Chapter 25

As dawn approached, Illidan awoke first. Cracking open an eye slowly, he noticed the others were still sleeping. The station was strangely quiet as well. Figuring it was just due that it was so early, he paid no heed.

He slowly stretched out his muscles, letting out a small yawn. He stood up and checked to see if the group was truly asleep.

Ryou was obviously alert, but his mind was still sleeping. Like Illidan, he kind of always kept himself in a shallow sleep. Anything that was of any danger would wake him. He had noticed Illidan had woken up, but didn't do anything. He only continued to doze on, not caring really.

Illidan then noticed that Vash and Blue were sleeping together. Blue was curled up on Vash's chest, snuggling against him, while Vash was leaning back against the wall, holding onto Blue. A small smile played upon both of their faces, making Illidan figure they were quite happy with this sleeping arrangement at the moment.

Deciding to go out to get some fresh air, Illidan walked out of the room they had been staying out and walked outside. He could hear traffic in the distance barely moving once and a while, but paid little heed to it. Instead, he took in the scent of the air, just enjoying the fact that for once, it wasn't city filled fumes.

Slowly, Illidan walked out to a small clearing area and decided to start the day as he usually did. Normally, he would do a small set of exercises. The purpose to this dated back to what his teacher in ancient times told him. "To train the mind, you must train the body." Squall had told him. Illidan had taken that lesson to heart, and even after Squall had died, Illidan continued to exercise as his master had told him. At times when he was worried, or preparing for a duel, he would work out in order to develop focus.

Finally finding a nice clear spot, Illidan started warming up. He started with touching his toes, then some push ups, some sit-ups followed, with some leg stretches, and finally a few jumping jacks. Once satisfied, he slowly began one of his training exercises he had learned from karate.

As he threw punches into the air, followed by kicks, thoughts of all that had happened slammed into his mind. Thoughts of when he lost Bakura, then Marie, continued to plague him. "I'll never be able to rest till I find her and rescue her." his mind silently said.

He finally hit the climax of his exercise, making him throw harder punches and stronger kicks. As he was throwing his punches and kicks, thoughts of someone actually trying to use souls to power up a monster entered his mind. That person was his enemy, not the Wolf Pack itself. They were mere pawns to him. "I have to ask Blue what she knows about all this. Then I'll know for sure if they're just being manipulated for this plan or not."

At last, he ended his exercise with a bow. He was drenched in sweat, but didn't care. There was a shower at the station room, so he figured he'd head back. Along the way, he stopped and bought a dozen donuts. With breakfast now accounted for, he made his way back.

It was already 6:55 when he got back, and noticed Ryou standing outside the room when he got back. He just stood there, staring off into space.

"Problems?" Illidan asked as he approached.

"No, none at all really. Just waiting for you to return. I woke up not long after you left to keep guard. After all, we can't depend on those two to defend themselves if they're curled up like that, now can we?" Ryou asked with sarcasm in his voice.

Smirking, Illidan replied "I guess not. Here is breakfast. I'm heading in for a shower."

Nodding, Ryou followed Illidan into the room as he set the box of donuts on the floor. Illidan then grabbed his duffle bag and pulled out some fresh clothes and other necessities for a shower. He then headed for the door labeled "Shower" and went in.

Not long after he left, Vash lightly stirred. The first thing he noticed was something warm was on his chest. He quickly realized without opening his eyes that it was Blue. "That's right, I pulled her into my lap and let her sleep on my chest last night. It feels so nice to have her sleeping there…"

His thoughts were quickly shaken from him though, as he mentally chided himself, saying "What is wrong with you man? You don't have time to think like this. You have to save Bakura's soul. Maybe afterwards, if she is interested…"

Sighing lightly, he then opened his eyes to see Ryou sitting across the room munching on donuts. He lightly waved to Vash and smirked, saying "I hate to interrupt you two, but if you two don't get up, Illidan may leave you. It's already seven, and we leave at eight."

His voice had made Blue stir, which made Vash lightly growl with annoyance. He didn't really want to wake Blue up, for she had seemed so peaceful. Slowly, her eye lids fluttered open to reveal ice blue eyes. She lightly yawned and noticed that a pair of green eyes staring down at her, along with a smiling face.

Smiling, she said "Good morning."

Lightly chuckling, Vash replied "Good morning to you too. Breakfast is here."

Nodding, she slowly sat up, although she hated to. "It felt so good to rest on his chest. He has a nice calming effect over me."

Lightly shaking her head, she then thought "No, I can't do this. Not now at the least. I have a promise to keep. I made a promise that night to save Marie's soul at any cost, and I can't afford to be bogged down now. Still…"

Sighing lightly, she stood up and smoothed out her dress. She stretched her arms and legs, making sure she would be able to walk over. Once satisfied with her stretches, she walked over and grabbed a donut. Vash soon followed, slowly eating his while looking at Blue.

