I don't know if anyone is still reading this. I apologize for such a long wait anyway. I'm just not really into fanfiction as much. I much prefer to draw this out.

Anyway, here's chapter 11

Kim laid on a comfortable bed, looking up at the ceiling. So much had happened in just fourty eight hours. And the past five or six hours had been the busiest of them all.

Shortly after the group had arrived to Pegasus' castle, they had found Kaiba standing in the way between them and the door to get in. He demanded that Yugi duel him for the right to face Pegasus. As it was, he had kidnapped Mokuba Kaiba, and had taken almost full control over Kaiba-corp. Kaiba had to duel Pegasus in order to win back his company and brother.

Against his friends wishes, Yugi had agreed to duel him. betting half of his star chips, and the two boys proceeded to duel.

They had come to a stalemate, but Yugi had of course, managed to get the upper hand. It would take one turn in order for him to win. Knowing this, Kaiba had put himself on the ledge of the castle, and told Yugi the blast of his attack would send him falling off the edge, resulting in his death.

Yugi had hesitated briefly, but his own goal of saving his grandfather pushed him to attack.

At the last minute though, the monsters attack was halted as Yugi commanded it to stop! The original Yugi had taken control, not wanting Kaiba to die as a result of him.

Kaiba didn't hesitate and managed to use his blue eyes dragon to finish the duel and win. Taking Yugi's star chips, and going into the castle.

An hour had passed and each one of them attempted to cheer Yugi up and encouraged him to find any last minute duelists on the island. Surely there had to be some out there desperately trying to stay the extra day.

Yugi couldn't be persuaded though, and it wasn't until Mai had showed up, with five extra star chips no less, that Yugi had finally seemed to come back to reality. With Mai's insistence, he took the star chips and they were able to enter the castle.

Once in the castle, they found Kaiba and Pegasus dueling for the rights to Kaiba-corp as well as Mokuba's safe return. Kaiba, unfortunately lost the duel. Pegasus claimed to have taken his soul as well.

Kim remembered how the older man had pushed aside his hair and showed off his millennium eye. A cold feeling had washed over her entire being as she remembered that same eye being directed at her!

As Kaiba's body slumped forward, she wondered if that was how she looked when she had fallen onto that table in front of Ryou's other side.

Back in the present, Kim wiped a cold sweat from her face and sat back up. Pegasus had offered them dinner (something which she was glad to have) and rooms for the night (again, something she was glad to have) and now she was laying in this bed thinking about the events that were happening.

At dinner time, she found that Pegasus loved to paint, he had two portraits in his dining area. one of a beautiful young woman, and another a strange young man with a pendent that had the same eye on Ryou's ring, and Yugi's puzzle. Yugi seemed to recognize him, and it had definitely sparked Ryou's interest. But Yugi didn't discuss any more of it.

"there's got to be a connection." she sighed and sat up, running a hand through her hair. Frowning a bit, she decided that she wanted to look at the paintings some more.

She quickly pulled her hair back into its usual pony tail, and slipped on her shoes before quietly exiting the room. The burnette looked around carefully and after seeing no security, retraced her steps back to the dining room.

Kim's foot steps echoed loudly along the bare walls, and she cringed wondering why no guards had come after her. Surely even they could hear her rapid breathing down the hallway?

As it was, nobody came after her, and soon enough, she was back in the dining hall. the portraits stood proudly in the moonlight and she gazed up at them.

The butler, Croquet had said that the Egyptian was Shadi, and the woman was Cecelia. He also said Pegasus wouldn't bother to talk about them, and she vaguely wondered why? Yugi also didn't discuss the Egyptian man either.

Again, she wondered what Shadi's connection to these two were? Did he appear to millennium item holders? Would Ryou be visited by him any time soon? And where and how did he get his millennium item?

There were so many questions, and it seemed that the mystery of these items might just be that. A mystery.

But, Kim had always had a love for mystery and suspense novels. She knew from her books that where there was a mystery, an answer was waiting to be found.

She folded her arms and again gazed at the Egyptian portrait. This Shadi had to be a key link to the answers she wanted.

Just as the teenager was about to wonder how to get these answers, she heard footsteps and saw a light shining about the empty hallway. Her heart leaped to her throat and her head swiveled around the area looking for a place to hide, until eventually, she saw a potted plant standing in the corner, and quickly darted behind it. Squeezing her small body into the shadows as much as she possibly could.

The footsteps continued on and eventually the light faded away as the guard had probably moved on.

Kim gave a sigh of relief and stumbled out of her hiding place. With one last look at the portrait, she began to leave the dining area. Unaware of a pair of eyes that watched her from another shadowed corner.

