Disclaimer Part I: The characters of Inuyasha belong to Rumiko Takahashi, but this story belongs to me. Aster and Dayandhi also belong to me. As unlikely as it would seem at first glance, this is a continuation story, not AU.
Inuyasha: A Fugitive Fairytale
Chapter Three
It's In The Cards
"I said no."
"Pleeease?"
"No."
"But it's a battle, Inuyasha. Surely you don't want to walk away from a battle!"
Inuyasha snorted rudely and crossed his arms stubbornly. "Dancin' around on a bunch of arrows ain't no battle, Kagome. It ain't even dancing!"
She sighed and turned from him. "Have it your way."
Actually, if he was really able to have his way, they wouldn't be in this stupid arcade. And Kagome certainly wouldn't be up on that stage moving around to the obnoxiously loud music while a bunch of human boys gawked at her. It was a full time job keeping those letches from looking up her skirt while she jumped around. If he had his way, he wouldn't be wearing this stupid handkerchief over her head. Of course, the look when he snatched it off that big kids head was priceless. Apparently this Bandit Someone-er-other bully wasn't used to people who fought back. If he had his way, he'd be joining the boys in preparing for the battle they kept talking about, and not being dragged around by a bunch of girls who wore even shorter skirts than Kagome. However, nothing on the earth (wherever that might actually be) was going to separate him from the miko. His heart still clenched in terror as he recalled how very close he was to not grabbing her in time as the machine dragged them to a new world.
So, no. In no way at all was he actually getting his way.
"Wow, Anzu," gasped Kagome as the song ended and she caught her breath. "I can't believe I've never played this kind of game before! It's fun!"
"I'm so glad you like it! Would you like to play again?"
"No." This, of course, did not come from Kagome. They had already danced to five songs, and a hanyou only has so much patience. "I want to get out of this place and I want to eat."
"Spoilsport," Kagome grumbled. The complaint held no heat, and she gave him a smile as she left the dance game.
Anzu smiled warmly at them both. "I'm a little hungry too. Let's go grab a burger. Then we can catch up to the guys before the battle actually begins."
Inuyasha's ears perked up. Food and fighting? The day was looking better.
They began walking down the street to the burger joint that their newest friend had told them about earlier, Burger World. The food tasted just the same as it did in Kagome's world. In fact, when they first arrived here, they thought that it might be the very same world. They met Anzu (well, they appeared right before her so she ran smack into them as she was running to her dance class) who told them all about Domino City, a place Kagome never heard of before, when they said they were from out of town. Kagome had told her that they were lost (true) on a spontaneous adventure (true-ish) of a lifetime, but that we had a couple people tracking us down to make us go home (not quite true, they were trying to make Kagome go to jail). The dancing girl thought that it was romantic and was suckered into giving them a place to stay since her parents were out of town.
At night, when Anzu would go to bed, Kagome would open the window and whisper with Inuyasha, who would sneak outside to sleep in the tree. Thank goodness so many people built their homes around trees! Sometimes she would try to use her powers and create a bow out of energy. Inuyasha liked watching her do that. She would concentrate so hard, and power would seem to zip around everywhere, but she couldn't produce so much as an arrow shaft. Sometimes he'd offer suggestions. Occasionally he'd even offer suggestions he thought might actually work.
They had only arrived a few days ago, but still had no luck figuring out how the Tripper (that is what they called it wasn't it?) worked. So far nothing. They were still clueless about the odd machine.
"Right?"
Inuyasha blinked at Kagome's question. He hadn't been paying attention. His brain had started thinking of other things once the girls started chatting about girly things. Admit he wasn't paying attention to them or just agree?
"Sure."
Kagome beamed at him. He hoped he didn't just agree to something horrendous.
"Then let's get going!" cheered Anzu as she jumped to her feet.
