Yugi was getting jumpier every day. It had been a week since Korimo first made herself known, and Tea, Tristan, Duke and Joey were beginning to think she wouldn't come back at all. Ryou was still worried, and Yugi was visibly alarmed all the time. They didn't know anything about this girl, and she had attacked them from nowhere. But on the other hand, what could be done? They were waiting for her, whether they knew it or not.
Yugi was at the game shop with Tristan and Joey, waiting for Tea and Ryou to show up so that they could get started studying for the next day's test. Duke had been invited, but declined the offer, preferring to be on his own. Joey and Tristan had begun to study already, but Yugi was looking warily out the window, waiting. Almost half an hour after she was scheduled to come, Tea came running up the street to the shop, breathless and scared.
"Tea! What's wrong, where's-"
"Sh-she got him...she got B-Bakura..." Tea was doubled over, breathing hard. "K-k-Korimo...I got here...fast as I could..."
"Come in Tea, calm down and tell us what happened." Yugi awkwardly patted Tea on the back and led the sobbing girl to a chair. The tears ran down her face as she tried to pull herself together.
Tristan and Joey ran over with shouts of "what's goin on" and "what happened," repeated several times. Tea calmed down and began to get the story out. She was still in shock.
"We...we were walking here...we both stayed after school, right? So we passed by the park...I wanted to take the shortcut here so we did...and then...and then...that-that THING she's got, it was a scruffy little dog. Bakura...he went over to help it...we thought it was a stray...but then it turned into this big tiger...it slammed into his leg so he couldn't run, then dragged him away...I ran right here...the whole way I could hear him screaming and her laughing..." she broke into tears again. Joey and Tristan jumped up.
"That's it!"
"She's dead!"
Then the little bell over the game shop door jingled, and they all jumped. Yugi cautiously went back to the door to see a note peeking out with his name, and a scruffy-looking dog trotting down the path. He grabbed the note and went back to where his friends were.
"What is it Yuge?"
"I don't know...it just came..." Yugi stared at the note in his hand.
"Well...open it" Tristan said. They all stood quietly as Yugi's shaking hands tore the envelope open. They were all afraid to see what it said inside.
"As I'm sure you've already heard, I've taken Bakura Ryou captive." Yugi read softly. "If you want to see him again, you may find me at the old warehouse on 13th street. Yes yes, rather cliché, but the place has a certain charm, wouldn't you say?"
"She's mocking us..." Tristan interrupted. Everyone was still quiet, this time with a bit of shock mixed in that Tristan understood that. "She doesn't even take us seriously..."
Yugi continued. "But I digress. Meet me there at 9 tonight, and prepare for anything. You most certainly didn't today." Yugi continued to stare at the note. There was no signature. There didn't need to be.
"We...we're lucky it's not a school night...or my mom would never let me go anywhere tonight..." Tea said practically. Her voice was still shaking.
"You don't mean you're giving in, Tea," Joey said decisively.
"What else can we do?" Yugi dropped the note. "If we don't go, we put Bakura in danger. I won't let that happen. I'll...I'll go alone if I have to!"
"You don't have to Yugi, we're here for you," Tea replied. She sat down again. "You're totally right, we all have to go, and we all will," she ended with a sharp look to Joey and Tristan, who agreed instantly.
"But..." Tea picked the paper back up and read it over. "Prepare for anything? We have no idea what she's planning. What can we do?"
"Whatever we have to," Yugi answered her cryptically. "We just won't know what that is until we get there."

***

"They're late." Korimo sat basking in the moonlight coming through one of the windows.
"They'll be here soon enough milady." The tiger-shaped demon paced in the room he had. He was keeping a guard over the hostage.
Bakura's hands were tied behind his back by a black ring of magic. The same rings were spaced evenly on his legs, keeping him in one place. Korimo had done nothing to prevent him from speaking or watching. He carefully observed everything that went on, but didn't say a word.
Korimo turned to look at him. "Smart. You're waiting for me to slip up, aren't you?" Bakura said nothing. "It would be quite careless for me to give up my weakness to you. But I suppose there's no harm in a little history, now is there?
"You know my name. I was born in a small town 18 years ago. Both my parents died when I was 13." She looked at her nails. "I killed them." Bakura's eyes widened, but he still didn't say anything. Korimo answered the question unasked. "They got in my way."
That was when Yugi-tachi burst through the door. Korimo and Bakura both turned to face the sound created when the twin doors slammed against the walls. Fukamito, who had been watching the door from the beginning, twitched his tail.
"Bakura!" Tea cried out, stepping forward and adopting a fighter's stance. "You let him go!"
Korimo crossed her arms. "Come so soon? Pity, we were having quite a pleasant little chat." She kneeled next to her hostage, grabbing his chin and angling his face toward her. "Isn't that right, Bakura dear?"
"Get offa him!" Joey yelled. "No one hurts one of our friends and gets away with it!"
Korimo stood, dragging Bakura to his feet with her. The rings of magic allowed him to float up, while her hand helped to steady him. "Well I suppose it's good for me that he's not hurt." The magic disappeared, and Bakura fell unbalanced to the ground at her feet. Tea ran forward to help him to his feet. She looked up at Korimo, who spoke to the whole room. "This was a warning for you all. You obviously haven't been talking me as seriously as you should, by the fact that you allowed one of your own to be taken. This is your last chance; shape up or you've already lost." Korimo's figure suddenly began to glow brightly, and she disappeared in front of their eyes, along with Fukamito.
Tea and Ryou went back over to the rest of the group. No one said anything for a little while. Then Yugi said, "Well...I guess we should get home..."
"Yugi's right," Tristan agreed. "You okay buddy?"
Bakura rubbed his wrist. "I'll be fine."
"So what happened?" Joey asked.
"Nothing really. Tea told you..."
"In the park, yeah." Tea answered.
"Well as soon as you were gone Tea, she cast that spell on me with the rings. They levitate, so that's how she got me over here. After that, she just waited. I didn't learn anything important, well, not really."
"What do you mean?" Yugi still looked worried and tired.
"Nothing we need to know to bring her down. But...she told me she killed her parents when she was 13."
A rather shocked silence followed.
"So that's what we're dealing with..." Yugi muttered. "Come on guys, let's get out of here." He spoke up, and the friends walked eachother back home.

***
Korimo reappeared shortly after the friends left, along with Fukamito.
"Well, that went nicely."
"Why did you tell him that, milady?"
"Hm? Oh, about my parents. It makes their kind decidedly nervous to deal with one like me." With that, Korimo pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of her breast pocket, wrote a note, and handed it to her servant. "Be sure this gets where it needs to."
"Who is it now, Milady?"
"Duke Devlin. I've got something special planned that I'm sure he won't want to miss."
The tiger bowed his head. "that new spell you were working on?"
Korimo grinned. "Yes, I think he'll be just the one to test it for me."