Thank you to all who have reviewed and/or read my story. Be paitent for updates. I'll be able to heaps during my holidays but during the rest of the year, it'll take longer (Blame my parents).

What happened so far: After being saved by a spiky-haired boy with an unusual looking item, Sass has fallen unconsicous due to the effects of her mysterious Millennium Bracelet...


Life At Domino High

The aroma of sizzling bacon and sausages awoke Sass from her slumber. Her eyes flickered open to see a white ceiling. Sass just laid there in stunned silence, taking in her new change of setting. Slowly and steadily, Sass rose to a seated position and shook off the remainer of her drowziness before looking at her surroundings. She was in a small cozy lounge/living room area. There was a TV to the right of a clear back sliding door, in front of the window, and a lounge across from it, where Sass was lying. There was a unit decorated with pictures to the right of the TV and, next to the lounge, diagonal from the unit, was a classic wooden table with six matching chairs. A blue vase with a single sunflower sat in the middle of the table.

"Oh, you're up. You slept so heavily, I thought you'd never wake up"

Sass turned around to see a man standing in a kitchen area no more than 10 feet from the lounge room. He was a short man, his head only just visible over the bench, with spiky grey hair hidden under a black bandana. Sass could just see his green overalls as he reached over and flipped the bacon over in their pan. He had a pointed beard and big violet eyes. Violet eyes...

"That boy!" Sass exclaimed, jumping off the lounge, almost making the elderly man jump out of his skin.

"Boy?" he looked at Sass with a puzzled expression on his face.

"The boy who helped me. He helped me fight off the hoods" Sass looked around her, worried but tried not to express it.

The man's puzzled expression cleared instantly, "Oh, you mean Yugi. Yes, I had to help him carry you inside. Found him in the middle of the road cradling you in his arms"

The man wiped his hands on his overalls and walked over to Sass. He was the exact same height as her. Sass silently felt relieved that, at last, was an adult she could look at eye-to-eye.

"I'm Solomon Moto. Yugi is my grandson" he held out his hand, "You can call me Gramps"

"OK, Gramps" Sass shook his hand, "I'm Saskura. You can call me Sass"

Sass glanced over Gramps' shoulder, looking at the food. To a girl who hadn't eaten in nearly 24 hours, it was near torture to launch herself at it, "Those bacon and sausages sure smell delicious"

"Would you like some? You look like you're starving" Gramps smiled at Sass, who stared at the food with saucepan wide eyes.

She couldn't say yes faster enough. It wasn't long before Sass sat at the wooden table gulping down bacon and sausages like there is no tomorrow. Gramps watched with an amused smirk on his face as he brought over her third plate. Sass felt a little greedy eating so much food but the smells of breakfast wiped her guilt from her mind.

"You really were starving" Gramps sniggered at her, "Better save some for Yugi. Which reminds me..."

Gramps turned and grabbed a wooden-handled broom from next to the unit. He measured out his spot, next to the lounge and 5 metres from the staircase which led upstairs before he began jabbing the ceiling rapidly with the handle end of the broom. Sass watched with an inquistive look on her face until she heard a large thump. This didn't come from the broom, it came from upstairs.

"OW" a voice cried out. Sass recognised it from the innocent boy from last night.

"Get up, Yugi, you lazy bum, or you'll be late to school!" Gramps shouted at the ceiling before turning to Sass, grinning, "Sorry about that, but my grandson sleeps probably just as heavy as you do"

"Don't worry. My brother used to get so frustrated, he'd resort to dropping ice cubes down my pyjamas" Sass' smile faltered for a second as she spoke about Bakura but quickly changed the subject, "Um, sorry, but where's the bathroom?"

"Upstairs, first door on the left. Can't miss it" Gramps replied, "If you wish, we have some old clothes in the cupboard right opposite it. Help yourself"

"Thank you" Sass replied as she hurried up the staircase. Before entering the bathroom, Sass decided to check what Gramps meant by 'old clothes'. Upon opening the cupboard, Sass was immediately hit by a wave of dust. After a moment of coughing, spluttering and getting the dust out of her eyes, Sass looked at what the contents of the cupboard were. They weren't too bad, and completely devoid of female clothing. But then Sass noticed that majority of the clothing was either for elderly men or very young boys, way too small, even for her. Sass pushed a pile out of the way to see the back and saw a new pile. School clothes. Sass pulled them out and saw that they were identical to the uniform that the boy- Yugi- was wearing last night. It had a blue jacket with silver buttons, long blue pants and a white collared shirt. Sass threw the shirt back in the cupboard and looked around for some sort of sewing kit. Gramps must have been married at one time...

