A/N: Well, I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long. Sorry if I did. And sorry if the chapter is shorter than the previous one.

Warnings: There's a reference to the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh- something that was never mentioned in the anime. Or, the dubs at least.

I felt extremely restless after that day with Ryou. I wanted to see him again and yet there was a small part of me that was afraid that I might have annoyed him with all my questions on during our walk. And then, the majority part of me would challenge that suspicion and say he was my friend; there was no need to be worried about annoying him. That's what close friends did with each other- annoyed them, to an extent.

So, it was around this time when I had mustered enough courage to pick up the phone and dial the first two numbers of his telephone number. But then, something unexpected happened.

Grandpa's voice issued from the receiver and I froze in shock, realizing I had stupidly picked up the phone while Grandpa was talking to someone by the name of Arthur Hawkins. Quickly, I hung up the phone and curled up in a ball, watching the device from the furthest corner of my bed. A few minutes later, Grandpa huffed up the stairs and said the line was free so I could make that phone call. I simply shook my head, shyness overcoming me, and told him it was nothing. He paused, arching an eyebrow at me.

"Who were you going to call anyways?" he asked carefully. I opened my mouth to say "Ryou" but then I remembered Grandpa didn't know I had met Ryou yet.

"No one," I said, equally careful. He continued to gaze at me. I silently prayed that he would leave me to my own thoughts. Instead, he felt a need to prolong his stay in my room and sat on the edge of my bed.

"You know, Aurora," he said. "I really haven't had the chance to bond with you after you got out of the hospital. I'm sorry for being so neglecting."

"It's okay, Grandpa," I said, putting on an easy smile for his benefit. He shook his head.

"No it's not. It isn't right of me. Maybe we could do something in the near future together…" his voice trailed off in thought as he mused with the idea. He snapped back to the present with a small cough. "But, anyway, I don't want you to feel pressured or anything in getting your memory back. You're still Aurora and we still love you, memory or no memory." I felt my face grow slightly red at that statement. And I didn't know how to respond.

Thankfully, Yugi saved me.

"Graaandpaaa!" Yugi called from downstairs. "Your posters fell, again." With a single movement, Grandpa slapped his leg and snapped his fingers.

"I'm coming!" he called back, rising from the bed and heading toward Yugi's voice, all the while grumbling something along the lines of, "blasted, good-for-nothing scotch tape…"

I sighed and glanced at the digital clock on the nightstand. It read:

12:57

I blinked. I had another psychiatric appointment that day at one-thirty. With slumped shoulders, I reluctantly went to go put my shoes on, expecting Kaiba would be there to pick me up precisely at one as he usually did. When I was pulling them on, I heard the phone ring before it was abruptly silenced by someone downstairs answering it. After I had both shoes on- each on the correct foot- I made my way downstairs, wondering how I was going to explain to Ms. Perry that I didn't write down my dreams once again. I started feeling guilty with the lack of cooperation with the therapist; Grandpa was paying good money for her.

Well, someone was paying good money for her. I didn't quite know if it was Grandpa or Kaiba paying for it, as he did with the hospital bills.

In the main room of the game shop, I saw Yugi idly leaning back against the wall, tapping his foot rhythmically as Grandpa was talking in low murmurs on the phone. I tilted my head inquisitively toward Grandpa but Yugi simply shrug his shoulders; he didn't know who Grandpa was talking to.

If there was one good thing I was progressing in, it was being a better sister for Yugi. We didn't talk that much but we could each just understand the other. And that was good enough for me.

"You're sure about this?" Grandpa asked anxiously. The person on the other line spoke and Grandpa's face started becoming more worried.

"No, no. It's no trouble at all," Grandpa insisted. "A little last minute but I think we can handle it… All right. Thank you… Good bye." He paused, allowing the other person on the line to say their good bye but there didn't seem to be any as he glumly hung the phone up. With a sigh, he turned to us kids; we were looking at him expectantly.

"That was Kaiba," he said. "He says he refuses to take Aurora to anymore appointments." I could feel my eyes widen with surprise.

"Refuse to take me? But why?" Grandpa gave me a hard look.

"It might have something to do with the fact that you ran out on him when he took you home," he said shortly. I bit my lower lip, ashamed. I'd conveniently forgotten to tell him that I bailed out on Kaiba.

"Oops," I merely said in a small voice.

"Oops, nothing," Grandpa reprimanded. "He also mentioned how you were being uncooperative with Dr. Perry."

"Because she's a snotty, know-it-all-" Grandpa raised his hand, silencing me.

"She's just doing her job. You do want to get your memory back, don't you?" Grandpa raised an eyebrow at me. All I could do was stare at the floor.

