Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Yu-Gi-Oh! A Tapestry Incomplete ❯ Happy Birthday Hell Umei ( Chapter 5 )

~Previously on Yugiou; The man's robe rustled in another up coming wind, "… It hasn't been long, your face has become much more elegant from what I have remembered, at least you are looking more like a lady… Matouchi…" his voice left a trace of arrogance.

"Nani?! Please tell me who you are?" Mesmori jumped back at his statement.

"Furthermore, I will not become your courtesan that you want to discharge your erotic positions on! Go find sexual perversion from some other call girl!" Mesmori finally was finished voicing her opinion.

"Eh, very pissy isn't she," Jounouchi snickered into Mesmori's ear, "Must be that time of the month." He began to chuckle.

"Oh my!" Mesmori gasped shocked holding her hands clutched up to her chin. "And right during a duel of all places!" her eyes sparkled in concern. "I may have something for her, always come prepared." Mesmori began looking through her junky, oversized jacket pockets.

"How can someone harbor so much hatred…" Yami Yuugi grew angry. "Is it because there was no one ever there to encourage you? Is that why you grew a heart of jealousy and malevolence? Is that why you chose Umei… Because her heart of jealousy and malice was equal to yours that night?"

Hell Umei's hot pink eyes shimmered, "Meet Sun's Rays, Forest Guardian, and Snipper…. The three ritual cards!"

"Let death begin… My turn… But before I can do so, Enmako must first feed on one of my monsters in order to be active! I give him the Rare Elven Ice Dancer!" Hell Umei's maniacal grin did not falter yet her voice got louder and more annoying. A smog wrapped around the Rare Elven Ice Dancer who was now crying for mercy as she was sucked into the pit of Enmako's soul.

"Why her! Why did you do this! Of all people… WHY ANZU!" Yami Yuugi's head shot down, not wanting to show the tears in his eyes. `Anzu, don't go… You are not dead… Are you?'

`I may be selfish…' Yami Yuugi's voice echoed through the minds of every person at the scene-every person in the world! `But I rather be selfish to have the love of others instead of no love at all! I did not kill Anzu! I killed you!'

Yami Yuugi's entire body withdrew into shadow as an eye symbol illuminated his forehead. `Crystal Ball, Sword, and Mirror. Mythical totems told to be gifts of Yanma. Three artifacts, one carrier. You draw the carrier, the items falter! Friendship, Courage, and Love! Totems of all! None of you! Let me show you what they are worth! I choose… ATEMKO!'

Yami Yuugi would not allow anymore chances of rehabilitation anymore. It was time. Yami Yuugi held his left-hand forward and spread out his fingers. "Penalty!"

"YUUGI NO!" a transparent form of Umei emerged from Hell Umei as she screamed with all her might.

Yami Yuugi didn't know until it was too late, "Mind crush!"

Pegasus turned back to the window and peered outside, he peered at the sixteen-year old girl, he peered at her mangled body as if a bomb had exploded inside of her, he peered at the East Domino High school uniform she had been wearing.~

-

A Tapestry Incomplete

Episode Five: Happy Birthday Hell Umei

-

"I know it was her," a peeved tone spat out, "It wreaks of her, I know it is her! She tried to kill me! I know I know! I saw it! I saw her! For the while I was dead, I saw her! Temee! She dueled as if she could win! That entire duel! That boy! Those monsters! But how could I see all that? How could I see her? Wie!? A connection perhaps? A connection by a thread? A thread of an inevitable outcome! I, and only I, am destined to kill her!"

The proprietor behind the voice was a female with shoulder-length ebony hair. Upon her she bore a East Domino High uniform, stained with blood at the appendages. It was obvious enough that she was the "once dead" victim outside the castle walls. Yet she was alive again.

"UNGLAUBLICH!" She glared down at her attire. "Mag es nicht! Because of Umei my uniform is ruined!" and she reached for the gigantic tote bag, as black as her hair, that hung on her left side. Out she pulled a .22 and coped the handle as she clicked the trigger. The gun shot off with a bang to the sky as the manaical female howled with laughter. "Pay back is issued! For I, Dene, will not be played the butt of a duel penalty!"

And the sixteen-year-old, Dene, marched off into the woods and away from the castle, her jet-black stiletto heels piercing the dirt. She was too caught up in getting revenge on her "life-time adversary" that she didn't notice Wolfram Schwarz gazing at her from one of the castle windows.

"Aber erst…" Dene halted, "I MUST CHANGE!"

---

Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko… Enmako… Atemko…

Yuugi, no longer possessed by the spirit of his Millennium Puzzle, awoke to the sounds of murmuring. A voice he recognized all too well. He lifted his head up along with his body to see where he was.

The sky was at its darkest and underneath him was nothing but miles of sand, yet before him however; a black stone pyramid stood at about seven stories tall. Two statues, twelve feet tall, stood three feet away from each other and symbolized the entrance. The statue towards Yuugi's left was the exact replica of Atemko while the one towards Yuugi's right was of Enmako! Beyond the statues was a set of stairs leading towards a pitch-black corridor inside the castle.

