Book Dragon: "Another day, another chapter…and again, no more reviews…"

Book Dragon: sighs "You'd think I'd give up, have a break down or something…"

Book Dragon: "But I'll admit, I'm disheartened."

Book Dragon: "Sorry about that Tom mess, I meant to write Mat. I have no idea how I screwed that one up. SORRY!!!"

Book Dragon: "Here is your chapter, who ever is reading this."

Chapter 4: The Ring

She was pretty sure the door had been closed, but somehow she found it wide open. Her father had told her not to go into his room why he wasn't there. She knew this as she placed a careful foot into the room edging closer to the cat, whispering comforting things.

"I'm not going to kill you…just get out of here…please?" Kaede said. The cat gave another laughing look and jumped nimbly up onto the dresser by the bed. Kaede slowly circled in front of him, his head turning as she moved, and traveled facing the dresser.

"I've got you now." She whispered, and started to come closer, in soft slow steps.

"Come here, kitty, kitty…I'm not going to hurt you, you're my friend. I just need you to get the hell out of this room before Dad finds out." The cat ignored her statement and mewed softly, in a gruff sort of tone, like a commander would say to a new solider. Kaede tilted her head confused and looked down at his paws, where to her amazement, was a golden ring sitting inconspicuously in front of her. She blinked a moment, surprised since she hadn't seen it on her way in, and looked at the cat confused. He mewed again, a demanding sort of yowl, which showed some big sharp teeth and a red tongue. Kaede stared a moment, and studied the ring, no longer concerned with the cat, for it had captured her full attention on second glance. It was more than a golden ring, it had five rods hung on the bottom edge of it, evenly spaced, and in the middle sat a triangle with an Egyptian eye molded to the front of it, and was also strung onto a brown chord; it was a necklace. It glittered at her, and gleamed brightly in her mind's eye. It took her mind and enchanted her with its silent pleading voice, in which she translated to 'put me on'.

Kaede looked around quickly, checking if anyone was watching. Obviously no one was, only the cat sitting on the dresser with big eyes. She had a sort conflict with herself, from being moral to actually taking it. She decided after a five minute debate just to try it on. So, she carefully reached forward and grasped the chord with both hands, and gingerly, she placed it over her white hair and let it flop down onto her chest, and turned to look at herself in the mirror on the other side of the room. The necklace was big and cold, but not bad to look at, but after her eyes strayed over her shoulder she almost screamed at sudden stranger standing behind her, and she wiped around so fast it hurt. She saw no one then, only the little black cat, showing his teeth in what she could consider to be a grin.

"What are you-" She was suddenly stabbed with a bolt of pain in the stomach, and doubled over in extreme pain onto the floor. It writhed deep inside her guts, tearing and piercing, making her screams seem silent to her ears and her heart like a beating war drum. Clutching her abdomen, she looked down with horrified eyes, watching as the necklace's arrows stabbed her and sunk deeper and deeper into her flesh. Twisting and bellowing, writhing for what seemed like eternity but in reality only two seconds, until the pain stopped abruptly and she passed out. Her mind sunk into the sudden black abyss, lost to pain and thought, and taken by the darkness.

And she would never be the same.

In a world of swimming darkness, one is very aware of pain. Something was crushing down on her chest, pressing heavily on her torso, making her want to gasp for air. Her head felt weight as well, but something wet and cool slid down the sides of her face, and the pressure was sometimes removed. Her thoughts kept drifting, from physical pain to the vibrating confusion. Something was wrong, but she couldn't piece it together. It was like when one buys a fruit that looks fine on the outside, but when you open it you discover bruises all in side. Was she trying to get at layers? Why was she thinking of food? Kaede's stomach grumbled in response, and may her reluctantly lift her eye lids' open.

It took a little more effort than thought, but still they peeled unwillingly open. She was momentarily blinded by sunlight, strong and vibrant beams, shooting across her face. The light swum, like rippling water, until the blurriness became clearer and something dark pressed gently to her forehead. She grunted and slowly blinked her eyes, adjusting to the light.

