Atemu Fanfiction

Title: False Accusation
Author: Shadowesque13
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Mystery/Horror
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is © Kazuki Takahashi. Any books, movies, television shows, etc. mentioned belong to their respective owners.

Not long afterwards, the rain and skies cleared enough that the three felt comfortable walking home. Yugi said goodbye to them and went back up to his room to think about what exactly he would do the next day in terms of the mansion and his own personal little investigation. The whole experience, cleaning, and thinking probably just a little too hard made him fall asleep on the bed he was sitting on.
His sleep was dream-ridden. Bits from the day, Yami’s Soul Room, the mansion… When he awoke in the morning, he pondered if it meant anything. He shrugged to himself and figured it was just a dream, nothing to worry about. The day outside was much like the day of the funeral; the rain of the previous day dissipated and gone. His suit, back from the cleaners, lay in a neat pile on his desk, strewn with random pages of leftover homework and other things.

At school, he was distracted, and his mind was far off in the distance. Instead of going his alternate route, he walked home first with the others as to not draw any suspicion. This thought made him laugh internally. Yes, he thought sarcastically, I’m such a secret agent. Once home he dumped and ignored his stuff.
“Grandpa, I’m going out!” he called as he walked outside with the others, who were about to leave for their respective homes.
So they went their separate ways, saying how they’d see each other tomorrow and hang out all weekend long as normal. Once they were out of eyesight and earshot, he ran off back to the menacing metal gateway.
It was locked, which wasn’t surprising in the least. It didn’t look guarded, however, as nobody had yet to see hide or hair of Mokuba. Taking a deep breath and readying himself for—well, he wasn’t sure what for, just for anything—he climbed up the fence. It was about 10 feet tall, shining black (though you could tell it wasn’t new) with semi-sharpened ends. Yugi, once on the top and easily avoiding any pointed ends, slowly lower himself down to the other side onto the top bar which he used as a foot hole. Then it was an easy climb downward.
When his feet hit the ground, he wondered if he should, and if so, if he could, unlock it to make his way easier in case he ever came back. Even if he wanted do, which at the moment didn’t seem like the best idea, he really had no way to. He turned up the long stone walkway and stared up at the mansion. A thought hit him. How would he get in? Surely the doors were locked and the windows shut.
The Kaiba family had a security team comparable to that of the President of the United States, or so the analogy went. Yugi mentally kicked himself for overlooking this. Oh well, he’d try anyway. Maybe he was in over his head and going crazy. Or maybe—
“Maybe you will find something.” Yami finished his thought for him. “If we can’t get in, we can just try again or just stop and not worry.”
“I thought you didn’t think there was anything to be found…”
“I’m pretty sure I never actually said that, now did I?” Yami shrugged and went back into the Puzzle, leaving this thought. “It’s your choice, Yugi, but I’ll come along no matter what you decide.”
It was nice having a 5,000-year-old Egyptian pharaoh’s spirit connected to your soul sometimes.

He was grateful that nobody ever seemed to come around here. He certainly wouldn’t want to get caught and go to jail for trespassing. Okay, so he wasn’t sure if one could really go to jail for that, but he didn’t want to know anyway.
As he came closer to the main front door, his heart began pounding more. Every rustle of leaves and slight breeze startled him. He drew up in front of the massive, dark wood, double doors with silver, shining handles. His mouth had gone dry feet ago and a lone bead of sweat ran down the side of his face. He placed his hand, which somehow wasn’t shaking, onto the right handle and slowly pulled it open just a crack. It stood ajar for a moment before he pulled it all the way open.
He didn’t know why he had expected anything to happen, and he felt silly for being so nervous and jumpy.
The darkened interior, he saw as he poked his head in, gave off an old, creaky, haunted house kind of vibe, as if it hadn’t been touched in years. Minus the dust and cobwebs, that is. He half expected to see Seto’s ghost to come out of the floor and bang things around, scaring away any potential visitors away.
Yugi gave a nervous laugh and stepped inside. It was now that he remembered that ghost stories were never quite his thing. Sure, by a campfire, but this was real life, with real souls and spirits. He left the doors open to let the light in and, he had to admit, as a quick means of escape should anything happen. The room was actually decently enough lit through the windows. But he still wished the brought a flashlight.
To the right was a large staircase leading to the upstairs. The living room where the body was found stood to the left. He wandered slowly past the large windows and over the thick carpet, checking the outer surrounding area. A very shallow indentation of a body laying in one spot for 8 or more hours was situated only feet from him. Compared to Yugi, Seto Kaiba was a giant, being over six feet tall, always towering over Yugi.
The area looked clean; it probably looked this way to the police. But Yugi, ever determined, looked at the walls, the floor, any nearby objects. After about 10 minutes of searching up and down, he began to get frustrated. Until as mall sliver of some sort of sheen caught his sight in the sunlight, that is.
It was about a foot and a half away from the impression’s right foot. Bending down, Yugi looked it over. It looked like a hair. Picking it up, he confirmed that it was indeed a strand of hair. He couldn’t be 100 sure, of course. Maybe, he mused, sticking it in his pocket, I should dig out my old microscope. And if it is a human hair, how will I know whose it is?

