inkuranmaricchanbrainrot | [Yu-Gi-Oh! AU] Don't Think Twice before You Listen To Your Heart; Follow the Trace for a New Start

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[Yu-Gi-Oh! AU] Don't Think Twice before You Listen To Your Heart; Follow the Trace for a New Start

[This was supposed to be an exciting class trip.

The spring semester was about to come to a close, and Inko Hakuba's first few months in high school were supposed to end with a fun trip for everyone before the summer vacation began.

Said fun trip?

Going to Egypt.

Truth be told, she'd been looking forward to this trip for weeks; it was meant to be a trip for the senior students, but after a particular incident that was not disclosed to the public, the funds and tickets were given to the first years for free (so long as the student had a usable passport) as punishment for the students in question in lieu of barring their chances at graduation.

So Inko and her class were shuttled onto a bus, put on a plane, and were sent to Egypt as a cultural studies trip.

Her very first trip, her very first trip without her parents, and to a foreign country, no less! She was being taken to a land of adventure, full of beautiful golden sands, priceless artifacts, and ancient magic and wonder.

(Of course, it was not actually like that; but nobody had the heart to tell the poor girl that when she excitedly got on the plane. She was only fifteen, less than one month off from her sixteenth birthday, and she was clearly very excited!)

Their first stop was an outdoor market near Cairo, which was clearly trying to appeal to tourists like Inko who bought into the idea of the country rather than the reality. An old woman with graying hair reached out to Inko as she passed a stall, and stopped her as she was about to walk past.

Her classmates didn't notice that they left her behind.

"Yes...?" She asked in clumsy Arabic.

"You...I've seen you before."

The woman spoke in perfect Japanese, but it was clear that she was not a native speaker. Her mouth moved in a strange way, and they didn't seem to match her words, but Inko understood her perfectly.

"I...Excuse me?" Inko blinked.

The woman fished under the counter, pulling something out and holding it to Inko.

It looked like some kind of stone, almost the size of her fist. The image of what looked to be a tiger was carved on it, and the stone...looked old.

Quite old.

"For you. Don't worry about paying."

Inko took it in her hand and held it to her chest, and it felt warm in her hand. She didn't understand what was going on, but she nodded.

"I...if you're...thank you."

She bowed quickly, hurrying to catch up to the other students that were milling around nearby at another stall.

She dreamt of a voice that night, speaking to her. It was faint and muffled, and she couldn't understand it.

It wasn't until the next day, when they went to visit the Cairo museum, that she understood the words:

"Find me."

When she and her classmates went to the museum, she found herself stopping at a stone tablet on the wall with the same tiger etched into it; it looked like he was staring right at her...but that couldn't be right! That was a carving!

And yet...

She felt the stone in her hand growing warm, almost burning to the touch as she felt it...

Phase inside her body.

And something opened up under her, swallowing her whole as she fell into an abyss to the horrified screaming of her classmates nearby.

...

And there she was, lying in her Domino High school uniform inside what looked to be an open sarcophagus, the mummy long since removed. She was in the fetal position, short hair in disarray as she hugged herself.

She was unconscious...

And she wasn't in the museum anymore.]

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[Oh...he doesn't trust her. That's sad; she really wanted to be his friend. But she supposes it makes sense...she's a stranger, and he's clearly not a normal snake.

Though, when Bakura starts talking again...

Inko doesn't understand a word he says, though she tries. She scrunches up her face, contemplating each word. She doesn't get it. She doesn't get it.

She doesn't understand.

As he flicks her hair, she lets out a little 'eep', stumbling back and nearly falling backwards--

//He doesn't trust you.//

But that's nothing compared to the little cry she lets out as she hears a voice inside her head.

The same voice that she heard in the museum.]

Haa?!

[She starts, glancing around her suddenly; who was that?

Bakura will notice a flare of energy coming off her, though, not dissimilar to someone releasing their Ka. Except she clearly isn't aware that she's doing it, and seems to be almost...startled by it.

