This chapter has been made up of old chapters that have since been deleted, rewrote and added to this one. If you wish to read the old versions of these chapters than simply message me and I will send them over to you. Chapters that have been rewritten so far: Chapters 1-25. This chapter was made up of the original versions of chapters 1-4.

There is a history of games interwoven within human history. This game, however, can be traced back to the great Egyptian Empire over three thousand years ago. This ancient game was once used to foretell the future of kings and decide their fates in magical ceremonies. These ceremonies were known as The Shadow Games.

"Afternoon break! Let's play basketball!" A teenaged boy shouted as he leapt up from behind his desk before sprinting out of the classroom as fast as he could, the rest of his classmates shortly following suit behind him although not with as much enthusiasm. However, while the majority of the class had left the room there was one exception, a young girl sitting in the second row. The girl paid no attention as her classmates ran past her to walk out the door however, she did look up to the ones that knocked into her desk; almost toppling over her elaborate card fort that she had worked so hard to build during the last 10 minutes of the study session. After making sure that her desk was once again steady the teen slowly raised her hand to the top of the card masterpiece, intending to place the final card right on top. However just as she was about to place the card down and finish the fort a voice called out her name, causing her to lose focus and drop the card resulting in the structure falling into a pile on her desk; all that hard work wasted.

"Yugi quit playing games by yourself and come play basketball for once." The classmate who had decided to stay behind to try and persuade her to join the others outside told her as he showed off his skills by spinning a basketball on one of his fingers. Yugi simply looked down at her desk and the pile of cards that rested on top that had once been an impressive card fort. As Yugi sat there looking at her desk she began to think about the boys offer, weighing down the many positives and negatives of leaving her solidarity and joining the rest of her class outside in the sun.

It was certainly lonely sitting inside a classroom every day during breaks with only the puzzles and games she brought with her for company, but that wasn't always the case. Some days she would get a head start on her homework rather than leaving it for when she got home, on those days the breaks just flew by as she answered questions and wrote out reports. Other days her best friend Anzu would stay inside with her rather than go out and if Yugi left how would Anzu find her again if she needed her. Plus Yugi wasn't the tallest of people, standing at just 5 foot and that wasn't an ideal height for playing basketball; especially when everyone else in her class was so much taller than her.

"Thank you for the offer but any team I join would just lose." Yugi replied before returning her gaze back down to her desk and began to collect the cards that were scattered across, putting them into a neat pile in the centre. The boy who had spoken to her merely nodded his head before walking out of the classroom to join the rest of his class outside, leaving Yugi all alone with only herself and her games for company.

As Yugi continued to collect the cards one of them managed to fall from on top of the desk, floating down to the ground until it landed on the floor next to Yugi's school bag. After placing all the other cards back into the pack Yugi reached down to pick up the discarded card from the floor and slide it inside of the pack with the rest of the cards. Once all 52 cars had been placed back into the pack Yugi once again reached towards the floor, this time picking up her school bag which she opened and placed the pack inside.

However, instead of returning the bag to its previous position on the floor next to her feet Yugi instead began to look around the classroom, checking every corner to ensure that she was truly alone. After discovering that she was the only person left inside the room and that no one else had decided to join her Yugi let out a small giggle before she once again reached inside of her school bag, this time however reaching for a golden box that had been stuffed alongside her textbooks.

The box was a marvellous thing to behold, a piece of beauty that would be impossible to rival even if a person looked for a hundred years. The box was made entirely out of pure gold, no jewels lined the surface instead sacred text from a time long lost to history had been etched into the sides, as well as the Eye of Horus that had been carved right in the centre of both the front and back of the box. As Yugi lifted up the lid from the box a wide smile appeared on her face before she began to recite out load the riddle that her Grandpa had told her when she had first discovered the box hiding away in their attic when she was a child.

"'It's something that you see but have never seen before', an intriguing riddle for an intriguing puzzle." Yugi said to no one in particular as she continued to slowly lift the lid from the golden box, wanting to take her time with her most precious treasure. However just as Yugi was about to lift the lid off completely a hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere, ripping the box out from her hands and holding it up high behind her back. The sudden loss of her treasure had caused Yugi to let out a large gasp in surprised before finally turning around in her chair to see a familiar pair of smiling faces standing directly behind her.