Inuyasha wondered what in the heck he just agreed to as he and Kagome followed close behind. He half listened to Kagome's new friend chat about her own friends and about something called Duel Monsters and the battle her friend Yugi was fighting against some villain named Kaiba. Kagome asked Anzu if she'd like them to help fight against Kaiba.
"You two battle?"
"All the time," Kagome smiled.
"Are you any good?"
"None better," bragged Inuyasha.
"Did you bring your cards with you?"
Inuyasha was confused about the quick change of topic. Cards? Weren't they just talking about battling? Oh well, maybe she just had some sort of attention span problem. Cards huh? He looked at Kagome and she shook her head. Her yellow backpack had been left behind, and she had very little in her pockets. Not that pockets in a skirt like that actually held much to begin with. It was almost if they were added but not meant to be used. Now THAT made no sense at all.
"Our cards got left behind," Kagome told her sadly.
Inuyasha knew she was thinking about what all else was left behind. He hated that small catch in her voice that said she was keeping back tears. She missed her friends and she missed her family, though she never told him so. She didn't want to add another burden to his shoulders. He promised her that he would find a way to get her back home. Somehow…
"That's okay," Anzu said as she pat her on the shoulder. "We can buy you a new deck, maybe even pick up a few extra special cards."
Of course Kagome tried to politely refuse, but her new friend was determined to replace her cards and wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. They wound up at her friend Yugi's grandfather's card shop. Anzu chatted with the owner as he and Kagome looked at cards. He had never seen anything quite like them before, and apparently, neither had Kagome. They let Yugi's grandfather and Anzu pick out most of the cards. Kagome picked out ones she thought looked pretty or cute, and Inuyasha picked up some that had some wicked looking weapons. Their choices were met with nods of approval.
As Anzu haggled for a good price, Inuyasha whispered to Kagome, "How do you play with things?"
Kagome shrugged. "I don't know, but they sure are pretty."
"Oh! The time!" Anzu took off running. "Hurry! It is about to start!"
Inuyasha loped along beside Kagome as she ran. It would have been a whole lot easier to pick her up and run, but they had agreed to not draw any attention to themselves if they could help it. Slow humans. It was difficult to keep his pace slow.
Eventually (EVENTUALLY! Slow humans!) they arrived at the center of town where a large group of people had gathered. Immediately Inuyasha went into protective mode. It proved to be a nearly impossible task to keep anyone from touching Kagome. He wanted to just pick her up and leap onto one of those tall buildings, but one look from the miko turned that idea to dust. Luckily his menacing looks and growls kept most people at a bit of a distance.
When they caught up with Anzu, she was standing before four boys and two girls. Introductions weren't really needed, since they had been described earlier during lunch. The blonde boy with the shaggy hair was Katsuya Jounouchi. It was even easier to tell once he opened his mouth. The girl standing next to him must be his sister, their scents were similar, which meant she was Shizuka Jounouchi. The blonde woman with the big hair who wore way too much perfume was Mai…. Mai something. The boy with the… is that thing on top of his head hair? It had to be that Honda guy, no one else had hair shaped quite like that. The one with long white hair, shaggier than his own, stood off to the side a little. It must be Ryou Bakura. Anzu didn't have a whole lot to say about him, she was keeping secrets about him. Inuyasha shrugged, it wasn't like he cared what secrets any of them had. He wasn't planning on staying long enough to even bother remembering their names.
The final kid… hmmm… he was a stumper. The black, blonde, and burgundy colors sounded a lot like the Yugi person Anzu kept yapping about, but surely this little kid wasn't old enough to be the champion. He looked so young and innocent that he probably couldn't battle against a squirrel and win. Heck, he was barely eye level at… Inuyasha growled and clenched his fist as he noticed just where the kid was eye level at when looking at Kagome. Did he really think the kid was innocent?
"Hi guys!" Anzu chirped cheerfully. "I want you to meet my new friends, Kagome and Inuyasha. They are on a journey! I've invited them to stay with me for a few days while they take a rest for a bit. Kagome, Inuyasha, these are my friends! Katsuya, Shizuka, Honda, Mai, Ryou, and Yugi." Guess the kid really was Yugi. "They are going to battle today too!"