Why is that...?]

[Another laugh when she yelps and stumbles back. Even Diabound finds it amusing.

The laughter stops though when he senses that energy. He knows exactly what's happening.

This woman has unintentionally summoned her Ka.

Which means she'll be in danger the moment they leave this tomb. The Great Priest's men are constantly looking for gifted individuals with strong Ka to rip from their bodies.

... That still isn't any of his concern. She'll just slow him down.

Diabound stands ready, able to switch to its full form at a moments notice. If they need to deal with this foreigner, so be it.]

/Who are you?/

[//Calm down.//

Inko glances around again; Bakura looks so serious, and he asked her something, but she doesn't understand.

But what is that voice?

She feels strange, like something's drawing up from inside her. It wasn't unlike the feeling she had when she was in the museum--]

Who are you?

[//My name is...Mmmm. Maybe I should call myself something that is easier on your tongue.

Call me...Naturia.//]

Naturia...?

[Her Ka flares up, and a small creature perches itself on her shoulder; it looks to be a tiger in the shade of the forest, with legs that are partially made of the trees themselves. Leaves and flowers sprout from his body, and his eyes are gentle and kind.

This creature does not mean anyone harm.

She turns to him and her eyes widen...

And Naturia looks to Bakura, addressing him in a language Inko does not understand, but the meaning resonates within her heart.]

//I am her Ka. I wish I could have emerged under better circumstances; we mean you no harm.//

[Bakura purses his lips, his eyes locked with the creature. Ka generally don't speak. Not even Diabound does.

If they may battle then he'll do so. Even if this creature shows more intelligence than his own Ka.

For now though...]

/Who is she? Why is she here? And why are you able to speak?/

[Naturia sits straight and tall, and Inko glances at him. She doesn't understand what Bakura is asking, but...]

//She is who she says she is.//

[There's amusement in his voice; he clearly knows more than he's letting on.]

//When you live as long as I have, you learn some things. Speaking being one of them.//

[Inko blinks.]

//This young woman hails from a time thousands of years from now. She knows nothing of this land, its culture, and its language.//

[He pauses.]

//And I...do not know why she is here.//

[He's lying, of course. Not that either of them have to know that. If he says something, then he could wreck everything...]

[Bakura doesn't believe the creature for a second. Where she's from, perhaps, but not that he doesn't know as to why she's here.

Diabound is on edge, sticking very close to Bakura and increasing his size to a python rather than a regular smaller-sized snake.

The thief snorts and crosses his arms as he stares down at Naturia.]

/Then what am I supposed to do with her?/

[He smiles, just a little bit.]

//Take her with you. She may prove herself useful.//

[Inko looks between the both of them, and pipes up:]

I...It's all right. Nobody should be forced to do anything they don't want to do; I don't want to be a burden to anyone.

[Naturia quickly translates her words.]

//It is up to you, of course, but...I think it would be the best for both of you.//

[Why, though...?

He's not saying. That's his secret to tell.]

[There's an unimpressed look on the thief's face.]

/I don't work with others. They only hinder me and get me into trouble. Occupational hazard, you see./

[Diabound slowly continues to grow until it's the size of a green anaconda, slithering off of its master. Bakura climbs on to him in turn with a grin.]

/If you're her Ka, surely you can get out yourselves, right?/

[Inko looked at him, and then at Naturia. She was missing the conversation, but she recognized that kind of look.

That grin.

That was the kind of cocksure grin that Mitsuki had when she was trying to prove something.

Was he challenging her...?

He was clearly turning to leave...

Inko bites her lip, then balls her fists.]

W...we'll get out first!

[Naturia stares at her a moment, clearly not expecting that response, before quickly translating what she said.]

I don't know why you're here, Bakura-san, but i-if you're challenging me...then I accept!

[Not that she knew the first thing about getting out, but...he had a magical snake, and she had Naturia. Clearly she would be fine...?

...

