After over a week in hospital, Jonouchi Katsuya welcomed the sight of the Kame Game Shop.

He paid the driver and slipped out of the taxi, shouldering the duffle bag with the things that Jii-san had brought to the hospital for him as he headed into the shop, noting the sign on the door for the Dungeon Dice Monsters release this weekend.

The store was surprisingly busy as he slipped inside, with many customers lining up at the counter to sign up for the release packs, but Jii-san still stopped to smile and nod to him, gesturing him over to the counter.

The blond-haired, brown-eyed Warrior and Dragon Duelist did not hesitate, narrowly avoiding a young man who was assisting a customer in reaching something off one of the higher shelves. Making a note of the new hire, who was possibly around his age or a little bit older, with long, ash blonde hair and purple eyes, and whose skin tone reminded him of Shadi, he headed for the man who had taken him in.

"Welcome home, Katsuya." Mutou Sugoroku, whose spiky grey hair was being tamed by a black bandana, and grey beard and moustache were neatly trimmed, smiled broadly and patted him on the shoulder. Expressive purple eyes crinkled as he said, "Sorry I couldn't come and get you myself."

"It's cool. I get it." And Katsuya did. The shop needed to be kept open if they wanted to pay the bills, plus Jii-san had visited almost daily and had given him the money to pay the taxi driver in case he was released while the store was open, so it was not like he minded. "Want me to dump my bag and help out?"

"No, no. You rest up." The former archaeologist shook his head, causing a rattling in the chain of the Millennium Puzzle currently hanging around his neck. If anyone had looked closely, they might have seen a brief glow from the eye on the Puzzle, as if it agreed that the young man should conserve his strength. But then again, it was probably just a trick of the light. "I need you fit for this weekend."

"You sure?"

"Excuse me? Can I get some service? Or is your chatter more important?" the next customer in the queue demanded angrily, cutting off Doctor Mutou's reply.

Katsuya had to bite back his response as the elderly Game Master turned and served them with the sort of politeness that the teen was aware was 'customer service polite'. The sort of polite that those who served the public demonstrated when they had to maintain someone's custom despite the customer being rude.

"Have a good day." The Duelist could not help but be amused by the way Doctor Mutou's tone turned the casual farewell into something vaguely insulting before turning back to him. "Yes, I'm sure. We're going to be busy, and even with Namu and Otogi's help, I'm going to need you."

"You're letting Otogi work here?" The elder pursed his lips at Jonouchi's snap. "Seriously?"

"We'll discuss this later." Sugoroku's tone was just as sharp, suggesting that he really did not want to discuss this in front of customers. "Please go upstairs."

Jou hesitated for a moment, then nodded, anticipating getting information later. As he headed for the apartment, he nodded a hello to the new guy, who he was guessing was Namu. Climbing the flight of stairs was more exhausting than he had anticipated, and he slumped down on the sofa, dropping his bag on the floor as he caught his breath.

He hoped Jii-san knew what he was doing by allowing Otogi to work with them. The other teen had been partly responsible for his and Yugi's hospitalization, Meisa being trapped in the Shadows for days and Amane and Bakura being held prisoner. Yes, he had been following his father's orders, and yes, Yugi had been able to help Amane and Bakura thanks to him, but that did not entirely excuse his actions in Jou's eyes.

His thoughts were disturbed by a chirping mew as Yugi's huge, fluffy cat bounded across the room, leapt up onto the sofa, and rubbed against him, purring up a storm. He chuckled and ran a hand through her long, ridiculously soft silver-striped fur. "Hey, Ginka, miss me?"

The feline slumped down in his lap, suggesting that, yes, she had missed him. His mood perked up as he scratched behind the kitty's ears and the cat melted happily over him. He closed his eyes briefly, just enjoying the company of the floofy cat, and the next thing he knew there was someone moving around in the kitchen and the clock had gone forward nearly an hour.

He blinked and slid the sleeping feline off of his lap, trying not to giggle as she kind of flowed off of him into a ball of fur before he headed for the kitchen. Inside was the new staff member, who was pulling a small container out of the fridge. Probably his dinner.

"Hey." The young man paused to consider Katsuya, then bowed. "You're Jonouchi Katsuya, right? I'm Namu Majhul. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Jou gave him a shallow bow in return and watched his response. Considering the lack of bristling at the disrespect, the Duelist suspected the teen in front of him was not a local. "You been in town long?"

"Not really." Namu shook his head as he took the lid off of the salad he had brought with him. "Ukhti had work in the area, and me and Akh followed. I transferred into a local school and needed to pay for my education. I was lucky enough to be hired here. Did I wake you?"

"Eh?" Jou shrugged, a little wary of the newcomer considering recent events. "I shouldn't be napping on the sofa anyway, even if it nets me a nap buddy."

The nap buddy in question came following her pillow into the kitchen, grumpily mewing at the resident pettings provider. Namu knelt down and held out a prawn from his salad to the feline, who stalked straight over and sniffed it.

