Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Left Behind ❯ Toki Nakagawa ( Chapter 1 )

Thank you all for reading 'The Left Behind', I really appreciate it! Please review and tell me what you think, or with suggestions. In case you didn't understand the last chapter, this story takes place around ninety one years into the future.

...Now, because I don't know what the future will be like, this story will be pretty modern. Maybe a few cool gizmos every now and again, -. After all, this is an AU, so I can do anything I want with it, right? Right! So, lets get started, shall we?

THIS IS NON-YAOI. YAOI JUST ISN'T MY THING, THEREFORE I WILL NEVER WRITE IT. IF YOU MISUNDERSTAND, THAT IS NOT MY PROBLEM.

[Watashi wa] My name is

[Iie] No

[Hai] Yes

It was so unbearably cold, being left alone in the corridors of your own mind. With no one left in his life, Yami no Yugi was left by himself. He had been left alone and wandering before, but never with the same heavy heart as he had now. He was worried about what his immortal soul would have to go through next. How was he going to be expected to know and call another as his aibou? A sigh escaped the Pharaoh as he continued to walk.

The cold of his empty and darkened mind bit at his skin, and Yami was forced to stop walking and wait. For what, he didn't really know. He had no idea how long he would be waiting, or if he would ever be found again. Heck, he didn't even know where he was, with no real eyes to see. His only job and entertainment, was walking. After all, what else could he do?

'I can only hope I can get this over with soon.'

Moonlight pushed it's way through the closed cloth curtains onto Toki Nakagawa's bedroom floor. She watched on the ground, wrapped up in her bed sheets sitting on the floor. She watched how the curtains left their gentle, swaying movements as shadows in the light. But she didn't only watch,

She also listened.

Toki Nakagawa was only three years old, an age where most children can barely speak in complete sentences, can't sit still for very long, and loved to meet new people.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!!?"

Toki cringed as the sound of smashing glass reached her ears, and she pulled the small stuffed bear next to her even closer. Toki hadn't ever really learned about being a happy-go-lucky toddler. Her parents always fought every night after dinner and even, Toki was sure, long after she had nodded off into sleep. They always sent her to her room, thinking that maybe if she didn't see them that she wouldn't think anything of it.

But Toki thought about it a lot.

Thinking was the only thing she could do in her room. She didn't find much pleasure in playing games by herself, and she couldn't go to sleep with her parent's screaming in the other room, so she just watched, and listened, and thought.

Toki shivered involuntarily and rubbed her arms. It was not long ago when it had been hot outside, but now that winter was coming closer everything was much cooler, especially at night. But she didn't want to close the window. She loved watching the stars, and listening to the world around her. She longingly stared out her window at the house next door and sighed at the sight of a soft, warm glow coming from the windows of her neighbors home. The smell of freshly cooked food only made the scene more inviting, and the desire to go there.

"The Hisako's." Toki explained softly to her bear, "I bet they don't fight there."

She looked back down at her floor, a sudden urging inside of her growing steadily stronger. What if, she could go over to their home for a while? Maybe they could feed her, and love her, and keep her as their daughter instead, so she'd never have to come home again. How she had dreamed of running away like that, and living with them instead. Her parent's probably wouldn't notice her absence anyway, the didn't care about her in the first place, after all.

Toki bit her lip, her own sudden adventurousness surprising her, and almost even scaring her. But in a minute or two, she had already made up her mind, stuffed a few toys into her backpack, and climbed out the window.

The young girl ran gingerly across the dew covered grass to her neighbor's home. She was abruptly reminded of the cold night when the freezing water made her toes go numb, having left her shoes inside. When she finally reached the door to the Hisako residence, Toki froze. She immediately started to feel that painful shyness overcome her again, and was beginning to seriously doubt her plan. But she couldn't leave now. She was desperate for someone's help. Toki took a deep breath of air, and reached a shaky hand out as she delicately knocked.

WHOOSH!

Toki jumped as the door opened immediately, revealing a tall, middle-aged woman. Her expression of mild frustration was instantly changed into one of great confusion, and she took a step back to get a good look at the small girl in front of her. She waited for Toki to talk first, but the little girl was already speechless as soon as she saw the gorgeous kimono the woman was wearing. She had never owned a kimono before, and the one the woman was wearing was breathtaking! One of pinks and blues swirling into a purple looking sea with skillfully embroidered cod fish lining the bottom. The woman then smiled, and bent over so she could look the girl in the eye.

