"Let's go, let's go..." I muttered to myself as I slipped out the front door, pulling the handle of my book bag up to my elbow so my hands were free. Slinging my long white hair into a sloppy ponytail, I hurried down the road and headed down the familiar route to the bus stop.

It was the first day of my last school year, but for me, I didn't feel any kind of excitement for that. I'd already started on my future, so this was just a stepping stone. To me, this school year would be more of a hindrance than an advantage. I was ready to move on with my life. I couldn't get out of it, though, so I was already planning on keeping my head down and doing my best. It'd be reluctantly, but I'd get it done.

I'd gone to the same high school all three years, but I never managed to get out of the door on time. Like every other day, I had to run to the bus stop if I wanted to catch the one that got me to school on time. It was crowded, like it always was, but I managed to snag one of the few remaining seats.

It was a bright spring day; typical for the beginning of the school year. The air still held the chill of winter, making me huddle in my pink school uniform jacket in an attempt to retain some warmth. By the time the bus pulled up to the school, I was bouncing my legs, trying to get the blood flowing. It didn't work.

Stepping on to the campus, I headed inside, greeting a few familiar faces when I paused in the entryway to change out of my outdoor shoes. A couple people stopped to converse with me, and I happily took the time for it. Over the short break from the last school year, I hadn't visited with many of my fellow students. Most of my time, I'd spent with my singing coach, or helping my mother with her business. Catching up with everyone was a welcome formality.

As I stood from the bench, a voice caught my attention, and I turned to see a familiar brunet male approaching me, green eyes alight with energy. Ready to tackle the day, as usual. One of my best friends.

"Hey, Makoto," I greeted, my lips pulling up in a smile. "Long time no see."

Makoto nodded, returning my smile. "No joke. Everyone I've talked to said they barely heard anything from you over the break. Everything alright?"

"Oh, yes, I just kept busy. It was only a couple weeks, I didn't think anyone would notice!" I twittered. "How about you? Enjoy the break?"

"Ah, yeah, I kept busy, just like you. Can't say anything exciting happened."

We both chuckled at that.

"You'd think, living in such a big city, more fun things would happen." I made my disappointment obvious with my tone.

"Well, they probably do. We're out of the loop though; we don't live where it all happens," Makoto pointed out with a shrug. "But you know, I don't think it'll stay this way. It's our last year of school; something's bound to happen."

I raised an eyebrow, then rolled my eyes good-naturedly. "Pffft, Makoto, that sounded like a movie line. You know, 'something's comin', I don't know what it is, but it is gonna be great'?"

"Oh, you know what? All I did was watch West Side Story over the break. I wasn't busy at all. You caught me." His words had the intended effect, making me laugh and gently nudge his shoulder.

"Yeah yeah, your famous sarcasm strikes again."

Before Makoto could respond, from the other side of the lockers, another familiar voice spoke up. "Makoootooooo! Heeeelp!"

That would be Makoto's best friend, Critias. Makoto and him had been inseparable for at least as long as I had known them, if they weren't that way before. This situation happened after every break they had. Though Critias had a remarkable memory, he could never seem to remember his locker combinations, which fell to Makoto to remember for him.

"Well, that's my cue. See you in class?"

"Mmhmm. Go save your bestie." I watched Makoto round the lockers before turning around, heading up to the classroom.

I knew quite a few people in the school. Makoto, though, I considered a good friend. Well, who didn't? Makoto could easily be considered one of the most popular students in our year, and even managed to be rather well known in the other years as well. He treated everyone kindly, and never looked down on anyone. Funny enough, he kept busy, usually going home instead of going out after school. He hung out with his best friend often, but even then, that usually entitled Critias going to his house instead of the other way around. It wasn't a big secret why, either. His family was incredibly tight-knit, and though his parents were present and took great care of him and his siblings, Makoto still felt a lot of responsibility toward his younger brother.

Being an only child, it admittedly baffled me. Makoto's younger brother followed Makoto's example more than their parents', so it made sense, but I couldn't understand how it tied up Makoto's schedule so effectively. He was outgoing, and loved to be around people. It wasn't that he never went out, but it was rare. Sometimes he said he needed to help his parents out. They lived a little ways out of the city, and owned a good chunk of land, where they kept a little ranch. Still, Makoto had two younger siblings still living there, and from what I knew, they enjoyed working with the animals as much as he did.

