Title: Familial Trust
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters
Rating: Teen
Length: 4K
Content notes: amnesia, homophobia
Author notes: I think this stands alone—but it's an installment in my Yu-Gi-Oh! genderswap 'verse that's several months further along than the last thing I posted and a lot of the canon timeline didn't, ah, quite go canonically. For instance, there's a lot more modern-day magic...
Summary: There are reasons Mutou Yuuki doesn't trust her parents.


“Jackass,” Jounouchi said, laughing and shoving Honda, who shoved back, companionable if irritated. Honda opened their mouth to retort, and in the back of Jounouchi’s head, Yuuki-chan screamed.

Jounouchi froze, looking at Honda, who was still as stone. Yuuki-chan screamed on, no words, just pain—Jounouchi’s head rang with it—then stopped.

Without words, the two turned and charged full speed along the fastest way back to Yuuki’s home.

Anzu and Miho pelted up the street from the other direction as Jounouchi and Honda got close. “You heard her?” asked Anzu.

Jounouchi gave her a flat look, then stared up at Yuuki-chan’s window, assessing the situation. “This place stinks of magic,” he said. “A lot more than usual, and it doesn’t smell like any of the Items—not even,” he realized, “the Puzzle.”

“Uh-oh,” said Miho.

“Yeah,” said Honda grimly, as they pulled out a pocketknife. “Uh-oh.” Flipping out a blade with one hand, they tried the door with the other, ignoring its Closed sign. “Locked.”

“Move,” Jounouchi ordered, and glared at the lock. A click of tumblers, and the door swung silently open.

Anzu slipped inside first, her dancer’s feet silent on the floors. Jounouchi, less practiced at stealth, let her lead, though nervously—Anzu was no mage, and Jounouchi wouldn’t want to bet on his own chances against any mage that had successfully harmed Yuuki-chan and the Pharaoh Yuuki-san. Honda and Miho followed Jounouchi.

No one was in the game-store rooms. Nor the living room, nor kitchen.

Anzu signaled for the others to stay put, and crept up the stairs.

A moment passed. Two. Anzu shrieked, “Everyone!”

Jounouchi pounded up the stairs, Miho on his heels and Honda right behind her. Yuuki’s door slammed shut with Anzu outside the room. Anzu and Miho got out of the way; Jounouchi and Honda glanced at each other. “On three,” said Honda, and on their simultaneous shout of “Three!” the two charged the door.

And slammed into a mage-wall. Jounouchi stepped back into the doorway, rubbing his nose—that stung, and didn’t exactly improve the headache—and pressed the sense of Honda in the back of his head: back up a step, I’ve got this.

“What the fucking bloody,” said Honda in English, and Jounouchi looked through the wall of forest-green fire.

Yuuki was curled on the floor beside her bed, crying softly, with Mrs. Mutou kneeling beside her, not touching her at all. Yuuki was also standing—eyes glowing red and forehead glowing with the golden Eye of Ra—beside her desk, with Mr. Mutou standing firmly between her and the two by the bed, supporting a blue-stone mage shield surrounding this Yuuki. The Millennium Puzzle lay discarded at the feet of a man Jounouchi didn’t recognize, though it was plainly he who was powering the green-fire wall. A woman—she looked familiar, but Jounouchi couldn’t immediately place her—was almost staring the teens all down; almost because she kept flicking glances back at the glowing Yuuki.

How are there two of them? Anzu whispered in the back of Jounouchi’s head.

The feeling of Yuuki-chan in that same location stirred the tiniest bit. Jounouchi poked at that, tentatively—Yuuki-chan (for the one not glowing must be she) whimpered, burying her face in her hands, and Jounouchi flinched back.

“What are you doing here?” asked the woman, a voice out of a memory—the friend of the Mutou parents who had asked so many questions after Yuuki’s kidnapping several months ago. Inoue-san.