"Do you like it?" She whispered playfully.

Toki nodded and whispered back, "It's beautiful."

"Yes well," The woman said with a wink, "He may be scatterbrained, by I can't say my husband doesn't do a wonderful job on the kimonos he makes."

Toki relaxed, finding the woman to be perfectly safe and almost laughing at how nervous she was before hand. Toki also noticed the small clip holding her thick, dark hair into place, was also decorated with cod fish.

"So what is your name little one?" The woman asked, "I can tell already you're too young to be a salesperson."

Toki blushed a little, something that happened quite often when she had to speak to people, "Watashi wa, Nakagawa, Toki-San."

The woman's face brightened, "Oh! So you're a Nakagawa, are you? Don't you live right next door?"

Toki nodded meekly, "Hai, I'm very sorry for disturbing you, but-"

She stopped, that familiar doubt welling up again. What was she thinking, coming right up there and asking for food like that. She couldn't dare ask for something that rude! Toki lowered her head and looked at the woman's feet instead of answering. Should she just leave?

"Is there something wrong, Toki-san?" The woman asked.

Toki's eyes started to water, and before long, there were tears rolling down her cheeks in spite of her efforts to contain them.

"I'm so sorry to intrude, but I was wondering if I could live with you in your house instead of mine." She blurted out, starting to sob at her own reactions, "I can't live at my house anymore! My parents are always fighting and my mom is always screaming and my dad doesn't even care about anything anymore! I don't have any friends and my mommy and daddy don't even love me anymore!"

The woman blinked, truly surprised hearing the young girl talk. She looked to be only three years old, but she talked with a vocabulary exceeding even her five year old! Though, she finally came to the conclusion that she had to have been raised with high expectations. After all, being the only daughter of Japan's leading female scientist and the world's most respected doctor had to have at least SOME effect...

"Oh you poor dear," She cooed, giving the young girl a big hug and stroking her hair, "Shhh...it's alright."

Toki tried harder and harder to keep the tears from coming, but she couldn't help it! Toki held her breath to keep from bursting into tears again and only nodded. The woman smiled gently and picked her up.

"There now. Everything will be just fine, Toki-san, you'll see."

"Mama!" A young boy exclaimed, running over and tugging on the woman's dress, "Papa says that he needs you to come back so he can finish the dress! And the baby is crying again!"

The little black haired boy was a few years older then Toki, and cocked his head at the sight of her burying her face into his mother's shoulder. The woman smiled and stroked the small girl's hair as she started to walk down the hallway into a lit room. The little boy weaved around her legs while she was walking, and kept looking up at the girl curiously.

"Who's SHE?" He finally asked, seeing his mother wasn't about to explain things. "What SHE doing here?"

The woman smiled, "This is Toki-san. She's going to be staying with us for dinner, Tutomu-chan, because her parents wish to be alone tonight."

"Oh." Tutomu said, "Will she be staying long?"

"Depends." The mother answered, "I'll go over and talk to her parent's a little later."

"Kay." The boy chirped, grinning and opening the door for his mother so she could go into the room.

Toki lifted her head enough to get a good look at the cozy room she was in. There were random bowls of food scattered around the floor, along with a circle of toys that Tutomu quickly sat down in the middle of, as if claiming his place before it was too late. She was gently placed onto the floor so Tutomu's mother could take the crying baby from the frazzled looking middle aged man. He looked relieved when she did, and the baby immediately stopped its crying when the mother held it.

The man, most likely the father, looked questionably at Toki, "Who's this?"

The mother signed, and tucked the baby into a crib that was pushed into the corner of the room, "She's our neighbor, Nakagawa Toki-san. She had a little trouble with her parent's and is going to stay with us for a little, is that alright?"

The man looked her over, and made Toki feel very uncomfortable. But then he smiled and ruffled the young girl's hair affectionately.

"Ah, I see. She can be Tutomu's playmate while we finish the kimono, isn't that right boy?"

Tutomu smiled and nodded energetically, "Hai papa!"

The father grinned, "That's my boy!"

The mother gave Toki a little shove in Tutomu's direction, and Toki reluctantly went over there to play with his vast assortment of toys. Tutomu gave her a strange look at first, when she sat down next to him and started to roll the ball around, and he wouldn't stop staring.

"How come you have yellow in your hair."

