Hi all! Here is the next chapter so I hope everyone is happy. Unfortunately I wouldn't say there's any romantic scenes in this chapter so those who were looking forward to some, sorry! This chapter is a bit different since I kinda put it in Yusei's view, most of it. Next chapter I'll probably go back to Yori's. I really want to apologize for taking me so long to update but I had 3 different ideas for what's to come next. I just couldn't decide and it took me a lot of visualizing but I still couldn't decide. So I thought that maybe this one would be the best and I hope you like it.

BTW, thank you so much for all the reviews so far. I'm ultra-mega-archi-hyper-super-happy with them. This is the very first time I've had more than 70 reviews! Also, in other news, I've started doing some drawings and I'll be uploading them soon. I have a few ready but I want to get more finish to show you so you have an idea of how Yori looks like. Ralph is gonna take me some work since I'm bad at drawing guys. I wish I had a scanner that would make it easier but since I don't it's a lot of work to draw on the computer. It doesn't look like I want it though it does make it easier to erase :P

Ok, ok, enough of my babbling on and on. Read on and I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 14: Missing

It was very late, so late it was actually early. His friend, Crow, was soundly asleep judging by the light snoring; Yusei, on the other hand, was lying on a sofa trying to sleep but unable to do so. Yusei kept thinking and recalling the events that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. There was much he didn't understand including the girl herself, Yori.

Just awhile ago he had done something that he wouldn't normally do yet he acted on impulse. 'Why did I do that?' he thought as he remembered what had happened about an hour earlier.

She had been standing in front of the window not so far away from his bedroom, the room she was currently using. She had been looking at the moon in deep thought. Her expression was that of longing and he could see melancholy in her eyes. The soft breeze that played with her long hair and the silver light that illuminated her featured made her seemed… different. He wasn't sure exactly why he thought that but there was something that felt, well, different.

He had observed her for a long moment seeing her expressions change as her thoughts were almost showing on her face. At first it was like she was she feeling sad then it was like there was worry, the determination but it looked she was about to cry. He had worried and tried to comfort her but surprised him by throwing him to the floor.

Yusei smiled as he remembered her panicked face; though he had been really surprised by her reaction. When she looked at him with those doe-like eyes of her in an apologetic way, how could anyone get mad at that? That pouting face that she made that was so child-like and did it whenever she felt she was being called a kid. It was an irony but perhaps she hadn't realized it. She really was a very interesting person and very much unlike her appearance.

Yusei shook his head. '… I can't stop thinking about her.'

His thoughts drifted back to when he had been petting her and she had said she was sleepy. The intimacy of the moment they had shared he had wanted to last a little longer. Without a thought he had put her in his arms and carried her. He had wanted to feel her warmth a little longer but then…

'I just blurted out my suspicions. I don't even have a base and I just said them.' He thought regrettably. 'She looked so surprised and who wouldn't be?' he thought. 'I'm probably thinking too much. I know she's hiding something, it's obvious but then again…everyone has secrets.' He closed his eyes as he started feeling sleepy. 'I should apologize for the things I said to her tomorrow, or rather said, today.' With that in mind he fell asleep.

When Yusei woke up Crow's bed was already made and the sun was high in the sky. He looked at the alarm clock resting on the nightstand next to Crow's bed. It was almost eleven o'clock.

He jolted when he realized the time. He did his usual routine before going down to the kitchen to find something to eat. Eating breakfast was out of the question so it would have to be something light so he would be able to eat lunch later on.

"You overslept." Jack, who was sitting on the wooden table on the kitchen while reading the newspaper, greeted Yusei. "That's unlike you," he added.

Yusei nodded. "Couldn't sleep." He replied as he took some juice from the refrigerator and some fruit.

"Where's Crow and Yori?" he asked as he pulled a chair to sit down.

"Crow's out visiting the children in the orphanage." Jack replied offhandedly. "Yori," he made a pause as he took a piece of paper out of his jacket and showed it to Yusei. Yusei took the paper from Jack slightly confused and read it.

