A/N: Not much to say. I'm politely inquiring as to whether reviewers would include who they think the killer is in their reviews so that I can tally up all of the guesses, and at the end of the story (I almost have it all written right now!) I will show the results! It should be interesting...
Disclaimer: I don't own it. Nobody says I own it. The sheep are lying.
Ten Little Duel Monsters
The four boys entered the kitchen. Tea lay on the floor, brunette hair strewn over her face, full of dark red splotches. Kaiba leaned down and picked up her hand. He held his fingers to her wrist for a while, then dropped her hand unceremoniously. It hit the floor with a thump that reassured them that she was gone.
"There's no pulse. She's dead," Kaiba informed the orders. The shattered pieces of the mirror that had fallen, ending her life, crunched under his feet.
"Gardner's dead," Kaiba repeated, addressing the people who had been left in the dining room. Yugi began to cry softly.
"You don't seem too choked up about this, Kaiba," Joey said angrily, tears streaming down his face.
Kaiba turned to face him. "Am I supposed to be? You know I hated her. What am I supposed to be saying, then? 'I'm so sad; we were secret lovers?' You idiot!" (A/N: No offense to all azureshippers. It just seemed like a very Kaiba-ish thing to say. I duly apologize. And now, back to the story!)
"You're not even slightly upset!" yelled Joey.
"I'm used to death," Kaiba shot back coolly. "It's her own fault if she decides to walk into a stupid mirror."
"I'm surprised you think that, Kaiba," said Ishizu. "Tea didn't walk into that mirror. She was murdered with it."
"Nor that necklace crap again?" Kaiba said, obviously resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
"I gave the necklace to Yugi. This is merely an observation that it doesn't take a genius to figure out. Look at the poem. Then look at the way she died."
Kaiba snorted. "Did you even listen to the poem? How is a star gonna fall on one of us? And a nun leaving an abbey? Please. And even if the poem was real, the girls were the only ones with poems in their rooms. So I'm guessing that only the girls are in danger." He looked around the room. "Well, I'm not particularly attached to any of the girls here, so I'll just go to bed." He left. (A/N: Again, I apologize to all silentshippers, trustshippers, and pompshippers.)
"Ishizu? Did you really mean what you said?" Serenity asked fearfully.
"I did. I shall also go to bed. And when and if you go to bed," she said, addressing everyone in the room, "I advise that you lock your doors."
-
Serenity sat, trembling, on the bed in her room. She had wrapped herself in all the blankets she could find, but she was still cold. She reflected over the day's events. Tea had been like an older sister to her. It still hadn't quite sunk in that she was dead.
And who was the killer? There was Yugi, Tristan, Ryou, Ishizu, Ribbon...
Joey! Could Joey be the killer? Impossible! It was Marik. He'd proven himself capable of evil. Or could it be Kaiba? He was certainly evil enough. And it would be easy enough for him to buy the island for his own evil purposes.
What was his motive?
That was easy. He'd told them. "You know I hated her." He just wanted to rid himself of annoying distractions. And competition! Serenity gasped. Yugi was in more danger than anyone else was!
A knock came upon her door. She shrieked, then said, timidly, "Who is it?"
"It's Tristan. Can I come in?"
"NO!" She hadn't thought about Tristan. Still, she supposed it was possible. "Whatever you have to say, please say it through the door!"
"Umm... this is really not a good topic to shout through doors..."
"So wait until morning!"
"But I have to discuss this with you alone, and I doubt even if it was daytime that you'd risk being alone with me.
So he knew she didn't trust him. Had she been that obvious? "Fine. I'll let you in." Still clutching the blankets around her, she headed to the door, managing to pick up an iron candlestick on her way. She shoved the wardrobe she'd blocked the door with out of the way, unlocked the door, and opened it. Tristan slipped inside.
"What is it?" Serenity asked.
"Um... the reason I wouldn't say what my letter said."
"What is it?" Serenity's fear had been replaced by curiosity.
Tristan held out a sheet of paper. Serenity shifted beneath her many layers of blankets until she could hold the candlestick and the blankets at the same time, then used her free hand to take the paper.
"Dear Tristan,
I hope you won't think I'm too over-confident, but I couldn't help but notice that you like me. However, when I discussed the topic of going out with you with my mom and Joey, they both said no. So I would like to invite you out to Duelist Kingdom for the weekend of the twenty-third. I may have to bring some other people along if I can't convince my mom to let me go by myself. Don't worry, though. I'll find a way to get rid of them.
With love,
Serenity"
Serenity looked at Tristan, incredulous. "You were stupid enough to fall for this?"