Oh well. Maybe I just didn't get it.

When I'd first met him, I had actually ended up with a terrible crush on him. He'd dated another girl for a while, but they'd only been together for a few months. She'd cheated on him, and then dumped him. In their second year of high school, he'd dated another girl, but... Maemi was another student that most people knew, if not from knowing her older brother, Seiichi, who'd attended the school before us. She was kind, and energetic, perhaps a bit loud. As far as dating went, though, it didn't take long for her to get a little nitpicky. Then she got a lot nitpicky. After Makoto broke up with her, Maemi took it hard. I wasn't great friends with her, but I spoke to her occasionally, and it was obvious that even now, she wasn't over Makoto.

Since then, Makoto had been single, and I had never made a move. Now, I wouldn't. I liked being friends with him, and didn't feel the need to be anything different. If he brought it up to me, perhaps. Otherwise, I liked being his friend.

When I entered the classroom, there weren't many people there yet, but I noticed I didn't recognize a couple of them. Even with my outgoing nature, it seemed there were still some students I'd yet to run into.

Setting my bag at an open desk near the middle of the class, I headed over to greet them. One was another girl, with brown hair cut at her shoulders, and brilliant blue eyes. She stood by the desk where two boys sat, one having turned their chair around to make it possible to talk to the one behind him. That one was blond, hair a little unkempt, but clean. He looked to be the tallest of the bunch. The boy sitting at the desk behind the blond was hands-down the shortest. His feet hardly touched the floor, but his hair might have made up for some height. It was spiked and several different colours. If it weren't for his kind expression, he would have looked a little intimidating.

When I approached the desk, I gave a little bow of my head as greeting. "Good morning! I hope I'm not bothering, but I thought I knew pretty much everyone in our year. I'm Mara Sasaki."

The shorter boy was the first to respond, doing so cheerfully. "It's nice to meet you, Mara! I'm Yuugi Mutou. That's Anzu Mazaki, and Jonouchi Katsuya." He gestured to the girl, then the boy across from him as he said their respective names. Anzu had a kind smile on her lips, and Jonouchi seemed a tad disinterested, but more out of distraction than rudeness.

"It's nice to meet you all. Did I... interrupt something...?" I followed Jonouchi's gaze to the desk, and my eyes lit up. "Oh, Duel Monsters!" The placement of some of the cards made me realize I'd just interrupted a Duel, and Jonouchi was staring at the field, trying to decide his next move.

Yuugi beamed. "Do you play?"

"Oh, a little. I picked it up last year, but I don't know much. Just the basics. I don't have anyone to play with, you know?"

"You can join us sometimes, if you want!" Yuugi offered without pause.

I smiled. How had I managed to avoid meeting someone so friendly? "I'd really like that, thank you!"

I let Yuugi and Jonouchi finish their Duel, chatting with Anzu about certain cards that were played. Another male had joined us—a tall brunet named Honda Hirito—and though he came off as a little scary at first, he seemed to get along with everyone fine.

When the teacher walked in and started the class, I hurried back to my desk and sat, turning my attention to classwork. As always, it didn't really matter that it was the first day of the school year—the teacher assigned classwork right off the bat. There wasn't extra time to visit or catch up with anyone.

When lunch time rolled around, I found myself talking to Anzu again, and getting to know the others a little better as well. They were all kind, and seemed not to mind my attempting to befriend them. Though they came off as a tight-knit group of friends, they welcomed my company willingly. It made them all easy to like.

At the end of the school day, after I had said goodbye to a few friends, I noticed Yuugi and Jonouchi had started another Duel. Snagging my bag, I wove my way through the desks to Anzu's side. A couple other people had wandered over to watch, as well. Since I wasn't much of an expert at Duel Monsters, seeing that Jonouchi was an amateur too made it easier for me to follow the game.

Yuugi won easily, though he reacted modestly. "My grandpa's a serious gaming fanatic, and he owns a game shop. I got all my strong cards because of that," the teen assured.

