 or higher. The highest class to date consisted of 239 people, and that was three years ago for the 3rd Grade. That class was now 6th Grade, with a class of 180 people.
Yugi's class was one of the smallest ones, consisting of 39 people. The fact that the entire grade had only one class wasn't really surprising. No grade ever got more than three classes, and even that wasn't very common.
The first bell rang just after Yugi entered his classroom. The teacher barely looked up to acknowledge him. He was always slightly early.
The second bell rang almost exactly five minutes later. The teacher stood by the door, marking those who came in after the bell off on a sheet of paper. Joey was one of them, as usual, along with about 15 other kids and Tristan, who Joey had probably dragged along. Tristan wouldn't get a tardy on purpose.
After three minutes, the teacher shut the door. "Before we call roll, we have some new students. Would Bakura Ryou, Marik Ishtar, and Atem Sennen please come out?"
Three people stepped out from behind the curtain that cut off the unused portion of the room.
Yugi stared. Bakura Ryou had the opposite name of Ryou, who was Ryou Bakura. They also looked eerily similar, with both having white hair and blue eyes. Bakura's hair stuck up more than Ryou's, and his eyes were sharper and more dangerous, but apart from that, the two boys looked almost exactly alike. Ryou definitely looked more innocent, though. Bakura had a dangerous look about him.
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Marik Ishtar and Malik Ishtar shared the same last name, face, body, and hair. As with Bakura and Ryou, Marik's hair stuck up more and he had more dangerous eyes, but apart from that, looked exactly the same. Just like with Ryou and Bakura, Marik looked much more dangerous than the innocent little Malik.
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At the last, Atem Sennen, Yugi felt his breath catch. Atem looked like him. He was taller, his hair was longer and had streaks of yellow shot through it, he was more built, and his eyes were dangerous. He had the same dark air about him as the others, that dark, dangerous feeling, the feeling to stay away, that this person was dangerous. He had dark tanned skin, like Marik's and Malik's, only darker, more like sun-tanned than genetically dark.
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Yugi wondered why. Were they like him? Were they human, or not? Were they dangerous? Just because they felt dangerous didn't necessarily mean that they were dangerous, but his first impressions were usually right.
Yugi's eyes followed Atem. Who was this person who looked so much like him? Could he possibly be one too?
He sent out a silent call, a question. Are you one of us?
There was no response. Yugi sighed gratefully. Atem Sennen just happened to look like him. He was not a siren.
"Mr. Sennen, you sit between Mr. Muto," Yugi raised his hand, "And Mr. Wheeler." Joey raised his hand. "Mr. Ishtar, you sit between Mr. Ishtar," Malik raised his hand, "And Mr. Taylor." Tristan raised his hand. "Mr. Ryou, you sit between Mr. Bakura," Ryou raised his hand, "And Miss Gardner." Tèa raised her hand.
Atem sat down between Yugi and Joey. Yugi felt himself begin to blush. Atem was too close for comfort. The desks were practically jammed right up against each other, and Atem's shoulders were brushing Yugi's.
Yugi turned to the front, determined to ignore the shoulder brushing his and the hot red blush on his face.
He heard a low chuckle. "Am I too close?" He squeaked, turning to find his face right up against Atem's. He could feel the taller boy's breath on his face, see his deep purple eyes, just like his except that they were slanted and dangerous, but right now were full of amusement. His nose was right beside Atem's, his eyes staring directly into the other boy's, their lips not even an inch apart. Yugi could feel his cheeks heating up. "Umm...Yes?" It came out sounding like a question. Atem chuckled again. "Well, I'm sorry." He somehow managed to sound both sincere and yet not sorry at all. "I'm afraid that there really isn't anywhere else for me to go, though. The room is slightly crowded."
Yugi blushed again, turning back to the front, away from those dangerous, amused eyes that looked so much like his own and that hot breath on his lips, heating his cheeks up and making him feel warm.
Atem watched him, amused, for a minute, before turning to the front. He could feel the small boy's shoulder against his and shifted slightly. A bolt of amusement shot through him as the other boy tensed up. This was going to be fun.
He dropped a book. Grinning, he leaned down to pick it up. He made sure to brush against Yugi's hand, and grinned wider when he heard Yugi make a little eep sound. Yes, this was going to be very fun, very, very fun, yes indeed.