Katsuya had no idea what the new recruit said to the cat, since it was not in either of the languages he recognized, but the tone it was said in was soft and caring. The prawn earned Namu the chance to pet the cat on the head as she devoured his gift, which caused the young man to smile broadly as he got to his feet. "I swear she only likes me for my fish. I have to make an offering every shift or she won't talk to me."

Jou chuckled, able to relax a little around the young man if he was willing to treat the household pet with respect and care. "She's particular about people. Her favorite human isn't here right now, so she's deigning to mingle with us mortals."

"Her favorite human? Is that Mutou Yugi-san?" Namu's tone was curious, but there was an attentiveness to his expression that put Jou on edge.

"You know about Yugi?" Katsuya's expression was guarded as he asked. After all, he was still understandably bitter about Otogi's stunt.

"How could I not? Mutou-Sensei talks about you both at length." Namu's chuckle as he turned back to his salad took some of the edge off of his wariness. "I'm glad you're home. He's been worried."

The fact the kid cared about that took Jou's alert down another notch. "Yeah, Ginka's supposedly a household pet, but if given the choice between the three of us, she'd pick Yuge every time."

"I've never had a pet." The new staff member nodded in response to Jou's words, absentmindedly taking a fork from the drainer to eat his food with. "But cats are special, so I try and treat Ginka with the respect she deserves."

"She'll have every last prawn out of that salad if you're not careful," Katsuya warned as he scooped the feline up, preventing her from leaping up onto the counter to swipe the rest of the fish.

"Thanks for the heads up." The transfer student ruefully smiled, suggesting he had lost that fight once already. "Umm… I don't suppose you know anyone who can show me around Domino? I'm still kind of new here, and it would be good to get to know the city."

Katsuya paused to think. Anzu was a good bet if they wanted to get to know the other teen a bit better and work out if they really could trust him around the Mutous, but he did not want to leave her alone with him. Normally he would go with them if he wanted to protect the girls, but he was still recovering from the smoke inhalation from the fire at the Black Clown, as was Honda. He did not particularly want to introduce the new colleague to Amane either, since the Thief Queen was dangerous at the best of times and completely untrustworthy at her worst.

Not to mention that the emergence of the demon and its attack on Yugi made the Ring Bearer a hazard, one he was not particularly inclined to introduce to the new guy on the block. Not that he blamed Amane for the actions of her other self, or the creature the spirit was bound to, but they could not be certain when either would lash out again.

"If you give me a few days to get back on my feet, I can show you around?" he offered, not wanting to throw Anzu under the bus if Namu WAS going to be a problem and not really seeing any other options. "Domino's huge, I can see why you get lost."

"Thanks." The grateful grin on the foreign student's face seemed honest. "Now if you don't mind?"

When Namu shook his salad container at Katsuya, the Duelist nodded and retreated back to the sofa with the furry, now unamused feline in his arms. He scooped up his bag and headed for his room, the cat escaping from his grip and heading back into the kitchen as he went.

A nap would do him some good, and then he could talk to Jii-san later about Otogi's employment at the shop. He was sure that the old man had a good reason for what seemed like a really dumb move, but he just wanted to know what it was.

The last thing he heard before he shut his bedroom door was Namu yelping at Ginka for stealing more of his fish.

"You need to get your head in gear, Mazaki. The recital is next week, and you're losing focus. If you can't pull yourself together, I'll be forced to trade you for the reserve," Mazaki Anzu's dance teacher told the brunette dancer, whose blue eyes were turned towards the floor.

"I'm sorry, Suzuki-sensei." Anzu winced at the threat, knowing that it would look bad on her school record and would impede her dreams of getting into one of the dance academies in the United States of America. "I'll focus harder."

The teacher sighed and ran a hand through her hair, frustrated with her best pupil. "I know you're worried about your friends in the hospital, but you can't let it distract you. Once you're on the stage, the only thing that can matter is the stage, or you'll injure yourself and others."

"Yes, Suzuki-sensei." Anzu flinched again, fully aware of how narrowly she had avoided a collision and an injury earlier. "I promise I'll do better."

"I hope so, Mazaki," her teacher huffed, disappointed more than angry. "I expect you to be back on form next lesson, understand?"

When Anzu nodded, the older woman huffed again and stalked off. The dancer sighed as she sat down to trade her ballet shoes for street wear. Suzuki had not been incorrect in her assumption that the girl's distraction related to her friends. Anzu had not yet forgiven herself for not stopping events from unfolding when she had been given a chance.

She had not pushed when Yugi had been obviously holding back information, and she had been so distracted by the fact that she was going to be late to dance class that she had not registered Yugi's disappearance beyond a thought that her friend had probably dashed home to help at the shop, despite knowing that her friend was in trouble with Otogi and that she had been attacked the day before.

Normally she would have put her phone on silent during dance class, but she had forgotten, having been running late, and the sound of it ringing had gotten her in trouble. Not that she had cared. Seeing Honda on the caller ID had shocked her into answering. Hearing that Yugi and Katsuya were being rushed to Domino General Hospital had been enough to make her dash out of class with barely an explanation to her teacher and without changing her shoes, panic coursing through her.

She should have been there. She did not know what she could have done to help, but she should have been there.