Jonouchi stood up decisively with his hands on the desk, his eyes lit up with excitement. "What are we still doing here then? Let's go to your game shop!" The fact that Jonouchi didn't ask if that was alright surprised me, but Yuugi agreed without a pause.

"Okay! I'll ask Grandpa to show you his super-rare card!"

Raising my shoulders, I spoke up. "Hey, Yuugi, is it okay if I tag along too?"

"Yeah! It'll be fun," he responded cheerfully as he stood from the desk.

Those of us that were going—me, Yuugi, Anzu, Jonouchi, and Honda—all filed out of the room, and I found that even out of school, these people were good company. I didn't hang out with people outside of school too often, but I liked this. It was fun, and though I worried about it a couple times, they didn't mind me being there, despite my obviously being the one out of the loop.

"Grandpa, I'm home!" Yuugi announced as they entered the game shop, and immediately, my eyes were drawn to the many objects in the shop. The place may have been tiny, but there were so many boxes, and the amount of cards in the glass cases astounded me. I knew that people got hardcore about Duel Monsters—being a Duelist could be a profession if you were good enough—but it still amazed me. The only time I'd ever been in a game shop, it had been one devoted to so many different games. Each game had tiny sections for them. This game shop seemed to have all of the glass cases filled with solely Duel Monsters cards.

By the time I'd turned my attention to the conversation, Yuugi's grandfather was setting a little brown box on the counter with exceptional care, telling us it was his most valuable possession. Interest piqued, I joined everyone else in crowding around the counter.

The older man held up the card. "This is it, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. It's a super-ultra-rare card."

I squinted as I stared at the card, my heart speeding up. Something about this card struck me as familiar. I knew I'd never seen it before in my life, but it stemmed deeper than that. It spurred a deep memory within in me, and I couldn't bring it to mind. But I understood this card, and it understood me. In what way was still a mystery... Perhaps Yuugi's grandfather would let me hold it...

Before I had the chance to ask, Honda snatched it carelessly, looking it over. "Huh? What's so special...?"

Yuugi's grandpa snatched it back, holding it close to himself protectively. "I own one out of four copies in the entire world. I can't even put a price on it."

"It's beautiful..." I murmured, and though Yuugi's grandpa looked at me, likely to respond, my words weren't heard on the other side of the group, and Jonouchi changed the subject, asking to buy some other cards.

They continued to speak, but all I could do was stare at that card. What was so familiar about it? Had I seen it on TV? No, it wasn't that shallow. Something about this card resonated with me, but I couldn't put my finger on it...

The door to the game shop opened abruptly, startling me out of my trance. I turned as Yuugi's grandpa welcomed the newcomer, immediately noticing this person had the Domino school uniform. He seemed a little familiar, but it didn't click until Yuugi spoke.

"Kaiba?"

My eyebrows lifted. Seto Kaiba? As in Kaiba Corporation Seto Kaiba? What could have compelled him of all people to show up at a tiny game shop like this?

Speaking my thoughts, Honda said, "What could the successor of Kaiba Corporation want to be here for?"

As Kaiba approached them, he responded simply, "I heard that Yuugi's grandfather was a card fanatic."

Jonouchi perked up. "Oh, you play Duel Monsters, Kaiba? That's perfect, we could all play together sometime!"

"You guys aren't qualified to compete again me."

"What?"

I kept my mouth shut, finding it hard to keep my gaze on the confrontation. Kaiba struck me as intimidating, and thought of making eye contact with him seemed unpleasant. If I could avoid that happening, I would.

Kaiba continued, his tone abnormally disinterested and smug at the same time. "You see, I won the Duel Monsters National Championships. In other words, we're at completely different levels."

What a jerk.

Before the conversation went any further, Kaiba must have spotted the Blue-Eyes that sat neatly in its box on the counter. He strode straight through the group to the counter, making everyone step to the side. "Why would this card be in a place like this?"

I wasn't sure if he was talking to himself or not, but I inched over to Anzu, giving her an incredulous look. Anzu responded with an equally confused expression, and we focused back on the scene in front of us.

Yuugi's grandpa shut the box, pointedly saying, "Alrighty, we're through here. This isn't for sale."