Taking the evidence with him and closing the doors, he wondered more. Why was the main door open? The security goons would have made sure nobody got inside. And how, his mind continued rambling as he fingered the hair in his pocket, could the police and forensic scientists have missed this?
Yami was a bit more optimistic, however. “You did well. I believe we may be one step closer to solving this.”
“The Hardy Boys, eh, Yami?” Seeing the confused look his counterpart’s face, he waved the comparison aside. “Book series. Never mind.”
Yugi would normally sleep in until lunch on Saturdays, but the recent discovery kept him awake into the night and had him awake early. This was just fine with his grandfather, having two other hands to help around the morning chores.
So, while he did chores, Yugi’s mind wandered off course up the stairs into his right pant pocket where the little hair strand resided. It wandered back to the impression in the carpet in the mansion. It wandered him right into a wall a few times, too.
“Are you feeling all right, Yugi?” laughed his grandfather as Yugi picked himself up off the floor for about the 4th time.
“Yeah, I’ve just been thinking a lot lately.”
The elder nodded. “And where did you go yesterday? To the arcade with the others again?”
“Just walked them home and then around town,” Yugi lied blatantly. “Look, I’ve just had a lot on my mind lately, is there a problem with that?”
“No, not at all. I rather expected this, really.” He waved him off and went back to the other room, which left Yugi to get back to work.

“…He knows, doesn’t he…”
Yami chuckled. “He’s your grandfather, Yugi. What do you think?”
“I know he knows I lied, but what about the mansion and our little expedition?”
“No, I think he’s still stumped about tha-” Yami was interrupted by the game shop door slamming and a brown eyed boy bounding in.
“Heya, Yugi!” Joey was soon followed by Téa.
“Please tell him to lay off the soda…” Téa was embarrassed to be seen with him.
“I was just here because he hung out at my place for a while. So I’m off.” She spotted the box by his feet. “Maybe Mr. Mutou should start paying you a salary,” she winked before she left.
A gruff scoff was heard. “He wishes!”
“So, anyway, Yug…” He scratched his head, obviously having lost his train of thought.
“Wanted to hang out here for a few hours? When I’m tired, kick you out, and you’ll then go to Tristan’s and bug him for a few hours until you end up going back home?”
Joey’s eye twitched. “Not…quite what I had in mind…” He stared into a random glass display case. He then pointed to a certain object and bent down to see it more clearly. “Hey, is that Black Pendant? I’ve been looking all over for that card…”

It was then that Yugi noticed something familiar. Maybe it was the sunlight bouncing off of it or the angle he was bent, but his hair seemed oddly shimmering… Yugi’s eyes widened as he pretended to acknowledge Joey as he rushed up the stairs and dove for his pants (which thankfully had not been put through the wash yet), more specifically, for the hair inside.
He came back down, Joey still in the same place, saying a little more about the card before moving on to another one that happened to catch his eye.
“Stand still for a minute, Joey,” Yugi said as Joey then muttered an “okay” and went back to staring at cards.
Yugi pulled the strand straight and held it up next to Joey’s hair. He may not have any evidence other than looks, but it did look exactly like a match for Joey’s messy mane.
“Whatcha doin’ there, Yugi?” asked Joey, straightening. “Don’t tell me you’re puttin’ one of those lame ‘kick me’ signs on my back, are ya?”
Yugi shook his head, but in the back of his mind, he made a mental note to do that the next chance he got. “I just…I think this is a bit of your hair. Nothing major.”
Joey laughed. “Yeah, it probably is. So, any chance of gramps would, uh, ‘loan’ me a few o’ those special cards there…?”
Not wanting to suddenly accuse his best friend of murder in front of his face due to a bit of hair, Yugi rolled his eyes and replied, “I have my doubts about that.”

