Disclaimer: See previous chapters.

Chapter 7: New Roommates

A/N: Well, here's the first part of the update duo that I promised. The update for Ignorance will be out in a few weeks after I've edited it some more and gotten the events straightened out to the point where they collate with previous chapters. Some other news is that at the rate I'm going, I might also have another update for this story by that time too. It all depends on how it goes this holiday while dealing with those relatives who always give you fruitcake, finding another job, trying to keep from skinning the cats, and all those other little pains that come with Christmas.

After making their promise to Yugi to help him in their quest, the three teens began to realize something. By agreeing to help the hikari in his quest they had just opened themselves up to several new problems. The first of which was finding a place for Yugi and Solitaire to stay while they were on Earth. Everyone already knew that it was impossible to just let the pair find shelter on their own. Knowing nothing truly factual about Earth beyond what the three humans had already told them, the two would not be able to survive very well on their own.

Among themselves, they already knew that the only real places that Yugi and Solitaire might be able to stay was with one of them. The trick was deciding just who that someone was going to be. As much as they all wanted to help, each already knew that there were problems if the pair were to stay with one of them. For Anzu and Honda alike, it was the fact that their parents wouldn't just take in what appeared to be a child off the streets without question. They would want to be knowing where he had come from and where his parents were so that they would be able to send him home again.

Jou was easier off since he no longer lived with his father while his mother and younger sister both lived in a faraway city. Plus there was the fact that there was so much more room in his home than in either Anzu and Honda's homes put together. So ideally, he would have been the perfect choice to take Yugi and Solitaire in for the duration of their visit. The one problem with that choice was one of the other people who also occupied the mansion.

One of these people, the younger, wouldn't be too much of a problem. He was a bit of a brat at time, but for the most part, he was really easy for anyone to get along with. And for an 11-year old, the boy known as Kaiba Mokuba was pretty smart as well, so if they had to explain things to him, then it wouldn't be much of a problem. Which meant that when he and Yugi eventually met, then there wouldn't be much of a problem between the pair.

No, the real problem was with the other housemate, Mokuba's older brother and actual owner of the mansion that the three shared, Kaiba Seto. He was a person who was used to being in control of what went on around him and knowing exactly what was happening. Something that wouldn't happen if Jou just invited Yugi and Solitaire to stay with them out of the blue. No, he would not be very happy about something like that happening.

Then again, being unhappy with having two unexpected guests would be the mild way of putting it. The best way to put it was that Kaiba would be downright furious that he had strangers in his house without Jou asking him first. And when he was angry about anything, Kaiba Seto was not a man to be crossed by anyone. It was that fact that kept Jou's own thoughts in check for the moment as he and the others all considered about the same thing.

In any case, they were going to have to think of something fast. It was going to be getting dark in a few hours and that meant that Anzu and Honda were going to have to be heading home. If they weren't able to think of anything by then, the humans and their friends were pretty much sunk. So it was time to get down to business as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately for them, Yugi wasn't exactly thinking along the same lines as them. For it, the matter of finding somewhere to stay was secondary to actually finding new friends that were willing to help him. He wasn't used to finding such a thing when it wasn't ordered or he wasn't with his fellow Hikaris. It was a new experience for Yugi to have friends who wanted to be with him for who he was, instead of what he was.

"So what are we gonna do now? Will you show me more of Earth?" Yugi asked.

"Whoa, hold it there, Yugi. We're not goin' anywhere just yet. We got a lot to talk about first," Honda warned.

"Huh?" Yugi replied, sounding a little disappointed," What do you mean we have a lot to talk about? Are there more Earth rules that we need to know about?"

"It's not that, Yugi. We just really need to find some place for you guys to stay while you're here," Anzu said," It's still sorta warm out this time of year, but it gets really cold at night and there's a lot of weirdoes out there to worry about."

"What's a weirdo supposed to be? Some kind of animal?" Solitaire replied.

"Not exactly," Honda said.

"Then what are they?" Yugi prompted.

