Chapter one: Two Cats

In Japan!

Domino Park

It was currently Saturday afternoon after school. Yugi, Joey, Anzu, Honda, Serenity, Ryou, and Duke, along with the two ancient spirits tagging along were currently in the nearby park. After BattleCity, Serenity wanted to stay close to her brother. Her mother gradually allowed her to stay with Joey and his father. This seemed to have sobered him up somewhat and lessened his drinking to at least appear decent in front of his daughter. She wore the pink uniform and was a year below theirs. Yami still had a laugh when he remembered the dumbfounded faces of Honda and Duke when she first came to school.

Yami honestly didn't know why Bakura was still hanging around. Sure, his unfortunate host was friends with Yugi and on a certain level respected the British boy. After all, Ryou saved Yugi while in a shadow game against Bakura by overshadowing Bakura's other monster on the field. They didn't know Ryou; Yami didn't consider him apart of the closed group he protected but Ryou made the decision to save them, people he barely knew or spoke to and had nothing to gain from it. Yami only thought it fair to save his soul from the Shadow Realm; he was a good person and shouldn't suffer because of the spirit.

But the wretched spirit just kept coming back. Most of the time, Ryou was in charge, Yami could tell even if his friends couldn't, just the subtle changes, in posture, tone, the certain look in his eye and questions. He took a little pride that Bakura hadn't figured out he knew, but what if Bakura did know Yami knew?

/That's heading into confusing territory partner. / Yugi giggled.

\Pfft.\ Yami answered, rolling his non-existent eyes. \Cat and mouse is getting boring. Especially when we are both cast as cats.\

Bakura hadn't done anything in weeks; Yami was getting agitated waiting for him to make a move. He's only shown himself a hand full of times after BattleCity.

The group sat under one of the large trees in the park. Honda and Duke were trying to outdo each other to get Serenity to notice them by setting up a picnic blanket. Joey was ignoring their quiet obvious actions while Anzu and Serenity were chatting about school and how Serenity was holding up to Japanese culture, having lived in New York most of her life. It was humorous enough that Serenity lacked an accent and she lived in America, when Joey hadn't lived there in nine years and had one thicker them most natives.

That left Yugi and Ryou talking about a new board game. Yami lost interest, sitting upside down in the tree, hanging by his legs. Good thing he was a spirit, if he was solid and fallen he would he suffering from bruising. He listened to everyone talking, but at the same time, not. He felt the most relaxed when it was like this.

"Hey, are they having a Yo-yo battle?" Anzu asked, snapping Yami out of his thoughts to see her pointing to a group of middle schoolers. They, of course, had Yo-yos. Yami noted they were amateurs, trying tricks like 'let the dog out', 'round the world' and the more complicated. 'swing set'.

/'Walk the dog' Yami, Joey got the name wrong./ Yugi corrected. It went over Yami's head, since he liked that name better.

"Hey Joey, you should join in!" Honda suggested. "I remember you doing some tricks in school a few years ago."

"Yo-yo? How retro!" Duke said, then took a closer look at the kids. "Hey, that looks like it's one of my designs, from like, years ago."

"Wait, are you telling me those things were made by you?" Joey asked. Duke had grounded himself to game design in his department in Industrial Illusions. His partnership with Pegasus had the older man take care of most things and gave Duke time 'to be a kid', as Duke's father had denied him that.

"Yeah so? Heavy yo-yo, stronger string, bloody cheap too, but nothing we didn't get back from other more popular toys." Duke shrugged his shoulders. That would explain why a Yo-yo could bust a hole in a roof. Granted a rusty roof but it wasn't like it was crumbing away.

Yami noticed Joey's grit teeth and thought back to his old gang, Joey averted his attention to a flock of birds passing them over. Any reminder of how they nearly hung Yugi would set him off, the gang got away practically scott free with what they did.

[Broken bones, deep cuts and glass stuck in skin really scott free?] Yugi asked, raising an eyebrow. To a passerby, it would have been odd he was making faces. The circle of friends knew by now he was just talking to his other half.

