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.

His feet pounded at fast as his heart did against the pavement as he rushed, an oddly misplaced yet still there smile on his face. He did slow down after two blocks, his burst of energy wearing off. Walking now, Yugi noted the crisp chill in the air. This was a day for heavier jackets and long sleeved shirts and pants. He wondered how cold it would end up being on the inside of the mansion. He hoped he didn’t see foggy breath or ice crystals hanging from the ceiling. The puddles from the rain had for the most part evaporated and most weren’t even there, or if they were, left behind less than an inch, not even enough to get a foot wet even if one tried.

The wind was calm, which was good, so wind chill wouldn’t prove to be much of a factor today. The trees, because of this, were still and calm. It, in turn, did not make much of a calming effect, but seemed menacing to Yugi. It seemed perhaps, dare he think it, like an omen of sorts. A bad kind of omen, for him anyway. But he believed in souls more than he believed in omens, so he didn’t let the feeling bother him. He just went on his merry way down street after street. Either people were at work or they were at school, so he didn’t run into many people along the way, especially once he got into the more secluded area where the mansion was located. The sky was ever shifting. It went from cloudy to letting the sun shine down to blocking it partly and so on.

Specks of blue could be seen sometimes, and other times it couldn’t. He pulled the jacket closer to his body, trapping, or at least trying to, his own body heat within to keep him warm. He strode by trees, shrubs, neatly trimmed bushes, fences, all of them of the same color and design. Surely Kaiba’s property didn’t include this much land. He spotted the gate, closed as always and walked up to it. It was almost surprising that there wasn’t a speck of rust on it anywhere even though it certainly wasn’t brand new. But there were probably hired hands to take care of this kind of thing and all of the little things that went on inside of the enormous structure. The grass and weeds were beginning to grow wildly. The rain and the fact that nobody has been cutting it for over a week and a half most likely had the most to do with it. They were crawling up onto the neat stone pathway, making it seem older and more dilapidated.

If the mansion has vines growing all over the place, I’m leaving, joked Yugi. No haunted houses for me, thank you very much.
He began his climb upward to the top of the gate to get over. When he neared the top, he slid the backpack to one arm, down to his right hand, then tossed it over the top. Without the extra, added weight, getting over and down was quicker. He walked up the pathway with the overgrown grass and contemplated the possibility that this was an unsolvable crime. It was a possibility, he supposed. He just always thought there had to be a felon; he never bought into the whole ‘died without any causes’ thing.

Yami stifled a yawn and mumbled that he was glad this would be the last day of looking.
“Well, I’m so very glad you have no faith in our criminal,” Yugi told him dryly, a bit annoyed by this.
Yami only replied that he was very tired, probably from all of the searching. Yugi accepted this and continued on his way. The large wooden doors with the silver door handles were ahead, black as night windows to the side and trees adding to that effect. When he reached the doors, he took another look around, as if he was expecting someone. He had the feeling of being watched, of being followed, but not even Yami sensed anything wrong. Yugi was probably just tensed up now and a little stressed about this whole experience. He looked to the sky once more, checking the weather.

It seemed very hard to predict today, but the chances of showers were still high, so he was glad he had brought his raincoat along with him. He put his hand on the door handle, almost pulling away because it felt frozen out here, and opened it, the second of the pair soon following suit.
Hmm, gloves might not be a bad thing to pick up when I go shopping for those new clothes that I need, he mentally noted to himself.
The backpack dropped to the floor just inside the radius of the doors and he turned to close them. Once they shut with a rather loud sound, considering the immense size of the double doors, he automatically found the light switch he was looking for. Immediately he found what he was looking for.

It caught him by surprise at first, a shine, a glint on the floor, in fact, many of them, once the overhead light was switched on. By the nearly invisible indentation of where the body had once lain on the floor was what looked to be glass and a frame.

