Chapter 1. Children's Card Game.

It was only a couple of days since Kul Elna had been excavated, somehow the exposed ruins had awakened an ancient magic. 9 had been transported through time and space as the ruins connected with the millennium items which were to be found in Domino city. These items were currently in possession of one Yugi Moto. Although Yami had left he still wore the Millennium puzzle round his neck.

Yugi, Ryou, Anzu and Honda were all round Jonouchi's house watching a film and just relaxing when all of a sudden a bright light flooded the room, momentarily blinding everyone.

"Aaaahh…. Where are we?!" An unknown panicky voice filled the room and as everyone's vision cleared they quickly noticed that the 5 people in the room had somehow become 14. Even though Ryou didn't know who they were the rest of them remembered from seeing Atemu's memory world. Thief King Bakura was stood off to the side of the other 8. Pharaoh Atem was stood at the front of the group of 8 with Priest Set and Mahaado on eitherside. Akhenaden, Kalim and Shada were stood just behind them. Finally a few paces back Mana was hiding behind Isis and looking round at the very scared and confused at the strange room. Then she saw Atemu and Mahaado.

"PRINCE! MASTER MAHAADO! YOUR ALIVE!" Mana squealed whilst bouncing towards them so that when they turned towards her voice they were knocked to the ground as the glomped them. Thief Bakura was desperately looking round the room for an esacpe route, but unfortuantly he had shown up near a wall and the door and windows were on the otherside of the room…. And the other side of the Priests. Set was looking mad at the situation, well he'd been pulled away from Egypt just before being named Pharaoh so he felt he had a right to be mad. Isis was moving slowly towards Kalim as if she couldn't quite believe her eyes. Here was the man she watched die, who she thought she would never see again, standing whole in front of her eyes. Cautiously she reached out towards him afraid that her hand would go straight through him and that he would be just another of her dreams.

Whilst the Egyptian's in the room were having a strange reunion, not unusual considering 4 of them had died and 3 transported from the throne room of the Pharaoh's palace, yugi was looking at Atem and he was very confused. Ryou was looking a Thief Bakura, though it was not exactly how his Yami had been he still hoped that at least part of him had Yami's memories as though he couldn't admit it out loud right now he missed Yami.

"So…. Um…. How did you guys get here?" Jonouchi was the one who ventured to ask. Every one turned to look towards him but no one seemed to know why. For apparently no reason 9 ancient Egyptian's now found themselves in modern day Domino.

"Well you're not all staying here!" He said gruffly. "nowhere near enough space for 9 more people."

"Wait 9?" Set asked " even if you count Mana, as tiny and useless as she is, there would only be 8" he had yet to notice Bakura who had pressed himself as far against the wall as he could reach. These were not good odds, and he could not summon Diabound for some reason. As the other Egyptian's saw him the facial expressions ranged from a mixture of rage and fear to pure anger and hate. It very quickly occurred to Jonouchi that his house was going to be utterly destroyed unless he stopped them attacking Bakura. Whilst Jonouchi, with Honda's help, attempted to prevent any imminent fight Yugi got in contact with the Ishtars, as they may have some idea of what happened. As well as Kaiba, the only one with enough room to take every one in.

It wasn't long before the Ishtars arrived, Kaiba as well who had been reluctant to show up but yugi was being very persistant. He didn't truly believe that there were now 9 ancient Egyptions in Jonouchi's living room. Therefore it was quite a shock to walk into the room and find 7 of these Egyptians shouting at Jonouchi and Honda trying to get to the man stood behind them. He recognised a couple of the faces he had seen in the Memory World, though he still belived that was some occult caused hallucination…. And since there were similar faces this must also be some occultist shit and he didn't want any part of it… however he'd been spotted.

"Kaiba!" Heaving a sigh he forced himself to remain in the room and endure the following conversation. Apparently these hallucinations needed somewhere to stay. Though the Ishtar's still had to explain how exactly they had managed to get here… it seemed they didn't know. The conversation was not a short one although it was quickly decided that Atem would stay with Yugi and that Bakura would stay with Ryou. The problem was everyone else, Ryou was more than happy to take in someone else but the question was who. Any of the 7 left would want to kill Bakura or in Ahkenaden's case hide. After a lot of talking with the priests it was decided that Mana was the only one who did not have the power to harm him. Kaiba had said he would take in no more than 3 of them. Honda and Jonouchi didn't have any room at all and Anzu was only prepared to look after a girl, especialy since if she said a guy she was sure she'd end up with the old man. Since Mana was going to be staying with Bakura Mahaado wanted to be nearby and it was decided he would also stay with yugi. So out of the 4 remaining all that needed to be decided was who was going to stay with the Ishtar's and who with Kaiba.

This descision did not take long as Kaiba took one look at Set. Set took one look at Kaiba. Thought one was a reincarnation of the other there was no way they could have a relationship like Yugi and Atem. Yugi and Atem were similar but also quite different. Kaiba and Set were almost carbon copies, the both exuded the same aura, only one believed in the Gods and his Pharaoh the other believed in money and himself. These too could not stay together, it would be a disasterous outcome. This is how Kaiba reluctantly took home the ancient Egyptian Priests.