She had been trying to be better since. She had been helping Mutou Sugoroku by making sure there were meals available for when he finished work, where normally Yugi would have cooked for him. She had been running errands for the shop. She had even gotten her mother involved in making the police back off from Katsuya and the others to protect them from the fallout of the fire.

It was the least she could do to start making up for all the times she had failed her friends.

Yes, she had been at Yugi's side on Duelist Kingdom, but she had not been there for Yugi when Otogi had been harassing her. She had failed to assist Yugi when bullies had assaulted her. And her attempts to protect Yugi from all the bullying incidents in years previous were a joke.

She had always considered herself Yugi's friend. After all, she had been the only one willing to spend time with the tiny girl. She was not like the other students, who bullied and attacked the Duelist to make themselves feel tall. She was a nice person.

However, looking back, she now understood that she had not really been a friend.

Back before the Puzzle, before Meisa, Anzu had occasionally stood aside when other students had made snide comments or used a temporary friendship with Yugi to get reduced rates at the game shop, only stepping in when things got physical or something could be broken. She had been more interested in her other, more normal friends. Even now she occasionally found Yugi's obsession with gaming frustrating and wished the Puzzle Bearer was more like her old group of female friends. That she would just put down the games and magic and act like a proper girl.

Which was why, she supposed, she had been replaced as Yugi's best friend.

Not that Yugi would ever see it as such. To her Anzu, Jonouchi, Honda, and Bakura were equal despite the Spirit of the Ring wanting the Puzzle Bearer dead. But Anzu could see the writing on the wall.

Jonouchi's complete acceptance of the weirdness that was Yugi's life and his moving into the Kame Game Shop after his former gang had hospitalized Yugi had allowed him to move into Anzu's space as Yugi's best friend. Especially when he had been the one to help Yugi work out what was going on with the Spirit of the Puzzle and treated the Pharaoh like she was just another person. Plus he was almost as addicted to games as Yugi was, giving the girl someone who was willing to play with her constantly and who did not expect her to be just another girl in a crowd.

Honda, despite being weirded out by all the magical stuff, was protective of the girls and was willing to hang out with the group, no matter what they were up to. While he was often working at his Otosan's warehouse or babysitting his nephew, rather than being around constantly, his acceptance of Meisa and Ba-Khu-Ra had made him more a part of the group than Anzu was. Plus he had somehow managed to make friends with the Thief Queen and was one of the only people who could talk her down.

Even Bakura was doing a better job of being a good friend to Yugi. She often stood between her other self and Yugi, and the pair of Item Holders held weekly game nights, which were occasionally attended by Yugi's other friends. These game nights often ended early because the spirits of the Puzzle and the Ring got angry with each other, but they were always fun for the Queen of Games.

Between the three of them, Anzu was beginning to understand that she was not the friend to Yugi that she should be, and that needed to change because if she carried on the way she was going, she was always going to be an outsider to the group.

And she did not want to be.

She was trying to fix it, but she understood it was going to take time. Helping was a good start, but she knew that without finding something both she and Yugi enjoyed, she was still going to be on the outside.

She could not currently apologize to a girl who was being kept unconscious by the doctors, but she had found the game of Duel Monsters interesting when Yugi had been teaching Jonouchi how to play. Somehow Yugi was still absolutely fascinated with the game, despite everything that happened at Duelist Kingdom, so it was a good way of getting back in the door with her friend and opening up a chance to apologize for being a bad friend in the past.

Not that she could play at the level Yugi could, and while she had been able to beat Jonouchi regularly before Yugi had powered up his deck and taught him all the little tricks and tips that she used, she was no longer a worthy match for him. She would have asked for his or Doctor Mutou's help improving, but both of them were unavailable. Ojiisan was busy with the shop and running back and forth to the hospital, while Jonouchi had only just come out of the hospital and would need as much rest as possible.

Then it occurred to her. There was a friend of Yugi's who had asked Anzu to keep her up to date with how things were in Domino. One who travelled the world and who knew the game of Duel Monsters at a competitive level.

One whose mobile number she had.

As she rang the number in question, nerves hit. The worst thing Mai could say was no, she reminded herself. Well, technically the worst was that she laughed in her face, but still…

"Moshi moshi?" The voice on the other end sounded sleepy.

"Mai? Hi, it's Anzu. How're you doing?" The dancer tried not to sound as nervous as she felt.

"Anzu? It's like 5am here," the professional Duelist complained. "Can you ring back at a more sane time?"

"What time zone are you in?" The dancer winced at the bad start with the Harpie Duelist.

"Uhh… I'm in New York right now if it helps? I think that's Eastern Standard." Anzu heard the sounds of sheets moving and the sound of a glass clinking and then, "You sound worried, what's happened?"

The brunette bit her lower lip for a moment, certain that even with an ocean and a phone between them, Mai could still read her like a book. "Yugi's in hospital. Thought you'd want to know."

That caught the older blonde's attention. "How? Why?"

As Anzu explained about the whole Black Clown game shop incident and the fire that had hospitalized both Yugi and Katsuya, leaving off the demon mess since she could not remember if Mai was aware of the ongoing war between Meisa and Ba-Khu-Ra or not, she could hear the young woman on the other end getting out of bed and the sounds of a keyboard being tapped.

