Angel: Chapter seven will be *relatively* short cuz I want to get this story moving and once Duel Monsters gets involved, then we know we've got something. I am still listening to A*Teens.
Yugi (ears plugged): WHAT WAS THAT?!
Angel: I SAID I'M STILL LISTENING TO A*TEENS!!!
Yami: WE NOTICED!!!
I have just been informed that the yamis and hikaris do not call each other "Yami" and "Hikar," rather they call them "mou hitori no boku/ore" which literally means "the other me." (Ore is a ruder form of boku, which means "me" - nearly everyone says ore except for Yugi and Bakura). I am not, however, going to change this for the story. And I am not going to correct their ages (I KNOW THEY SHOULD BE IN ELEVENTH GRADE BY NOW!!! I just prefer the age of 15).
Disclaimer: I only own one thing: my yellow bucket hat (Kit's is blue). Kit asks me to ask you readers to read her latest fanfic, Got a Question? Kit has an Answer! She needs more reviews in order to start chap 2 (reason why explained in chap 1). So.... ONEGAI???
I'm rereading some chapters to make sure I didn't mess anything up. I didn't, but I must apologize for all the typos. *sigh* You know how it is.
Today's chapter is called Yami Musouka, Dark Dreamer. Gee, I have no IDEA who that is, do you? *grumbles*
To Fyedra: Thank you for the cookies and Ryou plushie! *hugs plushie* I luv feedback! Ok, to answer your questions: Kerihk is spelt... well... Kerihk. Sorry if I messed up in the past chapters here and there. Oh, and Hikaru's item is the Millennium PENDANT, not Amulet, although that is an awesome word I had forgotten about (the same goes for "medallion" ^-^), I'll have to think of some way to use it. -_~ I liked your suggestion for the list of Millennium Items and bearers, so I will do that now every chapter as a reminder, but I won't include Malik, Isis, or Shaadi cuz they don't get involved till book 2. I can't write the definitions right after I write the jap phrases because that messes up my writing technique and I find it makes the story tedious. So just bear with me, there aren't that many of them and they're not that hard to figure out. Thanx for reviewing! ~Angel
To Crystalia: Thanks so much for your sympathy! I can't believe I've only got 11 reviews either... not that I'm trying to brag, I've just been working really, really hard on this story and need more support. On my old fanfic, Little Hope, I had at least 15 reviews by the 7th chapter. :-( Thanks for recommending this story in your own, "Blood of the Innocent"! That will help with popularity, methinks (or, mehopes). I promise I'll add more Yugi and Yami, but I thought the past two chapters had a lot of them, iie? Didn't they? I'll try to post faster! I will, really! I've just got so much to say and so little time... and I'm wasting it making excuses. If you'll excuse me, I've gotta go write! ~Angel
Everyone has poor Yami's personality confused! *sobs* He's tough in his duels, but didja hear what he said in the last Mai vs. Yugi episode? He's really so gentle and sweet! SO STOP WRITING FANFICS IN WHICH HE'S THIS BIG ARROGANT IDIOT WHO IS INDIFFERENT TO EVERYTHING BUT DUELING! HE'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!
ANNOUNCEMENT: We have finally reached 100 pages! Thank you, thank you!
"When you turn around... all the tears will dry... whatever was lost will be found... in the blink of an eye! When you're losing ground... hold your head up high... whatever was lost will be found... in the blink of an eye!" - In the Blink of an Aye: A*Teens "Pop 'til you Drop!"
1. Yami 2. Hikari 3. Millennium Item 4. Yami's Power 5. Hikari's Power 6. Item's Power 7. Color
1. Yugioh (I'm not doing all the dashes, and yes that's his real name - Yami's just a nickname cuz he... well... he prefers it over Yugioh) 2. Yugi Muto 3. Puzzle 4. Erm... I just call his power the "Power of the Millennium Seal" as in the signature, not the animal 5. Golden Detonation Beam (corny name, I know, and it's not his true power, but... well, you'll see) 6. Sends people to the Shadow Realm, does weird things, activates at Yami's will or Yugi's emotions 7. Yellow
1. Kerihk 2. Ryou Bakura 3. Ring (it should have been the Millennium Dream Catcher ^-^) 4. ESP 5. ESP and something else... What is it? It's a secret! *mwahaha* 6. Opens portals to the Shadow Realm, can detect other Millennium Items, can combine them (how? you'll see....), and anything else I decide it can do (with author powers!) 7. White (how ironic)
1. Kiara 2. Hikaru Daichi 3. Pendant (not Amulet) 4. Flight 5. Eh... the light in the night? I dunno what to call Hikaru's power yet... 6. Makes light in darkness, senses when others are in trouble 7. Pink
1. Setsuna 2. Ai Itsuko (her initials spell her name: A.I.!) 3. Mirror 4. Super-strength 5. Also superstrength, sometimes called the "Power of Love" cuz not only does "Ai" mean "love," but she can only use her superstrength when she's fighting for someone she loves 6. Shows other Item Bearers, shows foes, can reverse magic but it is dangerous to use it to get out of another realm cuz you might end up somewhere between the Real World and the Shadow Realm - in other words you're lost 7. Red (in Egypt red signifies evil but Setsuna and Ai are not evil so I'm using it to signify the American way - love)
1. Ahmose 2. Takehiko Midori 3. Sword 4. Fire 5. Flame (how original) 6. Gets you out of sticky situations (I guess), makes the bearer an expert fighter when he uses it 7. Orange
1. Ay 2. Dajan Hada 3. Key 4. Water 5. Eh, water as well 6. Unlocks any lock 7. Light Blue
1. Himoko 2. Misaki Hikawa 3. Spoon 4. Healing 5. Healing (no duh) 6. Stops time 7. Navy
1. Taidu 2. Tali Takada 3. Broach 4. Of neither world, acts as a go-betweener for the... um... fates? 5. Pretty much just a peacemaker 6. Taps into almost inaccessible magic 7. Green
1. Zhur 2. Pegasus J. Crawford (Pegasus J. Crawford) 3. Eye 4. Wouldn't you like to know 5. Like I'd tell you 6. Captures people's souls and a lot of other stuff that I don't feel like telling you 7. Shadowy Gray
FAQ (I just had to add that) -
" " - talking
' ' - thinking
/ - Any Hikari talking to his or her Yami in his or her mind
// - Any Yami talking to his or her Hikari in his or her mind
Hikari No Yuugi
Play of Light
by Angel
Chapter Seven Part One: Yami Musouka
Dark Dreamer
Kiara scanned the skies, searching for any sign of where they were. All around her was green valley and many cliffs jutting out of the hilly land. A long river separated the island from the rest of the Kingdom. Kiara frowned and circled around the area one more time. There didn't appear to be any way off of it.
"From what I could tell, we're still in Duelist Kingdom," Kiara said as she landed and made her wings disappear. "We must have landed on a different island, though. That castle is huge but I couldn't see it anywhere when I flying. It was supposed to be within sight from the air where we were supposed to land."
"That means we must have drifted towards the west of our determined stop," Yami said.
The hikaris listened to the conversation going on before them in silence, every now and then exchanging a glance of confusion or worry with one of their team members. Finally Ai got up the nerve to ask, "So, what do we do now?"
Taidu sighed and shook her head, thinking. At last she replied, "I suppose we have to find a different way to Duelist Kingdom. Our old route didn't work out so well."
"If we had taken MY way, this wouldn't have happened," Yugi hissed, disgruntled. He glared at his Millennium Puzzle. He wasn't really angry, but he was very frustrated with the situation.
Hikaru and Ai looked at each other. 'Maybe Yugi is right,' Hikaru thought. 'Maybe we should have taken the Duelist Kingdom route after all...'
"Did you see any way off this island from the sky, Kiara?" Misaki asked.
Kiara didn't answer at first, but simply stared at Misaki, as if surprise to be addressed by a hikari not her own. Then she frowned thoughtfully and replied, "There's a river near another part of the Kingdom, a bigger portion probably much close to the castle than this. But we would have to build a raft or something to cross the river. It's wide and it may be rough; not being an eagle, I couldn't tell if there were rapids or not."
"It's settled then," Taidu nodded, as if agreeing with Kiara. "We will journey to the river and cross it on a raft or whatever type of float we can come up with. We should go now, Iakara will not wait idly by when she learns we survived her storm."
The others nodded and gathered up the rations that had survived the crash. Then they trooped off together, walking in two lines, one of yamis and the Kaibas, the other of hikaris and the Fujishimas. The green grass was soft and easy to walk on but there were many hills and slopes which were obstacles in their way. Eventually Kaiba and Ro lifted Mokuba and Makimura up on their shoulders and carried them the rest of the way. Yugi found himself a walking stick and all the hikaris began to lean against one another for support. It was a slow way to walk but it caused much laughter and kept the group light-hearted despite their hardships.
***
Keikeru Katsura shifted the grocery bags to his right shoulder just as the left one began to fall asleep. He wiped sweat off his brow and ran his fingers through his dirty-brown hair. It sure was hot. He felt sorry for Hikaru, who was supposedly "camping" in this heat.
Someone came walking past the nineteen-year-old and accidentally knocked into him, causing the bags to fall out of his arms and land on the street. "Oh no..." he groaned, bending down to clean up the mess.
"Yare!" exclaimed the girl who had bumped into Keikeru. "Sumimasen, I didn't see you! Here - let me help." She bent down and began picking up the groceries along with Keikeru.
