Birdhouse in Your Soul

"I beg you, Gods of Egypt...

Send someone to protect my son...

Great Evil is still upon us...

I won't be here for long... Please... My son...

Have someone by your side..."

A knock on the door was heard. The sun streamed through the black curtains that covered the open window. The knocking became a pounding, "Open up in there!" The shouts from the angered voice from the other side of the door was so loud you could hear it from the outside and through the walls of the building.

"Your rent is overdue!"

"I know." A girl grumbled to herself as she was climbing up her dorm building, "I was gonna leave this town anyways." She hopped onto the roof and quietly made her way to the stairway. Seeing as the landlord and possibly security too busy on the top floor, she can smoothly make her exit through the back without anyone noticing. It is currently nine in the morning, she had less than thirty minutes to catch the train to travel to her destination.

"Hopefully, I can make it there on time before they make their move." Though, little did she know, there were eyes watching her in the shadows.

[The next day - 12:15 pm - Domino City - Domino High School]

"Ah... That was a long lesson." a small boy yawned out, stretching out his legs and popping his back. He looked down at his treasure hanging down from his neck. With a smile he brushed his thumb over the "eye". "I still can't believe I completed this last night and my wish... it came true!" He tapped his feet in excitement. This is Yugi Mutou, a sixteen year old with a five thousand year old ancient puzzle. According to the stories his grandfather tells him, this puzzle was found in Egypt and was said to possess great powers.

"Yugi!" And that's his best friend, Jounouchi.

Yugi looked up at him and blushed in embarrassment, "Oh...J-jounouchi, did you see.. You know.." He looked around to see if there was anyone staring at them, "The video?" The last part almost came out as a whisper.

Of course, Jounouchi understood what he meant, "Oh that," His eyes narrowed, "Well I squinted but... I couldn't see any of the important stuff!" He shouted, not caring who heard him like Yugi, "Damn mosaic gets in the way with everything!" He shrugged, "Though, I'll lend it to you sometime, Yug."

Yugi's face got even more redder, "Huh? R-really?"

"Yo! Check it out!" A student shouted looking over the glass window, "There's a television van parked outside of the school!"

Others gathered in, "You think someone famous is here?"

"I doubt it!"

"Why here?"

"Why not!"

Jounouchi scratched his chin as he and Yugi listened in, "I wonder who can it be, Yugi?"

His little friend shrugged, "Beats me, wanna head down and check it out?" And with that Jounouchi nodded in excitement and followed him out the door.

[Meanwhile]

"Hi, I'm here to take out a loan."

The bank clerk looked over to her next client. A young woman who doesn't look old enough to even be considered an adult. Though, she was dressed as if she were being interviewed for a new job. Hair done and with light make-up, she stood tall with confidence (actually those are her heels) and piercing gold eyes, there was no denying that this girl was attractive. This has to be a joke.

"Do you have any sort of identification? Are you even old enough?" The clerk disdainfully questioned sizing her up once again.

The girl didn't falter and handed over an American passport and identification, "I'm here on an education program ma'am, I was told to take out my loan here." She explained with such a disgusting polite tone.

The clerk processed the information and was surprised that this was legit information, "My apologies, Miss Natalie Larsen, I should have known you're even the third student who stepped in."

Natalie shook her head, "It is no problem, ma'am."

"I just thought you were a 14 year old and all-"

"Nonsense!" Natalie laughed with her, "I get that all the time!"

"Oh dear you best enjoy looking so young!" The clerk gave Natalie back her identification cards and along with a new bank card, "You best be going! Good luck!"

"Thank you, ma'am, have a good day!"

As soon as she stepped out of the bank, Natalie let out an exasperated sigh, "Geez! Fourteen? Really? I just turned sixteen." Her hand reached to rub her eyes but stopped herself, "Gah, I hate wearing this as well." Her heels clacking on the side walk she continued to the next place she was supposed to be a few hours ago, not even caring that she's dressed up.

[Back to Domino High]

Anzu had joined in on the group and now everyone was talking about this supposed "idol". "So apparently, there are rumors that we were supposed to have a new student today!"