Silently, the teens conferred, careful to keep their mental messages clear of Yuuki-chan for fear of hurting her. What are we doing here? demanded Anzu, furious. What are they doing here? What did they do?

We can’t trust them, Miho said flatly. We do not dare trust them with anything at all unless they first tell us they know it, and even then Miho doubts it.

What she said. Honda was glaring at Mr. Mutou. So somehow they figured out about Yuuki-san—how much do they know?

Let’s find out, Jounouchi said. I want to do the talking.

Aloud—the silent conversation had taken no more than two heartbeats—Jounouchi said, “Yuuki-chan invited us for games this afternoon. Guess we missed some excitement,” he added, feeling vicious. If a mental touch as gentle as he knew he had been had caused Yuuki-chan pain—

“You should go home,” advised Mr. Mutou. “This is a family matter, and you are not safe here.”

So that was how they had taken down Yuuki-chan and Yuuki-san. Neither trusted Yuuki-chan’s parents, Jounouchi knew—but Yuuki-chan loved them, and Yuuki-san hadn’t acted against someone without her partner’s permission in years.

“Yuuki is our family,” snarled Jounouchi, “and someone has hurt her. I’m thinking there’s four possibilities and they’re all in this room.”

Way to antagonize them right off, Jounouchi, Honda remarked, but they didn’t sound like they disagreed.

“We are trying to help her,” said Mrs. Mutou, without taking her eyes off her daughter. “You four need to leave, so that we may help her better.”

Jounouchi pointedly glanced at Anzu and Miho and Honda in turn, reading his answer in each face, and glared at the unknown man. “Better plan. You drop that wall so we can get close enough to help our friend.”

“These shields are for your safety, young mage,” said the man. “Leave, before we make you.”

That’s happening, said Anzu.

“Yeah, no,” said Jounouchi, and slammed his fist into the wall, backing it with mage-strength Honda gladly lent him. The green-fire wall shattered; Anzu shoved between Jounouchi and Honda and dropped to one knee by Yuuki-chan.

Yuuki-chan uncurled a little bit and blinked up at Anzu. “What…” she said weakly.

“Shhh,” Anzu told her. “First let’s get you hurting less, huh?” She extended a hand to Yuuki-chan.

“Did Ushio kick my head in?” Yuuki-chan mumbled. “Kind of feels like it…”

Jounouchi froze. Honda snapped their head around to stare at Yuuki-chan.

Oh, said Miho. Oh no.

Jounouchi nudged Yuuki-chan’s mind again; she flinched; he stopped.

We have to tell her, Miho said. Carefully. So they don’t hear too much.

“Yuuki-chan,” Anzu said, and paused. “How do I even say this?”

“Let me try,” said Honda, and came closer. “Do I look like I just got my ass kicked, Yuuki-chan?”

Yuuki-chan blinked up at them, confused. “No-o-o…”

“That’s right,” Honda said, and slowly crouched to be more on Yuuki-chan’s level. “None of us have seen Ushio for nearly three years.”

Yuuki-chan didn’t say anything for a long frozen moment.

—oh, Jounouchi realized, and followed that with a string of invective spanning four languages. Anzu glanced his way, caught the direction of his train of thought, and turned slowly to stare at Yuuki-san, who was still glowing with silent fury.

Miho scooted past Jounouchi, moving cautiously, left foot always in front, towards Yuuki-san.

“Stop, miss!” demanded Inoue. “You don’t understand the dangers—”

“Miho understands,” said Miho, eyes fixed on Yuuki-san, the words sounding odd on her tongue. She reached the edge of the blue-stone shield and dropped gracefully to one knee. “I serve Kemet’s king,” she said. “Command me.”

The words—the distinctly not Japanese words that Jounouchi nevertheless understood as plainly as his native language—echoed about Jounouchi’s head and Miho’s, and Anzu’s, and Honda’s: reverberated; a summoning, a calling-forth.