"But they'll be okay, right?" Concern came over clearly as the typing stopped.

"They should be, but…"

"I have business that's keeping me in New York till next Wednesday, but I can fly over after that," the twenty-four year old informed the teen, her tone very matter of fact.

"I can probably put you up for a couple of days, unless you want to pay for a hotel?" the dancer offered.

"It would be appreciated," the duelist replied with a hint of relief in her voice. "If I stay longer, I'll get a hotel, but I can pay you for food and stuff."

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd do me a favor while you're here." Anzu's voice wavered in her nervousness. "If you don't mind."

"Oh?" Mai's tone was guarded, as if she expected Anzu to ask a lot from her.

"I want to learn how to play competitive Duel Monsters." The surprised noise on the other end of the line amused Anzu. "I was hoping you could show me how."

There was a pause as Mai considered, then, "You realize it's going to be some work, and we might need to change up your deck?"

"I'm willing to put the work in," Anzu promised, "and some money."

"Okay then. I'll hang around for a bit so I can work with you, but I'm warning you, if you don't take this seriously, I'll move on once Yugi's back on her feet." Mai said, the sound of a chair creaking suggesting she was leaning back in one. "I might want more female Duelists in the competitive scene, but I also have competitions to attend."

"I understand." Anzu let out a relieved breath.

"I'll give you details when I have them," Mai promised. "See you soon."

With that the call cut out and Anzu got to her feet.

If she was going to make some major changes to her deck, she needed to buy considerably more cards, and that meant one thing.

Time to visit some card shops.

"Oh bother," Bakura Amane huffed as she examined the ends of the strands of long white hair that had escaped the ponytail, decided that they wanted to be cobalt blue, and fallen onto the paint pallet she was using. Her brown eyes narrowed as she rose from the table, keeping a hold of the strands so they could not contaminate the rest of her hair.

'It might look good that colour. Have you considered dying it?' The Ring Bearer barely dignified that with a huff as she washed the hair in the kitchen sink, grimacing as she realised her hair was already stained a pale blue.

The Spirit of the Millennium Ring emerged from her item and leaned on the counter, an amused grin on her face. 'Oh come on, Sen, blue would stand out just as much as white.'

'Yes,' Amane allowed, smiling slightly as the Thief Queen used the Egyptian word for sister, 'but school insists on us having natural hair colours. I get in enough trouble for having white hair, without encouraging it. Please stop being a bad influence, sister.'

'But I'm good at being a bad influence. It's kind of my thing.' Amane could not help the smile the Ring Spirit's complaint caused.

The friendly banter had been coming more and more easily since the pair of them had escaped the fire and come to understand that they needed to work together if they wanted any of their goals to become reality. It also helped that they were now aware that the demon that their soul had been sold to in Egypt would prefer to see its own goals completed before Ba-Khu-Ra could get her people free from the Shadows and safely into the afterlife, and those goals would end the world, giving Spirit and Bearer a common enemy.

Amane was growing to like the Spirit of her item and did not want the world to end. Ba-Khu-Ra did not care if the world ended but did care if the people of Kul Elna were prevented from their rightful afterlives for the rest of forever. If Zorc had his way, neither of them would get what they wanted.

The doorbell ringing disturbed them, making the pair pause their conversation. Then the spectral Bakura floated towards the front door.

'It's Honda. Want me to scare him off?' Ba-Khu-Ra offered.

'No, no. He's a friend, and we kind of owe him for pulling us out of the fire.' Amane headed over to the front door and opened it to find her friend on the other side.

"Hi, Honda." Amane smiled at the tall teen, noting his normally pointy brown hair was a little messy and his brown eyes showed concern as he held out a rather large, wrapped gift.

"Hi, Bakura. Can I come in?" At his question she took the present and stepped aside, allowing her friend access to her house. "How're you feeling?"

"Eh?" Amane shrugged as he entered and she shut the door behind him. Honda had been asking on a nearly daily basis since he had pulled her out of the fire, but she appreciated his not asking 'are you okay?'. She certainly was not okay, but that had been the case for a long time, so it was something she was used to. His asking how she was feeling allowed her to be more honest, which, considering he had saved her life, she welcomed. "Not doing too bad today."

"That's good." His smile made her relax a little as they headed for the dinning room. "Think you'll be back at school soon?"

"I…" Amane hesitated and gestured for him to take a seat as she moved her paint pallet aside to make room for the gift and sat down herself. She had been using the 'sick' excuse to skip school for the last few days as she got herself a little more stable, but she knew she could not avoid it much longer. "Depends… how mad's Mazaki?"

"Not that mad." The former thug shrugged, taking a seat and leaning back in it. "Kind of appreciated the truth about things. That, and reassured that you managed to seize control and protect us. That's what the gift is for."

Amane tilted her head, confusion clear. "I thought you guys wouldn't want me around anymore."

