The Crow and The Cat

Chapter 4

"Waiting for you, little one."

Yuugi looked around the room. There was no one there, so where had that faint, almost distant voice come from? It made no sense. Sighing, he pulled Yami from his shoulder and carried him over to his bed, where he set him down beside the pillow. It was time to take a nap.

When Yuugi woke several hours later, he found two things wrong. One, his window, which had been open, was now closed and locked. And Two, there was someone in his bed. Slowly, very slowly, he turned to see who it was.

"Wha-!?"

There, lying next to him was the man from earlier… wearing much less than earlier. Upon closer inspection, Yuugi found that he was sleeping rather soundly. Therefore Yuugi decided to let the man sleep for a while and began to climb down from the bed. A muffled complaint came from the other, and the younger star-headed teen found he was staring into a pair of crimson eye's. The other star-head slowly rose until he was completely propped up on both his arms. Which Yuugi now noticed were fairly muscled. He looked around slowly, before his gaze came to rest on Yuugi's small frame sitting sprawled on the floor.

"Little one? Why are you on the floor?" He asked slowly, holding his hand out for Yuugi. Yuugi took his hand and stood, dusting off his pants. He could see the other teen was still waiting.

"I…uh… fell off."

The other nodded and curled in on himself, laying in a small ball next to the pillow and staring at Yuugi. That's when Yuugi noticed something. Yami was gone! Franticly, the small teen searched for his bird friend.

"Yami? Are you still here?" He called, crawling under the bed to look. There was a chuckle from the bed. In his hurry to get back up, Yuugi bumped his head on the bed on his way out. He winced.

"Are you alright little one?"

Yuugi looked up to the man still rather unclothed on his bed. He should get him some clothes…

"Little one?"

"Yes, I'm fine… Hey! I'm not little!" He cried. The man looked a bit taken aback before laughing. His laugh fell so lightly from his lips that it seemed almost like music.

"No, I suppose you are not, little one." He replied. Yuugi was red in the face now, partly a blush and partly irritation.

"Who are you anyway?" The small teen snapped, maybe a little colder than he had intended. The older boy paused.

"What do you mean?"

Yuugi's mouth fell agape.

"What do you mean, what do I mean? Who are you? What's your name? How old are you? Where do you live?"

He laughed again.

"Ah. That is what you meant."

Yuugi almost slapped his hand to his forehead.

"Yes, so could you answer?"

"Of course, Little one. I am Atem, but you may call me Yami if you wish. I came from Egypt, where I and my cousin were cursed by someone who defiled one of the resting places of my predecessors. My age is something that has alluded me for a long time, I am sorry, but I have no answer for that."

"Yami…? My birds name was Yami." Yuugi said.

"Yes, as I recall that was the name you gave me when you brought me here to your home."

"But I didn't bring you here. Me and Jounouchi-kun brought a cat and… a..." He trailed off, his headache was coming back. Atem uncurled himself and stepped down in front of Yuugi, easing himself into a sitting position.

"Relax, Little one. I will explain."

"Back when I was a child, both me and my cousin had a wealthy upbringing. We lived in a large palace like building, we had servants, and cooks and maids and tutors, and anything we could have wanted. There was much expected of us there, we were the only descendants of the last Pharaoh, we were being raised to either rule the country once more, or become someone with influence. It was not something of choice; it was forced upon us from the very day we were able to speak. My cousin, Seto, was a very smart child. He excelled in everything I was average at, whereas I had charm and personal influence, things he did not have. We were unruly children, me much more than he, but all the same. We decided at the age of nine that neither of us was going follow their rules anymore. It was as if we had killed someone, the reaction we received. They punished us severely and forced us to continue at a more relentless pace. After four years of this, someone found the grave of the pharaoh, they raided it and set off a curse which only effects those of the bloodline."

Yuugi nodded, following the story, no matter how unbelievable it sounded. Atem continued;

"I did not believe in curses or magic, much as you most likely don't, but that had no effect when I was turned into a bird, and my cousin a cat. They found us in our rooms early the next morning, and thought we had run away. They searched everywhere, then called the police and had them search for us. We then wandered, until a man named Saimun took us in. That's how we got here; he took us on a plane where we were lost in the luggage and thrown out."

Yuugi had nothing to say, he was completely speechless. If this story was true, than…

"Why are you human right… now?" Yuugi looked around. Yam… Atemu, was nowhere to be found.

"Atemu… Atemu?"

"I'm right here, little one."

Yuugi looked down, and sure enough, Atem stood there in his bird form.

"Ah! You were just human! What happened?"

Atem only laughed, a small distant chuckle.

"Atemu?"

"I love the way you add an 'u' to the end of my name." He said absent mindedly before falling limp against the carpet.

Yuugi lifted the tired bird into his arms and carried him to the bed, laying him on his pillow before going to pay Jounouchi-kun and Kai- no, Seto, a visit.