Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with YGO.
Fate! Yami Bakura laughed hysterically from his position at the edges of the Duel Monster world. Without air in this part of the Shadow Realm, the sound never reached even his own ears. The Pharaoh had banished him to the Shadows, but with his passing to another dimension and subsequent return, the bond between the worlds weakened. Yami Bakura struggled to escape his confines, and in the process caught a glimpse of another world.
A world where they were merely cartoons, where Yugi Motou was the protagonist, where their fates were written long before any of them knew what would come to pass. Every gut-wrenching decision he made, every chance he took, every success, every failure, even the tragedy of his family; every choice he thought was his own, all designed by 'Providence'. So that was the root of his Fate, that was the Destiny of which the Pharaoh spoke, one where they were destined to win, and he was destined to die.
If Yami Bakura were the type to be discouraged, he'd have given up by now.
But just because his fate has been typed up doesn't mean it cannot be altered. Perhaps not by him, but if a mortal wrote it, surely another mortal from the same dimension could rewrite the Fate of this World.
He'd need somebody with strong ties to that dimension, he knew, so they could borrow its powers even in this, this 'YGO' world. This meant he wouldn't be able to forcefully remove them from their world, they would have to come out of their own accord, but that should be simple enough. After all, the manipulation of mortals is Bakura's forte.
...
Adeline knew she was asleep. It was one of these dreams where you know you're dreaming but can't quite get out of it. Not that she wanted to. A tanned but still-unscarred Yami Bakura appeared at the foot of her bed, in 3-D and full color, she thought groggily. She knew it was Yami Bakura as opposed to the other two Bakuras without him saying a word, like you naturally know things in a dream. And she knew she was dreaming because, well, she was seeing Yami Bakura.
He was dressed in Ryou's jeans and the red robe from his Egyptian counterpart, standing tall with his arms crossed and robe open, posing seductively and beckoning her to follow him with an arrogant tilt of his chin.
Huh, she mused, she hadn't had a dream about YGO in a long time, the thought just never came up. Though she did assume that if she ever had a dream like this, it would be a half-naked Seto Kaiba instead of Bakura.
'Not worth it,' she decided, shifting into an even more comfortable position under the warm covers, 'Yami Bakura is not worth getting out of bed for." She waved for Bakura to come closer, the thief complied readily, coming forward until he was immediately beside her bed. Taking him by the arm (which was surprisingly warm, usually she didn't feel things very well in a dream), she dragged him down until he was on his knees beside her, then reached out a hand to run through his long white hair, enjoying the softness that was so unexpected from the Thief King.
"I've always wanted to do this to Ryou," Adeline said with too wide a smile, "But I guess you'll do."
The man stiffened, then swerved around in a fit of anger to leave. Darn, the people in her dreams usually follow the personality designated by her subconscious, so naturally Yami Bakura would leave after she said that. Oh well, Adeline thought as she flipped over, dragging the soft blankets under her chin and sinking into a deeper sleep.
...
Damn it! Yami Bakura raged. How dare that mortal defy him! How dare she refuse him when he demands that she follow! How dare she compare him to his weakling aibou, then deem him a subpar substitute!
It's been harder than he expected finding a mortal to summon to the Shadow Realm. He needed somebody with strong ties to their own world, but also a strong interest in the YGO world so they could cross over. Somebody young so their soul is still powerful and able to withstand the toll of traversing dimensions. Somebody naive and easy to manipulate. More importantly, somebody he could reach given his limited window from the Shadow Realm to their reality.
Adeline had been the most viable target.
No matter, he assured himself, he would study this woman, learn her every move, every strength and every flaw. And with his newly-acquired shapeshifting powers, he would lure her into the Shadow Realm, where he could use her powers to rewrite Destiny.
...
She had that dream again. Adeline thought as she looked at Yami Bakura (again) in front of her bed. Maybe if she concentrated really hard, he'd become Seto Kaiba? And she had always liked Dark Magician... Usually, her dreams worked out the way she wanted if she just concentrated hard enough but not this time.
This time, Yami Bakura went directly to her and tried to drag her up. He thought he'd give the straight forward approach one last try. She slapped his hand away before he touched her. How rude. Yami Bakura wasn't her favorite character, not even one of her preferred characters, so there's probably a reason for this behavior. That's what she expects a Yami Bakura to do, so naturally that's what he would do in her dream.
Bakura struggled to reach his hand to the female mortal, who still had the impertinence to stay in bed! Even when he, the great Yami Bakura stood in front of her. But as he tried, and repeatedly failed to even touch that girl (even though she could touch him no problem), he realized, she was protected by the powers of this dimension, he really cannot force her to come with him. But that's okay, Bakura was never the brawns over brain type.
He had studied enough about this girl to know how to assure her cooperation.
Adeline was concentrating hard, trying to change Yami Bakura into Seto Kaiba, or at least Ryou, it seemed to have another effect. She bolted upright when she saw it, a pair of triangular-shaped furry ears, black at the base, fading to an off-white at the tip, popped up on Yami Bakura's head. A long, distinctly feline tail, covered in black fur, snuck out of the back of his jeans, through the opening in his robe, and hovered in the air, just out of her reach.
"Meow!" She said, her eyes bulging and instinctively reached out to grab the tail, which pulled back teasingly. Her dreams usually aren't this awesome.
The thief bent down. This time, with his shapeshifting powers, the mortal would be putty within the palms of his hand. Adeline watched in excitement as the man turned into a large panther, covered in black fur except for a tuft of off-white fur in front of its chest and another on its ears. It (he?) leaned forward gracefully, nuzzling its forehead against her chin before retreating, looking at her with a very superior gaze.
If it were a human, she'd be annoyed. But it's a cat, and it's well within the rights of all felines to bear a disdain against the human race.
"Um… Hand, I mean paw shake?" Adeline was sitting up with her feet dangling off the bed now, tentatively reaching out one hand towards the beautiful animal in front of her.
The panther huffed, but deigned to reach a front paw out, and placed it against that of the young human female.
Adeline immediately grabbed it with both hands, pressing the warm soft pad of flesh on the underside of the paw- the ultimate sign of trust a cat (big or small) bestows onto a human. Its claws retracted, the paw sat harmlessly in her hands as the greedy human gently slid a hand up, against the grain of its fur, reaching the chest and scratching it just under the chin.
Bakura purred despite himself. It felt so good! The pleasure had traveled to his brain, sending tingles all over his body, and the sound came out before his brain came back online. Angry with himself for this lack of self-control, furious with this mortal for bringing it out in him, Bakura turned to leave, one ear flopped over from the forcefulness of this action, and his tail swerved angrily behind him. Like a cat seeing a string, Adeline naturally grabbed it and refused to let go, thus following behind.
Ever the opportunist, Yami Bakura saw his chance. He led the mortal cautiously towards the gate of the dimensions, and sure enough, when he crossed over, the mortal followed dumbly behind, still with her hand on his tail.
Foolish mortal! He laughed inwardly, little does she know, she would soon be the tool in my plans of world domination!
I wonder where it's going, Adeline thought, maybe I can ride it after it trusts me enough.
A/N: I have to come realize that writing 'cute' stories may be harder than writing plot-based ones, for one thing, it actually requires good writing.