"You're up?" Dad's voice rang in, as he removed the dripping wet cloth from her head and smiled at her, a fake smile trying to lie that he was calm. She blinked at him, and slowly nodded her head, stopping because it made her a little dizzy.

"How long have I been asleep?" Her words were a little slurred but what can one expect?

"A day. Christa found you on the floor yesterday night. She thought you were dead."

"Well, I'm not." She said perfectly clear, remembering how to use her tongue. Dad smiled his proud grin and dabbed the cold cloth again on her head.

"I'm not going to let you go to school tomorrow, just to make sure you're alright. The doctor came in and looked at you after Christa found you. He said you fainted…is this true?" She looked him straight in the face and thought a moment, then slowly jerked a nod. He grinned in a concern way.

"I was worried...some of your class mates sent you some cards…if you like, I could go get them…"

"…Okay, Dad." He got up, shaking the bed a little and walked out of the room. With him gone, she wondered why in the world she had lied. Had it been because she was scared to tell him she had did something against his wishes? She slowly shook her head, knowing that wasn't the answer. It was the fact that in the time period of the after noon to the night that her body was moved, against her will, from her father's bed room to her own. That, and she wasn't in the hospital. She shuddered as she remembered the hot pain slicing into her. She shook her head, and grabbed at the blankets for comfort, making something heavy shift from under the covers. Curious, she lifted the blue sheets and found the necklace still hanging from her neck.

Suddenly panic to her whole frame of conscious, and she leapt from the bed, throwing off the sheets and pulling off the necklace violently as she ran to the window. Kaede threw it open, feeling a sudden gush on her face, and immediately hurled the item out, without even thinking of how her father would feel. She watched it soar into the air and cross the lawn with deadly speed as she shut the window carefully. Catching her breath quickly, she tried to tell her heart to stop beating so fast, and held onto the wall for support, as Dad came in with a small pile of letters.

The next morning Kaede was told to stay in the house, to stay in bed, and let herself rest. NO exploring. Dad had made this every clear. Kaede had nodded, simply not hearing him because her mind was still buzzing with the fright. When she had first opened her eyes she had seen, to her horror, the ring. It was prompted up on the end of her bed board, glittering in the new rays, and bidding her an icy good-morning with its inanimate voice. Of course, she sailed it with all her might out the window, and almost broke one of the tree branches, yelling it a 'good riddance', despite her dread.

She had almost a mind to ask what her father was thinking if she hadn't heard him on the phone. She walked in to ask what the hell was wrong with him when she stopped, simply from the side-ways look in his eyes. It was frantic fear and worry that made his fingers jabbed the numbers and talk into the receiver.

"Hi, Yugi? Yeah, it's me." It was Thursday. Not Saturday. He didn't look if anyone was listening in on his conversation, but Kaede slowly slid behind the hallway wall anyway, just because of the hurried and almost whispery sort of tone of his voice. She couldn't hear much after she hid. In fact, the only reason why she knew they were talking about the artifact was because he said.

"Yeah, BUT I CAN'T FIND-Oh…sorry…" Kaede immediately ditched the conversation and ate breakfast silently with Mat and Christa.

"And then he said, oh my gosh! You're single? And that's how I met him."

"Terrific." Mat said in a bored beyond belief voice and stuffed a mouthful of just cooked waffles in his mouth, eating the last of it, and grabbing his bag.

"Bye Mat."

"Uh? What? Oh…right." Then he left, leaving her frowning, and despaired. Of course, Christa had no clue of this, as she stood up and wiped her lips elegantly, and swayed her way out of the room, casting her very pretty fare-well. She sat there for only a moment by herself when her father came in, pulling on his jacket, and telling her he had to visit a friend and it would be for a while. She smiled and nodded and watched him leave and heard him slam the front door. And then Kaede was left alone.

