Ch. 3: Nanika Atarashii ... Something New

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did, Kioku would replace Tea and the series would get more Ancient Egyptian destiny, and not all that friendship jazz. For those of you who liked that stuff, it was okay the first... once. After about the twelfth time, I started burning Tea dolls in a compost heap. Okay, not really, but you get the idea of how annoyed I was.

A/N: Sennen Items are the Millennium Items. Have you any idea how much easier 'Sennen' is to type than 'Millennium'?

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The boy's eyes widened in surprise, but, Kioku noted, not with fear as others' had before him.

"What are you doing in here?" He demanded of her. "How did you get in? What's going on, spirit?"

The spirit of Yugi's Puzzle tried to slide around Kioku, but she blocked his way.

"I am sorry, little Yugi," she said. "I did not mean to startle you. I did not mean to enter your mind at all."

Yugi's brow crinkled. "Then why did you?"

Kioku studied him for a moment, apparently lost in thought, then answered slowly, "I'm... not sure. I was actually aiming for your friend Joey— he could use all the help one could give him— but some strong energy pulled him into your mind instead." She turned slightly to scrutinize the spirit behind her. "A strong sense of need."

The spirit didn't bat an eye.

Turning back to Yugi, she said, "I am again sorry, little master."

Little master? Yugi wondered, but voiced a different query. "What did you mean by, you were aiming for Joey?"

Kioku smiled slightly. "That is my life, Yugi. I am a torapu yosei, a card sprite."

This explanation only further confused the boy, but Yugi didn't miss the slight widening of recognition in the Puzzle's spirit's eyes. Yugi decided to ask him later.

"I will leave you now," Kioku said, and sailed out of his mind before either could protest. She landed roughly, in her human form, on the pavement a block away. She landed right at someone's feet, and he tripped over her before she could roll away.

The contact made them both gasp, for both felt the close proximity of the other's Sennen (Millennium) Items. Kioku's was honorary, merely aiding her in solidifying her energies into a human form, but the Pharaoh who created the seven Sennen Items had created it as well.

The young man, as he gazed at her, seemed to narrow his eyes, but as they both stood Kioku realized that he'd undergone a Sennen transformation and that she was facing a different person altogether.

"For once," he growled happily, "I can bless my vessel's clumsiness instead of curse it."

"Not that a tomb robber would care one way or another," Kioku remarked, throwing into the conversation the first piece of information she could snatch from his surprisingly dark mind. I was one once, you know, she silently added. They really don't care about much but their gold. The white-haired young man laughed, a rasping sound devoid of humor.

"So you know me, do you?" He said in reply. Kioku nodded stiffly. Lies were a waste of time, but in some cases necessary. She'd lie circles around this fool if she had to, in order to remain pleasantly anonymous in his mind.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and cocked his white-maned head to the side. "Well it's funny, because I don't know you, and I never forget a pretty face."

Kioku snarled at his tone and muttered her spirit incantation. The man turned away from her fading form, chuckling darkly, but not before she caught a glimpse of the Millenium Ring hanging against his chest.

So that's where it got to, Kioku thought, amused. Shadi would be most intrigued as to how a tomb robber became a Sennen power.

"Grandpa?" Yugi called from the stairs. His grandfather's voice sounded faintly from the game shop, and so Yugi padded down the stairs and into the shop.

His sock-clad feet swished against the carpeted floor. Mr. Moto turned at the sound of light footfalls and grinned at his grandson. "What do you think?" He asked Yugi proudly, indicating the poster he'd just finished hanging.

"Oh!" Yugi exclaimed happily. It was a 16 by 24 wall hanging of the Dark Magician, battling a fearsome Blue Eyes White Dragon with his dark magic attack.

He turned back to where his Grandpa was wiping down the counter. Yugi's eyes shone. "It's wonderful!" He cried.

Mr. Moto smiled. "So, you rascal, was there something you needed?"

"Oh... that. Yes," Yugi replied, his angelic features becoming solemn.

"Grandpa— what is a card sprite?"

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