Author's Notes: A big THANK YOU to the people who reviewed the first chapter^_^ you guys rock my socks (here have a cookie!)

anyway... here's the next chapter... Enjoy^_^


Chapter Two – Shadows of the Past

"...and that's it," Yusei concluded.

It was a little after 4:30a.m. as Kalin filled both of their mugs with more hot cocoa for the third time. "Wow." That was all Kalin could say upon hearing Yusei's nightmare. For a few moments it was silent, as the rain had come to a complete stop while Yusei had been talking. Then Kalin whispered, "So what are you gonna do about it?"

"I don't know." Yusei looked away. "That dream - that nightmare- it was like looking into the shadows - shadows of the past...you know something's there but you can't quite make out the details."

"Sometimes you have to take a chance and step into those shadows to find what they hold. Whether it's a good thing or not...," he shrugged. "well, you'll never know if you don't get close enough to look."

"But it's the past, Kalin. I can't go back to find out what they hold..." Yusei looked back at his blue-haired friend as he spoke.

"It might take awhile, but if you're willing to search high an low, you just might find someone who knew your parents." Kalin's optimism gave Yusei a shadow of hope, and it showed.

"You think it's possible?" Yusei asked doubtfully. "I know I don't have any living relatives; Blister checked that out for me a long time ago..."

Kalin shook his head. "Not family, Yusei. Surely your parents had friends that weren't killed in Zero Reverse. You just have to find them."

"I wouldn't even know how to start." He sounded crushed; the shadow of hope he had just gained drained back out of his voice.

"Hmm. It would help to have friends in high places right about now." Kalin sighed. "Too bad I don't know any of the Senators; they seem to know everything about everyone."

"Senators?" Yusei looked up in surprise. "You mean like Senator Izinski? Akiza's father?"

"Oh hey yeah! I forgot that was her father!" Kalin smiled. "Well, there you are, friend, your answer for a place to start."

"Mmm," Yusei frowned. "I'd hate to impose though; I know her dad's pretty busy most of the time..."

"Well, that looks to be your only option here, Yusei. Unless, of course, you'd rather walk down every street, knocking on every door, asking every person in New Domino and Satellite if they knew your dad." Kalin shook his head. "You don't really got much choice here exactly."

"I guess you're right, Kalin. But what if he can't help me out? What if he doesn't know anyone that knew them?"

"There's no harm in asking. And if he can't, then he can't; you didn't lose anything by it. But if you don't even ask, you stand to lose a great deal."


"AAAH!" Yusei let out another yelp as he knocked the screwdriver he held in one hand into the other hand for the nth time that afternoon. He was, once again, in Akiza's garage trying to figure out what he needed to fix on her duel runner.

"Yusei, maybe you should take a break," Akiza offered. "Like for the rest of the day."

Yusei sat back on his heels and looked over at Akiza, puzzled. "Why do you say that? I mean, the less time I'm working on it, the longer it's gonna take to fix it."

"You just seem distracted, that's all."

"What makes you think that?"

"I've been counting the number of times you've knocked yourself with your tools. Nineteen times to be exact. That's not normal, Yusei."

"Alright, maybe I am a little distracted," Yusei admitted.

"You wanna talk about it?" Akiza cleared a spot and sat down on the floor next to him.

The raven-haired duelist sighed. "Actually, I needed to ask your dad for a favor... I don't know though; I know he's pretty busy..."

"He's never too busy to help, Yusei." Akiza shook her head. "He has a bunch of meetings this week and won't be home 'til late every night, though. But if you tell me what you wanted to ask him, I could talk to him for you when he gets home. Otherwise, it'll probably be the next week before you'd get the chance."

"Ya know, that's not a bad idea," Yusei responded, nodding once. "That would be very helpful. Thanks, Akiza."

"Sure, no problem. So what was it you wanted to ask?"


The next day, Akiza was already waiting outside with a big smile, garage door open, when Yusei came to work on her runner. Before Yusei had even unmounted his runner and had a chance to even say, "Hey," Akiza was standing next to him, bouncing up and down, saying, "I have great news for you!" She looked extremely excited and as he climbed off his runner, she explained the reason for it.

"I talked to my dad as soon as he got home last night. He was so eager to help, he spent the rest of the evening on the phone and guess what!" But before Yusei had a chance to guess, Akiza continued, "He's already found someone! Mr. Davis wants to meet with you in person at this address on Friday!" She held out a piece of paper towards him.

Yusei was shocked. He hadn't expected to get any results at all. Or, at the very least, not quite this fast! He just stood dumb-founded in the driveway.

"Uhm, Yusei?" He jerked back to the present and looked over at Akiza. She had brought down the hand that held the paper and was giving him a funny look, her head tilted slightly to one side.

"Sorry, Akiza," he said when he had found his voice again. "I just wasn't expecting it; it kinda caught me off guard."

"But you will go, right?"

"Yeah of course! I wouldn't miss it!" Yusei answered as Akiza handed him the slip of paper with the date, time, and address scrawled across it. He slipped it into the inside pocket of his jacket then continued up the driveway to the waiting runner in the garage. "Be sure to thank your father for me," he added.


The next few days flew by until Friday. Yusei left mid-morning to be sure he could reach the address located clear on the other side of the city by 1:00p.m. He found the street by 12:38p.m. and turned left, driving slow enough to be able to read the numbers posted in gold on each of the houses. He watched them slowly increased as he continued down the street; 1418...1420...1422... But what was that? The road ahead was blocked by people, news reporters as well as citizens. And - could it be true? - they were gathering around the very house he was headed for! He brought his runner to a halt and pushed forward threw the crowd of people after dismounting. He could hear snatches of the news reports as he went:

"...authorities are not sure at this time exactly what happened..."
"...it would appear as though he were murdered..."
"...only one thing is sure and that is Mr. Davis is dead..."

"Excuse me!" Yusei called to an SS officer as he reached the barricade. "Can you tell me what happened, please?"

"A man died, can't you see that?" the officer snapped unpleasantly.

"Well, yes, I can see that, but I was supposed to meet Mr. Davis here and - "

The officer interrupted, "Well you won't be meeting him here today or any other, for that matter. It's kind of hard to meet a dead man."

"Could you please tell me what happened to him? I'd kinda like to know if I could," Yusei begged.

The officer could see he was not going to get rid of this kid until he told him. "Look, all I know is that at about 12:20p.m. today, a neighbor called to say she heard yelling here. We had received two calls prior to that about the same thing so we sent a squad car to find out what was going on. As soon as it arrived, two shots were fired from inside the house. The officers sent here broke down the door and found Mr. Davis lying on his living room floor, dead." The man sighed impatiently. "Anything else?"

"Are you sure that's all you know?"

"Even if I did, that would be strictly police business and I wouldn't be allowed to tell you, kid. You got the same spiel as the reporters. But I can tell you this, with complete certainty: This was no accident; Mr. Davis was murdered."


Author's Notes: Dun-dun-dun! and so the mystery begins! (hehehe i love cliff-hangers^_^) anyway dont forget to review! gracias^_^