Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-gi-oh. Nor do I own the characters in this story.

Author's Notes:

Thank you Tomcat472 for pointing out my random spelling of Millennium in the first couple of chapters. I've gone back and corrected them. From now on, I hope I'll be spelling it right.

I'm really sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. I thought I had it running when I went to Florida Last week. Guess I'll just try to stick to the 2 or 3 a week to make up for it.

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Chapter 4: Dark Visitor

One week later, I braved to look into Tiffany's mind again to see how she had handled things. To my relief, she wanted to believe it had all been a dream, but the remnants of bruises were holding doubts to her mind.

She had told a few people about this phenomenon, but it didn't do her any good. Her parents had told her she had probably just fallen down the stairs. Her friends, or better yet classmates, at school had teased her.

Tiffany didn't have much in the way of friends, and it seemed her story was only making things worse. I was glad the window had not yet been repaired. I didn't want anyone else to see what she had been through.

I felt a stab of guilt. Some of this was my own fault. If I had revealed myself to her, she wouldn't have this strange gap in her memory. Again, I wondered if hiding from her was really the right thing to do.

"Nothing... all weak monsters." Tiffany's thoughts interrupted my own. I looked through her eyes and found that she was buying more Yu-gi-oh cards to cheer herself up. So far it didn't seem to be helping, though.

She moved to another booster pack and opened it. The monster card "Shining Friendship" caught her eye. I remembered seeing it once in the Shadow Realm. The memory distracted me from Tiffany's thoughts, so I was caught completely off guard when she let out a scream and ripped the card in half.

"It's just a stupid game," she began to sob angrily as she threw the pieces on the ground. A flood of emotions stormed through her mind, and I had to catch myself before I was drawn into them.

In an instant, I realized what had happened. Tiffany had finally been pushed over the edge. With all the problems that she was facing at home and at school, she couldn't deal with the added responsibilities of the Millennium Puzzle. I began wishing that someone else had been chosen to receive it.

"It makes for a good TV show," she went on. "Yugi gets the Millennium Puzzle, and he gets friends. But even though I got the real Millennium Puzzle in real life, I'm still all alone." She was shaking with emotion now.

"You're not as alone as you think," I wanted to say, but for some reason I couldn't. Why was I being so stubborn about this? It was the perfect opportunity to reveal myself to Tiffany, but something held me back. Something inside of me, be it doubt or fear, just wouldn't go through with it.

As it turned out, I never really had to. As Tiffany continued to sob, the two pieces of the card she had torn floated up in front of her face. She looked up, tears still streaming down her face, and the two halves fused together to reform the card right in front of her.

That cut off her sobs in a heartbeat. She stared at the floating card with eyes so wide it was amazing they didn't fall out. "What in the world..."

A dark swirl appeared in front of her. It looked very similar to the Dark Hole I had created the night before. As she watched, a shadow emerged from the vortex. As soon as it had passed through, the portal vanished.

The shadow shifted until it resembled a shape of a man. Then the shadow began to melt off from top to bottom, leaving a pile of goo at the feet. As the black goo melted away, it revealed an older man inside.

The man was average in height but very skinny. He was dressed in a red suit jacked with a light purple collar shirt. The sleeves of the shirt ended in lace that dangled out of the jacket sleeves. His red pants were a bit too long, and they nearly covered his black dress shoes from view. His hair was light brown and badly combed, giving it a very wild look. His cheek bones were very high, making his smile much wider then normal.

The most distinguish characteristic of this character, however, was not his hair or his clothes. It was his eyes. The one on his right was bright green. In the glowing light, it resembled an emerald. The other eye was producing the glow. It was not a real eye at all. Instead, it was a golden ball with the Eye of Anubis placed where the iris and pupil would have been. It was the same symbol as the one on my puzzle.

I wanted desperately for Tiffany's body to run, but she was frozen in awe. The tantrum she had previously been engaged in was all but forgotten.

The man looked down at Tiffany through his human eye. "Hello Tiffany."

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Big story development next chapter. Tiffany learns the truth behind the Millennium Items from the man that created them (in her world). Yes, she should have found out about her Yami, but I'm waiting for a better opportunity. It won't be too much longer.

Please R&R!