"Ah, ha" Sass smiled as she saw a small red sewing back tucked up at the back. Grabbing it, Sass shut the cupboard and took the jacket, pants and kit into the bathroom with her. She spent more time in the bathroom performing her alterations to the uniform than having the actual shower. Using an old pair of scissor, she cut the sleeves off the jacket, giving it the look of being torn off, before removing the silver buttons from the front of the jacket and sewed them on the collar. With the pants, she did the hemline at the bottom and took them up a bit to halfway up her shin before sewing it back up. It, too, had a torn look at the bottom. After being finally satisfied with her new 'Sass-ified' school uniform, Sass finally ran herself a shower.

She laid her uniform on the towel rack and put her old clothes along the side of the bath. When Sass stepped in the shower, the feeling of warm water hitting her freezing cold skin came as an instant relief. Sass sighed happily: she was gonna be in here for a while...


Sass came running down the staircase, strands of her hair still wet from the shower. She now wore her 'Sass-ified' school uniform, with her army boots, 'BFMV' T-shirt and black bandana. Sass looked around the lounge/living room/kitchen. Gramps wasn't anywhere.

"Gramps?" Sass called out

"In the storage room" Sass heard Gramps call from out the front. Sass walked through a beaded doorway which lead to a wide shop area. But it wasn't just any shop area. Sass gawked at the sight of thousands of Duel Monsters cards in glass cases staring up at her. Trust her to be saved by the grandson of a card trader. Sass looked to see the storage room right next to the shop counter, door wide open, and saw Gramps on a step ladder, organising boxes on a shelf into alphabetical order.

"Where's Yugi?" Sass asked, looking around her. That boy didn't seem the sort to just leave his grandfather here and go galavanting off.

"He was late for school. Only had time to grab a piece of toast" Gramps tutted, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day"

"I know" Sass nodded, "Listen, Gramps, I need to go out. I'll be back by lunch. My clothes are in the bathroom, if it's no trouble" Sass hurried for the front door, "I'm sorry, I'll be back soon"

Sass ran out the door, listening to it jingle behind her as she shut it behind her, before Gramps could reply. Looking up and down the road, now in clear weather, Sass thought in her head where the boys had chased her. Sass followed the road until she found the long alleyway she had run down. From there, it wasn't any trouble for her to find her way through the packed shopping district and back to the town square, full of happy smiling adults getting morning coffees and angry taxi drivers, all that seem to have it in for Sass who took abuse from three of them, each recieving the finger in reply.

Finally, standing on the steps of the train station with her two bags which she retrieved from her rented locker, Sass studied the town map which was on a wall right outside it. She didn't realise just how big the city was until she saw the map, which look up two-thirds of the wall.

"Yes, here you are" Sass point at a small building on the map labelled 'Domino High School'. Sass groaned when she saw the long distance from the station. It wasn't too far from Yugi's house but Sass had run in the exact opposite direction and now, the walk looked daunting. Sass turned and looked at the square, sighing. She couldn't believe she was doing this...

"Taxi!" Sass shouted at a passing taxi, which came to a halt instantly. Sass leaped down the staircase, three steps at a time, and quickly got in, throwing her bags on the seat next to her. The driver, an Asian man with a cheerful smile, turned and looked at her.

"Where to, miss?" he inquired politely

"Domino High School" Sass replied, "Please step on it. I'm gonna be late for class"

The driver began to take off but looked at her, puzzled, "Why do you not take the bus?"

