Two Worlds

Chapter 21

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The wind blew which sent a shiver of dread down Jounouchi's spine as he and Kiyane kept up with the barrier that kept the shack invisible from the view of wandering yokai. "I agree with you, Jounouchi. Something bad's about to happen and I don't like it in the slightest." Kiyane murmured. Jounouchi gave a nod before his head snap over to a particular direction. "Beware, something's approaching..." he whispered and soon, his fears were confirmed as a pack of wolves came straight for them but Kiyane smirked as they hit an invisible barrier that warded them off. They growled and snarled as they paced before the barrier, knowing that something was there but couldn't see. Soon, Royakan appeared, a bigger mess than he was before with crazed eyes and covered in roots and leaves from the malicious plant that rested in his skull.

"Where are you, you damn lizard!" he snarled.

Kaiser peeked out from the window and gulped. "They're back! That Royakan monster is back!" Kaiser squeaked as he moved from the window and hopped back over to Aqua, finding refuge in his lap. "Royakan...that flat-faced wolf yokai? He's nothing." Yami muttered as he propped himself up using the Tessaiga. Aqua stood and looked outside the window, seeing the yokai was having trouble reaching them. "At least he's being held up by a barrier." he murmured and Yami tsked at the thought. "Yami!" The yokai roared once more. "As long as we keep the barrier up, he and Aqua will be invisible to the yokai's eyes." Kiyane murmured and Jounouchi nodded.

"But there's something different about him this time, he's more powerful but also seems desperate about something as well..." Jounouchi murmured and Kiyane couldn't help but agree but couldn't pinpoint what it could be. 'Must be something dealing with the plants that now cover him. He must be in possession of a Shikon shard...'

Not far from them, Naraku chuckled darkly. 'Arrogance, the lot of them. Do they really think a flimsy barrier will stop me...' he thought quietly to himself before he looked closer and soon saw what the barrier was preventing Royakan from seeing. 'Perfect...' He raised a hand.

The yokai gave another growl, still hindered by the barrier. Jounouchi saw something flash in his peripheral vision and gasped. "A spear?" he near exclaimed, seeing that its travel path was aiming for Kiyane. "Lady Kiyane!" he gasped as he moved, losing the concentration he had over the barrier. "No, monk!" she called, trying to stop him even though she too saw the spear, and was knocked out the way. Jounouchi stood, staff at the ready as Royakan saw the barrier disappear and the shack revealed. "Yami! Aqua! You're mine!" he called as he slammed a large hand down on the shack.

"Yami! Aqua!" Jounouchi called in horror but soon saw two shadows and Royakan rearing back in pain, a gash upon his face. "Thanks for letting me out. Those idiot companions of mine decided it would be good for me to be locked away." Yami said, Tessaiga in its full glory as he stared down his opponent.

"He was never grateful about things, is he?" Kiyane murmured.

"You got that right." Aqua mumbled as he landed beside them and set Kaiser down. "Well, I better help before he gets himself killed by his own bravado." he said as he brought out Gyakusatsu. Royakan only growled before leaping for Yami. "Die!" he snarled as Yami leapt into the air again and swung down at him. But surprisingly, the yokai grabbed the blade mid-flight and tossed him back. "Ouch. That must've hurt." Jounouchi murmured.

"He's not even at full strength yet so it was bound to happen." Kiyane spoke as Yami impacted the ground. Aqua sighed before dive-bombing the yokai from the air but spotted something glittering that dropped from Yami. "Shit!" he cursed as he back-winged and went for the Shikon shard that dropped. "The Shikon no Tama shard!" Royakan grumbled as he went for it but light on his feet, Kaiser grabbed it and stuck his tongue out at the yokai. "This is not for you!" he said but froze when he saw Royakan spewing out more wolves from his mouth and ran.

"Kaiser! Watch it!" Jounouchi called as he readied to use his Wind Tunnel but gasped when he heard the faint buzzing and turned to see the poisonous wasps emerging from the forest.

'Naraku's wasps...' Aqua thought with a growl as Jounouchi covered his hand again and prepared to fight with just his staff. "We're in quite a predicament, huh?"

"Nah, really? No wonder why they made you a monk..." Yami grumbled as they got ready to fight.

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"I'm leaving now." Yugi called as he left out the house.

"Say hi to Hojo for me!" His mother called and Yugi chuckled. "I will!" he called back as he took a quick detour to the shrine and looked up to it. He gave a sigh. 'No sign of either of them. Well, I can understand if Yami doesn't want to see me but I would've expected Aqua to have stopped by at least.' Yugi thought before deciding to head inside, hopping down into the well, coming up with the same reaction. "Hey! I'm going out on a possible date right now! Hope you don't mind!" he called and huffed. "Stupid Yami..." he mumbled before sighing softly.

'Guess I better head out...'

Back in the feudal era, Kaiser gulped as he was chased throughout the forest and found himself back at the destroyed well. The wolves were closing in, salivating and growling. "Oh man...is this the end of me?" he whimpered, out of options of how to get out of this situation. He steeled himself and brought out a few leaves just as the wolves leapt at him. "Divide and conquer!" he cried, the leaves becoming clones of himself and while the wolves were distracted with the clones, he skittered into the well through the only spare opening that was there. He slid down, laughing all the while.

"They'll never get me down here!" he said triumphantly but yelped as he hit the ground head first, knocking himself out and dropping the shard.

