Although it's obvious who our ghost is, Yugi and Anzu have yet to find out his name. They find out in this chapter and decide to investigate, which leads them to a probable suspect.

Chapter 6.

Searching For The Truth.

The following morning, Yugi got up early. Anzu knew that he was stopping by the house on his way to work to let the wardrobe fitter in to finish the wardrobe, but he had not told her that his main objective was to try and communicate with the spirit.

Pulling up outside, Yugi thought that the house looked like any other house in this attractive suburb of Domino, with not a hint of what was within its four walls.

Keeping his shoes on, in case he trod on something sharp left laying around from the decorating, he entered the hallway. He immediately noticed that the hall table had been knocked over, and that the bowl containing potpourri, which Anzu had placed there to make the hall smell nice, had vanished. Frowning in annoyance, he righted the table.

He stood, listening for any sounds. The house was so quiet that he could almost hear his own heart beating anxiously at the prospect of what might happen if the ghost appeared.

He wondered, should he take a direct approach, or a cautious approach?

Deciding on cautious, he peered into the kitchen. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and Yugi felt himself shudder. He almost let out an unmanly shriek when he heard scratching inside the wall. "Rats Yugi, it's just rats," he said, reminding himself, that he had yet to fix the basement window.

Unfortunately, the scratching had increased his nervousness, and confronting the ghost was starting to feel like a bad idea -perhaps Anzu was right, they should ask Ryou for help.

The next room Yugi looked in was the sitting room. At first he did not notice anything amiss, but then he spotted the potpourri all over the floor. The broken dish was there as well, looking like it had been hurled at the wall in a temper. Anzu would not be pleased – the pretty bowl had been a present from her friends in New York.

He then looked behind the sofa, and saw the TV, smashed, from where it had also been thrown across the room.

Stunned, Yugi stared at the damage.

He had a pretty good idea of what, or who, was responsible. Why? Was it because they had moved out and the ghost was having a hissy-fit because he had no one to torment?

Any nerves he was feeling a moment ago were quickly being replaced by irritation that he would have to spend money they could not really afford on a new TV!

Glaring around the room, he steeled himself. "Whoever you are, show yourself!" he ordered, his voice sounding braver than he was feeling.

Silence.

"Are you going to show yourself, or are you just going to hide like a coward?" Yugi knew he should probably not have called the ghost a coward when the temperature in the room suddenly dropped, and a dark, oily shadow appeared at the bottom of the wall. The shadow was creeping up the wall to form a demonic looking creature. Yugi shivered. The shadow, he realised, was threatening him.

Should he run? Stand his ground?

Either way, he was too afraid to move, and even if he did run the shadow could probably move faster than he could.

Yugi's eyes widened when the shadow started to spread across the ceiling until it was above him.

Yugi was now terrified.

But despite his fear, he remained determined to try and communicate with it. "Is that your idea of an apology?" he said, trying not to stutter. "Or are you trying to intimidate me?"

The shadow did not react and remained still, as if deciding what it should do next.

For a few moments the stand-off continued, and then the shadow shrank back down the wall to a similar height to his own, and a shadowy, more human shaped figure, stepped away from the wall. It was just beginning to take the features of a man, when the doorbell rang.

In the split second that Yugi looked in the direction of the front door and then back again, the figure and the shadow were gone.

Heaving a big sigh, Yugi sagged. He had been so close to meeting the spirit that resided here. But with the arrival of the fitter the moment had been lost.

After letting the fitter in, Yugi glanced at the time. He really needed to get to work.

But before leaving, he took one last look in the sitting room. "If you are still in here, I have to go to work now, but we still need to talk." With that, he closed the sitting room door and left the house.

The spirit watched from the sitting room window, as Yugi reversed his car off the driveway and drove away.

Deflated, the shadow retreated into himself. What was going on with him? He was usually so in control, but he was starting to become emotionally unstable. Last night, after they left because of what he had done to Anzu, his temper had frayed and he had swept through the house knocking over objects and throwing things at the newly painted wall in the sitting room.

And just now, he had almost commanded his shadow to attack Yugi.

