The little group walked toward the city, Sakura scowling the entire way.
"What's up with you?" Dais asked her and he fell into step next to her.
"I'm just frustrated I guess. I mean if that guy is Ryo, then he's been acting really strange, and if it isn't then that means that Ryo had been missing for two days and nobody has known about it. A lot of things could have happened to him in two days!" Sakura said her voice edged with worry.
"Don't worry, Sakura." Dais said giving her a small hug of comfort. "He'll be okay. He's proven more than once that he can take care of himself."
Sakura nodded her head in agreement when they had finally arrived at the city.
"All right, here's what we need." Mia said as they clustered around her. "Sakura you go here, Dais and Anubis, you guys go here, Sage and Cue you go here and I'll go here." Mia instructed handing them each a piece of paper filled with objects they needed to buy.
"We'll meet back here in two hours." Mia said. "That should give you all enough time to get what is on the list." And with that the group went their separate ways.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Ryo was walking down an alley of the city when he spotted Dais and Anubis walking towards a store. The two were deep in conversation. Ryo's eyes lit up.
'Perfect!' he thought. 'I'll just get Dais and Anubis to believe it's me first; once they believe and tell Sakura she'll be able to help me get out of this.'
So with confidence in his plan, Ryo stepped out of the shadows and called to them. Dais heard his name and turned to see who was calling him. Dais' eyes widened in shock when he saw the Seriyu disguised Ryo. He pointed him out to Anubis who had the same reaction. The two looked at each other then charged at him. Ryo's face fell when he saw the look of anger on the two men's faces. When they reached him Anubis grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the brick wall of the building.
"Well, if it isn't out long lost friend Seriyu!" Dais drawled as Anubis pressed him tightly to the wall.
"I have a feeling that you're somehow related to our current situation." Anubis hissed at him. Ryo shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Anubis again.
"Don't even try to worm your way out of this one!" Anubis said his voice a clear indication of how much he disliked him. "We haven't seen you since you were taken away and then you show up and our friend goes missing, so you had better start talking or you not going to like your other option." He threatened.
Ryo shook his head earnestly. "No, you guys don't understand. I'm Ryo!"
Anubis slowly lowered Ryo so that his feet once again touched the ground, but he didn't release his death grip on him.
"What! You expect us to believe that!" Dais asked incredulous.
"How stupid do you think we are?" Anubis chimed in.
"No, look I know this sounds weird, but Seriyu did something to me and now he looks like me and I look like him!" Ryo explained. Dais and Anubis looked at each other in confusion.
"I know it really doesn't make a lot of sense, but it really is me! I can prove it. Ask me anything, something that only I would know." Ryo encouraged anxious to get them to believe his seemingly far-fetched story. Dais and Anubis thought about that when Dais suddenly remembered something. It was an incident that happened a few months ago that involved him, Sage and Ryo. Something happened to Sage and he made the two others swear that they wouldn't tell. And they hadn't. Dais looked at Ryo and smiled.
"Alright." He said. "What happened to Sage that one time when me you and him took that trip a few months back. The thing that he made us swear not to tell!"
Ryo's face clouded in confusion, then suddenly brightened as he burst out laughing. "Well." He began trying to choke back a laugh.
"Well we needed to get into this building to get some information about where we were because we got lost. And it turned out that it was a women only club, they wouldn't even speak to us. So we drew straws to see who would go in and get the required information. Sage lost and he had to dress up like a girl. He wore a pink dress and a hat. And we took black mail pictures, they are hidden under the third tree from the right next to the garden." Ryo answered. Anubis had to hold his sides as he imagined Sage in pink dress. Dais confirmed his answer and the three had a good laugh. When they finally caught their breath they looked at Ryo.
'It is you!" Dais said. "Sorry about the rough treatment."
Ryo shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it. And now that you two know who I am, we can tell Sakura and get Seriyu."
Dais and Anubis exchanged glances. "I'm afraid it won't be that easy."