Disclaimer: Okay, firstly, we do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! I really think that that much is obvious. Secondly, this is the only time we are doing this, so please try and remember that there really WAS a disclaimer in the first chapter.

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Chapter One

Promises

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Cloaked by the shadows that reflected their personalities all too well, the Rare Hunters stood in an unbroken silence, awaiting the unsuspecting victims who would provide them with their biggest reward yet.

Master Malik had promised a merciless punishment if they failed to bring him compensation for their last blunder. This time, failing was not an option. Master Malik was a man of his word. A merciless punishment meant exactly what the word 'merciless' implied.

They had been watching the two girls who were sitting in the park for quite a while now. Yes, the Master would be very pleased when he received that particular collection of rare cards.

It was just a matter of waiting for the right moment to strike...

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"I don't want to go home yet," Kioko said suddenly to her twin sister. Yume stopped walking abruptly. She had been expecting this. "Do you want to stay here for a while?" she asked, looking around the deserted park. She frowned. That was slightly odd. School had ended about half an hour ago and since it was a summer's day, the place should really be teaming with a mass of children. Yume shook her head and dismissed the thought, and was annoyed at herself for being so paranoid yet again.

The thirteen-year-old sighed when she saw Kioko nod. Kioko obviously wasn't used to their new home yet. Not that it was much of a home, Yume thought bitterly. Their aunt was barely ever actually in the building, and when she was, she didn't exactly talk to them that much other than the occasional inquiries about school; but she was so wrapped up in her work that she never found the time to get to know them a little better, or perhaps it was that she couldn't be bothered to make the effort. It would have been one thing if they had had parents or other siblings to turn to, but the girls only had each other. However, the lack of other family meant that the twins were close, some said inseparable. They liked it that way.

Yume could guess why Kioko was upset. They had always lived in Tokyo, and when their parents had passed away a year ago, their aunt had moved in and become their legal guardian. But just recently, they had moved. That had meant leaving their old home behind, and not only that but their friends and their school too. The only consolation that Yume and Kioko had was the fact that they had moved to Domino Town, the Duelist Hot-Spot. They were fanatics about Duel Monsters, and although Yume was the one to modestly think it and Kioko was the one to bluntly say it, they were experts.

Kioko went and sat down on the nearest bench. Yume came and sat down next to her. She knew what Kioko wanted. She reached into her pocket and gave her younger sister the Duel Monsters Deck that they shared, a deck overflowing with Spellcasters, the twins' favourite type of monster. Yume smiled as she watched Kioko flick through it eagerly. Sometimes it was fun just to observe her sister find so much happiness by looking at a pack of cards, but Yume couldn't deny that she felt the same way.

"Yume..." Kioko trailed.

Kioko's voice snapped Yume out of her thoughts. "Yeah?" she questioned.

"Tell me honestly," Kioko continued. "How do you fell about Domino Town?"

Yume thought about her answer for a moment. "Well, "she began slowly.

"I like my new room, and I'm glad that Aunt actually let me decorate it the way I want, and the school here isn't too bad."

"Yeah..." Kioko nodded again, but her eyes lingered on the Magician's Valkyria that was in her hand. It had been a parting gift from one of Kioko's best friends, a girl who she had known and gone to school with from childhood. Yume thought sadly of the people she had had to leave behind, but she rarely spoke her bitter emotions. She felt better when she ignored them, and tried to have the optimist's perspective on life.

Yume broke the uneasy silence. "Well you know Kioko, since you are starting at a whole new school, maybe you can make the effort and build up a good reputation from the start! You know, there's this really strange thing which pupils who attend school are expected to do. The teachers call it homework!"

Kioko was used to this from Yume. Her twin sister often acted as though she was her senior by many years, but Kioko appreciated it, since she didn't really have anyone else. In a way, Yume was her senior, maybe not by that much, but the fact that she had been born half an hour before midnight and Kioko had been born at one o'clock in the morning meant that they had been born on separate days. Some people were dumb enough to insist that they weren't. Idiots.

Kioko looked sheepish. Yume burst out laughing and began looking at the deck with Kioko.

