Darkness is a Jackal's Eye

Chapter 1: Halloween

Notes: New story, new notes, etc, etc. ^_^

"First, we want to thank everyone who reviewed our last story." ^_~"

And second, the disclaimers. I do NOT own Yugioh, or any of its characters from the anime and manga. I DO own my made-up characters like Amber, Taerro, Yami Taerro, and Madam Christina. ^_^

This story is also the next story in our little adventure series here. The title hints at a certain villain's revenge, does it not? And the Chapter title indicates that we are nearing a certain holiday, does it not? ^_~

"Ok, ok, with all said and done, let the story begin!"

* * * * * * * * *

Chapter 1: Halloween

The darkness of the night hung over the sandy stretch of dessert in Egypt, the moon full overhead. In the middle of the dessert stood the Temple of the Gods, the home of the Egyptian gods and goddesses.

Inside, the gods were at rest for the night, most asleep on the floors of the various rooms of the temple. Bastet, the cat goddess, and also the one most connected to the Millennium Items of the gods, was curled up in the corner, in her usual form of a black cat.

She purred softly as she slept, not noticing a dark figure walking by her, moving silently across the stone floors. The shadowy figure walked just outside the temple and looked up at the dark sky.

"Darkness," he thought to himself, narrowing his white eyes as he looked up at the stars. "Soon...soon I will have my revenge, and my dark rule over Egypt will begin..."

He lifted up his ax-like weapon, where its silver blade glinted in the moonlight.


* * * * * * * * *

It was a sunny October afternoon, and the orange sun hung high in the sky, illuminating the city of Domino, Japan. The leaves on the trees had turned various colors and were falling off little by little, and collecting under the trees.

Yugi Motou had found it pointless to try to rake them up, as they always blew away again as soon as they were in a pile if you didn't stuff them in a garbage bag and put them by the street right away.

However, Yugi's Grandpa had not seen Yugi's point of view on this matter. In fact, that was the very reason why Yugi was sighing in the last class of the day, as he stared out the window of his classroom.

Grandpa had asked Yugi and his friends to come over after school and rake up the front yard of the Game Shop. He said it would make the shop look more "well-kept" if the lawn were spotless.

And despite the gang's protests, that was exactly what they were going to be doing after school.

"Mr. Motou!"

Yugi looked up, alert, as Mr. Zaliki, their teacher, frowned over at him from the front of the room.

"Uh oh," Yugi thought to himself.

Mr. Zaliki hadn't changed since their trip to the Ancient Festival a few weeks ago. Rather, he'd become even more convinced that Yugi and his friends were troublemakers.

"Is there something you find more interesting outside than the reaction of the two chemicals on page 34 of your book?" he asked sharply, and a few classmates giggled.

Amber Johnson, an exchange student from America rolled her eyes. Only Duke Devlin, who was sitting next to her, saw, and grinned back at her.

A blush crept up Yugi's neck as he looked back at the page.

"No, I'm sorry," he muttered embarrassedly, looking down at the chemicals again.

"Then let's pay more attention," Mr. Zaliki instructed, turning back to the class, just as the bell rang.

"Yes!" Yugi sighed, shoving his books back into his book-bag and running toward the door.

Mr. Zaliki frowned as the rest of the class stampeded out the door as well, leaving behind bits of notebook paper and broken pencils littering the classroom floor.

Only Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corporation, was taking his time in getting his things together. Obviously, he was in no rush to get out of school. In fact he preferred to walk out in clear hallways, and not get run over by his classmates.

Mr. Zaliki sighed as he sat down at his desk and watched Seto walk toward the door.

"See you tomorrow, Mr. Kaiba," he said, still in his stern voice, as Seto walked out the door, without a reply.

* * * * * * * * *

Outside in the schoolyard, Yugi and his friends were gathered around in a group, waiting to discuss their afternoon plans.

Joey yawned, stretching his arms up into the air.

"Man, that was a nice nap," he mumbled, scratching his back sleepily.

Yugi goggled at him, wondering if Joey really had been sleeping the entire last class. He shook his head and began anyway.

"Okay, remember we've got to be over at my house this afternoon to rake," Yugi reminded everyone.

"I've got dance practice at 6:30, Yugi," Tea Gardner told him, rubbing her bare shoulders to keep warm as a chilly breeze blew by.

She'd forgotten how cold it got starting in October, and therefore, had left her sweater at home.

"So I can't stay for very long," she concluded.