Inuyasha surveyed the group as they welcomed Kagome and him, though he tried to make it plenty clear that he wasn't interested in conversation. There was something weird about these guys. The three girls were nothing special, neither were Honda or Katsuya. But something was definitely off about Yugi and Ryou. Something odd about their scents. Their auras. He wondered if Kagome felt it as well. Nah, she was too busy making friendls with the natives.
It irritated him how easily these strangers became her friends. She shouldn't trust so easily. It wasn't jealousy. It wasn't! He didn't need any more friends. He had Kagome. And back home he had Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara, and Kaede. He had plenty! But Kagome… she was always willing to make room for one more. How much can the human heart hold? Would some of them get lost… or forgotten?
Inuyasha watched carefully as these strangers looked at Kagome and welcomed her. He hated all of them.
Mai looked her over, then dismissed her. It was as if Kagome wasn't competition or a threat, or worthy. She went back to shuffling her own deck of scented cards.
Shizuka greeted her with a warm tone, but it lacked any real warmth. Now, SHE did see Kagome as some sort of competition. Though it was uncertain who the girl felt she was competing for. Her brother's attention or that Honda kid's? Or was it just for the attention in general?
Honda and Katsuya both looked at her in a way that was going to get them killed if they didn't stop soon. They were both loud and boastful. They reminded him a bit of that flea bitten wolf Kouga, which wasn't good for them!
Yugi was pleasant enough, but still looking at Kagome too much for his own good. It was lucky that he was more distracted by Anzu, who only had eyes for Yugi.
Now Ryou… he was the biggest problem. It was difficult to decipher the look, but only because he seemed to be looking at her in two different ways at once. It didn't really make any sense. Part of him looked polite and quiet, and the other part looked… hungry. This one was going to be the biggest problem.
Kagome greeted them all in return, but when her eyes reached the tall boy with white hair they stopped. And widened just a fraction. Inuyasha heard her heart speed up just a bit. For a moment he was stricken with blinding fury, then he realized that she was noticing that there was something wrong with his aura. Her smile was slightly forced, and she hesitated for a fraction of a moment before letting him take her hand.
"Nice to make your acquaintance, Kagome." He smiled. "And yours as well, Inuyasha."
"Nice to meet you too, Ryou."
Yes, this one he would have to watch carefully.
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"Hey! I got her!"
"Right," Dayan yawned.
"I really do this time."
Turning down the music he had playing, Dayandhi looked over at the readings on the screen. Sure enough, they had a lead. Drat. The mission was going to be ending soon. And that meant that there was the possibility of reassignment.
"Hey, Dayan," she said in a soft voice. It was almost a whisper.
"Hmm?"
"I've got this feeling." Ducking her head down she tried to hide the fact that her eyes were darting around the cabin.
"Az?"
"It feels like we're being watched."
His spine stiffened. With Aster, it was a bad idea to ignore her 'feelings'. They were usually right. With a short nod he let her know that he understood. Was someone on the ship with them? The scanners would have picked up an intruder though and set off the alarms. He double checked the computers, but came up with nothing.
Picking up his weapon he decided to physically check each corner of the ship.
"Stay here, Az. Keep us on course, I'm just going to take a look around."
Just as the scanners told him, there seemed to be nothing unusual on the ship. However, Aster's words had his skin prickling. Slowly and carefully he made his way back to where he'd left his partner, suddenly uneasy about being separated.
"Find anything?" she asked as soon as he walked into the cabin.
"Nope. How long until we land?"
"Not soon enough," she muttered under her breath. Dayan would have been amused if he hadn't been thinking the exact same thing. Something was wrong.
But what?
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It was entirely possibly that Anzu was insane.
