Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh; all properties belong to Takahashi-sensei. The plot and bit characters are mine.

Chapter 6 – Shadow Wars

The sunlight struggled to pierce the thick roiling mass of clouds overhead as Yuugi and his grandfather walked toward the Domino Museum of Natural History. The teen watched with seeming idleness, but that was a ruse: he didn't want his grandfather attacked if the gang decided to go after him.

He hadn't mentioned the strange visitation or the effect the spirit had on him last night. Not that Yuugi was a dishonest soul, but his grandfather was already scared enough by this. He didn't need to know how the darkness felt to him... how he liked it. Nor that the spirit considered himself bonded to Yuugi. Likely Jiichan would be taking him to a Shinto temple to be exorcised rather than to the museum! "How long has your friend been into Egyptology, Jiichan?"

"As long as I've known him. We met on a dig in Egypt in fact. He's quite the man, is the professor." Sugoroku crossed his arms, head tilted back as he thought."Specializes in Ancient Egyptian 'magic' and rituals." He caught Yuugi's fascinated gaze and winked. "He even believes in it. People laugh at him for that. But he's a good man and highly intelligent."

"He sounds like it." Yuugi smiled. "Too bad people laugh at him for that." The teen tucked his hands in the front pocket of his kangaroo jacket; it was chilly this morning. And his fingers twitched, itching for the feel of cool gold. That probably wasn't a good thing. What if the Puzzle was cursed?

The whole curse of the Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb had been pretty much debunked, but considering what he had been seeing and feeling since he'd solved the Puzzle, it would be silly too dismiss it out of hand.

A different cool drifted over his mind and he shivered again. The spirit was never far, and Yuugi didn't know how he felt about that. The rational part of his mind told him he should be very afraid. But part of him, the part that half remembered dreams of cool shadow and mist, said that the spirit would never harm him, nor any friend or ally. Only his enemies had anything to fear. Still, instead of being comforting, he couldn't help but remember the picture the police officer had shown them. His enemies...

"Yuugi? We're here." His grandfather's voice pulled him out of his thoughts and Yuugi blinked, looking at the steps in front of his feet. Then he looked up.

Two sets of stairs led up to the large stone building, built in the Meiji era originally as a mansion in the Western style. Greek-style pillars – or maybe Roman, Yuugi didn't know enough to be able to tell the difference – dotted the front façade of the building, holding up a large triangular roof carved with bas reliefs. Stray sunbeams picked out metallic glints from statues atop the roof, too distant for his eye to pick out details. Closer up, two statues of samurai graced the front plaza, their stone piths surrounded by gardens now being tucked into beds of hogfuel for the winter. There weren't many people here, with it being the slow season for tourists. He could see an elementary tour group gathering by a pillar, the kids quiet but abuzz with muted excitement.

His hard boot soles tapped on the black-veined marble stairs, a sharp counterpoint to his grandfather's softer steps. Absently he counted them – fifteen – before he was at the yawning blackness of the doorway. It seemed to loom over him, towering much higher than a mere ten feet, like a great maw ready and eager to swallow him whole. For no reason he was suddenly afraid. His life was about to change, for good or for ill, the moment he stepped past that door, and terror flooded him, rooting him to the marble. He wanted to have a normal life, be a normal kid with normal friends... But it was too late, already far too late, he was never going to have a normal life again. He'd solved the Puzzle and now the knowledge of darkness was his, for good or for ill.

"Yuugi?"

The feeling popped like a bubble, the half vision vanishing. The doorway was suddenly just a door, no more sinister than any other doorway. The teenager gasped in air, not realizing he'd stopped breathing. "Sorry, Jiichan. It's nothing."

The old man gave him a look that suggested he didn't quite believe that, but let it slide for now. "Come on." He towed his grandson into the doorway.

There was a moment of blankness as his eyes adjusted, then Yuugi looked around at the inside of the museum. He hadn't been here in years, since he had been in one of those elementary school groups himself. The room shone with a dull golden glow thanks to the dim lighting – bright light could damage delicate artefacts – and yellow-brushed walls. It was quite a nice effect, Yuugi thought. It made the vast space less intimidating for people who might not be comfortable in such places.

Padding after his grandfather, they passed several exhibits on Japanese and international history before pausing at the administration door. His grandfather pressed the intercom. "Mutou Sugoroku to see Professor Hopkins."

There was a long pause, then the door opened to reveal a man taller than both Yuugi and his grandfather, dressed in a security uniform, black hair cut professionally short. "Come in."

The inside was narrower and dimmer, illuminated with flickering white florescent lights. The floors were plain hardwood, not stone, and the beige plaster walls were set with doors every ten feet or so. The security guard led them to the fourth door and opened it for them. "Please wait here. The professor will join you momentarily."

"Thank you." Sugoroku murmured, finding a seat not covered in a drift of papers. Yuugi stood, out out politeness – since he was the youngest – and because there weren't any other chairs besides the one behind the desk that weren't doing double duty as tables.

