Sennen Soul

XD Crossover tiiiime. This crossover is with the manga/animé called Soul Eater and it's so damn awesome that I command you to look it up now. Anyway. This is the first prologue out of three (those familiar with the series will be able to see where this is going). This prologue is also my entry to the YGO fanfiction contest for the Rivalshipping pairing – and as you can see, I love my implied pairings more than the outright ones. :3 There's Pride in there too, if you squint (and Puzzle!). Har har. Action sits much better than me than romance either way. And even better than that – SHOUNEN MANGA CATCH PHRASES. Good god, I loved trying to write this as if it was the script of an anime episode. Try it someday, seriously.

Either way, though I do say it is and it functions as my contest entry, that is more an excuse for me to put this out – in reality, this has been in my head for a while and is dedicated to Katkid who revived my faith in Ryou/Bakura fanfiction a while back with fic 'Fool's Paradise' (which deserves more attention than it got, damnit!).

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Soul Eater, though I'd love either or. I also don't own the random Umineko no Naku Koro ni references I threw in for jokes (or Ange burgers lol! That one was for you, Suikama).


It was a fragile thing, the human soul. A person's soul could pave their way to greatness or drive them into the abyss of madness – and yet, for all its power, it could be so easily plucked from the human body, and devoured without a struggle.

The creature that prowled the streets of Nakon each night had once been human, but something had happened to change that: he was now a strange, colourful, barely-humanoid figure with erratic, loping movements, his features rubbery and his skin seemingly tattooed with strange, abstract markings. He was alarming to behold, but his looks were not something he cared about anymore. In fear and desperation, he had stolen and eaten a human soul. It had tasted so delicious, and felt so wonderful as it slid down his gullet and nestled in his belly. The taste and power of human souls were his only reasons for living now. By day, he would sleep, waiting for night to fall, when he would emerge to prey on whatever unsuspecting human was unlucky enough to cross his path.

However, times were getting tougher for monsters like him. The town he had chosen as his hunting-ground had become aware of him, and though he was still able to catch a careless straggler every week or so if he was lucky, things were becoming so bad that migrating to the next town over seemed more appealing every day.

It was therefore a real treat when, that night, not one but two humans leisurely walked into his line of sight just before dawn. He hid silently and watched them with the practiced eye of a killer, all the while contemplating with the little mind he had left how best to kill them both in one fell swoop.

When the smaller one turned with burning violet-red eyes and stared at his hiding place in the darkness, he felt the first cold shock of fear since he had eaten his first human soul. And when the other human, much taller but just as lean as the first, spoke into the darkness - "Come out, we know you're there!" - he felt another long-forgotten feeling – doubt.

However, both lasted only for a moment. He grinned in his lopsided way before taking a crooked step into the light of the streetlamp. His tongue darted out for a moment and wet each of his pointed teeth – a show of confidence that was not lost on his prey – and, the human language forever lost to him, let out a screech-like laugh. All in all, he expected their reaction to be like all the others he had eaten. Trembling, perhaps; crying; maybe even pleading... Something completely different than what he got from these two.

"Atemu, he isn't here," said the taller one, sounding annoyed instead of terrified. The cocky thing had the nerve to briefly turn away from him in favour of his partner, a rather short fellow with wild hair (in three different colours, no less) and an obvious taste for dark, form-fitting clothing. Then his sharp blue eyes looked the once-human up and down, taking in every angle and contour of his misshapen body before letting out a derisive snort. "And are you sure this is it? It doesn't look strong enough to be worth our time."

"I-I don't know why he isn't here. I mean, I thought he had come ahead!" the one named Atemu said, looking flustered and glancing around for a moment as if the mysterious 'he' would jump out of the shadows. "But yes, this is definitely it. His soul has become a Kishin egg."

"Useless, it's all useless," the tall one spat. An ivory trench coat billowed behind him, and the monster wondered for a moment if he should try strangling him with that instead of relying on his claws, but he dismissed the thought immediately. Using his bare hands would allow him to get to the delicious souls faster, after all. "We'll have to do it without him. I hope you're hungry."

Atemu heaved a sigh and he cackled again – he could imagine that poor trapped soul rattling around in his chest as he moved, waiting just beyond his ribcage. "Not really, actually. I ate because I thought Yugi would be – well."

