Yeah! Part two! BWAHAHAHAHA!

Memory Lane, Part II
Love and Hate

I watched as another scene faded into existence. Kimiru, looking the age she was now, sprinted through the palace. She darted around the guards that were milling around the halls; they looked utterly confused.

"Derama!" Kimiru called desperately. "Kemisi! Where are you?" The two of them had disappeared moments after the tomb robber Bakura had appeared—she had slipped away to find them.

"Kimiru! Kimiru!"

Kimiru slowed, eyes darting back and forth, looking for the source of the voice. It was High Priestess Isis.

"Kimiru, the pharaoh wishes to see you in his quarters. He says it's urgent."

Kimiru nodded. "Thank you, Isis." She dashed off in the direction of Atem's room, wondering what was so urgent that he should interrupt her from searching for her sisters.

"Pharaoh?" she called, tapping on the door.

"Come in, Kimiru—and you must just call me Atem."

Kimiru entered the room. "Fine then—Atem. What do you wish of me?"

Atem turned to look at her. "It's about Derama and Kemisi. We've found them."

Kimiru's face lit up—and then faded as she took in the sad expression on Atem's face. "Wh-What happened to them?"

Atem's eyes were grave. "They've been captured by Bakura. The two of them were seen tied to one of Bakura's horses as he escaped. There was nothing any of us could do. We tried to get them back."

Kimiru sank to her knees. "No…" She buried her face in her hands. "Derama…Kemisi…"

She looked up suddenly. "I'm sorry, Atem—I shouldn't mourn in front of you. You have your own business to attend to…and the pharaoh's protector does not cry…"

Atem sat on his bed and spread his arms. "If you need someone to cry with…I'm here. You've done the same for me many times—a pharaoh isn't supposed to cry, either."

Kimiru's eyes filled with tears. With a small sob, she flung herself onto his lap, crying into his shoulder. "M-My sisters—g-gone—I'll n-never see them again—"

The scene blacked out again. I realized that my fists and my teeth were clenched.

"What happened to them after that?" I asked.

Kimiru closed her eyes again. "Watch."

Atem and Kimiru stood outside the ruins of Kul Elna, looking warily around. "This is the place," Kimiru said quietly.

Atem gravely put a hand on Kimiru's shoulder. "I hope that, for your sake, we don't come across them."

Kimiru was silent. Then she strode resolutely forward, Atem matching her step for step.

Before long, they reached the entrance to the tombs. "This is where he's hiding," Kimiru murmured. "We must be very cautious."

Atem smiled a little. "I know."

The two of them entered the ruins and continued to walk. Every now and then, Kimiru would go a little ahead to check for trouble, but she always retreated again to stand to the side and a little ahead of Atem.

As they approached a large intersection of hallways, Atem grabbed Kimiru's arm. "Wait…Kimiru…"

Kimiru turned. "Yes?"

Atem's face was grave. "If one of us doesn't get out of this…you've been one of my best friends since we met, and I'm glad we met in the first place. If it weren't for you or your sisters, I wouldn't be who I am now."

"Of course you would. You are the pharaoh—I am simply your guardian, originally from the streets. We were no true daughters of Bastet."

"I know—you've told me. A spell gone awry fused you with Bastet's true children—three kittens. And you escaped."

"And then we found our way to you. Your father took us in and trained us to become your protectors—now that my sisters are gone, I must carry out this task myself. Regardless of what may happen."

Atem sighed. "Kimiru…you're more than just my protector. You're my friend. Nothing can change that."

"Oh, how touching! Too bad it was so short-lived!"

"Bakura!" Atem hissed.

Kimiru's eyes widened. She wasn't focused on Bakura—the person she was focused on was standing next to him, smirking.

"Derama…what…"

Derama bowed mockingly. "Hello, palace-brat. Long time no see."

Bakura smirked. "I'll let you take care of them, Dera. I have an appointment with the dark lord Zorc!" And with that he turned and ran off down another hallway.

Kimiru clenched her fists. "Derama, how could you!"

Derama simply continued to smirk at her. "Because, sister, I have power. In exchange for being his protector, I am second only to Bakura himself!"

Kimiru shook her head. "But our duty is to protect the pharaoh—"

"The pharaoh is nothing more than a weakling! Haven't you seen that by now? He relied entirely on us for support! He used us to help himself!"

Kimiru shook her head. "I won't believe it!"

"You don't believe me? Kemisi said so herself!"

