Disclaimer: My New year's resolution this year is to somehow gain control of yugioh and then give Bakura loads of screen time.

Wow it's been a while, let's pray I am NEVER this late again… EVER!!! Now that Cindy is back and (hopefully) working well I'll be able to dish out all the chapters :D

Besides my broken ankle and lack of a computer for the last three months everything had been GREAT!!! I did miss all you guys and I'm glad I'll be able to post more of my beloved story :D

This is your late Christmas/New Years gift.

Also a HUGE thanks to PB-Queen-101 for betaing for me!!! You are sooo amazingly sweet to do it!!! And you have no idea how grateful I am!!!

"Rapunzel was greatly terrified when she saw the man had come in to her…but the king's son spoke kindly to her."

"No please! No I'll be good. Please let me out!!!"

Mir cried out as she banged on the closet door for a good ten minutes. Her uncle and the other man who had shoved her in this dark prison were probably already long gone. Still she kept banging in sheer terror hoping someone might hear her and come to her aid. After all it's not like she meant to break Arina's new vase! Mir had just been running, playing, just…being a child. And what was wrong with that? She was only a child. One who was now trapped.

Falling to her knees in sheer exhaustion Mir curled up into a ball as the tears flowed from her eyes. She silently prayed that the darkness which enveloped her would somehow turn into light.

The sound of footsteps and a warm, soft voice calling her name caused Mir to look up. A light went on in the room causing a small beam of light to appear in the crack under the door of the closet where Mir was locked in. But

"Mir? Mir are you there?"

"Emi?" the young brunette's voice cracked as she called out for her older sister. A small hand reached out from under the door she hesitantly moved her fingers to touch the hand.

"Mir I'm here, I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner I had to wait until uncle and that other guy where gone… I'm sorry Mir, I'm so sorry." Mir sniffed touching her older sisters fingers.

"It's not your fault it's mine… I…"

"No it's not your fault! You didn't do anything wrong! I swear Mir as soon as I can I'll get us out of this horrid place, I swear" Mir sniffed nodding her head unable to speak. From the other side of the door Emi's voce rung out, "I can't get you out but want me to tell you a story?"

"o-okay."

Clearing her voice the older girl started, "Once apron a time there were three brothers and one day…"

------

I'm not sure what scared me more, the fact that I was locked up or the fact that I couldn't see. Darkness has always scared me. It's the fact that I don't know what's near me, can't see the world around me, just surrounded by utter darkness.

When your little it's creepy critters and monsters but now it's just memories of crying because I really had no idea how long I would be sitting in that room. How long I would be in total and utter darkness.

It was at times like this I didn't care that Emi always acted like a mother. She was the only thing that kept me from sheer panic. Just having her sit there with me on the other side of that door telling me stories that would keep my mind off my fears.

I don't think I could ever repay her for those long days. But I can try. And I do. I try everyday to make sure she gets whatever she wants (not that I'm even sure I know what she wants). She gave me so much when I needed it. All I really want is for her to have true happiness and all what she wants. Emi has always been there for me, she was my protector when I was young and weak. She was the voice in the dark bringing me to the light.

Emi was my saviour…

-------------

"Hello again!" Emi looked up to see Tito standing at the door, a single red rose in his hand that glistened in the light. "A little birdie told me you liked roses," he told the blonde as he walked over placing it on her desk.

"More bribes?"

"This time yes."

Emi smirked fingering the beautiful flower, "And what can I do for you today Mr. Hada?"

"It's Tito, and I was hoping dinner."

Emi's playful smile froze on her face, slowly her gaze moved from the rose to the young man who stood in front of her.

"Huh?"

Tito put his hands on the desk leaning forward, hazel green eyes meeting her crystal blue ones, "Would you mind terribly if I took you out for dinner?"

"Uhhh,"

"Please?" He was now giving her a very fake puppy pout, trying to get her to laugh. Emi felt her cheeks heat up slightly as she tried to suppress a smile.

"umm…well, I'm not sure… I'd have to call my sisters."

"You have sisters? Wow! There is a lot about you I don't know isn't there? Now you HAVE to go out with me." He paused to chuckle a little, his eyes lightened up when he saw that Emi was laughing. "I'll tell you what, why don't I pick you at six at your place that way you can tell you're sisters and I can meet them? Then we can go out! I know this really nice little dinner and it won't be a big deal, we can just eat and talk, I want to know more about you."

"There's really not much to know about me that's that interesting, besides my sisters."

"I doubt that, Soooo… is it a date?"

Emi laughed at his eagerness, "Ok! Sounds like fun."

