A/N: I am on a roll. Check out these updates. Anyway... This chapter Kaito is mean to Ken, Ken spills the bean about everything, Glory shows herself, and Shark Drake meets a new hunter. Yay. Guess what. It only gets worse in the coming chapters too, so don't worry. So, enjoy as much as you can, thanks for reading and review please, ok? Thanks. Bye.


Kaito nearly missed catching Ken he stumbled and fell so suddenly. He was clutching at his chest, as they had been earlier. Only this time it seemed worse, although it was possible he was just weakened after the earlier problem.

"What is it?" Kaito demanded. "What happened now?"

"I- I don't know," Ken panted, gripping Kaito's shoulder so hard he winced. "I've never felt something like this before."

"Really?"

"No, never," he said, shaking his head. "It's different. It's really, really different. And strong. Like Pride and his kids. It's off the charts."

"Can you tell who it is?" Kaito snapped.

"No," he hissed. "No, I've never come across this energy before. It's rare for someone to be completely new. Often the titles are passed from one hunter to another. This one isn't the first Charity, I know. But this is so… there's nothing recognisable."

"So it's someone completely new?" He nodded. "Is that dangerous?"

"Maybe. It means I don't know what their powers are." He frowned and Ken leant against the wall, closing his eyes and panting heavily. "God, whoever they are, they're really strong."

"If this power is on the same level as Pride and Glory, why didn't you have this reaction to her return?"

"Because I'm used to her power."

Kaito glared down at him. He wasn't sure he trusted Ken yet. He was a hunter, he was obviously involved somehow. And Kaito knew from experience that knowing your family was going the wrong thing didn't always make it easy to resist them. You couldn't just abandon your family after all.

"Ken," Kaito said, standing in front of him. "What are you really after?"

"I don't understand," Ken replied, gazing up at him.

"You expect me to believe that you are completely separate from all this?" he snapped. "I want you to give me answers and I want them right now."

"I don't know what you want me to say," he argued. "I've told you everything."

Kaito frowned. He didn't believe him for a second. While he didn't want to believe Ryoga had got so involved with someone bad for him, but he really didn't trust Ken. He didn't trust any of these hunters.

"What will it take to make you believe me?"

"The truth."

"I've told you the truth."

"The entire truth."

Ken frowned and slid down the wall, still rubbing his chest as Kaito leant over him. "What do you want to know?"

"What's the real reason behind your relationship with Ryoga?"

Ken scowled. "Look, I can take you slating me and calling me a liar and all that, but don't you ever question my feelings for Ryoga!"

"Then what was Fate saying about making Ryoga suffer?"

"I told you, they blame him for Hibiki."

"And your plans?" Ken clicked his tongue and turned away. A sure sign of guilt. "Tell me what that has to do with Ryoga!"

"I wanted to hurt him for what he did to Miki!" Ken yelled, glaring at him. There was a tense silence for a moment before Ken closed his eyes and turned away. Kaito frowned and stepped back, turning away. "You can't tell him."

Kaito paused. "Can't tell him? You think I won't tell him the person he's becoming dangerously emotionally involved with is conspiring against him? We've seen what that does to people. I won't go through this with Ryoga too."

"Please, Kaito!" he called, staggering to his feet and gripping his sleeve. "Let me explain. You don't understand."

"Then explain quickly and, this time, tell the truth."

"It's true, ok," Ken said quickly, shaking his head. "I wanted to hurt him. When Hibiki met him it made her hate us as hunter. It made her call Miki all this disgusting stuff and it broke Miki and it made her cry and hate herself and it was all his fault." He clenched his fists and Kaito frowned, glancing down at him. Ken was trembling slightly, his head low and his eyes closed. "When we moved here and I realised I wasn't just in his school but in his class it was the perfect opportunity to make him hurt like we had. I thought maybe it I got close to Rio and Ryoga, if I captured her heart and made her hurt Ryoga would understand but then-"

He cut himself off and his arms fell limply at his side. Kaito had heard enough, he turned and strode away, leaving Ken calling after him.

"After everything he did trying to help us I couldn't hate him anymore! When I kissed him that first time it felt so right I just- I let it go, alright?! Miki's let it go and so have I! I care about him and I meant it when I said I only want him now!"