Toki shrugged, not bothering to answer the question and draw more unwanted attention to herself. It was only one stupid strand anyway. Then remembering her hunger, she picked up a bowl off the ground, and started to eat the ramen noodles with her hands. Tutomu scowled at her.

"That's MY food you know." He scolded, taking the bowl away. "You didn't even ask if you could have it."

Toki looked to the mother for some sort of defense, but she found that Mrs. Hisako was too busy trying to help Mr. Hisako finish the kimono she was wearing. Tutomu cleared his throat in an authoritative sort of fashion, which, surprisingly, worked on Toki, seeing as how he was older than she was. She bit her lip, and then offered a quick, shaky bow of her head.

"Can I have some of your food?" She asked meekly.

Tutomu thought about it for a while, and then grinned broadly as he handed the bowl of food over to the guest. "You can have it. I don't like ramen anyway."

Toki was overjoyed to have the bowl of food back, and in the middle of her meal Tutomu announced, "You can be my friend if you want."

She looked up from the bowl, stunned that anyone would want to be HER friend. And slowly a smile crept onto her face.

"Ok."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Mrs. Nakagawa?" Mrs. Hisako spoke into the phone, "This is Yuki Hisako, from next door? Yes, I'm doing fine, and you?"

Mrs. Hisako found it strange that the woman on the other end of the line spoke so gently and nonchalantly. Pleasantly chatting about how her day was going, the stress around the office, and other pointless things. When Toki talked about her parents, she couldn't help picture a bitter woman with a rough voice and angry expressions. Of course, the voice she heard greatly contrasted with her mental images, and she started to question the stories that Toki had explained.

After all, Mrs. Hisako thought, she had to remember that Toki was only three years old, and children that age like to make up amusing stories for attention. It could of all just been something she made up on the way over.

But still...

"Yes I'm still here. Sorry about that, I was just thinking about something." Mrs. Hisako said quickly, "Anyway, the reason I called was because of your little girl."

Her eyes wondered to the little girl sleeping peacefully on the ground next to her son, smiling contently with a plush dinosaur tucked under her arm. She hadn't risked picking her up yet, not wanting to shock the three year old if she was awoken by the hands of another woman.

"Mhmm, Toki-chan." She said, answering Mrs. Nakagawa's inquiry, "You see, right now she's over at my home sleeping and I just wanted to make sure--"

An explosion on the other line. Instantly the face of the bitter woman returned to Mrs. Hisako's mind as the woman started to panic. Saying things like: "Oh my god!" and "Why would she do a thing like that??" repeatedly. But the one that stuck in Mrs. Hisako's mind and raised the little red flag in her brain was, "I hadn't even realized she was gone!"

That made Mrs. Hisako's face fall as she tried to calm the hysterical woman.

"It's alright! Nakagawa-san calm down please! Your daughter is perfectly fine, we just fed her and she's sleeping right now with my son!"

She calmed down a little, and the calm and collected woman reappeared once more. She began to apologize in a poised and graceful manner, jumping almost alarmingly from one extreme to the next.

"It's alright! It's alright! She was a joy to have over, no trouble at all!" She paused for the reply, and then continued with the situation at hand, "I'll just keep her here for the night, is that alright with you? ...Ok. Of course it's fine with me! I brought it up didn't I? Yes, yes. Good night Mrs. Nakagawa. Goodbye."

She hung up the phone, and let out a breath of relief she only now realized she'd needed to let go of. It was a difficult phone call, though, thank goodness, not a long one. Something about talking to Mrs. Nakagawa made her feel uncomfortable, and she hoped she would never have to deal with her again.

Little did she know, that she would have to deal with her again.

A very many number of times, and for a very many number of years to come.

.-.-.-.13 Years Later.-.-.-.

"TUTOMU! SLOW DOWN I CAN'T KEEP UP!"

The boy skidded to a halt on the sidewalk, and spun around to look at his breathless friend behind him. Toki brushed a loose, blond bang out from her eyes and jogged over to Tutomu, barely able to keep moving with her three inch heeled shoes.

"Toki!" He complained, "We're going to be late if you don't pick up the pace! High school WILL start without us you know!"

"It's not my fault! I can't run in these shoes!" Toki shouted to him defensively.

"Then why in the world did you wear them!" He snapped back.

"Because my mom bought them for me! I don't want to hurt her feelings!" She said, taking a deep breath to keep her going, "And besides, they are really cute!"

"You girls and your shoes..." Tutomu muttered angrily, spinning around to face the building in front of them, "Will you PLEASE hurry up? School is just a few strides away!"

