Chapter 11: Clarity

"This doesn't make any sense!" Leo exclaimed to us, "His mansion was right here! It was enormous!"

Yusei turned to me, "What's your take on this, Koyou?"

We'd all been called together by Luna's desperation when she was lured into a duel with a Machine Emperor, a new one, wielded by the mysterious transfer student we'd found out was actually named Lucciano and not Lester. However a child as a agent of Yliaster made more sense than vanishing buildings. I studied the vacant lot carefully, stepping into it to see if it were some kind of cloaking system. It wasn't. Crouching, I ran my hands in the patch of grass near my feet.

"There's totally intact bits of grass here. No bends or crushed parts or anything." I looked to Yusei, "I'm not saying he's mistaken, but I am saying it's like there was never a building here. They didn't just take the building away somehow. They made it like it was never here."

Crow scratched his head, "How is that even possible?"

"Barring the issue of removing a whole building this fast being impossible, the grass could have been placed here, but that would take even more time and an absurd amount of attention to detail. There's something that explains both, but the amount of energy needed would be immense and they'd need tech at least a couple years ahead of ours."

Yusei, the tech whiz that he was, connected the dots and figured out what I was referring to, "A virtual solid hologram like duel disks emit could be set to be solid but only in portions so it wouldn't damage the area. A whole building would be just as weightless as light."

I nodded, "But something the size and detail of a building, solid enough to walk in, with zoned off areas of solidity, and so convincing that you can't tell it's CG? That's beyond any tech I've ever heard of, but it's the only thing I can think of."

Jack grunted in frustration, "It also doesn't explain why nobody but us remembers Lester."

"Come to think of it. I know we're Signers so we might have protection from whatever did it, but why are Crow and Leo fine? They aren't Signers. Which also begs the question why did Crow get the same feeling that Luna was in danger?"

Crow shrugged, "I dunno. I just got the feeling I was needed and followed it."

"You might be a Signer after all." I mused.

Aki followed up on my theory, "The tail mark hasn't reappeared since the head went to Yusei, maybe it went to Crow and just hasn't awakened?"

"Why would I be a Signer?"

"You did face one of the Dark Signers back then." Aki reminded, "When Greiger came towards the orphanage you rode out and defeated him."

Crow frowned, "Yeah. I suppose it kinda makes a bit of sense. I don't feel like a did much though."

"Which is probably why your mark isn't awake." I guessed, "The powers seem to be closely tied to emotions. Which is why I haven't been able to control mine very well these past few months and none of you felt that I was in danger when I dueled Ghost. My powers weren't working right... I wasn't working right."

Aki's face fell, "Koyou, about that-"

"Not right now, Aki. We can talk about that later. I need to check on my family and see if they were affected by the memory thing. If not, it might explain why Leo wasn't either. Maybe him sharing genes with Luna protected him."

"Solid guess." Jack noted.

I dialed Mei for the quickest comparison. After all, Leo and Luna are twins and so are Mei and I. However, it was Koishii that picked up, sounding freaked out and worried, "Kokou-kun!"

"Koishii? What's wrong? Why do you have Mei's phone?"

Everyone looked at me, concerned and hanging on for an update on the situation.

Koishii was a bit frantic in her reply, "Mei was hit by someone on a duel runner."

"What?"

Crow marched towards me, his face wracked with worry, "What's with that reaction? What's wrong with Mei?"

"Koishii, is she okay? How bad is it?"

"I followed in the car when she was taken to the hospital. I haven't seen her yet but the doctor says she's going to be okay. He didn't say how bad she was."

"Find out and call me back! I'm with Crow, Yusei, and the rest we'll head your way right now. Neo Domino General Hospital right?"

"Yeah."

"See you in a few minutes."

"Y-yeah."

Crow grabbed me as I hanged up the phone, "Is Mei okay?"

"All the doctors have said is that she'll be fine, they didn't say how bad she was but she can't be in critical condition or anything if they said that much." I took the time to type out a text message to Sherry, 'Not available today unless it's life-or-death. My sister was hit by a duel runner and is in the hospital. She's going to be okay, but I'm not sure if it's Yliaster or not. I'll let you know. I'll be at Neo Domino General Hospital if you need me.'

