Ack! (runs away from people with pitchforks) Sorry about the cliffhanger last chapter!

Oh, and 'cuz I forgot to say it when I posted seventeen the other day--HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Sibling Rivalry

Yami POV

Pain lanced through my bad wrist, but I barely noticed—I was too busy throttling the tomb robber to even care. What a horrible joke—what a vile sense of humor he had!

"Yami, what're you doing?" Yuugi exclaimed.

"I'm giving him his due pain," I replied calmly, continuing to squeeze Bakura's throat. He clawed at my hands, but I held firm.

"But why?"

"It's the amulet," I said grimly. "The hieroglyphs explain the whole spell—and every spell contains traces of its caster." I glared at Bakura. "In this case, the old symbol for a tomb robber."

"I swear—it wasn't me—I don't know—"

"Yeah, right!" I snarled.

Yuugi grabbed my arm. "Let him go, Yami! Just let him go—and tell us what the curse is!"

I grimaced at Bakura, before pulling away, letting him slump to the ground. I held up the amulet, which I had previously wrapped around my left hand. "He must've done it last night—created it, slipped it into Miriku's pocket to establish the magic-bond, then filched it and left it on the counter."

Sam held out her arms, backing away. There was a pained expression on her face. "I'm getting some major bad karma from that thing, man!"

Malik glanced at me. Magic-sensor, he mouthed.

I raised my eyebrows. As the name implied, magic-sensors could distinguish magic cast with benevolent intent from that cast with malevolent, and they could also trace the caster of a spell. Malik himself was a magic-sensor—if a very rudimentary one.

I nodded at Sam. "You should be—it's cursed. Whoever's name is on this amulet…if they're not constantly wearing it, they become fatally sick."

Ryou gulped. "Fatally?"

Malik looked closely at the amulet. "That's what it says," he confirmed grimly. "And it's no hoax, either—there's a strong residue of Shadow Magic on this thing."

Jonouchi's eyes widened. "But—dat means she could be dyin' right now!"

I froze. That thought hadn't even crossed my mind. "Shit!" I muttered, running flat-out for Miriku's room. The others followed—Bakura helped along by Sam. Unheeding of the fact that it might disturb her sleep, I slammed open the door and ran in.

Miriku had gotten even paler in the time I'd been gone. And I realized for the first time that her breathing was becoming shallow and labored—more so with each passing second.

"Damn tomb robber and his damn pranks!" I breathed, slipping the amulet around her neck.

I sighed with relief as Miriku's breathing began to return to normal. "Anyone feel like killing the tomb robber for me?"

"I do!" said a chorus of four or five voices from behind me.

I rolled my eyes. "That was a rhetorical question."

Bakura smirked. "Aww, so you do care!"

I glared at him. "Keep dreaming," I said flatly.

Miriku groaned a little, and I turned back to the bed. "Miriku!"

Miriku opened her eyes—and immediately closed them. "Ugh…woozy much…someone help me up, please…"

I helped her sit up. "Are you all right, Miriku? How do you feel?"

She pressed a hand against her forehead. "Feel?" she groaned. "I feel like I just got poleaxed with a telephone pole, is how I feel."

I grinned with relief. "She's fine."

Miriku blinked at me. "Why wouldn't I be?" She glanced down at her chest. "And what the heck is this thing?"

I sighed. "It's a cursed amulet that Bakura was kind enough to make for you."

"Ra damn it, pharaoh, I didn't—"

"THEN WHY IN THE SEVEN HELLS DOES IT HAVE THE MARK OF A TOMB ROBBER ON IT!"

Bakura shrank away. "I don't know, all right! I DON'T KNOW! Whoever the hell did it, it wasn't me!"

Miriku glared at him. "Somehow, I doubt that."

A thoughtful look crossed Sam's face. "Somehow," she said slowly, "I don't…"

Sonja looked at her, startled. "Why not?"

Sam shrugged. "I dunno. There's just this feeling—like how I could feel that amulet had bad karma, you know? I can feel who the stuff traces back to—and it's not Bakura."

Malik was right—she must be a magic-senser. I growled a little. "Well, who does it trace back to?"

A look of intense concentration crossed Sam's face—the color drained from her face. "But—man, that's impossible!" She banged her palm on the side of her head. "This thing must be broken!"

Mikey put a hand on her shoulder. "Who does it trace back to, Sam?" she asked gently.

Sam looked at her, trembling. "…Me…"

All of us stared at her. "But you can't use Shadow Magic!" Yuugi exclaimed.

Malik looked hard at Sam. "Or…can you?"

Sam slowly shook her head. "I don't know, man…I don't know…"

"Oh, that's real helpful, thanks," Kaiba said sarcastically.

Terra elbowed him. "Shut up!" she hissed. "You're not making this any better!"

Miriku looked around. "We can deal with pointing fingers later. Right now, though, could someone please get me some aspirin or something?"

I sighed. "Sure—I'll do it. Everyone else—out."

John frowned as everyone else exited the room. "But—"

"Out!"

He made a face at me, and left.

Miriku grinned a little at me. "Thanks—they were starting to get on my nerves."

I grinned a little. "I thought as much. I'll be back in a minute."

As I left the room, my mind was racing. How could Sam—bright, happy, hippie Sam—cast a curse with Shadow Magic? It was impossible—and yet, it had happened!

Something fishy was going on here. And I was determined to find out what.

I grabbed the aspirin and a bottle of water, and returned to Miriku's room. She was staring off into space, absently fingering the amulet.

