Getting on the train the next morning was a relief for Yugi. It had been almost impossible to sleep because of everything she had learned from Ishizu and Zorc over the last couple of days. Not to mention that she had ended up having to sleep on the couch rather than her bed, which had been crushed by Katsuya's Red-Eyes.

She was sincerely hoping tonight's rest would be better because once the doors slid shut and the train started pulling away from the station, thinking about the mess that had once been her bedroom, the brawl with the demon, and the fiasco with the Ishtars was pointless. There was nothing she could do about any of it until Sunday evening, when she got home.

She slumped into the seat Industrial Illusions had booked for her in first class, allowing Katsuya, who had refused to leave her alone for more than the time it had taken to shower this morning, to put their cases in the baggage holder.

'Anesan, we're on the train,' she sent down the soul bond between herself and her twin, though the only answer she received was silence. She was not surprised; her sister had drained herself badly last night while trying to fend off the demon's attack and then had been as overwhelmed by everything they had learned as she had. Neither of them had rested well, so she expected her twin would be fast asleep for most of the journey.

She was just glad she was getting six hours down the train tracks from the two people with magic who wished her harm. She needed the distance and time to try and process all the revelations of the last few days. She just hoped that the only problems coming her way were of the mundane variety because she did not think she could handle more bad news about her past or future right now.

Katsuya slumped into the seat opposite her, looking exhausted. She was not surprised when he drifted off to sleep the moment his head hit the head rest. He had burned a lot of energy in summoning his Ka Beast and then not slept well. She was honestly surprised that he was willing to stick around after finding out that he had died again and again because of her. She half expected that once he had processed everything properly and when they actually discussed it, he was going to tell her to stay the hell away from him.

She would not blame him. She was tempted to push him away. She knew she SHOULD push him away. If he continued to back her up, he would be in danger and there was a chance that he would be killed.

Again.

At the same time, though, she was afraid to. Zorc had made it clear that he had been hunting her across multiple lives and that it was only through the assistance of her allies that she had survived him. Not that she had been able to do much after their sacrifices…

"Tickets please…"

Her downward spiral of thoughts broke as she blinked at the conductor, whose expression told her that he did not think that she and Katsuya should be there. She handed him the tickets that Industrial Illusions had sent her and he scrutinised them carefully, before his lips twisted in a scowl. The roll of his eyes as he handed them back and headed further down the carriage suggested that he would be back to check that they had not caused any mayhem.

She fired off a text message to Amane, checking that she was alright after last night's mayhem, but with the poor signal as they travelled through the open countryside, she did not honestly expect a reply until they reached Tokyo. Then she reached into her bag, hand hesitating on the Gameboy Color she had packed. While she could do some more level grinding without her twin, they were right outside the Elite Four, and she did not want to make any progress alone since they had been playing together since they had started the save file.

Instead she grabbed her notepad and pen and started noting down everything she could remember to try and work through it all in her own head and see if there were any links between any of it.

Her mind wandered from place to place, an uncomfortable sense of understanding kicking in when she compared the Ishtars being on the run to her own flight from Zorc across the ages. She could easily understand wanting to be free from danger, and Ishizu was right: the sooner they did what needed to be done and got rid of Zorc, the better for everyone. However, they were not ready. They apparently needed the 'God monsters', whatever those were. Plus, if what had been on Marik's back was accurate (and she had no doubt that it was), they also needed access to some ancient tablet.

The problem was Amane and Ba-Khu-Ra. She tapped her pen against the table as she considered her notes on the moment the demon had lashed out. She had been asking about the exact wording on the Thief Queen's deal with him, which meant there was something about the contract that the demon did not want her to know. Or possibly something it did not want Ba-Khu-Ra to realise.

Maybe something linked to what Meisa had managed to confirm.

Hope briefly surged in her chest at the thought that maybe, just maybe, they would be able to find a way to free their friend from the demon's control before the final battle. She did not want to have to hurt Amane any more than Amane wanted to hurt her, but as things stood there was no choice.

And she hated it.

She hated it even more than she hated the scarring on Marik's back.

Her stomach churned as she thought about the painful-looking engraving. It was wrong. It was so wrong. Not only that it had happened to Marik, but that it had become okay at all. No one should have had to suffer through that, and she could not help but wonder how many people had died receiving the carving that carried her secret.

Her hands balled up as she tried to push down the bile at the idea that yet more people had died for her across the ages. Not just her 'guardians'.

'Imoto?' She mentally flinched as she realised her churning emotions had woken her twin. The Pharaoh's voice, which could be cold and harsh when aimed at anyone else, was soft and gentle, like it almost always was when aimed at her. 'You okay?'

'Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you.' Yugi let out an audible sigh as she felt the Pharaoh reach through her senses to find out what was bothering her twin. 'I was just thinking about the last couple of days.'

Understanding and comfort flooded across the bond, and she felt spectral arms wrap around her in a hug. 'It's a lot… I'm not happy about it either. I hate to admit it, but Ishizu was right: it's going to be better for everyone if…'

"Don't say it." Yugi cut her off, her voice echoing in the almost empty compartment. "Please."

Silence fell between the pair of them, and the Pharaoh emerged from the Millennium Puzzle to consider her other self. The way the girl had balled up, pulling her legs up onto her chair and resting her head on her knees, suggested that the girl was Not Okay.

The idea was supported by the fact that her twin had spoken out loud to her, something Yugi only did when either she wanted someone else to hear the conversation or she was too upset to consider using the mental link.

And the only other person who was in the first-class compartment with them was fast asleep.

"I know… I know, when the time comes, we're going to have to… to…" When Yugi's voice shook so badly that the girl trailed off, the Pharaoh made up her mind and swept into the corridor between her sanctuary and her twin's and dragged the girl in with her.

The moment Meisa pulled her younger twin into a hug, the girl latched on, trembling as badly as her voice had. The hiccup of a barely suppressed sob allowed the darker soul to understand just how shaken up the lighter one was by everything that had been revealed, and what would need to be done.

She was not any happier. She had hoped that she could stay with her twin until the end of Imoto's natural life and that they would go through the Gates together, but that did not look likely. If she was to protect those she cared about, keep her oath to Ba-Khu-Ra, and free Ishizu and her brothers from the ones chasing them, she would need to leave for the afterlife.

Except that moving on would require a test of her Jb, her heart, and that was carried by Yugi.

Meaning that her leaving could endanger her twin's life.

And she did not want to take that risk.

She hoped that there was a way to avoid it, but with how they were being swept along by everyone with interest in their future path, she was not sure they were going to be given time to think about it.

"It's not fair." Yugi's soft, miserable tone made her look down at the girl, who was staring at the floor. "None of this was our fault, and we're… what we have to do… what everyone has been through because of us… Can we just not think about it? Just until we get home? I can't… I just need to forget about the past and those who want to hurt us, or get us hurt… just for a few days. Please?"

"Imoto…" the Pharaoh breathed, knowing that if she was less tired, she would be as shaken up as her twin was. "We can try, but… we can't hide from it. It's going to come back to haunt us sooner or later."

"I know…" She felt the tension in her twin's frame drain away, but the defeat in her Imoto's voice told her that it was not a good thing. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be so weak."

"You are not…" The Pharaoh's voice rose in her shock at her twin's apology. She reached out to her sister's mind, trying to work out exactly where that thought had come from, only to find the same exhaustion that was dragging her down had emptied her twin's magical strength and was draining her twin's mental and physical energies, too.

Guilt briefly hit as she remembered that all that magic she had used last night had come from her twin's energies, just like it had every other time she had cast something.

"The train terminates in Tokyo, doesn't it?" the Pharaoh checked as she guided her twin towards the bed in Yugi's soul sanctuary. When her twin nodded, Meisa let out a relieved breath. "We should rest until then at least. Do you mind sharing your room's bed?"

Yugi just shook her head, struggling to deal with everything and hoping, just as her twin was, that she would feel better, or at least be able to cope better, after a decent nap. It was a long journey after all, so she had plenty of time to sleep, as long as the nightmares stayed away.

It did not take long for the pair of them to get comfortable, and Yugi cuddled into the Kuriboh plushie that held her good memories with her friends, while Meisa, who was pressed into her back, took the Dark Magician plushie which contained Yugi's memories of Jii-san.

Caught up in the positive emotions and images behind the memories stored in the two toys, the pair, finally, got some sleep.

Arriving in Tokyo was not as painful as Yugi had expected it to be. She was woken up by Katsuya shaking her shoulder as the train started slowing on its entrance to Tokyo station.

"The next station is Tokyo Station, where this train terminates." Yugi heard the recorded voice echo down the corridor that led to her body and carefully slid out from the covers, leaving her twin to sleep and noting that Jou was shaking the shoulder of her body again. "Change here for ongoing services."

She stretched and slipped back into the body, before smiling up at Katsuya. "Hey. Sleep well?"

"Yeah." He looked sheepish. "Sorry if I was bad company."

