Torina hung up the phone, giggling like there was no tomorrow. She looked up at her clock- it was after seven o'clock, meaning she had been on the phone for about four hours. Where had the time gone? She sat back, wondering what to do now... finally she took out her cards. Which didn't help because she had no one to duel with at the moment since Hikaru was in the Millennia Diamond. Seeing nothing better to do, she stared at the clock. For some strange reason it seemed to be moving slower all of a sudden. Hikaru came out with an amused expression.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Staring at the clock," Torina replied with a straight face before grinning. "Wanna duel?"
"You really think you can beat me? My husband was the one that taught me, remember?" Torina nodded but they still dueled. After a while before Torina got tired. As she laid down in bed, she grinned, thinking of their plans tomorrow. Then, she fell asleep.
The next morning Torina woke up early to meet with Teá and the rest of the gang. She grabbed her deck, the Millennia Diamond, and headed off. The first person she saw was Teá, heading into a card shop.
"Hi Teá!" Torina called, jogging over. Teá looked over her shoulder and instantly smiled.
"Hey, Torina!" she called back, as she waited for her new friend.
"So where is everybody?" Torina asked.
"Yugi's finishing up chores, Joey accidentally overslept, and Tristen's on his way," Teá replied.
"Hi, Teá, Torina!" Yugi called, coming down. After giving the girls a warm smile, Yugi introduced Torina to his grandfather.
"Torina, this is my grandfather, Solomon Moto." Torina smiled as she shook his hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Moto," she said.
"Likewise, Torina," Grandpa replied. "Yugi has told me about you and your Millennia Diamond- there is a story behind it?" Torina nodded.
"Yes, it's a long story... well, a short story but too long to tell more than once. I'd love to tell you about it when Tristen and Joey get here though." As though cued to do so, Joey and Tristen walked in the door. Torina smiled. "Perfect timing."
"So what's the story around the Millennia Diamond?" Yugi asked when they were all settled. As Torina started her tale, Hikaru began to flash back to where it all started, so many years ago...
"Please be careful," Hikaru said. Her husband was off to duel his long time rival- Seto, a sorcerer who was as powerful as he was evil. His good luck charm, the Millennium Puzzle was around his neck, but it gave Hikaru little comfort.
"Aren't I always?" he said lightly, giving her a kiss.
"No, why do you think I'm worried!" she cried.
"Please, love, calm down. It will be all right. Besides, I cannot lose, not with you there for me when there is so much at stake. Wait here for me, until it is over." Hikaru nodded, but what her husband didn't know was that Hikaru had every intention of watching the duel. Later, when Hikaru was certain she could sneak in without getting attention, she went running to the room where the duels were held. But she was too late. He lay motionless to one side, the Millennium Puzzle shattered on the floor.
"No..." she whispered, tears streaming down her face, "What happened?" she screamed, "What happened??"
"Queen Hikaru," said a noblemen. "Please listen- the Pharaoh's spirit is alive inside of the Millennium Puzzle. He did this to protect the world from the return on the Shadow games- if someone puts the puzzle back together, his spirit will be infused into them."
Hikaru understood her husband's wishes, but not wanting to live without her soul mate, her best friend, she demanded something similar be made for her.
Thus, the Millennia Diamond was born. Putting it under a spell so only someone that truly needed her- someone with a past almost identical to her own- could release her, she sealed her spirit inside it, to one day be reunited with her beloved- the one person who had truly loved her for who she really was. But the truth about the spell never escaped Torina's lips...
Meanwhile, as Torina was talking, Yami was getting more and more frustrated with his lack of memories, as the story seemed so familiar. Why couldn't he remember?
Torina went quiet, biting her bottom lip as she did so. There were some things that she probably shouldn't reveal to her new friends just yet- namely the part about Hikaru's spell. If she revealed exactly how the spell worked, they'd ask about her past. If they asked about her past, they might ask about her uncle. If they asked about her uncle... they might never talk to her again. Torina had never been one to lie to people she liked- She couldn't bring herself to do it. But not telling the entire story wasn't lying.
Teá automatically noticed the tension that seemed to fill Torina. She had slowly began to bite her lip, as if she was hoping that no one would catch on- but somehow Teá did. There was something about Torina's story that didn't quite compute- how could she know so much detail... unless someone had told her. There was something Torina didn't want anyone to know, and Teá knew she had to act fast. She was about to say something, when the phone in the back of the house began to ring.
Meanwhile, on an island off the cost of Japan, Torina's uncle was sitting in his office, which looked more like a large dinning room, a glass of fruit juice on the table, along with a plate of gorgonzola cheese and his favorite comic book. He was having his men work night and day to find his missing niece. How she managed to get away from him, he didn't know- since he had lost his 'good luck charm,' his surveillance methods hadn't been the same. Therefore, Torina had slipped through his fingers and vanished without a trace. But he would find her, no matter what it took.
"Excuse me, sir." He turned around to see one of his employees, Kemo, standing by his side. "I know you don't like to be disturbed at times like this," Kemo continued, nodding his head at the comic book, cheese and juice. "But I believe I have found something that belongs to you." He produced a small box from behind his back and showed it's contents to Torina's uncle, who began to smile.
"I thank you for bringing this to my attention, Kemo," he replied. "Now, if you would, please continue searching for my niece. By the way, what happened to the boy who stole this from me?" Kemo smiled at his employer.
