Author's Notes: Time to have a little bit of fun...

Chapter Four: White Day Blackened

Valentine's Day, February 14th. Named after St. Valentine, a man who in reality never existed. The holiday was in fact developed from an older Roman holiday and became Valentine's Day. Eventually it was commercialized into its modern day form.

Into the later half of the eighteen hundreds the nation of Japan had its borders closed to every nation except, only trading with the Dutch as they had no interest in religion. Japan had been isolated throughout the days of the Tokugawa Era, however this period of isolation came to a sudden halt when the Black Feet of Commodore Perry floated into the small fishing village of Edo. Japan was now open to Western influence once again.

This influence came in many forms, and over the years Japan became more and more Westernized. The bulk of this took place following World War II and the final collapse of the warrior way of life. The Japanese took up many traits of the Western world, and one thing they adopted was Valentine's Day.

The Japanese did not leave Valentine's Day untouched. Many holidays were gender specific, such as Girl's Day and Boy's Day. Valentine's Day became much the same, and the date of February 14th, Valentine's Day itself, was a time where girls gave chocolate to those men in their lives.

This chocolate is separated into two different types. The first is called "giri-choco" and is given to friends and associates. The second is special, and is called "honmei-choco". This type of chocolate is given only to lovers and people that you like.

While Valentine's Day is the day that girls give boys chocolates, there does come a time when boys give girls chocolates either "giri-choco" or "honmei-choco." This day is March 14th, and is called White Day.

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Rikuo folded his arms and stared blankly at Drake even after Drake's explanation was finished. Behind him Eri was giving him a similar look, only hers was tinged with disgust because of the simple fact that Drake pissed her off. "And what exactly does this have to do with the bomb that went off?"

The wolf demon gestured to the mess around them, where random kitchen items seemed to have been hurled by a squall. There was also bits of egg all over the place, and flour caked the floor. Drake grimaced and leaned against the counter. "So I can't cook to save my life okay?"

To elaborate he took up a nearby wrench, and held it above his head. Rikuo took a brief moment to wonder why there was a wrench in a kitchen, and then Drake swung the wrench with all of his strength.

The giant slab of chocolate on the counter wasn't even dented. "It would make good plating for a tank, but I don't think it's edible." Rikuo leaned forward and poked it. The chocolate had no give to it, and he wondered just how tough it was.

"Give me a swing. I want to see just how crappy a cook you are." He snatched the wrench out of Drake's hands and took careful aim at the would-be chocolate. Then he swung it with the full force of his demonic strength.

The wrench snapped in half. "Holy hell..." That was about the only way to sum up the disaster that was Drake's attempt at chocolate. Eri approached it casually and punched it. Swiftly she pulled her hand away and shook it out behind her back.

Rikuo wasn't quite as quiet about the utter failure that was Drake's chocolate. "What the hell did you put in it? Grade A Steel?"

Drake grimaced and held out a cook book. The demon examined it, taking note that it was written in English. "Well, I'm better with Kanji than I am English...so I may have made a few mistranslations. But I tried to follow the recipe as closely as I could."

"You could keep it to use it as a weapon against this enemy of yours. No matter what attacks are thrown at you I can guarantee you'll be safe if you just hide behind this thing." This was the last straw for the teenager, and he fell to his knees, hands above his head and staring at the ceiling.

"WHY! Kirani will be here in three hours, and I wanted the chance to give her a special honmei-choco! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!" He rose to his feet and a golden aura blazed around him. His eyes came to rest on the chocolate and his palm rose almost of its own accord.

"This is all your fault! I'll kill you till you die from it! DIE YOU BASTARD CHOCOLATE!" A solid stream of energy connected with the chocolate, and after several seconds of exposure it finally began to bubble.

Rikuo took a cautious step forward and put his hand on Drake's shoulder. "I don't think you should attack the innocent chocolate. I mean sure you'd be putting it out of its misery as such a mutant, but still...if you heat the chocolate too much"

He never got a chance to finish his sentence, because at that moment what he feared came true. Superheated by Drake's magic the chocolate, despite its toughness, exploded. Chocolate covered the room and everyone in it, meaning Drake, Rikuo, and Eri.

