Hello everyone! Finally chapter 17! Somehow I managed to finish it in time for a monthly update. I got to say, it really was not easy to write over 6 pages in a day. T_T I'm so happy I finished it though. You see, at the beginning of the month I was flowing with ideas and as time passed I had more and more and more ideas. It was hard to choose which ideas to put and which to take out. There are a few scenes I actually had to take off. I don't know which is worse writer's block or having so many ideas that I don't know which one to pick. BTW, sorry for the title but I just couldn't come up with anything.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

Chapter 17: A Long Night

Walking back in silence with Yusei was awkward. Actually just walking with Yusei was awkward. She didn't know if Yusei thought the same but the silence was killing her. Yet, she didn't dare to start a conversation. She was glad the lights around Diamond Area were of different colors so even though she was blushing Yusei probably wouldn't notice. The reason why she was blushing and felt extremely shy around Yusei was because he hadn't let go of her hand since the moment he grabbed it outside the manga shop. It was embarrassing but even though she wanted him to let go at the same time she wanted him to let go.

"Um," Yori decided to just tell him to let go.

"Hmm?" Yusei looked down at her for a second just to let her know he was paying attention.

When he looked at her she lost her nerve and decided to have the talk she owed Yusei. "About the other night," she started. "When you said that stuff about how I seem to know a lot. I didn't understand what you meant." She decided to play it safe.

He stared at her a little surprise that she would bring the subject up. He didn't expect it if anything he thought she would try to make it seem as if it never happened.

"….never mind" for the first time he decided it would be better to just drop it. Perhaps he had been thinking too much, he resolved.

"Aw, c'mon, tell me, what or who did you think I was?" Yori pressed knowing perfectly well she was entering a dangerous zone; she couldn't tell them the truth after all. "A girl who is posing for Yori or something?" she made it sound like it was a joke.

"Something like that." Yusei replied.

Yori, or rather Cindy, chuckled but felt a chill going through her back as if someone had thrown ice water on her. "Yusei, I know who I am thanks to my parents who were there when I woke up. So if I'm not Sayori Tenma then I have no idea who I am." She said as calmly as she could manage, trying her best to fool Yusei. It wasn't like she was really lying, it had happened.

"I see." Yusei replied. Yori couldn't see his face since they had made it out of Diamond Area and had entered the area where they live which was darker; only the streetlamps illuminating giving out a dim light.

'I hope he believed me.' She thought before continuing. "The reason why I know so much about you, isn't that obvious? I'm interested." She said frankly.

Yusei stopped on his tracks shocked. He gaped at her but didn't say anything. It wasn't till he stopped holding her hand and Yori looked at his shocked face that she realized what she had said. She felt her whole face turn red and this time even though the light was dim she was sure he could see it.

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" she said panicking since she didn't want him to know of her feelings just yet. Besides confessing like that was so wrong! Not to mention it wasn't the right time or place. "I mean, I wanted to know more about you 'cause I like you." She blushed harder. "Wait, that didn't- I mean you're so cool and..." She blushed even more. "I mean, err…" she looked down as that was the only thing she thought she could do. "…this is what they call 'digging one's own grave,' isn't it?" she said in a low voice as she used her long hair which was in pigtails to cover her cheeks and looked down in embarrassment.

There was an awkward silence for a brief moment which was replaced by Yusei's laughter, or rather chuckle. Yori looked up to him sheepishly and was surprised to see Yusei smile at her tenderly. Not even on her wildest dream had she imagined such a tender smile from him. He even looked a little different, at least in her point of view. It was like that was the first time she had seen him, really seen him. He looked just like boy, not a kid; but a teenager and not his usual adult-like self; a side of him she had never or anyone who watched the show had seen, she thought.

Her heart skipped a beat and for a moment she forgot how to breathe. She was brought back to reality when he put a hand over her head and petted her.

"Ok, I guess I know what you mean." He said but the smile from before was not longer there. It was like he was back to his regular self.

She looked away, still embarrassed. She wasn't sure what kind of like he meant or if he truly understood what she had tried to say but at the moment she didn't want to know. "Oh! I didn't know there was a fast food restaurant so close by" she said trying to change the topic as she pointed towards the building.

Seeing how embarrassed and red her face was and that she had obviously changed the subject he decided it was probably the best time to just drop it.

"Let's go," he said and she looked up to him. "They're waiting for us."

