Yuki
By: Rogue Fox
Part Two… Level of Difficulty: Deadly
I settled into my chair at my large desk in the mansion. My eyes flitted over to a picture from a few years ago. In it, Yuki and I are smiling down at the photographer, who happened to be Yuki's mom, from a tree. Yuki and I are sitting on the same branch together, and my arms are around her waist. I smiled. Those were good times. I thought about Yuki, instead of pulling paperwork from my briefcase. I could picture her innocent smile so clearly. She was a beautiful girl, yet she never even tried to be pretty. She was actually much more comfortable wearing boys' clothes. Someone like her deserved a much better life than what she had gotten, always fighting for every inch of respect and gratitude she had. My heart started to thump and blood rushed to my cheeks. Yuki was my best friend. You don't think of friends like that, I scolded myself. My personal cell phone suddenly rang. It was a number only used by family and friends. Even Yugi Motou had it, incase of emergencies. I hit the button and put it to my ear, calling up a program on my computer at the same time.
" Hello?" I asked.
" Hey, Seto, it's me." Yuki's voice came across the line. " Could you send a ride for me and Anzu?" she asked.
" A ride? Why?" I asked, confused, but somehow worried. Suddenly I got the impression that Yuki wasn't the one to be asking. " Put Anzu on." I demanded. I could here shuffling and Yuki's voice as the phone was handed over.
" Hello?" Anzu's voice asked.
" What the heck's going on?" I asked, unable to swallow my fear.
" Kaiba, we got pounced by some thugs in black suits. Get us a ride, I don't know if they have reinforcements." Anzu immediately said. Wonderful, I thought.
" Where are you?" I asked, picking up a pen and preparing to scribble on a piece of paper. After Anzu gave me the address, I wrote it down. " Okay, stay there. Don't go anywhere. And tell me everything when you get here. I'll call Yugi and get him over here." I told Anzu.
" Get everyone over." Anzu corrected.
" What? Why?" I asked.
" I'll tell you later. Just do it, okay?" Anzu said. And with that, she hung up. I hung up the cell and felt a wave of fear and anxiety wash over me. Yuki had sounded okay when I had spoken to her, but now I was no longer sure.
*+*+*
I believed Yuki easily when she told us in frustration that she had absolutely no recollection of the story Anzu told. If my suspicions were correct, then it only justified them. I was beginning to suspect that Yuki was no ordinary girl. She probably didn't know it, but the unusually shiny orb around her neck had caught my eye. And I knew without really trying, just by sensing it, that there was something new in Yuki, something hidden. Someone hidden. Someone sleeping in the depths of her soul, just waiting to draw breath on her own again. I could feel Yami stir. That worried me more. If Yami was stirred by someone, it usually meant trouble. Most people he just ignored. I also felt a certain anxiety from him when I thought about Yuki, especially when I pictured her mentally. Then he seemed to get really upset, although he would never permit me to find out what was upsetting him. I got sick of listening to Jounouchi, Kaiba, and Honda question Yuki like she was on trial and pushed them aside.
" Yuki, can I see your necklace?" I asked. Too annoyed with the other three to do otherwise, she handed me the necklace. The second it was in my hands, I fought the urge to run away with it. I could feel the power of it. It was a Millennium Item, undoubtedly. And a darker part of me wanted to take it for myself. But I wouldn't allow that and handed the necklace back to Yuki. She pretty much ignored me as I thanked her and put it back on her neck, deeply absorbed in an argument that had developed between her and Kaiba.
" Seto Kaiba, if you even mention the prospect again, I swear I'll beat you to a pulp!" Yuki screamed at him. Kaiba actually winced.
" Could you stop hurling threats and listen for a moment?" he shouted back. I'd honestly never seen Kaiba let anyone rile him up like that.
" I'm not letting you hire body guards for me! Absolutely not!" Yuki yelled, turning her back on Kaiba and storming toward the door. Mai, who had just arrived, hurried to get out of her way. Kaiba strode confidently after her and caught up to her in a few steps and whirled her around. Yuki slapped him as a reward, and hard. I heard the smack clear across the room, followed by a hollow silence. A red hand print marked Kaiba's left cheek, and I could tell from where I stood that it would bruise.
" Ouch." Jounouchi muttered.
" No kidding." Honda agreed with him. Kaiba made no movement but stared blankly at Yuki, who glared back at him angrily. Slowly, he raised a hand to his cheek and rubbed it softly, wincing. Yuki didn't soften. Everyone else remained in a shocked silence.
" That… hurt." Kaiba said finally.
" Well, that was the point!" Yuki exclaimed. Kaiba immediately regained his composure and resolve. But I had seen the look in his eye. The same look Jounouchi wore when Mai smacked him, the same look I knew haunted my eyes when Anzu slapped me. A look of disbelief and confusion, trying to figure out if she really meant that. And also a bit of hurt, wondering what we had done to deserve that and how we could apologize.
" Still, I'm hiring body guards." Kaiba said resolutely. I smiled in amusement. As deep as their friendship ran, they still argued. Yuki glared at him nastily enough to have stopped a speeding car while Kaiba stood there coolly. " You can glare at me till you're blue in the face, Yuki, but that doesn't change anything."
" Don't make me smack you again!" Yuki threatened, holding up her hand to enforce the threat. Having felt her wrath once, Kaiba wasn't impressed.
" Sure. Go ahead." He offered, sticking his right cheek out for her. " Give me a matching bruise for the other side." I stifled laughter as Yuki fumed and stomped her foot.
" Seto Kaiba! If I ever speak to you again, it'll be a miracle!" she screamed so loudly, I was sure her little brothers and Mokuba could hear her all the way outside.
" Miracles happen more often than you think. Besides, wouldn't that be kind of hard, considering that we live in the same house?" Kaiba asked. He was smirking a little too cockily. Yuki snatched up a paperweight from Kaiba's desk and hurled it at him as quickly as I could blink. She didn't bother to stay and see if her aim had been true, turning and storming out the door. Seto jumped out of the way, but her actions had caught him by surprise. He glanced after her and then took chase.
" Hey! Who said we were finished?" he called, running after Yuki.
" Me!" Yuki yelled back.
" I thought you weren't speaking to me!" Kaiba called.
" I'm not! I'm screaming!" Yuki hollered. Those of us left stared after them.
" Um, should I ask?" Mai questioned.
" No." Jounouchi said simply.
" I said NO! I will NOT be escorted around like some pampered POODLE!" Yuki screamed from somewhere else in the mansion. I winced.
" Who said you get a CHOICE in the MATTER?" Kaiba bellowed back.
" Oh, boy." Honda mumbled, rubbing his temples.
" Who knew Kaiba could yell that loud?" Anzu asked.
" You don't boss ME around!" Yuki bawled.
" May I remind you whose HOUSE this IS?" Kaiba retorted.
" I motion that we get out of here before they decide to really start fighting." I suggested. Everyone else agreed readily, and we ducked through the line of flying objects that Yuki was hurling, and the enraged retorts Kaiba was throwing back. We left quickly. The last thing any one of us wanted was to have their anger directed at us. Kaiba would probably get his way with Yuki.
It was two days later that any of us saw Kaiba or Yuki. Kaiba had a black eye at school on Monday, swollen shut, was limping ever so slightly, and his cheek was marked with a black and blue handprint. Yuki was a walking testimony to Kaiba's great reserve and patience, for there wasn't a mark on her. But her pride was undoubtedly greatly injured. And Kaiba, for all the wear, did appear to have won. The pair was accompanied by five burly bodyguards. And Yuki was taking her loss none to gracefully. She stalked toward us, pausing only to flash Kaiba a surly glare, and Anzu followed her toward some remote spot where they could talk in peace. I cocked an eyebrow up at my old nemesis.