A picture frame. With what was most likely a photograph half hanging out of it. He drew up to it, examining the situation further and closer. The glass was indeed the broken glass of the wooden picture frame. He was careful where he stepped and where he placed his hands so as to not accidentally cut himself.
Not just for the obvious, but also because his blood at the scene and on the potential evidence would not be a very convincing thing to the police.
“Yugi.” Yami pointed out the photograph.
Without trying to move anything, he glanced at what could be seen. It looked like Mokuba and Seto, playing a friendly game of chess. They were much younger, however, the picture taken perhaps 7 years ago.
It was strange to Yugi, seeing Seto wearing a genuine smile. And the place seemed unfamiliar. It certainly wasn’t the mansion. Yugi was about to go back and get one of the plastic bags to place all of this inside when Yami flagged him down again.
“Look. The back of the picture. I think there’s writing on it.”
Yugi plucked the photo out of the wreckage and turned it around. There was indeed someone’s handwriting on the reverse side.
“Weird. I wonder if whoever wrote it did this after he broke it.”
“What does it say, Yugi? Read it.”
The writing looked quickly scribbled and slightly smeared by a liquid, most likely tears. Yugi read to himself and out loud.

“‘Seto, why did you have to be such a terrible big brother? Why did you end up just like our stepfather? I told you the company was going in the wrong direction. Why didn’t you ever listen to me? Nii-sama, goodbye.’”
The two were silent. Yugi was the first to break it after about 2 minutes of their state of shock.
“So…so does this mean…” He shook his head in disbelief. “Does this mean that…Mokuba’s the killer? He killed his own brother?”
“I can’t understand why he would do this…” muttered Yami.
“Oh no.” Yugi dropped the picture and bolted up. “No, no, no, this can’t be right! This is insane! This…this has to be some sick and twisted joke…” He nervously gave a small laugh. “That’s just not possible…”
Yami examined it for himself. “Is this Mokuba’s handwriting?” he mused.
Yugi shook his head. “I wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen it.”
“It looks like he, or whoever wrote it,” he added, “was in quite a hurry or in quite a bit of distress.” He turned to Yugi. “Do you have any idea what this all could mean?”
“Mokuba…but why…how could he…” Yugi kneeled back down and fingered the frame. “He can’t…”
After a moment of quiet contemplation and thought, letting it all sink in, he carefully placed everything, every shard of glass, the frame, the picture, into one of the bags he had brought along. When it was closed and put into his backpack, he sighed. “I don’t believe it.”

“You might have to,” said Yami quietly, bowing his head.>BR? “But…” Yugi floundered to find things that didn’t match up. “The paper said he was spending his time in some undisclosed villa. How’d he get back here?”
“It’s not like he would have reporters flocking around him everywhere, even if they wanted to. He could have come here every few nights and nobody would know; they’d just assume he’s gone.”
“Okay, but then why’d he do it?” He glanced at the area where the body was. “And how? He always loved his brother, Kaiba always protected Mokuba when something happened. And now this? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Yami sat by Yugi. “Read the note again, Yugi. Apparently little Mokuba didn’t think his elder brother was that good to him as we all assumed. And it sounds like Kaiba was taking the company in a direction that Mokuba thought was for the worse. Maybe he never liked his brother but just fooled us all with some façade.”
“Or Kaiba turned sour since the last time we saw him. But what could have happened that would drive Mokuba to homicide…?”
“That, too, could be a possibility…”
Yugi glared up at his spirit. “And how can you be so calm about all of this? I can’t understand how you’re always cool and collected about every shocking thing we discover! It’s inhuman,” he spat.
Yami was taken aback. “Hey, one of us has to keep his head on straight around here!” He lowered his voice. “And, to be quite honest, I’ve grown too used to this kind of thing…”

Yugi felt ashamed that he yelled at Yami and stared at the ground. He decided to get back to the matter at hand. “That still leaves the question of how Kaiba was killed. Any ideas?”
Shaking his head, Yami replied, “No, I can’t think of anything. Remember, the doctors didn’t find anything wrong with him.”
“Do you think…do you think that Mokuba…just wanted to take control of the company? To get Kaiba Corp. back on the track that he felt that it should go?” He suppressed a shudder.
“Do you suppose that he may have wanted the company all to himself and got his big brother out of the way to do so?”
Yami was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know why he would have done this,” he finally said, avoiding the question all together.
He stood. “Well,” he stated sadly, “we have our evidence. Want to head back?”
Yugi nodded as he lifted up the pack from its position on the floor. “I don’t want to stumble across any more clues like this, that’s for sure.”
Normally, Yami would roll his eyes at such a comment, but he, too, gave a nod as the two walked out after having turned off the lights. “What will your grandpa think, coming back only half an hour after leaving?”
Yugi shrugged. “I don’t know. But home isn’t really where I want to go right now.”
He went in the opposite direction that he would normally take from the mansion to go back to the shop. The sky had darkened slightly as a weak breeze blew. The jacket of Yugi’s blew open and fluttered in the moving air. Yugi paid this no mind and continued staring down at his feet, hands in his pockets, walking slowly down the street.

