Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Happy? But Luna and Crystal are mine!

Inspiration: Well, Crystal needed a backstory. Some songs inspired it too.

AN: Well, I've had this idea for a while so I figured 'why not just post it up?' So here it is! Read the notes before though.

Notes: This story is a prologue for Crystal, my Yami. Okay, I'm done. XD

Summary: It was a promise we made, and it was shattered. But I reached and reached, because I knew no one else would for him. And because I made another promise I intended to keep, whether he liked it or not. Bakura X OC

I Promise: Crystal's Tale

Chapter One: Painful Beginnings

Getting lost in a desert: not fun. Getting kicked of your house before getting lost in said desert: Horrible luck. Getting attacked by bandits the instant you get kicked out of your house and get wounded and then get lost in said desert: Man, that's messed up. But, you know, for some reason I'm glad it happened that way. Otherwise and I wouldn't have met him. And I would have absolutely nothing to live for. Absolutely nothing, since my soul only remains to fulfill my promise.

The lone, petite figure coughed violently and spat out some blood. Her small little frame was aching with the slash in her side. Blood dribbled down the side of her pastel pink lips. Her cheeks were red against her tan skin from being in the intense, blistering heat of the Sahara, created by Set's breath. Her long brown honey-toned hair did not make the heat easier to bear either. She hobbled on, midnight blue eyes determined to keep moving toward the horizon. But determination does not destroy pain.

"How… much… longer!" She cried in her suffering. But no one was around for miles and nobody would care if a seven-year-old girl were dying out in the desert. Mirages plagued her. Her mother was sobbing, her father praying to the gods to return her safely. That was all a lie, and she paid them little heed. They were the ones who cast her to fend on her own. And bandits in the alleyway she was abandoned in attacked her right after.

But her brute determination not to die alone forced her forward. She grabbed a glass shard in the heated sand. And despite that she could do little damage and was severely out numbered, she fought and surprisingly, managed to disable them and made time to flee with haste. But she did not make it out unscathed. They left a colossal slash through her side that bled something awful, and most likely they gave her internal bleeding as well. She tied a piece of her plain dress around it, and it stopped bleeding. Her dress was not very stained, but her skin was littered with maroon and violet bruises and the area around the gash was tainted crimson from the scuffle.

In any case, her life was never perfect, and she had always had rotten luck. When she was still learning to crawl, a cobra bit her and she became ill with a fever. But she survived. One year afterward, she tumbled into the Nile and almost was gored by hippo beasts and almost eaten by crocodiles on the way out. But she still lived. And now she was injured and disowned. But she wasn't planning on dying at such a young age. But she always worried that Ra would simply strike her down with lightning and end her.

More blood escaped from her mouth and mixed with sweat below her bottom lip, and down her small neck. She was panting, and knew her chances were slim no matter how hard she tried. The desert and its orange tones whirled around her.

She continued her brutal journey. And another mirage formed. But this was not a person she knew. A girl, perhaps her age, with dark brown hair in pigtails and strange sky blue eyes that twinkled with innocence was smiling. This girl did not know pain. She clutched a dog with onyx fur and an oddly toned white one. They were licking her face and she giggled.

As she held her side, she scowled and with such rage that she threw her hand through the image, slicing it in half and making it disperse into nothing. Her side ached with the sudden movement but she was glad to see it vanish and knew it would fade to nothing in her thoughts as well. It meant nothing, after all. Right?

She continued her horrible exodus, and a young jackal joined her. It was a female, with dark fur and bright amber eyes.

"Don't you have a family?" She asked coldly, navy eyes disguising her true feelings toward the jackal. The jackal only looked at this girl with its large brown eyes and got closer to her legs. She could only smile. "You're just like me, lonely and scared. I suppose you can stay with me. I'll name you...Kanika, because your fur is black." Kanika looked at her and yawned, exposing her growing fangs.

And so, she continued on with her newfound companion. There was a speck in the distance, and it seemed to be blue and green. As it got closer, she let out a gasping sound and began running to the aqua gem in the distance. An oasis, it meant salvation.