"Do you think it's the idol in disguise?!" Jounouchi exclaimed as if he tied a theory together in his brain, "It must be true!"

"Jounouchi.." Yugi looked at him as if he lost it, "Don't you think the television van is here for another reason, though?"

"Yeah it sounds way too coincidental." Anzu chimed in, agreeing with Yugi. Jounouchi on the other hand wasn't buying it, "Oh come on! Yugi, you were right there! You must have saw something!"

Yugi shook his head, " I didn't see anything."

And with that Jounouchi stood up, "I'll show you all! I'm gonna find the mysterious idol!" Jounouchi then charged out of the classroom and left a guilt-ridden Yugi.

"I guess I've said something wrong." Yugi muttered to himself and decided to follow his friend out the classroom door after excusing himself from Anzu.

A boy bumped into Yugi and gasped, "Oh hey, are you Yugi?"

Yugi looked up at who was speaking to him, his mood was still down, "Hi, who are you?"

The guy grinned weirdly and with fake enthusiasm he introduced himself, "My name is Fujita!"

"Nice to meet you."

"I heard you were looking for this idol and I know where she'll be!"

Yugi's eyes suddenly lit up, "Are you serious?" He couldn't believe it! Maybe then Jounouchi can get his satisfaction now, "There really is an idol here in the school?"

"Duh! She's too shy to be around people..." An idea sparked in the boy's eyes, "Tell you what! I'll introduce you two!"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, you'll get along great!" The boy started in the direction, "Come behind the gym and come alone, okay?"

"Okay!" Yugi shouted excitedly as he went back to his classroom. The boy, Fujita, couldn't contain his laughter and he darted off to the location, "What a naive moron!"

[Back of the gym]

"I am so screwed and lost..." The girl from earlier fussed around the school not knowing which was the building to register, "Why can't I just have some sign to point me to that one direction so that I don't have to act like a human being, a student in high school!" She looked around already pissed that she passed several tennis courts and now she's on the side of some gymnasium building. Then suddenly, a jolt was sent through her spine. She felt the same sensation when she discovered her first millennium item, "It's here." She felt breathless and at the same time a weird sensation of joy, "My search is over." Not even caring that she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking. She had to follow it, "The item is mine." She hissed under her breath and nearly fell over as she bumped into someone.

Finally snapping out of it she looked down at the boy she bumped into, "My apologies, kid, I wasn't paying attention."

"Kid?" He had an offensive tone, "I'm si- Oh..." He stopped talking as they made eye contact...well she broke it to stare at what was on his head, "Wow... is that hair?" She stepped closer to him and ran her fingers through it. Yugi was now annoyed. First she called him a kid and now she's teasing his hair, "Stop it, will you!" He turned red at his attitude, even though she was teasing, she was very pretty, "I'm sorry but I don't want to be teased!"

She withdrew her hands and had an amused grin, "Again, I'm sorry I just never seen hair like that except in live concerts, though I'd imagine they would have loads of gel but yours is so natural and unexpectedly soft." She cleared her throat and send him a friendly smile, "Okay, I'm babbling, I hope you're not in a hurry, I'm kinda lost." She observed him as she wait for his answer. He was about six inches shorter than she was but then again she was still wearing heels. He had a bouquet of flowers in front of him and she blushed, "Oh gods, I'm keeping you away from a date aren't I?"

"Huh?" He looked at the flowers and realized why he was here in the first place, "Ah! You must be the idol!"

She arched a brow at him, "The what now?"

"There you are, Yugi!" Fujita shouted running towards us, "I told you to come alone!" He looked at the two and blushed when he saw her, "Whoa... uh, boss, what do we do about the woman?" He said to the hidden mic.

~"Don't worry about it, we'll cut her out of the camera just give the boy a quick beating already! Camera is already rolling!"

Yugi smiled brightly, "Ah, Fujita-san, we found each other already!"

Natalie stepped back for a moment and noticed the bushes rumbling and then that's when she saw the lens of a camera, "Is this a set up or something?" She muttered to herself as Yugi (finally learned the boy with weird hair's name) was too busy trying to talk to this new fellow they both encountered, Fujita.