"What are you doing talking to yourself Yugi? You win the prize for most creepy, sitting here all on your own." Standing behind Yugi's desk were Hiroto Honda and Katsuya Jonouchi, two bully best friends who enjoyed nothing more than teasing Yugi senseless. However, what both boys hadn't realised that Yugi didn't think of them as badly as she did with some of her other classmates.

Yugi had been an easy victim of bullying since she had been a child due to her tomboy ways, unique interests and lack of parents. Her first term at Domino High had begun a week ago and almost immediately Yugi had been categorised as the easiest student to pick on, often getting bullied by both boys and girls alike where ever she went, from the library to the bathroom Yugi could hear the nasty things that people said about her. Jonouchi and Honda however never used any of those factors against Yugi when they chose her as their latest victim instead commenting on her brains and 'girly' ways, for some reason the two had it in their heads that she was really a boy; maybe it was her hair. Either way, Yugi had to admit that the two were the nicest bullies to ever target her and Yugi had a lot of bullies to compare them to.

Before either of the boys could even begin to think Yugi pushed her chair backwards towards them, standing up and reaching up high for the box as she went; hoping to take it back. However much to Yugi's disappointment, Honda's relaxes were much too sharp as he lifted the box just out of Yugi's reach and quickly threw the box over to his partner in crime Jonouchi. With that simple action a game of piggy in the middle began, with Yugi's prize possession taking up the role of the ball as it was thrown back and forth between the two males while Yugi stood in-between them helplessly trying to reach the box that they kept throwing just above her head; if only she hadn't been so short. This game was abruptly cut short however when Jonouchi decided to keep the box in his hand and instead look over the box, wanting to see what made it so special and why Yugi was so desperate to get it back.

"Only a girl would care about a box Yugi." Jonouchi told her as he began throwing the box in the air only to catch it in his hand instead of throwing it back to Honda, Jonouchi's gaze never looking away from Yugi as she continued to stare at the golden box in his hand rather than at his face. Yugi's lack of attention caused something inside of Jonouchi to snap as he lifted the box high above his head far beyond Yugi's reach just in case she decided to attempt to get the box back from him. "Watching you ogle this thing really pisses me off so quit it. If you want it back then you're going to have to man up and hit me."

Yugi wouldn't deny that in this moment, as she watched him slap his chest to indicate where he wanted her to hit him that Yugi thought about punching the boy. The box in his hand had been her greatest treasure since the day she had found it, even if the box hadn't been made of gold it was priceless in Yugi's eyes and the thought of losing it to a bully made her stomach churn. But as satisfying as it would be for Yugi to hit him and get the box back, as well as give Jonouchi his just deserts for everything that he and Honda had said during the past week Yugi didn't have it in her to punch him; she wasn't prone to violence. Plus if she did end up hitting him then she would be just as bad as Jonouchi.

"I HATE FIGHTING AND VIOLENCE!" Yugi screamed out load causing both boys to jump back in surprise at the volume that had come out of her mouth, for such a small thing Yugi certainly had a set of lungs on her. As the two boys stood there blinking at her, unsure of what she would do now that she had injured their eardrums Yugi decided to take a different approach, instead going with a pleading tactic that would hopefully influence Jonouchi to finally give her the box back. "Can you please return my box, it's very special to me."

"What's in here anyway?" Jonouchi asked her as he peered inside the box, wanting to know why it mattered so much to Yugi in the first place. However as soon as he saw what was inside his face turned sour, displease with the boxes contents; finding them disappointing and remotely unengaging. No longer caring about the box Jonouchi let out a fake yawn before telling Yugi his thoughts on her treasure. "How boring and dumb."

Suddenly Jonouchi threw the box into the air once again, causing it to soar high above Yugi's head in Honda's direction. Jonouchi planned on continuing their previous game, hoping to tease Yugi some more; at least that would be fun compared to her stupid box. However just as Honda was about to grab the box mid-air an unexpected hand caught it first, surprising them all.

"Anzu!" Yugi cried out in delight when she saw who was now holding on to her treasure. Anzu Mazaki was one of Yugi's best and longest friends, the two had known each other since they were children and Anzu always watched out for Yugi, especially while they were at school. As soon as Yugi had seen Anzu she knew that Jonouchi and Honda's fun had ended because no one would ever dare face Anzu when she was mad, it was a death sentence waiting to happen. When Anzu got angry there would be no escaping her fury and there was nothing in the world that made her angrier than seeing her best friend get bullied. They were sisters in everything but blood, and big sister always protected their younger and more defenceless sisters.