Mr. Mutou took two steps and yanked Miho by the shoulder, up and away from Yuuki-san. Miho yelped and twisted away from Mr. Mutou, and stood there glaring at him.

Within the blue-stone shield, magic flared.

Mr. Mutou and Inoue whipped into action, he strengthening his shield, she reinforcing him with another shield, this one of violet wind. Inside the layered shields, Yuuki-san let her magic fade, looking positively furious.

“Let me get this straight,” said Jounouchi, suddenly realizing exactly what must be happening. “You four think you are protecting us—from her?”

“We are protecting our daughter from the evil spirit,” corrected Mrs. Mutou snappishly; she still hadn’t moved in the slightest. “You four will come to no harm, if you let us protect you.”

“Yuuki-chan isn’t even letting you touch her,” Anzu snapped back. “Why should we trust you?”

“Let’s not,” said Jounouchi. “Yuuki-chan doesn’t. I trust her judgment.”

Mr. Mutou’s blue-stone shield wavered.

Anzu extended her hand to Yuuki-chan once more. “Maybe you barely remember Jounouchi and Honda and Miho,” Anzu said to her, gently. “But I know you remember me. Do you think you can trust me?”

Hesitantly, Yuuki stretched out a hand, just far enough to take Anzu’s.

An electric shock shot through the room.

The adults glanced between themselves in confusion. “What just—” began Mrs. Mutou.

“I do not think,” Jounouchi growled, “that it is any of your business.”

The unknown man stepped closer to Jounouchi, the better to stare him down. “Tell us,” he ordered.

Jounouchi sized the man up: physically, Jounouchi could take him, wouldn’t even need Honda’s help. Magically…the man looked still reeling from Jounouchi shattering his mage-wall. Yeah, No problem. “No,” he said.

“Whatever this is, it is affecting my daughter,” said Mr. Mutou. “Hitomi and I have a right to know.”

Yuuki-chan didn’t tell them about Yuuki-san, did she? Anzu asked.

You say that like there’s two of me, said a very quiet mental voice.

Silently, Honda cheered. Miho relaxed her glare enough to glance at Yuuki-chan and smile.

Long story, Jounouchi said with a cheer he only half felt. We’re hoping you’ll remember it on your own—we sure aren’t telling you here. It’s not safe. Too many parents and other unfriendly adults.

Okay, Yuuki-chan said, with a twist of emotion too complex to immediately identify.

Anzu tugged lightly on Yuuki-chan’s hand; Yuuki-chan rolled to her feet, wobbled—Anzu caught her before she could fall.

“I bet you feel like shit,” Anzu said aloud.

Yuuki-chan nodded, then glanced towards Yuuki-san. “What…” She stopped, tried again. “Who…”

“No one you need to worry about,” said Mr. Mutou. “We’ll deal with that one—you’re safe, Yuuki-chan. That’s the important thing.”

I think you’re right, Jounouchi, Yuuki-chan said. It’s not safe here.

Especially not for you two, Jounouchi answered, and pressed the image of himself nodding firmly into Yuuki-chan’s mind, rather than actually nod. I don’t think I have a number on how many secrets you’re keeping from them—wait, fuck, no, right now it’s only one ‘cause you only know the one. But obviously they found out half of a different one and decided to hurt you two first, ask questions later.

Yeah, not the first time, Anzu said, accompanied by an artistic rendering of a much smaller Anzu and a much smaller Yuuki-chan in separate rooms, weeping into separate pillows.

…do they know I’m a. A. Yuuki-chan stopped.

I wouldn’t know, Anzu said. We missed an important few minutes there.

Last I heard, they didn’t know anything about anybody, Jounouchi added. I think they think you’re a lesbian, or bisexual or something. But they also think you and me are dating and we’re only pretending not to be dating ‘cause of the ridiculous school rules thing. Which for the record is not true ‘cause I know better than to get between you and Anzu, but it’s fun to pretend so they don’t see the real secrets. So I don’t think they know anything.

