Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or Soul Eater or Naruto

Ryan fell to his knees as Maki's challenge repeated in his memory. 'If you can bring me down to 0 Life Points I'll tell you whatever you want.' If the prize hadn't been so important, he would have laughed at Maki's logic. She twisted the meaning of a sentence to get her way. It was the same logic children often used to counter adults. The truth of the situation just made it worse. Her interpretation was correct. She had lost the duel, but she had beaten him completely. "You win this time, Maki," Ryan said sternly. "But trust me, you and your friends will not be able to run forever. I can already track you and Ethan with my GPS Duel Disk."

"So what, we'll just get new Duel Disks and you won't be able to find us any more. we can transfer to a new school and send new agents in to monitor you." Maki laughed. "We'll have the upper hand on you, and you'll never know for sure who to trust from this day forward. You don't even know what our goals are. Are we talking conspiracies or crimes here? Your paranoia will consume you until you can't function without breaking down."

'Crap, she's right,' Ryan realized. 'I have zero clue what their plans are. I'll try to figure it out and go crazy from the endless possibilities. Dammit, what do I do?'

"You're panicking right now, aren't you? You know we know about the Octogram and about Yuu, but you don't know what our relation to them is. And now your head hurts trying to sort out through the possibilities. You don't even know what our plans are, how long we've been going at this, or how big our operation is. Do we have teachers on our side? the principal? Perhaps even your best friend, Shizune, is working for us." Maki teased.

Ryan growled. "Don't you dare tarnish her name."

Maki wanted to laugh at Ryan's reaction.

"I'll tell you what," Maki raised a card to the sky. "Ethan and I are sadists and we enjoy watching you squirm. So we'll give you a chance to earn a duel with our leader. If you earn the right to face him, and you win, then we shall answer your questions. We swear on this card." She lowered the Duel Monsters card and threw it to Ryan. "You can use it for now, but when you duel our leader we expect you to return it to us."

Ryan stared at the cardboard back for a few seconds, wondering if he should turn it over or not. He feared that the card would be more of a head ache than it would be worth.

"You know that guy Trace at school?" Maki asked. "He's a legendary duelist among students. Every month he has a tournament. People pay to enter it, then they go through several challenged dueling his friends and each other. when it's over the winner can challenge him. If they beat him, they get a prize." Maki was sure that Ryan understood where she was going with this. "If you can win the tournament and beat Trance, you'll get to face our leader and lose."

Ryan groaned. Trance's tournaments were legendarily difficult. Half the time there wasn't even a winner and whenever there was, nobody had ever beaten Trance and won the prize. He and his friends were making an average of $300.00 - $500.00 a month, not bad for high schoolers with no real jobs. He gulped and flipped it over. Staring back at him was the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon. "Wait, how did you get this?" he called out to Maki. somehow, in that time, she had managed to vanish.

Ethan sighed. "Maki knows our powers are weak. After Ender kicked our leader's ass he sealed most of our magic. She knows we shouldn't be expending too much of our energy to create cards that we aren't actually going to use. And a card like Blue Eyes White Dragon must have taken a lot of power to make." He sank into a comfy red sofa and glanced over at Emma. She smiled at him and took a sip of her cranberry juice. She was wearing a long sleeve blue T-shirt and black cotton shorts. A white Bobtail cat and a pointed Persian mewed happily as they jumped onto her lap. She began petting them behind the ears.

"Hello, Emma, you going to say anything?"

"No, not until you stop whining," Emma said. Her short black hair framed her head in a way that gave her deep blue eyes a menacing look. "Look, Maki dueled constantly for a full week to gather enough energy to make her Blue Eyes. If she wants to make a Blue eyes to screw with Ryan's head, she has every right to do so."

"I don't see how giving him a super-powerful legendary card is going to help us at all." Ethan pouted.

"You are an idiot aren't you? There's no way he could ever use that card without attracting unwanted attention. We haven't given him anything at all." Emma explained. "And it implies that,"

Ethan interrupted. "I understand that it implies Kaiba is on our side. It will worry Ryan to no end. It implies that we have great power and grand resources on our side. With someone like Kaiba helping us, we could have nearly any card in the world at our disposal. Not to mention the manpower we'd have on our side. That single card will be an endless source of paranoia fuel.