"If you think it's so boring and dumb then you should just give it back." Anzu told Jonouchi as she walked over to Yugi and handed her the golden box back. Yugi smiled at Anzu as she held onto the box tightly, her most treasured possession was back safe in her arms and it was all thanks to Anzu, she couldn't have been happier. Yugi couldn't describe it but whenever the box or any of its content were in her hands her fears just went away, the box offered her a sense of safety that Yugi didn't fully understand, but she was happy for it in ever way; many nightmares and nerves days had been soothed and it was all thanks to the golden box.

"I was only trying to turn Yugi into a man." Jonouchi told Anzu as he attempted to stare her down, he wasn't afraid of the brunet no matter how tough she tried to act. Honda, on the other hand, started to back away from the pair slowly trying not to attract any attention to himself. Honda had seen Anzu angry already the week previous when a group of boys had made a comment about her skirt and he did not want to be on the receiving side of her anger; fearful of what would happen if he was.

"Yugi is a GIRL. Now stop bullying those weaker than you and get out of here." Anzu almost shouted at Jonouchi and Honda, her eyes practically drilling holes into the backs of their heads as they ran out of the door as fast as they could; trying to get away from the scary teen. When the two were finally gone Anzu let out a chuckle before turning around to face Yugi who had already returned to her desk, the golden box that had been previously thrown about the room now sat in the middle of the desk as if it had never been moved from its original placing. As Anzu began to move closer to the desk so that she could sit down and talk she noticed a large smile on Yugi's face as she continued to stare at the box in front of her.

As Yugi sat at her desk waiting for Anzu to join her she tried not to dwell on the tight feeling in her stomach that had been created from her fear of losing her most precious treasure, trying instead to think about how it hadn't been lost and that Anzu had come to save her. That Jonouchi and Honda hadn't damaged it or thrown it out of a window on accident, it was in one piece and she should be grateful for that. But most of all she tried to think about the face that Anzu would make and the questions she would ask when she finally showed her friend her greatest treasure that she had kept secret for years.

The Millennium Puzzle.

"Wow, Anzu. A few words from you and they ran away." Yugi complimented her friend as Anzu pulled out the chair from the desk in front of her and sat down. Yugi hadn't seen Anzu cause anyone to run away like that for several months, the last time it happened the ones running away with their tails between their legs had been a group of girls who after discovering that Yugi had managed to beat one of their friends at the end of year exams and had decided to punish her for it.

And so, a week before they graduated junior high the group of girls cornered Yugi in the bathroom and ended up covering her from head to toe in food that completely destroyed her uniform, not only that but they also stuck a sign to her back with the words 'Know it all' written on it. As soon as Anzu found out what had happened the group of girls who had tormented Yugi immediately regretted it, they had been so red-faced and embarrassed as Anzu shouted at them in front of their entire class until they ended up running away; not returning to school until their graduation ceremony.

Yugi had always been smart, spending hours of her time locked away in her room studying away after her chores were done; she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with her life at this point, but she wanted to be prepared so that she could get into a good university after high school was over. All Yugi was sure about was that she wanted to take care of her Grandpa and to do that she needed a good job to support him, and so from a young age, she worked to keep her grades high so that when the time came for her to apply she would look like a good candidate.

Yugi had often been bullied growing up because of the amount that she studied, spending every hour that she could in the school's library rather than going outside to play. Yugi had thought that her entire school life would consist of her reading away in a corner with no one to talk to until the day she met Anzu. It had been a rainy day when Anzu had walked into the library looking as if she had no idea what she was looking for or what to even do in there. And so Yugi upon seeing Anzu's plight had walked over and invited Anzu to sit with her at her table, offering her one of her many puzzles that she had brought with her to fiddle with while reading.