They did need to talk, but it was going to be easier said than done.

::::::::::::

Arriving at work, the first thing Yugi did was call Ryou Bakura. He did not tell him that he needed to talk to him about his house being haunted, just that he had something important that he wanted to discuss with him.

Ryou agreed, but said he could only spare half an hour as he had an autopsy to attend this afternoon.

"That's fine with me," said Yugi. "I've actually got the afternoon off because we've got kitchen and bathroom planners coming."

"What time shall we meet? The earlier the better." They settled on midday.

For the rest of the morning, Yugi found concentrating on his work hard, and midday could not come soon enough.

Leaving Kaiba Corp, he hurried across the road to the fashionable restaurant in which the had agreed to meet.

They were just ahead of the usual lunch rush and found a table with ease. The waitress asked if the wanted drinks. They both ordered a cola.

"Thanks for taking the time off to meet me Kura. I know how busy you are with your studies." He would never quite understand his friend's choice to become a pathologist, but he seemed to be enjoying it.

"Not at all Yugi," Ryou said in his usual friendly way. "I'm sorry I haven't been round to see your new house! How are you settling in?" With his exams looming he had been attending autopsies, studying hard and totally neglecting his friends.

They were interrupted by the waitress, who had brought their drinks and was now waiting to take their food order. They both ordered the Japanese style burger.

As soon as she had gone, Yugi sighed. "We were settling in just fine, until Anzu fell and broke her arm."

Ryou was alarmed. "Oh, no! Is she okay? What happened?"

"She slipped in the bathroom. She's pretty upset because she'll miss the start of rehearsals. But the reason she fell.." He paused, looking round to make sure no one else could hear before he continued. "Anzu didn't fall on her own, something made her fall. I know this sounds stupid, but we think.. No. We know we have a ghost." Fiddling with his straw, he poked at the ice in his drink.

Ryou sat up straight, intrigued and excited. "It doesn't sound stupid at all, Yugi!" he said, his heart beating fast at the thought of a ghost living in his friend's house. "Do you know the history of the house? It may help to discern who your ghost might be, and what it wants."

"What it wants?!" Yugi said incredulously. "It frightened Anzu so badly that it made her fall!"

"Hmm.." Ryou hummed thoughtfully. "Spirits don't usually set out to frighten or hurt people, it just tends to happen that way because people are afraid of them. Ghosts are just the souls of people who are unable to move on due to the nature of their death, or because they have a deep attachment to a person, or a place. That was why I wondered if you knew the history of the house?"

Yugi shrugged. "The house has been empty for a while, that's all we know."

Ryou drummed his nails on the table. "It would be interesting to know if someone has died there in traumatic circumstances," he said, voicing his thoughts.

"Died there?!" Hearing it spoken like that was quite macabre, but it made sense that someone had died, otherwise they would not have a problem.

"You sound surprised, Yugi." Ryou chuckled. "You would not have a ghost is someone hadn't died there," he said, smiling.

He was only teasing, but Yugi was irked. "I know that!" he retorted, frowning. "It's just the thought of someone having a traumatic death in our house."

"Well, the best way to find out is to investigate who the previous occupants were. I can search the coroners records, to see if there have been any deaths recorded there, if you wish?"

"Yes. It would be good if you can," Yugi said gratefully. "What should I do once we know who it is? Should I try communicating with him?"

Ryou frowned. "It's probably best to leave the communication to an expert. Spirits can be unpredictable."

"Oh," Yugi said sheepishly. "I might have tried that this morning."

Ryou's eyes went wide. "You did?! What happened?"

Yugi shrugged. "He – I'm pretty sure it's a man – tried to intimidate me at first but I held my ground. I think he was going to materialise but the wardrobe fitter arrived and he vanished."

"Oh. Well, it's probably a good thing the fitter turned up when he did. Confronting a spirit without knowing anything about it can be dangerous. From my experience, spirits don't like being questioned or challenged."

"So, what do I do when we find out who it is?" asked Yugi. "Anzu's upset, and we're now staying with her parents. I'm not sure she'll want to move back unless I get rid of the ghost. That's why I was hoping you might help?"