Kaiba's expression grew angry, or maybe just intense, and he lifted his large, silver briefcase on to the counter, spinning it around to show the contents to Yuugi's grandfather as he opened it. "In exchange for that one Blue-Eyes White Dragon, I'll trade you all of these." From the expression on the other man's face, it must have been quite an offer.

I peeked around Anzu, and my eyes widened. That was all that was in the briefcase! It was neatly filled to the brim with cards, and most of them looked rare.

Even more shocking, Yuugi's grandfather refused in a moment. "Nope."

Not missing a beat, Kaiba shot back, "If you won't trade it, I'll buy it! Name your price; I can pay anything you ask me to!"

I furrowed my eyebrows. Why was it so important for Kaiba to have this card? Sure, this card was obviously rare, but was that all Kaiba cared about?

"Kaiba, was it?" Yuugi's grandpa asked. "There's a reason I won't sell this card to you. It's not because it's a strong card. This card is something my close friend gave to me. Nothing you pay me could possibly measure up to that."

Kaiba looked impossibly angrier, and I expected him to start yelling. Instead, after glaring at Yuugi's grandpa for a moment, he closed his briefcase roughly, then turned around to head for the door. "I'll see myself out."

Then he was gone, leaving a heavy silence in his wake. That hadn't gone well, had it?

Hating the quiet, I gave a little laugh. "Well, no explosion. Maybe he wasn't as angry as he looked."

The joke had the intended effect, and everyone was able to lighten up. I managed to put the Kaiba incident behind me, but the image of that card still hung in my head, making it hard for me focus on what was in front of me.

I hung around with everyone for a while. It was fun, and I even picked up a pack of cards for myself. Since I didn't have any other friends that were interested in playing Duel Monsters, this was new to me. I liked it, and they all didn't seem to mind having me around either. When Yuugi officially introduced me to his grandfather, he referred to me as a new friend. It made me happy.

Yet, the image of that Blue-Eyes White Dragon card plagued my thoughts. It distracted me, and within an hour, I decided to go home because of it. Maybe I could find something that would spark my memory, make it click why it was so familiar.

I said my goodbyes, then headed out alone. My home was too far to walk all the way, so I caught a bus headed back the way I came. I'd have to transfer to another one, afterward, too.

While the buses were never not crowded until it got dark, it wasn't the busiest hours, and I picked an open seat near the middle of the bus to sit in. With my bag in my lap, I stared out the window. I didn't see any of the buildings or cars, though, my thoughts on all that had happened. It'd be a bit of an odd afternoon. Why was Seto Kaiba so interested in that card? Out of all the cards in the game? He'd been genuinely pissed to hear that he couldn't get the card from Yuugi's grandfather so easily. Was there something special about it? Only four existed in the world, so perhaps it did come down to rarity for him. He said he was the Duel Monsters National Champion. A rare, powerful card like that would only help him climb the ranks.

Heaving a sigh, I shook my head at myself. I didn't know Seto Kaiba, so I was only assuming things. For now, I would have to wait and see. Maybe I'd learn something.

The full trip back home took at least an hour and a half. It made me glad to have left when I did. The sky had grown dark on the last bus, and now, walking down my street, it reminded me why I left school as soon as I could most days. The little suburb had few street lamps, and the moon was only a sliver in the sky. I ended up jogging the rest of the way to my house, unnerved the silence.

I tugged open the wooden front door and stepped inside, simultaneously closing it behind me as I took off my shoes. The dark wood siding was a welcome familiar sight, as were the ugly, slightly battered tatami mats on the floor.

"Mom? I'm home!" I called through the kitchen, setting my bag on the counter. It looked like dinner was already started; a pot boiled quietly on the stove top. As usual, Mom must have gotten distracted doing something else at the same time.

Stretching my arms above my head, I headed over to the stove to check on it just as my mother entered, pushing her short, curly brown hair back with a headband.

"Ah, Mara, you came home rather late today!"

"Hi to you too," I teased. "Forget about dinner again?"

"No no, I was just putting my hair back. I left for only a moment!"

Riiiiight.

"It smells really good. Oh, and sorry I didn't tell you where I was. I went to a little game shop that one of my classmate's grandfather owns. I spent more time on a bus than I did there, though," I sighed. Taking the bus may have been necessary, but it took so long sometimes.