"Thank -" Keikeru stopped in mid-sentence when his gaze traveled to her bright blue eyes. Her long black hair flowed like a river over her shoulders and dangling from her neck on a chain was a silver bell. "KAMUI?"
Kamui Tsumura giggled and covered her smile. "I was wondering when you would notice me."
The two of them brought the groceries back to Keikeru's house and the boy invited her to stay for a while. While pouring tea for the two of them, Keikeru asked if Kamui had heard about the disappearances of Katsuya Jonouchi, Tetsuya Gotoh, Hiroto Honda, Ryoku Saito, Anzu Mazaki, and Naoko Takaya.
"Yes," Kamui admitted. "I had heard something about that."
"It doesn't make sense how they would all disappear together in one night, and the next day my little sister and her friends would go 'camping'," Keikeru murmured. "Especially since Hikaru was really good friends with three of those kids. If I know my sister, she would never get over this sort of thing so quickly."
'If I know Keikeru,' Kamui thought, 'he already senses danger in the air with his sixth sense. Maybe I should tell him what I've been up to.'
"Do you remember when we first met?" she asked aloud.
Keikeru nodded, surprised at the question. "How could I forget? Before you left for Hong Kong, you came to Okinawa for a little while to visit the chief priest of the Monma Shrine (a/n: I doubt there is any such shrine, I made it up). We met at a festival at the shrine that Tali I brought Hikaru and her friends to."
"Right," Kamui nodded. "We got to know each other right away because we could both sense the other had the sixth sense. The power to see into the spirit realm. We could understand each other. We still can." She smiled at Keikeru.
"Yeah right."
Kamui's smile quickly turned to a frown at the tone of Keikeru's voice. He shoved a tea cup into her hands and sat down across from her, sipping from his own cup. Finally he said, "If we could understand each other so well, how come we broke up?"
"Keikeru -"
"I loved you, Kamui. I still haven't gotten over you. Why did you do it? Why did you tell me it was over?"
"It looks to me like you've gotten over it! You've gotten yourself a new girlfriend already!"
"Who, Tali? She's not my girlfriend! Her father is a friend of Dad's! Besides, she's two years younger than me and still in school. And that doesn't answer my question."
"I'm getting to that!"
Kamui was a student teacher. Mysterious, beautiful, and relatively serene. Yet she was human, and only nineteen. If Keikeru thought it hadn't hurt her when they broke up as much as it had hurt him, he was badly mistaken.
She took a deep breath. Actually it felt good to finally be telling someone this. "That day, before we broke up, I was already packing for my trip to Hong Kong. You knew it would only be a short while for us, Keikeru, but that's besides the point. Anyway, the chief priest, Yoshiyuki Nekoi, called for me in the inner shrine. When I arrived he introduced me to a man from Egypt called Shaadi, who showed me this very strange silver bell. Shaadi said is called 'Lyra.' He told me it is one of thirteen bell from Ancient Egypt (a/n: no, it is NOT another Millennium Item!) and was brought to Japan by to rid the world of an ancient curse. He gave it to me as a parting gift - meaning I was the one to break the curse." She dangled the bell around her neck in front of Keikeru's face. "After holding the bell for a few minutes, I finally gave it a ring. As soon as its sound reached my ears, I knew that one day it's power would be needed to defeat a great evil - the curse - one intent on destroying the bearers of the Millennium Items. When the great evil curse was released, then I would ring the silver bell. Of course, I had no idea what a Millennium Item was back then, so this didn't make much sense to me, and I wondered how I would know when - and where - to ring the bell. Then one sentence flowed through my mind: 'The ring will tell.' I thought it meant the ring of the bell, so I rang it over and over again. I couldn't figure it out, but I knew finding the great evil would be a terrible and dangerous job for me..."
Tears glistened in her baby blue eyes as she continued. "That is why I broke up with you, Keikeru-kun. I didn't want to endanger you with my mission. And now, It's almost time for my part. As I said, I thought 'the ring will tell' meant the ring of the bell. I was wrong. The 'ring' was brought to me only a few days ago... by my own stepbrother! That's how I knew it was time. That sentence had meant the Millennium Ring, a Millennium Item like the Pendant your sister has." Of course Keikeru knew all about the Millennium Items, but he was surprised to hear that Kamui's stepbrother Ryou had one as well. "A girl named Ai Itsuko called both you and me to tell us that our younger siblings are going 'camping', iie? She... she was lying. They've gone to Duelist Kingdom to track down the disappearing kids."
Keikeru gaped at Kamui. He couldn't speak. Kamui had this magical bell... his innocent little sister was in perilous Duelist Kingdom... and he hadn't known any of it. Finally he stuttered out, "So... what're you going to do about it?"
Kamui gave Keikeru a gentle smile. "The bearers of the powerful Millennium Items must go on this journey to discover themselves, their pasts, their futures. But I must join them for a little while, if only to destroy the curse, the great evil."
"Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?"
"After the bell Lyra is rung when the curse is unleashed, it will break, never to be used again. Until then, I seem to bear unlimited power, including... teleportation."
Kamui stood up. "Farewell, my love," she said, and prepared to ring the bell.
Keikeru desperately scrambled to his feet. "Wait! Take me with you, please!" he begged.
"This is why I didn't tell you of my plight in the first place," Kamui frowned. "I cannot take you with you, if only to keep you safe."
"In the meantime, who will keep you safe?"
"Good-bye, Keikeru-kun."
"KAMUI!"
It was too late. She rang Lyra, and a gigantic gust of wind blew out of nowhere to transport her to Duelist Kingdom. The last words Kamui Tsumura heard before she was caught up in the tornado of wind was the cry of Keikeru Katsura, "Aishiteru, koibito!"
She smiled in relief. "Aishiteru, koibito."
And then she was there.
(A/N: OK, it is now 11:30 p.m. on the dot so I've got to get some sleep. I'll be back, but what am I going to do when school starts tomorrow? Eighth grade is no picnic!)
***
"WAHOO! WE'RE HERE!"
"Takehiko, slow down! Honestly, hikari..."
"That's a beautiful river."
"Forget the river! Check out all the pretty flowers!"
Hikaru ran down the grassy hillside in sheer delight, laughing and twirling among the flowers. The other hikaris smiled and made their way to the bottom, Takehiko and Dajan in the lead being chased by their yamis. The Kaibas and the Fujishimas sat down where they were, the older ones lying on the grass and the younger two by their sides.
The other yamis stopped at the top of the hill and watched the young ones scream and tumble down into the gorge, laughing merrily.
"They're having a good time," Himoko observed with a smile. "You know, we've been doing a lot of walking... this is really hard on them, and especially on Mokuba and Makimura. Maybe we should take a break before crossing the river."
Taidu looked at her like she was insane and made a move to speak but was cut off by Ahmose. "That's a good idea," he said, forming a fire ball in his hand. "And I'll make a fire so we can grill Takehiko's so-called 'hot dogs.' We might as well eat the perishable food while we've got the time. I doubt the meat will last until we reach Pegasus's castle."
"I won't eat it," Setsuna said with a toss of her hair. "Ai told me hot dogs are made from pork. I'm not allowed to eat pork."
"You're not?" Ai asked, trotting up the hill when she heard her yami's statement.
"'Course not. I'm Jewish."
Old habits die hard.
"Oh, right. Well, you can have salad. That is, if the tomatoes aren't all squashed..."
Yami had his arms wrapped around Kiara in a brotherly fashion as he listened to the discussion. He was smiling serenely, a look he had never used in public before he and Kiara had been reunited (only Yugi had been treated to this look occasionally). He whispered something in her ear and Kiara mumbled something softly in reply as she stroked her braid.
Taidu frowned at the two. Where was their sense of responsibility? They had to focus on the task at hand! The longer they put off building the raft, the more chance there would be that Iakara would catch up with them, and this time with reinforcements.
Ai ran down the hillside to tell the other hikaris that it was time to eat. In response Dajan pointed at the sun and said it was almost set, they should be sleeping, not eating! He and Takehiko got into a fight because Takehiko wanted to eat and if Dajan wasn't hungry, he'd willingly take his share. Their yamis sighed and rushes down the hillside to stop their alter-egos from losing their voices.
Soon the sky was covered in a dark blanket of night, but a roaring fire kept the crew warm. They huddled around it roasting their hot dogs on sticks and trying not to drop them in the cinders. Tali commented that it was just like a Girl Scout encampment.
"If it were a Girl Scout encampment, we boys wouldn't be here," Yugi chuckled, the reflection of the flames flickering on his face.
"Well, we did tell our families that we've gone camping," Ai added as she bit into her hot dog.
Hikaru gave her hot dog the Evil Eye. "I've never eaten a plain hot dog. I always put ketchup on them."
"Eww! I could never eat ketchup on meat, I always use mustard."
"Do you put tomato sauce on meatballs, Misaki?"
"Yes..."
"Ketchup's made from tomatoes too, so it's not that disgusting, is it?"
"Yes!"
"I like my hot dogs with hot peppers and relish," Takehiko said dreamily, licking his lips. Dajan made a face and said he only ate hot dogs plain.
Ro was rummaging through the rations, trying to see if they had packed mustard after all (Makimura was a picky eater and wouldn't eat her hot dog without mustard). Kaiba nudged him and whispered something in his ear. Ro grinned and brought the plain hot dog back to Makimura.
"Imoutosan," Ro said, displaying the hot dog in front of her face, "this is a magic hot dog. If you eat it, you and I will always be together. But the magic only works if you eat it plain."
