CD: ^_^ I've been wanting to start this for a while, simply because Bakura is awesome.

Risk: *growls* Baka authoress.

Kat: *skims through chapter* Bakura's barely in this right now.

CD: I know, I know, but that's how it ended up. Bakura will be in it more in later chapters. He can't NOT be in it; he's so cool!

Kat: That, and that fact that he's going to be one of the main characters.

Risk: Just get to the stupid fic already. Readers, this has (future B/R) Yaoi and some murder. If you don't like it, then don't read the fic.

Kat: Yeah, there's a little something called "free will" that you can exercise…

CD: This chapter's just a short beginning, so nothing completely major happens besides characters get introduced. That does NOT mean "skip this chapter" if you're planning to read the rest of the story.

Risk: CyberDeletion does not own Yu-Gi-Oh. If she did, she'd be a Japanese man named Kazuki Takahashi. She's not, so she doesn't own it.

Kat: *holds up a homemade flame-thrower, consisting of a lighter duct-taped to a bottle of hair spray* All flames will be used to power this.

CD: *sweatdrop* I apologize for Ryou's OOC-ness… Please don't flame me…

A middle-aged man walked carefully around the chamber he was in. Jack and his colleagues had found the hidden tomb of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. The new archaeologist leaned against a wall and was surprised to find that a section of it moved. He pushed hard, and a door-shaped slab fell over. He grabbed a lantern and stepped through.

An entire chamber had been hidden behind the pharaoh's. On the walls were hieroglyphs and pictures of all sorts of creatures. Jack thought for a wild moment that he had seen some of them before, on cards from the popular game "Duel Monsters", but then shook his head at his foolishness. These were thousands of years old; how could they have anything to do with a silly card game? He refocused his attention to the middle of the chamber. A golden box sat on a stone pedestal surrounded by various deities. Jack opened the box and extracted a golden pendant. Remembering what he was supposed to be doing, he went to tell his colleagues.

Later, when the sun had just set, Jack was a little ways away from everyone else, trying to decipher the hieroglyphics on the box from the hidden chamber. He held the pendant on one hand as he scribbled down translations. He was so absorbed in his work, he did not notice the thief sneak up behind him. Jack was found dead a few minutes later, having been stabbed in the back repeatedly. The pendant was missing.

The mysterious item resurfaced a few months later in the hands of a wealthy collector. The old man was renowned for collecting any ancient treasures he could get his hands on. Rumors said that he gained many of his possessions via the black market, but it was never proven. A few months later, after revealing his latest commodity, he was found dead in his favorite armchair. His will had stated to donate all ancient items of value to museums all around the world. The pendant was shipped off to Japan.

A robber broke into the Domino Museum of History one night. Creeping around, the pendant caught his eye. Taking it along with a few other pieces of value, he tried to escape. He had unknowingly set off an alarm and the police had just arrived. The ambitious thief would not be taken willingly, though, and gave chase. It ended at a nearby river. The perpetrator turned to look at his pursuers and tripped, falling into the water and hitting his head on a rock. The officers were about to go get him when, out of nowhere, a delivery truck skid off the road and tipped over onto the would be criminal, crushing him. The accident was cleaned up. All of the stolen items were recovered except for the pendant.

~* Somewhere in Domino City *~

A tall girl, about 15 years old, rode down a road on her bike. Her gray eyes were striking, but shone with innocence and were in no way cold. The spiky ends of her light brown hair brushed the top of her shoulders as it swayed with her movement. An oversized black T-shirt with gold lettering (reading "Duelist"), slightly tattered blue jeans, and sneakers made up her outfit. She carried a gray cat with a blue collar. She stopped at a bridge.

She stood by the bridge until day turned to a cloudy dusk.

"Ugh! I just KNEW he'd blow me off again! What will it be this time, his nonexistent Uncle Bob got sent to the hospital?! Let me tell you, I will NEVER wait out here again, especially when there's a storm coming." She sighed in frustration and looked down at the cat she held in her arms. Two eyes, one tinted green and the other shaded brown, looked back up at her. "What do you think, Shay? Should I finally give him a piece of my mind?" Shay purred and rubbed his head against his owner's arm. "Good, then. I'll tell him tomorrow in school." Shay suddenly jumped out of the girl's arms and ran down to the river. He stopped just short of the water and pawed at something in it, flipping whatever it was out of the water and carrying it in his mouth back to her.

"What've you got there?" She bent to take it from him and gasped. "This is… gold!" Indeed it was. The ornament dangled from a silver chain. The basic shape consisted of three triangles around a circle. Inside the circle, a symbol reminiscent of the Eye of Horus rested on top of the middle of an hourglass shape. The pendant caught the dying rays of the sun and flashed brightly… too brightly to be from the sun itself. The girl rubbed her eyes and stared at the slightly transparent person standing in front of her.