The girl had been laughing in near hysterics every since Inuyasha won the battle. Of course it wasn't much of a battle. Kagome didn't think that the Kaiba person put up much of a fight. One punch and he was out like a light. Heck, SHE would have beaten him in a battle. Poor Inuyasha, Kagome sighed, he must be so disappointed.
"Is she broken?"
Kagome shrugged at Inuyasha's question.
The young man named Ryou grabbed her by the hand, which he quickly removed once Inuyasha growled. Instead he gestured towards them to follow. Considering how everyone was making such a big fuss over one little punch, Kagome felt it wouldn't hurt to get out of the place and let things calm down.
Once they rounded the corner, their guide stopped. He was a handsome young man, but there was something about him that was very strange. It was like he had two different auras. One was a calming blue, and the other was black laced with violet. An imbalance. It felt as if… as if there was something else there seeking something.
Sensing auras was one of the first things she became sensitive to once she began using her latent miko powers, thanks to the jewel. Seeing auras was something a bit more difficult, and interpreting was confusing as well. But with this person, the feelings were very strong. She wasn't sure if it was because she was getting better at it, or if he was just projecting REALLY loudly.
"I am afraid you just made a powerful enemy," he told them with his warm voice. It reminded her of chocolate. Ah, and his accent… she could listen to him for days, even if he just read the phone book.
"But… everyone battles," protested Kagome. "Isn't that what everyone was there for?"
Ryou laughed. Ah, even his laugh sounded nice. "We duel with cards, I am afraid, not with our fists."
"With… cards?"
"Like the ones your friend is holding rather tightly."
Kagome looked over at Inuyasha, who looked like he was ready to murder the boy in front of them. Sheesh. It took all her effort not to roll her eyes at the blatant display of jealousy. So she liked his voice, big deal. Gently she put her hand on Inuyasha's, hoping to remind him that she was there with HIM. She reached to take the cards from him, then realized that the cards were probably the only thing keeping him from reaching for his sword. She let him keep them.
"So it's just a card game?"
"In a matter of speaking."
She smiled. "You sure take the game seriously."
"I am afraid we do." He showed her his deck. "Each deck is carefully chosen by the player. In most cases the cards reflect the player, as well."
Kagome looked through the cards, a little disturbed by how many of them were demonic looking. They looked a lot deadlier than the pretty and cute ones she chose. One glance at Inuyasha let her know that he noticed the cards too. Just when she was about to give him back the cards and back away slowly, she noticed one card that seemed different.
"It is my favorite card. It is the "Change of Heart" card."
"Half demon?"
"Yes. And half angel. Half evil and half good. It allows me to take control of any of the monsters on the field."
Half evil and half good? Is this the card that represents him? Is there evil in such a sweet boy? Is that why his aura is so conflicted. But how? Why?
"You… can control any of the monsters?" Her palms were getting sweaty, and she wasn't sure why. She held the card to her chest, trying to calm her suddenly pounding heart.
"Yes," he smirked as he leaned a little closer. "I am very fond of control."
Kagome took a step back, Inuyasha was quick to step between them.
"Er… Ryou… are you okay?" she asked.
"Call me Bakura."
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The girl was interesting.
And most girls did not interest Bakura at all. They were silly, flighty things. Untrusting and untrustworthy. Deceitful and docile. Vicious and cruel. Weak and pathetic. Confusing creatures.
His vessel, his light, thought this girl was sweet and charming, but he knew that the creature in red next to her was highly jealous, and he was not about to do anything to upset them. Luckily, Bakura had no problems with that. In fact, it would be interesting to see just what this thing could do.
It wasn't human. If he didn't know better, he'd think that it was one of the Duel Monsters come to life. Perhaps he would fight him in the Shadow Realm. Or maybe keep him as an action figure. And keep the girl as a doll.
The girl though… there was something about her. Something powerful. It was delicious.
"Call me Bakura."
It was time to let them know that they weren't dealing with his weaker half. Ryou was trapped safely away, though he could still hear him pounding at his psychic cell demanding he leave them alone. It always frightened and worried his light to be locked away, especially since he was blind to everything Bakura did, unless Bakura chose to let him see.