Clutter was the prevailing theme here, Yuugi thought as he looked around. It reminded him a lot of his grandfather's back room at the game shop. Organized chaos. Yuugi had no doubt the professor could lay his hands on whatever he needed in moments, but anyone else would be completely lost.

The door opened again. Yuugi glanced over as a tall American in an ancient tweed jacket and beige pants stepped into the room. He carried an armful of papers and looked in Yuugi's opinion like he hadn't slept in a while. He was younger than Jiichan, with salt-and-pepper hair and a thick moustache that showed the same evidence of age. He had several lines around his eyes and mouth, but Yuugi thought they looked like smile lines. "Sugoroku! Nice to see you again, old friend. You haven't been over in a while; I was starting to think you didn't like me anymore." he laughed.

"It's been a bit crazy over at the shop." Jiichan rose and helped him with the papers. "I haven't been able to really get away. But I wish this was just a social call, old friend. I'm afraid I must pick your brain on a professional level."

"Professional level?" The professor sat down. "And who is this?"

"My grandson, Mutou Yuugi."

Yuugi bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Hopkins-sensei."

"It's nice to meet you as well, Yuugi-kun. And please, call me Arthur."

"Arthur-sensei." Yuugi smiled slightly. "Thank you for seeing us."

"It's not a problem." He turned to regard Sugoroku again. "So what is it you want me to look at?"

Jiichan took the bag that he had been carrying this whole time and carefully extracted the items inside. First the box, glittering under the dull lights, and then the puzzle itself.

The American looked like someone had hit him over the head; his eyes bugged out, and his jaw gaped. "That..." He touched the artifact with a shaking hand, almost as though he couldn't believe his gaze. "The Millennium Puzzle?"

"That's what the letter called it." Yuugi and his grandfather exchanged looks. "You know it?"

"I thought they were a myth..."

"They?" Yuugi asked. "What they?"

"The seven Millennium Items. It's a very obscure myth." He lifted up the puzzle. "Seven ancient items of power, said to have been made to ward off the enemies of Egypt at the behest of the Pharaoh."

"Which Pharaoh?" Sugoroku asked.

"I don't know." the professor admitted. "Their dynasty isn't counted on the kinglists, and apparently it was a short one – only three or four rulers. After that it was struck from the histories, and if not for a few fragments there would be no record of them at all." He turned the item over in his hands, studying it in fascination. "It's like new... amazing. And you say it came in this box?"

"Yes." Yuugi waved a hand at the symbols on the side. "Do you know what it says?"

"Hm." He put the puzzle down reluctantly and lifted the box. "Amazing... where did you get this?"

"I won a contest put on by Industrial Illusions, an American game company. It was part of the prize." Yuugi replied. "Is it really from Ancient Egypt?"

"That or a remarkable forgery." The man studied the markings, then turned and rummaged among his papers for a while until he pulled out a book with a sound of triumph. "Ah. Here we go. The legend is fragmentary at best, I'm afraid. During the early part of the eighteenth dynasty – possibly - seven items of power were created that together were supposed to do something else. The tablet that we got this information off of is very old and was exposed to the elements for a long time, so most of the information was worn away... or possibly deliberately destroyed." He brushed his fingers over the symbols and made a note on a blank legal tablet. "Could you leave this with me? It will take a bit of time to translate properly; the language is difficult at best and subtle, but I may be able to discover not only what it says but the approximate era when it was created by the dialect and spelling of the words."

"Just the box?" Yuugi asked. Anxiety struck him at the idea of being separated from the Puzzle for any length of time. It was one thing to be in the same house, but not across town.

"Well, the Puzzle would probably be safer here, in a safe. If it's real, it's a national treasure of Egypt."

Yuugi gave his grandfather a pleading look. The old man sighed. "We'll take it with us. But there is something else I wanted to ask you about. Do you know of any Egyptian legends about a black ghost with red eyes?"

"Hmm." The professor considered that. "The closest I can think of is the sheut."

"Sheut?" Yuugi asked, pronouncing the strange word slowly and badly.

"In Egyptian mythology, there were supposed to be four parts to the soul. Ka, ba, sheut and ren; that is spirit, power or personality, shadow and name. Together the four made ankh or life. This sounds like a shadow. Traditionally they were represented by carvings or statues painted completely black."

"Shadow. Yes. That sounds about right." Jiichan murmured. "I thought I saw one with Yuugi yesterday."

"Really? Strange... not a whole lot is known about them, since most of our knowledge of Egyptian mysticism comes from the 'Book of Coming Forth by Day'* and there is little mention of the sheut's role." He arranged the puzzle's box under a desk lamp, peering at the symbols. "There is a mention of 'keku' as well, but the spelling is odd. It usually refers to the deification of the primordial darkness, but there's a determinative here that I am not familiar with." He tapped the box. "'House of darkness, where dwell the sheut and ka.'" he translated slowly. "It's not the usual term but sheut and ka might refer to a spirit or ghost."

"Oh." This was rapidly spiralling over Yuugi's head. But could the spirit trapped in the puzzle really be the shadow of someone who had lived in Ancient Egypt? "Are they dangerous?" he wondered, before realizing he had spoken aloud.

