"Kagome! I'm home!" Mama Higurashi called out into her house, as she set down her groceries on the kitchen table. She unpacked the first bag and paused, before calling out again, "Kagome?" Usually she would have been there by now, helping her put them away, but the house was completely silent of teenaged girls yelling 'Sure mom!' or light footsteps.

Mama Higurashi smiled, and started humming to herself. It was nice to see Kagome going out, which was such a rarity after she came back from the Feudal Era. Kagome had thrown herself into her school work and shrine duties so she wouldn't focus on her grief of not being able to go back, but when Souta gave her her birthday present of personalized Duel Monsters cards Mama feared she would relapse. Kagome was stronger then she gave her credit for, Mama Higurashi thought fondly. She could take anything the world threw at her.

"Now, what should I make for snack?" She asked the empty house.


"So then Yugi jumped out of his chair and let out this hilarious- I can't describe it as anything but a battle-cry-"

"I didn't let out a battle-cry Anzu-"

Kagome let out a light laugh at how embarrassed Yugi seemed, as Anzu and Jou recounted a story from their childhood, more specifically, the first time Yugi beat his Grandfather at chess. Eri, Yuka, and Ayumi were having fun as well, she thought, because they were all covering their mouths to hide their laughter as Honda made obscene faces at Jou, who had stolen his fries much like Eri had done.

Yugi's and her own friends meshed together perfectly despite the differences in age, and Kagome couldn't help but feel more at peace with the large amount of chattering people around her. Her deck of cards had been passed around for everyone to look at, and Yugi and Jou immediately jumped at the chance to teach her how to use her impressive deck of cards, but no matter how well she had been able to follow along she still got lost in their passionate speeches. Kagome nearly snickered at the thought. She had promised them that they could always meet up again and attempt to teach her once more.

With it being summer, or at least all students were out on break, the cheap burger restaurant was packed with families and groups of friends. Kagome was squished between Yuka and Jou after they had to play musical chairs to get everyone to fit into the small booth, and even then did they have to pull up chairs. It was loud and hot, the air smelled like grease, and people were talking all around her.

Kagome hadn't felt so at peace since before she left the Feudal Era.

Ayumi was talking to Anzu about the latest gossip. "So is it true that Seto Kaiba has a Blue Eyes White Dragon?"

Anzu nodded and took a sip of her drink. "Yep! In fact, he has more then one. I think he has four, but I don't know, I'm not as big into Duel Monsters as the others. I'd like to be a dancer, you see."

Eri joined into their discussion. "Really? A dancer! Oooh, that sounds so great! You're amazing no doubt, I'm sure of it, you're so graceful!"

Anzu blushed lightly, but Kagome felt like she was flattered and pleased, and figured that nobody really took her dream of dancing too seriously. She also added her two cents. "You really do move like a dancer, like when you walk. If you do any shows or anything, tell me! I'd love to come!"

Anzu's neck was bright pink at this point. "You guys are too sweet!" She took another sip of her drink before changing the topic. "So, what do you guys want to do? Are you in university?"

Ayumi, Eri, and Yuka nodded. "We all go to one of the universities near here," Yuka pointed to the three of them. "I'm studying pre-med, actually."

Eri replied, "I'm taking computer programming as my major."

Ayumi shrugged. "Haven't decided yet, although I like the idea of fashion designing, or maybe astronomy."

Anzu looked impressed. "Wow, those are really daunting subjects! You guys will be great, though." she parroted their words. "I bet you guys will have a ton of fun with that."

She then looked over at Kagome. "What about you?"

Kagome coughed slightly, "I was always really sick in high school, and wasn't able to complete it. I take online courses though, and I work as a shrine maiden at my house."

Anzu bobbed her head up and down, and opened her mouth to reply, but Eri beat her to the punch. "She's also a pretty good artist. You should see some of the things she draws! Youkai, and giant swords and a ton of dogs, which is funny because she has Buyo, her cat, but anyways-"

Kagome slapped her hand over Eri's mouth to make her stop talking, but she had already caught the attention of Jou, Yugi, and Honda. "Youkai?" Jou rubbed his chin. "That's pretty cool! Could I see some?"

