I will warn you now and that is it… This story is REALLY TWISTED! In my opinion that is. I really hope you enjoy it though… And if not… PLEASE DON'T FLAME ME! It was all my imaginations fault!!!!!! I'm also gonna be switching from one name to the other for Ryou Bakura.

Oh ya… I DON'T OWN YU-Gi-OH… Though I wish I did… Then I'd make Bakura the main character! =^-^=

Yu-Gi-Oh - Secrets From The Past

Chapter One: Mask Of Deception

Bakura awoke to the usual bleeping of his alarm clock. He groaned as he swatted the off button and tiredly sat up. He gently wiped the sleep from his eyes and let out a quiet yawn. He looked around for several seconds looking for something. He peeked over the edge of the bed and picked up a brown teddy bear with a red ribbon around its neck. He smiled at it slightly and got up quickly making the bed and placing the bear on the pillow.

He then collected his clothing and headed to the bathroom to get ready. He took his shower, got dressed, had breakfast, brushed his teeth then headed out the door. He locked the door behind him and turned to head down the street. His father was on another dig so Ryou was on his own. He was use to it by now but staying in the house all alone often made him a bit nervous.

As he walked down the drive way a voice called out to him, "Hey Bakura! Over here!"

He turned to see who it was. It was Tristan waving him over to the group as they walked to school. Yugi, Joey, Tea, Mai, Duke… The whole group. He smiled to them and walked over, "Hi there everyone."

"Hey Bakura," Yugi smiled.

The group headed to school in high spirits chatting and laughing all the way. Bakura was his usual quiet self only speaking when spoken to. The others had noticed this attitude over time so they tended to direct much of their conversation to him so that he would talk. Much of the time, however, they seemed to have to pull him out of his own little world in order to do so. It worried them sometimes but they often just shook it off.

"Bakura? Hey Bakura?" Joey said, "You alive in there?"

Bakura looked up at Joey, "Yes?"

Joey sweatdropped, "You zoned out on us again buddy… You ok?"

"Ummm… Ya I'm fine… Sorry about that," Bakura said plastering on a fake smile.

Joey shook his head and laughed, as did most of the others. Yugi, however, watched Bakura. Bakura never was a good liar and Yugi could see that he was lying about being ok. Bakura had always been the type to keep to himself. Yugi and company were really the only friends he had. There had always been something… suspicious about Ryou that made Yugi a little nervous. He thought he'd figured it out when he found out about his friends millennium item and ancient Egyptian spirit but lately he was beginning to wonder if that was the only secret the boy had. Bakura never invited anyone to his house and rarely talked about his home life. Of course, Bakura had very little of a home life since his father was rarely around. Yugi often invited Ryou to spend a night or two at his place but every time Bakura would decline.

The group eventually made it to school. It was like every other day. The nerds hung out by a set of picnic tables in the grass in front of the building with the bullies at their throats or watching them. The prissy girls hung out on the steps with their jock boyfriends. The skaters where skating in the parking lot as various teachers scolded them and tried to get them out of their parking spots. The druggies… Even though the teachers said there were none… hung out at the back of the school. The goody-goods hung out by the trees reading or chatting. The latter one was usually were Yugi and company would hang out. They did just that turning towards the trees in the grassy field to their "usual" spot by a rather crooked tree. Joey and Tritan climbed up the tree and sat there looking down at the others.

"I'm king of the world!" Joey laughed.

Tristan sweatdropped just as Seto Kaiba walked up and smirked up to the blond boy, "King of the world of the morons you mean…"

"Hey! Well… At least I'm not their queen," Joey said.

"Wouldn't that make you two… Husband and Wife?" Bakura asked quietly.

Both Joey and Seto went pale. Joey nearly fell out of the tree when Bakura said that. It would have been fine had it come from one of the others… But Bakura? Seto glared at Bakura but said nothing.

"Aww… Come on you two… Kiss and make out," someone said from the back of the group… They turned to see Duke Devlin with a grin plastered on his face.

Seto clenched his fists and walked up to Duke ready to pummel him.

"Back off Seto… He didn't mean it," Bakura said getting in front of the black haired troublemaker. Seto unclenched his fist and sighed, "You're lucky this time Devlin."