"Ok!" she nodded and smiled. She was relieved they could finally stop talking about that. "Hey, you think maybe we could all go there tomorrow?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, I guess."

The room was dark and the only light was coming from the monitor in front of him. His subordinated, who normally worked as his head of security was reporting.

"I hope you have good news for me." Said an impatient voice.

"…."

"You failed again? You called me to tell me you've failed again!" the man asked over the phone.

"Sir, she-"started his subordinate.

"She is only one girl, and how many men do you have under your supervision? I do believe twelve?" He was getting more and more annoyed.

He saw the leader of the group, the one getting yelled at and reprimanded, gulped.

"Next time don't report to me unless you have good news! And hurry up because my patience is running low." With that threat the boss, the man who wanted Yori capture hung up.

The picture of Sayori Tenma with her uniform as she entered the school was lying on top of the desk. He picked it up and looked at it.

"It's such a shame you're that man's daughter," he said as if she could him. "I will have you and use you against him. I will recover it, and you Yori-chan are going to help me get it back."

The leader of the group grunted in frustration. "That girl is very sneaky. This is the third time she had eluded us." He said gritting his teeth. "It seems there will be a change in plans." He smirked.

"What is the new plan, sir?" asked one of the subordinates.

"Capture her friends."

"Yori! Yusei!" exclaimed Aki when the two of them arrived.

"So you finally arrive, what kept you?" asked Crow looking at the two of them entering the door.

"We were being follow." Replied Yusei.

Aki gasped. Jack and Crow looked surprised.

"It's okay. No worries, we lost them." Said Yori dismissively.

"How did you lose them?" asked Aki. The time she had seen the men she had also seen that they had a car. Both Yusei and Yori had been on foot as Yusei had gone to pick Yori on foot.

"Yori found an ally and we stayed there till we were sure they were gone." Replied Yusei.

"It wasn't like that!" she shook her head. "I didn't know it was there. It was all pure luck!" she admitted. "We were both running and at some point I looked behind me and Yusei because he was pulling me and suddenly turned around, I kinda lost my balance and ended tripping. I don't really know what I did but I ended up pu-" she made a pause. "Because of that we ended up falling into the ally and since we suddenly disappeared from their sight they scattered never noticing we were right there all along." She said.

"Why did you change it?" asked Aki.

"Change what?" Yori said quickly, too quickly while looking away.

"You know what, you changed your sentence." Aki pressed on.

Yori's face started turning slightly red. 'Of course I changed it! I can't possibly say that!' she thought desperately. 'It'd be too embarrassing to say 'I ended up pushing Yusei down.' NO! It sounds so wrong.'

"Are you thinking something perverted?" Aki chuckled while looking at her friend's red face.

Yori's face turned redder. "Jeez! Aki, stop it. I bet Ralph told you to tease me, didn't he?" she pouted.

Aki chuckled. "No, but he did tell me why he did it. I have to agree with him. It's fun."

"Is there anything to eat?" she asked as she dropped her bag around feeling a little upset. "I'm starving."

"Eh? Don't tell you haven't eaten anything since lunch time?" asked Aki surprised.

"Okay." She replied.

Crow, who was the closest to the cups of instant ramen, put one in the microwave for her as went to sit on the stairs. Yusei followed and sat next to her.

"So?" asked Aki after a brief moment. Yori looked at her slightly confused. "Aren't you going to answer my question?"

Yori looked at Aki with a confused expression. "Didn't you just tell me not to tell you?" she asked rhetorically as she got up to get her ramen . "First you tell me not to tell you and now to tell you, which one is it? Make up your mind already." She sighed. "Seriously, this is one of the reasons why girls are so…" she looked away from her friend and shook her head.

"Hey! You're a girl too." Aki pointed out.

"Oh, yeah," she said as if she had forgotten. "Anyway I have to tell you guys something."

"You're gonna tell us about yesterday?" asked Jack.

"It's not really big deal." She replied. "I just went to visit my nanny, Mrs. Higgins."

"Not that," replied Jack. "What were you doing fighting those guys?"

"Training." She shrugged. "Unfortunately I overdid it a little." She said sheepishly. "When that guy tried to cut my shirt open, I got really mad. That pervert!" she spat.

"What do you mean training?" Aki glared at her. "They could have done something to you!"

"You're exaggerating, Aki." Yori dismissed it. "Besides, I'm perfectly fine."

