Yugi, decked out in an old, but relatively well-maintained tux loaned to him by his grandfather (of course, he thought to himself with mild exasperation, it was the one with the patched bullet hole in the back of the shoulder), was fussing with the buttons on his cuffs while Joey and Tristan attempted to figure out how to tie a bowtie. Duke was laughing and giving them terrible instructions, probably on purpose.

"It's still not straight—"

"That's great, Duke," Tristan snapped finally, "Especially coming from the guy wearing a regular tie! So guess how much I actually care!"

With another chuckle, Duke leaned back comfortably in his black and red pinstripes. Yugi admonished, "Aw, lay off, Duke. We don't have time to be here all night."

"Why, what time is it-?" Joey forcibly grabbed Tristan by the arm and yanked his wristwatch over.

"Agh! Mai's gonna kill me! I'm supposed to be meeting her right now—"

Tristan raised an eyebrow and made a motion and sound that suggested a cracking whip, but Yugi retorted with a cough that sounded suspiciously like, "Miho."

Joey took one last look in the mirror ("Nyeh, it's fine—") before fleeing out the door. Yugi got up from the bed with a smile, watching after him while slowly shaking his head. "I guess that's our cue to get going, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sure." Duke got up and stretched, glancing in the mirror so that he could touch-up his debonairly-disheveled-on-purpose hair. "I guess it wouldn't do if two of the finalists skipped out on their own party."

"Inari said she's mostly going for the food," Yugi snorted.

As they were leaving, Tristan, probably as revenge for the "Miho" comment, teased Yugi, "So, how's it feel to be taking two girls?"

Flushing, he grumbled, "I'm not!" Really, he wished his friends would stop lumping him together with Atem. Even though they technically were "lumped" into the same body.

~The Girls~

Téa had demanded that all of the girls used the same room to prepare, though Mai respectfully declined. That didn't stop Inari from being the victim of her two friends pouncing upon her mane and arranging it themselves.

"How did you even get it this long?" Téa asked.

"Gee, Téa, I don't know," Inari replied flatly with a laugh. Téa flushed, embarrassed when she realized what she'd said. "Agh, I wish I had your hair, though. It looks so easy to manage."

"I can see why, if you're comparing it to this every day." Serenity, who was surprisingly adept at hair styling, had already thrown hers into a sophisticated twist close to her skull. Now, her nimble fingers were combing through the thick curls, weaving a dozen tiny plaits throughout them. "Téa, where's the headband?"

"On the hanger with the dress," Inari answered, instead. She sighed, contentedly. She didn't think she could sit so still for so long. Though, because she'd thought of it, she started to fidget. "Can I at least finish up my makeup?" she asked. Getting the okay, she reached for her makeup bag.

In minutes, her wild mane had gone from a simple plait to a set of rolls that screamed "1800s" curled above the rest of her hair, which hung loose and combed out. The braids made a complex chain around her head like strung sugar on a wedding cake. While they threatened to touch her shoulders, everything was forced together by the headpiece, two strings of white pearls accented with a gold-and-crystal pendant over a pink ostrich feather on the side. It was very lovely, she thought to herself, though for some reason she kept thinking flowers would have looked nicer. She glanced at the pink monster of a gown she'd chosen and smiled. At least it would be fun to dance in.

"Alright, enough fussing," Téa declared, slapping the extra pins down on the dresser. "Let's go."

Inari shifted uncomfortably in her seat when she saw the ensembles of her friends, and she suddenly felt overdressed. Still, this was the bed she'd made, and she might as well sleep in it. She shimmied into the gigantic, fluffy pink ballgown, fingers gliding over the deep, berry-colored embroidery that formed peacock feathers down the bodice, and envied Téa her crystal-dotted velveteen number. It was off-the-shoulder with long sleeves, and a very classy A-line shape. Serenity was much sweeter and more playful, white with a delicate gold chain for a belt, and everything below it chiffon and very feather-like. She looked like an angel.