Yugi nodded.

"That's fine," he replied, looking around at his other friends. "There's more than enough of us to get the job done quickly...if the wind cooperates, that is."

Another strong wind blew by them, illustrating Yugi's point.

Ryou Bakura sighed, his shoulders sagging.

"I suppose we ought to get started," he suggested, looking down at his watch.

Joey Wheeler nodded, grimacing.

"Yeah, sure," he sighed as the gang started off down the sidewalk for the Game Shop. "I mean, the last thing I want to do with my October afternoon is rake leaves in Yugi's yard."

Yugi giggled.

"Sorry guys, but you know Grandpa," Yugi replied.

Tristan nodded.

"We sure do," he agreed with a wink.

"I agree with Joey," Duke said, twirling a lock of his long, black hair around his finger as they walked along. "I'd much rather be planning for my Halloween Duel Party."

Amber's face lit up at the mention of the party.

"Yeah! It should be great!" she agreed with a wink, remembering all of Duke's plans for a big party/mini Duel Monster's tournament on Halloween evening.

Yugi nodded in agreement.

"Yes, it'll be lots of fun," he agreed.

Joey laughed evilly, rubbing his hands together.

"Well what I'm most looking forward to is the tournament part," he chuckled. "I wanna show off my new skills."

Tea raised an eyebrow.

"Well, we haven't played in a tournament since back when Madam Christina decided to hold the Antique Tournament on that island," Tea replied with a shrug. "So it's hard to tell what level everyone is at."

Amber grinned.

"I can't wait to test out my new rare card," she said with a wide grin she couldn't hide.

Joey ran up to her, looking slightly nervous.

"Rare? Like...how rare?" he asked with a nervous smile, sweating.

Amber smiled wider, enjoying playing with Joey.

"Like, SECRET rare," she replied.

Joey gulped.

"Maybe I don't want to play Amber...or Yugi," he thought to himself as they approached the Game Shop. "Or Kaiba..." he added, realizing Duke would probably invite him as well.

Grandpa had already put out several trash bins and had placed a few rakes up against the side of the building. There was no time for stalling.

Yugi sighed.

"Guess it's good we came right here," he muttered, taking a rake. "Looks like he was expecting us."

Amber and Duke took the remaining two rakes, leaving Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Bakura to look around.

"What do we do, Yugi?" Bakura asked meekly.

Duke grinned.

"I guess the only job left is picking up the leaves once we finish raking them," he said in an innocent tone.

Joey groaned as Tea heaved a trash bin over to where Yugi was beginning to rake up the leaves.

"Well," she thought to herself. "This is a lot better than having to battle against another evil spirit..."

She trailed off, thinking about recent events. The evil spirit possessing Taerro, whose soul was half that of the Vampire Lord, had run away with a magical medallion, and Yugi and the gang had not seen, nor heard from their friend in weeks.

It was beginning to bother Tea, because she knew eventually, the evil spirit would return to defeat Yugi and Yami.


Tea shook her head quickly, shaking the thoughts from her mind as she realized Yugi was addressing her.

"Oh, what is it Yugi?" she asked, forcing a smile.

Yugi smiled back.

"Oh nothing really, I just thought we should start picking up the leaves before the wind does," he explained, pointing down to a large pile he'd finished raking up near the sidewalk.

Amber grinned.

"Aw, we don't get to jump in them first?" she joked, picking up a handful and dumping the leaves in a bin.

Tristan groaned, heaving a full bin down to the street.

"No way," he muttered, propping it up at the edge of the sidewalk. "This is enough work WITHOUT having to re-do everything."

Amber giggled.

"I was JUST kidding," she replied.

Yugi laughed.


Meanwhile, Seto Kaiba had made his way back to Kaiba Corp, and up to his office on the very top floor of the building. He pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, letting himself into his office.

He flicked on the light, and was not startled to see someone already in the locked office.

"Hello Seto Kaiba," A shadowy outline of a man, who looked very similar to Seto himself, said, floating around.

"Hello, priest," Seto replied calmly, placing his silver briefcase on the floor beside his desk and turning on his computer.

Seto had once inherited some of Bastet's abilities, and during that time, he summoned the spirit of his ancient self, the high priest. Bastet had recently given him the position of watching over Domino, as that was where most of the Millennium Items were, currently.

The priest, as well as trying to track down Taerro, (which he had currently not succeeded at) and make sure the Millennium Items did not fall into the hands of evil, also liked to keep an eye on his reincarnate and Mokuba.

