Bakura, Mr. Ryou, and Oreo all clamored around the old thief to get a glimpse of what was so shocking. Oreo came between Yami Bakura's legs, her black-and-white fur standing on end as she hissed at the form upon the doorstep. To Bakura and his father, Yami Bakura's absolute expression of disgust and anger and Oreo's defensive stance could not be explained. At least not at first.
"I don't understand, Yami," Bakura cried. "Who is it? Is she hurt??" All he could see was a lightly tan-skinned form wearing what he thought was a sleeveless tunic and a skirt. A shock of long black hair spilled over the person's shoulders, coated with flecks of snow.
"It's not a 'she,'" Yami Bakura said coldly. "I want this abomination out of my sight NOW!" He gestured angrily, his silver locks whipping with the action. What did that man think he was doing by stumbling into Domino City after everything he'd done and then choosing King of Thieves Bakaré's porch to collapse on?! The audacity of it all! Yami Bakura would show no mercy. The creature was undeserving of any.
"YAMI!!" Bakura cried in alarm, kneeling next to the prone form. "The poor person is hurt! How can you speak in such a way?!" Usually the thief didn't behave quite like this.
Mr. Ryou surveyed things grimly. "How could anyone be stupid enough to walk through the snow dressed like that?!" he demanded, carefully dropping to his knees beside his son. "This isn't like Egypt, where it's summer all-year round! And yet this person is laying here in this short kilt!"
Oh, Bakura realized then, yes, of course it was a kilt, not a skirt. He felt rather embarrassed and the poor boy hoped wholeheartedly that the injured party hadn't heard himself being addressed as a "she."
Unseen by them at first, Yami Bakura raised the Millennium Ring. When Bakura sensed something, he whirled around and saw a fire in his Yami's eyes like that which he had never before seen as the thief screamed loudly first in Egyptian and then in English. "Leave him to die!!" he roared. "If you allow him to set one foot in this house, I swear on this Ring that I will steal all of your souls!" How could Bakura even consider helping this person?! If there was a way his hikari could betray him, this was it. The man laying on the porch was the one Yami Bakura considered most vile above all others. Never would Yami Bakura lend a helping hand to such!
"Now see here!" Mr. Ryou yelled, raising up to the tomb robber's eye level. "This is my home and I'll have no soul-stealing going on—PERIOD! I don't care who this man is, he does need help and I have the authority in this household to say what happens to him! And I say that we're going to help him!!" He had had enough of this strange Egyptian thief insisting that he was in control of the house. Before long, Mr. Ryou feared, Yami Bakura would have taught Bakura to be defiant of that authority he had just spoken of. Bakura had always been a very good son, but Mr. Ryou was doubtful of how he would turn out under the guide of such influences as this.
"Really?" Slowly the man raised himself up just slightly, revealing his tired smirk and sharp violet eyes. Several days stubble adorned his cheeks and chin, giving him a more rough and wild appearance than he already had. "Heh. Well . . . you certainly are kind to a stranger." He fell to the porch once again as unconsciousness enveloped him.
But now Bakura recognized the man. And he knew why Yami Bakura was so insistent on not letting him into the house. "OH MY!" he gasped, not even realizing or caring how loud he was speaking. "KHU!!!"
****
Seto unlocked the door of his home wearily and went in, nodding a greeting to the chirpy maid Velma before going into his den and collapsing into the soft sofa's cushions. Still the questions poured through his mind about Del Vinci as he stared up at the ceiling, barely visible in the dimmed light.
He honestly didn't know if he was "good enough" to not pull the trigger on the Mafia don should they meet again under such circumstances. His hatred for the man burned deep. Never had he despised someone so since the whole horrible Pegasus incident that seemed so long ago now. Basically, Seto Kaiba's main law was "Mess with my little brother and be prepared to die."
Idly he threw his deep blue trenchcoat off and began to unbutton his pine green shirt. When he had about half the buttons undone, Seto glanced in a nearby mirror at a small scar in his chest. Which injury was that from? He gave a half-smirk, realizing that he really had no clue. He had been shot, stabbed, beaten, and otherwise brutalized more times than he cared to remember or even could. Everything came together as a gigantic blur of agony and pain. Just a couple of weeks ago he had been ran down by a reindeer—the same one that had attacked him the previous year. Then he had gotten into a fight with one of Del Vinci's men and had nearly been fatally stabbed. He would have died, had the locket he wore not taken the brunt of the knife's assault.
Crossing the room, Seto picked up the evening paper that Velma had left there for him and idly glanced at the headline. He grunted in irritation. Same old, same old. People being their usual, ruthless, backbiting selves to get what they wanted. Again he collapsed on the couch, draping an arm over his eyes. Often he found it amazing that the world had lasted this long, what with all the people killing each other over companies or pieces of land. The business world was a dangerous thing to be involved in. When one was as rich and powerful as he, many enemies were collected. But Seto had even more than the norm—probably because of the way he kept getting into the ridiculous mysteries Yugi and the others always solved. He never considered that he was really helping those kids; he only got involved when things started to concern him. That was what he told himself.