Serenity caught Inari smiling stupidly at her, and quizzically grinned back. "What?"

"Nothing," she replied, shaking her head. Waving her off, she added, "You two are making me feel like a big, pink creampuff."

"Don't worry about it," Téa dismissed, "You're an adorable creampuff."

The three of them made their way down to the elevators, where they met up with a handful of other duelists. They'd missed the guys by a few minutes. Squishing into one of the elevators, Inari leaned against the wall and huffed.

"I hope the food's good," she grumbled, "Otherwise this is going to be quite the waste."

"You're worse than Joey," Téa teased. "If you don't let yourself have fun, I'm not going to let you live it down."

"Yeah, yeah." She did like wearing the dress, and couldn't help giving it a very small test-twirl in the tiny elevator.

"Hey, watch where you put that thing."

The reception hall was already crowded when they arrived, and Téa didn't waste time in documenting the night by whipping out her phone and starting to snap photos, grabbing selfies with Serenity and Inari, then pictures of the masses of people and even the buffet. Inari snagged a handful of drinks and passed them around, her eyes searching for the guys.

Joey found them first, beaming. "'Ey, ladies," he greeted warmly. When his eyes landed on Serenity, he teared up and pouted, lip quivering and tears springing to his eyes. "Aw, no, my baby sister's growin' up so fast…" He threw his arms around her, and she just patted his arm. Once he regained his composure, he insisted, "You all are gonna dance with me, right?"

"I dunno, Joey," Inari joked, taking a sip of her syrupy, cherry-flavored cocktail. "I don't think that's a great idea."

"Aw, don't be like that!" he laughed. "I totally got moves." As if to demonstrate, he started pulling out jerky movements that were probably supposed to be hip hop, and the girls all laughed.

"Oh my God," Téa snorted, holding her hand to her mouth and nose. "Not while I'm drinking, I'll shoot it out my nose!"

"I stand corrected," Inari admitted, dipping into a shallow, mocking curtsy. "I don't think I could handle your 'moves,' Joey."

"Joseph Wheeler, you might clean up well, but you still have two left feet."

Inari's breath caught in her throat when she saw Mai Valentine sidling up to them, dressed in an ankle-length Chanel gown in a lovely shade of dark red. Black crystals sparkled in her blond, side-swept hair and at her neck and wrists. She looked like an American Hollywood starlet of the eighties, and it suited her perfectly. This was Mai, after all, and one should expect nothing less. Her eyes did an automatic once-over of Inari, and she smiled.

"Well, don't you look adorable?" she teased, but her voice was warm. "Come on, we've got a table saved."

Yugi's eyes were glued on Téa as the small mob of women approached the round table, and when she smiled at him, he turned a bright red and leaped up from his chair, pulling one out for her and awkwardly gesturing for her to sit down. She obliged with a laugh, and batted her eyelashes at his stammered compliments. Tristan was a little smoother when it came to Serenity.

Inari let herself admired the decorating; the tablecloths were a classic off-white, each table dotted with a unique floral arrangement. Her table was home to a large, round collection of russet-colored pansies. Something was a little off. She tilted her head to the sigh, furrowing her brow.

"Is that a-?" She peered closer. At an angle, she could see the black-eyed Susans, and then it hit her: it was a Kuriboh. "Huh. When Mr. Pegasus has a theme in mind, he really goes all-out, doesn't he?" The other centerpieces were various Duel Monsters, now that she was paying more attention.

She wouldn't pay attention throughout Pegasus's speech, though she was at least aware that she should raise her champagne glass when everyone else did. She took a sip, glad it wasn't wine, but her mind couldn't stop thinking about the food. She hadn't eaten since that morning, and was regretting the decision.

"This had better be good…" Joey grumbled quietly as his stomach growled. She tittered softly, but flashed him a sympathetic look.

"... while we congratulate the finalists! First, of course, give a round of applause for Miss Mai Valentine!"

