AUTHOR'S NOTE: My apologies for not posting any new chapters for so long. I had an issue with my two on-going fanfics which I managed to sort out, so you have 4 new chapters of this one today! The first of them is Chapter 16, so that's where you need to start reading. I hope you enjoy the chapters!

Tournament of Shadows
Chapter 17: The Finals - Night 2
By Shadow's Mirror

The second day of the Domino City Treasure Quest Tournament Finals had come to a close but the duelists lingered in the auditorium after Evien Sanders' abrupt departure, as if they all felt the need to remain together.

It wasn't far from the truth.

Bakura took notice of the vague feeling of wrongness running up and down his spine like chilled skeletal fingers and frowned. "Did that last battle seem as anticlimactic to everyone else as it did to me? For some reason, I was sure he was going to try something funny when he went up against Yugi." He didn't speak too loudly as there were still stage hands around, but his words carried as far as they needed to. The other duelists all nodded.

"Yeah. Definitely." Wheeler was frowning, but he looked as grumpy as a pouting kitten compared to the fierce scowl on Kaiba's face. The comparison was even more striking since the two teenagers were standing beside each other. "I don't know why, but I was sure of that too. I guess it felt like he was... I don't know... planning something?" It came out as a question but, judging from the way the others all nodded again, it was clearly what everyone else was thinking too.

"He was. Still is, I think. The question is what?" Mai spoke up softly but her voice held a note of frustration. "I can't work out what his game plan is."

"Oh, that is simple." All eyes turned to Avril in surprise and she shrugged slightly. "He wishes to win the tournament." She paused, her eyebrows tilting into a slight frown. "However, that victory has been further out of his reach than he has known, all along. I do not believe he has yet realised that."

Callie shivered, her hold on her bear tightening into a squeeze. "I don't think I want to be there when he does." She actually sounded scared. Rina moved to slip her good arm around her friend's shoulders as she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah. Same here. He's going to go totally wild." Despite agreeing with Callie, Rina didn't seem to share her fear. In fact, she sounded almost viciously pleased about it.

Joey blinked at her, then looked curious. "How wild are we talking about here? Throwing a chair level or...?"

"Worse." Rina all but sang the word. She was really way too cheerful about the possibility. Joey wasn't the only one who took an instinctive step back from her.

Avril eyed her friend warily, although she did not physically move. "Rina. That is not a good thing."

Rina's eyes were a little too bright, her smile a little too wide. "It is if it makes him show his real face to the world. This event is televised. Everyone's seen him storming off before the ending ceremonies yesterday and today. If he does something more tomorrow... He might end up too humiliated to show his face in public again."

Avril actually took the time to consider that and did not look as if the idea was an unpleasant one.

She wasn't the only one.

"You make a good point." Joey looked quite hopeful. "What do you think the odds are of that?"

"Better than average." Rina grinned and Joey couldn't keep from snickering in response.

Bakura was distracted from the conversation by a mental nudge from Ryou. He sighed heavily as he turned to Kaiba. "Hey Kaiba, any chance I can get a ride home? Father won't tell me off for being away all day if he thinks we were working on that project."

"Very well." Kaiba nodded and looked over to where the blonde teen was now saying goodbye to the girls. "I believe Wheeler is ready to go."

They were halfway to Ryou and Bakura's home before Wheeler ended the odd, thoughtful, silence the three of them had lapsed into before getting into the car. "I still can't work out why I expected Sanders to do something while he dueled Yami." He sounded unsettled and his frown was deeper than usual.

Bakura spoke up without thinking. "Yugi." He belatedly realised what he just said, as well as what Wheeler originally said, and looked up in time to witness two pairs of eyes, one blue and one brown, looking at him in wide eyed shock.

Had Kaiba ever looked so surprised before? Bakura didn't think he'd seen it.

"What?" Wheeler blinked at him. Bakura had to take a moment to work out what he meant but then he got it.

"It was Yugi throughout the whole duel. I checked. Eight times."

Wheeler blinked at him again. "Did Yug even have eight turns in that duel?" He was still looking rather stunned.

"He had seven. I checked after each one and also right after Evien had the first turn. So, eight." Bakura shrugged as the other two eyed him off. "I'm not sure if Yami couldn't be bothered with him or if they were both just feeling particularly petty at the time but either way, it was definitely Yugi who served that particular dose of humiliation to Sanders. I can ask him tonight if you like. Ryou's calling him anyway. Apparently my being with Yugi all day doesn't count as 'friend time' for Ryou."

Wheeler grinned at that, then looked thoughtful. "Yeah. I might call him myself. I want to know what he thought of today."

"That reminds me..." Bakura glanced to the blonde teen sitting in the middle of the backseat with Kaiba on his other side. "What you said before. Something about not knowing why you expected Sanders to do something in his duel with Yugi?"

"Yeah." Wheeler shrugged. "I expected him to, but I honestly have no idea why. I mean... I said to Kaiba today that I thought it was going to be the same as usual. Something weird goes on. The one behind it duels Yami. Yami wins. Everything's sorted. But later on I realised... we don't even know that Sanders is the one behind..." He frowned. "Well, that's just it, really. Behind what? We don't know what's going on. The attacks on the girls and those kids? It might not have anything to do with the tournament. The weird feeling in the air? Like something's pressing down on us? Maybe it's just the storm or something. It's like... Something feels off. But... Ugh." He ran a hand through his hair and frowned more deeply. "I can't explain it." He frowned more. "You said it first, though. When we were talking with everyone before we left. You asked if we all thought that last duel was anticlimactic. So you felt it too."