"Care to do another one of your long-winded introductions, then?" The taller one held out his hand to Atemu and he felt the feeling of foreboding again but it was much stronger now; this time it was not so easily written off. He tried to calm himself by imagining ripping past the smaller one's ridiculously tight clothing and feasting. He tried.

The wind picked up as Atemu grabbed the taller one's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I'm not really in the mood. Can you take care of this?" His arm glowed brilliantly for a single instant before it reshaped itself into a pole – no. Into a handle.

As the rest of Atemu's body shimmered and exploded in a bright flash of light, the monster finally realised the grave situation he was in. With a metallic clang, the large ball of light that had been Atemu attached itself to the end of the long handle. And then suddenly, gripped tightly in the tall human's hand was a demon weapon, the mark of a fighter from Shibusen. This particular weapon was a mallet – a small but powerful-looking golden hammer, with two flat ends connected in the middle by a sphere. The all-too-familiar legendary eye that decorated the ball stared out at the laughing moon.

The human spun the hammer in his hand and around his body with lightning speed that spoke of years of practice and experience, before pointing it without warning towards the monster's face, stopping a hair's width away from his bulbous red nose. A smirk spread across the human's face. It was a look that would have goaded the monster into a savage fury in any other situation, but today...Today it only created more fear.

"I am Seto Kaiba, first meister and heir of the great Kaiba clan. Saggi the Dark Clown, I have come for your soul."

-o-O-o-O-o-

Prologue III – The Ice-Cold Heir of Dark and Light

-o-O-o-O-o-

The world-renowned academy Shibusen sat in the dead centre of Death City, home of the legendary man known only as Shinigami. Though Shinigami himself was rumoured in the outside world to be a reclusive hermit swathed in a black clock, who always hid his face behind a cartoonish skull mask – rumours which were, in fact, completely true – the world had never truly decided what to think of him. Was he really a recluse, or did he in fact consider himself an eccentric star, hiding away simply to bring more publicity to himself? The design of Shibusen itself (so unique, so extravagant and so big) suggested the latter.

Shibusen was shaped not like a school but a castle, with four surrounding turrets, four main imposing towers, and countless smaller ones of various shapes and sizes littering the space in-between. An impossibly huge candle stuck out from each of the four outermost towers, precariously balanced and with their large flames flickering over the surrounding city. The final striking features were the three storey-high cartoonish skulls, set in an arc, which acted as the three main entrances to the school – and also as a symbol of the powerful but strange creature who ruled over it.

It was in the innermost eastern tower that novice meister Anzu Mazaki sat, stiff and nervous, in the fourth row of seats in a circular lecture hall – and it was in the seat next to her that the weapon Yugi Motou was sleeping, blissfully unaware of his surroundings.

The muscles in Anzu's shoulders were tense – she rolled them in turn and cursed her absent partner Otogi, who was most likely flirting with the younger girls from Professor Stein's class – the goddamn pervert! Leaving her alone to wake up a thoroughly exhausted Yugi before Professor Pegasus noticed him dozing was just cruel. Even with only one eye, Pegasus' ability to spot a slacking student or a troublemaker was unmatched. It was as if he could read minds or something!

She elbowed Yugi, who snuffled lightly but otherwise didn't respond.

"Yugi," she whispered desperately. "Yugi! What in the world could you have been doing to be so tired-? Seriously, Yugi, wake up, wake up!"

Still no response. Anzu resisted the urge to hit him over the head with her textbook, and instead cast an anxious glance in the direction of Professor Pegasus. Though he showed nothing in his face or voice, the way he practically stabbed at the chalkboard as he wrote made it clear that he was more than a little annoyed by how empty the classroom was. It was quite apparent that he hadn't known how many of the students would be out on missions today – and, just to worsen his mood, his two favourite students were among them. Pegasus was irrational enough as it was, but if he saw that Yugi wasn't out when his partners were...

"You are all very, very lucky I chose not to hold the test today as Professor Stein did," Pegasus drawled. His single eye seemed to focus on Yugi for a moment – Anzu prayed that he wouldn't start yelling at him or, even worse, unveil that creepy fake eye of his in a show of anger – before he turned back to the blackboard. "Now could someone tell me what this sentence is missing: 'a healthy soul resides in a healthy 'blank' and a healthy 'blank'...?"

