Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters and all associated items/characters and settings belong to Kazuki Takahashi.
The only thing I actually own is Kiyo. (Yes this is a reupload. Fixed up some formatting. Will probably post chapter 2 next week. I'm aiming for longer chapters than in my other stories so give me a little leeway.)
She rounded the corner of the dark street in Domino City, the house coming into plain view in front of her, the white haired boy sat upstairs in his room looking through trading cards, naturally, after all he was a duellist; yet he was also her vessel towards the one she yearned to find once again. She bent down to the grass below, her black jeans curling over the edge of her sneakers, her fingertips brushed over a small rock; big enough to gain his attention, small enough to not break the window. With a flick of her fingers it was resting neatly inside her palm, she drew back her arm and pelted the rock towards the boy's window.
His head shot up and he began to stride towards his window peering down to the ground from the second floor of his house, a girl wearing a black hooded jacket looked up at him with a smirk on her face and a glint in her almost black eyes, a stark contrast to her light brown hair. It appeared as if she was acting cute, trying to beg for his attention.
"Do you need help?" he called down to her, all that he got in response was a simple nod, just one, small, fast and simple. He ventured away from the window and looked at himself once in the mirror, his white hair looked like it needed a small bit of a tame, the wrinkles in his blue and white striped shirt seemed a lot more prominent suddenly yet he didn't care as much as he probably should have. In order to protect himself from the cold he grabbed his pale blue shirt, slipping it on and not caring too much for the buttons. His father was out so he was able to make a clean getaway, meeting the girl right where she had been standing.
He looked to be the right boy, from what she'd known he'd been the previous holder of the Millennium Ring before it had been destroyed, yet she need not take any risks at the early stage in her plan, "So what do you need my help with?" that accent, it appeared so wretched and horrid, nothing like that last time she'd heard him speak, a foreign tone would be bedded into it now, if this was his true host before the dilemma,
"I need to ask you one question first, you are Ryou Bakura right?"
At first he expected her voice to be soft and sweet, that's what her image portrayed at least, but the tone that left her thin lined lips was harsh and demanding, how had she known his name though? This was all so strange to him, frightening,
"Y-yes, I am, may I know your name madam?" she chuckled and dipped her head low sighing,
"You'll know in due time Ryou, you were the last to possess the Millennium Ring correct?" Ryou had expected her to look up during his delayed response yet she kept her head low,
"U-uh yeah I was b-but it was destroyed, it fell into this hole in the ground o—"
"Over in Egypt, the original resting place of the Millennium Items blah, blah, I know the back story, look," her head shot up, her eyes peering deep into his, "The Thief King was able to come forth when you didn't hold the Item once before, he can do it again and I'm depending on this, just take me to the last place in Domino City that you felt his presence," Ryou was unsure of what to say, all her words had taken him aback, some strange girl appears at his house in the middle of the night, in the cold, knows his name, knows he once had the Millennium Ring, knows of the spirit of it, referred to him as the Thief King though… but nonetheless. "Take me, now, otherwise there'll be consequences Ryou," a maniacal gaze flickered over her face momentarily and he felt his body go cold, or maybe it was just the weather, do as she says idiot, if she knows the spirit then she could definitely be trouble,
"Follow me then."
Ryou lead her towards a church, a church, of all the places… had he become a sap over 5000 years? "So the last time I ever felt him as such was here, I was running away from him actually, and then once I got in here the windows smashed open and he took over once again," she ignored the rest of him pointless rambling and gazed around the place, the windows had obviously been redone, coloured glass filling the frames, "Why do you need to find him anyway?" she spun back around on her heels to face the white haired boy,
"He and I… we have a lot of catching up to do,"
"So you do know him? Like actually know him, the spirit?" she nodded slowly and saw the youth's eyes widen, "How?"