"But, you're forgetting that Ryan doesn't scare easily. He's faced our rivals and laughed in their faces. He's encountered the supernatural and taken it all in stride! He's very open minded about multiple possibilities of life. if anyone can figure out we have supernatural abilities on our side it's him. And the super natural doesn't freak him out at all." Ethan waited for Emma's response.

"While you have a point, only time will tell. Besides, the risks are nearly non-existent. Even if Ryan figures out we're supernatural and the paranoia fuel fades, we still have other ways to make him squirm. After all, he doesn't know what our morals all. He has no clue if we're dangerous or not. But he does know that we have info on his precious cousin."

Maki leaned against a wall in the manga section of her favorite bookstore. "You okay?" A passing stranger asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she lied. In truth, using her teleportation powers had taken a lot out of her. 'This kind of stuff used to be so easy for us, but now it's like running a marathon. I'm lucky I could manage to keep my energy up long enough to fine tune my landing and not materialize in front of an audience, or worse, inside a wall. Dammit, I'm glad Haley managed to protect himself. I wonder how he's doing? he's supposed to join Duel Academia right?' She slumped over. 'Haley is supposed to watch over Naota, Hikaru, and Ryou while we look after Ryan.'

She laughed, not because anything was funny but because her mind was over stressed. "God this sucks," she told herself. She slumped to the ground and let out an exhausted moan.

"Indeed it does, Maki," said a voice.

She looked up and gulped. "Shit, what are you doing here, Star?"

A young man stood above her. He looked eighteen at most. He had shaggy blonde hair and wore a black suit and red tie. "I had a feeling you'd be here and I thought I'd stop by to say hi."

Ryan slumped back into his bed at home. "Dammit, Yuu, where are you?" He slipped underneath his blue satin sheets and grabbed his pillow and screamed into it. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit." He couldn't wrap his head around everything that was happening. Who was in on the whole ordeal? What were they planning? What were their plans for him? 'They mentioned the Octogram and Yuu, so they must want me to go after them. I'm playing into their hands. Dammit, I thought I had the upper hand. I should have realized something was up when Maki gave in too easily. She could have kept denying my accusations but she didn't. No, she knew she was going to break eventually, that's why she ran. She had to escape. She wasn't expecting me to catch her.'

"Something wrong, Rai-kun?" A sweet voice asked. The door creaked open as a young woman stepped into the room.

"Nothing, mom," he said with a pained expression.

"Don't tell me that, look, I know something's the matter." She told him. She walked to the side of his bed. "And if I have to pry into your life to figure it out then so be it. I, the great detective Kiara Akimoto will not allow any stone to go unturned!" She spoke in an over the top dramatic voice she hoped would get a chuckle out of her son. It didn't. She sighed and her long black hair moved over her white detective's uniform, lightly brushing over Ryan's skin as she moved in to give her son s hug.

Ryan tried not to cry. "I-Mom, do you think I'll ever be," he froze, unsure of what to say.

"Ever be what?" His mother asked.

"Ever be able to see Yuu again?" He asked.

"Ryan," she pulled her son in tight. "Don't worry about it, Yuu will be alright."

"I just- I don't get why he vanished. He left a note behind saying he was going to search for something called the Octogram. He told me about those once. They're just some cards. Yuu has access to nearly any card he wants and it never seemed to be a big deal to him. Why would he want something so badly he'd run away to find it. He could have hired someone else to do it. You know his parents would have let him."

"I don't know, Ryan, I don't know."

Ryan shook his head. "I, can we talk about something else?"

"Sure thing, wanna go for some ice cream?" Kiara asked, knowing her son would smile.

Maki sighed as she slumped to the ground in defeat.

Maki: 0

Star: 8000

Star loomed over her like a warrior preparing to deliver the killing blow. "Tell your leader not to bother. I am undefeatable. Not even the great Yugi Muto could win a duel against me."

"Undefeeatable?" Maki laughed. "I don't even think that's in any dictionary I've ever read. Unless we're talking about some crappy old movie then I think you mean unbeatable." Maki chuckled.

