Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Family Bonds ❯ Chapter 5: The Golden Dragon Arrives ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, however I do own all of the Original Characters except for one and he belongs to my friend.

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Yugi yawns as he walks down the stairs. He looks around in confusion when he notices all of the lights are out. “Grandpa?” He asks, walking into the living room. Yugi flicks on the lights.

“SURPRISE!!!”

Yugi jumps in shock when he grandpa and Anzu spring out of their hiding places and throw confetti into the air.

“Happy birthday, Yugi!” Anzu exclaims, leaping over the couch to hug a stunned Yugi.

“W-what?”

“Surely you haven’t forgotten your own birthday, Yugi.” Grandpa says, holding out a wrapped package. “Now come over here and open your presents! The gifts from your cousins and uncle arrived earlier this morning.”

“They did?” Yugi asks, detangling himself from Anzu’s hug. “It got here on time?”

Grandpa nods. “Yup. And a card came with it.” He hands Yugi the white enveloped card. “Read it aloud, Yugi.”

“‘Wishing you a happy birthday…’” Yugi opens the card and smiles when a picture falls out of it. He catches it and continues reading. “‘Love, Uncle Kojiro, Kiba, Tama, Seto, and Mokuba.’” He looks at the picture and smiles. “Look! They sent a picture from Tama’s birthday. I wonder who the white haired boy is…” ‘He looks familiar.’

“Flip it over.” Anzu says. “There’s something on the other side.”

Yugi flips it over. “‘Here’s us and our new friend Ryou-chan. Love, Tama.’”

The door slams open at this time and a half-dressed Damian skids into the room. His hair’s a mess and half up in a ponytail on the side of his head, his shirt is on backwards, he’s wearing pajama pants with ducks on them, he’s got two different shoes on and just one sock, and there’s a piece of toast in his mouth. He grabs the piece of toast before speaking. “Sorry I’m late! Power went out in our apartment last night and messed up my alarm clock.”

“It’s okay, Damian.” Yugi says, trying to hold back a laugh. “Nice pants.”

Damian looks down at his pants and turns red.

Anzu giggles. “At least he didn’t run out in just his underwear like he did that one time.”

Damian turns even more red. “That was because you dared me to! Not my fault!”

The others laugh at the memory, but they soon settle down.

“Here, Yugi. Happy birthday.” Damian says, handing Yugi a crumpled card. “I couldn’t do much ‘cause dad’s saving up for something or other.”

Yugi smiles and takes the card. “Thanks, Damian.” He looks at the cover and reads it. “‘Another year has passed…’” He opens it up to see one of Damian’s many doodles. This time it’s a bored looking puppy-Damian wearing a birthday hat and holding a sign that reads, “Whoopee…” Yugi turns to the next page. “'So here’s some money! Have some fun and par-tay!'” There’s a second drawing, this one of puppy-Damian and kitten-Yugi dancing and each holding a piece of cake.

Damian hands Yugi some yen. (Whatever amount is equal to ten dollars)

“Thanks, Damian.” Yugi says, giving the purple-haired boy a hug. He then proceeds to open the rest of his gifts before they go to the kitchen to eat breakfast.

From Kojiro he gets two new video games. Kiba has sent a book about ancient Egypt and a bad of candy. Tama has sent him a couple of games; Yatzee and some playing cards. From Mokuba and Seto he gets a bunch of packs of duel monster cards, a picture Mokuba drew, and a Kuriboh plushy. And from Anzu he gets money and a book of riddles.

For the rest of the day Yugi hangs out with Anzu and Damian until they both have to go home. It’s then that Grandpa gives Yugi his final present.

“I found this when I visited Egypt a long time ago.” Grandpa says. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but something tells me that it belongs with you.” He carefully pulls a dust covered box down from the shelf. “Be very careful with it, Yugi. This entire thing is made of gold.”

Yugi looks at the box in awe. “Wow, grandpa…! What do the pictures on the side mean?”

Grandpa sets the box down on the counter. “Those are called hieroglyphics and it says, ‘The one who solves me shall gain the powers and knowledge of darkness’.” (1)

“Neat… so what is it?” Yugi asks, opening the lid. He gasps when he sees the sparkling gold pieces in the box. “Wow… so pretty.”

“No one has ever been able to solve that puzzle, Yugi. So don’t be disappointed if you can’t.”

Yugi smiles brightly. “I’m going to solve it, grandpa! I’ll make you proud!”

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June 7, 1999: England, Poplar Drive

A raven haired girl walks down the road dressed in a cotton dress. Holder her hand is a young boy with sandy blonde hair. He’s wearing a cotton robe that looks similar to his sister’s dress.

The young boy rubs tiredly at his light purple eyes. He speaks in Arabic to his older sister. “Sister, I’m sleepy. May we stop somewhere and rest?”

“We’re almost there, Malik.” His sister replies in Arabic. “It should be one of these houses.”

The two walk a little further until the sister stops in front of a one-story house with a blue van setting in the driveway. She tugs her little brother up the driveway and to the door and then puts him behind her. She takes a breath before knocking on the door.

“Coming!” Kojiro calls from inside. Less than half a minute later he opens the door and looks at the raven haired girl in surprise. His heart skips a beat, for the gift looks a lot like his deceased wife, but then he sees that she has blue eyes. “Can I help you, miss?” He asks.

“I’m Isis Ishtar,” She says, in English now. “Are you Kojiro Muto?”