"B…Bakura?"
The creature drew a sword. A SWORD! Right there in the middle of Battle City. The conversation just got a little more interesting.
"Get away from Kagome!"
"Such a rude thing you are." He smiled in mock politeness. "Perhaps it is time I taught you a lesson in manners."
Using the magic of the Millennium ring hanging around his neck, Bakura opened the Shadow Realm. Everything in existence disappeared, except for him, the creature, and the girl. This was his world. This is where he ruled supreme. The first thing he did was discard the silly rag on Inuyasha's head that he had stolen from that simpleton, Bandit Keith.
Ears.
On top of his head.
Dog ears perhaps? It would make sense considering that the creature seemed awfully fond of growling and snarling.
Bakura grinned. And sniffing. The creature was actually sniffing the air and the ground. He really was a dog. Or part of a dog. He seemed more and more like a card come to life, especially holding that ridiculously large sword. Too bad for him that it would do him no good here. He could turn the sword to pudding if he wished it. In fact… wouldn't that just drive the creature insane…
There! A sword no more substantial than pudding.
…
…
…
What?
How very strange.
It didn't change.
Narrowing his eyes, Bakura studied the sword and its wielder. How was it possible that it was not obeying his command? He tried again and once more met with failure.
"What is he doing?" the girl whispered.
"Dunno," the dog whispered back. "Maybe everyone here is just weird."
Bakura tried to turn the annoying beast into a puppet, but that didn't work either. He grasped onto his Millennium Ring. Surely it had not lost its power. He changed the world around him to a graveyard. He was relieved when he was instantly surrounded by tombstones and ghosts. The girl's squeal of terror amused him, as did the creature's curses and attempts to protect his companion from every direction. Then Bakura changed the entire world to one of a giant game board. This time the girl squeaked. Very interesting. He controlled everything… except for them. There was only one question to be answered.
Which one was the one keeping him from controlling them?
"What manner of creature are you?" he asked the beast.
"Ain't none of your business."
"Are you a dog? Or a demon?"
The girl nearly erupted in a glow of pink rage. Pink rage. How unusual. She got more interesting by the moment. So, she didn't like anyone being rude to it. Maybe it was her pet. A guard dog of sorts.
"I'm a dog demon." The creature glanced back at the girl. "A hanyou, half demon."
It stood taller, as if inviting a fight. But Bakura was no longer interested in the half demon. What was interesting was why the two were traveling together. That they seemed to be… friends.
With a thought and a wave of his hand, Bakura sent Inuyasha back into the real world, leaving the girl with him. It was time they had an uninterrupted chat.
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"KAGOME!"
Inuyasha screamed her name as she disappeared from his sight. Frantically he searched for her, but all he found was an empty alley where they had been before Ryou… Bakura… whoever he was did whatever mojo magic he did. Now Kagome was trapped! Alone. Defenseless. WHERE WAS SHE?
If he touched her… If he touched a hair on her head… If he even BREATHED on her…
"Inuyasha?"
He would rip him apart limb from limb in the most painful way possible. Then he'd show him his own beating heart before…
"Inuyasha? Where's Kagome?" Inuyasha turned towards the soft voice.
"Ryou… Bakura…" How could he possibly explain what happened? It just wasn't believable!
Anzu's eyes softened and she reached out a consoling hand, which he flinched away from. He was certain to hurt the girl if she got too close. The sound of running feet approached, her friends were coming. Inuyasha ignored them to try and catch Kagome's scent, to hear her voice.
What if… what if they were separated? For good? What if the stupid machine she held took her far away without him? What if she was… gone?
"What happened?" asked Yugi.
"Bakura. I think he took Kagome to the Shadow Realm."
Inuyasha's eyes narrowed. Maybe it wasn't such an impossible explanation after all. The note of fear in Anzu's voice let him know that she was afraid. What would possess them to allow Kagome near a dangerous person!?! He would kill every single one of them for the part they played in this if Kagome was harmed in any way.
