A Note from the Authors: Um...yeah sorry about the delays in between updates...the lack of enough new TV episodes and the lack of reviews is getting a bit discouraging. Stupid Kids WB...

Chapter 17

"Gathering Intelligence"

Bakura stiffened slightly as Athena leaned over against him, doubled over with laughter. The two of them were still in their night-things, eating breakfast on the couch and enjoying Saturday morning cartoons. Nick was sleeping through everything, sprawled out on the floor, tangled in a mess of sheets. Diana was observing silently from the kitchen, the Millennium Statue (still very much animated) perched on her shoulder.

"Is it really that funny…?" Bakura asked her.

"Sorry…" she said, resting her head against his arm and unintentionally giving him a very good view down her button-down night-shirt, "I never realized how amusing Japanese cartoons could be…"

He could only cough and turn away, hoping the television would keep her attention away from his now incredibly red face.

Three rapid taps at front door gave Bakura back any unnecessary embarrassment he might've avoided. As he quickly jumped off of the couch to get the door, he caused Athena to fall over, no longer supported by his shoulder, "Sorry!" he told her, mentally kicking himself for his nervousness.

"That's…okay…" she said, not hurt at all, and enjoying thoroughly the mortified look on his face.

He nodded, hurrying to the door, fiddling with the lock and pulling it open. "Yami!" he said, surprised, "What are you doing here?"

Back in the living room, Athena pushed herself up into a sitting position, as Nick sat up as well, yawning loudly. "Who's here…?" he muttered.

"The Pharaoh," Athena said, brushing her black curls out of her face.

"I need to speak with Barak," Yami told him bluntly, getting straight to the point as he stepped in the apartment, letting Bakura close the door. His eyes darted around the messy home, an amused eyebrow raised, "Am I interrupting anything?"

"N-no! Nothing!" Bakura said quickly, "We just…weren't expecting anyone…this early."

"It's good to see you again, Yami," Athena said, while behind her, Nick attempted to untangle himself from his sheets, "I don't think you've met my siblings yet," she added, gesturing to where Nick would've been had he not just tumbled back onto the floor.

Yami nodded absent-mindedly at the older woman in the background, then towards the red-faced young man on the floor. Finally, he redirected his attention towards Bakura, who was fingering the Millennium Ring out of habit, "Big brother…" the Pharaoh called softly, attempting to find the suspiciously absent spirit of the Ring.

Out of thin air, Barak materialized, leaning against the far wall, dressed in Bakura's pajamas, looking more surly than normal. He glanced up at Yami slowly, "What do you want?" In the background, Nick had finally disentangled himself and taken a seat on the couch beside Athena.

Yami took a deep breath, "I assume that you know that Jetsu has been defeated, yes?"

"Yes…I was aware of that…I hope you're not trying to take credit for Kaiba's work, though."

The Pharaoh tensed, but continued, "No, I was not," he decided to press on. He hadn't expected his half-sibling to know as much as this, but it was fine. It would just save him a lot of explaining, "Then were you also aware that the Millennium Statue was at the scene of the battle?"

"Yes…" Barak nodded, "And, unlike you, I'm aware that the Millennium Statue is in this room at this very moment." He pointed towards the kitchen, where Diana was stroking the golden cat, which was lying on the counter.

"I'm sorry if my Item worried you, my Pharaoh," the oldest Icari said, "I was using it last night to watch the conflict at the museum."

"Sorry, Yami," Athena put in quietly, "I probably should have told you about the Statue before, but I never thought of it."

The king of old shrugged, and smiled, "I suppose that takes care of that particular lead," The man stopped, and leaned against the wall thoughtfully, "I had hoped that the holder of the Millennium Statue would have been able to tell me why Maeda turned up at the museum last night. All I have to work on are guesses and vague clues."

The three Grecians exchanged glances and each shrugged. "Vitani might know," Athena said, "I'll probably go over to check on her later today. I could ask her what she knows."

"I've already asked Dedi to go question Kaiba about his encounter last night," Yami told her, "She arrived just this morning."

Barak snorted, a small smirk curling the ends of his lips, "Good luck."

Bakura nodded slightly, "Barak may be right, Yami. Kaiba hasn't really seemed to like you much, so I don't know if he'd willingly tell you or yours anything."

Yami sighed, "Then I suppose it's a good thing I have others to depend on," he said, glancing over at Athena, who gave him a small smile, "Kaiba may not be willing to talk, but Vitani will never turn away her sister."

"Even if we learn what Seto Kaiba accomplished yesterday, that still won't help us to determine our next move, will it?" Nick (who had remained quiet through the conversation) spoke up suddenly, his head resting on one hand.

"It just might," Yami said, "If we can come to a conclusion about Seline Chrysogonus' involvement in all of this, we can take adequate precautions in dealing with her."

