Kris: Hah, someone supports me! Thanks Yami Lara and I hope your head
feels better *hands Yami Lara an ice pack*
Crystal: Yay. I have reviews. ^_^ Here ya go Kris *gives him a extra-large
Tootsie Roll*
Kris*starry-eyed*: Tootsie Roll *drools* Thank you aibou *glomps Crystal*
Crystal*squished voice*: No Problem Kris. BTW Yu-Gi-Oh is not mine. Just
borrowing it for my story.
Kris: Don't forget to check out my description on Crystal's bio. Now read
the story. *Munches on Tootsie Roll*
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ "Blah" = speaking [Blah] = thoughts //Blah// = yami to hikari /Blah/ = hikari to yami
Chapter Two: New School, New Problems
"I'm heading out now, Seto." Crystal called, heading out the door.
"You sure you don't want a ride, Crystal?" Mokuba asked from the top of the steps.
"I'm going to get enough strange looks for the uniform." She replied with a laugh, "Beside I don't want to start any rumors about your brother."
"Before you go, can you run to the garage and tell Shin to wheel out the Silver Sapphire." Seto asked, appearing beside Mokuba.
Crystal nodded and gave Seto a thumbs-up before running out the door. Seto and Mokuba glanced at each other, grins plastered on their faces. Seto held up three fingers and lowered them on by one. As soon as the last one was lowered, the front door flew open, and Crystal raced up the stairs. Tears were in her eyes as she gave both boys huge hugs, thanking them repeatedly.
"Hurry up, and test it out." Seto said, "I want to know how well it rides when I see you at school."
Crystal nodded silently and ran back down the stair and out the front door. The Silver Sapphire was a brand-new silver and blue bicycle. It had a basket attached to the back wheel for Crystal to place her schoolbag. There was even a lock for the bike so Crystal could chain it up at school. Crystal placed her bag in the basket and rode out the main gates of Kaiba Mansion heading for school.
Crystal arrived at Domino High about twenty minutes before classes started. She chained up her bike and walked inside; ignoring the stares she received from the other students that had arrived early. She went to the office and picked up her schedule, receiving a pleasant smile from the secretary. Crystal headed to her homeroom to consult her schedule, so she knew what to expect for classes. When Crystal walked into the classroom she was surprised to see that the teacher was already in the room.
"I am Miss Haruna." The teacher said with a smile, "You must be Crystal Hikari."
"Hai, I am she." Crystal replied.
"Mr. Tsunami was right when he said I would recognize you out of all the other girls." Miss Haruna said with a pleasant smile, "Please sit anywhere you'd like. One of your classmates has already chosen his seat."
Crystal turned to see a boy in the very back row staring out the window. He had long white hair and a gentle-looking face. His chocolate brown eyes gazed longingly out the window. Crystal couldn't blame him for wanting to be outside; it was another perfect, late-summer day. Crystal walked to the back row and sat down in the desk beside the boy. He turned and stared at her with mild surprise written on his pale face.
"You're staring." Crystal said in a gentle voice.
"Sorry." The boy said, "I've never seen a girl wear the boys' uniform before."
"It's okay. Most people haven't." Crystal replied with an amused smile, "My name is Crystal Hikari."
"I'm Ryou Bakura. Call me, Ryou." The boy replied, "You must be new."
"I just moved here from Tokyo last week." Crystal said.
"I moved here from England last year." Ryou explained, "I don't know what sort of treatment girls get for being new, but being a new guy is rough."
"Thanks for the warning." Crystal nodded, "So how is the cafeteria food?"
"You don't want to know." Ryou said with a sickened face.
"But the a la Carte is pretty good." He added quickly, causing relief to flood Crystal's face.
Soon, more people started to file into the classroom. Ryou rose and walked over to a group of four other students, three boys and a girl. Ryou started talking to them and motioned to Crystal. The girl broke away from the group, smiling brightly. Her cerulean eyes sparkled and her short, chestnut brown hair bounced as she walked over to Crystal. She held out her hand and introduced herself as Anzu. Crystal shook her hand and smiled back.
"Come on." Anzu said, "I'll introduce you to my other friends."
