I don't own YUGIOH.

Note: Still 11/14/04.  In the original fore and aft notes, Kaiba made an appearance.  He didn't enjoy this fic too much, might I add.  The original end notes are at the bottom.

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The mall was unfortunately pretty far away from the Kaiba Mansion. She had two hundred dollars though, which could probably get her a decent bike. But she doubted she would actually find one. She walked down the streets, passing by various stores on the street. Clothes shop here, coffee shop there, card shop... Takara stopped and looked through the window. The store was closed, being stocked up on something in there. She watched as the store keeper placed big boxes in rows behind the counter. She wondered what they were for... she'd come check back later. Oh well. She walked on, brushing past people on the street, many of them suits with places to go.

"Watch it, kid," some guy said, roughly pushing her aside. She leaned against the wall, rubbing her arm where it felt bruised. She gazed across the street where a coffee shop was. Coffee sounds good, about now, Takara thought. Then she saw a familiar person. Short kid, tricolored spiked hair. Yugi Motou. She smiled and took a step to cross the street, but was instantly pushed back by a mob of business workers, late for their day(s) at Kaibacorp. When she looked back up, Takara saw that Yugi had transformed and become taller. He was also yelling at himself, in the middle of the street!

"Yugi! This isn't a duel!" Yugi looked up, and saw something that made him blush and stop yelling. Takara looked. Tea Gardner, who'd had guessed? In any case, she leaned against the wall again and watched Tea and Yugi enter the coffee shop. She was still bewildered though. Why had Yugi suddenly become taller? And what was he talking about anyways? Takara shrugged. Oh well, she thought. This left the Kame shop as a safe place to go for cards.

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"Hello mister Motou. Is Yugi here?" Joey asked.

"No, he went out with Tea today." Grandpa Motou replied, continuing to sweep the shop.

"Oh... yeah..." Joey said putting his arm to the back of his head, scratching it. "I forgot. I needed to ask Yugi something about English homework. Oh well, I'll come back later. Bye mister Motou!" He walked out the door, and bumped into somebody. "Oww... Sorry," he said, looking at the person he'd bumped into. His mouth fell open. He'd just had the luck to bump into the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen. She was wearing a white, black collared T-shirt, yellow hoodie, and a black, white, and yellow plaid miniskirt. She had blue hair that fell down to her waist, and somehow her face looked familiar, but he couldn't place it.

"Ouch," the girl said, putting a hand up to her forehead, where they had met. He noticed that her wrist had a leather cuff with skulls on it. She used the same hand to tuck some of the blue hair behind her ear, revealing it as having three piercings. "It's okay," she said, replying to his apology. She ran her right hand through her hair, and let it fall again as she looked up at the boy she'd crashed into. She smiled at him, then tried to make her way around him to enter the game shop. Joey ran over to the door and pulled it open for her. She smiled at him again. "Thanks."

Joey followed her inside. He put a finger to his lips as he saw Grandpa open his mouth to say something. Grandpa smiled and continued sweeping the shop. The girl went directly to the counter and looked at the cards through the glass. "So you're a duelist, eh?" Joey asked her, leaning on the counter next to her. She looked up at him, surprised he was still there.

"Yeah," she said. She didn't look at him again, though, but studied the cards intently.

"Me too," he said proudly.

She grinned, still without looking at him. "Yeah, I know who you are. You're Joey Wheeler, the runner up at Duelist Kingdom." Joey smiled proudly.

"Yeah, that's me. How'd you know?"

"I remember faces," she said, waving the shop owner over. "Which reminds me, what are you doing back in here? I thought you were just leaving." She looked up at his face, but not his eyes, and grinned.

"I, uh, was just going to go when I remembered I wanted to get something else." Joey scratched the back of his head again.

"Then why aren't you getting it?" she asked as she pointed to a card she wanted to get. She smiled at Yugi's grandpa as he brought the case out. "Now shut up, Wheeler, I want to pick out my cards..." She picked out two Hinotama and a Tremendous Fire.

"A burner deck, huh?" Yugi's grandpa commented.

"Yeah," the girl said, picking out a monster. "I used a great one at Duelist's Kingdom. I beat the best beat down deck I've met so far with it." She grinned. "I got past four eliminators who jumped me, a couple duelists..." She pulled out her wallet and extracted the money she needed to pay. "Too bad I lost it..."

