Story - New and Weird.

Written by Rachel, a.k.a. VoiceOfReason

/\/\/\***/\/\/\ - Change of scene or time period.

"Person speaking"

'Person thinking'

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Rachel: Alright, before I lose my train of thought, I'll get to work on the second chapter! Uh... *Blinks, with a blank expression on her face*

Bakura: *Smacks his forehead* You're hopeless!

Rachel: It's not my fault I have a bad memory!

Bakura: With all the bashing to the head you give me, it ought to be me with the bad memory! .;

Rachel: *Laughs slightly* You know I love you! ^_^ *Huggles him*

Bakura: Meep! *Struggles to get away*

Rachel: *Lets go and pouts* ;-;

Yugi: Aww, look what you did! *Huggles Rachel*

Rachel: *Huggles back and sticks her tongue out at Bakura*

Bakura: *Makes vomiting noises and walks off*

Yugi: *Giggles* He's just jealous!

Rachel: Yup! Anyway, I think I've got this Disclaimer thing. I don't own Yu- Gi-Oh, or any of the characters in this fic. I can just make them do whatever I want! ^-^

Yugi: Yeah...that'll do... On with the ficcy!

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Chapter 2: Things aren't always as they appear.

Rachel smiled as she walked home, whistling quietly to herself. She had made her first new friend. By the looks of it, her first enemy, too. But she didn't care. It wasn't something she couldn't handle. She stopped when she reached a junction. She couldn't remember the way home. She mentally kicked herself.

"Argh! I'm so stupid!" She yelled aloud, unaware of a presence behind her. She whirled around as she heard a light cough.

"And why is that?" An amused voice asked. She looked at the person questioning her, her hazel eyes staring into cold blue ones.

"Uh..." She was lost for words; she didn't know someone had been behind her. How long had he been there? She blushed furiously, not about to tell a stranger, a very handsome stranger, that she had forgotten how to get home.

He chuckled slightly, watching the girl with an intense stare. His eyes wandered from hers, looking her over. She was a fair bit smaller than he, and she had long brown hair with red tips. Her tan complimenting the colour of her hair. Her warm, hazel eyes completed the ensemble. Right now her cheeks were a bright red colour, matching the tips of her hair. He had to admit, she looked odd. Cute, but odd. She was wearing the Domino High uniform. 'So she goes to my school,' he mused. 'She must be new; I've never seen her around. And I definitely would have.'

She took in the image before her. A tall boy with unruly brown hair and a light tan. He had cold blue eyes, she shivered, and she could tell just by looking in his eyes he wasn't a gentle and caring person. He had a lean, handsome face, his bangs partially covering his piercing blue eyes. He was wearing black leather pants and a tight black t-shirt, his muscles obvious to see. (A/N: Sorry, but I don't like the trench coat look or anything, so I'm giving him one of my own. ^^; And sorry if it's somewhat like the clothes Yami would wear) He had something around his neck. She had to squint to see what it was. It was some sort of collar. 'How weird,' she thought. 'No one back home would wear something like that. Unless they were trying to make some sort of statement...' He had a look of pure amusement on his face, and she took a small step backwards, realizing she'd been staring. He raised an eyebrow.

"Are you lost or something?" He laughed. She winced at the harshness of his voice. She glared at him, which quickly turned into a look of embarrassment.

"Well...Um..." she stammered, something about this guy made her feel uneasy. She had never found it so hard to talk to someone. She was both relieved and frightened when a familiar red car pulled to a stop near them. The tinted window was wound down to reveal an angry-looking man in his mid forties.

"Rachel! There you are! Where the hell have you been?!" He yelled, not bothering to hide the anger in his voice. Dread and fear filled Rachel. She hated it when her Father got angry. He could get quite...violent at times. And most of the time she was the one used to vent his anger.

"I was walking through school, and a small boy was being picked on and I-"

"I don't want to hear your excuses! Get in the car. NOW!"

"Yes Father..." Her voice was filled with fear, she gulped slightly. She looked at the boy for a brief moment. He no longer had a look of amusement on his face. His expression was unreadable. He mouthed the words; 'Will you be okay?' to her. This action startled her slightly. From their brief encounter, he seemed to be quite apathetic of the world around him. She smiled weakly and nodded. By the look on his face he wasn't convinced. To be honest she didn't really care. She just shrugged and ran to the car, getting in the front beside her 'Father'.

