"I'm sorry," Yugi apologised as her phone started ringing, interrupting the conversation between her best friend and his sister. "Please excuse me."

She slipped out into the hallway and answered the loudly ringing device. "Moshi Moshi?"

"Hi, umm… Mutou-san?" She paused as she recognised the voice of the driver and glanced at the nearest clock, mentally cussing as she realized it was already quarter to five. "Sorry to interrupt your afternoon, but…"

"No. No, thank you. Are you outside?" she asked. When the driver confirmed that he was, in fact, waiting in the car park, she waved to Katsuya and pointed to the clock. When he winced but nodded, she put her hand over the phone and called, "Sorry, it's the driver to pick me up for the meeting. I hope everything goes well, Shizuka."

"Thank you. See you Sunday, before you go home?" Katsuya's sister asked hopefully.

"Sure," Yugi promised before uncovering the phone. "I'll be right down."

"See you shortly, Mutou-san." The call ended as Yugi scooped up her satchel and headed down, passing Takahara, Kawai's fiancé, on her way to the car park.

"Mutou-chan, is Jonouchi staying?" he asked, grabbing her arm and making her stop.

"Yes, he is." The shock of suddenly being grabbed brought the Pharaoh to the surface, and she gave the man a hard look.

He sheepishly let go of her and backed up. "That's good. Shizuka's been hoping he would."

Meisa did not respond to that, just turned away and hurried for the waiting limo, which was not hard to spot. When she glanced back over her shoulder, checking that Takahara had moved on, there was a certain satisfaction to seeing the shock on his face when she opened the limo's door. She nodded to him and slipped inside, letting out a heavy sigh as she shut the door behind her.

"You alright, Mutou-san?" the driver asked, having seen the interaction.

"I'm fine. Just a friend of a friend checking in." It was not entirely true, but she was not going to go into that convoluted situation with a complete stranger.

As she leaned back into the soft interior, she felt her twin relax a little and asked, 'Are you alright, Imoto?'

'I'm fine.' Her twin sighed. 'He just startled me. Do you think he and Katsuya will get along?'

'We can only hope.' The Pharaoh internally shrugged. 'Considering Katsuya seems to be being civil with his Okaasan, there's a chance.'

'Who knows, by the time he gets to the hotel tomorrow they might be on good terms,' Yugi offered as the world went past slowly, traffic keeping the car slow. 'I just hope we're not late.'

That was not the main concern that the Spirit of the Puzzle had. She was still concerned that this was all a trap. It was a concern that was only increased by the fact they had just left their bodyguard in the hospital with his sister. It was a risky move. One that needed to be made, but still a risk.

'Kaiba wouldn't let anything happen to us.' Meisa paused at her twin's certainty as she watched the sun glinting off the river that ran through the city., 'Not before he defeats us, anyway.'

'You know, between him and…' The Spirit of the Puzzle paused, trailing off before she could mention Bakura. Her shoulders sank and she rested her head on the window, remembering the fight that had happened just last night.

Ba-Khu-Ra would not let them get killed if she was in control of herself, because she needed them, but Zorc…

Zorc would kill them in a heartbeat. Like he had tried to during the fire, and last night.

And that meant that they could no longer trust their safety around Amane and the Spirit of the Ring.

It hurt. Knowing that they had been friends. That the friendship had been warped and twisted through actions she had not even been responsible for… hell, she could not even entirely blame Bakura for her actions. She would not have wanted to die either, and once the contract had been half-sealed…

'I'm sorry, Anesan,' Yugi sent over the bond, able to sense how much it hurt her sister to know what had happened with her friend. 'But we might still be able to save her.'

'How?' Meisa's tone was sharp and she felt her Imoto flinch. 'Sorry, I just…'

'I don't think the contract's wording is as simple as 'kill the Pharaoh'.' When the living half of the soul realized she had her twin's complete attention, she added, 'If we can find out what the wording is, we might be able the use the Shadows to Challenge him as a separate entity from Ba-Khu-Ra. And if we can, there's a chance we can make him let go of her.'

'You realise if we make him separate, the Shadows might make us separate, too, to keep it fair? I don't want to lose you… I can't lose you,' Meisa demanded, harsher than intended, but Yugi could sense it was because of her fear for her twin's safety.

