/N-*Hides meekly* I am so sorry!!!! I know I said this would be updated like 3 weeks ago. I thought I could, I really did! Things happened...Just give me two seconds to explain before you kill me.

First of all, it's longer then most. 9 pages! Second, I had intense writers block. I know I said I was exited about this chapter, and I was. Until I realized some things look better in animation then written. A lot of this chapter I had to really trudge through before getting inspiration. And when I did finally get inspired…lets just say if I know my readers you probably won't like something in this chapter. *CoughAnzucough*

Look I could fill up another 9 pages explaining why this is so late, including an awesome story about how I got my butt saved by famous author Laurie Halse Anderson. (Really happened, awesome story, e-mail me if you want details.) But I figure after all this time you want to read the story not listen to excuses. So here we go.

Disclaimer- I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! If I did I would have a mountain of Ryou plushies.

"What the hell?" Honda said, as suspicious glances made their way toward me. Honestly, I wouldn't trust myself either in this position, it looked pretty bad.

The cave wasn't incredibly dark or ominous, the sunshine streaming in from the entrance brightened it, lighting the whole thing despite how expansive it seemed to be and actually made it feel warm. However there was a musty look to it. There were multiple stalagmites on the roof of the cave and occasionally a drop of water would fall from it. It would normally not be a cave to be afraid of, if it weren't for one tiny detail about its contents.

I felt great as we entered the cave, having Yuugi at my side to deflect any of Honda's comments gave me a little ray of hope. Then our eyes adjusted to the dimmed light and we saw what was in the cave. It was all downhill from there.

Inside the cave that the ring had led us too, which I was never listening to again, were two coffins standing up right in front of us.

I couldn't imagine there being anything else we could have possibly found to make me look worse, I had just led them into a cave filled with coffins. I could only imagine what they thought of me for this.

"Be careful of them!" Yuugi said with apprehension. Leave it to Yuugi to be more scared of the coffins themselves rather then what someone might be planning to do with them. "T-t-there looks like something is in them." he said with even more fear.

Something in them? The coffins were a cedar brown color with silver linings and silver, cross like shape gong across the whole face of the coffin, with the intersection near the top. There seemed to be something odd about them, but nothing gave away that there might be something in them, it was probably only Yuugi's imagination getting away with him.

"Those are coffins aren't they?" Anzu said with more confusion then the distress Yuugi had shown.

"They don't look real." I said walking up to them hoping to make the situation better. It certainly couldn't get any worse and it wouldn't be long before Honda said something to make this look like it was all part of my evil mastermind plan. Under a closer examination, I noticed that they indeed weren't real.

You could tell they were fake coffins as soon as you got over the initial shock and really looked at them. It was as easy as telling the difference between a home video and a television show, your brain just knows. Plus I had seen two coffins lay side by side before, though I kept that memory as tucked away as possible, I knew this wasn't the way they looked. The wood was wrong, if that made any sense. It wasn't polished enough, it wasn't shiny enough. Being in a cave could have dislutered them, but I put my hand on the coffin and felt that the texture was wrong too.

Someone had made them to look scary, they were newly built but they were dulled. The metal was sharp and made an uninviting aura. No one with any intention of making this for a funeral would build it like that. They should be fresh and friendly looking. As if someone had just made it and it was for you to put all your special treasures in. A real coffin would never inspire fear, only sadness when you realized the power it held, only anger when you thought about how much time and money was put into making this beautiful box, only to burn or bury it.

This intimidating coffin looked more suited for dramatic purposes, like what Dracula would come out of in a movie.

"Stop it you two." Yuugi said with worry. Two? I looked over to see that Anzu was examining the coffin on my left. "This is sickening." Honda said with disgust as we played with the coffins. Obviously neither of the other boys had seen a coffin before. Once you realized that they were fake, all the power that went with their name disappeared, they were almost laughable.