"Poor Maki, so thoroughly devastated by her overwhelming loss that she's making stupid jokes." Star began walking away. "You and your friends should give up now. You can't win. We'll destroy you all." He bent over to look at a manga. "Oh the new Soul Eater's out," he picked up the new tankoban and proceeded to the cash register, leaving Maki behind.

"Shit," she cursed.

Ryan and his mother sat outside of a fast food restaurant, tossing pieces of french fries to the local birds. They chirped in thanks and began nibbling at the offerings. They had ridden here on Kiara's D-Wheel and were now enjoying a nice lunch.

Ryan munched on his cheeseburger while one hand rested on his strawberry milkshake, ready to bring it to his mouth once the burger was downed.

"So, any new cases?" Ryan asked his mother after swallowing the food in his mouth. He took a sip of his shake.

Kiara dipped her fries in a mixture of ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise. "We're still trying to solve the Burton murders. Michael Burton and his wife Fiona Burton were found brutally murdered in their apartment. It's a typical locked room mystery you'd find in any detective manga, but we can't seem to solve it."

"So, the locked room in this case," Ryan leaned forward, "a literal locked room or something else?"

Locked room mysteries were a common sub-genre of detective fiction. A crime was committed under an impossible circumstance and someone had to solve it. The most basic example available? A murder in a room locked from the inside. How could the killer possibly escape?

Kiara nodded. "Someone slashed open his throat and strangled her to death. They were found in the bathroom, which was locked from the inside. There were no windows and no other means of escape."

Ryan pondered things over for a moment. "Sounds like a toughy, who knows how it could have been committed. There are no natural means which could explain those circumstances, are there? Unless the room was locked from the outside. The killer could have used thread once he got out of the bathroom."

"True, we considered that, but here's where it gets weirder. A group of neighbors were playing cards together when they head the Burtons screaming. They ran over immediately and broke down the front door. They all looked around and found the bathroom locked, with blood pouring out beneath the door. They claim that they didn't see anyone leaving the area. Another neighbor can vouch that they didn't break in until after the Burton's screamed for help. They called the police immediately."

"Perhaps all the neighbors were in on it, including the one who verified the first group's story?" Ryan suggested.

Kiara sighed. "They all submitted to polygraphs, and they all passed. I doubt an entire group of neighbors would be able to beat a polygraph. One or two maybe, but it seems unlikely that they'd all be in on it."

"So, perhaps only one of them committed the crime and tricked the others into helping with his alibi." He paused for a moment. "Possibility one. He could have killed the couple, recorded their pleas for help, and used that recording to screw with the time of death."

"Don't be ridiculous Ryan, the entire group was together for hours. Nobody had the chance to slip away and kill the Burtons. Besides, how would they manage to hide the screams the first time through?"

"Loud music? No, that probably would have been picked up on the recording as well. Unless they were using advanced technology." Ryan mentally scolded himself for not keeping up with current levels of technology. Ryan shook his head. "Heheheh, this is never going to go anywhere. I can't figure it out just from a little bit of info."

"You're a kid, I'm not expecting you to figure it out," Kiara stated.

"I could." Ryan said gloomily. He put his head down as he thought it over. "Okay here it goes," he began. "There are a minimum of two culprits in this scenario. One of them was with the group of friends playing cards, the other remained separate from them. We shall call them killer A killer b." He chuckled at his Naruto reference. "Killer b committed the actual murder, he went into the Burtons' apartment and killed them. Seeing as there were no signs of forced entry he must have been a friend or family member. The card players play loud music so they can't hear the Burtons screaming for help. Killer b records the screams of his helpless victims and then locks the bathroom door from the outside. He can't look suspicious when leaving the house, so he leaves the door unlocked. Later, he plays the screams loudly enough for people to hear. The card players run to the Burtons, and killer a pretends the door is locked, so he breaks it down. Voila, perfect alibi for everyone."

"Your theory is nice but it doesn't mean you're right. It's like a lateral thinking puzzle. You can come up with an answer that fits perfectly but that doesn't mean it's correct. Besides, your theory is needlessly based on assumptions you're forced to make based on the low levels of information at hand." Kiara explained. Her son nodded in half-agreement.