"He was a human before he was a spirit Ryou, he still has the capability to be a human again if he tried hard enough; Atem could do it so that means he could too." Her fists balled and teeth ground at memories of the Pharaoh,
"Oh, w-well, I don't know what to do now… I'm sorry," she let out a heavy sigh and looked at the boy, he seemed so apologetic and innocent,
"But I do," she reached into her back pocket pulling out one single card,
"You have trading cards?" all she responded with was a small nod before placing the card on the ground, "What're you doing?" he queried,
"Now we wait," she went and stood back next to Ryou as the Diabound rose from the card, a smirk entwining its way into her tight stitched poker face,
"What're we waiting for?" she held a finger against her lips to silence him and noticed him eye her weirdly. A dark echoing laughter encased them, as it grew louder she began to laugh along, "No… he's back, make him stop!" he cried out,
"Of course not Ryou, I didn't wait five thousand years to listen to your pleas," beside her he fell to the ground in a heap, and all she did was continue to laugh.
Pain took over his whole body and he felt himself begin to lose consciousness, hadn't that girl said the spirit could have his own body? The more the pain spread the less he could sense of the world around him, why would she do this to a complete stranger?
Because you fool, she's desperate, he screamed as that voice rung inside his head,
"No… make him st-stop p-please!" he looked back at the girl who shook her head, that maniacal glint back in her eyes, her and the spirit obviously got along well, they were both evil,
Quit your whining, it spoke to him again. He clenched his teeth and screamed once more, "At least let me know your name!"
"Kiyo," she spat and kicked him in his side, "Now hurry up and let my Thief come back to me," her thief? He groaned in pain before his face hit the cold of the church floor, his world going black.
He brushed the fringe out of his eyes and stretched his arms right above his head, "Been a while has it?" he looked over at the source of the voice and smiled, not smirk like he usually did, but actually smiled,
"How did you know that would work Kiyo?" he questioned as he readjusted the wrinkled clothes Ryou had been wearing,
"Diabound was always your Shadow Monster, so I presumed putting out the card where your host last felt you would draw you back," he walked towards her with his arms outstretched, his heart jumping a little when she wrapped her arms around him in response, he hadn't hugged her for years, heck, he hadn't seen her for years. "I thought you were dead… you never even tried to find me,"
"Well it wasn't like you tried that hard to find me either Kiyo," he brushed the tears away from her cheeks and pouted a miniscule amount at the eyeliner running down her cheeks, "You need not worry anymore, you've found me again."
It still seemed unrealistic; to not only have seen him once again, but to hear him say her name, hold her once again. They were never lovers, just best friends, friends to the highest level they saw possible, both were slaves of Zorc yet kept their lives free and excitable.
"I want my card back," she murmured burying her head into his chest again, feeling it vibrate as he chuckled at her statement. It wasn't the same as last, naturally it wouldn't be, and it was his host's body, not his. His skin lacked its Egyptian tan, the accent of his voice was replaced with a British one, his hair was relatively the same, yet the one thing she'd loved about him had disappeared. Looking up she lifted her hand to his face, tracing where his scar had been,
"You miss it being there don't you?" she nodded slowly, he took a hold of her hand and bent down to pick up her card, "I believe this belongs to you," with a small laugh she snatched the card from his pale hand and slipped it right back into her pocket,
"I also believe we have some catching up to do," she quipped as they began walking hand in hand out of the church,
"Indeed, a few thousand or so years if you ask me, wow, how did we not manage to go mad?" she shrugged as the cold air blew in their faces,
"Not entirely sure, I think I went mad once, I used to go from place to place every few years, a lot of people got freaked out by the fact I was immortal. I spent the whole time trying to locate whoever had taken the Millennium Ring, I wanted to find you again; life's considerably harder without your best friend to keep you company." He hummed along to her last statement as some sort of agreement,
"I know I went mad several times. I missed having you around like hell, but being trapped with nothing but my own thoughts for years, it was painful and crazy, every now and then someone would get the ring. They would be overwhelmed by the power I had, I scared the living daylights out of them, and that was where I found my joy, possessing and torturing whoever held the damned object." She listened intently as he continued on; her life seemed easy compared to his, "Then after so many years it got to Ryou, which lead to me going back to the Pharaoh, thank Ra, yet I failed,"
"I know, I felt the pull as well Bakura, it was like part of me was ripped from my chest, I knew I was going to be safe but I felt him be destroyed, I felt myself lose you all over again." Her head hung low as she spoke, a gentle arm found its way around her shoulder as the fingers unlaced themselves from her hand,
"I'm sorry, I never intended to make you hate me," she laughed and shrugged his arm off,
"You never intended to make anyone hate you, it was just 'how you rolled'," he smiled dimly and they picked up their pace a little, "Where are you taking me?" she queried as she followed him around a corner,
"Well, it's only proper etiquette to introduce my two best friends to each other is it not?" Her brow furrowed as they continued walking through the confusing Domino City, it was her first time here yet Bakura seemed to know his way around pretty well compared to her, then again, he hadlived here for a few years due to his host.