Tito was about to say something else when Seto Kaiba burst into the office. "Emi we're going to the site for Kaibaland in ten minutes so get ready." Tito winced, his back to the CEO. Emi bit her lip trying to suppress a giggle at the young hazel eyed man's expression but stopped when she saw the fire in Seto's sapphire blue ones.

She had never seen him this worked up before. It was probably best not to anger him anymore at times like these than he already was. Could mean death too many innocent lives, especially pencils, clipboard, desks, doors, phones…and well anything that could be slammed or easily broken. There was also probably a few jobs that would be lost in the near future. So smiling and giving curt nod to her boss she started to pull out the necessary documents needed. Seeing that she was doing as she had been told Seto grunted then stormed out to get his things ready.

"See you at six" Tito whispered as he inched out. Emi laughed lightly and waved to him as he left.

-----

Emi stood silently as Seto ordered everyone around. He was building a theme park and since nothing was ever done well enough for him unless he was doing it, both Seto and Emi were there a lot. However Emi still wondered why she had to be there. It wasn't like she ever did much. She would just stand around taking notes when Seto told her to. She always felt awkward at these things. Seto was always running around furious because everyone wasn't doing their job the way he wanted (which was perfect) while she stood awkwardly in the background. She always felt like she didn't belong. Of course it didn't help the way everyone was looking at her, their eyes asking the same questions she was asking.

Why was she here?

After rampaging through the new development they both got back into the limo. Emi glanced through her notes as she began to organize.

"You're wearing the necklace." Emi glanced up her hand instantly going to the small rose pendent that was ever present around her neck. Seto's blue eyes were looking intently at it now. A thoughtful yet peaceful look playing in his sapphire eyes. Emi couldn't help but smile while trying hard to suppress a laugh. Seto's expression turned down into a small frown.

"What?"

Emi shook her head biting her lip to keep from laughing harder, "I just find it funny how you can go and blow up in front of a bunch of people then come in here and be all calm and collected." she chuckled a little shaking her head, "it's almost like rampaging calms you down."

"Well should I be happy now that I know they are going to be doing their jobs right, for now anyway"

"True…"

"You still didn't answer my first question, "

"Which was?"

"You're wearing my necklace,"

"Oh!" Emi smiled idly playing –once again- with her necklace while deciding not to inform the great Seto Kaiba that his "question"was not a question but a statement.

"I love it; it reminds me of so many happy memories."

Seto just nodded going back to typing on his laptop but Emi couldn't help but see the small glint of pleasure in his eyes. Mentally she rolled her eyes; he was acting like a little kid who was told he had done something good. She would never tell him but he made her laugh with this childish actions.

-----------

Gwyn smiled over at her older sister as the younger girl took a bite of her sandwich.

"I'm glad we could have lunch together" she told Mir. Her older sister nodded absentmindedly. It had been cold and raining all last week and because Gwyn now had drama practices after school and Mir always seemed to get into trouble the moment she walked in the door, the two younger girls never seemed to hang out anymore. So when the sun had finely broken through the rain clouds and it was just warm enough to eat outside Mir had ran over to the middle school to have lunch with her younger sister.

Right now the brunette was on the lookout for a certain classmate, Hunter's random appearances where becoming more and more frequent. At fist Mir didn't mind talking to him. He was, after all, new and finding friends at first can be hard. Not that Mir really knew how to make friends since hers just kind of popped up on her door step, literally. At first she really minded hanging out with him, he was a good duelist and knew a lot about the card game but after a while it stated to get a little annoying. Not only did he seem to refuse to meet anyone else. Then he started interrupting her conversations and always talked so much that she could hardly get a word in edgewise. It had gotten so bad that she could hardly get two words out of Satra or Ryou. It had been ages since she had even talked to Ryou's other friends. Sighing she glanced up at the white fluffy clouds.

"Are you ok?" Gwyn asked pulling Mir out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, wh…"

Suddenly she saw something that made her heart chill. Hunter was walking by himself reading a book while munching on an apple. "Ahhh quick hide!!!" grabbing her younger sister Mir dragged Gwyn behind a nearby bush.

"Why are we hiding" Gwyn whispered as her sister peeked out from the bear branches.

"Shhh! We're hiding from Hunter"

"Who's that?"

"See that kid reading?"

"Yeah,"

"That's him!"

"Oh! So why are we hiding from him? Is he mean?"

"No… he just talks… a lot,"

"Ohhh…"

So silently both girls sat behind the bush watching as the brown haired boy walked around then left. Giving a sigh of relief Mir relaxed.

"Why hello Mirati!"

"AHHHH!!!!!"

Mir was so surprised she jumped forward falling face first into the bush. Gwyn, who was equally surprised, spun around to see who it was. She smiled and relaxed when she saw who it was.