"Any clue what the murder weapon was? For Michael at least. Could they medical examiner identify what kind of blade was used to slit his throat?"

"The murder weapon was likely the victim's own razor. It was left behind at the scene of the crime, covered in the victim's blood. The weapon was examined for fingerprints, but only the victim's were ever found. We also examined Fiona's body for fingerprints, but couldn't find any."

"Well, it looks like we've got a dilemma. We lack enough evidence to solve this crime," he said before sipping his milkshake.

"Haven't I been saying that? And what do you mean we? I'm the detective here." Kiara bit into her own cheeseburger, trying not to make a face as she chewed the low quality lettuce. It wasn't fresh or crispy at all.

"Sorry mom, just trying to be useful," he admitted sadly.

"Ryan," she offered a look of sympathy. Ryan simply turned away. His focus fell on a beautiful lady walking his way. She had long brown hair, wore a white jacket over her shirt, and wore long black sweat pants. She carried a pink purse on her shoulder.

The sound of an approaching D-Wheel filled the air. Ryan and Kiara fell silent, neither wanted to compete with the loudness of the engine. The woman's gaze turned behind her, she eyed the driver carefully. She sent a text message on her cellphone. Ryan wasn't sure, but he got the feeling something was going on. Ever since the incident with Ethan and Maki, he had been on his guard. The woman adjusted her purse strap carefully.

'This place isn't that popular, and few people ever seem to come here,' Ryan noted.

Suddenly, two things happened. The driver snatched the woman's purse off her shoulder and her scream cut through the noise. "He stole my purse!" she pointed at the speeding motorcycle.

"Stay here," Kiara told her son. She hopped onto her own D-Wheel and turned the key. It excitedly roared to life as she hit the gas pedal. She hit a button and the siren on her D-wheel screeched loudly, proudly claiming authority over the streets. Her bike's excellent speed allowed her to quickly pull up to the man's side. "Pull over," she roared over the two engines.

Ryan smiled as he turned to the victim. "Wow, a purse snatch. I've heard of those but I've never seen one before. You're kind of lucky my mom's a cop, well, a detective to be more accurate. Or perhaps this is more than just luck."

"What do you mean?" The woman asked cautiously.

"Sorry, I just find it odd, that's all. Not many people ever come through here, it seems like a weird place to snatch a woman's purse. Unless he was following you specifically. I wonder. Was this a random crime of oppurtunity or do you have something he could want?"

"Nothing I can think of." She admitted.

"I notice you have a deck of cards at your waist, so this guy isn't just some duelist looking for new cards," Ryan surmised. "You don't have any jewelry, you don't stand out as a particularly rich individual. Perhaps he only chose you because he thought there wouldn't be many witnesses."

"Who are you anyway?" the woman asked.

"Sorry, I'm just the son of a detective. I get curious. But I never really have any clue what's going on. I think laterally and make up a bunch of crap until I stumble across an answer." Ryan smiled. "And I intend to find an answer."

"So nice to see you, Kiara," said the motorcyclist. he turned to her and laughed as he pushed a button.

Kiara was surprised to hear the thief calling her name. "Who are you?' She demanded. She examined the thief closely, trying to see if she could recognize him at all. He wore a red jacket and tight leather pants. He looked like a teenager, but she couldn't tell too well because of his red helmet blocked most of his facial features.

"Duel Mode! Auto Pilot! Standby!" The D-Wheels spoke as they entered the Riding Duel. Kiara sighed as she felt the wind running through her hair. She didn't have the time to put on her helmet, so she was a little worried she would get hurt.

"My name is James," said the other duelist. He drew five cards. "Catch!" he tossed the purse to the detective, who leaned over to catch it. Her bike nearly tipped over, but she kept her balance. Kiara grumbled under her breath, but James smiled under his helmet. "I'll go first," he said as he drew a sixth card. "I'll set three cards face down and end my turn."

Ryan smiled at the woman standing before him. "You seemed to be aware of this man's existence. You glanced at him. "

"His D-Wheel was noisy, it bugged me." She explained.

"True, but I can't help but notice the way you adjusted your purse, it was as if you were getting it ready for him to steal."

"You're a little cuckoo, you know that?"