"You fainted." Crow pointed out.

"I did say I overdid it a little." She said sheepishly. "I was so tired after training with Mrs. Higgins."

"Why did you go there?" asked Yusei.

Yori sighed. "Okay, I'm gonna start from the beginning alright?"

They nodded.

"Yesterday, I mean Saturday… well you know what I mean, Saturday to Sunday, I couldn't sleep very well. So I ended up laying there thinking about all sorts of things and well, I just thought I needed to talk with an adult you know; someone who knew me and my family and since Mrs. Higgins was the one to give me the warning in the first place. So I thought she would know something that would help." She tried her best to explain.

"That doesn't answer why you went to Diamond Area," remarked Jack.

"I'm getting there." She replied. "In order to get to that place I need to take the subway to Neo Domino Station. I would take the bus but at that time there are no buses and even if I had gone later there are no bus stations around here; at least, not that I know. Since subways are on controlled electronically and with a robot, it actually works 24/7, not to mention it's faster."

"Why didn't you wait till we wake up or wake us up to tell us?" asked Yusei.

"I'd feel bad to wake you up and I didn't wait because it's takes three hours to get there and I still had to walk to the villa." She sighed. "It was so tiring."

"You have a villa?" asked Crow a little surprised.

Yori nodded. "You see, I get fevers when I worry too much or think about stuff too much like the other day when Ralph came." She explained. "So back when I was little they thought I was a sickly child, in which in a way I guess I was." She said unsurely. "Anyway they thought fresh air from the mountains would do me good and so the three of us pretty much grew up there till Ralph and I started Middle School."

"Why would your friend also go to the villa and live there?" asked Jack. It sounded strange to him.

"You know, Misty the supermodel, right?" she asked knowing the answer already. "Well, Ralph's mom is her manager and the president of her own model agency. Since back then she had pretty much just started her own business while modeling at the same time, she is an ex-model, you see. Back then, she was really busy and being an only parent was hard for her since she wanted to give Ralph everything and make sure he had a bright future and all that so she ended up kinda neglecting him a bit. So since our mothers had been friend for such a long time Ralph ended up being in my house pretty much all the time and when they decided to send me to the villa they thought it would be better to send the three of us together." She said and they noticed she was saying it like she was remembering.

"That reminds me, it wasn't till we started Middle School that I found out that Ralph was not my real brother. Talk about dense, huh?" she laughed.

"How could you not notice?" Asked Crow, voice out everyone's thought.

"We were always together and since we were home schooled I didn't notice about our different last names. I noticed when he started staying over at his own house and I asked why so they told me and I was like 'eh? Ra-chan isn't Yori's little brother?' Now that I think about it, it was after that when he stopped being my cute little brother." She sighed. "He started teasing me and stuff."

"Ra-chan?" asked Aki.

"Yeah, when I was little, like three or four, I couldn't say Raphael or Ralph so I called him Ra-chan instead and it kinda stayed." She explained. "Oh, we deviated. I guess I got kinda caught up in the memories I can remember now."

"Hmm. Do you remember anything useful then?" asked Jack.

Yori thought for a second. "I remember how to pick locks!" she said excitedly.

"Huh?" They gaped at her.

"I also remember how to fight and to use the sais, daggers, bo staff and I can use the sword a little. I'm not very good with it though." She said happily. "Oh! And lots of stuff to blackmail Ralph and onii-chan the places where I hid the evidence."

"Eh?" The three of them were surprised needless to say. Not only by the skills she remembered she had but by how happy she had said it, specially the blackmail part.

"Anyway," she continued. Whether she was ignoring their shock or she hadn't noticed it was unknown. "What I wanted to tell you it's that we need to protect Rua and Ruka. I think they are going to try to do something to them in order to get me."

"Why do you think that?" asked Yusei.

"You noticed they didn't care if they were seen, right? We were running with so many people around yet it didn't stop them." She replied. "They are getting a little desperate and people do stupid things when that happens. They probably think I would try to distance myself from my friends in order to protect them since that's what most people would do under pressure. However, by doing that the opposite would happen. I know you guys can protect yourself because your smart and strong." She said confident. "Aki, you are probably the person I would worry less since they are probably afraid of you, right Black Rose Witch?" she smiled.

Aki made a face. "Don't call me that." She sighed and looked away.

"Why?" asked Yori. "The Black Rose Witch suits you so well."