Now he rolled onto his side. More than likely he'd wind up asleep on the couch and Velma would come in around three or four and cover him with a quilt. Mokuba was probably already asleep. Seto didn't want to disturb him if he was.
The poor boy was utterly exhausted. He hadn't been sleeping well or eating much since Del Vinci had eluded him yet again. But he forced his body to keep pressing on no matter what. Seto realized grimly that he hadn't slept at all for three nights. He wasn't about to tell Mokuba, though. No sense in getting his brother worked up over it. Sleeping and eating were burdens to him now. All he wanted was to get Del Vinci behind bars for good—and onto death row, if possible. Del Vinci had tried to kill Mokuba more than once! If the authorities decided to ignore that, Seto would fight them all tooth and nail.
Suddenly noticing a telephone message written on the desk, he leaped up and went over to it with curiosity and a bit of hope. Was this something that would help him? Seto scanned it over quickly. It was in Anna's fancy cursive and was from someone who was calling himself "Your Friendly Neighborhood Elf." Seto knew approximately who that was—the strange character who turned up always in the company of a reindeer called Dancer. He said that a new store had opened in the mall that Seto might be interested in. That was all it said, but reading between the lines, Seto deduced that Del Vinci could be involved somehow. The elf knew how desperate Seto was to catch the Mafia don.
Now Seto glanced up at the clock. It was past midnight, but he was confident that he could and would get into the mall anyway. He did own some of the stores. Heck, he owned practically half the city, as Joey had observed jokingly once. And he didn't intend to let this possible clue go to waste. Grabbing his trenchcoat up, he went out into the main hallway and told Velma that he was going out again.
She, of course, didn't react very well. "But Mr. Kaiba, you haven't slept for nigh unto a week!" the perky redhead gasped. "You're gonna wear yourself down completely if this goes on! Then who will Mokuba have to take care of him and to be his brother?!" Frantically she twisted the dust mop in her hands, a habit she had had for years now. She was very fond of Seto and often tried to look out for him, whether he liked it or not. Usually he didn't.
Tonight he didn't. "I'm going to be fine," Seto grunted. "I wouldn't let anything happen to me. I should be back before dawn. If I'm not, assume I'm in trouble or dead." With that, and a sweep of his coat, he was out the door again, leaving one very distressed Velma behind.
****
Ishizu watched worriedly as her younger brother began to pace the floor. She didn't think he was well enough to be getting up like that, but Marik continued to insist that he was fine. "It's only a bruise, sister," he smiled when he caught her worried eye. "I'm very much alright. Just angry." He hadn't decided whether he was angry at himself or at someone else, though. If someone had purposely tripped him, then he was very angry at that person. But if he himself had just suffered a household accident, then he was quite aggravated with himself for not being more careful.
"Are you certain you remember nothing more, Marik?" Rishid asked, watching the stubborn teenager stop in front of the window and look out at the generously falling snow.
"I told all I could remember," Marik replied, sounding a bit irritated. Instantly he felt shamed, however, and looked at the floor. "I'm sorry," he said in a soft tone. He hardly ever showed anger or irritation toward his siblings, and he wasn't actually ever upset at them; now he was just taking out his frustration before he thought about it.
But Rishid understood perfectly, as he had always done. Gently he came over and laid a hand on Marik's shoulder, smiling softly. "It's alright, brother. We know this is exasperating for you."
Marik smiled as well, leaning back against his older brother. Rishid had always been his strength, his beacon. His saving grace. There was a bond they shared that only the two of them understood. And that no one could ever tear apart.
Ishizu's eyes were soft as she watched them interact. Then she spoke up quietly. "It is late," she said. "If you feel up to it, Marik, we should eat something and then go to bed." Since Marik remembered things as an accident, there wasn't much more they could do. But Ishizu did want to investigate exactly what it looked like at the top of the stairs when they went up.
Marik nodded slowly. He was perfectly willing to eat. And the thought of Ishizu's cooking sounded very good right now.
****
Yami Yugi was gazing out the window in his hikari's living room at the falling snow. Of course he had never seen anything like it before coming to Domino, and it rather fascinated him. He didn't care much for how cold it was, though. That was something he could live without.
He wondered what would happen next to Yugi and his friends. It seemed that every month there was a new mystery they had to work on, and the one they had just "solved" wasn't completely closed yet. Yami Yugi's blood boiled at the thought of the malevolent Del Vinci still being at large. He would agree wholeheartedly with Seto Kaiba (for once) on the thought that the man needed to be sealed away somewhere. He, however, didn't share Seto's extreme passion in the matter. That was something Seto, and Seto alone, had—because of Mokuba. But Yami Yugi believed that justice needed to be done, of course, and he knew that he would do everything he could to assist in the man's capture.
A loud thump from down in the game shop came to his attention and he perked up immensely, his eyes narrowed. What was that? Had Solomon been lifting boxes that were too heavy for him again?
