prologue:
Memories


A few words from the author
The new FF is finally here, and I've been racking my brain for days and nights. + happy + it was actually worth starting it. I think so anyway.

How many sleepless nights this FF has already cost me, I can no longer count. Fortunately, I'm currently on summer vacation, but it will be over in a few days.
I'm really happy that I was able to put many (not all) thoughts together and get the beginning of a story. I hope I don't fail on this FF as I did on the two before.

By the way, this is my third FF that I am writing.
I don't even continue to write the first one, after more than 50 chapters and around 130 A4 pages, inspiration and thoughts flutter. I gave it up a long time ago.
I have put the second on file at the moment. Maybe at some point I'll upload it and continue, but I'm not sure I'll find the time, especially since I'm in high school and then I can hardly save myself from work ...

Nevertheless, have fun reading.
Your Yuuki


(Also published on animemanga. De, August 2008)


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~ In the Kaiba mansion ~

It was late at night when Seto Kaiba closed his laptop. The final preparations for the tournament he was staging were also made. He leaned back in his leather chair, ran his hand through his hair, and sighed. Tomorrow the preliminary rounds of the tournament began, half of all participants would fail miserably in this first round, thought Kaiba.

But a duelist had been giving him a headache for days. Again and again he thought of her. He had seen her somewhere before, the meeting between himself and this girl was years ago, but it seemed to him as if it had only been yesterday.Was it really she? Or was he mistaking her for someone else? The resemblance between her and the girl he knew from his past was amazing. But he had no evidence that she and his acquaintance at the time were one and the same person. He could be wrong. But the fact that a Kaiba is never wrong made him ponder.

He had thought that any memory, no matter how small or faded, could help. As much as he thought, his almost forgotten memories of his childhood got him nowhere. He had researched, but without much success. For hours, if not days, he had dug his way through the many fan pages of this very talented and talented young woman, scrolled through reference books and struggled through the results of the search engines. He had hired his employees to find out more about her. But even with this order there was no success. The only thing he could say for sure about her was her name and age. But this name does not appear in any student directory. So that meant her name wasn't real, but, like the rest of her identity, was unknown. A pseudonym. She was like a phantom. If she didn't take part in so many Duel Monsters tournaments, she would be a stranger. On the other hand, he would never have seen her, he didn't have to think about her and do research. Once gripped by curiosity, he couldn't let it go. Who was this girl Why the hell did he associate her with his childhood? With the time he spent in the home?

He had printed out photos of her and put them in a separate folder. Add what little he'd been able to learn about her. But the huge folder wasn't necessary. A few lines about her and a few photos, that was all he had of her.

Seldom has anything bothered him so much.He just wanted to know if it was her. Was she the girl he'd last seen ten years ago.


~ At the same time in a still unknown place ~

The girl sat on the windowsill, stared out the window of her room and looked into the blackness of the night. The rain pounded on her window and the moon hid behind thick clouds. It was dark in her room, only a small bedside lamp near her bed provided a little light. Its light bulb flickered, soon it would give up its ghost. Then the door opened with a soft squeak and a shadow stood in the door.

"You can't sleep again, can you?" Asked a boy's voice and switched on the ceiling light. "That you always have to sit in total darkness."

She was silent and was still staring out the window. She hadn't glanced at the boy. This struggled to get through to her. Since there were high stacks of books on the floor and blocking the way, this was not so easy for him. He was visibly relieved when he finally made it to her.

"Now tell me what is bothering you, sister?" He asked, but she was silent for a while.
After a few moments she broke the silence between them. "I have to think about tomorrow all the time. I'm afraid to see him again. I wanted to forget him forever."
"What did you ride when you signed up for his - of all things, his - tournament?" Asked the boy and sat down on a chair next to her. "Right from the start I advised you not to take part in one of his tournaments. But of course you couldn't help it."
Ignoring his last two sentences, she replied in an increasingly aggressive voice: "I don't know. But I won't run away. Not from him. He hurt me so much back then ... I'll never forgive him!" She paused."I have every reason to hit him off, and who knows when I'll get another chance like that."

"If you're right, you're right. It would only be fair if you could choke him up. But you should at least lie down for the last few hours, even if it's just the qualifications that are coming your way tomorrow, you have to definitely be in top shape. ", the boy answered in a calm voice.
"Yes, yes. In a moment. Let me think for a few more minutes."
He put his hand on her shoulder, kissed her forehead and turned his back to her. "Good night, little one. Sleep well."
"You too, brother," she replied as he moved through the pile of books towards the door. At some point he reached her, turned off the overhead lamp and closed the door behind him. Another slight squeak, then the door was closed.

"Just wait, Seto Kaiba, if I mess with you, you will go under! I will make you pay for what you did to me ten years ago!", She whispered angrily and went to sleep. Shortly afterwards she was in the realm of dreams.


~ Prologue end ~