The three humans looked at one another uncertainly. They knew that they had promised Yugi that they would help him learn more about Earth, but there were just some things that they felt he really didn't need to know about their world. Things that they felt were better left unsaid because of the ugliness that they could reveal about the human race. So if they were going to get through this, they were just going to have find ways to either word answers carefully or just steer away from the subject altogether. In this case though, they would just have to go with the former and hope that Yugi and Solitaire bought it.

"Weirdoes aren't animals, guys. They're just people who…aren't very nice and sometimes cause trouble for others," Anzu said slowly," So we stay away from them if we can help it."

"Oh. Why didn't you just say that in the first place? Makes more sense than staring at each other like someone's gonna bite you," Solitaire snorted.

"Uh, yeah sure. Whatever you say, Solitaire," Anzu sighed.

Solitaire just shrugged. Personally, she didn't see what had been the big deal. All she had done was ask a question. There was nothing wrong with that. After all, it wasn't like she was asking for some supreme secret that would utterly change the world. All she learned was that humans were very strange when it came to answering the simplest questions.

"So why are you so worried about finding us a place to stay? I already knew that we had to do that," Yugi said.

"You did?" Anzu replied.

"Yes. That's why I wanted to go out and see what else there was around here. Then I would be able to find a place for us to stay more easily," Yugi nodded.

All of his friends but Solitaire just looked at him in surprise. None of them had known how well Yugi had planned when it came to existing in their world. After how their initial encounter had gone, it didn't really seem like he was looking that far ahead. They were assuming that he was taking things as they went and making his plans around that. Now they were seeing that he had indeed been thinking ahead more than they had thought.

"If you already thought about that, then how are ya gonna pay for stuff, Yugi? I mean, you know that stuff around here isn't for free," Honda said.

"Oh, we planned for that way before we left home, Honda. I already knew that it would cost us something to get things in your world. I thought that maybe we could trade some things for shelter and food if we had to. I mean, after I studied the scrolls, I brought things that I thought might be valuable to humans," Yugi explained as he started to dig through this satchel.

The others watched with interest as he began to pile the satchel's contents onto the table that was next to the window that Yugi had been looking out earlier. Their expressions changed immediately when they saw just what Yugi had been carrying around in his satchel. What he pulled out were necklaces and bracelets that were made of the purest gold. Each one was lined with precious stones that were of sizes that none of the teens had ever imagined that they could reach.

When he finished unloading his satchel, Yugi looked up to meet the expressions of his friends. Upon seeing the surprise on their faces, he was left a little confused as to just what was wrong now. All he had done was to take things out of his satchel and place them on the table. There was certainly nothing strange about that. So why were they staring at him like he had just grown as many heads as an Ultimate Blue Eyes White Dragon?

"Is something the matter?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah," agreed Solitaire," You all look like your eyes are about to pop out or something."

"Y-your stu-uff," Honda sputtered.

"Oh?" Yugi asked, glancing between the table contents and his friends," What about them?"

"Yugi, you never have to trade this stuff," Anzu said.

"Really? Then what can I do with it?" Yugi replied.

"You could just sell these things and not have to worry about a thing. These are worth more than just a few yen. There's enough gold jewels here for you to live in the lap of luxury for at least four lifetimes," Anzu stated.

As much as he wanted to, Yugi really wasn't sure just what Anzu was talking about. The concepts of luxury and lifetimes meant nothing to the little hikari. To him, what people might consider luxury was the everyday lifestyle that he had had almost since the beginning of his creation. And a lifetime did not matter to him simply because for Yugi, time didn't go on as it did for others. For him, it would always stand still and forever keep him as he was.

Yugi was curious as to just what 'yen' was though. He had never heard the term before and assumed that it was something of value to the humans if Anzu claimed his trinkets were worth more than a few. It might have been the system that humans used to get their goods and other necessities. That wasn't certain though, along with many of the other things that Yugi knew had to be of Earth origin.

"What's yen, Anzu?" Yugi asked.

"That's the kind of currency that we use here in Japan. It's not the same all over the world though, because every country has their own kind of money to use," Anzu explained.

"Oh. We really don't have a system like that in the Shadow Realm. If we want anything, we either just trade for them or make it ourselves," Yugi replied.

