A.S- Since everyone else is awake I can finally get some…Zzzzzz

Shiro- Here's chapter 12!

//…// = Yami talking to Yugi

/…/ = Yugi talking to Yami

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Chapter 12: The Past Revealed!

The gang (after both Shiro and Zeero woke up from their nap) continued to walk along the path and they were growing more tired by the minute.

"Man, isn't there anything to eat around here!?" yelled Joey.

"There's gotta be some food around here…"whined Tristan.

"Would you two think of something else besides food?!" asked Mai.

"Hey Shiro, is there a village nearby?" asked Yugi.

"No." said Shiro not looking at him.

"Hey! There's a town, it's just over that forest!" yelled Zeero looking down from the hill.

"Alright! Maybe we can get some food there!" said Joey.

"Or maybe a way out of here…"muttered Kaiba.

"What are we waiting for then?! Let's go!" said Tea.

Everyone rushed off except Shiro, he continued to stare down at the village for a moment and then trudged off the opposite direction.

"Hey Shiro, you're heading in the wrong direction!" yelled Akio running up the hill again.

"There's no way I'm going there!" muttered Shiro his eyes narrowing.

"Why not?" asked Yugi.

"I'm just not going there! You all can go on without me…"

"Shiro, you've been acting real weird lately," said Katana.

"Is something wrong?" asked Hoshi looking up at him.

"No, I'm fine…just fine."

Shiro stared at the ground for a while, then he raced off and disappeared into the shadows.

/Wonder what's with him…/

//I told you that there's more to him than what meets the eye.//

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Don't worry about Shiro, he's always running off on his own. He'll be back sooner or later." said Akio.

Just then a boy about Shiro's age jumped out of the bushed in front of Zeero. Zeero fainted from fright right away.

"What kind of joke is this?! Demons aren't suppose to faint like that!" he said sweat dropping.

"Who're you?" asked Mai.

"I'm Daichi. The warrior priest of Seiza."

"Seiza?"

"The town just over there, I'm suppose to protect the village from demons, but this is ridiculous!"

"You would have to find another demon to fight, Zeero is too much of a coward to do anything," said Akio shaking the fox so hard it woke him up.

"I sensed that there were eleven souls coming this way, what happened to your other companion?"

"Shiro, he ran off somewhere."

"Did you say, Shiro?"

"Yeah, why?"

"If you continue to head up north you'll see the village, a friend of Shiro is a friend of mine."

Before they could ask any questions Daichi had run off.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Shiro was in some sort of cherry blossom garden now. He closed his eyes as the petals flew down to him.

"Here you are! I was wondering when you would return!"

Shiro turned to see Daichi on a tree branch.

"What are you doing here, Daichi?" asked Shiro coldly.

"Is that any way to greet an old friend? Come on Shiro! It's been at least one year since we have last meet! Can't you at least say hello?"

"…"

"Come on, you should come back to our village! Things have changed since you've left…"

"You mean exiled."

"Come on, that old priest was just crazy. You can come back now!"

"I can't…"

"Why?"

"I…I…"

"Come on! Just for today! Stay for a while. If you convince the new village elder that you're not dangerous then you can stay here again."

"You know better than anyone that I can't They'll keep on hunting me until I either join them or perish!"

"But…"

"I don't want to get anyone hurt!"

Daichi jumped down from the tree and blocked Shiro from the exit.

"You're not going anywhere! Come on Shiro! Don't be so stubborn. Just for one day! That's all I ask!"

"You're not going to stop pestering me until I say yes aren't you?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright then, lead the way…"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Joey and Tristan were shoving food down their mouths and Zeero was drinking a whole bottle of SAKE every twenty seconds. The rest of the gang were all staring at them, Zeero then started to bounce around all over the place until Katana got out the ol' trusty mallet and wham! Ahem…clamed Zeero down.

"I can't believe that Shiro's missing out on all of the free food!" said Joey stuffing more food into his mouth.

"Yeah! This stuff's great!" added Tristan.

Yugi sighed and looked out the window.

"Hey! It's that priest we met in the forest! And isn't that Shiro talking with him!?" asked Yugi.

The gang clamored over to the window and stared outside. Sure enough there was Shiro talking to the priest as though they were old friends. They snuck out of the restaurant and followed behind them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You're right, a lot has changed since I left…"

"So Shiro, are you glad to be home?"

"Not really…"

"Is this about what happened a year ago?"

"I still can't believe it! They killed her right in front of my eyes! My cursed eyes!"

"It's not your fault man. There was nothing you could have done…"

"I'm cursed Daichi, all because of my human and demon's blood. But the eyes, the color amber was the color of destiny. The destiny of darkness or the destiny of light. I guess my destiny is darkness…"

"Listen Shiro, remember what you told me years ago. You told me a person can always change their destiny! Every choice they make effects their destiny! So when there's darkness all around you look for the inner light!"

"Those lessons seemed to have paid off…"

"I guess…"

"Thanks for the talk, and it seems to me that we have a group of eavesdroppers…"

Busted! thought the gang.

"We know you'll are there! Come out already." said Shiro.

The gang slowly came out of the bushes, all of them except Zeero. Think tree, I'm a tree! thought the fox holding up two tree branches.

"Cut that out Zeero, you're not fooling anyone." said Shiro.

"Who's Zeero? I'm a tree," replied Zeero.

Shiro knocked Zeero on the head to get some sense into his brain.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Shiro opened the door to the temple. He had told the group that he needed to be alone so that he could remember his mother in peace. The room was full of memories, but most of them were the ones when his mother had died in this very room. He let out a sigh, then, something wasn't right. He turned around to face the shadows, an old man stepped out of them.

"You must be Shiro, right?" he asked.

"Yeah…"

"Since I remembered you are then maybe you know who I am."

"…"

"Oh yes, you haven't seen me in this form!"

Slowly the old man transformed into…

"You again! What are you doing here Kemuri!?" shouted Shiro.

"To get what I came for!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Shiro has been gone for a while, maybe we should go check on him…" said Tea.

"I go," volunteered Yugi. He climbed up the stairs and slid open the door.

"Yugi! Run!" shouted Shiro who was tied upside down at the moment.

"Huh?!" Yugi looked up and jumped out of the way before Kemuri managed to get a hold of him.

"Get out of here!" yelled Shiro.

"What the?!" said Daichi when he heard the commotion. The gang rushed up to see what was going on.

"The fun's just beginning!" cackled Kemuri.

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Next Time on Heart of a Demon- Daichi here, well Kemuri is a friendly fighter, being half spider demon and half wind demon he's going to be hard to beat! He works for the Demon Queen and she's offered him Planet Earth if he can capture Shiro for her. What's the deal with the thing he calls the Gateway To Destruction anyways? Next time: Chapter 13- The Gateway to Destruction. See ya soon!

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A.S- I'm done! Hope you enjoy it! Click on my name to read my other fanfics!

Shiro- Please R&R!