Umei sat at the foot of the stairs clutching her head intensely. She was the one whispering the names of the two monsters she vaguely remembered from her entity's duel with Yuugi. She was no longer the vile Hell Umei, now just a confused Umei.

"Umei, what's wrong?" Yuugi dashed towards her as she stood to face him, her pale green eyes didn't gleam with the encouragement she once had in them-they were dull.

"Yuugi…" her expression hardened as soon as she realized whom she was alone with, "Go away! I don't need your sympathy!" Umei clinched her fists as she turned towards the stairs.

"Umei! Matte!" Yuugi grabbed hold of her hand and began jabbering: "Where is the others? Have you seen them? What has happened? What is this place?"

"Let go, does it look like I know!" Umei shook him away from her.

Yuugi took a deep breath, bowed, and then said: "I apologize for grabbing onto you like that, I'm just at a loss at what has just happened."

"I don't know anymore than you do…" Umei noticed she had just said her statement with empathy towards Yuugi so she quickly blurted out, "Shouldn't you apologize for something else too!"

"Huh?"

Umei crossed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips. "You little cheater, I would've won if you hadn't pulled a stunt like that! You got help from outside the duel by using a card that wasn't yours, you should be disqualified!"

Yuugi spoke out in his defense rather calmly, "I don't think the duel matters at this point, and besides, you had no say in what happened, it was you that wanted to end it but SHE wouldn't let you. That terrible enigma that possessed you wanted you dead and wanted to destroy the world if I didn't stop her. I saved your life. And anyway, you used an arena that was possibly not even part of Duelist Kingdom's regulations, you would be disqualified too… Furthermore, YOU could be tried for murder! "

Umei held her head down and raked her hands through her blonde hair.

"I don't believe you are that evil into wanting to keep that spirit inside you. It claimed you as its victim and called you weak. It fed off of your hatred. Yet in the end… I remember you saying that you wanted me to stop from banishing that enigma from your mind when it was too late… Is that part of the reason why we're here?!"

"You can't kill her! You don't understand! This is your fault!" Umei shot her head up while she spun around on the balls of her heels and sprinted off towards the corridor at the end of the stairway.

"Umei!" Yuugi called after her, "You are breathing hatred! Don't go into that room of darkness, you don't know what's in there!"

"Leave me alone!" It was as if Umei's body became one with the darkness as she disappeared into the void.

Yuugi took off after. `Why are you acting this way?' he thought as he vanished into the darkness as well.

---

"Umei!" Yuugi shouted. It was impossible to see anything that was in front of him; it reminded him of that room he had gone to in his mind when he had ran out of hope of defeating Hell Umei in their duel.

Yuugi stretched his hands to feel around where he was going. His fingertips traced over a wall so he stalked against it as he kept moving forward.. The corridor went on for miles and miles and it seemed to be getting darker and darker each step Yuugi took. The hallway also seemed to get narrower and narrower as Yuugi was running out of space. He edged forward. For at least ten minutes he had been walking until his hands brushed over something. He began to poke at whatever the voluptuous thingy-ma-bober was; something he would regret executing

"Ecchi!" Umei screeched. It echoed through the entire corridor as she smacked Yuugi's hand away from her bosom. "What do you think you are doing you perv! Kuso!" Umei brought her hands around her chest as she turned bright red, unfortunately, Yuugi couldn't see that she was shielding herself.

Unfortunately, Umei couldn't see that Yuugi's face was flushed with embarrassment as well. "Gomen gomen! It's not like I go around doing that! I couldn't see!"

"You fondled me! Ecchi ecchi!" the sounds of Umei's boots backing away resonated through the air.

"I apologized! Why were you standing there anyway!"

Umei began to tap her foot, "I don't have to explain myself to you, you groped me and that is that, what kind of friend are you!"

"Friend?" Yuugi whispered.

"I MEAN-Oh shut up!" It was best that Umei didn't see the smirk that stretched across Yuugi's face.

"There you go again, when something doesn't turn out the way you plan you blame others and start acting on wicked intentions. That isn't your true self I know, the way you wanted to end the duel when that creature inside of you forced you to surrender yourself to her will… There is a caring person inside of you, if you would stop running from people when they reach out to you then you might be treated better."

Umei stared down at Yuugi, her countenance grew lighter.

"Even though you are nasty to everyone they still try and be your friend and that is what frightens you. Not too long ago, Jounouchi and Honda were never considered my friends because of the way they treated me but I learned why. They wanted to make me stronger, and now I am."

"You… You are calling me a false person…" Umei had a hurt personage strike her face. "Everyone does…"

Yuugi's eyes widened at Umei's sudden conversion. "Maybe if you didn't act false around everyone else and showed others who you really are on the inside. I saw that `you'… The same night I defeated Kaiba in that duel, that's when that being attacked you… remember?"

Umei's mouth was left a gape.

~ ~ ~

"What do you want?" Umei stalked about the coliseum floor. She had just left Mokuba and Seto when the lights in the room had just went out.

"… Kauket…" a raspy voice rung through the air.