"Fear not, my friend, we will save her."
Huh?
Inuyasha looked over at the short kid. He was a little surprised to see that not only had Yugi's voice deepened, but he grew almost half a foot! Was he some sort of demon?
Anzu noticed his inspection and cleared her throat. "Inuyasha, this may be a bit… um… complicated," she began to explain. "But this is the pharaoh, Atemu. He is Yugi's Yami. A spirit that…"
"Don't care. Do you know how to get to Kagome?"
Anzu and Atemu looked at each other, then back at Inuyasha. "You don't care that there's an ancient Egypitian spirit living ins..?"
"Look," Inuyasha bit out rudely, standing to his full height and towering over the humans. "I only care about Kagome. Either help or get out of my way." Inuyasha was about to use his sword to attempt to break the barrier, assuming that it was a barrier keeping them apart, when he was interrupted once again.
"You guys having a party?"
He really was going to snap soon. These people just needed to leave him alone so he could find Kagome and get out of this place. He turned to snarl at the newcomer, and did a double take.
"Kouga?"
What was that stinkin' wolf doing here? Wait. No. This one had green eyes, not blue.
"Ryuji Otogi, creator of Dungeon Dice. Who are you?"
Another game?
Dancing on lighted arrows. Playing cards in Duel Monsters. Dungeon Dice. Didn't these people have WORK to do? Was the whole society based on games? Sure he always enjoyed it when Kagome would play games with him, or bring games from the future for them all to play with, but this was something else! Arg! He needed to get Kagome and get out of this place.
While Anzu tried to shoo off Otogi, Atemu started talking over possibilities of contacting Bakura to challenge him to some sort of game to get back Kagome's soul.
"Her soul?"
"Yes. You see, Bakura has her soul trapped within the Shadow…"
Inuyasha was barely listening as Yugi, or was it Atemu now, explained about how Bakura trapped souls. How does one woman's soul always seem to end up in such trouble? Even Kikyo still held on to a part of Kagome's soul. A soul was such an insubstantial thing, funny how Kagome's was always getting taken or lost or trapped. Souls were so much more difficult to protect. He wiped his hand over his face, wishing he knew what to do. Wishing he had Sango's assurances that they would find Kagome. Wishing he had Miroku's calm council. Even having Shippo to annoy him and to keep him from breaking down at the thought of a Kagome-less life would have helped. He inhaled deeply, trying to find a measure of calm to make a rational decision. Cutting up the alley had not achieved any results. Well, besides a little therapeutic destruction. He inhaled again and cursed.
"What do you want?"
"Oh." The man sounded a little startled. Inuyasha grimly wondered if he had forgotten that he was a half demon and had very good hearing. "We are here to arrest Kagome. But she seems to have disappeared off our scanners. Completely." The man looked at him strangely. Accusingly? "Where is she?"
"Not you, you idiot." Inuyasha looked beyond the two time police officers. "What are YOU doing here?"
Slowly the two officers looked behind them, jumping when they noticed the young man standing behind them.
"What a nice surprise running into you here," the red head smiled. Then he frowned. "Where is Kagome?"
"Kagome ain't none of your business, fox boy. Go on home." It was one thing accepting help from the game obsessed freaks here. It was something entirely having a rival help. How the heck did Kurama get here anyhow? Must've tagged along with those annoying time police.
"Have you lost her?" The tone seemed polite, but Inuyasha knew an accusation when he heard one.
"I didn't LOSE her."
The dog demon growled as the young man pulled a rose from his hair. It was a threat, and they both knew it. Inuyasha drew his sword. The girl and the pharaoh began pleading with him not to fight, especially with an unarmed man. Couldn't they just settle this with a game? Feh.
"You think YOU have it bad? You're only looking for a few measley Mellinium objects. I have to scour all of Japan for hundreds of teeny tiny jewel fragments!"
