I….don't….own….Yuugiou! But I do own three….no, four others that are still in the making. Anou…. Genki desuka? No, wait….I need to start the story.

'Kura: Then start it already!

Tsuriai: All right, all right! Let me think up a title first! Geez. …. Ooh! Here's a good one!

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Chapter 7: Umbrellas Aren't Just to Block Rain

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The late summer sun filtered through the leaves above, casting green shadows all about. If one listened hard enough, they could hear the cacophony of the cafeteria across the field. But that's what made this place so special. One could eat their lunch in peace and serenity, or sit and read a graphic novel, leaving the world behind.

Not today, however.

"WHAAAAATT!?!?!?!" Yuugi shouted. "She's from the Shadow Realm?!"

Ryou shoved Malik lightly, while Willow uncovered her ears. "Malik, you suck at telling stories." He scolded.

"No, it's not his fault. Yuugi just didn't interpret it right." Willow corrected.

"What I think he means," Yami took over, "is that she's from another realm completely, right?"

"Oh. Pharaoh!" Willow prostrated herself before him, with her palms and forehead touching the grass. "Is this right?"

"It's— don't do that" Yami said flatly.

"YES, your MAjesty!" Alice/Willow said in response, coming back to her kneel to finish eating, but paused for a huge yawn, which was then transmitted to Ryou. "And also, we stayed up last night/morning and figured out how to work these—" Willow said, and at the command of 'appear' the wings sprung forth. Of course, they'd planted themselves behind a bush that was near the tree so passerby wouldn't freak out.

"Whoa. That's— whoa." Yuugi had gotten control again. "So…your realm is heaven?"

Willow, Ryou, and even Malik all collapsed; Yuugi was really off his game today!

The first to get up was Willow, who apologized then said; "anyone could mess that up. But no, I didn't come from heaven. I don't really know why or how I got these things in the first place. That's the main thing we tried figuring out last night.

"Oh, hey." She continued: "it could have been those guys."

Ryou started. "Guys? You didn't mention any guys."

"Well…." —Niku.— "I kinda forgot. But that's how I ended up outside Malik's place." She told them about the muscly thugs and their light-gun-thingy.

"That would explain about the color of your wings. And when the house started breaking." Malik stated. "By the way, this morning all the damage was gone. Like it never happened."

"Weird…. Yeah. And that bird, the jay, was blue, and it had the white moon behind it."

"The blue jay I never saw?" Ryou asked and Willow nodded, "Everything blue….think they're in league with one another?"

Yuugi piped up. "They have to be, I mean, that bird could've been a signal, right? To the guys that chased you?"

Willow laughed. "That's the first truly sensible thing you've said so far. But still, what's it all for? There has to be some sort of mastermind or prophesy-worshipping cult in charge of everything."

"Hmmm…. You're right." Ryou said. "And that just brings up ten million more questio—"

'Ding-dong ding-dong' the bell went off calling everyone to his or her next classes.

"Disappear!" Willow said, pulling the wings in. "I guess we can continue this after school."

"Okay. Then how about we meet at the game shop?" Yuugi offered. "I could brief the rest of the gang, too, and have them there as well."

"That's a good idea." Willow said. "That way they can be in on it, too."

Malik started to head toward the building. "'Kay. See you all later then!"

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At a quarter to five the tea was served, the friends were seated, and Jonouchi was poking Willow's back incessantly. "Can I see 'em now?"

"Fine...." She sighed. "Appear." A vein in her forehead was twitching mildly, but animatedly. o(--x)(the o is a little fist and slashes are wings)

"Wow," Anzu breathed. "They're so pretty."

"Yeah." Willow smirked. "Mai would have a fit, wouldn't she, with me being so similar to her beloved harpies?"

Anzu nodded in agreement. "And they have nothing to do with the shadow realm!" Yuugi piped in. "At least, as far as we can tell."

"But we do need to figure out why this has happened." Ryou said. And so began a lengthy discussion in which Willow took small part of, and began to doze off, chin in hand.

As she looked around her, a soft, but cool wind was blowing Willow's hair behind her. She looked down and saw a river, winding through farmlands, and before her was a mountain. Turning toward it, her wings tilted and carried her closer. Once Willow had gotten to the slopes she landed on a boulder and sat down, listening to the birds chirping in the bushes nearby.

As the blue sky turned green, and then yellow and orange, she began to feel cold and realized that she was only wearing the school uniform. Then a small white flake landed on her knee. Willow looked up and began to slip off the rock.

