3 From The Beginning
Disclaimer (forgot to add this before): Yu-Gi-Oh!, the songs, and anything else I use in this fic are NOT mine! Except for Nemuriko Midian and Campbell, that is. Yu-Gi-Oh! belongs to Kazuki Takahashi and the songs belong to their artists. GOT IT?!?!?? Good! Just in case you were thinking of suing me...
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//As we go on//
//We remember//
//All the times we//
//Had together//
Vitamin C—"Graduation (Friends Forever)"
"Class, I'd like you to meet your new students," Mr. Maki announced the next day during homeroom. "Nemuriko Midian and his sister Campbell."
"Whoa..." Honda whispered to Jounouchi. "Twins!"
Jounouchi nodded in acknowledgement. "And check out the girl. Bishoujo..."
"There are a couple of empty seats in the back next to Jounouchi Katsuya..." Mr. Maki paused as Jou let out a yelp. "...so you can sit there."
With a nod, the twins took the chairs. Mr. Maki started receiving homework and a few other things, but Jounouchi wasn't listening. His eyes were glued on Campbell.
"Jounouchi!! Jounouchi Katsuya!!!"
"Huh...? Wha..."
Mr. Maki scowled fiercely. "Your homework, Jounouchi!"
"My homework, Maki-san...? Ah..."
"This is the third time you've neglected to turn in your homework!" Mr. Maki said angrily. "See me during lunch, and I will see that you have...yet another detention."
"Hai, Maki-san." Jounouchi lowered his head to the desk with a groan. *There goes my chance of hooking up with Campbell...*
****
"Good to see you again, Seto-kun," Midian said with a faint grin.
Seto glanced up from his small table in the cafeteria. "Same to you, Midian."
"Campbell told me that you own KC now." Midian glanced at the empty chair across from Seto. "Mind if I sit here?"
"Go ahead." Seto was silent for a moment. "What made you move back?"
"To Japan? Well, Father's not getting any younger, you know, and Kaiba Corp is known all over the world. There seemed to be no reason for us to stay." Midian smirked. "Besides, Campbell hated it there."
"Why?"
"Because of her name." Midian ran a hand through his black hair. "You know, 'Campbell', like the 'Campbell Soup Company'? She got teased at least once a day for it.
Seto scoffed and rose from his seat. "Where's Campbell?"
"In the com room." Midian motioned towards the door.
"Lunch won't be over for a while," Seto said. "I'm going down there for a while."
The black-haired teenager turned back to his food. "Watch it, Seto-kun. She is my sister..."
Ignoring the other's teasing, Seto left the cafeteria and walked down the hall and the stairs. In the basement lay the large computer room.
Campbell was on the computer farthest from the steps. Seto found her listening to music.
"Campbell."
"Huh? Oh, hey, Seto." The dark blond teenager pulled off her headphones. "What are you doing down here?"
"Looking for you." Seto took the seat beside Campbell.
The girl shut down the music website she had been visiting. "Gosh, Seto," she whispered. "I...didn't realize how much I missed you...until yesterday, when I saw you again."
Seto grinned faintly. "I know," he said quietly.
Before anyone could say anything more, the bell rang. Campbell sighed.
"Gotta go. I have Kai-san for history, and some of the other kids told me that he's really strict. I don't wanna be late."
****
Between the algebra and science of the next day's classes, Jounouchi managed to stop Campbell before she left her locker.
"How come Kaiba doesn't ignore you like he ignores the rest of us?" the blond-haired boy demanded. "What, you're in love or something?"
Campbell scowled. "Never!"
"Then...how do you know each other?"
The girl sighed. "It's a long story..."
****
"Campbell, guess who I ran into at school today?" Midian sidled up to his twin sister.
The nine-year-old girl sighed in disgust. "Noah?"
"Hai-ya. He was asking for you." Midian let out a laugh. "I think he likes you, Campbell!"
"Shut up!" Campbell muttered. "And get outta my room! I got extra homework."
"Too bad you got Mr. Akine for social studies," the boy taunted as he left the girl's room.
Campbell tried to return to her work, but hearing about Noah had disturbed her. Even if he was the rich son of Kaiba Corporation's owner, she still hated him. Noah was too...well, weird! He rarely spoke a word to her, and when he did, it was either a greeting or an insult.
Midian hadn't been any help, either. Jealous because of Campbell's high IQ, he teased her every chance he got!
*When we get older, if Noah ever gets up the nerve to ask me out, I just might get up the nerve to kill him!!!*
****
Several days later, word came to the Nemuriko family that Noah had been killed in a car accident.
