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

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The next morning Yugi got up, and got ready for school. He checked on Aida one last time before leaving. She was still sleeping. He quietly closed the door, and made his way to school. Yugi's favorite class was last period. It was a study hall, and Jonouchi, Honda, and Anzu were all in it.

"So how is the new roomy thing goin'?," Jonouchi asked Yugi as they sat down.

"Fine," Yugi replied, "she seems to know a lot about the past, but there is something about it that upsets her."

"I feel sorry for her," Anzu said coming in on the conversation with Honda following suit, "she seems to have a lot on her mind, but the way she handled the rare hunters was amazing. I've never seen anything like it."

"Yeah," Honda said, "those rare hunters never had a chance."

"If I wasn't trying to protect Anzu, those rare hunters would have been demolished if I had been there," Jonouchi said punching the air.

"I'm sure a monkey would really be terrifying to them," Honda teased.

"Monkey?!," Jonouchi exclaimed jumping out of his seat, "you want me to show you how I would kick their asses?"

"Cut it out!," Anzu yelled as she shoved Jonouchi back on the chair then turned to Yugi, "Yugi, she seemed pretty upset when we left last night. What do you think is bothering her?"

"I don't know. I just bet it has something to do with the past," Yugi said, "Hey, I know! Maybe you guys should come over and cheer her up. You guys always cheer me up. You could probably do the same with her." They all looked at him uneasily. They did not know this new girl. They did not know what she was like, or anything about her.

Aida woke up hearing the bell downstairs chiming on the door. She sat up, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She walked down to Yugi's room. It was empty. She felt an urge she could not resist. She acted tough when she had to. She did not want to show any weakness, but this was one time when no one was around. She walked in and looked around. She laid on his bed and breathed in the scent on his pillow. It was intoxicating. She smiled realizing how crazy she must look, but she did not care. She looked at the clothes in his closet. She smiled seeing all the little punk clothes he had. She heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Her heart started racing, she ran as quietly and as quickly as she could to her room. There was a knock on the door. Yugi's grandpa walked in.

"If you want any breakfast just help yourself," he said with a smile on his face, "our house is your house."

"Thank you," she said as he shut the door. She let out a sigh of relief. She took the rules in fighting into the real world. Any sign of weakness meant death. There was only one person she ever felt she could reveal every facet of herself to, and he was not in any position to be there for her. She knew the only person she could really trust with her feelings was herself.

She got dressed, and decided to take a walk to take her mind off of things. As she walked through town, she tried to amuse herself with shops and the people running their errands, but there was a nagging sadness in her that would not go away. She found herself immersed in her thoughts once more; in memories of the past. She pictured in her mind a man in the attire of the Pharaoh. She saw the way those Egyptian eyes would always make their way over to her. A smile had made its way onto her solemn face when she felt herself smack into something. She tripped back and hit the ground. She looked up into an all too familiar face.

"Watch where you're. . .," a tall gentleman with surly blue eyes gazed down at her. He held out his hand to help her up, "I'm sorry. Entirely my fault," he pulled her hand in and kissed it, "I am Seto Kaiba. President of Kaiba Corp."

"Pleased to meet you," she said in a hurried voice. She had to get away, "Sorry, but I must be going."

"Wait," he said. He felt like he had to do something to get her to stay, or go with him. Why did he feel this way? "What is your name?," he asked.

"It's Aida," she said not looking up at him.

"Lovely," he said, "What do you do? Where do you live?"

That was when she did look up and gave him a look, "I am staying with someone for a short while. I really must be going," she then turned and started to jog in the opposite direction.

"Who are you staying with?," he called after her. He had to know where she was going to be.

"Yugi Motou!," she called back still jogging away hoping she could get a clean escape. He stopped. That was the first time he had really had an interest in someone, and Yugi had already taken that away. His anger burned inside him. Would Yugi stop at nothing?

Yugi and his friends were walking to his house after school when they saw Aida sprinting from town, and stopping when she turned the corner to catch her breathe. She had a strange look on her face. "Aida!," Yugi called out, "what happened?"

Aida had stopped to catch her breath. She could not believe Seto was so close. It seemed that though he did not remember, he still had his feelings from the ancient times. She then heard, "Aida! What happened?" Yugi and his friends from the night before were all with him. She walked over to them still trying to catch her breath from running for six blocks. "Nothing. I just thought I would go on a quick run," she lied. The others could tell, but they did not question. They all walked to Yugi's house, and Aida made her way to her room. She let out a small gasp of shock when she saw that they had followed her.

"We came to give you some company," Yugi said, "You were by yourself all day."

"Oh," she said with an apprehensive tone, "ok. . ."

They all took seats around the room, and Yugi and Jonouchi started talking about Duel Monsters. Anzu and Honda took out their decks, and they all started talking about different cards and their hidden powers. Aida sat back and listened to them. It was amusing to her to watch a group of friends talk with one another, laugh, and have fun.

"Do you have a deck, Aida?," Anzu asked. They all turned and looked at her.

