Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction / Death Note Fan Fiction ❯ Then came an angel ❯ Smoke, Fear, and Darkness ( Chapter 24 )

Chapter 23

 

By Sapadu

 

Watari knew it was serious when Tatsumi entered the lab without shouting something akin to 'What did you do this time?' And Tsuzuki came right in on his heels, looking deadly serious, with a somber Hisoka in tow.

 

Still, he could pretend to be ignorant until Tatsumi actually dropped the bomb, and Watari greeted them with his usual grin and wave.

 

"Hiyo! Where's the funeral, Tsuzuki?" He asked, intentionally dropping the bad pun in his sentence. Tsuzuki didn't grin, nor whine about how mean Tatsumi was being, nor flinch at the pun- which meant it was something to do with either a case, Muraki, or both.

 

"Watari-san, we will require your assistance in a very dire matter which has just come to our attention." Tatsumi said, placing a folder in front of him on the cluttered desk. Watari scooped the folder up as soon as it touched all the brick-a-brack on his table top and opened it, quickly reading through the first half of the file.

 

"Na, Tatsumi, I thought that it was forbidden for shinigami to have relationships beyond casework with mortal beings." He muttered, frowning at the idea that a shinigami woman was, not only married to a mortal man, but had a son, thirteen years old with this husband of hers.

 

(A/N: Though Ken was an illegitimate child when he was born- Kenda and Trike got married later)

 

Tatsumi adjusted his glasses and Hisoka looked at him, curiously.

 

"Yes, why is that?" He asked, frowning. It was Tsuzuki who answered.

 

"Kendalina-san's last name is 'Sakurazuka', meaning she has ties, if not a relationship to the Sakurazuka Tree, whose existance plays a crucial factor in the functions here in Juochou." He explained, looking very grave, "It's either the Tree intervened and worked out a deal with EnmaDaiOh, or it's simply because of the link between them that higher ups have simply chosen to ignore the fact that they have a relationship." Hisoka blinked at Tsuzuki, being taken off guard by this sudden serious demeanor.

 

Watari was still flipping through the file, before he came to the note about Muraki.

 

"So, you think Muraki has something to do with this kid's disappearance and/or kidnapping?" He clarified, looking at Tatsumi. Tatsumi's glasses gleamed as he adjusted them.

 

"You could say that is one of our theories." He replied. Watari nodded, looking thoughtful.

 

"Well, the first thing that I suggest is that we ask one of the Gushoshin to contact Kenda: If she's his mother, she should know about this so she can come back and help." Watari said, standing up and looking just as uncharacteristically serious as Tsuzuki. Tatsumi cleared his throat and the Gushoshin green came floating in, looking upset.

 

"A-Ano..." It whimpered, as the four fixed it with a glare that indicated fried chicken for dinner if it had bad news, "I tried to find where Sapadu-san and Kendalina-san are... but..."

 

All four shinigami's eyes went wide.

 

"...It seems there's a barrier of sorts around them..."

 

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The next morning, Kendalina had worked herself into a panic.

 

"I put the body AND the head in the same box! It was RIGHT HERE! And then, I put wards around it and a crucifix over the lid! How could it have gotten out?" She could be heard shouting as the other duelists awoke. Tea and Yugi had had a rude awakening right next to each other and were now avoiding eachother's eyes as they came out to find Kendalina outside, what looked like, a blank wall, ranting and raving to herself.

 

Of course, Tea saw that Kendalina was standing, somehow, impossibly, in front of an extra room where empty space had been last she saw.

 

"Where'd you leave the box?" She asked, going over to the dead Jedi. Kendalina pointed to the door in front of her, and Tea looked in to see a box on the floor, it's lid pried off and the box itself completely smashed into splinters, with what looked like crumbs all around it. There was a heavy layer of smoke in the room- Tea put her hand over her mouth to keep from breathing it.

 

"Tea-san!" Said a voice from right behind her. Tea jumped and turned around to see Samantha chewing on a bulb of garlic, with a cream cheesed bagel in her other hand.

 

"Oh... Sammy... you scared me..." Tea panted. Samantha was dressed unusually for her, today- her dress was long, dragging on the floor in the back, with a slit up to her hip on both sides of the skirt, and fringe around it. The top was a loop of dark red silk with black tassels hanging looped low around her shoulders and bust. The rest of her dress was a mix of blood red and saffron, and the black embrodiery thread made patterns of butterflies and flowers on it. Her hair, today, looked unnaturally dark and straight.

 

Samantha pointed at Tea, her nails painted black, and an ebony charm braclet dangling from her wrist.

 

"What are you hiding?" She demanded, with a grim frown that nobody had ever seen before. Tea blinked, taken aback.

 

"Um... n-nothing..." She stammered. Samantha's eyes narrowed.

 

"In your pocket." She said, interrupting Tea's stammering. Tea blinked twice and pulled out the feather she'd caught yesterday from her pocket, looking confused.

 

"You mean this?" She asked, before Samantha slapped her hand, "OW!"

 

"Don't hold it- just let it float over your hand." She said, shoving the rest of her bagel down her throat without even chewing. Tea looked a little cowed, but released the feather from her fingers and it did indeed float over her palm. Yugi looked surprised, too, while Kendalina continued to look away, trying to figure out what happened to the vampire.

 

"Um... well... yesterday, Namu came to visit us in the infirmary and as he left, there were these wings coming from his back... and I guessed this was one of the feathers from his wings..." Tea stammered, and Samantha watched her, impassively, before she spoke, interrupting again.

 

"Do you want to keep it?" Sammy asked. Tea stammered again, cringing at Samantha's overbearing attitude all of a sudden.

 

"The... feather... do I want it?" Tea stammered, before looking between the feather and Sammy, "N-no... not really... if you want it... then..." But she didn't finish- Samantha made a gesture as though beckoning the feather to come to her. And it did- it rose off Tea's hand and floated towards Samantha. No sooner was it hovering over her palm, and Samantha uttered a single sharp syllable, and the feather caught on fire, burning until it was mere ash, and black smoke uncurled from where it had been.

 

Tea covered her mouth and nose as the smoke threatened to choke her, until Samantha's head poked through the smoke, her face coming very close to Tea's.

 

"Now, Tea-san, answer me truly- do you wish for your life to be 'different'?" She asked, putting the tips of her fingers firmly between Tea's breasts, over her heart. Tea coughed a little, and almost squirmed at having her personal space so utterly violated. Even Yugi shifted, uncomfortably.

 

"'Different'?" Tea stuttered, and thought for a moment, as best she could with Samantha staring at her like that, as though she was both a tasty meal and a pretty trinket, "No... no, I don't..." Samantha's head retreated, clearing the smoke enough to show the other hand of Sammy's was holding her head, and attatched it back to her body.

 

"Good." Samantha muttered, holding her hair out of the way as her neck reattatched to her shoulders, "That will keep you from becoming 'Bait'." And Samantha walked away, wordlessly.

 

Tea blinked, and rubbed her eyes. There it was- like last time, the air around Samantha shifted, almost. Instead of the things that surrounded Samantha, Tea could see only black space, and white strings cutting through it, attatched to virtually every spot on Sammy's body that could be pinpointed. It lingered long enough that Tea could see it, but then, after a few minutes, it was gone.

 

It made her wonder- what if she continued to see all these things, until they were ALL she could see? It made her insides squirm to think that she'd stop seeing all things that she percieved, thus far, to be real.

 

"Tea?" Yugi shaking her shoulder brought her back to reality. Tea shook slightly and turned to Yugi, feeling more than a little ill.

 

"What's wrong?" Yugi asked, and Tea smiled, less than reassuringly.

 

"Nothing, really. Just a little dizzy." She lied, not wanting Yugi to worry. He seemed to accept this and found his way to the common to look for Joey or someone who'd seen the duel last night, leaving Kendalina by herself in front of the door.

 

They found Joey, Tristan, and Duke in a huddle in the main common. All of them looked very grave.

 

"Joey, how'd the duel go last night?" Yugi asked, brightly. Joey looked at his best friend, then to Tea.

 

"Yug, I got some bad news..." Joey said,

 

"Ya remember de guy who we thought was Marik, and then the guy who called himself 'Namu'?" Yugi nodded, and Tea was afraid she knew where this was going, "Well, it turned out dat 'Namu' was really Marik. And 'Marik' who I was duelin' turned out to be another one of dose Rare Hunters!" Yugi went pale. Tea smelled something and turned around to see someone standing a distance away, staring at them. Joey made a slight gesture to Yugi, who turned and looked.