"I'm new in town" Sass answered, breathless, "I don't have a pass or anything for the bus"

"A new student?" the taxi driver smiled at her, "You know, I'll give you a discount. I'm in a nice mood and you look lost. You only have to pay $20 for this ride"

"Oh, thank you" Sass grinned at him, grateful. So not all taxi drivers had it out for her, "You don't know how much this means to me""

The man didn't say anything more, but continued to drive. Sass leaned against the door and looked out the window. Now she knew what Blanche DuBois was talking about when she 'always relied on the kindness of strangers'. Sass watched the stores that passed her by as the taxi drove down the highway, towards the business district. When the taxi came to a pause at a stop light, Sass' eyes stumbled upon a bookstore. A very fancy one, Stages of Imagination was written on the top in red, cursive writing. They had a theme this week. A sign in the window read, in blood-red creepy writing, 'Classic Horrors'. Two tables sat in the window, covered in indigo-coloured velvet, and it held five stands, each holding a classic horror cover.

Sass ticked them off in her head as she looked at them: Bram Stoker's Dracula- read it. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein- read it, A String Of Pearls: A Romance (the book which first featured demon barber Sweeney Todd)- has seen the play, may get around to the book...

Sass then came to a stop at the fourth book. She didn't see past it. It was a tiny novella, in a brown hard-cover with golden block writing on the cover. Sass didn't have any trouble reading it. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R.L Stevenson. She knew that book all too well. It was impossible for her to forget...


Sass sat on the lounge, staring at the fireplace. The man, the one who had carried her inside, came back in from the kitchen carrying a tray of three steaming hot mugs. His son, the boy with long lavender-coloured hair, was kneeling on the floor right next to the lounge. He looked at her nervously, unsure what to say. Sass didn't want him to say anything. She was re-going the events in her head. Her name was Saskura and she was 10 years old. What else was there? She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, but all she got was blank. There was no last name, no middle name, nothing. There was no people, no friends, no family, not even a stuffed animal she carried everywhere. After her name and age, the only thing that came after that was Sass waking up on a large leather lounge surrounded by strangers and discovering that she had no memory of anything.

"Here" the man offered her a mug, which she automatically took from him, "It will calm your senses"

Sass took a sip from the mug. The feeling of hot cocoa soothed her parshed throat and the warmth spread from her throat to her head, relieving her from the gentle throbbing which emitted from the wound on her right temple. The man had placed a band-aid over it, but the cocoa really acted as a painkiller. After the sip, she turned to the boy, who was drinking from his mug.

"Who are you, anyway?" Sass asked them, looking from the father to the son.

The son blushed and began speak, "I'm Ryou, Ryou Bakura, and this is my father, Professor Johnathan Hirato Bakura"

"I'm the curator of the Domino City Museum" he explained to the curious girl

Sass nodded, "My clever powers of deduction tell me that this is your house"

Ryou chuckled as his father smiled at her, "Yes, this is my home... well, for not much longer"

Sass raised an eyebrow, "Hmmm?"

Prof. Bakura placed his half-drained mug on the tray in front of him, "You see, I am not just a professor. I'm an archaeologist. I have to travel everywhere. For all of next year, I'm on contract to several archaeolgical sites throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia"

"That sounds fascinating" Sass replied, genuinely interested, "Is Ryou going with you?"

"Well, my son has just recieved a spot in Eton. We got his acceptance letter around three weeks ago" Prof. Bakura smiled at his blushing son, "He'll be going at the end of the summer holidays, at the beginning of the next term. I'll be seeing him every holidays and so, but I'll have time to be committed to the digs"

Sass looked at Ryou with a frown on her face. Ryou caught her eyes and looked worried, "What is it?"

"Your name" Sass replied, getting a raised eyebrow from Ryou, "It doesn't suit you"

"What name do you suggest?" Prof. Bakura chuckled at this revelation.

"Your last name's Bakura, right?" Sass asked. Ryou nodded in reply. Sass smiled, "Yeah, that name suits you. Bakura"

Bakura looked at her wierdly before rolling his eyes. A small, smug grin curled up at the corners of his lips. Sass' gaze went from Bakura to the nearby side table. On it was a small book, hardcovered and the title on the front written in gold.

"What's that?" Sass crawled over on the lounge and grabbed the book off the table, reading the title aloud, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"

Bakura smiled, "That's my favourite book. Papa bought it for me after he learnt that I had recieved the spot in Eton"

Sass looked at it for a moment before handing it to Bakura, "Can you read it to me?"

Bakura looked at the book nervously, looking at it and his father before looking back at Sass, "Um, can't you?"

"Maybe. I seemed to read the title OK" Sass replied, "But it's your favourite book. You read it. Please?"

