Summary: It's been a long time since Kagome transferred to Domino and befriend Yugi Mutou and her friends. Almost as much time has passed since Akafia, the former spirit of the Millennium Ring, became close to her. Kagome has pushed away a number of suitors over the years, including Seto Kaiba. By that point in time it was almost routine. However, a slightly unusual occurrence involving one of them winds up giving Kagome and Akafia the push they needed.

Crossover Series: Yu-Gi-Oh!

Pairing: Kagome/Yami Bakura (Aka Akafia/the spirit of the Millennium Ring)

The Pull of Opposites

It was the week between Christmas and New Years. Yuugi Mutou had thrown a belated Christmas Party. Marik, who she'd been dating for a year, had showed up, much to surprise of some. Mokuba had even dragged Seto. Kagome Higurashi, was chatting with Jou. Kagome was a friend they made their second year of high school. To Anzu, Hondo, Jou, and Atem's surprise she even got along with Seto Kaiba nad Akafia. (As they had discovered the thief's name was.)

Kagome excused herself from the conversation to go get a drink. Yuugi noticed that the older Kaiba was near the refreshment table. No one- except maybe Kagome herself- noticed that Akafia's eyes never left the black haired girl. Just when Kagome was moving away from the table she was stopped.

"Higurashi, look above you." Seto said.

"Kagome did look up. "Mistletoe…?"

"Exactly. And you know what that means." Seto replied.

Kagome stepped out from under the plant. "In your dreams, Kaiba-kun."

Kagome made her way to Akafia to say hello and keep him company. Before she was more than a few steps away from the CEO she seemed to notice that the ex yami seemed entirely too pleased for some reason. Kaogme decided that it may have been her imagination, though, once she was close enough for a proper view of the expression on his face. It was definite, however, that he rose an eyebrow when it was clear that it was him she was approaching.

"Konbanwa, Akafia-kun."

"Kagome." Akafia greeted.

"You know, you won't have anyone but yourself for being bored if you don't even try to enjoy yourself." she said.

"The only two I can think of that even want me to be here are perhaps little Yuugi and Marik." he pointed out.

"I'm happy you're here though, Akafia." Kagome told him.

"Yes, well, after what you told me about your own past you clearly seem to be an exception to most things." he said softly.

Kagome smiled slightly, but there was an almost bitter hint to it. "I guess you're right."

"It's quite refreshing, actually." Akafia added airily.

Kagome looked at him from her spot next to him on the wall. Sensing her eyes on him, Akafia met her gaze. He didn't know the entire reason. Just that he was fairly certain that the woman he thought Kagome said was called her incarnation was involved. But it was obvious that his words meant a lot to her.

Almost a week later, things had started to slow back down from the busy first days of the year. Kagome was just looking at the Goshinboku, wearing a kimono in case a visitor arrived. Then she saw a familiar figure on the shrine grounds. It was Akafia. She smiled, always happy to see the silver haired Egyptian.

"Ohayou, Akafia-kun! Happy New Year!" she called.

"Happy new year." he returned, "Your family's shrine is nice. I never expected to find this much nature in Tokyo outside of a park."

Kagome smiled. "Yeah… I'm happy my cousin decided they can't let the shrine leave the family."

"You've decided then?" he inquired.

"Hai… I have too many memories centering around here." she answered, "Staying forever would do more harm than good."

Just then her mother came up to them.

"There you are, Kagome." Then upon noticing Akafia, the woman said, "Oh, you must be a friend of Kagome's."

He promptly introduced himself. "Yes, Ma'am. My name is Akafia."

"Oh, Kagome's mentioned you!" she exclaimed cheerfully, "You'll join us for lunch, won't you?"

"I think I will, thiank you." Akafia said, blushing almost unnoticeably.

"Well, isn't this nice!" Kagome's mother commented seemingly to herself, "My daughter stopped by for New Years and a friend of herself came to visit the same day!"

To Kagome's pleasant surprise, the thief enjoyed himself. He found Souta amusing rather than annoying, to her relief. Akafia even managed to get on her senile grandfather's good side by getting into a detailed conversation about spirits. After riling him up with a snide comment after a failed exorcism attempt, that is.

Over the next few months, Akafia and Kagome got closer than ever. It had become common for them to be found together when neither had anything else to do. Sometimes when Yuugi and the gang was doing something as a group, they even showed up at the same time. One spring day, they had visited their college's bookstore together. It made sense to them, since at least half of their schedule matched.

It had been one of the nicer cloudy days. Temporary relief from the bright sun and a nice, mild temperature. The trip ended up being pointless since said store turned out to be closed. Neither cared, so they just decided to go out to lunch. They were enjoying themselves… That is, until a waiter other than the person who took their order brought out their food.

It was a guy who, despite being their age, was clearly only a boy. Normally this wouldn't have mattered. But he was one of the reasons Kagome transferred from the high school her three old friends had attended. A girl could only take so much of being pestered by a guy who wouldn't- or actually couldn't- take a hint, after all.

"Here's your food- Eh? Is that you, Higurashi?" a boy who had not quite short hair held back in a low ponytail said.

"…Konnichiwa, Hojo-san." Kagome said, dead-panned.

'Who is this? He makes the Ryou and the twerp's friends look cool.' Akafia thought, 'And Kagome got tense the moment she saw him.'

"It's been such a long time! How have you been?" the oblivious boy asked.

"Wonderful, Domino High and the friends I made their provided the change of scene and classmates I needed." Kagome said pointedly.