 

"That's Marik..." Tea heard him whisper. It looked like the guy who they had called 'Namu'... except his hair was sticking up, and he was dressed radically different. Tea thought that maybe she'd stopped seeing things when she blinked and right before her eyes, Marik's appearance changed again- except... worse... The day before, he'd only had wings coming out of his back... now, the wings were still present, but much bigger... and there were now feathers coming out of his shoulders, arms, neck, and his nose looked distinctly curved, like a beak. Tea shivered.

 

He smirked. Then, her line of sight shifted again, and he looked... more normal than he had with the wings, though nowhere near completely normal.

 

Joey glared and raised a defiant middle finger in Marik's direction, which only caused him to snicker and move away, almost plowing over Mokuba- whom skidded away in record time, apparently not wanting to come within a five-foot-radius of the man- as he came running through the hall, looking for the duelists again.

 

"It's time for the third duel- all duelists are asked to come to the drawing platform again." He reported, somewhat panting for breath. Joey groaned, but got up from his chair, and Yugi led the way to where their numbers would be drawn again. Kendalina finally budged from her position next to the door, and went towards the common, immediately gotng over to Samantha, who was in the corner, fingering something in her hands.

 

Almost as though her feet were pulling her by themselves, Tea went over to listen.

 

"Sammy, I'm not sure if you care or not, but there's a vampire on board that nearly attacked 'Kura-kun, Yuu-kun, and Tea-kun last night, so we should notify the Ministry about this." Kendalina whispered to her partner. Sammy didn't turn to look at her.

 

"We can't. Solar-san put a kekkai over this ship since it's so dangerous, so we won't get a message to them, nor they to us." The purple-eyed girl replied, before giving an explanation, "As long as that is active, the spirits here will be disturbed and so it's too risky to not have a barrier up." Samantha pointed towards Marik's Millenium Rod, with what she'd been holding in her hands.

 

An exact duplicate of the Millenium Item.

 

"I know tha-" Kendalina's snappish reply was interupted by Tea's squeak of panic, which directed all eyes towards her. Kendalina's head snapped around to glare, and Samantha looked impassively at her, still holding the other Millenium Rod.

 

"You were eavesdropping!" Kendalina accused, looking cross, while Tea felt her face heat up.

 

"I-I didn't mean to... my feet just carried me over here... I know that sounds defensive, but it's true... and..." Tea was beginning to babble, and really feel foolish like that, but Sammy interrupted her, for the third time that day.

 

"It's alright." Somehow, the entire room was suddenly quiet enough that everyone could hear Samantha's soft voice, "It was hitsuzen." This earned blinks and stares from everyone, except Ishizu, over in the other corner, who seemed to understand this, because she whispered,

 

"Fate?" And while it was to herself, everyone heard, and it seemed to make Samantha's sentence both more sensible and yet insensible at the same time.

 

Joey finally became impatient with the silence and shouted,

 

"DEN, WHAT'S WID DAT MILLENIUM ROD YER HOLDIN' WHEN MARIK'S GOT IT, TOO?!" Samantha giggled and waved her treasure around, with a smug leer on her face that they'd never seen before.

 

"This thing? It's just a plastic toy- all it does is light up and make noise." She said, curving her eyebrows and staring at Joey in a way that made him feel like a complete and utter ass for opening his mouth to begin with. Even Tea went red, since she'd been the one to draw attention to it.

 

Meanwhile, Kaiba made a disgusted noise and started the lottery machine to draw the next duelists. The first chamber made noises as the ping pong balls inside were shuffled, until one popped out.

 

Number 5. The real Marik.

 

Samantha leaned over to Kendalina as everyone crossed their fingers, hoping they wouldn't be the one to duel against the lurking Egyptian.

 

"Now, Kenda." She whispered, and when the Jedi Princess blinked, her partner confirmed, "Use the Force." And Kendalina understood, as she silently willed the spirits of all the other balls away from the selector, until out popped the final decision.

 

Number 9. Her.

 

Everyone looked at Kendalina with something like sympathy on their faces. The retired Black Fury, showing no fear, turned her gaze to Marik with a smirk.

 

"Give me an opening- any at all- and I'll kick your ass." Kendalina boldly declared, matching his gaze with her eyes. Marik only sneered at her.

 

There was a click of a duel disk being fastened on, and everyone saw Samantha snapping the disk that Kendalina had been wearing onto her own wrist.

 

"No, Kenda. I'll do this one." She said, striding past her shell-shocked partner and up the stairs towards the observation deck. Marik sneered at her as she past, but Samantha made no rise to the obvious bait, remaining perfectly stoic and composed.

 

As neither duelist seemed willing to waste time, everyone who wished to witness the event followed up the stairs. Even Kendalina, the Kaibas, and Ishizu climbed the stairs. Bakura followed Joey, Tristan, Tea, and Yugi, while Duke escorted Serenity up. Tea kept looking over her shoulder at Bakura, and occasionally, she saw puffs of black smoke surrounding him, but she gave it no notice.

 

Up on the platform, everyone had gathered, while Samantha was setting up candle posts at the four corners of the platform that formed a rectangle. Kaiba gave her a critical look.

 

"Those flames are going to go out from all the wind up here." He told her, as though she should have known that (Which she probably should have...) Samantha didn't look at him.

 

"You'll see." Was all she said, before slithering up onto the raised platform on which she and Marik would be dueling. Everyone stood back, watching Samantha go about her unusual and useless preparations, all of them thinking the same thing: She was either crazy, or just an attention-whore.

 

Tea sighed and turned her attention to Bakura.

 

"So... Bakura, are you sure you're okay to be out of bed after what happened yesterday?" She asked, to which Bakura just smiled.

"I'm fine- really, I should be worrying about you and Yugi, since I heard you didn't exactly have a restful night, either." He replied. Kendalina looked at Bakura for a second, before looking disgusted and turning her attention away.

 

"If I'd known you'd pull another shitty stunt like this again, Ring-kun, I'd've dragged Sammy in to heal 'Kura-kun last night by her hair." Kendalina muttered, turning around to lean on the railing and light a cigarette. Tea stared at Bakura for a minute- more black smoke puffed out of the Ring- before he allowed his guise to slip. The only ones who didn't make it to the opposite side of the viewing platform in .04 seconds were Kendalina and the Kaibas, who didn't care, and Ishizu, who was too dignified.

 

Meanwhile, up on the dueling stage, Samantha had finished her preparations and had joined Marik in the center to swap decks and shuffle their opponent's cards. This was done wordlessly, and everyone watched, as though it were of some great importance. Tea just didn't want to look at Bakura.

 

And she noticed something- the deck Samantha was shuffling seemed... odd... maybe it was just from where she was standing, but Tea could have sworn she saw Samantha sticking something onto each card that her fingers touched.

 

The Kaiba Corp employee acting as referee didn't make any notice, so Tea supposed it really was all in her head.

 

The shuffle was completed, and both began to take their positions. Marik was caressing his Millenium Rod, as it glowed and began to pull a ring of shadows around the ring. Not that it would make much difference- the sky was cloudy and stormy enough as it was.

 

Samantha held up a candle that she'd been holding. The flame flickered, turned green, and then jumped to border the forming shadows, preventing them from enveloping the entire field. Marik looked startled.

 

"Marik-kun, if my information is correct, the person challenged is given right to make the rules for a Shadow Game, if they claim that right, correct?" Samantha said, softly. Marik looked surprised to hear this, as did Bakura and Yugi. Even Ishizu looked up, in quiet interest.

 

"You certainly have accurate sources..." Muttered Marik- his voice sounded like his throat had been clawed at by some sort of animal, hindering his ability to talk- and he put his hands on his hips, "Yes, that is the rule for the Shadow Game. Why? Don't tell me you plan on making rules to give yourself an edge in this game, do you?" He asked, with an air of condescending arrogance. Samantha smiled, her lips seeming to go black in the flickering candle light.

 

"Not at all. Only to ensure the purpose of the Shadow Game is fulfilled. I propose only one rule to this game- that everything shall be real." Sammy said, with a hissing menace, and as Marik seemed about to tell her that that was the nature of Shadow Games anyway, she continued, "Consider it, though- one rule, but it will change the entire nature of this game, making it into a true battle." Everyone blinked at these words, and Samantha blew out the flame still on her candle. The flame turned to green smoke that added to the growing shadows.

 

"Let us begin, then." Marik agreed, either not looking or not caring as his and Samantha's duel disks dissolved into smoke, adding to the shadows.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A/N: Yes, everyone on the Battle Ship is completely screwed, at this point.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Luke Skywalker, ever since his confrontation with his Father on the Death Star, had learned the art of Self-Control- almost to an esoteric level. He could deny himself virtually every luxury known to man, if the need arose, thus limiting the things that could be used against him to food, water, sleep, and, at some point, Ken had been added to the list. He'd learned to control his temper, his reactions, his facial expressions, hell, he could keep his blood pressure, pulse rate, and body temperature even under stress.