Sass' eyes widened, a look of pleading and innocence covering her face. Bakura was helpless to the power that puppy-dog look had on him. He took the book and sat next to Sass, who cuddled up into Prof. Bakura. He didn't seem to mind at all that Sass was wet. Bakura gave them one more nervous look, who watched him expectantly, before turning back to the first page of the book.

'Mr Utterson the lawyer was a man of a rugged countenance, that was never lighted by a smile; cold, scanty and embarrassed in discourse; backward in sentiment; lean, long, dusty, dreary and yet somehow lovable...'

As Bakura brought the world of 18th Century Victorian England alive with his words, Sass closed her eyes and listened. She may not be able to remember what is like having a family, but she hoped that it felt as cosy and safe as this. They sat there, listening to Stevenson's classic until the fireplace was reduced to embers...


"Here we are, miss"

Sass looked at the taxi driver with a start. Within 10 minutes, he pulled up outside a large wall near a giant set of metal gates. Above it were the words 'Domino High School'. Sass looked over the walls to see a very large building, with heaps of windows facing the front of the school. Inside each window she could see students laughing and talking to each other.

"Thank you" Sass handed a $20 note to the taxi driver, "I'm forever grateful"

"It is no problem, miss" the taxi driver watched her get out of the taxi with her two bags, his cheerful grin plastered on her face. When she closed the gate, the taxi immediately took off again, speeding down the road like a bullet. Sass rolled her eyes and headed towards the front gates. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself and headed inside.

Sass never thought that she would have so many pairs of eyes staring at her at once. Fashionista girls stopped and stared at her outrageous clothes, skater guys crashed into each other while looking at the 'new kid with the mad vest' (Sass heard one of them say that as she walked past), jocks stopped playing their game of football and began wolf-whistling at her. Sass stopped and narrowed her eyes at them, giving them her coldest, most piercing death stare. This made them stop immediately. Sass then continued up the path, ignoring the looks of everyone else, until she entered the large building in front of her.

The corridors were just as bad. People stood in little gangs, leaning against their lockers, and whispering about her as she walked past. Sass didn't care. She was used to the whispers and stares. After she reached the third floor, however, people began to act. Sass was halfway down a corridor when a jock boy, a kid with messy brown hair and built like an emo kid, walked up behind her and began to talk to her.

"Hello, my name's Greg" he smirked at her, his ego growing with each step, "if you allow me, I'll be your guide around the school and lots more"

Greg then slapped Sass' behind. Instinctively, Sass turned around and grabbed the boy's nether regions in an iron-tight vice grip so fast, the boy almost turned purple instantly. Sass looked at him blankly and spoke.

"Listen, Gregg, I don't appreciate getting treated like a piece of meat. This girl can kick your ass and remove you of your manhood so fast, you'll be screaming in a high pitched voice" Sass' voice gained an edge of warning as she looked down at the gasping boy, legs ready to give way, "Now, I'll be kind and reduce your chances of completely sterility if you can tell me where I can find Yugi Moto's classroom"

The boy spent a moment gasping before slowly pointing at a room three doors down from where they stood, "R... Room 5-0-9. M..Mr. Fredrick's c...class"

"Thank you. You've been very helpful" Sass smiled politely at him and released her iron-tight grip, letting the boy collapse on ground, covering his injured self.

Sass turned and walked away while his mates went over and helped him. Sass knew that what she did was cruel and painful, but she didn't care. Sass had to fight to survive in her world. She had to fight for respect and equality, as well as the right to be left alone. She always had to do this, she didn't know any other way. But all thoughts of her actions disappeared as she entered room 5-0-9.

The kids in the room where all chatting and gathered around tables. Girly girls chatted about the latest fashions in annoyingly high-pitched giggly voices. Nerds were sitting around a table at the front, talking about their latest science assignment and World of Warcraft. A group of metal heads sat at the back head banging to the music on their I-pods, which people could hear anywhere because they were turned up full blast. But everyone stopped and stared when she walked in the room. Only three people didn't seem to notice her.