" It appears you won." I said, smiling only slightly.
" I may have won the battle, but definitely not the war. She'll pick up where she left off when she gets the chance." Kaiba replied knowingly. " She's way too stubborn for her own good." He added. I smiled.
" But she's worth it, isn't she?" I asked.
" Worth every one of these bruises, and whatever more I get before this war's over." Kaiba agreed. " Besides, I probably deserved some of them."
" Trouble in paradise, I guess?" Jounouchi asked, approaching us.
" It was never paradise." Kaiba retorted, giving Jounouchi a fish eye look.
Surprisingly enough, the two of them had made up before the day was out. Kaiba remained firm that the bodyguards stayed, but they had a talk and Yuki seemed to consent, under protest, to Kaiba. Yuki, Anzu, and I had a class together after lunch. I managed to get a hold of Yuki during that class, which, due to some freak luck, was a study hour.
" Hey, Yuki. Can I talk to you?" I asked, drawing her away from a Duel Monsters duel.
" Yeah, sure. That game looks kind of fun." She said, motioning to the Duel.
" It is. I'll show you how sometime, if you want." I offered. I could feel Yami stir ever so slightly.
" That's nice of you, but I wouldn't want to be a burden. I'll use it as an excuse to get Seto away from his work." She said, smiling slyly. " So what do you want to talk to me about?" she asked.
" That." I said, pointing to her necklace. The little shiny orb with the eye on it glimmered in the light.
" What, this? It's a good luck charm my great-grandmother gave me when I was little." Yuki said.
" What do you know about it?" I asked her. Yuki frowned.
" I know it's an artifact from Egypt my great-great-grandfather found exactly a year before he met his wife. But that's about it." She said. I nodded. Things were adding up.
" Have you noticed anything odd about it?" I asked. Yuki's eyes clouded ever so slightly, remembering something.
" Well, the night after I started wearing it, I had a dream about a voice coming from it." She offered. " I probably ate something that didn't agree with me before bed." She added. Probably not, I silently corrected.
" What did the voice say in the dream?" I asked, grateful for Yuki's minor naivete.
" I'm not sure. It seems really foggy now, but I remember one thing. It said its name was Himeko." Yuki answered.
" Hey, Yuki! Come here!" Anzu called. Yuki excused herself and darted over to her. I stayed behind and slunk to a desk away from everyone else to consider what Yuki had told me. There was no doubt in my mind that Yuki had a Millennium Item now. The problem was how she had a Millennium Item. All the seven of them had owners and were accounted for, or so I thought. Perhaps there was an eighth no one knew about. Yami stirred again and then slipped deeper into the depths of our heart, as though he didn't want to be anywhere near consciousness. I considered dragging him up and making him explain this to me, but the fact that he chose that time to sink down as low as he could go told me he wouldn't have cooperated anyway. I left him alone for the moment. But I would get what I needed from him at the first possible chance. No one knew how to make him talk like I did, which was probably why he was avoiding me. I winced, realizing I was worrying too much again. But there was a lot for me to worry about. What with two attacks on Yuki, I had reason to worry. I couldn't help but wonder the possibility that maybe this person who kept sending thugs after Yuki knew about her Millennium Item and wanted it. Each Millennium Item was unique. Our stupid luck would be that Yuki's was very powerful, and thus very desirable. The only way to know would be to induce Yuki into unknowingly calling the spirit in the Item and letting Yami take a look at her. If he recognized her, I'd have what we needed to know within the next few hours, with or without Yami's consent. If not, well, there goes the only lead I had. I decided to try it. The worst that could happen was things going terribly wrong…
*+*+*
I tried hard to ignore the bodyguards. I really did. But they were there, all the same. Very imposing in those black suits. I wondered how I would be able to tell them apart from the real thugs if they decided to show again. What really bothered me was that I had let Seto win. I knew full and well that I could've won that argument. Seto knew it too. But for some odd reason, I had decided to let him have the victory. I tossed my fretting aside and went to the fence around the playground where I picked the boys up every day. I scanned the playground, searching for the telltale two blonde heads and the black one following close behind. I couldn't find them and made a small noise of alarm.
" Is something wrong, Miss?" one of the bodyguards, Takeo, asked.
" It's nothing, I'm sure. I just can't seem to find the boys. I'll ask the teacher." I said, nodding to the teacher supervising the children. I slipped into the playground and inquired to the teacher about the kids.
" Three men in black suits came and picked them up, Ms. Yuki. They said you sent them." She told me. My breath caught in my throat. It couldn't be.
" That's impossible! I didn't send for them! I always come pick them up!" I shrilled. Takeo and the other four bodyguards jogged over to me. I struggled to calm myself. " Did you ask to see their ID? All the bodyguards we employed have a special ID to show they work for us." I said. The teacher shook her head no. I gasped. " You mean you just let my little brothers go with strange men?"
" Miss, please. Perhaps you should call Mr. Kaiba." Takeo suggested. I nodded and fumbled with my cell. I used the memory to dial Seto's personal cell number. I listened to the rings, trying to soothe my panicked heart back into a steady beat. Its erratic pace was pounding in my temples painfully.
" Hello?" Seto's voice finally sounded in my ear. He sounded slightly annoyed but I didn't care.
" Seto!" I shrilled at him over the phone. My brain went blank. What could I tell him? Yoshi, Yukio, and Mokuba were missing? They may have been kidnapped? What could I possibly say to him?
" Yuki, what's the matter?" Seto asked, sensing my distress.
" I screwed up! It's all my fault!" I blurted out.
" Whoa, slow down, Yuki. What's wrong? What's your fault?" Seto asked. His voice was calm and soothing. My heart rate slowed just listening to him. I wished feverishly that he could have been there with me, so he could wrap his strong arms around me. I would lean my head against his chest and let him make all my troubles go away.
" The boys!" I wailed. " I can't find them!"
" Calm down, Yuki. I'm sure they're just playing." Seto said. I could hear the sharp edge of fear push into his voice.
" They're not! The teacher says that three men in black suits showed up and took them! They said I sent them to pick the boys up!" I cried. There was a silence.
" Did you?" Seto asked finally.
" No!" I wailed back.
" Think hard. Are you sure?" Seto asked.
" I'm sure! Very sure!" I said, laughing somewhat hysterically. Seto let out a string of curse words nasty enough to put the dirtiest talker to shame. " You can say that again!" I cracked. My brain was gone. My heart was frantic. I was in no way in control of my body.
" Yuki, you stay there, okay? Don't move. I'm coming to get you. This has gone too far." Seto said. He was by no means finished with his cursing. He was still going as he hung up.
A few minutes later, Seto came by and picked me up, in a hysterical state of mind and blabbering unintelligibly, and drove me to Kaiba Corp. Once there, I was shocked to find Yugi, Anzu, Jounouchi, and Honda waiting.
" Would I be correct in assuming that this latest development means that we'll be taking the offense?" Yugi asked. A small smirk played on his lips.
" Offense my foot. You can make your own decisions, but Yuki and I are going in to hit them where it hurts the most and reclaim what is ours." Seto growled. I blabbered on, almost completely unaware of anything else. Quite suddenly, I felt a sharp sting in my chest. I shut up abruptly.