 

This led to him having problems with actually DEALING with stress. While he could suppress his reactions, it often caused other problems in denial- sometimes, he'd stop eating or sleeping if he was under enough stress, and other times, he'd simply be forced to isolate himself from all living company, as he would be unfit to be in human presence.

 

That was why, on this fine sunny day, he'd barricaded himself in the room he and Ken shared and was having, for the first time since he'd met the Jedi Prince, a manic breakdown. Complete with a brief temper tantrum, throwing some unbreakable items from wall to wall a few times, screaming into a pillow, and using one of Ken's notebooks to write down all the negative things he wanted to do, say, or otherwise, and then burning the book over a wastebasket.

 

He normally took to Ken's absences better than this, except that neither he nor Triclops had any idea where the gray-eyed boy was. They had attempted to reach Kendalina through the Force and Triclops's dreamseeing talents, as they'd done with Ken, only to be met with a harsh wall that simply did not let them in. In a desperate final attempt, Triclops had contacted the Ministry, since Kendalina was gone on a job for them, only to receive word that they couldn't find Kendalina, either. Even the Tree had been no help, and considering that Triclops and Luke were little more than tasty, but forbidden treats for her, the Jedi Knight doubted that asking her for help to try and find either Ken or his mother would yield helpful results. Furthermore, he'd never been able to talk to the Tree, except face-to-face, when she appeared in her moving body before him. This was something he had no means of bringing about, either.

 

Luke spent the day alternating between fits of anger and despair, locked in the room- and if he were any judge, he could hear Ken's father doing the same thing in his own room down the hall. The next day, Luke regained consciousness, tangled in the blankets that, about fourty-eight hours ago, he and Ken had been sleeping under, entwined, warm, and safe in eachother's presence. He spent a few minutes with his eyes closed, breathing the scent of Ken left on his pillow, allowing his determination to build itself up.

 

Then he opened his eyes, dressed in fresh clothes, found a bag and put a clean dress into it for Ken when he found him, before walking down the stairs and going out to the garage.

 

He'd first found Ken by just flying aimlessly, and letting the Force guide him.

 

And just because his link with Ken through the Force was cut, that did not mean it would not lead Luke to Ken again.

 

He closed his eyes and started the car.

 

Even with his eyes closed, Luke could tell that he was going the right way.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A/N: And since Luke Skywalker is an incredible pilot/driver, he magically is immune to car accidents, traffic tickets, and red lights.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ken waited for yet another day.

 

The voice continued to come back, asking over and over again if he'd thought about his proposal. Ken's reply remained 'No'.

 

There was always a bowl of sparse rice and a dish of water on the floor, where he could reach them with his mouth if he wanted to eat.

 

Ken kicked them away every day. Then he used the Force to bring the water to his lips so that he didn't dehydrate. He didn't know if he would be here for too long, or if his captor would stop giving him water.

 

But he refused to eat any food- he didn't trust that it wouldn't be drugged.

 

The Tree came when the voice left to help him- since he was blindfolded, he couldn't tell what was going on. Even as the voice had spoken to him, it was mostly the loosest interpretation he could make out from the words he'd felt.

 

Without his eyes, he was close to being useless.

 

'Your mother is close to being useless without her ears.' The Tree whispered, meaning to be comforting. And then, Ken felt her disappear.

 

The voice had returned.

 

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"So... Tea-san told you that she's worried... I'm sure that she didn't mean to make you feel bad." Tohru insisted. Somehow, cleaning had led to Yuzuriha wanting to talk, to asking Tohru over for tea the next day. Yuzuriha was silent and sober over her cup of tea, and thus didn't notice Kamui listening in from the kitchen.

 

Inuki noticed the older Dragon of Heaven's concern for his mistress, but Kamui made a 'shh' motion with his hand and Inuki didn't move. Tohru, for her part, didn't notice Inuki, but kept smiling all the same.

 

"A-ah..." Yuzuriha stammered, looking insecure, "... I guess... I just didn't believe her at first... either that or I just didn't care..." The short-haired girl looked down at her hands, "I just..."

 

Tohru blinked at Yuzuriha, who looked like she was going to cry. Inuki nuzzled her with his nose.

 

"I wish I could see him... Kusanagi-san..." Yuzuriha finally spat out, covering her eyes with her hands. Tohru's expression went pale for a moment, and Kamui, around the corner, dropped what he was using to stir at the soup on the stove and burned his finger reaching to get it back.

 

"Yuzuriha-san..." Tohru whispered, half-standing as though she was going to go over to the other girl. Kamui appeared at the door between the dining area and the kitchen, sucking on his burnt finger.

 

"Yuzuriha-san..." Tohru finally moved away from where she had been sitting and walked around the table to put her hands on Yuzuriha's shoulders, "Yuzuriha-san... I might not understand what you feel right now..."

 

Yuzuriha sniffled.

 

"And I know that, if nothing else, it must hurt very much..."

 

Kamui averted his eyes.

 

"But... but I don't think Kusanagi-san... I don't think Kusanagi-san would want you to see him if all you would do was cry..."

 

Yuzuriha fell silent.

 

"And... I think... he wouldn't be happy if you weren't happy..."

 

Kamui turned his eyes back to the two, listening to their conversation.

 

"So... if you want to see Kusanagi-san... if you give him something to be happy about... I'm sure that when you do see him, he'll be smiling." Tohru suggested, softly.

 

Yuzuriha took a deep breath, and visibly calmed. Kamui must have made a noise, because Tohru turned to look at him.

 

"Ah, Kamui-san!" She said, brightly, "I didn't see you there!" Kamui smiled a small smile, and almost saw a sign appear over Tohru's head that read in bold letters "She's a ditz!"

 

"It's okay- I just came in." Kamui lied, still smiling. Tohru blinked her oblivious blink, letting go of Yuzuriha's shoulders.

 

"A-Ano... Kamui-san, would I be too much of a bother to ask to use your kitchen?" Tohru asked, walking towards the kitchen. Kamui blinked, thought about the kitchen size, which rarely accomodated Arashi and Sorata together, the soup he still had on the burner, and then replied.

 

"No, not a bother at all." And he stepped aside to let Tohru past him into the kitchen, walking over to then sit next to Yuzuriha, who'd left her cold tea in front of her.

 

"Are you going to be okay?" Kamui asked, taking another cup and pouring himself some tea. Yuzuriha was still staring at the tabletop, but nodded her head, just barely, before she looked up, glancing at Kamui.

 

"What about you?" Kamui looked surprised, which made Yuzuriha explain, "I knew you were listening to Tohru-chan about what she was saying... and it seems like it meant something to you..." Yuzuriha looked mildly curious, which made Kamui smile, slightly.

 

"I guess..." He sighed, "That I was just thinking about Kotori... a bit..." He closed his eyes, thoughtfully, "And what she said about being happy... so that when we eventually see each other again, she'll be smiling... it helped, a little." Kamui leaned back in his chair, and Inuki pawed at him, wanting to be scratched behind the ears, which Kamui obliged. Yuzuriha smiled.

 

"Um... I heard from Hinoto-hime once, but... wasn't your mother's name Tohru?" Yuzuriha asked. Kamui's eyes widened, but softened quickly.

 

"A-aah... her name was... Tohru..." He whispered, blushing faintly and looking away. He didn't want to say it, but he'd missed her, terribly, for a while now.

 

Tohru, in the kitchen, heard them talking, and felt her cheeks heat up as they spoke of Kamui's mother. And then the words Momiji had said when she first met him came back to her mind.

 

'Tohru's like a mutti, she makes me feel safe.' Tohru later learned that 'mutti' meant mother. She smiled, and continued with her work at the stove until she had three mugs of hot chocolate ready.

 

"TA-DA... desu!" She said, bringing them into the dining room, which felt just a little bit warmer now.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Samantha ignored the looks everyone was giving her- times like this made her very proud of the Wish she'd struck with the Solar, as self-respect came in very handy at times like this. Nobody else realized it, but the fact that the wings potruding from Marik's back hadn't detached, and instead, he was changing shape the way he was... it was much more serious than anyone realized.

 

'Solar-san, you're absolutely sure that Tea-san can see the wings too, right?' She asked the spirit who sat in the back of her head, giving her advise and information. The Solar made a noise that meant 'yes.'