Sass saw a boy with brown, neatly combed hair reading a novel in the middle of the room. His uniform was done up properly, not like a nerd but like a businessman. Sass then looked over at the other two people that hadn't noticed her entrance. A brown-haired girl with big blue eyes was in a pink top and a bright blue skirt with white stockings and black Grosby shoes and a spiky-haired boy were at a table playing Duel Monsters, too absorbed in the game to see her or noticed how quite the room had gotten. Sass instantly recognised the spiky-haired kid as Yugi. As she walked over, two boys approached them. One had messy blonde hair with big brown eyes. He was a wary person, Sass could see that, and was very loyal to Yugi and the brown-haired girl. The other boy was tall and lanky, with brown hair which pointed up in a strange looking cow lick. He wasn't as defensive as the blonde boy but he was still protective. The two boys walked over to the girl and Yugi and whispered to them, turning their heads to look at her. Yugi's eyes widened as he recognised Sass.

"Hey, Yugi" Sass smiled at him, "You left without saying goodbye"

"Yuge, do you know this girl?" the blonde boy asked. Sass detected a Brooklyn accent in his voice.

"Yeah, this is the girl that was being bullied by the hoods" Yugi got up and walked over to her, "What are you doing here?"

"Can't a girl come to thank their saviour?" Sass said, "Dude, if you hadn't shown up, I'd have been a goner"

Yugi smiled, "It was no problem, really. I just did what anyone did in a normal situtation. We haven't properly been introduced. My name's Yugi. Yugi Moto"

Yugi held out his hand which Sass gladly took, replying, "My name's Saskura. You can call me Sass for short"

Yugi lead her back to his trio of friends, announcing, "Hey guys, this is Saskura"

"Hey, Saskura" the brown haired girl smiled, "I'm Teá. Teá Gardener"

"Nice to meet you, Saskura" the brown haired boy held out his hand, which Sass shook, "My name's Tristan Taylor. My ugly friend here is Joey Wheeler"

"Watch it, Tristan" the blonde haired boy glared at him, "We don't want her to think you're the prettiest of the bunch"

"You wanna a knuckle sandwich for lunch, pal?" Tristan wrapped his arm around Joey, giving him a noogie while Joey struggled.

"Nah, thanks, I just ate" Joey reached his arm over Tristan's shoulder and twisted his arm off from around Joey's neck and holding it behind his back.

"Calm down, you two" Yugi laughed as he sat back down, "We don't want Fredrick coming in to discover a trashed classroom"

"Sorry, Yuge" the pair replied in unison before glancing at Sass. Joey was the first to ask, "Is that the school uniform?"

Sass nodded, "Yeah. Yugi's grandpa had some old clothes in the cupboard. I just made my own alterations. Sort of 'Sass-ified' it"

Tristan looked at her up and down, "And you don't care that it's supposed to be the guy's uniform?"

"Makes it better. Give me guy clothes over girly ones anyday" Sass replied, grinning.

"I'm beginning to like ya, Sass" Joey grinned back at her.

Sass turned and looked at Yugi and Teá's Duel Monsters game. Her eyes widened as she saw a card featuring the picture of a magician clad in purple with a long staff with an orb on the top. He had 2500 attack points and 2100 defence points.

"Is that the Dark Magician?" Sass gawked

"Yep" Yugi picked it up and looked at it happily, "My favourite card actually. You know anything about Duel Monsters?"

Sass scoffed. Know anything? That was an insult. Sass simply pulled out her deck and handed it to Yugi, her arms crossed smugly, "You check out my deck and you tell me"

Yugi shuffled through Sass' deck, looking thoroughly impressed, "This is a very good deck. There are heaps of powerful cards, some incredibly rare ones as well- Whoa!"

Sass watched with a smug and proud smirk as Yugi grabbed the Warrior Princess of Twilight from her deck. His mouth was ajar and he gazed at it longingly. Tristan and Joey were just as equally awestruck while Teá looked at them curiously.

"The Warrior Princess of Twilight?" Yugi finally said when he found his voice, "You are kidding me? There are only one of these in existence! How did you get it?"

"My father brought it back from a trip to Egypt when I was... younger" Sass chose her words carefully. She could say 'little' because she was only eleven at the time, it was only three years ago. Sass quickly switched topics, "It was around the same time I got this"

Sass held up her arm and revealed to Yugi her Millennium Bracelet. Joey, Teá and Tristan gazed dumbstruck from her Bracelet to Yugi, who held up his unusual necklace pendant in his hands. Sass noticed that her initial perception had been correct: it did look like an upside down pyramid. But Sass also noticed the same eye symbol on his pendant that was on her bracelet. Maybe they were from the same jewellery collection?

