Quickly, the machines were set up- Yugi was on one bed with an IV in his arm, Tori was in her bed with an IV in her arm and they were both connected to the machine in the middle. The blood slowly began to transfer from Yugi to Tori. It took less time then they expected, but they both discovered moving really wasn't the best idea. Until they stabilized a bit they would be really dizzy- at least, that's what they thought the doctor had said. Either way, Yugi would be going home that night and Tori would follow in a couple of days. Tori's reaction: "Yippee-Skippy."

"Miss Peg?" It was a few days later when Tori looked up from her hospital bed to see Seto Kaiba standing in the doorway of her room. He hesitated a bit before walking inside. "I was told that Bakura tried to force you to choose between Joey and Mokuba," he continued. "But you refused and risked your life to save them both. Not many people would do that." Tori smiled.

"I couldn't choose between them," she replied. "Your little brother was my first friend and Joey... well, you know. Besides, he would never forgive me if I chose him over Mokuba." Seto didn't respond immediately- the comment about Wheeler took him by surprise.

"Anyway, I wanted to thank you, Miss Peg," he said finally. "If there's ever anything I could do..."

"Actually, Seto there's something you could do for me right now." Seto raised an eyebrow as Tori's smile changed to a sly grin. "You could start calling me Tori." Before Seto could reply, his cell phone rang.

"I have to be going," he replied, walking towards the door. "I hope you feel better soon. Goodbye... Tori." With that, Seto answered his phone and walked out the door. Tori shook her head.

"Finally."

Two Weeks Later...

Yugi glanced up the stairs, waiting for his sister to come down. Sister- Yugi smiled at that word. He could now say that and it would technically be true. He and Tori were now blood siblings of sorts: he had given her a pint and a half of his own blood after all. But that didn't explain why she was still upstairs. Hikaru had come down a little while ago, but it looked like Tori wasn't planning on it. Yugi shook his head and went over to Hikaru.

"Hey Hikaru?" he asked. She looked up- the look on his face told her what he was about to ask.

"Yes, Yugi?" she replied.

"Why hasn't Tori come down yet?" Hikaru looked a bit nervous- Tori would most likely kill her for this.

"Ah, well... today's her birthday, but she's still asleep." Yugi gave her a confused look.

"Her birthday?" he asked. Hikaru nodded. "But, why is she still asleep? Shouldn't she be down here with us, celebrating? How old is she?"

"She's sixteen, Yugi, but she hasn't been too fond of her birthday since her fifth. Her birthdays with Pegasus were never the best..." She looked a bit sad, causing Yugi to frown- knowing Pegasus, those birthdays were anything but pleasant. Then, he smiled.

"Well, then," he said. "We'll have to make sure she has a great one this year!" Hikaru smiled. This boy was certainly an ambitious one.

"What do you have in mind, Yugi?"

"Let's get everyone over here- then we'll go from there."

Tori would have slept all day if her dreams would have allowed her- well, the pleasant dreams did allow her. Dreams of the last birthday she shared with her beloved parents... and the uncle who used to love her just as much.

"Happy Birthday, dear Torina!" Ariana and Ricardo sang. "Happy Birthday to you." The just turned five-year-old Torina giggled excitedly as she opened her eyes to see a beautiful birthday cake in front of her... and two faces at the end of the table. Her jaw dropped as an excited gasp came out.

"Uncle Max! Aunt Cecilia!" Tori rushed down to the end of the table into the open arms of her awaiting relatives. "It's you!" she said, happily. "It's really you- your home!" Maximillion Pegasus smoothed down the girl's hair as she held him and his wife tight.

"Torina, my dear," whispered Cecilia. "That's a little much." Tori instantly let go and looked into her aunt's beautiful face- it looked so pale and weak, breaking Tori's heart.

"Are you okay, Aunt Cecilia?" she asked, innocently. Cecilia nodded, but Tori could see that her uncle's face had a trace of pain in it- it was worse than what she was letting on. Before Tori could say another word, Maximillion pulled a package out from behind his back.

"Come along, Torina dear," he said. "Open your gift." Tori wasted no time in opening the small rectangular box she was handed. Her eyes widened as she saw what was in side.

"What are these, Uncle Max?" she asked, revealing the contents of the box- a deck of cards.