“Not unless,” came the grandfather’s voice from the side room again, “he’s willing to pay for them!”
Joey groaned when he looked at them again and some of the prices. “Ah, no prob. I’m with my best bud, and we’re about to have some fun!”
“Like…what?”
“Lemmie think about it first!” coughed Joey.
“Wish you’d think things through first before you announce things to the world.”
“Well…yeah, I guess I gotta work on that…”
Sharing a true laugh, the two went to the door. “I still have to work here. Maybe see you this afternoon?” Yugi held the glass door open for Joey, who went through it.
“Make sure you don’t tick off too many people!”
Joey gave a thumbs up. “Smell ya later!”
Yugi closed the door and collapsed against it, letting the door support his weight. This was nuts. He had to be wrong; it was just coincidence. I mean, hair doesn’t just appear at a crime scene that hasn’t been touched in nearly a week, especially hair that obviously didn’t belong to either Kaiba brother. Maybe it was one of the police officers’?
He knew it wasn’t his, the color and texture wasn’t right. It really did look exactly like Joey’s. At the call of his grandfather, asking if he was still there, and if he was, to start some dusting while lunch was being prepared, Yugi snapped back to the present.
“Coming, grandpa!” He glanced at the hair again, about to just let it fall to the floor to be swept up and forget everything. Then he placed it back into the pocket and tried to look forward to food and seeing friends soon.

After eating and actually attempting a bit of homework, Yugi called up Téa. He knew if he could trust any of his friends about anything (besides Joey, of course), it was the sensible Téa.
“Hello, Gardner residence,” chimed her preppy voice.
“Hey, Téa, it’s me.”
“Yugi, nice to hear you again! So I guess the manual labor is over?”
He sighed. “It’s not that bad, Téa. Look, I need to throw some really wild and radical ideas at you.”
He almost could hear her blink in disbelief. “O…kay… Why the sudden change in personality? Who are you and what did you do to Yugi Mutou?”
“No, I’m serious.” He lowered his voice just a little so that he was sure nobody could hear him. “Look, yesterday I went to the Kaiba mansion again and got inside.”
“You did what?!”
“Listen! I was looking around, maybe for evidence, for something that would point me in some direction. This is gonna sound really stupid…”
“Sounds kinda crazy so far. But go on, I won’t interrupt.”
“Okay,” he said exasperatedly. “I found this hair there.”
He heard her about to say something but shut her mouth before she got a word out.
“I don’t even know how the door could be unlocked for me to get in, much less how the police could miss such an obvious clue. I mean, if a 16-year-old kid could find it…”
He went back to the point. “Remember when Joey came over this morning? His hair and the strand I found at the scene of the crime looked exactly alike. I’m no forensic scientist, but I really did think it was his. Téa,” he added, taking a dramatic pause, but not purposely, “I think our friend Joey may have murdered Seto Kaiba.”

There was about a minute of silence on the other end of the line. “Do you…I mean, you do know what you’re saying, right? What you’re implying? By a piece of hair and by breaking and entering?”
He nodded before he realized she couldn’t see him. “Yeah, I know, I’m really shaken by this. I don’t think it could be true, though. But…”
His mind started reeling. “Think about it. Who’s the person Joey hates most?”
“It’s always been Kaiba.”
“Right. And he didn’t seem to care after he died. You know, motive kinda thing. And this hair.”
“Then, Sherlock, tell me how he died.”
Yami came out for a moment. “You know, she’s got you there.”
He sighed. “I have no idea.”
“Look, maybe you just need to rest a little and let this go for a few days, take a little vacation."
“What, now you’re accusing me of insanity, are you?” Yugi laughed. “Look, I’m sorry, but what did I say before… Look, I’m just not going to say anything more about this to anyone. And don’t tell anyone, or else they’ll investigate me, too, and Joey’ll hate me.”
He thought for a moment. “Hey, if you get caught trespassing, can you go to jail?”
“What?”
“Nah, nothing, never mind. Well, I’ll see you with the others in about an hour, right?”
“Yeah…”
“So see you then.” He quickly hung up the phone before she could reply. “That went well…”

“You knew she’d react that way, Yugi,” sighed Yami.
“I know…but I needed to tell someone.”
“Please heed her advice, at least for today.” He looked down at Yugi. “You’ve been so tense I fear you’ll wear yourself to pieces. It’s really starting to take a physical and mental toll on you.”
Yugi nodded sadly. “I know what you mean...”
“Just enjoy the company of your friends. Like at the arcade the other day.”
Yugi scoffed. “Hard to do that when your best friend might have killed a man…” he muttered under his breath. “But yeah, you’re right.”
Yugi paced his room, wondering what he would do. Maybe take him aside and ask if he knew anything? Come right out and accuse him of the crime? No matter what he did, he probably would never know what the truth was.
And he doubted very much so that he could just waltz into a police station, ask them to identify some DNA, and walk out of there knowing who the perpetrator is. And how did the hair get there in the first place?

