Title: Hidden Memories

Written by: ChaosMagicianGirl

Disclaimer: I still don't own Yu-Gi-Oh : huggles Mana plushie protectively:

"….." spoken lines

"…" thoughts.

A/N:

Well, uhm, what's there to say……I know it's been months since I last updated this fic, but I just had no inspiration. But, now I'm back on track! So, thanks to the reviewers and here is the new chapter for Hidden Memories. Finally!

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Chapter three: Blazing emerald meets artic sapphire blue.

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After a few moments my blurry vision cleared up somewhat. I could now clearly distinguish the woman at my bed side.

Suddenly, something hit me like a brick stone on the head. This woman had a striking resemblance to….

Shaking my head, I dismissed these vague thoughts. I didn't even know this woman.

The "unknown woman" next to me spoke up again, put a hand on my shoulder, while asking me the same question again.

"Hey, I asked you if you're alright."

There was more urgency in her voice this time. No doubt, my strange behaviour from before was the cause of that.

Being snapped out of my stupor, I coughed once to clear my dry throat, before finally replying to her question.

" Uhm, yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for your concern, but it's not needed." I replied in a polite manner.

She only smiled at me.

"No need to be so polite. You don't need to address me as your superior or anything, Mana…" She stopped speaking for a mere moment when my name rolled of off her tongue, before she continued. "You don't mind me calling you Mana, do you?"

Surprised that she knew my name, I contemplated on her words for a short while.

I didn't know this woman that was a fact. But, somehow, I just felt I could trust her. Call it intuition if you will. I just knew she didn't mean any harm.

Brushing of my polite manner, I responded in a slight off- hand manner "I don't mind, if you don't mind me calling you by your name."

Ishizu, not expecting such a response, only chuckled.

Her eyes sparkling with mirth she was about to answer my question, when I suddenly heard a strange voice in my head. It passed through my mind, like a soft gust of wind, echoing against the walls of my consciousness. It was gone as soon as it had come. It only left me with two words imprinted firmly into my memory.

"My name is…." Ishizu started.

" Ishizu Ishtar…." I finished.

This statement of mine earned me a wide eyed stare from Ishizu.

"How do you know my name?" she asked me, startled and confused about the whole matter.

"I just do…" I answered in a kind of vague way.

Ishizu, having overcome her initial shock by now, suggested "Perhaps, you're a telepath, and you're just not aware of it. Or did Shadi tell you about me?"

"Maybe…" I replied "I don't know."

The fact was: I just felt plain creepy knowing that I knew her name, without her having told me whatsoever. And no, Shadi didn't give me an appearance description of the people that were on board. So, I couldn't have possibly known….

Wait. Did this strange phenomenon have something to do with my millennium items?

Ishizu only blinked a few times with her eyes stupidly at my strange response.

I used that moment of confusion to take a peek at my items.

'Can I read someone's mind with one of these objects?' I asked myself.

"From polite, to cheerful, to enigmatic in a matter of minutes." Ishizu stated "You must be an individual full of surprises."

"I guess I am…" I said, feeling kind of awkward, twirling a strand of my hair around my finger without even noticing it.

This was probably a bad habit of mine, I used, when I felt nervous in certain situations.

Ishizu started laughing. I laughed along.

With that, the ice between the two of us was broken.

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Seto's quarters: Seto's point of view.

Sitting behind my desk, I was furiously typing away on the keyboard of my laptop. I had to catch up on a lot of work. I missed a lot of work while participating and hosting the Battle city tournament. And now I'll have to work over hours to get this huge workload of off my shoulders again.

Sometimes, okay, scratch sometimes, I wished I didn't have this huge responsibility on my shoulders. I was sometimes so fed up with the fact, that because I had to lead my company, I hardly had any time to myself, or time to spend with my little brother for that matter.

That was however none of the things that preoccupied my mind at the time being. My thoughts were focussed on something else, or rather someone else.

Releasing an annoyed sigh, I slammed my laptop shut.

' Dammit, I can't work like this.' I thought.

I rested my left hand on my desk, while using my right hand to massage my pounding temples in exasperation.

