Phoenix: So, did you figure out who the ghost was, yet? I don't really mean for it to be a surprise, only to Kari and Kaiba. So, here's chapter 13, which is my lucky number. :)

Chapter 13: A New Bond

"For this project, you will have to make a miniature model of any sort of Ancient Egyptian building. This could be palaces, buildings, shops, shrines, pyramids, and so on. Now, go and find a group of three that you must do it with." Mr. C concluded as he went to sit at his desk while the class scrambled to be in groups with their friends. Everyone seemed fine, but in a corner, there was a huge clump of girls that were crowding around Mr. Kaiba.

Of course, Mr. C thought as he watched them. Of course they all want to do it with him. Why couldn't I have been that popular when I was in high school?

Annoyed at this, he stood up. "Since all of you girls can't decide this for yourselves, I will decide for you." Once he was done arranging the girls, Kaiba was left. He looked around the room, and a girl who didn't crowd around him before was still looking for a group. Mr. C walked over to her.

"Ah, Misty, you will go with Mr. Kaiba." He said. Misty blinked, as if showing indifference, but she really didn't want to be with some rich egotist.

"We still need another person," Misty pointed out.

"It's alright," Kaiba spoke up. "Kari still needs a group."

"And where is this girlfriend of yours?" Mr. C said, hoping to tick Kaiba off.

But Kaiba just ignored him, just like he ignores all the other nuisances in his life. "She's always late, but she should be coming around this time," he said coolly. "In three, two, one—"

"I'm here!" Kari said in a hopeful singsong voice as she burst through the history room door. She then noticed her teacher's face, which was as cold as ice, maybe colder. We're talking below 0 degrees, here. Kari was confused; she was positive that she made it on time. She glanced at the clock. They were already halfway into class.

"Kari, over here!" Misty motioned for Kari to come sit by her and Kaiba. Looking relieved, Kari started moving towards them. After sitting down, having a two-minute staring contest with Mr. C, and Misty explaining two her what was going on, she relaxed.

"So, the three of us are a group?" Kari said, looking at both Misty and Kaiba. They nodded.

This isn't bad, Kari thought. Misty is sort of my friend, and Kaiba and I lived in Egypt a long time ago. We're totally going to ace this!

And so the bell rang.

It was the period right after Lunch, which was Language Arts for Kari. After half-listening to Mrs. E argue with the class about something totally irrelevant, it was time for 9th period. This was the last period of the day, which was everyone's free period.

Kari decided to take her notebook outside and draw. Once she surveyed the area and spotted her favorite tree, she immediately ran over to it and climbed up. Doing a double-take behind her to make sure that creepy ghost wasn't there again, she opened her notebook and got out her pen. She started drawing a Blue Eyes White Dragon, which was basically her soul.

Kari was lost in her drawing when she heard footsteps approaching her tree. It was Kaiba with his laptop; he sat against the tree trunk, not noticing Kari sitting a few branches above him. He opened his laptop and started typing away. Curious as to what he was doing, Kari silently climbed down to a low branch that was near Kaiba. She was sitting on the branch with her back facing towards him, so she hung upside down with her feet clinging onto the branch. Her hair was dangling down as she peered at the laptop screen, which was a lot of numbers and letters, as if he was emailing a lot of people.

"So this is what you work on all day," Kari said casually. Kaiba jumped up slightly, but then calmed down a second later as he turned around to see Kari.

"It's none of your business," Kaiba said as he turned back to his screen and continued typing. "Now leave me alone."

Kari opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when her notebook fell on top of her. It must have slid off the branch that she was on before.

"Come on, it's going to tear!" Kari sat upright again on the branch, trying too late to grab her notebbok that was falling.

It landed beside Kaiba, right on the page of the Blue Eyes. When he saw it, he raised an eyebrow.

"You drew this?" He asked curiously.

Kari blinked. "If you're going to insult it, then let me tell you, it's just a rough draft that I'm not trying hard on and—"

"A rough draft? This is amazing! You got all of the shadings and proportions right, and the pose it's in is very creative." Kaiba was staring at it like it was gold. Maybe to him, it was.

"If you really think so…" Kari trailed off, confused at his excitement. The Blue Eyes was poised in mid-roar, with its head tilted up, large mouth opened and its magnificent wings outstretched. She plopped down next to him, trying to see what the big deal was with it. After all, it was only her outline for the real drawing. Then again, Kari had always been exceptional at artwork.

"Hey," Misty suddenly came next to Kari, her notebook with her as well. Kaiba ignored her, and Kari greeted her in return.

"Is that a Blue Eyes?" Misty asked, the drawing catching her eye.

"Yeah, it's my rough draft." Kari replied.

Misty gave her a thumbs up and opened her own notebook to reveal drawings of her favorite Duel Monsters. She then took out her duel deck and took out some monsters that she wanted to draw. She looked at them, and started copying them onto her paper. She was very good at it.

"You play Duel Monsters?" Kari asked, noticing Misty's deck.

"Yeah," She said, still focusing on her pencil making contact with her paper.

"Then let's Duel!" Kari exclaimed and reached into her pocket to get her deck out.

"Uh, okay." Misty shrugged and got her deck together, closing her notebook. Kaiba watched them out of the corner of his eye.

Both Kari and Misty were tied with 500 Life Points and it was a very close game. It was Misty's turn.

"I use my Sonic Bird to attack you directly." Misty said, for there were no monsters on Kari's side of the field and she was sure that it would finish her off.

But Kari did have a face down card. "I activate my trap card: A Hero Emerges." She flipped over her face down to reveal a trap. "Now you have to select one random card from my hand. If it's a monster, I get to summon it. If it's not, it goes to the graveyard and your attack continues."

"Okay, I pick…the card to the far right." Misty said warily.

Kari smiled. It was Dark Magician Girl. "You picked Dark Magician Girl, so she gets summoned to the field, and your monster attacks her instead of me. And since Sonic Bird is weaker, it's destroyed. That means you get 600 Life Points of damage."

Misty's Life Points were finished up and Kari won. "Oh well, there's always next time." She said, and continued drawing Duel Monsters in her notebook.

Kari took out a blank piece of paper and started drawing another Blue Eyes, the final version, this time using her rough draft as a guide. Once she was done outlining it and only need to shade it to complete it, she threw the rough draft out in a nearby recycling bin. Then she took her spot in between Kaiba and Misty, who were both laying against the tree trunk. They all continued doing their activities with focus, and the only sound that could be heard was the tapping of computer keys and the scratching of pencils.

When the period ended, Kari and Misty walked back together with Kaiba trailing behind. He noticed the recycling bin that Kari threw out her rough draft in. He walked over to it, made sure no one was looking, then reached out to the pile of papers to grab her first sketch of the Blue Eyes White Dragon.

Phoenix: So, how do you like my OC, Misty? She's based off of my friend Akai (aoi-akai) in case if anyone was wondering, and she was mentioned one in a previous chapter, I think it was chapter 12. I think its cool how Kaiba wanted to keep Kari's doodle of Blue Eyes. And, out of curiosity, how old do you think I am? I love guesses :P. So leave a review, stay tuned for the update, and all that jazz. You already know what to do.