Hm, wow. I have 6 reviews already, thanks guys =D

This is my first shot at something like this, I've no idea how it's going to go over with everyone but thanks for your support. I've tried hard to make it read more like something that could actually happen. Things might get a bit tricky later on, though. Theories are gonna be tossed about between characters. But that won't happen for a while yet.

As always, Yu-Gi-Oh! characters and everything related is (c) Kazuki Takahashi

Jou stole the paper from her clipboard, she had freed it to spin the page around to do fine detail. Sarah always did that, never keeping a paper one way for long.

"Hey! I wasn't done with that!" the young woman grunted. She knew Jou wouldn't understand a word of what she said, but knew he would get the drift. The taller teen held the sheet up over his head. He may be a few years younger than her, but was at least a foot taller. She had always been short, but with Yugi and his Grandfather around she wasn't the shortest anymore. Sarah grunted as she jabbed him in the ribs with the eraser end of the pencil. This only made Jou yelp and duck away.

"Give it back, please?" the young woman sighed.

Jou shook his head, assuming she was asking for the paper and drawing back.

Anzu snapped at him and he only stuck his tongue out as he flopped down on the couch next to Honda. The other teen shoved him slightly when he felt Jou was sitting too close. Jou slapped the page down on the table in front of everyone and pointed to the image before saying something.

"He's calling it a deranged Harpie Lady," Anzu informed the artist.

"Far from a Harpie. Something of my own creation, just a doodle," Sarah murmured as she reached for the page.

Anzu looked as if she was about to ask more, but closed her mouth and turned back to the bookwork she and the others were trying to do. Sarah shrugged and sat back on the couch as she sketched. Suddenly, she set the paper aside and picked up a new sheet. Yugi currently had the cutest expression on his face and the young woman was determined to try and catch it before it vanished. Luck was with her, it was an expression of confusion and frustration as he tried his best to figure out whatever he was working on. She had just put the last detail on the face before she decided to move onto the shoulders and chest. However, when she raised her eyes from the paper Yami's red eyes met her brown. He had felt her watching him and now had a brow cocked. The others apparently hadn't noticed Yugi's change as they still had noses buried in books while Jou complained rather loudly about something. Yami's eyes darted back towards the rooms before he stood and waited for the woman to follow him.

"You already know I distrust you, and this feeling of you watching me isn't helping any," the young man said as he crossed arms over his chest. Sarah sighed and held the clipboard up for him to see. He made a sound akin to a grunt before he turned around again. "Sorry, I suppose I should have kept that in mind." His form melted back into Yugi's, once more the teen turned around with an apologetic look. Sarah gave a smile and ruffled his hair. He made a slight protest and quickly straightened it before happily rejoining his friends. The young woman remained where she stood long enough to get the rest of her drawing done. She was going to attempt to draw Honda and Jou next, maybe make this a more comical and cartoon-ish drawing. But it might be considered rude, so she decided to refrain.

With the afternoon being so young, Anzu had insisted Sarah join the group as they strolled about. She really felt out of place, having only Anzu understand her made for limited conversation. With a bit of time and translating, Honda and Jou warmed up to the woman a bit and acted more natural around her. They were currently sitting in a soda shop of sorts, it specialized in drinks and some sweets. What she currently had was familiar, a friend had treated her to one in college. The straw in the drink was much larger and wider than normal, the reason being chunks of fruit and fruit jelly were mixed into the thick beverage. It took some getting used to the solids, but she did enjoy it. The guys talked while Anzu lent her attention to Sarah as the woman explained what her "deranged Harpie Lady" really was. Anzu didn't seem surprised to hear Sarah had created a world based on a game she had played as well as the comic companion. She had tons of characters and countless situations. The female creature she had drawn was her internet alias and avatar, an echidnoyle named Sarah-Le. Anzu was full of questions, the little bit she heard had been fascinating. But the story would have to wait, the guys were ready to go and getting antsy. Sarah was glad the conversation had been stopped, as much as she enjoyed working on her fictional world; informing others about it always felt awkward. She never knew how they might view it, be entertained or think she was nuts. Thankfully Anzu had been the former.

Anzu snapped at the boys, telling them to cool their heels and wait a bit, she needed to visit the ladies' room. Sarah went along, figuring it would be best to go now in case the guys continued to be demanding about time.

"I feel like excess baggage or something, I dunno. I'm out of place," Sarah said as she tossed the paper towels in the trash.

Anzu shut the water off and reached for some to dry her hands. "Would you rather have sat around in the Game Shop with Yugi's grandfather? He's nice and all but you'd get bored after a while."