"Who is that?!" Umei jerked around.

"KAUKET! YOU WANTED REVENGE!"

Umei took off in a dash, because she couldn't see where she was going, she tripped over something on the floor and fell over. She tried to get up off the ground but something cold wrapped around her leg. The chill of the object rushed over her entire body and she saw purple fragments of energy forming above her. The particles became what looked like a large, bulging puffy cloud.

"What's going on!" Umei screamed. The cloud whirled itself into a tornado and twirled itself towards Umei. The very point of it began to circle its way into Umei's mouth. The taste was mostly unbearable and Umei's eyes widened as it forced its way into her body.

Umei's last thought before unconsciousness: `No, not anymore, forgive me…'

~ ~ ~

"Why would you want me to remember something like that, it has nothing to do with you…" Umei mumbled as she grew even more melancholy.

"You don't remember it all…" Yuugi coaxed.

~ ~ ~

"Get away from her!" Yami Yuugi called out from the darkness.

"You can see through this?" Jounouchi shouted beside him.

Both boys jogged towards the fallen girl as Yami Yuugi's Millennium Puzzle beamed a golden light.

Only part of the cloud didn't make its way into Umei as it dematerialized into the air. Because of the light pulsing from the point of Yami Yuugi's Sennen Totem, he was able to light the room a little better so the two could see in front of them. Jounouchi kneeled before Umei and slid one of his arms under her neck and the other under her rump.

"This is… Yuugi, How did you know?" Jounouchi panted.

"Hm?" Yami Yuugi turned towards his friend.

Jounouchi stood, "How did you know she was in danger?"

Yami Yuugi's gaze hardened as his eyes peered at Umei, "… It doesn't matter… It won't come back" Jounouchi looked puzzled so Yami Yuugi quickly said, "Where can we take her?"

"My place!" It didn't take Jounouchi long to think about that question and come back with a response as he made a perverted grin.

"Wait, I know a place, but you might not like whose place it is…"

~ ~ ~

"That entity said something about you being born with a high ESP, that's why you are able to perform telepathy… I knew you could do it before, I was surprised during my duel to learn that my suspicions were true. On that night you channeled your thoughts through the coliseum, though Jounouchi didn't hear you, I did. How do you do that?" Yuugi was leaning against the walls of the pyramid.

"It's like focusing on what you say verbally but you don't exactly say it from your mouth. It's to complicated to explain because it is just really unusual to me too." Umei's right palm went over her forehead, "But anyway, I do remember… though only a little. The haze though, it was that entity… but Yuugi, only part of it…" she stopped herself.

"Hm?" Yuugi's eyes grew questionable.

"-You. And your cheerleader---erm, friend---helped me? Why did you two, mostly Katsuya, help me? I was evil to Katsuya." Umei changed the subject; it was better to forget about the entity that attacked her.

"No matter if you were a stranger or not I would have still helped you. When someone's in trouble you should do your part in helping even though they may be an ally or otherwise. It doesn't matter to me as long as the person I'm aiding is okay." Yuugi began to itch his head, a little puzzled at Umei's question.

Umei smiled-yes smiled-and murmured, "Yuugi… You aren't false."

All of a sudden, Yuugi's Sennen totem that hung around his neck loosely and Umei's mysterious totem that was wrapped around her neck tightly began to glow with a magnificent, yet blinding, brightness! The entire corridor was lit, right down to the last crack in the wall. A flash so luminous that it could start a fire and literally it did. There were torches hung upon the wall that in an instant began to burn as the light from the two items ceased. Now with the newfound source of light in the hallway, the two could see before them.

"Is that a smile?" Yuugi chuckled.

Umei didn't let her smile go away even after the event that just happened. "Indeed it is, got a problem with that?"

"That was peculiar…" Yuugi lifted up his Millennium Puzzle and began to examine it, "Three times this happened. I never seen such a beam of light during the strangest of situations…"

"What other times has it happened?" Umei felt her feet becoming exhausted from standing in the same place for too long so she hunched to the floor and looked up at Yuugi.

"Well just now, on the island before I met you, and after my duel with Kaiba." Yuugi sat down as well after seeing what lied beyond their position; the walls joined to each and created a dead end, nowhere else to tread.

"Kaiba… I remember waking in his limousine, it was almost morning though he was wide awake."

"That wasn't exactly the place I thought of that night. I thought he was going to take you to his place because it was so late. It's just that… sleeping in a car is not all that comfy."

Umei began to laugh uncontrollably as her bottom hit the floor. She held her gut and practically toppled over into Yuugi's lap. "Yuugi, you are too good to be true." She gasped for air through her laughter.

Yuugi began to laugh as well.

After a few minutes of their chorus of tittering, Umei finally confessed to Yuugi. "I do know why we were brought here." She had spat out almost seriously as she stopped laughing completely; it was as if she had never laughed to begin with.

Her sudden change startled Yuugi and he needed a moment to gather himself. "You do?"

Umei cleared her throat and turned her eyes away from Yuugi's own. "That being that possessed me, that demon, it called itself Tekuak. He… She… it spoke to me, it threatened me, in my dream, my nightmare."