Inuyasha stopped growling and spun around as he heard a familiar voice.
"Kagome?"
She waved cheerfully. "Sorry to be so late. It's easy to lose track of time in there. You wouldn't believe the things…"
Her words were cut off as Inuyasha threw her over his shoulder and began backing away from the group with his sword drawn.
"Kagome Higurashi," Dayan said wearily. "You're under arrest for crimes against the universal Law of Time. You have the right to remain silent, but failing to mention any facts in your defense may be treated as evidence against you in the Court. Hey! Pay attention here." He shook his head as Kagome struggled to be set down. "If you wish to speak, anything you say may be given as evidence in the Court. A representative will be assigned to you once you have been processed. You are also under arrest for theft of Law of Time property and assault on an officer. If you come along peacefully we will not have to use lethal force."
"Law of Time?" questioned Atemu.
"Lethal force?" asked Bakura with narrowed eyes. "On Kagome?"
Inuyasha wasn't sure he liked the jerk acting protectively towards HIS miko. He would have made it clear just who Kagome belonged to if she hadn't made a squeaking sound. He turned his head just in time to see her smile.
She was holding the Tripper, and it was active.
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"KAGOME!" cried Anzu. "What did you do with Kagome and Inuyasha?"
"We demand answers."
"We doing a mind wipe, Az? Make up your mind pretty quick."
Aster quickly scanned the future as Dayan held off their would be interrogators/torturers.
Mai. No changes in her present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome. She has already forgotten about her.
Katsuya. No changes in his present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome. She was just another random girl he thought was good looking.
Shizuka. No changes in her present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome. She has already forgotten about her.
Honda. No changes in his present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome.
Otogi. No changes in his present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome. He barely caught a glance of her.
Ryou. No changes in his present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome.
Yugi. No changes in his present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome.
Anzu. No changes in his present or future brought about directly by contact with Kagome.
No changes?
Aster started punching in the new coordinates, remembering at the last moment that they had a tag along guest. Wait… where was Kurama?
"Perhaps I should ask the questions, pharaoh," Bakura suggested as he withdrew a knife. Anzu put her hand on his arm to stop him.
Then the future changed.
Bakura looks at Anzu and sees in her someone who reminded him of Kagome. She was kind and warm. She had plenty of love to give, and was always giving. She was devoted and loyal to those she cared for. She was accepting. Anzu looks at Bakura and sees someone who is strong and determined. He was capable of friendship. He was capable of caring. He was hurt, and searching desperately for something just out of his reach. It touched her heart. They become friends that same day.
Over the months they become good friends. And then more.
Her friends become upset and distant. Bakura questions why she must always cheerlead for them when they do not come to cheerlead for her. Katsuya and Honda refuse to speak to her. Their friendship with Yugi crumbles when he can not choose sides. Depression keeps Yugi from participating in any more battles. Bakura no longer feels the need to search for the Mellinium items and Malik finds them instead.
Kaiba and Malik fight for dominance, which destroys most of the city.
Aster closes her mind to the rest of the story. Things would go from bad to worse. Except for Bakura and Anzu. They would eventually move as they followed her dream of dancing. Bakura's dream became Anzu. She was his and his alone, and she was his willingly, not a thing he had to steal.
"Time to erase Kagome," she sighed. This was what she hated most, having to decide whose happiness was most important.
She started with Ryou, then Anzu. Then slowly all of Battle City would forget about Kagome and Inuyasha.
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Bakura watched in growing anger as he watched from the soul room inside of Ryou. No one controlled Bakura.
No one.
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Disclaimer Part II: The characters of Yu-Gi-Oh belong to Kazuki Takahashi, not me.
Author's Notes:
Thanks very much to everyone who reviewed. I hope you liked this chapter. I'm working on the next one as we speak (though I had my computer die of old age this past weekend, so it may be slower going).
Also, very special thanks to Kiterie for proof reading for me and offering such great suggestions to improve the grammar.