Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh, never have, and never will. I do, however, own Maria Tsuconnichi or Tsucci for short. Rei belongs to my best friend, and I own this plot and the plot to the story that this is a sequel to.

Summary: Sequel to Different Classes. 5,000 years after the events in Different Classes, the whole group is reunited in Domino. Will history repeat itself, or will things be totally different? By the way, this takes place after Battle City.

"Blah" talking

'Blah' thinking

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Becoming Equals

It was pretty much a normal day in Domino City. Birds singing in the trees, people happily hurrying from one place to the other, people in dark cloak jackets going around looking for their next duelist victim. What? Malik decided to direct GHOULS from Domino rather than Egypt. Of course, this was all ignored, and rather frowned upon by a single solitary figure. The figure pushed back the hood on her jacket to reveal black hair with blue streaks that was pulled into a ponytail, and very narrow and cold green eyes.

"Why do I even bother anymore?" Rei muttered to herself, "I've been wandering for almost 5,000 years, and I haven't found a single clue on the whereabouts of anyone." With a sigh, Rei got to her feet and shouldering her pack headed out of the park, reflecting on her ill luck.

After she had lost the Millennium Ring, had the Millennium Rod stolen from her, and left Egypt, Rei had worked her way across Asia, Europe, and Africa. The only reason it had taken her so damn long, was that people had tended to take advantage of her and enslave her, which in turn made her forget things, such as how to summon her ka. Passing a card store, Rei stopped and stared at a display in the window.

There, in the window, were cards being displayed from the newest Duel Monsters pack. And in the center was Dreadscythe, her beloved ka, now known as Guardian Dreadscythe. 'Well, well. Now I can see if I've truly lost my thieving touch,' Rei thought with a smirk as she entered the store. A minute later, she was heading out of the store casually with the Dreadscythe card in her coat pocket.

"Fools," she snorted before looking around. Since she had only been in Japan for a week or two, she understood the language, but couldn't understand the signs at all. "Guess I'll just follow my feet," she said and headed off down the sidewalk.

After a while, Rei had worked her way out of downtown and was wandering the outskirts. Passing a school, Rei froze, sensing a familiar aura. 'It can't be…can it?" she wondered before climbing up a tree that was near the school wall. Not long after Rei got comfortable on her perch, the bell rang, ending the school day.

Students swarmed out of the building, but Rei quickly spotted a familiar face in the crowd. In fact, the only difference was the hair. Instead of having side bangs angling up on both sides of her head and going down to the collarbone like queen Maria had styled her hair, this Maria had a side part and bangs sloping over her forehead to be pinned near her ear to keep from being blown around and a ribbon acting as a headband. As Rei watched, another brunette approached her and stood in front of Maria.

"Hello Téa. How can I help you today?" Maria asked in a bored tone.

"You know what I want. I want you to stay away from my friends…" Téa started but was interrupted by Maria.

"Especially Yami, right?" Maria finished, "Listen. I don't know why you believe that Yami likes you, Téa, but I assure you that he doesn't. Besides, what shoved a stick up your ass to make you so bossy today?"

"Of course Yami likes me, how could he not? I'm pretty, smart, and very popular. And lastly, Tsucci, I'm not being bossy, I'm just protecting what's mine," Téa said, turning and sticking her nose in the air.

Rei jolted. That Téa person looked exactly like Nephoris. Glancing back at Maria, Rei saw a familiar fury in the girl's eyes. 'Where have I heard that before?' Maria thought before feeling a twinge course through her body and her thoughts were distracted by Téa being lifted into the air. "Apparently my powers don't like you Téa," Maria said, "And now since you can't leave, listen closely. You have no right to call Yami yours, especially if he isn't even interested in you. Also, never call me Tsucci. Only my friends can call me that, and as far as I'm concerned, you aren't one of them."

Maria walked past Téa and allowed her to drop and land on her ass as she left the schoolyard. As she headed down the sidewalk, Maria was aware that someone was following her. Thinking it was merely another student who was heading the same way, she thought nothing of it. As she reached the richer part of town, she realized the person wasn't a student, for none of them lived out here besides her and her brothers.

"All right, who are you and what do you want?" Maria demanded, whirling around to face her follower. Her follower wore gothic clothing and a jacket with a hood that overshadowed her features.

"You certainly know how to take care of yourself," the figure mused ignoring Maria's demands and lowering her hood, "Of course, that's to be expected with the pretty…well, desirable figure you have."