Makimura took the hot dog and looked at it doubtfully. "You sure, nii-sama?"
"Positive."
"OK, then."
Kaiba and Ro exchanged a glance when Makimura gobbled it up and Mokuba immediately followed her example, and grinned through fits of silent laughter.
The yamis were debating whether or not they wanted to try the hot dogs. Setsuna had, of course, turned them down flat, but she was still considering whether she wanted to eat anything else. Technically, the yamis didn't need to eat as they were dead (a/n: pardon my bluntness), but that didn't mean they couldn't eat if they wanted to, did it?
Yami picked up a hot dog roll and dangled it in front of his face. He waved it before him and said it looked like a slug. Yugi laughed through his glass of water and choked on it before falling over in hysterics.
"What's so funny?" Yami asked, tearing the roll into little shreds.
Yugi could only laugh and point. Finally Yami got up the courage to eat the roll, and he remarked that it was nothing special, it just tasted like bread.
"That's what it IS," Yugi giggled.
Setsuna was now chewing on some celery sticks and carrots. Himoko joined her in this. Kiara was eating her hot dog placidly as Taidu lectured her on being willing to eat anything anybody hands her ("You're too trusting! What if you had an allergic reaction to those wretched 'hot dogs'? They don't even look like dogs! How can you trust them?"). Ahmose and Ay were daring each other to eat the hot dogs; finally Ahmose gave in, but he roasted the hot dog using his own fire power and burned it to a crisp.
"Oh well, you have to eat it anyway!" Ay sang, jumping around in jubilee.
Ahmose frowned and shoved the mutated hot dog into his mouth. He chewed it for a few moments, and his face twisted into a disgusted frown. He swallowed and exclaimed, much to the delight of the others (especially Ay), "BLEHHHH!!! THAT TASTES TERRIBLE!"
/If you hadn't burnt it, it wouldn't have tasted so bad,/ Takehiko responded through their mental link as he laughed out loud.
//Oh, what do you know!//
/A lot more about hot dogs than you!/
"Where's Kerihk?" Bakura said suddenly. He had two hot dogs in his hands, both expertly grilled.
"I don't know. Are you going to eat both of those?" asked Dajan.
"Actually I was going to see if mou hitori no boku wanted one," Bakura answered (a/n: I told you that phrase would come in handy!).
"I'll help you find him," Dajan said. The two wandered off together looking for the other silver-haired one.
Yugi leaned back after finishing his hot dog, watching Bakura and Dajan disappear behind some trees. The silver moon reflected on the water of the wide river. Waves lapped on the cool sand and crabs scurried around along the shore. He closed his eyes.
"Guys, it's late. We should sleep now," Misaki said when she noticed Makimura yawn.
"I agree," Ai said. "Thank you for setting up all our sleeping bags, Seto, Ro."
Kaiba and Ro nodded. Everyone then went off to their own sleeping bags; everyone, that is, but Yugi. He wandered off to the grassy area by the river banks and laid on his back, gazing at the stars. The cool night air kissed his skin, a gentle breeze blew his hair out of his face.
"Jonouchi..." Yugi murmured, a worried look on his face. 'I wonder if he's okay. Are he and the others being taken care of? If anything happens... to Jonouchi and the others... Anzu... Honda... Naoko... Gotoh... and Saito... I wish...'
"Wish what?"
Yugi gasped and whirled around. Hikaru was staring at him, arms crossed, a benign smile on her lips.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," she said, blushing slightly.
"Oh, no problem," Yugi said, turning redder than she. "I didn't realize I was speaking out loud."
"What were you thinking about? I mean... what do you wish?"
Yugi looked at the ground, wearing a soft smile. "I was thinking about... the sun up in the sky, the laughter in the rain, the lights in the dark..."
"The hearts of two together, the mercy of the sea after a storm, the smile lit by candles," Hikaru continued.
"You know it?"
"I've always loved Yuriko Tokita's poetry. 'Blessings' is one of my favorites."
"Anzu loves it too."
"Yes... I know. We go to the same theatre arts class. She recited 'Blessings' as a monologue once."
"I understand."
Hikaru looked up. "Understand what?"
Yugi didn't answer. There was something flickering in his eyes, a passion, a faith. He would save them. If only it had been him instead...
"It should have been me."
"No. Don't say that."
"They didn't deserve to be taken."
"No one does. Not you either."
"Hikaru..."
"Yugi, surrendering won't solve anything."
"Who said I was -"
"Death is giving up. Death is alone. No one should be alone. You said so yourself... remember?"
~"NO! I'll never let you go! We're a team! One for all and all for one! We've GOT to hold together, it's our DESTINY to be together! We can't do this alone! NO ONE should be alone! Remember our promise? We'll always be there for each other! I WON'T LET YOU DOWN!"~
"You wouldn't surrender. That's how you saved Ryou-chan and me." Hikaru sat by Yugi and took his hand. "Thank you. And we won't let you down either. We ARE a team."
Tears pricked the back of Yugi's eyes. "If we fail..."
"If we die, we will die without surrendering. I will fight. I don't agree with it, but I will."
"There's almost zip chance we'll live to raise our own families now. It's so risky."
"Almost zip. Those are your yami's words, not yours. Yamis can be so gloomy and unhopeful. We can make it if we believe we can." She laughed. "Besides, I've already got a list of names for children if I ever marry and have them. I can't give up now! I want to bring new faces into the world, it's a dream for me!"
Yugi smiled. "I've already picked out the name for my daughter if I have one," he said.
"Really? What is it?"
Yugi's violet eyes danced with Hikaru's lavender orbs. It was so simple to him. "Her name would be... Sakura."
Hikaru looked surprised, almost amused. "Sakura? Why Sakura?"
Once again Yugi didn't give her a straight answer. (A/N: man, is he OOC or what? :-3)
"Sakura because... of Sakura."
Hikaru gave him a quizzical look. Before she could question him further, Kiara's voice rang out, "Hikari, aibyou, come get some sleep. You'll need your energy for tomorrow. You too, Yugi."
Yugi hopped to his feet brightly, acting as if they had never had their discreet conversation. He clapped Hikaru on the shoulder. "She's right, you know. Let's go."
"Mmm."
And together they went, thinking of the sun in the sky, laughter in the rain, lights in the dark...
***
(A/N: Eeks... forget about this being short. It's already ten pages. I HAVE TO DO IT IN 2 PARTS AGAIN! Part two will be uploaded simultaneously. Gomen minna-san!)
The blue-haired boy looked around, smelling the air around the river, his jade green eyes taking in everything. "I don't see your yami anywhere, Bakura," he said was a shrug.
Bakura sighed and stared at the hot dog that had been for Kerihk. Then he dropped it in the sand. "Maa, naa. Guess if he wanted something he would have come to get it. But he won't answer me through our mental link so I have no clue where he is..."
Dajan clapped a hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. These things take time. Besides, I know you've got other things on your mind."
The two boys locked eyes. Bakura found himself astonished that Dajan had realized he'd been thinking about that dream.
"Why is it coming only to you?" Dajan wondered aloud.
Sighing again, Bakura answered, "I don't know. But it's making me nuts. I just don't know what to make of it, and the weirdest thing is..."
"What?"
"This river, the cliff beside it, the rock steps leading to that boulder in the middle of the water... it's just like the scene in which my dream takes place."
"Freaky," Dajan murmured, running his fingers through is hair. "But we'll figure out what's going on with you. We just need a little more time which unfortunately we don't have a lot of."
Bakura smiled. "You know who you remind me of? Honda-kun."
"Honda? Really?"
"Yeah, you're both really logical people and very observant. You figure things out before the rest of us but keep your cool anyway."
Dajan hopped out on to one of the rocks leading to the giant bolder in the stream. He took a breath of the night air. "It's getting foggy out," he said, looking at Bakura with deep admiration. 'I've never met anyone like him, or the others,' Dajan thought. 'I never really believed friends could get as close as brothers. Maybe I was wrong.'
Bakura followed Dajan out to the boulder. "You're right," he said as they both landed on the rock. "The clouds are thickening." Sure enough, they could hardly see the land from the fog now clouding their vision. Shivering, Bakura continued, "It's getting chilly too. Let's go back."
"Y-Yeah. Right behind you."
Suddenly a great gust of wind blew their hair in their faces. Dajan planted his feet more firmly into the rock and looked forward to see how Bakura was doing.
The silver-haired boy was standing stiffly, seeming to be in a trance. Dajan began to yell to him if he was all right, but at that moment three birds emerged from the sky, one black, one white, one purple. They appeared to be fighting with each other, and Bakura seemed captivated by them. All at once the three birds soared down in front of his face, ignoring the bewildered Dajan; their only interest was the bearer of the Millennium Ring.
~*~Anaiyu, Oleu, Niku...~*~
The white one dove closest to Bakura, its eyes seeming to beg him for something. Bakura reached out and stroked its pure white wings, wearing a glazed look.
"Do you want me for something?" he asked quietly.
Hardly were the words out of his mouth when all three birds took off into the sky in V formation. /Oh no.../ he groaned inwardly, accidentally letting his thoughts slip through his mental link to Kerihk.
"Bakura, what's going on? Ah -"
Dajan was cut off as white ribbons shot smoothly out of the water and wrapped around the two boys' legs. Dajan screamed and sucked in his breath as the ribbons pulled Bakura and himself into the water deeps.
