Hey again. Sorry for the delay in updates, but I just started school on Wednesday, and so I've been a little swamped. 9th grade is cool and all, but there's just way too much homework involved! I purchased a Japanese-English dictionary this week, so hopefully my Japanese phrases will be 100 percent accurate from now on. I have a little pole for you, the readers, to take. You see, I've received a few questions on whether or not Arumi and Kurama are going to end up together. I've written enough romance stories for me to refrain from that at this time, but I'm leaving it up to you. So, let me know what you think. Should they or shouldn't they be a couple. I appreciate any input you guys give me. One last thing, I am very sorry to you Bakura fans, but I still don't know what happens to him at the end of Battle City, so he won't appear in this chapter either. Once again, if any one has any info on that, I'd love to hear it. If not, I'll just have to wait until that glorious Saturday morning that WB finally decides to air that episode before I can add Bakura to this story. That's all for now so...ON WITH THE FIC!!!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-Kessen: Bakemono no Hishi (Fight to the Finish: Secret History of the Monsters)
Duel 4: Tamashii Shiken (Soul Trial)
Kurama sighed, getting off the couch to make himself some tea. He had deprived himself of sleep, spending all night watching the monsters destroy more and more of the Ningenkai, trying to keep track of how close they were to his hometown. Yusuke had called earlier, saying that Koenma wanted to see them, but he had refused to go. If Koenma had known nothing last night, most likely he still knew nothing now. Besides that, he didn't want to leave his mother and Arumi alone while those monsters, whatever they were, drew ever closer. He would have to track Hiei down later and see what he knew about the situation. He wasn't sure where to find his short friend, but Kurama knew that he was being confined to the city and would probably be keeping tabs on its well-being.
As Kurama took a cup from the cupboard, he heard a soft thump that indicated a disoriented someone trying to stumble down the stairs. Already guessing who it was, he went back to the living room to find Arumi leaning against the wall and rubbing her lower back.
"Arumi-chan, how are you feeling?" Kurama asked, wondering how well Koenma's energy-supplying metal band was working.
"Just a little lightheaded," she muttered, pushing her slipping glasses back up her nose with one hand. "Um...where am I?"
Kurama smiled kindly at her. "You're at my house," he answered. Arumi went slightly pink and immediately looked down at the floor, having realized that if this was Kurama's house, then she must have woken up in his bed too. Arumi nervously cleared her throat and glanced up at the room, trying to find something to change the subject with. Her eyes rested on the TV.
"What are you watching?" she asked, crossing the room to stand behind the couch.
"The news," Kurama answered truthfully, watching Arumi carefully for her reaction to the images playing across the television screen. She was already weak from the energy sucking bracelet, and he was sure to make himself ready to catch her should she faint.
"Those monsters..." Arumi trailed off, staring wide-eyed at the screen. Suddenly, she whipped around to face him, her face white with shock.
"My school bag, what did you do with it?" she asked hurriedly.
"Um..." Kurama blinked, that wasn't quite the reaction he had been expecting. "It's upstairs, in my room. But what do you--?" Arumi bolted from the room before he could answer, sprinting up the steps and leaving him to stare shocked and confused after her. She wasn't gone long, however. In less then thirty seconds she came running back down, nearly tripping as she went. Quickly, she rummaged through the bag she had brought with her and withdrew a small, rectangular orange box with the kanji 'Dekki Hako' (Deck Box) printed on the side. From it, she retrieved a deck of sixty or so cards. Kurama recognized them as the Monsters and Wizards cards that had gotten her in trouble so many times before. She quickly shuffled threw them and found the one she wanted.
"Here, does this look familiar?" she asked, holding the card out to him. He took the card and uttered a small gasp. The red monster covered in eye's, known as Big Eye, on Arumi's card was the same monster on the news destroying the city on TV.
"And this one too," Arumi added, handing him another card. Again, the monster on the card, Man-Eater Bug, was the very monster that was attacking people on the screen.
"Do you mean that those monsters are from this card game?" Kurama asked slowly, looking from the TV screen to the cards in his hand and back again.
"Well...I'm not completely sure...but it sure looks that way," Arumi said quietly. Kurama could tell from the look on her face that she didn't believe herself anymore then he did. The strange thing was, that it made sense. Somewhere, in the very back of his mind, something clicked.
"Shuichi-kun..." he suddenly heard Arumi say from beside him, jerking him out of his thoughts. He turned just in time to see her fall to her knees on the floor.
"Arumi-chan!" he cried, dropping down beside her.
"I...I don't know what's wrong," she said weakly, putting a hand to her head. Kurama, on the other hand, had a fairly good idea of what was wrong. He extended his senses, reaching out to feel exactly how high or low her ki level was. Just as he had suspected, she was dangerously low and the metal band wasn't helping much. He realized in a moment that the band had been designed to sustain her if, and only if, the bracelet had continued to take the same amount of ki from her, but that wasn't the case. The bracelet was now taking more energy then ever, and it was too much for Koenma's metal band to keep up with.