Ryou nodded slowly. "I will help you, I promise. But unfortunately I'm very busy for the next few days – I'm on call for the night shift, and I have exams tomorrow and Thursday. But I might have time over the weekend, if you're free? With luck, we might be able to help the spirit move on."

"The weekend sounds good," Yugi replied, nodding. However, he was curious at the use of the word, 'might'. "And what if we can't get him to move on?"

"Let's not worry about that just yet," Ryou said, smiling sweetly. "With luck it will be straight forward."

"If not?"

"If not, then I will need to hold a séance and communicate with the spirit on a spiritual level, to try and find out more about what is keeping the spirit from moving on, and try to resolve it," he said. "But hopefully it won't come to that. Like I said, spirits can be notoriously difficult about disclosing why they are unable to move on. Anyway," he said, clapping his hands together. "Tell me some of the things the ghost has done?" He was dying to know.

There was not much time and they were still waiting for their food, so Yugi briefly recounted some of the stranger things that had happened before they parted company, with Ryou promising to call him when he had searched through past coroners reports.

:::::::::::

After saying goodbye to Ryou, Yugi went back to the office to get his laptop, and then went to get Anzu, so that they could go back to the house together for their appointment with the kitchen and bathroom planners.

Yugi debated if he should tell her about his encounter with the ghost this morning, or about his meeting with Ryou, but decided to keep both quiet for now – Anzu was upset enough at it was, without knowing what he was planning to do.

His phone rang. It was Ryou so he pulled over to the side of the road to take it. "Hey, Kura. That was quick!" His heart was pounding with anticipation.

"I'm sorry Yugi. There's absolutely nothing at all regarding any deaths at the house."

"Okay, no worries. Thanks for trying," It was disappointing, but strangely enough he had been expecting it, and if anything he was now even more determined to find out who their ghost was.

"Do you still want me to come over this weekend?" asked Ryou.

"There's a couple of neighbours I want to talk to first," said Yugi. "I'll let you know, if that's okay?"

"Of course it's okay! I might still pop over and get a feel for the place anyway, of that's alright by you?"

"Yes. Just ping me a message when you're coming."

After wishing Ryou good luck with his exams, they said goodbye and ended the call.

When Yugi arrived at the Mazaki's house, Anzu had her shoes on and was waiting for him.

"Sorry," he said, "Work was really busy." He felt guilty for the lie, but Anzu was already unhappy and he did not want to stress her further by telling her what he was up to. At least, not until he had something worth telling her.

When they arrived, the wardrobe fitter had finished and gone. The wardrobe looked stunning, and would look even better when the carpet arrived on Friday.

Anzu wanted to be excited about it, but she wasn't. Yugi put his arms around her and kissed her.

"It's okay. I understand," he said, doing his best to console her. "Everything will be okay, I promise."

Anzu could have had a debate with him about it, but the doorbell rang, indicating their first appointment had arrived.

Planning and measuring the bathroom and kitchen took up the rest of the afternoon, but they came up with something they both liked and a price they could agree on, so they placed their order, which would take three to four weeks to be manufactured and delivered.

After the planners had gone, Anzu sighed. "I hope we're doing the right thing spending all this money when I don't even know if I want to live here any more," she said, trying to be honest about her feelings.

Yugi looked at her sadly. "I told you earlier, everything will be fine, I promise," he said, kissing her.

She scowled at him. "How can you say that? It's obvious that our 'friend' doesn't want us here."

"Let's give it another chance, okay? The wardrobe is finished, we can put our clothes away and move back in! Maybe we can learn to live with our ghost," he said, looking at her hopefully and receiving a frown in return.

"You can move back in if you want, I'm going back to my parents," she said decisively, heading for the door.

Disappointed, Yugi followed and drove her back to her parents house.

When she got out, he stayed in the car.

"Where are you going?" she asked pointedly.

"Back to our home," he said bluntly.

Anzu looked at him incredulously. "But!" She did not want him to go but was lost for words. "Okay. Suit yourself," she said irritably. "If you'd rather live with a ghost, then fine." Pivoting away, she huffed and went inside. Frowning, Yugi watched her go. The way she was behaving, living with a ghost would be far easier.