Atem shook his head. "Kimiru, don't listen to her. Friends are supposed to rely on each other—and aside from you three, I had no friends."

Kimiru narrowed her eyes at Derama. "Kemisi…where is she?"

"Dead," Derama replied nonchalantly.

"What?"

Derama smirked. "That crush of hers with High Priest Seto threatened to disrupt the entire plan, so I had to knife her. No big."

"Derama! Kemisi is our sister!"

"So?"

Atem's face betrayed his horror. "You killed your own sister because she got in the way of one of Bakura's twisted plans?"

"Yeah, why?"

Kimiru clenched her fists. "Derama, you have dishonored us for the last time!"

"Was that a challenge?"

"But of course."

Atem put a hand on Kimiru's shoulder. "Kimiru…"

"Go on, pharaoh. I have to make her pay for her betrayal and treachery."

"But if you get hurt—"

"I'm a big girl, Atem—I can take care of her. Go on without me."

"But, Kimiru—"

"Go! You have to stop Bakura!"

"Yes, you have to stop him!" Derama mocked. "Go on, little pharaoh! Try and stop the master of thieves!"

Atem looked gravely at Kimiru. "Be safe."

"You too."

The scene blanked—and I was once again lying on my own bed, in my own room. I left my eyes closed for a moment, listening to Kimiru.

/We struck a killing blow at the same time. Derama pledged she would hate me for eternity. She believes I did the same.

I shook my head a little. /I can't believe she'd kill her own sister…and with no remorse, either! That's not right!

/'Right' is relative, Miriku. It is possible to do an evil deed with good intentions, or vice versa. She was seduced by the power Bakura offered to her.

/It's still just not right!

/Hmph. But now do you see?

Slowly, I turned things over in my mind. /…Yes. I see that your sister hates you, but you don't hate her…that she wants to kill you, and you have to keep up the impression of wanting to do the same thing.

/And it's hard, because, despite all she has done, she is still my sister, and I still love her.

"Miriku! Are you there?"

I started, and my eyes snapped open. I scrambled back a little, blushing—Yami's face was inches from my own. "Uh—hi—Yami—"

Yami sat up straight and sighed with relief. "You've been in here for almost four hours!"

I raised my eyebrows. "Four hours. You're kidding, right?"

"No. Look at the time."

I looked at the clock on my wall—and bit back a startled, "Holy shit!" Indeed, four hours had passed. It was almost nine o'clock.

Yami rose from where he'd been sitting cross-legged on the edge of my bed. "Well, now that you're up—"

"Wait a second."

Yami looked back at me. "Hmm?"

I thought a moment. "Kimiru…the two of you are best friends, right?"

Yami grinned. "I love her like a sister—her and the others."

"Even Derama?"

Yami's face darkened slightly. "Even after all she did…yes. At heart, she's still a sister of mine."

I nodded. "Thanks—that's what I wanted to know." I jumped to my feet. "Now, I don't know if you've eaten dinner yet—but I haven't, and I'm starving!"

Yami smiled a little. "There's still spaghetti left over from lunch."

"Great! Thanks!" I dashed off to the kitchen. "Hey, Yuugi! Grab me some spaghetti, wouldja?"

Yuugi made a face at me. "Get it yourself, aneki!"

I pretended to pout at him. "Fine! Be that way!"

We both laughed, and I went to the kitchen to grab myself a bowl. "You know I can't be your big sister, Yuugi—we aren't really related, and I'm younger that you by about a month!"

"So?"

I laughed. "Good point. Hey, where's the grated cheese?" I had just opened the refrigerator, and I couldn't find the cheese anywhere.

Yuugi put on an innocent expression that not even I fell for. "I don't know."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious, Yuugi. Where's the cheese?"

"It's behind the orange juice. You really need to learn to look harder."

I rolled my eyes, reaching behind the jug of orange juice and grabbing the grated cheese. "You need to stop doing stuff like that to me! It's not funny!"

Yuugi grinned. "'It's only funny until someone gets hurt—then it's hilarious!'"

I laughed. "Someone's been watching too much American TV!"

Yuugi shrugged. "Hey, this is America. What did you expect?"

I shook my head. "You've got a point, I guess."

At that moment, the phone rang. I sidled over to it and picked it up. "Eeyello?"

"Miriku, this is urgent."

I raised my eyebrows. It was John—and he sounded absolutely serious. "Yeah?"

"School starts next month. What the heck are we going to do with the anime characters when it comes around?"

Uh-oh...problems much! What are we gonna do?

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