"No," she replied feeling like she was the odd one out, "I've never played before." They all exchanged looks between them. "I never really had time for games. I have mainly concentrated on fighting and training," she said seeing their exchanged glances, "it is something that I have strived to perfect."

"I've never seen anyone fight like you," Anzu said, "It was amazing."

Aida smiled at this compliment, "Thank you."

"How long have you been fighting?," Jonouchi asked her. A reluctant look overcame her face, and she looked down at the ground trying to figure out a way to say it. Seeing her expression Jonouchi said, "Do you think you could show me a couple moves?"

She was relieved he changed the subject, "Sure."

"Jonouchi, you're ass is going down," Honda said smirking.

"Yeah? Well if she shows me some moves, I bet I can kick the shit out of you!," Jonouchi shot back at Honda.

"You wanna make a bet on it?," Honda challenged standing up.

"Stop it, you guys," Anzu said pulling Honda back to sitting, "this is stupid to fight over."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'll let that slip by," Jonouchi said. Anzu gave Honda a look to keep his mouth shut. Jonouchi turned to Aida, "So what are we waiting for?"

"Well, lets go outside," she said grabbing her bag that held her metal rods. When they got outside, she took out two of the metal rods, and handed one to Jonouchi. "These are designed after Jueng Staffs," she said as she balanced one on her hand, "I've had these specially made for perfect balance and precision."

"Was that what you had last night?," Jonouchi asked.

She reached in her pocket and pulled out a small metal tube that resembled a pen. She hit a small button on the side and the ends shot out to create a staff. "This one is my favorite," she said doing a couple of impressive moves with it, "I had to win many tournaments to afford to have this made."

"Tournaments?," Yugi asked.

"Yes," she replied hitting the button again making the rod snap back into the small tube shape, "I was a professional fighter before I moved to Domino, but not the type normally thought of. I had no manager, no trainers, nothing. I would enter tournaments by myself to make enough money to travel. . . Well, let's get started." She caught herself about to tell them about her journeys in search of the Pharaoh. She could not tell anyone until the one person most worthy of knowing about the past knew first.

Aida showed him basic hits and defenses. Then she tested him to see how well he learned. "Alright, Jonouchi. Let's see how much you have retained," she said as she entered a stance, "let's go."

Jonouchi came at her doing the hits she showed him. She blocked every one, then knocked his staff to the side, caught him with hers, and flipped him on his back. "Not bad," she said with a smile, "you've been learning. Now really show me what you've got." This time Jonouchi even did a few moves that she did not show him. After a few minutes, she had him on his back again. "You're a fast learner," she said, "You would be a good fighter." Jonouchi blushed. She then turned to Anzu, "Why don't you give it a try? A girl needs to know how to defend herself," she had taken a liking to Anzu, and hoped that maybe they could become friends. It had been a long time since she had been able to have friends.

"Oh, I don't know," Anzu said apprehensively, "I don't think I could do anything like that."

"You don't know until you try," Aida said holding out a staff for Anzu. There was something in Aida that Anzu felt she could trust.

"All right!," Jonouchi said with a hungry grin on his face, "Girls fighting!" Aida and Anzu looked over at Jonouchi with harsh, but playful stares. "What?," he said picking himself a seat particularly close.

Aida let Anzu practice some of the moves she saw Jonouchi do. She then showed her some helpful moves that a female's limber body were great for. They then prepared to fight. Aida began by doing basic hits for Anzu to block. Then Anzu tried her hand at some. She then came at Aida by lifting herself up with the rod and gently side kicking Aida down.

Aida got up and said, "Excellent! You've the form and determination that only the best fighters have. I will have to remember to keep a close guard on with you." Anzu smiled and they shook hands.

"It's getting pretty late," Anzu said looking at the time on her cell phone, "I had better get home." The others agreed, and Yugi walked them to the door while Aida put up the staffs.

"Thanks you guys," Yugi said low enough so Aida would not hear, "I think you helped a lot!"

"No problem, Yugi," Anzu said, "It was a blast!"

"Yeah," Jonouchi chimed in, "it's been a while since I have had this much fun."

"We'll have to come back over sometime so I can show Aida how quickly I can kick Jonouchi's ass!," Honda said giving Jonouchi a small shove. Yugi closed the door as the three walked home with Jonouchi and Honda wrestling each other.

Aida came in with her bag, and saw Yugi shutting the door. "I really like your friends," she said as he turned back to her, "they are really nice."

"They're your friends, too," Yugi told her, "You are our friend."

Aida gave him a small smile of gratitude. She went upstairs, and put her weapons away. As she was putting them into the closet she heard a familiar deep voice behind her.

"Aida," Yami said as he came into the room, "where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I learned it a long time ago," she vaguely said.

"Who taught you?," he asked being cautious. He was trying to get her to tell him more about the past, but also trying not to bring up the bad memories that seemed to plague her.

"Someone from my past," she answered. She did not know if she was ready to tell him.

"You know you can tell me whenever you are ready," Yami said gently, "but the longer you wait. The harder it may be."

She looked up into his eyes, and that was all the strength she needed, "All right, I'm ready." Just as she began to tell him, there was a knock at the door.

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