'If you help me practise and get stronger, I'll be okay if that happens. Then, when we try to save our friend, we can without losing anyone.'

There was a pause as the Pharaoh considered her words. 'You really want to take the risk, don't you?'

'Ba-Khu-Ra is a victim, too. Someone set her up and convinced those guards to attack her. Yes, she overreacted by trying to eliminate us and Egypt, but, Anesan… she nearly died. Look at what you did when you first woke up and the Shadows were still influencing you. How many people did you Challenge just for hurting me? Not to mention the fire at the burger place with that gunman. How much worse would it have been if someone had nearly succeeded in killing me?'

The Spirit of the Puzzle winced but could not deny her other self's point. Even now, just the thought that she might lose her twin was enough to make her want to rip the imagined threat to pieces. She had just enough self-control not to, because she knew her sister would not approve.

'I want to help her. If that means taking a risk, then I'll take it because once upon a time, she would have done the same for us.'

There was no denying that, and as the limo pulled up outside the hotel with ten minutes to spare before the meeting started, the Pharaoh sighed and headed inside, not happy with the idea of her twin risking her safety to free their friend, but also not wanting the demon to keep Ba-Khu-Ra in his thrall.

The woman at the desk waved her over, having rung Yugi much earlier in the day to let her know that the room was ready. Meisa collected the room keys, making a mental note to ensure Katsuya's was kept safe, and paused, realising she had no idea which room she was supposed to go to for the pre-event meeting.

'It's on the itinerary, Anesan.' The quiet giggle from her twin made her let out a quiet sigh as she pulled the sheet they had printed off out of her pocket and checked the room number. She followed the instructions and paused to take down her preferred illusion so only her twin's normal form was on display before she knocked on the door. It opened to reveal one of the green-haired Tenma twins.

"Ah, Mutou-chan." The slight bounce in this one's tone suggested this was Gekko, but she was not about to ask."Thank you for being on time."

"No problem." She smiled. "May I come in?"

He stepped aside to allow her in, allowing her to see who else was in the room, and was relieved to see the two Kaiba brothers. The other Tenma twin was already sat at the large multi-person table, alongside a black-haired, sour-looking young man and a blonde-haired, rough-looking guy who Oneesan honestly suspected might have been someone that Katsuya might have gotten along with, by looks alone.

"Oh good, then we can get started." The Tenma at the table huffed.

The twin by the door sighed and rolled his eyes, then paused. "Where's your friend? Jonouchi Katsuya? Is he still at the hospital?"

"Yeah, he'll be here in the morning, but his Imoto has a major operation in the morning, so he didn't want to leave her." The Spirit of the Puzzle stared at the door twin as she said it, challenging him to have a problem with it.

She was surprised that instead, each of the non-Kaiba guys in the room looked sympathetic and understanding in their own ways. Not that it was easy to see in the face of the dark-haired one.

"That's fine, we can get started then," the table Tenma huffed. "You know the Kaibas, as well as my brother Gekko and I. The other two are our brothers, Depre Scott and Richie Merced."

Yakko gestured to the other young men. Depre, the dark-haired one, nodded to her sharply, while Richie smirked.

"I run Industrial Illusions Russia, while Depre's got to put up with Europe," he informed Meisa, who nodded, not having much else to respond to that with.

She took a seat at the table, surprised how civilised this was, having seriously considered this a trap until now. "So… tomorrow? What's the exact plan?"

Depre looked approving as Yakko snorted. "Well…"

Listening to the meeting gave the Mutou twins information on pretty much everything, including that they would be sat at a table close to the head table, as would Jou. They were expected to be in the hallway outside the event room ten minutes before the photo shoot tomorrow. There would be specific people allowed to ask questions at the interview, and she was allowed to refuse to answer any questions she considered too personal.

Not only that, but also Yugi was expected to meet with a couple of Industrial Illusions' shareholders after the event had finished, meaning that she would need to attend a meeting tomorrow night, an hour after the event ended. However, in exchange she and Katsuya had been provided the chance to check out late on Sunday, so they could sleep in if the meeting ran late.