"We had a system like that a long time ago. It was called the bartering system," Anzu nodded.

"Bartering? What a strange name," Yugi commented," We just trade things and leave it at that. It never made much sense to call it anything else."

"Guess that's just another difference between our worlds," Anzu suggested.

"I guess it is," Yugi agreed.

While they talked, Jou and Honda continued to look down at the pile of jewelry that lay on the table. They could understand Yugi's reasoning for using these things to trade with. After all, just one piece with a few gemstones on it would be worth enough to buy him an entire city block in Domino. There was no doubt that Yugi and Solitaire would be able to provide well for themselves as long as no one turned their ignorance of Earth values against them.

Still, somehow it just didn't seem right that Yugi would just throw these things away so calmly. Shouldn't someone who was immortal and older than any of them have had more common sense than that? Obviously, Yugi's knowledge extended only to the mysteries of the universe. Something that did not include the use of any kind of wealth and when it was best to use it. And somehow, Honda at least, just couldn't let that slide by without saying something.

"Are you sure that you wanted to just trade these things, Yugi? I mean, they have to be important to you if you have so many," Honda protested.

"Oh no, they're not really that important, Honda. I picked them out of my collection because I never really liked them and thought that they would be put to better use for trading," Yugi shrugged.

As was becoming common among them, jaws again dropped at this statement. None of them were truly certain of what they were hearing when it came to Yugi's confession. It was just impossible to imagine that anyone would trade such wealth away just because it wasn't very well liked by the owner. That just seemed so foolish to the humans who just weren't used to anything so frivolous. Add to the fact that Yugi had a collection of these things and they were all just totally floored by the information.

"You have a collection of this stuff!" Jou yelped.

"Yes," Yugi nodded," But the ones at home are a lot prettier than these."

"You chose this stuff because it wasn't pretty enough?" Honda questioned.

"Uh-huh," Yugi said.

Honda slapped a hand to his forehead while the other two seemed to be restraining themselves from doing the same. With each new statement that he said, Yugi was making himself seem more and more strange to the humans. Not the supernatural part of his being a hikari, but just the fact that the simplest things that he said always seemed to be flooring them every few moments. It just didn't seem possible that one person was able to do that so much in one afternoon.

The matter of the jewelry did open up another avenue of thought for Jou though. Knowing that Yugi had so much on him, he could see it as being a double-edged sword. It was true that Yugi would be able to support himself and his dragon without trouble, but it would also leave them open to the greedier souls of the human race. Jou knew right off that there were people who would trick and hurt the little one without hesitation if it meant that they could get something for themselves.

Having seen the results of such things for himself, Jou knew what he had to do. It would more than likely land him in hot water for awhile, but it was better than allowing harm to come to Yugi. Even if they had only known one another for a short time, Jou knew that Yugi was his friend. As such, Jou knew that it was his duty to make sure that his friend was safe and could learn how to navigate the human world without trouble.

Gathering up all the jewelry in both hands and putting it all back in Yugi's satchel, Jou ordered," Just put this stuff up and forget about it until ya go home, Yug. You're not gonna need it. I've got ya covered."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Yugi asked.

"Simple, you and electricity brains there are gonna stay with me, free of charge. We got plenty of room here," Jou said.

Inwardly, Jou dealt with two things. He knew that this was the right thing to do for all of them. Anzu and Honda just didn't have the room to allow hikari and dragon to stay without someone asking too many questions. Plus, they didn't have the same resources that Jou had access to. He would be able to get their new friends food, clothes, and shelter without any trouble while the other two teens would be hard pressed to do so with their allowances.

That didn't keep the offer from stunning all of his friends. None of them had been expecting that Jou would ever do such a thing. For Anzu and Honda, knowing just who he would have to deal with after making the impromptu invitation, it was surprising that he would take such a risk. Yugi and Solitaire though, were just surprised that Jou would offer to help them even more than he had already agreed to.

"You would really let us stay here? Just like that?" Yugi breathed.

"Course I would, Yug. I said that we were gonna help ya while ya were here and I meant it," Jou nodded.