"It's a start, to say the least," Diana said, and the Statue nodded in agreement.

* * *

It was another long walk back to the Game Shop for Yami, but he felt much better about this one. Between him and the Greeks, they had managed to come up with a decent attack plan. Once they had gathered all of the information they could, Diana would simply send the Statue into the Museum to collect data and help them prepare for whatever Seline might be dragging her feet about.

Lost in his own thoughts, the Pharaoh almost didn't notice a slightly nervous-looking Joey hanging around outside the store. He looked in every so often, reached for the handle to open the front door, then suddenly seemed to change his mind and go back to just leaning against the window. Yami approached him from behind, doubting that Wheeler could hear him, "Hello, Joey."

With a cry of surprise, the blonde-haired teen jumped, spinning around to face Yami, clutching his chest, "Jeez, man…" he said, trying to calm his breathing, "You tryin' ta give me a heart attack?"

"I merely greeted you, as most normal people do. What's gotten into you, Joey? Is something bothering you?" Yami asked, his hands in his pockets.

"Who me??" Joey asked, "No, o'course not…uh – look…can I talk ta Yugi, uh…sir?"

Yami raised an eyebrow, still a bit concerned about his friend. The man closed his eyes quickly, the Millennium Puzzle's glow overtaking him for just a second, and the smiling figure of Yugi Moto appeared in the Pharaoh's place, "Hey, Joey! What's up?"
"Oh, um…nothin'…" Joey said slowly, "Ya gotta minute?"

Yugi smiled brightly, 'Well, apparently, or I wouldn't be standing here talking to you now would I?"

"Right…" the older boy nodded, smiling weakly, "Um…maybe we could go inside? It's cold out here, ain't it?"

Yugi shrugged, "Yeah, I guess." He opened the door to allow his best friend inside. The boy couldn't help but notice that Joey was acting really weird for some reason. It isn't like him to get nervous about anything. I wonder what's up?

As soon as they entered the shop, Joey froze. Dedi was sitting at the store counter, gazing at him curiously. She's knows… instantly crossed his mind, only to be rebuffed by, She couldn't know…there's no way…so what's wit dat look on her face?

"Huh? Oh, I forgot to tell you," Yugi said mildly, "Dedi and Tsuki just got into town last night."

"Uh…I gotta go," Joey said, and did a 180 back towards the door, but the younger teen grabbed hold of him.

"What's gotten into you, Joey? I thought you wanted to talk to me," Yugi said, completely puzzled.

Dedi stood up, "I think I'm making someone uncomfortable," she said coolly, "I just came by to tell you I had no luck with Kaiba."

"Oh…that's all right," Yugi told her, leading Joey away from the door, "We've got a back-up plan."

"Okay," she nodded, then turned to Yami and whispered, "See you tonight." He met her gaze meaningfully and she left the shop. It was only then that Yugi rolled his eyes. It looked as if he wouldn't get a chance to talk to his spirit about their plans this night.

Yugi sat down behind the counter, looking up at his fidgeting friend, "Ok, we're inside, and we're alone. Can we talk now?"

"Huh? Yeah – yeah…sure…" Joey said, quickly sitting down on the stool where Dedi had been. He put his hands up on the counter, folding them and unfolding them for a few seconds before he got up again and began pacing. "We've…we've been friends for a long time now, right, Yug?" he began.

"Yes, Joey."

"Right…and friends…dey tell each other stuff, right? No secrets, I mean…" the blonde young man continued, slowly repeating his footsteps over their previous spots.

"Yes, Joey. Is this going somewhere?"

The Japanese boy with the Brooklyn accent stopped in his tracks, clutched his head for a moment, moaned loudly and then slammed both hands down on the counter, blurting out, "Mai and I did it last night!"

Yugi fell out of his seat, surprised not only by this outburst but by the content behind it. He got up slowly, his eyes wide, "You mean like…ya know… 'did it'?"

Joey, now as the adrenaline slowly dissolved out of his veins, felt the color rise in his face and he nodded, muttering, "…Yeah…"

"That's kinda early, isn't it? I would have thought that you might've gotten married or something first." Yugi noticed how embarrassed his friend looked, and decided to change his tone, "I'm no Tristan, I know that. So this probably won't sound the same coming from me, but… congratulations. I mean, it's Mai after all."

A small smile crossed Joey's face and he sat back down. "Thanks…" he said, "And yeah…you're right…it was a huge step…I – I don't really know how it happened…one thing just sorta led to another and the next thing I knew…well…maybe I shouldn't go into the details…" he trailed off, resting his chin in his hands, "I just had to tell somebody, or it woulda driven me crazy…"

"I understand," Yugi stated plainly, "I'm glad that you finally feel comfortable talking to be about these things. I'm not a kid anymore, you understand."