Campbell was rather relieved when she heard the news. Now Noah wouldn't be around to bother her any longer. But still...
A couple of months after the funeral, Campbell and her brother were early to Domino Elementary. The girl noticed another kid about her age entering the school.
Inside, she froze in shock. *No way! He looks exactly like Noah!*
Midian smirked. "Imouto-chan, looks like your worst nightmare is back!" With a devilish laugh, the boy moved off to sit at his desk.
Campbell watched the boy for the longest time. He had brown hair and blue eyes like hers...no, he couldn't be anything remotely connected to Kaiba Noah. After all, Campbell thought he was kind of cute.
After school, several of the boys (Campbell was too much of a tomboy to get along with girls) met with the girl to trade Duel Monster cards.
Titus, who was a year younger than the others, looked up at Campbell. "You got the rarest cards, Campbell!" he declared admiringly.
"Aw, cool!" Shinya exclaimed. "You got another Raigeki? Gosh, I'll trade you my Cyber Jar for that!"
"No, take Maha Vailo!" Terran cut in. "I need it more than Shinya!" A fight started.
A new voice interrupted the boys' arguing. "Having rare cards is insignificant if their owner can't duel."
Campbell glanced up. Her blue eyes widened. It was the kid whom she had seen earlier.
The other boys snickered. "Like you could duel, Seto," Terran taunted. Seto fell silent.
"No, wait." The girl held up her cards. "Are you saying that you wanna duel me?"
The brown-haired boy nodded. "Hai."
"So be it."
****
The next day, half of Domino Elementary came to school early...to see the duel between Campbell and the new kid.
"Let's duel!"
Seto was a good duelist; Campbell had to admit that. But before the duel had progressed very far, she realized that his deck was full of monsters since he played few magic cards. Campbell, on the other hand, had several trap and many magic cards.
The duelists were tied at 250 life points. Campbell drew a card. She smirked. *Just Desserts. Hmmm...Seto has three monsters on the field...*
"This duel's over, Seto-san," she declared.
Seto's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
Campbell played the card. "Just Desserts," she said simply. The crowd of kids was silent for a moment. Terran had to speak up...
"Toldja you couldn't duel, Seto!" he called mockingly. The other kids snickered.
Without a word, Seto gathered up his cards and left the group. Campbell suddenly felt sorry for him, since he was always being teased and bullied. As if he read her mind, Terran opened his big mouth.
"Don't go feeling sorry for Seto," he warned. "If you do, well, I guess none of us will trade with you!"
Campbell got up and faced the boy. "Fine! Ignore me for all I care! I want to be smart, and I shouldn't be friends with people who aren't! Bullying another kid just because he's different just isn't right!" With that, she was gone.
****
The girl found Seto outside sitting on a bench at the playground.
"Why are you here?" the boy demanded. "Why do you insist on rubbing salt into the wound?!"
"I didn't mean to hurt you," Campbell said quietly. "I just came to say I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to embarrass you in front of the whole school."
Seto couldn't speak. No one had ever apologized to him for anything before. *This girl's really different...*
Campbell took his silence for unforgiveness.
The bell rang.
"See you later, Seto-san." Without another word, Campbell turned and disappeared inside the school.
****
Campbell sat alone during lunch. She kept her eyes on her food, not wanting to meet the mocking glances of the other kids.
"Campbell..." The girl looked up.
"Seto? Why are you here?" Seto slowly took the seat across from her and sighed.
"Thanks for...what you did today," he said reluctantly.
The nine-year-old smiled faintly. "What are friends for?"
"Friends?" Seto stared hard at the girl. "Do you...do you really mean that?"
Campbell nodded. "Of course. I never liked Terran and the others, anyway." Seto was silent. "What's wrong?"
Before he knew it, Seto was telling Campbell how he came to Domino City in the first place. He stared unseeingly at the other kids in the lunchroom.
"Why can't I just be a normal kid?" the boy asked aloud. "I'm sick of being ridiculed and ignored. I wish people would...well, respect me!" A scowl darkened his face. "Someday they will..."
"I know what you mean." Campbell nodded. "Everyone calls me a 'DJ child prodigy', and knowing so much...too much...about music kills me sometimes."
"You have the 'accelerated mind'?"
A small smile appeared on the girl's face. "I guess you could call it that..."
****
"...so that's how it happened," Campbell finished.
"Ohhh..." Jounouchi nodded.
Just then, Yugi ran up to them.
"Jounouchi!" he panted. "Campbell! You two are gonna be late for science! C'mon! The bell's about to ring! You don't want to get detention, do you?"
With a yelp, Jounouchi tore down the hall, the other two at his heels.