In the span of about 10 minutes or so, he had reached the first of the docks that signified the harbor’s location. The waves rolled gently, almost nonexistent, toward the shore, rocking any docked boats up and down, back and fourth. The sounds, even though he wasn’t listening to them, were comforting, but only slightly. The seagulls flew and soared through the air, being generally noisy as they searched for any food. A few workers, a few crewmen, were working on the dock, but didn’t notice him through the crates and boxes full of goods to transport.

He wandered onto an empty pier and looked out across the immense sea, another breeze blowing from his right. On the horizon, he could see another ship, looking like it was leaving. He also saw a coming storm. That would probably be a reason why the sky had only grown cloudier and not shown the sun since he had left. This depressed him a little. He supposed that he should get back before the rain hit, but he was sure he wouldn’t mind at all if he got as soaked at the other night (even if his grandfather did). He sighed and wandered away, going in the direction of the park.

He took a roundabout way, going around it once before actually going in. He passed by the fountain, but didn’t even notice it. The trees sighed and animals were for the most part quiet as he walked by. The green plants looked dull in what light there was. They certainly couldn’t complain about water, that was for sure. He passed a few people along the way, a man on a bench, a group of women walking and talking, a mother and her son, a dog and his boy. He couldn’t care less if he even ran into anyone without apologizing, there were far more important things on his mind than manners and politeness.

He soon found his way on the street where his house was located. He looked up and stopped. He still didn’t want to go home yet, so he sat on the curb of the sidewalk and pulled out one of the bars he had packed and unwrapped it, slowly munching on it, then realizing he wasn’t really hungry. He forced it down anyway. He got up, threw his trash in a can, and walked off in the direction of Téa’s house.
Sure, he hadn’t told her about Bakura, and he wasn’t going to talk to her about Mokuba, but at least she had some idea. Mentioning Bakura, he realized that he should stop being a jerk and apologize again to him, now that he was no longer the prime suspect. Still, the story that somebody broke in and stole his school stuff was odd and farfetched.
So once he got to the corner, he turned and headed for the resident of Bakura instead. He stood outside of the plain house and knocked on the door. It opened, and there stood the white-haired, brown-eyed boy in a sweater, yet Ring unseen.

“Oh, good evening, Yugi,” he said, sounding surprised. “Would you like to come in? It’s awfully chilly out there today.”
Yugi nonchalantly looked up into a breeze and shrugged. “No, I’m fine.” He cleared his throat and apologized. “I’m sorry about the other day. When I had found your book and thought you might have murdered Kaiba.”
Bakura waved it off. “I thought we were going to forget that.”
“Yeah, well, I was just thinking about it, and I realized how wrong I was.”
More than you know, he added, but didn’t speak aloud. “And I know I said sorry already, but I really am. It was a horrible thing of me to say you did it, considering everyone knows you’ve never hurt anyone on purpose.”
He failed to mention Bakura’s spirit, on the other hand, which was quite evil, but Bakura didn’t seem to wear the Ring much at all, since he realized that the spirit of the Ring wasn’t the best friend he could have. This made Yugi think while he talked, what if it was Bakura’s spirit?
He could always have framed Bakura without having to break into his house. He shoved the thought out of his mind, however.
“The more I think about it, the more confused about this whole crime I become.”
Bakura nodded. “I understand. I still don’t know how my science book could have gotten in there.” He leaned against the door. “I heard you were sick. What are you doing up?”
Yugi cursed silently. He had forgotten about that. “Oh, I’m feeling much better. I wasn’t very well the past few days. I’m going to give myself the rest of the week off, though, just to make sure I’m well rested.”
Bakura accepted this as a decent enough and believable answer to his question, one that Yugi was sure Téa would have if he went by her place. Bakura rubbed his arms as he got a chill.
“Is that all then? Are you sure you don’t want to come inside to talk for a bit? I hear another storm’s coming, as if we need any more.”