Don't worry about me but I'll be back soon. Yori.

P.S. I took one of your keys for the front door, hope you don't mind.

"She went out by herself!?" Yusei stood up abruptly surprising Jack, who immediately recovered his composure.

"She said she'd be back." Jack pointed out and continued reading his newspaper.

"There are mercenaries, for all we know after her. We gotta go look for her!" Yusei raised his voice.

Jack put the paper down astonished by his friend's behavior. He wasn't used to seeing Yusei so desperate.

'She's gone and this could be my fault. I practically pushed her in a corner… if something happens to her…' Yusei became pale and shut his eyes trying to keep any negative thought out of his head.

"Yusei," called Jack unsurely. "Are you alright? You don't seem yourself."

"Why did you guys didn't go to look for her?" Yusei accused taking once again Jack off guard.

"We did but it seems she was long gone by the time we woke up." The blonde man replied. "She said she'd be back, we should trust her. Isn't that what you would usually say? It's not like we're her bodyguards. She said so herself, didn't she?"

Yusei was taken aback by Jack's words. He didn't say anything and looked down.

"Yusei," Jack's tone was a concerned one "why are you so worried?"

"Did you guys check if her stuff was still here?" Yusei dodged the question. Jack nodded. "Yes, bag and laptop are still here" Hearing that made Yusei feel better if she hadn't taken anything then she was going to come back. "Her phone too."

'Her phone too?' Yusei thought surprised. 'Now I understand what Ralph meant about being reckless,' without saying any other word he went downstairs to the garage to continue working on the new duel runner's motor. 'She's probably with Aki. Yes, she wouldn't be so reckless as to go out by herself and be defenseless walking around.' He tried to convinced himself as he started working.

His work, however, was interrupted a few hours later by the twins who had come over to play. Yusei not being able to deny anything to those two stopped his work to play with them. Rua was especially excited about dueling with Yusei to show him his new combo he just found.

"I guess, it's not good, huh?" Rua said disappointed after his duel with Yusei.

"You need to think of the counter attack your opponent would make too." Yusei smiled and put a hand over his head. "You're getting better, Rua. Just keep practicing." He suddenly jerked his hand off and looked away, his bang covering his face.

"It's just that you wouldn't do that to Aki," Yori stated and immediately added "right?" as confirmation.

Doe-like eyes looked straight at him. "No, I wouldn't." he had replied. "I don't do that with anyone." He had replied.

Why did her voice and face suddenly popped in his mind? 'Maybe I do treat her like a kid a bit.' He admitted to himself.

"Yusei?" asked Rua confused by his sudden reaction.

"Eh?" Yusei snapped out of his thought. "Sorry, Rua."

"Are you feeling okay? You spaced out." Rua pointed out.

"I'm okay." He replied and smiled reassuringly.

"Yusei!" Aki suddenly came through the front door. "Can you help me with my physic homework?" It took her a second to notice that Ruka and Rua were there too. Jack had gone out and Crow was not back yet. "Rua, Ruka, hi."

"Hi," replied Ruka quietly.

"Hi Aki-nee-chan!" Rua greeted enthusiastically.

"Aki? Wasn't Yori with you?" Yusei asked surprised at the same time he was become slightly worried, again.

"Eh?" Aki blinked. "No, I haven't seen Yori since Friday. Why?" Aki replied still taken aback by the sudden question.

"Uh" he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell or not. Thus, he decided that, at least for the time being it would better to stay quiet. "Never mind." He replied. "What you need help on?"

Aki looked at him suspiciously but dismissed it. Yusei noticed the suspicious look. "Dynamics," she replied as she proceeded to show him the problem.

Yusei read the problem and then explained it to her. "*At distance RF, the block just begins sliding. Therefore static friction force equals…"

A few minutes later, the problems were all solved and explained. "Thank you, Yusei."

