The two girls stared up at the forbidding iron gates that looked less than welcoming. This was their new school, Domino High, neither sister liked the idea of starting a new school. Especially one in Japan. Especially one where they'd have no one except each other.

Florence sighed, remembering her mother's attempt to cheer the two girls earlier that morning. It hadn't worked.

"The sooner you go, the easier it will be for you to get used to the new education system and language." She had tried, only to receive a glare from her older daughter.

Recognizing his daughter's reluctant, rebellious expression, the girls' pacifistic father intervened. "Come on Florence," He laid a hand on her tense shoulder. "Better late than never, and if you think about it we're both in the same position, starting a new job, starting school… it's not so different."

Florence had bitten back the retort that was on the edge of her tongue, but was unable to prevent herself from thinking. Well, you brought us here. You chose to come here…

She took in a deep, calming breath, exhaled, then began to walk reluctantly towards the school. After a few moments, she turned back. April was rooted, statue-like, to the ground.

Florence sighed and walked back to her sister's side. April continued to look up at the menacing iron gates as if the school were a prison that they would never escape from. Wrapping a reassuring arm around her younger sister's shoulders, Florence sent April a reassuring smile.

"C'mon April, the first day of school isn't always bad. And besides if anyone and I mean anyone gives you a hard time or makes you feel uncomfortable I'll beat the pulp out of them." She said sincerely.

April glanced up to meet her sister's serious green eyes. It was a while since she had last seen Florence smile, a reciprocating smile spread across her lips at her sister's words.

"Okay, and if anyone gives you a hard time or makes you feel uncomfortable I'll just smart-mouth them until they cry." She replied, her eyes sparkling.

Florence chuckled. It was funny imagining April talking down some 11th grader until they were speechless. Mind you, she thought, it has been known to happen… "Alright, it's a deal then." The blonde lifted her hand and high-fived her younger sister, before sparing a glance down at her watch, face falling slightly. "We'd better get moving."

The two siblings quickly pinpointed reception and dragged their feet as they walked over to collect their timetables. As they passed the various cliques and the occasional lonely student, both girls were aware of the indiscreet gazes scanning the new appearances. Florence felt slightly uncomfortable due to the amount of attention they were attracting. When they passed through a particularly narrow corridor, the students parted either side, their eyes skeptical as they took in the sisters' appearances. Determined that the student's rudeness would not affect either herself or April, Florence returned the glances with a fiery glare, challenging anyone to step out and say something.

A few people looked away, however the majority continued to stare on. Rolling her eyes. Florence muttered 'pathetic' under her breath before ushering her sister towards reception.

Of course, if possible, it was worse for April. She was less confident and unfortunately her skin colour made her all the more distinguishable. Florence felt her sister squirm under the curious glances, even as she attempted to ignore them. Will these idiots ever give? Florence thought in annoyance.

After a few moments, they reached the end of the hallway, and feeling in a foul mood, Florence roughly shoved the door open to reveal a long counter, a few red chairs and a middle-aged woman, who Florence assumed must be the secretary.

Reception had the usual tang of newness mixed with school. The shabby walls were covered in flyers, adverts and the occasional school award underneath which were a pair of moth-bitten red chairs, the stuffing spewing unattrictively from their insides.

"Miss Florence and Miss April Driver, I suppose?" The receptionist asked politely, pulling a sheet of paper out on the desk in front of her and scanning down the list while she waited for an answer.

"That's us." April answer quickly before Florence said something rash. It was evident she was in a bad mood and perhaps unwilling to go through with getting her timetable. Judging by experience, Florence's expression said 'One more thing and I'm going home.'

"Okay, well, welcome to Domino High School," The receptionist said in what might have been a welcoming voice if she hadn't had to say that so many times a week. "Hope you have a great day, here are your timetables. If you need anything, just come here and they'll be someone to help you."

The receptionist reached beneath the desk and produced a pair of timetables which she handed to April.

April nudged her glowering sister, jolting her out of her reverie and handing her sister her timetable. "Right. Thanks. I'm sure we'll be fine." Florence finally said before marching towards the door. April grabbed her sister's arm, spinning her around comically before sweat-dropping at the ferocious expression on her sibling's face.

"Actually, there is one other thing." The secretary looked up from her papers and barely concealed a smile as April dragged her reluctant, older sister back to the desk. "Where are we heading?"

"Up the first set of stairs, turn right, and it's right next to the door with the sign '1-A', follow along and you'll find your homeroom." She replied briskly then watched as the older sister swept out the room, the younger one briefly thanking her before following her sibling.

"Florence-" April began, but was interrupted by her sister as she examined her new timetable.

"After homeroom we have...maths...great." Florence rolled her eyes in dread. Sure, she always achieved above average grades, but it didn't stop her from hating maths.

" -Florence," April began again. "I'm in a different homeroom class."

Silence. A few seconds of shocked silence, an almost visible tension in the air as the girls looked at one another uncomprehendingly.

"Oh...right. What's your homeroom then?" Florence asked, sounding indifferent, but April knew better, she was just wearing a mask so her younger sister wouldn't feel affected.

"Room 2-B. We're only one door apart so we should be fine. I'll come over to your classroom for lunch...I mean, if you want me to that is."

Florence looked puzzled for a moment. "Wait, can't we just meet in the cafeteria for lunch?" She asked, a frown creasing her forehead as she brushed a stray strand of blond hair from her eyes.