"Okay." Crystal said, suddenly feeling shy and nervous.
Anzu led Crystal over to the three boys and had them introduce themselves. The boy with brown hair and hazel eyes introduced himself as Honda. The boy with blonde hair and brown eyes was Jonouchi, insisting that Jono be used. Then finally the boy that was only five foot if you included his wild tri-color hair (blond bangs, with black spiked hair that ended with red tips) introduce himself as Yugi. His magenta eyes were shining brightly with excitement.
"My name is Crystal." Crystal said, "It was nice to meet all of you."
"I got a question." Jono said, "How come you're wearing the guy uniform instead of the girl one?"
"I'd rather not answer that right now." Crystal replied softly, before heading back to her desk.
"Okay, no asking about the uniform." Jono his face falling slightly.
Ryou looked over at Crystal, but her face was buried in her arms. He could see the almost unnoticeable tremors of her sobs. By asking that simple question Jono had accidentally touched a sensitive nerve in her mind. No one else seemed to notice that she was crying. Yugi and the others had started talking about Duelist Kingdom again. Ryou shook his head slightly and walked back to his desk. As he did Bakura took the moment to taunt him from within the Ring.
//Let's see. What do we have here?//
/Please, Bakura. Not here./
//Like I would even want to take over here.//
/What do you want then?/
//A better look at that girl, for one. Talk to her.//
"Crystal?" Ryou asked softly, "Are you okay?"
"No." Crystal replied in a soft voice, not looking up.
//Stubborn mortal.//
That was the last Ryou heard from Bakura until close to lunch. Bakura was determined to find out more about Crystal. So much so, that he shoved Ryou into his soul room as soon as the bell rang for lunch. Bakura followed Crystal out of the classroom and to the cafeteria. She noticed him behind her in line, and gave Bakura a timid, scared look before paying for her food and darting out of the room.
/Please leave her alone, Bakura./
//Shut up, baka! I don't know how she did it, but that girl can tell us apart.//
Bakura left from the same door as Crystal, but lost her in the sea of students still in the hallway. Growling angrily, Bakura relinquished his hold over Ryou, who decided it was best to head up to the roof. He knew nobody went up there because everyone knew he went up there. Even though Ryou didn't know exactly what Bakura did to the people that got close to him, Ryou knew that their souls probably ended up in the Shadow Realm one way or another. Ryou was surprised to hear soft crying when he opened the door to the rooftop.
"Crystal, what are you doing up here?" Ryou asked, seeing the distraught girl.
"Leave me alone, please." Crystal said looking up.
Diamond-like tears were flowing from her hurt sapphire eyes. Crystal's face was flushed from crying and running. Her eyes showed nothing but sadness and pain as she stared into his eyes. Ryou could tell something had hurt Crystal deep inside, all the way to the deepest part of her soul. Ryou felt a trickle of emotion seep through his mind link with Bakura, but Bakura closed up the link before Ryou could identify the emotion.
"What happened?" Ryou asked, "Maybe I can help you."
"Unless you can go back in time, you can't help me." Crystal said, turning her back to Ryou and gripping the fence, "No one can help me."
//I'll let you have control once I have answers. Now, no eavesdropping.//
Bakura ripped away Ryou's control, forcing the terrified boy into his soul room. Then Bakura cut off all of Ryou's connections to the outside world, leaving the boy to worry about the girl that was now alone with his yami. Bakura's face twisted into an evil, almost sadistic smirk. He placed a hand on Crystal's shoulder and turned her around, pinning her against the fence. Her eyes were filled with fear, causing a sensation of power to course through Bakura.
"Very few people can see the difference between us." Bakura sneered, "I want to know how you can tell."
"The eyes are the windows to the soul." Crystal replied softly.
"Oh, really? Well what do you see in my soul?" Bakura asked.
"Rage, hate, darkness." Crystal answered, lowering her eyes, "And a deep pain, one deeper than my own."
"This meeting never happened." Bakura said releasing his hold on both Crystal and Ryou.
"Did Bakura hurt you?" Ryou asked urgently, "Please Crystal tell me."
