Chapter One: Beginning of a New Friendship

A/N: One day, I was like thinking, "What would happen if Jonouchi was on Bakura's side in the Egyptian past?" Yeah, yeah, I know Jonouchi doesn't have a past form in Egypt, (I'm still pissed about that. T.T) but I like to imagine that he is. Anyway, Please R&R.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.

Darkness covered the barren dry land. A small sliver of a moon shone a feeble light in the starless sky. All was still in the empty desert and an eerie silence engulfed it. Not even a night wind blew in the ominous land. The soft sand lay unmoving, cooling off from the heat it gathered during the scorching day.

In this foreboding land, a small boy walked. He stumbled often and wavered because he couldn't see through the dark. His bare feet hardly left any tracks as he continued to walk uncertainly in the night. Exhaustion from the day's walk made the boy's body scream for rest, but he kept tottering forward, not listening to what is mind told him.

After walking what felt like eternity to the boy, he came into a village. Dark and damp, the houses looked rundown in the night. As he looked for a place to sleep, he noticed an ominous feeling in the village. His heart felt heavy and the last of his strength seemed to dissipate in the darkness. Needing rest, he peeked into one of the houses to find it empty. As he looked into each house, the boy found that the residents weren't there.

Finally, he saw a lone figure sitting on the ground in an alleyway. As he approached the figure, he saw that the figure was also a young boy. White hair fell down to his shoulders and violet-colored eyes stared blankly at the sand beneath him. He was crouched over with his hands on the ground. The boy was that the albino boy had tears running down freely on his face. When he put his hand on the other boy's shoulder, he felt the albino flinch.

"…you ok?" A stupid question, but the boy was concerned that the other boy was crying.

"They're all gone…mother, father…my dear sister, all gone…" He continued to cry as he stared at the ground.

The boy was then reminded of his own family. Memories of them having a good time came back to him. He could see his father's confident face, his mother's gentle smile, and his sister's innocent look. But those days were long gone. He was alone, and it seemed as if the albino was, too. Then, he did something that surprised the crying boy. Soft arms wrapped around the albino as the boy hugged him. Taken aback for a moment, he resumed crying. Tears soaked the ragged shirt the boy had on as he held on to the other. Quiet sobs echoed in the empty village.

After the albino had calmed down, the boy let go of him. He raised his eyes and took a good look at the boy who comforted him. Messy, blonde hair slightly covered his eyes and almost fell to his shoulders. His tan, light-brown skin let the albino know he was Egyptian, just as he was. He had a strong-built body, but his torn-up shirt made him look scrawny. But what caught his attention was the color of his eyes. The blonde boy also had and unusual eye color, he had ruby-red eyes that had an unusual spark in them. Normally, you wouldn't see a blonde with red eyes in Egypt, but this boy seemed special.

"…who did this?" the blonde asked. He looked at the albino with pity in his eyes. To lose your family at such a young age, that's just too cruel.

Anger filled the albino's mind as the memory of watching his family being melted came back. "…the evil pharaoh ordered the people of my town, Kul Elna, to be used as human sacrifices. The officials slaughtered the villagers and melted them to form seven golden items." He paused for a moment to see the blonde had a horrified look on his face. The thought of human sacrifices made him feel nauseous. "He killed my family, my people, just because we were a village of thieves. The pharaoh will pay, I will get my revenge!" Bitter tears formed in his dark brown eyes again. Pain of his loss turned to wanting of revenge.

"…how long ago was this?"

"About two days ago, I think." The shock of the gruesome event had caused the albino to lose his sanity temporarily, making him ignore the passage of time. What he thought was two days was actually two months ago.

"You've been by yourself, then, huh?" the blonde's eyes showed pain as he thought of himself.

"Yeah, I'm all alone."

"…same here," the blonde boy said sadly. "I lost my family when desert bandits looted our town. My father stayed back to help while I got separated from my mother and sister. When I came back, I found their corpses rotting in the sun. After that, I just started running…because I had nowhere else to go…" It was his turn to cry. Tears streamed down his face as the memory of his family's death continued to haunt him. But he quickly wiped them off his face. He had to be strong for the sake of his family.

Both the blonde and the albino stayed silent for a while, each within his own thoughts. But they both thought of the same thing, the loving family they lost, and the pain that was left behind. They longed to be in the warmth of their parent's hold. They wanted to see their smiling sisters again. Both wanted revenge on the ones who took that warmth, that protection away from them. They continued to think this until the sun started to rise in the horizon. The albino, seeing the sun, got up and walked into the closest house, wanting to be out of the blazing sun. The blonde quickly followed him inside, for the temperatures in the desert were life-threatening.

When they were both inside, the blonde turned to face the albino. Somehow, they saw a likeness in the two of them. Both had lost their family and both were alone.

"…so, what's your name?" the blonde asked as drowsiness started to overcome him. He tried his best to stay awake so he could know the albino's name.

"…Bakura…what's yours?"

"…Jonouchi…" with that, the blonde fell to the ground, sleep finally taking hold of him. Bakura stared at the unusual blonde before realizing that he himself was tired too. He got to the ground and lay down next to him.

"…good night, Jonouchi…" Soon, both boys were sleeping peacefully in the forsaken village.

TBC