Chapter One

"Bring the girl to me, my friend. I'll handle her smart mouth." Pegasus glared at the little girl, when she appeared. "Have you forgotten who rescued you from the streets?!" He slapped her,and the girl went sprawling to the flloor. "You will respect me, and those I work with, do you understand?!"

The child nodded, cowering in fear. "Y-yes,Maser…." She clutched her Millenium Pyramid tightly.

"We will go to the City, and take memories later. Go, play." Pegasus snickered. She really didn't have anywhere to play , anything to play with, for that matter. He watched her skitter off, and scowled. "Where do you find these people?!" He turned to one of his servants.

"S-she was living in a box, Sir…" The servant cowered, when it looked like Pegasus was about to explode. "If it matters,Sir….she has one of the most powerful Items…"

"That does me no good,you idiot! I have to have it in my possession! Plus, it will not obey me. It is an odd little thing. It only obeys her."

"I'm sorry….." The man left Pegasus' room.

"Jonas! Feed the little girl." Pegasus left his headquarters, to take a walk.

I gasped, and moved, before he could catch me. That poor little girl. She had to be terrified in there. I turned, and fled into the alley, taking a quick route to my house. I had to get help to her.

"Bakura! Wait up!"

I turned around, seeing Joey Wheeler and Tea Gardner behind me.

"Sorry, guys, but I'm in a little bit of a rush." I turned to continue, hoping they would get the hint. I didn't want to have to drag them into my plan.

"Bakura, wait." Joey stopped me. "We saw you leaving Pegasus' place. Is there something going on?"

Damn. "Nothing too serious. I've really gotta go, Joey." I pulled away from him, and continued to walk away. Great, now they'd think Rakura was taking over again.

"Bakura! Wait! Let us help, please!" Tea spoke up now, and she sounded awfully sincere.

I turned around with a sigh,and looked at them. The only way I was going to get them to leave me alone, was to tell them about Elizabeth. "All right. Come to my house with me, and I'll explain everything." I walked the rest of the way to our condo,and into the house. "Come on in, you two. Can I get you a drink?"

"You have soda?" Joey asked.

"I think so, let me go check." I walked into the kitchen. Man, I didn't want them involved! It was too late for that. I shook my head, and returned with three sodas. "Here you go." I sat down on the couch, and looked at them. "What I'm about to you guys cannot leave this house."

"You're not going to tell us that you've become Rakura again, are you?" Joey asked, as he sipped his soda nervously.

I couldn't help but chuckle. "No….he's well confined,Joey. What I have to tell you is that I am breaking into Pegasus' place."

"You're what?! Are you mad?" Tea looked at me,concerned. "That's suicide, Bakura."

"There's a little girl trapped in there, Tea. Pegasus is treating her very cruelly." I watched them, for any reaction. "I have to admit, it's going to be a long shot, getting her away from him."

"We can help, Bakura, if you'd let us." Joey nodded his head in determination.

" I really didn't want to get you guys hurt. Rakura might have to get involved to her out."

"Think I'm afraid of him? Nah! Da worse he can do is trap me in a card,right?"

"Joey! That's not funny! Bakura's right." Tea looked at me now. "But, we will help you, if you want it. Being friends means taking a risk, Bakura. "

"Thanks, you guys. I just don't know how I'm going to go about doing it. I can't just walk in there and demand her release."

"No…but Rakura could." Joey smiled at him.

"No,Joey. I won't let him out,unless I don't have any other choice. Besides, he'd probably scare her too."

"Do you know this girl or something,Bakura? It's not like you're just going in after a complete stranger ,is it?" Joey was eyeing me.

"I don't know her, but that's not the point. She was probably kidnapped." I sipped my soda, starting to think about the complexities I was inflicting on myself.

"Why would someone like Pegasus care about a child?" Tea looked at me. "There's something you're not telling us, isn't there?"

"She possesses a lost Millennium Item. It's kind of like my Ring, but he called it a Pyramid. It can take memories away, and make up new ones."

"Freaky…" Joey looked at me. "How do we know she'll even go with us?"

"We don't, but I can't see anyone who's been through what she has refusing a comforting hand." I stood up. "Guys, I'm going in tonight."

"Shouldn't we make a plan? Get Yugi involved, maybe?" Joey looked really worried.

"No. The less involved, the better, Joey. Now, go home, and gather some things we might need." I walked them to the door.

"We're behind you, Bakura. One hundred percent." Tea reassured me. I closed the door behind her,and sighed. It was time to prepare.

That night, we gathered in front of Joey's house. I don't know how my two brave friends were feeling, but I knew I was a little nervous. Still, I would go through with my plan. Elizabeth's life probably depended on it. "All right. The plan is to only take twenty minutes. I'm going in the way I normally do."

"Usually? You mean, you've gone in there before? Why?" Tea looked at me.

"Well, I found out about her by accident. I was dueling another buddy of mine, and we heard a child screaming from his building. I went to check it out, and it turned out to be that Pegasus was beating what looked to be a five year old."

"Five?! This girl's only five?" Joey's face showed disgust now. "That creep!"

"Yes, Joey. That's why we're doing this, now come on." I led them up the street, to the bus station. "I got us each a bus pass that'll last us all night."

"All night? I promised Serenity I wouldn't be all night…" Joey looked a little worried. "We're not going to die, are we?"

"No. I needed you guys for back up. I'm the one going in." I sat down on the bench in front of our stop.

"What if something happens to you in there, Bakura?" Tea asked softly.

"In where?" A new, and unwelcome voice asked.

I looked up to see Seto Kaiba looking at us. "What's it to you, Kaiba?"

"Maybe I can help?" He looked like he'd heard the whole thing.

"How can you possibly help us, Kaiba? You don't even know the whole story."

"Sure I do, Bakura." He sat down beside me, uninvited. "You're going to rescue that girl Pegasus nabbed." He smiled smugly. "Look, I know I'm not the kindest person on the dueling field, but I don't tolerate child abuse, or neglect. From what I heard, Pegasus has been horrible to this Elizabeth. I know how I'd feel if it was Mokuba." He looked at Joey, then away again.

I wondered at the way he stared at Joey, but I didn't ask. "Fine. So, how do you plan on helping?" I looked at him.

"Simple. I'm going to be the distraction. To be honest, you weren't the only one who had planned on helping her. Mokuba came home from school last week, and told me about her."

I nodded, too in shock to say much of any thing. "Sounds good. Tea, you, and Joey will still be back up, okay?"

"All right,Bakura." She wondered if this was a good pairing, Bakura and Kaiba.

At the moment, the bus came, and four of us boarded it. I couldn't believe Kaiba was getting on the bus. "I thought you'd use your limo…"

"Please, I don't use it everyday, Bakura. You guys don't know anything about me." He took a seat in the back, leaving Tea, Joey and I together to stare after him.