"It's snowing!" Her head fell off of her hand and the rest of the people present looked at her oddly.

"Sumimasen, Willow-san," Honda began, "but it's summer right now."

"Huh?" She blinked.

"He's right, you know." That was Jonouchi. "Where have you been?"

"Sleeping, I guess."

Yuugi got up to go to the kitchen. "We're probably not going to figure this out at this rate. Wanna watch a movie?"

"Actually, I have a late shift today, so I can't, sorry Yuugi." Anzu got up to leave.

Jonouchi and Honda were putting on their shoes at the door. "We're behind on a chemistry project."

"Well, don't rush that." Malik said. "For the sake of downtown Domino."

"And the rest of you?" Yuugi asked.

"I've got nothing going on." "Me, neither." "What movies do you have?"

"I was thinking of watching Lord of the Rings." Yuugi answered to Malik. (a/n: don't own)

Willow choked. "All nine hours of it!?!"

"Why not?" Malik and Yuugi said in unison, Malik pulling out a jumbo-sized bag of pixy-stix and Yuugi throwing a bag of popcorn into the microwave. (Needless to say, they wanted to be sleeping through all of their classes the next day)

Ryou started rubbing his temples. "Oh, kami-sama, what brought this about?" he started edging toward the door. "Did I do something wrong? Surely I don't deserve this?"

"Sure ya do!" Malik launched himself at Ryou, pulling out a rope from nowhere and deftly tying him up. "Or at least Bakura does, after all of the stuff he's stolen." He then preceded dragging poor Ryou over the carpet and deposited him on the couch.

Willow went into the kitchen to see if Yuugi needed help, laughing when Malik started stroking the bag of sugar, calling it his 'precious'. She tucked her wings in to avoid knocking anything over and just as she was going to ask Yuugi what he needed help with, he motioned to a six pack of Melon soda (his mouth was being used to open a second bag of popcorn). She returned to the living room just in time to see the artificial sugar being banished to the Shadow realm.

"Waaaah! Willow-san!" Malik cried. "Bakura took my pixy-stix!"

"Oi. Thief King." Willow said, hands on hips. "Get them back now."

"Why should I?" Kura asked, crossing his now free arms.

"Because, technically," Yami started, carrying the bags of popcorn, "you're trespassing on his soul. Are you up to a game right now?"

Bakura glared at the Pharaoh, then grumbled and called the sugar back, pulling his knees up to his chest with his arms crossed over them.

"Well," Yami said, "now that that's settled," Bakura stuck out his tongue, "We can watch the movie." He picked up the remote and started the DVD, turning on the surround sound at the same time. And so they watched. Bakura was particularly taken with Smeagol, as Malik was with Pippin. And the pharaoh, naturally, identified most with Aragorn.

As they watched, Malik, who had the most energy, would poke people at random, making sure that they were awake. Bakura had to force himself not to cry (Ryou refused to take over) when Frodo was saying goodbye to everyone, and had to rush off to the bathroom to hide the fact that he'd let one escape. When he returned, Willow ducked her head and had to stifle a laugh at the sight of his red nose. The credits started scrolling upward just after the hallway clock chimed the fourth hour in the morning. Everyone stared at Malik when he let out a snore and Bakura threw an empty popcorn bag at him. They separated shortly after, to stumble back to their own homes.

Willow, being the first one out, yelped when she sank to her knees in something cold. Something white.

"Snow?" Malik said. "How—?"

"Nature's gone berserk." Bakura replied. "July means heat here. Just like in Khemet."

Willow jumped back onto the back step. "This is freaky," she said, "and cold, too! Yugi!" she called, going back in and taking off both her shoes and her socks. "Do you have any shovels?"

"Yes," he said, coming around the corner from the stairs. "But why do you need--" his eyes widened, "--shovels?" he squeaked, seeing the snow. "Wha--?"

Willow summed up Bakura's response from a minute ago: "We don't know"

Yugi rushed off to the storeroom and came back with four shovels and two jackets. "Malik," he said, handing out the supplies, "your place is closer, so we won't need jackets, but you two will."

And they began shoveling. It was hard work, and when they got to the road they had to split up, making the process even slower. At five, the sun rose, melting some of the snow away, but Ryou and Willow's job was far from over.

Finally, exhausted, the two fell gasping on the carpet after the shoveling and a long climb (the elevators were all out of order) just in time to start getting ready for school.

"Can't we just-" Willow wheezed, "-skip it?"

Ryou shook his head. "It would look funny if-" inhale- "two people in the same class- -who live in the same home- -were both absent on the same day. Besides," he sat up: "tests are today."