"I'm hurrying I'm hurrying!" She said, finally catching up to him, "It's my first day, Tutomu, do you think I'd be going slow on PURPOSE?"

It took then ten minutes, (which Tutomu made a point of to both time on his watch, and remind Toki of it a many number of times during the morning) but the pair finally made it to the front of the school.

"There you go, Toki." Tutomu mumbled dramatically, "High School. The beginning (and possibly end) of social life as you know it."

Toki looked up slowly, soaking everything in. The building was monstrous! It must have been around five or six stories high, and every bit of it was done in faded brick. It was the only high school in the area, so everyone went here. In fact, the building housed somewhere around three thousand students.

How did she know all this? Because Tutomu had told her all about it all summer long.

Tutomu was Toki's best, and pretty much only real friend. Nothing much had changed since they first met years ago, except of course, for the fact that they were both older. Tutomu thought of Toki as his younger sister because he saw her every night. And Toki saw Tutomu as her best friend, because she snuck out her window ever night to go to the Hisako household and eat dinner with them. In fact, she thought of the Hisako's as more of her family then she did her own mother and father.

But because Tutomu was two years older then Toki was, he was always the first to experience 'school life'. He would go to Elementary school, and report back to Toki what it was like. Go to Middle, and do the same. And so, it was only natural for Tutomu to report back to Toki about High School.

Only this time, it was more like schoolwork in and of itself then fun and interesting.

"Ok," Tutomu reminded her for the twenty-second time, "Remember, just stick with me, and don't look any of the jocks in the eye."

"Got it." She answered, trying to take a step foreword but being pulled back by the shoulder by Tutomu.

"And don't act all perky, like you've been looking foreword to High School for months. Because its just school, and everyone else hates it, and you're just gonna get on people's nerves if you act like you love life."

"Got it." Another failed attempt to step into the school.

"And stay away from the cheerleaders. Trust me, they may act nice, but making fun of newbies is their entertainment for the year."

"Yes, Tutomu, I got it."

"And Toki--" He said, spinning her around to look at him.

Toki looked up casually, though very frustrated at his constant rule repetition, and stared at him. He was smiling gently, and looked remarkably like his father, and let the wind ruffle his hair a little for effect.

"If anyone asks," He said coyly, "I don't know you."

Toki whacked him on the head for his smart remark, but she couldn't help grin. It was always like this. He did it every year. It was tradition. And she didn't mind it.

Not one bit.

"Well?" He said impatiently, "Are you ever going to go inside? We're going to be late."

Toki rolled her eyes and pushed the front doors open. The halls were overflowing with people, each one completely different then the next. Sure, everyone was wearing the exact same uniform, but no one looked anything like the next. You could tell who were the cheerleaders and goth's by the heavy makeup, the misfits by the interesting color(s) of hair, the musicians and drama club members by (for some strange reason) the multiple earrings in each ear, and the list goes on. Tutomu stepped into the sea of people, and after a moment of hesitation, Toki followed him awkwardly

"And so," She whispered, eyes darting around at the scene, "It starts."

"Tutomu!" A voice called from behind them.

"Keiji!" Tutomu shouted back, turning around before Toki got the chance, "Hey!"

Keiji, a seventeen year old guy, ran up to them. He had dark black hair cut short above his ears and flashing green eyes that contrasted with Tutomu's gentle brown ones. He was a surprisingly short person, though obviously muscular, and had no problem embracing Tutomu into a tight hug. Toki felt a little awkward having him almost push her out of the way so he could get to Tutomu, though, but did her best to brush it off and only watch the two start talking.

"How was your summer?" Tutomu asked with a smile.

Keji cocked his head back and forth a little in a sort of 'so-so' sort of way, "Pretty good I guess. I broke up with two of my girlfriends in that short period of time."

Tutomu raised an brow, "TWO of your girlfriends?"

Keiji glared jokingly at him and exclaimed, "Not at the same time, you dolt!"

Tutomu laughed, "Sure, whatever."

Keiji shook his hands in front of him to change the subject, "Anyway, my dad says he found someone that would make a real good match for me. I sure hope she's good looking..."

Toki let out a breath of relief. At least he wasn't gay. That hug kind of scared her...

Keiji glanced curiously at Toki and jerked a thumb at her, "Who's this?"

"Oh, that's Toki Nakagawa."

Keiji's eyes flashed deviously, "So is she your girl, Hisako?"