"Nah, I slept most of the way, too," she reassured him as she packed up the phone, pen, paper, and bottle of water she had taken out of her satchel, pausing to note that she still had not had a reply from Amane. She sent a second message, planning to ring her friend if she had not responded by the time they had gotten checked in.

Jou's expression shifted to relief, unaware of what was going through Yugi's mind, as he got their bags down and Yugi got up. The pair of them headed for the doors as the train came to a stop at the huge multiplatform station.

"This is Tokyo Station. Tokyo Station, where this train terminates," the automated voice started up again as the doors slid open. "All change please, all change. This train terminates here."

"Thankfully." Katsuya's amused huff made Yugi smile as she stepped down, taking her suitcase with her. "Any idea which way we go?"

Glancing around revealed that the gates to the rest of the city were to their left. She headed that way, her friend in tow, only to find a man waiting on the other side with a sign, one that had the Industrial Illusions logo and her name on.

She waved to the man, who smiled and walked on over. "Mutou-san, Tenma Gekko-san asked me to drive you and your friend to the hotel."

"Thank you." Yugi bowed to him, relieved, as she had dreaded trying to hail down a taxi in the mess that she had heard Tokyo's streets were. "This is my friend and bodyguard, Jonouchi Katusya."

"You're welcome." The man chuckled, nodding politely to Jou, who warily nodded back, not entirely trusting of anyone right now after last night's debacle. "Nice to meet you, Jonouchi-san."

The car they were led to was a black limo. It too had the Industrial Illusions logo on, reassuring Yugi at least that this was in fact a car belonging to the Tenmas and not something else that was going to go spectacularly wrong.

She took a deep breath as she slipped into the car, realising that she was letting her anxiety get the better of her. The Ishtars and Bakura were six hours away from them, and the Tenmas had no use for her at the bottom of a river or messed up in a car crash. Letting her imagination run away with her would not help her stay calm, and if she got upset it would wake her twin again, which would not be fair to her Anesan.

As the car pulled away with them and their baggage inside, Yugi watched the huge buildings pass by her window and realized that for all Domino was a decent-sized city, the capital of Japan dwarfed it easily. The skyline was dominated with the sorts of skyscrapers that she normally only saw around the Kaiba Corp apartment blocks or the KC Tower itself and there were people everywhere.

Literally.

She could not see gaps between people on the sidewalk and there were cars absolutely everywhere, making the roads seem like they were gridlocked.

"Excuse me," she spoke up. When the driver glanced into the rearview mirror to look at her, she smiled at him. "We have to make a stop at Tokyo General Hospital after we drop our bags off. Urgent family business. Do you know if there's a taxi service that runs from the hotel?"

The driver paused and then nodded. "There should be a shuttle service, but give me a minute?"

When Yugi nodded, the driver pushed a button and a glass wall slid up between the driver and the back of the car. The Puzzle Bearer watched the driver press a few buttons on the phone that was attached to his dashboard, then turned to Katsuya, who was looking out the window. "Sorry… I know you don't like me mentioning Shizuka, I just…"

"No, it's a smart question." Jou let out an unhappy sigh as his shoulders sank. "The whole thing with my sister's going to come out tomorrow anyway. They're going to ask you what you're gonna do with the prize money when they interview you."

Yugi grimaced slightly, having been trying not to think about the upcoming interview. "I know, but…"

"It's fine," the former gang member pointed out, but he still sounded displeased as he turned to look at her. "By the time they ask, she'll already be in the operating theatre."

Yugi nodded slowly, thinking. "Do you want to stay with her tonight?"

"She's asked me to." Katsuya ran a hand through his hair. "But I don't want to leave you unattended because… well, you know."

She did know and she appreciated his concern, but at the same time. "Shizuka doesn't know about the Puzzle's history yet. She wouldn't understand why you're not with her."

He grimaced, trying to think of what to do as the glass slid back down again.

"Mutou-san," the driver said, "I've been given permission to take you wherever you need to go, as long as you're at the hotel for the meeting at five thirty."

Jou let out a startled noise and Yugi squeaked happily.

"The Tenmas might be harsh taskmasters, but they understand family things being important," the driver continued. "Their Otosan taught them that. They were all he had after his Tsuma passed on."

Yugi just nodded, not responding, since she had never actually been made aware why Crawford had been so desperate to strip her of the Millennium Puzzle, other than Akhenaden's influence.

A thought trickled through her mind. Since the Pharaoh's end goal was to move on to the afterlife, it was possible that Crawford had thought he could use the seven Millennium Items to access the underworld and bring his wife back. There were certainly enough legends of people diving into the hereafter to bring back those they had lost that it was a possibility.