With a sigh the Pharaoh went to the stairs leading downstairs and demanded to know what had happened. A confused moan was the reply and Yami Yugi's eyes went wide. Yugi!
Immediately the violet-eyed ancient spirit descended the stairs, nearly taking them two at a time. "Yugi?" he called. "What happened?" Thoughts of intruders breaking in danced through his mind and he growled. But surely he would have sensed an evil presence if something of that nature had occurred.
Within the next few seconds Yami Yugi was in the game shop and looking for his hikari. He soon found him sprawled over several large boxes of gaming equipment. He was about to run over and help him when Yugi looked up, turning a deep shade of pink.
"Oh . . . hi, Yami," the boy smiled lopsidedly. "I . . . I'm okay. I just . . . tripped. . . ." Carefully he eased himself off the crates and blinked, scratching his head as he realized something. "I'm sure those weren't there when I came in. . . ."
Yami Yugi chuckled softly when he realized Yugi was alright. "Everyone has accidents," he said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah . . ." Yugi sounded vague. He was so certain the floor had been clear! He knew he must have simply not seen the boxes, but still . . . there was something nagging in his mind that said he was remembering fine and that something wasn't right.
****
Duke narrowed his eyes as he walked down the darkened, snowy streets. Flashes of memory went through his mind as he remembered the drug bust fiasco. Well, maybe it was only a partial fiasco. They *had* managed to round up a good portion of the criminals, but most of the truly powerful ones—the ones in positions to cause much, much more trouble and even get their allies released—were still at large somewhere. This disturbed Duke highly. And though he had told Gabrielle about it all and had given her access to the files he had collected, there wasn't much headway being made. She had told him just moments ago when he had gone to see her at the station that there was, unfortunately, a lot of red tape that they had to get past and that it hadn't happened yet. Perhaps it never would.
He was a bit suspicious of her extreme negativity about it all. Duke wasn't as familiar with Gabrielle as most of the others were, and though he did trust her since she had helped out those weeks past, he wondered if possibly there was more going on with her now than meets the eye. He wasn't about to tell anyone of his feelings, but he definitely intended to keep a watch on her until he could be certain that she wasn't purposely holding things up for some reason.
"Hey! Yoohoo! Duke Devlin!"
The raven-haired boy whirled around to see Mai Valentine standing on the corner, waving to him. He didn't know Mai that well, and he was a bit surprised that she remembered him, but then he quickly got over it. After all, he thought, what girl wouldn't remember me?
He walked over to her with one of his disarming smiles. "Hello, Miss Valentine," he greeted. "You're looking as charming as always."
Mai smirked. "Still the same Devlin," she said as they began to walk down the sidewalk together.
Duke made an unintelligible grunt and then asked her where she had been lately. Mai then told him that she had wanted to go off away from the others and see if she could have a Cancun vacation without any mystery elements intruding. She had just got back a week or so ago.
"And how was the trip?" Duke asked, a bit curious to know if any of the gang could avoid finding mysteries.
Mai laughed softly. "Well . . . let's see. The entire hotel got held hostage at gunpoint, one of the gangsters tried to flirt with me, I had to play along until there was an opportunity for me to get his gun away. . . ." She shrugged. "All in all, a normal vacation." She said this with a certain amount of sarcasm. It was disconcerting to realize that "normal" for them was being attacked by all manner of lowlifes.
"And I heard you'd been solving a mystery yourself," Mai said now, abruptly changing the subject.
"Oh?" Duke tossed his black hair. "What was it you heard?"
"That you nearly got yourself killed trying to bring a drug ring to justice," Mai replied, giving him a rather disapproving look. "You think you're pretty indestructible, don't you? That's just how Joey is." She smiled to herself as she mentioned Joey's name. Mai missed that silly Brooklyn boy and now that she was back in Domino she was anxious to look him up again.
Duke gave her a sidelong glance. "What?! I'm nothing like Joey Wheeler."
"Oh, of course you're not," Mai said smoothly. "You just have the same stubbornness, the same stuck-up pride, and the same astonishing knack for finding trouble."
This wasn't going exactly as Duke had wanted. "Hey!!" he cried in protest.
Mai just laughed.
****
Marik had barely snuggled into the down comforter on his bed when the phone rang. It was at times like this when he realized just how tired he was when he laid down. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping that the phone would stop ringing. But it didn't. At last he opened one eye again, deciding that it must be important. So he groped for the phone by his bedside and groggily said hello, all the while allowing his bangs to take on their usual "separate life" and flop into his eyes. Somehow he managed to see clearly even when they did that, though no one could figure out exactly how he did.
The young, worried voice on the phone instantly roused the sleepy boy up. "Marik!! I'm sorry if I woke you up. . . ." Mokuba twisted the phone cord in his shaking hands. He had gotten out of bed only a few minutes ago for a drink of water and then had asked Velma where his brother was. It hadn't make him happy when Velma had shown him the note Anna had written from the strange elf.