"It's, uh… 'mind' and 'body', right?" a quiet voice murmured from beside Anzu. She sighed in relief as sleepy violet eyes blinked up at her.

"Yes, that's right, Yugi," she said, her voice still no louder than a whisper. "What would you do if we still had that big test the chibi class has today, huh?"

The 'chibi class' was a nickname for Professor Stein's students, who were the youngest in Shibusen – the oldest of them were in their early teens. It was a somewhat unfair nickname, however, because it was not the age of Professor Stein's class that was strange, but that of Anzu and Yugi's classmates. While the 'chibi class' was filled with the best and brightest young meisters and weapons, Pegasus' class consisted of the stragglers and misfits from the last graduating chibi class – or, in certain cases, students who had only entered Shibusen at a later age.

"I would've slept through it, probably," Yugi said, rubbing his eyes. "Last night was horrible. I had to fight to get a wink."

Sympathy gnawed at Anzu's insides mercilessly. Yugi was not only the single most adorable person she had ever been lucky enough to meet, he was also the kindest. So the fact that fate had handed him not one, but two almost flawless partners to keep up with (one being a hard-ass to boot) was not something she would ever be jealous of.

"Did they keep you up?" she asked.

"Them? No, oh, no no… Seto barely ever sleeps over with us and Atemu was dead to the world. Just bad…"

"Nightmares?"

"No," Yugi said, frowning as if he'd forgotten something important. "Bad feelings. Almost like anxiety. Just a bad feeling about today...Nothing, really."

Anzu sorely wanted to pursue the subject but knew when to drop it. Instead, she went for the obvious question. "So why aren't Atemu and Kaiba here today?"

The blank look on Yugi's face almost made her laugh before she realised what it meant.

"Not...here?" He looked around the classroom. "They aren't here?"

"No," Anzu said slowly. Her stomach attempted a flying leap into her throat before crashing uncomfortably around her liver as a horrifying possibility struck her. "They're on a mission. I heard they went this morning and...Please tell me you did not sleep in!"

"I did," Yugi cried, "I did, I did! Oh God – Anzu, Atemu won't kill me but Kaiba will! He thinks I'm holding us back as a team and –"

The door suddenly opened with a crash and the few students in the class, most notably Yugi, jumped at the noise. Pegasus, on the other hand, looked delighted – his single eye positively gleamed at the sight of the newcomers.

"Kaiba-boy! And how did your mission go?"

Kaiba ignored his teacher, choosing instead to stalk into the classroom and stare at each student individually for one long, intimidating moment before finally looking at an ashen-faced Yugi. Yugi quailed slightly in his seat with a look of abject terror on his face. Anzu glared back at Kaiba, and then at Atemu who had slipped in after him, looking guilty about not being able to stop his rampage.

When Kaiba finally opened his mouth, the whole class held their breaths as one.

"The next time you decide not to show up, go find a new meister as well."

Dramatic and relatively painless – Yugi still wasn't taking it well, though, and Anzu couldn't blame him. As Yugi attempted to melt into his seat and disappear, Kaiba turned on his heel – still completely ignoring Pegasus, who was practically fawning over him – and left without another word. Atemu hovered a little longer, managing to apologise quietly to Pegasus for causing a scene and sending one last regretful look towards Anzu and Yugi before following his partner.

Pegasus clapped his hands, making the whole class jump a second time. "Now, aren't we lucky we got to see Kaiba-boy again today?"

It was a heartless display of favouritism but not one uncommon to this classroom, so Anzu ignored it and turned to Yugi, trying to coax him out from the cover of his desk.

"He hates me," Yugi finally whispered when finally drawn out.

Anzu glanced down to where Pegasus was now chatting up her worthless partner – the 'charming Otogi-boy' who had come in 'fashionably late'. She weighed the pros of cheering Yugi up against the possibility of attracting Pegasus' unwanted attention, and in the end decided to barrel onward. The few other students in the room were chatting amongst themselves too, making them all equally potential targets.

"Hate it a strong word. I'm sure he doesn't hate you."