I didn't believe in magic, nor did I believe in the fairy tale crap that Yugi pushed me into believing time and time again. At that time, I thought it was a load of bull shit.

But after tonight I couldn't deny what I had witnessed anymore….

Tonight's events really made me rethink my opinions on the ancient Egyptian crap department.

I still don't believe in faith or destiny however. You make your own destiny; it is not shaped for you. That's why I let the past for what it was, the past. Past actions and events couldn't be changed even if you wanted to. I took full responsibility for the mistakes I had made them, and faced the problems they presented, even till today.

I couldn't deny what I saw, experienced today, though. Everything I once held a solid believe in was shattered in a matter of minutes. I was forced to believe and accept that there are indeed things that defy logic.

"This feels so surreal, that it must be some kind of stupid joke."

I knew however that it was not a joke.

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Mana's room: Mana's point of view…

After the awkward first encounter I told Ishizu everything about the nightmare. Ishizu told me that she had come to see me, to answer some questions that I had about my past. Although she wouldn't be able to tell me much. As much as I wanted to know something, anything about my past, I just knew that today had been too much to handle for me.

I was so tired that I fell asleep almost immediately after she had left, but I forced myself to remain awake. We had agreed that as soon as we would arrive in Domino she would make arrangements for us to meet at the museum. I looked at her strangely, when I first heard the word museum. I didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

She apologised. She had forgotten that everything in this world was still strange and new for me. But, anyway, I agreed to come to the museum sometime. So, she could tell me in private between the two of us some more about my past. She told me she also had something interesting there, that I would probably like to see. She believed it had a direct link to my past somehow. My curiosity was picked as soon as she said that. I can't wait to see what she has in store for me.

Although, I'm afraid of what tomorrow will bring, when we arrive in Domino City ( Which is by the way one of the most weirdest names I ever heard of) I'm still eager to see what the world is like beyond the walls of this…uhm flying object they call blimp?

I still can't believe that we are actually flying, in the air?

I had to convince myself this was true when Ishizu told me.

I walked over to the window and looked out of it.

And sure enough, we were "flying". I let out a surprised squeak, and landed on my bottom. Ishizu was laughing so hard, I thought she would choke from lack of air. I, on the other hand, didn't find the matter very amusing, unlike her.

Anyway, I will have to face the world beyond the walls of this room tomorrow, and I will be brave, however difficult it will be for me to adapt and accept it.

Before she left, Ishizu told me that tomorrow morning Tea Gardener would visit me. She would bring some clothes for me to change into, which were more "appropriate" for this time arc. She thought I would draw too much attention with the garb I'm still adorning now. I didn't really like the prospect of dealing with yet another complete stranger, but she assured me by saying that Tea is a very kind, and trustworthy girl.

What was another strange thing during our encounter, though, was another fact besides the fact that I could somehow read minds?

Ishizu was the wielder of a millennium item too. She was the wielder of the Millennium tauk. She could predict the future and look into the past. That's what she had tried doing with me. But, somehow it didn't work. I had a sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with the millennium items that I carried…

So, now, I'll have to see what tomorrow has in store for me. And with that thought in mind, I succumbed to the temptation of sleep…..

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The next morning…..

Rapping on the door woke me up from my slumber. Well, almost. I lazily opened one of my eyes somewhat to take a peek at the door. It was too dark in my room to see anything though. And since I was too lazy to get out of my bed, to open the door and see who it was, I turned onto my side, let out a yawn, closed my eyes again, and tried going back to sleep.

But, unfortunately, the person standing behind the door was not going to leave me be, until I opened the door for him or her.

Groggily, I tried to sit, half opening my eyes. I put up my hands to my eyes, trying to rub the sleep out of them. My mind was still sleeping, while my body was awake by now. I was jerked back into the land of the living by the light, bright voice of a girl standing behind my door.

" Mana, this is Tea. Are you awake? I came by on Ishizu's request."

"Huh?" was my only reply, when suddenly it got trough to me?

'shit!'