Then Kaiba pulled out a metal briefcase, like the one he had been carrying on Duelist Kingdom, and the Spirit of the Puzzle stepped back to let her twin see the new equipment. When Seto lifted it out and passed it to Yugi, she examined it carefully, noting the slightly lighter weight and better wrist cuff. She would need to tuck her sleeve underneath the main wrist piece in order to prevent it getting caught in the mechanism, but considering she no longer had to spin it like a spinning top to get it to work, nor worry about the recoil, she considered it a massive upgrade.

"I look forward to trying it out." Yugi grinned at Kaiba, excited about the duel, though she anticipated being a spectator rather than a participant. It would depend on whether Anesan wanted another shot at Kaiba right now or whether she was willing to wait until the next tournament.

He just smirked at her and put it back into its protective case. "I am going to enjoy defeating you publicly."

That was a challenge if ever she heard one, and she let out a delighted giggle. "You'll be waiting a long time then."

The amused noises from the Industrial Illusions staff reminded the pair that they were not alone, and Kaiba's amusement disappeared behind his normal mask, while Yugi looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

"Mutou-san, while you're here, there's the matter of the sponsorship," Yakko reminded her, making her look up as he slid two pieces of paper across the table to her.

Before she could even get a chance to read them, Mokuba had snatched them up, looking a little irritated as he worked his way through the contracts. "Uh, no."

"Excuse me, Kaiba-kun?" the Japan-based Tenma demanded.

"You're not putting Yugi on this contract until Kaiba Corp's lawyers have gone over it and checked you haven't slipped anything in in legalese that she won't understand." The younger Kaiba shook his head, interfering on her behalf. "If they're all clear and Yugi agrees to everything, we will have these papers back to you next week, shipped by one of our couriers directly to you."

Yugi could not help but be relieved for the intervention since she understood shipping contracts but had never seen a sponsorship one in her entire life. Yakko on the other hand looked like he was about to flip his lid.

Gekko put his hand on his brother's arm, but it was Depre who spoke, "I'm sure, considering the weird events at Duelist Kingdom, you can understand why we would rather no one look at the details of one of those. It's a priority that things stay as quiet as possible."

Yugi would never know what caused her next words; later she would blame it on the tiredness and hunger, but she blurted out, "Can we just talk plainly? I've been up since 5 am to help get the shop set up for the weekend, and I've been at the hospital all day, so I haven't eaten since like 6. I just want to get this settled and go to my room."

The amused snort that earned her from Tenma Yakko, Merced Richie, and Kaiba Mokuba was tempered by the mental facepalm she could sense from her twin and the unamused and, if she was reading it right, slightly exasperated look she was getting from Kaiba Seto.

"To speak plainly then," Depre let out an amused huff as he leaned back in his chair, "yes, we are aware of magic. It's impossible to avoid knowing when you grow up without any secrets because your father can read minds due to a magical artifact."

"One that's missing." Merced scowled, still angry about their father's weakened mental and physical state since the tournament.

"I swear I don't have it," Yugi promised. "It's something I'll need in the future, but I don't have it now and I'm not aware of its location, so I'll need to seek it out."

Depre and Merced huffed and Yakko's scowl deepened, but Gekko nodded his acknowledgement. "As discussed previously, we don't want Father's reputation dragged through the mud any more than it already has been, so we need to keep this agreement between us."

"So you're buying Yugi's silence?" Kaiba asked, holding his hand out to his brother, who handed over the paperwork so he could skim through it.

"More coming to an agreement that in exchange for her silence on certain matters, we'll provide future funding and suppress footage we have regarding her own abilities." Yakko sneered.

"Matters like the fact your Otosan tried to kill Niisama, kidnapped me, stole the souls of myself, Mutou Sugoroku, and Mazaki Anzu, and nearly shredded Yugi's soul?" Mokuba asked bluntly, making the quartet of adopted Crawfords wince. "Can we see that footage before Yugi signs anything?"

Depre and Merced turned to look at the Tenmas. Gekko looked at his brother, who pressed a few buttons on his phone and pulled up the footage from the Duel Box where the Eliminator had attacked Yugi.

Yugi's right hand went to her neck as they watched the silent footage of the brute of a man rise from the table, seize her, and wrap his hands around her throat. The Queen of Games trembled slightly as for nearly a half a minute the Yugi on the tape struggled in his grasp, trying to wrench his hands away from her throat or kick out and make him let go.

