Uh...okay, I'm glad Bakura-N-Me hasn't reviewed yet, or she-knows-who would have killed me by now. Hopefully, she'll have had time to cool down...

A New Twist

Miriku POV

What John was telling me was far-fetched enough that I doubt even I would have believed it—if it hadn't been for the fact that I had been seeing and hearing almost exactly what Kimiru was seeing and hearing. Almost being the key word there, because I had been in too much shock to really process anything.

I walked over to Sam, who was sitting on the couch and staring at her feet. "I'm bad," she was murmuring. Her eyes were wide. "I need an exorcism, man; I need to get this thing away—I'm gonna be a major negative influence…"

I tapped her on the shoulder. "What up, hippie?"

Sam jumped a little, and looked at me. "M-Miriku…"

I grinned, vaulting over the back of the couch and landing with a bounce next to her. "Why the long face, 'dude'?"

Sam gave her head a little shake. "H-How am I supposed to do my job?" she asked quietly. The question was directed to no one in particular. "How'm I going to protect nature and humanity, if I'm possessed by some crazy spirit that'll kill anyone and everyone? It's impossible, man!"

"Who said it's your job?" I asked exasperatedly.

Sam blinked. "Hunh?"

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, Sammy. Wake up and smell the coffee. There are government agencies working to 'protect nature and humanity'—they do that so normal people like us can concentrate on the stuff we need to do."

"Since when are we normal?" Mikey asked dryly, sitting down on the other side of Sam. "I heard what you guys were saying, and—well, Sam, she has a point. There's nothing more important right now than learning how to interact with—and maybe even control—Derama."

Marik, who had also stopped to listen in on our conversation, made a face. "I'm just jealous that you guys get spirits! No pharaoh is complete without her own spirit helper!"

Yami sweatdropped. "…Riiiight…"

Sonja looked around. "Hey, where did Damien go?"

I jumped to my feet. "I'll go get him—he's in the rec room." I trotted over to the hall, down towards the door—and paused outside the guest room, listening.

"I am so high, I can hear heaven…
I am so high, I can hear heaven…
Oh but heaven, no heaven,
Don't hear me…

And they say that a hero can save us,
I'm not gonna stand here and wait—
I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles,
Watch as we all fly away…

Someone told me that love would all save us,
But how can that be?
Look what love gave us—
A world full of killing, and blood-spilling, that world never came…

And they say that a hero can save us,
I'm not gonna stand here and wait—
I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles,
Watch as we all fly away…

Now that the world isn't ending,
It's love that I'm sending to you…
It isn't the love of a hero,
And that's why I fear it won't do…

And they say that a hero can save us,
I'm not gonna stand here and wait—
I'll hold on to the wings of the eagles,
Watch as we all fly away…


And they're watching us (Watching us)
They're watching us (watching us) as we all fly away…
And they're watching us (Watching us)
They're watching us (watching us) as we all fly away…
And they're watching us (Watching us)
They're watching us (watching us) as we all fly away…"

I grinned a little, pushing open the door. "You have a nice voice, you know that?"

Damien sat up, startled, and blushed. He'd been lying spread-eagle on the bed, eyes half-closed, singing. "I…uh…thanks?"

I grinned. "That's the second time someone's said that to me within half an hour." I walked over to the bed. "What song was it?"

"One called 'Hero', by a guy named Chad Kroeger."

"And why are you singing it?"

"Uh…because I wanted to…?"

I smirked. "Right. Now, feel like telling me why you're really singing it?"

Damien sighed. "It's just…if I were ever to meet…A-Anzu…I would sing that for her." He said this last part very fast, blushing hard.

"What, are you embarrassed about having an anime crush?"

Damien nodded a little. "I mean, I'm sixteen. I'm not supposed to have crushes on fictional characters."

"If Yami and them are real, what are the chances that the others are, too?"

"…Good point." He sighed. "This is one of those times when I wish she had come, too…"

I grinned. "If she were here right now, she'd be chasing after Yami."

"…Yet another good point."

I shook my head. "All right, then—now that we've agreed I make some good points, you need to get out of here. Sonja's starting to worry about you."

Damien sighed, rising to his feet. "Okay, okay, I'm leaving."

"And I'm following. So move your butt."

Damien made a face at me as he opened the door. "You can't talk to me like that! I'm two years older than you!"

"Your point?" We both laughed, and then headed the rest of the way into the living room.

Sonja bounced up and grabbed Damien's wrist. "Where've you been?"

"In the guest room," he replied nonchalantly. Sonja pestered him with questions for a few minutes, but he refused to answer any more.

/It looks like someone knows when to keep their mouth shut…

I jumped a little, and looked around. No one had said anything. Hardly believing it possible, I reached out with my mind. /K-Kimiru?

/That is my name, she replied dryly.

/Yeah, yeah, okay. First off, who the heck are you?

/Kimiru.

I sweatdropped mentally. /Helpful, thanks.

/You're welcome.

I rolled my eyes, walking over to the couch and thumping down on it next to Sam. "What up, hippie?"

Sam grinned a little at me. "You've already said that."

"And?"

