Author's notes- Thank you for reviewing Masami Mistress Of Fire, I thought everyone would have forgotten about this story by now! Thank you very much for reviewing. Here is the 9th chapter now.

Pyramid of Fire

Chapter 9- Brothers

The stairs creaked as I walked down them, trailing behind Joey. I yawned loudly, once everyone leaves I'm definitely going to bed, I don't think I've ever been so exhausted.

I smile as I see the scene in front of me, in the living room the film is finished and everyone has fallen asleep. Tristen is lying over Ryou and drooling on his lap, Tea meanwhile isn't even on the sofa, she's on the floor hugging the video case and making faint growling noises.

Geez, does she love that film or what?

Me and Joey get to work on poking everyone awake, ignoring their complaints and attempts to wave us away. Tristen got up pretty quick though when he realized he'd been lying on Ryou's lap. I just had to laugh at that, no matter how tired I was.

We said our goodbyes and everybody left, but Joey decided to hang back for a minute. "You gonna be alright now Yug'?" He asked me.

I nodded, "I'm okay now, thanks a lot."

He grinned and punched me playfully in the arm. "No prob. I'll catch you later then Yugi, my Dad will kill me if I don't get back soon. Literally."

I smiled sadly with a knowing look; his dad is a bit crazy, sometimes I feel really sorry for Joey. I waved, "Bye then!"

He waved back and set off to his apartment.

I sighed tiredly and collapsed back on the sofa, only to jump off it again quickly. "Ewww! It's wet!" I exclaim

I guess it wasn't just Ryou that got drooled on. Gross.

Come to think of it, the whole place was just generally a mess. I sigh, looks like more cleaning up for me.

'Hey, Yami, can you do anything useful, like cleaning?' I ask my Yami jokingly through the mind link.

His spirit form appeared in front of me, "Not unless you have a spare body somewhere, I'm certainly not cleaning all this up on my own, I'd be here all week. Did your friends throw a riot or something?"

"Well, they were supposed to be watching a film, but it looks like they really did have a riot instead…" I said, laughing. To my surprise I found Yami staring at me intently. "Um…Yami?" I asked.

He came close to me and brought his hand to my face, his unreal cold fingertips brushing against my cheek. "Yugi…Have you been crying? …Your eyes seem a little red…"

I didn't want to worry by telling Yami the truth, but I knew if I lied, he would only find out by digging into my memories. I've told him not to do that, and he usually respects my wishes, but if he's worried about me… Well, that's a different matter."

Sometimes, I feel that he's protecting me just a little too much.

Just a little.

I decided I'd best tell the truth, "I…Um… I was talking with Joey earlier-"

"Did he say something to upset you?" Yami interrupted sharply.

"No! Nothing like that…" Yami looked relieved, "I was just talking to him about the police investigation, I'm… a bit worried about it."

My other half gave me a sad mournful look, "I thought that's what it might have been."

I stared at him, startled, "What?" I asked.

"The mind link Yugi, remember it? I can sense what you are feeling like you can with me."

"Oh, right… Of course."

"You know Yugi…" Yami said hesitantly, "You can always talk to me if you ever need too. We do share the same mind…"

"Thanks Yami, I know." I said picking up loose piece of popcorn from the ground, "But I'm okay now."

Suddenly, I found Yami with his arms wrapped around my waist, "Don't you worry about anything little brother, I won't ever let anyone hurt you."

"Little brother?" I asked, confused by both his words and his actions. After all, since when did Yami hug people?

He moved his head to rest it on my shoulder, "That's right… You're like a little brother to me Yugi. I will always love and protect you."

I smiled, Yami really had started warming up to people in these last couple of months since we returned from duelist kingdom, I know a lot more about him now, understand him a bit better. And although I couldn't' actually feel Yami holding me, it meant exactly the same thing.

"Let's go to bed then, big brother."

X

Joey stomped tiredly up the stairs to his apartment, the clanking of his footfalls echoing all around and no doubt annoying the neighbours. He finally reached his floor and dug around in his deep pockets for keys, sifting through chewing gum, money and many other things he didn't want or need at that precise moment.