He shook his head. “I’m blowing this way out of proportion,” he sighed. “For all I know, it could be thread from a shirt or the hair from a security guard locking up!”
And speaking of locking, he added in the head, why wasn’t the front door locked?
“Anyone could get in like that, seeing how I scaled that fence without much problem. Then…why wasn’t the gate unlocked?”
“Human error,” intruded Yami, “is a part of life.”
“I guess so. But still…” He trailed off, not knowing what to do or say.
Yami thought for a moment. “I liked the idea of just asking him some questions about that day. If he’s truly our friend, he wouldn’t have reason to lie to us, would he?”
Yugi agreed. The clocked turned to 2, and Yami’s shadowy figure dissipated away. He spied out his window to see the gang coming together outside the shop. Tristan spotted the form and waved. He went slowly downstairs, regaining a fun-loving composure while thoughts of what and how best he could ask Joey incriminating questions were set aside.

“Yugi, be sure not to get filled up on any sweets,” his grandfather warned lazily. “I’m planning an earlier supper.”
He gave an ‘mmhm’ as a response and ran out to meet the gang. “Hey, guys!”
“Yugi! Hey!” The others greeted him. Once that was out of the way, they walked in a random direction as they debated where to go and what they should do when they got there.
Yugi actually started having true fun, nearly forgetting that a suspect stood nearby. He shrugged the feeling off and decided that he’d talk to him on the way back. He also noticed Téa glancing at him a few times. He always looked away, trying to make it seem as though nothing had happened.
The other two were acting…well, like they normally did—that being insane, mindless, and generally stupid. That was a good sign to Yugi, so Téa probably kept her word and didn’t say a thing to anyone else.
Good, because he didn’t want word getting out, or Joey to get the wrong impression. He was only a vague suspect. Motive, perhaps opportunity, DNA (or so he just assumed, since he couldn’t go on much else), but he wouldn’t believe that his best friend was a cold-blooded killer, even against Kaiba.

They had gotten some milkshakes after finally deciding on taking a walk about the city just talking about whatever.
They ran into Bakura near the mall and chatted with him a while, mainly about how he’s been and what he was up to. Joey always thought that Bakura’s shyness was ‘pretty weird sometimes’, since he almost intentionally avoided people most of the time.
Yugi knew he was only joking around, not meaning anything by the comment, since the introversion was rather odd for a person in this city, or at least, to the 4 friend group. It must’ve been hard moving all the way here, Yugi mused as they waved off Bakura who needed to get home. And still being thought of as the new kid, well, that was a tagging that would take a while to wear off until the next one comes.
Joey soon swore off making bets with Tristan ever again. 5 minutes later, they were competing on who could skip rocks the farthest across the water for 2 free (meaning the other person had to fork over the money to get them) packs of cards. Which, of course, didn’t make Yugi or Téa blink, as they had taken a bet themselves for 50 cents on how long Joey’s swearing would last. Before his first rock was even tossed, Téa handed Yugi two quarters.

It ended up being a tie, since neither of them seemed to possess the ability to skip rocks. The time flew, and it was soon nearing 5. They left each other to wander back home before seeing each other either at night or the next day. Yugi was reminded of the task he had set out to do and pulled Joey over by an alleyway.
“What’s up?” asked Joey inquisitively.
“I just had a few questions.” He then made up the lie, “Since I’m so into the crime, I’ve been thinking about what could have happened, so I’m interviewing everyone relevant I can think of.”
“Thinkin’ of writin’ for the school paper, Yug?” Joey gave him a slight noogie. “Or just a mystery writer?”
Yugi laughed without answering the questions and fixed his hair back to its original position the best he could. “So, Joey, where were you all Saturday a week ago?”
The other boy stood in thought. “I was at home arranging my deck. Then I went for a quick dip at the pool.” He scratched his head. “That night…me an’ Trist hung around near clubs. I still can’t believe you gotta have valid I.D. to get into those places…” he added in a mutter.
“So, if I asked Tristan, he’d probably say the same, right?”
“Sure, unless he’s a lyin’ snake in the grass. Which he can be.” Joey gave a roll of his eyes. “I swear, he cheats every time we make a bet!”
Yugi nodded. “Okay then, so, you’re sure you would’ve been nowhere near the Kaiba mansion all Saturday and Sunday?”
Joey smirked. “You wouldn’t catch me there on any day. But nah, I wasn’t anywhere around there.”