The woman stood up, giving the crowd an award-winning smile and very noble, subdued wave. As a sign of good will, she held her glass to Pegasus, silently toasting him before she sat back down.

"What a peach. Next…"

One by one, he bade the finalists to stand up and be applauded. The pomp, the prestige, it was all very much, but those who'd been at Duelist Kingdom weren't surprised in the slightest.

Inari was staring blankly at the pansies in front of her when she felt a finger jab her in the side.

"Stand up," Duke hissed in her ear, "He just called your name!"

"Oh-"

She quickly stood, her thigh bumping roughly into the table, much to her embarrassment. At least her gown cushioned the pain. Her cheeks flushed while she gave the others in attendance a small, shy wave. Instead of toasting him, like Mai had, Inari dipped into a quick, shallow curtsy for Pegasus, who beamed at her.

"Really, what a doll!"

He kept on, and Inari was allowed to sit back down to her friends' quiet teasings. "Hey, your face matches your dress!" Joey sniggered. She reached across Duke so she could flick his arm. She'd rather hit the idiot, but this was more subtle.

Dinner was served shortly after Pegasus finished his speech, and none too soon for them, portions deceptively small; Inari found that it was more than enough for her, though she had to suppress a laugh when Joey and Tristan complained. A small band, more like a tiny orchestra, started playing light, classical music to accompany them, and Inari felt all the muscles in her body relax. The fact that she was surrounded by people melted away until she was only aware of her friends and the instruments. Joey was on his best (relative) behavior because Mai was there next to him, but she seemed calmer than normal. More forgiving. Her game face wasn't on, Inari realized. It was actually kind of adorable.

On her other side, Yugi and Téa were chatting it up, letting their years-long friendship carry them through the evening. At some point, he found his face very close to hers, and he didn't mind, somehow. He didn't freeze up or blush as he normally would. In fact, he was pretty surprised with himself. For a moment, he paused to ask Inari something, but he stopped when he saw her expression: she was giving him a grin that egged him on to his advances with Téa. Pointedly, she turned her face and went back to her drink, leaving him to it.

A jazzy tune was struck up, and she felt a hand tap on her shoulder. Mai was standing over her, smiling. She held out a hand. "Want to show these clowns how it's done? I'll lead."

Inari laughed. "I haven't had a decent dancing partner in ages. Don't disappoint me."

They took to the dance floor and Inari lost herself to someone entirely different. As far as she knew, she'd never danced a day in her life—but that wasn't right. She knew she had. Her feet fell into the steps of a foxtrot so easily, it was like she'd done it every day. It was an easy one, light and fun. Though, she and Mai cracked up into laughter when their twirling dresses caught on each other.

"This is why men don't wear dresses when they lead," Inari whispered, and Mai snorted.

"We'll make it work." She flung Inari out to the side like a top, spinning her back in and playfully dipping her.

Others around them had caught on and also started dancing. Their encouragement made the band play with more gusto, and the song seemed to go on forever. Even Téa had Yugi dancing, though their steps were the random, rhythmic side-steps of young adults who didn't know a thing about ballroom dancing. The grins plastered to their faces were enough to make up for it.

Once it ended, and a ballad started floating around the room, Inari and Mai finished their number and went back to their table. Patting her hair back into place, Mai approached Joey and demanded that he dance with her. Inari threw them a wink, and leaned against the wall with a drink in her hand.

Yugi appeared from the crowd and made his way toward her- wait, no, that wasn't Yugi. She smiled, and took Atem by the hand. "Having fun, boys?" she asked him, though she was really addressing Yugi, too.

He nodded. "Very much, so. Yugi especially." He sat against the wall with her, watching the others. It was heartwarming to see his friends enjoy themselves so much. "Though I can't exactly dance. Ballroom hadn't been thought of back in my day."