"Don't worry guys, their just stage props." Anzu said with happy relief. I was surprised it was the girl who had considered herself too lady-like to sleep on the ground or in a tent with boys last night that was up here with me. You would think she would find it dirty or disgusting. I remembered that when she saw the coffins, she had not shrieked, but looked at them curiously. No, not curious, confused. Had she noticed there was something odd about the coffins too? That would mean she had probably seen death as well. I looked at her with new eyes as she knocked on the casket with bright inquisitive eyes and a smile, she was always surprising me.

The moment was ruined as she accidentally pushed too hard into the coffin. Suddenly I noticed the back of the coffins had long metal chains attached to it. They moved and made a clockwork sound, as if they were part of a pulley, and then the coffins opened.

I did not frighten easily when it came to the enigmatic, I had just been analyzing a coffin in an unknown cave, but when a skeleton falls and latches on to you, arms wrapped around your neck, bare rib bones digging into your chest, I dare you not to scream.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Anzu's and my screams echoed throughout the cave.

Fear creates the irresistible urge to run. So that was what we did, we screamed, we panicked, we ran from the enemy helplessly. Our situation was much like a Chinese torture device, you try and try to pull away from it and you only end up more trapped and constricted by it. The smart thing to do would be too stop calm down and think about it rationally, then put your fingers together and release yourself, but for those that are claustrophobic it's not that easy. You cannot push the panic out of your mind, an almost animalistic instinct takes over your mind and controls you, you can't think only act until something happens, and you just pull harder and harder, only thinking of being free, not the intelligent route into getting there.

That's what happened to us. If we had just stopped a minute we would realize that a fake coffin, most likely had fake skeletons, we would see that all we had to do was stop and remove the skeletons to be free. But we were panicked, so we continued to run around in circles with skeletons on our back until we were saved by the very people we were trying to look brave in front of.

I closed my eyes at the sound of a crash and flashes of dirty grey everywhere. When I opened my eyes Anzu and I were sitting in a pile of bones.

"God damn that Pegasus, I wish he would stop screwing around!" Honda said loudly, looking down at us.

Yuugi was looking down at us too, but his eyes were far away. "Jounochi." he said worriedly with a sigh. He was probably imagining if this is the kind of trouble we were getting into, what could Jounochi have gotten himself into? I was nervous for him too.

It was a well known fact amongst his friends that Jounochi hated anything occult, mysterious, spiritual or frankly anything that he couldn't just punch to put an end too. Not that any of us though of him as a meat-head, just someone who prefers or rather, is used to solving things by his own physical efforts, likes his feet on the ground and is a general down to earth person.

A place like this, designed by Pegasus to be the ultimate walk though haunted house, was probably Jounochi's worst nightmare. It did not help that I still felt that my ill thoughts had brought it about. You would think I would know the meaning of the phrase 'be careful what you wish for' by now.

I noticed an extended hand offering to help me up; I was surprised to see it belonged to Honda. I thought I was 'the one who must no be trusted' 10 minutes ago, why was he helping me now? He grinned sheepishly as he pulled me up.

"No one, who has that girly of a scream, is dangerous." he said with a laugh. If I hadn't been hearing comments like that all my life I would probably be livid. "I guess Jounochi was right, you are just a second Yuugi that needs care and protection. I'll look after you" he said smugly and pulled me close to him. I might have said something very rude in response if Yuugi had not interrupted me.

"It looks like there's only one path through the cave as far as I can see Bakura, are you sure this is the right way?" he said. Not even looking at me, but at the path. I was surprised by his tone. He wasn't usually so quick, not even with me.

"Yeah Yuugi-kun I'm sure, it's all I can do now to stop the thing from dragging me further in." I said trying to laugh it off, but it came out as more of a nervous chuckle. He only nodded and took the lead into the cave.

I was a little hurt by the way Yuugi was treating me. Had the messing around with the skeletons annoyed him? I had not meant to upset him...