 

:: Not only that, but she can probably see your condition as well. Possibly even my presence. She just isn't trained enough to develop that skill.:: Solar confirmed, sounding as though her curiosity was piqued by this establishment. Samantha held a giggle inside.

 

'Sort of like that boy who your former apprentice is training, ne? Lots of raw power that he's just sitting on, and she's whipping him into shape...' Sammy asked. The Solar seemed to like that comparison, as it seemed to give her an idea.

 

:: Oooh... you've just inspired something, Samantha Ann Phastine. Did you mean to, you naughty dear, you?:: The Solar asked, a mischievous twinkle appearing in the eyes that she didn't have inside Sammy's head- but that was okay, as Sammy had seen the Solar's face enough times to tell what her expression would be as she cackled.

 

'When do I ever NOT?' She returned, with a similar grin. Truly, the years the two had spent, from being oppositional allies to working together as a leech and her host, to the friendship that had reluctantly formed... Samantha was somewhat pleased that she'd acquired some of the Solar's traits.

 

:: Well, put that aside for now,:: The Solar made a windmilling gesture with her arms, :: Use spells, dodge attacks, call up monsters, ask me to pull strings when you need it... Routine.:: And Samantha reverted her attention to the field. Marik was glaring around at the shadows, as though demanding why they had stolen his precious deck of cards. Samantha sighed and figured that if he was so dull to not understand, she should explain.

 

"Marik, this is really quite simple- I said that everything would be real, so the shadows consumed the cards and disks, making them into properties that can be made 'real' in this world." She explained. Marik sneered at her.

 

"How very interesting, that a woman without even a Millenium Item could manipulate the Shadow Realm so thoroughly. I don't suppose you'd be willing to divulge information as per where you learned this technique?" He asked, holding his Millenium Rod to his mouth and running his tongue over one of the blades.

 

How utterly phallic. Samantha let the Solar pull the strings that morphed her face into a bored, yet grim expression.

 

"It's pretty simple magic, actually. I may not possess the real artifact of any Item, but I DO know how they function. From there, it's relatively easy." The Solar spoke through her mouth- a handy little trick they'd both mastered, making it easy to disguise their own presences through the other, "Think of it like this- the game 'Duel Monsters', when originally released by a gaming company was entitled 'Magic and Wizards', was it not? Now that we've moved the game to this world, we truly have become 'Wizards' and there is real 'Magic' in the air." And Sammy willingly let her lips be curved into the Solar's trademark, creepy grin.

 

Marik sneered at her.

 

"Well then... all the more fun in this match, then." He agreed. The Solar released her hold on the strings, but whispered into Sammy's ear,

 

:: Just remind him- I want him to be perfectly clear that this is not just a game.:: And Samantha agreed.

 

"Remember, though..." She said, severely, like a parent warning a child, "What I said- that this one change of the rules will change the entire nature of the game. If you are not cautious, I will not be responsible for anything that happens here." Samantha noticed as Marik sneered at her, seeming to either disregard her warning, or think she didn't know what she was talking about.

 

Well... she'd just have to show him, wouldn't she?

 

Marik made a gesture, one of summoning, to bring a monster to the field. Silently, Samantha let her sword slide from her hand, and as Marik summoned his monster, which looked like a giant egg, she took a running leap, sailed clear over the monster, and landed in front of him, bringing her sword down with a swipe.

 

It was only because Samantha had missed on purpose that all the damage he received was a bleeding cut on his cheek and a lock of his hair being cut off. Everyone screamed, except for Marik, who looked like he was too in shock.

 

"I told you- the principle of this game being real not only means the monsters are flesh and blood, and the magic actually from your finger tips, but the battle itself, is real. There are no rules, no turns, no courtesies... no garauntees. What you call 'Life point' count is truly life points, for every hit of damage you take, the closer death beckons you in." Samantha reached up and ran her finger along the cut on his face, before bringing the hand to her mouth and delicately licking the blood from her finger tips.

 

Marik was normal enough to at least look disturbed by seeing his own blood being eaten in front of him. Samantha smirked and her fangs crept over the edge of her lip as she did, silently floating backwards toward her original position.

 

"Now that you seem to have new appreciation for the gravity of this situation, let's try this again." Samantha whispered, and not even Marik looked like he was going to argue. He sent his monster to attack, and Samantha dodged easily, though she just barely avoided getting hit by the second attack that came from another monster she hadn't seen Marik summon while she was concentrated on the first.

 

"You're getting the knack of it. Sloppy. Foolish. But at least you understand." She murmured, appreciatively, with a sneer. The two monsters continued to attack, as, with the elimination of turns, they had no restraint.

 

The second monster, looking like a lion with feathers and a parrot's head, charged towards the others who were watching. Everyone scattered, as though to prepare for it, but the monster ran headlong into an invisible wall.

 

"What in da...?" Joey muttered, picking himself and his sister up from where they'd recklessly thrown themselves. Samantha chipped in.

 

"It's something called 'planning ahead'. The candles I lit earlier-" Everyone looked and noticed that the flames weren't even flickering from the wind, "Were the corners of a kekkai. And the second one outside of that should be sufficient enough, as well." She explained, watching everyone panic around her with perfect calm.

 

"Not more of this freaky stuff! I'm outta here!" Tristan shouted, panicking and running for the stairs down. He, too, ran into a wall.

 

"Tan-kun, the second kekkai is so that nobody can leave. I wouldn't want anyone running away when right here, we have all the actors, now." Sammy smirked, which seemed to effectively shut everyone up. Only Kaiba wasn't running around like a chicken with his head cut off, mostly because he was sulking over in a corner with his eyes closed, his arms crossed, and silently repeating to himself that it was all some big hallucination and to make an appointment with his doctor as soon as this was finished.

 

With the second monster out of commission, the egg-shaped monster naturally went to it's instinct to destroy the 'enemy' as quickly and effectively as possible. Samantha allowed it to come to her, finally raising her sword and slicing the creature in half, spraying blood everywhere, even through the kekkai, splattering over everyone who hadn't been prepared for it. Tea and Serenity screamed in utter horror at something so gruesome, the boys mostly looked disgusted, and vaguely disturbed, and all others attempted to wipe it off their clothes and hold down their stomachs.

 

"Now that THAT'S out of the way..." Samantha said, smugly licking the blood from her sword's blade, before pointing down to Marik as the Solar whispered what to do, "Tea-kun, look at Maa-kun and tell me what you see." Tea wiped the blood out of her eyes and blinked, before looking in Marik's direction. Whatever she saw caused her pupils to dialate and a scream to erupt. Samantha looked unimpressed.

 

"It looks like a bird, right?" She asked, her face blank. Tea managed a nod, but looked even more sick than before. Sammy grinned again.

 

"Like I said- all the actors are here." She whispered. The Solar began to whisper into her mind again.

 

:: Look at him- he's turning towards Kai-kun.:: She noted. Sammy agreed, before worrying.

 

'Is that... bad?' She wondered, and the woman inside her head gave a negative answer.

 

:: Not really- Kai-kun is one of the two needed to fight it.:: The old spirit seemed... rather smug about the situation created, :: And since SHE'S here... this should present the opportunity needed.::

 

As the Solar said these words, the ship met a burst of turbulence. Even Samantha and Marik, who were perfectly on guard, had to brace themselves, and everyone else either fell or attempted to grab something as they stumbled. Tristan and Duke ran headlong into the secondary kekkai, which was the only thing that kept them from falling off the platform into the sky. Yugi and Tea managed to grab a railing, while Joey valiently, and ineffectively, tried to act as a cushion for Mai. The Millenium Ring kept control of Bakura's body long enough to ease himself into a secure crouch, which was as good enough a brace as any, the Kaiba brothers leaned against the wall that the kekkai formed, and Ishizu stumbled a bit, but mostly stayed upright. The only person who completely lost her balance was Serenity, who attempted to brace herself against the raised dueling platform, but only knocked over one of the tall candlesticks that had formed the first kekkai around the duel.

 

It was broken. And all the evil spirits gathered for the shadow game went loose- the spirits of the cards in Marik's deck emerged from the shadows, swooping towards the only other two who held Eygptian Gods- Yugi and Kaiba. Joey got to his feet with assistance from Mai and ran over to block his best friend, while Mokuba instinctively clung to his older brother's coat. Kaiba's habit reaction was to shift into a defensive posture, but he was saved by a bursting stream of white light shooting from his duel disk, practically blinding him as it cut through a good deal of Marik's deck. On the other side, the monsters originally aimed at Yugi changed their course and aimed for Mai, who's deck also lighted up and shot them down. Kendalina had been watching this, mostly without interest, but as the monsters disappated, leaving foul smoke hanging in the air, she glared at her partner.