So clearly that meant for her to just stubbornly hop out of the sarcophagus and power-walk towards the door.]

I'll beat you to the exit!

[Naturia hops off her shoulder, trying to stop her.]

//Inko, wait--//

[Ohho. A feisty one, isn't she?

Bakura's laugh echoes throughout the room as Naturia translate what she's saying -- as well as when she heads for the door. Even Diabound hisses in amusement.]

/You'll get yourself killed, Inko! Have fun with the traps!/

[Inko stops right outside the door, where a fire trap should have been.

She turns around, ready to respond--

When she winces and holds her head, bursting with energy. A few small cuts dig into her arms, but...

...

The trap doesn't fire. At all.

It's almost like it wasn't even there.]

[Bakura watches and.

That was not what he was expecting.

He and the snake exchange a look. They'll figure out how the hell she did that later. Right now...

They need to beat her out of the tomb. Bakura clicks his heels against Diabound and the massive snake begins slithering towards the wall. Just when it looks like they're going to collide with it...

They turn transparent and then vanish completely. Only Bakura's muffled laughter can be hear for a bit longer before going silent.

There's no way she'll beat them out. Diabound's ability allows them to not set off the traps at all and pass through walls seamlessly.

Eventually they make it outside, the bag of treasure still slung over Bakura's shoulder as he climbs off of his partner. Diabound shrinks back to a travel size, slithers up his leg and back into his jacket to rest.]

/Let's see if you make it out alive, girl.../

[Inko is not quite acrobatic, nor is she as athletic as others in her class. She's a girl that often stayed in the nurse station during sports days and dreaded physical education.

But the Japanese school system was relentless, and insisted that all students adhere to a certain level of fitness.

Bakura-san wasn't kidding when he talked about traps, though. He could go through walls! He literally could do magic! There certainly weren't as many as she was expecting (though she got headaches and cuts at certain intervals -- did she scrape on something? -- that she didn't understand. Naturia told her he'd explain later, and they needed to focus on getting out of the tomb), though goodness, there were plenty of pits! She nearly fell into at least two, and after that she trained her ears for that familiar "click" and jumped before it could open up under her.

Around ten minutes after Bakura got out, Inko was running out the door, looking...harried, but not dead.

Her hair was unkempt, her skirt was clearly torn, and bloody cuts were on her face, but she and Naturia made it out intact.

He was a bit...bigger than he was before, though. Less the size of a stuffed animal and more the size of a big cat.

She leaned against the wall of the tomb, panting hard and falling to her knees in the sand.]

[Well, color him surprised. She's certainly determined, isn't she?

Bakura gives a patronizing clap, albeit a bit quiet as his one hand is full with carrying his bag, and slowly approaches her and her Ka.]

/Either it's a miracle or dumb luck that you made it out alive. I'll give you a tip as well: You'll want to secure water soon before the sun rises.

But other than that, you're on your own. Try not to die out there./

[He turns on his heel and begins to leave. The man needs to cover some ground before the sun rises, as well as putting distance between himself and the tomb.]

[She looks at him with glassy, soft eyes, before letting out a little wheeze--

And Bakura will hear a loud "Flump" behind him as her body clearly hits the sand face-first.

Naturia vanishes, as she can't even keep him manifested due to her weakened strength.]

[He hears it, alright.

He's half tempted to leave her there. She's not his problem, after all. Why should he care about some strange, foreign woman? He's never helped anyone else before so why should that change?

A sigh. A groan. A curse.

When Inko regains consciousness, she'll find herself tucked under a linen cloth with a gourd filled with water next to her. She appears to be inside a small cavern, hidden away from the sun. A napsack with jerky has also been left with her and some carvings in the wall read in crude hieratic:

"City north. Travel night."

But whoever moved her is nowhere in sight.]

[Inko wakes up slowly, feeling strangely well-rested.

Where was she...?

Then everything came back to her at once:

Bakura-san. The tomb. The traps. Naturia. Being thousands of years in the past.

