From author: I am sooooo so so so so so so sorry for not updating sooner! I have been really busy and really picky about how I was writing this story! Once again I am soooooooooooooooo sorry!

Chapter 12

Ryou

"Do you which memory she saw?" my Yami asked me.

"I think it had something to do with my arm," I said, "It's the only thing that could freak someone out."

"Blood?" my Yami asked as if it were surprising.

"It scared Tea." I said. My Yami didn't really care and walked off I guess into the kitchen. I went into my room and looked at a picture of my whole family. I think it's one of the few pictures I have where I am smiling in it. We all looked happy, my father, mother, Amane, and myself, totally unaware of the tragedy that would take place a couple months after that picture had been taken.

"Damn it! I'm a spirit I can't eat!" my Yami yelled from the kitchen making his way into my room.

"Why do you look at that picture?" he asked, "Looking at it isn't going to bring them back."

I didn't answer him. He didn't understand, he doesn't know what it's like to lose two of the most important people on your life in one day... at least he never told me so.

I heard someone unlock the door. Father was home. My Yami went back into his soul room.

"I'll leave you alone today. Think of this as a birthday present." he said

"Happy Birthday Ryou!" Father said when I came out of my room. "So did you do anything besides hang around here?"

"Yugi, the rest of the gang, and I saw Finding Nemo and went to lunch." I said.

"That's a good movie!" father said with a very short laugh.

"Oh, and Yugi gave me this card too." I said getting the card out of my pocket and handing it to father. He looked at it.

"I don't really understand this game, is this card any good?" he asked. I nodded.

"Oh ya here." father said searching through his bag for something, "this isn't much of a present, but we found a bunch of this at the excavation and so I brought some back for you." He handed me a rock/stone type of thing. It was really smooth, almost like it was intentionally made that way and it was a dark, deep purple. It reminded me of the Shadow Realm.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We're not sure yet, we're still trying to figure out what it's composed of." father said.

"Thanks." I said putting the uh... rock into my pocket. Father nodded.

"I'm going go unpack and I know this is going to sound awful but I have some errands to run, do you want to come along?" he asked.

"Sure." I said.

"All right." he said, so he unpacked, and we left.

Nanase

No matter how badly I wanted to forget, no matter what stupid thought popped into my head, I couldn't stop those flashes from replaying over and over again. No matter what they'd come back somehow.

Around three o'clock Rakster came into my room and sat in front of me.

"What do you want?" I mumbled into my pillow.

"I made a big decision today!" he said. I saw behind him a girl about sixteen standing in the hall, looking at a plant.

"It looks so real." she said with fascination.

"Please don't tell me you're marrying her." I said.

"Nora? No, I'm tutoring her." Rakster said. I sat up on my bed.

"Wait, for one thing school hasn't started and you HATE school!" I said.

"Well that has to do with my decision." Rakster said.

"You mean that wasn't it?" I asked.

"Nope," he said, "my decision was that you're going to become the best duelist in the world."

He'd better be kidding.

"Ok, let me explain it to you." Rakster.

Rakster (flashback type thing about tutoring)

Ok, ya, so a while ago I needed money to buy cards, so I filled out an application form to be a tutor. Why? I was applying everywhere! Anyway, I got a call from Nora's parents asking if I wanted to tutor her. So when Nanase went to the movies with Izumi, I went to Nora's house to talk to her parents. They started talking to me and asking me questions.

"So Mr. Pants recommended you to be a tutor?" Nora's mom asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pants!" I said.

"Well then, I guess there's not much else to ask but I must warn you, this will probably take up most of your free time. So do you want the job?" Nora's dad asked.

"Give me a minute." I said. I went into a corner of the room and pulled out my silver dollar. My decision was if it landed on heads, I'd be a serious tutor, go to a good college, and stuff like that since you need a head to think. If it landed on tails I would turn down the job, go get a mediocre job and be totally committed to dueling. I flipped the coin and....

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" I yelled.

"You can't take the job?" Nora's dad asked.

"No sniff. I'll take the job. When do I start?" I said.

So ya, that's how it went.

Nanase

"What the heck does that have to do with me becoming the best duelist in the world?" I asked Rakster after he finished his story.

"Ah." he said, "See, if I'm working, who's gonna use at least some of my awesome cards?"

"Someone, but not me." I said.

"Wrong." he said," You're going to become the greatest duelist of all time." he said.

"Is this your girlfriend?" Nora asked before I could say anything. I remember being asked if Rakster and I were twins in the past but this was well... uh... different.

"No. This is my sister, Nanase." he said.

"Oh," she said, "So what are you teaching me again?"

"Rakster sighed and muttered, "Everything." and then they left.

Ryou

When we were coming home after running errands, father and I picked up some rice bowls and saved them for when until we got home. During dinner we didn't say anything. Eventually Father stood up and went into his room for a moment. I followed him and saw him sitting on his bed looking at the picture of the whole family (the same one I was looking at earlier). I sat down next to him.

"Do you remember my fourteenth birthday?" I asked. Father nodded a little perplexed.

"You called from work around 10:00 and wished me a happy birthday and you told me to tell you all about my birthday when you came home. Well I never told you everything." I said.

"Did something bad happen?" father asked. I shook my head.

"No it was a great day, a good memory I have to look back at. It was back when Duel Monsters was brand new. In the morning Leon and Hikaru came over to play Monster World and mother and Amane made a cake. After they were done Amane wanted to watch us play Monster World. I asked her if she wanted to play. She was so shy about it but she said ok and played Leon. I helped her a little bit and you should've seen the shock on her face when she beat Leon. Hikaru started laughing so hard and soon Leon and I joined in. Mother thought something had happened to us since we were making so much noise. After Leon and Hikaru left, mother gave me a starter pack of Duel Monsters and Amane gave me the Change of Heart card. She told me she was trying to find the best single card she could and also that she knew strong monsters were not the only way to win a duel. I don't know how she knew that, she probably did some research online when I wasn't home and figured that out. But afterward it was really quiet. I knew they were thinking about how to deal with things during the two months you were going to be gone and I kept thinking 'Before I know it, things will be back to the way they should always be.' But they didn't." I felt tears building up.

"I miss them." I said

Nanase

I left my room to have dinner although I didn't eat or talk much. If my dad noticed he probably thought I was just nervous about starting high school. I went to bed early knowing I wouldn't be able to fall asleep for a long, long time. I went through the next day in my head trying to calm myself. I knew for sure I'd see that guy I saw at the theatres so I tried to convince myself that I would be able to control my imagination or whatever it is that made me lose it at the theatre!