Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Game Queen Haruka ❯ Welcome to the Shadows ( Chapter 2 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Well, here's the second chapter, nu!

Just a warning though, I kinda took some stuff from the manga and rewrote it in the later part of this chapter so um. . . .

Anyway, read on!

Mew!

Welcome to the Shadows

"Dear Mr. Jonouchi:

Yo u have been cordially invited to act as a Gatekeeper in the up coming Gameland Dual Monsters tournament." Yugi read out loud.

"Gatek eeper?" Bakura wondered.

"W hat are they talking about Jonouchi?" Anzu asked.

"Well , according to this letter, Gatekeepers are a little like the Player Killers from Duelist Kingdom." Jonouchi explained.

" Okay, but what does a Gatekeeper do?" Otogi asked curiously.

Y ugi was still reading the letter so he decided to answer for Jonouchi. " The Gameland indoor amusement park has eight floors and a dueling arena on the roof where the finals will take place. Each Gatekeeper is assigned to one floor of the building. When a duelist earns five Exp. chips, which are like the star chips or locator cards, they are required to find the Gatekeeper of the floor they are on and exchange the chips for a Gate Pass in order to get to the next floor. Challenging a Gatekeeper to a duel is optional with the exception of the final Gatekeeper." He recited from the letter.

"Tha t sounds complicated." Honda muttered.

"W hich floor are you going to be on?" Anzu asked.

Jonou chi took the letter back from Yugi and looked through it again. "It doesn't say. I Think they're announcing the floor assignments the day before the Tournament." Then he grinned. "But get this. According to the rules, Gatekeepers are allowed to bring up to five guests with them. Shizuka's already decided to come so which of the rest of you wants to go check this Gameland place out?"

:What do you think mou hitori no boku?: Yugi asked Yami Yugi silently.

/W ell, sounds like it might be an interesting change of pace to me aibou./ He replied thoughtfully. /Go for it./

"I'll go Jonouchi-kun!" Yugi said gamely.

"Oka y, then that's two! Honda?"

Hond a smirked. "Do you even have to ask?" He wondered. "Of course I'm there! I want to see if there are any kids out there crazy enough to challenge you!"

"Alrig ht! That's Three. Anzu?"

"It sounds like it'll be fun." Anzu said. "I'm in."

Otogi didn't wait to be asked before speaking. "Sorry guys but count me out! I still haven't recovered from all that craziness in Battle City."

An all to familiar voice in the back of Bakura's head snorted derisively. /Phht! Like anything serious happened to him during that tournament./ Yami Bakura commented snidely. /Yandounoshi, if you want to go I won't try to stop you./

Bakura sweat dropped. Like he had been planning to ask the Spirt of the Millennium Ring for permission to go.

The former tomb robber hadn't caused any trouble since Battle City had ended, but of course no one trusted him to behave for long. Bakura for the most part, didn't acknowledge the spirit's presence unless he commented on something or other. One thing was for certain though, he didn't appreciate being called 'landlord'.

: Um, thanks Yami. I think.: "I'll come to." He said to the others.

"Tha t's great Bakura-kun!" Yugi said happily. Then he frowned. "But, what about. . . ?"

Bakura smiled. "Don't worry Yugi-kun. Mou hitori no boku won't cause any trouble." He glared down at the ring around his neck. "Or at least he'd better not."

/Tch. You act as if you'd be able to stop me if I did. I wouldn't stand a chance as long as the Ra-damned Pharaoh has those Egyptian God cards in his deck anyway. Tell the Pharaoh's Pet I have no intention of ruining his fun. At the moment./ Yami Bakura growled.

Bak ura cringed at the words "Pharaoh's Pet" then told the others basically what the tomb robber had said.

Jonouc hi grinned. "Then it's settled. The Tournament's in two weeks!"

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&n bsp; "I can't believe that baka!" Izumi growled.

"Yo u're still upset about what Touya-kun did at recess?" Haruka asked.

"Of course I am!" Izumi answered. "I'm just surprised you're not."

"I don't see why it should bother me. He was just fooling around." Haruka shrugged.

"F ooling around my butt!" Izumi shouted back. "He and one of his buddies was playing keep away with your notebook!"

" I'm not letting it bother me." She answered. "Besides, he gave it back."

"Yeah . After my 'Nee-san told him off." Izumi snorted. "I tell you Haruka. You're much too forgiving."

The truth of the matter was that Haruka didn't see the point in letting the Middle school kids antics get to her. Their school was close to Domino Middle and they had lunch and recess at a round the same time so the Seventh and Eighth graders would come to hang out. Some, like Izumi's older sister Eri, only came because they had younger siblings or cousins going to the elementary school and they wanted check on them. Others, like Touya Kanebara who was in Eri's class, came only because they wanted to mess with the Fifth and Sixth graders.

