I've been playing with this plot for… almost a year now… One of my friends sent me some character ideas for OC's after I told her of an idea dealing with Ryou and his cousin (my OC). The character's she came up with were basically our small circle of friends only… we're guys instead of girls. It's been really fun to mess around with and I decided to do a full story.

This is the prologue, so it's REALLY short. But my chapters are going to be REALLY long. Personally I don't care if other ppl don't like it. This is just where I'll post the chapters for my friends. But I hope that some ppl here find it amusing and at least a good idea. (Despite how badly it's written).

I'll get the first chapter up in a few days…

Disclaimer: Melain doesn't own YGO or any of it's characters, but she does own Ishi!

Prologue

Encouragement.

Something no one would have ever though Bakura, the evil spirit of the ring, was capable of giving; and the one thing he was always trying to give me. Though I didn't know why at the time. You see, I'm different than what everyone sees me as; he found that out before I did. And he hated it, that I was always trying to be someone I'm not, and told me that on frequent occasions. It disgusted him that I didn't express myself so I would please people who, and I quote, "don't even see me anyway". Gee thanks yami, now I feel loved.

Sadly he was right, I could walk into school in a dress and most wouldn't notice. Wait scratch that, yes they would. (And I'd get more attention from my 'fanclub' than I already do.) Okay, different example; I would dye my hair black and most wouldn't notice… for a week or two. I mean, Yugi-tachi would just because if I'm normal I'm invisible but if something's out of the ordinary then I'm at the top of their priorities list. But even after everyone else noticed they would forget about it by the next day. Which is a really cool thought for me because I always wanted to dye my hair black. Not only would I look good (and somewhat normal) with it at first, but when I'm growing my silver-white color out again it will look completely awesome! Anyway, I'm going off topic. My interests and hobbies were completely different than what any would have interpreted, because I don't voice them. According to Bakura (who must have spent most of his long hours at my house while I was at school pondering this), if I was to change my appearances and be 'myself', I'd be a total punk rocker.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. So let me explain…

I use to have this little fetish with anything occult, though that expanded a bit when I met Bakura. As I grew older I started becoming more attached to some other things. One being music. I love J-Rock, and I like some American and British bands as well. Bakura thinks under influence, I'd probably make a rocker. He also thought it would be good for me, boost my confidence and stuff. I didn't believe him at all; my thought is the same as most of yours. But Bakura had officially declared me a 'silent' punk rocker, and reminded me of that constantly. The weird thing is though, if I had this so called 'influence', he'd probably be right. So basically, if I had the guts to dress and express myself the way that I want to I'd make a rocker. Bust as most can tell, I won't in a million years. I mean, come on, me? I wouldn't even admit to myself that I wanted to change my outer image to suit my real personality and by more like… well, me. So Bakura kept literally 'encouraging' me to be who 'I really want to be'.

But that made me think; who did I want to be? Me, of course. But I started to think more and more about what he had told me. And about what really made me happy. I started to realize I really wasn't portraying who I really am. Everyone saw me as either the quiet-smart-British boy, or as just another face in the crowd; the last being the most common. I kind of envied my friends, who always seemed to stand out. They were the kind of people you'd see… anywhere, and go home and tell other people about them or what they did or what they looked like. People other people noticed. I wanted to be noticed, but I also wanted to be stronger. Maybe Bakura was right, maybe an influence was all I needed. And Bakura was determined to be that influence; I never understood why he would even care. He'd go off and say I'm his host or I grew on him or something like that. So I left it at that and let him amuse himself but forming me into the person I was capable of being; and it started to work. Living with him during the summer Yugi-tachi ditched me he taught me a lot of things (the very first few of those things being self-defense and thievery), though I would be lying if I said that I didn't grow over those months. I was growing stronger both mentally and physically and was the closest to being myself that I had ever been. But I still didn't look the part. Bakura had started helping me in that department a little too eagerly, and in some aspects before I had even agreed to this transformation; he filled our closet with faded and tight jeans, which we wore all throughout the Battle City Tournament. Then during that summer, he got us this AWESOME black trench coat! I could have kissed him.