[If Joey didn't take care of the leader, I would have sent him to a mortuary instead of the hospital.]

"… WHAT?" Ryou asked loudly, wide eyed. From the looks he got from his friends, his pale face went scarlet. "Uh, mind link. Open talking."

[Kuso, he heard that.] Yami swore. If Ryou heard it then-

[I did too!] Bakura said, finally rearing his head. He sat in the tree on a branch opposite Yami, who grinned slightly. Yami pulled himself up to a sitting position. He had no doubt in his mind Bakura would push him out of the tree the moment he took his eyes of him. Not that it would hurt, other than it being rather inconvenient. [What's this about his high ass being violent? And he gives me trouble for it.]

[Maybe if you stopped trying to curse teachers, he wouldn't yell at you as much.] Ryou pointed out.

[You would think by now they would at least tell the new teachers not to threaten our hair.] The thief huffed.

[Does this have to do with all those burn cases that happened two years ago?] Ryou asked.

[…Maybe.] Yami said, crossing his arms and sitting more comfortably in the tree.

"Not that time." Yugi clarified to Ryou, who unsurprisingly looked more bewildered.

[Burn cases? Sounds like the Pharaoh's been a naughty boy.] Bakura taunted, Yami glared.

[That escape convict set himself on fire. It was his own fault he was a smoker.] Normally, he wouldn't reveal this. But he wanted to counter attack Bakura. The thief didn't think he was actually capable of actually hurting him. How wrong he was.

[As well as a drinker!] Yugi added. Yami raised an eyebrow before snickering.

[…Don't you usually dislike it when Yami threatens to kill people?] Ryou asked.

[He hit Anzu, he can burn in hell! And I'm pretty sure he is now.] Bakura and Ryou were a little unnerved at how cheerful the supposedly nice Yugi said that.

\Note to never hurt Anzu.\ Bakura decided, jumping from the tree. His landing was silent, as expected. If the spirits made noise they would have been found out long ago with their arguments in class time.

/Good. I don't want to be set on fire./ Ryou said rolling his eyes. He was pretty sure Yami really wouldn't set him on fire, but 'broken bones, deep cuts and glass embedded into skin' sounded painful.

"Are you two having a private conversation again?" Serenity asked them. They both looked towards the younger girl a little bewildered.

"Hey, we want in on those conversations, to get a heads up if the Crazy Bakura is going to stab us." Joey said. He was passing canned drinks out.

"Sorry guys." Yugi said, giving them a weak grin. Ryou looked a little miffed at being called crazy, even if he knew it was directed to his other half. It was his name too after all.

Ryou stood up, already finished his drink. "I'd better be getting home. I'm waiting for a package from my dad."

"Oh, do you want someone to come with you?" Yugi asked. "You told us the neighbouring kids were giving you a hard time."

"I live near your area, I can go." Anzu offered, smiling politely. Ryou blushed at the attention; he didn't think they would remember him telling them about the neighbourhood kids throwing trash at him. It took all his strength to keep Bakura from sticking them into chew toys and giving them to the stray dogs.

"It's alright! Thanks for the offer." He went to pick his bag up from the base of the tree. "Oh, Pharaoh…" It still sounded like Ryou, but calling him Pharaoh tipped him of that Bakura was in charge. He and Yugi switched and he went on instant alert, standing up with a hand twitching to his deck. Bakura would try anything here, right? Too many people! It wasn't a logical strategy.

Yami did not expect him to throw a stick at him. He caught it out of the air. Bakura also had a stick, both were thick and sturdy and about a metre long. Before he could question it, he had to block a swing from Bakura. He quickly moved away from his friends, who were now standing up to figure out what was going on.

"Bakura! What are you doing?" Yami demanded, his voice held the authority of the king he was. Usually it annoyed the thief when Yami used that tone, but at the moment didn't seem to care.

"Testing a theory!" He said with a wide grin and a insane look in his eyes. Before Yami could blink Bakura attacked again with a stabbing motion. Yami blocked again with a loud WHACK, throwing Bakura's stick the other way.