Admittedly, the poor girl had a panic attack, hugging herself and sobbing against the linen cloth as the situation hit her hard. She was in a strange place, far away from home, with no understanding of the language and no friends other than the creature that traveled alongside her.

...

And Bakura-san.

He was the one who left her here, wasn't he...? There was nobody else nearby, and she didn't feel like she was sunburned or...

...

Something worse.

Naturia had to translate what was on the wall, and she admittedly spent the day in the cave, trying to sleep and rest her body so that she could travel in the night.

North...the North Star was True North, right? All she needed to do was find that star and use it to travel. That's what the ancients did, after all...

She took her belongings and put them in the knapsack: Her camera, notebook, student ID, wallet, and favorite cat keychain. She would need to find clothes and a place to bathe once she got to the city. She also needed to find a way to make money. What was she going to do without much understanding of the language...?

With determination, Inko set out at night, and followed true North with Naturia by her side.

As she grew tired, he allowed her to ride on his back to cover more distance.

In the cover of night, she ended up in town, having converted the linen cloth into a cape that covered her body.

Naturia had to unsummon himself, leaving her 'alone' as she traveled through the night.]

[When she enters the town, there are a number of people watching her.

Unsavory people. Crooks, thieves, bandits, predators. It's obvious from her complexion and hair that she isn't from these lands.

Like a sheep walking into a den of wolves.

It appears from nowhere but she'll find something wrapping around her ankle for a moment before leaping off back into the sand, little wings fluttering for a moment.

Diabound. The snake goes invisible but she can see the trail it leaves as it slithers through the sand, as if wanting her to follow.

Should she follow, Inko's lead into an alley with some boxes and a carpet she can climb up to to reach the roof. Diabound sits at the edge, flicking its tongue out as it waits for her to attempt to climb.]

[She doesn't notice the men watching her; she's not used to being looked at, or even being noticed. In her classes, she was always in the back of the classroom, overshadowed by her more outgoing friends as she basked in their light.

She never saw herself as having any light of her own...

Inko squeaks as she feels Diabound wrap around her ankle, but she...notices the trail.

He...

Wants her to follow, doesn't he?

And if Diabound's here, that means...!

Inko picks up the pace, trotting along the snake's trail without thinking much about how silly she looks, running after nothing in the middle of the night.

She's led into...]

Where...?

[An alleyway.

There's some boxes and a carpet hanging from the roof. It...looks like she can climb it. ]

Do you...want me to climb this?

[Oh, Inko. You should know by now that he doesn't understand you. Still, she smiles at him, bright and cheerful.]

It's nice to see you, Diabound-san. I'm glad you're doing well.

[She quickly climbs on the boxes, and then...jumps up in an attempt to grab the carpet.

Her hands slip.]

Aaaah!

[With a cry of surprise, she flails for a moment and completely loses her grip, falling in a heap among the boxes below.

She was never good at rope climbing in school...! And carpet-climbing was much harder!

Thankfully she didn't hurt herself. Just a little bump.

Quickly she got to her feet, ready to try again--

This time she manages to grab on, but she hasn't climbed up yet, just hanging on as she tries to get stable enough to climb up.]

[Diabound can understand to a certain extent. Perhaps not what she's saying but the meaning behind it.

The snake continues to watch, his wings fluttering lazily as he continues to watch.

Inko will need to hurry though. Some of the men from before have followed after her into the alley.

One of them says something to her before the group chuckles.]

[She fell for the second time right when those men started talking to her.

She...did not notice them. And they were not speaking in a language that she understood. Naturia is silent, but she can feel him -- a mental push that is urging her to hurry.

She glances towards the men, then up towards the carpet again.

Her heart is in her throat, panic settling into her blood as the situation begins to dawn on her:

She's alone in a strange land.

In an alley.

With strange men who...look to be blocking off her only exit, other than the one she's trying to take.

Tears well in her eyes and adrenalin rushes through her veins, and she stands, hops off the boxes...