"Don't get me wrong, we're gunna be on high alert when you're wearing the Ring," Honda snorted, being completely honest with her, "but Yugi once told us, if we blame you for Ba-Khu-Ra's actions, we'd have to blame Yugi for Meisa setting someone on fire, so we can't exactly blame you for Zorc's actions either."

The Ring Bearer chuckled, having heard that story and fully aware that the Spirit of the Puzzle was never going to live it down, as she turned to the gift. She unwrapped it carefully, revealing a Monster World game piece she had been desiring forever. The 'Dawnstar Dragon' was a legendary piece that she had been saving for and her other self had been considering acquiring for her. It was also worth a decent amount of money, hence the Thief Queen's interest in the piece.

"Thank you," Amane breathed, lifting the lid of the box and beholding the parts within. Parts she would need to paint and assemble to make the huge monster.

Honda just watched for a while as his friend took the parts out with an almost religious reverence and examined the instructions carefully, before getting up and selecting the colours she wanted to use on it.

"Can I ask you a question?" Honda wondered out loud as she considered her shelving unit of paints in so many different shades that he had no idea how she kept track of it all.

"Hmm?" Amane replied, distracted.

"You have magic, like Yugi, right?" he questioned. "So why didn't you use it against the Otogis and get away?"

"My magic is exactly like Yugi's," the Ring Bearer answered, pursing her lips as she picked out the shades she wanted. "I'm a half soul, same as her. The light half of the Thief Queen to be precise. Just like Yugi, I can't handle Shadows too well, and I need my Item and the other half of my soul to be able to use magic. When they stole the Ring from me, I lost my ability to fling fireballs."

"You can do that?" Honda squeaked. "Can Yugi do that?"

She grimaced and glanced over her shoulder. "Eh? I mean, with the right training, yes, but the Shadows work through any games nowadays, and I'm not really a Duelist like Yugi. She tends to focus her magic through her cards, so I suppose she might be able to throw fire if she used something like Hinotama, but I prefer tabletop games, like Monster World and Dungeons and Dragons, so I tend to rely on more DnD based spells, like the Wall of Force I was using to help stop Crawford's mind reading. I'm starting to learn the Duel Monsters variant of the magic because it's easier than reshaping the power every time I want to do something, but even if I do, I won't be able to use it without the Ring to hand."

'Might I take over, Sen?' Amane paused at her sister's question.

'Promise you're not going to hurt him?' The Ring Bearer asked the spirit attached to her item.

'It entirely depends on the answer to the question I have for him.' That was kind of fair, the item holder allowed, stepping aside.

"Why do you care?" Ba-Khu-Ra's darker tone and narrowed eyes made the former thug mentally flinch, aware that he was not necessarily safe if he screwed up the answer to her question. She liked him, but he was fully aware that that would not save him if she did not like what he said.

"Just because I owe you for the save at Duelist Kingdom, that doesn't mean I don't consider you two friends." The brunette's response stalled Ba-Khu-Ra's irritation. "Even if I hadn't made that bargain with you, I'd be concerned for your safety and want to know when I need to be covering your back the most."

The Thief Queen paused to consider his words, leaning against the paint shelves.

Did she consider him a friend?

He had been the first one to listen to her besides the Runt and the Pharaoh. He had been the first one to try and back her up. He had treated her injuries at Duelist Kingdom and been more than willing to work with her. He had been the one who had called in the Runt and her knight when she had been captured, and he had been the one who had carried her and her sister out of the flames.

She wanted to trust him, but she had been betrayed so badly before that she was not sure she could.

"You don't have to completely trust me. I'm not going to just stand by and let you kill the others after all, but if you need my support for most other things? You've got it," Honda promised, as if he could tell what she was thinking, "because you and Amane are my friends, and I don't let go of friends easily."

"Thank you." She was honest in her gratitude, kind of pleased that she could consider him an ally.

"You're welcome." He smiled back for a moment, before pausing and asking, "Did you have to let Zorc try and kill Yugi while you were stuck in that fire though?"

"I saw an opportunity, and in a moment of frustration and anger, I let him take it," Bakura admitted with a huff, turning back towards the paint shelf so she did not have to look at him as she talked about trying to murder one of his friends.

"I thought you needed Yugi?" Honda asked quietly.

"I do, at least until I have the brat's true name. I don't plan on being so weak again." She shrugged, trying to ignore the churning in her stomach at how badly Zorc would have screwed up everything if her sister had not intervened. "Don't get me wrong, once I have it and have used it for what I need it for, I'm going to kill her slowly and painfully, but she was injured and mostly defenseless, and I couldn't…"

She trailed off, the memory of her hands wrapping tightly around Yugi's neck of their own accord and the girl's pulse fading away under her grip flickering through her mind. Her hands clenched into fists for a moment and then released as she tried to ignore how satisfying she had found strangling the brat.

"If there happens to be an opportunity like that again, I would appreciate it if you would remind me that I require her alive and, if you have to, step in my way," she requested, swallowing hard, not wanting Honda hurt, but knowing she needed help if she was going to succeed in her plans. "Of course, this isn't the one favor you owe me, so you have the choice not to, but…"

Honda considered her request carefully. There was more to it than there appeared, he was sure of it.

Then it hit him.