"I don't really know Yuugi-kun. It probably depends on the person... if it belongs to a good person than it probably isn't dangerous. But there's no way to really know."

His grandfather didn't look too mollified by that. "Well, I hope the translation on the box at least will offer some illumination."

"Very likely yes." Arthur agreed. "The translation is one thing; the context is another, one often forgotten in writings. We can hope that whoever commissioned this box was more thorough in his or her statements." He turned the box over in his hands again as Yuugi edged forward and took the Puzzle. Immediately a tension that he'd not acknowledged ebbed out of him, and the cool object seemed to throb in his hands. That should bother him, he felt. He should give it back to Jiichan, or leave it with the Professor to study. It should scare him that he didn't feel right when it was too far away, off balance, like he was missing a limb. All he would have to do was give it to his grandfather. Easy.

The cord slid over his head and the Puzzle settled against his chest. One hand patted it absently and the cool touch of the metal soothed him much like the ghostly one of the dark spirit.

Yuugi looked up and met his grandfather's concerned gaze, giving him a sheepish smile. He couldn't explain it, but the artefact just felt right, there. Like it belonged with him.

The older man sighed and turned back to the professor. "We'll leave you to that then and not take up any more of your time. I hope you'll call when you get this translated?"

"Of course, of course." Yuugi could tell that the man's mind was already deep in the mystery the symbols represented.

Sugoroku rose and the Mutous left quietly, walking down the hall. "You know I don't like it." he commented as they left the back area into the main section of the museum again.

"I know Jiichan, but... its mine. I can't explain it, but I think I was meant to have it. The letter said that no one else had ever solved this... I think that I could means that I was meant to have it."

"Or it could mean that you simply were good enough to solve it, and now you're stuck with it. Egyptian magic... it's dangerous."

"Jiichan..." Yuugi rubbed the back of his head. "I can't argue. It probably is dangerous, but I don't think it's dangerous to me. I don't feel like that spirit is going to hurt me."

"And how do you know he's not affecting your mind?"

"I can't. There's no way to prove it either way, other than if I start acting weird. I guess that's what you and Kaasan and Tousan will have to look for."

The older man nodded, accepting that for now. Yuugi knew his grandfather, though, and knew that if he started acting strange in the least he wouldn't hesitate to take the Puzzle by force if needs must. The teenager wondered if he should tell his grandfather about the fact that the spirit didn't really need the puzzle to manifest, but that would open a whole other can of worms he really didn't want to deal with.

He felt a soft touch in his mind and knew that the spirit approved. He did not want to be separated from Yuugi, that much he had made clear. And Yuugi didn't want to be a tug of rope between his family and the spirit.

As they walked back to the game shop in silence, Yuugi wondered if the spirit remembered who he had been when he was alive. He would have to ask him tonight, when they were alone. It wasn't like he would do it now... talking to himself (or seeming to do so) would not convince his grandfather of his stability.

:You do not have to speak aloud, Heba-i.: the spirit whispered in his mind. Yuugi almost jumped, but managed to control the reaction.

:You can hear my thoughts?:

:We are bound.: came the enigmatic reply. :I am within you as you are within me.:

Well that made perfect sense... not. You couldn't have one person inside another and then that person inside them... it reminded him of those optical illusions, where the twists seemed to curve into themselves. But people weren't like that. :Do you know who you were? What your name was?: he asked, forming each word clearly in his mind.

:No.: The spirit replied, his voice a bare whisper of darkness that made Yuugi give a delightful shiver. He wished he knew why the 'feel' of the other always made him feel right, whole and wonderful. :I remember nothing before my entrapment here.:

:You were trapped in there? That's awful...:

:It is empty, and dark. There is no light there, or was not until you came, mewet-i. You brought me light again.: Soft touches over his skin; he had the distinct impression of being... nuzzled. A blush painted his cheeks.

:I'm glad I could help.:

"Yuugi?"

The teen came out of his thoughts and blinked at his grandfather. "Sorry, Jiichan, what?"

"I said that you can work in the shop this afternoon if you like." The older man frowned. "You seem distracted."

"Just a lot on my mind. I'll be okay, really." Yuugi gave him a smile. "I can organize the back room if you want to work the front." He loved his grandfather, but the old man couldn't organize his way out of a paper sack.

"That sounds good." Jiichan gave Yuugi another searching look, then nodded and led them back to the shop.

:Spirit? Can you hear me?: Yuugi 'thought' as hard as he could.

:I can always hear you, Heba.: Cool shadow drifted over his mind. :What do you wish?:

Yuugi's eyes slid half closed a moment with a shiver. After a moment he managed to reply. :I need to concentrate for a bit, okay? It worries Jiichan when I space out.:

:...: There was a moment of silence, contemplative and still. Then :Very well. I will not disturb you until you have finished your tasks for the day.: Another shiver-delicious touch. :But I am never far.:

A note on Japanese honorifics:

-sensei: Used with anyone of a professional standing. Doctors, for example, both medical and scientific. It can also be used as a term of respect for skilled artists of any stripe.

*More commonly known as "The Book of the Dead"