"Hey, Yuge, that's got the same eye thing as your Millennium Puzzle" Joey pointed out

"Whoa, that's freaky" Teá gasped

Sass nodded and then remembered how they had both glowed last night just before the fight, then remembered the other Yugi, the braver one, "Hey, Yugi, about last night- "

A yank on Sass' shoulder interrupted her. She was forced to turn around, seeing two angry older men. One was tall and skinny with greying hair in a crew cut while one, shorter and more portly looking, had glasses and black hair done up in a combover. Sass took one look at their pressed collared shirts with pens in the breast pockets and business pants and rolled her eyes.

'Great, teachers' Sass thought

The tall one spoke first, "How dare you come in here and disgrace the school uniform like that. You will get expelled for this"

Sass almost laughed at them, "Go ahead. It'll be pretty hard though. I don't even go here"

The short one sneered at her, grabbing her arm, "Fine. We'll get you arrested for trespassing"

'Great, Sass, way to go' Sass silently cursed herself, while she struggled against the arms of the two teachers, "Get off me! Let me go!"

"Sir, let her go, please!" Yugi begged her

"C'mon, sir, stop it!" Tristan said

"Get off her!" Joey snarled

"Yugi, help me!" Sass called out to her helpless friend. At that moment, all hope seemed lost...

"Let her go"

Everyone froze and turned. Sass saw the brown-haired business-like boy who had been reading the book before. He was now standing to full height, revealing his very tall domineering frame. He had big dark blue eyes, which glared coldly at the teachers. Sass stared at these eyes. They were full of so much greed and power lust and hate... this sort of ambition isn't born to someone. Something happened to this boy which made him who he is. He clenched his hands into fists and the teachers flinched.

"Sit back down in your seat, Mr. Kaiba" the tall teacher ordered

"Or what? You'll expel me? One of your most gifted students, and one of your biggest contributers?" Kaiba smirked at him, "Fat chance. Listen, I'll pay for this girl's enrolment here. Forget the uniform forever, forget this whole incident and you may just get a substantially large pay rise. All I ask is that you let her go"

The two teachers looked at each other for a moment, considering the propostion, before letting Sass go. Sass rubbed the blood back into her shoulders as the tall teacher turned to her, "What's your name?"

"Cassandra Blake. Please, though, call me Sass" Sass replied, the last part dripping with sarcasm. The two teachers then grudgingly left the room, leaving Yugi and the group staring at Sass and Kaiba in amazement. Sass and Kaiba looked at each other in complete silence for what felt like ages. Kaiba looked shocked with himself while Sass felt surprised. That's two people that have helped her in two days while she had spent a whole lifetime relying on just herself and maybe Bakura for help.

"Thanks" Sass replied when she finally found her voice.

"Don't mention it" Kaiba looked over Sass' shoulder to Yugi and his friends, "Anyone. Ever"

Yugi and his friends nodded and pretended to continue talking to each other while still secretly watching Sass and Kaiba. Sass watched Kaiba turned around and leave the room while Yugi and his friends hurried over.

"You OK, Sass?" Yugi asked, "Did they hurt you?"

"Nah" Sass was still watching the doorway, "Who was that?"

"Seto Kaiba. He's the own of KaibaCorp, the biggest game production company in the world" Yugi replied

"And the most technologically advanced" Teá added

"Yeah, I've heard rumours that KaibaCorp are actually developing a way to make the monsters in a Duel Monsters game come to life" Tristan exclaimed

"Ya dreamin'" Joey snorted

"I'm serious. Kaiba loves Duel Monsters. It only makes sense- " Tristan continued but Sass just tuned out. Her head was spinning with all these words. KaibaCorp? Gaming company? Seto Kaiba? It was making her head hurt.

"Sass? Sass?" Sass was brought back to reality by Yugi, who looked at her with concerned violet eyes, "You alright?"

"Yeah" Sass nodded, "Fine"

But at that moment, to Sass' displeasure, the two teachers from before came back in, heading straight for them. Joey and Tristan instinctively got into a fighting stance while Teá and Yugi both stood in front of her, defensively.