"He? It was a she? Wasn't it?" Yuugi's sclera widened and made his pupils grew small.

"Androgynous. Man and Woman in the same body and similar features. A Hermaphrodite. But that's besides the point," Umei continued as Yuugi was rather bewildered to hear about such a thing for the first time. "While I slept that night, the night I was attacked and rescued by you, she kept calling to me-" Umei affected her voice in a low and raspy town, "-Stop me and I take you with me, banish me and I take you with me, disobey me and your loved ones will be tortured forever, I can make you do such acts without your knowing… you'll wake up everyday wondering what you have done… murder, thievery, rape…"

Yuugi felt a shiver roll down his spine at how good Umei was able to impersonate Hell Umei's voice right down to the last cackle.

"So in short, because of you exiling her, we are stuck here for eternity, which is why I blamed you…" Umei held her head. "I blame myself, I deserve whatever Tekuak made me do to anyone without my knowing! The pain in not knowing what I did, and Tekuak describing each act in excruciating detail! I am false!"

Yuugi's hands clasped around Umei and he shook her from her accusations, "Calm down! No one deserves such a thing, we're both at fault so don't lay it on just one person."

Umei lifted her head, her eyes close to flowing tears. "How can you be so optimistic! We are sealed in some unknown world with that bastard lurking somewhere!"

"Hai… But she's also sealed here with two people who overcame her... Possibly her worst opponents of all."

Those kind, purple eyes of Yuugi mesmerized Umei as a lone tear slid down her cheek. "Unbelievable, there is only one you in all the world, and the only person that anyone would want to have as their company, though luckily, I get you all to myself." Umei came away from Yuugi, leaving his hands suspended in air from where her shoulders had been. She stood.

Yuugi grew a little paranoid at Umei's statement and began to sweat. `All to herself?!'

`Mmhmm… that's right.' Umei's thoughts went through Yuugi's.

Umei reached for her red beanie atop her head and dropped it to the floor as it disturbed the dust particles around it. She waved her head from side to side and let her brownish-blonde locks hidden by her hat fall to her shoulders.

Yuugi began to sweat now as his eyes shrunk and the veins in his eyes began to pulse. "U-mm-Umei!" Yuugi stuttered.

Umei brought her hands behind her neck and began to fiddle with something. "Yuugi I want you-"

Yuugi felt his own sanguine fluid roll down his nostrils as he brought his hands up and began moving them around. He began to mumble quickly. "UmeiIdon'tthinkweshould! UnlikeyouI'mnotexperienced! Not saying that you do that stuff! But look it is so dirty and you shouldn't do a dirty act on a dirty place! MATTE! AH!"

"-To have this…" She brought her hand up to Yuugi and presented what she held in it. It was her Egyptian totem still attached to her jet-black choker.

Yuugi stared at Umei's hand for quite a long time and harshly exhaled. "So you don't want to… you know…." He began to blush.

"Wha? Where'd you get that?!" Umei's voice sounded slightly irritated.

Yuugi stood and blabbered. "Well, come on, you were completely implying everything and you took off your hat and was doing all these recognizable gestures and you reached behind you as if you were gonna take off your br-"

Umei couldn't help but laugh. "Iie, Iie! Seto and I-" She stepped back and coughed. "Ahem, it is rather hot in here and my hat didn't help cool my head a bit, I see you are sweating, I hope not from being afraid of doing "that" thing and just because it is so hot. Everything else you believe I was implying is just your nerves."

Yuugi nodded even more embarrassed.

Umei brought out her hand again, "But anyway, heh, I want you to have this. Before my mother died I found this and it has brought me nothing but a sort of bad luck. Maybe with a positive person like yourself, it would bring you something greater."

"Oh no no no!" Yuugi bowed. "Something to remember your mother shouldn't be left to my possession! It's your memories and I have something special to me already, I couldn't take something special from you. You see, there are certain people that obtain these." Yuugi coped his Millennium Puzzle, "They are destined by some odd sort of… sort of-"

"A thread, like it was woven into their life's `quilt' before all of existence." Umei murmured.

"Well.. yea… Besides I think it best you keep it. A choker wouldn't look right on me…" Yuugi chortled a bit.

Umei brought it back to her self and fastened it around her neck. She walked towards the dead end and turned her back towards it. "Stuck here until our death, no one better to be stuck here than a person who would rival my conscience. Too bad our cards aren't here, we could've played against each other again." She huffed and flopped to the floor. "Yuugi… What if-EH!" Umei's back leaned against the wall that she thought was there. She fell through it and now half of her was present to Yuugi.

"Umei!" Yuugi stood and ran by the wall. He drew his hands over it and found out that there was no wall at all. "A hologram?! Well as long as we're here, might as well search every inch of this place…" Yuugi walked through it to see the other part of Umei.

She laid there on the floor a little peeved and with narrowed eyes. "Yo…"

Yuugi stared down at her and began to laugh.

"No more laughter, we've done enough of that." Umei stood up and dusted off her Capri denims. "I swear, Tekuak is making an ass of me."