Anzu quickly became engrossed with the puzzle, spending their entire lunch break trying to solve it but ending up unsuccessful when the bell rang for them to head back to class. Anzu had become so upset about not being able to complete it that she ended up smashing the puzzle out of frustration. As soon as Anzu had realised what she had done she had quickly apologised and wanted nothing more than to run out of the room and never see Yugi again, Yugi, on the other hand, had simply laughed at the ordeal, telling Anzu that she used to do the exact same thing. The next day Anzu found another puzzle hidden away in her desk with a note written by Yugi next to it, telling her that the puzzle was much easier than the one from the day before. Since that day the two girls had been best friends, Anzu had even become better at solving puzzles now being able to solve the original puzzle that had left her so stumped in less than 10 minutes.

"Their heads swell if you don't knock them down every once in a while. You need to be tougher Yugi." Anzu told her as she stared towards the door to make sure that Jonouchi and Honda weren't secretly hiding in the hall listening in. Anzu had been trying to get Yugi to stand up for herself for years, hating the fact that her best friend did nothing when people called her names or tripped her up; Yugi would simply walk away without reacting to what had been done to her. What Anzu hated the most though was that Yugi would never tell her about instances that she was picked on when Anzu wasn't with her; often having to hear about it on the grapevine. It just got Anzu's blood boiling to know that Yugi was suffering in silence rather than standing up to those who hurt her.

"All the guys here are like that. On the basketball court I thought the guys were passing to the girls a lot, turns out they were peeking under the girl's skirts when they made their shots." Anzu began as she thought back to earlier. Anzu had noticed what the boys had been doing while she had been on the other end of the court, seeing the perverted looks on their faces as they watched the girls aim at the hoops; their gaze particularly focused on the occasional shot of the girl's panties as their skirts blew in the wind.

"I quit and came in, what jerks. Promise me you'll never play basketball in a skirt Yugi." Anzu continued as she turned to face her friend who had a disgusted look on her face. Sometimes Anzu was jealous that Yugi had permission to wear the male uniform, their old junior high had been very generous allowing the female students to wear the male uniforms if they wished; which every girl owned at least one of for when it started to snow. Domino High School, however, had much stricter rules and if Yugi's Grandpa hadn't caused a massive fuss before they started school Yugi would have ended up wearing the female uniform just like all the other girls at the school.

Yugi had never been a big fan of female clothing though so Anzu was used to her sense of style. In fact, there were only a hand full of instances that Anzu could remember Yugi wearing a dress or a skirt in her presence; with most of them being important and formal occasions that Yugi couldn't get out of wearing a dress like when Anzu's parents had taken both of the girls out to an expensive restaurant for her birthday. Anzu almost didn't recognise her friend when she had walked out from her house, dressed in a pale blue dress and her hair styled in ringlets. It was a shame that Yugi didn't dress more feminine, however whenever Anzu asked her about it the younger girl simple went quiet and told her that she preferred the cover that male clothes provided her; Anzu knew that there was more to it than that but the way Yugi looked whenever the question was asked stopped her from prying anymore, not wanting to upset Yugi anymore than the sole question already had.

"By the way Yugi, what is that?" Anzu asked, wanting to drown out her depressing thoughts with something else; anything else. Anzu had visited Yugi's house many times over the years and she had never once seen the box that sat in front of her, it was too memorable for her to simply forget. Perhaps it was new and Yugi just forgot to tell her about it, after all she no longer went around to Yugi's house as often as she did when she was a child so if anything changed then she had to rely on Yugi telling her about it to know what had happened. Dance practice took up the majority of Anzu's time so most days if the girls wanted to hang out together then they had to do it at the dance hall that Anzu practiced in, not only that but Yugi's Grandpa always said something creepy when she visited ever since she had started to develop so she tried to avoid hanging out there as much as possible.

"That's right. You haven't seen this yet Anzu. If you promise to keep it a secret I'll show you." Yugi replied, feeling slightly guilty for never showing Anzu her greatest treasure before today. Yugi had hidden the box whenever Anzu came around, stuffing it deep in her closet or quickly running it into her Grandpa's room before Anzu made it up the stairs behind her; knowing that neither of them would ever go into that room willingly. Normally the box sat upon one of the shelves in her room, used as a bookend so that any would-be thief's thought nothing of it, after all the box and its contents were made out of solid gold; easy pickings for a thief.