***
Kerihk jumped from his hiding place in the treetops near the river when he heard his hikari's thoughts. He had been watching Bakura and Dajan as they searched for him along the shore, but chose not to show himself. He had gotten a bit worried when the fog enshrouded the two boys, but he hadn't become genuinely concerned until Bakura's thoughts of /Oh no.../ reached his mind.
Kerihk dashed along the shore, searching for any sign of his hikari. He made a face when he accidentally trodden on the sandy hot dog Bakura had dropped earlier. Stopping to shake mustard off his shoe, he noticed something in the water.
Two white ribbons were protruding from the surface, dangling around in mid air. They grabbed on to something and Dajan's voice let out a yell. Kerihk saw his hikari for a split second before they were engulfed by the cold river water.
"BAKURA!" Kerihk screamed. "Answer me, baka hikari!"
When there was no reply, the angered yami only got more fearful. WHERE had he GONE?
"Kerihk!"
Ay's voice sounded in Kerihk's ears. He whipped around and glared at his fellow yami. "Bakura and Dajan are gone," he said when Ay reached him.
Panting, Ay answered, "I know. Dajan just told me through our mental link that he and Bakura are okay, they're under water but they can breathe somehow."
Kerihk's deep amber eyes widened. "How? Duelist Kingdom isn't a magic haven like Egypt was or even Ryúnade, it's just a group of islands."
"But there are entrances to the Shadow Realm," Ay queried.
Kerihk was silent. If Bakura and Dajan had entered the Shadow Realm all on their own, they were in big trouble.
//Bakura, you are SO going to get it when I get ahold of you.//
/.../
//Bakura?//
/.../
//Aibyou? Answer me, for Ra's sake!//
Kerihk gripped his Millennium Ring and allowed his mind to enter his soul room. He tripped over a rock on the floor as soon as he took off for the "Hall of Colors." Quickly leaping to his feet, he rushed to the hall and pulled open the door.
Kerihk gasped at what he saw. The room wasn't any of the normal colors, nor was it rainbow indicating Bakura was asleep like he'd expected.
It was white.
A soul room never turned white. No one was sure what white stood for in one's mind. As far as he knew, it had never happened before.
But now it had.
And he was standing in it.
Kerihk shook himself. What was going on?
***
(a/n: me likes asterisks. ^-^)
Dajan choked and sputtered as the water immersed him. The ribbons did not loosen their grip on his legs, and he was running out of air. He tried to hold his breath, but his lungs would burst if they didn't get air soon...
Just when he thought he couldn't take it any longer, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Opening his sea-green eyes, he spotted Bakura chuckling quietly to himself.
"Dajan, we can breathe, you know," the silver-haired said.
Dajan blinked, then took a deep breath. The water went up his nose and flooded into his head, but it felt cool and refreshing, like a tall glass of water after starving in the desert. No, not a glass. A pitcher.
"This is way freaky," Dajan commented.
"You said it. How can we breathe?"
"You're asking me?"
"... Good point."
"Well, maybe we should swim back to the surface. You think?" Not that he really minded. Dajan could hold his breath longer than anybody he knew, but he was ecstatic about really breathing underwater. Hopefully this was permanent.
He looked over at Bakura for his answer. Bakura's eyes were closed; he looked like he had passed out even though he was floating.
"B-Bakura?" Dajan asked, waving a hand in his friend's face. "Are you okay?"
There was no reply.
"Bakura? Bakura!"
Bakura could vaguely here Dajan's pleads for him to awaken in his soul room. He felt like he was floating in mid air, but being compressed by jelly-like walls. When his yami's voice entered his ears, shouting, //Aibyou? Answer me, for Ra's sake!// he didn't even notice.
Dajan swam back in shock as Bakura's eyes opened. Normally the color of warm chestnut, his eyes were glowing white. Bakura lifted his head toward the sky and the same white light formed at his heart. Suddenly it shot straight into the air, creating a column of light for all to see.
And all did see. Kiara, who was waiting worriedly for Ay to return with Kerihk and their two hikaris, watched the arrow of pure whiteness blast into the sky. She gasped, and ran to wake up her friends.
Taidu, too, noticed the light, but unlike Kiara, she felt no sense of panic. After the spell of wishes she had cast to rid them of the Tangannohi, she would have expected this.
Kiara quickly roused the others and they all set off for the beach.
Kerihk let out a yell when he saw the white pillar reach the clouds. "Ay, what is that?!" he exclaimed in excited fright.
"You're asking me?" Ay answered in perfect imitation of his hikari. "Wait, whoa! Look out, tidal wave!"
He was too late. A giant wave that should never have emerged from a river, no matter how deep, jumped from the ocean and crashed down upon the yamis, sucking them into its depths.
Kerihk kicked and waved his arms in the water, trying to reach the surface. Ay had nothing to worry about, he could always breathe underwater, it came with his power of water. Something was keeping the yami from swimming properly, however, and Kerihk had no choice but to take a breath.
"Oh great," he said when he realized he could breathe. "Just great. I was hoping to get a free ticket out of this baka world."
"Urusei, Kerihk," Ay commanded. He gestured for Kerihk to swim with him deeper into the heart of the river. Reluctantly, Kerihk obliged.
They swam together in silence for a while, their eyes drifting to all the different types of colorful coral that should not have been able to survive in the fresh water of the river. Seaweed clouded their vision at times, so they had to find ways to kick it out of their path. The magic of the river, now overflowing with excess water, kept their senses alert. Who knew what lay in the mysterious depths of the river?
Something golden was glinting ahead, and Kerihk immediately recognized it as the glare of his hikari's Millennium Ring. He mad a mad dash forward, Ay easily keeping up with his fast pace.
Noting that the water was considerably warmer in this area, Kerihk wondered if the golden light really belonged to Bakura's Millennium Ring. Beyond it, something large, magical, and glowing red lurked in the waters.
The yami shuddered. He had no idea what it was, but he could sense something evil near them, waiting to strike. A Shadow creature from the realm of darkness. At the same time, the bright presence of the two hikaris was growing stronger, and soon Kerihk forgot about the Shadow creature by the big red object (a/n: Clifford the big red dog! Readers: Um... that like so totally messed up the sentence. ::sweatdrop::) in light of rejoining his hikari.
"Ba-ku-ra!" Kerihk exclaimed in exasperation as he and Ay at last swam up to meet the young ones. Bakura was pretty much back to normal now, but he seemed confused and couldn't understand why they were underwater.
"That was very stupid, climbing out on those rocks in the middle of the night!" Kerihk hissed, trying to sound overly upset to hide his worry.
"I know... gomen..." Bakura sighed miserably, looking away.
The light from the red object was glowing stronger now. Both Kerihk and Ay could feel the presence of the Shadow, faintly at first, but growing stronger. There may be more than one. They didn't want to wait around to find out.
"C'mon," Ay murmured, tossing his head in the direction of the surface. He began to swim upwards, but Bakura shook his head.
"No," the boy disagreed. "No, we... we have to follow that red light."
Ay gaped, and looked from Kerihk to Bakura in a have-you-gone-insane fashion. Kerihk's face remained stone and unmoving, Bakura's firm in his stare at the object.
"There are Shadows out there!" he cried, flinging his hands upward in the water. "And it really doesn't look inviting! The others will be looking for us! Why on EARTH would you want to go there?"
No one answered Ay's question. With a frown and toss of his blue hair, Ay swam in front of the others. Finally he announced haughtily,
"If you want to check it out, we've got to do it fast and discreetly. We can't risk any chance of Shadows finding us. I know a way we can use the seaweed patches to our advantage. But let's go quick."
He swam to the left, towards a garden of seaweed that was an ocean in itself. The three others followed him almost immediately, Dajan quietly chuckling to himself, thinking, 'He's going along with us because he's just as curious as Bakura.'
The stench of Shadows grew even stronger as they hid behind the seaweed barrier, swimming to their destination. The water was becoming very warm indeed, but whether the heat was coming from the glowing red sphere - for now they could tell that it was definitely an over-sized round ball - or the Shadows stationed nearby.
Ay wrinkled his nose in distaste. He was thankful Dajan couldn't sense what he could. Dajan and Bakura wouldn't be able to realize that a Shadow was near them until the creature was in normal smelling range. He and Kerihk, not to mention all the other yamis, could tell when a Shadow emerged from the Shadow Realm in their domain.
Presently the four reached a particularly thick plot of kelp, which they ducked under to hide from any unwanted visitors. Gingerly sticking his fingers through the seaweed, Kerihk peered out at the sphere.
It could have been a UFO. The object was at least as long as the train they had taken to Atami, and just as high. It seemed to be made of stone, with a ring of ice circling it like the rings of Saturn. There was no doubt about it - the hotness was certainly radiating from the core of the sphere, as was the great, blood red light. How the ice managed to stay intact could only be Sealing magic.
In the glow of the sphere, Kerihk's keen eyes could make out large engravings on the stone's rings. What they said, he couldn't tell, but from the looks of it they were -
"Hieroglyphics," Kerihk stated to the others, reporting what he'd seen. "I could see some of the symbols, but we're too far away to read it clearly."
"We have to get closer," Bakura said thoughtfully, and this time, nobody objected. Their curiosity at the hieroglyphics, long since dispersed from the modern world, was much too great.
Ay's jade green eyes widened in realization, and his lips curled into a smile. "Guys, I've just figured out our one-way ticket out of here," he remarked , showing his pearl-white teeth.