Yuugi already took off walking down the rest of the hallway, leaving Umei to catch up.

---

Now instead of the hallway going on and on in a straight path, the duo came to a winding staircase that went down for miles. But with the torches lighting the way, the twosome weren't afraid of getting attacked without their knowing.

"Geez, as far down this goes you'd expect to see Satan himself by now." Umei broke the silence between the two after walking for thirty minutes.

Yuugi never spoke back, he was too focused on what waited at the end of the stairwell. It didn't take long to find out. Yuugi stopped to see another dead end in front of him, but on the wall was a portrait etched in stone, a portrait of the Egyptian eye that rested on his and Umei's totems. Yuugi brought his fingers to his chin as he pondered the question whether or not it was another illusion. He brought his fingers from his chin and was about to touch it when-

"Another of Tekuak's tricks! I'm getting tired of this! SHINE!" Umei blurted out further behind Yuugi, she began to pick up speed and rush towards the supposed fake wall.

"Umei! Matte!" Yuugi screamed but it was too late.

A loud echo of Umei slamming into the wall reverberated throughout the pyramid; she had rammed headfirst into structure and fell to the floor.

"Eck…" Yuugi slapped his forehead.

Umei was practically knocked out as she laid there with drool slipping from her mouth.

Yuugi ignored Umei for a bit and studied the wall again. He drew his fingers over the edges of the eye on the wall and came to the center. He knocked his hand around it and then upon its center to discover that the pupil of the eye was in fact false. He quickly bashed at the pupil and it shattered. Along with the pupil the entire wall shattered as well. Now a whole other lighted hallway lay before them.

Umei sat up with a rather huge, pulsing bump on her forehead. "Ouch man, god!" She rubbed her hand over her forehead but suddenly over her entire head. "Crap crap crap!" She bolted up and began to turn in every direction. "My hat! I left my hat!"

Yuugi sighed.

"Kuso kuso kuso! Damn you Tekuak! Quit toying with me!" Umei turned to sprint back up the stairs but Yuugi had stopped her by grasping her arm.

"Umei…"

"NANI? My hat man!" Umei glared at him but noticed he wasn't looking at her at all. Umei twisted her head around towards the passageway to see what Yuugi was so fixated with.

"I think it best you don't leave just yet…" Yuugi pointed at the end of the hallway before them. Towards the end, though not too far from the two, was most definitely a grinning Tekuak standing in a darkness that loomed around her.

"Umei what do we-" Yuugi began to say but noticed the gust that blew past him. Umei was already jetting towards Tekuak in a furious outburst. The grin on Tekuak did not falter.

"TEMEE! How dare you show your face before us!" Umei blasted out as her footsteps pounded on the pyramid floor. Although the closer and closer Umei got towards Tekuak, the menacing grin did not disperse, and Umei found out why.

Umei executed a punch but soon executed a cry of agony and discomfort. Umei sat on the floor and held her bruised right knuckle while her three strands of hair fell over her eyes while the rest of her hair rested over her shoulders... The darkness cleared away.

Yuugi sighed once again and strolled over to Umei. "Another painted picture on the wall."

"We're trying to teach Tekuak a lesson…" Umei stood up once again, "But it's really me who is being taught a lesson… ugh." Umei became teary-eyed and began patting her head. "My hat…"

"Hm?" Yuugi began to walk back and forth in front of the portrait of Tekuak, there had to have been something else to do to get pass this wall as well. `Tekuak brought us here to get rid of her enemies even though she became banished here herself. There has to be an exit, she has to have a fail-safe… somewhere? She used Umei's hatred to get so far ahead. She possibly counted on bringing us here in order to trap us while she makes off without being contained here. That illusion, that wall with its own weakness…? Hmm…'

Umei listened to Yuugi's thoughts a bit and wandered over to him. "An illusion, a weakness in the center…" Suddenly, Umei's item began to shimmer as her pale green eyes turned yellow.

"Nani?!" Yuugi backed away from Umei.

`The little girl cries… Because she has no eyes…' Umei's thoughts whirled around Yuugi's mind, though it was not thought in her own voice. The voice Yuugi heard was rather childish and perky. `The mirror shows her, yet to her, it is all a blur.'

"What does that mean?" Yuugi gasped, but then Umei's eyes returned to their original color and her item's light show halted.

"Nani?" Umei shook her head. "An illusion, weakness in center, a mirror? But this isn't a mirror, and I don't see a little girl?"

Yuugi stared up at Umei, but not into Umei's face, into her Egyptian totem. Within the eye was a sliver of glass made out to be the pupil! The small teen's hands clamped around Umei's item and yanked it towards the portrait.

Umei gagged and clawed at her neck. But before she could shriek at Yuugi, the portrait of Tekuak began to glow a spiting yellow light. The wall disappeared but a strong gust began to blow from the room beyond the passageway. Yuugi and Umei were both pulled in as the wall reappeared behind them. All light was gone from the room as the pair laid on the cold floor.