"This is something my company is working on," he replied. "It's a card game I call Duel Monsters- I thought you might like it." Tori nodded as she flipped through the deck.

"Hey!" she cried, reveling a card to her family. "He has my staff!" The card was the Dark Toon Magician.

"Yes, that's a very special card." Maximillion flipped through the deck until he found another card. "The Dark Toon Magician can only be summoned when this is on the field- the Toon World Card."

"Are there other Toon monsters?"

"Yes- you and I are the only ones who have a set... well, you are the only one with a Dark Toon Magician, but I believe they're a bit too powerful for too many people to have." Suddenly, Cecilia cleared her throat and handed Torina another box. This one contained a Dark Magician's outfit, much like the one on Tori's card.

"I made it myself," Cecilia said, proudly. "To go with your staff." Tori held the outfit up to her chest.

"Aunt Cecilia, I love it! Thank you so much!"

All too soon, the memory of her fifth birthday led into the memory of her seventh birthday... this one was a lot less pleasant...

Tori woke up early, remembering what day it was. Considering her last birthday however, she wasn't sure it was such a good thing. Her birthday always seemed to put Uncle Max in a bad mood and he always took his bad moods out on her. She got dressed and hesitantly headed down for breakfast.

She looked around- Uncle Max wasn't down yet so she was debating whether or not to go back upstairs before he came in... but then, it was too late. Twenty minutes later, she was running upstairs. She collapsed on her bed and began to cry. Hikaru instantly came out of the Millennia Diamond.

"Aibou, what happened?" she asked, scooping her into a hug.

"What did I do to make him hate me?" she sobbed, hiding her face as best she could.

"Oh my Hikari, it was nothing you did," Hikaru said, hugging her tighter. "You must never believe that! Now, let me see what he did." Tori reluctantly sat back. She had a split lip, her cheek was bruised and she had finger marks on her arm. Hikaru let out a string of Egyptian curses under her breath, all directed at Maximillion Pegasus as she started to heal the damage. That was cut short, however, when footsteps forced her to go back into the Diamond.

Pegasus opened the door, tossed in a box and left. Slowly Torina picked it up, as Hikaru came back out.

"What is it?" she asked. Tori shrugged and opened it to see what was inside. It looked like a card... it said Wingweaver on the top and had a picture of a six-winged fairy on it. Tori looked at Hikaru.

"What is this?" she asked, bewildered.

"I don't know," Hikaru said, studying it, "It looks sort of familiar... But I can't place it..."

Torina suddenly felt something tickle her nose and instantly woke up. Joey was standing over her, smiling with a feather in his hand.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said with a chuckle. "How are you feeling? Any better?" Tori gave a nod as she sat up.

"A bit- what time is it?"

"Almost one o'clock. You plan on getting up?" Tori smiled and got out of bed. "I'll meet you downstairs."

Tori was downstairs moments later, expecting to see the rest of her friends and getting hit with twenty questions on why she'd slept so late... but there was just Joey.

"Where'd everybody go?" she asked.

"According to the note they left," he replied. "They had to go run some errands and couldn't wait for me to get here or you to wake up... And I'm guessing by the absence of the Millennia Diamond around your neck that Hikaru went with them." He smiled. "So what do you say we blow this Popsicle stand and go have some fun?" Tori smiled back as she brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Sounds like a plan to me- where we gonna go?"

"It's a surprise." Joey said slyly, increasing Tori's smile.

"I like surprises."

"Wait, Joey- I have to go in here." Joey looked at Tori with a confused expression on his face- they were on their way to Joey's surprise location, when Tori stopped in front of a shoe store. "You don't have to come in," she continued. "I'll be right out." Before Joey could say a word, Tori disappeared into the store. Moments later, she came back out- her sneakers and socks were in her hand and on her feet were a pair of light blue slip-on shoes with red flowers embroidered on them.

"They're nice," Joey said, whole-heartedly. "But, what made you get them now? We coulda come back later." Tori shook her head.

"I don't know," she replied, then gave a laugh. "They just called my name." Anyway, she thought, it's my sixteenth birthday- I should get myself something.

Tori looked around, wondering why Joey had brought her here- the Domino City Animal shelter. She looked Joey and gave her a questioning look.

"What are we doing here?" she asked him. Joey gave her a sly smile.