"Oh, sorry!" I blurted out, while scrambling out of my bed. My clothes were in disarray and my hair looked totally dishevelled when I looked into the mirror, walking over to the door.

"I'm coming!" I yelled.

Opening the door to my quarters, I came face to face with a smiling girl of about 1 meter 65 tall, dark-brown hair and sparkling sky-blue eyes. She was quite pretty, and I guessed she was about the same age as me?

I looked at her stupidly for a few moments, not knowing what to say exactly.

"Hi, I'm Tea." she decided to start. "I imagine you're pretty confused about things right now, so I'll understand if you want me to come back later." she said, seeming to understand why I was acting this way.

"No, its okay, you can come in. Ishizu told me you would come." I said, inviting her in, by stepping to the side.

"Okay then." Tea replied.

When I had closed the door behind me, I watched Tea set down some kind of bag on the floor, made of a material I didn't know.

Overcoming my initial awkwardness, my natural curiosity took over.

"What's that thing you're carrying?" I blurted out suddenly.

"Oh, you mean this?" she said, turning around and motioning towards the plastic shopping bag. "It's called a shopping bag."

"But, what kind of material is it made of?"

"Plastic." Tea answered

"Plastic?" I muttered back, while pulling of a very weird face that made Tea burst out in laughing.

"Never mind!" Tea said, her eyes sparkling with mirth." It's the inside of the bag that counts!" She winked at me.

With that said, she grabbed the bag, and spilled the contents in it on the bed.

"Let's start with picking out some clothes for you to wear. We will have breakfast shortly and after that it won't be long until we reach Domino. So, come on!"

I walked over to the bed, while eyeing the strange so-called "clothes" that lay spread out on the bed.

"Okay, let's start…."

After about an hour we were done with picking out clothes for me to wear. I had chosen to wear baggy black pants with yellow zippers at the front, yellow lining running down the sides and a black, sleeveless shirt with in emerald letters Bad girl printed on the front ( Or that's what Tea told me, I couldn't and still can't understand the words on it.)

I didn't really care. Truth be told, I thought I looked totally ridiculous, although Tea told me a hundred times I looked absolutely stunning.

'Yeah, right!' I thought to myself while walking down the hallway to the main hall of the blimp.

We had been told at breakfast to gather there as soon as we could, since we would be arriving in Domino anytime now.

I was glad I was alone for a few moments longer. I felt so awkward at breakfast. Everybody was trying to make conversation with me, to get me out of my shell so to speak.

Two boys of Yugi's gang were constantly ogling me, which almost made me barf. I believe they were called Tristan and Duke? Really, I didn't care either way. They were so annoying! They snuck glances at me when they thought I wasn't looking. I remained rather quiet at breakfast, making shallow conversation with Tea, Ishizu and Serenity; a nice girl I met just then. She was rather shy, but very kind and sweet. I had a feeling she understood what I was going through. And she didn't mind the fact that I really didn't say much at breakfast. She just smiled at me and I smiled right back at her.

What was the most unnerving of the entire breakfast ordeal, though, was the fact that a small boy, I believe he is called Yugi was looking at me in a strange way. And the thing was, it looked like he recognised me from somewhere. And I had a feeling in my gut that I knew him too, a long time ago…..

The man, who had hosted the tournament, was eating breakfast at another table together with a cute little raven haired boy called Mokuba. Seto Kaiba, who was his older brother, was looking at me with his intense sapphire blue eyes, boring holes through me or at least trying to.

His stares really unnerved me. I felt really uncomfortable under his penetrating gaze. A gaze that looked like it had been designed to dissect a person layer by layer.

I shuddered when I thought about it again.

The fact that he was extremely handsome meant my downfall when I decided to confront him.

((Flashback))

"Would you mind telling me why you keep staring at me?" I demanded to know, stopping right in front of his table.

I did understand that it might be weird and awkward for him that a girl from the past was suddenly revived by magic in front of his very unbelieving eyes. But that still gave him no valid reason to stare at my, trying to analyse my behaviour, my every movement, determining if I was some kind of freak of nature. Which I'm not, so I decided to confront him.