"What are you doing, Koyou!" Crow shouted from his runner. In fact everyone had quickly made their way onto their rides. "Come on!"

We were at the hospital and heading down down the hall towards Mei's room within twenty minutes, but I stopped the group before we all went in, "We shouldn't all go in at once after she's had a shock. Crow, you go first."

"You sure, man? She's your sister." the man was trying to be considerate, but was pretty much already reaching for the door.

"Yeah. I can go second."

He was already going in before the second sentence was out of my mouth, "Thanks."

It made me feel a bit better knowing that he cared so much about my sister. I mean, even though I wasn't entirely sure what brought them together to begin with it was hard to play the role of the overly protective brother when he was so clearly head over heels for her. I let out a deep breath of anxiety as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.

Jack broke the tension, "Do you think it was Yliaster? It seems like it would be beneath them to go after our families, but didn't your mother say something about her inheriting some kind of power?"

"I don't know. It doesn't seem like something they'd do. At least not directly. I mean, if they were after her to get to me they'd have kidnapped her right? If they went after her because of her power then they would probably dueled her like with Luna. It doesn't really add up. Why would Yliaster try to kill her? There's no direct motive to it."

"Doesn't mean they wouldn't do it. We are talking about lunatics here."

"Lunatics smart enough to be manipulating things from behind the scenes for thousands of years."

"Point taken."

Looking around the group, Leo and Luna were sitting on some nearby chairs, fretting over the condition of their friend and teacher, Jack (ever the 'punch them back' type) was frustrated more than he was anxious, and Aki and Yusei both looked just as awkward as they looked worried. Yusei was just harder to read because he wasn't as openly expressive as most people. It was obvious though that they both wanted to ask me the same thing, about last night at the party and if it had anything to do with Mei's 'accident'.

"I don't know if it's my fault or not." I answered Yusei.

"I wasn't blaming you."

"I know you weren't, but it's obvious you wanted to ask if that business with Sherry last night could have something to do with this, and honestly I don't know. They shouldn't know I'm involved with Sherry. I was careful. At least I'm pretty sure I was."

Aki obviously wanted to know what was going on with me and Sherry.

"It's not what you're thinking, Aki." I somewhat lied. I mean, sure Sherry and I had had sex, but it was mostly out of loneliness and a desire for acceptance. We weren't dating or anything. Though I wasn't sure how much of a lie it really was, "We're not seeing each other or anything. I'm just helping her investigate Yliaster."

"She tried to get Yusei on her WRGP team to do just that." Aki reminded, implying a question.

One I answered, "And I applied for the position and took the open spot."

Jack broke in, "Wait a minute, you mean you joined an opposing team for the WRGP? What are you getting at?"

"Jack, back off." Yusei interjected, then turned to me, "I know this isn't the time for this discussion, but did you join her because-"

"Of the fight between us? No." It was mostly the truth. It was the 'mostly' part that made me be honest and add, "Not entirely. It wasn't anywhere near the main reason. I didn't join her to spite you, let's phrase it that way. Now can we talk about this later?"

"Of course."

"I was going to keep the promise I made last night and explain everything, I swear. I was even on the way to do it when I felt Luna in trouble."

Something seemed to occur to Yusei, as I could tell dots were connecting in his head that brought a small smile to his face, "That's why your mark started working normally again. You wanted to restore our broken bonds."

"I guess."

Crow came out, looking relieved, "Koyou, she wants to talk to you."

I went right in without saying anything else and Crow stayed outside to give us some family time. Mei was sitting there in the bed looking a bit scuffed and with a cast on her arm, which was in a sling, but otherwise fine. Koishii was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, but that didn't really matter, "Mei, are you okay? What happened?"

She rolled her eyes, "You people act like I should be dying or something. What did Koishii even tell you?"

Koishii got defensive, "I was worried! The doctors weren't saying anything!"

My sister beamed a smile at her to let her know she wasn't really angry, then turned back to me, "I'm fine. It was just some jerk driving too fast. He lost control of his runner and spun out. I just happened to be unlucky. Or lucky if you consider it could have been worse. The doctors are just keeping me in for some more tests to make sure."

"How do you feel?"