He ruffled Yugi's hair playfully to emphasize the point. Yugi blushed and pulled away. Like before, he understood that the gesture was meant to be friendly. It was just a little hard for him to get used to on what was becoming a constant basis. Back in the Shadow Realm, the only ones who readily touched him for any length of time were Yami and Solitaire. And they had the reason for being two of the people who were closest to him.

Here though, everyone seemed to be touching him in some way. Jou did it when he was either trying to comfort the hikari in his own way or was being playful. Anzu seemed to do it when she felt protective of him or turned him in the right direction when they were traveling. Honda was the same way when it came to keeping him out of trouble and that was about it. All were gestures that steered towards friendship and were probably things that he might have to get used to while on Earth since humans seemed to be a race in need of touch to communicate with one another.

To a degree, Yugi wasn't the only one who felt some uneasiness right now. Anzu and Honda were feeling that way for different reasons though. They still weren't too sure about Jou's decision. There was just too much that could go wrong when Kaiba found out and if he decided to oust Yugi and Solitaire because he didn't want them in his home. If that's how things went, which they most likely would in the opinions of Anzu and Honda, then they would just be back at square one.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea, Jou? I mean, what about Kaiba? You know he isn't gonna like you making this sort of decision without him" Honda said.

"I'll handle him. Don't worry about it," Jou assured them.

"You sure about that, Jou? I mean, I know you guys are tight, but Kaiba's not always charitable even when you're involved," Anzu replied skeptically.

"Ah, you worry too much. If I say that I can handle him, I can handle him," Jou insisted.

Though he seemed confident in this, Anzu and Honda knew better than to completely trust this boast. They both knew all too well how ruthless Kaiba Seto could be when he was upset, even with his lover. It was a trait that made him one of the most feared and respected men in the business world, but what gave him lousy social skills. Something that Jonouchi had been attempting to remedy for several years though without any real success.

Still, they had to admit that it might just be the best shot that they had. There weren't that many options open to them at the moment and they really had to take what they could find at the moment. So they would go with Jou's plan and if that didn't work out, then they would just think of something else. After all, Yugi did have his jewelry and if push came to shove, they could pawn a few of them for enough money so that he, Solitaire, and one of them could stay in a nearby hotel.

These thoughts only passed among the humans though. For Yugi, his mind was yet again on an entirely different subject. What he wanted to know about was the one that they had mentioned earlier. The one that they had called Kaiba and everyone seemed to be nervous about. He didn't understand why that would be so, unless they were doing something that this Kaiba person didn't like. But that made it all the more important to Yugi that he knew who Kaiba was just in case they met anytime soon.

"Who's Kaiba, Jou?" Yugi asked.

"And why do you look terrified at the thought of him?" Solitaire added.

"If you saw how he acts, then you'd be scared of the guy too," Honda snorted.

"Seto's not that bad, Honda. All ya got to do is get to know him," Jou insisted.

"That still doesn't tell us who he is," Solitaire snorted.

"He's my boyfriend," Jou answered.

"Your what?" Yugi asked.

Remembering that it was a term that Yugi was unfamiliar with, Jou explained," Just like you, my lover's a guy. Only difference between moneybags and your guy is that mine don't try and protect me from like I'm some porcelain doll. He lets me take my lumps when he thinks and I deserves'em and never says anything but 'I told ya so' when it's over."

"Sounds like a certain stuck up magician that I know," Solitaire snorted.

"Solitaire, shush," Yugi scolded.

"Um, should I even ask?" Honda said.

"No," Yugi replied bluntly.

"If you say so," Honda shrugged.

Looking back up at Jou, Yugi asked," Why do you call your lover 'moneybags'?"

"You call Yami my darkness, I call Kaiba moneybags," Jou shrugged.

Yugi accepted that. When it came to lovers, each one had their own ways of showing endearment. For hikaris like himself, it might be referring to their yami with my darkness or my dark one. Perhaps even something a little more personal that only that particular pair of yami and hikari might understand. But whatever the reason, it wasn't so strange to him that Jou had a nickname for this Kaiba.

