Disclaimer : I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, the characters within, or any references mentioned. Shira is copyrighted by me, and remains my creation forevermore.


Chapter 7

Shira's POV

Shira stared at Ryou's imposter for some time as he crouched down to inspect the man's body. He searched through the man's coat and pockets, and pulled out many other weapons as well; more knives, and there was ammo in there as well. When Fake Ryou stood up, he looked at her, and she found herself adverting her eyes...BLUSHING?

"Shira!" Some amount of weight was added onto her back and wrapped its arms around her shoulders. "Are you alright?! You got shot!"

Shira had forgotten about that, her thoughts distracted by the fact that Ryou's imposter actually helped. The pain in her shoulder subsided, but she still felt the lead make itself comfortable in its new home. But that wouldn't last long.

The spirit shrugged Tenchi off. "I'm fine. Just give me my space, okay?"

"But-"

She shoved past her and went to the stall the yami trapped her hikari in. She made to close the door, but Tenchi came in between. The spirit sighed.

"Fine. You wanna see?"

Tenchi nodded then, eager to see if her yami was going to be alright, as she said. She stayed in the doorway, so she wasn't entirely through.

Shira rolled her trench coat off her shoulders and handed it to Tenchi, and she held it under her arm, draped over her forearm. The spirit grabbed the collar of her shirt and slid it down her left shoulder, revealing her bare skin. A black hole remained; no blood. As Shira pondered why, she clenched her teeth for the pain that she knew would come. She plunged her thumb and index finger into the hole, knowing fully well that the hole was too small to move in freely. Shira saw Tenchi turned away and shudder, and the spirit groaned. As she forced her fingers through, she didn't feel any liquid inside either. It felt like... dust, or ash.

After using her fingers like pincers most of the time, she clasped onto something solid and hard. Finally, she thought, after verifying that it was indeed the bullet, and made sure not to lose her grip. She uttered a small yell of pain, and then she yanked out her fingers. There in between her nails was the bullet, covered in black rocks, just like her fingers. She panted, sweat running down the side of her face. She dropped the bullet, letting it spin on the counter, and turned on the tap, letting the water slide and wash her hands, spiraling the black substance down the drain. She looked back at the hole using the mirror, and only saw the entrance of an everlasting tunnel with no light at the end.

"Why don't you bleed?" Tenchi whispered, and the spirit knew she was coiling up inside. "It's seems so..."

"Abnormal?" Shira said expressionlessly, looking into the eyes of her reflection. "Freaky? Weird?"

"Yeah," she said uneasily. "How is that?"

The yami stared at herself hard, and came to a sudden conclusion: "This is a body made up of darkness. However, I am supposed to bleed, regardless of what my body's made up of. But I think that the fact that I was immortal in the past life has done some side-effects. When you have eternal life, it is just simply a life without dropping dead. I was the living-dead, so I suppose that this body is decomposing inside, due to the imprinting of my soul."

"That's terrible!"

"I agree," and then they stood in silence. She put her hand over the hole, practicing how an injured person would behave. And just in time.

"Are you alright in there?" Through the crack of the door, a male's face peeked through. "I'm the assistant pilot. I've heard you've been in a terrifying ordeal, miss. You're alright now. Do you need anything?"

Thinking that seeming alright after a gunshot was going to be suspicious, Shira turned to him, hand still covering the wound. "Get me some first-aid supplies."

He nodded, and slipped away somewhere. During the wait, the spirit looked at Tenchi to see she still had that terrified look on her face. The yami made a face, planning to distract her hikari, and was happy to see a small smile cross the teen's lips. The assistant pilot came back, and handed her the box over Tenchi's head. With Shira's free hand, she flipped the lid open.

"Are you sure you don't want anyone looking at that for you?" he asked, still not able to see the wound through her hand. Shira turned him and leered.

"Yes, I'm sure, thank you," she said, trying to put it as least acidly as she could. Sometimes it was hard to contain her malice. "Please leave; I need concentration, and I don't want any unfamiliar eyes watching me."

The man seemed stunned by her response, but moved away anyway. He then supposedly turned to the passengers, telling them something that was unimportant - as well as inaudible - to the spirit. Once knowing that he wasn't going to intrude, she tapped on the door to motion Tenchi to close it. She obliged. From then on Shira stripped herself of her shirt, and began applying useless medical care to herself, finishing up with an impressive show of bandaging.


Bakura's POV

After inspecting the idiot's body and finding countless of weapons, I stood up and stretched my back. I was tempted to stash some of those weapons into my own inventory... but though against it, deciding to 'play the hero', to put it distastefully. I sensed someone's eyes on me, and I looked to see that it was the girl. I looked at her, and she looked away, a tint of rose touching her face.