"Oh, that's okay, sweetheart. Dinner's almost ready, though, so how about you go change while I dish this up?"

"Mmhmm, thanks Mom." I turned on my heel and grabbed my bag from the counter, heading down the stairs to my room.

It was a little odd having a basement room. It was finished, so there was carpet, and a bathroom, and closet. The weird part? It didn't have a door. Only the staircase separated my room from the rest of the house. I didn't mind, but it could be bothersome. If I wanted to watch a dramatic movie on full blast, it'd bother the rest of the house. Same with listening to music, or even if I had a friend over. My parents didn't invade my privacy, but they couldn't do much about it if they were in the kitchen, where the staircase led from.

I set my bag on the bed and grabbed some clothes to change into. Once done, I was looking in the mirror, pulling the hair tie from my hair in preparation to braid it when it hit me. I didn't know if it had a direct correlation, but I had a little white dragon plushie from when I was little, before my father had died. Maybe it was the same as the card, or similar, if nothing else.

I made quick work to finish braiding my hair, then hurried to the closet, taking down the shoe box from the top. My plushie already sat neatly on the bed, but I kept my other childhood things in this box.

I sat on my bed and picked up the plushie, looking it over. It did have blue eyes, and the design was fairly similar. A little crude, but it had been made by my biological father, who by no means was an expert plushie maker. The memories I had were fuzzy, but I knew my father had made me this plushie because of a dragon I told him about a lot. In fact, I used to draw it for him all the time. Once I'd been adopted by my parents now, I had started drawing the dragon for them.

Reaching into the shoe box, I pulled out a little beat up sketchpad, one I had owned as long as I could remember. I only had to flip through a couple pages before the first dragon drawing. A white dragon with blue eyes. Its claws, though misshapen, looked similar, and it had the same head shape as that card. The neck was long, like the card, and the tail was the same too. I couldn't bring myself to think it was the same thing, though. These crude dragon drawings were all done because of a dragon I'd seen in my dreams when I was little. As I grew older, it showed itself less and less often, until now, it felt like a blast from the past to have a dream with that dragon in it.

Well, these were the kinds of things my mother loved to delve into. I could ask her for advice.

Though I knew my mother didn't like me having my phone at the table, I still grabbed it from my bag. Maybe I could look up a picture of this card and show it to her.

With a nervous sigh, I headed up the stairs, typing the name of the card into my phone. It came up quickly, being something of a legendary card among fans. I clicked one of the images, then slipped the phone into my pocket, striding through the kitchen and to the adjacent area, where my father already sat at the table and my mother was just finishing laying everything out.

"There you are," my father said. "How'd your day go?"

I shrugged ambiguously, sitting down at the table as my mother did. "It was fine. A little weird, though. I went to a game shop with some friends. The game shop was actually owned by one's grandfather. He had this really rare Duel Monsters card called the Blue-Eyes White Dragon."

I paused for just a moment to gauge my parents reaction, but there didn't seem to be one, so I continued, pulling out my phone. "Uhm, I actually looked it up here..."

"Mara, you know I don't like there to be phones out at the table," Mom sighed, and I nodded quickly.

"No, I know, and I'm sorry, but I really wanted to show you this..." I brought up the picture and handed the phone to her. "Does it... look familiar to you, at all?"

"Of course! It looks like the dragons you use to draw when you were little." Mom nodded, then showed the phone my father.

"Mmhmm. Looks just like it," he responded, his gaze returning to me. "Is something about it bothering you?"

I chewed on the inside of my lip as I received the phone back from my mother, putting it back in my pocket. "I don't know, it just... I didn't remember the dragons I drew when I first saw it, but it felt really familiar, you know? And in more than just appearance... It was like... I knew it?"

Mom gave a little laugh. "Well Mara, you told us all the time that you saw this dragon in your dreams. You have some kind of connection with it. I used to tell you the same thing when you were little."

I nodded. My mother loved anything supernatural or metaphysical, and made a bit of income off of writing about it on a blog online. It was fairly popular, and people liked her. She focused on studies of dreams and their meanings, though in a less scientific sense. She also ran something of a metaphysical store online, where she sold things like books, homemade things like oils, dried sage, and the like. I loved it, and got to learn so much from my mother, but the few times I'd mentioned it to people at school, I'd been scoffed at. Only classmates that were interested in occult things were interested. Perhaps it seemed bizarre or creepy to most, but I liked it, and it made my mom happy.

