Warnings and Disclaimer: Nope, nothing new. Disappointed?

Even the usually studious Chang Wufei was finding it difficult to remain alert, listening to the unending drone of his new (and hopefully temporary) History teacher. Beside the Chinese boy, the head of a student with rather odd spiky hair hit his desk with an audible thud, and Wufei winced in sympathy. That had to hurt.

Sighing, he glanced once more at the clock. Wufei then had to resist the temptation to pull his gun and start shooting as he discovered that they were a mere fifteen minutes into the class. Kami-sama, but this was boring.

He quickly regretted that thought, as an explosion shook the building, and he dove to the floor.

Poking his head up over his desk as no more explosions followed, Wufei suddenly flashed back to when Yuy had handed the other two pilots their schedules.

The fool had given Maxwell access to chemicals.

The last member of the Dragon clan then proceeded to curse quietly, but with ardent feeling.

"Maxwell, you idiot!"

Yami was cursing the immortal soul of a certain Isis Ishtar with every fiber of his being, a situation brought about by the incredible talent his teacher showed for making history a mind-numbing monstrosity.

The former pharaoh was just considering giving away an all-expenses-paid trip to the Shadow Realm when the monotony was broken by a quiver underfoot that rocked the school.

Beside him, he saw one boy drop to the floor, whom he quickly joined. None of the other students moved from their seats, having seemingly forgotten they were in the middle of a war as they speculated as to the cause of the disturbance.

'Yugi?' Yami called, concerned. 'Are you alright?'

'We're fine,' Yugi's voice came back.

'Thank Ra. What was that, anyway? It couldn't have been an attack or we'd all be dead.'

'Ryou says that Bakura's first class was chemistry.'

'…Dammit.' Yami sighed, muttering quietly, "That idiot…" He wasn't sure if he meant the tombrobber or Konjaku for arranging Bakura's schedule. Probably both.

Duo would have tried to rub at least some of the soot off his face, but his hands weren't any cleaner, and the stony-faced security guards who had escorted him to the principal's office had refused his requests for a chance to clean up. So he had to suffer…well, not in silence, think who we're talking about here- in fact, the reason the guards were so stony-faced was probably the constant stream of veiled and not-so-veiled insults directed at them by their two charges. And thank Kami-sama they couldn't hear what Shin was calling them.

As for Bakura, he couldn't remember having such a good time in centuries, even if he was getting a headache from muffling his hikari's yelling. He resolved to blow something up again soon- it seemed to be therapeutic.

The thief still couldn't believe the teacher had been that clumsy. You'd think a chemistry teacher would know better than to drop a flask of an unknown substance. He supposed it was for the best that the idiot hadn't decided to wait till later, though, when the explosive would have been more potent. Isis was going to get on his case enough about this. She'd kill him if he destroyed the school on his first day.

Suddenly the braided boy leaned over. "Ya know, we never introduced ourselves," he whispered. "Duo Maxwell. I run, I hide, but I never lie."

"I'm Shiraga Bakura," he whispered back. "Nice to meet you, Maxwell-san."

The other flashed a grin. "Call me Duo. If blowing up a building together doesn't put us on a first name basis, I don't know what does."

The former spirit grinned back. "Duo, then."

The house was in ruins. Heavy fire from the attacking OZ troops had reduced its walls to rubble only minutes before. Now search and 'rescue' teams were sifting through the wreckage, looking for survivors to inhabit OZ interrogation cells.

On one particularly large pile of debris and body parts, Commander Damon stood, surveying the operation. He was disappointed. It appeared there would be no prisoners to question about the Resistance, but on the other hand, the nest of rebels had been completely eliminated.

Though, it was saddening that the scum had chosen this place to hide. The old mansion had been the site of one of the largest private collections of ancient artifacts on the continent. Most soldiers would not have felt the loss of such 'inconsequentials', but Damon had taught himself to appreciate the finer things in life. After all, sharing interests with General Kushrenada couldn't do anything but help a career.

He slid down the pile and began walking through the site, stepping over the occasional body as he went. Wincing as he accidentally crushed what was left of what looked like a Ming vase, something caught Damon's eye, something that gleamed golden even through the dust. He crouched, careful not to dirty his precisely pressed uniform trousers, and brushed away the debris. Within seconds he had uncovered a gold artifact, decorated with what resembled the Eye of Ra found on Egyptian antiques, and was almost miraculously intact. Like all good officers, he disapproved of looting, but something about the piece made him reluctant to set it down.

With a thoughtful frown, Commander Damon slipped it into his pocket for later consideration.

Kami-sama: God/deity.

shiraga: white hair.

Chapter format edited 2/7/2011.

A/N: Sorry this chappie's so short. Especially since it took so long. I had two or three other story ideas hitting me around the head that wouldn't let this one through. Thankfully, I've got those out of the way for the moment. Aw, no one even guessed at the plot…oh, well. Did it surprise anyone, though? And someone please tell me what Treize's rank is? I went to three different websites and not one mentioned it.

Sarau! (review!) (I think. Not sure of the tense…)