Ba-Khu-Ra was not necessarily as in control of herself as she pretended. Letting Zorc attack Yugi had been an act of pain and fury, rather than a conscious decision.

The Thief Queen was not asking for his help for the Puzzle Bearer's sake, though she probably assumed he would accept because of his friendship with the girl in question. She was asking because everything she had fought for, everything she had died for, everything she had been through over the last three thousand years would mean nothing if she screwed up because she could not stop the events of the fire from happening again.

He was pretty sure he had worked out at Duelist Kingdom that the Thief Queen was seeking revenge because the palace had destroyed her home and family during their creation of the Millennium Items. Not that he had dared ask her if he was right yet. If she lost control of herself and killed Yugi before she had access to the Pharaoh's ancient true name, she would fail her family.

And he did not think that she could bear that thought.

Honda moved over to her side and put his hands on her shoulders, becoming both surprised and pleased when the Spirit of the Ring did not flinch away. "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye out."

"Thank you."

The shop was absolutely heaving on release day for Dungeon Dice Monsters, and Sugoroku was pretty certain that they had taken in almost as much this morning alone as they did the day before Christmas. In fact, he had not stopped since the doors had opened. He was just grateful that Katsuya had brought him down some sandwiches when it had become obvious that he could not stop for lunch. Otherwise, he would not have gotten a chance to eat.

The phone ringing made him groan and gesture to Jonouchi to answer the phone, not entirely trusting Namu, whose Japanese was not perfect, or Otogi, who was only allowed to work in the shop because Sugoroku felt party responsible for the boy's downfall and wanted to ensure the teen had a future.

The blonde darted away from the handout station, where he had been checking receipts and giving out the purchased goods, to answer the phone, expecting it to be yet another customer asking if they had such and such left in stock, only for…

"Kame Game Shop, how can I help you?"

"Oh, hello, this is Higawa from Domino General Hospital. Is Mutou Sugoroku there?"

"Give me a minute." He left the phone off of the hook and darted over to the counter. "Jii-san, it's the hospital."

The elderly gamer shot towards the phone, hoping it was good news. "Mutou Sugoroku speaking."

"Hello, Mutou-san. We'll be waking your magomasume up in an hour. It's on her file that you wanted to be made aware."

"Yes, thank you." Doctor Mutou grimaced slightly, trying to think as the nurse put down the phone.

He wanted to be there when Yugi woke up, both because his granddaughter had been kept under for nearly two weeks and he wanted to be there to reassure her when she re-joined the world of the living, and because he wanted to return her Millennium Puzzle to her. He had been unable to leave it with her while she had been unconscious, and he could imagine that Meisa, the spirit of a long dead Pharaoh who lived within the Puzzle, was looking forward to reconnecting with her twin sister.

However, with the shop heaving as badly as it was, leaving now would cause issues.

Still…

He headed back to the counter. "Katsuya, I need you to hold down the counter. I need to be at the hospital."

"Is Yuge okay?" the Duelist asked, worriedly running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah, they're waking Yugi up, and…"

"No, no, I get it." The teen cut him off. "I promise I'll keep things running smoothly. Say hi and give her a hug from me?"

"Thank you." His relief was palpable as he called a taxi and headed out as fast as possible, pausing only to grab up the bag of supplies for his granddaughter. He had packed it over a week ago with clothes, hairbrush, toothbrush, shower supplies, a ton of AA batteries, Yugi's yellow Gameboy Color, and the 'Pocket Monsters: Pikachu Edition' that she had not actually had a chance to play before the Black Clown incident. He hoped that the brand-new game would keep her from getting too bored while she was bedridden, especially since her Red version had been accidently broken by Anzu before Yugi had gotten past the water gym.

The taxi got caught in traffic, much to his frustration, and by the time he finally made it to the hospital and got to Yugi's room, the girl was already awake, wide purple eyes gazing around the room blearily, long black hair with its red tips messy and unkempt from a fortnight of not being brushed, blonde fringe hanging wildly.

The oxygen mask over her face could not entirely hide the smile as she saw him enter, not that the mask stayed on as she lowered it to call to him happily despite how tired she felt. "Jii-san!"

He tried not to wince at how quiet and hoarse her voice sounded, remembering that the Doctor had told him a week ago that it could take up to a month for her throat to fully recover from the trauma done to it. Instead he came straight over, dropping the bag at the end of the bed, and hugged her tightly. "It's good to see you awake. I've been worried."

"Sorry." He pulled back a little at the apology, confused, only to find Yugi was looking at the floor.

"It's not your fault. It's mine. You only had to go through that because of me." He shook his head and sat on the bed next to her, slipping the chain of the Puzzle over his head.

"You couldn't have known what Otogi was going to do." Yugi shook her head as she took it from him in shaky hands and briefly slipped the mask off entirely so she could put the item on.

The moment the Puzzle was in its proper place, she felt the soul bond to Meisa reignite. She let out a relieved sigh as she felt her dark half reconnect with her, once again completing her soul and making the world feel 'right' and 'safe'.