As soon as Anzu let out a small 'Okay' to agree to the terms Yugi began to slowly lift the golden boxes lid causing Anzu to lean forward in suspense. With the lid off the pair could finally see the boxes content clearly, a collection of glittering golden puzzle pieces piled on top of each other; each piece seeming more beautiful than the last. The pieces appeared to be of a greater quality of gold to the box as when the light hit the pieces they appeared to be almost glowing while the box did no such thing.

"Who it's so pretty. Are these pieces of something? Anzu asked as she picked up two of the glistening pieces and began to inspect them, running her hands gently over the smooth gold. Each piece was more beautiful than the last and crafted so elegantly that it would be hard for someone not to be mesmerised by the pieces. As Anzu fiddled with the two pieces that she had in her hands she began to think about how the pieces caught the light just right that they almost looked like stars in the sky and just how envious of Yugi she was for having something so beautiful all her own.

"It's a puzzle, though I've never finished it so I have no idea what it looks like." Yugi replied as she looked at the pieces that she had picked up the same time that Anzu had. Yugi had put in more hours then she could count since finding the box hidden away in a dark corner of the attic when she was 7 years old. Her Grandpa upon seeing the box in her hands had been reluctant for her to even touch the puzzle pieces never mind try and put them together, but Yugi had been able to win him over and now here she was age 15 still trying to complete it. "So, it's 'Something you see but have never seen before'".

As Yugi spoke it became very clear to Anzu just how strongly she felt about the puzzle, noticing almost immediately how much Yugi's confidence rose. Most of the time Yugi was as mild and timid as a mouse, keeping quiet most of the time inside of school unless she was called upon by the teachers to answer questions; even when it was just her and Anzu Yugi would mostly wait until Anzu talked first to start a conversation unless there was something she really wanted to talk about. But this Yugi, with the puzzle piece in her hand, seemed braver and more focused then Anzu had ever seen her as if she was a completely different person altogether; it must have been extremely important to Yugi if it affected her so much.

"My Grandpa owns a game shop remember, so we sell a lot of unusual games from all around the world. I found this box in the attic covered in dust so I took it for myself." Yugi explained as she attempted to put the two pieces that she had in her hands together and failing miserably. This was a common occurrence whenever Yugi tried to the complete the puzzle, the pieces just never seemed to fit together. Yugi must have tried to connect every piece throughout the years and yet she still had made no progress, with every single piece still unattached to any other piece. It was as if the puzzle itself didn't want her to solve it just yet. "Grandpa says that this puzzle was found years ago in an Egyptian ruin."

"So those are hieroglyphs carved around the box?" Anzu asked as she trailed one of her fingers over the detailed side of the box, wondering what each symbol meant. Unbeknownst to Anzu Yugi was thinking the exact same thing, having no clue just what was written on the treasure that she loved so much. Her Grandpa had always dumbed down what was carved into the box, telling her bits and pieces rather than a full translation; refusing to reveal the entire inscription.

Although seeing as the box had death and darkness interwoven throughout its history Yugi couldn't blame the man. When Yugi had turned 10 her Grandpa had deemed her old enough to understand the history of the puzzle and had sat her down one afternoon to go over the details in an attempt to stop her interest in the puzzle. It turned out that the puzzle had a curse surrounding it, with those who had tried to complete it before her having died shortly after opening the box that housed it. However, while Yugi had initially been terrified of sharing the same fate as those that came before she was quickly reassured by the fact that it had been just over 3 years since finding the box and she was still living; if she had outlived those that had come before her then maybe she could complete the puzzle as well.

"That's right. I bet they say something like 'Whoever solves this puzzle shall be granted one wish'". Yugi exclaimed happily, thinking about all the hopes and dreams she had placed on her interpreted translation. Her Grandpa had only ever told her that the box would grant the person who completed it great power and so Yugi had always interpreted that as the person to piece together the puzzle would gain the ability to make their greatest dream come true. "I sound childish don't I."

For several years Yugi had poured her heart and soul into each piece hoping that one day she would be rewarded by her greatest wish, for her to gain true friends. And she had been rewarded gaining her very first friend not long after she had opened the box and then shortly after that she had also gained Anzu's friendship. But after that the flow of friends stopped coming, true she had acquaintances that she studied with on occasion but none of them were as close to her as her other friends were. If Yugi was being honest she would say that she was rather lonely having only two friends especially when the person she considered her best friend often couldn't be around her long because of his busy work schedule.