"Dislikes, then. He definitely dislikes me."

"I don't think that's true, either," Anzu said. She chewed on the end of her pencil in thought. "He acts like that towards everyone – I suppose you could say he doesn't like anyone. It's not just you."

"He likes Atemu," Yugi said.

"Yeah, well, everyone likes Atemu. He's Mr. Popular." This was going nowhere and Yugi was just looking even more depressed. Though they were partners and close friends – and maybe more than that, though Anzu tried not to let herself think about that – Atemu could make anyone feel inferior just by being his amazing self. Poor Yugi, who faintly resembled him, had it the worst of anyone.

Anzu looked around the room, desperate for some kind of inspiration on how to cheer up her friend. Her eyes landed on the board that displayed today's notes on the advanced topic of Soul Resonance.

Soul Resonance...

Her eyes snapped back to Yugi.

"Yugi, Kaiba uses you as a weapon. You know the basics of the meister and weapon relationship – a meister cannot use a weapon effectively – or at least, without bad side-effects – if there is no respect in the relationship. You respect him, right?"

It was a stupid question, really – you either respected Seto Kaiba, if only for his skill, or you were an idiot. Or you were Katsuya Jounouchi, though Anzu supposed he fit into the second category. The way Yugi raved about Kaiba (when he wasn't terrified of him) put him in the first category. Anzu ploughed on.

"He has to respect you on some level, Yugi. He couldn't use you if he didn't. Trust me. After you got picked up by Kaiba – this is before I found Otogi, of course – I think I burnt my hands about five times trying to find a new weapon, and some wouldn't take no for an answer either. Oh, don't look so worried – Johnny Stepps isn't bugging me anymore." Anzu cheered inwardly. If Yugi had the energy to worry about that guy, he had to be feeling better. Just one more minute and he'd be back to his usual self-

"Yugi-boy and… Miss Mazaki."

Oh, hell.

"If you don't mind me interrupting your exciting conversation, perhaps one of you could tell me the probability of the birth of one with a Grigori soul?" Pegasus chuckled softly at their blank expressions. "No? Then instead, Miss Mazaki, you can escort your charming partner to his seat. And Yugi-boy, my little sleeping beauty, you can join me after class today."

How did he always know? Anzu could only wonder as she moved, defeated, towards her sheepish-looking partner. Yugi just groaned miserably and hid his head in his hands.

-o-O-o-O-o-

The thing about Pegasus' detentions – they were never conventional. Oh, perhaps in an alternate dimension where witches with cat tails prance around in western-style dresses and pretty little bows, reading Funny Bunny comics for an hour was the standard punishment for students everywhere. But in this world, it was a punishment suffered only by Pegasus' students, who could do no more than hope for his early retirement. Yugi prayed that the comics wouldn't haunt his nightmares.

In a desperate attempt to purge his thoughts of the outrageously crude anthropomorphic thing, he turned his thoughts to what Anzu had said to him.

He had appreciated the sentiment – and he would admit that it had cheered him up briefly. Atemu had said the same thing to him many times before as well – it had worked then, too. The first few times, anyway. But it had been a few months now since he had joined Atemu and Kaiba. And he was still nowhere near as powerful as Atemu, who was probably the strongest weapon in their class, and the closest to becoming a Death Scythe for the Shinigami.

It hadn't even been Seto's idea to take him on, had it? Yugi reflected on it quietly for a moment. It had originally been just Seto and Atemu as a team – the way it was meant to be. It was well known that Seto and Atemu were simply the latest meister-weapon team from a partnership of two families that ran back hundreds of years – Yugi was not yet privy to the finer details, but he had picked up a thing or two. And Yugi...Yugi was an urchin that Atemu had found, that was all. He was a whim, an afterthought.

And yet...there was one little thing that always remained at the back of his mind as a little beacon of hope. Seto had a low tolerance for useless things. Yugi was essentially a spare part that could be thrown away if it became clear that he would be of no use, and yet that hadn't happened. Strange. Yugi turned it over and over again in his head, musing to himself right up until the moment he crashed into someone and fell to the floor.

"I'm sorry," Yugi said immediately. The massive stranger grunted but made no move to help him up. Yugi didn't blame him and simply stood up on his own. "I should have been looking where I was going-" He paused and blinked. "Ushio?"