"Damn keys…" He muttered in an annoyed tone.

All at once, the door to his apartment swung open and almost knocked Joey off his feet. 'Wha' the hell!'

A messy unshaven man looked down at him angrily, "Where the fuck do you think you've been brat? it's past midnight!"

Joey's eyes narrowed, "Like you care Dad, I expect you've only come out to do some more late-night boozing." He scoffed.

His dad glared and pushed Joey aside, striding down the metal stairs, anger in his steps.

"Heh, looks like I was right," Called Joey after him and his Dad gave him the finger in reply and a look that said 'You'll regret this.'

His son walked into the apartment and slammed the door loudly, causing the neighbour next door to bang on the wall, "Will you please just shut the hell up!" Joey ignored this and walked over to the window where he now saw his Dad walking along the path on the way to the pub. He continued to glare, his heart aching for the loss of his father who didn't seem to care any more.

He heard several drunken shouts from down below and Joey closed the blinds, grumbling his complaint for living in such a sleezy run-down part of town.

He sighed heavily and sat down on his sofa, turning on the tv to get his mind onto better things.

'Hello and welcome to news night! I'm Sophie Woods and here is tonight's headlines-'

Joey groaned, news night had to be the most boring program on the planet, where was all the action-adventure films, the comedies? The news was reality, and Joey had far too much of that already. He reached for the remote controller, but it slipped out of his hand and fell down into the deepdepths ofthe sofa.

'Today the 'Tokyo Devils' continued their rampage throughout the city. The 'Tokyo Devils' in question being the most infamous biker gang in the whole of Japan. The wave of violence they have been causing is continued to spread when they provoked a neighbouring gang-'

"Damn, where's that remote?" He mumbled, sitting up and digging his hand into the back of the sofa.

'-Were injured and several killed. It is expected the 'Tokyo Devils' will cause even more chaos in the future. In other news, the investigation into Domino city's school fire-'

Joey finally found the remote right down the back and pulled it out, changing it channel 3, where there were two giant monsters tackling each other. Suddenly, the words of the presenter on the other channel reached his head, "Oh!" He said and changed the channel back.

'-May know, several weeks ago in Domino High School, a fire erupted from the bottom floor, causing the death of twelve students and the injury of many more. Tonight, we have a special guest, Mr Yuichi Shimura, who is a detective investigating the incident. Thank you for coming in tonight Mr Shimura."

'That's quite alright,' Said the detective, taking a seat next to the presenter.

'So, tell us Mr Shimura, do you have any ideas on what could have caused such a dreadful tragedy?' Said Sophie Woods.

'Well, we're still in the process of investigation, but… What we have determined so far, is that the fire was not an accident.'

'You mean you think a student set fire to the building?' Said the presenter in obvious mock amazement.

'We believe so. We have a couple of suspects… but they are all minors and cannot be mentioned in public.'

"Wait one damn minute…" Thought Joey aloud, "This guy must the dude who questioned Yug', so one of these suspects is probably Yugi!'

'Have you found any conclusive evidence yet?' Asked Sophie Woods.

'We have some evidence, but it's not enough to press charges on any one yet, we're still not 100 percent sure who the culprit is… But earlier today, we received an email from someone who claims to know who did it. I'm meeting up with this witness tomorrow.'

'Well, hopefully then you'll find who committed this awful crime. We wish you good luck in finding the culprit, thank you for coming in tonight Mr Shimura.'

'It was my pleasure.'

Joey switched off the television, 'Why do things have to be so damn complicated…?' He thought, 'I really hope Yugi doesn't' get even more drawn into this. That guy must be a crap detective if he thinks Yugi would do it, he would never do anything like that. Still… I wonder who did…? Argh… My brain hurts, I'm going to bed.'

And so he did, although it was a restless sleep plagued by nightmares with fear for his friend.

X

Yuichi Shimura however, had never slept better. Because he knew that tomorrow maybe, just maybe, he would solve this mystery for good.

Perhaps this witness would be the final missing piece of the puzzle.

Maybe.