"'Back in my day,'" she repeated with a chuckle, shaking her head. Gently squeezing his upper arm, she asked, "Here, would you like me to teach you? It's not that hard." Inari took his hand and put it on her shoulder blade, grasping his shoulder and holding his other arm out. "This one's a three-count," she told him. "One-two-three, one-two-three—"

Gently, she guided him through the basic step of a slow waltz until he picked it up.

"No," she corrected gently, laughing, "You're the one supposed to be leading."

"Sorry." But he wasn't. He'd never seen her this happy and relaxed, and it was a nice change of pace. "I didn't know you danced."

"Ha, neither did I." Her laugh was a little bitter, but still light-hearted. "But now that I do, you can bet I'll be doing a lot more of it." She leaned up, standing on her toes, to kiss him before she turned herself out like Mai had done earlier, coming back in so that her back was against his chest. His hand caught hers and squeezed, and they stood like that for a moment, enjoying the closeness.

"How long do you think we'll be able to keep this up?" she suddenly asked.

He smiled and rested his chin on her shoulder. "As long as you wish."

"I don't mean... this," she snorted, squeezing his arms. "I mean..." She sighed. "You won't be in this world forever, Atem. You have to go... well, I don't know where you're going to go when you regain the rest of your memories, but you sure won't be sticking around here with us."

He'd thought about this, already, before, when Yugi started harassing him about "You like her, don't you?" And he knew she was right. Sooner or later, as much as they loved each other, they would have to part ways. Finding his afterlife would be, he always assumed, insurmountably better than being a parasite on Yugi, even if Yugi didn't think of him as such. He would miss the friends he made in this time, and they would miss him, he knew. But an afterlife was where he belonged.

Then, Yugi asked him about Inari. He loved her, yes, but that wasn't enough to keep him rooted in the present when he belonged in the past. Atem searched his heart for a reason, any scrap of logic, however misguided, that he could use to justify staying with her, even if it was only for a little while longer. And he decided then that he wanted her to remember who she was before he left. As a fellow amnesiac, he would never feel right, never forgive himself if he left her behind in that kind of a sorry state.

"Well, don't you two make an outright adorable couple."

His thoughts were cut off when they saw Pegasus addressing them, looking between them appraisingly. His expression was light, a smile teasing his lips, but something about it felt mask-like. Inari figured out that he didn't exactly blink all that much. He turned to her, taking her by the hand.

"Miss Winters," he greeted, brushing his lips against her knuckles, "I was pleasantly surprised that Duke's protégé made it into the finals of my tournament."

"I don't know about 'protégé,' sir," she deflected sweetly, apologetically, "I just work for him. He taught me a lot, though." Glancing at Atem, she added, "Not as much as Yugi, here, of course."

"Of course." Pegasus thrust out his hand to shake with Atem, who accepted. "And how's my favorite Duelist and saviour-of-the-world doing, these days?"

"Well enough, Pegasus, thanks."

"Excellent, excelent." He took Inari by the arm and started to lead her away. "Now, Yugi-boy, hope you don't mind if I borrow your fetching lady-friend for a few minutes. I promise I'll give her right back."

"What-?"

Inari looked back at him, her eyes screaming "Help me!" But Atem calmly smiled at her. She'd be fine. It turned out that Pegasus wanted to steal her for a dance. The music picked up, and, with his newfound knowledge of tempo, Atem counted the beats. It was another waltz, but much faster, and a little more complicated.

Atem watched her and smiled, wishing that he knew how these steps went. It was like she was floating on air. Where she'd been having fun and loving life with Mai, her movements now were delicate and elegant, her feet barely touching the ground. She didn't even seem to realize that Pegasus had her shoulder. She turned outward, bending and reaching out towards the crowd, and her eyes opened just a sliver. Her gaze met Atem's. Suddenly, for maybe half a heartbeat, he saw her in emerald velvet being lifted in this very dance by a tall, dark man with a sword lashed to his side, no longer in the hotel's reception hall but in a grand ballroom. Her face was happy, laughing without the ghost of… whatever it was that had happened.