"Great, I've gotten myself lost." Kim grumbled as she wandered the hallways. She had to take a "Shortcut" in order to avoid more security, but as a result, ended up wandering in circles. She was sure she had passed the same glass vase three times, unless Pegasus just had triple vases.

Eventually, she was just hoping that security would find her and help her back to her room...if they didn't lock her up with the Kaiba brothers first.

The thought of being caught trespassing and getting into major trouble made her heart pound wildly with anxiety. What if they told Pegasus and he took her soul next?!

"Hey, you!"

Kim jumped and turned, her heart pounded even harder against her chest as she saw two men in suits come towards her.

"This is it!" she thought in panic. "I'm going to be trapped in a cell with Kaiba until Yugi wins the duel! At least it'll only be twenty four hours, but I didn't like when that other spirit trapped my soul for an hour at most!"

"What are you doing out of your room?" one of the men asked. Kim's mouth opened, but it felt dry and all she could do was stutter out a couple of "uh's"

Suddenly, she felt a hand touch the small of her back and she looked up to see Ryou standing beside her.

"There you are. I told you I'd meet you in your room." he said shaking his head. "Sorry," he turned to the men in suits. "We wanted to meet up later tonight for a bit of fun, but I changed our plans at the last minute. We'll be going now."

Kim felt heat in her face and was sure it was red as a cherry.

The guards just looked at them before shaking their heads.

"Get back to bed you two before there's trouble."

Ryou only nodded and guided Kim away from the two. She was so focused on how his hand was placed on her back, and what he had said to the guards.

"Ryou...w-why are you out of bed?" she asked, still feeling embarrassed.

Her friend didn't answer, merely stared ahead into the dimly lit hallways.

"Ryou?" Kim asked again, biting down on her lip, resorting to a nervous habit.

"I had to use the restroom." he answered.

"There's one in our rooms, aren't there?" the fifteen year old asked a little baffled.

"Oh, are there?" Kim sensed a slight irritation and sarcasm in his tone and her eyebrows furrowed a little bit. What had gotten into Ryou?

As she pondered his tone, she became aware of how cold the hand on her was. It almost felt like ice, but the castle wasn't particularly chilly.

Fear began to claw inside, the sixteen year olds heart beat a little wildly against her chest. And her face slowly flustered a little more. she again bit down hard on her lip, not wanting to resort in tearing apart her nails again.

"are you Ryou?" she whispered, frightened of what the answer may be.

The boy paused, only for a split second,

"Of course I am." this time, he turned to face her. He was smiling, but there was something off in his smile and eyes. And maybe it was just the lighting, but his face looked darker. "Who else would I be?"

"I thought...never mind." Kim studied her friends face a little bit.

"That perhaps that spirit of the ring came back?" the young Britain asked.

"Maybe," Kim said noncommitally.

"Don't you think he disappeared?" the tone became light,

"I hoped so." she mumbled. They had now reached the door to her room. Ryou's hand fell from her back, but Kim reached towards his hand, holding it and taking in the cold flesh. "Are you cold Ryou?"

"No." he replied after a moments hesitation. "why do you ask?" his voice now had a suspicious tone to it,

"no reason, I guess, I was feeling a little cold." Kim tried to hide the nervousness in her voice. She didn't want to call him out for feeling off to her. Because, what if, worst case sceario, this was the dangerous spirit she was talking to?

"best get to bed then," he told her, "Warm up in those blankets." he smirked at her, and Kim felt another chill go down her spine. That was not an expression Ryou would normally give her. "Good night Kim."

"Night." she mumbled and stepped away from him. Once she was in the safety of her room, Kim slumped against the door and put her hands against her face.

"I hope I'm just being paranoid." she thought to herself. There was no use in telling Yugi and alarming him before his duel with Pegasus. Besides, if he were the spirit of the ring, he wouldn't have bothered to help her out with those guards right?

"Unless he had ill intentions"

"No, don't think about that." she shook her head. Nothing bad had happened to her, and she was safe in this room.

But, just to be sure, Kim locked all of the doors and windows.

The stars twinkled down at her, she looked up at the sky, sighing in exhaustion. Her legs were still trudging along, feet sinking deep into the sand, as she stumbled along the uneven surface.

She clutched Ryou's ring to her chest tightly, relishing the feel of the metal.

"Dawn will be here soon." she gasped to herself for motivation. She would hopefully reach him by then.

In the room across from Kim's, a glow was emitting from the millennium ring.

The dark eyes watched her carefully, and slowly, thin lips turned into a satisfied smirk.

It's a pretty short chapter. next one, I hope to finish Duelist Kingdom. I'm sorry it's not so interesting at the moment.

Thanks for sticking with this story, I am going to be trying to upload more chapters frequently.

~DSSM