Sam giggled. She then sighed, absently re-adjusting her glasses. "I'm still kinda upset about this—the whole psychotic spirit thing, you know? I mean…I still think part of my duty to nature is to not hurt stuff, and to be as supportive as possible. But now I've got this freak-o lady who doesn't care who she kills, so long as it gets her to her sister—her own flesh an' blood! That's not right, man!"

"I'm not a man," I commented bemusedly.

Sam blinked—and then laughed. "You're funny!"

"I try."

Sam grinned at me. "Thanks—I need a few laughs." She looked around, and then lowered her voice. "Just between you an' me—I've got a bad feeling about this whole thing."

I frowned. "Now that you mention it, Sammy…so do I. Something smells really fishy around here."

Marik, who was bouncing by in pursuit of Malik, stopped and looked at me. "Fish? Where? Where's the fish? I don't like fish!" She threw her arms in the air and ran around in circles, screaming at the top of her lungs; "BAD FISHIES! GO AWAY!" Everyone in the room collapsed into fits of laughter loud enough to drown her out.

Suddenly, I noticed something that made me stop laughing immediately, even though everyone else was still caught up.

It was Kaiba.

He was doubled over with silent laughter—I saw tears running down his face, he was laughing so hard.

I elbowed Sam. "Get a load of this!" I muttered, jerking my head at Kaiba.

Sam peered up—and stopped laughing as fast as I had. "What in the world…"

"Exactly. Since when does Kaiba laugh at anything we say?"

"Uh…since never, I think…"

I nodded. By this time, everyone had recovered—and no one aside from the two of us appeared to have noticed that Kaiba had been on a major OOC streak.

Marik accidentally looked over at Malik—and squealed. "Glompishness!"

Swearing, Malik turned and ran. "Can't someone please get this witch away from me!" he yelled, dodging away from Marik.

Bakura sniggered. "Why? It's so fun to watch her chase you!"

Jonouchi shot a glare at Bakura, and then grabbed Marik's shoulder in mid-dash. "C'mon, calm down. Dere are other people in here, ya know. Chase da guy on yer own time—or don't chase 'im at all. Your pick."

Marik grumbled at him, and flopped down on the nearest thing to sit on—which happened to be the coffee table. "You guys are no fun!"

Malik rolled his eyes. "Neither are you!"

Kaiba smirked. "I sense a future romance here. The chaser—shall soon become the chased."

Terra elbowed him. "Shut up, baka."

Kaiba glared at her, massaging his ribs. "Why must you always be so violent?"

"Because you never listen to me when I'm not."

"She's got a point," Dean admitted.

Kaiba glared at him. "Just whose side are you on?"

Dustil grinned mischievously. "Definitely not yours!"

"…Thanks."

"You're welcome!"

Suddenly, I sensed something in the back of my mind. It was Kimiru—and her hackles were raised. /Kimiru? What's wrong?

/Triplet.

/Hunh?

/Triplet. My triplet. She's here…somewhere.

Sam blinked at me. "Derama's actin' crazy," she whispered. "She's sayin' she senses someone else—all she says is 'triplet'."

I nodded. "Same here with Kimiru. Apparently, there's another sister in here somewhere."

The two of us looked around at the other girls in the room. Marik was staring at Malik, who was staying as out-of-the-way as possible. Mikey and Ryou were sitting on the other couch, chatting quietly—apparently not realizing they were holding hands. Sonja was getting some water from the kitchen. Terra and Kaiba were, once again, bickering over nothing in particular.

"I can't tell who it might be," I admitted finally.

Sam shook her head. "Neither can I."

Damien looked at the clock. "Whoa—we'd better get going, Sonja. We've left the shops closed for long enough."

Sonja sighed ruefully. "True. See you all another time, then?"

I grinned, waving. "See you!"

Slowly, everyone else filtered away, until the only ones left were me, Yami, Yuugi, and Sam.

Sam smiled a little, straightening her glasses. "I'd better go—I've got a psycho to talk to."

I nodded. "I've got a spirit to become acquainted with, too. See you around, hippie."

Sam bounced to her feet and headed out the door, a confident smile on her face.

I grinned at Yami. "Well, this went a lot better than it could have."

Yami stared at me, a horrified expression on his face. "You could have died!"

"But the fact remains that I didn't die. Like I said—this could have gone a lot worse."

Yami just shook his head. "I'll never understand you, Miriku."

Yuugi grinned. "She's a girl. You're not supposed to understand her."

I held my hand out to Yuugi. "Exactly!"

Yami stared for a few more moments—and burst out laughing.

Yuugi walked over to the kitchen, and made a pained face. "The spaghetti's cold. No one ate any."

I grinned. "Well, warm some up! I am starving!"

"You sound like Jonouchi," Yami commented as I went to get a bowl.

"So? I am hungry! I never got breakfast, remember?"

"True—the medicine had you knocked out cold."

Yuugi spooned the noodles and sauce into bowls, and popped them in the microwave. "You guys need to get spoons and forks—all I'm doing is re-warming this stuff."

I grinned. "Spoons and forks—on it! Let's eat!"

Well, you'd be starving too if you'd just gone through being really sick and having a cat-woman-spirit-person take over your body!

Ahem...review, please! Chocolate chip/macadamia nut cookies for all!

Oh, and for those who don't know (which is probably no one, but just in case), OOC means Out Of Character.