'This loser's an idiot too it seems.' Akafia noted, seeing that he didn't get what she meant.

"Who are you?" the thief asked.'

"I'm Takato Hojo. She had a boyfriend our last year of Jr. high, but that year and during the year we went to the same high school we dated." Hojo said, "but she transferred to Domino before we could make our relationship official."

"That's not what happened!" Kagome said angrily.

"It's great that we met like this, Higurashi, it must be fate." her former classmate said as if he hadn't heard her, "Now we can continue our relationship where we left off."

"What relationship? As classmates or do you mean as people with the same friends?" Kagome retorted.

"How cute, Higurashi. You're still so shy." Hojo said, "We're adults now, it's okay to admit we have something as a couple."

"Are you on drugs now?" Kagome asked incredulously.

"What do you mean?" Hojo asked, blinking in confusion.

"Yuka, Eri, and Ayumi set up or forced me on each one of those dates. I finally complained to them after White Day that if you continued to give me real gifts instead of weird things that could help with Jii-chan's health, I would lose the ability to avoid you or turn you down without looking bad or being given a hard time." Kagome informed him, "why did you think that after White Day they left me alone about you? It was Ayumi's idea to transfer to avoid all of that and start over."

"I don't get what you're saying." Hojo said.

"I'm saying, that even if it wasn't for the friends I made back when I constantly wound up missing school you would never have been my type." Kagome said, finally deciding she needed to stop being nice.

"…Eh…?"

She sighed. "You're nice, but a goody two-shoes. Your looks and intelligence are average, your ideas of gifts usually stinks, and you're boring." Kagome told him bluntly, "I'm sorry if I sound cruel but I never saw how you were so popular whenyou were so plain."

"Please give me a chance Higurashi!" I know I can make you happy." Hojo shouted.

'Do I hear thunder?' Akafia wondered, absently wishing he had popcorn as he watched Kagome tell the idiot off.

"Hojo-san, I sincerely hope we never meet again." Kagome said formally, "I'm leaving ahead of you Akafia-kun."

The silver haired man also got up, putting a bill on the table. "Tell your boss that if this doesn't cover the drinks that it's coming out of your paycheck."

When Akafia reached the door she was standing there. And he could see why. It was raining really hard. He cursed inwardly. Weather reporters always got something completely wrong.

"Well, damn. Some day this is turning out to be." he commented.

"My place is closer." Kagome said, "Souta dumped some clothes there Anzu gave him that obviously wouldn't have fit. I think they're your size."

Before long, they reached their destination. However, both of them were thoroughly soaked. Kagome handed the thief a towel and insisted that he use the bathroom first. He didn't take long.

"I'm going to take a shower." she told him.

Akafia only gave a noncommittal answer. He was preoccupied with thoughts of all the different times a guy had shown interest in Kagome. Why would someone like her choose to spend time with the likes of him? He just didn't understand. But then, she had always been an anomaly. NO one else had ever even almost invoked the emotions Kagome could make him feel. Not even to half the extent she did, at any rate.

After the twerp and her friends had defeated Zorc and he was a free man, even the pharaoh himself merely got on his nerves rather than invoking the deep hatred he had vowed as a child to only direct at the one who had decided sacrificing an entire village to gain magical power was a good idea. Before Kagome, the only one more unfeeling than him had been the ever indifferent Seto Kaiba.

True to her word, it wasn't long before Kagome was out of the shower, a towel wrapped around to keep her still damp hair from wetting her shirt. She was surprised when she didn't find Akafia in the living room. Upon seeing that he wasn't in the kitchen either, she went to her room. As she had guessed, he was in there. The thief was standing in front of her dresser, looking at her pictures. He was holding a very amusing one.

"That's Inuyasha and Kouga. I'm surprised they got so near each other while not arguing." She mentioned off hand.

"They got along that badly?" he said, amused.

"Worse than Jounouchi and Kaiba." she said, "Kouga wouldn't listen to anyone who bluntly told him I wasn't his woman even while the ever hard-headed Inuyasha kept telling him to keep away from me yet didn't have any actual interest in the real me."

"… The 'real' you?" Akafia noted.

"Inuyasha saw meas a friend, sort of, but when it comes down to it his initial interest was because I was supposedly Kikyo's reincarnation and I could be used as a shard detector."

"Did you like either of them?" he asked.

"I… was close to falling for Inu no Baka. But I knew that he'd always see Kikyo in me." she said quietly, "I spent the two years before I transferred to Domino High avoiding my friends' attempts to push me to him or avoiding Hojo himself."

"I can understand that… but why did you turn down someone like Kaiba?" he pressed.

At this point they had ended up with Kagome close to the wall. It processed in the back of their minds that they were unusually close. Kagome wondered why he was acting so strange. Meanwhile, the thief's mind refused to process what this could mean.

"We just don't seem like that on my part." Kagome answered.

"Surely a woman your age has someone she's interested in." Akafia pointed out.

Something clicked in her mind. "you… almost seem jealous.

He chuckled, and their proximity made it have a strange effect on Kagome. "Maybe I am.

Now Kagome was confused, uncertain, and… dare she say, hopeful? "But… why?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he countered.

Now their noses were almost touching.

"You have no reason to be." she told him.

His eyes widened at the implication. An unbelievable amount of joy bubbled in the thief's chest. His mind was whirling. Then everything became crystal clear as their lips met. Later on when the moment was a memory instead of the present, Akafia's favorite part- though he would never tell- was the four words she said in the heat of the moment amidst their kissing.

"I love you, Akafia."