Chapter One
The sound of techno music and the noise of a welder filled the underground boxcar. Sparks hit the tinted goggles and threatened to ignite the straight wisps of black hair surrounding her face. After a moment, the girl turned off the welder and set it down beside her.
"Stupid hair." She muttered jerking her ponytail down and tried placing the stray locks back with the rest of her red hair. Once that failed, she jerked off the goggles and began hunting for another rubber band.
Aw, poor Tanith, came the familiar taunting voice inside her head as she rummage in a pile of junk in the corner. Can't find a rubber.
A figure appeared suddenly from thin air. Long and wild white spiky hair, dark and soulless brown eyes. He might have been cute if it weren't for his harsh looking features.
Tanith spun to where the man appeared, dressed exactly as her; same ratty jeans, same boots that fit better and dirty duster buttoned at mid-drift, no tube top though.
"Bakura, do something useful and drop dead." She told him.
He snickered at Tanith as she continued her search for something to tie her hair back. "Millennias too late."
She came up with a scrap of cloth and tied her loose hair at the top of her head. "Fine, hope some ugly mutt is happily gnawing on your bones."
Tanith slipped on the goggles and turned the music up louder before starting up the welder again. Sparks skirted Bakura where he stood as if the light feared the spirit.
"And what are we working on today? Another ingenious toy that will turn your rags to riches?" He asked circling around her like vulture.
"I can't hear you" she told him in a singsong tone of voice. "I'm working on another one of my so called toys."
Bakura nodded and smiled ominously, "Your boyfriend Ryou would be so… proud."
Tanith speared him with a glare then returned to her work. Bakura smirked at her and continued.
"What do you suppose will happen when he awakes, Tanith?" the spirit leaned close and whispered in her ear, "Think he'll adore you for your sacrifice?"
The words brought back memories.
The moon was high in the sky, sending its bright rays down into the park below. Shadows danced in between the eerie white light and the mysterious night.
Tanith walked through the park musing about what the future would hold for her. Homeless and orphaned without a cent to her name, the future looked pretty grim.
Up ahead, came a loud crash startling Tanith out of her reverie. She jumped and saw a shadow stumble into the light of an overhead street lamp.
Tanith watched as a disheveled white haired boy about her age lurched up the path toward her and then collapse in a heap.
She didn't pause to think about what might have happened to the boy or the threat of a set-up against a lone girl in a dark park. She raced up to the boy and knelt down beside him.
"Hey!" she called out gently shaking him. "Wake up."
The boy didn't make a sound or a move. Tanith bit her lip nervously and felt around the guy for a wallet.
Before discovery said wallet, Tanith discovered what she would later learn to be the Millennium Ring around the boy's neck.
She found a school ID and read the name from it: Ryou Bakura. Tanith shook Ryou again.
"Ryou, hey I'm gonna have to take your necklace so it doesn't get stolen while you're at the hospital." She told him as she slipped the Ring off from around her neck. " I'll keep it nice and safe for ya. Okay?"
Tanith slipped the Millennium Ring around her neck and a strange light surrounded her. Pictures swam before her. A struggle and fight against endless Shadows. A pull toward light and then…the moon!
After so long in the Shadows… after so long a fight she…no HE could see the moon. But so weak… So very weak.
"A girl?!" shouted an unfamiliar voice. Tanith awoke from her trance with a gasp and looked at the speaker in shock.
As she looked at the almost twin of the boy collapsed in front of her, he went on.
"I am not going to be stuck in girl's body!" he kicked at Ryou's body, "Wake up, you pathetic--"
"Who the heck are you?" Tanith exclaimed, "What is going on here?"
The stranger turned to her and smirked, "You may call me Bakura."
"Okay Bakura," she said knowing that probably wasn't his real name, "What just happened?"
He groaned and muttered a few choice foreign sounding curses. Tanith caught the word `Millennium Ring' and assumed he was talking about the necklace.
Tanith snorted and gingerly lifted Ryou up, "Fine, don't answer."
"It's a long story, I'm trying to think where to start!" He snarled.
"Let me" she snapped. "You look just like this guy Ryou and I can see right through you so I'm betting you're some kind of spirit that possessed him and now that he's in a bad way you need my body until Ryou gets better."
