Ghost Whisper: *Dancing* Huh? Oh - I guess you guys can't tell by looking at my stats on the site, but. [Drumroll] I have 200 reviews!

Yugi: You should have seen the way she was dancing earlier *leans forward out of Ghost's earshot* She made such a fool of herself.

Ghost Whisper: Yugi, I'm hurt! And here I had such great things planned for you in this chapter! '_ ' Anyways, replies to reviewers:

s() - You understand! *cries* Thank you, thank you!

Bunnychu - Well a Serena/Yami is pretty much a set thing, but if you send me some info on Duke (I never got to see those episodes), then I might be able to work something out for other pairings. I think about the other suggestions, though I'm not sure on anything yet though. ^_^

SerinityRules: Yeah, I thought so too. but be forewarned, there will be plot twists in the future.

Shaiala Rialle: I think you've hit the nail on the head about Serena's feelings there. Thanks for the review! ^_^

Ahknee/Kiteen: I'm sorry I kept you waiting so long! Although, I am happy you remembered me, and enjoyed the chapter! *Hands chocolate bar* @_@ Oh no. I didn't just make you more hyper did I?

Prophetess of Hearts: Yeah that was part of my reasoning behind the new development. but you never know what will be around the corner! Bwaahaahaa! ^_^

Gema J. Gall: I'm sorry! *Whimpers* I couldn't help it! Writers Block *coughlazinesscough* just tends to sneak up on you! The rest of the scouts will begin coming back too, so please put up with me! ^_^

Henio: I will never make a chapter that is only 20 words, don't worry! I have some standards. Thanks for the review!

Sakura30: Thank you so much for the encouragement. I have a problem about stopping thinking about my stories - they tend to sneak up on me. Just the other night, I was about to fall asleep, when I shot out of bed and wrote half this chapter. Maybe it's a good thing I think about it so much? Thank you once again!

Snow Stalker1: Midterms should be sent to the fiery abyss from whence they were spawned! *Maniacal laughter* But hopefully since there over, things might get a bit better for me, and this story. Except for finals coming up. !_! Thanks for the good wishes!

Angelgirl10: Yes, I'm sorry for my sins! I repent to all Darien lovers! All I can say to justify myself is. it had to be done. But I love Darien too! Rest assured, there will be no bashing of him at least. Sorry about the typo - they like to make my life miserable. Thanks for the review!

Delphine Pryde: Yeah, I went with Yami too - but I have something special planned for Malik! ^_^

Chibi Pluto: Here's the update! I hope it's worthwhile. ^_^

Zaeria: Cool name! Did you know you're my 200th reviewer? *Throws confetti* Here. A set of Yu-Gi-Oh plushies, with the bishies of your choice ^_^ A meeting between Rae and Kaiba? That's an interesting thought. I'll have to consider that. Oh the possibilities! ^_^ By the way. I would pay attention to those inklings. They're very useful, knowledgeable little things.

Chapter 13: Unknown Quantities

'Merged with the planet.I'm sorry hime.'

Hotaru's words echoed through her head with an awful finality, and Serena gazed forward at the greenery of the park, not really noticing it. The wood from the bench she was sitting on sported a rough patch that she stroked her fingers across absently, until a sliver brought her back to the present. She was looking into concerned violet eyes.

"Serena?"

She smiled sadly at Yugi. He really was so innocent - he had seen his fair share of troubles, she knew, but underneath it all, he managed to cling to a certain naiveté. It reminded her - oddly enough - of herself, back when she had been Sailor Moon. Back when she had always been ready to believe the best of everyone, and any situation.

"Who was Darien?" His tone was uncertain, as though he was warring with himself over what he wanted her answer to be.

"Darien. was my boyfriend - my fiancée, actually. In one of my last major battles, he was killed along with all of the other Sailor Scouts - my friends, like Hotaru." She waited to see his reaction, and was relieved to note that he didn't ask questions, only nodded. "With Hotaru back, I had though - well, I'm sure you can guess." He voice became softer and softer, until she finally trailed to a halt.