"You don't Yugi I promise." Anzu replied trying to reassure her friend that she wouldn't laugh at her. Making wishes on puzzles wasn't the most mature thing that a 15 year old could believe in, in fact, it was downright embarrassing and would completely destroy the small reputation that Yugi had. Yugi was already considered strange because of how little she talked and the games she played with during breaks, if it got out that she believed that a puzzle was able to make dreams and wishes come true then she would become more of a social pariah then she already was. "I won't tell anyone."

"This puzzle is a major challenge though, I've been trying to solve it for eight years now and I've never been able to solve it." Yugi told Anzu as she looked down at the puzzle pieces sitting inside the box. For eight whole years Yugi had spent hours sitting away in her room trying to fit the pieces of the puzzle together, eight long years of failing to even make a single piece of the puzzle fit together, eight years of wishing and dreaming; her entire life revolved around the puzzle and she still had no idea what it was meant to look like.

"So what is it? Your wish?" Anzu asked with a grin on her face, wanting to know just what Yugi had been wishing on the puzzle all these years. Yugi loved Anzu with all her heart but her wish was private, no one not even her friends could find out; not yet anyway when she was too nervous to share it or risk jinxing the wish. Yugi had never confided her dream to anyone, always holding her dream close to her heart without telling a soul, too afraid of being laughed at for how childish the dream was.

"Sorry Anzu but that is absolutely positively secret."

"Damn that Anzu makes me mad." Jonouchi mumbled to Honda as they walked down the school corridor, planning to spend the rest of the day ditching in an arcade or a fast food restaurant. The two of them couldn't believe that Anzu had dared to tell them off, hadn't she heard the stories and rumours about the two beating people up on the weekends and being involved in gangs; she should be terrified of them. Although the rumours only held some truth behind them, especially the gang stories; Jonouchi having belonged to a street gang back in his youth before he had straightened himself out slightly and left. "Who's a bully?"

Jonouchi just couldn't believe that Anzu had been brave enough to interrupt his 'teachings', he'd never had a girl stand up against him before at his old middle school so it was a foreign concept for her to tell him off. While it could be considered an unorthodox method Jonouchi was only trying to help Yugi become more of a man or a tougher girl in this case. It was sickening to see Yugi obsess over that stupid puzzle, the way it held all of her attention no matter what Jonouchi had tried to do to break it.

What would have happened if a bigger and badder bully had seen her with the box, they wouldn't have been as kind as him and Honda had; they would have thrown the entire thing out of the window and been done with it. Yugi wouldn't be able to face someone like that the way she was now, she was just a scared, wimpy little girl who probably couldn't even squash a fly let alone stand up for herself. So Jonouchi had decided to step in to try and teach her how to toughen up for those future days when she would face those bigger and meaner than him and Honda, however, Anzu hadn't understood that and had made them leave before Yugi had learnt anything. Yugi would have to learn sooner or later that her friends weren't always going to be there to help her.

Her. Jonouchi still couldn't get his head around Yugi being a girl but would anyone blame him. She went around in the male's version of the uniform, her hair looked boyish most days styled slightly pointy and he'd hardly heard her speak since they started school the week before so he couldn't use that as a way to identify what her gender was. Every time he and Honda had interacted with Yugi she had kept quiet, just sitting there as if they weren't tugging on her hair or calling her names; they had never really even seen her face before today. As soon as Yugi had stood in front of him Jonouchi had just thought that Yugi had a very effeminate face not that she could actually be a girl, it was still a shock to be honest; Jonouchi wondered if the rest of his classmates were just as clueless as he and Honda were.

"That would be us Jonouchi." Honda told his friend as he turned his head to face him, no longer paying any attention to what was in front of him. Back in the days when they were in middle school, Jonouchi would do far worse than just teasing and messing around with most of the other students, getting in more fights then he did now that he was in high school; however those younger and weaker were off limits for fighting, especially girls. Jonouchi's rule had made Honda look up to him when he was younger having a moral code while in a gang that would regularly get into fights with high school gangs despite the fact that they were middle schoolers. But that was fighting, physically hurting another person, no one was off limits when it came to teasing and taunting; in fact he and Jonouchi had probably done far worst to smaller, punier people in the past compared to what they had done to Yugi.