"Listen you stupid mortal," Bakura snapped back but Tanith cut him off.
"Can it, I gotta get this guy to the hospital."
Bakura growled as Tanith turned away from him and she suddenly felt a tug to her very soul. It was as if someone was trying to take over her body. She growled fighting it and focused on moving her two feet one in front of the other.
Her arms began to grow numb and she felt as if she was losing control of herself. Suddenly she realized what was occurring.
"You're trying to take over." She said with amazement spinning to face Bakura. "You're trying but you're not going to succeed."
Tanith freed herself with one slight mental push against his control and turned to walk away.
"How in Ra's name did you do that!?" he demanded.
Tanith rolled her eyes, "I have some psychic powers. Why else do you think I'm not freaking out about being a host to some angry spirit?"
That shut Bakura up and so she began dragging Ryou toward a nearby hospital. When that didn't work to her satisfaction, Tanith looked around for anyone watching, found she was alone, and began using a psychic ability to lift Ryou's form.
"A psychokinetic. Nice." Bakura commented following his ex-host's body as it hovered behind the girl as she walked. "I can think of some interesting things I can do with that power."
Tanith spun on him, "You will not be doing anything with my power, I'll kick you out of my mind before that happens."
"But what about Ryou?" Bakura asked with innocent smile, "If I can't have your body, I'll have to return to Ryou's and that'll kill him."
Tanith spared Ryou a glance. She didn't know him from Adam but somewhere out there someone did. He probably had a pair of concerned parents wondering where their darling son vanished to. A load of admirers who'd miss the object of their affection…and friends that Tanith didn't have one of.
"Fine, you can stay in my body." She whispered hiding the Ring under her shirt. Bakura vanished from sight.
And I do deserve some control, his sinister voice whispered in her mind. It wouldn't be fair.
Ryou arrived at the hospital with one arm draped around Tanith's shoulder instead of floating. The doctors raced over to her and she was asked the usual questions as Ryou was taken away. What happened? Where was he found? Do you know who he is? All Tanith answered to their satisfaction.
She stayed until a doctor came out and told her about Ryou. He was stable but in a coma. There was nothing apparently wrong with him but the doctors suspected he went through some type of trauma and his mind simply shut itself down to recover.
At that Tanith heard Bakura snicker. Oh yeah, fighting your way out of the Shadow Realm will do that.
She forced a smile as the doctor continued.
Ryou's father couldn't be reached but a Malik Istar, called to see if anyone of Ryou's description was admitted. He claimed to be a distant relative of Ryou's and when he learned Ryou was here, he told doctors he'd be right over. `Malik' arrived an hour later accompanied by a blond boy and filled out the necessary paperwork for Ryou's stay.
"Did he have a necklace around his neck?" 'Malik' inquired as he filled out the papers. "It would be a gold pyramid surrounded by a ring."
"No sir, you might wish to ask the young lady over there." A nurse replied pointing at Tanith, "She was the one who brought your cousin in."
Tanith's deep blue eyes locked with the blond boy's lavender ones.
Don't tell him! They're after the Ring, Bakura snapped.
"I-I didn't see him wearing anything." She flushed and added quietly, "Other than clothes."
The boy smiled and it sent chills up Tanith's spine for many reasons, one being fear.
"If you see it, please inform the hospital staff and they'll inform me." 'Malik' told her as she quickly rose to her feet.
Tanith saluted him, "Will do. If I see any Millennium Rings , I'll tell ya." She winced and quickly dashed out of the hospital. Bakura appeared just as she was safely outside.
"Why don't you just scream to them you have it!" he shouted.
"Excuse me I was nervous!" she snapped. "Those two are creepy. Just where did that Malik guy get those scars on his face?"
"Malik's the boy, the other one is his servant."
"Great, so those two aren't Ryou's relatives huh."
"No. They're just after the Ring."
Tanith sighed, "Great, just great. The one time I become a Good Samaritan, I get stuck with a spirit from a comatose stranger and two weirdoes after the stranger's jewelry."
"And an army of the weirdoes' forces after us." Bakura added.
"Perfect!" she cried throwing up her arms, "I have an army after me! What am I gonna do now?"
"Stop talking and hiding would be a good start." He suggested with a smirk. "Malik and his servant are just a few yards away."
Tanith nodded and dashed off into the night.