As I started to follow I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up to see it was Honda again. "Don't let the way Yuugi is acting bother you, he's just worried about Jounochi, those two go way back." he said lowly, so the mentioned boy in front of us couldn't here. I was still a bit surprised by the way Honda was acting. It was if he was trying to take me under his wing to make up for the way he was acting before.

"Of course Yuugi has been friends with Anzu longer" he continued, "But she has always been hard to tie down. She was always a dreamer, when we were little kids she would just sit under a tree and get lost in her thoughts, never one for reality or anything outside her little world. Maybe that's why she and Yuugi got along so well. Him and his games, her and her dreams, neither really wanting anything to do with the real world. Then of course there was the fact when she did manage to notice the world around her, she was vicious to whoever was messing with Yuugi. That calm thoughtful expression could turn blood thirsty in seconds if someone was mean to him. Unlike her however, Yuugi always wanted to be with other people, always trying to get someone to play a game with him, but Anzu was disconnected, you talked to her and she wasn't really there, she was far-far away from the mundane life she was living." he said and then suddenly laughed.

"Then she discovered ballet." he said with a smile. "If Yuugi thought he was going to lose her to her own thoughts then, he knew he was going to lose her to her new dream now. Those ballet classes were all she talked about, she would come to school wearing a tutu and practice her moves during recess. As she got older she discovered different types of dance and loved them all. Every year she participates in the talent show and does a different one." Honda was still laughing at the memory, but then his face got serious and a bit sad.

"Yuugi's always been a great listener." he said seemingly off topic. "One of the reasons Anzu loved being with him: she could tell him all her dreams and know he would never laugh. She didn't even think about how much it hurt him to listen to those dreams. Jounochi is probably simpler for Yuugi to deal with."

"What do you mean?" I said, asking the first question since he had started his narrative.

"Don't tell me you're the only person blind enough to not see it." he said fully grinning again. "Just look at them."

I looked ahead of us to see Anzu and Yuugi walking side by side. Yuugi was walking with his head down while Anzu had her hand laying firm on Yuugi's shoulder while she chatted cheerfully. Yuugi raised his eyes to her at something she said, and then spoke a minute with a small smile playing on his lips before lowering his head again. Anzu smiled even brighter at her progress and continued to talk, hoping to get another reaction.

"Oh, you mean that." I said turning away from them with a smile as Yuugi raised his head again to talk to her more with a larger grin on his face.

"Yes, that. Yuugi loves her. Anzu loves him too, but not as much I think, her dreams are too big and fill up too much of her heart. Whatever room left for her feelings for Yuugi can't be much. But she does love him, that's why she trusts him with her heart, though she doesn't know it's killing him to hold it." he said.

I gave him a confused look. I knew they were in love, everyone in Domino knew that. Why that was hurting Yuugi I didn't understand.

Honda sighed at me. "She wants to go to America to continue studying dance, she wants to make it big as a Broadway star." he explained "It's her constant drive in everything she does, when she's not practicing, she's working her butt off to afford the trip, she studies so she can get a scholarship, she eats only certain things to keep that dancer figure and everyday it's, 'Yuugi, one day I'm going to go to America, I'm going to dance for millions and be a star.' and it kills him. Kills him because he knows it will be true. Kills him because he knows High schools going to end and she's going to leave to be famous and he's going to take over his grandfathers game shop. That once she makes it out of that small town she will never come back. He's going to lose her and she reminds him of that everyday with a huge smile on her face. So it's no surprise Yuugi and Jounochi are closer, he actually has his feet on the ground." Honda finished.

"I thought they only became friends this year, I wouldn't call that way back" I said remembering the story about Jounochi's oddly formed transition from tormenter to protector.

Honda looked at me oddly. "I forgot you were new here." he said "They've only started looking like conventional friends this year. They go farther back then that. Yuugi's considered himself his friend since they met in middle school, Jounochi considered Yuugi more of a project back then, then a friend, but the good will of a friend was still there, though it was Jounochi so of course he screwed it up and didn't get it right for years." he sighed.