"Like I got hit by a duel runner." Mei joked, "Seriously though, I'm fine. My arm hurts a little but they gave me some pain killers for that."

I let out a sigh of relief, "Thank god. If you'd gotten hurt because of this world-saving nonsense again."

"It had nothing to do with that."

"I just can't stand the thought that you could have gotten caught in the crossfire again, Mei. Last time you nearly died."

"Yeah, but last time I was blasted into the ocean by a giant evil monkey during a duel with your reanimated corpse that was serving as the vessel for an avatar of pure evil. If I can live through that I think getting hit by a bike is child's play."

I had to chuckled a little at that, "Yeah, zombies wielding building-sized monkeys does make it sound rather insignificant by comparison."

Mei got to the point, "What I wanted to talk to you about was what happened last night at the party. You ran out of there with Sherry like someone was after you. Not to mention you looked like you were trying to be in disguise. What's she gotten you involved in?"

"Honestly? Other than what I was already involved in with Yliaster, I don't know."

"You don't know?"

"They want her dead, but she hasn't told me why yet."

"That's okay with you? What if they find out you're with her? They could decide to kill you instead of duel you?"

"I'm being careful about it."

Mei bit something back, then changed to something else, "You're risking your life and don't even care why? What is she to you? You were out with her all night."

"It's not like that." I again told a half truth, "They killed her parents over whatever it is. I can't just pry into that kind of thing. I just want to help her. I can relate to what she's going through." I paused, "Honestly, sometimes she reminds me of how I was a few weeks ago before..." it suddenly dawned on me that meeting Sherry had been what had pulled me out of the angry depression I was in. I mean, I was still angry and sad, but it was so much smaller it might as well have been gone by comparison, "before I met her."

Mei gave me a funny look, "So you don't have a thing for the girl that you say changed your life? And you want me to believe you?"

"Mei its not-"

"This is just like with-"

"Whoa! Whoa!" I cut her off before she said something unforgivable, "You will not like the direction you are taking that sentence, Mei! Don't you dare bring Aki into this."

"I'm just trying to protect you. You have a soft spot for troubled girls and it keeps biting you in the rear."

"This conversation is over. I am not getting into this argument again." I stated firmly. Trying to keep my anger in check, I looked around the room and noticed someone missing, "Changing the subject, where's Mom? I thought she'd be in here."

Mei's expression shifted, "Don't worry about it too much, but she's getting examined in the clinic. She just got a bit lightheaded from the stress and her already wonky hormones. They are just making sure everything's okay to be absolutely sure."

"That's a relief. I'll go check on her if we're done here."

"We aren't. I'm not going to drop this issue that easily Koyou, I'm worried about you."

There was suddenly a very weirdly timed knock on the door and Crow popped his head in, "Sorry to interrupt, but that Sherry chick just got here; and I thought Koyou'd want to know."

Mei frowned, "Send her in, Crow."

"Mei." I implored, "It's really not like that."

"Send her in."

Crow was hesitant, but knew better than to get involved by arguing. "Alright. If you're sure."

My stomach sank.

Sherry's Perspective

I wasn't entirely sure what made me go to the hospital. I wasn't the type to get very attached to people. Even if I'd gotten close to Koyou (in more than one way), it really wasn't my place to visit his sister in the hospital. Regardless I took the effort of dressing up like a college student, putting my hair up, and wearing glasses to conceal my identity. It got even more awkward when I turned to the hall and spotted all of Yusei's group waiting outside the room with Koyou nowhere to be seen. Despite my discomfort, I approached.

And was recognized immediately, "Sherry?"

Aki shot me a look I couldn't read, but I was pretty sure she didn't like me very much.

I put on my usual casual act, cutting out the flirty smile because of the circumstances, "How is Koyou's sister? Koyou texted me abou-"

"Her name is Mei." Aki interrupted. Yes she indeed didn't like me. Which was odd. The last time I had seen her she'd gone from guarded to awestruck, but I suppose seeing me with Koyou at the party had something to do with it. I got the feeling there was baggage between them that I didn't know about. Her attitude had me guessing that she was his ex.

"Sorry, I did not know her name."