"I know…" Joey said, "It's just hard getting' used to. Hell – you're probably more mature now than I'll ever be."

There was silence for a moment between the two. Abruptly, Yugi smiled, "Probably."

* * *

"Vitani..." Kaiba said, "You're sister's here again…Do I have to let her in?"

The Egyptian woman looked up from where she had been resting on the living room couch, and smiled. "Yeah, I guess so."

Kaiba nodded, too weary and still too emotionally strained to really argue, and a short moment later returned with Athena trailing a few paces behind him. The black-haired young woman smiled at the sight of her adoptive sister, "You two don't look so much worse for the wear. How're you feeling?"
"Tired," Vitani admitted, as Athena sat down beside her on the couch. She noticed Kaiba turn to leave and cleared her throat loudly. When he glanced back at her, she patted the recliner-chair next to the couch.

He slid into it at her invitation and then turned a stern eye on Athena. "Why exactly are you here again?"

"To check up on you, of course," Athena said, "And to thank you, Kaiba, for keeping your word." She and Vitani exchanged a glance that told Kaiba at once that, without words, Vitani had let Athena in on the secret that he had hoped was their relationship and the color in his cheeks rose. "I also wanted to ask you a couple of questions…" the Grecian added, "about what really happened last night."

"Not this again," Kaiba growled, "Look, I told Yugi's other friend that came around here this morning to get lost, and if Yugi sent you to question me, you can leave now."

"It wasn't just his idea," she protested, "Last night wasn't the end of it. We know Maeda was at the museum last night for a reason, and we need to figure out what it was. This whole thing may be far from over, and the worst thing we could do would be to sit back and pretend that there isn't any problem!"

"Maybe you have a problem, but I've already accomplished what I set out to do. Unlike you, I'm not Moto's lackey, and I'm not going to run around doing whatever he wants me to do."

"I am no one's lackey!!" Athena cried, leaping to her feet.

Vitani grabbed hold of her sister's arm, pulling her back down onto the couch. "Both of you stop it, please," she said, giving each a reprimanding look, "You're acting like kids. Kaiba, I don't see what we have to hide from her, or the Pharaoh, for that matter?"

Seto grimaced, "There's nothing to tell. I defeated Maeda, and that's all that matters, isn't it?" his question was directed at Vitani, as questioning Athena would mean certain scarring of his pride.

Vitani nodded, "Yes…but at the end, he said something about that woman who owns the museum now…I'm sure I remember him saying 'tell the Pharaoh'…but it was all kind of fuzzy…what else did he say?"

Kaiba closed his eyes, as if recalling a bad dream, "'Seline Chrysogonus will destroy you for this. Her greed has no bounds, and I promised her riches she had only before dreamt about. Your days are numbered…Tell the Pharaoh for me, won't you?'" he shook his head, looking slightly sick, "I remember it all too well, alright!? Those were his last words to me. I didn't want anyone to know because… well, I was… afraid that you'd run off and try to defeat this woman, whoever she was. You've had more than enough involvement with these people, Vitani." He reached out and put one hand over hers, interlinking his slender fingers with hers, and she met his piercing gaze. Something had changed in his eyes in the past 24 hours; there was a slight shine that had never been there before.

She smiled slightly, "I understand…but you don't have to worry about me. I've had my fill of danger for quite a long time. And I'm not going anywhere if it's not with you." She leaned over and kissed him quickly on the lips. "I love you, remember?"

"Grown-ups are so weird," Mokuba's voice came from the doorway. The boy was leaning against the door frame, an eyebrow raised skeptically, "Weren't you all fighting just a minute ago?"

Athena hid a laugh in a very fake-sounding cough as Kaiba and Vitani separated quickly, both blushing. "Mokuba," Kaiba said, "Weren't you supposed to be doing homework?"

"I finished. It didn't take that long," the younger of the two Kaiba brothers walked into the room and sat down in one of the plump, fluffy, green chairs that sat a short distance from the couch, "Besides, this is much more interesting."

"Too bad we're finished here," Athena said, getting to her feet, "I'll be back, but right now, I've gotta run. Later, kid," she ruffled Mokuba's hair, "Keep these two in-line, okay?" she finished, jerking a thumb at Vitani and Kaiba, causing the latter to flush angrily. With a final wave at them all, she whisked herself out of the room.

Once out in the cold afternoon air again, Athena forced herself to put aside the lingering thoughts of the amusing scene she was surely now missing, and turned her attention to Maeda's last words to Kaiba. It definitely proved that the museum woman was involved, but for Jetsu to feel confident that she'd destroy them was really something to worry about. As she made her may through inner Domino City, she passed the museum itself and toyed with the idea of going in, ultimately rejecting it and continuing on. It would be best to touch base with Yami and Yugi first, so she altered her course slightly and headed for the Game Shop.