Knock off the yacking! Are you going to save them, or what? a hard voice asked. I reeled a little.
What can I do? I wailed. I'm the one that caused this whole mess! I didn't tell their teachers to ask for the ID! It's all my fault! I'll just screw things up worse. I cried. I felt another sharp sting in my chest.
Snap out of it! the voice snapped at me. I sniffled indignantly. You're tougher than this, I know it. So quit acting like a manic-depressant and go save your little brothers! the voice said.
Okay. I thought back softly. Himeko. I added. I felt her power flow into me. I knew then. Something about this situation was very different from anything normal. And very suddenly, I saw Himeko for what she truly was. Another person, another soul living in me. With startling clarity, I was able to distinguish her being from mine. And that realization sent me reeling into the depths of my own mind.
*+*+*
I had listened to Yuki blabbering long enough. I had snapped at her, and now I wondered at my own concern for her. Was she not just a carrier? Someone to carry me while I was inactive, a body for me to use? What had I done wrong? Yuki was just a transport, little more than something for me to use. Why had I grown so attached to her? When had I grown so attached to her? And with these thoughts, my own sense of being returned. Yuki was Yuki, and I was me. Two separate people. I was aware of her as she became aware of me, reeling away at her own realization.
Who are you? she sputtered. What's happening to me? she asked fearfully, sensing the changes her own body was undergoing as it transformed to suit me.
I'm Himeko. I said, more to myself than her. I am! I! I knew the meaning of the word! There was a me, and it had nothing to do with Yuki.
Himeko? How long have you been in my head? Yuki asked suspiciously. I strained to tell how much time had passed since I had taken up lodging here. Hadn't I always been here? No, that wasn't right. Then surely I had been here a very long time? That wasn't right either. I was still wrestling with the idea of being my own separate self. Then the memories came. The swarmed over me, engulfing me in their midst. I remembered with startling clarity. Yes, that was me… Him… I remembered him, I also missed him. Would I ever find him? He promised me… That's my name! Himeko… That's just a name for Yuki to call me. This isn't real. I was dead, and that realization nearly shattered me. Yes, I was merely a poor image of the person I had been, locked away for a millennia and called upon again to serve in a new war against the Shadow Games. I used to be called the Queen of Luck, with good reason. I hid my memories from Yuki. Better if she didn't know for now. Instead I opened my, no, her, no that's not right either, our eyes. Our eyes. Yuki slipped away from the controls of her body. She sensed my needs without thinking. I would help her get her brothers back, because that was my purpose here, the spirit of a dead person. To guide, help, and protect her. And now she needed me to control our body so that she could sort out her emotions. I looked at the handsome boy she called Seto. She was very attached to him. I wondered how she had maintained their friendship, with that handsome face and those intense eyes. I looked away quickly. The soul of a dead person has no reason to get crushes. Dead… How could I possibly be dead? I remembered everything so clearly. The agony, the sorrow, the desperation, but most of all, I remembered the anger. The pure and unharnessed rage I felt, the pure hatred of the one who had brought my demise about. I could picture my loved ones' faces so clearly, so perfectly. I could remember the exact way her hair framed her face, the exact way he would smile at me when I made a joke, the very way she laughed, and the very way he cried. Nothing had been able to save them, not me, not the power I had been granted, not even the supposedly all-powerful gods. I had loved them, loved them with my entire being, but my love was small and powerless against the darkness that surrounded us. They had died. We had died. Died for a lost cause, a cause that had died with us. The many years after our deaths were written in history that I had read from Yuki's memory. Our cause, our source of strength, had perished. Slowly. Slowly she had dwindled from the great reaches of a powerful empire that touched all the farthest and most exotic places into a little patch of sand in a desert no one but scientists and treasure-hunters cared about. Her death had been long and painful. Slowly I slipped into a state of hysteria. Yuki sensed my disruption and tried to take the controls of her body back, but I shoved her away.
Stay back! I snarled.
Himeko, give me back control! Yuki cried at me. I ignored her. I could hear and see again. I was in control of a living body. All I could see was an image of the girl I had been, and a miserable realization that that girl had died. I was dead. More importantly, everything I had every loved, everyone I had ever loved, was dead too. I was alone in a world I didn't even understand. The only thing that kept me company was Yuki's screams of protest, trapped by a stranger in her own head.
*+*+*
Yuki had collapsed onto a couch. She had finally stopped blathering on like a nut and sank down to the couch, her eyes glazed over. Kaiba kept tossing her nervous glances, but other than that, she was ignored. I was the only one that was concerned by the blank, empty look on her face. The look of a face that no one was controlling. Then, suddenly, her features molded a little. I could see the small orb around her neck glowing. Yami stirred in my heart, raising himself to a state of semi-consciousness so he could see what had grabbed my interest so suddenly. I snared him mentally and held him in his stupor of having just woken up. A harder Yuki stared out of empty eyes. A new, meaner looking Yuki. Then, with the rage and fury of a trapped animal, she screamed, ending it with a feral snarl. Her cold features were twisted into rage and madness. A madness I knew. The madness of someone who had realized something they dreaded. Yuki wasn't in control. Someone far more dangerous was ruling her body. Kaiba rushed toward her, but she tossed him aside like it was nothing. Yami was rising to full power, barely contained beneath my own consciousness.
Back off. he ordered me. I ignored him. Back off. I know how to deal with her. he told me. I paid him no heed until he threw me away from our bodily controls and took over. Yuki, or the person controlling her body, sensed the changes I underwent as Yami assumed control.
Everyone was watching. They gawked at Yuki. Quiet, humble, reserved Yuki had cracked. She had finally caved into the pressure and fear. And no one looked at her more fearfully than Kaiba. He stood from where he had fallen, staring at Yuki as though he was trying to figure something out. Yuki stared back at him. It bought us time, time to complete the change.
" Who are you?" Kaiba asked finally. Yuki's body jerked.
" I'm… Yuki." She said. Kaiba's face twisted angrily.
" You are not. I haven't got a clue who or what you are, but you're not Yuki." He growled. The girl stared at him sadly.
" I… don't know what I am. I don't know who I am." She murmured. At that exact moment, Yami completed his transformation and stepped toward her. Yuki paused to consider him.
" Don't be afraid." Yami murmured to her gently. Yuki glared at him.
" Stay away from me." She spat at him.
" You're not the girl who was born in that body." Yami whispered. He took another tentative step.
" I said stay away!" Yuki growled.
" You're out of control. I understand your anger and your fear. You have to give Yuki back her body." Yami said softly. He held out our hands, showing he meant no harm. I marveled at how well he knew everything she would do.
" You couldn't possibly understand." Yuki snarled at him.
" I understand. I'm just like you. We can learn why this has happened together. You have to calm yourself. Let Yuki take control. Go to sleep. Sleep, and the rest will sort itself out." Yami murmured comfortingly.
" I will not sleep! Stay back!" Yuki screamed.
" Sleep." Yami crooned. Slowly, Yuki's eyes seemed to droop.
" Yuki, the real Yuki, I know you hear me. Don't be afraid. You have to be firm with her. She's scared right now, and she can't control herself. Be firm, but gentle." Yami continued, ignoring Yuki's dying protests. Slowly, her features molded again, back into the Yuki I knew. Then, Yami retreated without another word. Yuki glanced around, her own natural softness having totally reemerged.
" Yuki?" Kaiba asked.
" Yes?" Yuki responded, just before she fell to the ground, consumed in slumber.