The other three returned his sly grin and huddled in deep discussion.
Yugi (ears plugged): WHAT WAS THAT?!
Angel: I SAID I'M STILL LISTENING TO A*TEENS!!!
Yami: WE NOTICED!!!
I have just been informed that the yamis and hikaris do not call each other "Yami" and "Hikar," rather they call them "mou hitori no boku/ore" which literally means "the other me." (Ore is a ruder form of boku, which means "me" - nearly everyone says ore except for Yugi and Bakura). I am not, however, going to change this for the story. And I am not going to correct their ages (I KNOW THEY SHOULD BE IN ELEVENTH GRADE BY NOW!!! I just prefer the age of 15).
Disclaimer: I only own one thing: my yellow bucket hat (Kit's is blue). Kit asks me to ask you readers to read her latest fanfic, Got a Question? Kit has an Answer! She needs more reviews in order to start chap 2 (reason why explained in chap 1). So.... ONEGAI???
I'm rereading some chapters to make sure I didn't mess anything up. I didn't, but I must apologize for all the typos. *sigh* You know how it is.
Today's chapter is called Yami Musouka, Dark Dreamer. Gee, I have no IDEA who that is, do you? *grumbles*
To Fyedra: Thank you for the cookies and Ryou plushie! *hugs plushie* I luv feedback! Ok, to answer your questions: Kerihk is spelt... well... Kerihk. Sorry if I messed up in the past chapters here and there. Oh, and Hikaru's item is the Millennium PENDANT, not Amulet, although that is an awesome word I had forgotten about (the same goes for "medallion" ^-^), I'll have to think of some way to use it. -_~ I liked your suggestion for the list of Millennium Items and bearers, so I will do that now every chapter as a reminder, but I won't include Malik, Isis, or Shaadi cuz they don't get involved till book 2. I can't write the definitions right after I write the jap phrases because that messes up my writing technique and I find it makes the story tedious. So just bear with me, there aren't that many of them and they're not that hard to figure out. Thanx for reviewing! ~Angel
To Crystalia: Thanks so much for your sympathy! I can't believe I've only got 11 reviews either... not that I'm trying to brag, I've just been working really, really hard on this story and need more support. On my old fanfic, Little Hope, I had at least 15 reviews by the 7th chapter. :-( Thanks for recommending this story in your own, "Blood of the Innocent"! That will help with popularity, methinks (or, mehopes). I promise I'll add more Yugi and Yami, but I thought the past two chapters had a lot of them, iie? Didn't they? I'll try to post faster! I will, really! I've just got so much to say and so little time... and I'm wasting it making excuses. If you'll excuse me, I've gotta go write! ~Angel
Everyone has poor Yami's personality confused! *sobs* He's tough in his duels, but didja hear what he said in the last Mai vs. Yugi episode? He's really so gentle and sweet! SO STOP WRITING FANFICS IN WHICH HE'S THIS BIG ARROGANT IDIOT WHO IS INDIFFERENT TO EVERYTHING BUT DUELING! HE'S NOT LIKE THAT!!!
ANNOUNCEMENT: We have finally reached 100 pages! Thank you, thank you!
"When you turn around... all the tears will dry... whatever was lost will be found... in the blink of an eye! When you're losing ground... hold your head up high... whatever was lost will be found... in the blink of an eye!" - In the Blink of an Aye: A*Teens "Pop 'til you Drop!"
1. Yami 2. Hikari 3. Millennium Item 4. Yami's Power 5. Hikari's Power 6. Item's Power 7. Color
1. Yugioh (I'm not doing all the dashes, and yes that's his real name - Yami's just a nickname cuz he... well... he prefers it over Yugioh) 2. Yugi Muto 3. Puzzle 4. Erm... I just call his power the "Power of the Millennium Seal" as in the signature, not the animal 5. Golden Detonation Beam (corny name, I know, and it's not his true power, but... well, you'll see) 6. Sends people to the Shadow Realm, does weird things, activates at Yami's will or Yugi's emotions 7. Yellow
1. Kerihk 2. Ryou Bakura 3. Ring (it should have been the Millennium Dream Catcher ^-^) 4. ESP 5. ESP and something else... What is it? It's a secret! *mwahaha* 6. Opens portals to the Shadow Realm, can detect other Millennium Items, can combine them (how? you'll see....), and anything else I decide it can do (with author powers!) 7. White (how ironic)
1. Kiara 2. Hikaru Daichi 3. Pendant (not Amulet) 4. Flight 5. Eh... the light in the night? I dunno what to call Hikaru's power yet... 6. Makes light in darkness, senses when others are in trouble 7. Pink
1. Setsuna 2. Ai Itsuko (her initials spell her name: A.I.!) 3. Mirror 4. Super-strength 5. Also superstrength, sometimes called the "Power of Love" cuz not only does "Ai" mean "love," but she can only use her superstrength when she's fighting for someone she loves 6. Shows other Item Bearers, shows foes, can reverse magic but it is dangerous to use it to get out of another realm cuz you might end up somewhere between the Real World and the Shadow Realm - in other words you're lost 7. Red (in Egypt red signifies evil but Setsuna and Ai are not evil so I'm using it to signify the American way - love)
1. Ahmose 2. Takehiko Midori 3. Sword 4. Fire 5. Flame (how original) 6. Gets you out of sticky situations (I guess), makes the bearer an expert fighter when he uses it 7. Orange
1. Ay 2. Dajan Hada 3. Key 4. Water 5. Eh, water as well 6. Unlocks any lock 7. Light Blue
1. Himoko 2. Misaki Hikawa 3. Spoon 4. Healing 5. Healing (no duh) 6. Stops time 7. Navy
1. Taidu 2. Tali Takada 3. Broach 4. Of neither world, acts as a go-betweener for the... um... fates? 5. Pretty much just a peacemaker 6. Taps into almost inaccessible magic 7. Green
1. Zhur 2. Pegasus J. Crawford (Pegasus J. Crawford) 3. Eye 4. Wouldn't you like to know 5. Like I'd tell you 6. Captures people's souls and a lot of other stuff that I don't feel like telling you 7. Shadowy Gray
FAQ (I just had to add that) -
" " - talking
' ' - thinking
/ - Any Hikari talking to his or her Yami in his or her mind
// - Any Yami talking to his or her Hikari in his or her mind
Hikari No Yuugi
Play of Light
by Angel
Chapter Seven Part One: Yami Musouka
Dark Dreamer
Kiara scanned the skies, searching for any sign of where they were. All around her was green valley and many cliffs jutting out of the hilly land. A long river separated the island from the rest of the Kingdom. Kiara frowned and circled around the area one more time. There didn't appear to be any way off of it.
"From what I could tell, we're still in Duelist Kingdom," Kiara said as she landed and made her wings disappear. "We must have landed on a different island, though. That castle is huge but I couldn't see it anywhere when I flying. It was supposed to be within sight from the air where we were supposed to land."
"That means we must have drifted towards the west of our determined stop," Yami said.
The hikaris listened to the conversation going on before them in silence, every now and then exchanging a glance of confusion or worry with one of their team members. Finally Ai got up the nerve to ask, "So, what do we do now?"
Taidu sighed and shook her head, thinking. At last she replied, "I suppose we have to find a different way to Duelist Kingdom. Our old route didn't work out so well."
"If we had taken MY way, this wouldn't have happened," Yugi hissed, disgruntled. He glared at his Millennium Puzzle. He wasn't really angry, but he was very frustrated with the situation.
Hikaru and Ai looked at each other. 'Maybe Yugi is right,' Hikaru thought. 'Maybe we should have taken the Duelist Kingdom route after all...'
"Did you see any way off this island from the sky, Kiara?" Misaki asked.
Kiara didn't answer at first, but simply stared at Misaki, as if surprise to be addressed by a hikari not her own. Then she frowned thoughtfully and replied, "There's a river near another part of the Kingdom, a bigger portion probably much close to the castle than this. But we would have to build a raft or something to cross the river. It's wide and it may be rough; not being an eagle, I couldn't tell if there were rapids or not."
"It's settled then," Taidu nodded, as if agreeing with Kiara. "We will journey to the river and cross it on a raft or whatever type of float we can come up with. We should go now, Iakara will not wait idly by when she learns we survived her storm."
The others nodded and gathered up the rations that had survived the crash. Then they trooped off together, walking in two lines, one of yamis and the Kaibas, the other of hikaris and the Fujishimas. The green grass was soft and easy to walk on but there were many hills and slopes which were obstacles in their way. Eventually Kaiba and Ro lifted Mokuba and Makimura up on their shoulders and carried them the rest of the way. Yugi found himself a walking stick and all the hikaris began to lean against one another for support. It was a slow way to walk but it caused much laughter and kept the group light-hearted despite their hardships.
***
Keikeru Katsura shifted the grocery bags to his right shoulder just as the left one began to fall asleep. He wiped sweat off his brow and ran his fingers through his dirty-brown hair. It sure was hot. He felt sorry for Hikaru, who was supposedly "camping" in this heat.
Someone came walking past the nineteen-year-old and accidentally knocked into him, causing the bags to fall out of his arms and land on the street. "Oh no..." he groaned, bending down to clean up the mess.
"Yare!" exclaimed the girl who had bumped into Keikeru. "Sumimasen, I didn't see you! Here - let me help." She bent down and began picking up the groceries along with Keikeru.
