YSF: ok, since Hidden Secrets is giving me trouble, I decided to make an offshoot story. It focuses on my OC, Rei, and tells about her beginnings, how she met Bakura, and the events that led to her ending up in the present.

Rei: Joy

YSF: Hush. It's for those who wonder where the heck I make some things up.

Note: it's not canon, but merely my interpretation of events.

Disclaimer…goes here since I forgot to put it last chapter! I don't own yugioh, I'll get back to you if that ever changes

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Bakura silently opened the door to Rei's room the next morning, poking his head in curiously. Normally Rei would already be up and about, shadowing Ryou, his hikari teaching her some more things about this modern time. However, when Bakura had emerged from his room, Ryou had told him that Rei wasn't up yet.

Curiosity piqued, Bakura had gone up to check on her, slightly concerned since any change in Rei's behavior usually meant something was wrong. Seeing Rei still peacefully asleep made Bakura smile softly. Going over to the bed, he tucked the blankets more securely around her and spotted the notebook near the pillow. Even though he knew he shouldn't, Bakura couldn't resist and picked up the notebook.

As he was about to open it, he yelped suddenly and dropped it as Rei's hand darted out and slapped his. "Ow, damn it, what the hell was that for?" he groused, rubbing his hand sullenly. Rei gave him a disapproving look and sat up, picking up the notebook and setting it on her bedside table.

"You're a nosy little bastard, you realize this, correct?" Rei stated, looking at him.

"Got it in one, sis. So, how come you were still asleep? It's not like you to sleep in."

Rei merely shrugged. "I was up late last night writing and decided to sleep in to make up for it."

Bakura smiled, leaning against the wall. "So, you are indeed going to put your memories down. You like the notebook?"

"It's beautiful," Rei replied, glancing over at it, "did you pick it out? I know Yami left a note saying he got it for me, but I can imagine you'd have gotten some input."

That earned a snort. "I swear the pharaoh is like a little kid at times. As soon as I told him you were considering writing out your memories, he literally got bouncy and insisted on getting you the notebook that same day. I had absolutely no say in anything except helping decide which color to get you. I figured black was preferred over red and blue."

Rei nodded. "I like it a lot. I'll have to thank Yami when I next see him."

Bakura's smile grew at that. "I told you he wasn't so bad. I'm going to spend time with him again today, but I won't tell him what you think about the notebook like he asked me to. I'll let you surprise him instead," he stated, pushing off the wall and turning to leave.

Rei nodded and biting her lip in thought, thought about what she had written last night. "Hey Kura, about the notebook…if you want, you can read it once I finish," she stated.

Bakura turned to look at Rei in mild surprise. He had only originally wanted to snoop just to see what she thought of him when they first met, he certainly hadn't expected her to offer it all up to him. "I admit that I'm curious. If that's what you wish then I'll read it once you're finished and in return, you may read my notebooks," he replied before leaving the room.

Rei relaxed a little longer before getting up and wandering downstairs for a late breakfast, early lunch. Once her meager meal was finished, with scolding from Ryou to start eating more, Rei returned to her room and stretched out, reaching for her notebook and opening it to where she left off, started writing again.

Flashback

After a few weeks, you think Bakura would be used to having a tag along following where he went. Unfortunately Bakura's patience tended to wear thin and he'd snap at Rei if she accidentally got in his way. He quickly learned that although she was young and small for her age, she had a sharp tongue on her. Sure she was three, but she was three with an attitude, and that attitude could put Bakura in his place if Rei tried hard enough. He didn't care so much about the unique insults Rei's three year old brain could throw at him, it was the fact that Rei would most likely eventually snap at master that had Bakura fearful.

Of course when you don't want something to happen, it usually will happen just to spite you. One night, master told Rei to do something, and Rei, being slightly crabby since she was tired and would now have to wait longer to go to sleep, blatantly refused…right to master's face. Bakura's stomach dropped in dread and he looked up from where he had been mending something just in time to see Master's face turn an interesting color and him backhand Rei harshly to the floor before rising and kicking her in the side. Dropping his mending when Master started shouting and cursing Rei, who was curled into a ball to protect herself from any further blows, Bakura got up and stepped between them.

The suddenness of Bakura's action was enough for Master to stop shouting and stare at Bakura with narrowed eyes. "Move, boy," Master spat.

Bakura took a deep breath and then looked up at Master with a steel resolve. "She's three years old, she still needs rest. You're trying to make her stray from her sleeping pattern that she's used to just so one more thing can get done? I don't think so. And if you need to dish out punishment, hit me all you want, but don't you dare harm Rei.

"So be it," was the reply Bakura got before master descended on him, beating him for both his and Rei's defiance. Once he was satisfied that Bakura was punished enough, master vanished into his room for the night.

"Kura?" Rei whimpered quietly, scooting to the older boy and touching his shoulder gently.

Bakura groaned and picked himself up, raising to his hands and knees. "You ok Rei? he asked, wheezing for breath.

"Side hurts," came the response as Rei rubbed her side lightly, wincing.

Bakura rose up further and reaching out, carefully felt Rei's side, hoping that their master didn't break her ribs with that kick. Ignoring the pained whimpers, Bakura felt the small ribs, sighing when all of them felt fine. "Come on brat, time for bed," Bakura said standing and after a moment's thought, picking up Rei.

