Calai'di- Well, didn't expect that many responses to this, thank you! Again, Yoshiko's perspective, next is Ryou's; it'll go on like that for the rest of the story. Some implied violence, not much, maybe a few offensive words to some people, same rating as before.

* * * * *

Yoshiko-

I guess this is the third time I've thanked you for showing me around. Meet me after school by the front gate and I'll explain about the last two cards in your reading. See ya then, and be prepared for anything,

-Ryou

* * * * *

'Be prepared for anything'. She wondered what that meant. The rest of the day sped by and after the last bell Yoshiko gathered her stuff and herself and went out to meet with Ryou. She found him right where he'd said he'd be, and when she got there he led her to a café. They found a table, ordered some drinks, and Ryou began to explain about the cards.

"So, what did those last two cards mean, Ryou. Why did you look so scared when you saw them?"

"First I have to show you something," he answered. He put his hands up to his chest like he was going to summon something. Then he began to hum softly and a large golden pendent emerged through his shirt. It was a large ring with a triangle in the middle, and the triangle had a large Egyptian-like eye on it. Five spikes hung off the circle, two from each side and one from the bottom. It hung from his neck on a brown cord, which allowed it to move freely so that the spikes jingled when he moved and even when he didn't move.

"This is the Millennium Ring, one of the Millennium Items. And before you ask, no you can't have it. Anyway, the spirit of a three thousand-year-old Egyptian tomb robber resides in it and he's also looking for the Millennium Items. I think he's the spirit your last card was talking about; he's going to affect your future, but hopefully it doesn't mean he'll force me to give you the Ring so that he'll possess you instead of me, like the Possessed Dark Soul suggests. He doesn't like me very much since I don't care about finding the Millennium Items, but I'm sure he'd like you a lot."

"Well, you're right about that at least," said a voice from beside Yoshiko. She almost cried out in alarm; the person sitting there hadn't been sitting there moments earlier. When she'd calmed down a little she could take a good look at the boy sitting next to her. He could have been Ryou's older brother except that he was completely transparent, and the evil smirk he was wearing didn't seem to fit anyone that could have been related to her friend. His eyes were narrower, more villainous, and much more mischievous and insane. For some odd reason, she instantly liked him, the same way she'd instantly liked Ryou, and though she'd thought there couldn't have possibly been anyone else in the world more attractive than Ryou, here he was sitting next to her.

"Yoshiko, this is Bakura, the spirit I told you about. Bakura, this is-"

"The girl who wants the Millennium Items; I know," Bakura finished for him. That voice… that was the one she'd heard while showing Ryou his classrooms. Though it sounded heartless and unyielding, there was a small sadness that made her wonder. And then there was the unmistakable British accent that Ryou had; though it wasn't as pronounced, maybe because he was Egyptian.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Bakura," she said holding out her hand. The boy took it briefly saying, "The pleasure is mine."

They sat there staring at each other for a few moments until Yoshiko broke the silence.

"So, you're looking for the Millennium Items, too?"

"No, not 'looking', I already know where all but two of them are. My problem is winning them. I've lost to Yugi twice and Marik once, but I did beat Pegasus. I got the Millennium Eye from him." Bakura ordered Ryou to give him the Eye and then he allowed Yoshiko to hold it. She examined it carefully; it was about the size of an eyeball and had an eye symbol on it like the Ring did. Light flashed off it innocently though she doubted that was its nature. She gave it back to him.

"Wow, two Millennium Items? How does this one work?"

"The Eye can put people's souls into inanimate objects, like the Ring, and it can read minds."

"What about the Ring; what does that do?"

"The Ring can locate other Items, that's its main power. Here, I'll show you. Go hide this." He handed her the Eye and she ran off to obey. Out the door, down an alley, and back behind a pile of boxes it went, but to make sure they didn't cheat, she didn't go that way at first. Beforehand, she wandered around some, back and forth, up and down, in and out a different door. Finally she came back and was surprised to see that Bakura was no longer transparent and it was Ryou that was spirit-like. Bakura was much more attractive this way, and she found herself half thinking they would stay like this.

"So, now what?" she asked.

"Shhh," Bakura answered. He held the Ring out parallel to the floor and whispered a few words. Instantly, it began to glow and the two left side spikes pointed straight out to the left. As he turned, all of the spikes raised and pointed directly ahead. He walked slowly in the direction the Ring was showing, and as he got to the door out of the café, the Ring pointed left again. The Item led him on like this until they were in an alley and Bakura found the Eye behind a pile of boxes.

"That was so cool!" Yoshiko exclaimed. "What else can it do?"

"I can also summon real monsters from Duel Monster cards," answered Bakura. "Would you like to see?"

"Sure!"

"All right, but my deck was meant to scare people, not to do demonstrations."

"In that case, here." Yoshiko pulled a deck of cards out of her pocket and handed them to Bakura. She watched as he looked through her deck. He handled the cards so carefully with so much respect. But shortly, he returned them saying, "I'm sorry, but I can't use these."

"Huh? Why?"

"It's a thing Yugi calls 'the Heart of the Cards,' but it's more like only being able to use cards familiar to you. Don't worry, I won't pick a really sinister card to demonstrate with."

"Okay then," Yoshiko said apprehensively, "go ahead."

Bakura pulled out his own deck, selected a card from it, and threw it out in front of him.

"I summon Sangan to this plane!" he declared. "Come forth my creature!"

The Ring glowed again and a beach-ball sized, brown, fluffy creature with three yellow, cat-like eyes materialized in the air where the card had last been. It had four green limbs with silver claws and jagged teeth in a large mouth.

