Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Children of Shadow ❯ Arrival ( Chapter 1 )

Me: Aloha!

Isis: What's with the hawaiian?

Me: No reason.

Marik: Righhhht.

Me: Oh KAIIII-BA!

Kaiba: *groan* Stupid disclaimers- If you think AMK owns ygo you have serious mental issues……

/…../= ryou to bakura

//…..//=bakura to ryou

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Ryou Bakura had been waiting at the airport a long time, and he was getting worried. Not that he was impatient- he didn't mind waiting. It was his yami that minded.

//When is she going to get here!?//

Ryou fidgeted. /Soon, I hope./

Only he heard Bakura growl impatiently. //She'd better. I have better things to do than sit here waiting for your cousin.//

Ryou ignored him. He had just seen a girl walk through the doorway leading out of the passage to the runway. She was carrying a navy blue suitcase and heading towards him.

As the girl reached him, Ryou smiled at her. "Hello, Cassie. Long time no see."

Cassie returned the smile faintly. She was about Ryou's age, with short, jet black hair that she wore cropped, pixielike, around the tips of her ears. Her eyes were a deep, exotic blue, and her frame was lean and wiry. "You too Ryou." Her gaze drifted to the Millenium Ring gleaming on her cousin's chest. "What's that?"

"Oh, nothing," Ryou said. Bakura growled again.

//I am not nothing!//

Ryou sensed his yami's anger. /Bakura, not now! Not in public, at least./

Cassie shrugged nondifferently and switched her suitcase to the other hand. "So, are we going?"

"Yes. Do you want me to carry that?" Ryou asked, pointing at the suitcase. One glance at his cousin's face changed his mind. "Forget it."

"Gladly." Cassie's voice sounded harsh for a moment, then her face softened. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay." Ryou began walking down the long, wide hall that was packed with people heading to their flights. Cassie followed him. "You have the school records, right?"

Cassie nodded. "Yeah. The principal printed them up for me. Truth be told, I think she was glad to be rid of me." She faked a laugh. Ryou, however, looked worried.

"Why would she feel like that?"

Cassie shrugged. "Oh- you know. Not troublemaker, exactly- I used to get into fights a lot. Kind of a temper- apparently I'm a 'troubled youth who seeks inner strength and expresses herself by putting up a violent shield against the other students', at least according to the school counselor." She shrugged again. "Counselors- bunch of crackheads. They'll say any bullshit as long as it sounds believable."

They swung open the glass door and stepped outside into the late April sunshine. The cab Ryou had ordered was waiting at the curb for them. Ryou was about to hold the door open for Cassie but thought better of it, his cousin was a serious tomboy. You could tell from the way she dressed: baggy blue jeans, scruffy white sneakers, and a torn denim jacket over a loose black t shirt. Cassie opened the cab door and slid inside, Ryou followed her. As the cab pulled away, Ryou noticed that Bakura seemed to be brooding over something.

/Bakura?/

//What?!//

/What's wrong?/

Ryou expected Bakura to snarl that he was fine and to leave him the hell alone, but got an surprising reply. //There's something about her… I can't identify it, but….// He trailed off.

/What?/ Ryou prompted.

// Why don't you mind your own business, dammit!// Bakura snapped, and shut off their mental link abruptly.

Ryou sighed. That was more like the Bakura he knew. Oh well. He hadn't really expected his yami to tell him what he was thinking, anyway.

Cassie's POV

Something was up with Ryou. I just had this weird feeling just now, in the cab, that he was talking to someone without using words- and as I've learned from personal experience, my weird feelings are usually right on the money.

Well, whatever he was hiding, that was fine with me. I didn't blame him for keeping any secrets from me. After all, I had a pretty big secret myself….

Damn I hate jet lag. I flew here all the way from Cairo, and barely gotten any sleep. I really needed to- yawn- catch up….

I didn't realize I had fallen asleep, but suddenly Ryou was shaking me awake. "Huh? Wha-?"

"Come on, Cassie. We're at my house."

Oh. Ryou's house. Right. Which was now my house. I blinked sleep from my eyes and clambered out of the cab. Ryou had my suitcase, and had already paid the driver and was walking up the sidewalk to the townhouse where he lived. I followed him. It was a nice enough place, I guesed. Brick. Not a palace, but not some crummy little one-room apartment either. When we got inside, Ryou showed me the guest room.

"I know it's not really big, but-"

"It's fine," I interrupted him. Truth was, it was about half the size of my old room- but I wasn't about to complain. I needed a place to live, and I knew Ryou wasn't exactly rolling in money either.

"Oh. Okay, then. Um- just unpack your stuff, I'll call out for dinner. Pizza sound good?"

"Pizza's great." I hadn't had anything to eat for hours, except a bag of peanuts on the airplane. I hated flying. I figured I was so hungry, cardboard would have tasted good. "Could you get black olives?"

Ryou nodded and left the room. I could hear his footsteps growing softer on the stairs. I opened my suitcase. There wasn't much to unpack, just my clothes, toiletries, school papers- my clothes I put in an old dresser in the corner, the papers on top of it. The bathroom was down the hall, so I could take care of my toothbrush and stuff later, and finally-

I pulled the last item from my suitcase, a dusty, worn book. Opening to the first page, I saw a photo of myself at five, playing contentedly in a sandbox. Next to me, smiling and laughing, was my father. At the sight of his face, a cold lead weight sunk into my stomach. As I flipped slowly through the pages, the weight grew heavier and heavier.

There was me at the playground, me at the pool, me at Christmas- in every picture I was accompanied by at least one of my parents. I closed the book and set it on top of the dresser, then crossed the room and sank onto the bed, tears welling in my eyes.

Don't cry. Don't cry.

Gods I missed them so much.

Don't cry. Don't cry.

But they-

Don't-

"Shut up," I whispered hoarsely to myself, scrubbing at my eyes. "They're gone. There's nothing you can do." I wasn't sure who I was talking to.

I heard Ryou call me from downstairs. Wiping my eyes one last time, I stood to go. But before I left, I tucked the album securely under my folded clothes.

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Me: Chapter 1 finished! I'll tell you right now, Cassie is NOT a Mary Sue. I'm sorry if I'm insulting anyone, but I DESPISE mary sue's. They really piss me off.

Marik: I thought I really pissed you off.

Me: You do.

Isis: Baka.

Me: Kaiba!

Kaiba: Again? Why do I always do the damn talking? Why not Isis?

Isis: Whoah! Hey, no way buddy. She picked you, you're stuck with it.

Kaiba: *grumble*

Me: Say it or I'll take away the skittles.

Kaiba: You wouldn't.

Me: Try me.

Kaiba: *cough* BLACKMAIL *cough* Remember to review!

Me: *grins*