"Sorry, I've just had a chaotic day today. Nothing has been as it seemed and people have been showing me that I shouldn't trust them nearly as much as I wish I could. That and you didn't call the police even when you had your purse stolen."

"I was in shock," she justified. "I wasn't thinking straight. Then, you mentioned your mom was a detective so I figured I didn't have to."

Ryan rubbed his head. "Right, sorry, my bad, Ms.?" he inquired.

"My name is Kimberly," she told him.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Kimberly." Ryan said with a smile. 'It could all be q coincidence, but.'

"I sure am glad I managed to get you to follow me," James told Kiara. "Your son's deck would obliterate most people in a Riding Duel. With less Spells and More Traps, the effects of his Children will be much easier to use. He'll constantly deal massive levels of damage each turn, before anyone can stop him. Your deck, on the other hand, isn't too bad."

"Oh really?" Kiara drew her sixth card. A mechanical beep signified that each duelist had gained a speed counter, bringing both their totals up to 1. Kiara smiled at her draw. "I activate Speed Spell Overboost, bringing my Speed Counters up to 5 until the end of the turn!" Her D-Wheel sped up for a few moments. "Next I activate Speed Spell-Zero Abyss. By removing from play five Speed Counters I can Ritual Summon a Level 5 Dark Monster from my hand!" She selected a card and tossed it down onto the field. "Come on out, D-Mistress Lilith!" (1700/300) A young woman materialized on the roadway, flying on leathery black wings. She had pale skin and long black hair. She wore a black bikini covered with bits of metal that looked like inefficient armor. "I equip her with Speed Spell-Roller Blades!" Lilith let her wings rest as she landed on the street. In a flash of light, roller blades covered her feet and she was able to keep pace with the D-Wheels. "She gains 300 attack now, plus, whenever she declares an attack she gains 500 attack during damage calculation. So go, Lilith, direct attack!" Lilith's attack zoomed up to 2500 as she skated toward James.

"Wow, that's enough to take out over half my Life Points. Sorry, no can do, I activate Binds of Deathiny!" He smiled as black chains shot up from the ground and tied up Lilith.

"Well, looks like you won't be getting the Speed Counter Rollerblades would normally give my opponent." Kiara sighed as she watched electricity shoot up the chains and zap Lilith. (1500/1300)

Kiara: 3500

"Your monster loses 100 attack times its level and you take 100 damage times its level. In addition, during each of your standby phases, the process repeats." James explained with a smile.

"I release Lilith to normal summon Harakiri Shojo in defense mode." (1200/1400) Kiara watched Lilith vanish in a portal of light as a girl with pale white skin appeared. Her long black hair was tied up in a cute ponytail. She wore a gray sailor fuku and carried a silver dagger on her waist. "Go ahead and attack her, wanna see why a monster that requires a sacrifice has such abysmal stats?"

"Hmm, I can't tell if you're bluffing or trying to encourage me to attack." James drew a card and laughed as both players gain a Speed Counter. He had two while she had one. "I summon Rude Ninja in attack mode." (1500/100) "When the only monsters you control are in defense mode, she can attack directly." The card in question materialized directly behind Kiara. She wore a tight black uniform that only showed her long purple hair and her deep blue eyes. She plunged a dagger into Kiara's side.

Kiara: 2000

She grunted in pain as the solid vision stung her side. Her only Speed Counter vanished as her Life Points trickled down to the half way mark. "Hahaha," James laughed. "You're nowhere nearly as talented as your son is," he teased. "I end my turn."

Ryan smiled. "So, Kimberly, who were you texting before you were robbed?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Nobody, just a friend." She answered. "Why?"

"Because, I can't leave until my mom comes back and I'm bored. I figure we might as well make small talk, unless you want to play 20 Questions or something."

"Not really. look, could you just stop bugging me?" Kimberly snapped.

"Fine," Ryan said with a sigh. He grinned though.

"What's with that smirk?" Kimberly demanded.

"Nothing," Ryan told her. "I just can't shake the funny feeling you let that guy steal your purse for some reason. I know it's ludicrous but I can't get over the idea. In fact, I have a theory that might prove it. It's a bit of a gamble though, so there's no sense in testing this theory out."