Yusei was more obliging, "Mei is fine. Thanks for checking in. I'm sure Koyou would appreciate you were worried."

"I-" I nearly got defensive about it, which caught me by surprise. Getting that way about it made no sense. "Anyway, was it Yliaster?"

One of them that I didn't know with spiky orange hair spoke up, "No. Just some random guy driving recklessly. The dumb sap got the worst of it though. He's dead." Moving towards the door to the hospital room, he changed subjects "Koyou's inside, I'll let him know you're here."

"Ah, you don't have to do that. I can wait."

He did it anyway, ""Sorry to interrupt, but that Sherry chick just got here; and I thought Koyou'd want to know."

I could see Mei's sour expression through the gap in the doorway, "Send her in, Crow."

"Mei. It's really not like that."

"Send her in."

'Crow' cringed a little. "Alright. If you're sure."

My stomach sank, but I went in when Crow opened the way for me, I put on a friendly smile, "I am glad you are okay. I know how much Ko-"

"Crow, close the door."

I looked behind me as Crow gave me an apologetic look and closed the door like he was taking shelter from a grenade. I chuckled awkwardly, "Why do I get the feeling that all the women in Koyou's life hate me?"

A girl I hadn't noticed before, Koyou's other sister, drew my attention, replying with a glare that could burn through steel, "Because we do. Well... Mom doesn't."

"Thank God for small favors." I joked.

"That isn't small. Heaven help you if Mom did hate you."

Koyou let out an awkward chuckle of his own, "Yeah, the last person she was really mad at she tried to run over with a runner and beat to death."

My eyes went wide and I raised an eyebrow at that. She'd seemed like such a kind woman.

Koyou backpedaled, "I kid, that guy really really deserved it."

"So the homicidal rage wasn't a joke?"

The white-haired sister gave a deadpan, "No."

Mei broke into the sitcom insanity, "Stop avoiding the issue. I want to discuss something serious with you."

"Mei..." Koyou tried to talk her down.

"Koyou, go check on Mom."

"No. I'm not leaving Sherry for you two to interrogate."

Mei turned to the other sister, "Koishii, go with him. I wasn't intending to gang up on her anyway."

"If you say so."

"That only slightly improves the situation." Koyou pressed.

I sighed, "Koyou, do what she says. She does not seem the type to budge and I'd rather not waste my time trying to make her. I can take a little sisterly distrust."

Koyou hesitated, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Go."

"Alright." he turned back to his sister, "Don't get carried away."

"I won't."

The others cleared out and nothing was said until it was just us in the room.

She got right to the point, "What is your relationship with my brother?"

I didn't hesitate at all, "Partners. He is on my team for the WRGP."

"Nothing else?"

"Nothing."

There must have been some hitch in my voice I wasn't aware of, "You're lying."

"No, I'm-"

"You are. I can tell. Listen, I don't know if he told you, but my brother just got out of a serious relationship and a few months ago we lost our father. He's vulnerable right now."

I couldn't help but think back to the night before, how he'd been so scared of someone seeing his scars. For some reason, Mei presuming to understand Koyou's pain pissed me off, "Did you even understand what he's going through?"

"Of course I do."

"I get the feeling I know your brother better than you do."

I hit a nerve. It was pretty obvious that I had when Mei got up and marched over to me with a glare and a limp, "You've got some nerve. Unlike someone else in this room I actually care about Koyou. I'm not just using him for whatever you want him for."

"You like making assumptions don't you?"

"Bitch, I will shove this cast so far down your throat that I'll be able to untie those ugly shoes you're wearing."

"Oo, got a tongue on you too. That trash talk had multiple layers. Kudos."

"Is this all a game to you?"

"There you go with the presumptions again." I returned her glare and poked her in the shoulder, "Koyou asked to join my team, and I let him on my team because I needed an third person for my team. I'm not interested in any complications but they keep popping up."

"Did he ask for one of the assassin's after you to track down his sister and try to kill her?"

That knocked me off my game, "Wha- It was Yliaster?"

"I didn't tell the others because I care about Koyou." she pushed, "If he thought I nearly died because of him..." she paused, choking back painful thoughts, "Did he ever tell you how our father died?"

"No."