Yugi looked troubled, and he fingered the version of the Millennium Puzzle that hung around his neck. " I guess it must be hard," he stated quietly. "I know - my parents disappeared years ago. I hardly remember them now, but every time someone asks about them. It just reminds me of something I missed out on."

The spiky haired boy climbed up onto the bench beside her. "I used to wonder. what it would be like to have someone who care for me no matter what - I didn't have any real friends you know - and then - I met Yami, and I finally figured out how important it is to have people who are a part of your life like that." He looked at her understandingly. "When we were split apart. it's like I lost that all over again, only this time, I was old enough to understand what it felt like."

Serena placed a hand on his shoulder. "But Yami's right here. Maybe you're not bound together by your souls anymore, but you still have each other."

"Exactly!" Serena drew back in surprise at Yugi's vehement reply. "We still have each other - and you do to! Maybe you can't talk to him like you used to - Yami and I can't now either - but if his soul merged with the planet, than can't you say, easier than anyone else who's lost someone important to them, that he's still with you? Can't you say that he's all around you, and hears what you say, even if only in part?"

Yugi didn't mention the other person on his mind. 'What does this mean?' he wondered. 'If she loved this Darien so much - I wonder if she even realizes how much *He* cares for her.'

Serena's eyes watered as she took in what Yugi had said. It didn't dull the pain. Maybe nothing even could - not even time - but it did make it easier to accept what had happened. She threw her arms around Yugi's small form. "Thank you," she whispered, allowing tears to finally fall.

Yugi looked down at the blond girl in his arms, his eyes wide. This hadn't exactly been the reaction he expected. Not too far away, Yami leaned against a tree, and the two 'twins' made eyes contact. The uncertain look in his other half's eyes made Yugi bite his lip worriedly.

This wasn't the outcome he had wanted at all.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bakura had been watching Serena for sometime now. He certainly identified with Yugi, who had seemed very startled at the blond girl's sudden actions. He would have expected Yami to be the one in her embrace, and not his lighter half. Yugi, for all he had apparently been trying to cheer Serena up, looked quite uncomfortable with his current situation.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Hotaru whispered quietly from her position kneeling on the grass. "I try to be there for her - all of us Scouts do - but we're so different. I'm not always sure if I'm telling her something she should here, or something she wants to hear. I'm afraid that I'll just end up hurting her more."

Bakura wondered on something she had said. 'I try' - not 'I tried to be there for her'. How could they try if they were - for all intents and purposes - dead? But then again, maybe he was just reading too much into the comment. Maybe the small dark haired girl was speaking in present tense because she hadn't felt the length of time she had been 'dead'.

Hotaru was watching the blond haired girl again, her eyes sad.

"Maybe you're trying too hard." He suggested, making the girl look up at him curiously. "You're friends, right? Even if you can't tell, you're probably saying the right thing - and if you're not, she'll understand that you were only trying to help her. She might be hurt, but she'll understand."

"Maybe," she whispered.

The white haired boy smiled at her. "Opposites can get along too," he told her. "And you have to have something in common, or you'd only be allies, not the good friends I can tell you are."

Hotaru looked at him carefully, judging the earnest look in his eyes, and the odd feeling she always got from him. Her stare continued so long that Bakura squirmed uncomfortably. "Yeah." her voice was almost too quiet to hear. ".Opposites.' One pale skinned hand lifted up to twirl a lock of short black hair around her finger. "You know a lot about that, don't you?" She gazed meaning fully at Kage, who was staring off into the distance.

Bakura flushed at her knowing look, and turned his eyes downward to study the glass. It wasn't that he disliked Kage, but knowing that his virtual twin had lived thousands of years ago, and then become an insane evil spirit, had not done anything to make it easy to get to know his other half.

"He was infected," Hotaru stated vaguely, her eyes glazed over. "Controlled from the inside out, by a parasite. Forced into action by an unnatural hatred that twisted everything he once was. A spirit, much like you, until he was insane. Chaos can do that to you; twist you until you think your actions are natural. Sometimes. the only way to be healed, is to turn back to the beginning."

He stared at the strange girl, a lock of white hair falling into his eyes, which he neglected to brush away. This was too weird. It was as though she had read Kage's whole history from a book. Even he could not understand the spirit like that!