Then Tenchi attacked her from behind. "Shira!"

I exclaimed inside, Why is Tenchi calling her that all the time?!

"Are you alright?! You got shot!"

I had just remembered that; I watched it plunge into her shoulder, but I saw no splatter of crimson liquid, as I expected. And now, as she stood, I didn't see any form of weakness or drowsiness when it comes to those who have lost too much blood. I grew suspicious.
She shrugged Tenchi off her shoulders. "I'm fine. Just give me my space, okay?"

"But-"

The girl shoved Tenchi out of the way, and went into the stall she confined Tenchi in. Tenchi intervened with the closing door, and her back was the only thing that I could see.

"Yo dude, is that girl in the washroom your fiancée?"

I rounded to someone who was resting his head on the back of my seat, grinning at me. He had a thin mustache and broad goatee, and sunglasses and a tuke accessorized his head.

"No," I said lowly, my brows furrowing. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing," he mused. "It's just that it looked like you helped more for her sake than the rest of us. Well anyway, it's good that's she's not taken. She's foxy!"

I found myself growling. Was I being... protective?! I didn't even know the girl! Nor did I care!

...did I?

Ignoring the man for a second, I went to thinking about what that girl was doing in that stall. She couldn't be treating herself... were there any first-aid kits in there in the first place? No common person could treat a bullet wound - without any disinfectants or bandaging - in this period of time. I'd seriously laugh my ass off if she tried covering up the wound with toilet paper.

Some man walked down the hall with a pilot's hat on and a badge on his breast pocket. He asked loudly, "Is everything alright here?" he then spotted the man on the floor. "Is this the hyjacker?"

"Yep, and our man over here took him out!" the guy behind me hooked his arm around my neck, and I was tempted to attack him.

"Hey, don't forget the young lady in there!" an elderly old woman pointed to the washroom stall. "She's such a sweet dear. She helped save the day!"

"Yeah, but she got shot, so that's why she's in there," another person called out.

The man went over to the washroom stall and peeked over Tenchi's head. "Are you alright in there? I'm the assistant pilot. I've heard you've been in a terrifying ordeal, miss. You're alright now. Do you need anything?"

There was a muffled response, and he nodded. He disappeared somewhere, and I saw Tenchi peek out of the stall for a second, showing terror in her expression. The side of her face was still visible to me as she looked back to the girl, and I saw a small smile spread on her lips. Watching this, I wondered what the girl meant to Tenchi, and why Ryou - nor I - had never seen her before. How this girl suddenly appeared out of the blue and into Tenchi's life, I was determined to find out.

The assistant pilot came back with a first-aid box, and passed it through the door over Tenchi's head. "Are you sure you don't want anyone looking at that for you?" I managed to hear. Another muffled, yet firm, response, and the man retreated, alittle stunned. He stepped back, and turned to the passengers.

"Well, she's alright now; she refused seeing professional medical attention, but by her smooth and determined attitude, I'm sure that she knows what she's doing. You," he pointed in my direction, "please step forward. I'd like to have a word with you."

I went to him emotionlessly, and stood with him by the side, unheard by the passengers.

"Thank you very sincerely for stepping in and solving this serious situation," he said gratefully to me, hardly meeting my interest level. He only reached it once he said, "I'm sure we can arrange a reward for you, and that girl, separately."

"How much have you got to offer?" I said formally.

"Through the private ATM, we can get around, I suppose, one thousand each."

Huh. Good deal. Two thousand total for myself sounded more appealing, though...

That druggie that asked if she was my fiancée had given me an idea.

"She and I are together. We're planning to get married once we've set everything up in Egypt," I told him. After him giving a congratulations that I didn't deserve, I continued. "Listen, you know what'd do me a great favour? If you'd just give both rewards to me. I'd be ectatic; I want to surprise her, and give her a honeymoon fit for a queen. You want to help a guy impress her girl, don't you?"

The assistant pilot had this grin on his face, which I supposed was to show that he understood. "I'll get it to you soon. I suppose you don't want the Mrs. knowing at all about the reward?"

"You've got that right," I forced a smile, and he bought it. He nodded and went off to this 'private ATM' and I stayed to wait. Sucker. A few meters away, Tenchi had closed the door of the stall and waited, her eyes straying to me. Her eyes were searching me curiously, and I already knew why; she'd never expected another man to be so similar to her own 'beloved'. The thought brought me back to Ryou, and I turned my face from her and smirked. I wondered how Tenchi would've taken it if she found out that Ryou was in the Shadow Realm.