"Yes," I mumbled, mentally hating Kaiba even more that he ratted me out. Even if I may have deserved it. Grandpa sighed and tapped his chin, thinking.

"And now we have a dilemma," he mused to himself. "Who will accompany Aurora to the therapist?"

"I can go by myself," I offered. "I know the way pretty well." Grandpa shook his head.

"Too dangerous. Besides, Dr. Perry said she would like to have someone there with her, to help verify the memories."

"I can go with her," Yugi volunteered. Grandpa looked at him.

"I thought you were going with the arcade with Joey and Tristan."

"I was but we can always go some other time."

"It's not that big of deal. You already had some plans- you don't have to change them. I suppose I could go with her."

"But Grandpa, don't you have to run the shop?"

"Closing it for a few hours wouldn't hurt anything." I crossed my arms and leaned against a counter as they bounced various ideas and suggestions off each other. It didn't bother me that they conferred with each other about me without my opinion; I didn't care either way. In fact, if it were up to me, I wouldn't go to the stupid therapist in the first place.

"You could call Ryou," Yugi finally suggested. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I perked up at the name, cautiously glancing at Grandpa who was staring at me warily. And, it occurred to me that I wasn't suppose to know who Ryou was.

"Ryou?" I questioned, trying to sound confused. "Who is he?" Grandpa looked at me nervously.

"Ryou is a friend of yours," Grandpa said slowly. "I didn't mention him earlier because I didn't want to ruin what progress you've made in recovering your memories. Well, obviously that was quite a foolish decision on my behalf. He might actually help, though…" his voice trailed off in thought and he contemplated me with his round eyes. "Couldn't hurt. Yes, I think he should take you."

With a renewed vigor, Grandpa quickly made his way to the phone and dialed what I supposed was Ryou's number. I suppressed a smile, alread knowing what he told me.

"Hello? Ryou?" said Grandpa after the phone rang several times. "Yes, this is Yugi's grandpa. I would like to ask a favor of you."

As Grandpa continued to explain the situation to Ryou, I casually walked up to the counter Grandpa was stationed at and stared at him curiously. It didn't take long for Grandpa to persuade Ryou to escort me to the psychiatrist's office; it seemed as though Ryou was more than happy to do. And it was a grateful Solomon Mutou that hung the phone with an easily identifiable relieved expression.

"Ryou says he'll be glad to take you," Grandpa briefed. I nodded.

"So, this Ryou," I began slowly. "If he's my friend, then why wasn't he at the hospital with the others when I first woke up?" I already knew the answer to that. Well, at least, Ryou's version. I just wanted to see what I could get out of Grandpa.

"Well, his father founded the newest Egyptology exhibit at the museum and so he was busy with that on the day you woke up."

"Oh," I said. "Is he a friend like Téa, Tristan, and Joey?" I asked, keeping my tone nonchalant. Though, it wasn't hard to detect the slight sarcasm. After the first few days of my release from the hospital, it became apparent very quickly that the trio were Yugi's friends, not mine, even though I had already deduced as such at the hospital. It wasn't like they were purposely mean or anything; they all tried, especially Téa to include me, to befriend me. There just wasn't a connection. Not like the one they had with Yugi. So it had a become a mutual effort in not trying to forge something that was never there to begin with. It didn't bother me that much. The one thing I didn't like was that Grandpa had tried to convince me that we all shared this close connection. Though, after a while, he stopped- seeing his attempts were evidently wasted.

"Not at all," Grandpa said quickly, throwing his hands up. "You two were really close friends. But, I'm not going to try and persuade you. I can let him do that." I smiled at the short, elderly man; Ryou had already proved as much to me.

It was about fifteen minutes before the shop's bell tinkled, signaling a visitor. I looked up from the card magazine I was reading out of boredom and peered up at the doorway to see Ryou standing there. Eagerly, I set the magazine aside and watched as Grandpa went to greet and thank him once again.

"Thank you again for agreeing to this all last minute. Normally I wouldn't have bothered but-" Ryou shook his head, cutting Grandpa off.

"It's no problem, don't worry about. I wasn't doing anything anyway." Grandpa nodded.

"Well still, I can't begin to convey how grateful I am." Grandpa shifted slightly to glance at me. "Aurora," he beckoned. "This is Ryou." And he motioned me to approach them. Though I already knew who Ryou was, I still felt a bit of shyness when walking up to him. He must have felt perfectly at ease however since he was smiling at me warmly.

"Hi," I managed to mumble to him, for some strange reason, avoiding his gaze.

"Hello Aurora," he said in his soft voice. "As your grandfather said, I'm Ryou."