/Be careful Yami, don't hurt Ryou!/ Yugi warned through their link.

\Yes Aibou, I'll try not to hurt him.\ Yami sighed. Every time he got control, a warning. He knew Yugi trusted him, and he knew himself that he needed to be told not to become too violent, it was more of a routine then anything else. \But Bakura is free game!\

Before he could do anything else, Yami threw the stick in the air, pulling the school jacket off in one flourish move. He remembered the last time he didn't take the jacket off. Yugi had to replace it because of burn holes. Bakura took advantage of the opening and made another stab. On reaction he kicked Bakura in the wrist, he was forced to let go of his stick but grabbed Yami's before he could catch it again.

Defenceless, Bakura made a swing at his opponents shoulder, Yami leaded back to avoid it, falling on his hands-

"ON YOUR BACK YOU'RE DEFENSELESS AND DEAD!"

A voice caught him off guard, in Ancient Egyptian no less. Followed by an extreme headache that made his vision white, he had to squint Bakura was standing over him, about to claim victory with a smug smile. Yami swung his legs over his head and came into a crouch; he grabbed Bakura's discarded stick and launched himself at him, going on offense.

"Finally!" Bakura said, he took a moment to snap his stick on his knew into uneven halves, flipping them so that the long ends were facing down.

/When did you learn to backflip?/ Yugi found the time to yell and come out in spirit form.

\Television?\ Yami answered. He noted that Ryou hadn't popped up; Yami guessed that Ryou didn't know the thief would attack them, or actually approve of it.

[Hey! No interference!] Bakura took a swing at the intangible Yugi. He yelped and retreated into the puzzle.

"Hey! Leave Yugi out of this!" Yami growled in Egyptian and was able to land a swing in the thief's side. Bakura winched slightly but recovered quickly enough. They were both on offense now. Bakura used strength and waited for openings; Yami used speed and slightly weaker blows, intending to build up on the damage. They were both light on their feet, like a dance.

Yami grabbed Bakura's right arm with his own right and twisted it, making him drop the stick, Yami turned and elbowed the thief in the face and hooked his foot around the thief's ankle, making him fall to the ground.

The fight ended with the former king keeping a foot on Bakura's stomach to make sure he stayed down. Bakura put his hands up and dropped the other stick. Yami didn't think he had hit him in the jaw to hard, but he could see a drip of blood on the corner of him mouth.

"I win." Yami said, He expected Bakura to growl like a feral dog, but instead he smirked.

"Woohoo! Rematch!" The group of kids playing with the Yo-yo's and a lot of park goers had formed a loose circle around the two. They both failed to notice the attention they had gathered. They were cheering or filming.

[Great, the school's going to kill us.] Yugi moaned, coming out again.

[Why?] Yami asked, genuinely worried, he wasn't intended to make Yugi pay for his actions. Damn it Bakura! He baited him into fighting. It was an odd plan to get them into trouble, though. It might be the beginning steps of an evil plot.

[Drawing attention to the school bull crap, giving it a bad name.] Bakura supplied. Yami glared at him. [I'm pretty sure the only reason they allow you to duel on grounds is because it's good publicity that the top duelists in the world all go to the same school.]

[I expect an explanation for this. Count is as my reward for wining.] Yami told him. He was testing the language, it sounded a little off to him but he got it right enough for Bakura to understand him. It irked him slightly he couldn't talk to anyone but the thief in his native language.

[I was going to anyway.] Bakura shrugged then retreated into the ring, leaving a confused Ryou nursing an injured cheek.

"Sorry about him." Ryou said, embarrassment laced his voice. Knowing that the danger had passed, Yami dropped the stick and offered Bakura a hand up. He looked at it oddly for a second before accepting it.

They stood and the crowd cheered. Their friends pushed to the front of the crowds.

[Take a bow, make it look intentional.] Yugi suggested. They both bowed. Yami felt where Bakura got a lucky shot to his side.

[How's your face, Ryou?] Yami asked him.