Then, as the girl's struggles started to weaken, her attacker visibly reacted like he had been struck and released his victim. The girl collapsed to the floor, coughing and gasping, trying to catch her breath as the thug screeched in pain and writhed like he was in agony as it looked like he was dragged backwards before vanishing completely, the gauntlet containing the Star Chips the only thing left of him on camera as Yugi forced herself to her feet, clearly unsteady and in pain.

"There's no evidence Yugi did anything." Kaiba's eyes had narrowed, remembering those events far too well and able to see how pale the Puzzle Bearer had gone while watching the footage. "He was the one who walked into that booth after throwing magic around. A few minutes earlier and that footage would show Yugi getting slammed against the booth by that man's magical attack. Not only that but he was an Eliminator hired by your father. In front of a witness, he openly talked about a bounty on Yugi's head and it being bigger if she was permanently dealt with. Using that footage against her is inviting a lawsuit, since an employee of Industrial Illusions assaulted a competitor on the orders of his boss. A lawsuit that I would be willing to lend Yugi Kaiba Corp's lawyers to fight. If the footage was considered anything but doctored in the first place, considering most of civilized society has no idea that magic exists."

"Do you have any other evidence?" Yugi asked, her voice shaking slightly at the returning memory of how much that duel had hurt and how she had honestly thought for a moment she was going to die. "You said you had footage from the boat."

Kaiba glanced at her with a slight frown, but when Yakko hesitated, one of his brothers scowled and turned to him.

"Well, Yakko?" Depre demanded, ill amused with the counter threat from Seto and wanting to know if his brother had been lying.

"I don't have it on me." Yakko snorted. "I wasn't expecting…"

"Brother," Gekko cut him off, disappointment clear, "your phone is connected to the computer network. Do we have that footage or not?"

The younger Tenma twin glowered at his brother before grabbing up his phone and tapping several things before showing the security footage from the boat, which showed Insector Haga cornering himself, Yugi chasing him into the corridor and gesturing like she was demanding something back, the Insect Duelist throwing Yugi's Puzzle chest at her, scattering cards which the girl scooped up and pocketed, the pair of them talking to each other, then Haga tearing a stack of cards into pieces. Yugi's face twisted in anger, just moments before Haga collapsed to the ground, writhing like he was in pain, there was no evidence that it was because of anything Yugi had done.

'He cheated, the Shadows took their toll.' Meisa's voice was firm and unforgiving as Yugi grimaced, having never been a fan of Shadow Games but understanding their necessity and still a little angry at Haga for tearing up her Jii-san's Exodia cards.

"So what you have is evidence of theft, assault, and criminal damages before Haga collapsed from the 'illness' your own company announced he had." Mokuba sounded far too much like his brother as he snarked at the quartet of brothers across the table. "Yugi never touched him, and she looks like the victim in that footage."

The silence from the adopted Crawfords at the blunt statement was deafening.

"I'm still willing to consider the deal," Yugi offered quietly, "but I want the Kaibas to go through the contracts before I do so. If you're fully aware of what your father did to me and my friends, I'm sure you can understand why."

The silence continued for a few seconds as the brothers looked at each other, Yakko receiving multiple unamused glowers. Yugi took the chance to glance at the Kaiba brothers and mouth "thank you."

Mokuba winked back, but his brother did not respond, his normal ice king façade unbreaking as Crawford's children nodded and then turned back to the three on the other side of the table.

"We would like it signed this weekend." Gekko sighed, running a hand through his hair. "But we understand that you don't have access to your lawyers until you return to Kaiba Corp."

"I will get it back to you next week." Kaiba Seto nodded. "Once my lawyers, who have confidentiality agreements keeping them from spreading around what they've read, have gone through it and it's been signed or edited for further ratification. Your offices don't close till nine, I believe."

Yakko, who looked like he had been sucking on a lemon, just nodded, aware that his brothers were going to tear him a new one when they were alone.

"If that's all, I believe this meeting is over." With that the Kaibas rose and Yugi followed their lead, grateful that they had thought to ask about the footage. "We will see you all tomorrow."

The Kaibas headed for the door. Yugi hesitated for a moment, not entirely wanting to leave on a sour note, only for Gekko to wave her off, aware they had lost that round.