"Yuugi!" Umei felt around on the floor until she came to her fallen friend. She brought him to his feet and asked: "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just wish we could see in this place…" As if on cue with Yuugi's words, a torch was lit on the far side of the room, now revealed to be a torture chamber. The torch was jammed right into the middle of the chest of what looked like Tekuak chained to the wall by shackles-but it couldn't be! The Tekuak they saw before them was decomposing and rotting with flesh practically barren from the bone.

"Ohmigod!" Umei gulped as Yuugi turned away.

Umei, being completely fearless, or completely stupid, ran towards the long-dead Tekuak and stooped before its corpse. "A fate for a monster wanting a hell on Earth… Does even the most vile of creatures deserve such a punishment?" Umei looked above the body to see a date above the wall. From the looks of it, Tekuak was born, and died, on the same day. A day that had the same date as the day today. Umei's mouth was left agape as Yuugi finally stomached his terror and stumbled over to the blonde vixen.

"It means…?"

"I don't know…" Umei whispered, "This is what we will have to deal with while we're here? Our only company is a carcass and each other. Tekuak really was taught a lesson, Tekuak was taught how arrogant and naïve humans are and how easily they are conned!"

Even Yuugi began to lose hope from Umei's words.

"We're stuck here with a body whose spirit probably wanders on outside of this prison"

"We're stuck while three other beings of Tekuak lurk within three other hosts…" Yuugi added.

"We're stuck here with questions unanswered!" Umei ripped the Egyptian eye off her choker and clutched it in her hands. "I don't know what this is!? What does it do! What is its name!?"

"… Anubis Girandole…." The skeleton of Tekuak lifted its head up and moaned the name of Umei's item.

"EEPE!" Umei yelped as she jumped into Yuugi's arms and knocked them both over.

"A candleholder?!"

The skeleton's joints began to jerk about as it tried to stand. Its eyes shone a brilliant yellow and the bony fingers of its arms reached out for the two teenagers. The mouth of the being began to move and speak in the same voice of the raspy Tekuak they knew all too well. "… Wish me what with candles…"

"Ah Yuugi!" Umei was screaming like a little kid, I guess your true self really shows in the face of danger… Umei was afraid of corpses?! Yuugi shrugged and tried to think of what the zombified Tekuak meant, but it was rather hard to get pass the screaming and nudging Yuugi received from Umei.

"I know it!" Yuugi snapped his fingers.

"Know what! Speak fast!" Umei was all over Yuugi as the decrepit flesh of Tekuak mangled around Umei's wrists and thighs. "Ecchi!" Umei slapped at Tekuak's jaw and felt her own hand break through into its mouth. The very leathery tongue of Tekuak licked around Umei's fingertips. "Yamete! Bakayaro! YAMETE!

"Happy Birthday Tekuak!" Yuugi shouted through all the clamor. The bones collapsed to the floor and were without movement. Umei on the other hand collapsed to the side of Yuugi and wouldn't stop panting.

Yuugi pushed her off him and stood up, he bowed but then grabbed hold of Umei's arms and brought her to her feet. He whispered "bow" to her and she did, though trying to regain her sedated aura.

"Happy Birthday." They both hummed in harmony. The room began to disintegrate in the same way it had for Yuugi when he had been to a room exactly like this one in his mind. The entire seen grew light and the twosome began to fade from sight.

"To think, the only way out of exile was to give an enemy a friendly greeting…" Yuugi guffawed.

Umei traced her fingers over her Egyptian totem. "My Anubis Girandole…"

"See what we learn… Enemies aren't at all what you believe them to be."

Umei coughed and grew a stern tone. "Uhm, Yuugi… I think it be best that no one knows about my… phobia… Once we're out of here I'm going back to the way I was."

Yuugi's expression grew a little worried.

"Well… only a smidgen of the way I was…" Umei stuck her tongue out at him. Both of them disappeared completely as the white light illuminated the entire scene. The scene would have been left silent if it hadn't been for Umei's little whine: "My hat!"

---

In the real world; however, things seemed to be back to normal though not for the quartet that stood on the isolated part of the island. Not one was possessing a happy demeanor. Anzu whimpered next to Honda who seemed to be praying while Jounouchi went through Yuugi's cards over and over again shouting "Yuugi, Yuugi, Yuugi." Mesmori, on the other hand, was standing on the bridge that brought them there and looked rather impatient.

"It's sad really…" Mesmori spoke out, "That your friend lost the duel and her life, I thought she was an unbeatable duelist?"

Mesmori's words woke Jounouchi from his trance, stopped Anzu from crying, and jerked Honda away from his praise. In a matter of seconds, they were all hunched over Mesmori and yelling in her face.

"Yuugi is not dead!" Anzu shrieked.

"He won!" Honda growled.

"You know nothing about him!" Jounouchi roared.

"He saved my own life!" Anzu cried.

"He saved us all!" Honda fumed.

"He saved you!" Jounouchi howled.

"Where's your sympathy!" They all finished together.

"He? Him? Wha?" Mesmori looked rather confused but just as soon as she spoke her eyes sparkled while she pointed towards the center of the peak. "OMEGOSH! Look!" The group turned towards where Mesmori pointed and soon their own eyes began to sparkle with amazement.