Toki felt her face go red, and even Tutomu blushed a tiny bit before exclaiming, "Noooo!"

Keiji smirked, so Tutomu added quickly, "She's just my crazy next door neighbor."

He grinned at her playfully.

Keiji's face lit up, "So does that mean she's single?"

Tutomu didn't seem to see where this was going, "Um...yeah, I guess."

Keiji smiled, and without a moment of hesitation, wrapped an arm around Toki's waist and pulled her close. This time, Toki went REALLY red.

"Hey baby," He said, "Wanna give me your number so we could go out some time?"

Toki was too shocked to say anything, but luckily, Tutomu did the talking for her. Next thing Keiji knew, he was being smashed on the head with Tutomu's algebra book, and then twitching on the ground.

"Uh, no." Tutomu said matter-of-factly, "Come on, Toki, we'd better get to class."

"There is no class..." Keiji choked, still paralyzed on the ground. (Tutomu's foot on his back might have had something to do with it) "There's that awards presentation in the drama theater today..."

"Oh," Tutomu said casually, "Thanks."

"No prob." Keiji said hoarsely, an audible crack issuing from his back as Tutomu stepped on him.

Toki glanced at him, still on the ground, as they walked away, "Do you always beat up on him like that?"

Tutomu shrugged, "Sometimes. He can be an idiot when it comes to a pretty girl."

Toki smiled. Even though she was sure he didn't mean it in that way, she liked how Tutomu thought she was pretty.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"Kish Myazawa!" The Principal announced, ushering the thirty second award winner onto the stage.

The boy took his own time getting up there to claim his award, even though the whole crowd was dying of boredom. The thrill of getting to miss first and second period was gone, and some people were even preferring the idea of doing math equations instead of watching this dull presentation. Tutomu and Toki were among them, clapping when they were expected to clap and listening to the tiresome speeches one after another.

Only Toki was slightly enjoying herself, because Tutomu would point out people when they came to get their awards, and talk about them.

"Who's he?" Toki asked him as Kish Myazawa stepped over,

Tutomu slumped back into his chair and answered monotonously, "Super nerd."

"Ryo Utada!" The Principal called.

"What about him?"

"He's a geek." Tutomu answered.

"What's the difference between a nerd and a geek?" Toki asked.

"A nerd is just plain smart, so people get annoyed at them for no real reason, therefor they are social outcasts, but its not their fault. A geek TRIES to be smart. So they don't want any friends and only do schoolwork, and that's how they turn into a social outcast."

"...oh."

"Amarante Ogata!"

There was unenthusiastic applause from the crowd, and a girl rose from her seat and walked to the podium. She had a calm expression on her face, something that would have greatly differed from any other student winning an award from the state, and she only smiled a little when she shook the principal's hand. There was something about this girl though, that made Toki curious.

"Who's that?" Toki whispered.

"Who? Amarante?" Tutomu said, turning away from her reluctantly to stare at Toki, "She's the best student at our High school. I think she's a junior, but I'm not sure. I don't know her well. Nobody really knows a lot about her. She's always kinda kept to herself."

There was a brief pause as Tutomu turned back to look at her and mumbled, "...Probably the best looking girl in the whole school...'

Toki blinked, a quick pang of foreign jealousy pitting her sharply, but then drifting away. After all the rest of the awards were given out, they were all dismissed and sent to their classes. Toki 'clung' to Tutomu the whole time, following him around because he was the only one she knew, and because he knew his way around like the back of his hand.

"What do you have now?" He asked her finally, stopping outside his own classroom, "Math?"

Toki glanced at her list and her heart sunk, "No...I've got history..."

"Oh, well I've got math, so I guess I'll have to catch up with you later." He said with a comforting smile, "Ja!"

She smiled back, but it was forced. She had known Tutomu almost all her life, but most other social situations made her apprehensive. Already, she could tell that the day was going to last a long time, and she couldn't wait for it to be over.

"Trouble?"

Toki spun around and smiled (again, forcefully) at the girl behind her, "No, I'm fine."

She shrugged, and then started to walk away with a muttered, "Kay."

It took Toki all of four seconds to rethink her answer. Yes, she needed help. Very badly. First period was going to start in five minutes and she had no idea where she was going!

"Wait a second!" She said, calling after the girl.

She turned around, looking at Toki as a smile spread across her face.

"Yeah?"

Toki blushed, "I...do need help."