I was annoyed to say the least and he decided to test my patience further by just flat out ignoring me.

"Hello, I'm talking to you!"

"Big brother, Mana asked you something!" Mokuba said to Seto, a frown appearing on his face, when he noticed his brother was ignoring her.

"Who's Mana, Mokuba?" Seto replied calmly, still ignoring me, sipping on his cup of coffee.

By now I was fuming.

"That would be me!" I snapped at him." And I'm standing right here, you pompous ass!"

" Seto!" started Mokuba, making gestures with his hands, clearly aggravated with his brother's behaviour towards the girl. " Stop acting as if she doesn't exist!"

"Fine…." Seto admitted reluctantly.

He turned towards me, his cold ice-like eyes boring into mine.

"What do you want?" he asked coldly.

"What DO I WANT?" I all but screamed into his face "is for you to stop staring at me!"

He raised a slender chocolate eye-brow at my statement.

"And are you so sure that it isn't the other way around?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, dreading the possible answer, confusion flashing through my eyes for a brief moment.

"That you were staring at me" he finished with a smug smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth.

For a moment I didn't understand what he was saying. But then it got through to me.

"Why you!" I said, turning beet-red. "Perverted son of a bitch!"

"Is that the best you can do?" he replied, while emphasising he was bored by mock yawning.

"Oh, shut your yap!" was the only thing I could come up with, before stalking off angry to my table.

((End of flashback))

That was so humiliating!

I bowed my head in shame, when I thought back to this. My dark-brown bangs falling over my eyes, as I continued walking.

When I arrived at the entrance hall of the blimp, I saw that everybody had already gathered there.

Suddenly, I didn't know what I would do, once we came of the blimp.

"Where will I go?" I thought numbly to myself, oblivious to anything else.

"Hey, Mana! " Tea was calling out to me, waving her hands in the air. "Over here!"

I walked over to her and the other two girls; Serenity and Ishizu.

I greeted them with a curt nod, nothing more. I didn't really feel like dealing with anyone right now.

"We and the guys were discussing something before you came." Tea opened the conversation.

"Oh?" I said, feigning interest.

"Well, we were discussing with whom you could stay, since you don't have anywhere else to go." Tea said in a sympatic voice. The others nodded at that.

"Well, I've been thinking about that too…." I replied.

"We think that…" Tea continued, but was interrupted by a cool and smooth voice saying; "She will stay at the Kaiba mansion."

It was Seto Kaiba.

I whirled around, recognising the voice immediately.

"And who said…..I wanted to stay at your place?" I snapped at him, in a voice filled with loathing.

Our first encounter was still fresh in my mind.

A boy with blond hair, called Joey stepped forward.

"Yeah, who said she will stay at your place, moneybags? Last time, I checked, she isn't your property.

"Shut up, mutt. I wasn't talking to you."

"Why you!" Joey sputtered, charging at Kaiba, being restrained as was usual the case by Tristan and Duke.

He turned to Yugi.

"Look Yugi, none of you have to the room or recourses to accommodate her. I do." stated Kaiba.

"My brother's right, Yugi." Mokuba spoke up "We have plenty of room in our mansion. She could have her own quarters assigned to her, and we have the money to provide for her."

"Well, I guess you and your brother have a point there, Mokuba." Yugi reluctantly admitted.

His other half, Yami, wasn't too pleased with the turn of events, he could feel that much.

"Okay, then that's settled. She will be staying at our mansion."

"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" I demanded. I had been quiet until now, waiting my turn.

'How dare he? Stuck-up prick!'

"No." was his simple reply when he turned to me.

We locked gazes for a few moments.

Blazing forest green meeting cold sapphire blue eyes. We both glared daggers at each other.

The contact between our eyes was brief however, as he suddenly turned, and walked away.

"Let's go, Mokuba." He said to his little brother who followed him reluctantly.

He gave me a small smile, before running after his brother.

I couldn't help but smile back, despite my anger.

For that brief moment in time, however, I swear the non verbal exchange between the two of us felt like a dejavu to me…….

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A/N:

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