The young boy's face contorted in pain as her slender fingers tightened their grip around his neck. A few beads of sweat ran down his neck. Although he was having trouble breathing, he still could; either she was inexperienced, or she didn't mean to kill him after all.
~what happened?~ he asked himself. ~what's she got against me?~ Yugi ran through his day in his mind, looking for an answer to his questions.

It had started out like any other day. Yugi woke up, as usual, ate breakfast, as usual, swatted at a fly circling his head, not too unusual, and went to school. Tea met him on the way, as usual, and they got to school right on time, as was not usual. Usually, they came stumbling in several minutes late, yet still far before Joey and Tristan.
In another unusual turn of events, Joey and Tristan managed to get to class only about 10 minutes after the bell, making them half an hour earlier than usual.
"Mr. Wheeler, Mr. Taylor, it's about time you joined us."
"Ah, sorry Teach, but come on, ya gotta gimme SOME credit!" Joey strode in confidently, sitting down next to Tea and dropping his bookbag.
"A late entry is a late entry Joseph. I trust you were able to do your homework with the extra time it took you to get here?"
"Oh ah, sure thing!" Joey leaned over to the desk next to him. "Hey Tea-"
"Not a chance, Wheeler." Tea picked up her homework and hugged them to her chest. "There is no way you're going to float through school on my hard work."
Well anyway, that was the strangest part of the day. Tea and Yugi stayed after school tutoring middle-school students, while Joey and Tristan were on the boxing team. They all went home together, right when the sun was going down.
And it was just after sunset that the really unusual part of the day began.
A little black cat came slinking out of the alley the group was about to pass.
"Oh, poor thing!" Tea ran forward and knelt beside the cat. "It must be homeless."
"Just what I need, more bad luck"
"Aw, come off it Tristan, y'can't blame Lady Luck for sidin' with ole Joey here," Joey elbowed his friend in the ribs, still happy about his victory in the boxing match.
Out of nowhere, a dark shape came and swept the cat up. They all gasped. In the glow of the newly-risen moon, the creature was revealed to be a huge hawk, holding the cat in its claws.
"Oh no!" Tea cried out, putting a hand to her lips. "That bird's gonna eat it!"
It did indeed look like the hawk was about to have a nice little cat supper, but it flew to the top of a tall building and gently put the kitten down.
"okay . . . that was strange."
"You said it Yuge."
The hawk suddenly swooped down, diving gracefully right at Yugi.
"Look out Yugi!" Tea yelled, but with no need. The hawk skillfully pulled out of the dive moments before it would have crashed, and in a rush of feathers, it flew back up to the building.
There was an inhuman rush of wind as the hawk passed, and Yugi had to cover his face with his arm. When he looked back up, the hawk had gone. Where it should have been, there was a girl who couldn't have been much older than himself, with the black cat rubbing her legs and a crow perched on her shoulder.
The girl wore a long, low-rise skirt with a skimpy top, both dark blue. Her long black hair was tied into a high ponytail, tied with a black lily flower. Skillfully, she jumped from the tall building, and the crow transformed in front of their eyes into the huge hawk. She rid the bird to the ground, landing lightly on feet clothed in elaborate black sandals. Up close, Yugi saw she was even more beautiful in a sinister kind of way. Her fingers and toes were painted dark, poisonous purple, and her lips were blood red. Her eyes were her brightest feature, pools of amethyst sparkling with starlight.
"Well, this must be the infamous Yugi Moto . . ."

That left him where he was now, at the mercy of those poisonous nails and the viciously beautiful woman they belonged to. Joey and Tristan both ran forward, but the hawk transformed again, this time into a tiger. The boys backed away slightly, reluctant to leave their friend in danger. Tea looked on, frozen in terror, afraid for her best friend's life.
Suddenly, Yugi felt the nails withdraw from where they had dug into his skin, and his throat opened up. He sat up gasping, and stared helplessly up at the girl. She smirked, and spoke to the tiger.
"Poor little Yugi, not even trying to fight for his life." Her voice was musical and sarcastic. She turned looked down to where Yugi was sitting, waiting for his eyes to meet hers before she spoke. "so then physical strength is your weakness . . . well that's no fun."
"HEY, PRINCESS!" Joey called angrily, catching the girl's attention. "Whadda ya want here? Just get lost so I won't haveta hurt you!" the boy cracked his knuckles angrily.
The strange girl chuckled and snapped her fingers. The tiger faced Joey and grew to twice the size it had been. Joey's confidence disappeared like so much ice in a hot drink. He shivered and cowered, along with Tristan and even Tea. The girl nodded, and the tiger stalked over to her. She patted its head. "Hm, I guess I should leave then; I'm sure I'm no match for *you*." She sniggered a little, and the tiger became a horse in the blink of an eye.
"Aw no ya don't!" Tristan called out. "You can't just run off without telling us who you are!"
The girl chuckled again. "I'd guess your brain isn't your strong point. Well, what harm could it do? You would have found out soon enough anyway."
"Now you're just being unfair!" Yugi had finally stood up, and he looked angrily up at her. "Now you're just toying with us! If you have something to say, just say it!
For the first time, the girl frowned, and she closed her eyes. The friends all looked at eachother, while the horse whinnied softly and turned away. Yugi let his angry guard down, and she struck. Her eyes opened wide, reflecting the light of a thousand stars into Yugi's eyes. The boy stared, motionless as she concentrated hard, muttering something.
"Run away little one, you know not what you're dealing with," she said calmly, and Yugi's formerly fierce face became fearful. He stood perfectly still, and gasped.
"W-what!? I can't move!" All his friends gasped too, and turned to the girl for an explanation. She nodded with a satisfied expression, and climbed onto the horse.
Tea, Tristan and Joey ran to their friend.
"Yugi, what's wrong?"
"I don't know! I don't know!" the small boy began to hyperventilate slightly, wanting only to do as he was told and run, but unable to move anything more than his face.
The girl drove the horse over to the small group of teenagers. They all braced themselves for a fight, and she laughed melodically.
"Who am I, you asked? You need not know. I am your enemy, that you do. Where I come from? You do not need to know. What I aim to do to you, that you most certainly should try to find out."
A pair of black wings sprung suddenly out of the coal-colored horse's back. The girl was perfectly calm, while everyone else gasped. The horse took flight effortlessly
Joey angrily called after her, "well what the hell are we suppposta call ya, Princess Kashmir of Italy?" instantly, Joey knew his comment had been a bad one, by the looks on Tea and Tristan's faces.
The girl in the air chuckled. "You may call me Korimo. I prefer to be on a first-name basis with my enemies." The horse flew up high, silhouetted by the full moon, and then it was gone, with its rider in toe.
Yugi fell to the ground, able to move again. He stared after the horse, thinking only of one thing
~who WAS she? What does she want?~

********************************** Hey people! I know I usually do these notes at the beginning of a story but that would have decreased the dramatic effect of the beginning of this particular chapter of this particular story.

So, if you're reading this, then you probably have some interest in continuing to follow the story. I'm setting deadlines for myself on this one; I'll try really hard to have a chapter up every other Sunday. I can't promise that I'll make all my deadlines, but I can promise to try, and I probably will succeed.

Hopefully, I've dragged you into my story by now, and I'll clear everything up later on. But not next chapter, no. you're gonna just have to stick with this if you want to learn what's been going on.

So, see ya week after next with the next installment! Bai-bai now!