“Yuuki dear?” asked Mrs. Mutou—had they let the sound of silence drag on too long? wondered Jounouchi.

I want to say something, Yuuki-chan said. I want to—to see if—

A knot of emotion—fear-of and distrust and heartbreaking love and desperate longing.

Jounouchi pushed a bundle of emotion at Yuuki-chan: loyalty and love, fear-for and trust, confidence and support and laughter-with—and he felt Anzu and Honda and Miho doing much the same.

It’s your game, Jounouchi told her. Your move.

“Miho-chan trusts,” Yuuki-chan said slowly, “the girl you have behind two different sparkly magic walls for my protection.”

“That is no girl,” said Inoue.

Honda tensed up—too visibly; Mr. Mutou’s attention flicked to them, then back to Yuuki-chan when Honda equally visibly made themselves relax.

“Perhaps you do not know the tales of evil spirits,” Inoue continued. “Some of them…trick people.”

Jounouchi thought of the spirit of the Ring.

“So my father and my mother,” said Yuuki-chan, took a breath, and went on, “think Miho-chan is tricked, and I was tricked?”

“You were,” said Mr. Mutou, sounding as though he meant to be reassuring. “We figured it out two days ago—we needed assistance to ensure no harm would come to you while we destroyed the evil spirit.”

Four teens flinched.

What— began Yuuki-chan.

If they hurt Yuuki-san any worse than already, Jounouchi said, enraged, I will personally turn them all into hamburger meat.

Save some maiming for us, Anzu replied.

How’s the punching hand? Honda asked Jounouchi. Didn’t break it, did you?

Ouch, Jounouchi retorted, and flexed his fingers. Yeah, just ouch. Two shields on her, though. Gonna be a little harder to break through.

Who is she? Yuuki-chan asked.

Very important, Miho said. Very important especially to you. We’re not going to hurt her—we all promise. We’re here to help. But Miho cannot speak for your parents or their friends. She glared at Mr. Mutou some more.

Comprehension dawned in Mr. Mutou’s eyes. “You four—you’re helping the evil spirit!”

“Got it in one,” snarled Jounouchi, too furious at that description to correct it.

Mr. Mutou turned to face Jounouchi directly. “Jounouchi Katsuya,” he said, and Jounouchi smelled magic gathering, “I command you as your mage-teacher: step away.”

The magic tugged and pulled at Jounouchi, trying to compel his obedience, but the half-waking young Kemetic soldier whom he had been three thousand years before stood firm, loyal only to his Pharaoh: he could only laugh. When he had air again—and half the room staring worriedly at him—there was only one thing to say. “I am,” Jounouchi said, and it was harder than it should have been to make sure the words came out in Japanese, “a warrior of Kemet, and a mage in the service of Kemet’s king. Only she may command my loyalty and obedience. I do not answer to you.”

Yuuki-san’s attention fell on Jounouchi, heavily.

“Do you want to be treated as a rogue mage, young man?” asked Inoue, and Jounouchi belatedly recalled she held some important rank in mage society. She might—well, shit. Jounouchi wouldn’t answer to her, and Yuuki-chan and (more importantly) Yuuki-san couldn’t.

Following Jounouchi’s thought, Honda said, Well. That makes things harder.

Thoughts bounced between the five teens, rapid as lightning: We can’t stay, Anzu said.

We weren’t going to, said Miho.

Can you carry Yuuki-chan, Anzu? asked Jounouchi.

Jounouchi, you’ll have to carry Yuuki-san, if she needs it, said Honda. I won’t be close enough.

How will we get out of here? asked Yuuki-chan. Where can we go?

Jounouchi felt the echo of another mind’s voice and grinned inwardly. You want to ask Mai if she’s awake enough for company, Yuuki-chan?