"You must admit, it looks a great deal like your handwriting."
"Well, yes... but there's no way I'd write this!"
Tristan, like most of the male population, had a very fragile ego. (A/N: EEP! runs from group of males chasing her with torches and pitchforks HELP!) His face grew an angry expression. "I think you did."
"What?"
"You must have written this. Either that, or someone is extraordinarily good at forging notes."
"If I had actually written this, wouldn't I have come out and said it?"
"Not if you were the killer."
Serenity, shocked, accidentally dropped the candlestick she'd been holding. Tristan leaned down and picked it up. "If you're not the killer, why are you going around carrying an iron candlestick?"
"To protect myself! Give me that!" Serenity made a wild grab for the candlestick, but Tristan, being much taller than she, easily held it out of her reach. She tripped over the many blankets she had draped over herself. "Oww..."
A scream interrupted their conversation.
-
Kaiba, as was his custom, was not sleeping, but using his laptop to communicate with KaibaCorp. As he wasn't there, there were several mistakes the other 'morons' were making, and he needed to fix them.
And then came a scream.
-
Joey, no surprise, was sound asleep, but he was haunted with dreams of flashing images of Tea's dead body.
Tea was walking down the hallway to the kitchen, humming merrily. Joey sat in wait in the kitchen, hiding just to the right of the doorway. She entered, and Joey brought a mirror down on her head with all the force he could muster.
Drenched with cold sweat, Joey awoke to the sound of a scream.
-
Ribbon was sitting on her bed, trembling. Who? Who? She decided upon Marik. He was evil. He was no stranger to these acts. Yes, it had to be Marik.
She started as a scream sounded.
-
Ryou had been tossing and turning all night. Therefore, his long, fluffy hair was now a mass of knots. He was working diligently at running a brush through his hair when a scream interrupted his efforts.
-
Yugi sat hunched against the headboard of his bed, deliberately trying to stay awake. He knew that if he fell asleep, Tea's death would haunt his dreams.
"Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's dead. Gardner's-"
"STOP IT!" Yugi cried, clutching his head, tears filling his purple eyes. Kaiba's voice, so flat and emotionless, kept on running through his head. (A/N: Awww... poor Yugi! huggles Yugi notices Yugi being ripped out of her arms by Rebecca and her friend Mel, who promptly begin to hug him A/N: What is this, the hug-bishies-that-Telecoi-is-trying-to-hug-fic? Rebecca, Mel, Mai, LLB, and Ribbon: Well, you're killing them! A/N: Oh yeah...)
A loud and resounding scream broke his thoughts.
-
Ribbon and Yugi were the first out of their rooms at the sound of the scream.
"What happened?" they asked each other simultaneously, to which they both replied, "I don't know!"
Ryou was the next out of his room. He still had a brush stuck in his hair. "What's going on?"
"We don't know!" cried Ribbon and Yugi.
Serenity, still convinced that Yugi was in danger, came barreling out of her room at about the same time that Joey left his. She screamed, "Where's Yugi!"
"I'm here! What's going-" Yugi was cut off as Serenity enveloped him in a hug. Tristan followed Serenity out of her room.
"What's going on?"
"What were you doin' in my sistah's room!" Joey bellowed.
Kaiba had finally made it up to the second floor. "What's all the noise about?"
"We don't know!" everyone yelled back, save Tristan and Joey, who were still arguing.
"Shhh! What's that noise?" Serenity asked. Everyone fell silent, then turned to look at the end of the hall, where the noise was coming from. Marik was huddled in a corner, sobbing, an open door in front of him. They all traveled down the hall. Serenity and Yugi both knelt down to comfort Marik as the rest glanced into the room that was in front of them.
Ishizu was sprawled on the floor, strangled by the Millennium Necklace.
A/N: Aaaannnndd... it's over. Poor Ishizu. Poor Marik. Who do YOU think the killer is? REVIEW! PLEASE! I'M BEGGING!
Shan's Mousey: Yeah, there was a reason that Tea and Ishizu died first. But I can't give anything else away!
Revan Starr: Well, someone with a yami didn't die... THIS time. Unless, of course, Ishizu's got a yami she's never told us about! And Ryou's MINE!
Mattie Silver: I updated! (A/N's friend SatanBarbie: (sarcastically) Wow, really?)
TCD0012: Why would you get flamed for supporting Tea? Everyone's got the right to their own opinion.
So you think it's Tristan, huh? draws tally mark under Tristan's name on a big chart
Kristina: Hmm... so that's one vote for Kaiba... draws tally mark under Kaiba's name on big chart