It's kind of funny when you think about it. Having this dark part inside you. It's even funnier that you get used to it, over time. I was scared I'll admit it, but slowly it became a necessity, a need that I wanted there. She became a part of me, someone.

My name is Tori. My rather distinctive hair can give me away in a second; knee length, black with multicoloured streaks, with bangs framing my face, dipped in brown, and a choppy frame. Believe me, it's natural.

Anyway, my story starts on the night of my 16th birthday.

I had just gone to bed to sleep. Seconds later, I opened my eyes to see that I was standing in what looked like a dense forest, dark green trees surrounded me with soft grass around my feet. It was so quiet, with only the soft whisper of the wind whispering to me. It was no surprise that I jumped about a foot in the air when I heard a voice.

"Hello." It was a soft, slow voice that, when I thought about it, sounded a bit like mine, just slightly deeper. I turned and there she was.

She was near a spitting image of me. She had black as the darkest night hair that reached near her knees, with streaks of different colours. She was wearing what I recognised as my school uniform, which was a knee length black skirt with a white shirt, it showed off all her curves, unlike me. She was also wearing black high heels, making her a few inches taller than me. Her eyes were brown like mine but were more angular and fierce.

"Who are you?" I whispered, my trembling voice exposing the fear that I felt.

"Do not be afraid. I will never harm you. Trust me." Her voice was alluring, comforting. I slowly walked towards her.

"My name is Yamaki. I am your other half."

"Other half? What is that?" I was confused. I had never heard of them before.

"Because not all people have one."

"Did you just read my mind?!" Now this scared me.

"In a way, yes." There was amusement in her voice. "I read it through our mind link. A mind link is something that the dark halves of people's mind use to communicate to their lights. Lights can use it as well to contact their darks."

"Does that mean you're my dark half?"

"Yes and no. I am also your past life. I have been waiting many years for you." This intrigued me.

"Yeah. But this is not the time for answers. When you wake up, we will talk more. Okay?"

"Sure."

Yamaki made me nervous. We talked more over the next week … well it was more her talking and me listening. There were many things that she could do, but the one thing that scared the hell out of me was her shadow games. Basically, she would challenge someone to a game of any kind, and if they lost, their soul would be sent to the shadow realm, a place where monsters roamed. She demonstrated it to me as an example that night.

It was a school day after that. We were in class when it happened. A well well-known criminal, Conrad McLande came to the door of the classroom with the principal, who had a gun at his head. Conrad fired another gun in the air, silencing everything.

"All right, you kids! No one talk or they will have a bullet in their head!" We all went silent.

I saw Yamaki's transparent figure standing beside me.

"What do we do?" I asked Yamaki through the mindlink. "We just can't go walking to him."

"I have an idea. I would usually do this when you are in danger and this counts, so prepare yourself." Yamaki faded then I saw a beam of light wrap around me and I could feel…. something happening to me. I opened my eyes and saw that I was transparent. To my right stood Yamaki, completely solid. This was the first time we switched places. Yamaki stood up and walked up to Conrad. He started looking her over, which made me feel disgusted. I mean, it was still my body!

"Well, well, what do we have here?" The man kept his eyes on Yamaki's chest. EW!

"May I know the name of the man before me?" Yamaki's voice had taken on a seductive allure which seemed to please the criminal as his grin widened.

"My name is Conrad McLande. May I know your name?"

Yamaki gave a small giggle. Fake!

"My name is Tori," smiled Yamaki.

"Really? My name?" I looked at her with scepticism.

'Well I just can't use my name in your body, can I?' She complained sarcastically back through the mind link.

"….Fair enough," I replied, sheepishly.

"Anyway, Mr McLande, I would like to wager the lives of these people." Yamaki looked around at all the other students, who were looking at her with surprise, as if saying "What the hell? Tori's usually the first one to run."

"How so, Miss Tori?" Conrad stared at her curiously.

"I want to play a game."

"A game?"

"A Shadow Game, one where you play with your life." Her eyes had a dead serious look, though the criminal still laughed in her face. Yamaki's expression never budged and Conrad's laughter slowly died as he realised that she wasn't joking.

"What are the rules?" was the shakey words of the criminal.

Yamaki held up a die. Where the heck did she get that? "Roll a lower number then me and you win. If I win, I'm in charge of your fate."

"Okay then."

Yamaki threw the die in front her on the ground. It landed on a 6. Conrad started to laugh, believing he would easily win.

"This game is too easy." He took the die from Yamaki but smirked. He then threw the die at Yamaki, who was smirking as well. The die somehow was knocked away from her face and fell to the ground… in two pieces, one landing on 1 and the other landing on the 6, equalling 7. His face was priceless. I started to laugh hysterically, making Yamaki smirk at me.

She just shook her head, turning back to the man before her, who was staring at the die with disbelief. She coughed, gaining his attention. She smirked at him, seeing some fear in his eyes.

"What now?" He had the guts to ask.

"Penalty Game- Illusion of Pain." Conrad suddenly began screaming in pain. Yamaki had taken the pain of the people he killed and hurt and made it his own. By the time the police arrived, the terrorist had passed out from the pain. When the police arrived, they asked who attacked him and everyone pointed at Yamaki walking away from everything. They didn't go after us for some reason, but let me tell you, thank God!

Yamaki and I walked all the way home, not talking. We switched back but that was about it. There were no words that needed to be said.