"His name means shadow, doesn't it?" Bakura nodded, uncertain of what was happening, and she went on. "How fitting. a shadow of what he once was; a shadow of you. Shadows do not have a mind of their own - be careful! But do not forget. They are dark, but created by light. There must always be an obstacle between the two in order for the shadow to exist."

A gleam of purple light flickered in her eyes, before it vanished, and her eyes snapped into focus once more. Her body shook slightly, and Bakura wordlessly handed her the white sweater he had taken off earlier, and had been carrying around.

Hotaru gave him a sunny smiled, and he allowed a small hesitant one to come to his face, though his thoughts were violently tumbling around his head in confusion. Something had just happened - but what? He was now more confused about the situation then ever.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gold was such an interesting color, Yami decided. It was what glinted off his Millennium puzzle in the sunlight, and it was also the color of Serena's hair. A vibrant gold that danced in his mind with all sorts of wordless promises. A promise of warmth and happiness, and that he wouldn't have to be alone.

Gold was the color of greed.

It was the color that reflected in the eyes of robbers whenever they had tried to search the vaults of his father's tomb. It was the color that had had lived with molten fire inside the eyes of the Chaos twisted Kage. It was the color he saw every time he looked at Serena.

Yami was greedy. He couldn't help but want her - couldn't help but love her, whether she was Serena or Cosmos, or the princess that the smaller girl - Hotaru - kept calling her. He looked at her, and realised the light, and life she embodied, even when she was devastated.

Like now. When she was sitting next to Yugi, crying onto his shoulder, with her arms around him in a careless embrace. He couldn't hate the violet-eyed boy - not when he was him, in a sense - but Oh! How it hurt to look at the two of them, and see one who could comfort her, when he could not. His heart seized up, when he saw her crying, and new that he wouldn't be able to tell her the right words to comfort her.

He was too different.

Yami meant dark. Yami was the dark half - the dark soul. He didn't belong with someone so pure, and the very embodiment of light. Just as he couldn't comfort her now, he would never be good enough to deserve her.

But it still hurt, even knowing that he could never have her. That she was better off with someone like Yugi, if she could ever forget about her first love. He could never live up to this Darien - couldn't live up to Yugi - couldn't be enough.

*

"Come boy, stop that foolish crying! You are the Pharaoh! Do not let the people see you like this on the day of your ascension. You are the child of Ra - what would they think, if the divine Pharaoh sat in the procession with red eyes, and a puffy face?"

He sniffled, and rubbed a small hand across the back of his eyes and cheeks, trying to get rid of the tearstains that marred his face. Glaring at the advisor standing in front of him, the five-year-old boy with hair in spikes of gold, crimson, and black, straightened the white linen that hung of his hips in a kilt, and adjusted the broad golden emblem on his chest.

He would act like a Pharaoh! He would, even if he was so young still! It didn't matter, since he ruled by Ra's will - the people would have to listen to him! Even those stupid 'advisors', who whispered behind his back. They walked around in their rich saffron and green robes; shrouded in royal blue and ruby colors. They wouldn't plot against them anymore.

Probably.

No, if he were a good enough Pharaoh - if he lived up to his father's example, then he would be able to convince them to stop! He would not have to worry about being murdered. not as his father had worried. not as his father might have been.

He would be good enough!

*

A small movement out of the corner of Yami's eye attracted his attention, and he pulled his thoughts back to the present and away from the memory that had leapt upon him unbidden.

A man was running down the street, dodging people left and right, until he came upon an old warehouse. Confused, Yami began to follow him, not liking the foreboding feeling that he was getting. As he walked away from his position behind the large tree, he forgot all about the companions he was leaving behind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

To Be Continued.

~ ~ ~

Ghost Whisper: Did I confuse anyone with this chapter? All in all, I rather like the way it turned out. And don't worry! Another scout will be coming in soon, and I'll probably have some more of Kaiba, and what is going on with Isis as well.

Coming Soon: "A strong power long forgotten. he exudes suffering. I believe you match him well, though the power you have accessed currently leaves something to be desired. Do we have a deal?" . . . "Please, you can't - you can't take him! I won't let you!"