Rei wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders. "Kay Kura," she yawned, resting her head on his shoulder. Bakura carried her into their small room and laid her down on her own pallet bed, tucking her blanket around her before laying on his own bed, taking inventory of his new wounds. None were serious, thankfully. Once that was taken care of, Bakura laid down on his bed and prepared to go to sleep.

"Kura?"

"Go to sleep, Rei."

"But Kura, I have a question."

Bakura growled softly. "What?"

Rei was silent for a second, thinking of how to pose the question. "Will…we be like this forever?"

Bakura thought about that and finally came to the conclusion that she was asking about their slave status. "It does seem like forever, but no. This is not how we will live out our lives. I am promised that I will be freed once I am eighteen, and once I can make some money and find a home, I will come for you and give you the life you deserve.

It was quiet for a minute, and Bakura suspected that Rei had fallen asleep, when she spoke again. "You…you mean that?"

"Yeah…..yeah I do…hey!" Bakura was cut off when he found his arms full of Rei, the little girl happily hugging him. With a small smile, Bakura returned the hug. All right, he admitted it, he cared for the girl and strived to see her happy. "All right brat, go back to bed."

Rei blinked then yawned cutely and snuggled to him, her thumb ending up in her mouth. Bakura tried to dislodge her but had no luck. "Rei, back to bed."

"I am in bed. You never said which bed, so I'm gonna sleep with you tonight."

"…Cheeky little brat."

"Wuv you too Kura."

As the year progressed, Master seemed to get more irritable and would find every little excuse to beat Rei and Bakura. True to his word, Bakura always shielded Rei from Master, enabling Rei to escape the beatings with one or two scrapes and bruises. One thing Bakura couldn't prevent though, was that Rei grew to fear yelling and would curl herself up protectively if master shouted.

One night, about the time Rei had been there for about a half of a year, Bakura made a stupid mistake and master descended on him with a whip. Rei rushed forward and placed herself in front of Bakura.

"Rei, get out of the way," Bakura murmured, surprised at Rei's boldness.

Rei looked over her shoulder at him and smiled softly before the now four year old turned back to face Master. "I should protect my brother as he does for me," she answered, not budging.

Master was taken aback by Rei's statement. So it seemed his slaves were growing closer than he had suspected, and both were willing to sacrifice their own health and safety for the other's well-being. What a conundrum. "So be it," he decided, striking Rei and sent her to the floor, beating her mercilessly. When Bakura tried to get between them, Master merely kicked him away. All Bakura could do was watch as Master beat Rei till she was bloody, cringing when he spat on her as a finishing touch and disappeared into his room.

Bakura waited a minute and then slowly moved to Rei. "You ok Rei?" he asked softly, helping her roll onto her stomach since her back was torn from the whip. Rei whimpered and shook her head.

"It hurts," she whimpered, tears streaking down her face. Bakura shushed her gently and after a moment's hesitation, slid his arms under her and lifted her into a kneel before lifting her into his arms. Rei wrapped her arms around his neck and let out a soft cry as the movement stretched the muscles in her back, thus agitating the whip cuts.

Shushing her again, Bakura headed into their room and sat her on her bed. Gently peeling the back of her dress away, Bakura calmly offered Rei a small smile to calm her and retrieved a bowl of water and a clean cloth. He set to work cleaning the wounds, thinking about the beating.

"Rei," he started, "why did you call me your brother?"

"'cause that's what you are to me," she replied, grateful for the distraction from the burning sensation in her back.

"But…we aren't related…" he protested weakly.

"'Kura, we might not share blood but siblings look out for each other," she pointed out.

"I'm not good at this sort of thing," Bakura muttered, causing Rei to giggle softly.

"Well, we'll learn," she answered. Feeling Bakura finish, Rei turned and crawled behind him. Bakura was about to ask her what she was up to before he got cut off with a slight hiss, feeling the wet cloth get dabbed against his own whip wounds, cleaning the blood from his back.

"Sorry Kura…" Rei shifted her hold on the cloth and dabbed in a gentler fashion. Bakura relaxed and let Rei tend to him. The little girl made sure every cut was taken care of before she crawled around Bakura and into his lap. Bakura wrapped his arms around her loosely and sighed. "We make quite a pair," he said softly, starting to rock Rei to lull her to sleep, "One day, I'll be famous enough to cause people to tremble at my name."

"Mine too," Rei mumbled, cuddling closer to Bakura. Bakura laughed softly and pet her hair.

"Yes, your name too. Sleep well little sister, I shall see you in the morning." Once Rei fell asleep, Bakura looked out the window from where he was laying and looked towards the sky. With a silent vow, he promised himself to make himself and Rei into the best thieves that he possibly could.

End Flashback

It wasn't too long after that beating that Bakura started to teach me what he knew as a thief. I took to the lessons quickly and we started honing our skills by stealing some of the food that we were sent to get when we went to the market. It was never the same items twice or even three times in a row that we stole, just so suspicion wouldn't be raised. When we were done shopping, Bakura would pocket the extra money that would be left over that would have gone towards our stolen goods and would later slip off to our room and add it to our growing collection. Bakura was going to use our nest egg to secure a home for us when we were finally free. The plan was to pocket a little each week, however…we didn't realize that we were bound to get caught…