"Protecting us. Me more specifically, but he was trying to protect both of us. Even if he won't admit it, Koyou blames himself. Then here you come putting his entire family's life in danger."

"I was careful."

"Not careful enough obviously."

I had no defense against that, she was right.

"You're going to tell me why you are putting him and us in this kind of danger, and you are going to tell me right now. Then you're going to tell Koyou, 'cause God help him he's too kind to ever ask you himself."

You know. Despite the fact we never got along and would never be what you'd call buddies, I have to admit that was the moment I started liking Koyou's sister. She cared a lot about her brother and refused to take any nonsense from anyone. I'd never admit it to her, but I admired her attitude and strength. Getting hit by a runner had only pissed her off. So I decided to trust her. Besides, I owed her – and Koyou – that much. In hindsight it really didn't make any sense that I hadn't told Koyou given the fact I trusted him enough to sleep with him.

So I started my strange, painful story from the beginning.

Koyou's Perspective

I was only at the clinic with Mom for a few minutes, before I came out and noticed Yusei and Aki standing outside waiting for me. Yusei posed the question, "How is she?"

"Totally fine. It was just stress and pregnancy throwing her hormones out of whack. There weren't any complications."

"That's good."

Aki, who was a lot closer with my mother, let out a breath of relief, "Thank God. I was really worried. She's always been so kind to me. Mrs. Kou's like a second mother to me."

"I know." I looked away, sill having a hard time looking at Aki directly. Instead I looked at Yusei, "Listen, now that everything's calmed down, can we talk? I need to get a lot of things off my chest and apologize for most of them while I'm at it."

"Sure. Let's go somewhere a bit more private." Yusei motioned toward a bench that was off by itself on the far side of the hall. When we went over, He let Aki and I take a seat and stayed standing.

Which made talking to him so awkward that I sharply stood back up before I began, "Listen, Yusei... I'm..." it was hard to find words for what I needed to say.

"Take your time."

I sighed, "I don't hate you okay? Not really. There was a little while there that I did, but I never hated you completely."

"I'm glad to hear that. I did wonder."

"I was acting like a jerk, I know."

"You had your reasons."

At that, I let out a frustrated sigh, "And that right there is one of them."

"Huh?"

"You're so dang nice and understanding. Pisses me off sometimes even though it's one reason you're my friend."

Yusei chuckled a little despite himself, "Actually I get that a lot. Jack told me the same thing when we made up."

"I never really hated you. It was more that I was hating myself."

Yusei frowned, and sighed heavily, "Listen Koyou, I know what you're going to say after this and I get it. I understand what's been bothering you."

"You do? Everything?" I gave him a skeptical look.

"Probably most of it. Remember the duel with Goodwin?"

Thinking back, I recalled what he was talking about, "The time I gave you that shadow draw."

Yusei nodded.

Aki was lost in the conversation, "What are you talking about?"

"At the end of that duel Koyou gave me a bit of the power he inherited from his father and that let me draw that spell at the end. To do that he had to call on all the pain and suffering he had inside him and the resolve to move past it, and then give it to me. So everything negative he was feeling and the strength to overcome it came to me."

I sat down hard and put my head in my hands, "Agh, I forgot about that! That's so embarrassing!"

Aki looked at me, confused.

I fessed up. Even though Yusei understood it, saying it... admitting it to his face, was something I had to do. "All this time, some part of me has been jealous of Yusei. A part of me was mad at him for being the super-duelist hero that everyone liked and looked up to." I looked straight at Yusei and stated it frankly, "You may not think so highly of yourself Yusei, but your everything I've always wanted to be and you don't even have to try. It's just natural. That burned me up a little inside."

"I didn't know you thought that much of me, but I knew you were gong through those kinds of feelings. I just didn't know how to approach you about it. How do you talk to a friend about them being jealous of you without sounding like a jerk?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not that great, Koyou."

"You're humble too."

Yusei blushed a little, and laughed, "Honestly though, I don't hold it against you. I get it. Those kinds of feelings are totally normal. Not being jealous of me specifically... I mean being jealous of people you admire in general."

"I know what you mean."

"Honestly Koyou, I was a bit jealous of you over a few things. Your loving family, your superpowers, lots of things. Being a little envious doesn't make you a bad person or a bad friend."

