"Sakura, it's me, Ryo." Ryo said stepping closer to her. Dais and Anubis felt her tense as he got nearer.

"You're not Ryo!" she spat at him. Ryo stopped in his tracks, not wanting to put her out of her comfort zone. He knew her being this close to him, while he looked like Seriyu was hard enough. "Ryo is back at the house."

"You don't believe that!" Ryo said knowingly. " I can tell you don't." Sakura averted her eyes not wanting him to see that he was right. That man at the house wasn't Ryo, and she knew it. But she wasn't about to give Seriyu the pleasure of knowing he was right.

"Look, I know that this is hard for you, but I really am Ryo!" Ryo said again as he stepped closer to where Dais and Anubis held her between them, captive. Sakura struggled at his closeness.  She didn't know why, but she felt herself trying to persuade her to believe him. Ryo saw the struggle in her eyes and it tore him up inside him to have to do this to her. But he needed her to believe him if things were ever going to get back to the way they were.

'It's not him.' Sakura told herself. 'He's lying, he's not Ryo! But… what if it is? You know that the man back at the house isn't Ryo, maybe Seriyu did something to him.'

Lost in her mental battle, Ryo took this opportunity to stand right in front of her. He took her face in his hands and tilted it toward him. Sakura struggled more valiantly at his touch causing Dais and Anubis to almost lose their grip.

"Sakura, listen to him!" Dais instructed. "He's telling the truth!"

"No!" Sakura shouted forcing herself to stare at the ground, avoiding Ryo's now green eyes. "Seriyu has brainwashed you both!" she yelled as a single tear slipped down her cheek. "It's happening again." She said in a sad whisper.

"Sakura look at me!" Ryo commanded forcing Sakura to meet his intense gaze. Sakura reluctantly met his gaze head on and what she saw in his eyes shocked her. While on the outside, his eye's were green, she could still sense, more than see the cool blue eyes of Ryo that she knew so well. Ryo leaned forward and kissed her softly. When he pulled back Sakura was gazing at him in confusion and bewilderment. Ryo kissed her like that. 'No! It can't be him! But I felt it, when he kissed me, I could feel him.'

"Ryo" she whispered.

"It's me, Sakura, you have to believe me." Ryo said gently. Sakura slowly relaxed her muscles as Dais and Anubis relaxed their grip as well.

"Ryo" She said again. "Oh, Ryo" she said as she broke free of Dais and Anubis's grip and hugged the Seriyu looking Ryo. Ryo returned her hug as tears fell down her cheeks. She pushed back from his embrace and looked at him.

"What happened to you? Where have you been? What's Seriyu up to?" Sakura asked firing off questions at Ryo.

'Whoa, hold on, one at a time!" he said holding up his hand to her onslaught of questions. Ryo then proceeded to tell Dais, Anubis, and Sakura all that had happened to him.

"A black amulet?" Sakura asked when he finished the story. "Did one of them have a golden design on the top?"

"Yes! Have you seen them?" Ryo asked urgently.

Sakura nodded her head. "Yes, he wears both of them around his neck."

"We need to get one" Ryo said suddenly. "If we're going to change back that is. That's the key how to do it."

"Good, then all we need to do it grab one when he's asleep." Dais said. Sakura shook her head.

"He never takes them off!" Sakura said knowingly. "And even if we did manage to get one, don't you think that if he goes through the trouble of keeping them with him all day that he would notice if he was missing one?"

"Yeah, you're probably right." Anubis said. "And I wouldn't be surprised if he knows that Ryo's escaped by now."

"I bet that was the phone call that he got." Dais said remembering what Sakura had told them about his mysterious call.

"So he probably knows that I'm trying to get back home and trying to persuade you guys that he's not me." Ryo finished.

"Great!" Sakura said slumping her shoulders. She then straightened up. "But I think I can still get one of the amulets." She pronounced.

"How are you going to do that without him noticing?" Anubis asked.

"I have my ways." She said mysteriously.

"Oh, no you don't!" Ryo said, his jealously flaring. "I know what you're planning!"

"What?" Sakura asked innocently.

"Come on, you do that same thing every time you want me to take my mind off something. First you make me sit on the couch, then you start to massage my shoulders, then… well you know!" Ryo said not wanting his fiancé anywhere near his counterfeit counterpart.

"I'll have the amulet, before I kiss him. I wouldn't kiss that man if my life depended on it." Sakura said crossing her arms. "So you have nothing to be jealous about."

"Fine, you might be able to get the amulet that way, but how are you going to keep him from noticing?" Dais asked anticipating Seriyu's reaction once he found out he'd been tricked.

"Again, I have it all covered." Sakura said confidently.

"Whatever you do, make sure you get the one with the design on it." Ryo cautioned. "I have a feeling, that if this plan is going to work, that we need that one." Sakura nodded her understanding as Dais looked at his watch.

"Guys, we were supposed to meet the others, thirty minutes ago." He said pointing to his watch. The four stood up as the headed back to the city. 

"Ryo, I don't think that it's a good idea for you to let anyone else see you." Anubis said as they headed back.

"Why not?"

"Because the less people that know about this the better." Anubis said knowingly. "If too many people know, there's a greater chance that your look-alike with figure out that we're planning something and as you know, the element of surprise to of the utmost importance in this mission."

"He's got a point." Dais agreed.

"Fine," Ryo answered sullenly. "But I'm not going to be far from the house." He warned. The others nodded their agreement as they came within view of the city.