Tra la la la la . . . the semester's over, I have no life! So off I went to my computer after watching Yu-Gi-Oh and working on the Ascension scene from "Angels Would Fall" for two hours straight . . and God Almighty, look what came out! R&R and PLEASE DON'T SHOOT ME! Oh yeah, and uh . . . this is my first Yu-Gi-Oh fic and I'm not too terribly familiar with the series yet, so . . . be tolerant of my stupid mistakes, 'cause I'm sure to make at least a few along the way.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, so don't sue me. You'll get nothing if you do, anyway. I'm so poor that I gave my friends anime jpegs for Christmas last year. Really . . . .



The walls were a practically non-existent shade of silver, light as noonday clouds toward the top, darkening to thunderstorm grey where they met the floor. The Guardian paced along these walls, bright green eyes on her black leather boots as they sank into the bruised twilight purple carpeting. The furniture, which went completely unnoticed . . . at least for now . . . was all fairly comfortable, all colored similar shades of dark plum and indigo. Everything was meticulously in order, evenly matched, scrupulously perfect . . . .

"And really, REALLY BORING!" Kanshisha said aloud to her empty Soul Room. Her light alto voice tones rang back to her in the stillness of oblivion, drawing a melancholy sigh from the eons-old Archangel, Guardian of the Realm of Earth. Completing her nine hundred seventy-sixth circuit (no really, she'd counted) of her thirty-foot square domain, the silver-haired girl plopped onto her bed, idly toying with the end of one of the dozens of silver braids the covered her head, most of them no more than a few hours old.

For Kanshisha, a full head of dredlocks was the surest sign of complete, total, and utter boredom.

And this was the third time this week . . . .

Not that she really knew how much time exactly had gone by since the last Summoner had called her, fed her enough magic to take on a true physical form. She counted her sleeping and waking cycles, counting each cycle as a day. Considering the fact that, in human terms at least, she usually went for several days on end without sleeping, the thousand years she'd spent locked alone in this comfortable but monotonous room seemed much, much longer.

Alone . . . .

She snorted at the irony. When had she ever known anything else? The Summoner's Ritual of Ascension didn't last more than a minute or two, and her possession of a physical body not much longer than that, never long enough to have known companionship of even the most passing sort, let alone anything even remotely intimate.

And her Soul Room would admit no other but herself, unless she willed it. In all the eons she had existed, not once had Kanshisha ever met another being, human or otherwise, whom she trusted enough to call them into her sanctuary.

Well, there was that and the fact that most beings who tried to comprehend what she was ended up decorating the walls with a more . . . tangible shade of grey . . . .

"It would be nice," she said, aloud again, for there was no one to overhear her. "Just once . . . to know someone . . . anyone."

No, not necessarily anyone . . . someone who could at least carry on an intelligent conversation. Maybe someone who could finally beat her at chess . . . if it were possible. She glanced over at the ivory and amethyst chessboard in the corner. In the real world, it would have been overlaid by a two-foot thick coating of dust. It had been years (by her calculations, anyway) since Kanshisha had last sat at that board, outsmarting herself to pass the time.

"Someone with a brain . . . yes, that would be lovely." She thought a moment more. "Preferably young . . . male . . . " A slightly demented grin began to tweak the corner of her mouth. "And handsome."

These thoughts whirling in her mind, the Guardian rolled off her bed, sat cross-legged on the floor, and cast her consciousness into the abyss, searching . . . praying . . . .

Hours passed . . . then days . . . then weeks . . . and then . . . .

A light.



Oo . . . cliffhanger-ness o' doom! R&R, pls. See if you can guess who this . . "light" (and I use the term loosely) is before I post the next chapter! I'll give you one single hint: if you think it's who I think you'll think it is, you're close, but you're also way off.