 

"Sammy, is this why you wanted ME up here?" She asked. Sammy just grinned, and Kendalina made a very rude, but very characteristic, gesture at her. But she took the cigarette from her mouth, still smoking, and traced with it an inverted pentagram. The smoke hovering in the air all seemed to be pulled by an unseen force towards the center of the star, which sucked it all up, as though there was a mouth in the center.

 

And then all was still.

 

Roland-san, acting as referee, tugged on the collar of his business shirt, sweating slightly with what he'd just seen and finally regaining his bearings.

 

"Mr. Kaiba," He whispered to Kaiba in a low voice, "Should that be considered outside interference? The penalty for that would be disqualification." Kaiba, slightly shaken himself, managed to stand up straight again and his face resumed it's hard, determined look.

 

"No- let the duel proceed as usual." He ordered. This new quirk in the duel had made him wonder... he wanted to see this out, if only to laugh when Samantha had to lose as she'd promised.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"Since you don't seem to be willing to cooperate with me, I'm afraid it's made things difficult. So, instead of asking you... I'll just have to subdue you, then." The voice said, over Ken's head. Silently, Ken wished he had at least eaten SOME of the rice he'd been offered- his head was spinning now, from the aching that was in his stomach, and if it hadn't been for that, he would have used the Force to do something, even if it had been to throw something at the voice.

 

"You can hardly fault him- on one hand, he might be who you are looking for, and then he dies, and on the other, he loses all memories he has of his life so far before you'd just fling him out into the streets, without a clue where to go. Hmm, I wonder WHAT on EARTH he would object to in those terms..." Ah, that would be Hana, the ever-helpful, soul-sucking, over-motherly Tree. The voice seemed to find her words... amusing, even if truthful.

 

"Perhaps, but then the question at hand would have to be if I cared or not." The voice replied, as it seemed to move away from Ken. Against his leg, through the skirt, Ken felt something wooden and thorny press, which told him Hana was unraveling her limbs to take her Tree form.

 

"I KNOW you don't care. And that doesn't concern me so much as the idea that I could kill you myself and at least have your carcass to eat out of afterwards, even if I didn't get your soul." The Tree's voice took a threatening edge to it, something Ken had never been so glad to hear, before in his life.

 

"Your powers of persuasion are... uncanny..." The voice sounded as though it were discussing the weather, but impressed, just the same. And then, the presence was gone.

 

"Well, Ken, this is another fine mess you've gotten yourself into." Hana mumbled, before asking, "Do you have any idea where you are, geographically?" Ken would have given her a 'look' if his eyes hadn't been covered.

 

"I don't even know the geography of this planet well enough to list four cities, including the one we're living in, let alone which one I'm in NOW!" Ken could tell the Tree was shrugging.

 

"Just thought I'd ask- your lover-boy is out hunting for you, while your father's back at home, alternating between the evil-him being angry and the good-him being depressed that you're gone, and when your mother finds out..." Ken stopped the Tree, feeling all sensation go out of his limbs and his head feeling heavy.

 

"I don't want to hear... about what my parents are doing right now." He whispered, in a choked voice. Hana sighed.

 

"They really do care, you know." She said, before disappearing, leaving Ken alone again, to whsiper into the empty air.

 

"Yeah, right."

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Muraki replaced the book he'd been reading- one on microscopic surgery. It had proposed some interesting theories, as well as useful tips, but not what he'd been looking for.

 

After re-reading the thesis on reincarnation, Muraki came to the conclusion that either the essay was incorrect, or the symptoms the boy showed were similar but not exact, and only APPEARED to be reincarnation.

 

Which left him with the difficult problem of what to do.

 

Muraki felt his only eye fall upon the only place he hadn't looked- his old portfolio of genetic engineering and cloning notes.

 

And something occurred to him- Satomi's old research notes were in there too... and, while cloning in this country had been strictly banned long ago, and Muraki could no longer lean on Oriya's contacts to help him through difficulties- the brothel owner had refused to help him again with legal issues past a parking ticket ever since the incident in Kyoto- but... the law said not a word against duplicating cells in a culture dish. And there was no mention at all about legality of assembling fully grown tissues.

 

So... Muraki smirked, pulling his portfolio towards him... Satomi's research would finally be put to use.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

"Three days here in Chijou, and we haven't found anything about Muraki, yet." Tsuzuki murmured, staring off into the distance as he thought. To anyone who didn't know what he was thinking about, they would have thought he was watching the river go by under the bridge he was on.

 

Hisoka knew what he was thinking about, mostly because he was watching the exact same spot on the river without seeing it at all, thinking roughly along the same lines.

 

The utter comparison this bore to Kyoto was... disturbing... for both of them. It was only because of the time that had passed that kept them sane at this particular moment. And the fact that they both sensed their partner's presence beside them.

 

The Gushoshin had helped Watari for a good three hours before returning to Tsuzuki and Hisoka- whom had been in their office looking through maps of Kyoto and writing and rewriting scraps of memories about Muraki's work in Kyoto the last time, in hopes it would bring up some vital clue- and all they'd found was a list of hospitals.

 

The two partners had investigated the first half of the list, while Watari had taken Gushoshin with him to the other half.

 

Muraki hadn't been seen for months in any of them, that was for sure; the nurses and doctors kept jumping whenever someone came in through the doors, joyful shouts and delighted looks dying when they saw it wasn't their jewel of doctors.

 

"Tsuzuki..." Hisoka muttered, but didn't continue. Tsuzuki and Hisoka somehow both imagined the exact same conversation in their minds- a sure sign of how well they knew each other.

 

'This is bothering you more that you're saying.'

 

Such tension, sorrow, and fear hung in the air around them...

 

'Aa. Muraki isn't someone I'd wish on anyone.'

 

Fear, not of what to do when they found Muraki, but fear that they didn't know when, how, or under what circumstances the man would LET himself be found...

 

'It's more because he's just a kid that this is bothering you, ne?'

 

This was a game, no other question about it. But was Muraki trying to draw them out, and then use the possible torture, rape, and murder of someone so innocent and not connected to them to force them into submission?

 

'I'll find him. That's what our job is, afterall.'

 

Or was this something completely not to do with them, and Muraki's real target was the boy's family, or, though it would be a rare case, the boy himself? There were so few clues to go by... what else could they do?

 

As the bridge was open to public traffic, they weren't surprised when a car came past, but were rather taken aback when the driver backed up to look at them. Since they were in their spirit forms, no ordinary human should have seen them.

 

"Excuse me, but you wouldn't happen to be Asato Tsuzuki and Hisoka Kurosaki?" The man's voice had a distinct English accent, and the order he used their names was a dead giveaway. They turned to look at him.

 

"Aa. Who would you be?" Tsuzuki asked, his hands in the pockets of his trenchcoat.

 

"I'm Luke Skywalker. Currently residing with Ken's family, and I'm looking for him in this city." The man explained, with a polite bow as he turned off the engine and got out to speak with them properly, "Just a few days ago, Ken's father contacted the Ministry to ask for assistance, and as I know you two are agents, I was wondering if you'd found any information about where he may be." His manner was straight forward and business-like, almost like Tatsumi, and his face, while calm and collected, held an intensity, especially in his eyes- an earnesty- about this situation.

 

"Well, we know who kidnapped him, but that isn't useful in and of itself, as the man himself is notoriously hard to find." Tsuzuki said, gravely, "A man by the name of Muraki Kazutaka... or Kazutaka Muraki, as you'd probably call him. A description of having white skin, silver hair, gray eyes, glasses, most likely wearing an all-white suit." Skywalker seemed to listen to this intently, before bowing courteously.

 

"Thank you. I will look to find him. Is there any further information you could offer me?" He asked, and when Tsuzuki shook his head, he couldn't help but notice a kind of steeled look in the other man's eyes.

 

"I thank you again. Now, I have to continue my search." And Luke Skywalker returned to the driver's seat, started the engine, and was off again.

 

And then Hisoka got the queasy feeling that he hoped Muraki would not be taken in by that man, either.

 

His eyes had been blue, and his hair, golden.

 

A perfect doll.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Through Yugi's eyes, the Pharaoh saw the duel quite clearly- if what was going on could be called a duel at all, at this point. Samantha had cleverly warped it into a life-or-death battle, and simultaneously gave herself such an esteemed advantage, being already dead, that she could use magic to dispell monsters, block direct attacks, and seemed to move in a way unnatural to man.

 

And, while he had to admit it was enticing... it was also vaguely disturbing to see her react so calmly, smoothly... as though she could either read Marik's mind and tell what his attacks would be, or someone had told her before hand how this duel would turn out.