Suddenly Jonouchi and Honda were brought to a stop when they crashed into what they thought was a wall however when they looked up they found that wasn't the case.

"What were you saying about bullies?" Ushio asked as he stared down at the two tiny first years that had bumped into him. Ushio, also known as the 'Ogre of the Halls' was a hall monitor and leader of the Public Moral Committee; the school's disciplinary group in charge of enforcing the school's rules and regulations. With his imposing physic and powerful position, many of the students and even a number of teachers feared him. Because of his role, Ushio was able to control any student suggested rules that were placed forward for consideration, stopping them from reaching the principal and the school board if he didn't like the rule; or if he wasn't paid enough if you believed the rumours.

"Nothing! Keep outta this you…" Jonouchi began to speak before he was suddenly unable to, his mouth having been covered by Honda's hand in an attempt to shut him up before he said something that he would regret. Jonouchi, on the other hand, was ready to battle, he didn't care at all about the massive difference in height and build between him and Ushio; he had gone up against others clearly stronger than him before and he had come out on top so why shouldn't Ushio be the same.

"It's nothing, nothing…" Honda replied nervously as he tightened his grip around Jonouchi's mouth, not wanting the blond to speak until Ushio was far away and could no longer hear them; else he feared that Jonouchi would end up black and blue knowing his mouth. Unlike Jonouchi Honda knew exactly who was in front of him, having heard about Ushio on the grapevine during their first day at Domino High, wanting to know just who to watch out for if they were going to be causing trouble and Ushio had been the first name he had heard.

"Bullying is wrong." Ushio responded before slowly walking away, leaving the two friends standing in the middle of the hallway; waiting until he was out of sight.

"Yes! That is so true." Honda shouted just before Ushio was about to turn a corner and be out of their way. Honda felt like he could do anything his adrenaline was so high, who knew facing against the 'Ogre of the Halls' would be such a terrifying experience. When Jonouchi had begun to badmouth Ushio Honda had feared that he and his friend would end up in hospital from the beating they'd take from pissing him off and Honda didn't really want to explain to his parents why he was hurt for the millionth time. "Is he gone? He's gone."

"USHIO! I'm gonna get you someday!" Jonouchi screamed after taking a large breath, finally able to breathe again. Jonouchi was fuming about how Ushio had treated them, who was he to tell them off for what they were talking about; it was a private conversation. Although Jonouchi also found himself becoming angry at his friend for how Honda had treated him during their encounter, covering his mouth and nose until he was literally seconds from passing out; Honda was lucky that Jonouchi hadn't bit him. "You idiot I couldn't breathe."

"Damn! Life is so dull." Honda spoke as he kicked one of the school walls, ignoring how his friend had hissed at him a moment ago. Every day it seemed that he and Jonouchi just did the same things again and again: go to school, ditch school, go to the arcade, buy dirty magazines, get into fights etc. It was getting boring and repetitive now that they were in high school, they had to find something new to do and soon.

"Oh? I've got something interesting. I took this from Yugi's treasure box." Jonouchi told Honda as he reached inside of his jacket pocket and took out a weirdly shaped golden object that had an equally weird looking eye carved into the centre. Jonouchi had only had a second to peek inside and see the boxes content, finding himself slightly surprised that it didn't contain something even dumber than a puzzle like Yugi's diary. In that brief second Jonouchi had managed to grab the most interesting piece that he could, before going back to taunting Yugi, hoping that she wouldn't notice the piece was missing until he was far away; and low and behold she had no idea that the piece was gone. "I only got a glimpse, but it looked like it contained a puzzle. Meaning if she's missing this piece she'll never solve it."

"I'll just take this and… Do this." Jonouchi spoke before turning towards a window and proceeding to throw the piece out of it, causing it to land in the school's pool below. This would teach Yugi to toughen up for sure, with the puzzle that she had appeared to treasure no longer completable Yugi would in Jonouchi's eye be able to 'man up' and grow less timid. The puzzle and her feelings towards it were clearly holding her back else she would have told him and Honda off when they had first grabbed it. He had to do this if he was going to teach Yugi a lesson.