Joey, who had come down from the tree, grinned at Seto as the taller boy turned to walk away. Seto glared back at him unsure of why the other boy was grinning. Then suddenly he said, "You like us… You really, really like us! Why else would you be hanging out here with us?"

The others couldn't hold their laughter anymore at that… Yugi, Tea, Tristan and Mai just let all their laughter rush out at once. Seto's face went beet red and he growled slightly.

"Come on guys… Stop that already… Class will be starting soon… Lets go get our things," Bakura said.

"Bakura's right guys," Yugi snickered slightly, "Lets go."

The others nodded and followed Yugi and Bakura as they headed towards the school building. Tristan jumped out of the tree and looked at Seto then started to laugh again. He then took a deep breath then ran after the others.

Seto watched as the group walked away, his eyes settling on the white haired boy. He's been watching him for some time now. He was somehow drawn to the English youth. These feelings were new and extremely alarming to Seto but he found that he could not ignore them.

Seto soon found that he was gazing into nothingness, Yugi's group long gone. He shook away his daze and let his tongue trace a line across his dry lips. He let his gaze fall to the ground and put his hands in his pockets. A very unusual stance for the "Rich Boy". He turned away from the direction the group had gone and walked away.

Alone Seto could be himself. He didn't have to hide behind the mask he'd created. With all his money and power, Seto was lonely. Lonely for the kind of love he couldn't get from his younger brother. However, he couldn't, for the life of him, understand why he was seeking it from the holder of the millennium ring. He'd never before looked at another boy and felt the way he did when he looked at Ryou Bakura. He felt as if there was something different about the gentle soul that was Ryou.

Perhaps that was what convinced him to go to Ryou's house that night. It wasn't a big place. It was just big enough for Ryou and his father. As usual, Donovan Bakura was away on an archaeological dig. Seto knew this from listening in on a conversation between Ryou and his rival, Yugi Motoh.

There were several lights on in the house indicating to Seto that Bakura was home. Seto quietly circled round the house to the back. He sighed as he peeked through a window praying one of the neighbors didn't see him and call the police.

The room he gazed into was dark. There were no lights on but Seto could still make out the large bed and several dressers. From what he could see, the room was rather plain with white walls and brown furniture. A closet was set in the right wall and a small bedside table sat near the head of the bed. A picture of a man, a woman and a baby was sitting on the table. Seto supposed that that was Ryou and his parents at a younger age. He'd never heard about Ryou's mother before. It seemed that he never spoke of her to anyone. He supposed that something terrible must have happened for Ryou to keep her such a safe guarded secret.

Finding nothing more of interest in that room Seto turned and headed to the next window. He looked in and examined the room just as he'd examined the other. It was also quite plain with white walls, brown furniture, a bedside table and a closet. Not much different from the last one except for what sat on the head of the bed on the soft pillows. It was a teddy bear with brown fur and a red ribbon around its neck. Considering there were only males living in this house the sight of the bear confused him. He supposed it might have been an old cherished toy from Ryou's past. Ryou was the only person Seto knew that didn't seem to care what other people thought of him. It was just one of the things that drew Seto to him.

Seto was jogged out of his thoughts when the door of the room opened. Seto backed up from the window with his back to the wall for several seconds before daring to peek through the window once more. Bakura was in the middle of the room. His back was to the window as he seemed to be unbuttoning his shirt. Seto's face went slightly red, though he didn't know why. Something told him he should look away but something else inside him told him not to (PERV! Lol). He watched as Bakura let his shirt slip off his shoulders to the ground. His eyes widened in curiosity as he saw that Bakura's chest was bound for some strange reason. Then Bakura began to unravel the bindings. Seto watched for several seconds before quickly looking away. His face went from a deep red to a pale color in less then three seconds. Everything suddenly became clear. All his questions were answered.

Ryou Bakura… Was a girl.

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((Told ya it was twisted but my imagination just wouldn't leave it unwritten. Sorry to all Bakura fans. Trust me… I'm not happy with this plot either, in many ways… I love Bakura! L But I just had to write this story…))