"Arumi-chan, now listen, this is very important," Kurama said slowly, placing a hand on each of Arumi's arms to steady her. She nodded weakly, looking up at him with dazed, unfocused eyes. "Where did you get that bracelet?"
"My...my otosan...gave it...to me," Arumi whispered. She was having trouble breathing now. Suddenly she gave a pained cry and pushed both palms against her forehead, dropping her deck box in the process and causing her cards to spill across the floor.
"My head...it hurts...it hurts so much!" she moaned pitifully, rocking back and forth on her knees.
"Arumi-chan..." Kurama muttered in worry, not sure what to do. Was the bracelet causing this? He didn't know. Arumi gave another cry, this one louder and more desperate then the last, startling Kurama slightly. Then, suddenly, her arms dropped to the ground and she was completely silent.
"Arumi-chan...?" Kurama asked cautiously. Arumi raised her head slightly, but the eyes that met his from behind the gold-rimmed glasses were not Arumi's usual dark ones. Instead, bright, glowing ruby ones stared soullessly back at him. Kurama jumped to his feet in surprise. He could tell from her ki that whatever this was, it wasn't Arumi.
"Who are you?" Kurama demanded.
"In absence of chain in absence of Ra," she said slowly, mechanically in a voice that was as far from Arumi's as a being speaking through her vocal chords could possibly get, "they will be freed and chaos will descend once more upon this world. Life has not the power to stop them, only Anubis's eye will contain them."
"Who are you?!" Kurama asked again. The possessed Arumi didn't answer. She stared at him for a moment more before the crimson light in her eyes slowly faded and they returned to their normal color. Arumi then slowly began to fall forward.
"Arumi-chan!" Kurama cried, dropping to his knees to catch her. "Arumi-chan?! Arumi?!" he shook her, trying desperately to wake her. "Arumi-chan, please answer me!" His hand quickly shot to her neck, feeling for a pulse. He was just able to detect a faint heartbeat, but he knew that with her energy level it wouldn't last, not if the bracelet continued to take her energy. Quickly, he grabbed her right wrist and tried once more to yank the bracelet off her arm.
"Shimatta! Come off!" he growled at it in frustration. He felt responsible for this girl now, and he would not let her die! In a last desperate attempt, he placed his hand on the bracelet and tried to force his energy into it; force it to take his energy instead of hers. He received a nasty shock for his efforts as the bracelet rejected him, preferring to feed off Arumi's energy instead.
"No..." Kurama breathed as he felt his new friend's life slipping away. "Arumi-chan, try to fight it. Try!"
"She cannot fight it," a voice behind him made Kurama spin around, instinctively tightening his grip on Arumi. There stood a man wearing long robes and a turban on his head. He had a golden key hanging around his neck that resembled Arumi's bracelet.
"Who are you?" Kurama asked coolly.
"I am Shadi. I am a servant of Anubis. My bloodline has guarded the tombs for 3,000 years," the figure replied.
'Anubis?' Kurama wondered, 'When she was possessed, Arumi-chan said something about Anubis.'
"That girl," Shadi continued, "is the host of the Eye of Anubis. It cannot be removed from her as long as she lives, which won't be much longer if things continue as they are."
'Anubis's eye!' Kurama's mind cried, remembering the words the possessed Arumi had spoken.
"Is this what she meant when she said 'only Anubis's eye will contain them?' Is this bracelet the key to stopping the monsters?" Kurama asked anxiously, watching this Shadi person for signs of lying.
Shadi smiled. "You are very perceptive. My Millennium Key tells me that there is much more to you then meets the eye." Arumi gave a moan in Kurama's arms and he was suddenly reminded of her condition.
"Can you help her?" he asked hopefully.
"Yes," Shadi said slowly, "perhaps there is one thing I could do..." Kneeling down in front of Arumi, he placed his hand on her bracelet for a moment. The ki stealing band immediately began to glow.
"What are you doing?" Kurama asked suspiciously, not sure that he entirely trusted Shadi.
"You are right to be suspicious, my friend," Shadi said, sensing Kurama's emotions. "I am giving her enough strength so that she may answer some questions for me."
"Why?" Kurama asked, getting the distinct feeling that Shadi had much more then questions as his motive.
"So I may weigh her soul," Shadi said simply as Arumi began to stir.
"Arumi-chan?" Kurama asked gently.
"Shuichi-kun?" Arumi answered slowly, blinking her dark eyes several times. "What happened? Who's he?" she asked, turning her gaze to Shadi.
"I am Shadi, and I think I can help you, but you must first pass the Final Judgment," Shadi answered, retrieving a set of golden scales from his robes. Arumi gasped and stared fearfully at the stranger before her.
