"Okay, tell me that story again, I love hearing it!" Ayaka graced her face with a sardonic grin, held her cheeks with her hands and placed her elbows at the arm of the chair Seto Kaiba was sitting, looking at him mockingly. "Tell me again how you were tricked to send Pegasus to the Canary Islands and how you gave them the Eye…"

Kaiba snapped. "What do you think you're doing woman? Just try to go through what I have and then come back and talk to me about this!" He knew though that nothing could justify the size of his gaff. Even Jou was still snickering in the corner of the room, thing that didn't help with his patience at all. "And you mutt, shut up because I'll do to you what Bakura had shown you!" Jou almost drowned in his effort to stop immediately.

"Hm, I'd like to see you try." He retorted wolfishly, when he gained again his composure against laughter. "We both know I would end up on top."

Kaiba raised his eyebrow in disbelief. "We 'both'? I think that everyone would agree that I would take you down effortlessly…" He stopped when he saw Ayaka's and Amaya's shining eyes. Suddenly it felt too dangerous to go on. It was uncomfortable as it was to talk about this, but now the girls resembled rapists. Damn girls, why can't they be neutral about issues like this, they have to be or feverously against or unbelievably supporting… And the second was worse!

"Kyaaa! Come on, bet and try it, I'll tape it!" Ayaka's eyes had taken the shape of the stars now. That and the heated argument that followed were heavily distracting Amaya with her part of the conversation. Thrillers were her first weakness. Her second one was yaoi, which was, in addition, Ayaka's first choice. But she had other things to worry about right now.

"Amaya! Something tells me you aren't listening to me!" Yami knocked in again.

"Huh? What?" She looked at him suddenly.

Yami sighed. "You're not listening to me at all…"

"I WAS LISTENING TO YOU FOR ONE HOUR STRAIGHT!" Amaya had steam coming out from her ears. "Enough, I got it! The Millennium Items are disappearing, Yami Bakura and Yami Malik are at fault, and we have to save the world again! …Now tell me, did you agree on that bet?" She turned to Kaiba and Jou.

"Amaya this is serious!" It was Yami's turn to fume. "The world is in danger and you are acting like you don't care at all!"

"Oh, but you do!" Amaya's voice was dripping sarcasm. "In fact, that's the only thing you've ever cared for! People you don't know are always above the people you say you care about!"

Heavy silence followed that statement. Yami was frozen, and Kaiba was looking at him disapprovingly, agreeing, for the first time in his life, totally with Amaya. Ayaka agreed with Amaya too, but she thought that this quality of Yami was what was making him a hero. Heroes fight for the greater good, not for their own good or the good of their friends. That was why they needed to be admired for. Jou didn't agree with either.

"That's a lie, Amaya, and you know it." He told her seriously, and it was her turn to tighten up. When Jou was serious, he was amazing. "All that Yami is fighting is for us. I agree that saving the world is something that can make us be considered like heroes, but we fight for a better life. We want to live in a better world; we don't do that only for the others. We're doing it for the others too, but we're doing it mostly for us! If we're able to control our destiny and fight for a tomorrow where we'll have played our part of building, it's not a curse - it's a blessing. We have the chance to control our future by knowing the importance of the Shadow Games and stopping dark powers. If there's something that has to be done, and it concerns how we'll live from then on, of course I would like to do it. I want to do things for myself, not let other people deciding upon my life. That's what Yami does. Do you honestly think that winning will have any meaning for him if we all die? If we don't have other people to live for, we don't have a reason to live! Yami is protecting us with his actions, and we help him with our own free will. He's told us many times to stop, if you remember. If you don't like to fight, no one is forcing you." Jou shot a glance to Kaiba as well, but that was more like telling him: You have to fight nonetheless.

"Oh no, you won't be giving me a lecture about fighting!" Amaya's cheeks were tainted pink, and she got back Jou's full attention. Ayaka knew what that meant and ran by her side. But Amaya continued: "I never said I didn't want to fight! I never said I didn't know why I was fighting for! But I've suffered from fighting! I've seen what the results can be - I've lost two friends from it! I just… I just… I don't wanna lose anybody else anymore!" Amaya broke down among her sobbing, and stared crying with plangent voice. Ayaka's eyes had watered up too, but she murmured soothing words at her friend, caressing her shoulders and then hugging her. Yami and Jou got closer, worried, and even Kaiba stood up from the place he was sitting.

"Amy…" Yami tried to say, when Amaya's sobs lowered. "Amy, I won't ask anything from you. I only promise you that I'll bring Bakura back! I'll get him back, healthy and well, and no one will get hurt, I promise!"