Pulling away from the kerb far to quickly because he was in a huff, Yugi headed back to the house.

On the way, he started to feel a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. He did not know if it was due to the stress of the situation having a negative effect on his relationship, or the fact that he was going to be alone in the house.

Pulling up onto the driveway, he put his head in his hands. Was he doing the right thing coming back here on his own and leaving Anzu at her parents?

Anzu was upset, and all he had done was upset her even more with his growing obsession with their ghost. But he was only trying to find out more, so they could either help the ghost move on, or learn to live with him.

Sitting up straight, he sighed. They were both being stubborn, but Yugi felt that he was the one who was in the right.

He glanced over at the next door neighbours house and decided to go and see Mrs Yoshida, in the hope that she could tell him more about the previous occupants.

Getting out of the car, he went next door. He observed how immaculate the front garden was, as he walked up the path and rang the door bell. An elderly man answered the door and stared at him like he had seen a ghost from the past. Yugi wondered why that would be?

"Sorry to bother you Mister Yoshida," he began, bowing politely. He noticed the elderly man was still staring at him.

"My wife was right, you do look just like him," said Mister Yoshida, with intrigue.

Yugi smiled awkwardly. "Your wife said something like that to me the other day. That's what I wanted to talk to you about..." he hesitated, before saying, "And about the previous owners."

Mister Yoshida nodded, and seemed to relax slightly. "Yes, of course. Come on in, my wife has just made a pot of tea if you would like some?"

"Yes please," Yugi replied, taking his shoes off and following Mister Yoshida into the kitchen. The interior layout of the house was almost identical to his own house.

Mrs Yoshida looked up at him and smiled politely. "Ah, hello Mister Muto! How are you settling in? I see you're having lot's of work done in the house" No one had ever stayed long enough to do any decorating work.

"Yes, it needs a lot doing, but we're settling in just fine," Yugi lied. "We've painted the sitting room and have just had new wardrobes fitted in the master bedroom. We're having a new kitchen and new bathroom next month." He cleared his throat. "I wondered if you could tell me about the people who used to live there?"

"What do you wish to know about them?" she asked tentatively, gesturing for him to sit down.

Yugi sat down, and the Yoshida's joined him at the table.

"I'm not too sure…" Yugi admitted. "Maybe start with the names of the people who lived there?"

"Now that's going back a bit!" said Mrs Yoshida, carefully pouring the tea. She handed the cups round before continuing, "My memory is a bit vague these days. Now let me see.. We moved in…" hesitation.

"We moved here in nineteen seventy six," Mister Yoshida said, impatient at her for being so vague.

"The house was newly built," said Mrs Yoshida, giving her husband a pointed look. Yugi sensed tension between the elderly couple. Mrs Yoshida continued, "Did you know, we're the only original people still living in this street?"

That was interesting to know, it meant talking to the other neighbours was probably pointless. "Can you tell me about the original occupants of my house?" Yugi asked, wanting to get them back on track.

Mrs Yoshida nodded. "Shortly after we moved in, Mister and Mrs Ishtar moved in with his teenage son, Marik. Mister Ishtar and his son were from Egypt, his wife was Japanese. Mister Ishtar worked as a consultant surgeon at Domino hospital. His wife was a nurse there, I believe that's where they met – she was his second wife."

Yugi nodded thoughtfully. "You said I looked like someone. Would that be Mister Ishtar?"

The couple both laughed at his question.

"Oh, no, no," Mister Yoshida chortled. "He was in his late forties, you look nothing like him," he said. "The young man you look like was their lodger." He turned to his wife. "You spoke to him more than I did. Can you remember his name, dear?"

"Yes. Atem… I don't remember his surname, but he was a lovely young man; always polite and friendly. He needed money, so we paid him to do odd jobs around the house and in the garden - my husband was working long hours and didn't have time. We had two young children, and Atem often used to play games with them and teach them card tricks –he was very good at playing games."