A pale light began to beam upward as debris from the fight went up in the air as well. Yuugi's and Umei's cards that were once on the floor were now separated from each other in the air and began to form back in their own respected decks. From the light, Yuugi and Umei emerged through the ground and once the beam ended, Yuugi and Umei fell to the ground.

The entire quartet, even Mesmori, were all too stunned to move. Yuugi's deck fluttered down back in his hand as did Umei's. It was Yuugi that got up from the ground and helped Umei up. It was also Yuugi who broke the silence and said: "You okay?"

Yuugi and Umei both looked behind them at the eyes that stared at them and Umei just had to say: "Is there something wrong with them or are they just scared stiff?"

"YUUGI!" Jounouchi, Honda, and Anzu screamed to the top of their lungs so loud that all of Duelist Kingdom could have heard them.

"Guess not…" Umei gasped as she was shoved aside and watched Yuugi get tackled by his friends. It was Anzu who got to Yuugi first and embraced him in a hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Anzu giggled.

"Don't act like you were the only one who worried!" Jounouchi hugged both Anzu and Yuugi.

"Dun leave me out!" Honda squeezed into the group hug.

"Glad to see you too guys." Yuugi joined in the laughter.

Mesmori was glued to her spot as she stared at Umei with admiring eyes. Umei peered over at Mesmori for the longest but then suddenly shrugged and looked back at Yuugi. Mesmori began to walk over to Umei in a daze as her blue eyes sparkled more than usual.

"Yuugi…" Umei called for him.

Jounouchi quickly stuck up in Yuugi's defense. "What do you want! You got beat fair and square, I'm not partial to fighting girls but I could always make an exception!" Jounouchi threatened as he cracked his knuckles.

"Just go while you can." Honda backed his friend up.

"Stay back Yuugi." Anzu said along with the rest of them.

"Guys it's okay." Yuugi pushed through his friends. "Umei decided a change was in order after our little escapade in Tekuak's tomb."

"HUH?" The gang looked a little puzzled at what Yuugi was talking about.

"Yuugi don't brag about it. I already apologized for acting the way I did so we can let bygones be bygones." Umei laughed.

"WHU?" The gang gasped again.

"It may take a while for you guys to trust me but I will try and not act as false as I make myself out to be. I take full responsibility for cheating and I believe I should repay you…" Umei held out her left hand.

"WHOA WHOA!" Jounouchi finally said not in harmony with the group. "You admit to cheating?!"

"I read your thoughts, and I already apologized so don't expect me to do it again, I'm not your answering machine." Umei jerked something before Jounouchi and let it drop into his hands. "It's your star chips."

Jounouchi was even more confused than before.

"So Umei, with this change of heart you are showing, are you going to decide to come along with us?" Yuugi asked. "It would be good to learn more about a duelist as good as you."

"Thanks but I'm not completely soft ya know. I have a total rep to maintain. But anyway…" Umei turned towards the others and said to them individually, "Anzu-san, sorry about killing you, it wasn't completely my decision. Honda-san, uhm, nice to meet you. Katsuya…"

Jounouchi crossed his arms and began to tap his foot while he waited for his apology "It's Jounouchi to you…"

Umei bowed, "Hope to duel you again…" she glanced at Yuugi, "and I hope to make it as honorable as it should be."

Yuugi nodded.

"And you too Yuugi, I expect to duel you again and win without cheating, i.g., the battlefield Tekuak used and how I manipulated you." Umei flipped her hair and noticed that her hat was back where it should be. "My hat!" Umei squealed with glee.

"You didn't win anyway…" Jounouchi spat out still peeved at her.

Umei sneered at Jounouchi. "Even after this, you still don't forgive me?"

The group sighed as Jounouchi was about to say something but noticed that Umei was already walking away.

"I'll make you forgive me… when we encounter each other once again… Ja ne." Umei called back without turning towards the gang. As she brushed passed Mesmori she gave a stare in her direction; Mesmori still had a look of adoration towards the older girl. Umei winked at Mesmori and continued onward and into the fog the bridge had contained around it.

Mesmori just about died as she fell to the ground.

"Yuugi you have a lot of explaining to do…" Honda groaned and itched his head--the rest of the posse ignored Mesmori.

"Yeah, but we have a lot of time to catch up on that." Yuugi smiled as he looked at Anzu. "Glad you're okay…"

Anzu chortled as her cheeks heated up a bit. "Oh Yuugi don't worry about me, I wanna know where you've been."

"And I wanna know about your escapade with Umei!" Jounouchi grew a maniacal expression since it didn't take him long to revert back to his same old personage.

"Ugh… Jounouchi!" Anzu shook her head in disappointment.

Yuugi laughed but then noticed that Mesmori was blocking their way from exiting the battleground.

"What gives?" Jounouchi grew a little frustrated.

"How could you just let her leave like that!" Mesmori began to yell at them.

The group was speechless.