It had been about two weeks since everyone had appeared in the future and Mana was sat on the sofa of Ryou's house sighing. She couldn't get used to somethings… like the clothes she was expected to wear or anything electronic. Ryou she could get used to living with he was shy but kind, Bakura though still scared her. He reminded her of the fighting back in Ancient Egypt and though he kept saying that he wasn't going to hurt her she couldn't fully trust him so mostly she avoided him and spent time with Ryou. However Ryou was out today and for the next few days apparently a friend called Mariku was acting up and Malik and Ishizu wanted Ryou's help. She remembered Ishizu from the night they had arrived, mainly as she looked so much like Isis. Malik had visited Ryou's house a couple of times, and sometimes even talked with her in Egyptian.

She sighed again wishing that she could have just gone with the Prince and Master Mahaado to the house of the boy who looked like the Prince. But no she'd been left with Bakura, she was deemed to be the least threat to him out of the people he probably wouldn't kill. Curling further up on the sofa she wondered what to do. The thing that Ryou called a television scared her, she was bored and she was stuck with him. There was nothing she could do to actually avoid other than read, and though her magic meant she could read the words and speak the language she couldn't find many books in the house at least not that interested her.

It was about nine when Bakura stirred from the bedroom upstairs and made his way down for coffee. Though he rose with Ra it was a time of year with short days, Ryou had been woken up earlier and Mana just unable to sleep. Bakura felt less nervous of everything than Mana did as his soul had been trapped within the millennium ring so he had absorbed information on how the modern world worked. As he entered the living room he noticed Mana curled up on the sofa and the glare she gave him as he entered the room. She hated him… at least he thought she did at the very she least she didn't like him and was very wary of him.

"Where's Yadonushi" he continued through to the kitchen whilst asking then had to double back to hear the mumbled answer. She was starting to annoy him with all of the avoiding tactics, she was stuck living with him she might as well get used to it. "what?!"

"I said he went to babysit Mariku for a few days" A few days huh, Bakura smirked. Perfect, he would stop this girl from avoiding him…. Somehow. With this in mind he sat down on the sofa, the same one that Mana was curled up on. This action caused her to flinch away from him as far as she could.

"Gods Woman! I'm not trying to hurt you!"

"But…. But you tried to kill the Prince and destroy Egypt…." Mana replied with a slight tremble creeping into her voice.

"Its true I tried to kill the Pharaoh but so should anyone who saw what I saw… though you'll never find anyone else who does. Destroying Egypt though was not MY plan, just of the darkness that controlled me."

"It's still because of you that Egypt was nearly destroyed…"

"Stop thing so much!" he snapped at her. An awkward silence filled the room, with Bakura being the one to break it. "c'mon, I'll show you a game. You'll enjoy it."

"What kind of game?" she asked cautiously.

"A children's card game." A mischievious smile made its way onto Bakura's face.

Ryou's house had two bedrooms, however the one that his father used had long been turned into a game room. Rather than change it back into a bedroom Bakura and Ryou had been sharing the bed in the main bedroom and Mana using the sofa. It was to the games room that a confused Mana followed Bakura to. Still not sure what was going to happen.

When they were in the game room Bakura got out a lot of cards and started explaining the rules, effects and gave her a pre made dack, promising to show hher how to build one later. Then just to see the reaction he got out a certain card to show her. The moment Mana saw it she was bouncing around, having completely forgotten that Bakura scared her. She had Black Magician Girl in her hand.

"My ka is on a card! How did my ka get on a card?!" expecting an answer she turned her gaze to Bakura who briefly explained where quite a few of the designs came from. Still excitable from finding her ka on a card she looked through the deck she was given carefully, exclaiming every couple of cards at the pretty cards. Bakura had given her a deck that was the opposite of his own.

"Well Then. Let's duel!" At which point both Mana and Bakura started to shuffle their deck. Whilst Mana liked the cards and Bakura was acting kind of nice, she couldn't quite trust the man sat opposite, with such a mischievious grin. Okay so it had been about 14 days and he hadn't done anything but that could have been an act for Ryou.

Whilst carefully watching for any danger she saw something that caused laughter to build up until she couldn't help but laugh. Bakura had managed to drop cards whilst shuffling and after all his talk about being amazing when he was explaining everything to her.

"OI! Stop laughing!" Bakura ordered, a slight blush rising to his cheeks… "You didn't see anything!" Mana nodded however was still laughing.

"Right anyway. Enough Shuffling.. draw your hand." Mana did so, still slightly in hysterics from Bakura's mishap and the blush that was still on his cheeks.

They had a quick game of rock, paper, scissors they decided that Mana would be going first. Still new to the game the first few turns of the duel progressed slowly. Mana soon figured out the rules and started to have fun. When she realised she was having fun there was a dull ache inside her. She was having fun….. With Bakura of all people. After all he'd done she should hate him shouldn't she?