 

Marik's next move had been to summon even more monsters using the temporary revival based loosely on 'Monster Reborn' to hopefully bring on some sacrifices, but Samantha had killed one just as it was revived, then proceeding to eat its eyeballs and the liver, saying she'd need the nourishment rather soon. And as she'd done that, one of the remaining monsters had visciously attacked HER, biting her arm clean off and then the final monster had made an attempt on her leg, but missed and ended up running straight into the floor.

 

It was just as she said- no garauntees, whatsoever. It would have been more amusing if he hadn't been so sure that someone was going to be killed sooner or later.

 

There was the further problem- Marik could use spells which he had magic and trap cards for... but Samantha had so many other things up her sleeve. It almost seemed as though she were cheating, but then... how could it be considered cheating if she simply had been prepared for anything?

 

Kendalina had said earlier they were here as a job. It would only make sense that one of the two have all these different weapons at ready use. Samantha had even pulled out a small handgun at one point and simply shot a monster who kept dodging her spells.

 

And then, Marik got his shot in.

 

The monster was a fire creature- one that looked like some sort of premature pheonix. And, instead of hovering in midair, it seemd to be spreading, the flame from it's wings being fanned with every passing second. The Spirit of the Millenium Puzzle was certain that it wasn't the Winged Dragon of Ra- Marik would have made a bigger deal over it's summoning.

 

The old spirit took a moment to recall, but then, it came to him- it wasn't a rare card, but it was only in one of the lesser known decks of occult Duel Monster Magic cards, known as 'Pheonix feathers'. A weak monster that gathered attack points depending on how many monsters had been sent to the graveyard by the users opponent, and for every 500 points it gained from that, it raised a defensive shield around the user's entire area 500 points.

 

And then it struck the Pharaoh how many monster's Samantha had sent to his 'graveyard'. Even if the point system was eliminated, the abilities of the monsters remained the same...

 

Had Marik possibly been planning this all along? He wondered...

 

Samantha was chuckling.

 

"So you brought her onto the field, knowing that by the new rules, you'll be surrounded with a perfect shield while I'll get my entire side burned into a crisp." She mused, looking truly admiring of Marik's move, this time.

 

Marik sneered at her.

 

"Furthermore, I combine it with the magic effect, as a card, known as 'Soul Demolition'!" Samantha's face grew very serious, "Which, considering that you are no longer among the living, would destroy your immortal body! All that will be left of you is a little smoke and faint memories!" Marik's eyes were bulging from their sockets, and he seemed to be having a kind of siezure as his arms flailed.

 

Samantha smiled a very neutral smile.

 

"Do you really believe so?" She asked, more as though she was curious than as a challenge. Then, she reached around her neck, pulled out the string of a pendant, and took it off her neck, flinging it, almost carelessly, away so that it hit the kekkai and fell down onto the lower platform.

 

Yugi scooped it up. The Pharaoh could see smoke coming from it.

 

"Very well. Do as you will." Samantha smiled, this time with a definite challenge. Marik sneered at her, and the pheonix dived into an attack, striking the ground at Samantha's feet and her entire side of the field burst into flame.

 

Serenity screamed.

 

:: You. Help me out here. :: The Pharaoh started and Yugi looked around. They'd heard a voice, quite suddenly, but where had it come from?

 

It was a very androgenous voice- low, but light, and the perfect blend of volumes and pitch.

 

:: The thing you're holding in your hand, dummy. That's where I am. :: The voice said, and Yugi looked down at the amulet Samantha had tossed off. It looked like a circlet, with a second circlet in the center, and two lines from the outside one were holding the inside in place.

 

"Yo, Yug, wa's wrong, man?" Joey asked, as Yugi's eyes widened at the thing in his hands.

 

:: Just put me on top of Puzzle-kun so I can at least project an image and everyone can see me. :: The voice said, and Yugi obiediently helped.

 

Smoke started to unfurl and take shape on the deck. Kendalina looked mildly interested before she seemed to figure out what was going on.

 

"Oh. Solar-san's coming out." She muttered, flicking ash off her cigarette.

 

The smoke had taken the shape of a human figure, but it was so vague, nobody could distinuish features- they could see long arms and long legs, but that was all they could tell; they couldn't even see what gender it was, or what their face looked like.

 

Everyone ran backwards away from the cloud as it stared up at the raised platform, a similar chuckle sneaking out of the shape as they'd heard from Samantha's throat earlier.

 

"Well, looks like everything's going well, then!" The voice said, conversationally. Joey got onto his feet and started to shout at it.

 

"ARE YOU BLIND?! SHE'S GETTIN' BURNED UP DERE!" He jumped up and down, waving his arm at the duel. The shape's head turned and looked at him, with a very disgusted noise, but said nothing for a long time.

 

"You are quite dull, boy." It finally said, looking away. Kendalina raised her cigarette into the air, as though drinking to a toast.

 

"Dull boy!" She repeated, snickering. It made Joey even more angry.

 

"WAD YOU JUST CALL ME?! YOU JUST SAID DAT EVERYDING WAS OKAY, AND SHE'S GETTING BURNED TO A CRISP, SO EVERYDING'S NOT OKAY!" Joey shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the figure, who was snickering again and looking back up at the duel, as though it were an entertaining show.

 

"Such an ill-tempered boy, too." It muttered, which Kendalina took as her cue to chant,

"Ill-tempered boy! Ill-tempered boy!"

 

It was more than obvious that everyone seemed irritated by this display. The figure put its hands on the railing and sat down on it. Even sitting, the thing was taller than even Kaiba.

 

Yugi intercepted the next argument by going about pleasantries.

 

"So... who are you?" He asked. Tea made a face.

 

"And WHAT are you?" She added. The figure snickered and didn't answer, instead pointing up at where Samantha had been, which was now being swirled around by fire.

 

"Ah! There we go!" It said, brightly. The flames continued to swirl, as though they were merely a scarf some dancer was trailing behind her, before they moved aside completely to reveal Sammy standing there, not even singed, with a mirror in her hand.

 

The mirror was sucking up the fire!

 

"I told you she was alright!" The smokey shape said, gleefully. Joey got mad, again.

 

"YOU SAID NOT-DING LIKE 'AT! YOU JUS' SAID EVERYDING WAS GOIN' WELL, NOT 'SAMMY'LL BE SAFE' OR 'HER MIRROR WILL EAT DA FIRE'!" He shouted. The shape of the head looked at him for a while, before it turned back to the duel, still chuckling a little.

 

"I was right when I said you were dull." It murmured, ignoring Joey's replying to it, and still staring at the duel going on.

 

The last flame was swallowed by the mirror, whose face closed to reveal it wasn't a mirror at all- instead, it looked like the handle and frame of a handheld mirror with a mouth in the center. The teeth were triangle shaped, and some potruded over it's lips in a leer.

 

Samantha grinned, and nuzzled it with her cheek.

 

"Mine, now!" She said, gleefully. Marik's eyes twitched.

 

"Eh?" All the boys on the ground asked, while Mai, being the only one whose brain wasn't broken by all this hocus-pocus, turned to the shape and asked straight out,

 

"What did she just do?" The figure's voice seemed as though it was smiling as it replied, and the head seemed to rotate like a cobra unwinding itself as it rotated to look at Mai.

 

"She stole the other monster's attack." It explained, before snickering, "Ah, feel the power of the Matan Mulut- This distance from Indonesia and it still sucks up magic like a spider with her prey!" The figure had a chuckle in its voice that seemed to say 'I'm happy, and no good will come of it'.

 

Yugi and Bakura, still under the influence of the Millenium Ring, were the only boys not on the other end of the platform, curled into balls, rocking, and muttering 'That thing is so scary...'

 

"That was fun!" Samantha was squealing up on the deck, making her look rather inappropriately childish, "What else have you got? Poison darts? Magic swords? Shadows that strangle people and eat them from inside out? He hasn't ever had these kinds of attacks!" Marik's eye twitched.

 

"Oooh, Maa-kun looks mad!" The thing smiled, sounding delighted with this prospect. The Millenium Ring snorted.

 

"She has the uncanny ability to walk the line of pissing people off and having people hate her." He muttered, and the smoke just snickered.

 

"How true that is... and coming from YOU, Ring-kun..." It added. The Millenium Ring used Bakura's eyes to shoot it a glare that promised a future of entrapment in the Shadow Realm.

 

Then, Marik started to laugh, again.

 

"Oh great." Tristan muttered, taking a step backwards, "He's gonna call up his God card, I know it!" Serenity gripped Tristan's sleeve, looking panicked, which made him at least shut up.