Then she started coughing, the long breath aggravating her semi-recovered throat and lungs. The Spirit of the Puzzle emerged from her Item and put her hands on her twin's shoulders, trying to offer support. Her grandfather rushed over, pouring a cup of water and getting her to take a few sips before helping Yugi put the oxygen mask back on.

The pure oxygen helped Yugi catch her breath, and the teen leaned back into her pillows as she relaxed a little.

'Easy, Futago no Imoto.' Meisa, her twin sister and the darker half of their soul, breathed, worry plain on her features as she took a seat on her younger sister's left side, while their grandfather took a seat on the only chair in the room. 'You've been asleep for almost two weeks, and you're still healing.'

'Two weeks?!' Yugi mentally squeaked, eyes widening, ignoring that the Pharaoh had essentially full-named her by using the 'futago no' which designated her the spirit's twin sister.

"I'm guessing Meisa just told you how long it's been?" Sugoroku asked, watching Yugi's reactions carefully. When his granddaughter nodded, he sighed. "Do you remember what happened?"

Yugi paused and tried to think. Images flickered through her mind, but nothing coherently came together. She thought she remembered Otogi, dice, Ba-Khu-Ra, and fire, but the first substantial thing that came to mind was the Duel Club session where they had come up with the name for the group and gotten all the paperwork signed.

The session after the Puzzle had been shattered.

Her head snapped towards the Spirit of the Puzzle. 'Anesan? You're okay?'

'You don't remember anything of the fire, do you?' Meisa bit her lip, worried for her twin. When Yugi shook her head the spirit looked towards their grandfather.

The old man swallowed hard. "Otogi Ryuji stole a piece of your Millennium Puzzle, and his Otosan kidnapped Bakura. You decided you were going to go and get them both back on your own, and you managed to complete the Puzzle and reunite Bakura with her Millennium Ring, but you got badly hurt, and if it hadn't been for Katsuya and Honda…"

Suddenly it came rushing back. Ryuji's threats. Getting the Ring back to Amane and jamming the door so she and Ba-Khu-Ra could escape. The unfinished game with Ryuji for her Puzzle. His father's interruption and assault on her. Bakura's outburst when she had started a Shadow Game against the old man. Completing the Puzzle. The fire starting...

Zorc.

Her hand went to her throat as she remembered being pinned against the wall by the creature whom they had given up everything to seal, back in Egypt.

"How badly…" She trailed off, noting that her voice was shaking and slightly muffled by the mask, but her grandfather understood what she was about to ask.

"You took some head injuries that caused some swelling on the brain. Between that and the emergency repairs that they had to do to your throat, the doctors decided that it would be best to keep you under until you had recovered enough for movement to be less of a problem." His own voice shook a little as he moved across to take her hand, having been ever so scared over the last two weeks that his granddaughter would never be able to be woken up.

'I'm sorry, Imoto… I couldn't be there when you needed me.'

'It wasn't your fault, Futago no Ane. The Puzzle was in pieces. If anything, it's mine for letting those bullies get the jump on me.' Yugi looked down again, her hands crumpling the bedding as they clenched. "And I'm sorry to you, too, Jii-san. I should have called you, but Ryuji threatened to break the Puzzle piece and try to force Amane to give up the Ring if I didn't go alone. And he said he was going to use the Ring on you. I didn't… I couldn't… I had to go."

"Yes, you should have told someone, but I already knew about his threats. He admitted everything." Sugoroku spoke softly. "He also told me you stood up to him and threatened to call the cops?"

"On the day of the fire, I confronted him," Yugi said, voice shaking as she tried to ignore how much it hurt to talk, "because I'd worked out that he had been in the right place to take a Puzzle piece and had been trying to get us to go home without looking for Bakura. He even tried to keep us away from his shop. He tried to tell me I had to follow his orders, so I said I'd call the police on him."

Meisa tried to control the anger bubbling away under the surface, knowing that it would not help her Imoto tell the full story, while Sugoroku grimaced, not hiding his irritation and impressed she had managed to work it out. "And that's when he made his threats?"

"Yeah." The girl nodded. "I couldn't let h-ack!"

The Puzzle Bearer's face screwed up with pain, and her hand went to her throat as her words cut off with a distressed squeak and she started coughing again.

"Yugi!"

'Imoto!'

"I…" Once she had stopped coughing, Yugi tried to lie and claim she was fine, but her throat would not cooperate and her chest felt like it was in a vice. Trying to force any words out caused more pain, causing her to tremble.

"Yugi, stop." At Jii-san's snap Yugi bit her lip and looked at him, a little frightened. "The doctor told me this might happen and you weren't to strain your throat, or you could do permanent damage. I shouldn't have been questioning you."

He pulled her into a hug and felt her lean into him, shaking. "You were brave to go alone for the sake of others and you took a massive risk for all of us. You have nothing to apologize for. Except, perhaps, not letting anyone know what was going on. We could have supported you if you had trusted us."

Sugoroku turned his head and focused on what most would see as the empty space next to Yugi, where his other granddaughter was hugging her in the other half of a Yugi sandwich. "Meisa?" At the sound of the name Jii-san had given her, the Pharaoh turned to look back at him. "Now Yugi's awake, can you heal her the rest of the way?"