*+*+*
" She lost control. She went mad with rage and fear and despair. Think at from her point of view. She's in a world she doesn't understand, and she's just figured out she's actually dead. Exactly how would you feel?" Yugi asked, looking pointedly at me.
" Pretty mixed up?" Jounouchi volunteered.
" I'd be ready to break something." Anzu said.
" No kidding." Mai agreed. I glanced down at Yuki and smoothed her hair out.
" What about Yuki?" I asked.
" She's dealing the only way she knows how. The same way I dealt with it at first. She's shutting down all but her most essential bodily functions and sleeping until the storm dies down. If her body isn't awake, then there's nothing for the girl inside her to control." Yugi explained. I glanced down again at the girl in my arms, her head nestled against my chest. I hugged her tightly, afraid to let her go.
" How will she deal with it when she can't sleep anymore?" I asked. Yugi's shoulders slumped and his face fell.
" I don't know. Everyone deals with it different. Bakura pretends it never happened, for example. The only way to know how Yuki will deal with it is to wait and see." He said.
" How did you deal with it?" Anzu asked. Yugi looked up at her.
" The best way I could. It's hard to explain. The best way I know how to explain it is that we found a middle ground. A way that we both can be at least partially happy." Yugi told her.
" Will Yuki ever be able to be happy again?" I asked.
" That depends on her." Yugi said after a moment of silence. " And on the other girl." He added. Yuki's eyes fluttered open suddenly, and she looked up at me.
" Hmm? How long have I been asleep?" she asked, glancing around the room.
" A few hours." I told her, searching for something else to say. What could I say to her?
" Yuki, what do you remember?" Yugi asked quickly, cutting straight to the chase in a way I hadn't been able to.
" More than I'd like to. It's a little fuzzy, but I remember." Yuki told him, scooting closer to me involuntarily and cradling her head in her hands.
" How long has she been there? Inside you?" Yugi asked. Everyone gathered around and fell silent as Yuki thought about the question.
" It's hard to say. Not long, I think. I had a dream a few nights ago and I think that's when it started." She said finally.
" How can it be that hard to tell how long she's been there?" Honda asked irritably.
" It's hard." Yuki assured him. " It seemed like, for a while, she was… how can I put it… like she was a part of me. There was no distinction between the two of us, you know?" she said, looking at me again, checking to see if I understood. " And when we both realized there was a difference, that we were two different people, she went over the deep end."
" Yuki, this is important." Yugi said. Yuki turned to concentrate on him, unknowingly gripping my shirt. " Do you know why she went crazy on you?"
" She remembered something. Something she didn't want to remember. I knew she was going to do something crazy, but I couldn't control her." Yuki said, finally hiding her face against me. I let my lips turn into a small half smile. " That's right…" Yuki mumbled suddenly. " That's right. We have to save the boys." She said, jumping out of my arms and striding confidently toward the door. I followed her quickly.
*+*+*
" Out of all the things I've done, I've never ridden in a plane." Honda said, gripping the arm of his chair tightly. I laughed as Jounouchi hit him over the head with a magazine.
" You're pathetic. It's just like riding in a car, except much smoother." He said. Seto grinned next to me, hiding his face behind the newspaper he was reading.
" And there's the little fact that we're going to be thirty thousand feet up in the air." Honda added. Mai and Anzu combined forces and threw empty plastic cups at him.
" Shut up!" Anzu yelled. Honda ducked under the same magazine Jounouchi had hit him with.
" Play nice, children." Yugi intoned patronizingly.
" Shut your trap!" Honda growled.
" Now, that wasn't nice." I said, frowning playfully.
" This is your captain speaking. We will now be taking off." A voice over the intercom said calmly.
" Well, see? He doesn't sound worried at all, Honda." Mai said.
" That's what I pay him to do." Seto said.
" So in other words, he could be scared out of his mind and we wouldn't know it because he wants to keep his paycheck.' Honda said.
" He's a pilot, not an actor." Seto said.
" Buckle your seatbelt, Jounouchi!" Mai cried, reaching over him and hitting him with his seatbelt.
" Yes, Mai dear." Jounouchi growled.
" Got your seat in the upright position?" Mai asked. Jounouchi scowled at her.
" Yes, I do. I've ridden on a plane before, you know?" he told her. Mai grinned and patted his cheek.
" Well, someone's gotta look out for you, lil' Jou." She said. Jounouchi fumed at her.
" Ah! We're moving!" Honda cried.
" Pretend it's a car, Honda." I called comfortingly.
" It's a car, it's a car, it's a car… Yah! Why does it have to go so fast?!" he asked frantically.
" That's how it gets off the ground, Honda." Yugi said slowly.
" Off the ground?!" Honda cried.
" The car, Honda?" I asked.
" It's a car, it's a car… I don't even like riding in cars! Ah! We're off the ground!" Honda screamed.
" That's the general point of flying, Honda." Seto called. Our seats were a little away from the others. " How are you doing?" he asked me, tapping my shoulder to get my attention.
" As well as can be expected, I guess. I'm worried about them." I murmured softly. Seto patted my head and then grasped my hand.
" They'll be fine. They know we love them, and they know we'll come for them." He told me.
" But where do we start looking?" I asked him. Seto didn't say anything to me, instead looking away and giving me a non-committal grunt. That meant he either didn't have a clue or was playing a hunch and didn't want me to know either way. He liked to play it cool and make me think that he knew exactly what he was doing, when in reality he was as lost as the rest of us. I knew he did it to put me at ease.
" Hey," Seto whispered, taking my hand again and squeezing it. " You're sure you're okay?" he asked. I squeezed his hand back.
" Of course I'm sure." I reassured him, forcing a smile with no feeling behind it. Seto believed me almost as much as I believe myself. " Why do you ask?" I asked him.
" Because you're not yourself." Seto told me bluntly. I sighed and slumped into my seat, swallowing to make my ears pop as we climbed higher into the sky.
" I'll be okay." I told him. " It's just a little hard to deal with this all at once. Himeko, and the boys… Sometimes it seems like I'm going to blow up." I let my voice trail off. This was my reality, and I had to deal with it. No one ever said it would be fun or that I had to like it, but I did have to deal with it. And Himeko, as much as I tried to ignore her, was a part of my reality. To be honest, I was scared of her. Scared of her, all that she was capable of, and of the part of me she brought out, the darkness in my own soul she dragged into the light when she took control. I didn't trust her as I had trusted her when she had first come to me. I knew what she was capable of now, knew the unbelievable power that coursed through her veins. But I also knew her fear and desperation, her anger at something she could barely even comprehend in her current state. I understood it. Something stirred in my heart, and I strained to focus on it. I could vaguely sense Himeko there, sleeping peacefully. I was hardly able to find her, she had hid herself from me to protect me from a nervous breakdown. I wondered at her, wished I could talk to the girl who shared my heart and mind. But I dared not wake her, for fear she would try to get control. Her will had been like a tidal wave compared to a drop of water next to mine. I had been completely unable to withstand her will. I was afraid, and for the first time in my life I was afraid for myself. The very idea frightened me even more. I had to remember who I was fighting for. The ones who I loved.
I glanced at Seto, who had given up trying to concentrate on his newspaper and was looking absently out the window. I studied his profile carefully, memorizing every detail. My best friend in the whole world, the only one I dared to trust with the little boys whose lives I valued more than my own. I cared for him as much as I cared for them. And I would protect him, I vowed to myself silently. I will protect him from the evil I feel drawing closer by the minute.