"I'm sorry." Crystal whispered running past Ryou and into the school.
Crystal had never been more scared in her life. There was something that possessed the first person to offer her friendship besides the Kaiba brothers. There was so much rage and hate in his mahogany eyes. Crystal was so wound up in her thoughts that she accidentally ran into someone; it was Yugi. An embarrassed blush spread across her face as she helped Yugi rise to his feet.
"You okay?" He asked, his magenta eyes filled with worry.
"Do you know where I can find Seto Kaiba?" Crystal asked.
"Room A-8, I think." Yugi replied, "Why?"
"Thank you." Crystal said, before heading to the classroom.
//Why would she want to see Kaiba?//
/I don't know, Yami. It must be important though./
Crystal quickly made her way to A-8, hoping to find Seto there. As Yugi said, Seto was inside and thankfully he was the only one in the room. Crystal opened the door quietly, and Seto looked up at the sound. He started to smile, but it faded quickly when he saw the sorrow in Crystal's eyes. Someone had hurt her emotionally. Seto motioned to the seat in front of him and she sat down.
"What happened Neko-chan?" He asked gently.
"No one hurt me, he just reminded me of my mother." Crystal replied, "He asked the nearly same question she always did."
"He asked about the uniform." Seto said, "I haven't even heard the answer to that question. Who asked you? Maybe I know him."
"Katsuya Jonouchi." Crystal replied.
"Oh, the mutt." Seto snorted.
"Then you know his friends?" Crystal prompted.
Seto nodded just as the bell rang, signaling the five-minute warning. Crystal told Seto goodbye and headed back to her homeroom as quickly as she could. She made it into the room just before Ryou and the others. As Crystal walked to her desk, someone tripped her, sending her crashing to the floor. It was one of the other girls from her class. Crystal held in her pain as she rose and continued back to her desk.
"That wasn't very kind, Keanu." Anzu said loudly.
"She's lucky she's getting it from me instead of Shiro." Keanu replied just as loudly, "You know he'd be harassing her if he were here. Come on, just look at what she's wearing."
"So what?" Anzu retorted, "She's a perfectly nice girl. It doesn't matter which uniform she wears."
"Please, Mazaki-san." Crystal said, turning around, "Please don't."
Seeing the look in Crystal's eyes, Anzu became silent and sat down. It was easy to see that Crystal didn't want anyone to defend her. The teacher came into the room and afternoon classes went by quickly. When the last bell rang, everyone, except Crystal and Ryou, hurried out of the room. Crystal slowly packed away her books, not making eye contact with Ryou as he did the same.
"Crystal, did he do anything to you?" Ryou asked cautiously, "Please tell me."
"Nothing happened." Crystal replied, still not meeting his eyes, "Please don't ask me about it again."
Crystal gave Ryou such a cold look that it strongly reminded him of Kaiba. Then she picked up her bag and stalked out of the room. Bakura was just as stunned as Ryou by the girl's actions, but mentally smirked in satisfaction at her answer. She was doing exactly as he told her to do. Suddenly the mental link he shared with Ryou was overrun by Ryou's emotions of pity, worry, and a hint anger.
/What did you do to that poor girl, Bakura?/
//I got the answers I wanted from her. I didn't hurt her, just scared her a bit.//
Then Ryou saw something that made his jaw drop in shock. Crystal was climbing into a black limousine along with Seto Kaiba. Ryou noticed that the two of them were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. For someone that was so new, it didn't seem logical for her to be going anywhere with Kaiba. He couldn't figure out what was going on, and Bakura didn't help with his perverse imagination.
//You like that girl don't you?//
/She's different from the other girls here./
//I'll take that as a yes.//
/I didn't say that./
//But you did, Ryou. *snicker*//
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Kris: Hey, what's this going on between Neko-chan and the Tomb Robber? He'd better leave her alone or I'll-*pulls out Egyptian styled sword*. Crystal*scared voice*: O_o Kris, calm down, and don't worry. Neko-chan will be fine. Now put away your sword (Where did he get that from?) and I'll give you another Tootsie Roll. Kris *puts away sword*: Fine. Now where's my candy. Crystal: Don't forget to Read and Review. *hands Kris another extra-large Tootsie Roll* Kris: Yippee, candy. *glomps Crystal* See ya next time. ^_^ Crystal: One last thing if we're talking about Neko-chan, that's Crystal from the story saves everyone from confusion.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^ "Blah" = speaking [Blah] = thoughts //Blah// = yami to hikari /Blah/ = hikari to yami
Chapter Two: New School, New Problems
"I'm heading out now, Seto." Crystal called, heading out the door.