Sure enough, Yugi's former tormentor stood before him in the flesh – sharp cheekbones, sturdy jaw, shaggy eyebrows, every detail the same. Yugi froze – all the things Atemu had taught him about how to defend himself went completely out of his head, and he just stood and waited for the first punch to crash into his face. But Ushio didn't do anything. Just stood and leered down at him. It was surreal – like a slightly confused nightmare.

Yugi suddenly realised that Ushio was...bigger than he remembered. He unconsciously took a step away from him.

Way back then, when Yugi had partnered up with Atemu and Seto, Ushio – who had bullied Yugi mercilessly for as long as he could remember – had been found shortly afterwards tied up and blindfolded in a dumpster outside the castle. He had never returned to class after that for one reason or another. His partner Hanasaki hadn't been very forthcoming with any details about his departure, though he was clearly a lot happier with him gone. There were always rumours, though – rumours that Ushio had not returned because of the complete humiliation.

The removal of the main antagonist from his life had caused Yugi's self-confidence to sky-rocket – and working with the legendary Atemu as, of all people, Seto Kaiba's weapon hadn't hurt either. Now, though, as Ushio made his first agonizingly slow step towards him, Yugi's fragile ego crumbled away to nothing.

"Yugi," Ushio said slowly, making a clumsy swipe at him. Yugi jumped back and felt his back press against a wooden fence, leaving him with nowhere to go. Ushio grinned widely – and showed off a mouthful of inhuman teeth.

"Kishin egg!" Yugi squeaked before ducking to avoid a fist the size of a football, which instead crashed through the wood above his head and showered splinters onto his hair. It was at that moment that the adrenaline kicked in. He managed to slip between Ushio's legs and escape – Ushio grabbed at him again but missed, struggling to manoeuvre with one hand stuck in the fence.

"You think you can run?" It seemed human speech hadn't left him yet, but his voice had gained a guttural growl that had not been there before. Yugi heard a loud crack from behind him that told him that Ushio had freed himself from the fence. "Thanks to you and your partners, I became that laughing stock of Shibusen!"

Yugi didn't answer and just kept running as fast as his little legs could carry him. It was not enough. There was a loud crash in front of him and a rush of wind that knocked him backwards and off his feet. Ushio had leapt over him – and he turned around now, slowly, and grinned again. Yugi could only stare, wide-eyed, and wait for the end – for those giant, hairy hands to close around his throat...

"What are you doing to my weapon?"

The voice was terrifying familiar. Everything about it, right down to its razor-sharp tone, was the same as the voice that had attacked Yugi in the classroom just a few hours ago – everything but its target, that is. It was enough to distract Ushio, whose small, hungry eyes narrowed even further.

Seto was standing at the end of the street. Atemu was already transformed in his hand – Yugi could see the reflection of his face on the flat side of the hammer closest to him, straining to see if he was alright. Sure enough, his voice echoed through the empty street as clearly as if he were standing right next to Seto. "Yugi! Are you alright? Seto, I want a piece of this guy-"

Seto surveyed the situation. For one long moment, Yugi felt terrified that Seto would turn around and leave him there. But instead, he did the unthinkable. With one fluid movement, Atemu was in his weak hand… And his strong hand was held out towards Yugi.

In the split-second before Ushio realized what was about to happen, Yugi turned into a beam of light and rushed into Seto's hand. Ushio snarled, smashing his hand into the ground where Yugi had been just a moment before. Yugi materialised in his weapon form – a short-bladed broadsword – in Seto's hand at the same second as the impact, and he nearly cried in relief when he saw the large crater in the ground that had formed around Ushio's fist.

"Are you hurt?" Seto said in the same tone a normal person would ask, "Would you please pass the salt?"

"No," Yugi said truthfully, "but it was close."

"It's the three people I've wanted to see the most since I left Shibusen," Ushio said. "I'll rip you to pieces one by one and eat your souls slowly before – are you even listening?" He gave a vicious snarl, but Seto continued to talk over him as if he wasn't there.

"I hope you're hungry, then, because it's your turn," he said to Yugi, ignoring Ushio's furious protests before turning to Atemu. "I suppose you'll want to do one of your asinine introductions?"