Marik sat up in bed. He knew Mokuba wouldn't call at nigh to midnight if it wasn't important. "Mokuba! No, it's fine," he assured his friend. "What is it?"
Mokuba sank down into a nearby chair. "Seto went out again," he admitted. "I think he went to the mall to check something out." He sighed. "I guess normally it wouldn't bother me so much, but . . . I don't think he's been sleeping well lately. The last couple of nights I was up late at night around two or three and Seto was always wide awake at his laptop! His eyes look really bloodshot." He didn't know for sure what Seto was doing at all hours of the night and day, but he did have a good suspicion. It probably had something to do with Del Vinci, the child figured. And he was afraid that Seto's obsession with catching the Mafia don was slowly killing him. "And he hasn't eaten very good lately either."
Marik listened as the younger boy detailed all of his worries. The Egyptian knew, indeed, that Seto was trying to corner Del Vinci, but he also knew that Seto hadn't wanted him to tell Mokuba that. But he offered comfort to his friend as best as he could, vowing silently to have a talk with Seto the next chance he could.
Ishizu and Rishid, outside Marik's door in the hallway, overheard their brother on the phone. Both of them smiled gently. They knew it made Marik happy to know someone he considered his best friend. Back in Egypt, Marik hadn't been allowed to have any friends. And then there had been the whole, nightmarish Yami disaster. But now finally Marik was settled down someplace where he could have a normal life.
"Marik has always had a fragile heart," Ishizu remarked as she walked back to the top of the stairs. She hadn't been able to find anything out of the ordinary there when she had first come up, but she had decided that she should check again, just in case. "And because of the immense pain and agony he has endured, it has made him stronger and more able to help others," the woman realized out loud, kneeling down to examine near the balcony railing.
Rishid nodded in agreement. Though Marik had fallen into a pit of despair before, now he was happy and cheerful most of the time. But always there remained a certain sadness and maturity in his eyes, and he was generally more reserved than most of the ones his age whom he hung out with. His heart was also one that could be broken very easily. For his brother's sake, Rishid prayed that Mokuba would always remain a true friend.
Though the two searched carefully for ages, never did they find anything to indicate that someone other than Marik had been in the house. But even at that, they weren't willing to completely ignore the possibility that such had happened.
****
Joey was waiting around outside the mall in irritation. He was still fuming over the whole incident with Serenity and Tristan and Duke. For some reason, Duke had had to leave the mall abruptly a while ago. Of course, that had delighted Tristan, but it hadn't done much for Joey. He knew that he would have to watch Tristan even more closely until they all went to their homes. For right now, Téa had taken Serenity into some women's clothing store to show her something or another before they left and Joey had opted to stay outside while they did. Maybe it would give him a chance to cool off.
He was hardly expecting to find more action out there in the snow. But it came anyway, in the form of several hard punches from around the corner. Someone was fighting!
Joey was just about to run around and see what was happening when the sounds stopped and Seto Kaiba came around the corner, straightening his blue trenchcoat and looking exasperated. The Brooklyn boy stopped short at the sight of his current nemesis, still not having forgiven Seto for the teasing remarks about his car—even though most of them had been, in fact, true. "Man, Kaiba, what've you been doing?" Joey demanded then, finding his voice and blurting something out before he quite knew what he was saying. "Beating up someone else who doesn't meet your high-falutin' standards?!"
Seto turned and regarded Joey very calmly, ignoring the way his vision swam momentarily. The fight against the mystery assailant who had come from seemingly nowhere hadn't been that much of a strain on him. But Seto's lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him. His body was letting him know that it was time for a break. But as always, Seto refused to listen. "No, Wheeler, I haven't," he said now, approaching the main doors and going to open them. Obviously something must be going on at that new store, he decided grimly, or else someone wouldn't have tried to kill him before he even got inside.
Joey watched him open the door and go in, the sight of Seto reaching up suddenly to rub his brow not lost on the blonde boy. Again without thinking about it, Joey yanked the door open and followed him. "Yeah, go ahead, Kaiba!" he growled. "Demonstrate how much being among the poorer class gives you a headache!"
Seto narrowed his eyes, turning to face Joey. "You know, Wheeler, you really weren't giving me a headache before, but you are now," he declared. Again his vision swam and he fought against his weakening legs. He was not going to keel over. Not here. Not in front of Joey.
"Is that so?!" Joey cried, not caring how much his voice was rising. "Well, I'll give you something to have a headache over!" Instantly he lunged, trying to punch Seto right in the face. Seto blocked his attempt, catching his fist with his hand and thrusting it from him.
"I'm not in the mood, Wheeler," he said in a warning voice as he became aware very clearly that he definitely was going to keel over.
"Oh yeah?!" Joey stood, shaking with anger. "Well, don't think you can just sit there and insult me and my car and think you can get away with it! 'Cause if you do, you got another thing coming!! You got that, Kaiba??!" He only got more irritated as Seto tried to rub at his forehead again. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT GARBAGE, KAIBA!!" the impulsive boy screamed.