That was a thought she did not particularly want to examine too hard. Even if it was possible for Crawford to have gotten to the afterlife to bring back his wife, the cost would have been too much for the Bearer of the Millennium Puzzle to bear. If she had even survived his attempt.

"We'll have to thank them later." Jonouchi sighed, not wanting to like the jerks who were basically blackmailing his friend, but sympathising with them a little.

The driver pulled up into the drop off zone of the hotel so the duelists could take their bags to the room and promised to be back in ten minutes. They pulled their bags out of the car and headed into the building.

Inside, the Hotel Gajoen Tokyo was absolutely spectacular. Gorgeous traditional paintings of geisha adorned the walls. The architecture reminded the pair of the palaces they had seen in their textbooks, with great golden arches in traditional shrine-like entrances that welcomed them and suggested shelter and safety within.

As they approached the front desk, noting the stunning plant life mixed into the walkways and seating spaces, both teens, who were still in the jeans and t-shirts that they had been travelling in, felt horribly under-dressed.

The woman at the desk raised an eyebrow as Yugi peered over the counter.

"Booking for Mutou Yugi, I'm part of the Industrial Illusions group," the Puzzle Bearer informed her as she slid her identity card and the booking confirmation that Tenma Yakko had emailed to her across the wooden top.

The woman read it, nodded just once, and tapped something into her computer, pausing with pursed lips when she read what was on screen. "Your room isn't ready yet, I'm afraid. I can take your bags now, though, and have them taken up when it is."

"That would be great, thank you." Yugi bowed to the woman, who looked surprised for a moment before smiling at her more warmly.

"The room should be ready in a couple of hours, but I can get you checked in now so we can give you a ring when your room is ready," the woman offered. "You'll just need to collect your room keys when you come back."

"Yes, please." Yugi nodded, letting the concierge take her and Katsuya's suitcases to be taken up to the room for them.

"Yugi!" As the receptionist started getting them checked in, the girl in question turned around to see Kaiba Mokuba was leaning around one of the gorgeous plants in order to wave at her.

"Hi, Mokuba." Yugi waved back, waiting until it was confirmed that she was fully checked in before heading over to find the younger Kaiba was accompanied by his brother, who did not look too amused to be waiting. "Hello, Kaiba. We can't stay long, but it's nice to see you. Thank you for the help with the hospital bills from the fire and with the shop, both of you."

"Consider that repayment for recovering my deck." The elder Kaiba's cold tones made her internally sigh, having hoped that Duelist Kingdom would have made interactions between them a little less awkward. "You will be covered until I say otherwise or until you're no longer considered an asset to Kaiba Corp. Whichever comes first."

The Puzzle Bearer did not rise to the bait and ask what he meant by asset. Instead she nodded politely and asked, "Will you be at the meeting later?"

"Of course." The Vice-CEO nodded with a grin. "We've got something big planned for tomorrow, and we need to talk it out."

"Mokuba." The warning tone in his brother's voice made the boy pause and back down.

"Spoilers. Right." The kid nodded to his brother before turning back to Yugi. "Where are you rushing off to?"

Yugi glanced at Katsuya, who shrugged, since the Kaibas were already aware of the whole thing with Shizuka, before smiling softly. "Going to meet up with Shizuka. Her operation's tomorrow."

"I hope it goes well." Mokuba was completely honest as he gave Jonouchi a sympathetic look, his older brother bothering to look up from the documentation that he was working on to gaze in the blonde's direction.

Katsuya paused to consider the Kaibas, surprised by the sympathy. Then he nodded sharply, remembering that as jerkish as the two brothers had been to him and his friends, they would still understand sibling bonds, "Thanks. We do, too."

"We should get going," Yugi pointed out as she checked her phone, relief coursing through her as she found a reply that promised that Amane was as well as she could be given the circumstances. "The driver will be coming back around for us."

"You have a driver?" the Vice-CEO of Kaiba Corp asked, to which Jou nodded.

"Yeap. Tenma Gekko-san has given us the use of a car and driver for the day," Yugi agreed. "See you later."

"Later."

Katsuya could not help but be amused by the surprise on the younger Kaiba's face as they headed back to the entrance, feeling much better now that they were checked in and the whole thing was looking like much less of a hoax or a trap. Mokuba had been far too relaxed for a trap to be likely.

The driver was already waiting for them at the pick-up point when they got back there, and as they slipped into the back of the limo, he called back, "I've checked the traffic and I should have you there in about half an hour."

"Thank you so much for this," Jou responded with a grateful smile.

"You're welcome, Jonouchi-san," the driver replied as they shut the doors behind them. "Now, please buckle up, and we'll be on our way."