Who— Yuuki-chan went silent for a moment. —oh. You people owe me so many explanations. Mai says her head hurts abominably and of course we can drop in, if Magical Boxes will get us that far.

I think that one’s on you, Yuuki-chan, Honda said. Where are your cards? We can’t leave any of those—you’ll kill us later if we leave a single card behind. I’ll grab the Puzzle once we’re ready to move.

Yuuki-chan made a vague noise of incomprehension. Yuuki-san’s attention snapped to her.

Miho sighed heavily and pushed images at them. Yuuki-chan blinked a few times and checked the hip holster she wore—yes, she said, I have cards here—more explanations! she insisted.

Once we’re all safe, Jounouchi promised. Find the Dark Magician or the Dark Magician Girl, okay? Magical Boxes isn’t currently in your deck, last I knew…

Yuuki-chan riffled the cards in her holster with the tips of her fingers.

Miho rolled her eyes, dodged around Mr. Mutou, and snagged the golden box off Yuuki’s desk and a particular duffel bag from beside the desk. She turned and handed the box to Anzu, who slid the lid off. Yuuki, two cards in hand already—she had not yet looked at them—stuck her other hand in without looking and rifled through the box, coming up with a single card that, again, she did not look at.

Good, Jounouchi said, hiding his grin. Trust in the Heart of the Cards.

You say that like it means something, Yuuki-chan said.

Yeah, said Jounouchi. It means we’re about to get safe. He pushed a memory of having summoned Flame Swordsman from his hand, no duel disk or anything—here’s how you do it—into Yuuki’s mind.

Yuuki’s mouth fell open. She glanced at Yuuki-san, closed her mouth, and focused.

Two more figures sprang into being. The violet-hooded man twirled his staff—the adults backed away; the golden-haired woman in blue said crossly, “I wondered how long it would take you.”

“Sorry we’re a little slow today,” Jounouchi said to Dark Magician Girl, faking cheer, but purposefully not faking it very hard. He lunged toward Yuuki-san, fist flying, and even as Honda decked the unknown man and snatched the Millennium Puzzle off the floor, Jounouchi drove his fist—powered by mage-strength loaned from Anzu, Miho, and Honda—through both layers of shield between Yuuki-san and the world.

Mr. Mutou wobbled and fell to his knees. Inoue yelped. Jounouchi let his momentum carry him forward—he grabbed Yuuki-san, pivoted, and pulled her straight for the open Magical Box even as it materialized, meaning to get there half a heartbeat behind Anzu and Yuuki-chan.

A gold-fire wall sprang up between the Magical Box and everyone else—Anzu and Yuuki-chan plowed right into it.

Yuuki-chan burst into tears again.

The Dark Magician blasted Mrs. Mutou directly, and Yuuki-chan choked on crying, but the gold-fire wall vanished as Mrs. Mutou collapsed, and Yuuki-chan let Anzu pull her through the Magical Box. Jounouchi followed with Yuuki-san as soon as the opening was clear.

Honda piled in behind them, Puzzle in hand, and Miho squeezed in with the bagful of Millennium Items and slammed the door shut—the two Dark Magicians could take care of themselves, Jounouchi figured.

The last thing any of them heard before the Box opened again was the swish of swords and Mrs. Mutou’s strangled sob.

When the Box opened, it did so from the opposite side: Anzu and Yuuki-chan fell out first, landing face-first on the floor, and Jounouchi and Yuuki-san on top of them, and Honda on top of them; Miho rolled off the top of the heap. “This is not a dignified way to travel,” she proclaimed.

“Not mass transit, anyway,” Honda agreed, getting themselves off from on top of the others.

“Ouch,” said Anzu, and Yuuki-chan made an indistinct noise.

Jounouchi rolled over and off, lying flat on his back on the floor, and turned his head to look at Mai’s bare feet. “Sorry to bother you at—what ridiculous hour is it here?” It was afternoon in Domino, but.