"Perhaps, but at least I wouldn't feel so awkward. It's just that you're all so close, and here I am. Just some stranger, and hell, only you can understand me and vise versa. It's just a bit daunting and all, like there's so much I can be left out on and it's not a fun feeling. You know?"

"Yami Yugi can understand you," Anzu said simply as she reached for the door.

"But you know, he doesn't like me," Sarah reminded in a hushed tone as the door swung open.

"Well, we just need to get him out more so he can change his mind," the girl replied with a smile. Sarah inwardly frowned, she knew having Yami around would only make her feel less needed and wanted. Much to her surprise, Yami stood by the door that lead back to the outside; Jou and Honda were nowhere to be seen.

"They wanted to do something I was sure the two of you wouldn't care for and told them I'd catch up later," Yami said more to Sarah than Anzu. "Walk with me, let's see if we can figure out where you came from," he added before he held the door open for the two ladies.

What could I do? There he was asking about what really happened and already knowing he didn't trust me, I had to tell the truth. The scary thing was, he found it easier to believe than Anzu did. After a while Yami assured her that it was done by magic, magic that wasn't mine. Well that's a relief, seeing as how I don't have magic. But if Yami trusts me now, ok, so he still doesn't, but he's getting better. He thinks someone else is behind it and I'm an unknowing and unwilling pawn, so that's why he doesn't trust me. Anyway, if he trusts me more now I can feel a little more relaxed around him. Oh, and Yugi can stop feeling guilty for something he has no control over. Makes me wonder just what goes on in their head when the two have conflicting views, and if Yugi is able to absorb what Yami does. Be nice to have another English speaker around, Yugi was always my fave of the gang. For some reason I always preferred him over Yami, Yami was cool and all but Yugi was my fave. Yami also okayed me to tell Anzu about what I knew surrounding the group.

"You don't think it was Bakura's doing, do you?" Anzu asked as the trio walked through a park.

"Ok, as I said earlier I know most folks by different names. Do you mean Bakura or the spirit from his Ring?" the American woman asked as she swept hair out of her face.

"Have a habit of referring to the spirit as Bakura, and his normal state is Ryou , still the same person but it's a way to tell the two personalities apart," Yami answered.

"What about you an Yugi?"

"We refer to each other as `my other half' and I'm normally just called Yugi by everyone else. Or Yami Yugi, but just Yugi is fine with me."

"Is it alright if I just use Yami?"

"I see, your lazy southern vocabulary gives you the right to shorten stuff?" Yami said in mock annoyance. The slight glint in his eye gave him away though and a giggle from Anzu managed to get the spirit to crack a smile.

"Don't scare me like that," Sarah scowled. She felt the need to thump him in the back of the head, but figured that would be pushing the boundaries that were still set up. As if he read her mind, he ducked down a bit and gave a laugh, allowing her to harmlessly swing over his head, barely brushing his hair. "Oddly enough, that made me feel better. Even though I missed," the woman smiled slightly. "Anyway, you were saying about Bakura?"

"He's not afraid to use his Shadow powers at will, and sometimes has no reason for what he does other than to humor himself. Wouldn't put it past him, really," Yami shrugged.

"Well why hasn't he shown up yet?" Anzu asked from where she stood on Yami's other side.

"If he shows up now because he was mentioned, I'm just going to run away, ok?" the woman muttered.

"No, he wouldn't. Too movie-like for his tastes."

"Besides, it might not be him. It was just an idea," Anzu shrugged, she felt a bit guilty for bringing it up now.

"And if you did run, it would only give him another kick," Yami warned.

"Bleah, guess your right," Sarah shrugged. "Hey, where did Joey and Honda run off to?"

Yami raised a brow at the first name, but knew who she meant. "I'll save you the details, like I said before I told them you two might not be keen on the idea so they should go ahead. We're going to meet them at the arcade in about an hour. We still have time if there's anything you'd care to see."

"Not really, no. I've never been an out and about person, y'all are gonna laugh if I say just what we've done today is going to wear me out. And I know this has to be a pretty normal day for everyone."

"Yes and no, sometimes we do more and sometimes less. Though taking in a movie will most likely be out of the question as I doubt you could understand anything," Anzu answered.

"Speaking of being worn out, I'm going to request you join us tonight and for the rest of your stay here," Yami spoke quickly.

"Are you sure? I really don't want to be a burden and having a female guest might need a little getting used to," Sarah tried to decline.

Yami merely shook his head. "It will be no problem at all, I'd feel better if you were where I could keep an eye on you. Be it that you were in trouble, or could unwittingly cause it."

Why did this not settle well with me? I should be thrilled to spend the night with one of my favorite characters but I was dreading it. I just couldn't shake that dream I had, and Yami insisting I stay with him in the Mutou residence wasn't helping anything. But I knew saying no wouldn't work. I'm so going to kick myself if I do the sleep walking thing and end up in someone else's bed. I swear, that would be a bitch to talk my way out of.