It was a long time before she went back into her room. She watched the small TV in the family room for at least three hours, eating two slices of peanut-buttered toast, lounging on the dull and fraying couch. It was when she got annoyed at all the soap-opera's on and someone screaming about their long lost husband that finally made her shut off the screen with a click and trudge up stairs to go do what her Dad had said. To rest.

She walked into her room and froze in the door way, taken off guard by the sudden appearance of the bright colored ring gleaming at her from the leaning position on the window sill, staring at her with its eye and mocking her. Instead of frantic fright, rage meet her head, and she stomped up to it and took it roughly in her hands, squeezing it hard and digging her finger nails painfully into her palms. She glared at it and grabbed furiously at the closet door, hand searching for a few seconds until she grabbed it and violently opened the door, jarring the door as she slammed it against the wall.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" She snarled at it and flung it into the closet, denting the wall with a jingle and slamming the door so hard the frame shook.

Dad came home very late, looking very old. Mat had locked himself in his room several hours before and was jamming to a particular tune written by a disturbing band. Dad seemed a little worried about him, but tried not to show it. Due to both experiences with the object, Kaede told her Dad she was well enough to go to school. He didn't argue.

Kaede was afraid to go into her room to go to sleep, but still opened the door and peered into the room. The ring was no where to be seen…it must have still been in the closet. She nervously walked in, pajamas on, and went to bed quickly, covering her head with the blanket and shivering. She wasn't cold.

She didn't get much sleep by the time she woke up that morning. She kept waking up to nightmares containing large golden rings compressing around her torso and crushing her rib cage, or getting hung by the chord, or being stabbed in the heart with one of its golden arrows. The last time she woke up her alarm radio went off, declaring it a beautiful fifty degree Friday morning, perfect for some last minute jogs before old mother winter came rushing in before it started playing "The Jeter-Winks Got Me" the twenty-fifth song on the top hundred. It was listening to the high pumping and screaming keyboard player that made her face her morning reality, and think for a moment that her life was normal and easy and curse the new Dembony style of music. When she pulled off the sheets, she found to her misfortune that she was terribly mistaken.

The ring sat, patiently, on the end of her bed, shimmering in the golden hues of light seeping into her window. She started at it, blinking, and rubbing her eyes, telling herself this wasn't happening, she was dreaming, she would wake up any minute. That minute never came, and the ring stayed on the end of the bed, smiling its unseen smiling, and laughing its tinkling laugh as she moved out of the bed and onto the floor with a bang.

"It's possessed." She said with a tired croak, and crawled into a new pair of clothes. Fully clothed she turned back to it, still ridiculing her. Kaede moved closer to it, but not too close; those arrows did indeed look pretty sharp.

"This isn't happening." She said to herself firmly, and the thing laughed louder as it slipped off the bed and onto the floor. She stared at it, for the longest time, wondering whether to chuck it out the window again or kick it under the bed.

"…What do you want?" It sparkled vividly, sparking into her mind's eye and beyond, speaking with its own silent tone of voice that told her before what it wanted, what it still wanted. 'Wear me'

She cursed the worse swear she knew, and reluctantly picked it up with the fullest of caution. She tried to think of it as nothing as she gingerly placed the chord over her head and gently tucked the ring in under her baggy shirt, perfectly hidden. She didn't like the thought of it being so close to her skin, but she also didn't like the fact her father would probably disown her if he found out she had it.

She grabbed a piece of bread and bided her family a shaky fare-well, as she ran out the door, holding her shirt until she was out the door. Then she was listening to the eerie jingling sounding loudly in her ears, sending cold shots up and down her spine. Running to school was the fastest way to end that part of the journey, the rest of school would be a living nightmare.

Sitting in class, she tried her best to pay attention to the lesson, focusing with all her being to listen, but the unusual weight of the chord and the metal icily touching her made her skin crawl and her whole frame shiver, and many of the teachers would ask her problems she couldn't answer or ask if she thought it was cold in here. One of them even asked if life at home was alright. She just looked at him in the eye and cracked a smile saying life at home was just fine and asking why he thought this.