Fujita crept closer to Yugi, "Actually, Yugi, there's something I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Natalie's head pulsed signifying danger and her eyes widen as this boy just upper cutted her little companion. The bouquet of flowers flew as he sent another blow to Yugi's face. Natalie growled, "Hey, asshole! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"No one asked you, bitch!"

Her eye twitched, "What did you say?" Her foot unsheathed itself from her heel and she kicked it at him. The heel of her shoe landed perfectly on this jerk's forehead making him release Yugi. She took off the unnecessary jewelry around her neck and twirled it at a perfect speed to throw it at the attacker's face.

"AGH! Boss! She hit me in the eye!"

Once her target backed away and it was safe to get closer, she rushed over to Yugi, "Hey, kid, you okay?"

"I'm not a kid, Idol." Yugi weakly muttered, looking at her with one eye open, and she chuckled, "Well that tells me something."

"Ok, that's enough now." A new voice was heard, "Hey, I said cut! We don't need this teenage sappy shit here!"

Natalie or Idol stood up and helped Yugi steady himself as well, "So you must be another asshole."

"I'm a director, I was filming an episode of "Bullied Child" and you ruined my cut." He pointed to Yugi, "We still need him and you owe me another bully."

She stood in front of Yugi, "You need to get the hell away from here before you piss me off even more!"

"Oh! Feisty, aren't you princess?" The director cackled, "You should be happy for your little friend. He is now a hero!"

"I've dealt with men like you before." She prepared for another attack, "Ah-ah! Missy! You should think twice before hitting me, you have a camera in front of your face!"

She looked at the man filming her and didn't realize the director grabbing her in a choke hold, "Not a word about this! Got it?!"

She didn't say anything but glared at him, even though she was running out of air, "Or else I'll display your humiliation!"

Gasping out the remaining air, she suddenly realized the camera filmed up her dress. He let her fall to the ground and the camera kept rolling. She was beyond mad but she couldn't do anything but intake the loss of air.

"Let's get out of here." The director called out to his crew, "And remember kids, you can't resist the power of the camera!"

She got up quickly with gritted teeth and ran the opposite direction not even bothering to get her other heel or remembering someone else who was with her.

A dark presence looked over the left behind heel and picked it up, "Idol." He muttered under his breath and he heard the tires screech of the television van. The puzzle from his neck glimmered as he followed the van wearing a mask of a predator.

[Sometime at night]

In the shadows, a figure skipped through the night. Building upon building she wore black lightweight harem pants and everything else dark to make it easier to hide. The only thing you can see are the small gold gauntlets she wore that shined under the moon light. The lower part of her face was covered with a plain black face mask. Her hair had been pulled back and hidden under a head wrap with a feather tucked underneath it. She basically passed off as an assassin. She kept a vengeful eye on a particular person in this city.

"No one, NO ONE, humiliates me and gets away with it." She growled as she leaped towards the ground.

The media corporate building that her target was located at was just around the corner and she's noticed some cars exiting the parking lot. She climbed onto the ceiling and crawled across it scanning every employees face. Her face almost had a satisfactory glance as she saw the director being one of the last ones out with another man in a suit complimenting him on his bully episode. Her teeth clenched in anger as she was reminded of earlier events. She hopped down behind an unused media van. As she was about to charge in on the kill, a boy appeared suddenly behind the director and his car.

"I've been waiting for you, Director-san."

Startled the man turned and realized who it was, "Hey, you're that brat Yugi! What the hell? It's the middle of the night." He waved the young boy away, "Go home! Or don't tell me you want an actor's fee?"

From a distance, she watched with narrow eyes. "This is the same Yugi that got beat up relentlessly?" Disagreeing with herself she watched him. His face carried this manic expression, his hair was more wild and frantic, and there was this familiar dark aura around him it was spreading everywhere. Too much of it would've made her feel nauseous. Then she gasped at what she saw hanging around his neck. There was no denying it. This is what she was sensing back at the school when she bumped into the strange boy. She must have not noticed it when he had the bouquet of flowers in front of it. Though this dark aura, it was too much now, she didn't sense this much when she was with him at school. It was as if this new person was lying dormant.

