Aisha: Hello everybody! This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh! fanfic, so please be gentle. I don't tend to get a lot of reviews so I'm hoping that this may be the story to break my lame-o record of 4 reviews for a single chapter. Not that I'm complaining (Ok so I am ^_^;) I like all the reviews I get!

Anyway before you start reading I'd just like to clear up a few things. The first being that in this story, due to odd circumstances, I have given the lives of Yugi and Ryou to Yami and Bakura. You'll understand what I mean a little later on. Next I'd like to say that if at any time a part of this story may resemble one that you have read or written, this was purely by coincidence. This story was actually inspired by several others that I have read, and the Change of Heart Card. And finally I'd like to warn you all that this will be a Ryou/Bakura fic, with bits and pieces of Yami/Yugi, and maybe even a little Seto/Jou.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!. But I do have the first two issues of the manga! It's cool! Also part of this story takes a few ideas from YuYu Hakusho. I do not own that either.

Bound By Our Simple Mistakes

Prologue

Case #24204

Name: Motou, Sugoroku

Occupation: Game Shop Owner

Date of Birth: July 18, 1935

Date of Death: October 4, 2030

"Look mate, are positive that you're supposed to be here?"

What a day! It had started out like every other day, for Sugoroku. He had woken up, made breakfast, saw his grandson Yami off to school, and had then opened his game shop up for the day. It was around noon when things had gotten weird. He had stepped outside to sweep the sidewalk when he noticed a small boy playing in the middle of the street.

Sugoroku looked around for the boys parents, but didn't get very far as he suddenly heard the dull roar of a motorcycle. Looking into the street he saw that the neither the boy nor the motorcyclist were looking where they were going, the distance between the two shortening by the second.

"Look out!" He shouted, as he dashed into the street and pushed the boy aside just in time…. To save the boy, Sugoroku, however, took the motorcycle straight on. He hadn't really felt anything, just an acute pain in his chest before he completely blacked out. When he re-awakened he had been sitting in what looked like a waiting room to a social worker.

Now he was seated in front of a man, with angel wings and an odd british-australian accent, that was asking him if was sure he was dead. Apparently he wasn't supposed to die for another 27 years.

"He wouldn't be here if he weren't dead," a woman who had just entered the room answered for him. She was tall with long dark hair and soft hazel eyes, dressed in light yellow robes with a pair of white wings, identical to those of the man in front of him, protruding from her back. "Welcome to the Upper Elements Mr. Motou!"

Sugoroku could do nothing but make unintelligible sounds, he had no clue what she meant.

"Heaven," she clarified, smiling at him. "My name is Bassile. You see, Mr. Motou, you've thrown our system for a bit of a loop. Every person who is born is given one of these files," here she held up his file, "and in it is their name, occupation, date of birth, and date of death. You weren't supposed to die for quite some time yet," she smiled sheepishly.

"So I've been told," he snorted.

"There is a way for you to return to your body though. All you must do is find your life essence."

"My what?"

"It's simple, every person has a soul, a body, and life essence. Quite literally it's what keeps you alive. There is a river that runs through all of the Upper Elements. This river stores all the life essence of those who have passed on. I shall guide you to the Judgment Angels, they will help you navigate the river. I'll even let you pick two mortals to help you with this task."

"Two?" Sugoroku was thinking hard. "My grandson Yami, of course, he must be worried to death. But who else?"

"May I make a suggestion?" Bassile cut in.

"Of course."

"After all Heaven does tend to have a rather odd sense of humor, so why not enlist the help of the one who killed you in the first place?" Bassile said while grinning in a very un-angelic manner.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~* ~*~*~*~*~*

Aisha: Ok that was heinously short, but it was just the prologue. Tell me what you think so far, and fear not the next chapter actually has Ryou in it! REVIEW PLEASE!!!

P.S.- I would be much obliged if anyone could give me a list of commonly used Japanese words and phrases that I could use in this fic. Thanks for the help! ^_^