"No… enough promises! This isn't a promise you can keep, it's not like being in time or something!" She cut him off, still crying at Ayaka's shoulder. "What will happen if anyone gets hurt? It's…"

"We're all in this with our own will woman, Jyounouchi told you so!" Kaiba barked at her. "Get a hold of yourself, you're doing like a baby! Get up and fight, and if someone drives you into a corner, just kick him in the balls! Stop worrying about will happen or what can happen, just do what is right, what you have to do! That's how you should handle it! Yami promised you something, and no matter how I hate to admit it, he has never broken a promise. Stop crying damn it!"

"I… I just want to make sure that everything is going to be alright…" Amaya wiped her eyes with her hands. "Why aren't we gathering all the Millennium Items somewhere? We'll guard them, and we'll know the place, it… it'll be safer this way!"

"We'd love to, but the only one we don't know if it's stolen is Shada's…" Yami sighed. Then he saw Amaya using puppy dog eyes on him. "But I'll be sure to contact him and I'm sure he'll be willing to help us!" He smiled at her, and her face lit up.

"And I'll be sure to get in contact with Isis and learn about her brother's whereabouts." Kaiba added. "We might not know about Bakura, but she'll know something about Malik…"

"Oh, we can avoid that…" A vein popped on Ayaka's forehead, but Amaya interrupted her:

"It's a brilliant idea Kaiba! And here I thought you shouldn't be called a genius anymore… Not that I do now of course, but anyways!" Amaya hopped up, with high spirits.

"Lively as ever again?" Jou sweat-dropped, as Kaiba tried to kick her. "Sorry about the harsh words before…" He ran his hands into his hair, awkwardly.

"Don't worry, Jou-kun…She gets over things like that pretty easily!" Ayaka winked at Amy, who was now trying to counterattack. "Hey Kaiba, if you're going to go to Egypt, can you take me with you? I've always wanted to see the Pyramids!"

"I'm not going to Egypt stupid, I'm going to call her…" He shot Ayaka a suspicious look, while holding Amaya in a safe distance. "Why did you think I was going there?"

"Oh… nothing, nothing, I guess I'm just expecting the most extreme stuff from you! Silly me!" Ayaka pretended whacking her head, while she was thinking: Damn it, damn it, damn it…

"Ok, we have nothing more to do here…" Yami concluded. "But oh man, that shirt is killing me!" He was indeed wearing two shirts, but now the heavier one was making him feel really dizzy from the heat. Then he eyed the room where, unfortunately for Amaya, she had hidden Bakura into. "Can I change into that room?"

"NO!" Amaya squeaked and bolted towards the door, blocking the entrance. "That's my room!"

That took Yami aback. "So? What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? Maybe you didn't understand well! That's my room. MY room!" Amaya continued. Yami still didn't get the point.

"Oh, Natsu, are you messy?" Kaiba guessed and let out an evil laugh. "Surely it would be embarrassing…"

"Yes! That's right! She's messy!" Ayaka yelled and pointed at her, and Amy's jaw dropped to the floor. "She's really - really messy, you can't imagine! Clothes everywhere, food on the bed, porn on the desk and underwear in…"

"Okay - stop giving away the details!" Amaya was colored red in all of her body.

"Not a nice sight anyways!" Aya concluded. "So you'd better go now, thanks for the information, bye-bye Yami-kun, you can hold yourself until you get home…" She started pushing Kaiba and Jou towards the door, and Amaya did the same with Yami. In seconds the three of them were out of the house.

"Don't worry Amy-chan, I'm messy too!" They heard Jou yelling.

"Yeah that would be relieving for her to know!" Kaiba scoffed at him and Jou started swearing at him again.

"Kaiba, Jou, I want that tape!" Ayaka bid them farewell with these words and closed the door, the last thing she saw being Yami trying to breathe and tugging at his shirt. She leaned her back onto the door, closing her eyes and letting out a sigh of relief. When she opened them again, Amaya was looking at her, tapping her foot to the ground.

"You did that on purpose!"

"Serves you right for stealing bodies from the hospital!"

Amaya whistled, pretending she didn't hear anything. "How did my performance go, by the way?" She asked allegedly indifferent.

Ayaka started hopping up. "Oscar honey! You deserve it!" She popped a smile radiating happiness.

"Yes I do!" Amaya laughed, started hopping as well, and quickly they reached hands and started singing:

The final two are coming, the final two are coming…