"Director, you've stumbled into the domain of my influence." Her thoughts snapped back to them as this "Dark Yugi" spoke, "Therefore, you must become my opponent..." His hand reached for something in his pocket, "In a game!" He revealed a die.

"Game?" The director stared at him as if he were a weirdo.

"Since the era of Ancient Egypt, dice have been used to determine men's fate." Dark Yugi explained, "At the time they were called 'Astragalos'."

While twiddling her fingers and staring at the two, she wondered where Yugi gets this information from. He is correct, though. How ancient Egyptians constructed those dice were from the hoof bones of animals. Yugi doesn't seem like a person who would research on what Egyptians would do way back in the day. Or was he? She made two theories. This boy in front of her could be Yugi's secret inner darkness fueled by the millennium item around his neck. Which makes sense, wearing an innocent mask all day and then be this bad guy at night. Or he could be a different persona caused by endless amounts of suffering over the years. Either way it doesn't seem like she was gonna get her questions answered. The shadow game had began...

Dark Yugi lets go of the dice to roll freely on the ground. The rules are simple. Whatever number Yugi lands on, his opponent need to get a lower number to win. He'll win regardless if he were to roll the same number as Yugi. And Yugi lands on... A six?!

"Looks like I've won!" The director barked in laughter, "I don't even have to roll anymore!"

She was surprised that Yugi kept calm about it, as a matter of fact he was smirking like a loon!

"You seem so sure of yourself but the game isn't over yet."

"Ugh, fine." The director rolled his eyes and grabbed the die, "I'll just make a hole in your face while I'm at it!"

He shoved the die towards Dark Yugi's smug face but what they both didn't expect was a flying blade coming out of nowhere. It passed Yugi's face by a few inches and cut the die in half. Both of the guy's faces just saw the two halves of the die land in front of them while the blade broke the glass of the director's car.

"Not a smart move, Director." She chuckled underneath her mask, "I believe you have lost the game."

"Huh?" His eyes looked to the ground and saw the die faces revealing a one and a six, "Seven?! Bullshit! If you hadn't interfered I would've won!"

She looked to the dark one who was watching her and still trying to figure out who she was, "Men like him don't deserve the minor punishment of a penalty game."

"This man harmed and humiliated me and a friend, he doesn't need anything more than just a penalty besides he did not cheat the game."

"A shadow game to you is only a game to seek out justice, hm?" She brought out a millennium scale and grabbed the feather from her head, "Watch as we do this my way."

Her millennium scale shined and the feather was placed on one of the scales, "Millennium Scale, weigh this creature's heart!"

Suddenly, the room had gone dark and there was a shadow beast towering over the man. Just as she expect, it weighed more than the feather of Ma'at, "Now, fiend, I banish you to the shadow realm!"

"What?" The Director stared at her dumbfounded but through the gold light he saw a door open to reveal everything he feared. Dark hands grabbed him and yanked him away from his shell of a body. He cried trying to grab his mortal hand but was dragged into the darkness. The door shut once he was gone. The body of the director slumped to the ground and she put her item away and looked to Dark Yugi glaring at her.

"What have you done?"

"Something you should've done five minutes ago, then waste it on some stupid game."

"That's not how it works!" He growled at her and she only gave an amusement grin though he only saw it through her gold eyes, "Yugi, if I hadn't stepped in that die would've knocked an eye out and even if you had given him a penalty game his creature would've come at you out of rage."

He stopped glaring and just curiously stared at her, "Who are you anyway?"

"I can be a friend or a foe." She shrugged, "It just depends."

She walked away and disappeared into the shadows leaving a dumbstruck Yugi. She came all this way for that puzzle around his neck but didn't feel much to take it from him. She had weighed his heart with her millennium scale without him knowing. It balanced out with the feather of Ma'at. Perhaps she can get that puzzle another day. The boy with the strange hair seemed very interesting.

Dark Yugi had already walked away from the scene. Something about her seemed familiar and her holding an item that is much similar to his made him feel.... Hopeful. He was already in his bedroom and stared at the shoe Yugi had on his desk. He then gasped to himself, "Idol..."