By: Rogue Fox
Part Two… Level of Difficulty: Deadly
I settled into my chair at my large desk in the mansion. My eyes flitted over to a picture from a few years ago. In it, Yuki and I are smiling down at the photographer, who happened to be Yuki's mom, from a tree. Yuki and I are sitting on the same branch together, and my arms are around her waist. I smiled. Those were good times. I thought about Yuki, instead of pulling paperwork from my briefcase. I could picture her innocent smile so clearly. She was a beautiful girl, yet she never even tried to be pretty. She was actually much more comfortable wearing boys' clothes. Someone like her deserved a much better life than what she had gotten, always fighting for every inch of respect and gratitude she had. My heart started to thump and blood rushed to my cheeks. Yuki was my best friend. You don't think of friends like that, I scolded myself. My personal cell phone suddenly rang. It was a number only used by family and friends. Even Yugi Motou had it, incase of emergencies. I hit the button and put it to my ear, calling up a program on my computer at the same time.
" Hello?" I asked.
" Hey, Seto, it's me." Yuki's voice came across the line. " Could you send a ride for me and Anzu?" she asked.
" A ride? Why?" I asked, confused, but somehow worried. Suddenly I got the impression that Yuki wasn't the one to be asking. " Put Anzu on." I demanded. I could here shuffling and Yuki's voice as the phone was handed over.
" Hello?" Anzu's voice asked.
" What the heck's going on?" I asked, unable to swallow my fear.
" Kaiba, we got pounced by some thugs in black suits. Get us a ride, I don't know if they have reinforcements." Anzu immediately said. Wonderful, I thought.
" Where are you?" I asked, picking up a pen and preparing to scribble on a piece of paper. After Anzu gave me the address, I wrote it down. " Okay, stay there. Don't go anywhere. And tell me everything when you get here. I'll call Yugi and get him over here." I told Anzu.
" Get everyone over." Anzu corrected.
" What? Why?" I asked.
" I'll tell you later. Just do it, okay?" Anzu said. And with that, she hung up. I hung up the cell and felt a wave of fear and anxiety wash over me. Yuki had sounded okay when I had spoken to her, but now I was no longer sure.
*+*+*
I believed Yuki easily when she told us in frustration that she had absolutely no recollection of the story Anzu told. If my suspicions were correct, then it only justified them. I was beginning to suspect that Yuki was no ordinary girl. She probably didn't know it, but the unusually shiny orb around her neck had caught my eye. And I knew without really trying, just by sensing it, that there was something new in Yuki, something hidden. Someone hidden. Someone sleeping in the depths of her soul, just waiting to draw breath on her own again. I could feel Yami stir. That worried me more. If Yami was stirred by someone, it usually meant trouble. Most people he just ignored. I also felt a certain anxiety from him when I thought about Yuki, especially when I pictured her mentally. Then he seemed to get really upset, although he would never permit me to find out what was upsetting him. I got sick of listening to Jounouchi, Kaiba, and Honda question Yuki like she was on trial and pushed them aside.
" Yuki, can I see your necklace?" I asked. Too annoyed with the other three to do otherwise, she handed me the necklace. The second it was in my hands, I fought the urge to run away with it. I could feel the power of it. It was a Millennium Item, undoubtedly. And a darker part of me wanted to take it for myself. But I wouldn't allow that and handed the necklace back to Yuki. She pretty much ignored me as I thanked her and put it back on her neck, deeply absorbed in an argument that had developed between her and Kaiba.
" Seto Kaiba, if you even mention the prospect again, I swear I'll beat you to a pulp!" Yuki screamed at him. Kaiba actually winced.
" Could you stop hurling threats and listen for a moment?" he shouted back. I'd honestly never seen Kaiba let anyone rile him up like that.
" I'm not letting you hire body guards for me! Absolutely not!" Yuki yelled, turning her back on Kaiba and storming toward the door. Mai, who had just arrived, hurried to get out of her way. Kaiba strode confidently after her and caught up to her in a few steps and whirled her around. Yuki slapped him as a reward, and hard. I heard the smack clear across the room, followed by a hollow silence. A red hand print marked Kaiba's left cheek, and I could tell from where I stood that it would bruise.
" Ouch." Jounouchi muttered.
" No kidding." Honda agreed with him. Kaiba made no movement but stared blankly at Yuki, who glared back at him angrily. Slowly, he raised a hand to his cheek and rubbed it softly, wincing. Yuki didn't soften. Everyone else remained in a shocked silence.
" That… hurt." Kaiba said finally.
" Well, that was the point!" Yuki exclaimed. Kaiba immediately regained his composure and resolve. But I had seen the look in his eye. The same look Jounouchi wore when Mai smacked him, the same look I knew haunted my eyes when Anzu slapped me. A look of disbelief and confusion, trying to figure out if she really meant that. And also a bit of hurt, wondering what we had done to deserve that and how we could apologize.
" Still, I'm hiring body guards." Kaiba said resolutely. I smiled in amusement. As deep as their friendship ran, they still argued. Yuki glared at him nastily enough to have stopped a speeding car while Kaiba stood there coolly. " You can glare at me till you're blue in the face, Yuki, but that doesn't change anything."
" Don't make me smack you again!" Yuki threatened, holding up her hand to enforce the threat. Having felt her wrath once, Kaiba wasn't impressed.
" Sure. Go ahead." He offered, sticking his right cheek out for her. " Give me a matching bruise for the other side." I stifled laughter as Yuki fumed and stomped her foot.
" Seto Kaiba! If I ever speak to you again, it'll be a miracle!" she screamed so loudly, I was sure her little brothers and Mokuba could hear her all the way outside.
" Miracles happen more often than you think. Besides, wouldn't that be kind of hard, considering that we live in the same house?" Kaiba asked. He was smirking a little too cockily. Yuki snatched up a paperweight from Kaiba's desk and hurled it at him as quickly as I could blink. She didn't bother to stay and see if her aim had been true, turning and storming out the door. Seto jumped out of the way, but her actions had caught him by surprise. He glanced after her and then took chase.
" Hey! Who said we were finished?" he called, running after Yuki.
" Me!" Yuki yelled back.
" I thought you weren't speaking to me!" Kaiba called.
" I'm not! I'm screaming!" Yuki hollered. Those of us left stared after them.
" Um, should I ask?" Mai questioned.
" No." Jounouchi said simply.
" I said NO! I will NOT be escorted around like some pampered POODLE!" Yuki screamed from somewhere else in the mansion. I winced.
" Who said you get a CHOICE in the MATTER?" Kaiba bellowed back.
" Oh, boy." Honda mumbled, rubbing his temples.
" Who knew Kaiba could yell that loud?" Anzu asked.
" You don't boss ME around!" Yuki bawled.
" May I remind you whose HOUSE this IS?" Kaiba retorted.
" I motion that we get out of here before they decide to really start fighting." I suggested. Everyone else agreed readily, and we ducked through the line of flying objects that Yuki was hurling, and the enraged retorts Kaiba was throwing back. We left quickly. The last thing any one of us wanted was to have their anger directed at us. Kaiba would probably get his way with Yuki.
It was two days later that any of us saw Kaiba or Yuki. Kaiba had a black eye at school on Monday, swollen shut, was limping ever so slightly, and his cheek was marked with a black and blue handprint. Yuki was a walking testimony to Kaiba's great reserve and patience, for there wasn't a mark on her. But her pride was undoubtedly greatly injured. And Kaiba, for all the wear, did appear to have won. The pair was accompanied by five burly bodyguards. And Yuki was taking her loss none to gracefully. She stalked toward us, pausing only to flash Kaiba a surly glare, and Anzu followed her toward some remote spot where they could talk in peace. I cocked an eyebrow up at my old nemesis.