"No problem." He replied. Rua and Ruka who had gotten bored of listening to Yusei explain to Aki her homework had been listening to the radio but had fallen asleep.

Rua was sleeping on an old reclining chair by the stairs and Ruka was sleeping next to her, sitting on the floor.

"I guess I better wake them up. It's getting late," Aki said noticing the sun's orange rays filling the room. It was already dusk.

"Aki," Yusei stopped her. "Did Yori call you or anything today?"

She looked at him and studied him for a moment. "She didn't," she replied. "Did something happen?"

He looked down.

"You can tell me, Yusei." She insisted. "She's my friend too."

He knew she was going to found out sooner or later and she was already suspicious so she was going to be able to get the truth out of him if he didn't willing tell her anyway.

By the time he finished telling Aki, Jack and Crow had returned. Rua and Ruka were still sleeping peacefully and it was night.

"And she wasn't here when you guys woke up?" Aki asked concerned.

Yusei shocked his head. Jack remained motionless.

"We only found the note she left behind," answered Crow.

Aki looked down. "Yori…" she murmured.

"Eh?!" Rua's voice startled them for a second. "Ruka, wake up! We have to go home."

"Let's not tell them, I don't want to scare them." Aki said in a low voice so Rua and Ruka wouldn't hear.

The guys nodded in understanding.

"Bye, everyone!" Rua said waving from the door.

"Bye," said Ruka following her big brother.

"I'm gonna take the kids home, just in case" said Yusei as he got ready.

"Wait, Yusei," Crow stopped him. "I'll take them you stay here in case Yori comes back. I'm also gonna take a look around on my way back."

Yusei nodded.

"I'll go too," Jack offered. He too was a bit worried. "Izayoi, are you coming?"

She shook her head. "I wanna wait for her."

"Oh, shoot, they already left!" Crow exclaimed as he hurried to his D-Wheel. Jack followed him almost instantly.

It was around nine o'clock by the time Crow and Jack returned with a fainted Yori in Jack's arm. Crow was carrying a big white paper bag and a smaller plastic bag with him.

"Yori!" Aki gasped when she saw her.

Yori had a few stains of bloods all over her clothes and body. On her white top tank shirt was cut in the part of her abdomen but there was no blood. Her green shorts were all dirty with blood that judging from her injuries wasn't hers. Her long dark brown hair had been pulled back unlike her usual braids into a ponytail and her black boots looked almost brown.

"What happened? Where did you find her?" Yusei asked as Aki kept staring at her horrified and worried.

"We're not sure," replied Crow as he put the bags on the floor and Jack made his way to Yusei's room.

"I'm gonna help her change clothes and clean her up," she said as she followed Jack.

"What happened?" asked Yusei again.

Crow scratched the back of his head. "I think it's better if we wait for Yori to tell us herself." Crow said. "When Jack and I found her around Diamond Area-"

"Diamond Area?" exclaimed Yusei. 'That's zone is overrun by duelist gangs.'

"When we spotted her she was dueling against the leader, or at least that's what Jack and I think. As we go nearer, one of the guys started attacking her with a knife after the duel. We were on the highway when we saw," explained Crow. "Well, as we got nearer, we saw her fighting them all and by the time we reached her all the guys were on the floor and she saw us and that's when she fainted."

Jack came down and joined the conversation. "We only know that she was carrying those bags with her," he pointed to the bags Crow had been carrying before.

"What's in there?" Yusei asked.

Crow and Jack shrugged. "We haven't opened them." Replied Crow.

They felt curious but at the same time it was part of Yori's privacy so they didn't want to open them without her knowledge. So they just waited for Aki.

Minutes later, Aki came down. "Well, she's sound asleep now." She announced as she came down. "When I was cleaning her, I only found a few scratches but nothing too bad." They nodded. "What happened?"

Crow and Jack proceeded to retell what they had witness to Aki this time getting more into detail as she wanted to hear it all.