"Thank -" Keikeru stopped in mid-sentence when his gaze traveled to her bright blue eyes. Her long black hair flowed like a river over her shoulders and dangling from her neck on a chain was a silver bell. "KAMUI?"
Kamui Tsumura giggled and covered her smile. "I was wondering when you would notice me."
The two of them brought the groceries back to Keikeru's house and the boy invited her to stay for a while. While pouring tea for the two of them, Keikeru asked if Kamui had heard about the disappearances of Katsuya Jonouchi, Tetsuya Gotoh, Hiroto Honda, Ryoku Saito, Anzu Mazaki, and Naoko Takaya.
"Yes," Kamui admitted. "I had heard something about that."
"It doesn't make sense how they would all disappear together in one night, and the next day my little sister and her friends would go 'camping'," Keikeru murmured. "Especially since Hikaru was really good friends with three of those kids. If I know my sister, she would never get over this sort of thing so quickly."
'If I know Keikeru,' Kamui thought, 'he already senses danger in the air with his sixth sense. Maybe I should tell him what I've been up to.'
"Do you remember when we first met?" she asked aloud.
Keikeru nodded, surprised at the question. "How could I forget? Before you left for Hong Kong, you came to Okinawa for a little while to visit the chief priest of the Monma Shrine (a/n: I doubt there is any such shrine, I made it up). We met at a festival at the shrine that Tali I brought Hikaru and her friends to."
"Right," Kamui nodded. "We got to know each other right away because we could both sense the other had the sixth sense. The power to see into the spirit realm. We could understand each other. We still can." She smiled at Keikeru.
"Yeah right."
Kamui's smile quickly turned to a frown at the tone of Keikeru's voice. He shoved a tea cup into her hands and sat down across from her, sipping from his own cup. Finally he said, "If we could understand each other so well, how come we broke up?"
"Keikeru -"
"I loved you, Kamui. I still haven't gotten over you. Why did you do it? Why did you tell me it was over?"
"It looks to me like you've gotten over it! You've gotten yourself a new girlfriend already!"
"Who, Tali? She's not my girlfriend! Her father is a friend of Dad's! Besides, she's two years younger than me and still in school. And that doesn't answer my question."
"I'm getting to that!"
Kamui was a student teacher. Mysterious, beautiful, and relatively serene. Yet she was human, and only nineteen. If Keikeru thought it hadn't hurt her when they broke up as much as it had hurt him, he was badly mistaken.
She took a deep breath. Actually it felt good to finally be telling someone this. "That day, before we broke up, I was already packing for my trip to Hong Kong. You knew it would only be a short while for us, Keikeru, but that's besides the point. Anyway, the chief priest, Yoshiyuki Nekoi, called for me in the inner shrine. When I arrived he introduced me to a man from Egypt called Shaadi, who showed me this very strange silver bell. Shaadi said is called 'Lyra.' He told me it is one of thirteen bell from Ancient Egypt (a/n: no, it is NOT another Millennium Item!) and was brought to Japan by to rid the world of an ancient curse. He gave it to me as a parting gift - meaning I was the one to break the curse." She dangled the bell around her neck in front of Keikeru's face. "After holding the bell for a few minutes, I finally gave it a ring. As soon as its sound reached my ears, I knew that one day it's power would be needed to defeat a great evil - the curse - one intent on destroying the bearers of the Millennium Items. When the great evil curse was released, then I would ring the silver bell. Of course, I had no idea what a Millennium Item was back then, so this didn't make much sense to me, and I wondered how I would know when - and where - to ring the bell. Then one sentence flowed through my mind: 'The ring will tell.' I thought it meant the ring of the bell, so I rang it over and over again. I couldn't figure it out, but I knew finding the great evil would be a terrible and dangerous job for me..."
Tears glistened in her baby blue eyes as she continued. "That is why I broke up with you, Keikeru-kun. I didn't want to endanger you with my mission. And now, It's almost time for my part. As I said, I thought 'the ring will tell' meant the ring of the bell. I was wrong. The 'ring' was brought to me only a few days ago... by my own stepbrother! That's how I knew it was time. That sentence had meant the Millennium Ring, a Millennium Item like the Pendant your sister has." Of course Keikeru knew all about the Millennium Items, but he was surprised to hear that Kamui's stepbrother Ryou had one as well. "A girl named Ai Itsuko called both you and me to tell us that our younger siblings are going 'camping', iie? She... she was lying. They've gone to Duelist Kingdom to track down the disappearing kids."
Keikeru gaped at Kamui. He couldn't speak. Kamui had this magical bell... his innocent little sister was in perilous Duelist Kingdom... and he hadn't known any of it. Finally he stuttered out, "So... what're you going to do about it?"
Kamui gave Keikeru a gentle smile. "The bearers of the powerful Millennium Items must go on this journey to discover themselves, their pasts, their futures. But I must join them for a little while, if only to destroy the curse, the great evil."
"Oh yeah? How are you going to do that?"
"After the bell Lyra is rung when the curse is unleashed, it will break, never to be used again. Until then, I seem to bear unlimited power, including... teleportation."
Kamui stood up. "Farewell, my love," she said, and prepared to ring the bell.
Keikeru desperately scrambled to his feet. "Wait! Take me with you, please!" he begged.
"This is why I didn't tell you of my plight in the first place," Kamui frowned. "I cannot take you with you, if only to keep you safe."
"In the meantime, who will keep you safe?"
"Good-bye, Keikeru-kun."
"KAMUI!"
It was too late. She rang Lyra, and a gigantic gust of wind blew out of nowhere to transport her to Duelist Kingdom. The last words Kamui Tsumura heard before she was caught up in the tornado of wind was the cry of Keikeru Katsura, "Aishiteru, koibito!"
She smiled in relief. "Aishiteru, koibito."
And then she was there.
(A/N: OK, it is now 11:30 p.m. on the dot so I've got to get some sleep. I'll be back, but what am I going to do when school starts tomorrow? Eighth grade is no picnic!)
***
"WAHOO! WE'RE HERE!"
"Takehiko, slow down! Honestly, hikari..."
"That's a beautiful river."
"Forget the river! Check out all the pretty flowers!"
Hikaru ran down the grassy hillside in sheer delight, laughing and twirling among the flowers. The other hikaris smiled and made their way to the bottom, Takehiko and Dajan in the lead being chased by their yamis. The Kaibas and the Fujishimas sat down where they were, the older ones lying on the grass and the younger two by their sides.
The other yamis stopped at the top of the hill and watched the young ones scream and tumble down into the gorge, laughing merrily.
"They're having a good time," Himoko observed with a smile. "You know, we've been doing a lot of walking... this is really hard on them, and especially on Mokuba and Makimura. Maybe we should take a break before crossing the river."
Taidu looked at her like she was insane and made a move to speak but was cut off by Ahmose. "That's a good idea," he said, forming a fire ball in his hand. "And I'll make a fire so we can grill Takehiko's so-called 'hot dogs.' We might as well eat the perishable food while we've got the time. I doubt the meat will last until we reach Pegasus's castle."
"I won't eat it," Setsuna said with a toss of her hair. "Ai told me hot dogs are made from pork. I'm not allowed to eat pork."
"You're not?" Ai asked, trotting up the hill when she heard her yami's statement.
"'Course not. I'm Jewish."
Old habits die hard.
"Oh, right. Well, you can have salad. That is, if the tomatoes aren't all squashed..."
Yami had his arms wrapped around Kiara in a brotherly fashion as he listened to the discussion. He was smiling serenely, a look he had never used in public before he and Kiara had been reunited (only Yugi had been treated to this look occasionally). He whispered something in her ear and Kiara mumbled something softly in reply as she stroked her braid.
Taidu frowned at the two. Where was their sense of responsibility? They had to focus on the task at hand! The longer they put off building the raft, the more chance there would be that Iakara would catch up with them, and this time with reinforcements.
Ai ran down the hillside to tell the other hikaris that it was time to eat. In response Dajan pointed at the sun and said it was almost set, they should be sleeping, not eating! He and Takehiko got into a fight because Takehiko wanted to eat and if Dajan wasn't hungry, he'd willingly take his share. Their yamis sighed and rushes down the hillside to stop their alter-egos from losing their voices.
Soon the sky was covered in a dark blanket of night, but a roaring fire kept the crew warm. They huddled around it roasting their hot dogs on sticks and trying not to drop them in the cinders. Tali commented that it was just like a Girl Scout encampment.
"If it were a Girl Scout encampment, we boys wouldn't be here," Yugi chuckled, the reflection of the flames flickering on his face.
"Well, we did tell our families that we've gone camping," Ai added as she bit into her hot dog.
Hikaru gave her hot dog the Evil Eye. "I've never eaten a plain hot dog. I always put ketchup on them."
"Eww! I could never eat ketchup on meat, I always use mustard."
"Do you put tomato sauce on meatballs, Misaki?"
"Yes..."
"Ketchup's made from tomatoes too, so it's not that disgusting, is it?"
"Yes!"
"I like my hot dogs with hot peppers and relish," Takehiko said dreamily, licking his lips. Dajan made a face and said he only ate hot dogs plain.
Ro was rummaging through the rations, trying to see if they had packed mustard after all (Makimura was a picky eater and wouldn't eat her hot dog without mustard). Kaiba nudged him and whispered something in his ear. Ro grinned and brought the plain hot dog back to Makimura.
"Imoutosan," Ro said, displaying the hot dog in front of her face, "this is a magic hot dog. If you eat it, you and I will always be together. But the magic only works if you eat it plain."