"To everyone else it looked like Jounochi was tormenting Yuugi, but Yuugi saw through it, knew he was only trying to make him stronger. Even when Jounochi was in a bad angry place, he wasn't a bully, he didn't pick on those weaker then him for the fun of it, he took on big guys twice his size, three to one. Won too." Honda started.

"So one day Jounochi was running through the halls, in a rush for lunch, he accidentally bulldozed straight into the school's shortest occupant and resident game freak." Honda laughed.

"Now Jounochi wasn't the type of person who, when he bumps into someone, acts like it's all their fault and demands an apology, but when he saw how he had hit Yuugi, really sent him flying into a wall, and then watched him run off, eyes down cast and trying to melt into the floor, something about it really irked him." Honda paused and frowned for a minute.

"I'm not really sure exactly what happened next. After that everything I heard was second hand rumors. The only thing Jounochi would say is 'that kid needs to toughen up'. Jounochi's idea of helping him do that was putting him through hell trying to get a reaction out of him. Though from what I heard he never actually laid a hand on him. There was abuse though, verbal abuse, mental abuse, Jounochi probably took everything of Yuugi's he could get his hands on." Honda chuckled.

"Years and years of that and not once did Yuugi ever try and get any kind of revenge, he wouldn't do anything to get Jounochi in trouble or fight back. The thing with Yuugi is, and what we all see now, he doesn't fight for himself. He fights for others, so it wasn't until Jounochi was in trouble that Yuugi actually fought back, and Jounochi saw that Yuugi could be strong, if he felt like it. Now Jounochi protects Yuugi, to make sure he doesn't have to use that fighting nature he hates so much. That's probably why Yuugi is so intent about finding Jounochi, he's always been there for him, and it's Yuugi's turn. In his mind anyway. They do more for each other then either realize." Honda finished.

I looked at the group and felt a bit sad, they all had these experiences and memories that made this deep bond between them, I felt a bit left out.

"So what about you?" I asked Honda." How did you end up in the Yuugi group?" If I was going to know everyone else's story I should know Honda's too. It might help explain his mood swings.

Honda stared off for a minute, perhaps unsure of how to tell his own story. "Do you know Nosaka, Miho?" he asked suddenly. "Beautiful violet hair, sparkling midnight purple eyes, voice of an angel, works in the library, she's in our class, sits third row to the left, two seats down..."he trailed off.

I nodded to him. I knew Miho. When I went to the library to check out books she would often be hiding behind a book shelf staring at me with those 'sparkly, midnight purple eyes' and whenever I needed to find something there, she was the first to jump up and volunteer, walking in front, face completely red the whole time. For the sake of my future friendship with Honda I decided not to mention those details of our acquaintance.

"Well second year I fell pretty hard for her and fool that I am I told Jounochi about it, looking for help." I stared at him flabbergasted. Not only was Jounochi the biggest loud mouth on campus when it came to secrets, but he was also as romantic as a tooth pick.

Honda noticed my expression. "I know, stupid, but Jounochi is my best friend, and being best friends he waited a whole hour before blabbing to Yuugi about it." Honda said and I chuckled.

"Now back then Yuugi and I weren't on the best of terms, our relationship consisted of me threatening to beat him up if he didn't do as I said, usually just carry my books." I looked up at Honda with surprise; he didn't look like the type of person to be cruel to anyone but me. Honda did not notice my expression this time and continued.

"I was worried sick that he was going to use the info as black mail to get back at me. I threatened to kill him right there in the parking lot if he told a soul about how I felt. Yuugi being Yuugi, not only promised not to tell, but tried to help me get the girl. We went to the game shop after school to see if there was something romantic there that would impress my Ribbon-Chan. We found what would have been the perfect thing if the plan had gone well." Honda said with a look of longing.

"It was a blank puzzle. You could write on it, and your love letter would be filled out as she completed it. I threatened Yuugi into writing the inscription for me; my feelings for Miho were too strong for me to put into words myself. He wrote it that night and put into her desk that morning." Honda said and then an angry look crossed his features.

