Chapter 5 - An Old (Technically Young) Friend

"Son of a bitch!" Malik screamed as he limped out of his now destroyed car.

"Malik!" Bakura cried as he ran out to him. The police had already shown up at the scene. The man who hit him must've broken the speed limit for authorities to be here already. As the albino helped him to his feet, Aedrian (See Chapters 3 and 4 for details) walked over to the car and glanced at the driver. He widens his eyes. He knew this man. He's a good man. Or was, if he died in the collision.

He tried to get the man's attention. An officer shouted, "Kid! Step away from the crime scene at once!"

As he turned, a scent caught his attention. He checked to see if the officer was looking before turning back to the scene. He opened the car door and shifted things around to find the source of the scent he caught. Unfortunately, the same officer caught him.

"Hey! You're messing with a crime scene! Step away from there at once!"

Aedrian found what he was searching for. An orange container full of marijuana. "I found something you need to look into!" he called back to him. When the man approached the destroyed vehicle, the crimson-eyed teen handed it over to him.

"Well, I'm going to bet he was on drugs or he was drugged. Either way," he glanced back at the man. "He was a dead man."

The policeman began inspecting the container, saying, "Check the car for anymore passengers. Dead or alive, I want to know who else was in there."

He nodded and turned back to the broken machine as the man walked away to talk to the injured blonde. He shuffled things around in search of any survivors. He heard someone, perhaps a young girl, softly call his name. "Aedrian? Is that you?"

The teen quickly looked at the backseat and moved some of the crushed materials out of the way. On the floor of the car, there sat a little girl who appeared to be no older than twelve. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. She seemed a little dazed. Someone must have given her the same drug the dead driver was on.

"Isabelle? What are you doing here?" Aedrian whispered to her quickly.

"I don't have time to explain. Just don't tell them too much about me." she responded. Nodding, he called back to the officer, "I found someone! Come on out, little one."

She crawled out of the car and fell, looking quite dazed as Aedrian picked her up off the ground. Turning around to the three behind, he noticed Malik reach into his pocket and pull out his wallet. When he opened it, he discovered that his license and his credit card were missing. "I swear I had them on me, officer. I know I did."

Aedrian decided to pull a stunt and put on an act. "Malik, I have your credit card. You left it in the mall last week. Be thankful no one took it."

Malik, Bakura, and the officer looked at him. The albino was cofused, the policeman stared at him indifferently, but Malik glared daggers at Aedrian. The teen walked to them and returned the card he had secretly stolen back to it's owner. Attempting to keep his tone at level, he said, "Thanks. You wouldn't happen to know where my license is, would you?"

Aedrain appeared to think about it for a moment before he had an idea. "Oh, I have that, too. I found it this afternoon during our little game." He gently gazed into Isabelle's warm blue eyes and asked, "Darling, could you get it from my pocket for me?"

The blonde girl nodded and reached down from his arms. She produced the missing license from his jacket pocket and stuck it out to the tan-skinned teen. As he accepted it, laughing crimson met furious violet before he looked away and handed it to the police officer in front of him.

Bakura glanced back at the car and inquired, "So, who's the driver?" Another officer had overheard he question and said, "I'll check him out and see if I could get some ID on this guy." before walking away to complete the assignment.

Isabelle began sobbing in his arms. "I'm scared. I want to see Mommy and Daddy. Where are they?" She started crying louder. "I want to see them again!"

There was a white flash in Aedrian's eyes. He looked around, confused of what was happening around him. He couldn't remember what had happened in the last few hours. He looked at the young girl, who was in tears in his arms. He remembers this child. She's an old friend of his. Well, technically, she's only twelve or so, so he guessed that made her a young friend.

Looking back to the current situation, he noticed that Malik had a broken leg, a man was killed in a crash, and the police were everywhere. He murmured, "Isabelle?"

"Yes, Yami?" Isabelle knew of his 'little problem' and could tell exactly when it kicked in and when he was himself. Of course, Yami didn't even know about his problem. He just shrugged it off as another memory lapse. Yami knew what to do in these kinds of situations. However, he already knew Isabelle and her family.

"Why are you here? What happened?" Yami mumbled to her. Still pretending like she was in tears, she mumbled back, "I can't say, really. Everything is a bit of a blur. Just don't say too much about me, please?"

When the officer reappeared before the two, he asked questions of who her mother and father was, any siblings, how old she is, and what she could remember before the incident.

"Isabelle Blue? Ah, I remember you." the man smiled. "You're a good kid, do you know that?"

"Of course I do. I hear from mom that you would talk about me all the time." she replied, her tears drying up.

"So, I need your full name, your parents' names, and the names of any siblings you have, Miss Blue." he stated, pulling out a notepad.

"My name is Isabelle Samantha Blue and I'm thirteen years old." Yami was off by a year. "My mother is Jane Rosemary Blue and my father is James Andrew Blue. I have two older sisters named Violet Lynn Blue and Leslie Sarah Blue and one older brother named Jake Michael Blue." Bakura's head immediately shot up at the name.

"I remember Jake! He's an old friend of mine! How's he been?"

"He's fine, Kura." Isabelle smiled. Malik shot a look towards his lover.

"She gets to call you that, but I can't?!" he complained. Bakura glanced back at the blonde.

"She's a child and she's Jake's little sister. She has every right. Now stop bitching about it or I'll break your other leg."

Malik pouted, but he didn't say another word on the subject. At that moment, Mokuba, Ryou, Marik, and Seto ran out to help Bakura with the injured teen. Joey, Mai, Duke, Tristan, and Téa followed close behind. "What happened here?!" Duke demanded as soon as they approached the policeman.

