Chapter 11: Akari no Tsurai Shiren

Akari's Painful Trial

"Akari wake up…it's time to get up…" slowly Akari yawned as she stretched her arms outward, not even noticing that she'd accidentally punched Joey in the nose and barely missed hitting Yugi as he hastily ducked out of the way. Then she smiled as she opened her eyes and smiled as she saw Yugi & Kaiba watching her warily.

"Oh, hi!" she said cheerfully as she started gathering her things together. "Did I miss anything?"

"Oh, nothing really…" Yugi said innocently as he ignored Joey's cursing behind him. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Actually, I'm feeling a lot better than before," Akari lied as she crossed her fingers and prayed Yugi would believe her. "thanks for asking."

Yet as they made their way to the luggage pickup terminal, Yugi couldn't help but notice that Akari was sweating like crazy and it was 60 F in the airport. And from time to time she would reach back and gently scratch her shoulders as if there were an invisible rash hidden under her skin. As they reached their designated terminal, Akari grunted as she wrapped her arms in front of her stomach and sank down against one of the support columns.

"Akari are you sure you're all right?" Yami asked as he materialized beside her and gently placed his hand on her shoulder.

"I feel terrible…I don't what's happening to me…" Akari whispered softly as she let her head fall back against the column.

"Akari you're burning up!" Yami exclaimed as he felt her forehead. "We must get you to the hotel immediately."

"Please don't tell Yugi…" Akari whispered as he slowly got up, turned around and headed toward the others. "This is the last thing he needs to worry about right now."

"Don't worry, I won't tell him until it's absolutely necessary." Yami said as he continued walking towards the others.

"Hey look at dis' guys," Joey called as he stood on top of the luggage on the moving conveyor belt, "I'm luggage surfing!"

"Man this is gonna' be a looooooonnnnngg vacation…" Tristan muttered as he went to help Duke pull Joey down before airport security noticed and decided to throw them out.

"I'm so glad the ground's stopped moving…" Akari murmured softly as she walked into her room and fell face forward on her bed. "After this ordeal is over, I'm never getting in a car with Joey again. My shoulders hurt so bad…I wish I knew what was wrong with me."

Meanwhile as Yugi arrive in his room that he was sharing with Joey & Tristan, he started unpacking his clothes for the night as Yami did his best to explain the situation.

"It's strange, but I've never sensed such an unstable aura…" Yami said as he slowly walked back and forth across the room. "at least when we were back in the hospital her energy remained the same. But now I don't what to expect…it's bad enough that she has a fever, but when we left the airport I noticed bloodstains on the post she leaned against."

"Bloodstains?" Yugi asked, somewhat confused.

"There were two bloodstains right where her shoulders had been…" Yami explained as he remembered how strangely Akari was breathing and suddenly it hit him. "Yugi you must go to Akari and help her, and hurry! If you're too late she could die!"

As Akari lay on her bed, she could feel her nausea returning with twice the force it had before and she covered her mouth with her hand as she quickly ran to the bathroom. And as she started throwing up, to her horror she realized it was a light blue mist and the more she threw up, the more it spilled over the edge and filled the room.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME!" she cried as she laid her head against the cool porcelain seat and began sobbing.

Yugi ran down the hallway as fast as he could when he heard her distressed cry for help. Turning to his right, he franticly shook the doorknob to her room as he silently prayed it was unlocked. Much to his dismay it was still locked and he could hear Yami's words echoing in his head as he tried to think of a way to open the door. Then as if by instinct, he stretched his hand forth and black energy surrounded the doorknob as it disintegrated and fell to the ground.

"AKARI DON'T WORRY I'M HERE!" Yugi called as he backed up, slammed his body against the door, and almost fell on the floor. Then he saw the smoke coming out of the bathroom and ran inside.

"Yugi…is that you?" Akari asked softly as she struggled to open her eyes.

"It's all right Akari, I'm here." Yugi said gently as he put his hand on her shoulder than immediately pulled it back as he felt something warm and sticky. It was blood, and as he looked at her back he realized with great shock that there were two large bloodstains on her back roughly the size of dinner plates. "What happened to your shoulders?" he asked as he noticed her shoulders also had swollen bumps that looked ready to burst open at any minute.

