AN: Since I keep my promises, here is the sequel to Hidden Bonds. I hope you have as much fun reading as I did writing it. Again, I do not own Yugioh or its caracters. The storyline and anyone else you don't reckognize is mine.wink I will not say it again since it becomes very boring and annoying to do so. Here's the teaser. k
Fast Forward
A lot has happened since you last saw me. I finally grew my hair out to the waist of my jeans and kept it to its natural shade of dark brown. (Kinda a cross between Seto's and Mokuba's shades) With Kenji gone and once the media found out about me, I didn't see the point of being Aki again. Lucky for me, the school board had decided to try out a more western dress code during our last year at Domino High when they hired an American principal. Joey likes to tease me that I would of graduated as Aki Kaiba just to avoid wearing the horrid girl's uniform…he was right. I bet you can imagine the various cries of horror and sighs of relief from my very scary fan club when they realized the truth. Unfortunately for me, way too many started to stalk me until I named Joey as my boyfriend. Boy, do I owe him or what!
That was also the year Téa left to study dance in New York. It started as a summer dance program, until she won a scholarship for advanced dance at a performing arts school. She went onto Julliard after she graduated and is now in France to further her dance studies. No loss there, except to Yugi. Too bad he didn't realize his true feelings were more than a crush until after she left. I was so mad at him for not telling her the truth about his feelings, but it later turned out to be a good thing when he decided he had seen enough of the world for a while.
Tragedy hit the group after graduation when Tristian wrapped his motorcycle around a tree. No, he wasn't going too fast, but he had to swerve to avoid some drunken idiot that had somehow ended up in his lane. It hit Joey the worst, which is why he left only a month after the funeral to find himself. Over the next two years I had gotten postcards from him from all over the world and the occasional phone call. There were rumors of Joey and Mai being seen together in several tournaments and others of them being involved with each other. It took me awhile to figure out why that hurt so much until I realized I had hidden feelings for him since graduation. I tried my best to bury the love I felt, but I didn't end up fooling anyone. Turned out that Yugi was worried about me and convinced Joey to return to Domino for a much-needed conversation. We were able to clear the air about our feelings and we've been together for nearly three years now. Soon after his return, Seto hired him on at Kaiba Corp as a Games Analyst to help us out with product testing and other boring stuff my brother came up with. I have a sneaky suspicion that's not all he does, but since our workload is better, I don't really care.
After his last duel with Seto, Yugi took over the game shop when his grandfather suffered a severe stroke. It was hard for him to say goodbye to the man who raised him when he was laid to rest only a few months later. Our Yugi changed on that day into a man the others would recognize as the pharaoh, but still with the gentle spirit I had grown fond of. Bakura helps him with the shop when he's not studying. I think he had mentioned something about being an archeologist one day. He's dating some girl in college, while Yugi is dating that little brat, Rebecca Hawkins. Okay okay, so she's not quite the stuck up runt I met in high school, but she still annoys the heck outta me. (Hmmm, maybe Seto was right when he said I spend too much time with Joey…nah)
Speaking of Seto he hasn't changed all that much since I came back. The others say I've mellowed him out a lot and he's more normal. (Whatever that means) Mokuba is doing well and is almost done with high school. He's turned out to be quite the rebel playboy. Don't ask how he manages that or how many girlfriends he's had over the past year alone. I still can't get over the differences between my brothers even when they tease me about being the filling or some other crap they come up with. Still I don't know what I would of done without their support. They gave me the courage to go back and face my past, though they may not have meant it literally. No, I didn't go back in time since Noah hasn't been able to figure out how yet. It's surprised me how much of my memory I have recovered, though sometimes that's not actually a good thing.
I was able to take possession of Kitsune's gym and made it a base of operation for my somewhat secret organization to save others from the life that left heavy scars on mine. With the help of Pegasus and Seto, I hardly have to worry about funding at all. The overhead apartment was upgraded as a safe haven to displaced teens. Three girls now teach self-defense and martial arts in the Black Dragon Gym. The more I battle the effects of sexual exploitation, I realize how truly widespread this practice reaches. One thing is for certain, I will free as many victims I can and take any measures necessary to stop the clan completely.