"Alright, but where am I rooming, I didn't see a good lot of space," she asked slowly.

"Yugi and I don't mind taking the couch while you're he-"

"No, I am NOT kicking you out of your own room. I don't mind the couch, it'll be fine," the woman waved.

"Yugi says he'll use the puppy eyes on you to get you to accept the room," Yami gave a wiry grin after a moment of zoning out.

"Won't work this time," Sarah shook her head.

"He has his ways," Yami gave a slight chuckle. Anzu had walked behind him and elbowed Sarah slightly in the side before whispering to her just to take up on the offer, it isn't everyday someone gives up their bed for you. The other girl also mentioned she felt a twinge of jealousy for the American's good luck. Now Sarah couldn't help but laugh. She took the time to inform Anzu that she wouldn't view it the same way she might, that Sarah already had a boyfriend and even hated kicking him out of his room when she would visit. With that, Anzu seemed a bit relieved, and it made Sarah wonder just what had been running through the other girl's head.

"Really now," Yami started with a smile, "if you're going to whisper at least get further out of earshot. Heard the whole thing."

"You're lying!" Anzu's eyes grew wide as her cheeks flushed a bit.

"Just enough to pick up on the female rivalry thing you had going on," he replied, letting the smile drop to a smirk.

"Ok, I hold him and you get to thwap, that ok with you?" Anzu said cheerfully as she whipped back around to Sarah, the older girl just laughed and reached around Anzu to thwap the back of Yami's head. As he recoiled from her thwap, Anzu landed one of her own.

"That was strangely satisfying," the brunette chirped.

"Glad to be of service," Yami replied as he rubbed where they had hit.

We had arrived at the arcade early, fine by me. We could sit for a bit and I could just watch other persons come and go. Yugi and Yami had swapped again, and I was a bit surprised to find Yugi now had an almost complete English vocabulary, I still had to stop and explain any slang I used. Even Anzu would be a bit confused by some. Yugi was lucky to have not picked up my accent, but I must admit it was VERY entertaining to hear Yami use a slight southern drawl, I'm sure Anzu got a kick out of it as well. But the amazingly short period in which Yugi had picked up the language was what held my attention and our conversation until the others would arrive. Yugi said he could pick up things quickly if Yami would let him, being able to share their minds allowed them to search the other's if an answer eluded them. Of course, if one mind was in a state of slumber it wouldn't work quite as well. After hearing that Yami would often be the one to take in school lessons, I teased Yugi about Yami falling asleep during a test and leaving the poor boy on his own. Right then he admitted maybe he had begun to rely on Yami a bit too much. Anzu had wondered off to the snack bar to pick us all up a drink and maybe candy. I settled for an iced tea alone. I was a bit surprised they had iced tea, could have sworn it was just an American thing. As we talked, I absent mindedly folded napkins up into these paper claw things I'd learned to make in grade school, made enough for all my fingers and Yugi and Anzu had just taken up on making their own when Jou and Honda finally arrived, with an extra in tow. I tried so hard not to tense up, as much as I loved the character, Ryou Bakura unnerved me in real life. I didn't realize I still had the claws on my fingers until Ryou held his hand out in a friendly manner.

She quickly pulled the claws off one hand before taking the boy's into a friendly shake, assuming he spoke no English she only smiled her greeting.

"Nice to meet you," the light haired teen said slowly, he seemed to be testing his English.

"Ah, you speak it too?" Sarah asked.

"Some, you will have to go slow as I am still learning," he replied with a smile that looked more apologetic than friendly. "I am a bit confused about something. Jounouchi never gave me a name, he called you the Harpie Lady for some reason," Ryou cocked a brow.

"Something I drew, guess he's not going to let me live it down," the woman shot Jou a hard glare. "But my name is Sarah," she replied. Jou appeared as if he was demanding to know what was said, Yugi giggled and told him. The other teen only stuck his tongue out at the woman and said what he had first said when he took her drawing.

"He just called me that again, didn't he?" she grumbled. "Maybe I should give him reason to use the name," she moved in such a way to make her wallet chains violently swing out and make themselves known before she snatched them up in her hands. Jou took a moment to regard her and got into a defensive stance. The woman sighed and let the chains drop down, she didn't wish to go further and start anything. Not with just having got on Yami's good side, and she had no quarrel with Jou, she only wished he'd leave her be.