"So what do you like about Domino?" Yume asked her sister.

Kioko gave her answer immediately. "The Duelists!"

Yume laughed again, but in the back of her mind, she didn't find it surprising. She and Kioko had faced six Duelists that day, random people who Kioko had walked up to and challenged while they were at school, and although she didn't like to boast, their different decks had been creamed one after the other.

Kioko joined in with the laughter, but after a while, another uncomfortable silence fell upon them. Yume looked up at the sky, and saw the KaibaCorp tower looming in the distance. It was strange how it was like a landmark in Domino, the tallest building in the sky. The same one which they had used to find their way home when they had got lost on their first day of school.

Yume was the one to speak first.

"You're still not used to it, are you?"

Kioko could never keep secrets from her sister. She nodded. "I don't know what's wrong with me Yume," she began. "I've been trying to look at all the positive things about this place, but I keep on getting this weird feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever think about what's going to come after this."

"What is going to come after this?" Yume mused.

Kioko shook her head, her bouncy black hair now in a tangled mess. "I really don't know..."

Yume sighed. "You've always got me, whatever happens." she assured Kioko.

Kioko looked at her sister, a half-smile stretched across her features.

"Yeah...thanks. You've always got me too."

They sat in the silence for a few more minutes, allowing their thoughts to drift whilst they listened to the birds chirping strange songs and melodies. Surprisingly, it was Kioko who made the first move.

"I guess...we should get going."

Yume stood up and Kioko handed her the duel deck. Yume put it safely away into her blazer pocket and the sisters began walking home, content with the knowledge that no matter where they were, they could always turn to the other for comfort.

Kioko bent down to tie her shoelace. Yume sighed and continued walking. Kioko liked to linger when she did things, taking each moment into account, appreciating it. Yume personally preferred to analyze it, although her appearance would not give a person that impression. Yume's pink bouncy hair meant that people often underestimated her. A mistake, as they always soon found out.

Kioko put her laces into place. She looked at the ground and noticed how the light was being blocked by a shadow. She turned her head upwards, and gave the person she was expecting to be Yume a sweet grin.

What she saw looming over her made her scream.

Yume spun round, and gasped when she saw a tall, cloaked man holding Kioko in a powerful grip. The adolescent was unable to move, although she was struggling with all of her strength. He had a hand placed firmly over Kioko's mouth, making it impossible for her to scream. If the situation wasn't bad enough, there was another man standing next to the one who was holding Kioko, a man with blue hair.

Yume acted on initiative, taking a leaf out of her sister's book. Anyone who dared to assume that they could hurt Kioko while she was around was a fool, and fools had to repent for their mistakes. The only weapon that Kioko was armed with was her schoolbag, and she grinned grimly when she thought of the many homework assignments that she had received that afternoon. She lunged at the pair, ready to crack their skulls if it was necessary.

Yume never got the chance to attack.

The cloaked man with blue hair smiled as she approached, a sick twisted grin that made her want to vomit. Just when her bag was about to connect with his head, he effortlessly dodged out of the way, and retaliated immediately by punching her in the stomach. Yume fell gasping to her knees, clasping her abdomen. She was temporarily winded.

He knelt down, inches from her face. She glared at him, not afraid to make her emotions apparent, hatred dancing in her eyes, brighter than a burning inferno. He was amused by her apathy towards him, but spoke five simple words, a phrase that would repeat itself in Yume's mind from that day onwards.

"Never forget the Rare Hunters."

Seeing the attack on her sister had only made Kioko more determined to break free, but she cringed when the smelly man who was holding her squeezed her face, making tears of pain spring in her eyes.

Yume became even angrier. She stood up and was about to strike the man who was harming Kioko. The blue haired man grinned. Giving Yume one last look of amusement, he picked up the bag and swung it hard, connecting with Yume's skull and knocking the girl backwards before she had even had the opportunity to understand the situation.

Yume took one last look at the crying Kioko before she fell unconscious.

There was an unnatural cold blast of wind. The Rare Hunters and Kioko were gone.

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Okay, I hope you liked the first chapter, which was written by ME, Kitana! Review!