The stranger was taller and older than the first girl was. Her hair was bleached blonde from exposure to the sun and hung down to her chin in front. They both had spiky hair gray eyes, although this new pair was cold and piercing. She apparently liked leather accessories. What looked like some kind of leather collar was around her neck while each wrist was bedecked with a black "bracelet". She wore an unfastened black long coat emblazoned with "Shadow Game" on the upper left part of the jacket. A tight black sleeveless shirt, dark-colored blue jeans, and black shoes completed the ensemble.

Coolly, the newcomer surveyed the speechless girl on the ground. This lanky child… this was supposed to be her Hikari? How could such a pathetic creature be the reincarnation of herself? She picked up the gray cat that was pawing at her leg and stroked it. She had known a cat just like it during her lifetime; He had been named Shay, after the Ancient Egyptian goddess of Destiny…

The surprised teen apparently recovered the ability to speak. "Hello… I'm Katsu. What's your name?" She was obviously trying to start off a friendly conversation. This Hikari was not on her guard. She started her reply as a swift kick to the head.

The Yami grabbed her Hikari by the front of her shirt. "My name is of no importance to wretches like you, but I'll allow you to learn it anyway. I assume you can read." She gently put down the cat and used her free hand to punch Katsu in the stomach. The Yami dropped her to the ground, kicked her onto her back and kneeled on her. She grabbed her captive's right arm. Withdrawing a dagger with a golden hilt from an inside pocket of her coat, she carved "Risuku" into the tender skin. She stepped away when she was finished. "Your body will be a useful tool for me…"

Pain, fear and confusion were written all over Katsu's face. "Wha-" She was knocked out by another unexpected blow to the head. Risuku faded from sight. The teenager's eyes opened, but they were not Katsu's anymore. Risuku had taken over her Hikari's body. She ignored any pain in her arm and picked up Shay again, taking off the blue collar. "Yes… this body will be useful for me… Will you be useful as well, Shay?" The cat purred in response.

~* That Night *~

Ryou sat at his kitchen table, doing homework. Clouds gathered outside. The weatherman had said that the storm wouldn't be coming for at least a few days, but weathermen were only right half the time. The white-haired Hikari looked up from his math. Something was scratching at the door. Upon opening it, a gray streak rushed inside and hid under the coffee table in the living room. It mewed and watched Ryou with an unusual pair of brown and green eyes. Ryou closed the door and approached it slowly, so as not to frighten it.

"What were you doing out there?" He gently removed it from underneath the furniture. It was wet, like it had fallen into a river. He got a towel and dried it off. It tried to 'attack' a corner of the towel. "Well, aren't you playful…" he gave it a saucer of milk. The cat lapped it up graciously. The more Ryou watched it and thought about it, the more he wished he could keep this cat. He knew Bakura would never allow him to keep a pet. Still, the idea appealed to him… he leaned over to the feline and whispered conspiratorially, feeling quite silly that he was talking to it in the first place.

"I'm going to keep you here, just until we find your owner or someone who's willing to be one. Not that I'm not willing," he said, hoping that Bakura wasn't listening, "it's just that… certain circumstances won't allow it. Also, you're going to have to keep out of sight. If Bakura finds you, he might hurt you and will definitely throw you out."

"What will I throw out?" asked a cold voice from behind him. Ryou turned around to see Bakura standing there. "This little rat-chaser? What is it doing here, anyway?"

Ryou stood up, holding the cat. "Please, I was just going to take care of it until I could find its owner." He looked down at the ground and waited to be yelled at and beaten. Nothing came. Surprised, he looked up at his Yami. Bakura was watching the cat and seemed to be thinking very hard about something.

"You can keep it on several conditions: You will be the one taking care of it. You will find whoever owns the wretched thing and give it back. If it's a stray, it gets kicked out. The cat's name is Shay. Now, go back to whatever you were doing before you let that thing inside." Bakura disappeared back into the Ring.

Ryou stared at the spot where his other had just been. Bakura had appeared and disappeared from the Ring without yelling, insulting, or hurting Ryou, and they now had a temporary pet.

"I wonder if Bakura's feeling alright…" he muttered. Shay mewed at him. The temporary owner sat back down to finish his homework, petting the cat and listening for the sound of rain. After all, the weatherman was only right about half the time.

CD: I'm so nice, aren't I?

Kat: No you aren't!

Risk: *growls and sharpens dagger*

CD: *duct-tapes Risk and Kat to a wall* In case you were wondering, I did get the idea for Risuku and Katsu's first meeting from a bunch of Bakura/Ryou fics that I've read… which is a lot. (There's a reason I did it that way, I swear!) If it's too close to any one idea, tell me, OK? I don't want to copy. Same thing with the Millennium Pendant. I haven't read any fics with Pendants in them. If someone else has used it, it's pure coincidence! Now that you've read that… Hmm, seems like Risuku and Bakura both have a connection to "Shay". I'm gonna try to get the next chapter up soon and it'll hopefully have a visible plot. R&R and tell me if I should continue! Please?