Yugi declined and was soon on his way. He decided he was to go back to his own house instead of to Téa’s. So he walked inside while his grandfather was eating his own supper.
“Oh,” he said, looking up. “You’re back so soon?”
“Yeah, it took a lot shorter than I thought.” He walked up the stairs and carefully put his backpack down, taking out the bag of his latest evidence out and putting it on the desk.
“I still…” He fell short. “Mokuba…”
He placed it into his drawer with the hair and went back downstairs. So does that mean that Mokuba was framing everybody this whole time? Did he catch onto me?
“I can’t see how.”
He thought for a moment. The funeral! We didn’t see where he went. Maybe he heard me, or caught wind of what I said, and set up my friends.
“Nicely thought out. I never would have given Mokuba that much credit.”
Maybe that’s the point. Yugi’s fists balled but were relaxed again once in the line of sight of his grandfather.
“So, were you really that lonely without me?”
“Not really,” he replied smugly. “Maybe you should go out more often.”
“Don’t tempt me,” chuckled Yugi.
“Want some supper? I made extra, just in case.”
Yugi shook his head. “I’m not hungry. I’m just not feeling hungry, and I also had a bar of something not too long ago.”
“Okay.” His grandfather took a sip of his tea. “Were you doing anything in particular? You did take your backpack, so I’m sure you were planning to put more than your raincoat inside.” He smiled.
“I told you no animals in the shop. You brought some puppies, didn’t you?”

They laughed. “No, grandpa, I didn’t. I’d really rather not discuss it, if that’s okay.”
His grandfather nodded. “I can understand. It’s perfectly fine. Got anything planned for the rest of your night then?”
Yugi thought this a fair question. He didn’t have any idea what he was going to do. Should he go back tomorrow until he gathered more evidence against Mokuba?
Then give it to the police? Or should he go there now? Should he try to find Mokuba himself and discuss it with him? What was he going to do about this? He shrugged and in response said, “I don’t know. I didn’t really give it much thought.”
His grandfather got up and put the now empty cup in the sink. “Okay. Just don’t go out again, it’s supposed to be rather nasty out again.”
“Yeah, I saw. I saw some rain coming when I went by the docks.”
“Oh, you went by there?”
“Yeah.” Yugi nodded. “I was walking around some. And I visited a friend.”
“Fine, fine. Well, if you want to do something, we could always sit and talk. Or play a game or something.”
“That ‘or something’ meaning more labor around the shop, right?”
“You know me too well sometimes.”
Yugi got up and gave another soft chuckle. “I think I’ll pass on that one. I’m just going to go up to my room for a while.”

“I’ll try not to disturb you then.”
“I’d most definitely appreciate that gesture. Thanks.” Yugi closed the door to his room and sat at his desk, taking out the bag of pieces. He snapped it open and slid everything out, trying not to make much noise and also trying to not cut himself on the glass.
Did I really have to bring all that? he muttered to himself sarcastically. He lifted up the picture with the writing on the back and the picture frame and fit them together, placing the photo inside.
It was a perfect fit. He stared at the loving picture for a moment, wondering what Mokuba was thinking when he did this. Maybe he felt that this was the one time, captured on film, that they were truly happy and together. If Yugi had a brother and that brother betrayed him, he would probably do something of the same sort. He set the two pieces aside and began to examine the shards of broken glass, looking for anything else. Blood, a hair, anything that might prove innocence or conviction.
It was a long shot, and as expected, he found nothing. He pushed all of the glass back into the bag (hoping that they wouldn’t tear it and make a hole) and took up the frame again. He took the picture back out and then set that aside again, now looking all over the frame for the same reasons. Nothing, just as he thought. Into the bag that went. The picture was next. Its top left corner was bent in some, but that probably happened when the frame was smashed, because it was mostly in fine condition. He flipped it around and read the back again. And again. And a third time.
There was always the possibility that this wasn’t Mokuba’s handwriting, that someone was faking it. Not that he knew what Mokuba’s writing looked like. And it could look different if he was in a hurry, in duress, like Yami had suspected. Other than the note, there was nothing else on the back. He put that back in the bag and set the whole thing to the side, still visible, but out of the way.