Yugi nodded, interest piqued. "How long did the Ishtars and Atem live in the house for?" he asked.

"That's what was strange, wasn't it?" Mrs Yoshida said to her husband.

"Very strange," agreed her husband.

"In what way?" Yugi asked, wondering what could be so strange.

"Well, Atem lodged with them from, I think, March nineteen eighty, to around late October, and then he left suddenly. He was supposed to babysit for us that night, but didn't turn up!" she sounded slightly upset by that. "When I enquired, Himari –Mrs Ishtar– told me they had an argument over him not paying his rent, so they told him to leave. I thought it odd at the time, because he seemed such an honest young man. But I guess you never know, do you?"

"No. I guess not," agreed Yugi. "What about the son?" he asked.

Both Mister, and Mrs Yoshida, pulled rather bitter faces. "Around the same time that Atem left, so did Marik. He came storming out of the house and seemed very upset. I was sweeping the path at the front and asked him if he was okay? He swore at me and called me a nosy old cow. He rode off on his motorcycle and we never saw him again."

Things were getting interesting. "What about Mister and Mrs Ishatar?" asked Yugi.

"That's where it gets even stranger," she said. "Three months later, they moved out. Shortly after, the house went up for sale. New people moved in – the Sasaki's. They seemed very nice, but moved out after just four months. Mrs Sasaki told me the house was cursed."

Mister Yoshida nodded thoughtfully. "No one seems to stay there for long. It's like the Ishtars put some sort of ancient Egyptian curse on the place. Either that or the place is haunted." He snorted, not believing his statement. "Do you believe in curses, or ghosts, Mister Muto?"

Yugi shook his head. "No. I don't believe in either," he admitted, "but there's definitely something strange going on in the house."

They both stared at him and then Mrs Yoshida looked down at her hands, wringing them together nervously. "See, Jiro," she said to her husband. "I was right, something is wrong with the house; for twenty five years, no one has wanted to stay there for more than a couple of months."

In response, he grunted sceptically but did not offer another explanation. Yugi viewed it as denial, which was easy to understand; he would probably scoff as well had not experienced first hand the strange entity stalking his house.

"Hmm… I have one more question: Did the Ishtars or Atem leave any forwarding address?"

"Well, we heard nothing from Atem, but I kept in touch with Himari for a while, and she said that Atem went home to Egypt. Mister Ishtar retired about ten years ago, because of his age and poor health, and they moved to Osaka, where Himari's family were. I've since lost touch. As for Marik, well, he was obsessed with motorcycles. He worked at the Yamaha factory, but his dream was to own his own garage, which I think he now does, or did."

"Thank you," said Yugi. "You've been very helpful," he made a point of looking at his watch. "I should probably get home, Anzu will be wondering where I am." He stood up and bowed.

"May I ask why you're so interested in the past occupants of the house?" Mister Yoshida asked.

Yugi smiled. "Let's just say, I have no intention of letting a twenty five year old mystery scare me away. I intend to get to the bottom of whatever is going on and put an end to it once and for all," he said with determination.

Wishing him luck, they showed him out. "Just be careful," Mister Yoshida said. "I don't think it will be as easy as you think."

Yugi smiled, and looked over at the house – his house. "Thank you. I will." If the ghost was Atem, then he did not believe he meant them any harm. But if Marik's spirit was still lingering in the house then, judging by what the Yoshida's had said, they might be in a lot of danger.

He decided he needed to do a little more digging.

Standing on his driveway, he looked up at his house; all the lights were off and he suddenly felt vulnerable. Did he really want to spend the night sleeping alone in a haunted house? Or did he want to go home and be with his wife? They had not exactly parted on the best of terms, and he was feeling guilty about driving off like a lunatic, just to make a point.

Getting in his car, he decided to go back to the Mazaki's, apologise to Anzu, and tell her what he was up to.

::::::::::::

"Do you really think you can talk to a ghost?" Anzu was sceptical. Yugi had come clean to her about his attempt to communicate with the ghost, his lunch with Bakura and his visit to see the Yoshida's. Anzu was not annoyed with him and they had made-up. They were now planning what they should do together.