"No, we have different eating times look, I only get five minutes with you then your classes start." April waved her timetable past her sister's eyes, fast enough for Florence to see the time differences. "And you don't really move from one room to another; teachers usually come to the classroom instead of the students switching classes." She added glumly, carefully tucking her timetable back in her pocket. In all honestly, she just wanted to tear it up. They weren't supposed to be separated. This wasn't meant to happen.

Florence looked admiringly at her younger sister. Every time they moved to a new place or school, April always did the honors of looking it up to make it a bit easier to survive the first few days.

"Research again?"

April nodded, confirming Florence's suspicions. "Yep, what else could you expect?" She smiled and the older sister grimaced in return. "We'd better get going to class. See you later, okay?"

"Okay," Florence sighed reluctantly. "See you then and… take care." She momentarily laid a hand on her younger sister's shoulder, feeling protective of the shy girl.

"You too." April quickly hugged her sister then opened the door to her homeroom, sending a last lingering glance at her grave sibling before the door slammed shut behind her.

Room A-12:

Florence stepped into the room and immediately she sensed people staring at her. Again. Why can't they just stop that?! Honestly, have they nothing better to do? She thought madly as she made her way to the front of the room. Too bad that the door was at the back. She felt the eyes of everyone in the room fixed on her back and too-short skirt as she strode to the front desk.

The teacher sat casually at her desk, riffling through some papers. One of the students called out 'new girl' but stopped talking by the time Florence had swept around to see who it was.

Hearing the call, the teacher slowly rose to her feet and moved to greet the English girl, fixing a welcoming smile on her face. A collection of whispers spread like flying autumn leaves through the classroom but were cut short as the teacher cleared her throat. Immediately the students turned to look at her, a few continued to gaze unashamedly at the new student.

Well. She thought. As if they haven't got something to stare at! A fair point considering the circumstances. The majority of the kids seated in the class, lounging back on their chairs, had bizarre hairstyles, one in particular caught Florence's eye: a large spiky rainbow attached to the head of a shrimp of a boy.

Standing next to Florence, the teacher cleared her throat once more to reestablish her authority. "Class," She began, her voice clear and sharp. "We have a new student joining us. Please behave and be nice to our new student - Miss Florence Driver." She smiled at the unsmiling Florence. "Dear, why don't you come up here and tell the class a little about yourself?"

Resisting the temptation to tell the teacher exactly where she could stuff her suggestion, Florence fixed a fierce glare which obviously said 'I take nonsense from no one' and brushed the hair from her face, flicking the blond strands over her shoulder before beginning.

"My name is Florence Driver. I just moved here with my family from the United Kingdom. I like to duel, I'm fluent in several languages and that's it." Seriously, what sort of dumb idea is it to make a student stand up in front of the class and embarrass themselves? Florence thought, involuntarily diverting her eyes from the teacher's silly expression only to meet the eyes of a tall brunet who watched her from the back of the classroom. His eyes were cold, blue and impenetrable, his expression was stern and calculating as he disinterestedly listened to the girl's introduction before his cerulean eyes flicked back to the laptop in front of him on the desk.

For a moment, Florence wondered why, out of all the seats in class, the one next to the admittedly, rather dashing, brunet was vacant, as if for some inexplicable reason no one wanted to sit there.

Looks like that's about to change. Florence thought sardonically as she predicted the teacher's next action.

As if on cue, the teacher stepped forwards. "Well, why don't you take a seat by Mr Kaiba?" The brunet twitched involuntarily. Apparently, although he appeared absorbed in his computer, he was still listening to the conversation. "Mr Kaiba, stand up so Florence knows who you are and where to sit." The teacher ordered in a condescending tone.

Kaiba glared up at the teacher with an icy expression that evidently said. There's no way. The teacher quavered for a moment under the teen's withering expression, then turned back to her desk as his cold gaze briefly passed over Florence before returning to his laptop's monitor and his fingers resumed their tapping.

Left alone in the middle of the room, Florence reluctantly made her way to the boy's desk, aware of his disgust of having her sit next to him. Ignoring his rude behaviour Florence realized, cringing, that she was going to have to bear this arrogant teen for the majority of her classes.

Boldly pulling out the seat next to the antisocial teen, Florence sat down then drew her chair in, ignoring the brunet's disapproving glare as she let out a small 'hello' to the short, tri-coloured hair boy who was staring wide-eyed at her. The blonde resisted the temptation to laugh as he jumped before reciprocating with a cute smile and lifting a finger to his lips as the teacher began to speak once more. As he lifted his hand, Florence's eyes were caught by a large, triangular pendant which hung heavily around the boy's neck. It looked ridiculously large in comparison to his size and a large golden eye adorned the front of the strange pyramid. It was somehow familiar… but why…?

"Now that's taken care of…" The teacher's voice broke through her thoughts and Florence turned away, directing her attention to the front of the class as the teacher gave a long lecture about a variety of mathematical theorems and problems. Most of which Florence already knew. Rolling her eyes in boredom, Florence failed to notice the occasional, inquiring glances she received from the arrogant brunet who anyone could mistake for being heavily absorbed in his work.

Why does she seem so familiar? Kaiba thought to himself as his fingers continued to fly steadily over the keys. When she came in the room...it felt like I'd met her before... He shook his head. But that's impossible…

Please review and tell us what you think. Another reconstructed chapter!

~ DragonGirl.