" It appears you won." I said, smiling only slightly.
" I may have won the battle, but definitely not the war. She'll pick up where she left off when she gets the chance." Kaiba replied knowingly. " She's way too stubborn for her own good." He added. I smiled.
" But she's worth it, isn't she?" I asked.
" Worth every one of these bruises, and whatever more I get before this war's over." Kaiba agreed. " Besides, I probably deserved some of them."
" Trouble in paradise, I guess?" Jounouchi asked, approaching us.
" It was never paradise." Kaiba retorted, giving Jounouchi a fish eye look.
Surprisingly enough, the two of them had made up before the day was out. Kaiba remained firm that the bodyguards stayed, but they had a talk and Yuki seemed to consent, under protest, to Kaiba. Yuki, Anzu, and I had a class together after lunch. I managed to get a hold of Yuki during that class, which, due to some freak luck, was a study hour.
" Hey, Yuki. Can I talk to you?" I asked, drawing her away from a Duel Monsters duel.
" Yeah, sure. That game looks kind of fun." She said, motioning to the Duel.
" It is. I'll show you how sometime, if you want." I offered. I could feel Yami stir ever so slightly.
" That's nice of you, but I wouldn't want to be a burden. I'll use it as an excuse to get Seto away from his work." She said, smiling slyly. " So what do you want to talk to me about?" she asked.
" That." I said, pointing to her necklace. The little shiny orb with the eye on it glimmered in the light.
" What, this? It's a good luck charm my great-grandmother gave me when I was little." Yuki said.
" What do you know about it?" I asked her. Yuki frowned.
" I know it's an artifact from Egypt my great-great-grandfather found exactly a year before he met his wife. But that's about it." She said. I nodded. Things were adding up.
" Have you noticed anything odd about it?" I asked. Yuki's eyes clouded ever so slightly, remembering something.
" Well, the night after I started wearing it, I had a dream about a voice coming from it." She offered. " I probably ate something that didn't agree with me before bed." She added. Probably not, I silently corrected.
" What did the voice say in the dream?" I asked, grateful for Yuki's minor naivete.
" I'm not sure. It seems really foggy now, but I remember one thing. It said its name was Himeko." Yuki answered.
" Hey, Yuki! Come here!" Anzu called. Yuki excused herself and darted over to her. I stayed behind and slunk to a desk away from everyone else to consider what Yuki had told me. There was no doubt in my mind that Yuki had a Millennium Item now. The problem was how she had a Millennium Item. All the seven of them had owners and were accounted for, or so I thought. Perhaps there was an eighth no one knew about. Yami stirred again and then slipped deeper into the depths of our heart, as though he didn't want to be anywhere near consciousness. I considered dragging him up and making him explain this to me, but the fact that he chose that time to sink down as low as he could go told me he wouldn't have cooperated anyway. I left him alone for the moment. But I would get what I needed from him at the first possible chance. No one knew how to make him talk like I did, which was probably why he was avoiding me. I winced, realizing I was worrying too much again. But there was a lot for me to worry about. What with two attacks on Yuki, I had reason to worry. I couldn't help but wonder the possibility that maybe this person who kept sending thugs after Yuki knew about her Millennium Item and wanted it. Each Millennium Item was unique. Our stupid luck would be that Yuki's was very powerful, and thus very desirable. The only way to know would be to induce Yuki into unknowingly calling the spirit in the Item and letting Yami take a look at her. If he recognized her, I'd have what we needed to know within the next few hours, with or without Yami's consent. If not, well, there goes the only lead I had. I decided to try it. The worst that could happen was things going terribly wrong…
*+*+*
I tried hard to ignore the bodyguards. I really did. But they were there, all the same. Very imposing in those black suits. I wondered how I would be able to tell them apart from the real thugs if they decided to show again. What really bothered me was that I had let Seto win. I knew full and well that I could've won that argument. Seto knew it too. But for some odd reason, I had decided to let him have the victory. I tossed my fretting aside and went to the fence around the playground where I picked the boys up every day. I scanned the playground, searching for the telltale two blonde heads and the black one following close behind. I couldn't find them and made a small noise of alarm.
" Is something wrong, Miss?" one of the bodyguards, Takeo, asked.
" It's nothing, I'm sure. I just can't seem to find the boys. I'll ask the teacher." I said, nodding to the teacher supervising the children. I slipped into the playground and inquired to the teacher about the kids.
" Three men in black suits came and picked them up, Ms. Yuki. They said you sent them." She told me. My breath caught in my throat. It couldn't be.
" That's impossible! I didn't send for them! I always come pick them up!" I shrilled. Takeo and the other four bodyguards jogged over to me. I struggled to calm myself. " Did you ask to see their ID? All the bodyguards we employed have a special ID to show they work for us." I said. The teacher shook her head no. I gasped. " You mean you just let my little brothers go with strange men?"
" Miss, please. Perhaps you should call Mr. Kaiba." Takeo suggested. I nodded and fumbled with my cell. I used the memory to dial Seto's personal cell number. I listened to the rings, trying to soothe my panicked heart back into a steady beat. Its erratic pace was pounding in my temples painfully.
" Hello?" Seto's voice finally sounded in my ear. He sounded slightly annoyed but I didn't care.
" Seto!" I shrilled at him over the phone. My brain went blank. What could I tell him? Yoshi, Yukio, and Mokuba were missing? They may have been kidnapped? What could I possibly say to him?
" Yuki, what's the matter?" Seto asked, sensing my distress.
" I screwed up! It's all my fault!" I blurted out.
" Whoa, slow down, Yuki. What's wrong? What's your fault?" Seto asked. His voice was calm and soothing. My heart rate slowed just listening to him. I wished feverishly that he could have been there with me, so he could wrap his strong arms around me. I would lean my head against his chest and let him make all my troubles go away.
" The boys!" I wailed. " I can't find them!"
" Calm down, Yuki. I'm sure they're just playing." Seto said. I could hear the sharp edge of fear push into his voice.
" They're not! The teacher says that three men in black suits showed up and took them! They said I sent them to pick the boys up!" I cried. There was a silence.
" Did you?" Seto asked finally.
" No!" I wailed back.
" Think hard. Are you sure?" Seto asked.
" I'm sure! Very sure!" I said, laughing somewhat hysterically. Seto let out a string of curse words nasty enough to put the dirtiest talker to shame. " You can say that again!" I cracked. My brain was gone. My heart was frantic. I was in no way in control of my body.
" Yuki, you stay there, okay? Don't move. I'm coming to get you. This has gone too far." Seto said. He was by no means finished with his cursing. He was still going as he hung up.
A few minutes later, Seto came by and picked me up, in a hysterical state of mind and blabbering unintelligibly, and drove me to Kaiba Corp. Once there, I was shocked to find Yugi, Anzu, Jounouchi, and Honda waiting.
" Would I be correct in assuming that this latest development means that we'll be taking the offense?" Yugi asked. A small smirk played on his lips.
" Offense my foot. You can make your own decisions, but Yuki and I are going in to hit them where it hurts the most and reclaim what is ours." Seto growled. I blabbered on, almost completely unaware of anything else. Quite suddenly, I felt a sharp sting in my chest. I shut up abruptly.