"How'd you lose it?" Joey asked.

She sighed. "I lost it in the coming out here. I have no clue where it could've gone." She shook her head mournfully. Grandpa Motou handed her the change, and she carefully put her new cards in the wallet along with her change. She closed the wallet, and stuffed it in her jacket pocket. She waved and started out the door.

"Wait a minute," Joey said, catching up to her. "What's your name?"

She looked at him for a second, judging him, it seemed. "Diana," she said finally. "It's been nice meeting you." She took another step to the door.

"Is there a last name with that?" He'd gotten ahead of her, opening the door.
She paused. "No." She grinned. Joey noticed how beautiful her smile was, and couldn't help but think it familiar. . . "Thanks for the help. I'll see you around, Wheeler." With that, she brushed past him out the door and into the sunny street, turning left.

Joey scratched his head with one hand, while shoving his other hand into his pocket. "Joey," Solomon Motou called out, "you're blocking the doorway."

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"Where is your sister at the moment?" Officer Haylie questioned as her partner, Reese, took notes.

"I don't rightly know," Kaiba answered her. "She went out. I had a guy trailing her until then, but," Kaiba's nose wrinkled. "She threw him off her trail. Got her car towed. Parked in the blue zone." Haylie looked at him sympathetically, then shot her partner a glance. Kaiba was lounging on Takara's desk chair, while the male officer leaned against the wall and the female one paced in front of him.

"She's staying with you, right?"

"I'm not so sure of that," Kaiba said. "I mean, she is capable of running off again, and I get the feeling she doesn't even want to be at the mansion." Like I want her there, he thought to himself. He checked his watch. Ten. Great, nearly two hours since he'd arrived. Could he go now?

"That's all I have to ask," Haylie said, turning to get the door. Kaiba picked up his brief case.

"I don't suppose you'd know where Takara's deck is?"

"I don't know where it is," Haylie replied, holding the door open for the two men.

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Kaiba drove down the road from the orphanage to the car pound. He actually wasn't thinking about how he'd get TWO cars back to the mansion when he passed a figure in yellow, black, and white with blue hair. He screeched to a halt. He backed up a little until he was next to her. "Get in," he growled. "You're not supposed to be out here."

"I know I'm not," Takara sniffed, opening the door. "I was going home anyways." The word froze Kaiba up. Did she just call the mansion home?

"Yo, Seto? I think we're being honked at," Takara said, waving her hand in his face. Kaiba blinked and brought the road into focus. He had to try really hard to make the sentimental voice in his head shut up.

"We have to go pick up the Lexus," Seto said shortly. With that, he hit the gas.

After a few minutes, Takara said something. "Do you have my deck?"

"No," Seto answered, still intent on the road. "I couldn't find it. Neither could our detectives, Reese and Haylie." Takara bit her lip. He couldn't find her deck... that wasn't good.

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hours later.
:::Kaiba:::

I strapped my duel disk on and checked it to make sure it was working. "Are you sure about this Seto?" Mokuba asked.

"No time for regrets," I said through clenched teeth. But I was regreting hating Takara. My cell phone rang, saving me from arguing with myself yet again.

"Kaiba," I said.

"Ummm, mister Kaiba, you're sister's gone." How in the world did Nelson know she was my sister? Oh well, I'd deal with that later.

"Let her go. I'll see her tonight." I hung up. I gave the signal to the operators of the machine. Okay, time to focus. I looked at the god card in my hand, and wondered how good it was. It'd better be good enough to beat Yugi, I thought.

"You ready, bro?" Mokuba asked shakily.

"I'm ready."
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::Takara::

I walked into the "teen club." Teen club. What was the name again? I don't remember. Oh well. I was wearing tight black jeans and a blood red t-shirt with a pair of all-stars. I'd been able to get Tikany to get me that stuff. Did I ever mention that she's a fraud? I found tags on alot of the clothes. She's supposed to be a tailor for crying out loud! Anyways, I got there in time for Nari's performance. She stood center stage, with an acoustic guitar, holding the mike to her mouth. There were hoots and hollers from the guys, while I wove my way over to an empty table. I got there at the same time as a short guy with a beanie. The logo of his hat said "RR." I recognized him as Rex Raptor. I'd met him on the way to Duelist's Kingdom. I decided not to sit there, and instead took a seat at the bar. I ordered a sprite, and started sipping at it as Nari started.

