Chapter Two

Warming Up

Joey stared at the card in his hands, trying to come up with a new strategy. So far, Kayla was winning against him in their "non-hologram, just for fun, game"

"New to duel monsters my foot." Joey thought. "She plays like a pro."

"Come on Joey, you're boring the poor girl to death. Make a move already." Mai said, trying to edge the duel on. Joey glared at her. "I'm workin on it! Don't rush me."

Kayla smiled, and stifled a giggle. "Take all the time you want Joey." "You'll regret saying that." Tea mumbled, earning another laugh from Kayla and Mai.

Joey's sister Serenity watched patiently, taking in all of the rules and strategies of Duel Monsters. She hoped to someday play like her brother.

On the table right now, Kayla had two monsters, Mystical Elf in defense mode, and Mermaid Knight in attack, including a face down card. Joey had his Baby Dragon out in attack mode, and that was it. Kayla had defeated his other monsters, bringing his life points down to five hundred.

After a few more moments, Joey made his decision. "Alright Kayla, prepare to lose. This strategy is a keeper here. I play Time Wizard in attack mode." He slapped the card onto the table.

Kayla smirked. "I activate, Spell Binding circle." She gracefully flipped over her face down card. "And I choose to use it on your Baby Dragon. It's now stuck there until it's destroyed, or the game is over."

Joey's eye widened, as did Kayla's smirk. "And now, I attack your Time Wizard with my Mermaid Knight. Bringing your life points straight down to zero. I win." She crossed her arms over her chest, and crossed her legs, giving a triumphant smile.

"Great job, Kayla." Tea said. "You play as if you've been playing your whole life."

"I let her win." Joey said. "You know, just to give the newbie a bit of confidence."

"Oh really." Mai questioned. "Is that how it was? Well if that's true then why don't you go again, and give her a real challenge."

Joey swallowed hard. "On second thought, I think I'll pass. But hey, maybe someone else would like to give it a try."

The girls laughed, up until Bakura approached Kayla. "I'll give it a shot."She looked up at him, his brown eyes piercing into hers. "Um… It's Bakura right?"

He nodded, and smiled. "And you're Kayla, if I'm not mistaken, and you're playing just for fun."

Kayla nodded. "Yeah. That's right. Just warming up for the real event."

Bakura took Joey's spot and laid his deck on the table. "Then allow me to help you, if you don't mind."

She smiled. "Bring it on." She shuffled her deck, and Bakura did the same. They then placed their decks on the table. "Alright." She said. "Let's duel."

They both drew their hands, and the duel began.

Ten minutes. That was all it took.

In Ten minutes, Bakura had gotten Kayla's life points down to six hundred, with Bakura's remaining at two thousand.

Kayla tried to think of a different strategy, but her hand wasn't doing her much justice. She slipped off her jacket, trying to think.

It was then that Bakura got his first good look at her bracelet.

It was a golden cuff bracelet, with three large turquoise stones. There was a small golden eye symbol embedded into the center stone. His Millennium Ring started pointing at the bracelet. He quickly put his hand over it to stop it.

"How is this possible?" He wondered. "All these years, I've never once heard of a Millennium Bracelet. Or anything else along those lines. I must investigate this. I must know if this girl truly does possess a Millennium Item. She could become very useful."

"That's a very… Interesting bracelet you have Kayla." Bakura pointed out.

"Huh?" Kayla looked down at her wrist. She was so absorbed in the game that she forgot about her surroundings. "Oh. That. Thanks."

Something changed in her then. The very mention of the bracelet seemed to bring sorrow to her eyes. Bakura ignored it. "Do you mind me asking where you got it?"

"You've got a thing for jewelry now Bakura?" Joey asked, confused.

"No. It's just that I think I've seen it before, I just can't remember where."

Kayla shrugged. "Unless you've been to Egypt recently, you probably haven't."

"You went to Egypt?" Tea asked.

Kayla nodded. "When we moved, my dad took me and my brother on a few trips. We stopped by the Pyramids in Egypt since we were close by. He bought it for me while we were there. The lady that sold it to him said it had some special gift that came with it. Or something crazy like that."

"Just as I had suspected." Bakura thought to himself.

"That is pretty crazy." Tea said, agreeing with Kayla's previous statement. "Speaking of your brother how is Gavin?"

Kayla's hand froze just inches above her deck. Bakura seemed to be the only one who noticed. Kayla dropped her eyes, looking down at the table. "He's fine." She said quickly. "He's doing great."

Tea smiled, not noticing her friend's discomfort with the subject. "Did he ever get accepted into the tech school he wanted to go to?" Kayla nodded. "That's where he is right now actually." Bakura could sense the lies behind her words.

Kayla quickly stood up. "I forfeit. You win Bakura." She said, picking her jacket and her deck up. Her Duel Disk was lying on her bed in her room. She slipped her deck into her pocket and walked out of the room. "It was nice to meet you guys, and it was a pleasure to duel."

Tea looked at the others when she had left. "Did I say something wrong?"

"Maybe." Serenity said. "Did you see how she froze up? Maybe it has something to do with her brother."

"Whatever it is, it seemed to tick her off big time." Joey said.

Tea looked back at the door, deciding on whether to follow Kayla or not. "What happened to her in the past four years?"

Kayla walked down the hall to her bedroom in silence. When she was finally in her room, alone, she pulled her backpack from the closet. She began to unpack her things.

Underneath all of her clothes, she stopped at a frames photo of her and her brother in Egypt. Her father had taken the picture right in front of the pyramids.

In the picture Kayla and her identical older brother Gavin, were both wearing sunglasses. Kayla was wearing a black tank top and cut denim shorts. Gavin wore a white t shirt and tan cargo pants.

The pose the two made was the typical brother-sister pose. Kayla doing a peace sign, and her brother hugging her.

The memories brought tears to her eyes. "Don't worry Gavin." She whispered. "I'm going to win this. Just hold on a little longer." She held the picture to her chest, as if she was holding her brother. She then placed the picture on her nightstand and got ready to fall asleep.

Unknown to Kayla, she'd left her bedroom door open, and Bakura was standing outside, listening and watching the whole thing. He'd seen the picture, and the pain it brought to Kayla.

Bakura smirked to himself. "This gets even more interesting by the second. This girl will definitely become a part of my plans." With that thought in mind, Bakura walked down the hall to his own room. He couldn't wait to put his plan into action.

A/N: So, for those of you reading this, what do you think happened to Kayla's brother?

Next chapter will be up soon, so be on the look out for it.