Author's Note: After a brief hiatus whist we waited in vain for more reviews, we now update our story once again! Enjoy!

Chapter 16

"Reunions: A Moment's Peace"

9:00 AM. The door to Mai Valentine's apartment opened slowly and Joey Wheeler stepped out, dressed in the same clothes he'd worn the day before. Behind him, Mai was leaning against the doorway, dressed in a lavender bathrobe that hung loose over one bare shoulder.

She pressed a single key into his hand. "Take this," she said with a smile, "So you'll always have a place to come to."

Joey closed his fingers around it, and then put it into the pocket of his jeans. "Thanks," he said, taking hold of her hand, "This means a lot, Mai."

She smiled and then kissed him gently, pulling away after a moment and telling him, "Go on, get out of here."

Joey nodded, took one step towards the elevator at the end of the hall, and then stopped short. Suddenly driven by an unknown impulse, he whipped back around, grabbed her by the arms and covered her mouth with his. He broke off just as quickly, whispered "I'll be back – I promise," and then headed off quickly down the hallway.

Dumbstruck, Mai leaned back against the door frame, eyes wide, the color slightly heightened in her cheeks, the taste of him still lingering on her lips. She brushed her hair out of her face absentmindedly, wondering where that had come from. She shook her head, and as she turned back into the room, she felt a strange tingling in her stomach. Thinking it nothing but butterflies brought on by the sudden surprise (not to mention the unexpected events of the previous night), she shut the door behind her, leaving the corridor deserted once again.

* * *

9:30 AM. The roof of his foyer faded in and out of focus before Seto Kaiba's eyes. He moaned, and put a hand up to his throbbing head. Morning sun was shining through the glass panes on the ceiling and he recalled with a dulled sense of relief that he was not alone of the marble floor. Rolling over onto his side, he found himself face to face with Vitani.

She looked to be sleeping peacefully, and he noticed that much of the color had come back to her normally tanned skin. He reached out and brushed her bangs out of her face, and she stirred at his touch. Her eyes slowly opened and met with his. Gradually, her lips curled into a small smile.

"Are you all right?" he asked her.

Small tears welled in her shining green eyes and in an instant she had lifted herself up onto her elbows and rolled him onto his back. She lingered for a moment, her face hovering above his, and then brought her lips down upon his.

Seto froze for only a second and then brought his arms up around her, overwhelmed by the new sensation. In the back of his mind, he realized that this was actually his first kiss, having been much too occupied with what he had deemed 'more important things' before. He praised himself inwardly for putting it off until he had found her, as the taste of it was surely much sweeter that he had waited.

After a long moment, she raised herself up again, still lingering mere centimeters apart. Her tears hit his face like cleansing waters and he smiled up at her, brushing her hair out of her face once more. "You did it…" she choked.

"I couldn't have done it without you," he told her honestly.

"I don't know how I can ever thank you…"

"That kiss was a pretty good start," he said, smirking.

"Yeah?" she said, in the same light-hearted tone, "Thanks for the hint." She leaned down and kissed him once more. Then she lowered her position slightly, lying her head down on his chest, comforted by the steady beating of his heart. "This changes everything…" she murmured.

"Only for the better…" he said, stroking her hair gently.

"I love you…" she whispered.

"And I, you," he assented, "Since the beginning of time…"

"What…?"

"It's a long story," he sighed, "I'll explain it to you later."

* * *

9:30 AM elsewhere. Yami was sitting on the edge of Yugi's bed in spirit form, watching his protégée sleep. He had purposely taken control of the body and left Yugi out of the previous night's events. There had been no need to endanger him in that respect, and now it was over anyway, and they could enjoy a brief rest before moving forward to meet their next challenge.

He stretched out a hand and laid it on top of (or rather through) the boy's own. "Yugi…" he said, "Wake up."

The boy stirred slowly, his body not quite willing to abandon its slumber without a bit of a fight. Yugi Moto sat up very slowly, rubbing his eyes and blinking dully, "Morning, Yami."

"It's all over," Yami said, deciding it best to get right to the point, "Jetsu is finally gone."

Yugi's eyes widened in surprise, "What? When? How?" This new piece of information had done a much better just of awakening the boy that even the cold chill of having a hand stuck through his head.

"Last night," Yami said, "I'm sorry I didn't wake you for it, but I wasn't sure how things were going to go and I wanted to keep you out of danger. I suppose I needn't have bothered, though. Seto Kaiba was the one who actually put himself in harm's way."

"What do you mean?" the young man asked curiously, "Why was Kaiba there at all?"

"It seems that there's one more attachment in Kaiba's life than he would have ever been willing to admit had the situation not been so dire," Yami said, grinning slightly, "His put his soul on the line to save Vitani…"

Before Yugi could reply, the gruff voice of his grandfather traveled up the stairs and reached his ears, "Yugi! Would you please come down here for a minute!?"

"Coming, Grandpa!" the teen called back, then slid out of bed and into his slippers, motioning for Yami to follow as he headed out of his room.

* * *

"What is it, Grandpa?" Yugi asked as he reached the kitchen. The sight before him woke him up even more (possibly) than the news a few minutes earlier had: Tsuki was sitting at the kitchen counter, looking a lot more grown up than the last time he'd seen her, and grinning at him.

"Yugi! I've missed you!" she cried, hopping off the stool and running to embrace him.

"Tsuki," he gasped, blushing slightly, "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't going to be back until next week."

"My parents got their work done early and got the soonest flight out of America," she explained, "Didn't you read my e-mail?"

"I haven't really had…time to check my e-mail recently…" he admitted, one hand behind his head, "Sorry."