"If it weren't for that stupid, uptight teacher...She decides that day she wants to a surprise desk inspection, 'pull everything out', she says. Poor Miho didn't know we put the gift in her desk. She started to cry as the teacher flounced it around, making fun. That teacher was a real bitch. Then she asks who put the present in her desk. The biggest surprise of my life was seeing Yuugi immediately stand up and say it was him. He really took a bullet for me." Honda said calming down a bit. Then he got an odd look on his face.

"Strangest thing was nobody got in trouble. Just as the teacher was questioning Yuugi, all her make-up starts to crack and reveals this really weird looking face, she ran screaming out of the class, saying she won't get any of us in trouble if we didn't tell anyone about what her face really looks like. It was a great laugh, and something really happened between Yuugi and me that day, I just sorta assimilated into the group after that." Honda said, finishing up.

"Did you ever tell Miho how you felt? I asked. Those two would suit each other well. Miho always had her nose in the latest romance book, and Honda was the chivalrous, over the top kind of guy that could fill her expectations.

"Yup."

"And..."

"Stone cold rejected me." he said with a sigh. I wasn't sure what to say to that. I didn't have time to think about it long before the next thing happened.

We had been walking deeper and deeper into the cave as Honda was telling his stories, and I had not noticed that the caves light was dimming the further we went in. It appeared that the only light in the cave came from the entrance, and now that we were so far away, we were standing in almost pitch black darkness. It looked like Yuugi and Anzu, still ahead of us, had just noticed too.

"It looks like there's a light ahead!" Yuugi called out to us. "Let's just make a run for it."

I saw no light ahead only more darkness, but everyone else was already running.

Just as I figured it was only darker the farther we ran in, it got to the point where I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. Uncoordinated on a normal basis, it was no surprise that after few seconds of running in the dark, I felt myself trip over something and crash landed into what I assume was the cave wall.

"Ow." I said as I rubbed my head. It was black everywhere and I couldn't tell if that was because the cave was still dark or because of the head injury. Every part of my body hurt, but after a few minutes of blinking and seeing that it wasn't getting any lighter, I decided that I was fine and should move on.

I felt heavier as I stood up, but I figured that was just the splitting headache. I was trying to get back on the path when I noticed that I could no longer here anyone else's footsteps.

"Hey!" I yelled out, hoping one of them would her me.

"This way Bakura-kun!" I heard Honda respond.

I started running in the direction of his voice. "Wait up guys!"

I noticed a dim brightness ahead and guessed that was the light Yuugi had been talking about; as I followed it and Honda's voice I made out three figures and assumed it was them.

"Hey!" I yelled again, to get their attention.

When they noticed me they took off running again. I knew we were in a rush to find Jounochi, but couldn't they wait two seconds for me to catch up?

"Come on guys wait up!" I yelled as I chased after them. Did they have to run so fast?

Suddenly Honda turned around and there was a flash of light. I closed my eyes and flinched. When I opened my eyes I was once again laying in a pile of bones. How did this keep happening to me? I mean not even when Spirit was around had I ever-

"Bakura you are a jinx!" Honda yelled at me.

Do you have any idea what a damn trouble magnet you are?

"I can't take anymore of this." Anzu said, lying on her stomach, completely exhausted from the run.

"We are so off track because of you." Yuugi said who was also lying down in exhaustion.

"I'm sorry everyone." I said meekly. How was I supposed to know that when I tripped I had landed on another skeleton?

"Alright, mystical gps or not, if we keep following Bakura we are going to end up in a skeleton pit. Yuugi, which way do you think we should go?" Honda asked.

We looked over to see the cave's path spit in two. The wall that divided it was covered with Skeleton head with candles in their mouths. The light we had seen earlier.

Anzu looked at the heads grimly, "I wish Pegasus would give it a rest already." I chuckled at the face she made.

"Anyway let's hurry up and find Jounochi." Yuugi said, snapping us back into focus.