"Oh hi Ryou."

The white haired boy smiled as he stood over them. Mir turned rubbing the now red scratch on her cheek. "You scared me!" she gasped grabbing her chest to make sure her heart hadn't jumped out. Ryou frowned slightly as Mir stood.

"May I ask why you are hiding?"

"We weren't hiding from anyone! We were just… playing… hid and seek… only we where BOTH hiding!" neither Gwyn and Ryou said anything as Mir as she lamely spluttered.

Mentally Gwyn sighed. Why was her sister so strange sometimes? Ryou laughed shaking his head. "Oh ok," however his expression changed when he noticed the small scratch on her cheek, "Oh your bleeding!" gently he ran his finger over the small trickle of blood that ran from the wound worry written all over his face. Surprised by his sudden movement Mir jumped back. She would have fallen over again if Ryou hadn't grabbed her arm.

"Mirati! Are you ok!??!"

"Yeah, sorry you started me. Ohhh look at the time!! We better get back to class! Don't want a Detention cleaning who know what off the floor now do we?"

-------

"Welcome back Emi! Did Seto proposed yet?"

Emi laughed as she was greeted by her two sisters sitting outside enjoying their one day of sun from the long dreary week of greyness.

"No, sadly he was too busy trying to destroy the happiness of all his employees." Emi snickered. Gwyn's eyes grew wide in horror at the idea while Mir laughed. "So where's Ryou?" the white haired boy had started to visited regularly on Friday's since the Steps where out doing –whatever it was they did on Fridays- to study or just hang out. Mir shrugged.

"He's running late I guess. We're enjoying the nice weather while we wait for him."

"Ahhhh well I'm going to start dinner so tell Ryou he's welcome to stay if he likes."

Gwyn frowned confused, "Why are you starting so early?" she asked

"Cuz' I want to make sure my two beloved sisters get fed…"

"And why would your beloved sisters not be fed?" Mir interrogated.

"Because one of my Co-workers asked me out so I need to make sure dinners ready before I leave."

This answer was met by silence. After a few moments Mir spoke again.

"What about Seto?"

"What about him?"

"And his epic cape?"

Emi snorted, "What ABOUT it?"

"And his money!?!"

"Mir… If you love him so much why don't you marry him?"

"No way I hate him!"

"…"

Gwyn nodded sagely, "Mir can't marry Seto, she's supposed to marry Bakura!! I want him for a brother!" Mir rolled her eyes throwing Emi's retort back at Gwyn.

"Why don't YOU marry him?" Mir smirked smugly.

"Because you're going to." Gwyn replied simply.

"For the last time I AM NOT MARRYING RYOU!!!" the brunette exclaimed as she threw her arms up in the air."

"Hey Mirati!"

"AHHH!!! BAKURA!" The white haired boy had his hands in his pockets a blissfully unaware smile on his face unfazed by Mir's screaming"

"What were your guys talking about?" He asked as Gwyn smiled waving up at her adopted older brother

"Mir's going to marry you!" this slightly startled the young man but he was use to the Hidenka sisters slightly odd behaviour. "…really now?" he asked glancing at Mir for a better explication. Sadly the only thing that his brunette classmate could offer was a very red face.

"No!"

Ryou was even more confused now, "No?"

"You're not?" Emi asked –to Mir's annoyance- thoroughly enjoying this.

"Uhhh..." She was at a loss for words as her face reddened.

"She is." Gwyn confirmed nodded

"I--"

"She has to say yes!! I want you for a brother!!!" At this Gwyn hugged Ryou as if proving her point more pronouncedly as a slight pink began to creep up onto his face.

"Then YOU marry him, dang it!" Mir spat out face still red like a tomato.

" Er..." Emi covered her moth trying hard not to laugh at the now two red teens. Finely Ryou patted the still clinging young girl on the head "uhhh… I'd love to be your brother Gwyn." the small blonde looked up at him, her purple eyes meeting his. He was slightly surprised at how much she suddenly reminded him of her older sister.

"Really?"

"Yes! Of Course,"

"Don't encourage her!" Mir hissed still red faced. Emi shook her head a smile still playing on her lips.

"I'm going to start dinner you guys have fun with homework or whatever you guys do." She smiled with a wink.

---------------

When Tito came to the house he was greeted by two young ladies who he assumed were Emi's younger sisters. One, the older one, had opened the door. She now stood in the doorway hands folded over her chest her amethyst eyes scanning him, sizing him up. The younger one -he hadn't even seen at first because she had been hiding behind her older sister- looked up at him with large purple eyes equally as curious as her older sister –if not just as judgmental as the other.

Smiling the young man waved lightly, "Hi I'm Hada Tito you girls must be Emi's sisters she's always talking about."