He wasn't really her Father of course. Both her parents had died when she was young. She had been an orphan for a few years before a couple adopted her. The man, Mr. Ryan Miller, was quiet and bitter; he held resentment towards the child. He made it so she knew that. The woman, Mrs. Sarah Miller, however, was extremely kind and treated Rachel as though she were her own daughter. Rachel's happiness had not lasted long, as due to very unfortunate circumstances, (A/N: I might go into details later.) Sarah passed away. Leaving Rachel in the care of Mr. Miller. He had loved his wife dearly and blamed Rachel for her death. Beating her and telling her she was worthless. Many nights Rachel cried herself to sleep, unable to defend herself against her extremely violent 'Father'.

She remained silent as they made their way home. She simply gazed out the window, marking the street names in her mind, making sure she wouldn't forget the way home the next day. If she lived that long...

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Seto Kaiba frowned as the red car pulled out and drove quickly away. He didn't like that man. Not that he liked the girl that much either. But there was something threatening in the way he spoke to his daughter. Rachel? Yes, that was her name. His tone was not one of a worried parent searching for his child, but one of enraged and cold-hearted man. 'Remind you of anyone?' He asked himself bitterly. He shook his thoughts from his mind. What business was it of his anyway? He had his own things to worry about. He frowned, remembering he had to get home to continue his work. He made his way home, thinking out what things he had to do and what alterations were needed. Making sure he pushed all thoughts of the strange new girl out of his head. He would have to talk to her later. Not understanding why he even cared. But there was something about this girl he couldn't quite place. She wasn't from around here; that was sure. He hit himself on the head slightly. 'Stop thinking about her! You don't even know her!' He sighed once more as he arrived at his driveway, pressing the intercom button.

"Hello? Who is it?" A young boy asked.

"Mokuba? It's me. Seto."

"Welcome home big brother!" Mokuba exclaimed, pressing a button, causing the large gates to slowly open. Seto smiled and made his way up the driveway. His smile quickly turned into a frown as he remembered all the work he would have to do. He put his hand on the doorknob, turning it, and made his way inside. Tonight would be a long night.

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"Rachel? Are you sure you're okay? You don't look so good." Yugi peered up at his newfound friend, his wide purple orbs filled with concern. Rachel simply shook her head, waving a hand in the air dismissively.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine. It's just early and I'm kinda tired." She smiled cheerily at him. Lying like this had got easier over the years. Luckily for her, she had got away with just receiving a light beating and being sent to bed with nothing to eat. She rubbed her arm, knowing underneath her school jumper were purple bruises from where her Father had grabbed her to prevent her from running. To some it might have been considered heartless. To her, however, it was routine.

"Alright then." He smiled back, suddenly remembering something, "Oh, Rachel? I also walk to school with my friend Ryou. You don't mind if we go to his house to pick him up on the way, do you?"

"Ryou? Oh, that friend of yours you told me about yesterday? Sure! I'd love to meet him." Her hazel eyes showed excitement. She loved meeting new people. "Is he as kind hearted as you are?" Yugi nodded and blushed slightly. "He's one of the nicest people I've met!"

"Apart from me of course." She chuckled, winking. Yugi grinned.

"Naturally." She stuck her tongue out at him, and then noticed his attention was diverted to something, rather someone, in front of them. She looked up and blinked. The boy quite a way in front of them had shoulder -length snowy white hair, which spiked out slightly. He hadn't noticed them yet. She frowned. Wasn't that Bakura? Rachel looked back at Yugi, who was now waving frantically and jumping up and down.

"Ryou! Ryou! Over here!" Yugi grinned as Ryou heard his name being called and turned in their direction, walking towards them. Once he had approached them he examined Rachel nervously, then raised his eyebrows at Yugi.

Rachel was confused. The boy in front of her looked just like Bakura. He had the same hair and eyes as the baka she had fought the previous day, but his features were softer and somewhat feminine compared to Bakura's. She also noticed that he was slightly shorter, too. He was also a lot cuter than Bakura, whose cold and uncaring looks Rachel found quite scary. This boy on the other hand, had an innocence about him. Her brain hurt.

"Ahh...my head hurts. I'm so confused!" She received amused glances from both boys. "Would you mind telling me what's going on?" She frowned once more. Not being able to understand things got her frustrated. Yugi tilted his head to the side slightly and grinned.