"Well whatever you call him, if he doesn't like us being here, then just send him to me. I'll make him see things our way," Solitaire snorted.

The three humans paled at the thought of that. Not for the fact that Solitaire might cause injury to someone who could prove to be a valuable ally for her Master's quest, no that would have been too obvious. No, the concern that the humans felt was for Solitaire herself and what would happen when Kaiba met her. Knowing his particular interest in dragons, they could only see one possible to a meeting between CEO and dragon and it was not a good one.

"I'm not sure it's such a good idea if we let Kaiba see you just yet, Solitaire. He's kinda funny about things like this," Anzu warned.

Jou looked at the girl darkly while Yugi and Solitaire just looked on in confusion. For Jou, he might have known what his lover was like but that didn't mean that he liked anyone badmouthing him. That included friends like Anzu, who he thought should have known better. For the others though, they had absolutely no idea what Anzu was referring to.

"How is Kaiba like about what things, Anzu?" Yugi asked.

"Seto's just really interested in dragons, Yugi. He might just go a little overboard meeting an actual dragon like Solitaire," Jou said quickly.

"Interested?" Honda echoed," Jou, that guy's more than interested. He's fucking obsessed with anything that has to do with dragons, especially those stupid Blue Eyes White Dragons."

Yugi and Solitaire's attention was peaked by this sudden outburst. Neither one of them had expected the humans to know about creatures from their own world. They had assumed that any creature from the Shadow Realm would have to be revealed by them, not another source. Obviously, these humans were more aware of what was in their world then they thought.

Even so, there was no reason for Honda to speak so disrespectfully of some of the strongest dragons ever to roam the Shadow Realm. Though they might have been arrogant and surly at times, the Blue Eyes White Dragons were creatures of powerful magic and that was something the demanded respect from all others. Especially from those that had no idea what they were risking by insulting such powerful creatures.

"I wouldn't talk about the Blue Eyes like that if I were you, Honda. If they find out, they might come here and burn you alive," Yugi warned, effectively cutting off the argument that was about to start between him and Jou.

"And if they don't, then I will. I don't like it when people talk bad about my family," Solitaire snarled.

Confusion was more than evident on the humans' faces when they heard this. First at Yugi's insistence that what were supposed to be playing cards for a game were actually living creatures and then Solitaire demand that they not insult her relatives. Neither one really made sense as the Blue Eyes White Dragons weren't supposed to exist on anything other than the four trading cards that they had been printed on when Duel Monsters was created.

"Did you just say that the Blue Eyes were real, Yugi?" Honda asked uncertainly.

"And they're your family, Solitaire?" Jou added.

"Yes," hikari and dragon replied in unison.

Jou and Honda honestly didn't know what to do anymore. It was beginning to seem like every time they said something, then either Yugi or Solitaire would say something that would just turn things to an entirely different subject. And this time, it was truly a doozy. Neither one had any idea on how to approach a subject that was supposed to be fictional. Thankfully, they had Anzu to bail them out yet again.

She was just as surprised as her friends, but this time it wasn't to the point of speechlessness. Anzu kept her head long enough to remember that Yugi and Solitaire were from a different world. There were countless possibilities that could happen when dealing with them. This included something as farfetched as hearing about things that were considered to be nothing more than stories and part of games that people played.

"Um, Yugi, how do you know about the Blue Eyes White Dragons? Are they creatures that live in your world?" Anzu asked.

"Of course they are, Anzu. They're some of the most powerful dragons in the Shadow Realm. Everyone respects their power, even Yami," Yugi nodded.

"Okay. Exactly how are they related to you, Solitaire? No offense, but you guys really don't look alike," Anzu continued.

"That's simple. All dragons in the Shadow Realm are related to one another, no matter how distantly. It doesn't matter if we look alike or not. That's because we all have the same common ancestors that spawned us when our world was created. Things have just thinned out over the eons and now most of us just have a distant tie to one another," Solitaire explained.

They spoke so calmly that it finally broke the stunned silence of Jou and Honda. The two still couldn't believe what they were hearing, but it was something that they would deal with eventually. Right now, a few new questions were coming to mind. All of which, strangely enough, were aimed entirely at Solitaire.