"Do you know where you're going Bakura?" He looked back at her with a smile and strode up towards the door, he was ninety percent sure he was at the right house; he'd only been here once or twice when Marik had moved in. With a shaky breath he knocked on the door,
"In a minute!" he laughed quietly at the sound of the voice behind it, yes, he'd gotten it right. The door unlocked and the blonde stared him down, eyes widening as he took in Bakura's appearance, "B-Bakura… I, I thought you'd died…" he shook his head and could have sworn he saw the blonde's eyes let out a small tear,
"You can't defeat the shadows Marik, I was still here, I just… needed help to come back," at that moment Marik looked over Bakura's shoulder and raised an eyebrow, Bakura simply chuckling knowing exactly what he was about to ask.
Marik's head was a fluster of emotions, joy over the fact Bakura hadn't died, recurring grief from when he thought that he had, and confusion over who the bloody hell this girl was, bloody hell… that makes me sound like Bakura… whoops, stupid binky boy.
"Who's—"
"Her name's Kiyo," he gathered his question was predictable and didn't bother to query as to how Bakura was able to cut him off, "She helped me return, you should be thankful towards her Marik, if it weren't for her and her knowledge of my true personality back in Egypt I might have never returned,"
"E-E-Egypt!" he sputtered out, the girl was Egyptian? How, she looked so far from it, unless… 'My true personality back in Egypt', she was as old as Bakura, "Wait, doesn't that make her as old as you? But how, wouldn't she be like dead or something, I mean, you're not dead but you were trapped in that ring thing Ryou had. So how is she alive!" the girl chuckled, pushing her hair out of her face before she spoke,
"Because Blondie, I used to be able to do this thing called magic and thanks to the powers of Zorc, Bakura and I can pretty much exist forever, we just need bodies. Unlike Bakura I kept mine, he on the other hand got stuck in that stupid ring and in turn lost his," Marik was still confused, so, so much, but all that mattered was that Bakura came to him, Bakura, the biggest jerk he'd ever met other than his father and Kaiba.
"I'm going to ignore the fact you mildly insulted me then and let the two of you inside because it's cold and Bakura and I have catching up to do," the girl laughed loudly once more as Bakura walked inside smiling,
"Oh Marik, you think you have catching up to do with Bakura, try five thousand years buddy,"
A/N Hey guys. So um, been a while since any chapter stories have appeared on my account. As you can see I've branched away from writing just about Short Stack, seeing as they're a band of three boys it was a little monotonous after a while. You can only do so much with three well known 'characters', so supposedly I've moved onto Anime I guess. Yu-Gi-Oh here, I might write a Death Note one at one stage.
Okay now I'm rambling. Kiyo is my OC as stated in the summary, I'll give you a better description on her appearance etc. later. If you know Yu-Gi-Oh! then you should know who Bakura, Ryou and Marik are. A HUGE THANKS to Individually Packaged and Sparkles the Awesome for reading this before I posted it and helping me with errors and stuff. R&R?