Makimura took the hot dog and looked at it doubtfully. "You sure, nii-sama?"
"Positive."
"OK, then."
Kaiba and Ro exchanged a glance when Makimura gobbled it up and Mokuba immediately followed her example, and grinned through fits of silent laughter.
The yamis were debating whether or not they wanted to try the hot dogs. Setsuna had, of course, turned them down flat, but she was still considering whether she wanted to eat anything else. Technically, the yamis didn't need to eat as they were dead (a/n: pardon my bluntness), but that didn't mean they couldn't eat if they wanted to, did it?
Yami picked up a hot dog roll and dangled it in front of his face. He waved it before him and said it looked like a slug. Yugi laughed through his glass of water and choked on it before falling over in hysterics.
"What's so funny?" Yami asked, tearing the roll into little shreds.
Yugi could only laugh and point. Finally Yami got up the courage to eat the roll, and he remarked that it was nothing special, it just tasted like bread.
"That's what it IS," Yugi giggled.
Setsuna was now chewing on some celery sticks and carrots. Himoko joined her in this. Kiara was eating her hot dog placidly as Taidu lectured her on being willing to eat anything anybody hands her ("You're too trusting! What if you had an allergic reaction to those wretched 'hot dogs'? They don't even look like dogs! How can you trust them?"). Ahmose and Ay were daring each other to eat the hot dogs; finally Ahmose gave in, but he roasted the hot dog using his own fire power and burned it to a crisp.
"Oh well, you have to eat it anyway!" Ay sang, jumping around in jubilee.
Ahmose frowned and shoved the mutated hot dog into his mouth. He chewed it for a few moments, and his face twisted into a disgusted frown. He swallowed and exclaimed, much to the delight of the others (especially Ay), "BLEHHHH!!! THAT TASTES TERRIBLE!"
/If you hadn't burnt it, it wouldn't have tasted so bad,/ Takehiko responded through their mental link as he laughed out loud.
//Oh, what do you know!//
/A lot more about hot dogs than you!/
"Where's Kerihk?" Bakura said suddenly. He had two hot dogs in his hands, both expertly grilled.
"I don't know. Are you going to eat both of those?" asked Dajan.
"Actually I was going to see if mou hitori no boku wanted one," Bakura answered (a/n: I told you that phrase would come in handy!).
"I'll help you find him," Dajan said. The two wandered off together looking for the other silver-haired one.
Yugi leaned back after finishing his hot dog, watching Bakura and Dajan disappear behind some trees. The silver moon reflected on the water of the wide river. Waves lapped on the cool sand and crabs scurried around along the shore. He closed his eyes.
"Guys, it's late. We should sleep now," Misaki said when she noticed Makimura yawn.
"I agree," Ai said. "Thank you for setting up all our sleeping bags, Seto, Ro."
Kaiba and Ro nodded. Everyone then went off to their own sleeping bags; everyone, that is, but Yugi. He wandered off to the grassy area by the river banks and laid on his back, gazing at the stars. The cool night air kissed his skin, a gentle breeze blew his hair out of his face.
"Jonouchi..." Yugi murmured, a worried look on his face. 'I wonder if he's okay. Are he and the others being taken care of? If anything happens... to Jonouchi and the others... Anzu... Honda... Naoko... Gotoh... and Saito... I wish...'
"Wish what?"
Yugi gasped and whirled around. Hikaru was staring at him, arms crossed, a benign smile on her lips.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you," she said, blushing slightly.
"Oh, no problem," Yugi said, turning redder than she. "I didn't realize I was speaking out loud."
"What were you thinking about? I mean... what do you wish?"
Yugi looked at the ground, wearing a soft smile. "I was thinking about... the sun up in the sky, the laughter in the rain, the lights in the dark..."
"The hearts of two together, the mercy of the sea after a storm, the smile lit by candles," Hikaru continued.
"You know it?"
"I've always loved Yuriko Tokita's poetry. 'Blessings' is one of my favorites."
"Anzu loves it too."
"Yes... I know. We go to the same theatre arts class. She recited 'Blessings' as a monologue once."
"I understand."
Hikaru looked up. "Understand what?"
Yugi didn't answer. There was something flickering in his eyes, a passion, a faith. He would save them. If only it had been him instead...
"It should have been me."
"No. Don't say that."
"They didn't deserve to be taken."
"No one does. Not you either."
"Hikaru..."
"Yugi, surrendering won't solve anything."
"Who said I was -"
"Death is giving up. Death is alone. No one should be alone. You said so yourself... remember?"
~"NO! I'll never let you go! We're a team! One for all and all for one! We've GOT to hold together, it's our DESTINY to be together! We can't do this alone! NO ONE should be alone! Remember our promise? We'll always be there for each other! I WON'T LET YOU DOWN!"~
"You wouldn't surrender. That's how you saved Ryou-chan and me." Hikaru sat by Yugi and took his hand. "Thank you. And we won't let you down either. We ARE a team."
Tears pricked the back of Yugi's eyes. "If we fail..."
"If we die, we will die without surrendering. I will fight. I don't agree with it, but I will."
"There's almost zip chance we'll live to raise our own families now. It's so risky."
"Almost zip. Those are your yami's words, not yours. Yamis can be so gloomy and unhopeful. We can make it if we believe we can." She laughed. "Besides, I've already got a list of names for children if I ever marry and have them. I can't give up now! I want to bring new faces into the world, it's a dream for me!"
Yugi smiled. "I've already picked out the name for my daughter if I have one," he said.
"Really? What is it?"
Yugi's violet eyes danced with Hikaru's lavender orbs. It was so simple to him. "Her name would be... Sakura."
Hikaru looked surprised, almost amused. "Sakura? Why Sakura?"
Once again Yugi didn't give her a straight answer. (A/N: man, is he OOC or what? :-3)
"Sakura because... of Sakura."
Hikaru gave him a quizzical look. Before she could question him further, Kiara's voice rang out, "Hikari, aibyou, come get some sleep. You'll need your energy for tomorrow. You too, Yugi."
Yugi hopped to his feet brightly, acting as if they had never had their discreet conversation. He clapped Hikaru on the shoulder. "She's right, you know. Let's go."
"Mmm."
And together they went, thinking of the sun in the sky, laughter in the rain, lights in the dark...
***
(A/N: Eeks... forget about this being short. It's already ten pages. I HAVE TO DO IT IN 2 PARTS AGAIN! Part two will be uploaded simultaneously. Gomen minna-san!)
The blue-haired boy looked around, smelling the air around the river, his jade green eyes taking in everything. "I don't see your yami anywhere, Bakura," he said was a shrug.
Bakura sighed and stared at the hot dog that had been for Kerihk. Then he dropped it in the sand. "Maa, naa. Guess if he wanted something he would have come to get it. But he won't answer me through our mental link so I have no clue where he is..."
Dajan clapped a hand on Bakura's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. These things take time. Besides, I know you've got other things on your mind."
The two boys locked eyes. Bakura found himself astonished that Dajan had realized he'd been thinking about that dream.
"Why is it coming only to you?" Dajan wondered aloud.
Sighing again, Bakura answered, "I don't know. But it's making me nuts. I just don't know what to make of it, and the weirdest thing is..."
"What?"
"This river, the cliff beside it, the rock steps leading to that boulder in the middle of the water... it's just like the scene in which my dream takes place."
"Freaky," Dajan murmured, running his fingers through is hair. "But we'll figure out what's going on with you. We just need a little more time which unfortunately we don't have a lot of."
Bakura smiled. "You know who you remind me of? Honda-kun."
"Honda? Really?"
"Yeah, you're both really logical people and very observant. You figure things out before the rest of us but keep your cool anyway."
Dajan hopped out on to one of the rocks leading to the giant bolder in the stream. He took a breath of the night air. "It's getting foggy out," he said, looking at Bakura with deep admiration. 'I've never met anyone like him, or the others,' Dajan thought. 'I never really believed friends could get as close as brothers. Maybe I was wrong.'
Bakura followed Dajan out to the boulder. "You're right," he said as they both landed on the rock. "The clouds are thickening." Sure enough, they could hardly see the land from the fog now clouding their vision. Shivering, Bakura continued, "It's getting chilly too. Let's go back."
"Y-Yeah. Right behind you."
Suddenly a great gust of wind blew their hair in their faces. Dajan planted his feet more firmly into the rock and looked forward to see how Bakura was doing.
The silver-haired boy was standing stiffly, seeming to be in a trance. Dajan began to yell to him if he was all right, but at that moment three birds emerged from the sky, one black, one white, one purple. They appeared to be fighting with each other, and Bakura seemed captivated by them. All at once the three birds soared down in front of his face, ignoring the bewildered Dajan; their only interest was the bearer of the Millennium Ring.
~*~Anaiyu, Oleu, Niku...~*~
The white one dove closest to Bakura, its eyes seeming to beg him for something. Bakura reached out and stroked its pure white wings, wearing a glazed look.
"Do you want me for something?" he asked quietly.
Hardly were the words out of his mouth when all three birds took off into the sky in V formation. /Oh no.../ he groaned inwardly, accidentally letting his thoughts slip through his mental link to Kerihk.
"Bakura, what's going on? Ah -"
Dajan was cut off as white ribbons shot smoothly out of the water and wrapped around the two boys' legs. Dajan screamed and sucked in his breath as the ribbons pulled Bakura and himself into the water deeps.