"Meals are on us," Gekko offered with a tired sigh. "So get yourself something solid to eat and make sure you eat in the morning. The last thing we need is you passing out tomorrow."

"Yes, Tenma-san." She bowed and started for the door, wanting to thank the two brothers out of hearing range of these guys.

"Oh, and Mutou?" She glanced back over her shoulder to find Merced smiling ruefully at her, "Please send our best wishes to your friend and his Imoto."

"I will, thank you." Yugi smiled and half bowed back before heading out.

In the corridor, once the door was shut, Seto stared her down. "Once these contracts are sorted, we're even. Understand?"

"Of course." She nodded, sensing Meisa's agreement on that front. Not that they had ever wanted to hold something over the Kaiba brothers this long. Everything they had done at Duelist Kingdom had been to protect others, after all, not to get a boon from them. The fact that the Kaibas owed her anything was entirely their idea.

"Good." He nodded to her. "Come on, Mokuba."

With that the Kaiba brothers headed for their room. Yugi gave them a couple of minutes to get ahead, since she had to head in the same direction and had the feeling that Kaiba was done talking to her for the night. Waiting around allowed her to hear the raised voices that erupted in the suite she had just left, suggesting that the three of the four Executive Officers were not happy with the last of their group.

Yugi could not help the wince as the sounds of shouting caused her to head for her own rooms before someone stalked out of the suite and thought she was trying to eavesdrop. She was just heading into the stairwell when she heard the sounds of a door slamming behind someone.

'I guess they're still mad at each other.' Yugi sighed as she reached her floor and started searching for her room number.

'Well, Tenma Yakko did just open a massive can of worms,' the Spirit of the Puzzle huffed in reply, taking spirit form to help her look.

'I'm just glad the Kaibas are on our side now.' Yugi giggled slightly, remembering the looks on the faces of those opposite them at the table. 'They're scary when they get going.'

'Always have been.' Meisa paused when she found J-2. 'This one.'

'Thank you.' Yugi bounced over to the door and unlocked it with a grin. As she stepped within, she paused and stared around in shock. 'Umm… do we have the right room?'

She checked the key number against the door number, and when they matched up, she closed and locked the door behind her, still stunned.

The suite was huge and divided into multiple rooms. One wooden-panelled and tatami-matted room had a sofa facing a huge TV, with a set of table and chairs next to the big window overlooking the city, while another had two double beds. There was a tea room, with table and pillows already set up to one side, while the bathroom had a huge bath that, when she poked it, revealed that it could be preprogrammed to fill at a certain time and to a certain temperature, as well as having several jacuzzi settings. Not only that, but it was right next to a window which had a fenced garden balcony that she could enjoy the view of while she relaxed.

As promised by the receptionist and much to her relief, since she had no desire to head back downstairs to collect them, her and Katsuya's suitcases were at the foot of each of the beds. She got her kimono out and hung it up so any creases could drop out by morning, fished out her friend's suit bag, and did the same for that, too.

She then fired off a text message to Katsuya letting him know she was safe and that she hoped it went well for Shizuka in the morning and the Crawford kids sent their best wishes, too, before she reached for the menu.

Her plan for the rest of the evening was food first and then a long, peaceful soak because she deserved at least one quiet, restful night, and she was darn well going to get it.

She just had to decide what to eat first.

Night had long fallen as Ba-Khu-Ra stalked along the dockside warehouse roofs, having finally taken the weekend her Landlord had promised her a couple of months ago to hunt the new source of powerful Shadows that she could sense in Domino.

'Not that she had a choice in the matter.'

She ignored the snarky little voice in the back of her mind, trying to avoid thinking about the Soul Sanctuary door on the other side of the corridor that was bound shut with chains of dark magic, and the weak, uneven, drained, distressed pulse from her other self's soul.

She had not harmed the girl. The state of her light's soul was not her fault.

'Liar. You didn't protect her. You let him hurt her.'

'Shut up. Shut. Up! I can't stop him!' She snarled at the loathing-filled words, trembling physically as she tried to focus on her next leap.

'You claim to like her, to want to protect her, you pretend to be looking out for her, but you just stood aside when he tore into her for protecting her friend… I guess you really are no better than Otogi was.'