"Oh, and what theory would that be?" Kimberly demanded.

"That the last person you texted would be none other than the thief himself. of course, there's still a chance I would be wrong. So perhaps a better test would be to have you call a certain someone and see how he responds."

"And that someone would be?" Kimberly asked.

"My dear friend Ethan. He and his friend Maki seem to be focused on making my life miserable lately. So it would only make sense that he's involved with this. So, put your phone on speakerphone and call him. I have his number with me right now." He reached into his pocket and retrieved a slip of paper. He handed it over. "If he seems to know you, then I'll be sure you're in on everything, no matter what you say."

Kimberly laughed and smiled. "Well, looks like I can't deny it any longer. Still, what made you so sure? How did you know this wasn't all some coincidence?"

Ryan smiled. "When I was at Maki's house I did some snooping around her place. I found a list of contacts. I wrote down Ethan's number just in case, and I ended up taking a picture of the rest of the contacts. The name Kimberly was listed as well, so I just took a gamble and guessed it was you. So, what was the entire purpose of this little set up, to get my mom to duel your friend? Too bad for you she's going to win."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

Kiara drew, bringing her Speed Counters up to one while her opponent got a third. "Sorry, James, but this duel is over. You should have taken out my Harakiri Shojo last turn. Sure, her effect destroys any monster that battles with her, inflict damage, and then return her to my hand when she's destroyed, but leaving her alive was even more dangerous. I summon Rose Warrior of Revenge." (1600/600) A beautiful red head appeared in a shower of rose petals. She wore a tight black suit and a long white scarf around her neck. "She's a Level 4 Tuner, so I'm tuning her with my Level 5 Harakiri Shojo!" Rose transformed into four stars, leaving a series of rose petals behind. They enveloped Harakiri Shojo as she smiled.

"Darkness turns sadism into lust, a tortured cry of pleasure reverberates in my ear. My heart stirs, I call out for your blood. Become mine now. Synchro Shokan Vampire Lilith!" (2700/2500) A sexier version of Lilith appeared on nthe field. She wore a strapless black dress that hugged her curves nicely. "Lilith has multiple dangerous effects. First of all, I can discard one card from my hand and pick a monster you control. I'll gain Life Points equal to its attack." She slipped her final card into the graveyard. "Go, Empress Fang!" Lilith flew forward and sunk her fangs into the ninja's neck. Rude Ninja convulsed as waves of pleasure and pain coursed through her body.

Kiara: 3500

"So, you increased your Life Points, big deal." James scoffed.

"I can also pay 1000 Life Points to revive any monster in my graveyard," Kiara explained with a smile. Lilith produced a small dagger and slit her writs. Blood poured onto the road, taking the form of Rose and Harakiri Shojo. "They can only stay out until my endphase though, so don't worry. Oh wait, maybe you should." Kiara grinned. "Malice grows into murderous intent, the night itself is my cloak, hiding my wrathful nature, those in my way tremble when they hear my name, Synchro Shokan Assassin Lilith!" (2900/2200) This time, Lilith wore a beautiful black kimono with a white bow around her waist.

Kiara: 1500

"H-how many versions of that card are there?"

"The answer is, a lot. Lilith was banished from the Garden of Eden for refusing to bow down to Adam, or something like that. I don't know and I don't care. What matters is this, Lilith represents powerful women everywhere."

"Wait, she dresses like a whore in some of those cards! Doesn't that imply negative things about women in general? How can you be hailing her as a role model and idol?!" James asked.

"Screw it, that doesn't matter. What matters is this. I can pay Life Points in multiples of 500 to select 1 face down spell or trap for each 500 Life Points paid, and then destroy them. In addition, you aren't allowed to chain to this effect." Kiara smiled. "So I pay 1000 Life Points to destroy your two face downs! Go, Valiant Will!" The newest Lilith charged forward and sliced through the two face downs.

Kiara: 500

"Now finish this, Liliths unite, Femme Fatale Execution!" Vampire Lilith flew toward the ninja and chopped through her with a swipe of her nails. Assassin Lilith aimed directly at James, slicing him with her sword.

James: 0

The thief's D-Wheel screeched to a complete halt as Kiara pulled up at his side. "You lose."