"I still can't believe it," she said quietly as I approached. "How could it have been Sam?"

I shrugged, passing her the aspirin and water. "Maybe someone was controlling her mind."

She shook her head, proceeding to gulp down to tablets of aspirin and a swallow of water. "Doubt it. You or Yuugi would never do something like that, the Ring doesn't do mind-control, and Malik's on our side."

"You've got a point," I admitted. "There's only one alternative I can think of—but the probability is low enough to be nonexistent."

"What, a former life in ancient Egypt?"

"You got it."

Miriku grinned a little. "Now that would be pretty awkward. How would a sprit from one world recognize a spirit from another world, I wonder?"

I shrugged. "Maybe the ones in the first world used to be in the second, or vice versa."

"Hmm…hey, that's not a bad theory!" Miriku's grin widened. "See, this is why I like hanging out with you. You give so much food for thought, and in so few words!"

I felt myself blushing. "I…uh…thanks?"

Miriku laughed. "That was a compliment, you know!" She yawned. "Ugh…I feel like going to sleep again."

"Don't fall into another coma," I said sternly.

"…I was in a coma?"

"No." I ducked out of the room, laughing, as Miriku threw a pillow at me.

Heading back out into the living room, I immediately noticed that everyone was gathered around the couch. "What's going on over here?" I asked sharply.

Mikey shrugged. Worry was etched across her face. "It's Sam—she's been like this for almost a minute straight!" I elbowed my way between Terra and Kaiba to get a good look—and what I saw completely shocked me.

Sam was sitting on the couch, holding her head, muttering wildly to herself. Her hair kept changing from its normal wispy blond to a fuller, dirty-blond streaked with icy blue. Her eyes flickered from blue-green to slitted eyes that were a sharp blue with hints of steely silver.

I noticed Bakura looking hard at me, and looked back. What? I mouthed, still a little ticked at him.

He shook his head a little—and the word he mouth sent me into shock.

Derama.

I stared at him, then at Sam. This was not going to end well, for Derama was the tomb robber's friend and personal guardian, and she absolutely hated my guts.

Suddenly, the appearances stopped changing. The girl with dirty-blond hair and blue eyes sat there on the couch for a minute, black cat ears drooping down, black tail switching slowly back and forth off the edge of the couch.

Derama smiled a feral smile at me. "Hello, pharaoh—long time no see." And she sprang, hidden daggers held in each hand.

There was the sound of a door slamming in the hall, and Miriku ran into the room.

But—it wasn't Miriku.

Her hair was long, reaching her waist—but held back in a scrunchie. Her slitted eyes were a bright silvery-blue. And, the most distinguishing feature of all—the pure, snowy white ears and tail.

"DERAMA!" she shouted, yanking the other spirit out of the air by the ankles. "LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Derama bounced nimbly to her feet. "Why, hello, Kimiru. I thought you were dead."

Kimiru's fists clenched. "Allow me to remind you, dear sister," she spat, "that I am not that easy to be done away with."

"And you're still talking in formalities, palace-brat!"

"Robber's-brat! You've long forgotten your sense of honor!"

Derama bowed mockingly. "Why, thank you—I've learned to honor no one but myself and Bakura here."

Bakura grinned a little at her. "Good girl."

Terra stared between Derama and Kimiru. "Whoa—rewind a second. You two are sisters?"

"Twins, actually—and ones who aren't on very good terms," I confirmed grimly.

Derama growled a little. "I can't believe that amulet didn't work."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "Well, if you were intending to get me strangled, then yes, it did work!"

Derama looked at him, startled. "It did? It was supposed to kill off Kimiru…"

"But instead nearly killed someone who had no notion of what was going on—an innocent!" Kimiru exclaimed.

Derama shrugged. "Eh. If it means getting rid of you, I don't care!"

Mikey stared at Derama. "You'd kill your own sister?"

Derama shrugged again. "Look, girl—I don't like her. Bakura doesn't like her. Therefore, she goes. You just stay out of the way, before you get hurt."

Sonja stepped in front of Kimiru. "No one's killing anyone. Learn to live with each other for now, or find somewhere else to be." One by one, the others stepped in front of Kimiru, too.

I noticed Kimiru relax with relief—and that startled me. Why would she be relieved that she didn't have to fight Derama?

Derama cast them all another feral grin. "I see what you're doing, Kimiru. Well, unlike you—I have no remorse for killing people who get in my way!" And she ran for the tight protective circle around Kimiru and me.

That is, she tried.

She suddenly slowed, and clutched at her head. Her face contorted in pain, as she struggled against herself. "Go away, you friggin hippie!" she screamed at the air.

There was a flicker of black light—and Sam was standing there, blinking.

"I'm so sorry, man," she whispered. "I didn't know that…witch…was in there!"

Marik put a hand on her shoulder. "It's all right," she murmured.

Kimiru sighed remorsefully. "I should go, for now—I'm sure you would like to talk to Miriku, and I know for a fact she is wondering what is going on." There was another flicker, this time of white light—

And Miriku sat down hard on the floor, shaking her head.

"All right, what the hell is happening around here?"

John sighed, helping her back to her feet. "Well, you see…"

Uh...yeah.

Special note to Bakura-N-Me: Can you please restrain her (you know who I'm talking about) from killing me (you probablyknow why)? Please? Thanks!

Review, please! Heart shaped cookies with pink icing and red/white sprinkles for everyone! YAAAY!