Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its components. I do own the Morgans and their staff, and all other original content.

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The Gold Serpent, Chapter 04: A Kiss

"So where did you get your gold serpent from, Isis?" Yugi asked one weekend as they were heading back to the game shop to meet the rest of the gang after a long day of doing nothing in particular. The sun was beginning to set, casting an orange glow on their surroundings.

"My mother gave it to me," the pretty young girl replied, glancing down at it affectionately. Her dress was the same shade of emerald green as its eyes.

"Your..." Yugi started to ask rather hesitantly, uncertain as to just how to put it.

"My real mother," Isis answered for him. "I'd only just turned four when she died, so I don't remember very much... but I do remember that."

"I'm sorry," the young king of card games told her honestly, but Isis shook her head.

"Don't be, it's in the past now," she told him.

"So did your mother say anything when she gave it to you?" Yugi asked after a brief moment of silence.

Isis smiled. "She told me to always wear it, because it would protect me and keep me safe," she admitted. And perhaps it was a bit silly, but she had always done just that.

Yugi nodded, smiling. "Any new developments in that dream you kept having?"

"Oooooh, yes!" Isis exclaimed with excitement – she'd forgotten to tell him before. "We finally got off the boat at this big, busy city near the pharaoh's palace! I think I was travelling with my father or something, and this girl with the same name as me was there to greet us – I think we were old friends; I was really excited to see her. Then she escorted us through the city on these fancy gold litters, and I remember looking around at everything as we passed by. The city had grown a lot since I'd last seen it, but I could still recognize parts of it, and I was so happy to be there."

"Do you have any idea where you were going?" Yugi asked.

"I think we must have been going to the palace," the young girl admitted.

Yugi suddenly stopped in his tracks as an image popped into his – or the pharaoh's – mind.

"Yugi?" Isis asked in concern.

He could see a young girl who looked just like Isis, moving to kneel before him; she looked so nervous, so worried... But then she stopped suddenly – perhaps he had made some sort of movement, as if to stop her? – and the next thing he knew she had thrown herself into his arms as she fought back tears of relief. He could suddenly remember glaring at some of his officials as they moved to object to her conduct, silencing them instantly, as he held her in his arms. He had missed her so much...

"Yugi?" Isis repeated, now standing directly in front of him and watching him with concern in her sea green eyes.

Unbidden, another image came to mind now, of those same eyes – eyes the colour of the very river that had brought her back to him – looking up at him with absolute trust, as he gently cradled her face in his hands...

"Yugi!" Isis exclaimed, giving his shoulder a good poke.

But as the young boy gave his head a shake as if to clear it, he wasn't Yugi anymore.

"You okay?" Isis asked in concern.

The pharaoh nodded, unable to take his eyes off her face. Isis could feel her cheeks beginning to warm, though she wasn't entirely sure why – perhaps it was the way he was looking at her? – and she was just about to ask him if he was sure he was really okay when... he kissed her.

At first the young girl simply froze in surprise, but after a moment she surprised herself even more by kissing him back. It just felt so... right... and as she wrapped her arms around him, she was overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity, of belonging... of home.

"You're not Yugi," Isis found herself saying softly as their lips parted; she felt as though she knew him.

The pharaoh shook his head, and seemed to be about to say something, when he finally seemed to realize exactly what he'd just done. How could he have just done that? He had no right to just...

"I am so, so sorry," he quickly apologized, his distress clearly visible. Yugi wasn't too happy with him, either.

Isis, much to even her own surprise, suddenly looked hurt. "Well, of course you are!" the young girl exclaimed with a rare display of sarcasm. "Why ever would you have wanted to do that?"

"No, I didn't mean-" the pharaoh tried to explain, but she had already taken off running.

What is wrong with you? Isis found herself asking herself as she ran, trying to put as much distance between herself and the guy that wasn't Yugi as possible. If you were going to get mad at him for anything, it should have been for randomly kissing you like that, not apologizing for it!

Why had the apology hurt so much, anyway? And why had that kiss felt so... right? As if they had done so a thousand times before? Especially considering that had just been her first kiss...

You should stop running, the young girl told herself as she turned down yet another alleyway. It isn't helping anything, and you're just going to get yourself lost. A moment later, she took her own advice and began to slow down.

Unfortunately, getting lost was the least of her worries at that particular moment.

"I should go back..." she admitted aloud, once she'd had a chance to catch her breath. Running away wasn't going to solve anything.

"Oh, I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere," an unfamiliar – and extremely creepy – voice suddenly interjected, "except with us."

Whirling around in surprise, Isis found the entrance to the alleyway blocked by three creepy-looking guys in cloaks.

"Wh- Who are you?" the young girl asked, taking a step back - and away from them. "What do you want?"

"You."

Isis' scream tore through the darkening evening.

No more than a block or so away, Joey and Tristan halted in their tracks.

"Was that...?" Tristan started to ask, looking over to Joey with concern in his eyes.

"Isis!" Joey exclaimed, not even giving him time to finish the question, and immediately rushing off in the direction the scream had come from. Tristan wasn't far behind him.

Upon reaching the alleyway, the two boys found a very unexpected scene indeed. Isis appeared to be unconscious (hopefully she'd only fainted), and was being held by a tall, creepy-looking guy in a cloak, who also had two buddies with him. They instantly reminded them of Marik's rare hunters, though the cloaks weren't the same.

"Let her go!" Tristan demanded, as he and Joey approached them.

"I'm afraid that's quite out of the question," the guy holding her informed them.

"Then I guess we'll just have to make you," Joey replied, throwing the first punch. Tristan jumped into the fray right after him.