Her footing slipped midjump at the last jab, and she was dragged out of her own self-loathing by both the shock of it and the fear that struck as she realized she was not going to make the jump between roofs. She reached for the next platform, but her fingers could not get purchase and she fell.

She scrabbled for the powers of the Ring as she plummeted a hundred feet and managed to summon Souls of the Forgotten. The low-level DARK Fiend monster, made up of many ghosts but not much solid, could not catch her. They did manage to slow her descent enough that, while hitting the ground caused to her to bounce as multiple things within her cracked and snapped on impact, the fall was not terminal.

Bakura tried to move only to stop, wincing, as she felt multiple things shift in ways they were not meant to, causing pain to spike through her.

"Shit…" The half-pained gasp, half-weak chuckle that escaped her did not even echo around the night-darkened alley between warehouses. She closed her eyes and tried to reach for her deck so she could heal herself without too much effort, only to hear a male voice at the entrance of the alley.

"Bakura!?"

Her eyes snapped open at the sounds of feet pounding down the narrow corridor towards her, and within seconds Honda was in her line of vision.

"Why is it always you… when I'm injured?" she demanded before letting out a pained noise as Honda tried to help her sit up. "Stop. Just stop. I need the Emergency Provisions out of my deck."

He nodded and stopped trying to move her. As he pulled her deck out of her pocket and searched through the cards, he actually sounded worried as he asked, "What happened?"

"You should see the other guys," she lied with a weak chuckle as Honda found the card she needed and read it quickly before fishing five more magic cards out of her deck and pushing them all into her hands.

She let the five cards drop as she cast the spell in question, and as the magic started working its way through her, painfully fixing her injuries, she forced herself sitting. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." The brunette sighed, supporting her, concern seeping through him as he realized she was willingly leaning into him despite her usual distrust for physical contact.

"Why are you helping me?" the Thief Queen asked quietly, needing the leaning post as she realized that with her Landlord so drained and the demon, who was normally a source for more power than she could imagine, refusing to give her any extra power in case she used it to help her other self, the summoning and healing spell had depleted her available resources. "You have to be aware of what happened last night."

Honda hesitated. Yes. He was fully aware of Ba-Khu-Ra's assault on his friends. Or rather, the attack of the demon that owned the soul of the Spirit of the Ring. Jonouchi had made sure to give him and Anzu the heads up on the updated situation before he had headed to Tokyo with Yugi.

However, Amane had risked her safety to protect her friends, and Ba-Khu-Ra had been having a perfectly civil conversation before Yugi had set the creature off by suggesting that the Spirit of the Ring might still get free of him. The pair of them were their friends, despite Zorc's desire to murder the Queen of Games.

Yes, the Thief Queen wanted Yugi dead, too, but she had never lashed out that violently and she was willing to listen. Plus, he actually kind of liked Ba-Khu-Ra. As long as he was honest and open with her, she generally got along with him. He could do without the deal that was hanging over his head, but he had clearly managed to earn the trust of the thief and quite frankly he was kind of pleased about it.

"Because you're my friends?" he offered. "And when I happen to see you bugger up a jump that you'd normally make and plummet to the ground, I get concerned."

The Spirit of the Ring let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes, hating how tired she was, how much the healing spell hurt as it fixed her injuries and that right now all she wanted to was to lean on Honda and recover her strength. "Why are you even here?"

"My Otosan runs a shipping company. You fell off his roof." The former thug huffed good naturedly. "I was on my way home to make dinner."

"You realise if I die, you're free from our deal, right?" she asked him, eyes opening to watch his expression.

The grimace that earned her surprised the Thief Queen. "I mean, I just helped you out, so can't we call that even?"

"Not a chance." She forced herself to her feet as the worst of the injuries faded away. "I saved your soul: you would have been screwed without me, whereas I could have healed myself without you. It would just have taken me longer."

"What are you even going to get me to do anyway? You promised me you wouldn't make me hurt my friends, but you've not asked me to spy for you, so what do you want from me?" Honda asked as he followed her up, watching her carefully.

"There are many things I could get you to do that wouldn't hurt your friends directly. If I needed one distracted, or lured into a trap or restrained, you're the perfect pawn," Ba-Khu-Ra answered, leaning against the nearest wall, "or there could be a time when I do need you to spy, but right now isn't it. Honestly? I don't know what I need you to do yet, but I'll know when it's time."