But in the next instant Joey froze in shock as Seto swayed violently and then crashed to the floor, unconscious!
"I don't understand, Yami," Bakura cried. "Who is it? Is she hurt??" All he could see was a lightly tan-skinned form wearing what he thought was a sleeveless tunic and a skirt. A shock of long black hair spilled over the person's shoulders, coated with flecks of snow.
"It's not a 'she,'" Yami Bakura said coldly. "I want this abomination out of my sight NOW!" He gestured angrily, his silver locks whipping with the action. What did that man think he was doing by stumbling into Domino City after everything he'd done and then choosing King of Thieves Bakaré's porch to collapse on?! The audacity of it all! Yami Bakura would show no mercy. The creature was undeserving of any.
"YAMI!!" Bakura cried in alarm, kneeling next to the prone form. "The poor person is hurt! How can you speak in such a way?!" Usually the thief didn't behave quite like this.
Mr. Ryou surveyed things grimly. "How could anyone be stupid enough to walk through the snow dressed like that?!" he demanded, carefully dropping to his knees beside his son. "This isn't like Egypt, where it's summer all-year round! And yet this person is laying here in this short kilt!"
Oh, Bakura realized then, yes, of course it was a kilt, not a skirt. He felt rather embarrassed and the poor boy hoped wholeheartedly that the injured party hadn't heard himself being addressed as a "she."
Unseen by them at first, Yami Bakura raised the Millennium Ring. When Bakura sensed something, he whirled around and saw a fire in his Yami's eyes like that which he had never before seen as the thief screamed loudly first in Egyptian and then in English. "Leave him to die!!" he roared. "If you allow him to set one foot in this house, I swear on this Ring that I will steal all of your souls!" How could Bakura even consider helping this person?! If there was a way his hikari could betray him, this was it. The man laying on the porch was the one Yami Bakura considered most vile above all others. Never would Yami Bakura lend a helping hand to such!
"Now see here!" Mr. Ryou yelled, raising up to the tomb robber's eye level. "This is my home and I'll have no soul-stealing going on—PERIOD! I don't care who this man is, he does need help and I have the authority in this household to say what happens to him! And I say that we're going to help him!!" He had had enough of this strange Egyptian thief insisting that he was in control of the house. Before long, Mr. Ryou feared, Yami Bakura would have taught Bakura to be defiant of that authority he had just spoken of. Bakura had always been a very good son, but Mr. Ryou was doubtful of how he would turn out under the guide of such influences as this.
"Really?" Slowly the man raised himself up just slightly, revealing his tired smirk and sharp violet eyes. Several days stubble adorned his cheeks and chin, giving him a more rough and wild appearance than he already had. "Heh. Well . . . you certainly are kind to a stranger." He fell to the porch once again as unconsciousness enveloped him.
But now Bakura recognized the man. And he knew why Yami Bakura was so insistent on not letting him into the house. "OH MY!" he gasped, not even realizing or caring how loud he was speaking. "KHU!!!"
****
Seto unlocked the door of his home wearily and went in, nodding a greeting to the chirpy maid Velma before going into his den and collapsing into the soft sofa's cushions. Still the questions poured through his mind about Del Vinci as he stared up at the ceiling, barely visible in the dimmed light.
He honestly didn't know if he was "good enough" to not pull the trigger on the Mafia don should they meet again under such circumstances. His hatred for the man burned deep. Never had he despised someone so since the whole horrible Pegasus incident that seemed so long ago now. Basically, Seto Kaiba's main law was "Mess with my little brother and be prepared to die."
Idly he threw his deep blue trenchcoat off and began to unbutton his pine green shirt. When he had about half the buttons undone, Seto glanced in a nearby mirror at a small scar in his chest. Which injury was that from? He gave a half-smirk, realizing that he really had no clue. He had been shot, stabbed, beaten, and otherwise brutalized more times than he cared to remember or even could. Everything came together as a gigantic blur of agony and pain. Just a couple of weeks ago he had been ran down by a reindeer—the same one that had attacked him the previous year. Then he had gotten into a fight with one of Del Vinci's men and had nearly been fatally stabbed. He would have died, had the locket he wore not taken the brunt of the knife's assault.
Crossing the room, Seto picked up the evening paper that Velma had left there for him and idly glanced at the headline. He grunted in irritation. Same old, same old. People being their usual, ruthless, backbiting selves to get what they wanted. Again he collapsed on the couch, draping an arm over his eyes. Often he found it amazing that the world had lasted this long, what with all the people killing each other over companies or pieces of land. The business world was a dangerous thing to be involved in. When one was as rich and powerful as he, many enemies were collected. But Seto had even more than the norm—probably because of the way he kept getting into the ridiculous mysteries Yugi and the others always solved. He never considered that he was really helping those kids; he only got involved when things started to concern him. That was what he told himself.