And scrambles up the carpet. Her arms burn, her eyes are blurry, her heart is slamming in her chest as she struggles to make it up. Her fingers are desperate to keep their grip, but it's slipping by the second.

She bites her lip, and she can feel herself start to fall.

No.

She can't fall. Not when those men look to be coming closer.

She has to move, and she has to move now, now, now.

Her hand slips, her foot looks to lose its grip.

She screams, and in a panic grips the edge of the roof, fighting the pain and the burn in her arms as she starts to pull herself up to the roof above; her legs are still dangling just a bit, but she's mostly up there.

Just a bit more...!]

Edited 2024-02-14 00:28 (UTC)

[The men laugh as poor Inko struggles with hoisting herself up. They take their time in closing the distance though. She's not going to escape them so they're in no hurry.

Thankfully, just as Inko feels like she's going to fall from exhausting, a hand reaches up from the roof to pull her up with ease.

It's Bakura.

But that's no surprise.

He looks her over for a moment before leading the girl along the rooftops to a hidden little area he's carved out for himself, covered with tapestries. Inside are carpets and pillows, along with bags with gold and jewelry. Diabound is already back inside, curled up on a pillow.

Bakura lets go of her hand and turns to face Inko.]

/You've survived this far. I'm surprised./

[Bakura-san...

He was there. Diabound-san was really leading her to where Bakura-san was waiting.

Inko lets out a little noise of surprise as she's lifted up, though her eyes sparkle with recognition and delight as she sees who it is:]

Bakura-san!

[She follows him quietly across the rooftops, consciously aware of how their hands are linked as they move.

A man...

Was holding her hand.

Oh, of course he was holding her hand! He was trying to make sure she was safe! What else was he supposed to do: carry her? Holding her hand made it easy to get to where she needed to go.

There wasn't anything strange about this! Just because a boy had never held her hand before and she'd never even been kissed didn't mean that there was anything...

Anything about this.

Goodness.

His home was lovely, too: tapestries, pillows, and lovely linens lying about, like something out of a movie. It was like she was in Aladdin's hideout.

...

Except this was real. This wasn't a fairy tale, and she really is in a land that she liked to read about as a child.

At Bakura's words, Inko scrunched her face, trying to understand--

Naturia piped up inside with a little rumble, translating the words for her.

She flushes with...frankly, a little pride. Maybe a little embarrassment.]

O-Oh...

[His translations have helped her learn some words, and quickly, she sent her intent to her Ka, asking for the right words to respond.

After a moment, she gave him a 30 degree bow.]

/Thaank yeuw. It...difficult. But.../

[She pauses.]

/D-did my beeeest./

[Bakura is both a simple and complex man. While Inko is having these thoughts about the fact that he's holding her hand, he thinks nothing of it. The men won't follow them up here and his hideout is in a part of town no one bothers to go looking through.

When the girl begins to speak in his native tongue, he raises an eyebrow.

Her ka is likely helping her with the translation issue. Still, at least they'll be able to understand each other.]

/Most don't have a Ka capable of such independent thought./

[Bakura flops down on to a pile of pillows.]

/You're staying here when I head out though. Don't need you stumbling around and hurting yourself to the point of exhausting like before./

[Inko takes a polite seat on one of the pillows, sitting on her knees with her back straight up. Manners dictate that she sits like this, even though these rules are not of her land.

It would be rude to get too comfortable, after all.

She flushes at his words, biting her lip but still keeping her stature straight.]

/O-Oh...Na...tria toooold...a-about...Ka./

[They were manifestations of the soul, though he was...different. He was a manifestation of her soul, and while he was dependent on her individual ability to wield Ka effectively, he was an entity of his own. Inko likened it to a family Kami, and while he disagreed, he said it was a simple enough explanation for now.]

/I...w-will...stay./

[She hated struggling with the words and relying on him for help, though. She was going to ask Naturia to teach her how to speak the language while she had time to.]

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