 

"Perceptive, Tan-kun." The shape said, its tone becoming less than amused as it watched Samantha, "To capture another creature's power triggers the balance mechanism that controls all exchange in the universe- when a creature loses their power, and can no longer attack or defend itself, another monster must come forward and, by making the first part of itself, defend and attack on that creature's behalf." It explained, sounding grim and resting its head in its hand. Tea turned to look at it.

 

"You mean... Marik now gets to summon another monster and that monster will merge with the first and then attack her?" She asked, panicked. The thing nodded, still sounding grave.

 

"Aah..." It confirmed, its focus trained on the other girl. Yugi frowned.

 

"But... even if Marik uses the Winged Dragon of Ra's 'One Turn Kill' ability, Sammy's already dead, so..." He said, but Marik was still laughing.

 

"That's right, but not only am I going to summon the most powerful of all three Egyptian Gods, but I will also combine it with the magic of this!" Marik pulled from the shadows, a bright blue orb. It looked rather plain, but Samantha's eyes narrowed.

 

"Is that Ku-Tang-Xion's Crystal of Refraction?" She asked, and Marik's smile only grew.

 

"Indeed it is- and if you know what it is, then you should also know what it does- For every monster that I summon, you must also summon a monster, and then on the next turn, we both summon two monsters, and after that, three, and so on until the game comes to an end!" Marik punctuated this with an obscene gesture with his tongue.

 

"And if you destroy monsters that I have summoned, I lose power because they're connected to me. So when I can't stand up anymore, you win." Sammy surmised, with a similar grim tone as the thing who had come from her crystal, "Simple, yet elegant." She finally admitted.

 

Duke seemed to analyze this statement.

 

"So... she's screwed, then." He surmised.

 

To everyone's surprise, Sammy smiled.

 

"Well... we'll just see, won't we?" Samantha agreed, amiably, pulling pieces of paper from her shirt. A few guys grimaced at knowing what it would imply about where the paper had been before this, but didn't comment.

 

The thing who was watching started to laugh.

 

"And I thought those would be USELESS!" It cried. Samantha grinned at it, threw one paper, and it landed at her feet, black goo slithering from it and forming a man in a black suit with dark glasses. Marik laughed at the feeble excuse for a monster she'd conjured, and went with his turn to summon the Winged Dragon.

 

Immediately, a flaming bird hovered over the field, and aimed for the shiki. As everyone expected, the man in the suit burned and disappeared. Samantha, however, stayed standing, much unexpectantly to Marik.

 

"See, Solar-san? I told you those shikis that Hinoto gave us as payment would be useful!" She called, waving at the cloud, who was laughing now.

 

"OH-HO-HO-HO! Alright- you get my pudding!" It called back. Samantha made a face as though that wouldn't be too much of a change from usual. Tea blinked at the thing.

 

"So... Solar-san is your name?" She asked. Solar shrugged.

 

"That's what Sammy calls me. But then... that's how I introduced myself to her..." It said, in a bit of a smug voice. Tea gave it a disgusted look.

 

"This thing is a freak!" Joey whispered to Tristan and Duke. Unfortunately, the Solar had ears just like Samantha, and promptly hit him over the head with a giant hammer.

 

"Watch it! You're a cute kid, but you're not THAT cute!" It snapped. Duke seemed to be puzzling over what had just occurred with Samantha.

 

"So... wait... was that monster that she played not one of her own?" He asked, frowning. Solar snickered- at this point, forcing everyone to assume it was only doing that because they couldn't see the facial expressions it was making.

 

"Correct- that shiki that she used as a monster was from another person, and so it has no connection to Samantha's power supply. However, since she was the one who folded it, activated the enchantment, and summoned the shape it took, it was still considered to be her monster, and so was considered a fair move in the game play." The thing replied, sounding as though it deserved some credit for the move Samantha had pulled.

 

The look on Marik's face looked... displeased... to say the least.

 

"However, the next turn, they both have to summon two monsters and Sammy isn't going to be able to use two of those shikis again for this..." Solar said, with a groan as it tried to figure what to do about it. Sammy seemed to be doing the same thing, before she turned to Solar.

 

"Solar-san, did you use up that dimensional portal from the Tengu twins while I was out, or anything?" She asked, and Solar made a negative noise.

 

"Nope: They still owe us!" It called back, which made Samantha clap her hands in delight.

 

"Oooh! Excellent!" She squealed. Duke stuck a finger in his ear and twisted.

 

"I think I can hear the writers for Mr. Burns from the Simpsons laughing from across the Pacific..." He muttered, with a kind of American humor the other's didn't get, except Solar, who didn't comment, but watched as Sammy took out a necklace of beads with a tassel of violet thread hanging from the middle.

 

"Isn't that the kind of necklace of beads omnyouji's wear?" Kendalina asked, recognizing the artifact, slightly. Solar made a noise.

 

"Somewhat, except if you called the people who we GOT that necklace from 'omnyouji's, they'd be insulted that you'd put them on the same level as mere humans." It commented. Everyone blinked.

 

Samantha held the beads at arms length and let them float apart, separating and spreading as though forming a giant circle. She chanted something that nobody understood, as she was saying it so quietly, but soon enough, a great swirl of wind came up, twisting around, until it settled and two long-haired figures stood where the beads had indicated.

 

The first had a hardened, regal face, with long blue hair, down to his feet, and wore an elegant blue silk kimono. His ears were pointed.

 

The second was short, almost like a child, but his hair was black and just as long, even when held up in the elaborate hairpiece he wore. He was dressed in a firey red yutaka, worn carelessly, but effectively. His ears, too, were pointed.

 

"SOU-RYUU! KURIKARA! IT'S BEEN TOO LONG!" Sammy squealed, excitedly, as the two turned. Everyone blinked.

 

"She..." Joey started.

 

"Knows..." Added Tea.

 

"Them...?" Yugi finished everyone's thought. Solar snickered.

 

"Oh, Kurikara-kun and Souryuu-kun are OLD friends of ours..." It said. Kendalina glared at the smoke, disapproving.

 

"You would do good to remember they are DRAGONS- it's not very smart to call them -kun." She said, in a warning tone. Solar didn't seem to take notice of it.

 

Meanwhile, the two summoned dragons turned to Sammy.

 

"Oh, Witch-san- did you summon us?" Souryuu asked. Sammy shook her head.

 

"Nope! Solar-san has to sit out because it's too dangerous up here." The vampire explained, pointing to the sidelines where the smokey figure waved at the two on the platform.

 

"Oh..." The one called Kurikara said, looking upset, "Well, waddya want?" He demanded.

 

Samantha held up one hand as though to say 'Wait a minute.' and then flung a barrier ofuda at Marik. It held in the air and formed a barrier as the two monsters he'd just summoned attempted to attack.

 

"You can wait, Marik-kun- these are important formalities." She scolded, before turning back to the two dragons, "Now, what I need your help for is HIM." Sammy pointed down at Marik. Kurikara turned and made a face.

 

"Oh... A human..." He said, scathingly, "No wonder his manners are the worst." Samantha smiled at that.

 

"Coming from YOU, Kurikara-san..." She started, but the dragon seemed to know where this was going, because he shouted at her,

 

"SHUT UP!"

 

Solar snickered.

 

"Don't tell me that you want US to kill THOSE THINGS?!" Kurikara continued, pointing with distaste at the two creatures Marik had summoned.

 

"Bin-bon!" Samantha smiled, brightly. Souryuu seemed to take this well, even if Kurikara gave her a glare that could freeze hell over.

 

"You have GOT to be KIDDING!" He said. Sammy continued to smile.

 

"HOW CAN SHE BE SO CHEERFUL?!" Joey shrieked, doing a dance on one leg. Solar laughed at him.

 

"Jo-kun, you need to develop a sense of humor if you're going to get anywhere in life." It said, waving a hand at him.

 

"I'll give you something of equal value." Samantha said, though her voice had an edge of 'You'll do it, whether I pay you or not.' Souryuu seemed to catch this and whispered something to Kurikara, with a look of distaste.

 

"It had better be something good- but I can't imagine what you'd say is 'of equal value' to this complete waste of my time AND having to work with HIM." Kurikara pointed at Souryuu, who looked just as displeased, as he said this. Sammy pouted, slightly.

 

"Well, I guess Solar-san and I will just keep that hozuki we have, full of the Hyakki Yakko's nectar, which we got all the way back in the Edo period..." Samantha sighed, feigning a look of remourse.