The hallway times were ones she tried to drive off quick, by jogging to her locker and stuffing used books and taking out the ones she needed before anyone could even let the idea of enclosing her in a tight dark space for the rest of the day. Many times she could see a group of five girls glaring at her with curious glints as she ducked and weaved through the blue suited crowds, hoping to death they wouldn't start anything here.

At the end of the day, it was a relief when the clock buzzed, and Kaede placed her pencil and math book carefully into her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and briskly walked out of the building. When she was outside and off the steps, she didn't even look for the gang and started sprinting, starting the daily race early and surprise the shit out of them, making them stumble for a couple of precious moments that gave her a hopeful edge. She darted across the school grass, listening to the plants sprung under her feet and shouts in little combined voices, and made it to the side walk a good ten feet from them, going strong and faster than she had ever done before. She intended to give them a run for their money, or so some grown-ups put it, and ran hard, necklace swinging around in her shirt like a pedaled. Through lines and crowds she waved, ducked, and slammed through, ignoring angry shouting, and kept turning to see how much ground they were gaining. A lot of ground, unfortunately. Even with 'accidentally' tipping some new shipping crates in their way and shooting into the nearest alley way, they met her in stride and grabbed a hand full of hair viciously, stopping her head, and at their mercy, for which they had none. They were laughing as they kicked her to the ground, hard, and slapped her hard on the cheek, flaring a heated pain. The fighting was beyond words at this point, it was just the pleasure of being top dog (another old saying) the sport of being a dangerous predator and catching their prey every time. Kaede kept down and didn't try to stop them; that only made it worse. One tall red-head girl grabbed at her hair and pulled her head out of hiding behind her arm gloating as she slapped her back handed and laughed at the hot tears spreading on her face. Her laugh mixed with the sound of the item twinkling loudly under Kaede's shirt as she threw her down again, and almost kicked her before a dark-eyed brunet told her to stop.

"Why?"

"Did you hear that?" Her dark eyes turned to her form on the ground, grinning an evil smile.

"I think little Missy as some jewelry…" Everyone but Kaede looked delighted to hear that, and held down her arms and legs and tarred at her hair when she struggled as they took it, from under her shirt, and the red-head held the ring loosely in her small hands, looking distastefully at it.

"Disgusting. But the gold it beautiful, better to be melted down..." Kaede grunted and struggled a little more, making the red-head blink and smile widely.

"What did you say? I could have it? Don't mind if I do…" She started to take the chord, and made Kaede almost happy and almost angry that she was taking it. When she gripped she said very quietly to the brunet in a sweet tone.

"And let's have a little more fun…" The girl grinned and laughed, pulled cruelly at her white locks and caused her to scream and cry. She needed help. Her Dad's possessed object was being taken, it would probably come back or maybe even haunt her, but that wasn't the point, it was the fact Dad was worried about it, and deep in her twisted emotions she felt responsible for it. She struggled and kicked her legs up flaring her head and pulling her arms, ignoring the laughing, ignoring the tugging, and living in the dread.

"Alright, I've had enough of this." A new voice suddenly said. Everyone froze, including Kaede, heart beating faster than a drum roll, so fast it hurt. Everyone had a look like they had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and heads tilted up to the source of the new voice. Kaede tilted her head down into the street, looking at the new visitor upside down.

For a horrific second, she thought it was Dad. Then the moment passed and she realized that he was much younger, about her age by appearance. He had a large head of white hair, spiky and wild, with a couple of leaves tuck in it, like he had fallen out a tree even though there were none close. His skin was pale, and he wore a striped shirt and faded blue jeans, with a pair of sneakers. His eyes were chocolate brown, like Christa's, but glinted strangely in the light, his lips were straight.

"Get lost." Said the red-head, at turned back to her present work.