As she neared it, she threw off her shoes and waded in, not caring about the ache in her side. She frolicked happily, and urged Kanika to come swim with her. She was having the time of her seven yearlong life, despite her pains. She washed out her wound and the fabric she tied around it, and then set out a blanket that had served as a shawl and lay down. She felt the flickering warmth of the fire she created as she ate a bird Kanika had caught. Kanika curled at her side where her wound had been and provided warmth. She looked like a black fuzzball to say the least.

The sun god, Ra, was beginning his journey through the night. It was sunset, with reds and violets mixing in the horizon. It was beautiful, and let the girl relax. She stroked her jackal friend, her rough fur felt soothing on her soft hand. Her eyes were closing, and she let out a soft, relaxed sigh… But then, something surprised her.

She shot up, eyes wide open as she saw a lone, small figure in the distance coming toward the oasis quite slowly. It was humanoid, and looked like a young boy. He seemed to be injured. Despite having Kanika, it wasn't the same as having a human to speak with. So she stood up. But she had conflict in her heart. This person was hobbling slowly; the chances of him being injured were quite high. And despite her own wound, she was not moving so slowly. If there were another battle, she would win. And if she let the person exhaust himself out, she could take their supplies if they had any.

She recoiled. She was no thief, and she was tired of being alone. She began to walk at a slow, monotone pace. As she neared him, he collapsed in to the sand with a loud 'thump'. The brown haired girl gasped and began sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her. She ignored the throb on the side of her abdomen. She didn't care anymore about her own welfare anymore. She didn't matter at this moment, this boy did.

The girl knelt down and her knee sank into the sand. "Are you alright?" She asked with concern. The boy had white hair, and cuts and bruises everywhere. And an extremely deep one through his eye worried her. But she knew she should have left him, pale hair met a demon was nestled. The conflicting teachings: 'Pale hair or eyes means a demon is at play.' 'Never turn your back on someone in need.' She chose the latter. "Are you still alive?"

The boy let out a low groan. It was barely audible, but she could hear it. She let out an excited sound, and rolled him over as not to let sand get in his wounds. He cracked his eyes open and they were pale mauve. She dared not to think of all the warnings her mother had told her: 'Demons prefer pale colors, so they stand out.' He let out another groan and closed his eyes. He had passed out right in front of her.

"Oh, Ra…" She murmured. "How am I supposed to drag you back…?" She scratched her head in confusion and frowned. After pondering this for a few seconds, she grabbed the boy and tried to carry him on her back. It worked for a little while, but she was still injured and not as strong as she could have been. So, she apologized through mumbles and dragged him by his wrist to the oasis.

She made it, and thankfully she had dragged him with his back downward, so sand would not accumulate in the cuts on his face. He was in horrible condition, and was definitely more injured than she was. Kanika had barked in alarm when she dragged the pale-haired boy. Then the jackal went to lick his wounds and the girl was forced to yell at her friend. She looked around quickly, as though looking for supplies. Unfortunately, all she had was blanket, and the plants and water of the oasis.

She hadn't learned about healing herbs yet. She had no alcohol, either. She only had the oasis' water.

She snapped out of her rushing thoughts to a little murmur and soft panting. She looked down to the boy and saw that he was now sweating and having a nightmare. He cried softly, saying the names of people she didn't know. She stroked his hair in an effort to console him, even though she knew he couldn't hear her through his dream.

"You're alright." She said once after he let out a loud cry. She stood up, knowing that she had to clean his wounds. That was the priority at that moment. She soaked a piece of her shawl that she had ripped off in the water of the oasis. She had boiled it already, so it was safe. She focused on the cut below his eye, simply because it was the one that worried her most.

"Ra, what did you do to yourself?" She asked. Suddenly, his hand gripped her wrist. She yelled out when her weight was used against her and she tumbled to the ground. The boy she had saved had her pinned down. She tried to struggle free, but she couldn't without losing her wrist. The boy's grip was that tight.

"Who are you?" He asked rather visciously. Kanika growled and barked, but he paid no heed.

Unfortunately, this girl was as fiery hearted as any boy. She growled and kicked upwards, and ignored the loud groan that came after. She used her leg, and flipped the boy over so now she had him pinned down.

"You should be thanking me," She stated loudly. "I was cleaning your wounds! How rude of you to- Whoa!" The girl was flipped over again.