"You sure you don't want a ride, Crystal?" Mokuba asked from the top of the steps.
"I'm going to get enough strange looks for the uniform." She replied with a laugh, "Beside I don't want to start any rumors about your brother."
"Before you go, can you run to the garage and tell Shin to wheel out the Silver Sapphire." Seto asked, appearing beside Mokuba.
Crystal nodded and gave Seto a thumbs-up before running out the door. Seto and Mokuba glanced at each other, grins plastered on their faces. Seto held up three fingers and lowered them on by one. As soon as the last one was lowered, the front door flew open, and Crystal raced up the stairs. Tears were in her eyes as she gave both boys huge hugs, thanking them repeatedly.
"Hurry up, and test it out." Seto said, "I want to know how well it rides when I see you at school."
Crystal nodded silently and ran back down the stair and out the front door. The Silver Sapphire was a brand-new silver and blue bicycle. It had a basket attached to the back wheel for Crystal to place her schoolbag. There was even a lock for the bike so Crystal could chain it up at school. Crystal placed her bag in the basket and rode out the main gates of Kaiba Mansion heading for school.
Crystal arrived at Domino High about twenty minutes before classes started. She chained up her bike and walked inside; ignoring the stares she received from the other students that had arrived early. She went to the office and picked up her schedule, receiving a pleasant smile from the secretary. Crystal headed to her homeroom to consult her schedule, so she knew what to expect for classes. When Crystal walked into the classroom she was surprised to see that the teacher was already in the room.
"I am Miss Haruna." The teacher said with a smile, "You must be Crystal Hikari."
"Hai, I am she." Crystal replied.
"Mr. Tsunami was right when he said I would recognize you out of all the other girls." Miss Haruna said with a pleasant smile, "Please sit anywhere you'd like. One of your classmates has already chosen his seat."
Crystal turned to see a boy in the very back row staring out the window. He had long white hair and a gentle-looking face. His chocolate brown eyes gazed longingly out the window. Crystal couldn't blame him for wanting to be outside; it was another perfect, late-summer day. Crystal walked to the back row and sat down in the desk beside the boy. He turned and stared at her with mild surprise written on his pale face.
"You're staring." Crystal said in a gentle voice.
"Sorry." The boy said, "I've never seen a girl wear the boys' uniform before."
"It's okay. Most people haven't." Crystal replied with an amused smile, "My name is Crystal Hikari."
"I'm Ryou Bakura. Call me, Ryou." The boy replied, "You must be new."
"I just moved here from Tokyo last week." Crystal said.
"I moved here from England last year." Ryou explained, "I don't know what sort of treatment girls get for being new, but being a new guy is rough."
"Thanks for the warning." Crystal nodded, "So how is the cafeteria food?"
"You don't want to know." Ryou said with a sickened face.
"But the a la Carte is pretty good." He added quickly, causing relief to flood Crystal's face.
Soon, more people started to file into the classroom. Ryou rose and walked over to a group of four other students, three boys and a girl. Ryou started talking to them and motioned to Crystal. The girl broke away from the group, smiling brightly. Her cerulean eyes sparkled and her short, chestnut brown hair bounced as she walked over to Crystal. She held out her hand and introduced herself as Anzu. Crystal shook her hand and smiled back.
"Come on." Anzu said, "I'll introduce you to my other friends."
"Okay." Crystal said, suddenly feeling shy and nervous.
Anzu led Crystal over to the three boys and had them introduce themselves. The boy with brown hair and hazel eyes introduced himself as Honda. The boy with blonde hair and brown eyes was Jonouchi, insisting that Jono be used. Then finally the boy that was only five foot if you included his wild tri-color hair (blond bangs, with black spiked hair that ended with red tips) introduce himself as Yugi. His magenta eyes were shining brightly with excitement.