Aki looked at Yori in her eyes for a moment, studying her.

"What?" Yori asked curiously.

Aki smiled. "Lazy, you're too lazy." She replied.

Yori realized what Aki meant, which was she had actually understood what she had tried to say. 'You should probably use your powers to your advantage in this case. That's your best shield. Don't make me worry about you, please.'

"Please don't you are lazy, datte hontou wa crazy.*" she sang.

"What's that suppose to mean?" asked Aki. Not because she didn't understand what Yori had said but the reason why Yori had said it with a sing-song voice.

"Nothing, just felt that fit." She shrugged. "I'm sleepy." She yawned.

"It's been a long day. Let's get some rest," said Yusei. "It's pretty late and you girls have school tomorrow."

"Talking about school" started Aki as she climbed the stairs behind Yori. "Did you do your homework?"

"Yeah, during class." She replied. "Remember I had to sit it out? I did it then."

"Oh yeah, what do you guys think of eating out tomorrow? I wanna go to Burger World." She said enthusiastically.

"Fine by me." Replied Crow.

"Hmm." was Jack's replied. It was hard to tell whether that was a yes or no.

"I guess that's okay." Said Aki. "Why do you wanna go there though?"

"I just want to eat fast food." Replied Yori happily.

Aki looked at her from behind. Was that really all? She couldn't help but think. Sometimes that girl could be so whimsical.

Since Aki was staying over for the night and there wasn't enough space both Yori and Aki were currently trying to sleep on the same bed. It was a good thing that Yori was small otherwise, she was sure they would fit.

"Hey," said Aki. "What really happened in the afternoon?"

Yori turned around to face Aki. "I told you. I ran into a bush and ended tackling someone in the process."

Aki gave her a look. Even with the dim light Yori could still see that she didn't believe her.

"You can ask-" she thought for a moment. "Shoot! I forgot to ask his name. Anyway, we'll see him tomorrow in class probably."

"Eh?" Aki looked surprised. "Don't tell me that the person you bumped into…?"

Yori nodded. "Yup, the new student."

They stayed silent for a moment. Yori closed her eyes as she tried to go to sleep. It was already around one after all and they needed to wake up at seven if they wanted to be on time.

"Is he really like the girls were fussing about during lunch time?" asked Aki curiously.

"…No," replied Yori. She made a small pause. "He's hotter." She smiled.

Aki giggled. "Oh really? Don't tell me you have a crush?" she joked.

Yori shook her head. "No, he's not my type." She replied. "Besides, I think it's better to not get close to him."

"Why?" asked Aki curiously.

"Because he's a player." Yori said sighed.

"I see. Well, we better sleep now. Good night." Said Aki as she turned around.

"G'night." Replied Yori turning around too.

It was the same white space with the bed in the middle of nothingness as the time before. This time Sayori looked tired.

"You shouldn't have called me," said Cindy as she sat on the bed Yori was laying.

"I just wanted… t-to know if… it was alright to share… my memories with… y-you." She said weakly. "I-I know they might" her breathing was becoming uneven and her face was red as if she had a fever.

Cindy put a finger over her lips. "Shush. I know. Yes, it is a little confusing having your memories and mine but I'll be alright." She said. "You should rest. I'll go back to my dream."

'Be careful.' Cindy heard in her mind Yori's voice say.

She nodded as she was leaving. "I will. I'll be alright." With that she left the space in which the real Yori inhabited and as soon as she left. Yori's color returned to normal and she went back to sleep.

Author's Note:

-Please don't say you are Lazy, datte hontou wa crazy: that's actually part of a song called "please don't say lazy" for those who don't know. It from an anime called K-ON. As to why I left a part in Japanese that's because they are speaking Japanese.

-I'm gonna say this now, if you are expecting another romantic scene next chapter, don't get your hopes up. Not for next chapter at least. I have something different planned.

-Sorry if there are some grammar mistakes but I did try my best to correct them. Still maybe I left a few there while changing some scenes and sentences. I apologize about that if you see any.

-Oh, I almost forgot something very important. Next month I'm going to go to an Anime con so since I have to prepare for it next chapter will probably come out in July like around this time. Sorry but I'm so looking forward to it that even if I wanted to write I don't think I'd be able. Even now I'm really excited about it and can't stop thinking about it.

Don't forget to review please! I always like to hear from you guys. Till July!