On the other side, Yugi cursed as he looked at his watch. "Oh man, I'm gonna be late!" he murmured as he climbed out the well and ran outside. He descended down the stairs and was almost heading off before he stopped, turning back to where the shrine sat. 'That feeling...it's very faint but...it's the presence of a Shikon shard!' he thought with a gasp as he ran back for the well. 'Could Yami be here?' Yugi headed into the shrine and looked down into the well and cursed. "What is this? There's no one in here!" he said with a hint of disappointment and sighed. "I'm such an idiot. I ran all the way here for nothing..."

On the other side, the battle was fierce as Yami and Aqua warded off the wasps and also avoid getting hit by Royakan's vicious attacks. "Hijin Kesso!" Yami snarled, tearing through the wasps and Royakan's wolves as they tried to attack him. Royakan roared as he rushed in to attack again but Yami flapped his wings, taking to the air before moving in to attack again. Royakan hissed before spewing out more of his wolves and Aqua snarled as he swooped in to take them out. "At this rate with such an assault, we'll never win!" Jounouchi called, whacking away wolves and wasps as they tried to take him out as well while trying to target Kiyane in her weakened state.

"I believe Royakan is taking on the yokai power from a Shikon no Tama shard." Jounouchi added.

"What?!" Yami screeched before glaring at the other. "It's a possibility. If we can discover where it is, we can remove it and be able to defeat him." Jounouchi suggested before gazing over the dazed creature. "Well, it's obviously not in plain sight."

"If only Yugi were here." Aqua murmured and Yami snarled at him. "Shut up about him! He's gone to his own time so stop worrying about him!"

"Who gives a fuck about you, Yami?! We need Yugi here, especially in the situation we got ourselves into now! We're both weak and don't you fucking dare deny it! We can't keep this up! We do and we're better off dead! Would you like that to happen then by all means keep attacking blindly!" Aqua groused, glaring down at him and Yami flinched, knowing better to never test Aqua's anger. "Oooh, he sounds pissed." Jounouchi jeered.

"Shut. Up. Jounouchi." Yami growled.

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After giving another minute of wondering whether Yami was going to really show up, he headed out of the well and to his meeting, or date as everyone seems to suspect, with Hojo. 'Sheesh...whenever I wanted to come here for a test or something...he would appear at least every three days to bother me about coming back! But now it's been a week! Is he gonna show up? Or send Aqua? What the hell!' Yugi thought before jerking out of his thoughts when Hojo finally calling his name got to his ears. "Are you alright? You seem to be out of it." Hojo murmured and Yugi shook his head.

"I'm fine." he murmured, running a hand lightly through his hair. Hojo looked to him, a skeptical yet calculating gaze watching the other teen. "Hey, Yugi...do you have somewhere else to be possibly?" he questioned and a small flush appeared on Yugi's face. "N-no...where would I..." he stammered, his thoughts wandering back to Yami once more. 'Not like Yami needs me after all...'

"I understand." Hojo murmured. "I think it's best actually..."

"B-but...but it's not like I..." Yugi murmured as he looked down. 'It's not like I really like him...'

"You shouldn't have forced yourself to come out if you're still unwell!" Hojo said in surprised and Yugi yelped. 'Not feeling well? Was that what he was thinking about the entire time?' he thought and then he went off on a different tangent again. 'Oh Yami...how are your wounds...are they healed yet? Could they have gotten worse...no...no, he can't be dead. Aqua is always there for him...but what if something happen to him too...' Soon, the thoughts were too overbearing and groaned. "Hojo, I'm sorry...my chest is starting to hurt a little..." Yugi whispered and Hojo nodded in understanding.

"I knew it. Here, let me walk you home." he offered and Yugi shook his head as he stood.

"I'll be fine. Let's try this again sometime. See ya!" he said as he ran out from the fast food place they were eating and headed home. Hojo watched as he left and hummed to himself. 'Pushing himself to hang out with me when he's in pain...' he thought as he watched him run. 'For someone who's supposed to be sick, he runs fast...'

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Yugi was quick arriving back home and made a beeline for the shrine, heading in and down the well before feeling the presence once more. 'I was right! There's a Shikon shard close by! But where?' he thought before falling onto his knees and started digging into the packed earth. 'I can't see it but I can sense it...' He kept digging and growled. "Where! Where is it?!" he grumbled as he continued digging. Back on the other side, Kaiser groaned as he started to wake and gaped when he saw the wolves finding their way inside. "Oh no..." Kaiser whimpered.

'Come on...I need to know...I need to know how Yami and Aqua are...' Yugi thought as he reached out and soon felt a rift in the air and soon felt him grabbing the shard. 'Ah, the shard!'

Kaiser gasped when he saw Yugi appear before him. "Yugi! Oh, Yugi, is it really you?!" Kaiser asked as he hopped into his arms. "Yeah, it's me. I'm so happy to see you." he said as he hugged the kitsune before looking up as he heard the growls of the wolves.

Back on the other battlefield, the three were still fighting before Yami halted for a moment, sniffing the air.

'It can't be! But there's no mistaking it! It's Yugi's scent!' he thought before looking to Aqua who gazed down at him. The airborne yokai's eyes narrowed as he looked to Yami before taking off for the well.

'Guess he knows too. But seriously...how did he come back? He's not supposed to be here...I blocked the well...'

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Zypher: And here we are with another chapter for Two Worlds. Sorry for the long wait for it but here we are with another action filled chapter and Yugi's back in the picture once more. Will this prove to be good or bad? Find out within the next chapter. I'll see you soon with another chapter soon.