He was the Prince's, Egypt's enemy. He had caused Master Mahaado's death, the revival of the wicked god zorc and the attempted destruction of Egypt. Okay so he had failed, but what drove him to that in the first place? She didn't know and this meant she couldn't decide whether she should trust him or not and so her mental torment continued.

Bakura was quite amused watching the girl's facial expressions change from one thing to another and continued playing. He didn't ask what exactly was taking attention until she failed to make a crucial move in the duel. The ensuing blush made him laugh.

"You are entertaining" the look of pure surprise and outrage at being called entertaining caused him to laugh even harder, "yes very entertaining."

Now quite flustered Mana looked at Bakura. She had no idea what to make of this man, this Bakura. He was being kind of nice and it was really, really weird… and kind of scary, she didn't know how to handle a nice Bakura.

"Who are you and what did you do with Bakura…. I mean not that I'm complaining but…" she trailed of unsure of how to finish that sentence she let it fall, not really expecting an answer.

"I am Bakura." She looked up in surprise at the answer. "It's just the Bakura you remember has had a long time to think… and you remind me…. Nevermind." He then returned his attention to the duel, smirking he said. "Oh I do believe I win!"

"Aaaah… Wait when did that happen!" After a moment of panic Mana slumped, "… how do I ever tell Master Mahaado or the ... now….. 2 OUT OF 3!"

Bakura accepted the challenge with a chuckle and they started to shuffle the decks for the next duel. Bakura started to wonder what was wrong with him. He was being uncharacteristically nice… maybe it was the resemblance. No the bounciness, the sudden mood changes, so similar, at least for the short time until they had come. The girl sat opposite was still being careful of him, but at least it wasn't the open terror of earlier.

Both were lost in their own thoughts as a few turns of the second duel passed. Mana was the first to break the silence whilst Bakura was doing damage calculation.

"You okay with that?" She looked over at the bit of paper "Oh that's easy 7200 take away 1400 is 5800" She said with confidence and large smile on her face. Bakura looked at her with bemusement and then checked the answer on a calculator.

"hmmm. Well done."

"well they did make me learn calculations otherwise I wasn't allowed to become Master Mahaado's apprentice." Giggling she continued the game.

"well I guess that's the advantage to growing up in the royal palace. They teach you everything. Unlike you protected little children I never had that opportunity!" The remark had come out harsher than intended and he continued. "After all those of you in the royal palace…. Hell even the nobles have life so fucking easy, biggest problem being what to wear in the morning. You don't even know what hardship is…."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP" The interruption surprised him. The friendly, bouncy girl was now stood, cards scattered by her feet, tears welling up and glaring at him.

"What do you know of my life…. Or of the life of anyone other than yourself. You may have been hurt but it doesn't mean you're the only one who has. I may have been lucky enough to be in the palace but that doesn't mean I always was." The tears were now streaming down her face and sobs starting to creep into her voice. "Y... you're.. so …selfish…"

Bakura watched in a stunned silence as the crying, glaring girl ran from the room down to the main bedroom.

"What the hell kind of reaction was that!" Bakura shrugged deciding to forget it. He couldn't finish the duel alone so he decided to go watch some tv and started towards the living room.

Bakura's words had stung, but more than that they had brought memories to the surface. They had been hidden but not forgotten, never forgotten. She had ended up sat with her back to a full length mirror in the bedroom. The soft blue jumper she'd been given was pulled up around her midriff and she was looking over her shoulder into the mirror. Her eyes still full of tears focused on the scar that covered her lower back from the waistband of her jeans to where the top was pulled up.

She was so absorbed and lost in memories that When Bakura entered the room she didn't realise, or even register his presence.

He didn't want to be shouted at by Yadonushi…. Which was exactly what would happen if he found out Bakura had madde the girl cry… It wasn't his fault that she cried so easily… but he would still get blamed. Then he would be forced to sleep on the sofa… he didn't like the sofa… he couldn't hug Yadonushi if he was on the sofa. He stood listening to the sobbing girl and decided he should stop this at least so she didn't tell on him and have him banished to the sofa.

He opened the door, making sure to be careful of any missiles that may be launched towards him. A quick glance told him there were no flying objects and that the Egyption girl appeared to be lost to something. He went into the room properly to see what she was staring at. Okay so maybe she only overreacted a little. It was old, but some parts of the scar looked older than others, so It wasn't caused by a single incident.

"So what haven't you told me?" the sound of his voice caused Mana to jump, bringing her back to reality. She quickly pulled the jumper down, wiped her eyes and turned to him smiling, as if nothing had happened. As if there was no scar or terrible memories behind it. How did she do that, he couldn't understand how she could move past that so easily.

So there we go Chapter 1... Read, Review and have fun. XD some parts might change slightly... once my editor has finish resits. lol. for now i just wanted to get this up see and see if people like it. ^_^ And sorry if was a little long XD i was writing and didn't want to cut it off part way.

Also this is connected with Mana's childhood so her story can be found there XD