"We're just gonna visit the animals," he said. "You know these poor little guys stay in their cages all the time and they don't get out much." Tori smiled.

"And you thought we should go and play with them for a little while, eh?" Joey gave a nod as his smile widened.

"Yeah... good idea?" Tori shook her head.

"No- it's a great idea. Let's go." The pair walked into the building and were instantly surrounded by the sounds of excited cats and dogs.

"Hello," said a woman, walking over to them. "My name is Faith- can I help you with something?" Joey looked at her and gave a wink, which escaped Tori's eye.

"My name's Joey," he said. "And this is Tori. We're just looking ma'am, but we thought we could help out by maybe taking out one of the dogs or something." Faith smiled and gave a nod.

"That would be wonderful- follow me, please." She led Joey and Tori through a door that took them to the dog cages. The dogs barked excitedly, causing Tori to put her hands over her ears.

"My," she said. "It certainly is loud in here!" Just as she said that, a six week old puppy, who had been laying quietly on his pillow, perked his ears up. "Are they always this loud?" As Tori continued to speak, the puppy jumped up off his pillow, rushed to the door of his cage, put his paws up and began to bark, as if he was trying to get Tori's attention. Tori didn't know what made her notice that particular bark and look to her left, but she was glad she did- the puppy had finally gotten her attention. And she had all of his.

It was a small puppy- tanish brown fur with one black paw, short floppy ears, bright green eyes and a tail that was wagging a mile a minute. As Tori knelt down in front of the cage, she and the puppy just stared at each other for a moment before Faith opened the door and the puppy sprang out onto Tori, taking her by surprise and knocking her down. As he began licking her face, Tori just giggled and scratched behind his ears.

"Well, well, Tori," said Faith. "I've never seen that pup react like that before." She turned her attention towards Joey. "The poor pup lost it's mother shortly after he was born. He's been so dormant, we thought we might lose him as well." Tori was still on the ground giggling with the happy puppy still licking her face.

"Lose this guy?" she asked between giggles. "No way- he's got too much spirit!" Joey smiled.

"Spirit," he said. "Nice call, Tori-girl." Faith nodded her agreement.

"A perfect match if I ever saw one." As she said that, for some reason Tori found herself flashing back to the day she first met Hikaru.

It was about a week after her parents funeral and Torina was just beginning to learn what a cruel person her uncle was. He hadn't seriously hurt her yet- minor scratches and bruises was all. She didn't know what had caused the drastic change in her uncle, but if she had any money, she'd bet it all on his Millennium Eye. There was something wrong with that thing, she just knew it. Now, as she sat on the bed in the room which was now hers, crying, she put her hand to the necklace her father had given her the night he died- the Millennia Diamond.

"Please," she whispered. "Please, isn't there anyone out there? Can't someone help me? Doesn't anyone care anymore?" As her tears intensified, they fell on the Egyptian charm, causing the Millennia Diamond began to shake and glow a bright yellow. Seconds later, Torina felt a pair of arms wrap around her and the soft hum of a song filled her ears. Tori looked up and was completely surprised at what she saw. An older version of herself was staring down at her, with a kindly smile.

"Hello there," she said. "Are you feeling any better, young one?" Tori nodded, still looking amazed.

"Who, who are you?" she asked. "Where did you come from? Does my uncle know you're here? If he doesn't, then you'll be in big trouble..."

"Calm down, young one- your uncle doesn't need to know I'm here. Watch." Suddenly, the woman disappeared, leaving Torina alone.

"Don't leave me!" cried Tori. "Come back, please!" The woman reappeared. "What's your name?"

"My name is Hikaru- I am here to help you Torina. And I promise, I will never leave you alone again, unless I really have to."

"Will you be taking this one then, Joey?" Tori looked up at him, total surprise expressed on her face. Did Faith just say what she thought she just said? Joey looked at Tori, smiled and nodded.

"Yes, I do believe we'll be taking Spirit home with us," he replied.

"But, Joey," said Tori. "What about Grandpa?" His smiled widened.

"I talked to Gramps before I went home last night- both he and Yugi agreed that a pet is just what you need... provided that you take care of him." Tori looked at him wide-eyed- she hadn't a clue about what to say... well, maybe she did.

"Not take care of this little guy?" she cried, as she got up off the ground, taking the puppy with her. "No way! Come on, Spirit- let's go home!"