A sort of friendly smirk played on her lips, "Figured you would. No offence, but you've got this whole, 'I'm a freshman and have no clue what I'm doing!' thing going on."

"...Oh."

She held out her hand, "I'm Leiko Narita, nice to meet ya!"

Toki took it, "Nakagawa, Toki-san."

Toki looked Leiko over again. At first look, you'd get a completely wrong assumption of what she was like. Leiko was dressed all in black, from head to toe, wearing a shirt that said in red letters 'Be afraid, be very afraid'. Her short black hair was stick straight, and looked like it either hadn't been washed for a while, or had been killed with a bottle of hairspray. She had no makeup on, and no jewelry except for the large hoop earring in one of her ears. You would automatically think she was mean, strange, depressed, or hard to talk to. But from what Toki had seen already, she was none of those things.

She was cheerful, and had this perky aura that greatly clashed with what she was wearing. Leiko Narita grinned and jerked her head to the side.

"Come on, we'd better start walking Nakagawa-san."

Toki nodded and followed her, "I'm looking for the Ancient History classroom."

"Cool beans!" Leiko said, "I'm in that class, so it'll be no problem taking you there. At first I was worried you were in, like, Art of something. That's way out of my way. And if you were in Trigonometry-" Leiko scoffed, "There would be no way in hell I could show you were that was."

Toki smiled. Leiko's strange sense of self-confidence was comforting. It made her feel at ease on the way there, even though, they still showed up late.

"Ladies," The teacher said, turning his disapproving eyes on both of them as they came in, "You're late."

Leiko bowed, "My apologies sensei, Nakagawa-san was lost."

The teacher grunted, "If it wasn't the first day of school you'd both be in for a detention. But I'll give you a free day today, and today only. Don't let it happen again."

His eyes slowly looked Leiko over, head to toe, and then he sighed deeply, "I see you have 'forgotten' to wear your uniform again today, Narita-san?"

Leiko blinked, obviously not having a clue what he was talking about. But after a few seconds, she looked down at herself and exclaimed, "OH! Yeah, guess I must have."

She scratched the back of her neck and laughed nervously. The teacher raised a solemn brow and mumbled, "I see."

There was a silence. Leiko freely walked over to her seat, but Toki froze. The teacher seemed to be staring at her now, for some reason, and she was waiting for some sort of break from the stare or explanation. Was he going to tell her something?

"You may take you seat, Nakagawa." He said abruptly in an annoyed tone.

A few people in the class giggled as Toki jumped, and then hastily grabbed an open desk. She blushed deeply, and covered her face with her hands best she could without looking like a weirdo. Leiko smiled at her from her seat, and sent Toki a thumbs up. She smiled back, weakly, and buried her nose in the history book.

"Please, PLEASE bring me an end to this day." She said softly to her pages, "It just started and I already want to go home."

The pages said nothing in return, and a disappointed Toki sighed.

But she guessed that's what you get when you ask inanimate objects for help...

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The day went by faster the Toki dreaded it would go, and for that, she was happy. But for the wheelbarrows worth of homework the teachers had given to her, she was not happy. Tutomu had gone back with one of his friends, so Toki walked back home alone.

It wasn't a very far walk from the school to her house, but the walk seemed to be longer today then usual. And not only because she had ten pounds of schoolwork on her back, maybe because she didn't have Tutomu to talk to. She hadn't been able to talk to him at all today, even though they were in the same classes nine times out of ten. And now she couldn't talk to him AFTER school either because he was gone!

High school truly wasn't what she had hoped it to be.

Toki hung her head, feeling abandoned by her only friend. The wind blew gently, as it had been doing all day, considering it was almost autumn. She heard the leaves rake against the sidewalk as they skittered around her feet, she heard the birds twittering above her in the crisp fall air, she heard a strange clanking noise like a chain on hard ground.

Wait, what?

Toki stopped. The sound came again. It was like chain links clanking against each other, but what out here would make that kind of noise? Toki would have ignored it and continued walking if her eye hadn't caught something flash from that gutter across the road. Immediately, she stopped, but she couldn't see what had caused that flash.

"What...?"

She took a step back, and saw the flash. Took a step forward, and saw it. Took another step back, then forward, then back, then sideways to the gutter. There was something inside there that was almost as it it was...calling to her.

Toki knelt down on the ground and crouched to get a good look inside the gutter. But at the first sight of what was making the flash, she screamed bloody murder.

No, literally.