"What's the Final Judgment?" Kurama asked.
"The Final Judgment," Arumi answered, never taking her eyes off Shadi, "is when the deeds of the dead are weighed before Osiris, the Lord of the Underworld. The feather of Ma'at, representing goodness and truth, is placed on one side of the scales and the heart of the deceased, representing the dead person's soul, is placed on the other side. If the person's sins are heavier then the feather of Ma'at, the deceased is fed to Ammit, a monster that is part lion, part hippo, and part crocodile."
Shadi smiled at her. "You know your history. These are the Scales of Truth, and this," he continued, removing a feather from the front of his turban, "is the feather of Ma'at." He placed the feather on one side of the scales before turning back to Arumi. "Now, I will ask you a series of questions. If you do not tell the truth, the other side will grow heavy. If the scales remain balanced, the power of the Scales of Truth will be able to nullify the energy stealing abilities of the Eye of Anubis for a time."
"And if the scales don't remain balanced?" Kurama asked, afraid that he already knew the answer.
"Then her soul will be devoured by Ammit," Shadi said simply. "Are you ready to begin?"
Kurama glanced at Arumi worriedly, but she only smiled at him. "Don't worry, Shuichi-kun. I'll be fine," she assured him, sitting up straight and staring Shadi in the eye.
"First question. A girl trips and falls down a deserted hill, badly hurting her ankle. She can't walk, and you are the only one around to see it. On the ground before you is a valuable diamond necklace she had been wearing. What do you do?" Shadi said.
Arumi was quiet for a moment, biting her lower lip as she thought. "I pick up the necklace..." she said slowly. Shadi's keen eyes moved to the scales, expecting them to dip. But they didn't move. "...and I return it to the girl," Arumi finished, "then I help her get to a doctor." Arumi smiled as Shadi stared at the perfectly balanced scales. Apparently, he was going to need to take the interrogating up a notch higher then usual. It wasn't that he wanted to see her devoured by Ammit, but her refused to allow the Eye of Anubis to remain with a girl who was impure in any way.
"Second question," Shadi continued, still watching the scales, "a boy you dislike...Kaijuta," Arumi gasped, wondering how Shadi knew about Kaijuta, "is chasing you along a deserted rode on the outskirts of town. As you try to get away from him by crossing the street, he is hit by a hit-and-run driver. No one else knows about the accident. What do you do?"
Arumi quietly considered this, trying to calculate all her options. "Do I have my school bag with me?" she asked. Shadi looked up at her, wondering what that mattered. "Yes," he answered finally. A smile spread across Arumi's face. "Then I take out my cell phone and call an ambulance." Shadi stared in disbelief at the scales. Again, they remained perfectly balanced. Never had a person he had tested done this well. He had had people pass his judgment before, but never without the scales moving at all.
"Final question," Shadi said slowly. "Have you defiled the territory of the gods and sold their treasure to fatten your own pockets?" He had her now. He knew about her past, he knew where the Eye of Anubis had come from, what her father had done for a living, and what part Arumi had playing in it.
Arumi was quite for longer on this one then the others. She was so quite, that Kurama grew worried that she was going to answer wrong in an effort to tell the truth and keep the scales from tipping. Finally, she heaved a sigh and stared down at her knees. "Yes and no," she said finally.
"What does that mean?" Shadi asked, noting that the scales had yet to move.
"Yes, I have defiled the territory of the gods, but I didn't sell their treasures. Otosan never took anything from a tomb except this bracelet, and that was only because no one else would have believed his discoveries otherwise!" Arumi was shouting now, her voice having risen in her father's defense. "Besides..." she added, lowering her head so that her bangs hid her eyes, "he paid for it in the end anyway."
Shadi glanced back at the scales. They quivered, one side dipping lower then the other...but wait! This couldn't be. The side with the feather was dipping?!
'Impossible!' Shadi thought, eyes widening in disbelief. 'This girl...her soul weighs less then the feather of Ma'at, the material form of purity itself?! How can that be?!'
The scale began to glow as Shadi, Arumi, and Kurama watched it. The glow became a thin stream of light that floated to the eye on Arumi's bracelet, causing her item to glow as well. Just as Shadi said it would, Kurama could felt the effects of the bracelet being nullified. He sighed. Arumi's energy was safe...for now. Arumi didn't notice it, but Kurama also saw the metal band Koenma had given her dissolve, all of its energy having been drained away by bracelet, the Eye of Anubis. Now that Arumi was safe, hundreds of questions began to surface in Kurama's mind about what Arumi had said while she had been possessed and how it related to her bracelet and about the monsters destroying the Ningenkai. But when the light form Arumi's bracelet dimmed and Kurama looked around, he found that Shadi, feather, scale and all, were gone.