"That's what I'd like to know as well!" a familiar violet-eyed boy called, walking across the crowded streets.

"Hello, Yugi." Bakura greeted when he was within earshot. "Malik was hit by a drugged driver and suffered a broken leg."

"Ouch. That's gotta hurt." Yugi said, watching as Marik and Ryou helped hold him up. Of course, not without a fight from Malik first. Yami handed the child to Yugi and walked back towards the mansion.

He stopped at the door when Isabelle called, "Yami."

Turning around to face her, she said darkly, "She told me to tell you, 'This is only the beginning.' I've been involved with her now."

Yami he stared at her in horror. *She's back?!* he mentally screamed. *Not again! Not after what happened then!* He ran back inside, leaving everyone mystified at the child's cryptic message.

Once Yami ran into Seto's bedroom, he began feeling dizzy. He held himself up against the wall, feeling like he would collapse otherwise. "No...Not this...Not again..." he said aloud.

Seto walked in, concern written on his face. "Aedrian? Or is it Yami? Are you okay?"

Yami returned the brunette's warm gaze with one of confusion. "What happened to me? How did I end up here?"

Feeling faint, Yami's hand slipped as he was falling to his knees. Seto wrapped his arm around the teen's waist and gently pulled him close. He guided the teen over to his bed and placed him under the covers. "So, are you Aedrian or are you Yami?" he wondered aloud.

Yami narrowed his eyes. "Who's Aedrian? I hope you're not confusing me for someone else, Seto." he sighed in discontent. The male began coughing. The brunette put a hand to his forehead. Putting another to his own, Yami seemed to have gotten a fever. From where and when, he didn't know.

Mokuba, Ryou, Marik, and Yugi ran into the room, wanting to ask Yami a few things about what happened a moment ago. However... "Seto? Is Aedrian okay?"

"Yes and no, Mokuba." he responded. "This isn't Aedrian."

"I'll ask again." Yami was beginning to get angry. "Who is Aedrian?"

Yugi stared at the other three hoping to get an answer from one of them. Marik and Ryou exchanged worried glances as Mokuba widened his eyes. "I don't think that's a good thing."

Bakura walked in with Malik. "So, did we miss anything?" the albino asked upon entry.

"Yami's come back to his senses." Mokuba replied.

Both yamis widened their eyes in shock.

Yugi was sick of these people ignoring the question. He began shouting, "Could someone explain to me who Aedrian is and what Yami has to do with it?! I would like to know what's going on here!"

"You and I both, Yugi." Yami agreed, shooting an impatient look at the group.

The teen sat up and growled, "If someone doesn't start talking, I'm going to start throwing things." The threat barely had any impact due to his condition, though.

Moments passed before Seto, Ryou, Mokuba finally began to explain what had transpired while Yami had a 'memory lapse' (or so he claimed).

Once they finished, Yugi was staring at Yami and Yami stared at everyone else.

"I'm sorry, but I can't believe you. I've never done anything like that in my life." the male responded, shaking his head while doing so.

Seto gave him a look. "You can believe everything else that someone tells you, but you think I'm bluffing?"

"No, I just can't believe that you would confuse this Aedrian person with someone like me. First off, I'm not a thief."

"Can I call bullshit?" Malik piped up from Bakura's side. The albino responded by kicking him in his injured leg. "OW! Son of a bitch, Bakura, what was that for?!"

"That was for being rude." he said bluntly.

Yami rolled his eyes. He continued, "And second, I'm not looking for a lover right now. My life is complicated enough at the moment and I don't need more drama until it's sorted out first."

Yami stood to his feet and walked downstairs even when everyone else tried to hold him back. When he passed by Joey and the rest of the group, the blonde said, "We took Isabelle home. You don't have to worry about her now."

He ignored them and started walking home, leaving them puzzled about his attitude. He needed to clear his head for a while.

That night, Yami was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Thinking back to what happened today, he just couldn't imagine himself doing any of those things and not remembering any of it. He glanced at the clock on his night stand. It read '11:56'. The crimson-eyed teen sighed. It was hard for him to sleep to begin with, but tonight was harder than usual because of what he was told. He thought about Seto and was unaware when he began blushing lightly. He fell asleep just before midnight.

Once it came around, the teen's eyes opened slowly. He climbed out of bed and walked to the window, saying, "What will it take for him to unravel his heart and learn to love another again?"

He pulled out the tarot card deck again and shuffled it. He drew three cards like before and set them in a triangle. He waited a few moments before flipping the card on the left. It was The Lovers. The meaning was quite obvious, so he turned over the next card. It showed The Tower. Well, with her now prowling about, he could understand. And the final one was The Moon. A betrayal soon approaching. But when and by whom? Only time will tell.

The teen glanced up at the cloudless sky and watched as a shooting star passed by. He smiled in content. "Maybe nothing is as it seems..." he mumbled. He wrote the reading down and left it on the desk as per usual before walking back to the bed and crawling under the covers.

"Not everything is as it seems..." he whispered before drifting into a blissful slumber.

~A/N: Isabelle is an important character in this one, so this will not be the last time you will see this little angel!

Yami: Hello, Isabelle.

Isabelle: Hello, Yami.

Malik and Bakura: You two know each other?!

Yami and Isabelle: Yep!

Sakura: I am starting a Truth or Dare story, so I need ideas for truths and dares and, if you guys so desire, I will put in some romance as well. It's a work in progress, but I will get it done! If you want me to start posting chapters of it, there's a nifty little thing called the 'Review Box' at the bottom.

Yugi: Please Review!