Maria frowned. "I've never seen you before, but yet your face is strikingly familiar," she admitted, "What's your name?"

"I'm Rei," Rei replied, "Rei Tsunami."

"And I'm Maria Tsuconnichi, but you may call me Tsucci," Maria replied. "Where do you live, since obviously you don't live around here?" she asked then.

"I'm a drifter. I've been one almost as far back as I can remember."

"How old are you then?"

Rei smirked. "I'm five thousand sixteen," she answered with a shrug.

Maria blinked in a dumbfounded manner. "No, really," she said, not appreciating the joke, "How old are you? You can't be more than 18."

"I'm 5,016," Rei replied seriously.

Maria paled. "You're not joking," she murmured suddenly and then looked around. "Come with me to my house. These neighbors are nosy and I suspect a few calls tonight asking who you are," Maria said, turning and walking off, knowing that Rei would follow.

"You like living large, don't you?" Rei asked with a raised eyebrow as they walked through the gate of what was by far the largest mansion in the district.

"Hmm? Oh, this is actually my brother Seto's. It was passed down to him when his stepfather died," Maria explained.

"Don't you mean your stepfather?" Rei asked.

"Nope, his stepfather. Me, Seto, and our little brother Mokuba were orphaned at a young age, and they got adopted by a man with the last name of Kaiba while I was stuck in the orphanage. I only found and came to live with them a year and a half ago," Maria replied opening the front door. "Are you hungry?" she asked Rei.

"Yes," Rei replied, taking off her jacket.

"Are you always that skinny?" Maria asked, trying not to be rude as she headed into the kitchen and started making food.

"Since I was about 13. I used to be a slave and my master didn't treat me well," Rei answered, entering the kitchen as well.

"You were a slave? Where are you from?" Maria asked, looking up. She had just met Rei, and felt unusually close to her already.

"Egypt," Rei said as Maria put a plate of food in front of her and sat across the table with some juice. "Me and my brother, Bakura, were slaves together until he turned 18 and then once he was set free, our master sold me to the master that mistreated me."

Maria choked on her juice. "Bakura is your brother? But he's a complete lunatic!" she exclaimed once she recovered.

"He's not a lunatic," Rei said calmly, "At least not when I last talked to him when I owned the Millennium Ring."

"That had to be around five thousand years ago. Maybe he went insane during that time," Maria suggested.

"He was quite sane when he died. You actually caused his sanity to return," Rei said.

"I was in Egypt?" Maria asked.

"Yes Tsucci, you weren't just in Egypt back then, you were one of Bakura's best friends, and you were queen," Rei said.

Maria's eyes widened and then she got up and going into another room, came back with a picture. "Who else was in Egypt?" Maria asked.

Rei took the picture and studied it. It was a picture of Maria and apparently her friends. "Let's see. You, your brother though I never saw him without his priest hat, Yami or Atemu as was his birth name, the one who looks like a little version of him, the black haired woman, and…" here Rei paused and looked at one of the figures in the picture. Suddenly, her stomach churned with an emotion that she hadn't felt in millennia

"What is it?" Maria asked, coming around the table and standing behind Rei.

"Him," Rei said, pointing to one of the three blondes in the picture, "Ishtar."

"Tch, another lunatic," Maria said with a shudder, "He's even creepier than Bakura."

Rei laughed at this. "For once, I agree with you. He was Bakura's other best friend."

"Birds of a feather, those two are. So Yami, Yugi, Isis, Ishtar, Seto, and me were in Egypt. You forgot Bakura though," Maria said, pointing to one of the two albinos in the picture.

Rei looked closely. The one that Maria had pointed to did not look happy to be in the picture. This Bakura had long white hair, but the eyes were the same…minus the scars near the right one. "Wow, he grew pale, weak, and skinny," Rei commented.

"But his bad temper is as it had most likely been back in Egypt. If you want, I'll take you to him. I have to do a project with his hikari, Ryou, anyway," Maria offered.

"I would like that," Rei said quietly after a pause, "It would be nice to see my brother again.

"Well then finish eating so we can go," Maria answered, taking her cup to the sink. Rei nodded and finishing her food and followed Maria out of the door after grabbing her jacket.

A while later, the two girls arrived at a modest-sized house. Knocking on the door, Maria heard Bakura yell for who ever it was at the door to fuck off.

"Was he always like this?" Maria asked Rei. Seeing the shrug of reply, Maria knocked on the door again and jumped when it flew open, to reveal Bakura standing there, thoroughly annoyed.