"That's okay," she said, loosening her grip on him, "You're still glad to see me, right?"

"Of course," he said earnestly, "I've missed you too."

Grandpa chuckled, "I'll just leave you too alone for a little while," and left the room.

Dedi's spirit form appeared beside Tsuki the instant he had gone. "Hey, kid," she said, grinning, "How ya been?"

"Alright…" Yugi shrugged, then glanced around, "Now where'd Yami get off to?"

"I'm right here," Yami said from the doorway.

"Yami!!" Dedi cried, rushing to him and knocking him to the floor with a tackle any football couch would admire.

Yugi sighed. Nothing would ever change between those two. He turned instead to Tsuki, who was looking just as embarrassed as he had been, "So…," the boy started shyly, "How's life been treating you, Tsuki?"

"Not too bad," she shrugged, "I had a growth spurt, see?" she drew herself up to her full height and was exactly eye-to-eye with him, "Pretty soon, I'll be taller than you, 'cuz it takes boys longer to hit puberty."

Yugi laughed slightly, "I don't think I'm ever going to get any taller than this," he gestured a finger at the way his Grandfather had left the room, "Just look at Grandpa! I think being short is in my genes."

"Oh, don't say that," she told him, putting her hands on his shoulders comfortingly, "Just give it another year, okay?"

"Well, as long as no more villains come trying to kill me, I guess all I can do is wait!" The boy replied, a bit surprised at the ease in which she touched him. He had always been really nervous around girls.

She smiled, and then climbed back up on the stool at the counter, motioning for him to join her. "I guess you didn't have breakfast yet?" she said, pushing a plate of already prepared food towards him, and glancing mildly at his pajamas.

The young teen's face turned a bright shade of crimson and he sat down quickly, trying to avoid eye-contact.

Over on the floor, Dedi pushed herself off of her husband, grinning. "So tell me," she said, "How've you been keeping busy while I've been gone?"

Yami sat up, leaning against the back of the sofa, "Defeating Jetsu Maeda for a second time was rather trying, but other than that I've just been catching up on my history while Yugi catches up on his school work."

Dedi nodded, then his words sunk in and she jerked her head up quickly, "What?!" she cried in a half-whisper, scrambling over closer to him, "What are you talking about?? He was back??"

Yami reclined slightly, taken aback by her abrupt reaction, then proceeded to explain the events of the past week or so.

"By the gods…" she murmured, leaning back next to him, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to help…though it seems that everything was under control." She reached out and took his hand, "So now we have a brief moment before the next challenge has to be faced…what do you feel like doing?"

"I feel like resting, but there's no time. The Millennium Statue was sighted at the museum last night by Shadi and I have to find out who owns it. They might be able to shed some light on a few things." Yami rubbed his eyes tiredly, as they looked even worse than ever after the escapades of the previous eve.

"Mmm…" Dedi murmured, "You really do look tired…Why don't you go rest now? The kids won't be ready for more adventures for a few more hours at least. Go on – you deserve it."

Yami shook his head, "No, I have to use this time to figure out what I'm going to say to Barak. His Item is much better at detecting the presence of other Items than either of ours, but the two of us aren't exactly on good terms right now." He stood up and stretched, looking down at his wife with affection, "There aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish everything that needs completion anymore."

She smiled sadly. 'Same old Yami,' she thought to herself, 'Everything always comes before his own needs…' She stood up next to him, "Is there any way I can help?"

He leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, "Go find Seto Kaiba and Vitani. I need to know what happened in her mind last night. Tell him I sent you." Yami disappeared, receding back into his portion of Yugi's mind, trying to figure out something that might possibly sway Barak to help him.

Dedi turned back towards the pair seated at the kitchen counter, talking and laughing together. "Tsuki…" she said, coming up between them, "I hate to break this up, but we have an errand to run. I'll be waiting when you finish your breakfast."

The young girl nodded and her spirit vanished. "I wonder what sort of errand…"

Yugi stopped eating for a minute thinking, "I guess this means no Saturday morning cartoons for us."

* * *

Seline had not slept that night. She had sensed the struggle within Vitani's mind, and had been mildly disgusted with the outcome. Now, not only did she not have access to the Shield, but she had wasted her time overseeing the work on the incantation that was to have been her payment for it. As the sun rose slowly above the city skyline, she sat on the window sill in her bedroom, leaning against the glass, silently brooding.

There was a sharp rap at the door, alerting the agitated woman that one of her servants approached. Chalie opened the door, inclining his head slightly, "Apologies for disturbing you, Mistress."

Despite her inner fury, she gave him a small smile. "No need…I think this is the first time you've ever come in here, Chalie. What is it you wanted to say?"

"I simply wondered if this unfortunate turn of events will accelerate our plans further or not. With Maeda gone, reawakening the Shield is no longer an option," Chalie stopped, looking over his shoulder as if apprehensive, "Shem is furious with you. You told him you'd reveal everything to him once the Millennium Shield was yours to control, but that was never really an option, was it? Something has to be done about him."

"Yes…" she nodded, "Once Maeda returned, I had planned to convince him to turn over what knowledge he had of the ancient scriptures – surely the information Shem seeks would've been there. Now that he's gone…I'm not quite sure where else to turn. Maeda's former servant girl would know, but right now she's not in any place to be accepting requests from us." She paused, thinking it over quickly, "How good do you think he is at detecting lies?"

Chalie grinned wickedly, "Probably not bad. There are always other… options. The Mirror would be an excellent power boost to your magic, Mistress."

"Why do I sense that there will be a slight change in position of the most recent member of our circle?" she asked, "What to you propose?"