"Let her go." He said in a light and annoyed voice, totally disregarding her statement. The red's head bounded up fast and glared steaming blue eyes, causing the rest of the gang to glare, as she got up and approached.

"What did you say?" She growled two feet away from him. The teen looked at her irritated and for a startling moment disgusted.

"I don't have time for this, get out of the way." He said plainly, looking at his nails, and waiting for her to move. She didn't make a move, just stood and shot heat beams at his face with her smoking eyes. After a few moments of nothing she spoke with clenched fists.

"This is our turf. Get out, punk." Suddenly his brown eyes meet hers, going beyond her glare, turning to killing level. His face darkened over, like a shadow, and he gritted his teeth.

"Look, I'm taking her. Move or you shall regret it." He growled it, and it could have matched the snarl of a menacing street dog, labeled brightly in red highlighter as a threat. She blinked, surprised, and her own face clouded over in anger.

"How dare you…I wouldn't move if it was the last thing I'd do!" She crossed her arms and glared, but somewhere deep in her eyes you could see a tiniest bit of fear, tinting out. The teen saw it, Kaede knew he saw it from the look of contempt twisted to pleasure, and then she too was afraid, and hoped the Red stood some sort of chance. By the look on his face she had no luck, and this game was his for the taking.

He abruptly took her by the arm and spun her out of the way, jerked her arm up and back, causing a loud crack and a shriek of pain and sent her down like a crumbled piece of paper.

"The game is over. You lost. Care to try again?" And of course, after breaking her arm right in front of them so fast and so violently, the rest of the group left their fallen leader and fled for their lives out of the alley, leaving Kaede stunned and bruised, looking up at the stranger, with fear uncoiling like a large lazy snake in her guts. He looked boredly down at her, and gently picked her up off the ground with icy hands, placing her carefully on her feet and taking her firmly, but not painfully, by the arm and walked her out of there.

He led her through the crowds, walking and not saying a word about who he was or explaining anything, just taking her through the city as if on a peaceful walk. She licked her lips nervously and kept staring at the back of his white head with wide hazel eyes, and wondering what he was going to do to her.

The sun was still high in the air, and they kept walking, him leading and doing nothing but that when she started to see the building loosen up, and noticed this was the normal route to her house. She blinked and thought about trying to get out of his grip and sprinting, but secretly she knew that wouldn't work, he'd catch her just as fast and probably break more than just an arm. Better to talk and take him off guard before sprinting.

"What are you going to do to me?" She finally asked with a croak, trailing not too far behind him. He looked over his shoulder at her, and turned back casually, making her feel more jumpy. When they stopped at the red stop sign with a group of other city-goers he finally spoke.

"I'm going to take you home." She blinked.

"Take me home?"

"Yeah, what are you, stupid?" She just stared.

"Why?"

"Because I have to. No more questions." He yanked at her arm, pulling her forward suddenly out of the way of a speeding skater with out even looking, saying nothing at all, and started to walk forward when the sign turned green, with the crowd.

Silently they walked back to the house. Kaede being tugged softly along behind the stranger, having so many questions it felt her head would burst, but she listened to what he had said and had watched him so easily break a person's arm. Obviously, she didn't want to get on his bad side. The house came into view, and like a stalking tiger, it crept slowly toward them in bouncing strides.

The sun was lofting lazily half in the bright blue sky, shadows springing from the trees and stretching across the sidewalk and front door step, where he placed his white sneakers carefully to Kaede horror, and looked at the door a moment, putting his hand to his chin a second, letting his cold grip on her go, thinking. Kaede did not interrupt him. Then he started digging in the pockets of his jeans, searching for something, and his expression briefly flashed and in a pale fist he pulled out a thin knife. Kaede flinched when she saw the flash of the blade, and thought a moment that he had accomplished his…whatever about getting her home and would kill her, right there on the front door. She shivered and watched him flick his wrist elegantly as he crouched down, and slip the point of the blade easily into the lock of the door in one fluid motion, and started to nimbly tweak and stab in side the black hole until it clicked in a deep thud and he swung the door open, and let him self in.