"My name is Crystal." Crystal said, "It was nice to meet all of you."
"I got a question." Jono said, "How come you're wearing the guy uniform instead of the girl one?"
"I'd rather not answer that right now." Crystal replied softly, before heading back to her desk.
"Okay, no asking about the uniform." Jono his face falling slightly.
Ryou looked over at Crystal, but her face was buried in her arms. He could see the almost unnoticeable tremors of her sobs. By asking that simple question Jono had accidentally touched a sensitive nerve in her mind. No one else seemed to notice that she was crying. Yugi and the others had started talking about Duelist Kingdom again. Ryou shook his head slightly and walked back to his desk. As he did Bakura took the moment to taunt him from within the Ring.
//Let's see. What do we have here?//
/Please, Bakura. Not here./
//Like I would even want to take over here.//
/What do you want then?/
//A better look at that girl, for one. Talk to her.//
"Crystal?" Ryou asked softly, "Are you okay?"
"No." Crystal replied in a soft voice, not looking up.
//Stubborn mortal.//
That was the last Ryou heard from Bakura until close to lunch. Bakura was determined to find out more about Crystal. So much so, that he shoved Ryou into his soul room as soon as the bell rang for lunch. Bakura followed Crystal out of the classroom and to the cafeteria. She noticed him behind her in line, and gave Bakura a timid, scared look before paying for her food and darting out of the room.
/Please leave her alone, Bakura./
//Shut up, baka! I don't know how she did it, but that girl can tell us apart.//
Bakura left from the same door as Crystal, but lost her in the sea of students still in the hallway. Growling angrily, Bakura relinquished his hold over Ryou, who decided it was best to head up to the roof. He knew nobody went up there because everyone knew he went up there. Even though Ryou didn't know exactly what Bakura did to the people that got close to him, Ryou knew that their souls probably ended up in the Shadow Realm one way or another. Ryou was surprised to hear soft crying when he opened the door to the rooftop.
"Crystal, what are you doing up here?" Ryou asked, seeing the distraught girl.
"Leave me alone, please." Crystal said looking up.
Diamond-like tears were flowing from her hurt sapphire eyes. Crystal's face was flushed from crying and running. Her eyes showed nothing but sadness and pain as she stared into his eyes. Ryou could tell something had hurt Crystal deep inside, all the way to the deepest part of her soul. Ryou felt a trickle of emotion seep through his mind link with Bakura, but Bakura closed up the link before Ryou could identify the emotion.
"What happened?" Ryou asked, "Maybe I can help you."
"Unless you can go back in time, you can't help me." Crystal said, turning her back to Ryou and gripping the fence, "No one can help me."
//I'll let you have control once I have answers. Now, no eavesdropping.//
Bakura ripped away Ryou's control, forcing the terrified boy into his soul room. Then Bakura cut off all of Ryou's connections to the outside world, leaving the boy to worry about the girl that was now alone with his yami. Bakura's face twisted into an evil, almost sadistic smirk. He placed a hand on Crystal's shoulder and turned her around, pinning her against the fence. Her eyes were filled with fear, causing a sensation of power to course through Bakura.
"Very few people can see the difference between us." Bakura sneered, "I want to know how you can tell."
"The eyes are the windows to the soul." Crystal replied softly.
"Oh, really? Well what do you see in my soul?" Bakura asked.
"Rage, hate, darkness." Crystal answered, lowering her eyes, "And a deep pain, one deeper than my own."
"This meeting never happened." Bakura said releasing his hold on both Crystal and Ryou.
"Did Bakura hurt you?" Ryou asked urgently, "Please Crystal tell me."
"I'm sorry." Crystal whispered running past Ryou and into the school.
Crystal had never been more scared in her life. There was something that possessed the first person to offer her friendship besides the Kaiba brothers. There was so much rage and hate in his mahogany eyes. Crystal was so wound up in her thoughts that she accidentally ran into someone; it was Yugi. An embarrassed blush spread across her face as she helped Yugi rise to his feet.
