Umbrae: IT'S ALIVE!!! [insert random mad-scientist laughter here] ^^ I'm so happy to have started working on the sequel! I was working on the outline last night, and ended up falling asleep on the couch, warmed by hot cocoa and a roaring fireplace. I guess hiking across campus with winter winds rushing around you can really tire a person out, but I slept well last night, and so here I am! I have to go to school in a couple of hours, but I figured that I would take some time to work on the first chapter of the sequel!

Bakura: You talk too much.

Umbrae: Oh, hush. I'm just happy – and awake. That, in itself, is something. Though my knee is killing me; I decided to step out onto the driveway yesterday and fall on my ass, much thanks to an inch of solid ice, so I hurt. I was not meant to bend that way – I am not a flexible person.

Ryou: Could you be flexible enough to start this fic?

Umbrae: My, you're impatient.

Bakura: I want out of the hospital!!

Umbrae: Haha! All right, then! But first, a few notes. First off is that this fic is mildly AU concerning Yami's past. This is probably a given, considering the prequel, and that I usually write things at least a tad AU, but I wanted to make a note of it. The second note is to assure people that I do not write Mary-Sue characters, so you need not fear my OC. She has a purpose, I promise, but I'm not much of a show character/OC shipper. I promise, you will like this fic.

Bakura: I wouldn't know – you won't start it.

Umbrae: Shut up and go kiss your boyfriend some more! I don't own YuGiOh! If I did, Yami would be with Yugi, Ryou would be with Bakura, the show never would have ended, and lots of other fun stuff would have happened. Obviously, this is not the case, so welcome to the popular state of pining for what you can't have. However, I still have fanfiction, so all is not lost! And now, without further ado, I give you the first chapter of Light Summons. Enjoy, please review, and, as always…

Live long. Live well. Write.

Light Summons

I

It had been a week since Bakura had awoken in the hospital and Ryou had finally explained everything that had occurred in the Shadow Realm. A week since Joey had somehow been turned into a Golden Retriever and they had all been banned from visiting Bakura after the nurse caught them with a dog in the hospital (after all, even with Joey hiding under Tea's coat, no one could shut him up). A week since they had realized that Joey was just a dog to everyone else; it seemed only they could hear what he was saying. They didn't quite know how that was possible, but then, things always were weird when concerning their lot.

Well, Joey's still a dog, Yugi contemplated, Bakura's still in the hospital, and I still have to go to school.

It was a sad truth. The summer vacation that they had all cherished (but for the life-threatening adventure in the Shadow Realm) had come to a close. Dutifully, but not without much complaining, Yugi had returned to the classroom for his senior year of High School.

The one thing that made it a tad more bearable was that Yami would be joining him this year (much to the pharaoh's dismay). Yami would have much preferred staying at home and far away from the homework his aibou frequently slaved over, but Solomon would have none of it. Now that Yami had his own body and was quite alive, he insisted that he return to life as though he had been a part of it all along.

Yugi smiled, resting his head on his crossed arms. After they had returned from the Shadow Realm, when Bakura was in the hospital and they were anxiously awaiting for him to awaken, they had finally taken conscious notice of the fact that Yami still retained his own body. After continuous tests and even a trip to the doctor's office, they had discovered that Yami was quite alive and well.

Yugi glanced over at the boy sitting to his right. He blushed when he realized that Yami was, in turn, watching him.

"Aibou?" Yami asked through the mind-link.

"Yeah, Yami?" Yugi asked, looking up when the teacher walked into the room, only to turn back to Yami when she set her things on the desk and left again.

"The tomb robber is going to have to suffer through this as well, right?"

Yugi giggled lightly. The animosity between Yami and Bakura had dimmed down to a mere glimmer. Now, it was more like a brotherly squabble, though neither of them intended to voice how they felt companionable toward the other. Ryou and Yugi thought that they could sense it, though, and it didn't really surprise them. They, after all, now referred to each other as brothers (Solomon seemed to have noticed and accepted Ryou as his second grandson), and enemies often made the greatest of friends. There was still the insurmountable competitive attitude between the two of them, though.

"Yes, Yami," Yugi assured him. "Ryou said he's going to make Bakura come to school if he has to manipulate him everyday."

Yugi didn't actually think that Ryou could manipulate Bakura for a full day. Now that the two of them had leveled out to perfectly balance each other, they were probably evenly matched in power-levels, even if Bakura wasn't a psychic like Ryou. Bakura had a really strong will, which would be difficult to control. Even though he had toned down considerably, he still had a rather sadistic mind, though he never acted on it. Rather, it just seemed to be his personality, and Yugi thought he probably voiced it just to scare people. Ryou didn't seem concerned, and Yugi trusted his "brother."

Yami seemed contented by such an admittance and went back to writing in Egyptian in his notebook. Yugi caught words through their link like "school sucks" and "this is really stupid" and he couldn't help but laugh. He and Yami seemed in similar opinion of their current position. Although Yugi loved to learn, they had more important things to worry about right now that homework.

Speaking of which… Yugi leaned forward and tapped the shoulder of the person in front of him.

The brunette turned around to regard Yugi with a curious glance. "Hey, Yugi," he greeted, "how's it going?"