"Rachel, this is Ryou Bakura. Ryou, this is Rachel Miller." They shook hands and bowed slightly, in a formal greeting. "Okay, well, it's quite strange really. He looks like Bakura, and his last name is Bakura's first, but they are not related in any way. And he's so much nicer than that creep is." Rachel nodded slowly, eventually understanding.

"Well...that's all very confusing." She frowned, scratching the back of her head. She suddenly shook her head and smiled brightly. "Oh well! Let's go to school before we're late!" She skipped ahead of the boys, humming a tune as she did so. The boys sweatdropped and exchanged glances. Noticing that the boys were still stood there she turned around to face them. "Well? Are you coming or what?" Yugi simply shook his head and grinned at Ryou, who was looking slightly scared.

"Yes, Rachel. But...please refrain from acting so, uh..." He suddenly stopped talking. Ryou shot him an 'oh-great-now-you're-going-to-upset-the- crazy-girl' look.

"Weird?" She tilted her head to the side and grinned at the two boys, finishing Yugi's sentence for him. "I apologize if my social behaviour is not to your standard." Bowing slightly, she gave Ryou and Yugi a mischievous smile.

Ryou burst into laughter at the weird girl's antics. She winked at him, causing him to blush slightly. Yugi chuckled softly at the two. "Yes, you are quite weird." Ryou nodded, almost as if agreeing with his own statement, smiling.

"No kidding." Yugi rolled his eyes, giggling. Rachel kept her eyes on Ryou, smiling to herself. She suddenly shook her head, as if to get rid of her thoughts. Yugi looked at Rachel and raised an eyebrow. Noticing this, she blushed slightly, turned around and started to skip again. Realizing what she was doing she stopped abruptly and starting walking instead. Yugi shook his head and sighed, raising his eyes to the heavens as if to say 'why me?' When really, inside he was happier than he'd been for some time.

The three walked to school chatting contentedly, though it was mainly Ryou and Rachel doing the talking, getting to know each other better. Yugi was adding comments every now and again, but mainly listening, as he already knew most of what was being said. Rachel found out Bakura was also from England, but he was from a more Southern part of the country, whereas Rachel was from Yorkshire (A/N: For you non-English people out there, that's the place where all the farmers are said to live. I'm not a farmer. *Frowns*)

"It's so much better here," she pointed to the houses and trees around them. "The weather is a big improvement to back home. I hate the rain." Ryou nodded, laughing slightly.

"I know what you mean. It hardly ever rains here."

"Sorry to interrupt your extremely exciting conversation," Yugi piped in, rolling his eyes. "But we're at the school now."

Rachel frowned. She really didn't like school. And if Bakura were anything like the person she thought he was, he'd be waiting for them outside school with a group of his equally sadistic friends. She glanced in the direction of the building, frowning once more. She was right. There was Bakura, a guy with spiked up blonde, black and crimson hair, a slutty-looking girl with brown hair, two other guys; one with blonde hair and the other with short brown spiked up hair. Rachel narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. She set off, determined, towards the school. Yugi and Ryou followed behind nervously, giving each other wary glances. Rachel walked right up to the group of people. Who, surprisingly, were blocking the way into the school.

"Well well well." Bakura smirked. Rachel frowned. "Fancy meeting you here?" He spat, taking a step towards Rachel, Ryou and Yugi. His friends did the same. Ryou gulped, and Yugi let out a small cry of panic. Bakura smirked and walked towards the two small boys, cracking the knuckles of his left hand with his right.

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Rachel: Well there it is - the second chapter. There's not really been any romance so far, sorry about that. I just wanted to get a few details down first. I'm not really proud of that chapter. But oh well. Hopefully they'll get better as I write more.

Yugi: They will! *Smiles all cute like at Rachel*

Bakura: *Rolls eyes* Yeah. When pigs fly.

Rachel: *Ignores Bakura's comment* Sorry about the depressing part with Rachel, and all the violence and stuff that's in this ficcy. I guess I'm just a violent person; it's what I've been told anyways...

Yugi: That can't be a good thing. o_o;

Bakura: Sure it is. Anyway, R and R! And I'm not asking. *Narrows eyes in a threatening manner*

Rachel: *Shoves Bakura away* Don't listen to him. Any criticism will be taken with gratitude, and any helpful comments are appreciated. *Bows humbly and skips off, humming*

Yugi: *Sweatdrops* So that's where she got it from...