"You okay?" He asked, his magenta eyes filled with worry.
"Do you know where I can find Seto Kaiba?" Crystal asked.
"Room A-8, I think." Yugi replied, "Why?"
"Thank you." Crystal said, before heading to the classroom.
//Why would she want to see Kaiba?//
/I don't know, Yami. It must be important though./
Crystal quickly made her way to A-8, hoping to find Seto there. As Yugi said, Seto was inside and thankfully he was the only one in the room. Crystal opened the door quietly, and Seto looked up at the sound. He started to smile, but it faded quickly when he saw the sorrow in Crystal's eyes. Someone had hurt her emotionally. Seto motioned to the seat in front of him and she sat down.
"What happened Neko-chan?" He asked gently.
"No one hurt me, he just reminded me of my mother." Crystal replied, "He asked the nearly same question she always did."
"He asked about the uniform." Seto said, "I haven't even heard the answer to that question. Who asked you? Maybe I know him."
"Katsuya Jonouchi." Crystal replied.
"Oh, the mutt." Seto snorted.
"Then you know his friends?" Crystal prompted.
Seto nodded just as the bell rang, signaling the five-minute warning. Crystal told Seto goodbye and headed back to her homeroom as quickly as she could. She made it into the room just before Ryou and the others. As Crystal walked to her desk, someone tripped her, sending her crashing to the floor. It was one of the other girls from her class. Crystal held in her pain as she rose and continued back to her desk.
"That wasn't very kind, Keanu." Anzu said loudly.
"She's lucky she's getting it from me instead of Shiro." Keanu replied just as loudly, "You know he'd be harassing her if he were here. Come on, just look at what she's wearing."
"So what?" Anzu retorted, "She's a perfectly nice girl. It doesn't matter which uniform she wears."
"Please, Mazaki-san." Crystal said, turning around, "Please don't."
Seeing the look in Crystal's eyes, Anzu became silent and sat down. It was easy to see that Crystal didn't want anyone to defend her. The teacher came into the room and afternoon classes went by quickly. When the last bell rang, everyone, except Crystal and Ryou, hurried out of the room. Crystal slowly packed away her books, not making eye contact with Ryou as he did the same.
"Crystal, did he do anything to you?" Ryou asked cautiously, "Please tell me."
"Nothing happened." Crystal replied, still not meeting his eyes, "Please don't ask me about it again."
Crystal gave Ryou such a cold look that it strongly reminded him of Kaiba. Then she picked up her bag and stalked out of the room. Bakura was just as stunned as Ryou by the girl's actions, but mentally smirked in satisfaction at her answer. She was doing exactly as he told her to do. Suddenly the mental link he shared with Ryou was overrun by Ryou's emotions of pity, worry, and a hint anger.
/What did you do to that poor girl, Bakura?/
//I got the answers I wanted from her. I didn't hurt her, just scared her a bit.//
Then Ryou saw something that made his jaw drop in shock. Crystal was climbing into a black limousine along with Seto Kaiba. Ryou noticed that the two of them were trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. For someone that was so new, it didn't seem logical for her to be going anywhere with Kaiba. He couldn't figure out what was going on, and Bakura didn't help with his perverse imagination.
//You like that girl don't you?//
/She's different from the other girls here./
//I'll take that as a yes.//
/I didn't say that./
//But you did, Ryou. *snicker*//
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Kris: Hey, what's this going on between Neko-chan and the Tomb Robber? He'd better leave her alone or I'll-*pulls out Egyptian styled sword*. Crystal*scared voice*: O_o Kris, calm down, and don't worry. Neko-chan will be fine. Now put away your sword (Where did he get that from?) and I'll give you another Tootsie Roll. Kris *puts away sword*: Fine. Now where's my candy. Crystal: Don't forget to Read and Review. *hands Kris another extra-large Tootsie Roll* Kris: Yippee, candy. *glomps Crystal* See ya next time. ^_^ Crystal: One last thing if we're talking about Neko-chan, that's Crystal from the story saves everyone from confusion.