Now he rolled onto his side. More than likely he'd wind up asleep on the couch and Velma would come in around three or four and cover him with a quilt. Mokuba was probably already asleep. Seto didn't want to disturb him if he was.
The poor boy was utterly exhausted. He hadn't been sleeping well or eating much since Del Vinci had eluded him yet again. But he forced his body to keep pressing on no matter what. Seto realized grimly that he hadn't slept at all for three nights. He wasn't about to tell Mokuba, though. No sense in getting his brother worked up over it. Sleeping and eating were burdens to him now. All he wanted was to get Del Vinci behind bars for good—and onto death row, if possible. Del Vinci had tried to kill Mokuba more than once! If the authorities decided to ignore that, Seto would fight them all tooth and nail.
Suddenly noticing a telephone message written on the desk, he leaped up and went over to it with curiosity and a bit of hope. Was this something that would help him? Seto scanned it over quickly. It was in Anna's fancy cursive and was from someone who was calling himself "Your Friendly Neighborhood Elf." Seto knew approximately who that was—the strange character who turned up always in the company of a reindeer called Dancer. He said that a new store had opened in the mall that Seto might be interested in. That was all it said, but reading between the lines, Seto deduced that Del Vinci could be involved somehow. The elf knew how desperate Seto was to catch the Mafia don.
Now Seto glanced up at the clock. It was past midnight, but he was confident that he could and would get into the mall anyway. He did own some of the stores. Heck, he owned practically half the city, as Joey had observed jokingly once. And he didn't intend to let this possible clue go to waste. Grabbing his trenchcoat up, he went out into the main hallway and told Velma that he was going out again.
She, of course, didn't react very well. "But Mr. Kaiba, you haven't slept for nigh unto a week!" the perky redhead gasped. "You're gonna wear yourself down completely if this goes on! Then who will Mokuba have to take care of him and to be his brother?!" Frantically she twisted the dust mop in her hands, a habit she had had for years now. She was very fond of Seto and often tried to look out for him, whether he liked it or not. Usually he didn't.
Tonight he didn't. "I'm going to be fine," Seto grunted. "I wouldn't let anything happen to me. I should be back before dawn. If I'm not, assume I'm in trouble or dead." With that, and a sweep of his coat, he was out the door again, leaving one very distressed Velma behind.
****
Ishizu watched worriedly as her younger brother began to pace the floor. She didn't think he was well enough to be getting up like that, but Marik continued to insist that he was fine. "It's only a bruise, sister," he smiled when he caught her worried eye. "I'm very much alright. Just angry." He hadn't decided whether he was angry at himself or at someone else, though. If someone had purposely tripped him, then he was very angry at that person. But if he himself had just suffered a household accident, then he was quite aggravated with himself for not being more careful.
"Are you certain you remember nothing more, Marik?" Rishid asked, watching the stubborn teenager stop in front of the window and look out at the generously falling snow.
"I told all I could remember," Marik replied, sounding a bit irritated. Instantly he felt shamed, however, and looked at the floor. "I'm sorry," he said in a soft tone. He hardly ever showed anger or irritation toward his siblings, and he wasn't actually ever upset at them; now he was just taking out his frustration before he thought about it.
But Rishid understood perfectly, as he had always done. Gently he came over and laid a hand on Marik's shoulder, smiling softly. "It's alright, brother. We know this is exasperating for you."
Marik smiled as well, leaning back against his older brother. Rishid had always been his strength, his beacon. His saving grace. There was a bond they shared that only the two of them understood. And that no one could ever tear apart.
Ishizu's eyes were soft as she watched them interact. Then she spoke up quietly. "It is late," she said. "If you feel up to it, Marik, we should eat something and then go to bed." Since Marik remembered things as an accident, there wasn't much more they could do. But Ishizu did want to investigate exactly what it looked like at the top of the stairs when they went up.
Marik nodded slowly. He was perfectly willing to eat. And the thought of Ishizu's cooking sounded very good right now.
****
Yami Yugi was gazing out the window in his hikari's living room at the falling snow. Of course he had never seen anything like it before coming to Domino, and it rather fascinated him. He didn't care much for how cold it was, though. That was something he could live without.
He wondered what would happen next to Yugi and his friends. It seemed that every month there was a new mystery they had to work on, and the one they had just "solved" wasn't completely closed yet. Yami Yugi's blood boiled at the thought of the malevolent Del Vinci still being at large. He would agree wholeheartedly with Seto Kaiba (for once) on the thought that the man needed to be sealed away somewhere. He, however, didn't share Seto's extreme passion in the matter. That was something Seto, and Seto alone, had—because of Mokuba. But Yami Yugi believed that justice needed to be done, of course, and he knew that he would do everything he could to assist in the man's capture.
A loud thump from down in the game shop came to his attention and he perked up immensely, his eyes narrowed. What was that? Had Solomon been lifting boxes that were too heavy for him again?
With a sigh the Pharaoh went to the stairs leading downstairs and demanded to know what had happened. A confused moan was the reply and Yami Yugi's eyes went wide. Yugi!