Knock off the yacking! Are you going to save them, or what? a hard voice asked. I reeled a little.
What can I do? I wailed. I'm the one that caused this whole mess! I didn't tell their teachers to ask for the ID! It's all my fault! I'll just screw things up worse. I cried. I felt another sharp sting in my chest.
Snap out of it! the voice snapped at me. I sniffled indignantly. You're tougher than this, I know it. So quit acting like a manic-depressant and go save your little brothers! the voice said.
Okay. I thought back softly. Himeko. I added. I felt her power flow into me. I knew then. Something about this situation was very different from anything normal. And very suddenly, I saw Himeko for what she truly was. Another person, another soul living in me. With startling clarity, I was able to distinguish her being from mine. And that realization sent me reeling into the depths of my own mind.
*+*+*
I had listened to Yuki blabbering long enough. I had snapped at her, and now I wondered at my own concern for her. Was she not just a carrier? Someone to carry me while I was inactive, a body for me to use? What had I done wrong? Yuki was just a transport, little more than something for me to use. Why had I grown so attached to her? When had I grown so attached to her? And with these thoughts, my own sense of being returned. Yuki was Yuki, and I was me. Two separate people. I was aware of her as she became aware of me, reeling away at her own realization.
Who are you? she sputtered. What's happening to me? she asked fearfully, sensing the changes her own body was undergoing as it transformed to suit me.
I'm Himeko. I said, more to myself than her. I am! I! I knew the meaning of the word! There was a me, and it had nothing to do with Yuki.
Himeko? How long have you been in my head? Yuki asked suspiciously. I strained to tell how much time had passed since I had taken up lodging here. Hadn't I always been here? No, that wasn't right. Then surely I had been here a very long time? That wasn't right either. I was still wrestling with the idea of being my own separate self. Then the memories came. The swarmed over me, engulfing me in their midst. I remembered with startling clarity. Yes, that was me… Him… I remembered him, I also missed him. Would I ever find him? He promised me… That's my name! Himeko… That's just a name for Yuki to call me. This isn't real. I was dead, and that realization nearly shattered me. Yes, I was merely a poor image of the person I had been, locked away for a millennia and called upon again to serve in a new war against the Shadow Games. I used to be called the Queen of Luck, with good reason. I hid my memories from Yuki. Better if she didn't know for now. Instead I opened my, no, her, no that's not right either, our eyes. Our eyes. Yuki slipped away from the controls of her body. She sensed my needs without thinking. I would help her get her brothers back, because that was my purpose here, the spirit of a dead person. To guide, help, and protect her. And now she needed me to control our body so that she could sort out her emotions. I looked at the handsome boy she called Seto. She was very attached to him. I wondered how she had maintained their friendship, with that handsome face and those intense eyes. I looked away quickly. The soul of a dead person has no reason to get crushes. Dead… How could I possibly be dead? I remembered everything so clearly. The agony, the sorrow, the desperation, but most of all, I remembered the anger. The pure and unharnessed rage I felt, the pure hatred of the one who had brought my demise about. I could picture my loved ones' faces so clearly, so perfectly. I could remember the exact way her hair framed her face, the exact way he would smile at me when I made a joke, the very way she laughed, and the very way he cried. Nothing had been able to save them, not me, not the power I had been granted, not even the supposedly all-powerful gods. I had loved them, loved them with my entire being, but my love was small and powerless against the darkness that surrounded us. They had died. We had died. Died for a lost cause, a cause that had died with us. The many years after our deaths were written in history that I had read from Yuki's memory. Our cause, our source of strength, had perished. Slowly. Slowly she had dwindled from the great reaches of a powerful empire that touched all the farthest and most exotic places into a little patch of sand in a desert no one but scientists and treasure-hunters cared about. Her death had been long and painful. Slowly I slipped into a state of hysteria. Yuki sensed my disruption and tried to take the controls of her body back, but I shoved her away.
Stay back! I snarled.
Himeko, give me back control! Yuki cried at me. I ignored her. I could hear and see again. I was in control of a living body. All I could see was an image of the girl I had been, and a miserable realization that that girl had died. I was dead. More importantly, everything I had every loved, everyone I had ever loved, was dead too. I was alone in a world I didn't even understand. The only thing that kept me company was Yuki's screams of protest, trapped by a stranger in her own head.
*+*+*
Yuki had collapsed onto a couch. She had finally stopped blathering on like a nut and sank down to the couch, her eyes glazed over. Kaiba kept tossing her nervous glances, but other than that, she was ignored. I was the only one that was concerned by the blank, empty look on her face. The look of a face that no one was controlling. Then, suddenly, her features molded a little. I could see the small orb around her neck glowing. Yami stirred in my heart, raising himself to a state of semi-consciousness so he could see what had grabbed my interest so suddenly. I snared him mentally and held him in his stupor of having just woken up. A harder Yuki stared out of empty eyes. A new, meaner looking Yuki. Then, with the rage and fury of a trapped animal, she screamed, ending it with a feral snarl. Her cold features were twisted into rage and madness. A madness I knew. The madness of someone who had realized something they dreaded. Yuki wasn't in control. Someone far more dangerous was ruling her body. Kaiba rushed toward her, but she tossed him aside like it was nothing. Yami was rising to full power, barely contained beneath my own consciousness.
Back off. he ordered me. I ignored him. Back off. I know how to deal with her. he told me. I paid him no heed until he threw me away from our bodily controls and took over. Yuki, or the person controlling her body, sensed the changes I underwent as Yami assumed control.
Everyone was watching. They gawked at Yuki. Quiet, humble, reserved Yuki had cracked. She had finally caved into the pressure and fear. And no one looked at her more fearfully than Kaiba. He stood from where he had fallen, staring at Yuki as though he was trying to figure something out. Yuki stared back at him. It bought us time, time to complete the change.
" Who are you?" Kaiba asked finally. Yuki's body jerked.
" I'm… Yuki." She said. Kaiba's face twisted angrily.
" You are not. I haven't got a clue who or what you are, but you're not Yuki." He growled. The girl stared at him sadly.
" I… don't know what I am. I don't know who I am." She murmured. At that exact moment, Yami completed his transformation and stepped toward her. Yuki paused to consider him.
" Don't be afraid." Yami murmured to her gently. Yuki glared at him.
" Stay away from me." She spat at him.
" You're not the girl who was born in that body." Yami whispered. He took another tentative step.
" I said stay away!" Yuki growled.
" You're out of control. I understand your anger and your fear. You have to give Yuki back her body." Yami said softly. He held out our hands, showing he meant no harm. I marveled at how well he knew everything she would do.
" You couldn't possibly understand." Yuki snarled at him.
" I understand. I'm just like you. We can learn why this has happened together. You have to calm yourself. Let Yuki take control. Go to sleep. Sleep, and the rest will sort itself out." Yami murmured comfortingly.
" I will not sleep! Stay back!" Yuki screamed.
" Sleep." Yami crooned. Slowly, Yuki's eyes seemed to droop.
" Yuki, the real Yuki, I know you hear me. Don't be afraid. You have to be firm with her. She's scared right now, and she can't control herself. Be firm, but gentle." Yami continued, ignoring Yuki's dying protests. Slowly, her features molded again, back into the Yuki I knew. Then, Yami retreated without another word. Yuki glanced around, her own natural softness having totally reemerged.
" Yuki?" Kaiba asked.
" Yes?" Yuki responded, just before she fell to the ground, consumed in slumber.