The small body of a young boy, most likely ten or eleven, lay mangled and bloody, stuffed down low into the gutter. Around his neck was a golden chain, wrapped dangerously around his neck in a way that only a slight pull would case him to suffocate. The boy's eyes were wide with a mad look of terror plastered upon him, little pools of blood trickling from the corners of his mouth onto his abnormally white skin.

Toki covered her mouth in horror, and desperately started to pull herself away from the sight backward on her hands. Finally the common sense to get up off the ground came back, and she struggled to her feet, ready to run for help. She couldn't break her eyes from the disgusting sight in the gutter, and started to run blindly.

WHAM!

Toki bounced back from running into something hard and looked up at it. Another scream of terror pulled itself from her lips as she backed away. A man, a doctor, dressed still in his white coat and nametag stared down at her. His eyes, too, held the same deranged look of terror that the boy's did. When Toki tried to run her grabbed her arm.

"Stay here, little girl." He slurred in a strange sort of dreamlike state, "Don't go..."

She struggled, and the man grabbed her harder, almost cutting off her circulation and making her cry out in panic. His hands were coated in blood. His clothes were soaked with blood. It was painfully obvious he had murdered the young boy and Toki didn't want to be next.

"LET GO OF ME!" She screamed, "LET GO!"

The doctor smiled, but his face twitched as he reached into his coat pocket and held out something gold to her with his free hand.

"Take it..." He told her, "I want to give this to you."

Toki's heart was beating in her ears as she was forced to stare at the golden thing in his hand. It, too, was coated in crimson blood, and he clutched it like it was the only thing keeping him alive. Toki didn't want to touch it, she didn't want to look at it. It made a deep cold feeling run up and down her spine, and this feeling that nothing good could come from it well up in her throat as she fought against the man's death grip.

"TAKE IT!" He shrieked insanely, pushing the triangular golden item up against her face.

Toki felt as though she could vomit any moment as she felt the warm blood rub up against her cheek. She could smell it, the old metallic smell made her sick. And instinctively, she tried to swat it away.

It was a huge mistake.

It was almost like she was possessed. As soon as her hand touched the golden item it couldn't let go. It WOULDN'T let go. Her fingers wrapped around the golden pyramid in its own accord, and left Toki to gape in horrified silence. She man smiled, pulling back his lips to reveal yellowed teeth and swelled gums, and he slowly let go of the item.

"You made the right decision." He said through his teeth, wincing in pain when the item was pried from his hand, "It was meant for you, not for me."

Toki was shaking as her hand pulled the gold pyramid to her chest, almost protectively. The man was teetering on his feet now, but his eyes were still glued to the gold in her hand. He looked up to her slowly, and hissed a pained, "Thank...you..."

His eyes rolled back in his head as he gasped for a last breath of air. And then he collapsed, sprawled out in the middle of the road. Toki fell onto her knees, and forced her fingers to uncoil around the gold as she examined it.

Why did the man want to get rid of it?

"OH MY GOD!" Someone shrieked from across the street.

Toki jumped and turned abruptly, staring at a mother and her thirteen-year- old child. Both of them were pale, and the woman looked almost furious.

"I'M CALLING THE POLICE!" She shouted at her, whipping out her cell phone.

"Wait!" Toki pleaded, "No! It's not what it looks like!"

"Oh I think it is!" She woman snapped, "DON'T YOU MOVE YOU MURDERER!"

People had already started to gather because of the uproar. Cars had screeched to a halt in front of the man's body. People all around her were screaming or whispering about her killing that man and Toki had no way to defend herself. She tried to drop the pyramid in her hand but it was still glued tight. She had blood on her hands and face, but no way to explain it rationally to the crowd. How could she save herself!?

"No!" Toki begged, close to tears, "You don't understand! I didn't kill him! It's not my fault! Please you have to believe me!"

"Hello, police department? I'm on the corner of Maple avenue and Long Branch lane and there's a girl here who looks like she's committed murder on--"

"NO!" Toki sobbed, "Stop it! I didn't do anything!"

If she wasn't so afraid of the situation she might have felt the golden pyramid in her hands grow warm for a brief moment.

Toki fell to her hands and knees, "Please....I didn't do it....it wasn't me...."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Retaw- - Well, that's my first chapter. Interesting, ne? Don't worry, it gets better. Just give it some time, that's only ONE day of school, and ONE of the items. A few more characters are going to be introduced in the next chapter, believe me, there's a ton.