Immediately the violet-eyed ancient spirit descended the stairs, nearly taking them two at a time. "Yugi?" he called. "What happened?" Thoughts of intruders breaking in danced through his mind and he growled. But surely he would have sensed an evil presence if something of that nature had occurred.
Within the next few seconds Yami Yugi was in the game shop and looking for his hikari. He soon found him sprawled over several large boxes of gaming equipment. He was about to run over and help him when Yugi looked up, turning a deep shade of pink.
"Oh . . . hi, Yami," the boy smiled lopsidedly. "I . . . I'm okay. I just . . . tripped. . . ." Carefully he eased himself off the crates and blinked, scratching his head as he realized something. "I'm sure those weren't there when I came in. . . ."
Yami Yugi chuckled softly when he realized Yugi was alright. "Everyone has accidents," he said, crossing his arms.
"Yeah . . ." Yugi sounded vague. He was so certain the floor had been clear! He knew he must have simply not seen the boxes, but still . . . there was something nagging in his mind that said he was remembering fine and that something wasn't right.
****
Duke narrowed his eyes as he walked down the darkened, snowy streets. Flashes of memory went through his mind as he remembered the drug bust fiasco. Well, maybe it was only a partial fiasco. They *had* managed to round up a good portion of the criminals, but most of the truly powerful ones—the ones in positions to cause much, much more trouble and even get their allies released—were still at large somewhere. This disturbed Duke highly. And though he had told Gabrielle about it all and had given her access to the files he had collected, there wasn't much headway being made. She had told him just moments ago when he had gone to see her at the station that there was, unfortunately, a lot of red tape that they had to get past and that it hadn't happened yet. Perhaps it never would.
He was a bit suspicious of her extreme negativity about it all. Duke wasn't as familiar with Gabrielle as most of the others were, and though he did trust her since she had helped out those weeks past, he wondered if possibly there was more going on with her now than meets the eye. He wasn't about to tell anyone of his feelings, but he definitely intended to keep a watch on her until he could be certain that she wasn't purposely holding things up for some reason.
"Hey! Yoohoo! Duke Devlin!"
The raven-haired boy whirled around to see Mai Valentine standing on the corner, waving to him. He didn't know Mai that well, and he was a bit surprised that she remembered him, but then he quickly got over it. After all, he thought, what girl wouldn't remember me?
He walked over to her with one of his disarming smiles. "Hello, Miss Valentine," he greeted. "You're looking as charming as always."
Mai smirked. "Still the same Devlin," she said as they began to walk down the sidewalk together.
Duke made an unintelligible grunt and then asked her where she had been lately. Mai then told him that she had wanted to go off away from the others and see if she could have a Cancun vacation without any mystery elements intruding. She had just got back a week or so ago.
"And how was the trip?" Duke asked, a bit curious to know if any of the gang could avoid finding mysteries.
Mai laughed softly. "Well . . . let's see. The entire hotel got held hostage at gunpoint, one of the gangsters tried to flirt with me, I had to play along until there was an opportunity for me to get his gun away. . . ." She shrugged. "All in all, a normal vacation." She said this with a certain amount of sarcasm. It was disconcerting to realize that "normal" for them was being attacked by all manner of lowlifes.
"And I heard you'd been solving a mystery yourself," Mai said now, abruptly changing the subject.
"Oh?" Duke tossed his black hair. "What was it you heard?"
"That you nearly got yourself killed trying to bring a drug ring to justice," Mai replied, giving him a rather disapproving look. "You think you're pretty indestructible, don't you? That's just how Joey is." She smiled to herself as she mentioned Joey's name. Mai missed that silly Brooklyn boy and now that she was back in Domino she was anxious to look him up again.
Duke gave her a sidelong glance. "What?! I'm nothing like Joey Wheeler."
"Oh, of course you're not," Mai said smoothly. "You just have the same stubbornness, the same stuck-up pride, and the same astonishing knack for finding trouble."
This wasn't going exactly as Duke had wanted. "Hey!!" he cried in protest.
Mai just laughed.
****
Marik had barely snuggled into the down comforter on his bed when the phone rang. It was at times like this when he realized just how tired he was when he laid down. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping that the phone would stop ringing. But it didn't. At last he opened one eye again, deciding that it must be important. So he groped for the phone by his bedside and groggily said hello, all the while allowing his bangs to take on their usual "separate life" and flop into his eyes. Somehow he managed to see clearly even when they did that, though no one could figure out exactly how he did.
The young, worried voice on the phone instantly roused the sleepy boy up. "Marik!! I'm sorry if I woke you up. . . ." Mokuba twisted the phone cord in his shaking hands. He had gotten out of bed only a few minutes ago for a drink of water and then had asked Velma where his brother was. It hadn't make him happy when Velma had shown him the note Anna had written from the strange elf.
Marik sat up in bed. He knew Mokuba wouldn't call at nigh to midnight if it wasn't important. "Mokuba! No, it's fine," he assured his friend. "What is it?"