“Positively absurd,” said Mai. “I know it’s always two Yuuki for the price of one, but why am I seeing double?”

Jounouchi winced. “We hadn’t worked that part out yet.”

“Yuuki-chan doesn’t remember anything since she solved the Puzzle,” Honda put in. They glanced at Yuuki-san, almost guiltily, as Yuuki-san removed herself from the heap and sat up. “I think maybe Yuuki-san doesn’t either. She hasn’t said a word since we got there.”

“…so she doesn’t remember anything at all,” said Mai.

Honda winced. “Probably. Yeah.”

Another Magical Box materialized beside Mai’s hotel room bed. Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl exited it with decorum, and the Box faded away. Dark Magician Girl knelt before Yuuki-san, silently, and a moment later Dark Magician did the same.

Jounouchi rolled into a seated position, then rose into a kneeling one, eyes on Yuuki-san. Honda followed suit, and Anzu, and Miho. Yuuki-chan didn’t move, except to look at them all with bewilderment.

Mai stepped around the kneeling people and leaned down to the sitting Yuuki-san. “Little sister,” she said, addressing Yuuki-san as Miho had in Jounouchi’s native language—and not in Japanese. “My king.”

Abruptly the red glow faded from Yuuki-san’s eyes, the gold glow from her forehead. She opened her mouth, closed it again, paused; said, quietly, “Older sister?”

“That’s right,” Mai said gently, sitting down beside Yuuki-san. “You remember.”

“I—” Yuuki-san shook her head slowly. “I don’t—”

“I know,” Mai said, still gentler than Jounouchi had ever heard her. “You saved us all, and you lost yourself. And you found your partner, and they took her away from you and they took everything of you away from her. You’re safe now, little sister. As safe as we can make you, until you are ready to defend us again. I promise—you are safe.”

The sound Yuuki-san made could not quite be accurately described as a sob. She didn’t move.

“Yuuki-chan,” Jounouchi said softly. “Go to them.”

Yuuki-chan looked between Jounouchi and Mai, and moved slowly toward Mai and Yuuki-san. Jounouchi pushed strength to her, and she moved with a straighter spine: she laid one hand on Mai’s shoulder, the other on Yuuki-san’s.

Her knees buckled, sending Yuuki-chan collapsing into both their laps.

Yuuki-san snatched her into a tight hug, weeping. Mai embraced them both. Jounouchi, figuring the moment of show your king your loyalty was over and the moment of show your friends your friendship had started, scooted close enough to throw one arm around Mai, one around both of Yuuki; that prompted Anzu and Miho and Honda to join in the massive hug.

Some several minutes later, with exhausted teens sprawled every which way across Mai’s hotel room, Yuuki-san—who hadn’t let go of Yuuki-chan for a moment—said, “I need my memories back.”

“You keep saying that,” Jounouchi noted.

Yuuki-san glared, half-heartedly. “All of them. Beginning, I think, with the ones that were stolen today.”

“Right, yeah,” said Jounouchi. “How are we gonna pull off that one?”

Yuuki-chan hiccuped. “I think,” she said, hiccuped again, and buried her face in Yuuki-san’s shoulder. Silently, she continued, I think it matters what happened to the memories. Did—the Mutous and their friends— The words were wrapped in pain. —know they were taking our memories away and do something with them, or did they not—not care enough?

“Hey,” said Jounouchi, and Yuuki-san looked over at her. “They abandoned you first, Yuuki-chan.”

“They never trusted you,” said Anzu. “Especially around me.”

“No one hurts my little sisters,” said Mai. “They hurt you.”

“We’ve got your back,” Honda added.

Miho held out to Yuuki-chan the cup of water she had just fetched. “We love you. We love you both.”

Whatever Yuuki-san said silently to Yuuki-chan, no one else heard.

Yuuki-chan pulled far enough away from Yuuki-san to take the cup, sip from it. She swallowed, swallowed again, and said, “Yeah.”