The former thug grimaced slightly. "Thanks for the honesty."

The Thief Queen shrugged. "Don't expect it too often."

"I won't." Honda huffed, pausing for a moment before deciding to build a little more trust and take a risk. "How much do you know about what happened after you left Yugi's place?"

"Nothing. No one's contacted us and Se…Landlord's…"

When she trailed off, Honda's expression turned concerned. "What's wrong with the other Bakura?"

Ba-Khu-Ra opened her mouth, closed it again, and considered how much she really wanted to tell one of the Pharaoh's courtiers. Checking her own mind confirmed that Amane's door was still sealed and the demon was too busy absorbing all of the light it had ripped from her sister to wake up and pay attention to what she was doing right now. After all it did not matter what she did or what she wanted. She belonged to him, he had proved that last night.

"She took a risk by protecting the others. She paid the price." The Spirit of the Ring looked at the floor, anger tainting her tone. "And I couldn't help her. She's alive, but…"

"She's badly hurt." Honda winced, understanding how severely just from Bakura's tone and posture alone.

"When Zorc wants to do something… I can't stop him." There was a heartbeat of silence, then she shook her head and scowled at Honda, hands balling into fists and Shadows rising. "I hate this. I hate that I care. I hate that I can't stop him when..."

She let out a frustrated snarl. "I never used to give a damn that he owned my soul. That if he needed me to do something, or not do something, he could control me. It didn't matter because I was getting what I wanted. I was getting my people free from the Shadows and getting revenge on the person who betrayed all of us! And now everything's wrong, and I..."

Her hands unclenched and she looked down the alley, away from the other teen, trying to suppress the wetness she could feel building in her eyes. "I shouldn't care. I CAN'T care. Because the more I care, the more he has to use against me and the more it will hurt when I have to bring everything crashing down. I have to stop caring. I have to. Because if I care, I won't be able to do what needs to be done."

The words were firm, but the tone very clearly stated she was not happy about it.

"I won't say I entirely understand. I know I can't begin to understand what you've been through." Honda spoke honestly and plainly, not sugar-coating it as he took the risk of putting his hands on her shoulders. "Or how much this hurts, or what it was like for you growing up after your family was ripped away from you to make the items…"

"How do you know about that?!" Her gaze snapped to the former thug, shock clear in her features as she backed away from him.

"I worked it out back on Duelist Kingdom," the brunette admitted slowly, "when you snapped at Kaiba when he asked how they were made. You don't mess with those who are fighting for their families, and the anger was far too raw for it not to be a personal subject."

"Huh… you're not an idiot, are you?" He did not have to answer that as Ba-Khu-Ra tilted her head, considering him. "You've not told the Pharaoh."

It was a statement rather than a question, but Honda shook his head. "No point until I knew whether I was right or not. Besides, how would it help? She can't fix it, and from what you've said before, I worked out that she wasn't responsible for it."

"No, but her family were." Bakura's shoulders sank. "The Pharaoh, her father, not her, claimed to be trying to settle disputes diplomatically, and the entire time his armies were marching on the borders. That's what started the war that…"

She swallowed hard. "My home? My city? Kul Elna? We were a city of thieves through necessity, and we were making allies with other countries. Then the Hittites invaded Egypt and their armies were much bigger than those of the Pharaoh. The royal army got pushed back to the capital, and the Pharaoh decided that they were going to lose if they didn't do something extreme."

"So they made the items." Honda gulped, beginning to see where this was going.

"My city was tortured, massacred, and worse before their blood was mixed into the gold used, and their souls were tributes to the Shadows to fuel the Items. Then the bodies were piled into the houses and the city was burned to the ground." Bakura watched the other teen's reaction carefully, noting the paling of his skin and the disgust and anger on behalf of her people.

"Without their names or bodies, the ONLY way I can get the souls of my family and my people out of the Shadows and into the afterlife is to take the seven Millennium Items for my own and find out the Pharaoh's name. I can then use the name to open the seal and combine it with the Items to open the Gates to the Afterlife." The Spirit of the Ring continued, "the Pharaoh promised me, before she sealed everything away, that she would help me get justice for them, get them free and speak for them when she moved on to the afterlife so they would be able to move on without judgement, but…"

"You were both betrayed," Honda breathed, understanding just why Bakura had gone so far.