Mokuba sank down into a nearby chair. "Seto went out again," he admitted. "I think he went to the mall to check something out." He sighed. "I guess normally it wouldn't bother me so much, but . . . I don't think he's been sleeping well lately. The last couple of nights I was up late at night around two or three and Seto was always wide awake at his laptop! His eyes look really bloodshot." He didn't know for sure what Seto was doing at all hours of the night and day, but he did have a good suspicion. It probably had something to do with Del Vinci, the child figured. And he was afraid that Seto's obsession with catching the Mafia don was slowly killing him. "And he hasn't eaten very good lately either."
Marik listened as the younger boy detailed all of his worries. The Egyptian knew, indeed, that Seto was trying to corner Del Vinci, but he also knew that Seto hadn't wanted him to tell Mokuba that. But he offered comfort to his friend as best as he could, vowing silently to have a talk with Seto the next chance he could.
Ishizu and Rishid, outside Marik's door in the hallway, overheard their brother on the phone. Both of them smiled gently. They knew it made Marik happy to know someone he considered his best friend. Back in Egypt, Marik hadn't been allowed to have any friends. And then there had been the whole, nightmarish Yami disaster. But now finally Marik was settled down someplace where he could have a normal life.
"Marik has always had a fragile heart," Ishizu remarked as she walked back to the top of the stairs. She hadn't been able to find anything out of the ordinary there when she had first come up, but she had decided that she should check again, just in case. "And because of the immense pain and agony he has endured, it has made him stronger and more able to help others," the woman realized out loud, kneeling down to examine near the balcony railing.
Rishid nodded in agreement. Though Marik had fallen into a pit of despair before, now he was happy and cheerful most of the time. But always there remained a certain sadness and maturity in his eyes, and he was generally more reserved than most of the ones his age whom he hung out with. His heart was also one that could be broken very easily. For his brother's sake, Rishid prayed that Mokuba would always remain a true friend.
Though the two searched carefully for ages, never did they find anything to indicate that someone other than Marik had been in the house. But even at that, they weren't willing to completely ignore the possibility that such had happened.
****
Joey was waiting around outside the mall in irritation. He was still fuming over the whole incident with Serenity and Tristan and Duke. For some reason, Duke had had to leave the mall abruptly a while ago. Of course, that had delighted Tristan, but it hadn't done much for Joey. He knew that he would have to watch Tristan even more closely until they all went to their homes. For right now, Téa had taken Serenity into some women's clothing store to show her something or another before they left and Joey had opted to stay outside while they did. Maybe it would give him a chance to cool off.
He was hardly expecting to find more action out there in the snow. But it came anyway, in the form of several hard punches from around the corner. Someone was fighting!
Joey was just about to run around and see what was happening when the sounds stopped and Seto Kaiba came around the corner, straightening his blue trenchcoat and looking exasperated. The Brooklyn boy stopped short at the sight of his current nemesis, still not having forgiven Seto for the teasing remarks about his car—even though most of them had been, in fact, true. "Man, Kaiba, what've you been doing?" Joey demanded then, finding his voice and blurting something out before he quite knew what he was saying. "Beating up someone else who doesn't meet your high-falutin' standards?!"
Seto turned and regarded Joey very calmly, ignoring the way his vision swam momentarily. The fight against the mystery assailant who had come from seemingly nowhere hadn't been that much of a strain on him. But Seto's lack of sleep was starting to catch up with him. His body was letting him know that it was time for a break. But as always, Seto refused to listen. "No, Wheeler, I haven't," he said now, approaching the main doors and going to open them. Obviously something must be going on at that new store, he decided grimly, or else someone wouldn't have tried to kill him before he even got inside.
Joey watched him open the door and go in, the sight of Seto reaching up suddenly to rub his brow not lost on the blonde boy. Again without thinking about it, Joey yanked the door open and followed him. "Yeah, go ahead, Kaiba!" he growled. "Demonstrate how much being among the poorer class gives you a headache!"
Seto narrowed his eyes, turning to face Joey. "You know, Wheeler, you really weren't giving me a headache before, but you are now," he declared. Again his vision swam and he fought against his weakening legs. He was not going to keel over. Not here. Not in front of Joey.
"Is that so?!" Joey cried, not caring how much his voice was rising. "Well, I'll give you something to have a headache over!" Instantly he lunged, trying to punch Seto right in the face. Seto blocked his attempt, catching his fist with his hand and thrusting it from him.
"I'm not in the mood, Wheeler," he said in a warning voice as he became aware very clearly that he definitely was going to keel over.
"Oh yeah?!" Joey stood, shaking with anger. "Well, don't think you can just sit there and insult me and my car and think you can get away with it! 'Cause if you do, you got another thing coming!! You got that, Kaiba??!" He only got more irritated as Seto tried to rub at his forehead again. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT GARBAGE, KAIBA!!" the impulsive boy screamed.
But in the next instant Joey froze in shock as Seto swayed violently and then crashed to the floor, unconscious!