I had no clue how involved Bakura was getting in making me be who I wanted to be; he once told me that for some reason he didn't like seeing 'all this potential be hidden behind the fake smiles and polite manners', I never got to ask him what potential he was talking about. But he always dropped the subject quickly. After a year or so of this he wanted to widen my range of influence through my cousin who lived in America, and scheduled for us to visit him over the summer. He even went as far as to apply me for a job at a store in their local mall. (How he did that from Japan, I'll never know). But it was a PUNK store! When I checked it out on line, my jaw dropped, (this was at the time I hadn't agreed to go through with the changes… but he knew me too well). Anyway, the store is called Hot Topic, ever heard of it? Yeah, now I couldn't wait for summer.

But then, that spring, Bakura decided he'd had enough playing cat and mouse with the pharaoh. And he started the ultimate shadow game, the Memory World. I had seen it, and tried to change his mind from actually acting out his plan; because it could have worked. But… he lost. I couldn't bear it; I pleaded to whatever God that might be listening that he just passed on to the after life like the pharaoh did, and his soul wasn't destroyed by the shadows. I know he had evil intentions, and I know he was dangerous; but no one deserves to have their soul obliterated. Even Bakura had his good side, I had learned that during the little time I spent with him; sadly, I think I'm the only one that ever saw it.

He was the only one who had ever really been there for me, the only person who had actually given a crap about me. He worked so hard to help me discover myself, and that meant more to me than he could ever imagine. If it weren't for him, I'd probably wouldn't have changed so much over these past few years. No one notices that I've changed, but Bakura did. That meant a lot too… he noticed me. Back when I first came to Japan, I was a mouse. Literally; I never spoke up for myself, barley voiced my opinions, and kept my past and my burdens to myself and pretended everything was fine. I know better now, I'd become stronger than I had ever hoped to be. I'm strong enough to pull through my last year of high school; even if I have to do it alone.

But… I just miss him so much. No one had ever stayed with me for that long, even if at first we weren't exactly on good terms. We grew to accept each other; and he was the other half of my soul. I never expected it would hurt this much, I feel like I'm living with only half a soul. He was a big part of my life, and I was closer to him than I had ever been to anyone. He was the only person who could always tell when something was wrong, and always know how to make me feel better. And vice versa; I was actually some help to him, because I always seemed to know what to do when he was upset. We healed each other, and were bonded through more than just magic. I loved him; I still don't know if it was brotherly or something more… one day I'll find out. But I have no one to talk to about him, because everyone else just thought he was an evil, psychotic, bastard. Which he was, but that didn't stop me from getting so attached to him. He took care of me… and I wasn't alone anymore.

Now I am, I live in an empty house day to day; any empty house that holds so many memories. I gave him his own room you know; my dad was never home, so I gave Bakura the guest room. It's still full of all his belongings, I just can't move anything. It's probably just some false hope that I grasp onto that he'll show up and if I had moved anything he'll get mad at me for touching his stuff. But I can't put away his things. I may be stronger physically, and in some cases mentally. But it's the things like this, that I have already gone through so many times, that tears my heart to pieces. I needed to get out of that house, before the depression was too much to bare. So I asked my cousin if I could come over early. It would help, I know.

My cousin, Ishi (his real name is Jason, Jason Bakura; but we call him Ishi… I don't even remember why anymore). He knew Bakura a little; he came and visited me for a week, and they were plotting against me the entire time. But he's helped me through similar situations before, when my mother and sister passed… he could help me get through this. And I would have work to keep me occupied during the day when Ishi was at school; then their summer was coming around so I would have him to keep me busy all day long. We have just taken our 1st trimester exams, so I could spend the next trimester in America, and come back at the end of the summer for the exams at school. I'd just do all my school studies in America and everything would work out fine.

Then, when I go back to Japan, everything will be better. I will take care of Bakura's room and everything will turn out all right. I'll move on. But there is one thing that I still have to do, I still have to change myself. Be myself. So not change myself exactly, but change my appearance. Reflect who I really am. Bakura wanted me to be myself, he worked so hard for me to find who I am, so by God I'm going to finish what he started.

The day before I got on the plane, I dyed my hair black.

Yeah, kinda boring. The first chapter is about 15 pages long so get ready for it. I hope you all are liking it so far.

Flames are burned in my fireplace, I'm currently snowed in!

PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!

- Melain