Random Announcer: The new story by the soon to be famous...drum roll please...Alexandra Cai!
Me: /waits expectingly for cheering/ Come on, I know ya like me. /waits a little longer/
Seto: /smirks/ Let me show you how it's done. /pushes her off stage/
Me: Ahh!
Seto: /whispers to random announcer/
Random Announcer: As a special treat for attending the commencement speech for the new branch of Kaiba Corp., every one will recieve free duels disks!
Audience: /cheers/
Me: Commencement speech? /frowns and crosses arms/ Just give 'em the disclaimer, will ya?
Seto: Even though Alexandra Cai would love to, she does not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters, besides her own, in this work of fiction. She simply could never be able to, and besides, this sorry excuse of a story could never make her nearly enough money too.
Me: /growls/
Random Announcer: We now present you...Without Name.
Seto: Hmph...can't even think of a title.
Me: /eyes flash angrily/ That is the title.

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Chapter One - Dangerous Intentions
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Hey, Grandpa, I'm home," Yugi called out, entering through the back door. The short kid dropped his backpack, going over to the kitchen to get a snack.

He stopped in surprise. The small, cramped room was usually filled with dirty dishes and other such stuff that no one had gotten to cleaning up. But today the counter was sparkling clean, or, at least, as close as it could ever get to it. That could only mean one thing.

His eyes traveled over to the girl sitting on the counter. Nanashi. She was holding an apple in one hand, using a knife to pare away chuncks of it to eat with the other. She finished the little bit that was left, and deftly flicked the core over into the garbage can. "Yo, Yug."

He smiled. "Hi." He walked over to the refridgerator and opened what had originally been a cream colored door. Now it was more of a dirty yellow. "So, where ya been?" As he leaned inside, rummaging around, his puzzle fell forward, the gold surface glinting in dull light of the room.

"Around," she answered simply, jumping off the counter.

Yugi's grandpa stuck his head in the kitchen. "Have a good day at school?" he asked Yugi. Noticing Nanashi, he raised an eyebrow. "So, you're what's been making all that noise today. I could hear you all the way out front."

"Yeah, right." She laughed, shaking her long brown hair. "If you could've, the cops would've been here a long time ago."

Solomon smiled back. "Got me. Can't even keep intruders out of my own house."

"Not many ever hear me," she added. But her bluegreen eyes reflected a darker side to the comment.

Yugi pulled his head out of the fridge, holding a jar each of peanut butter and jelly. Walking over to the counter, he swiped the bread of the top of the microwave. He grabbed a knife and began slabbing peanut butter on a slice of bread. "My day was pretty good." He shrugged noncommitally and spread jelly on another slice. Sandwiching them together, he took a large bite. Yumm, he thought.

"So, ya'll mind if I stay here for awhile?" Nanashi asked.

"No, not at all," Solomon answered immediately. He liked the girl, and anyways, she always helped out, too "By the way, where've you been lately?"

That was the second time she'd been asked that question. Yugi thought she looked troubled for a moment, but the look lasted only a split second. "Around," she shrugged, answering the same way as before.

Yami communicated telepathically to his hikari. Something's troubling her.

So you noticed it too, Yugi thought back.

Yes.

Nanashi glanced down at the watch on her right wrist. "Gotta run," she said, exiting quickly. "Be back later."

It didn't surprise either Yugi or Solomon. They knew her pretty well by now, probably the only ones who did, and she often left suddenly like that. It didn't surprise them at all.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Nanashi loped down the sidewalk, but was a completely different person than she'd been a few moments ago. Her lips were drawn down into a frown, and her eyes reflected the inner conflict raging inside her. She thought back to yesterday.

--Flashback--

"You're late." The man didn't turn as she entered, merely continued staring at the enlarged map of Domino hanging on the wall. Darts were stuck into it at various locations. Nanashi momentarily speculated on what they meant. Comrades? Targets? She quickly dismissed any of these, knowing that it was purely a ploy set up for her enjoyment.

Hmph. Enjoyment. That was about the last feeling she linked with this place. She sat down in the steel chair provided for her. Besides the map on the wall, and the laptop on the desk in front of her; the place had the air of an interrogation room. "So, what? I'm here, aren't I?"

"You had better be more considerate of time in the future. For if you fail for me..." He left the sentence hanging, and jabbed a dart he was holding deep into the map.

Nanashi's eyes flicked over to the spot. She barely managed to conceal her horror as she read the address.

The man finally turned. Intense gray eyes tried to pierce through her, but didn't succeed. They were right about her, although the true test hadn't come yet. She concealed her feelings well, hiding them under a mask of impatience and stubborness. He felt more confident, in himself and his superiors. He shouldn't have doubted them, they were rarely wrong.

He himself was a man of mediums. Height, build, skill, intelligence, looks, there was nothing extraordinary about him. He'd been trained well, but usually found himself merely the middle man. But this didn't faze him, and the only part of him that broke his pattern of ordinariness was his eyes. They burned with a passion for his cause. That, and his life after joining them.

He walked over to a desk. "Ah, a little more cooperative now, aren't we?"

"Just get on with it," she growled, giving way to her rising anger.

He sat down at the desk, and spun the open laptop around, so she could see the screen. "Do you know who this man is?"

She recognized the man in the photograph instantly, and the description left no room for doubt. "Yes."

"Kill him."

She was furious now, grinding out her reply. "I am not an assassin."

He pushed the screen down, locking eyes with her and smiling viciously. "Oh, but is it not what you were meant to be?"

--End Flashback--

She'd barely managed to keep from strangling him, even with the knowledge of what the price would be. Her eyes flashed angrily just remembering it. She continued through a maze of side streets and alleyways. Climbing up the fire escape stairs to an old, barely standing apartment building, she whipped out a key and jammed it into the lock. She twisted it, then yanked on the knob, and pushed the door open. Walking in, she opened a cabinet, and pulled out a gun.

She hated the way the black...thing molded naturally with her hand. She held it out, sighting it easily at a window lock on the far end of the room. She revolted against the feeling of power and knowledge that if she fired she had a better chance of being struck by lightning than missing. She closed her eyes, and her finger feathered the trigger. She wouldn't fire, the unnecessary noise could possible attract someone.

There's plenty of other professional assassins out there, she thought. Why me?

A little voice answered back. Oh, but is it not what you were meant to be?

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Seto: /dryly/ wow...
Me: /jumps back onstage and smacks him/ Shut up, will ya? Please review and thanks for reading my- /is cut off short as Seto tackles her and they wrestle on stage/