Kagome nearly shifted in her seat, but stopped, seeing Kikyo in front of her with a scorning look on her face, telling her that flinching in the face of something was a show of weakness and that Mikos couldn't show that kind of reaction. Why did it have to be Kikyo? She thought miserably, before replying to Jou's question, "Sure, maybe next time I'll bring some."

This brightened everyone up even more. "Cool!" Yugi cheered. His hand was resting absentmindedly on his golden pyramid. Kagome didn't know where it came from or why he wore it around his neck since it was so big, but she didn't ask him. It sent a shiver down her spin just looking at it, just like when she felt a strong youkai nearby. It wasn't a youkai, she could tell, but it was impure and her powers itched under her skin whenever she looked at it. It was dangerous, and she didn't want it near her newfound friends.

"So, what school do you guys go to? We went to the one near-" Ayumi defected the conversation off of Kagome, knowing how uncomfortable she must have felt with all the questions about her drawings, and Kagome gave her a silent thank you at one of her best friends at reading her so well.

She took a fry from Honda, ignoring his cry of 'Hey!', and sunk back into her seat, listening to everyone around her. Kagome hoped everything would be okay, as her fingers clenched around her deck of Duel Monsters cards, but she knew it wouldn't, because the bad feeling deepened as she thought that. Maybe something would go right this time. Maybe.


"Souta, catch!" Kagome tossed him the small parcel, and watched as he fumbled to catch it.

Souta gave her a questioning look as he held it in his hands. "Kags? What's this for?"

She smiled. "Just open it."

He did so, a bit confused, but his look of confusion morphed into a happy wide grin as he saw the name of the game. "Sis, you're the best!" The younger boy tackled her in a hug, and the two siblings fell to the floor with a quiet 'umph' from Kagome, and they started snickering at the sight of each other all messed up on the floor, lightly tugging each others hair in mock fight.

Mama Higurashi poked her head out of the living room, Buyo on her heels, and she smiled but shook her head at the sight of her children wrestling on the floor. "Just don't hurt each other," she told them, and left them to their own devices.

Souta got off the floor first and held out his hand to Kagome. "Thanks Kags! I'm gonna play this now- tell Mama that I don't want to be disturbed till dinner!" And then he rushed up the stairs and the door to his room shut loudly.

Kagome snickered, and ran a hand through her hair, noticing the way the strands were uneven. "Ah, I should have gotten a haircut earlier." She muttered to herself, before shrugging. She headed up the stairs, walking past Souta's closed room (hearing the sounds of gunshots firing and car racing, and she shook her head amusedly) before closing her own door to her room after her.

It was bright pink and happy, her bow and arrow were placed haphazardly on the side of her desk collecting dust, and messes of papers (drawings, school work, mostly her writing down exactly what happened in the Feudal Era mostly for her own mental health more then anything) placed over and under it. She didn't even glance at her bow and arrow, not at the slightly shiny quiver of arrows nor the well worn familiar wood of her weapon, but instead sat down on her desk and picked up a blank piece of paper. She drew.

A face through the window watched her, although she couldn't see it. He had white hair and red-brown eyes, and a smile too dangerous to be considered innocent.

"Hey Landlord," he asked the other who was himself lurking around the premises of the shrine, mostly out of interest instead of peeping through the windows. "You're coming back here tomorrow."

Ryou Bakura frowned. "Why?" 'And why were you asking me' was left unsaid, as they both knew that Yami Bakura could simply take over his body whenever he wanted.

"Because I said so. We're leaving." Bakura floated down from the window and walked over to his light, and got sucked back into the Ring. Ryou sighed and began the long trek down the stairs.

Whatever Bakura was planning, it wasn't good.


I decided to continue this, mostly out of my own interest. Still working on the decks and how to play them, unfortunately, but we're getting close.

I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Still dedicated to the amazing Javy.