Now one chocolatey wolf-demon is a funny thing. Two is even funnier. This was Drake's logic that backed up his sudden burst of laughter. This laughter of course drew the attention of a particular demoness who didn't like being covered by melted chocolate.

She launched herself forwards, grabbing Drake by the collar of his now brown uniform. "I'm gonna make you pay for that! I'll be washing this out for weeks!"

Drake held up his hands defensively and came up with a reply that didn't help at all. "It wasn't me! The chocolate did it!"

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An hour or so later a somewhat more bruised but finally clean Drake exited the school store, chocolate in hand. It had taken little effort to convince him to just buy a chocolate instead of making one, as the disaster with the chocolate of steel had been enough to teach him a valuable lesson. "Now if only there was a good metaphor for sucking at cooking, like dancing with three left feet."

Drake fondly remembered the old care free days, and was glad that for the most part he had gotten a chance to return to those days. Even when he had known Malik the psycho leader of the Rare Hunter was out taking peoples souls he had been able to relax and enjoy spending time with Kirani, even if it was brief. That had been shattered by the coming of Taichi Nobuki.

Shaking away such negative thoughts the teen made his way up to the Obelisk Blue dormitories where Rikuo was waiting for him. He found the wolf demon sitting in a tree branch near the dorm, and wearing a new set of clothing. Drake was amused to see what the demon was wearing.

"So you're a punk now too huh?" Rikuo now wore a pair of dark blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and a leather jacket. With his wild hair he certainly looked the part, and it made Drake wish he had taken along his trench coat. He consoled himself with the memory that the blue uniform he wore was quite snazzy.

"Keh, I am a punk. More so than you could ever be." Drake raised an eyebrow and then shrugged, leaning up against the base of the tree. He continued to speak to Rikuo, only he didn't bother to look up as he talked. Even if his voice was muffled by not speaking in the right direction he was sure Rikuo's demon hearing could pick it up.

"So you're a cat demon then?" Rikuo snorted, knowing how it must look. Lounging in a tree was rather catty, but he happened to like this tree for a few reasons. For one thing he could see his daughter's room from here and could make sure she was alright.

"Would you like me to separate your lungs from your body, or would you care to withdraw that last comment?" Rikuo could practically see the teen rolling his eyes. By now Drake had gotten used to the threats, and was figuring out that mostly they weren't true. Mostly.

"I'll withdraw it on one condition. You have to explain to me exactly why you had to bring your daughter into this. I know you don't want to involve her directly, but telling her the reason you're here might not have been the best idea." Drake's train of thought halted when Rikuo hopped out of the tree and landed in front of him.

"What I choose to tell my daughter and choose not to tell her is none of your business. Got it?" Drake nodded slowly, suddenly aware that this was one situation where Rikuo was definitely serious. He didn't want to lose his lungs, so he was going to keep quiet.

"Comment withdrawn then." Rikuo smiled smugly and the two sat back to wait.

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"Boo!" Drake jerked awake at the sudden sound, looking around for the source of the voice. He saw Rikuo and Eri off to the side, and Rikuo had this amused look on his face. Eri still looked pissed, but Drake was starting to get that she always looked pissed.

Finally his gaze fell on the speaker. It was none other than Kirani, and to Drake's great joy she was in fact wearing a uniform. It was red, buttoned up at the top, and had one of those short skirts that seemed to be standard issue at the school. Kirani had also taken the occasion to tie her hair up in two very animeish pony-tails, one on each side of her head. "What do you think?"

She did a little twirl, and Drake felt his eyes slip. He blinked to clear them up, and coughed, clearing his throat. No need to sound overly enthusiastic. "You look really cute!"

Kirani smiled and stopped her spin, resting her hands on her hips. Drake noticed that she too had gotten one of the more advanced disks. "Red has always seemed to fit me well, so when I saw this uniform I knew it would work perfectly."

She tugged at the front of the uniform, her smile slipping a bit. "They didn't have that many spare uniforms that I saw, and I could find any that were fit well in front. It gets kind of uncomfortable."

As her eyes came up to meet his, he jerked his up as fast he could. "Doesn't fit in front? Really? I hadn't noticed at all!" He put a hand behind his head and started laughing. Anyone who wasn't stupid could easily tell just how false his laughter was.

