Shadu: Guess what. This is my thirtieth story. And that is reason to celebrate in my eyes, ya know? passes out dolls of everyone's favorite character to anyone who ever reviewed Thanks guys. also passes out cookies, cake, and pop It's not too late to join. Just review this story, or any of the others. Anyways, now for the real reason you came.

Ch. 1

The Morning

Yugi walked into the school's cafeteria one morning in late October. He was greeted with the sound of lots of chatter, commotion, and general hub-bub of something that he wasn't currently aware of, obviously. But everyone was talking so loud to one another that he couldn't make out anything. He sighed. He looked around and saw Joey sitting in a corner of the room, upright and with his arms crossed, his chin on his chest. He had his eyes closed, in an attempt to look cool and tough. It might've worked on Yugi, if Yugi didn't know Joey as well as he did. With a small grin, Yugi walked over to Joey and sat in a chair beside the street punk.

"Hey Joey," Yugi greeted.

Joey didn't even acknowledge the presence of the small adolescent. Yugi studied his pal. He peered at Joey's face in slight concern. It was just a little paler than usual. In addition to that, dark rings had been painted on Joey's face just under his eyes. Really, Joey looked like a wreck.

"Joey," Yugi stated again, shaking his friends a little to try and arouse him.

"Eh?" Joey replied sleepily, waking from his sleep.

"Hey there," Yugi smiled warmly.

"Oh, hey Yugi," Joey smiled a little.

"You look horrid, what happened?" Yugi asked.

"My dad held a party last night, and I couldn't get to sleep until late," Joey shrugged. "Only got two hours of sleep, at the most."

"Joey!" Yugi exclaimed. "You gotta do something."

Joey shrugged and answered, "It happens all da time, don't worry."

"Well, have you heard what all the ruckus is about?" Yugi questioned, quickly changing the subject.

"I've heard a little," Joey nodded. "Read it in the paper this morning," he added.

"What happened?" Yugi asked.

"Some kid got killed," Joey stated bluntly.

"Really? Who?" Yugi pressed.

"A man by the name of Fenrir Kiryu Kokki," Joey stated.

"Who was that?" Yugi persisted.

Joey shrugged.

"Well, what happened to him?" Yugi asked.

"No one really knows, but the police say that they found his body completely mauled by something; they were lucky to identify him at all," Joey explained, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, while closing his eyes. "They say it looks like a dog could've done it, but it doesn't look like the dog was completely a dog. So then they thought that it may have been somebody that was using a tool that could make it look like the man had been mauled. But they don't know what tool that would be. So, they are just going to let the case go. There's nothing they can do."

"There must be something they can do," Yugi cried.

"Nope, not a thing," Joey shook his head.

Yugi sat in silent thought. He couldn't believe that the killer was just going to get away with this. He just couldn't believe that the killer would walk free while the family of the man that was killed had no justice. Yugi had always liked to have things just, even if the world was not. He liked things to be right, in balance, fair, even though half the time, the world was not.

The bell rang and with a sigh, Yugi stood up and went to class, Joey dragging himself behind.

Yugi went through that day, thinking solely of what Joey had told him. How could it happen this way that justice would not be served to the guilty party? He couldn't believe it. But when he tried to talk to Joey about it, Joey would be sleeping and Yugi would be caught trying to wake Joey. So Yugi decided to wait until after school. Joey eluded him. He slipped of the school grounds and to his home before Yugi had a chance to talk to him. So, Yugi decided to meet Joey at his home.

Yugi didn't mind the walk to Joey's home. It was a nice day. What he was worried about was the bullies and gangs. They seemed to have gone somewhere else, somewhere other than his path, for which he was very grateful. Yugi didn't care if the bullies didn't want to pick on him today. He was actually relieved. He wondered why they weren't out today. Maybe they were spooked about what happened last night.

Yugi rapped on Joey's door, and waited. He waited, and waited, and waited, and waited until he thought he could wait no more. He was about to enter when the door knob turned and a very tired looking Joey poke his head out.

"Hey Yuge, what brings you up this way?" Joey asked.

"I just wanted to talk," Yugi stated.

"You can stay for a little while, until my dad comes home," Joey opened the door wider.

Yugi slipped in under Joey's arm and sat down on the chair beside the couch, waiting for Joey to come in and sit too. Joey lazily crawled his way back to the couch and sat down with a thud, lethargy seizing his body. He stayed sitting up, though, simply out of respect for Yugi. Joey draped his arm across the back of the couch and slumped over a little, still keeping his eyes on Yugi. Yugi cocked his head a little, a slight expression of worry covering his face.

"Are you sure you're okay Joey?" Yugi pressed.

"Just very tired," Joey nodded.

"Well then, lay down, I don't mind," Yugi offered with a smile.

"You sure? I might fall asleep," Joey warned.

"Well then, so be it," Yugi shrugged. "It seems to me like sleeping might not be a bad idea right now. If you fall asleep while I'm talking, I'll take no offense and just leave, okay?"

Joey sighed and nodded. Then, he stretched out on the couch and let his head sink into the arm rest on the end.

"So, Joey, what do you know about the attacks last night?" Yugi asked.

"Everything I know you know, I told you already," Joey grumbled.

"But Joey, you must know something more," Yugi pressed.

"Why would you think that?" Joey wondered.

"You have connections, lots of them, on the street," Yugi explained. "Surely one of them saw something."

"Nope, not one," Joey shook his head.

"Joey, I find that hard to believe," Yugi stated bluntly.

"Well, it's true," Joey said stubbornly.

"Joey, please, don't you care if the man's family knows the truth?" Yugi asked.

"All I care about right now is sleep," Joey told his friend.

Yugi couldn't help but stare in disbelief at his friend. Joey didn't care? Usually, he'd be right there by Yugi's side, helping to find the truth. But he wasn't.

"Yuge, I think I hear my dad coming, you'd better leave," Joey stated, rolling over to turn his back towards Yugi.

Yugi nodded and stood. With one last glance at Joey, Yugi left. What Yugi found odd was, he never saw Joey's dad come up the stairs or go into the apartment.

Shadu: So, what do you think? Is it intriguing yet?

Hokage: Remember, if you review, then you can join the party. So please review.