'I think I'll work on the puzzle tonight after dinner.' Yugi thought to herself as she walked out of the school's entrance carrying a semi-large pile of library books in her hands. The school day had ended nearly 20 minutes ago so most of her fellow classmates had left as soon as the bell had rung, including Anzu who couldn't stay behind to join her because she had a dance lesson booked. Yugi was used to this however, often walking or riding the bus home alone depending on the weather.

Home for Yugi was the Kame Game Shop, owned by her Grandpa who she had lived with since she was a babe; her parents and Grandma having died shortly after she was born. Since she had been old enough to walk Yugi had helped out at the shop, originally just stamping price tags onto the different boxes and card packets under the watchful eye of her Grandpa. However as she got older these duties got harder and more common until now whenever Yugi returned home from school there was a number of jobs that she alone had to do such as lifting some of the heavier packages that could throw out her Grandpa's back or clean the display cases because her Grandpa just couldn't get them as clean as she was able to.

If her Grandpa run the game shop then Yugi run their household, being the one in charge of keeping them both feed and the house clean since she was fairly young. It was after her Grandpa had nearly burned down their kitchen for the umpteenth time that Yugi decided to take on the role, fearing for what would happen if she left her Grandpa to do all the work on his own. And so, every day after the store closed Yugi would cook dinner and quickly check the house to make sure that it was still clean.

Yugi had a lot on her plate if she was being fairly honest, running a house and working at a shop while also maintaining her status as a top 50 student; she hardly had any time to herself with all the chores and studying that she had to do. It was only really on weekends when Yugi finally seemed to have a moment to breathe, often locking herself away in her room most days to have some fun without being interrupted. However, no matter how busy Yugi was she seemed to always have her treasured puzzle in her hand. The golden box housing the puzzle was never that far away no matter what chore she was doing, it sat on the kitchen counter as she cooked dinner often attempting to put a few pieces together while waiting for the food to cook. While studying her books she would have the box next to her so that she could swap out the pieces she was trying to combine under the table while she read. The box was always there just waiting for her to fiddle with its pieces in an attempt to solve the puzzle.

"You're Yugi aren't you?" A voice spoke out from behind Yugi, interrupting her thoughts. As Yugi turned around to see who had spoken she immediately began to draw in upon herself. Leaning against the wall was Ushio, the towering block of 'righteousness' in charge of the Public Moral Committee and the head hall monitor.

"Yes." Yugi replied gently as she looked up at the towering teen. Yugi had never had a run in with Ushio before although she had heard his name plenty of times by his underlings when they decided to confront her about her uniform choice, telling her she was lucky that it had been them she had run into and not their boss or she'd be sorry. Too bad she had the principles agreement to wear the male uniform whenever she wanted, perhaps that was why he was waiting for her now to discuss her uniform; it was the only rule she had technically broken after all.

"I'm Ushio, a hall monitor. I want to ask you something." Ushio spoke as he took a step forward towards Yugi, causing her to take a step away from him in return; wanting to keep as much distance as possible. Yugi hadn't heard the most pleasant of rumours about Ushio and she didn't want to take her chances when there was no one else around to act as witnesses. "Are any of your fellow classmates bullying you?

"What? Nothing like that happens to me." Yugi replied perhaps a little too quickly. There had been a number of stories in the grapevine about how Ushio would blackmail or beat up students that he took an interest in and seeing as he was asking her such questions it became immediately clear to Yugi that she was his latest target. Why couldn't Ushio have been the type of corrupt figure to make students pay for hall passes and sell copies of homework, it certainly wouldn't make him a good guy but at least it would be better than blackmail or beating students up.

"Hold on. A person like you would reply like that. I must properly investigate this." Ushio told Yugi as he took hold of her shoulders, no noticing how hard she was trying to pull away from him and get free. Yugi didn't like this one bit, she wanted to run away as fast and as far as she could from Ushio, the creep.

"I really haven't experienced that. Excuse me!" Yugi replied as she used every bit of strength in her to push herself back hard enough to make Ushio let go of her, her shoulders hurting from how hard he had been holding on, hopefully they wouldn't bruise or else that would be a very awkward conversation. As soon as she was free Yugi quickly turned on her heels and began to speed off away from school as fast as her feet could carry her, it was moments like this that made her regret taking after her father in high, Muto's had short legs after all. Yugi only had one destination in mind as she ran past the school entrance leaving Ushio far behind her in the dirt, she was going home where she knew that she would be safe.