Her eyes narrowed slightly and she leaned in so her face was inches from his. "Why do you think I commented? I saw you looking."

Drake had the courtesy to look abashed, and shot a glare at the snickering Rikuo. Eri seemed to be enjoying his troubles even more. "Well, would it help if I were to"

He failed to complete his sentence because of a distraction coming up over the hill. Dressed in a mostly white uniform with blue at the edges was the familiar black-haired form of Kai Kaethen. The teen raised one hand in greeting. "Salutations."

"Nice day for a walk Kai?" The younger teen nodded, absent mindedly adjusting the duel disk strapped to his arm.

"That it is. Tell me, is that the demon you told us about earlier?" When Drake said yes, Kai took the time to walk over to Rikuo. Rikuo sat there patiently as Kai walked around him in a circle.

Finally satisfied, the teen passed judgement. "You sure he's not just cosplaying?" The demon was on his feet in a second, hands on the front of Kai's uniform. He cracked his knuckles in that vague threatening way that seems more traditional for villains, and sneered at Kai.

"Do these fangs look fake to you? And the claws? What about the eyes?" He would have continued ranting, but Kirani stepped up and grabbed his ear painfully, pulling him away from Kai.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't kill any of us, since we do need to work together. Drake mentioned that you had some powerful friends. Did you intend to get them involved?" Rikuo grumbled and rubbed his ear which was now throbbing.

"I made a few calls to alert some of my friends, but none of them could come at the moment. If something changes they said they'd get in touch with me. So now that the gang's all here, what's the first step you had in mind?" Kirani shook her head and took a seat on a nearby log so she could explain everything from a more comfortable position.

"Not all of us are here yet. There's still one more guy on his way, and we shouldn't make a move until he gets here. Drake, what have you learned so far?" All eyes now focused on the blue clad duelist, who made himself comfortable by once again leaning against the tree.

"The faculty wasn't really talkative, but that's probably because they're trying to keep it quiet. Someone who is more obviously an adult and not a parent of a student might get some answers, so Dalin is our option there." He rubbed his chin in thought, his eyes drifting skywards as he continued speaking.

"One thing I do know is that each of the boys who have gone into 'comas' are members of Osiris Red, and younger students as well. I heard from some of the other students that those kids are part of a group that get together every so often and play RPGs. Not all of them are soulless, so we need to figure out who isn't. The problem with that is nobody seems to know them."

They were all jolted out of their thoughts when Eri smashed a fist through the log she was sitting on and splintering it. "What's the problem? Just tell those snotty Osiris Red kids that if they don't talk I'll rip out their throats!"

"As tempting as that might seem to them I doubt it'll get a better answer. So our two options as I see it are having Dalin pose as some kind of investigator or getting someone amongst the Osiris Red students that they might trust more. Obviously they don't like Obelisk Blue members so..." He let the thought lie, and all eyes came to rest on the one figure amongst them dressed in red.

Kirani blinked, and after a moment of processing she realized exactly what Drake was saying. "If you think I'm gonna go in and flirt with a bunch of kids then you've got a few screws loose. I'm nineteen years old, and I'm not gonna flirt with fourteen year olds!"

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Kirani sighed as she stopped in front of the fairly run down building. There were various students gathered around outside of it, apparently watching a duel that was going on. "I can't believe I'm going to be flirting with a bunch of kids."

Drake's words came back to her, and she mentally noted that she should inflict bodily harm on him as soon as possible. He had said, "You don't have to flirt with them, just talk to a few of the underclassmen, generally the nerds I guess, and see if you can charm a few answers out of them."

"Charm answers out of them? That's flirting you jackass and you know it!" She grumbled under her breath and then continued her trek.

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"I thought you were going to give her that chocolate you bought." Drake nodded, knowing that he had blown it. He had missed out on a perfect opportunity to give Kirani the honmei-choco, and now he was probably incurring her wrath by sending her to investigate the Osiris Red students.

"I'll just have to give it to her later. I feel a little bad about sending her to charm answers out of those kids, but it really was the only option. Hopefully giving her the chocolate afterwards will make her less pissed at me for that." He sighed and slumped down against the tree, his eyes staring out into the distance, wondering what she was doing right then.