The two started walking, following the path that the other two had taken. “Any thoughts or speculations about this yourself, Joey?”
Joey shrugged, adding to the motion, “I never really gave it much thought, truth be told. I mean, I did think that him just croakin’ like that outta thin air for no determinable reason was pretty weird, but you know how much I hated that richie rich jerk off. I just accepted that he was gone for good.”
He looked to the sky for a moment, contemplating. “Still, like I said before, gotta be sorry, no matter how many insults he threw. I can rant on and on about the many times I got so angry I could just throttle the guy, but when you think about it, it really is a tragedy. Especially for those innocents.”
Yugi understood he was talking about Mokuba.
“And if you were about to ask about me not going to the funeral,” he continued, “I’ll pay my respects in my own way.” He grinned. “Can you imagine the look on his face if he knew I would be a sniveling, sobbing mess attending his own funeral? Not that I woulda cried for him, just those kinds of services, ya know?”
Joey turned a street corner, heading back to his own residence. “Now, if your questions are done,” he said, stretching a little, “I’ll see you later, eh, Yug?” He waved and stuck his hands in his pockets coolly. The blonde strolled down the street, leaving Yugi going straight ahead to the game shop.

He fingered the hair. How could he insinuate that his own best friend murdered another man? And after that testimony, unless he had a very good poker face, Yugi wasn’t willing to believe the small piece of what might be called “evidence”.
He might just talk to Tristan, just to make sure the club part of the story was correct, but he had a feeling he wouldn’t need to. He sighed and stared at his moving feet.
“Everyone’s right, I should just take a day off. I’m just too twisted around this; I’ve got to get my head to stop twirling all these facts into accusations and relax a bit.”
Yami seemed happy about that. “With the amount of thinking you’ve been doing lately, I’m surprised you haven’t become another Imhotep. Or…I guess the modern simile would be Einstein, right?” He laughed with embarrassment. “You can tell I don’t pay attention during your classes.”
The smaller boy nodded yet again. “Yeah, I just need to make sure nothing else freaky comes up to grab my attention.”
“Chances of that being…” Yami gave a mock pause of thought and calculation. “…Very likely.”
“I see you have been paying attention in other things,” smirked Yugi. “You’ve developed a better sense of humor.”
“My sense of humor was just fine, and it still is,” added Yami defensively. “Let’s just say not everything was fun and games in ancient Egypt. That I know.”
Yugi laughed out loud. “You don’t need to get angry with me, Yami, I was just making an innocent observation.”
Yami sighed.

Yugi’s grandfather greeted the teen when he walked through the door. “Yugi, nice to see you! Just at the right time, too!”
Yugi blinked, utterly confounded by this odd behavior. “Uh…did I win a prize or something…?”
His grandfather waved a finger. “Ho, you wish.” He lifted a bucket of water and an accompanying mop.
Yugi backed away toward the stairs. “But…grandpa, I did chores! Do I really have to…?”
In a few minutes time, Yugi was scrubbing the tiled floor with the damp mop, muttering grouchily under his breath. It didn’t take very long (perhaps because he rather skimped on some spots), so he flopped onto his bed, tired of his day already.
His nose caught the smell of food being prepared. Some ham, possibly some pancakes… He now realized why his grandfather didn’t want him having anything to eat, even a shake, for he wasn’t very hungry. He closed his eyes and let his body unwind. “For the next 24 hours,” he softly mumbled, “I will not do anything but have fun.”
“Sounds good,” winked Yami. “All your shenanigans are wearing me out, and I haven’t even been in a solid form for at least a week!”
“Since we haven’t had any major duels we’ve needed to win, obviously.”
“And thankfully.”
“Indee-”
“Yugi! I hope you’re hungry!” His grandfather’s cheery voice echoed upstairs.
Yugi moaned. “Just when I was getting comfy…”