Still, this explanation didn't feel complete. "I remember, but... Why a Duel Monster? Duel Monsters wasn't even a thing when I was that little."

"The creator must have drawn inspiration from somewhere, right?" Dad put in, and my mother nodded.

"That's right. Perhaps there's a legend or myth somewhere about a dragon similar to this. It might be that legend or myth that your connection comes from, and this card was based off of it."

"Mmm..." I had to nod in agreement. That made more sense than her having a connection with a card that hadn't even existed yet.

"Would you like me to do some research? I have a couple websites I know have all kinds of information for these kinds of situations," Mom offered.

"If you have the time, that'd help a lot. Thank you."

"Of course, sweetheart. Now, we'd better getting eating, or this'll all get cold!"

I tried to put the thoughts out of my head, following my mother's cheery example. Ignoring the thoughts completely, however, proved to be impossible, and by the time we'd finished eating and I helped clean up, I was still thinking about that dragon.

I stood at the sink, doing the dishes, and my mother was wiping down the counters behind me. It was as good a time as any to ask more questions. If I was going to get any answers right now, they'd be from my mother, and I knew bringing it up again wouldn't bother her.

"Hey, Mom? About the whole dragon thing... Is it common for two people to have the same connection to something like that?"

"Oh, of course!" she piped up, her tone light. It didn't matter what the situation, she loved these topics. "I would say that what you have to this dragon is rather uncommon, though. Most people connect with a deity, or something less tangible. A specific myth or legend, though, and in this case, a card, maybe, is a little different. It could be that you were even part of it in another life. Or maybe you became obsessed with the legend in a more recent life. It is interesting," she hummed, not realizing she'd gone off on a tangent.

"Yeah, but, me and someone else having the same connection? What would that mean?"

My mother joined my side, taking to drying the dishes after I washed them. "Do you think someone else does?"

"Mmhmm. While we were in the game shop, Seto Kaiba—of all people—showed up, and he was really interested in that card. He offered a whole briefcase of cards to trade, and when Yuugi's grandpa—ah, Yuugi's one of my classmates. When Yuugi's grandpa refused that, Kaiba offered him to name a price. He said he'd pay anything. Yuugi's grandpa still said no, and Kaiba left really, really angry. He really wanted that card." I paused on the dish I was washing, giving a frustrated huff. "I thought maybe he wanted it because it was rare. There are only four of those cards in the world. But when I got home and checked my drawings, and you and Dad recognizing it immediately, I'm wondering if it's the same thing. I don't know... Kaiba's a business guy, I doubt he's much into our hocus pocus."

Mom laughed. "Perhaps. But even if he didn't believe it, something still drew him to that card. It might have been rarity, or it might be something bigger than that. You might not ever get to know."

"That's frustrating," I grumbled, resuming washing the dish before handing it to my mother.

"It can be. That's what happens when you decide to pay attention to things you can't see. A lot of questions go unanswered."

I nodded, but let the subject drop. I wanted to know. I'd figure it out someday. I wanted answers, and I'd get them, one way or another.

That night, I went to sleep without all the answers I wanted.

Welcome back to A Missing Link! I'd left this fanfic for about a year or two, and when I came back, my writing had improved enough that I didn't even want to CONTINUE this, I just wanted to redo it. So now, everything is up to date, and we're taking it from the top!

For any old readers coming back, welcome back, and I hope you like the improved version of this fanfic! For new readers, welcome, and I hope you enjoy this thing to the end!

Until Season 2, I'm hoping to upload a chapter a week, and since this went up on Saturday, I'll try to get them up on Saturdays, maybe Fridays. Once we get into season 2, uploads will get more erratic, but I'm hoping for the MAXIMUM break in between to be about two weeks. I'll be striving to have them more frequent, though.

I'll probably get chapter two up tomorrow, though, because this chapter won't have sent out notifications.

And the obligatory thing: Please review and lemme know what you guys think! I love your guys' feedback!