Of course, she followed him in timidly and the house was a mess, with coats on the floor, books carelessly left spine up, and some wrappers blowing in the wind generated by the door. The teenager didn't bother looking at any of this, but marched in, like he owned the place, ignored the family room, and went to the kitchen immediately. She snuck a look in the family room, hoping her Dad was in there to stop this intruder, but for once, on the wrong day, he wasn't there. Kaede proceeded quietly into the kitchen, or as quietly as one can walk with disregarded litter covering the floor, and peered around the door frame into the kitchen.

The kitchen was clean, sparkling really, until food was thrown on the black and white checkered floor from the unwanted visitor, now poking around in their cream-colored refrigerator with an emotionless face, causing a disarray to slowly grow as he snuffed and tutted and threw things over his shoulder. Kaede couldn't believe this. This guy wasn't in his right mind, no scratch that; this guy was insane. You don't interrupt a crazy person, that usually makes things chaotic. Usually ending with death obviously. He didn't have that look that insane people had though, he actually looked normal…or as normal as you can get. His movements were a bit too swift, and the items of juice were going a little too fast over his shoulder. But other wise, just looking at the guy, you'd think he was quite rational.

"A-AH!" There was a clinking of glass as his white hair temporarily darted out of view. He slammed the white door shut, standing at full height suddenly, surprising her, and, to her dismay, he gulped down a mouthful of amber looking liquid, and looked pleasantly at it.

"Haven't had this stuff since…can't remember when…not as good as the old days, but still good." He gulped down another huge mouthful. That was it.

"What are you doing?!" Kaede suddenly asked before she could stop herself, looking horrified at him and the bottle of liquor. He blinked a moment, took a long sip, and looked her fully in the face. His eyes sparked brightly, fully aware and bursting of intelligence, a slyness swimming deep inside the blackness of his pupils, saying in a very silent tongue 'don't toy with me, I'm beyond you', what ever that meant. It was enough to scare her, and without even realizing it she took a step back.

"I," He said slowly, and looking deep into her eyes across the room, piercing them, with menacing sort of feel vibrating deep in the air in the distance between them. "Am getting a well deserved drink, thank you every much."

"But, you're under age!" Kaede said, a little surprised at herself. What the hell am I doing? He raised his eyebrows, though it was hard to see since his hair covered most of his forehead, and took another sip.

"Unless you look young and are actually eighteen or something…you are aren't you?" He said nothing, just stared at her with a blank look, leaning back on the counter. She shifted her feet nervously, taking a step toward the table and tried again.

"How old are you?" He averted his eyes a moment, with a calculating sort of appearance and said placidly.

"5029. Give or take a couple of years." She looked at him irritated.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"

"Compared to me or the rest of society?" Kaede blinked, making him sigh.

"If society, I would have to say no, I've seen stupider mortals. To me, yes, I would think you were an idiot." She stared at him a moment longer, and then sighed at her bad luck. Great, now I've got a snobby crazy person in my house drinking beer, could this get worse?

Lowering her eyes she noticed a note pad on the table. This was normal since they didn't have a refrigerator magnet white-board like most families, or usually they did in TV shows, she wasn't what most people designed their houses like. She thought of picking one up after school but she always had other things on her mind, mostly escaping unscathed. In big black letters, Kaede read to herself the message.

Kids,

Had to leave. Important business to attend to. I'll be at Mr. Mutou home in case of emergencies. Be back very late. Junk-Night, but have at least one thing nutritional. Don't expect me back before you go to sleep.

Love you all,

Dad

Ps. don't let any strangers in the house.

"Too late."

Book Dragon: "This was my favorite part, and where things started to get very interesting…but now, I doubt anyone will care."

Book Dragon: "Whoever is reading, please leave a review!"