***
Kerihk jumped from his hiding place in the treetops near the river when he heard his hikari's thoughts. He had been watching Bakura and Dajan as they searched for him along the shore, but chose not to show himself. He had gotten a bit worried when the fog enshrouded the two boys, but he hadn't become genuinely concerned until Bakura's thoughts of /Oh no.../ reached his mind.
Kerihk dashed along the shore, searching for any sign of his hikari. He made a face when he accidentally trodden on the sandy hot dog Bakura had dropped earlier. Stopping to shake mustard off his shoe, he noticed something in the water.
Two white ribbons were protruding from the surface, dangling around in mid air. They grabbed on to something and Dajan's voice let out a yell. Kerihk saw his hikari for a split second before they were engulfed by the cold river water.
"BAKURA!" Kerihk screamed. "Answer me, baka hikari!"
When there was no reply, the angered yami only got more fearful. WHERE had he GONE?
"Kerihk!"
Ay's voice sounded in Kerihk's ears. He whipped around and glared at his fellow yami. "Bakura and Dajan are gone," he said when Ay reached him.
Panting, Ay answered, "I know. Dajan just told me through our mental link that he and Bakura are okay, they're under water but they can breathe somehow."
Kerihk's deep amber eyes widened. "How? Duelist Kingdom isn't a magic haven like Egypt was or even Ryúnade, it's just a group of islands."
"But there are entrances to the Shadow Realm," Ay queried.
Kerihk was silent. If Bakura and Dajan had entered the Shadow Realm all on their own, they were in big trouble.
//Bakura, you are SO going to get it when I get ahold of you.//
/.../
//Bakura?//
/.../
//Aibyou? Answer me, for Ra's sake!//
Kerihk gripped his Millennium Ring and allowed his mind to enter his soul room. He tripped over a rock on the floor as soon as he took off for the "Hall of Colors." Quickly leaping to his feet, he rushed to the hall and pulled open the door.
Kerihk gasped at what he saw. The room wasn't any of the normal colors, nor was it rainbow indicating Bakura was asleep like he'd expected.
It was white.
A soul room never turned white. No one was sure what white stood for in one's mind. As far as he knew, it had never happened before.
But now it had.
And he was standing in it.
Kerihk shook himself. What was going on?
***
(a/n: me likes asterisks. ^-^)
Dajan choked and sputtered as the water immersed him. The ribbons did not loosen their grip on his legs, and he was running out of air. He tried to hold his breath, but his lungs would burst if they didn't get air soon...
Just when he thought he couldn't take it any longer, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Opening his sea-green eyes, he spotted Bakura chuckling quietly to himself.
"Dajan, we can breathe, you know," the silver-haired said.
Dajan blinked, then took a deep breath. The water went up his nose and flooded into his head, but it felt cool and refreshing, like a tall glass of water after starving in the desert. No, not a glass. A pitcher.
"This is way freaky," Dajan commented.
"You said it. How can we breathe?"
"You're asking me?"
"... Good point."
"Well, maybe we should swim back to the surface. You think?" Not that he really minded. Dajan could hold his breath longer than anybody he knew, but he was ecstatic about really breathing underwater. Hopefully this was permanent.
He looked over at Bakura for his answer. Bakura's eyes were closed; he looked like he had passed out even though he was floating.
"B-Bakura?" Dajan asked, waving a hand in his friend's face. "Are you okay?"
There was no reply.
"Bakura? Bakura!"
Bakura could vaguely here Dajan's pleads for him to awaken in his soul room. He felt like he was floating in mid air, but being compressed by jelly-like walls. When his yami's voice entered his ears, shouting, //Aibyou? Answer me, for Ra's sake!// he didn't even notice.
Dajan swam back in shock as Bakura's eyes opened. Normally the color of warm chestnut, his eyes were glowing white. Bakura lifted his head toward the sky and the same white light formed at his heart. Suddenly it shot straight into the air, creating a column of light for all to see.
And all did see. Kiara, who was waiting worriedly for Ay to return with Kerihk and their two hikaris, watched the arrow of pure whiteness blast into the sky. She gasped, and ran to wake up her friends.
Taidu, too, noticed the light, but unlike Kiara, she felt no sense of panic. After the spell of wishes she had cast to rid them of the Tangannohi, she would have expected this.
Kiara quickly roused the others and they all set off for the beach.
Kerihk let out a yell when he saw the white pillar reach the clouds. "Ay, what is that?!" he exclaimed in excited fright.
"You're asking me?" Ay answered in perfect imitation of his hikari. "Wait, whoa! Look out, tidal wave!"
He was too late. A giant wave that should never have emerged from a river, no matter how deep, jumped from the ocean and crashed down upon the yamis, sucking them into its depths.
Kerihk kicked and waved his arms in the water, trying to reach the surface. Ay had nothing to worry about, he could always breathe underwater, it came with his power of water. Something was keeping the yami from swimming properly, however, and Kerihk had no choice but to take a breath.
"Oh great," he said when he realized he could breathe. "Just great. I was hoping to get a free ticket out of this baka world."
"Urusei, Kerihk," Ay commanded. He gestured for Kerihk to swim with him deeper into the heart of the river. Reluctantly, Kerihk obliged.
They swam together in silence for a while, their eyes drifting to all the different types of colorful coral that should not have been able to survive in the fresh water of the river. Seaweed clouded their vision at times, so they had to find ways to kick it out of their path. The magic of the river, now overflowing with excess water, kept their senses alert. Who knew what lay in the mysterious depths of the river?
Something golden was glinting ahead, and Kerihk immediately recognized it as the glare of his hikari's Millennium Ring. He mad a mad dash forward, Ay easily keeping up with his fast pace.
Noting that the water was considerably warmer in this area, Kerihk wondered if the golden light really belonged to Bakura's Millennium Ring. Beyond it, something large, magical, and glowing red lurked in the waters.
The yami shuddered. He had no idea what it was, but he could sense something evil near them, waiting to strike. A Shadow creature from the realm of darkness. At the same time, the bright presence of the two hikaris was growing stronger, and soon Kerihk forgot about the Shadow creature by the big red object (a/n: Clifford the big red dog! Readers: Um... that like so totally messed up the sentence. ::sweatdrop::) in light of rejoining his hikari.
"Ba-ku-ra!" Kerihk exclaimed in exasperation as he and Ay at last swam up to meet the young ones. Bakura was pretty much back to normal now, but he seemed confused and couldn't understand why they were underwater.
"That was very stupid, climbing out on those rocks in the middle of the night!" Kerihk hissed, trying to sound overly upset to hide his worry.
"I know... gomen..." Bakura sighed miserably, looking away.
The light from the red object was glowing stronger now. Both Kerihk and Ay could feel the presence of the Shadow, faintly at first, but growing stronger. There may be more than one. They didn't want to wait around to find out.
"C'mon," Ay murmured, tossing his head in the direction of the surface. He began to swim upwards, but Bakura shook his head.
"No," the boy disagreed. "No, we... we have to follow that red light."
Ay gaped, and looked from Kerihk to Bakura in a have-you-gone-insane fashion. Kerihk's face remained stone and unmoving, Bakura's firm in his stare at the object.
"There are Shadows out there!" he cried, flinging his hands upward in the water. "And it really doesn't look inviting! The others will be looking for us! Why on EARTH would you want to go there?"
No one answered Ay's question. With a frown and toss of his blue hair, Ay swam in front of the others. Finally he announced haughtily,
"If you want to check it out, we've got to do it fast and discreetly. We can't risk any chance of Shadows finding us. I know a way we can use the seaweed patches to our advantage. But let's go quick."
He swam to the left, towards a garden of seaweed that was an ocean in itself. The three others followed him almost immediately, Dajan quietly chuckling to himself, thinking, 'He's going along with us because he's just as curious as Bakura.'
The stench of Shadows grew even stronger as they hid behind the seaweed barrier, swimming to their destination. The water was becoming very warm indeed, but whether the heat was coming from the glowing red sphere - for now they could tell that it was definitely an over-sized round ball - or the Shadows stationed nearby.
Ay wrinkled his nose in distaste. He was thankful Dajan couldn't sense what he could. Dajan and Bakura wouldn't be able to realize that a Shadow was near them until the creature was in normal smelling range. He and Kerihk, not to mention all the other yamis, could tell when a Shadow emerged from the Shadow Realm in their domain.
Presently the four reached a particularly thick plot of kelp, which they ducked under to hide from any unwanted visitors. Gingerly sticking his fingers through the seaweed, Kerihk peered out at the sphere.
It could have been a UFO. The object was at least as long as the train they had taken to Atami, and just as high. It seemed to be made of stone, with a ring of ice circling it like the rings of Saturn. There was no doubt about it - the hotness was certainly radiating from the core of the sphere, as was the great, blood red light. How the ice managed to stay intact could only be Sealing magic.
In the glow of the sphere, Kerihk's keen eyes could make out large engravings on the stone's rings. What they said, he couldn't tell, but from the looks of it they were -
"Hieroglyphics," Kerihk stated to the others, reporting what he'd seen. "I could see some of the symbols, but we're too far away to read it clearly."
"We have to get closer," Bakura said thoughtfully, and this time, nobody objected. Their curiosity at the hieroglyphics, long since dispersed from the modern world, was much too great.
Ay's jade green eyes widened in realization, and his lips curled into a smile. "Guys, I've just figured out our one-way ticket out of here," he remarked , showing his pearl-white teeth.
The other three returned his sly grin and huddled in deep discussion.