"I don't think he will be doing much of anything for a while, sir. Also..." Kemo handed Torina's uncle a necklace- a large gold ring with small golden spikes dangling down from it. "I believe this should be of some use to you." Torina's uncle gave a small, crooked grin.
"Yes, I believe it will."
"Moto residence," said Grandpa. "This is Solomon. He's where? Of course I'll tell them. Yes, you're welcome, goodbye," Grandpa hung up the phone, then called to Yugi. "Yugi, it seems your friend Bakura is in the hospital."
"Why?" Yugi asked worriedly. "What happened?"
"He was found in an alley a few blocks from the hospital in pretty bad condition. He's ok right now, but he wants to see you and your friends. He said it was urgent."
"Thanks, Grandpa, I'll go tell everyone." Yugi rushed out to go tell his friends.
"What's going on, Yuge?" Joey asked.
"Bakura's in the hospital." After quick explanations (made quicker by the fact that Yugi didn't know much) they headed off.
When they reached the hospital, Torina stopped at the gift shop. Inside she grabbed some candy bars for everyone and a gift for Bakura- a stuffed toy that looked like the character on his favorite card- the Change of Heart. Yugi wasn't surprised by the size of Torina's heart- she had seemed like a caring person ever since he met her. Her method of payment, on the other hand, caught him off guard. When Torina went to pay for her purchase, one that cost twenty dollars at the most, she gave the cashier a one hundred dollar bill. Yugi managed to sneak a look into her wallet- there was more than one of those in there. He shrugged it off- Bakura wanted to see them and now was a good time.
"Hi guys," Bakura said as they all went into his room.
"Are you all right, Bakura?" asked Torina as she handed him her gift. He smiled his thanks and gave a nod.
"I'm okay, thank you."
"You look horrible," Joey said bluntly.
"Thanks Joey," Bakura said wryly as Tristen elbowed him.
"Wha? It's true!" Joey defended himself.
"Joey!" Teá groaned, hitting him over the head with a book.
"I'll shut up now," he said meekly, rubbing the back of his head. Torina tried her best to hold in a chuckle- she had never before met anyone who could make her laugh like Joey Wheeler.
Yugi took advantage of Joey's silence to ask what happened. Bakura explained what had happened at Duelist Kingdom the first time around, namely Evil Bakura taking the Millennium Eye.
"Then yesterday," he said, "Kemo, Pegasus' right hand guy, found me and he thought I was Evil Bakura. He took me to a duelist arena and Evil Bakura took over again. He dueled, lost, got the eye and the ring taken from him, and I got tossed in an alley." Bakura sighed. "At least I'm finally free of him. But I called you here to tell you to watch out- Pegasus has his eye back, which means there's no telling what he'll do."
The entire time Bakura was telling his story, Torina was very quite. Tristen took it as shyness- Torina was new, she didn't know Bakura very well. But Yugi and Teá sensed something else- a strong sensation of emotional pain... and Joey- Joey felt as though someone was driving a knife right through his heart, but he didn't know why. Torina knew exactly what was going on- he was coming to get her. The fear was almost too much for her to bear and Yugi knew it. As they left Bakura to recover, Yugi had an idea.
"Hey, Torina?" Yugi said, "Wanna duel?" Torina was taken aback.
"Uh... sure! I don't have my deck on me though," she said.
"Well, when you get that, do you want to get stuff for a sleepover too?" Tea asked, "My mom won't mind." Torina looked a bit surprised, but said yes. Sleepovers were new to her, but Torina was always willing to try something new.
"I'll go home right now and get my stuff," she said. "Then I'll see ya over at your place Yugi... I've also got something that might make the duel a little more exciting! See ya in a few!" With that , she rushed off, not revealing what would make the duel more exciting.
Torina walked into her warehouse and back towards her bedroom. Once there, she grabbed her backpack from next to her deck, dumped it's contents all over the floor and proceeded to put her clothes, deck and other stuff inside. As she did that, Hikaru came out of the Millennia Diamond.
"What is wrong with you?" she asked in a rather annoyed tone of voice. Torina stopped what she was doing to look up at her.
"What are you talking about, Hikaru?"
"You obviously trust these people," came the reply. "You are going to spend the night at Tea's home and Yugi is waiting for you to return so that you may duel with him."
"Your point being?"
"Why don't you have enough trust in them to tell the truth? The truth about why I am within you and why you are living in a warehouse by yourself." Torina looked back down at her bag.
"Don't you get it, Hikaru?" she asked. "I'm afraid- I feel like I've known Yugi, Teá, Tristen and, and Joey all my life, but I haven't even known them for twenty-four hours. I'm not ready to set myself up for another desertion and my mind keeps telling me that's what's gonna happen." Hikaru put her hand on Torina's shoulder.
"Haven't I always told you not to listen to your head?" Torina nodded.
"Yes, I know- you've told me to trust in my heart and in the heart of the cards... but they haven't said a word since this whole thing started." Hikaru was about to comment, when Torina put a hand to her forehead.
"Torina?" she asked. "Are you all right?" Torina shook her head.
"I- I don't know. I feel really..." Suddenly, Torina's eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed on to the floor.
"Torina!" yelled Hikaru, as she knelt at her side. No matter what she did, Hikaru couldn't get Torina to come out of whatever she had fallen into. A single tear rolled down the spirit's cheek. "He's got her."