"Cute!" Yoshiko exclaimed. "Can I pet it?"

"Only if you want your arms pulled out and your heart devoured," Bakura answered. Yoshiko cringed. Well, for a hottie, Bakura sure was gruesome, but she could live with that. He seemed to get along with Ryou okay, so as long as Ryou was still around, she'd be okay with Bakura.

"Sangan, return!" The fluff-ball disappeared and a card flew back into Bakura's hand.

"So, anything else?"

"Yes, yami, is there anything else you would like to show our friend?" Ryou said bitterly. Bakura turned and glared at him with just as much bitterness in his eyes.

"You stay out of this. Even you don't know everything this Item does."

"Then why don't you enlighten us?"

"Yes, Bakura, why don't you enlighten us," came a laughing voice from the shadows. Yoshiko turned to see whom the voice had come from. It seemed Ryou knew who it was, because he said with confusion, "Yami?"

The owner of that deep, chuckling voice stepped out of the shadows followed by a shorter, almost mirror image of himself. These two boys were two of the strangest people she had ever seen. The first, the one she thought was called Yami, had very tall, spiky hair, jet-black at first, then crimson at the tips. Golden yellow intertwined with the black and red, jutting up from his head like lightning bolts, and saffron strands framed his smiling, but crafty, face. Sparkling ruby red eyes laughed at them, but behind the amusement they were bold and defiant, accustomed to hardship; they could turn pitiless and unfeeling within seconds. He donned pitch-black clothes, a double belt, about five gold and silver bangles on each bare arm, and a dark cobalt jacket on his shoulders like a cape so it flared out behind him. Each boy wore a sort of belt around his neck, from which hung a large, golden, inverted pyramid pendent, which had the Millennium Item symbol on it, on a heavy chain.

As the smaller boy stepped from the shadows, Yoshiko could see that he was incorporeal, like Ryou at the moment; so one of them must be a spirit of a Millennium Item, which was probably the pyramid pendant they shared. This boy's hair was like his other's, except that there were no streaks in it; instead, one of his yellow bangs hung before his face. The red eyes had grown purplish in color, and they were gentler and more forgiving than the other boy's were, though they had seen their share of pain and suffering. He wore cobalt blue clothes, like a school uniform, and was absent of all the ornaments Yami wore.

"What are you doing here, Pharaoh?" Bakura hissed warningly.

"I was wondering where you disappeared to, tomb robber." answered Yami. "Guess you two had to move again. Was it because of all the soulless bodies in Domino? Or was it because you'd done so much damage already that you needed a fresh city to reek havoc on?"

"How about neither? We had to move because my stupid hikari couldn't keep his mouth shut about my plans. We're lucky we didn't end up in one of those mental health correction facilities, or whatever the hell they're called."

This last remark seemed to amuse Yami even more because he went into a fit of silent laughter. Yoshiko didn't understand why Bakura was talking to Yami with such hostility in his voice or why Yami found it funny. If Bakura had been talking to her like that, she'd be running the other way as fast as she could, especially because of what she knew now. Yami sure wasn't acting like a yami; 'yami' meant 'dark' and 'dark' generally meant 'evil,' but Yami was wasn't acting evil or wicked; he was acting cheerful and good. This was very confusing to her.

"Hey, Yami, why did we come here?" asked the other boy. Yoshiko realized she didn't know his name yet.

"Exactly the reason I said, Yugi. I was wondering where Bakura went to, so I followed him here. I didn't want him to leave Domino, but now he's over stepped his boundaries. I know it probably wasn't his fault, but I don't know what to do with him. I want him where I can keep an eye on him."

Yoshiko was amazed at how fast Yami could change his demeanor, a second ago he'd been laughing and joking around, but now he was acting regal and arrogant.

"And why would you want to keep an I eye on me? To keep me from building my own kingdom perhaps? I already have one follower," Bakura said, wrapping his arm around Yoshiko. Every single other person present gasped in shock; that was a very affectionate move coming from Bakura. "So, Pharaoh, you can have Domino, I get Clearwood, agreed?"

"Heh, afraid not, Thief King, since I'm withdrawing your status as a 'king'; therefor you can't have a kingdom."

"You can't do that!"

"Oh I can and I will. I'd like you to return Ryou's body to him so he can explain to his father that you two have to move back to Domino. If he encounters any problems his father can talk to me and I'll explain it in his terms. Understand?"

"Of course I understand, Pharaoh, I understand perfectly. That doesn't mean I have to obey. Ryou, we're leaving! Let Pharaoh-boy and his loyal servant to their dreams; I don't have to adhere to their rules!" Bakura released Yoshiko and began to walk out of the alley.

"Bakura! Stop right there!" The Millennium Item symbol had appeared on Yami's forehead, golden and luminous, and his hair had started to act like a fire. Yoshiko could tell something was wrong because Bakura froze mid-step, Yugi was shrinking back into the shadows, and Ryou was hurrying her back against a wall, leaving the path between the two yamis clear.

"What's going on," she whispered to Ryou.

"Shhh, keep clear and watch. I don't want you to get hurt," he answered.

Bakura turned around slowly, chuckling quietly, raising the volume until his quiet snickering became maniac laughter.

"Is that a challenge?" he asked through his psychopathic laughter. "You don't even know how to use your Millennium Puzzle, and you're challenging me?"

"That's right. I'm challenging you…do you accept, or are you to much of a coward?"

"You will rue those words, Pharaoh. I accept your challenge, but we'll do it my way…real monsters, real magic. Deal?"

"You're on, Bakura."