"Well, I suppose you already know my name," I said casually, braving a glance up at him and keeping up with my oblivious charade. Ryou gave a small chuckle.

"Yes, I suppose I do." He turned to Grandpa. "Dr. Perry is it?" Grandpa nodded and he turned back to me, gesturing toward the front door. "Shall we go, then? Your appointment is in less than fifteen minutes, isn't it? I apologize for taking so long in getting here."

Personally, I couldn't care less whether or not we were late for Ms. Perry. But all the same, I merely nodded and edged my way past him and proceeded to leave the game shop. When I had reached outside, I turned to wait for Ryou and saw Grandpa still had him inside and whispered something urgently to him. It took a moment, but then Ryou nodded in comprehension before coming outside himself. I arched an eyebrow at him, wondering what Grandpa had said to him. But Ryou seemed to ignore me as he shuffled onward. I suppressed a sigh of irritation and followed him.

Unlike our previous encounter, we mostly remained silent. I kept waiting for him to start conversation but he never did. And that made me get the feeling that something was wrong.

"Ryou, are you okay?" I asked finally after three blocks. He turned to look at me, with an unusually distant look in his brown eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said dismissively, blowing something off yet again- as he did in our last conversation.

"You don't seem fine," I countered stubbornly. He gave me a half-smile and turned to look ahead of him.

"It's nothing," he insisted. He seemed unwilling to divulge any further information so I let the subject drop and we continued to the therapist in silence.

When we got there, I glanced at the clock on the secretary's desk and saw that it was one thirty-three. I resisted the urge to jump victoriously; when Kaiba took me here, he always persisted in getting here twenty minutes early and was content to wait out those twenty minutes in the hard chairs provided and read the outdated health magazines. Quite frankly, I preferred being three minutes late than twenty minutes early.

I walked up to the front desk to sign myself in. When I had picked up the pen chained to the counter, the lady behind it glanced up and instantly recognized me from my earlier visits.

"Aurora?" she said, sounding surprised. My hand was frozen in the air, inches away from the sign-in sheet, and pen in hand.

"Yes?" I asked uncertainly.

"I'm sorry, did the morning secretary not call you?"

"Erm…"

"I'll take that as a no." I smiled meekly and she smiled at me, humor touching her weary face. "Dr. Perry isn't in today. She had to deal with personal, family matters. All of her appointments have been cancelled." Ryou stepped up to the desk as I slowly put the pen back down.

"Will she be here Tuesday, for Aurora's next appointment?" The secretary nodded.

"She should be back by then. I'm sorry for the inconvenience." I smiled at her, hardly believing I got off the hook so easily.

"It's no problem," assured her. "I guess I'll see you later." I turned to leave and saw Ryou roll his eyes at me and smile out of the corner of my eye.

"Good day, Ms. Mutou," the secretary said from behind. I turned to wave at her before exiting promptly out the door. Ryou followed closely behind.

Once we were outside, I looked around at the surroundings. Most of the buildings here were medical offices. At least, Kaiba had told me so on the day of my first appointment. It wasn't my favorite part of town with the crowding buildings and skyscrapers. The city didn't feel like a buzz of energy to me like it had that day I first left the hospital. Or escaped, I should say. Maybe the city was starting to wear on me, like water on rock.

"Well that seemed rather pointless," I noted casually, turning to face Ryou. He gave me a small smile and I saw that glazed-over look in his eyes again. I paused, examining him. "Ryou, are you sure you're okay?" He blinked at me and I waited a few moments before he answered.

"Of course, you wouldn't remember." He sighed and I could feel my expression becoming puzzled, confused. "If you'd rather not go home right now, would you mind if I showed you something?"

"I wouldn't mind," I answered quietly, waiting for him to elaborate. He sighed again, walked past me, stopped, and turned to face me once again.

"I told your grandfather I wasn't doing anything today. That was partly true since I hadn't been doing anything as of yet."

"Ryou, what do you mean?" He have me a long look and, for once, he let loose his own sadness and allowed whatever pain he was feeling to display on his face. The sight of him braked me and stirred something within the empty void of my memories. I felt my eyes prick suddenly and I realized, upon my awakening- that as of yet- I hadn't cried. "Ryou?" I felt the strong urge to reach out and comfort him.

And then, the expression was gone, replaced by a smile but the sadness still remained in his eyes.

"I had a sister once," he explained to me. "Her name was Amane."

Hope you enjoyed it! And, because the events concerning Amane are not precisely known (to me at least)- I'll be coming up with my own version of what happened to her.

Please review, and let's hope I don't keep you waiting too long.

-Nuit Songeur