 

Kurikara seemed to understand how much THAT was worth, because his eyes went wide and then, suddenly, he spun to face Marik's monster, unseathing a giant sword that was about three times his size.

 

"I'M GONNA KICK SOME ASS!" He growled, sneering, while the Solar seemed to suddenly realize what Samantha had just offered, because it started to shriek,

 

"NOOOOOOO! NOT THE HYAKKI YAKKO NECTAR!"

 

"Kurikara is so easy to manipulate..." Kendalina mused, sounding as though she was holding in a snicker.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tohru allowed herself to be towed along by Yuzuriha through the streets of Tokyo, attempting to find a decent shop which sold ingredients. The onigiri had noticed, while making cocoa, that their kitchen was very sadly short of proper ingredients. Thus, she was out shopping with the two Dragons of Heaven, shortly joined and introduced to a woman with curly pink hair by the name of Karen Kasumi

 

(A/N: I just noticed that Karen has her first appearance here... hmmm... interesting..)

 

What she'd not expected, however, was to see Hatori-san just before them.

 

Even more unexpected was how they all seemed to be walking directly after him, getting closer with every step.

 

"Ah... Hatori-san, konnichi wa!" She said, jogging up to him, but staying far enough away that she didn't accidentally fall into him. Hatori turned, wordlessly and blinked at the company Honda-kun was with.

 

There was... something there...

 

"Konnichi wa, Honda-kun." He said, as a knee-jerk response. She kept smiling.

 

"Oh, is this Hatori-san who you talked about the first time we met?" Kamui asked, Tohru, blinking. Tohru looked confused, then remembered that, indeed, she'd mentioned Hatori after Momiji had transformed in front of everyone at Bakura's house.

 

"Ah... hai... um... Hatori-san this is... Yuzuriha-san and Kamui-san... and..." She fumbled for Karen's name, not remembering it immediately. Karen smiled, and introduced herself. Hatori managed to keep his eyes away from the revealing (albeit decent) outfit that the fire mistress was dressed in.

 

"Nice to meet you." He said, agreeably, trying to casually keep his distance so that none of the women accidentally bumped into him.

 

"Ano... Hatori-san... what brings you out here?" Tohru asked, and Hatori gave her a slight look.

 

"Akito-san had an errand for me to run." He said, in a tone that Tohru recognized as meaning he wasn't allowed to say anything about it. Tohru swallowed hard.

 

"Ah..." She muttered, and didn't speak again. Karen, however, was giggling.

 

"Oh, isn't he the sweetest!" She cooed, in a joking manner, deliberately grabbing Hatori's shoulders and nuzzling her cheek against his.

 

So quickly that she was thrown off balance when Hatori disappeared in a puff of smoke.

 

"AAAAAAHHHHH! HATORI-SAAAAAAAAAN!"

 

And, when the smoke cleared enough for Yuzuriha to see a tiny seahorse in a pile of Hatori's clothes, Inuki helpfully changed into a fishbowl full of water.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Kurikara and Souryuu, after seeing the valuable items that Samantha had offered to them, had quickly undone the monsters Marik summoned. Marik, though ruffled, quickly proceeded to begin summoning three monsters, while Samantha went through the dealings with the two dragons.

 

Solar was still sniffling over the lost hozuki.

 

"So, Kurikara-san, the four-century old Hyakki Yakko nectar..." Sammy said, aimiably handing over the hozuki, before turning to Souryuu, "And Souryuu-san, the Jamaican Black Pearls." She handed a strand of the dark opals to Souryuu, at which point, Kurikara turned back to her, with a scowl.

 

"Wait- you and the Witch have been in correspondence for years. You, of all people, should know about balance and what this implies as far as prices and their requests. These are too valuable for merely destroying a couple of monsters- you want something else from us." He accused, and everyone was surprised that Samantha didn't deny it.

 

"The bones you two took from the monsters you killed." She said. The two dragons looked surprised, then disappointed, before Kurikara thrust out a large, white bone shaped a lot like a trident, while Souryuu handed her a curved bone that looked similar to a dart.

 

"If it makes you feel any better, we'll return these next time we come to Gensoukai, but for now, I sort of need them." Sammy smiled, aimiably taking the bones into her own hands.

 

There was no reply- Souryuu and Kurikara simply vanished.

 

"And now..." Samantha said, giving the two monsters Marik had brought up and the third he was attempting to summon a glance, "To put an end to that..." She brandished the tridant shaped bone that Kurikara had given her. Marik didn't seem to take much notice, all of his energies focused on summoning his third creature.

 

"That's the problem with summoning..." Solar piped up, and all eyes turned to it, "Usually, when a person summons monsters, its either because they don't have enough power to defend themselves and need a creature to do it for them, or because they can't use their own powers. And, while this in and of itself is simple, it still requires a tremendous amount of energy to summon a single creature. Which is why, when its destroyed, the backlash can send an amateur to his knees." Solar sounded reflective for a moment before it noted the bones Samantha had weedled out of Souryuu and Kurikara's hands.

 

"So... what's those bones got to do with monster summoning?" Tea asked, with a frown. Solar didn't answer for a moment, before it seemed to understand something, and then laughed.

 

"Oh, I see..." The smokey figure said, and then fell silent, as though smug that it knew what was happening.

 

Samantha used both her hands to control the trident shaped bone, turning upside-down and tracing something on the ground with it, before raising it again and making a swiping motion through the air.

 

Mostly nobody understood what that had to do with stopping the effect of Marik's crystal ball, except Tea, who could see the shadows of everything on the wall surrounding the platform.

 

Something- she didn't know what- had been sent flying as Samantha sliced the air with the bone, and whatever it had been, the shadow of the crystal shattered, even as the real ball itself merely dropped out of air, where it had been hanging.

 

Everyone stared.

 

"And now, Sammy doesn't need to summon her own monsters because she broke the effect of Ku-Tang-Xion's crystal." Solar concluded, smugly, "SAMMY! YOU'RE SO COOL!" It called to the girl on the platform, who grinned.

 

"So true! So true!" She chanted. Mostly everyone on the ground looked disgusted.

 

"You know, if this is supposed to be funny, I'm not amused." Duke interjected, looking at the Solar, who waved his comment away.

 

"That's okay- I am!" It said, apparently not caring that the others were rather sick of all the bad puns and crude humor being thrown around.

 

"Sou..." Samantha mused, looking at the three creatures Marik had pulled up in amusement.

 

"Since if I put any one of those three down, it would probably be your untimely end, I really can't do anything- it's not your time." Sammy said, speaking to Marik, almost kindly if it weren't for the utter morbidity of her statement, "And, as I'm already dead, there's not really a whole lot you can do to ME..." She continued, as though she were enjoying drawing out the tension, before her arms and legs all popped off and she landed with a splat on the platform. A loud noise of disgust echoed over the roof.

 

"Alright, we'll call it a draw." And then, she pulled all her limbs back on and left the platform, walking right past everyone, through the door, and out of sight.

 

Everyone stared after her for a moment, before Joey screamed.

 

"WAD DA HECK WAS DAT?!" Kendalina gave him a look as the Solar disappeared.

 

"Anticlimatic." She said, as though that should have been obvious.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

'Again, what was the point of that?'

 

'Why, to buy time, of course.'

 

'What do you need time for?'

 

'For everything to work.'

 

'Aah... The story has to follow your plot...'

 

'That's right. Now, be a good girl, and set everything up.'

 

'...Yes...'

 

'...Good girl.'

 

'...'

 

'That is why I created you, afterall...'

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Muraki worked, for days, for nights.

 

Cultures stayed warm, whole pieces of a body ready for movement. Almost all of them perfected. Only one of the eyes was slightly flawed. They could have been transplanted to anybody.

 

And they would be.

 

In a manner of speaking.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Ken didn't know WHAT the voice had done. But whatever had happened to him, he hurt, everywhere.

 

Literally.

 

His hands, his face, his knees, his back- it was as though someone had poked thousands of needles into him, all the way down to his bones, stomach, liver, intestines, lungs, and heart.

 

Really, it was a miracle he was still alive, he hurt so much, in so many places.

 

At least now, he was laying down, with his arms at his sides and his legs straight out.

 

But that didn't help. Ken was willing to bet his arms and legs were tied down, and even if they weren't, moving would hurt too much for him to get very far.

 

The floor was cool, but not freezing.

 

Which meant it was something either than metal or carpeting.

 

Probably wood of some kind.

 

And there were bandages all over his arms and legs, head and chest...

 

Who knew why...

 

There was nothing much more to do, but wait.

 

A/N:....

 

I think I'm going to kill it here. But for those of you who are LOOKING FORWARD to my updates, here's something nice and juicy.