[Hurting. What the hell did my other half do?] Ryou asked, Yami did more damage than Bakura did. In his opinion, Yami kicked his ass. He was sure they were both going to be bruised the next day.

[Tell you later.] Yugi said.

"All right people, break it up! This fund raising event is over!" Joey said loudly. "Go back to your picnics!"

"What are you fund raising for?" Someone asked. Joey tried to think of something.

"Orphanages! Go donate to the closest one!" Anzu blurted, waving her hands at the people. Eventually they went away.

"You do realize that fight is going on YouTube, right?" Duke said. Yugi groaned.

"Talk, Bakura." Yami said. Ryou sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them they were a dark grey, his hair visibly becoming more ragged.

"You still have your implicit memory." Bakura stated.

"What?" Yami asked flatly. Was he trying to make fun of him? Bakura hinted he knew about his past on occasion, not like Yami was going to ask him about it, like absolute hell he was getting any help from him.

"Oh…" Duke said in the background, apparently he knew what 'Implicit Memory' was.

"Explain thief." Yami said, crossing his arms. Bakura again smirked.

"Implicit memory is when you've done something over and over again that you never forget it, like automatically signing your name or shuffling your deck without a second thought." He shrugged. "You were trained in sword fighting since you were a little princeling, I'm sure by the way you fought back there it's been drilled directly into your brain."

Yami briefly remembered the flash of memory. He still had a headache. The first time ever he remembered something it hurt like a knife slicing into his chest-

Why did he know what that felt like anyway?

"That would explain the horse riding in America." Duke said, drawing attention to himself. "I did think it was odd since I'm pretty sure you've never even seen a real horse before, Yugi."

"Well, Yami here's been riding since he could bloody walk, along with other lessons from the best teachers of the time." Bakura said. He lifted himself up and patted himself down of dirt.

"Please, you were a tomb robber. How much would you know about my everyday life?" Yami asked. A strange look crossed the Thief's face. He couldn't think of what it was, the closest would have been guilt, but why would he feel guilty?

"More than you do." Bakura retorted. Yami took the bait and glared harder with gritted teeth.

/Easy, other me./ Yugi said. Yami sighed and gave control back to Yugi. Bakura took it as a sign that the conversation was over and let Ryou back. He nearly collapsed. Yugi quickly rushed to help him stay up.

"Ouch." Ryou managed to say, holding his wrist. Yami felt slightly guilty that Ryou had to deal with the Thief using his body as a meat puppet.

"That's it; you're getting an escort home." Yugi said.

"I think it's time for me to go to a meeting anyway. I'll take you home, Ryou." Duke said, checking his wrist watch for the time.

"It's okay-" Ryou tried to decline, again. He was still trying to push his friends away, meaning he was still scared that Bakura would turn around and start biting people's heads off.

[I'm pretty sure you're limping.] Yami added.

[Can you? Please?] Yugi asked, blinking Bambi eyes at Ryou. Yami could see Ryou visible cave. /Ha! Still irresistible!/

\If only it would work on Bakura…\ Yami muttered.

They didn't notice the man in the black robe watching them for a far. He used binoculars to get a close up of the group of high schoolers. Two had a stick fight, and then they left with a third member. That would have been the perfect time to grab them if they didn't get into a muggle transportation contraption.

He also realized he was going to need back up. He could feel a surge of energy while the albino and the porcupine were fighting. He only needed the children with the pendant and ring.

So he set to follow them, wait for them to be alone and strike.

Done. 3,653 words. This is longer than most of the chapters I do. The next one is longer. This is an achievement for me!

Since you got to the end of the chapter I feel like rewarding you. This will not be an ordinary crossover, they might never go to Hogwarts, by the way this fic is going I have no control over it, really, they were just going to get letters, but they didn't like it.

Tristan and Tea are Honda and Anzu because they are Native Japanese. Serenity and Joey are half American Japanese, while Duke is American.

Next chapter: Malik is down under and lands himself a date, this is without context. Context includes 4,000 words.