Yami placed a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. “I’m sorry,” he said, though what he was sorry about, even he wasn’t sure.
“It might not be him, you know. We still can’t totally prove it.” Yugi prodded the bag. “This could all be a prank, false clues.”
“We haven’t been able to prove much of anything, Yugi, and we may never actually find the killer, you know that.” He gave the shorter one’s shoulder a squeeze.
“But it’s hard to deny where this is all pointing.”
Yugi slowly shook his head. “I can’t believe Mokuba could do it… He was such a sweet kid, always looked up to and respected his brother. And Kaiba was always so good to Mokuba. How could Mokuba turn on him like this? Or, if this note is saying what I think it’s saying, where did Kaiba go so wrong?”
Yami pulled his hand away and placed it on his own chin, pondering. “And if the note is saying something else…”
Yugi looked up at him. “Like Mokuba never liked Kaiba and wanted to company all to himself? Man, then that makes the note sound more than a little sarcastically psychotic.”
They both sighed in unison. Yami went over and sat on the bed. “So, should we go back again?”
Yugi wasn’t sure. “We probably should. Maybe not tomorrow. It’s like he’ll leave something every other day, you know?”
“We might want to leave this with the police, see what they deduce.”
“But then they’ll know I was there doing my own detective work. They might suspect me.”
“They might not.” Yami shrugged. “You tell them that you’re a curious kid looking for his friend’s killer, found this, when they dust for prints, they’ll exclude yours.”
“Oddly optimistic of you. A change from this morning.”
“Yes, well,” he smirked, “I’m feeling a bit better physically.”
“And mentally…” Yugi turned back to the desk. “I’m guessing you feel like me.”
“And tell me, what would that be?”
Yugi closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the desktop. He muttered his answer. “Betrayed. Shocked. Actually rather empty inside. Like I can’t trust anyone anymore. That maybe I’m going a little bit crazy.”
Yami nodded. “Hmm, you’d be right on the ball there.”

“I’m glad we feel the same way,” came the sarcastic reply.
Yami glanced at the clock. “Hey, maybe we should take a break from this. Deal with it tomorrow, you know? We’ve had enough to deal with for today, don’t you think?”
Yugi raised his head and slid the bag back into the drawer. “I like the way you think sometimes.” He smiled. “Let’s go down and see how grandpa’s doing.”
His grandfather was pleased to see him. He wanted to talk, and Yugi thought that would be okay as long as they stayed away from the subject of him and his misadventures. So they talked for a awhile about school, friends, dueling strategies, and the like.
His grandfather already seemed to know that asking about what he’s been up to for the past 2 weeks wasn’t a great idea. When they were both satisfied and were kicking back and laughing at an amusing anecdote of his grandfather’s, the old man reached into his pocket and produced two packs of Duel Monsters cards.
“Hey, grandpa, are those for me?” Yugi asked as he was handed them.
His grandfather smiled. “I figured you needed a little something to occupy yourself and get your mind off of everything. Get yourself thinking about the love most.”
“Thanks!” He opened the first and fanned out the cards, glancing at each.
“Oh, this,” he said, pointing to a Gryphon Wing card, “could prove useful in the future.” He plucked that out of the group and also picked out 2 other cards that he felt might improve his deck.

“Glad I could help,” said his grandfather, as he looked at the cards himself.
Yugi tore open the second pack with glee. Out of this, he picked out one card that might be of use. “This is great. I’ll be sure to put some of these in my deck.” He hugged his grandfather tightly.
“It’s only 4 cards, Yugi,” said the elder, hugging him back.
“This,” Yugi replied, talking about the hugging going on, “is for your valiant attempt to brighten my dreary mood.” He smiled and let go. “Which worked, by the way.” He began to head upstairs to modify his deck.
“I’m very glad I could help with that as well,” his grandfather replied with a nod.
Yugi left the door to his room open some, which he hoped would show that his elder was welcome in any time as he fiddled with his playing cards, arranging the magic cards, traps, and monsters. He mused that once he was done here, he would shut the door once more to brood and speculate on the newest clue about the murder case. Then he would not want his grandfather to disturb him by barging in for any minor reason.
He had dived headfirst into the cards and was enveloped in them for nearly an hour before he set his deck aside in its usual place.
“There. I bet I’ll be ready for the next duelist who comes along and challenges me.” He smirked as he slipped off the jacket he wore, now getting warm in it. “In fact, I bet the gang would like to duel me the next time they see me. I wanna try out some of these new cards and strategies, that’s for sure.”
Yami nodded in satisfaction. “Yes, you’ve come up with a few good things that will throw people off, I think.”