As we stood up to follow his lead, I felt my foot suddenly go down, like I had stepped on something soft. I looked down and saw that I had stepped on some kind of hidden button, like in bad horror movies.

All of sudden there was a large rumbling sound coming from the path we had just came from.

"What is that?" Honda said as the noise got louder.

"I'm sorry it's my fault-" I began

"Be quiet." Yuugi commanded us.

I instantly covered my mouth as to not make anymore noise. I was causing nothing but trouble today.

We continued to look for the source of the noise when it appeared. A giant boulder rolling toward us.

You don't know how fast you can run unit there's a 10 foot boulder rolling 2 feet away from you.

"Why is it coming this way!?" Anzu screamed.

"This isn't the time to worry about that!" Honda yelled back.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! 'I'm sorry!" I yelled. I really was a jinx. These kinds of things only happen to me and now there was no Spirit to protect me.

As if the divine powers wanted to prove my inability to take of myself, I felt myself trip again. No! Not here! Klutziness takes over at any other time but not here! But it was too late; I was already in mid-air and felt myself falling to the ground.

A force rolled over me. It wasn't as heavy or painful as I thought it would be. I chalked it up to God's mercy.

I'm dead. I'm dead I'm dead. I died I'm dead.

Dead.

Dead feels a bit like a rocky cave floor.

Dead.

If I'm dead I wonder if I'll see Spirit.

Dead.

Do I really want to?

Dead.

Probably not. I bet he's still pissed at me.

Dead.

"Bakura-kun, are you alright?"

Wow. Even dead, people call me by my last name.

Dead.

"You're okay, the boulder was fake. It was made of a balloon and a speaker."

Dea- What!?

I looked up too see Anzu kneeling by my side. Big blue eyes and bright smile boring into me. I was fine. I was going to kill Pegasus!

Now, now Ryou, you remember where malicious thoughts got you, namely here. Besides you swore against them.

"ULTIMATE SCREW KNUCKLE!!!" we heard a scream yell from a little farther down the cave, and it sounded like...Jounochi.

We ran to the direction of the scream.

We arrived in front of one of the giant duel arena's just in time to see Jounochi reduce his opponents life points to zero.

Jounochi noticed our entrance and turned around to give Yuugi a thumbs up. "I did it Yuugi." he said.

"Alright let's go." Said a large muscled man. He was blond, wearing a biker's vest over a red shirt, sunglasses, a large cross and what looked like the American flag over his head. Then he, and some other odd looking characters, left.

"Sorry to worry you everyone, I got caught up in the duel." Jounochi said walking over too us.

"You should be sorry." Honda said grinning at him. "Bakura almost had a heart attack looking for you." They have no idea, I thought smiling.

"Leave Jounochi alone, and lets just be happy he's back." Yuugi said looking happily at his friend.

"Well you did beat him, so I forgive you." Honda said.

"You were incredible in your duel Jounochi!" I said just happy to see him well. I looked over him quickly and sighed in relief when I saw there wasn't a scratch on him. The Jouzilla that had been grating my conscious could finally rest.

"Enough of that, lets get out of this creepy place." Anzu said.

We all agreed and headed toward the exit we had seen Jounochi's opponent leave moments before. We broke into a happy jog, ready to finally get out of here.

Then something started to eclipse the light coming from the exit. We ran faster to see what the problem was. It was a boulder. They were sealing us in the cave with a boulder.

From outside we heard someone yell; "Now you'll be stuck there forever, In AMERICA!!!"

A/N-Could I resist? Hell no! Alright while reviews are more then immensely appreciated, sometimes the only thing that makes me get up in this morning, I'm not going to lie to you guys. I feel my limit with updates is once every two weeks. Sorry.

But please pretty please review anyway. Unless you want to bash Anzu, then you can keep your thoughts to yourself. I don't need or want any negativity in my positive review zone.

Since I'm in a rush and my A/n's are not as exclamatory as usual, feel free to ask questions and I promise I'll get back to you/

PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'm about to have a bad week and I need them.