*+*+*
" She lost control. She went mad with rage and fear and despair. Think at from her point of view. She's in a world she doesn't understand, and she's just figured out she's actually dead. Exactly how would you feel?" Yugi asked, looking pointedly at me.
" Pretty mixed up?" Jounouchi volunteered.
" I'd be ready to break something." Anzu said.
" No kidding." Mai agreed. I glanced down at Yuki and smoothed her hair out.
" What about Yuki?" I asked.
" She's dealing the only way she knows how. The same way I dealt with it at first. She's shutting down all but her most essential bodily functions and sleeping until the storm dies down. If her body isn't awake, then there's nothing for the girl inside her to control." Yugi explained. I glanced down again at the girl in my arms, her head nestled against my chest. I hugged her tightly, afraid to let her go.
" How will she deal with it when she can't sleep anymore?" I asked. Yugi's shoulders slumped and his face fell.
" I don't know. Everyone deals with it different. Bakura pretends it never happened, for example. The only way to know how Yuki will deal with it is to wait and see." He said.
" How did you deal with it?" Anzu asked. Yugi looked up at her.
" The best way I could. It's hard to explain. The best way I know how to explain it is that we found a middle ground. A way that we both can be at least partially happy." Yugi told her.
" Will Yuki ever be able to be happy again?" I asked.
" That depends on her." Yugi said after a moment of silence. " And on the other girl." He added. Yuki's eyes fluttered open suddenly, and she looked up at me.
" Hmm? How long have I been asleep?" she asked, glancing around the room.
" A few hours." I told her, searching for something else to say. What could I say to her?
" Yuki, what do you remember?" Yugi asked quickly, cutting straight to the chase in a way I hadn't been able to.
" More than I'd like to. It's a little fuzzy, but I remember." Yuki told him, scooting closer to me involuntarily and cradling her head in her hands.
" How long has she been there? Inside you?" Yugi asked. Everyone gathered around and fell silent as Yuki thought about the question.
" It's hard to say. Not long, I think. I had a dream a few nights ago and I think that's when it started." She said finally.
" How can it be that hard to tell how long she's been there?" Honda asked irritably.
" It's hard." Yuki assured him. " It seemed like, for a while, she was… how can I put it… like she was a part of me. There was no distinction between the two of us, you know?" she said, looking at me again, checking to see if I understood. " And when we both realized there was a difference, that we were two different people, she went over the deep end."
" Yuki, this is important." Yugi said. Yuki turned to concentrate on him, unknowingly gripping my shirt. " Do you know why she went crazy on you?"
" She remembered something. Something she didn't want to remember. I knew she was going to do something crazy, but I couldn't control her." Yuki said, finally hiding her face against me. I let my lips turn into a small half smile. " That's right…" Yuki mumbled suddenly. " That's right. We have to save the boys." She said, jumping out of my arms and striding confidently toward the door. I followed her quickly.
*+*+*
" Out of all the things I've done, I've never ridden in a plane." Honda said, gripping the arm of his chair tightly. I laughed as Jounouchi hit him over the head with a magazine.
" You're pathetic. It's just like riding in a car, except much smoother." He said. Seto grinned next to me, hiding his face behind the newspaper he was reading.
" And there's the little fact that we're going to be thirty thousand feet up in the air." Honda added. Mai and Anzu combined forces and threw empty plastic cups at him.
" Shut up!" Anzu yelled. Honda ducked under the same magazine Jounouchi had hit him with.
" Play nice, children." Yugi intoned patronizingly.
" Shut your trap!" Honda growled.
" Now, that wasn't nice." I said, frowning playfully.
" This is your captain speaking. We will now be taking off." A voice over the intercom said calmly.
" Well, see? He doesn't sound worried at all, Honda." Mai said.
" That's what I pay him to do." Seto said.
" So in other words, he could be scared out of his mind and we wouldn't know it because he wants to keep his paycheck.' Honda said.
" He's a pilot, not an actor." Seto said.
" Buckle your seatbelt, Jounouchi!" Mai cried, reaching over him and hitting him with his seatbelt.
" Yes, Mai dear." Jounouchi growled.
" Got your seat in the upright position?" Mai asked. Jounouchi scowled at her.
" Yes, I do. I've ridden on a plane before, you know?" he told her. Mai grinned and patted his cheek.
" Well, someone's gotta look out for you, lil' Jou." She said. Jounouchi fumed at her.
" Ah! We're moving!" Honda cried.
" Pretend it's a car, Honda." I called comfortingly.
" It's a car, it's a car, it's a car… Yah! Why does it have to go so fast?!" he asked frantically.
" That's how it gets off the ground, Honda." Yugi said slowly.
" Off the ground?!" Honda cried.
" The car, Honda?" I asked.
" It's a car, it's a car… I don't even like riding in cars! Ah! We're off the ground!" Honda screamed.
" That's the general point of flying, Honda." Seto called. Our seats were a little away from the others. " How are you doing?" he asked me, tapping my shoulder to get my attention.
" As well as can be expected, I guess. I'm worried about them." I murmured softly. Seto patted my head and then grasped my hand.
" They'll be fine. They know we love them, and they know we'll come for them." He told me.
" But where do we start looking?" I asked him. Seto didn't say anything to me, instead looking away and giving me a non-committal grunt. That meant he either didn't have a clue or was playing a hunch and didn't want me to know either way. He liked to play it cool and make me think that he knew exactly what he was doing, when in reality he was as lost as the rest of us. I knew he did it to put me at ease.
" Hey," Seto whispered, taking my hand again and squeezing it. " You're sure you're okay?" he asked. I squeezed his hand back.
" Of course I'm sure." I reassured him, forcing a smile with no feeling behind it. Seto believed me almost as much as I believe myself. " Why do you ask?" I asked him.
" Because you're not yourself." Seto told me bluntly. I sighed and slumped into my seat, swallowing to make my ears pop as we climbed higher into the sky.
" I'll be okay." I told him. " It's just a little hard to deal with this all at once. Himeko, and the boys… Sometimes it seems like I'm going to blow up." I let my voice trail off. This was my reality, and I had to deal with it. No one ever said it would be fun or that I had to like it, but I did have to deal with it. And Himeko, as much as I tried to ignore her, was a part of my reality. To be honest, I was scared of her. Scared of her, all that she was capable of, and of the part of me she brought out, the darkness in my own soul she dragged into the light when she took control. I didn't trust her as I had trusted her when she had first come to me. I knew what she was capable of now, knew the unbelievable power that coursed through her veins. But I also knew her fear and desperation, her anger at something she could barely even comprehend in her current state. I understood it. Something stirred in my heart, and I strained to focus on it. I could vaguely sense Himeko there, sleeping peacefully. I was hardly able to find her, she had hid herself from me to protect me from a nervous breakdown. I wondered at her, wished I could talk to the girl who shared my heart and mind. But I dared not wake her, for fear she would try to get control. Her will had been like a tidal wave compared to a drop of water next to mine. I had been completely unable to withstand her will. I was afraid, and for the first time in my life I was afraid for myself. The very idea frightened me even more. I had to remember who I was fighting for. The ones who I loved.
I glanced at Seto, who had given up trying to concentrate on his newspaper and was looking absently out the window. I studied his profile carefully, memorizing every detail. My best friend in the whole world, the only one I dared to trust with the little boys whose lives I valued more than my own. I cared for him as much as I cared for them. And I would protect him, I vowed to myself silently. I will protect him from the evil I feel drawing closer by the minute.