"Good, Tristan," Yugi replied, offering a smile. "I was wondering – how's Joey doing?"

Tristan grinned at the question – a grin that Bakura might have been proud of. "Fine, fine," he assured Yugi. "He's… adjusting."

Since Joey was still stuck in the form of a dog, they couldn't let him go home. None of them really wanted him to go home to his drunkard father as a human, but he would be almost helpless as a dog. That being said, Tristan had opted to keep him at his house, seeing as he already had a dog and "knew how to take care of them." From what Yugi understood, Joey wasn't very happy about wearing a collar and being forced to sleep in a kennel.

Yugi might have seemed like a more appropriate choice, seeing as his grandfather had been privy to a number of the strange things they went through and would have easily accepted that Joey was stuck in the form of a dog. However, what with Joey's hotheaded attitude, they figured that Tristan was probably the only one who would be able to keep Joey from running off and killing Kaiba. He was still pretty set on his current position being the fault of the CEO.

Yugi rather doubted that, but it wasn't smart to fight with a hotheaded furball with teeth. Tristan had already been bitten by the blonde, and Joey still hadn't apologized.

Though, Yugi could somewhat understand. Joey was very defensive of his sister, and Tristan really shouldn't have been talking about her like that, even if it was as a complement.

They weren't sure how they were going to go about turning Joey back into a human. They were in a fairly crappy position. They didn't know how Joey had come to be stuck in the form of a dog, nor who had done it. Yugi figured that Kaiba would have probably turned Joey into a really hideous Duel Monster, rather than a dog. The CEO was all about the card game and illusions. He had never believed in any of the magic, even when it danced in front of his face. No, this was the work on someone else, and none of them had any idea of who it could be.

A sudden unfamiliar sensation washed over Yugi's senses, breaking him from his thoughts and causing him to look up and scan the room. He was still unsure about the powers he had gained from his brief connection with Mahaad, but he was learning that most of them were based on instinct. He had always been one to trust his instincts in a game, and to trust in the Heart of the Cards. This was really no different.

And his trust proved to be no disappointment. He hadn't been scanning the room's occupants long before he caught sight of someone he didn't recognize.

He took in her appearance quickly, noting every detail to try and keep a visual representation in the back of his mind. She had heavily-tan skin, a little darker than Yami and Bakura's. She didn't look as though she belonged in the High School uniform, and her face showed off a look of mild discomfort. Her hair reached down a little past her shoulders and seemed to be colored much like a raven's feathers – black as midnight, blue streaks appearing in it when the light struck it just so. It was straight, but for her bangs, which were thick and wild around her face. Her eyes were slanted and rather hard as she scanned the room, the irises the darkest blue that Yugi had ever seen.

She seemed to be looking around for something, the light reflecting off of the bracelets on her wrists as she turned; two thin silver bracelets on her right hand, one on her left, and a thick silver armband on the top of her left arm. Yugi thought he could see something black peering out from around the confines of the band, and he wondered if she wore it to hide a tattoo that normally would have been concealed by a longer sleeve.

She seemed to sense him watching her, because she turned and locked gazes with him. Yugi swallowed, unsure of this feeling coursing through him. It wasn't attraction – for starters, he was gay and didn't find women attractive to begin with. He was also with Yami, finally, and he wouldn't give that up for anything. There was something there, however. Almost like he… recognized her. But he didn't. He had never seen her before in his life.

But what if… what if Mahaad knew who she was?

The teacher had walked back into the room and the other students had taken their seats. The girl, however, still stood in the center of the room, her gaze still locked with Yugi's.

"Miss Sagira?"

Two thing happened to call Yugi back to reality. The first was the girl breaking eye contact with him, freeing him from the drowning pool that was her shadow-blue gaze. The second was the sharp stab of shock that raced through his veins from Yami's side of the link.

"Yami?" he asked, "what is it?"

"N-Nothing, Aibou," Yami replied, though his voice sounded strange, and it worried Yugi. He let it go, however, figuring he'd ask after school. Maybe Yami would be ready to tell him, then.

The girl had taken her seat at the teacher's bidding, and class had begun, calling Yugi's attention. He took notes obediently, though he found that he couldn't concentrate fully. His mind seemed to be elsewhere, as though he was thinking heavily upon something. However, he couldn't recall what it was he had been thinking about when he came back to full consciousness.

At the end of the day, however, he discovered that he had been doodling in the margins of his notebook without thinking. The same word appeared throughout every drawing, sending tremors of uncertainty down Yugi's spine.

Sagira.

Umbrae: Look at that! The first chapter is DONE! I finished it in just a couple of hours, and before school even began. And now, I am eating my lovely, lovely tuna melt. Mmm…

Bakura: Hey! Where the hell am I?!

Umbrae: Still in the hospital. Didn't I make that clear? Anyway, don't worry, Bakura – you appear in the next chapter. And you'll be out of the hospital soon enough.

Ryou: And then we get to go to school!

Umbrae: Weeeeellllllll…

Ryou: What are you planning?

Umbrae: Heh heh… sore wa himitsu desu!

Bakura: Damn you, half-breed!

Umbrae: Thank you, everyone, for reading! Please review, let me know what you think, and, as always…

Live long. Live well. Write. Read. Dream.