"What are you doing up here?" Seto asked, his voice not changing, as he entered his password into the pop-up that appeared on his computer screen.

Priest Seto shrugged.

"I needed someplace quiet to think," he replied, sighing. "I still cannot find the vampire spirit and the boy he has possessed."

Seto huffed, tapping his fingers impatiently as he waiting for his computer screen to load in.

"I'm simply happy that a crime organization isn't trailing me anymore," Seto replied, shivering slightly at the memories.

Priest Seto narrowed his eyes.

"The crime organization was mortal," he replied sternly. "This spirit is not."

Seto rolled his eyes and didn't reply, choosing instead to open up his code-program and began to type.

Priest Seto sighed and stared over at the TV on the wall, which Seto had flicked on to watch the news in the background. On the screen was a flickering picture of Domino Museum.

"And the latest news for Domino Museum is a few new artifacts in the Ancient Roman wing," The blonde reporter onscreen said, and a few images of statues and ancient culinary equipment filled the screen.

"I saw enough of those in my day," Priest Seto thought with a chuckle, looking over at his reincarnate once more.

He seemed glued to his work.

Priest Seto stood up and floated over to the door.

"Well, I'm going to go out for a while," he called over to Seto, who merely nodded.

"Uh-huh..." he muttered, backspacing a typo.

Priest Seto grinned and shook his head. He STILL didn't quite understand what was so fascinating about sitting at the desk and typing all day on the little buttons.

Priest Seto, still chuckling, floated over to the door and walked through it.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

An hour later, the sun had already hidden itself behind a mass of trees, making the light around Yugi's Game Shop very dim as he waved good-bye to Tristan, Joey, Duke, Amber, and Bakura, who were all just now leaving from their raking duty.

"Oo, I think I'll make some tea when I get home," Bakura mumbled to himself, blowing on his hands to try to keep them warm.

Amber grimaced.

"Tea? No thank you," she giggled as she and Duke waved back to Yugi.

"See you tomorrow pal!" Joey called as he walked down the sidewalk, whistling to himself.

"Bye guys!" Yugi called, waving until his friends were out of sight.

Then, he sighed and walked back into the warmth of the Game Shop. (Well, the house part of it at least) He walked by the kitchen, where his mother was making dinner, and Grandpa was watching the news.

He continued up the stairs and to his bedroom, where he shut the door and lay down on his bed, thinking as he stared up at the ceiling. After a few moments, the silence was broken by a voice.

"What are you thinking about, aibou? (partner)" Yami, the spirit of the Pharaoh who resided in the Millennium Puzzle asked, appearing beside Yugi in a spiritual form, quite like Priest Seto.

Yugi smiled and looked up at Yami.

"Oh...just about Halloween," he replied. "What I'm going to be."

Yami smiled. He didn't really know much about Halloween, but from what Yugi had told him, it seemed that everyone dressed up as someone, or something, else for the evening, ate lots of sweets, and scared people.

"Hm...you could always be a Pharaoh," Yami suggested, with a wink.

Yugi laughed.

"Or a mummy," he laughed, but Yami had stopped laughing.

"That would be mocking the dead," Yami replied darkly, crossing his arms.

Yugi abruptly stopped laughing at the look on Yami's face and cleared his throat.

"Well, I still have time to think about it," he concluded, sighing and looking up at the ceiling.

Yami stared down at Yugi, forgetting the comment about mummies.

"Aibou, what else is on your mind?" he asked gently.

Yugi sighed again.

"Well...I guess I've just been thinking a lot about the evil spirit possessing Taerro...and wondering what we'll do when he comes back," Yugi replied.

Yami nodded, but smiled. He didn't like seeing the normally cheery Yugi looking sad.

"But we do not need to worry about that right now," he replied, although he knew in his mind that they probably should. "Let us go back to thinking about Halloween."

Yugi smiled.

"Yeah!" he agreed.

But as Yami and Yugi discussed costume ideas, the two had no idea of the evil threats that were lurking in the darkness, waiting to emerge and attack...

* * * * * * * * * *

End of Chapter 1

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! leave a review and let me know what you thought of it. If you've read my series so far, you can probably figure who the evil from the beginning is.

"And if you don't read her series, just think of JACKAL and EGYPT. ^_~"

Anyway, don't forget the review, and then we'll get Chapter 2 up soon.