"No. But I want to keep an open mind. All I know is that the house has a problem, and if we're to live there happily then we need to get rid of the problem."

Anzu shrugged. "I guess. But didn't they say that they saw Marik leave? So it can't be him."

"They saw him ride off in a temper. He could have returned while they were out, or he could have, I dunno, crashed his bike and died and his spirit returned to the house," he said, trying to come up with any explanation he could think of.

"Well, I doubt there's too many Marik Ishtar's, or Atem's… did you get Atem's family name?"

Yugi shook his head. "I don't think they ever asked. He went home to Egypt, apparently." - he was sceptical about that.

"Well, we can start by looking up Marik Ishtar then," Anzu suggested. It did not take long to find him listed under the business section. Marik's Motorcycles: Sales, Service and Repairs, it said on the advertising banner. The business was based in Yokohama.

"Well, I think that rules out Marik, since he's obviously still alive," said Anzu.

"That means our ghost has to be Atem," Yugi concluded, unable to think of anyone else it could possibly be. Anzu nodded.

"I'm inclined to agree, since the neighbours said he left suddenly and didn't say goodbye," she said, adding, "But it leaves the question; how he died, and why?"

"I'm willing to bet the Ishtars know," said Yugi. "Yokohama's only forty minutes away, I'm going to talk to Marik."

Anzu was alarmed. "Is that wise?! What if Marik killed Atem? Can't we ask Atem's ghost, and take it from there?"

Yugi narrowed his eyes. "Ryou said that ghosts become upset and volatile if they're questioned, especially about their death. And a séance can be dangerous – I don't want to put Ryou at risk."

"But what if Marik becomes violent?" Anzu said, worried.

"Okay. I'll ring him," said Yugi, shrugging. "He can't do anything over the phone."

Although it was getting late, but he tried the number for the garage anyway. Surprisingly, it was answered almost immediately, by a man with a slightly gruff voice, in rather clipped Japanese, indicating that it was not his first language. Yugi cleared his throat. "Is that Marik Ishtar?"

"Yes," the man said bluntly. "Who's speaking?" Yugi glanced at Anzu and they squeezed hands.

"My name's Yugi Muto," said Yugi. "I recently moved into the house your father used to own, in Domino City. I'm trying to find someone called Atem, and I wondered if you knew where he went after he moved out?" For a few moments there was silence, and Yugi was worried that Marik was about to hang up, but then he spoke.

"Now that's a name I hoped I would never hear again," he said, his voice a little sinister. "What do you want with him?"

The question caught Yugi on the hop. "Hm.." Quick, think of something. "We were clearing the place out to decorate and found some jewellery inscribed with his name. I asked next door and they said you or your father might know an address for him in Egypt." Yugi pursed his lips at Anzu when she raised her eyebrows at him in amusement.

On the other end of the line, Marik huffed. The tone in his voice became very nasty. "Well, Mister Muto, I have no idea where Atem Sennen is now and I don't care, so I suggest you take that piece of jewellery and shove it where the sun don't shine." The line went dead.

Yugi stared at the phone with a raised eyebrow. Anzu squeezed his arm.

"That wasn't very nice of him, or helpful, was it?"

"No," Yugi said, shaking his head. "But he inadvertently said Atem's surname. And from his reaction I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what happened to Atem."

"Should we go to the police?" she asked.

"And say what? We don't have any proof, and if we tell the police we have a ghost they will just laugh at us. We have to deal with this ourselves, and find proof that Marik killed Atem."

They both wondered how they would do that.

::::::::::::

In Yokohama, Marik Ishtar glared at the telephone with clenched fists.

That man, what did he say his name was? Ah, yes, Yugi Muto – he quickly scribbled it down so that he would not forget the name.

Agitated, Marik started pacing. He could not let the truth be discovered. His father and step mother were both old and if the secret was discovered it would finish them. But he did not really give a shit about his old man and his whore, he only cared about himself; he was only forty six and did not want to spend the rest of his life in prison.

But if Yugi Muto was poking around for the truth, then something would need to be done to stop him.

What is Marik planning?

We will Find out next chapter.