"How closely related are you guys? To the Blue Eyes I mean" Jou asked after finding his voice again.

"They're my cousins 97 times removed on my father's side," Solitaire replied.

"Uh, not exactly very close relatives, are they?" Honda muttered.

"Not really. We really don't keep in touch with each other anyhow, so it doesn't really matter," Solitaire shrugged.

"That's the understatement of the century," Jou sighed," Just do me one favor, Solitaire."

"And what would that be?" Solitaire asked suspicisouly.

"When you guys meet, don't tell moneybags that you're related to the Blue Eyes. 'Cause if he finds out that they're real, he's gonna be doin' anything that he can to see them himself," Jou muttered.

Solitaire's reaction to that was just a disgusted scowl. Being a human, Jou obviously didn't understand the protocol that involved both dragons and the Shadow Realm. For both of them, it was an unwritten fact that one did not just go seeking them out for the simple reason of seeing them. There had to be a specific and very good reason to risk the anger of one and eternal banishment for breaking the law in another.

"Not a chance. I might teleport for Yugi, but not for some delusional human. I happen to like my head where it is," Solitaire snorted.

She turned her back on Jou to show him that she was offended that he would even suggest such a thing to her. It was a gesture that didn't go over too well with Jou, who didn't understand what he had done wrong. All he knew was that the dragon was scolding him for something that she found insulting. He was going to ask just what he had done wrong now when Solitaire had turned her back on him and effectively made it clear that she didn't want to hear what else he had to say. Not that it stopped a now agitated Jou from speaking his mind anyhow.

"What's your problem now, ya overgrown lizard? What'd I say this time? All I did was ask ya not to tell Kaiba about your relatives so he wouldn't want to go to the Shadow Realm and you act like that's a crime," Jou growled.

"That's because it can be if someone ever found out what she did if that happened, Jou," Yugi said, coming to his friend's rescue.

"Huh?" Jou replied.

"Jumping between worlds can be very dangerous, especially if you do it too many times at once. It makes the boundaries between where you've been and where you're going unstable. If it's left alone, eventually, it'll heal itself. But if you keep it up too much, the worlds start to merge and that just makes a mess of everything," Yugi explained," That's why there's a law in the Shadow Realm that governs the use of those powers and punishes those who abuse it. And that law includes that Solitaire never use her powers to bring anyone from outside the Shadow Realm in unless she was given permission."

His explanation instantly calmed Jou down and made him realize how that request might have seemed like an insult to Solitaire. He didn't like how she had reacted, but with that sort of pressure breathing down her neck, Jou could understand why Solitaire had acted like that. So he was willing to cut her some slack this time instead of starting another fight.

From the looks that he was receiving from Anzu and Honda, he might also want to offer a bit of an apology. Nothing extravagant of course since it was only a small misunderstanding, but enough that it would clear things up between them. After all, with the way things were going, they were going to be spending a lot of time together in the coming weeks. And it would be better to stay on the right side of one another as much as possible.

"Eh, no hard feelings, right Solitaire? I wasn't tryin' to start anything," Jou asked.

Glancing back at him, Solitaire sighed," I know that. I shouldn't have lost my temper like that, but I've always been touchy about using my power. It's the one thing that I'm scared of getting in trouble for because I know how strict the code is to protect the dimensional barriers. You make one mistake and you're as good as gone."

"But what about bringing Yugi here? Won't that get you into trouble when someone finds out?" Anzu protested.

"No," Solitaire said simply.

"Okay, I'm confused. If this is such a big deal, why would bringing Yugi here not get you into trouble? I thought you just said that this law applied to everyone," Honda demanded.

"It does if someone isn't a servant of a yami or a hikari. But I'm a Hikari and Solitaire's my servant. So anything I ask her to do, no one's going to make a big deal about because she was just following my orders," Yugi replied," After all, I'm born of light itself. What sort of trouble could I possibly cause by having my servant teleport me somewhere?"