Illidan returned a few minutes later, his hair already dried out. "Guys, if you want to get a shower, you should now. We only have fifty minutes till we leave, so better step on it."

Each nodded, and Blue was first to grab her things. Once ready, she quickly walked into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. Vash lightly sighed when she was gone, letting a small blush grace his face.

Shaking his head, Ryou only said "Keh, you and that wench should already get it over with."

Glaring at Ryou for his name for Blue, Vash said with irritation in his voice "As if you care. Besides, I don't know what you're talking about."

Shrugging, Ryou replied "I only speculate on the fact you both are sleeping together in the morning. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I'm sure Illidan could add on. After all, he knows all about one sleeping in his arms…"

That statement caused a light flare up of Illidan's temper, which quickly crossed the room and had Ryou suspended in the air by his shirt collar within moments. Ryou saw the anger, and simply said "I wasn't making fun of you or her. I was just stating the obvious from ancient times."

Taking a deep breath, Illidan let his temper cool off and dropped Ryou to the ground. "Choose your words more carefully from now on." he said coldly as he turned away.

Ryou only rubbed his slightly sore neck and smirked. "He's awfully moody. I take it that the loss of Marie was hard. Even though I could careless about her, I do feel some sadness for her loss. My cursed emotions of the past can't let me forget the kindness she had for me."

Finally, getting back down to earth, Ryou only said "If you have feelings for her, tell the wench. Better to let her know than lead her on."

Illidan lightly smirked at this. "This from Mr. I hate everyone and everything. Perhaps he learned something while locked away."

Turning back to breakfast, Illidan grabbed a donut and hungrily woofed it down. Blue finally came out of the bathroom in a new dress that matched the style of the one from the day before. This one was a dark shade of blue, almost black. Her boots were the same, but her scarf was yellow. Illidan noticed that Vash seemed to be drooling, and shook his head.

"Ryou hit the nail on the head. That boy has it bad for her." he silently said in his mind.

Blue only blushed at the evaluating stare from Vash. "He must really like how I look today. He looks quite good himself, even without a shower."

Finally, Vash broke free of his gaze and ran over to his duffle bag. He quickly gathered up his things and made his way for the shower. Blush was still coating his face as he left, which made Illidan and Ryou lightly chuckle when he closed the door.

Blue only stood there bewildered, and asked "What's so funny?"

Smirking, Ryou only said "Keh, the two of you."

This caused her to lightly blush, but she shook her head and walked back over to her own duffle bag. She threw her dirty clothes in it, and then walked back over to grab another donut.

After five or ten minutes, Vash finally reappeared in clean clothes. He was wearing a solid light green shirt with baggy blue jeans. Blue seemed to look him over quickly, but knowing the others were watching, turned back away.

Ryou stood up and stretched. He quickly grabbed his clothes and went for his shower. Ten minutes later he returned cleaned up and wearing a light blue shirt that matched Vash's, and a pair of baggy jeans as well.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Illidan decided it was time. Standing, he said "Let's get going. We need to buy the tickets first. It's already 7:45, so we'd better hurry along."

The others only nodded in agreement and quickly gathered up their things. Once ready, the group headed towards the ticket counter. Illidan used the credit card Pegasus had given him to secure four seats for them to a town that was only a few hours from Death Valley itself.

Finally, the group boarded the train. They assumed their usual sitting positions. The train wasn't very crowded. In all actuality, there was only ten other people besides the small group. The train left on time, and they were off.

Around eleven, Illidan turned to Blue, who was reading a book and asked "Blue, I've been wondering if you could tell us about the Wolf Pack. At least about what you know about what's going on, like what they're true mission is."

Sighing, Blue closed her book and set it back down in her bag. She finally opened her eyes and said "Well, to begin with, I joined the Wolf Pack about a year ago. I had just graduated high school, and was living near Death Valley at the time. Anyways, that's when I met Hige."

Slightly sighing, she continued, saying "Hige met me while I was out with a few friends. He was interesting, and I noticed he was a duelist. I was one as well, not a great one yet, but a decent one. Anyways, he noticed I was a duelist as well and challenged me to a duel. I agreed, and we dueled. I lost the duel, but by a close margin. He was impressed, and said he wanted to train me more. He sweet talked me, and then convinced me of other things."

Closing her eyes, she said "He convinced me that my parents, whom had died when I was very young, like eight, had truly hated me. All the stuff he told me made me hate them, and then he convinced me that my guardian hated me too, and that my adopted sister hated me as well. Looking back now, I realize how wrong Hige was, but I believed him, because I thought I loved him. I thought he was telling me nothing but the truth."

Hurt filled her face, and her eyes as she opened them back up. She finally said "He convinced me to leave my adopted guardian, and we ran away together. This was two months into our relationship. He then invited me to come with him to see if I could join a team he was on. He had been training for two years already he said, and the last two months were his months off. He offered to take me back, and to continue my training. I couldn't refuse, for I was putty in his hands already."