"I wrote this about a friend." Her eyes scanned the crowd, probably looked for me. They rested on me for a second, but probably didn't recognize me because of my new hair color. Or maybe she did. But it was dark anyways, so you couldn't see much. (or at least I couldn't.) "Here goes..." She started strumming the guitar. Slowly at first, but than increased the pace until it was twice as fast as when she'd started.

"You/The accusing word I throw right in your face/
You/The one I thought would always be right there/
You/The one who showed me how to run the race/
You/The one who said that you would always care/
No matter what I did for you/You turned away and ran/No matter what I said to you/You stabbed me in the back again."

Okay, so I suppose being stabbed in the back again makes a better song than just plain stabbing in the back, but Nari was just jumping to conclusions. I mean, honestly. What did she think would have happened with Duke? I couldn't stand listening to her voice anymore, so I went around the room and got to the edge of the stage. The next few minutes stretched out forever. Nari was good, though. Finally it was over, and she thanked the audience and walked of the stage, handing the guitar to some stagehand. She walked right past me towards the exit. She was done for the night. "Nari!" I yelled. A DJ had taken up residence and was blasting the music so loud I almost didn't hear myself. "Nari!" I roared. She heard me and turned around. "Nari, I need to talk to you." She looked at me with a look of recognition, then went out the door. I followed. "Nari, it wasn't what you thought. I wasn't with Duke..."

"What do you mean, Takara?!" Nari yelled at me. We were outside in the alleyway, and the music had subsided to a dull roar from the outside. "I know what I heard on the phone last night."

"And you jumped to conclusions! Nari, I swear..." I crossed my fingers and held them up in front of my face towards her. "Cross my heart and hope to die..."

"And why should I believe you?" The temperature had instantly dropped 33 below. She fumbled and got the car keys out of her back pocket. I snatched them from her hand.

"Listen to me..." with that, I tore the bracelet from my wrist. I had washed off the paint, because it was drying hard and cackly, and it hurt, so now my scar was 100 visible I knew instantly what she thought of the burn by the look that crossed her face. It was a look of disgust, shock, and marvel. She touched it gingerly. I winced even though I didn't feel anything. I winced because I didn't feel anything.

"Takara," her voice in a scared whisper, "What is this? When did you get this?"

"It's a brand," I said, covering it up again. "You know, like for cattle. I've had this for... a while." Her face went softer. I couldn't stand this. One moment she's Ice Queen, and the next, she's melted like the Wicked Witch of the West. "This is why I'm hiding. No one knows except my brother and Derek. You heard Derek yesterday." Her lip quivered. She wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm sorry, Takara." She started crying. I felt like crying too. Damn sentimental feelings. (A/N: Just like Seto! heh. n.n)

"Listen Nari," I said, pulling back. "I've got to go now. I'll... catch you sometime." I tossed the keys to her and ran again. I didn't really know where I was going now, but. . . I hurriedly pulled out the keys to the red Nissan, looking down as I ran. I turned the corner and ran into someone.

"Hello Takara," He said as I looked up into his familiar eyes. "It's nice to see you again."

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Riter: A real cliffy! n.n (and I wrote the song myself!)

Seto: Stupidness. Stupidito. Stupid.

Riter: Bobby, you know wat to do.

Bobby: Rawr! (Chases Seto around)

Seto: Takara's a bad sister. I hate her.

Riter: Watch wat you're seying. . . ::Gives subtle signal to Bobby which Kaiba duznt see. Bobby fires at Seto again:

Takara: I found out the name of the club! It's... (reads off paper) Claire's!

Riter: (hisses) Takara, you're not supposed to be in the comments.

Takara: I can be where ever I want. ::sticks out tongue:

Derek: That's nice.

Riter: AHhh!!! Where are all my ocs coming from!

Derek: Your imagination.

Takara: Read!

Derek: Review!

Seto: Aghh!

Bobby: RAWR!!! ((Chases Seto))