"I don't know…" Akari said painfully as she continued her heavily labored breathing. "they started hurting when we were on the plane. Bakura warned me that something like this would happen, but I never thought it would get this bad."

"You saw Bakura?" Yugi asked bewildered as he slowly wrapped his arm around her back, and slowly helped her stand up as they made their way to her bed.

"Yes, he said the only reason I could see him is because I was so close to death that somehow I ended up in his world. It was so strange," Akari said softly as they continued walking towards her bed and she closed her eyes and smiled as she remembered his face again. "seeing him like that. Yet I felt at peace when I looked into his eyes, and he wanted me to give you this message, 'Yugi what happened to me was not your fault…it was destined to happen and not even Atemu himself could have prevented it…I know how badly you feel about it and I just wanted you to know that I forgive you, both of you.'"

"Bakura really said that?" Yugi asked as they reached her bed and Yugi helped her lay down on her stomach.

"Yes he said that…he also gave me this ornament for my hair as a symbol of his love and he told me to think of him whenever I wore it and somehow everything would be all right." Akari said as she held out the butterfly hairpin out to Yugi. "Please put it in for me."

As Yugi slowly pulled her hair up and secured it with the hairpin, he could feel Akari gently shifting underneath him as she tried to move her shoulders away from him. It's…it's time…Yugi…I don't know what's going to happen, but I want you to stay with me.

"Akari, I would never leave you to face something like this alone and I'd do the same for Tea." Yugi said as he gently took a hold of her hand and squeezed it in support.

Then suddenly without warning, Akari's entire body stiffened as the pain in her back intensified until she couldn't stand it any longer and screamed as loud as she could into her pillow then broke down sobbing. As Akari continued to sob quietly, there was a soft flash of golden light as a stranger wearing soft beige colored robes appeared behind her and began speaking softly, "Nemuru yoku soshite yasumu taisetsu na kodomo no hikari." Then she gently stroked Akari's back as Akari relaxed and fell silent.

"What'd you do to her?" Yugi asked softly as he looked at the stranger with pleading eyes.

"Do not be afraid Yugi Motou, your friend is all right. I only put her to sleep to ease her pain…poor Akari, she's been through so much…" the hooded figure said gently as she turned to face Yugi for a moment then turned back to Akari.

"How'd you know my name? Who are you?" Yugi asked in shock as the hooded figure slowly turned to face him.

"A friend…" the figure replied softly as she reached up and pulled the hood down, revealing the face of a young woman with pale yellow skin framed with a winged headdress. "My name is Halakti and I am the high priestess of the 'Guardians of Peace and Order', as part of my job I look after all the guardians that come to our temple. I have been around for over 5,000 years and I've seen this only a few other times. We call it the angel metamorphosis and it is very common for the guardian to become very sleepy and complain of shoulder pain. But something has put a stop to Akari's metamorphosis and I think they may be stuck."

"What do you mean 'they'?" Yugi asked, slightly confused as Halakti turned back towards Akari and spoke again.

"Observe, and do not be frightened…all will soon become clear…" Halakti said gently as she reached into her robes, pulled out a golden hilted dagger, and methodically drew the blade across the highest part of the two protruding bumps on Akari's back. Then slowly a large feather finally poked through where the slit had been made. Yugi watched in fascination as a long pale blue wing slowly extended from the slit in Akari's back and the second one soon followed.

"They're beautiful…" Yugi said softly as he stared at Akari's wings until something occurred to him. "But what does this mean?"

"It means that Akari is now strong enough to use her powers to their full extent without putting her life in mortal danger." Halakti said as she began healing the gashes surrounding Akari's wings.

"How do you know so much about Akari?" Yugi asked after a moment's hesitation.

"I wish I could tell you, but I can't…" Halakti said sadly as she looked into Yugi's eyes, "All I can tell you for now is that I've known Akari since she was very small. But I promise you, one day the truth about her past will finally be revealed…but not yet…not yet…" and as she finished speaking, Halakti disappeared leaving Yugi to ponder everything she had said.