"The Great Umei Jopa Crawford! Vigilante of East Domino High, the Divinity of Duels, Domineer Maestro of the Cards Umei Jopa Crawford! Right in my presence! And she graced upon me! She practically praised me!" Mesmori ranted on and on, she started fantasizing and tried speaking like Umei: "Oh Mesmori, why couldn't I have seen it before, you are truly better than me, teach me teach me!" Mesmori's ramblings didn't stop there as she began talking in her own voice again, "I wanted to catch up to her and I finally did! I will prove to her that I am worthy of being her apprentice! Mesmori Matouchi, Apprentice of the Maestro of the Cards! HAHA!"

The group was still at a loss for words.

"I thought she was your friend you were cheering for! But then you abandon her for him! Just because he won (um, sorry Yuugi-chan but I worshipped Umei for a longer time even longer than I had met you on the boat)! Even though she looked different, I knew it was her, I knew it was my Umei!" Mesmori shunned them.

The group finally realized what Mesmori was talking about. She thought they were rooting for Umei this whole time and not Yuugi, what a confused kid.

"Furthermore did you know that Umei has once-" Mesmori prattled on and on but soon found herself talking to no one. "Hey where'd they go?!!"

Yuugi and his group were already walking on the bridge.

"Geez, what a strange boy! He must really wanna date Umei…" Jounouchi shuddered.

Everyone halted and stared at Jounouchi rather bemused.

"Nani?" Jounouchi looked around dumbfounded.

All at once they shouted to their friend, "YOU THOUGHT SHE WAS A BOY!?"

~ ~ ~

I was lying there not wanting to awaken. My eyelids were heavy and my head throbbed with pain, most of all, my throat was parched and it burned ferociously. I brought my knees to my chest as I lay on my left side while my nose picked up the aroma of clean leather. I was too restless to go back to sleep, but I didn't want to awake t see where I was. I did know I was in a car from the smell of it, though not only a car but a limousine. Furthermore, the limousine was not in motion and now I was even more tempted in to knowing whose limousine it was. I slit my eyes open hoping to see my father sitting in the opposite seat before me, but instead I saw him.

Kaiba Seto sat there gazing out the window; he didn't look like himself at all. He didn't notice me watching him so attentively. I brought my jade eyes open fully and laid there, just watching him. I watched as he exhaled, I watched as he inhaled, I watched him just gaze off out the window and into the retreating night sky. The pale dawn light from the outside radiated through the windows of the limousine and lit up his countenance and his navy blue uniform. He was in fact the most ravishing, the most gorgeous I had ever seen him at that given moment. I wanted to remember this moment.

But then I remembered how we fought… how we always fought. We never stopped arguing and we never stopped falling into the most embarrassing predicaments with each other. I remembered how he didn't want anymore to do with me and how he didn't want me to bother him or Mokuba again. Was he just enraged at losing against Yuugi or did he really mean it this time?

I shivered from how cold it had gotten. That's when I realized I was still in my East Domino high uniform. The sapphire eyes of my once beloved turned to me and he asked in a tone so tranquil for him to dwell on, "Are you still tired? If you're cold I can take you home now, or to my place, whichever you want."

I brought my head up and rested on my elbows. "I'm okay… Where are we?"

"Kaibaland parking lot… Mokuba is at home asleep, the chauffeur for the moment is on his break." Seto unzipped his blazer and handed it to me. "Here, even if you aren't cold, better safe than sorry."

My gray hat fell to the seat as I sat up. I groped it gently and brought it around my body, much better, though I didn't want to admit it. I stared back up at him, this time his eyes were locked with mine. He was so distraught, so pensive, as if me being in his presence tormented him.. He never acted like this before, did Yuugi really change him this much. Why wasn't he boasting about dueling Yuugi again? Why was he being so particular towards me? He never acted so devotedly attached, he always treated me independently.

I lifted myself up from my seat and crashed down besides him; shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip. I couldn't look back at him, though I knew he was looking down at me. What do you say to someone who wanted to end your "friendship" but then wanted to begin it again?

I buried my face in his broad shoulder to the right of me. "Seto… I'm confused right now…" I muttered. How could he still be so warm? I was wearing his coat though he was still quite heated from his thin white undershirt. He was an exquisite person indeed.

Seto didn't respond to me, instead he trailed his left hand over my shoulder and bent his head down so his forehead was next to mine. "I want to remember this… You aren't the same person anymore, I'm not the same person anymore…"

"Seto…" I began to say but his right hand brushed my auburn blanched hair from my face. I wanted to remember this too but I just had to say it, I had to let him know that I was still the same old me.

I swallowed my dismay and told him. "You are the only one who has changed, I will always be this way, I will never better my life from what it is now. But you, you change everyday and it makes me realize that I don't really know you anymore when I use to know you so intimately. I'm stopping you from furthering your accomplishments in life. Seto, I think we should not be acquainted with each other anymore."

And then I held my breath as my heart drummed on.

Seto didn't bring his forehead from mine, he just closed his eyes. And we sat there like that until the chauffeur returned, and that was when Seto had whispered to me, "I agree…"

---

To Be Continued