"Oh." the older one said making no movement to move.

"Hi, I'm Gwyneira."

Tito smiled looking down at the younger one "Why hello Gwyneira, I like your blue dress. Do you like the color blue?" the blonde nodded beaming.

"It's my favourite color. Sissy got it for me."

"Mir? Gwyn? Why are you… oh. Hi Tito!" The young man looked up to see Emi walk in, smiling he waved. His gesture was responded by a slightly confused frown as the blonde glanced at the scene before her.

"Have you been there long?"

"Oh no, I just got here, you ready to go?"

"Oh yeah, let me just get my jacket."

"Ok!"

With that Emi dashed back into the inner part of the house. As she left the older sister, Mir, turned to Tito.

"You better be nice to her or else…" She said with a dark gleem in her eyes.

Tito, startled by the sudden threat, tried not to smile, "I would never dream of hurting your sister"

"Sure that's what they all say…"

Gwyneira frowned her small nose wrinkling, "They all?"

"Well that's what they all would say if there were others." Mir hissed back at Gywn.

Tito coughed trying to hide a laugh at Mir's remark. He suddenly really liked Emi's sisters and he could see why his date loved them so much.

I will try to never have my chapters ever be this late again. Again thanks to PB-Queen-101 for betaing for me!!! You're amazing!!! –hugs-

Well I'm tired and it's almost 2 (wonder how that happened) so before I leave I'd like to thank the people who make this story possible because without their support I would never be inspired as much as I am to write these chapters.

As always YOU GUYS ROCK!

Ari Saki:

THANKS!!! I try to keep my chapters interesting :D hahah I always feel funny when people read over my shoulder XD kind of like when people sneak up on me and I know they are doing it. SNOW!!! I love the snow :D it's so pretty and pure and makes everything so bright :D I just had to add a snow scene

Lightest'Ink:

Glad to see you back!!! I missed you a lot, it's nice to hear from you. Hahah one of my friends said she liked Hunter cuz he's so annoying XD poor Hunter he has no chance with Mir –laughs-

Claamchowder

Yeah she is, I'm trying to make her a cretin way and it is truing out harder then I thought… oh well we'll just keep working with her. Thanks!

Happy Hour123

Meh it's fine :D I know how life can get. Hahah yeah he kind of is, more annoying (or I'm trying to make him more annoying) but it's creepy how finds Mir everywhere. Yeah poor Gwyn, she's one of those people who are easy to boss around cuz she'll do it without a fight.

Emilee-san:

Haha really!?! That's so cool!!! So can I come over and have some cookies? REALLY!?! You poor thing –hug- maybe you can somehow get him to understand that MOST stalking is kind of creepy XD Yeah I'm trying to get some in there, even if MirxRyou is more on my mind right now.

DarkestInk

It's ok :D I know how life can be, I'm having a hard time keeping up with stuff too. Awww thanks :D I'm having fun with it. I really love writing about these girls

Reiko The Awesome:

She IS a big meanie I really don't like her at all, she's also a pain to write but she's kind of important in the girls character development (epically Gwyn's). yeah Mir's also looking out for her sister.

comet7:

awww thanks :D most of the jokes come from me and my Beta Kit talking over IM. Now that I have my laptop back I'm sure I'll be writing more :D

destinykeyblade:

Thank you –smiles- comments like that make me feel soooo good –hugs- WOOT!! I got you addicted!!! I love it when I find a fanfic I can't get enough of, and it makes me soooooooo good when someone says that about mine :D I try to base my characters off people I know (not just one person either a few that way they are their own person) then I give put weird things in their way and see what they do with it :D it's so much fun. Mir's based a lot off my friend Kit but she's really become a lot of herself because I find myself going places and hearing people say things and going "THAT is SUCH a Mir line, must add that"

PB-Queen-101:

GAAAA how do you do it!!! Every time you review you make me feel so AMAZING!!! –glomps you- thank you so much!!!

Oh you'll probably hate her more as the story goes on, she's a pain to write cuz she's like the first person I've ever written where I REALLY want my readers to hate her but make it believable at the same time (these stories in general really are a first in a lot of ways)

Sadly Mr. Yami just doesn't fit into these stories . but I do think that if I ever finish these stories (stories -hinthint-) I would like to do one that's parallel to ancient Egypt (like half the chapter is in Egypt and the other is in this time. If I ever get to write it Yami Bakura will defiantly be part of it. Your comment about the Mistletoe inspired me and their shall be some in it and it will add to Emi and Seto's relationship but I'm not sure it's what think –smiles evilly-

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New years and remember to keep those reviews coming!!!

Liz (Element-girls)