"When we left, he blindfolded me, telling me he had to in case the ones leading the group wouldn't allow me to join. The location was to be secret, so he had no choice. I agreed, and we flew out. When we arrived, it was at some island. There were no identifying markers on the sea, so I guessed we were pretty far away from the mainland. We met up with Kiba first. Hige introduced us, and explained his intentions. Kiba was the first hurtle for me to clear in order to join the group."

Sighing, she then said "He passed me, saying that he believed I'd make a good member, but it was up to Hige to train me. He agreed, and we went on. The next person we met was the guy over Kiba, the second in command of the whole group. His name was Darcia. He was a rather strange man, and creepy at that. Hige introduced us, and asked for permission to let me join."

Lightly shuttering, Blue said "Darcia stared at me with his one weird eye. What was weird about it was it was golden colored. It felt like he stared at not only me physically, but down to my soul. After a few moments, he finally said I was alright to join. Hige thanked him profusely, but Darcia told us that one other had to look me over. That man I came to find out was named Dartz."

Pausing for a moment, she then said "We went up to Dartz's office soon afterwards. He, like Darcia, had one odd colored eye. Dartz had a golden eye, and a green eye. He warmly greeted me though, and Hige asked to let me join. Dartz eyed me, and finally said that one test shall be needed. He held out his hand, which held some kind of green stone. He told me if I forsake all that was of this world, I should be able to grab the stone and could join the group. If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to grasp the stone, and I wouldn't be allowed to join the group."

Closing her eyes, Blue finally said "So, I tried it. A barrier of some kind formed around the stone when I reached for it. I was angry that I couldn't grab it, and in anger, I forsook all that I loved and cared about in the outside world. I was then able to grasp the stone at long last, and it became mine to possess. Dartz then told me I was officially a part of the Wolf Pack. Over the next ten months, I trained then. That's about all we did. We trained, daily, and that was it really. Finally, a few days ago, we were called to an island. There, we received instructions to hunt down you, Marie, and Ryou. We also learned that another group, the group Dartz had trained, was to take down the Pharaoh and the High Priest, but I really don't know who those targets are."

Nodding, Illidan knew what she was speaking of. She spoke of Yami and Seto, the two strongest souls probably left in Japan. "Hopefully they got out of that alright." Illidan thought to himself silently.

"Do you have any idea what the Wolf Pack's plan is now that they failed to capture me the first time?" Illidan asked calmly.

She shook her head, saying "No, not really. As I told you before, Kiba's new plan was to take out he ones around you first, hoping that would get you distracted enough to beat you."

Nodding, Illidan asked "Something else I'm curious about. Who is in charge of the souls, and where are they stored?"

Blue only sadly shook her head, and said "I'm not sure Illidan. I know they're sent somewhere, but where I don't know. It could be to that one city, or it could be to the island. I just wish I had an idea so we could head straight there."

Sighing lightly, Illidan replied "That's alright. We'll find Marie and Bakura's souls. I have no intentions on stopping till I do."

Vash then gently asked "Blue, who was your guardian?"

Weakly smiling, she said "A very kind man. In fact, we're on the way to see him."

The entire group was shocked to hear this one. "You mean your guardian was Professor Hawkins?" Illidan asked in a bit of shock.

She simply nodded, and Vash asked "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Sighing, Blue looked at the ground as tears started welling up in the corner of her eyes, and said "Because… I don't know if he'll even speak to me now. I… I left there screaming I hated him. Hige had convinced me that I hated him and my adopted sister. So, the day I left, he tried to stop me, but I refused to hear him out. I then screamed as I left I hated him. I'm sure I broke his heart saying those things. The professor was so good to me though. He saved me from being an orphan. I should never have believed what Hige had told me."

Tears then began to run down her cheeks. She sniffled, as she fought hard to control her sadness. "Some kind of grateful person I am. The man saved me from being alone, and I repay him by telling him I hated him." she softly said with great sadness in her voice.

Vash couldn't take it anymore and pulled her into his arms. He gently cooed her, trying hard to erase the pain. Slowly, he rocked her back and forth, trying to take away what he could of her pain.

Illidan now realized just how far the Wolf Pack would go to destroy a person in order to get them to join. Here was a sweet young girl whom was convinced that her loving family hated her. That her own parents hated her before their eventual death. "How could they do this to her? It's one thing to tell her to hate the world, but another to convince her that nobody ever loved her. I need to definitely take these people down, no matter what."

"I'm sorry to have made you bring up bad memories Blue." Illidan called back to her.

She lightly raised her head from Vash's shoulder and said "It's alright. It's just another reason I have to try and help save Marie. I never want another person to experience what I had to go through."

Nodding, Illidan replied "Get some sleep. It'll help slow the tears. We have another seven hours to go anyways."

Blue took his advice, leaning heavily into Vash's shoulder, letting him hold her protectively. The group all fell back asleep, each trying hard to focus on the fight ahead of them.