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(as Promised here's Frieday's update! Enjoy!)

----------------Mother Tree-------------------

Yugi wandered among his fruit bushes and various vegetable rows. A Strawberry bush full with the ripe fruit made him pause. He reached out and picked one of the plump, red treats. He rolled the fruit between his fingers, feeling the rough texture. He rarely saw the strawberry bushes with fruit, Yami, Bakura and Marik saw to it that they made sure to find each one as it grew and ripened and ate them.

He sighed and popped the red fruit in his mouth, crushing the flesh between his molars. His eyes widened and he spat it out, with a disgusted look as he watched a new Strawberry bush grow where he had spat out the chewed strawberry. That's the disadvantage of being a Tree spirit he mused as it grew before his eyes. Damn super-grow-saliva

With all the years Yami and his friends had been eating his Strawberries, he had forgotten he didn't like the fruit. He suddenly remembered he grew it as a favour for Ryou who had taken a shine to the juicy fruit when a crate of them had accidently been dropped into the river one year.

He moved onto another patch where Malik's favoured vegetables were growing nicely. Then with a sigh he wandered to his own favoured vegetables and fruit.

Once he had weeded out the patches he walked to the Mother Tree. He disintegrated and became a swarm of Sakura Petals, re-materialising upon the highest branch of the Mother Tree. It was an odd branch that reached vertically upwards towards the sky, the end having been worn away to a simple platform that Yugi balanced on to watch his forest. Many legends had sprung up about travellers seeing a ghostly person standing above the trees, watching them as they went on their way.

With a smile Yugi swivelled on his branch, knowing he could just dissolve into petals on the breeze if he fell. Key word being if. He had millennia of practice after all. He faced the village that was just visible through the mist that had appeared not an hour ago. He winced as he watched another tree fall not a hundred trees away. The pain that came with the tree's spirit crying out as it died and was sent back to Kami, was dulled to a sharp throb now. The sticky substance that would spurt out with each axe strike against the bark was the tree's life blood, much like the red substance that poured from humans if the flesh was cut.

Yugi sighed covering his eyes with his hand "if you can hear me Yami. Just be safe."

--------------------Jail----------------------------

Yami growled as Bakura shoved him unceremoniously off of the bed. "Morning!" Marik chirped from the floor as he landed with an ungraceful 'oomf' on his stomach. "Rise and shine Yami!"

Yami groaned as he heaved himself off of the ground "And you woke me up because?"

"I've been snooping by the door" Bakura said softly as they heard the footsteps of the guardsman outside. "Apparently Kaiba is wanting to talk to us again."

"The last time we talked to him ended us in this charming hotel." Yami said sarcastically "I'm not exactly keen to talk again."

"Apparently it has something to do with the Spirit's" Marik said solemnly

"They're fighting back?" asked Yami incredulously "I though Spirit's couldn't fight back under orders of Kami"

"No, just being a pain in the backside to find apparently" Bakura muttered as the footsteps stopped before the door to their cell.

The lock turned stiffly in the door with a loud squeal and the heavy metal door, Three of Kaiba's guardsmen came in, thick lengths of rope in their hands.

The three boys tensed but Yami, feeling it would just land them in a world of hurt, came forward and offered his wrists. Once the guardsmen were sure they weren't going to make a break for it, they dragged them out into the corridor.

They came to a door that had a metal panel nailed to it. The words INTEROGATION ROOM made Yami shudder as they were forced into three chairs in front of a desk and firmly tied to the arm rests.

"You may leave" said Kaiba's cold, monotone voice from behind them. The guardsmen bowed and left the room. "You three are thorns in my side"

"Shame." Sneered Bakura "I was aiming for the ass"

Kaiba's hand smacked over the back of Bakura's head making the said albino curse profanities that would have made a sailor blush. "Be quiet until I say you can speak."

Yami growled "What the hell do you want Kaiba, you know we won't tell you where the Spirit's are"

The ice blue gaze held Yami's fiery crimson "I'm running out of time." Said Kaiba simply "I need the blood of a Spirit to exchange for the life of my brother who is suffering at the hands of my adoptive father"

"It doesn't make it right to tear down the Sakura Spirit's forest, and pollute the air and waters of the Wind and Water Spirits!" Bakura roared still fuming that Seto had dared to hit him.

The Kaiba shrugged and went to the desk. A wrapped object was on the worn wood. He unfolded the cloth to reveal a long stick like object made of wood and metal. "This is what will kill your Spirit's; it fires an iron ball into the object at speeds even a Wind Spirit couldn't replicate."

Yami stared at the object in horror, as Marik smirked "We'll never tell"

"The Spirits are immortal, but not invincible nor are they impossible to locate. Hence the reason I was sent here to find them in the first place. Luckily they were stupid enough to send in the people they care about on a little expedition." Kaiba smiled cruelly patting the long metal stick and putting it back on the desk. "Now all that's left to do is get their precise location. This is where you three come in."

"Never" Yami hissed

Kaiba smiled "Then an ultimatum it is" he walked past them to the door and said to the guardsman on the other side. "Pour poison into the river and set the forest alight."