"I can't believe it." Aki said after hearing the story. "She fought them all?"

Yusei was also shocked to hear that Yori had fought single-handed a group of fifteen and she had only come out of the fight with a few minor scratches.

"They must have done something to make her really angry," Aki said. "But I don't get it, how come there was so much blood on her when she was unarmed, right?"

"We don't know," Crow said. "We only saw the beginning. The bags she had with her when we found her had been on floor but when we arrived when she was, she was carrying them and she was kinda staggering before she fainted."

"We haven't looked inside them either." Jack added.

"I guess we have no choice but to wait till tomorrow to ask her" Aki said resignedly. "I better go home. See you guys!"

"Bye"

Everything was white, the only thing that was in that space was a bed a girl laying there. Cindy was standing before it and Sayori was looking back at her with a worried face.

"I'm sorry, because of me you're pushing yourself too much," apologized Sayori who was lying in bed.

Cindy shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she replied. "I'm the one who should apologize after all… Because of me you're body is injure."

"If it weren't because I put you in the situation you are now, that wouldn't have happened," Sayori kept blaming herself.

"Won't you tell me then?" Cindy said. "Why is your uncle trying to… why is he attacking you?"

Sayori looked the other way and kept quiet for a moment. "I'm…not sure."

"Eh?"

"I know that my uncle and dad some differences in the past or something and he one day just came up to me and asked me for help. He said he wanted to makes amends? Hmm, I'm not really sure, you see." Sayori explained.

"Now, I'm confused." Cindy groaned. "First you said it was your uncle and now that you're not sure."

"The thing is, well when I had the 'accident' the one driving was one of his men and I saw someone in the back seat."

"Doesn't that mean that your uncle was in the back seat and ordered his chauffer to run you over?" Cindy asked still confused.

"But he said he wanted to make things right with dad and running me over doesn't cut it, now does it?"

"A ruse?" Cindy suggested. "He wanted to see how you looked to kill you."

"If that was the case he could have done that by just tracking me," Sayori protested.

"You're right." Cindy conceded.

They stayed in silence for a moment. This was getting more and more complicated.

Cindy suddenly realized. "Oh yeah, how come you don't seem tired at all today? Last time you said it was tiring."

Sayori blinked. "I guess because this time it was you who came here?"

"Eh? I came?" Cindy asked perplexed.

"You wanted to talk to me, right?" Sayori asked.

Cindy nodded. "I think I understand." She said deep in thought. "The reason is because right now I'm sleeping and this is a dream, right? This time I was thinking so much of how badly I wanted to see you and talk with you again so that's probably the reason,"

"Dreams are usually a reflection of what we desire or fear." Sayori agreed.

"…Yori… I want to ask you if it'd be-" Cindy stopped herself. 'No, I shouldn't ask about that. This is not time for that.'

Sayori smiled at her. "You want to ask me if it's alright to fall in love with Yusei?"

Cindy blushed surprised. "H-how!?"

Sayori giggled lightly. "One, your face says what you're thinking." She replied.

"Oh great," murmured Cindy embarrassed.

"And two," continued Sayori "because right now we are on the same body so I know what you're thinking. I know what's happening. Right now, we are one person." She smiled.

Cindy let her words sink in for a moment. "That means…?"

"It's about time you get back now," Sayori said. "Please, remember; don't lose your cool like you did this time."

"I'll try," replied Cindy with a sad smile.

Okay, tha't's it for now. I know it was kinda short but look forward to the next chapter please. Also just one more thing the text that Yusei is talking about that has an * before it. That's physics talk so if it's wrong or something, ignore it please. I don't understand physics at all and never even took the class.

If you have questions, as long as you don't ask me about spoilers or anything like that, I'd be happy to obliged. Oh yeah, sorry if there's any grammar or misspelling but I kinda didn't want to read this chapter anymore after I did so many times. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd next chapter!