Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

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When the bell rang that afternoon, they dropped off their things at Yugi's. Yami came from Yugi's room after he had changed clothes, and they started their search. Yami followed the strong urges he was feeling to guide them. He would go down a street and feel something pulling him another way. They would turn and start to follow that path. The longer they walked, the stronger the feelings got. It had started to get dark when Yami's feeling was almost unbearable.

"I think she is over here somewhere," Yami said. He led them all down a dark alleyway.

"This is getting really freaky," Anzu said looking at their surroundings.

"There!," Yami whispered harshly as he pointed to a woman walking out of a building. She suddenly stopped and flung around. She came running at them. She stopped ten feet from them. She was relatively short with long, onyx black hair and piercing gray eyes. She wore an all white outfit with a long black coat that reached her ankles.

"Yami!," she cried as she ran up to him and immediately embraced him in a kiss. She had waited so long to see him again. All her despair had finally been lifted. He was shocked and immediately backed away. "It has been too long. Finally, you have returned," she said with tears welling up in her stunning moon colored eyes, "All of these years without you. Every life that passed by me, I felt my despair pulled me further into hell, but I knew you would return."

Yami just looked at her in shock not knowing how to react to her forceful approach. The others looked at him wondering what he was going to do. "Are you the empress?," he asked.

Her look of absolutely joy turned to confusion, "What do you mean am I the empress? Yami, what is wrong? Don't you remember?," she asked starting to worry.

"How do you know my name? If you are this empress, then maybe you can explain who you are and where you come from," Yami said calmly.

"You don't remember, do you?," she asked her voice started to shake. Tears flowed down her porcelain skin, "You forgot everything. All of these millennia I have yearned for your touch," she put her hand to his cheek and felt his soft flesh, but pulled it away looking to the ground, "and now I see the insignificant memory of me was unimportant to you." She then turned and started to walk away.

"Please, wait!," Yami called out to her. He ran up to her and tried to hold her back, but she was amazingly strong and pulled free of his grip.

"What is there left if you remember nothing?," she said as she turned a tear-stained face towards him, "Remember this just as you did all those memories we had long ago. . . Forget it." With that she turned again and ran from them.

He turned to the others and motioned them to follow. "What should we do now?," Jonouchi said as he caught up with Yami.

"We are going to follow her. We will see where she takes us," Yami said. The feeling of her touch still burned on his cheek. Why did his heart race?

They all followed her quietly as she walked through town. She started taking them through very rough areas, but she did not even seem to notice the potential danger there was. Anzu walked closer to Jonouchi and Honda as she was looking at the horrible part of town they were in. She accidentally ran into Yami who had suddenly stopped. "What's wron. . .," she began but Yami held up his hand for her to stop. There was a figure coming from behind some trees and had begun to follow the girl they themselves had been following. He grabbed her, held a knife to her throat, and started to drag her back into the trees.

"What have we got here?," he said as he licked up her neck, "Tastes pretty good. Let's have a little fun."

"No!," Yami said as he ran toward the trees where they had disappeared. The others followed. They saw the man still had the knife to her throat as they entered the trees. He had her pinned between him and a tree, but there was something odd about this scene. She had a smile on her face.

"You made a fatal mistake in thinking I was vulnerable," she said to the man behind her.

"Oh yeah, precious? I don't think you are going anywhere. Let's see whatcha got!," he said as he flipped her around, and then reached to pull on her shirt. Suddenly they heard a cling of metal, and out of nowhere an extremely long metal rod appeared in her hand. She flipped the rod behind the tree and grabbed it with both hands. She used it to pull her body up and kick the man off of her. Her feet landed on the ground as she wielded her metal rod with extreme skill.

"Come on!," she said to the form on the ground as she dug one of the ends of her weapon in the dirt, "Is that all you've got?! Bring it you load of shit!"

He slowly got up and said, "You are going to wish you hadn't done that, sweetheart, but I like it when you struggle." She brought up her hand and beckoned him on. He came charging at her. In an instant she lifted him into the air with her weapon, then hit him and threw him to the ground with it.

"Haaa!," she shouted as she gave him one last blow, "pathetic." There was the same sound of a cling of metal and both ends of the metal rod retreated to her hand. She turned to leave when she saw the group of people watching her out of shock. "You've been following me," she said her eyes welling up again, "get out of here and leave me be!" With that she shoved past them and continued her way.

The others looked at Yami. "We still need to follow her," Yami said to them, "We cannot lose her." They continued to follow her all the way until they were getting close to the game shop. They were one block away from it when she stopped and walked into an apartment building.

"At least we know where she lives now," Jonouchi said.

"Yes, but I don't understand what she meant by all those memories," Anzu said with a concerned look on her face.

"I don't know, Anzu," Yami replied with a sinking feeling in his gut, "but I must find out. Perhaps you all had better go home. I think I can take it from here."

"No way, Yug," Jonouchi said, "We're in this together. We won't leave you."

"Alright, then," Yami replied, "Let's go."

They walked into the building not knowing what they were going to find. They followed footsteps they heard up the stairs. None of them knew what Yami had in mind, but they were going to stick by him no matter what. They saw a door at the end of the hall close. Yami approached it, and turned the handle. He walked in and saw a large apartment in mostly white with wood flooring. There were large windows and a corner of the living room had gym padding laid out on the floor. There were several familiar metal rods leaned up against the wall. It was a relatively bare apartment with only the essentials. Yami walked up to the metal rods and examined them. They all had varied lengths and sizes, but they all felt extremely dangerous as if her energy were within them. He heard footsteps. She came from a backroom in a black camisole and matching boy cut underwear.

"What about leave me be do you not understand?," she asked.

"You must forgive me and the others," Yami said motioning at the group standing at the door. Honda and Jonouchi looked shocked and embarrassed at her attire. "You must understand. I came in search of you so that I may perhaps gain some of my memories back. You know about my past, and I know very little. Please, I am just trying to regain all that I have forgotten."

Her glare seemed to soften. "I need to know. Who are you and what is your name?," Yami said gently.

She studied him for a few moments and then replied, "My name is Aida. I am the empress and sworn protector of the Pharaoh."

"The sworn protector?," Yami asked. He was confused. What did this girl mean?

"Perhaps you should sit down before I continue. If you wish, I will tell you what you need to know," Aida replied. She was hurt, but after all these years, her love for him never faltered. It only increased.

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