"Oh, God, you two again" Joey snapped, "Give her a rest, why don't ya?"

"You heard what Kaiba said. Leave her alone" Tristan added

"That's right" Teá agreed, "We aren't gonna let you anywhere near her"

"Guys, calm down. We don't know why they're here yet" Yugi told them, before adding quietly, "But if they are after Sass, we'll stop them"

Sass felt a warmth spreading in her heart. These guys only just met her and here they were, ready to risk life and expulsion, to protect her. The two teachers looked sheepishly from them to Sass, who they could only just see behind Yugi.

"Your enrolment and everything is set. Mr. Kaiba has agreed to pay for your tuition and everything you require for school" the tall teacher explained

"You have even been excused of your uniform. You may where it however you wish" the short teacher added grudgingly, "But I'm afraid you don't start until tomorrow, so I'm afraid we're going to have to ask you to leave"

Sass nodded and put her hand on Yugi's shoulder, who went to say something but looked at Sass, "It's alright, Yugi. That's reasonable"

"OK, Sass" Yugi nodded to her, "See you soon"

"See you back at the game shop" Sass smiled, squeezing past Yugi and Teá to head for the door.

The teachers beckoned to her, but Sass ignored them, coming to a pause by Seto Kaiba's desk. He had left the novel he was reading closed on his desk. A dog-eared worn-out novel, Sass picked it up and read the title in her head.

'Le Fantôme de l'Opéra: The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux' Sass thought to herself. She had seen the musical numerous times and watched the 2005 movie twice as much. The closest proper translation of the original text she had even been able to get her hands on was a children's book that basically summarised the entire tale into 20 pages. Sass turned the book over in her hands. The corners of the spine were worn blunt and all the pages had signs of being folded in the corner, in order to mark the page. Clearly Kaiba either enjoyed this book or was very intrigued by it.

"Miss Blake?" Sass looked up at the impaitent teachers, who gestured to the door.

Clutching the book tightly, Sass hurried out of the classroom without another word. She hurried down the hallway, passed Greg and his friends (Greg jumped at the sight of her, into the arms of his best friend). Sass smirked at him before walking on. At the end of the corridor by the staircase, right next to the office door, was Seto Kaiba. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes closed in deep thought. He gave the impression of being a cold, callous person but Sass stubbornly refused to believe that. This guy just basically got her a scholarship. He can't be entirely heartless. Slowly, Sass approached the pensive teenager and stopped in front of him. After a moment's consideration, Sass spoke first.

"Why did you do that back there?"

"You complaining?" Seto asked, a half-smile curling up on his lips

"No, but you don't look like the sort that would do something for nothing" Sass replied honestly, putting her free hand on her hip

Seto just shrugged his shoulder, still not opening his eyes, "I don't know. It just felt right"

Sass looked down at the book in her arm and held it out, "Hey, you left your book in the classroom"

Seto finally opened his eyes and looked at it. He widened his eyes and gently took the dog-earred novel from Sass' outstretched arm, looking at it fondly for a moment before remembering that Sass was still there, "Um, thank you"

"No problem. It's actually ironic. It was my brother's favourite book"

Sass froze at this comment. The world around her went quiet and everything else became obsolete. Bakura's favourite book was The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. What she said should have been a lie. But in her heart, Sass knew that she wasn't lying. A feeling of excitement filled her up as realisation dawned on her in the form of a memory. Not a proper memory, more like a snippet of one: a person reading to her The Phantom of the Opera as she fell asleep in her bed. She couldn't remember the person's face, but she knew that he had been there and that he had existed. Her big brother. Her real brother.

Sass covered her mouth, trying not gasp out loud, while Seto continued to look at the book. Remembering herself, Sass shook her head and removed her hand from her mouth.

"Once again, Seto, thank you" Sass said, "I'll see you around"

"Yeah, see you around" Seto replied nonchalantly

While Seto re-opened the book to the page he was reading before he saved Sass' hide, Sass ran down the staircase so fast, she started leaping them three at a time. A memory! A time before Bakura and Papa! Sass felt like jumping in the air and shouting to the world. Her family did exist! There was someone for her! And she was going to find them...


Whoa, that was a long chapter! But it was worth it. People rate and review me please! :)

Next Chapter: A Place to Belong