He looked at the others innocently, but somehow, they knew better than to believe everything he said this time. There was just a certain gleam in the back of Yugi's eyes that told them as much. Whether it was from being around someone like Solitaire for so long or just a natural part of his personality that was mostly kept hidden away, none could be sure. All that they knew was that it there and was enough for them to be just slightly wary.

"Yugi, light or not, I think you have a sneaky streak buried in there somewhere," Honda snorted.

Yugi only blinked at him. He had no idea as to why Honda would come to that assumption. All he had done was to state a legitimate fact of when it came to the Shadow Realm. Why would that make Honda assume that he had a sneaky side buried somewhere was beyond him. But in the end, he decided to just let things go. It wouldn't make any difference if he tried to argue anything.

Yugi did wonder about something else though. It had slipped his mind for the moment, but then it came back to him. There was still the question of how his friends and this Kaiba had known about the Blue Eyes. As far as he knew from the scrolls that he had read, it was impossible for humans to have gone to the Shadow Realm to see the Monsters. They just didn't have the magical knowledge or the ability to do such things. So how could they possibly know about some of the most powerful creatures that had ever been born into existence.

"It's strange," Yugi murmured.

"What is, Yugi?" Anzu asked.

"How you could possibly know about the Blue Eyes White Dragons. As far as I know, they've never left the Shadow Realm and keep to themselves unless all the dragons are called together," Yugi said.

"Which has only happened once," Solitaire commented.

Yugi kneeled down and placed a hand on the dragon's head, signaling for her to be silent for the moment. He didn't feel that now was the time for sidelong commentaries. Right now, they had something that could be important to discuss. Thankfully, Solitaire understood the silent message and kept her mouth shut. Thus giving Yugi the time he needed to both think things out and then find the answers he sought from the humans.

"And I know that no Blue Eyes has ever left the Shadow Realm. They had no desire to travel. So how could you know?" Yugi continued.

"I don't know where the idea came from, but I know how Kaiba knows about them dragons. He knows about them because they're his favorite Duel Monster cards. He never plays without them in his deck, no matter how many times he changes the damn thing," Jou snorted.

"What are Duel Monster cards?" Yugi asked.

"Duel Monsters card are part of a game that we play all over the world. It's one of the most popular games ever," Honda replied.

"Do you have any of these cards? I'd like to take a look at them," Yugi requested.

"Yeah, sure. Right here," Jou said as he went over to the couch and fished around in his jacket pocket.

A moment later he pulled out a slightly scuffed up deck of cards and brought it back to Yugi. The hikari took it with curiosity shining in his eyes, already examining the top of the deck. It was a mixture of brown and black, with the brown acting as both an outside border while mixing into a swirl with the black. Some of the edges were a little bent in the corner, suggesting that they had been used several times. Though unfamiliar with the concept of cards, Yugi could admire the meaning that these obviously held for Jou.

When he started turning them over and going through them however, Yugi was greeted by something he knew all too well. Or rather, the faces of creatures that he knew all too well. Staring back at Yugi were the forms and faces of Monsters like the Panther Warrior and Rocket Man that dwelled in the Shadow Realm. None of them had ever served among Yami's minions, but Yugi had seen plenty of them at one point or another. It was like a part of the Shadow Realm had followed him here and in a way, that was almost comforting.

"Well Yugi? See any old friends?" Jou asked.

"All of these are creatures that live in the Shadow Realm. There's no doubt about it," Yugi replied.

"No joke, Yugi?" Jou asked.

"No, it's true. There's a few minor differences in the coloration in some of them from the true form and the proportions, but other than that, these are exact copies," Yugi nodded.

He handed the cards back to Jou, immediately knowing that only a few of his questions about them had been answered. In their place however, more than a dozen others had come into being. It was a situation that Yugi knew was going to plague him during their stay on Earth until he found out the source of these cards. How he would do that, Yugi had no idea. All that he knew was that he was going to find out no matter how long it took him.

A/N: Okay, I suppose this is going a little slower than most of you might want, but I'm trying to build up for upcoming chapters. So if anyone wants this to be sped up, I apologize. I just want to make a decent story. Still, thanks to everyone who has read this so far and given their reviews. It's really helped me keep this fic off the ground for awhile now.