It was gone as quickly as it had come. Atem rubbed his eyes, but he wasn't seeing things. Not anymore, anyway. She was doing something with her foot, like an inside-out pirouette, and falling back. She had this odd expression on her face that he couldn't quite read. The music faded away, and she ended with another curtsy to Pegasus, ever the lady. Immediately, she said her good-bye, and started making her way to the door, fingers pressed to her forehead like she had a splitting headache. Of course, Atem went after her.

"Inari!" he called, cursing the restricted mobility of Yugi's tuxedo. "Inari, come back! What's wrong?"

She turned, and he caught the corner of her eye. Her mouth was set in a lip-biting grimace, like she was struggling not to cry. Without so much as a word, she started to run towards the elevators.

Inari's vision was blurring everything in front of her, and she stumbled when she stopped to jam her hand against the "up" button. A dry sob escaped her lips, and she ducked into the stairwell, letting the door slowly shut behind her. She collapsed onto one of the bottom steps and put her head in her hands, leaning on her knees. The world around her was spinning. Her thoughts couldn't arrange themselves into… well, anything, let alone some semblance of order. She was only vaguely aware that Atem found and crouched in front of her, and didn't even realize that she'd been trembling until he steadied her shoulder.

"What's wrong?" he whispered softly.

Her voice came out almost too quietly to hear. "Where am I?" she squeaked.

He frowned. What? "Inari," he firmly said, taking her hands into his. "You're with me at the hotel. We just left the reception for the dueling tournament. Remember?"

Her eyes looked up at him, wide and frantic like her heavy breathing. She was searching his face. For what, he couldn't say. But it looked like something in her brain was struggling. He knew that look. He'd been that look on Yugi's face. The look of something trapped inside and vying for control, for a foothold in the consciousness. A cold, fleeting thought ran through his mind, but he crushed it down. Of course she wasn't possessed by an ancient spirit. It would be more obvious than that. As tears started to spill from her lined eyes, she held a hand up to her mouth, looking away.

"I- I don't know," she finally choked out, "Something's w-wrong, something's gone horribly wrong, and I don't… I can't…" Dammit, she couldn't finish her sentence, is what she couldn't do. She felt ashamed, like an idiot. She didn't even know what was wrong, let alone how to talk about it. Whatever it was, though, it was horrible. It was dangerous. Wasn't it?

She calmed down a little, and her erratic mind settled. Right. The party. Pegasus. Her friends. It came back to her, faded back into the front of her brain. She took in a deep, shaky breath.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She stood up, gripping his shoulder like a vice for support.

"Are you sure?"

"Yep."

He didn't believe her, of course. "Let's go back upstairs. You need sleep."

"No, I'm good. I'm fine." Inari mustered a smile. "Come on, they're probably missing us. Especially you, Mr. King of Games."

The way she went back to teasing him was a little unsettling, like nothing had happened. But that's what they did. They returned to the reception to finish out the night, to the suspicious, knowing, and joking looks of their friends and acquaintances, who'd assumed that the pair had snuck away to make out in some dark, secluded corner of the hotel lobby.

Author's Note: Hey, everyone! I finally got the next chapter out! Yay! :D I'm very sorry about the wait. My laptop, the thing I use for my writing, is actually busted beyond use when I'm not hooked up to a second monitor, so I have to remember to move my documents onto my Google drive and try to write snatches of it at school, and blah, blah, blah...

Anyway, this was a frustrating chapter to write, but it was fun to have the characters interacting with more than just Inari all the time. I finished this up and thought about the next chapter I have to write, and I realized there isn't much of this part of the story left! I'm actually kind of excited to wrap up The Rose Duelist and get on to the next half.

In other news, my username has changed! WolfMoonSinger was a relic from when I first signed up about ten years ago, and I really though it was time for a change.

I really hope you all enjoyed reading, and thank you very much! Lots of love, GrisailleDreams.