At some point during the stay in the arcade I had ended up sitting with just Ryou, he seemed perfectly happy just sitting around while the others played games. Well, Anzu would hover about and watch, she said playing wasn't really her thing. Occasionally she'd get a round in at some odd game though. Ryou was nice enough, I was relieved to have not had any trouble from his yami. Though, at times it was hard for us to understand one another, he wasn't lying about learning the language. I found myself explaining simple things to him, and sometimes breaking them down so much I felt silly, like I was explaining this stuff to a three year old. You know, I wonder if that was what triggered it...

He had changed suddenly, his features seemed darker and the way his hair framed his face was unsettling, the woman tried her best to look un-phased by the change, after all he had yet to speak.

"Try as you might, I can see it," he chuckled deeply as he nonchalantly leaned back in the chair. He picked up the cup before him and swirled the liquid around in it. "I know where you're from and what you know," he shot a glance at her, his eyes just barely over the rim of the cup. "And I know you're trying to remain brave or calm in hopes I'll just go away, correct?" he asked as he set the cup down.

The woman narrowed her eyes and propped her elbows on the table, she placed her chin on laced fingers and leaned forward a bit. "I just want to know if you are why I am here." Looked like Bakura had a better command of English then Ryou did.

There was a short bark of laughter as Bakura picked the cup up and drank from it, he set it down with a chuckle. His eyes showed no humor though, they glared back at her menacingly. "Why would I be? If it was me I would have summoned you into my presence and gone from there. No, I only know about you and where you came from. Not how you got here, and that's why you're so interesting. Out of all the persons that know of this reality from your animated series and printed media, why was it you that came here? A better question would be who knew first and decided to broadcast it everywhere. I'm pretty sure even they have got details wrong. I know for a fact that anyone telling a story may take, certain liberties. Correct?"

Why was he so intent on carrying out a civil conversation? This was beginning to get to me, I think he was putting me on the spot, trying to get to information he thought he hadn't learned yet. Well great, if he's going to be after me that's one more thing to worry about. I think I zoned out a little too long this time, oh boy.

She blinked again, brown eyes were inches from her face, she could feel him breathing so close to her and it made her want to recoil or squirm. Though too close to tell, she swore Bakura smiled before he pulled away and sat back down.

"Rude to just ignore someone like that, don't you think?" he asked as he threw an arm over the back of the chair. A glance was shot behind Sarah, but the woman failed to notice.

"I figured it was a rhetorical question," she replied simply.

"Perhaps, but I'm intrigued by all this and wonder if this could be used as a means to foretell the future," he gave her a very unnerving glare before returning to his thoughts.

"And you think I could be used for this? Not if I'm here I can't, not if I can't see the full story at once." It made sense in one way, but in another it was confusing.

"Who says you'd have to be here?" he chuckled, a grainy sound. Reminded her of sand in a sifter.

"And you think you could get me back home and that I would be willing to work as a... seer or whatever? Who says I would be willing, hmm?"

"Yes and no would I get you back home, once I figure out how to get to where you are from and back there won't be a need for you. If I can get the information myself, there's no need for a middleman. Or woman, whatever," he raised a brow.

"Oh thank you so very much for your kindness," the sarcasm was just dripping off that. Bakura returned it with a look that spoke `what did you expect from me?'

I had no idea Yami Yugi was standing behind me for the last half of this conversation. He scared the crap out of me when his hands planted themselves on the table to either side of me and he leaned over my head almost protectively. He said something to Bakura, sounded rather harsh and was somehow... different from how I had heard Yami speak before. It then dawned on me then, he had spoke in ancient Egyptian, apparently it was something he wanted no one else to understand. Be it the reaction he was looking for or not, Bakura simply smirked as his features wavered and returned to Ryou. The boy looked a bit confused by Yami's stance and had wondered what happened. Yami relaxed and moved away from me at last, he pulled a chair up and sat down with the two of us. I knew Yami Bakura always kept his other self in the dark when he took over, so I figured it would be best not to inform him of what had happened, if Yami wanted it known he could tell.

"You zoned out there for a little while, are you ok now?" Yami asked. Sarah wondered why he used English if he wasn't talking to her, maybe he thought it rude to leave her out of the conversation if both could speak English.

"I suppose, but did I do something wrong? Neither of you looked too pleased with me," Ryou bit his lip in anticipation of what they might say.

"You just scared me a bit, I have a sister with epilepsy and I always worry when someone zones out," Sarah said with a weak smile. She didn't like to think about it, but hoped it would be enough to explain whatever expression she had on her face. Ryou must not have known what she meant because he gave a puzzled look. Yami answered him and this time he didn't use English, he had picked up the discomfort Sarah felt when she mentioned it. Ryou's eyes widened and he apologized a thousand times for worrying the woman like he had. Yami once again relinquished his hold to Yugi as the group reassembled, everyone was apparently out of coins and figured it time to head out.