It was a couple of weeks after Haruka's birthday and the two best friends were walking home from school.

:: At this point I had started to wonder if maybe there was nothing to the weird feelings I'd been getting since my birthday. Maybe it had just been my imagination? I didn't really want to believe it was but it could've been. But, little did I know it wouldn't be long before thing's started to get strange.::

& nbsp; Haruka was about to answer when they both heard a strange sound.

"What was that?" Izumi wondered, looking around.

"I don't know. . . ." Haruka answered looking around warily.

"It sounds like it's come from over there." Izumi said, pointing at a nearby alley. "C'mon! Let's go check it out!"

Haruka frowned. "Izumi-chan, I don't think that's such a good idea."

Izumi just grabbed her friend by the wrist and dragged her along. "Aw, you worry too much Haruka. Long as we're careful, what's the worst that could happen?"

Har uka hesitated. She knew it was probably not a good idea to go into an alley to investigate a strange noise, but Izumi was obviously determined to do just that. And maybe Izumi was right. . . .

With a sigh of resignation, Haruka allowed herself to be dragged along. The two girls crept along the alley toward what Haruka now realized were the sounds of a fight. Naturally, Haruka was starting to have second thoughts.

As they got closer, they could hear voices.

"GG . . . I told you man, I don't owe you s-t! I didn't ask for you to but in!" A vaguely familiar voice growled.

THO WK!!

"Urk!!! "

"Yes you do! I told you I'm your bodyguard and now I want payment for my services." Another Vaguely familiar voice answered smugly.

The first person coughed. "I didn't ask you to be my damn bodyguard either!"

Har uka and Izumi looked at each other, eyes wide. Then they carefully peaked around the corner.

Two boys, one only a couple of years older then the girls themselves, stood at the end of the alley facing each other.

Well one of them wasn't really standing.

Th e younger of the two boys was slumped against the wall covered in bruises. He was tall for thirteen and wiry with short oak brown hair, intense forest green eyes. He wore the uniform of Domino Middle school.

The other boy was taller than the first one and beefy with beady black eyes and hair tied in loose pony tail. He wore the uniform of Rintama, a high school with a very bad reputation.

Izumi recognized the first boy instantly. "It's Touya!" then she frowned. "And Yosho!"

Haru ka blinked and looked at her friend. "Who?"

"Some jerk from Rintama who likes to do favors for the middle school kids then expects them to pay him for it. In cold hard cash!" Izumi explained. "If the kids can't or won't pay, he beats 'im up."

Haruka looked at Touya worriedly. "What are we going to do?"

Izumi started to back away. "I think we should get out of here as fast as possible, that's what."

"We sure are ungrateful today, aren't we Kanebara?" Yosho kicked the smaller boy in the ribs.

Haruka 's eye's widened in horror. "We can't just leave him!" She insisted.

Iz umi grabbed Haruka by the arm."Oh, yes we can. All we have to do is turn around and-"

"So you gonna pay or do I have to knock you around some more?" Yosho asked threateningly.

&nb sp;Touya glared defiantly at the other boy, then spat at his feet.

Yosho was not impressed. "Why you little!" He started forward.

"St op it!" Haruka broke free from Izumi's grip on and ran over to them.

"M. . . Mouto?" Touya weezed out, surprised.

Y osho turned. 'It's that shrimp Kanebara was messing with earlier.'

Wh en Haruka reached them, Yosho turned to her and bowed mockingly.

" Evening Miss. What can I do for ya?"

"Yosho- san, leave him alone! What did he do?" Haruka demanded, coming to stand between Touya and Yosho.

Izumi watched silently from behind the corner. Haruka, Shigeru's gonna kill me.

"Wha t'd he do?" Yosho repeated, sounding amused. "This guy here was having a disagreement with some other kids in his school. I volunteered to clear it up for him and now I want payment for my services."

H e refocused his attention on Touya. "Okay, Kanebara. You're lucky we now have a lady present. I'll give you one last chance." He held out a large hand. "200,000 yen! Cough it up kid!"

"200,0 00 yen?" Haruka repeated.

To uya growled. "I told ya . . . I don't . . . have that kind of money ya nimrod! Just back off!"

"I don't think so. You're not getting off that easy!" Yosho started forward again. "Outta the way kid!"

"No way!" Haruka answered, holding her ground.

"I said out of the way!" Yosho growled, shoving smaller kid to the ground.

"Now that's enough!" Another voice interrupted suddenly.

Ev eryone looked up to see Izumi standing next to a teenage girl in a Domino High school uniform. The girl had short ocean blue hair and sea-green eyes that were currently glaring daggers at Yosho.

Haruk a recognized her instantly. "Mizu-chan!" She cried, relieved.

"I think you'd better leave Yosho." Mizu suggested icily.