Bakura nodded. "Yeah. Exactly like you said. I was so sure Sanders was going to try something. But, now that you mention it, I don't know why I felt that way, either." He leaned forward so he could see Kaiba better. "Kaiba, your security guys are looking into the situation with the kids, right? All the attacks? The one on the girls, too?"

"Yes." Kaiba looked thoughtful. "So far, they have found no further information. Certainly nothing that would tie any of the attacks to Sanders."

He frowned slightly as he went on. "I also found myself expecting more from that last duel and, likewise, I am unable to find any reason for such an expectation. Perhaps it is simply that Sanders does not quite... fit in... with this tournament."

"He's not one of us." Wheeler quietly agreed. "The girls feel like friends even though they're as much strangers as he is, but Sanders doesn't. He feels like an enemy. Something else I don't know the reason for." He frowned. "There's too much of that. I hate not knowing reasons and stuff."

"Wheeler... for once, I agree with you completely. Do not get used to it." Kaiba fixed the grinning blonde with his usual icy gaze, but didn't give him time to reply as he turned his attention to Bakura. "I have always relied strongly on my intuition where people are concerned. It has served me well over the years. When I see Sanders, or even hear about him, my instinctive reaction is that he is dangerous. A threat. It is not a recent development, either. I recall there was a similar but far weaker general wariness the first time I saw his name listed for this tournament. I assumed at the time that it was because he was the only name on the list I did not recognise. Even so... it was an unusual reaction for me."

Bakura had gone very still, his eyes fixed on Kaiba's as he spoke. The words were sending an uneasy chill through his soulroom. "The night the story about Bandit Keith's tournament ban was covered on the news, they showed a picture of Sanders as well, since he'd gone up into the tenth spot because of it. Ryou had the same reaction. That Sanders was a threat. I thought he was overreacting at the time but... he always has been more sensitive than me to that kind of thing."

Wheeler groaned. "So in other words, we all think Sanders is up to more than just wanting to win the tournament, right?"

"Right."

"Indeed."

"But there's no proof, so we have to wait for him to do something. Usually that something happens when the bad guy duels Yami, but not today. Could that be why we were all waiting for it?"

Well, when stated that way, it was more than a little obvious.

"... Oh Ra." Bakura sighed heavily and closed his eyes as he tried to ignore Ryou's snickering from his soulroom.

"... Most likely." Kaiba did not sigh, being above all that mortal reaction stuff, but he did sound slightly put out that it had taken Wheeler to point out what they should have all realised for themselves.

But Wheeler wasn't done yet. "Since he didn't do anything while dueling today... did he know he wasn't dueling Yami, and there was no point in doing anything if it was Yugi, or do his plans require him to duel someone else? He looked really ticked off when the announcer called Bakura and Nyc, but I could have sworn he looked excited right before that."

Apparently, Wheeler was on a roll.

Bakura stared at the blonde in shock. "How sure are you about that? Both his expressions, I mean."

Wheeler blinked back at him. "Uh. Pretty sure. Well, I mean, I'm positive I saw both of them but I can't be completely sure that they meant what I thought they meant. Why?"

Bakura's mind was racing. "Because it's possible that he didn't do anything simply because Yugi or Yami wasn't his target. When you thought he looked excited, he had three possible opponents for his duel today. When you said he looked ticked off, those three possibilities had just been reduced to one certainty. What if it wasn't the one he wanted?"

"You think he wanted to duel Nyc instead? There is some past between them. I think it's more than what the other girls have said. They might not even know all of it."

"That or..." Kaiba looked steadily at Bakura. "Perhaps it is Bakura he wishes to duel."

Bakura thought that over for a moment before shaking his head. "I have no connection to him, as far as I know. If he and Nyc do have a past, that's more likely. Assuming that is what was going on today. We could all be wrong." He didn't think that they were, though.

Judging by the looks Kaiba and Wheeler gave him, they didn't think so either.

When Ryou mentioned it to Yugi later that night, during their 'friend time' phone call, Yugi and Yami also agreed.

Which meant, with only 12 duels remaining and only three of those involving Sanders, there was a very good chance that he would make his move the following day.

Late that night, the shadows on the balcony of the hotel room were again darker than anywhere else. As the faintest sound of sobbing carried on the light breeze towards the lamppost, the wind brought another sound to the watcher's ears. The soft tap of boot heels on the pavement had the small figure half turning before a soft gasp was quickly smothered by a tiny hand. As the taller figure approached, the watcher stubbornly remained in place. The softest whisper came only when the visitor stopped beside them and turned to glance up at the shadowed balcony as well.

"What are you doing here?" The voice was half curious, half annoyed and completely pouty.

"I came to get you. She's worried about you being out here all by yourself." There was a faint note of amusement in the low voice that was just a bit too loud to be called a whisper.

"I'm fine. But you're going to get us spotted. Go away." The voice was now fully annoyed, but still pouty with it.

The visitor didn't spare the watcher a glance, still focused on the balcony. "Nope. Not without you. Don't worry. That one won't be going anywhere tonight. Too risky. The other one won't be trying anything, either. No point. It's almost time. One more day at most. Then..." The visitor looked down at the watcher and there was a flash of teeth in the darkness as they grinned. "Then that sewer rat will never hurt anyone ever again. Just like I promised. But if either of us is spotted before that..." Still amused, but now the voice held a hint of warning. The watcher sighed.

"Fine. But you'd better be right!" The watcher lifted their head to the balcony one last time before heading off into the night with the visitor. Within a few steps, they were both gone, enveloped by the night's shadows.

On the balcony, the deepest part of the darkness stirred slightly, the sobs now too quiet for even the wind to carry.

One more day at most. Then the promise would be fulfilled.

To be Continued...