"Ooh." Willow moaned. "No fair." But she got up to get ready sluggishly either way.

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The purple flames cast purple shadows of a darkly clad figure that moved silently and stealthily to the entrance. Clicking the door shut behind, he left the room's sole occupant in darkness.

"Can we go now?" the creature hissed slowly. "they are weak, they are defenseless."

"No." a voice ordered softly, forcefully. "It is not enough. Let the day take full effect."

"Yess." The thing said. "then we go, then we attack. Kheh heh heh," it cackled. "so weak, so defenseless…."

--"—"—"—"—"—"—"--

"That was horrible!" Willow said as she stumbled away from the school. "Did all of the teachers have to test us?"

Ryou sighed. "Apparently so."

"I don't think I've gotten even four hours of sleep in the past two days, and none of them would let us sleep." She yawned, then looked up. "What's this?"

Yellow tape was spread out, blocking off that road and most of the surrounding ones as well.

"A crime scene?" Ryou peered ahead in shock. "And we're just three blocks away from my house!"

Willow saw the orange sign. "The detour route goes all around several of the surrounding buildings."

It was Ryou's turn to yawn. "It looks like we have to go through the park. That way's quickest."

The park was deserted.

Not a soul was around, but for the birds in the trees. Coming up to the bridge, Willow saw something black and crumpled. "It's an umbrella." she said, picking it up, "And it's in really good shape."

"Willow!" Ryou called, at the foot of the bridge. "Come on, we're almost halfway there!"

"Okay, hold your horses."

The idiom didn't translate. "Huh?"

"Never mind. It's—" she looked up, "—snowing again."

Fat, white flakes were drifting down in a torrent, coating everything in a matter of minutes. Willow popped the umbrella open to keep the precipitation off. As she started climbing the bridge, Ryou grabbed the umbrella and held it for her. "Chivalry," He said, "is very much alive."

At the crest of the arch, they paused for a moment, to look at their snow-laden surroundings. "That didn't take long," Willow said, leaning against the low rail to cancel out a sudden wave of dizziness.

Before they could brace themselves, the ground moved the icy bridge and the two slipped: Ryou forward and Willow down. The highest point on the bridge-four and a half feet up-was positioned exactly over the deepest part of the ice-covered lake, which Willow crashed into.

Ryou, now unconscious, couldn't help Willow even though he would have wanted to.

Willow struggled in the frigid water. She hadn't had time to get any air, but when she popped back up to the top, there was a layer of air under the sheet of ice. She gasped in relief as her lungs were filled once again, but was quickly dragged down due to the weight of her waterlogged uniform and jacket.

Lungs burning, she peered around her to try and spot the hole where she fell through. Not seeing it anywhere near her, Willow kicked for the air layer once more.

Shuddering from the cold, Ryou lifted himself to his knees and looked around. There was the umbrella, yes, but where was Willow? Seeing no footprints leading away, Ryou looked in dread over the edge of the bridge.

There it was: a hole in the ice that was swiftly freezing back over. Ryou got up and removed his shoes and jacket in horror. He backed up to get a running start with what little energy he had left, when an arm wound its way around his neck. He tried fighting back, but the man held tighter and pressed a cloth to his face. Ryou tried not to breathe in, but couldn't help himself. 'I know this....,' he thought. 'It's....chloroform....' Ryou's vision blurred, but he had just enough time to shout one word.

Willow figured that she wasn't going to find the hole, so she tugged out a knife that Bakura had given her from the bow on the front of her uniform. She began to panic when she heard Ryou's muffled cry.

"Yami!"

She found a spot where she could stand and thrust upward with her last remaining strength.

Giving easily, the ice shattered as Willow's momentum carried her through. She forced her way to the shore and fell over, seeing someone standing where Ryou had been. Of course, she also saw Ryou in a heap, and thought he was dead.

Struggling to her feet, tears started pouring out of Willow, warming her face. The man on the bridge stared making his way toward her. She stopped, swaying. Two words echoed in her head: crime scene, as she surged forward, falling into the snow.

A small reptile bounded out of the bushes. "That wass easy, it wass." The creature hissed. "Eassy and funn." Its wings shivered in the cold. "They were weak they were, jusst ass masster ssaid."

"Yes," the man said deeply, Ryou slung over one shoulder, "Very easy."

"Come onn," the little dragon ordered. "Pick itt up, no time to lose." It fluttered up to rest atop Ryou's back. "No time to lose."

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XP hope you liked! Bwah hah hah. R&R pretty please?