Yosho glared at her, then shrugged. "It's getting too crowded in here." He said casually as he walked away from Haruka and Touya. "See ya later Kanebara. Bring the money by tomorrow or else." He laughed as he strolled past Mizu and Izumi and out of sight. "And kid? If you're that worried about his skinny hide why don't you help him deliver it? Ha ha!"

Izumi rushed over to Haruka. "Daijoubo?" she asked as she helped the other girl to her feet. "It's a good thing Mizu walked by when she did. I don't think I would've been much help in that situation."

"I'm okay Izumi-chan." Haruka answered, staring in the direction Yosho left in.

Nobody noticed that the Rogue Badge was glowing with a faint golden light.

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& nbsp; It was close to midnight, Domino Elementary School was completely empty, even the night janitor had gone home. In the school yard however one lone figure stood waiting.

Yos ho stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jacket and looked around wearily. He was starting to wonder if he should have even bothered coming at all.

He'd been woken up two hours ago by a phone call from that little shrimp Mouto of all people. The kid had asked him to meet her in the play yard in front of her school.

I wonder what that brat wants? He thought as he glanced around.

He didn't have much longer to wonder.

He suddenly caught sight of something unusual out of the corner of his eye. He turned to get a better look.

Someon e else was there, sitting on one of the vaulting platforms used during gym class in many Japanese schools. (1)

The figure was small and wore a long black hooded trench coat over a dark purple shirt and black jeans with black leather boots and black fingerless gloves. She wore the hood up but Yosho could see her casually fingering the edge of a familiar looking gold brooch. A Fennec Fox with a brown leather collar decorated by a gold tag sat on her lap.

"Konban wa, Yosho." The figure said quietly, lowering the hood to reveal her face. "I've been waiting for you."

Yosho blinked in surprise. It was the Mouto girl! Or at least it seemed to be. Though this girl looked different from the sweet yet annoying little girl from earlier.

&nb sp;Her hair spiked up in the back and her bangs seemed to hang down more, casting a shadow over her eyes, yet he could still see them clearly. Those eyes were narrower, kind, gentle sky blue replaced with cold, hard metallic silver. She also wore a single golden earing shaped like an Egyptian Ankh in her left ear.

She regarded him cooly, a confident smirk on her face as he stared, more than a little shocked at this complete change.

Was this really the same kid from earlier?

"O. . . okay kid, I'm hear. What do you want?" The bully demanded.

"O h, nothing really." The Mouto girl answered with a careless gesture. "You said I could help Touya by helping delivering the money he owes you so. . . hear I am."

The young man arched an eyebrow at that, now interested.

"Really?" He asked. "Well then that changes everything."

;He held a hand out expectantly, stepping closer to where the girl sat. "Don't know why he sent you alone but, that's okay. Hand it over! 200,000 yen!"

"It's right here." She said calmly, pulling a large stack of bills out of the pocket of her trench coat. "But, it seems Touya raised it to 400,000."

Yo sho's eyes widened greedily. "400,000 yen?"

"Yep." She confirmed with a nod. Then she frowned slightly as she looked down at the money. "But," She began thoughtfully. "This much money. . . It wouldn't be. . . fun to just hand it over. So. . . ."

As she spoke the slight frown was replaced with a wicked grin. "How about . . . we play a game?"

Yosho 's jaw dropped. "A game??"

The fox hopped off the girl's lap as the girl hopped down from the vaulting platform to stand in front of him, still grinning.

"M m-hmm, but not just any game. A . . . very special game." stuffing her hands in her pockets she cocked her head to one side and stared up at him expectantly. Yosho suddenly noticed that the darkness around them seemed to be thickening somehow.

"So what do you say Yosho?" The girl asked. "You got the guts take me on?"

Yosho was starting to get ever so slightly nervous, but he couldn't ignore the challenge in the girl's voice and there was still the money.

"Okay . So what's the game?"

The girl didn't answer directly. She pulled out a deck of cards and started to shuffle them as she walked around the make shift table to stand on the side opposite of Yosho.

She drew five cards from the deck and held them out to him, keeping them face down.

"The rules are simple. First we each pick a card from my hand. We will take a good look at them then put them back. I will then place the five cards on the table face down and mix them up without looking at them. The task is to then find your card again. If either opponent flips over a card other then the one they chose the first time then they lose."

"Soun ds like one of those memory games." Yosho snorted. "Whatever. Lets get started."

"A s you wish." She answered simply. "Pick a card."

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. . . . . . So, uh. . . . What do ya think? Like the intro? I bet you were expecting I would go all the way and have her use the same Shadow game Yami Yugi used in the first story in the manga. I actually was going to do that but changed it in the final version. Thanks to Sakurelle for giving me the info I needed and being my only reviewer for the first chapter.

(1) I don't know what those things are called.

Ja ne!

Mew! ^_^

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