Atemu took Seto's words in his stride – his reflection in the side of the hammer glared at Ushio, and his arm materialised in the air in front of him for a moment as he pointed at their newfound enemy. "Yami, crushing hammer of judgement! You'll pay for trying to trespass on our souls."

"Hikari, blinding blade of mercy!" Yugi's cry was weak and embarrassed.

Seto sighed. "I am Seto Kaiba, first meister and heir of the great Kaiba clan. Ushio..." Seto paused for a moment.

"Tetsu," Yugi provided. His reflection in the blade smiled shyly at Seto.

"Hn. A waste, using your memory to remember this small fry's name." With a grand flourish, Seto pointed Yugi at their increasingly irate target. "Ushio Tetsu, I have come for your soul."

At that moment, Ushio abandoned all aspects of his human self, and rushed at them on all fours. Yugi screamed – Seto wasn't ready, he wouldn't be ready, Ushio would tear his head off like it was paper-

There was a warm throb like a heartbeat. Deep within him, Yugi felt his soul stretch, reaching for the source of confidence and power. Seto's soul reached back, grasped his, and everything was right in the world.

Yugi sliced through Ushio like he was butter. His form split in half and burst into two dark whirlwinds – and then there was nothing but the ruby-red soul of a Kishin egg, floating quietly in place.

The two weapons returned to their human forms. Atemu stretched as if nothing had happened and Yugi, feeling strangely giddy, took the soul and cradled it in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Ushio," he whispered. "For everything. If things had been different..."

Seto snorted behind him and Yugi blushed, embarrassed. He shut his eyes, opened his mouth, and swallowed the soul whole.

"You should lose that useless sympathy, Yugi. Do you really think it will help in battle? That one of them will just see the light and stop fighting?" Seto's tone was biting, but the look on his face was a strange one, one that did not match his words – one of restrained confusion. "He chose his path gladly. He knew what he was doing, and he knew what was coming for him."

"Did he?" Yugi said. "I wonder."

"Of course he did!" Seto spat – a surprising display of emotion from him. "Yugi, this a stupid practice that will get you killed!"

Yugi smiled. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am just being weak." He paused for a moment and touched his hand to his throat, where he could still feel the soul faintly. "But that's why you're here to help me get stronger, right?"

Seto stared at him before turning his head the other way. A topic for another time, it seemed.

"So, what did I tell you about our big introduction? Pretty cool, huh?" Atemu pushed his way in between them and casually threw an arm over each of their shoulders. "I think the 'crushing' part was a nice touch. Better than 'dark' from before, that was just redundant."

And with that, Seto was back to normal. Yugi understood – Atemu had done it on purpose. Was it the way Atemu looked back and forth between them, or the way his hands held them both closer together that gave it away? Yugi wasn't sure. He didn't know how he knew – he just did.

Seto shook Atemu off irritably. "An absolute waste of time, that's what it was. I don't know why you insist on it."

"Look who's talking, Seto. How do your lines go, again? 'I am Seto Kaiba, insert ego stroking here, I will take your soul!'"

"That's 'I have come for your soul.'"

Atemu grinned. "Ah, I see. That really does make all the difference."

They really were a strange trio, but as Yugi giggled at their antics he felt the last piece of their puzzle fall into place. Seto looked at him, confused by this sudden show of social ease, but Yugi simply smiled back, and Atemu winked at him cheerfully. None of them were perfect – but they had all the time in the world to get better.

Together.


I'm so proud of being the first YGO x Soul Eater author. Of course, it would have been better for a stronger author than me to take this title, but eh... What can you do, right? And this is targeted at YGO fans anyway. Speaking of which, I'll explain the Soul Eater 'verse as we go along - I don't want to cram any more info into this chapter.

Also, everyone knows what a Shinigami is, right? I mean, even if you don't know what it is from Soul Eater, you should know from Death Note or something else (it means God of Death, btw).

Now please excuse me as I run like Hell from the people who are waiting me to update my other stuff (would my death be painless if I say I've been working on it?) and from the people (uh, person) who I also owe fics too. That one should be up in a week though, so yayz ~

Next chapter: The Passionate Swordsman of the Flame! Believe it - (brick'd)