Kai looked over at Drake and asked a question that had been on his mind for a while now. "Your relationship as it were...I've never understood it. What brings you two close together like you are?"

"Well it's kinda complicated. Let me see if I can get it to a place where you can understand it. Umm...well, we get along really well, we can feel relaxed around each other, we share a lot of the same interests. It's hard to explain but...there's just a connection there. I mean, what do you look for in a girl Kai?" This question caught the other teen off guard, and he had to pause for a moment to think of an answer.

"Well, I'd prefer a woman of intelligence, who is knowledgeable about many facets of the world. A woman with great confidence but who isn't arrogant. Attractive but doesn't flaunt it. Calm, steady, determined. A woman who follows the path she has chosen and never strays from it." Silence reigned after this declaration, and the only sound that could be heard was that of wind rustling through the leaves.

Finally the silence was broken by Drake. "So...basically Isis then?" Kai hit the ground hard, his expression priceless.

"I never said that!" Drake burst out laughing, his suspicions confirmed just by Kai's reaction.

Off to the side Rikuo and Eri stared at the scene with confusion, neither one knowing who Isis was or anything about Kai. "You confused princess?" The demoness nodded, and they both turned back to watch the growing argument between Kai and Drake.

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"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The people were known as individuals, but apparently nobody in Osiris Red knows who was involved except for those who were involved. Unless I asked every single member of Osiris Red I'll never figure out who else was there." The group groaned at hearing this, realizing that it was much more difficult than they had thought.

"Hey Kirani, mind if I talk to you in private?" She shrugged and walked over to him, so he lead her a bit away. Once they were out of sight, and out of hearing range of even demon hearing, he was ready.

"I'm sorry about sending you off to do such a stupid thing. And uhh...well, since it's the fourteenth of March I wanted to give you something." He held the box out to her, and she willingly accepted it.

She took one look at the Kanji of 'honmei' on the front and her face lit up with that smile that Drake loved to see. "I can't believe it! Thanks!" She threw her arms around him in a hug, and he grinned at seeing her happy again.

"So, that really means that" She suddenly became perhaps the third person that day to fail to complete a sentence. She was cut off as the Millennium Disc began to glow, and a huge surge of power could be felt somewhere on the island.

The power was confirmed as Kai and Rikuo both rushed over the hill. Rikuo had told Eri to stay behind. "This what you were expecting?"

Drake grimaced and shook his head, not knowing what was happening. "I think it's time we go investigate!"

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The whole group stopped outside of the hospital wing where the comatose boys were being kept. Through the window they could see quite a bit of activity, confirming their suspicion that someone else had lost their soul. "Damn it..."

"He was found like this outside the Ra Yellow dorm just a few minutes ago. Nobody knows what happened, but there is one clue." Everyone turned, startled by the sudden presence. What they found was the towering blonde haired figure of Dalin Imaki Sumatin, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Took you long enough to get here. So, what clue?" In response Dalin chucked something that was waded up at them. With his demonic reflexes Rikuo caught it, and then let it unfold. What he saw was a crumpled up bit of a red uniform.

He held it up to his nose and took a sniff of it. "There are a couple of scents on it, but I can seek them out at the Osiris Red dorms pretty easily. So, are we gonna get going or what?"

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As they group left the hospital wing they failed to notice the figure perched on top of the building. He stared down at the departing group with his cold eyes, and fiddled with a red uniform top that was in his hands. The corner of it had been torn, with a piece missing.

"There always has to be bait for a trap to be sprung."

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Next Chapter: Child of the Enemy

Author's Notes: It got a bit jumbled at the end I know, but we're getting to the point.

WolfGeneral: Trying to make it all fit with your story and not screw stuff up.

G.O.T. Nick: Yeah...sometimes Drake just doesn't think before he does things.

Adriel Touchstone: Adriel won't play much of a part, nor will any characters for LoDD, but I figured it was nice to have things connect.

Time Mage: Just like he said, he decided to show her as much strength as she deserved to experience in a duel. It was also his way of saying "Don't challenge random people to Darkness Games because it might suck ass for you."

Reiko5: Wow...thanks. Well, if you like this story you should go check out the other Yu-gi-oh stories I have.