Summary, Warnings, and Disclaimer: for all of the above, refer back to the first chapter. If there are any changes in the same I will write them in this space.

It was a nice, quiet, normal day for most of the inhabitants of Domino City. Mind you, normal is relative, Duo Maxwell reflected. Normal could mean nine to five in an office building, getting good grades in school, or, to his roommate, being an antisocial bastard who pointed his gun at your head whenever you tried to say hello.

'Try talking to him without being annoying. I'm all for annoying people, but not if it gets my hikari shot.'

Duo grinned. Or it could mean having a mental conversation with the overprotective, slightly insane dark half of your soul.

'Don't forget homicidal,' he was quickly corrected.

'I wasn't going to, Shin.'

'Good.'

There was silence.

'I'm bored. Can we go kill someone? It's been three weeks since the last time. I'm starting to go into withdrawal.'

'No, Shin. We're supposed to be lying low right now, remember? Unless, of course, you want Heero to blow our brains out for breaking cover.'

'Ummm...no. That would be bad.'

Duo sighed.

'Could we at least go out for a bit? Please? I'm sick of this house.'

Duo thought about it for a second and found he had to agree. He turned his attention back to the world around him, just in time to see Heero watching him with a strange look on his face. It was almost...but before he could really study his roommate's expression, Duo was within his soul room, his yami in control of their body.

Sighing once again, he summoned a dog-eared book and lay down on his bed to read, not letting himself think about how Heero's expression seemed almost like...concern.

Heero frowned, glaring at the computer screen. Something was...off. Nothing seriously so, or he would have had his gun out and be shooting by now, but enough that he couldn't concentrate on his work. And for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what was wrong.

From behind him there came the sound of a soft exhalation. There, that was it. Since entering the room and interrupting his work with the habitual "What's up, Hee-chan?" and receiving the expected death threat in reply, not once had the braided baka spoken.

Wondering if the idiot had fallen asleep, Heero turned, only to be greeted with the sight of Duo sitting cross-legged on his bed, staring out the window as if in a trance. No, not out the window. That at least would have made sense. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the wall just beside it. He had an odd look on his face, one that both Heero and Wufei would have sworn on their Gundams would never grace his features: one of near introspection, as though he were gazing at his soul.

Only his training kept Heero from snorting out loud at that thought. Still...if something was wrong with his erstwhile partner...

It was at that moment that Duo seemed to come back to himself, visibly shaking off whatever had affected him. His usual grin firmly in place, he turned to Heero. "Hey, Hee-chan, ya mind if I go out for a bit? School starts tomorrow, an' I want to enjoy my freedom while I can."

A grunt and a short nod later, he was out the door. Heero had just turned back to his laptop when a thought occurred to him. Strange. His eyes almost looked red...

The mall was absolutely packed, with the normal Sunday crowd combined with students grabbing last-minute supplies for the coming year.

Shinigami wandered among them, unnoticed for the most part. Those few that truly noticed him looked into his crimson eyes and quickly looked elsewhere, resolving to forget about the distrubing boy.

He was just as glad for their disregard. Something about this place, this city Duo and his fellow pilots had chosen as their latest hiding place, was strangely familiar, as if a part of him had been here before. And considering the fact he wasn't technically a real person, that disturbed him far more than he would ever admit.

Putting aside his worries for the moment, Shin looked around the mall and sighed blissfully. So much to steal, so little time, he thought. Mr. Perfect Soldier had set all three of them up with credit cards, bought and paid for by OZ after a little computer magic, of course, but it wouldn't do to go and let his 'borrowing' skills get rusty.

With this thought in mind, he moved towards the nearest store.

Bakura growled as he walked through the mall, tugged forward by Ryou's hand in his own. As if it wasn't bad enough, being whined out of the house and having that Ra-bedamned pharaoh laugh at him, but now he had to endure being dragged through the mall like a spoiled little brat!

But even worse, for worse in Bakura's eyes, Ryou had made him leave his knives at home.

'Come on, Yami, this is the first time you've left the house in years,' Bakura mimicked, remembering their argument. 'You are not going out there with a fucking arsenal!'

'Quit brooding, Yami dear. You know perfectly well that if I'd let you out of the house with weapons someone would be dead before nightfall.'

'What are you talking about? I haven't killed anyone in over a decade.'

'Exactly. I'd rather like to keep that record.'

About to roll his eyes, Bakura paused as he felt something move against his chest. Looking down, he watched, stunned, as one of the miniature blades dangling from the Ring quivered, then rose to point into the horde of shoppers.

Feeling his other self come to a halt, Ryou turned and let his jaw drop as he saw what Bakura was watching.

'Did... did Yugi or Isis say anything about leaving the mansion today?'

'No, they didn't. And besides, the Ring's so used to the Puzzle and the Tauk that it wouldn't react to them. This...this is a different Item.'

Even as they watched, the tiny dagger fell, hanging limply from the Ring as though it had never moved. The unknown Item had left their vicinity.

The two shared a long look, before turning and leaving the crowded mall.

Shin was practically skipping as he returned to the safehouse he and Duo were sharing with the other two pilots. The security in this town was past awful, it was pathetic!

'Pathetic? How so?' Duo asked from his soul room, finally tuning back to the outside world.

Shin told him.

'Really. How...interesting. And fun.'

Snickering in agreement, Shin switched back, and it was Duo who walked inside.

Chapter Edited 8/28/07. If you find any further spelling/grammar errors or inconsistencies, please contact the author.

Original A/N: The reason Bakura seems mellower and Ryou is swearing is because they've been reunited for several centuries at this point, rubbing off on each other the entire time.

Wow. I just realized this is the longest chapter I've ever written. (Not anymore, thankfully.)

Come on, can't you hear the little purple button calling to you?