“I am.” Kojiro confirms. “You’re Hathor’s daughter, aren’t you?”

Isis nods. “I am. I have come to ask you something that is really important. You see, there’s a ritual of sorts in the Ishtar family that the oldest son will have the Pharaoh’s Memories carved into his back when he turns ten. My younger brother is the next to go through this ritual, but I fear the effects it may have on him.”

Kojiro listens patiently to his niece, waiting for her to ask her question while taking in the information she’s giving him. The information confirms some things he always wondered about.

“Uncle, would you consider taking in my brother?” Isis asks. “I don’t want for him to be forced to go through it. And… he deserves better. He deserves to be able to play in the sun with children his age.”

“You’re both welcome to stay.” Kojiro tells her.

Isis declines. “I must return home. Our brother Rishid is covering for us in our absence so I need to get home before father does something regretable.” She steps aside and looks down at Malik. “Malik, this is our Uncle Kojiro. You’re going to be staying with him from now on.” She says in Arabic. “He doesn’t speak but little Arabic, so you’ll have to speak in English.”

Malik nods. “Okay…” He says, still speaking in Arabic. “But sister, why can’t you stay too? I don’t want you to go!”

“Easy brother. I will return one day, but for now I must return home.” Isis says soothingly. “You’ll be safe here.” She bends down and hugs her brother goodbye and then she leaves.

Malik begins crying the moment she leaves the yard, knowing she really is leaving him behind. Kojiro immediately goes into ‘comforting parent’ mode and sits down on the porch beside Malik. He then uses a technique he used to use on Kiba when he’d get upset. “Why are you crying?” He asks.

Malik looks at him tearfully. “Sis left me. She doesn’t love me anymore.”

Kojiro’s heart clenches painfully, his mind flickering back to a time in the pas briefly. “That’s not true. Your sister loves you so much that she risked her life to bring you to a safe place. But she also loves your brother Rishid and has to go back to protect him too. I know you wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.”

Malik nods. “I know… I just miss her.”

Kojiro pats the step beside him for Malik to sit down and the young boy does so and leans against Kojiro tiredly. The single father hugs the newest edition to the family. “She’ll come back one day, just like she promised. A sister’s promise is unbreakable.” He looks down at Malik when the boy doesn’t reply and smiles when he sees that he’s asleep. Carefully, Kojiro picks the boy up and takes him inside so he can sleep better.

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“Tadaima!” Seto, Mokuba, Kiba, and Tama chorus. The four of them have been over at Ryou’s house for the entire day.

“Okaeri!” Kojiro greets from the kitchen.

The four take off their shoes and then the boys hand their shoes to Tama for her to go put them in the closet. Then the boys head to the kitchen to see what their dad is going. Meanwhile, Tama walks through the living room to the closet and puts the shoes away. On her way to the kitchen she notices Malik sleeping on the couch.

‘Who’s that?’ Tama wonders, inching a little closer to get a better look.

“Tama! Come in the kitchen please!” Kojiro calls.

“Hai, otou-san!” Tama replies, taking her eyes off the kid on the couch. As soon as she gets in the kitchen she questions her dad. “Otou-san, who is that on the couch?”

“That’s your cousin, Malik Ishtar.” Kojiro explains. “He’s going to be staying with us from now on, so there are some things I need to tell you all.” He looks at them seriously. “Keep in mind that Malik has grown up in a completely different country and has lived underground his entire life. We’re all going to have to be patient and explain things to him. There will be a lot of things that we use everyday that he has never even heard of.”

“He lived underground?” Kiba asks. “That’s horrible. How did he get here?”

“Your other cousin, Isis, brought him here but she had to return to Egypt.” Kojiro explains. “Now what else was I going to say…? Oh yes. Don’t crowd him and be careful with your hugging. I’m not sure what he’s used to and he may shy away from contact. Also, he’s used to speaking in Arabic so we’ll have to help him with his English and eventually teach him Japanese.”

“How old is he?” Seto asks.

“I’m not sure.” Kojiro replies. “He’s probably about your age.” He gestures to Tama and Seto. “Now I’m going to go wake him up. You all stay in here.”

Once Kojiro gets up. Tama takes his seat at the table and looks at her brothers. “Do you think he’s nice?” She asks.

“We’ll find out in a minute.” Kiba says. “But we all have to remember what otou-san said. We have to be patient and help him out and not hug him randomly until he gets used to us.”

Kojiro soon returns to the kitchen with a sleepy Malik by his side. He clears his throat. “Everyone, this is your cousin Malik. Malik, these are my kids. The girl is Tama and the boy who looks like her is Kiba. The boy with brown hair is Seto and the black haired boy is Mokuba.”

“Hello.” Malik says shyly.

Tama smiles. “Hi, Malik.”

“Welcome to our home.” Kiba says in Arabic. He doesn’t know very much, but he does remember everything that their mom taught him when she was alive.

This makes Malik smile a little. “Thank you.”

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(1) I got grandpa's quote directly from the Manga. And strangely, I just about gave Yugi the puzzle at the right time. I think it took him seven years to complete it... Probably just me getting things confused again. Does anyone know for sure?

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Shiro: I'm trying to make everything as accurate as possible, but I'm not sure how well I'm succeeding. Anyway, things are going to start getting interesting with Malik now with them.

NEXT TIME: Household appliances, another birthday, balance problems, and an English lesson.