I laughed a bit at the irony, "It bothered me though. It's just how I am... I... just couldn't forgive myself for hating a friend even a little tiny bit."

"The fact that you care that much about your friends in one of the reasons I like you so much."

"Annoying as hell to put up with on my end though." I quipped.

Yusei glanced at Aki, "Listen, I also know that you thought Aki and I were interested in each other. Was that what caused you two to break up?"

Aki tensed at the sentence almost from the start.

For her sake, I steered the discussion away from her feelings for him and told a part of the truth. Something I needed to clear up with Aki anyway, "As much as it pains me to admit it, we broke up because I couldn't trust her."

She looked at me, surprised.

"I was always thinking she really liked you, Yusei, but that wasn't what destroyed our relationship really. I did."

"Koyou, don't blame yourself. I..." Aki tried to reassure me, to take the blame she felt she deserved. She might have deserved a bit, but not as much as she wanted to take.

"I'm just telling it how it is. I drove you away because I couldn't trust you. The real issue wasn't even my jealousy." I took a deep breath, "I never told you guys, but when I was struggling to contain the Light and Dark and manifested Dark Signers powers... it wasn't just a mental struggle."

"What do you mean?" Yusei asked.

"They literally tried to burn their way out of me. Then when I vanished art of that whole trial to regain myself got even more taxing." I looked at Aki, "I kept my distance from you after the war because of what it did to me. The few times we were ever intimate I still kept you from taking my shirt off because I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you repulsed or pitying me." I put my face in my hands and swallowed hard, "There are scars all over my torso. Big ones."

Both of them were taken aback, but it was Yusei that spoke, "Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"I was scared. Scared that you'd pity me."

"Then I won't." he answered simply.

Aki teared up, as I expected, "Koyou... I would never be repulsed by you. You could have just told me that was what it was... I thought..."

"I hurt you, I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't." Aki choked mack her tears, trying not to think of how she had put the final nail in the coffin of our relationship. At least she wasn't trying to carry all the blame anymore.

Yusei, not knowing everything, tried to patch things up between the two of us, "Now that you know the truth, you two can-"

"That ship sailed, Yusei. Don't go there. I'm sorry, but there's some things about it that are private."

He looked to Aki. She was calming down and wiping her tears but still heavy hearted, "Yeah. There were other reasons we broke up. There's not really any going back to that now." She turned to me, "Can you ever forgive me? I'd hate to lose you completely because of... that."

"Enough to be friends again... I don't hate you nearly as much as I used to."

"I'm so sorry."

"I know... you didn't mean to hurt me. Just like I didn't mean to hurt you. It was a just fate. Nobody did anything wrong. I accept that now."

"Then are we all okay now?" Yusei asked hopefully.

I managed a smile. A heavy one, but a smile, "Yeah. We're cool."

Aki smiled her own weighted smile, "I'm glad. I still apologies a lot though. I still feel like I haven't done that enough."

I laughed a bit and shrugged. "Whatever."

"Alright, as long as you two are getting along again I won't complain." Yusei shrugged, but then he remembered something, "Hey, Koyou, if you didn't join Sherry to spite us, then why did you? You could help her without joining her team and going against us right?"

I smiled, "That's the reason I joined her, right there."

"Huh?"

"After all I can't duel you in the tournament if we're on the same team."

Yusei smiled right back at me, "I look forward to it."

"Let's make a promise. We'll face each other in the WTGP when we think we've found a solution to the synchro problem or in the finals. We can put our new tactic to a real test. Sound good?"

"Sound's great."

Sherry's Perspective

Even telling Mei my story and being totally honest with her had not won her over, but honestly I was not expecting it to. I also wasn't expecting to see Koyou with Yusei and Aki outside the clinic when I set out to find him. I didn't expect to see him smiling at them... completely content. I was just as surprised at m conflicting emotions about it. Was I really so petty? Why was I mad about it? Why the hell did I turn around and leave?

Next Chapter: Alone

A/N: Next chapter will be pretty Sherry intensive. Major plot events, emotional conflict, turmoil, and character development ahoy! If you enjoyed the chapter or have constructive critique, make sure you let me know.