My smirk faltered as I thought about what she would do. She would just go to the Shadow Realm herself and find him; she had the mysterious Circlet, after all. My Millennium Ring, apart from the well-known Items, was the only thing that could get him safely back into his body, but since I didn't know anything about this Circlet, it too could be possibly up for the job. Finally reminded of it, I wondered why I didn't take it for myself. After the night in the cemetery back in Domino, I had decided to kill her and take the instrument for myself, even though it was an Item that wasn't considered as part of the Seven I originally went after. Though, sadly, I never got around to it... each time I had an opportunity, I seemed to have thrown that away, thinking that the time had not come yet. I kept stalling until I had the most perfect timing, the most easiest obtainment, but it never came, and I regretted my stupidity in the matter. Of course, now the Circlet was within grasp, and an object of that power was worth getting; seeing Tenchi here made me think that the gods wanted me to succeed.

Although, a complication rose up from the depths; the older girl in the washroom. She threatened that she'd kill me herself if I neared Tenchi. Even though I doubted that I could succumb to her power, she would prove tricky to take care of. After all, she withstood a bullet to the shoulder. And if she teamed up with Tenchi - with access to her own Millennium Item -, sending them to Shadow Realm was out of the picture. The girl's trust was the only opportunity I saw to her demise; if I became familiar with her, she may open up her defenses slightly. And that's all I needed to see to it that she died.

Then the girl stepped out, straightening her shirt. Not one speckle of blood was there; it was either she was carrying a spare shirt around, or she had super Tide-To-Go somewhere on her. Tenchi handed her her trench coat, and she rolled it on, wincing slightly. Certainly she showed discomfort, but it was not the typical behaviour of a typical person with a bullet wound. Perhaps this was so because she wasn't so typical, as I thought.

The plane was suddenly in an uproar of clapping, causing the girl's eyes to widen. She looked around at the beaming face, and smiled softly. I silently returned to my seat and closed my eyes, already bored with the events, and wondering when the assistant pilot planning to give the reward to me without letting the girl see. I heard people talk to her up ahead, and I sensed her and Tenchi's movement as they sat down. Soon everything died down, and everything was back to normal, as it should on a plane. Some other employees of the plane took the hyjacker to a place I know nothing of, took possession of all the weapons and the bomb-switch for safe-keeping, and had taken some male attendants to come investigate and find the bomb in the luggage. I rubbed the back of my neck the entire time.

"Hey..." a soft voice beside me said, and I opened my eyes to find that it was the girl's. She was staring at me, then adverted her eyes modestly, scratching her cheek. "I...just wanted to say thanks."

Was she trying to make everything so easy for me? She sounded sincere, and I didn't know if I should trust it. It seemed so easy, I couldn't believe it, so I ignored it. I huffed stubbornly, "I didn't do it for you. He just...got on my nerves, that's all."

She was quiet, then chuckled. "Same. He was being a real idiot."

"I know," I smiled, but it dropped again. I was starting to believe that it actually was an opportunity.

"...what's your name?" she asked.

Yes, it was. If she'd asked for my name, I thought, that meant that she had a certain, newfound respect and interest in me. I looked away for a second, considering if I should tell. It wasn't even my name, even if it was on an ID. It was the first male name that came to mind, and I had a certain respect to the first name.

"Kaleb Sato."

The girl's eyes widened in surprise for a second, but then smiled. "Nice name."

"Is your name Shira?" I wanted to confirm it for myself.

She glanced at Tenchi, who had leaned forward to look at me curiously. Then she turned back.

"No, no, that's just what my sister here nicknames me," she smiled.

Tenchi never mentioned a sister, I thought suspiciously, but I nodded in real life.
She held out her hand, and I shook it. She smirked.

"The name's Tailera Suzuki."


End of Chapter

Shira: ...

Vixen: Yami?

Shira: Hmph. -blows out cheeks- We don't exist...

Star: She's still mad at Kura.

Bakura: All I said was the truth!

Shira: Preposterous! Who says there isn't a parallel universe where we exist?

Bakura: But where's not in the parallel universe right now, so how do you know that IT exists?

Shira: We're here according to Vixen's mind; a portal for us to get here. So -continues to debate with Bakura-

Vixen: Holy, what a discussion...

Star: ... I do hope there's a parallel universe of anime... -starts thinking about Marik and Zexion-

Vixen: -thinks about other bishies that she's too lazy to name, then shakes head- AHEM! Hope you liked the chappie! -sweatdrop-