"What the f…oh, Maria. What are you doing here?" Bakura asked, his tone changing in a heartbeat, apparently not expecting Maria to be there.

"I have that project to do with Ryou, remember?" Maria said, ducking under Bakura's arm and entering the house. Bakura raised an eyebrow and looked at Rei, who shrugged. "Bakura! Let Rei in!" Maria called.

Bakura's eyebrow twitched, but he did as asked. Bakura and Rei entered the living room and saw Maria and Ryou sitting on the floor, bent over a model of apparently Thebes by the way they were making a pyramid out of cardboard. "Hey Maria, who's this?" Ryou asked, looking up.

"Hmm?" Maria asked and then followed Ryou's gaze. "Oh, that's Rei, Rei Tsunami. Rei, this is Ryou," Maria introduced.

Bakura shifted his gaze so that he was looking at Rei. "Where are you from?" Bakura asked, taking in the details like her hair color and eye color, but not going so far as to hope she was who he thought she was, because there was no way it would happen.

Rei blinked at the sudden question. "I'm from Egypt."

"Egypt? How old are you then?" Ryou asked.

Rei hesitated and said reluctantly, "Over 5000."

Bakura snorted suddenly. "Yeah right. Look kid, no one can live that long. Now stop playing 'pretend' and tell us how old you are," he said dryly.

Rei wheeled around and faced Bakura with a glare that made a shiver run down his back, and he only knew one other person besides himself who could do that. "I'm over 5,000 and I can prove it," Rei snapped before going to the model and said calmly, "The palace should be facing the Nile, and the shrine should be to the west of the palace, but still in the grounds."

Ryou looked at the model and corrected the palace grounds. Bakura let out a low growl. "Lucky guess," he grumbled before flopping on the couch.

Rei shared a look with Maria before going to stand in front of Bakura. Pressing his eyes gently closed, Rei traced with her fingertip two lines underneath Bakura's right eye and then, starting at his forehead, she traced another line over his eyelid, at which he instinctively trembled to, and continued down.

When she got to just a bit past his mouth, Bakura snatched her wrist and pulled her hand away from his face. Locking eyes with Rei, Bakura looked into the green pools and something clicked in his mind. "Sister?" he asked uncertainly.

Rei smiled gently for the first time in, well, millennia and nodded. "Yes big brother, It's me," she replied.

Bakura stared blankly and then sunk back on the couch. "How is that possible? You should be no more than dust by now, however the only thing changed is the width of your eyes," he asked weakly.

"I don't know for sure myself. Over the years, I discovered a bit about my bloodline/heritage, and I learned that my bloodline is cursed with long life, but I didn't think it'd be this long," Rei answered with a small shrug.

"Umm, I have a question," Ryou spoke up, "How can you be siblings if you two look nothing alike?"

Rei messed up Bakura's hair and sat down next to him. "We are…I don't know the term, but we're not blood related…" she trailed off, unable to recall the term.

Bakura rolled his eyes before giving his head a shake. "We were slaves together, I was maybe around eight years old when my Master brought her home. I wasn't the nicest to her at first, damn pride, but we eventually developed a bond strong enough to be one like that between two siblings. In a way, we adopted each other," he explained.

"Bakura, if you were friends with me, and I was married to Yami, why do you two hate each other?" Maria asked.

Bakura winced and didn't answer at first. Finally, he lifted his gaze to meet the three others'. "I've never told anyone my reasons for some of the things I've done, and I don't want to start now. Ryou knows, but he's sworn not to tell," he said simply, effectively stopping Maria from asking him.

"Sorry Tsucci," Ryou said with an apologetic smile, "I did promise."

"Now if you two mortals are going to continue with your model, I'm going to hang out with Malik," Bakura said stiffly as he walked out.

"Who's Malik?" Rei asked.

"It's his best friend. You should go with him Rei, you'll probably be bored otherwise," Maria said, returning to the model. Rei pondered that and jumping up, ran after Bakura.

"Why did you want Rei to go with Bakura?" Ryou asked once Rei left.

"She knew Ishtar in Egypt," Maria replied.

"Great, another psycho joins that flock," Ryou replied dryly, causing Maria to laugh.

"We'll see."

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YSF: HA! Told you it would be up by Christmas. As always, it's slow going at first, but should pick up momentum. Please read and review, and help me determine how this is going to go. Trust me, it'll go much faster if I know where to go. wink wink