The Pharaoh paused to consider, then shook her head, hoping he would still be able to hear her as he had after Duelist Kingdom, when his soul had been ripped out and trapped in the Shadows, making him more sensitive, as she reached out with her magic. "It's not safe."

The former Archaeologist frowned slightly. "Why not?"

"If I heal Imoto here," Meisa said, unhappy with both the situation and with the fact she could clearly see the old man was struggling to hear her, "the doctors will notice she's healed too quickly and want to investigate. I don't want her to get in trouble. I'm going to have to wait until she's out of here."

"If you had a really weak life point recovery card, could you use it?" He looked thoughtful.

"In theory," the Pharaoh allowed, "but I'd need to apply it carefully."

Yugi pulled away from her grandfather but kept one arm around her twin. She opened her mouth, before closing it and squeezing his arm gently, giving him a smile and looking intently around the room. Recognizing what she was searching for and glad he had thought ahead, he pulled a notepad and pen out of the bag he had packed for her and handed it over. She scribbled down what she wanted to say and handed it back to Jii-san.

"Yes, I can hear her now. It seems some good came of my soul being stolen." His smile was shaky but honest. "And it's good of you to say you don't mind waiting, but I'll see what I can find."

He left the pad of paper and the pen on the bedside cabinet, gave her another hug, and handed her the Gameboy Color. "Katsuya asked me to pass on that hug. I'll bring him by later, so why don't you rest your voice and enjoy your game while I deal with some business at the shop?"

He was relieved when she nodded her agreement, not able to do much else. He needed to return to the shop and take some of the pressure off Katsuya. The Dungeon Dice Monsters release wasn't likely to have let up much since he left, and Namu-san was still new to the job. His CV included plenty of shop experience, yes, but selling games, especially just-released games, wasn't quite the same environment as what he had done at his most recent position. And, said a stray passing thought, was there really such a demand for gummy bears that a shop could succeed selling nothing but that?

"Jii-san?" Meisa hesitated, making him turn to look at her. "Thank you. For looking after me and not making me wait all alone."

"You knew I had the Puzzle?" He looked surprised.

"I can sense the life energy of whoever's touching the Puzzle," she admitted hesitantly. "Your energy feels like a warm hug and that sensation you get when you run your hand over paper, and that's almost all I've sensed for the last couple of weeks, so thank you."

"You're welcome, Meisa." He smiled at her. "I'd do it for you again, you know that, right?"

"I do." The grin she gave was bright and honest. "But I just wanted to say thank you."

He paused and then awkwardly attempted to hug the spirit, who could not feel his touch like she could Yugi's but appreciated the effort.

As he headed out, Yugi sighed and turned on the Gameboy, hesitating for a moment before looking up at her sister. 'Anesan?'

'What's wrong?' Meisa could sense the nervousness beneath the surface and leaned into her sister's side, trying to offer comfort.

'I'm sorry.'

'Imoto, you,…'

'No, let me finish.' The younger twin shook her head. 'I'm sorry. I should never have suggested you stay back when those bullies were harassing me. I thought if I let them get their hits in, we could find out why our friends were hiding things from us and I could just heal up whatever injuries I got.'

Meisa frowned, hating that her sister thought that was okay.

'If I had known that they were going to push me down the stairs, if I had had the slightest clue that the Puzzle was going to break, I would never, ever have run that risk. I failed to protect the Puzzle and I failed to protect you. You didn't deserve to get shoved back into the Shadows. I'm sorry.'

Meisa paused to think over her twin's words for a moment, watching the surfing Pikachu in the opening video of the game now playing as she considered.

'Imoto, I'm not angry at you. Yes, the Puzzle smashed, and yes, those two days in the darkness, to borrow a phrase from Katsuya, sucked, but I was never mad at you. You couldn't have known what they were planning, and I was back with you when we took that fall. I failed to protect you when I didn't get the chance to start that Shadow Game, and I saw your memories of what happened while I gone. You got badly hurt by that tumble, and Otogi stole a piece of the Puzzle, and still you did everything you could to help me.'

She put her hand on her sister's. 'You put yourself in danger to protect me and the others, and while you should never have had to, what you did was incredibly brave. You even helped me when Zorc made his move. I froze, Imoto. When he revealed himself, I froze. You were hurting and scared and you still didn't back down. Your strength helped me push past my own fear. If you hadn't helped me focus, we might be dead right now.'

'Anesan…'

'What I'm trying to say is thank you. For trying to protect the Puzzle when you fell, for trying to protect me from the darkness as best you could, and for helping me stand strong against the demon. I'm proud to call you sister.'

She felt her twin settle down, the nervousness and guilt fading as Meisa leant her head on Yugi's shoulder, relieved to be back with her twin.

'Now, shall we start the game? I believe we planned to name our trainer after Jii-san.'

She just watched as Yugi pressed A to enter 'New Game', letting her twin lose herself in the game and just ignore the world around them as an older male character appeared on screen and started talking. "Hello there, welcome to the world of Pocket Monsters. My name is Ohikido! People call me the Pocket Monsters Prof…"