"We weren't sure if freeing the souls would weaken the items, so when her men tried to kill me, I believed the Pharaoh had decided that she no longer needed me around and that it was too much of a risk to Egypt's safety to allow my people the afterlife they deserved." The Thief Queen nodded. "And the demon, the one that feeds on the fear and anger of humanity, the one that had been following me since I had to watch my city get obliterated, offered me a chance to live and get what the Pharaoh was taking away."

"You sold your soul to Zorc for them." Honda's heart felt like it was twisting as sympathy and pain for the girl in front of him struck hard. "For your family and your people."

"And revenge. I won't deny there was a healthy amount of desire for revenge." Ba-Khu-Ra snorted. Then she paused, her lips twisting into a scowl. "At least I thought I sold my soul. Yugi asked me a question that could change everything… if what Mahad said was true."

"And if it is? What then?"

"If the Necklace proves his words were true, then I need to work out how to untangle myself from Zorc without endangering Sen, and that's not going to be an easy task. We've been bound together in this Ring for so long I don't even know where I end and he starts anymore. And he proved last night, contract or no contract, I don't match up to his power."

"Sen?" Honda asked, concern striking as Ba-Khu-Ra rubbed her right arm and shuddered.

"I meant Landlord." The bite in the Thief Queen's tone told Honda he was walking a very thin line and not to push the subject any further, though he made a note to research the word while she was not looking.

"Zorc said that if he kills Yugi, the seal will break." The former thug tried to change the subject. "Won't your people be freed then? Not that I want Yugi dead. I'm just trying to understand where you stand in all of this, if it isn't true."

"They would be free from the Shadows, yes. But they wouldn't be free to move on." Ba-Khu-Ra shook her head, glad to jump topics. "I need that name to open the gates to the next life, or they'll be trapped on this plane of existence. Which, by the way, would be ruled by Zorc and the nastier things that sleep in the Shadows if your friend gets murdered. It's why I'm not planning to kill her till after I have what I want. The world can burn as far as I'm concerned after that."

Where once such a statement would have been filled with venom, Honda could hear that the Thief Queen was no longer sure she believed herself on the matter. However, he knew that if he pushed, she would deny that she wanted anything but total destruction, so instead he tried, "You know, if you told Yugi what you needed, she'd help, right?"`

"Unlikely. To fulfil her original pledge the Spirit of the Puzzle would have to leave at the very best. At worst, you'd lose both of them." The Spirit of the Ring huffed. "No. And you're not going to tell anyone."

The former thug nearly asked why. Then it hit him. Nothing could be changed by telling the others. At least not yet. The others would have to know before it all came to a head so it was not a shock when it came out mid-Shadow Game or something, but for now it was information they did not need. Not on top of everything else they had recently discovered.

"Fine, I'll keep it secret," he promised, "for now. For you."

Surprise and gratitude swept across Ba-Khu-Ra's features momentarily, then she sighed and glanced in the direction she had been going. "Damnit, I don't have the energy now…"

"For what?" Honda pushed.

"I was told about there being another Millennium Item in town, and since the Pharaoh's in Tokyo right now, I've got free rein to hunt." The Thief Queen huffed. "Except…"

She gestured to the roof she had fallen off. "I'm not up to chasing them now."

"I might have information that will help," Honda offered, deciding that if he could get Ba-Khu-Ra to rest, there was a chance Amane could recover from whatever the demon had done to her. "Part of our agreement about you finding that missing Puzzle piece was us telling you if there was a threat to Yugi so you can deal with it, right?"

"Go on." The Spirit of the Ring nodded, pleased with Honda for giving her a legitimate reason she could give the Runt for breaking her promise not to attack the Ishtars without reason.

"I don't know where the cow who threatened Yugi is hiding," the former thug informed the Thief Queen, "but I know how to find her."

"Do tell."

"Namu? The kid who's worked at the shop since the fire? The one that came to the hospital with us that one time?" the brunette asked, making sure she knew who he meant. When she nodded, he continued, "His name is actually Ishtar Marik. He's Ishtar's Otouto. You can probably track her using him, the next time he comes to work at the shop."

"Good to know…"