"What's your name?" He asked, not caring that she was turning red with anger.

"Get off me!" She screeched before pushing him off with her feet and making him land on his rump.

"Ow! If you're trying to help me, then why are you hurting me!" He yelled, lavender eyes showing every bit of rage as well as fear.

"Because you hurt me first!"

His face dropped the look of anger, and instead he sighed exhaustedly. "I'm sorry. What's your name?"

The girl smiled, knowing she had won an argument. She crossed her arms over her chest and crossed her legs. "My name is Likra. Yours?" She scratched Kanika's neck when she began to growl.

He crossed his legs as well, with some difficulty due to all the bruises he had. "My name is Bakura." Bakura paused. "You're hurt too, aren't you?"

"Oh, how kind of you to notice." Likra replied sarcastically. However, her hand still reached over to feel her side where the wound was and flinched.

"Yet you still managed to drag me over here. How old are you?" Bakura asked.

"I'm seven now."

"Me too. How did you end up here?" The lavender-eyed boy asked.

Likra shrugged, and looked down sadly. "I was disowned and then got into a fight and ran into the desert. It doesn't matter much now. And what about you? You ended up much worse than I did."

He recoiled slightly at her question, and tears welled up in his eyes. "I-I… I was in my village, the village of Kul Elna, and all the sudden… the pharaoh's men burst in and began hurting everyone… They grabbed my mom and just took her away… I could hear her screaming loudly, and my father told me to hide… and they were just killing everyone… and then they found me and beat me till the flesh on my back was raw and gave me the cut on my eye. My dad saved me but… I don't think he saved himself…" All the sudden, Bakura's breath hitched and his hands dug into the fabric of his beige tunic.

Likra tilted her head. "Bakura?"

Tears had begun running down Bakura's face and he began sniffling. "I turned and peeked from behind a wall, and saw where all the screams where coming from… They had my mom, she was covered in blood, and her clothes were torn and-and-and they tossed her into a cauldron filled with gold! And-And- She screamed and screamed but they wouldn't let her out and one man pulled out a sword and-and-I-I turned away when she screamed louder than ever!" Bakura flung his head up quickly and his eyes were wide with tears falling from them. "I just ran! They threw things at me and I could hear more screams and-and I just ran!" He had broken freely into sobs.

Likra sat there, her mouth a circular 'o'. She had never seen a boy cry before, and never expected that she ever would. Then again, she never expected that she would ever be disowned either. She yelped and her cobalt blue eyes widened when Bakura threw his arms around her and sobbed on her shoulder. She was too stunned to do anything for a moment, but the returned the hug and stroked the back of his head.

"It's alright. Now stop crying, you're a boy for Ra's sake. You aren't supposed to cry in front of a girl."

Bakura stopped crying after a while.

Likra had some unanswered questions, however, and decided that it was the best time to ask. "Isn't Kul Elna the village of thieves?"

He glared at her and responded roughly. "Don't speak of things that you don't know. We only stole when we had to."

"Oh." She replied. "I'm sorry."

The Sun, Ra, began his journey into the night to vanquish Apophis, and had created a lovely sunset that day. Likra called it a good omen, to which Bakura simply shrugged.

Kanika rested in Likra's lap as the caramel-haired girl stroked her dark colored and rough feeling fur.

Bakura pointed at the jackal. "Is that our food?"

Likra stared at him in horror and clutched Kanika tighter. "Kanika is my friend, not food."

"Oh."

The girl sighed and looked at the desert, her gaze drifting to the distance. "I wonder how much longer we'll survive on our own…"

Bakura stood up. "If we work together we can probably live."

Likra smiled and extended mher hand. "Promise?" She asked hopefully.

"Promise." He responded. And with that handshake, they promised to stick together and never let the other one die. They bound it in child-like faith, and both thought it would last till they saved themselves from their nightmare. Both thought it would last. So they thought.

AN: YAY! First chapter! :D I hope you're proud of me, Rya! This chapter is dedicated to you and Rose! Hope this inspired you, and I hope you review! Onto the next chapter, which will be more humor based. Toodles~ (Also, I can't seem to find Crystal. Maybe she'll show up when I type the author's note in the next chapter. Hopefully.)