Kaito still wasn't convinced but he paused. "For Ryoga's sake, I'm going to tell him what you've said before I allow the two of you to be alone again. If you continue to be honest and tell me the truth I'll be more inclined to trust your word and tell Ryoga such."

"You- you mean you'll tell him I'm not going to be any trouble?" Ken said, staring up at him with wide eyes. "You'll really tell him I can be trusted?"

"Not in so many words," Kaito replied. "Ryoga has to make that choice himself. I'm just saying it would go in your favour if you were honest and cooperative."

Ken nodded, running after him, still looking a little weak but obviously trying to hide it from him. There was silence for a few moment and Kaito considered the teen next to him. His pale blonde, nearly white hair was matted and tangled but held back in the loose ponytail by a black ribbon, he had unusually bright blue eyes. And just under the collar of his school shirt, Kaito caught sight of something.

"What is that?" he said, coming to a stop.

"What?" Ken said, frowning slightly, although he obviously already knew given the way he adjusted his collar.

Kaito frowned and Ken went to slip away and keep walking but Kaito caught his wrist and pushed him against the wall. "Under your collar."

"N-Nothing," he stammered.

"You must think I'm stupid," Kaito said.

"No."

"Then show me."

"I don't- Hey!" Ken tried to push him away but Kaito caught his wrists in one hand, slamming them to the wall above his head. "Let me go, damn it!"

"You really don't seem to understand how much sway I'm capable of holding over Ryoga," Kaito hissed. "We may not be the best of friends but we do trust each other and after what happened with Vector he's all the more wary. Do not underestimate the damage I can do to your relationship."

"I don't know what you want from me." Kaito slipped his hand under the collar of Ken's shirt, slowly drawing it away. "Stop it!"

Kaito ignored Ken's struggling and squirming, pushing away his collar completely and glancing down at the tattoo. Usually he wouldn't have been interested but the way he hid it away made him suspicious. It was a strange symbol with a word across it in a langue he couldn't understand.

"What is it?" he snapped.

"It's nothing," Ken cried. Kaito's grip on his wrists tightened and Ken gave a weak whine, leaning heavily against the wall and slipping down slightly so Kaito kept the pressure on wrists and arms, leaning a little closer. "It's just a stupid tattoo, I swear, I got it when I was a kid it doesn't mean anything, let me go!"

"We've been over this," Kaito said, tugging at his wrists and making him yelp. "It doesn't give me any pleasure to have to hurt a child but if you continue lying to me I'll continue to punish you. Since this seems to be the only way to deal with you, so be it. Now what does it mean?!"

"It's the symbol of the hunters," he cried finally. "It's an ancient symbol for something."

"And what does it say?"

"It's my name!"

"Does this symbol mean you're still one of them?" Kaito snapped. "Do you still have you powers?"

"No!" Ken yelled, twisting his wrists. "If I did do you think I'd let you and hit push me around like this?!"

It made sense. Given what Fate was capable of, it seemed logical that Ken would have similar powers, a least to some extent. He tugged Ken from the wall and shoved him away. In his weakened state, Ken stumbled and fell to the ground, hissing as he hit the concrete. Kaito glared down at him, hands going to his hips.

"We should find Ryoga and Yuma."

"Ryoga asked me to come home early tonight," Ken groaned, pushing himself up to his knees. "He should be there."

"Good," Kaito said. "We'll start there."

"We should start with Yuma," he replied. "He's duelling Charity. He and his friends are going to die when the duel comes to an end."

"How do you know?"

"Because I can feel her," he snapped, glaring up at him. "And Fate told me. I get it, ok, you don't trust me, but I swear, I just want to be with Ryoga. I will protect him no matter what it takes, I won't let anything happen to him."

Kaito kept walking, ignoring him now. If he really wanted to keep Ryoga safe he'd have to prove himself and prove he was genuine. He was still going to tell Ryoga everything and let him make up his own mind. He wasn't going to decide whether Ryoga should trust him or not, but he would certainly give him all the information he had so he could make a choice. Ken was climbing to his feet and calling out to him again but Kaito ignored him.

"You're going the wrong way!" Kaito paused. "They're in the park on the hill."

Kaito glared at him for a moment before nodding and Ken grinned, turning and running off in the opposite direction, leading Kaito. He was starting to wish he'd brought Orbital 7 along rather than leaving him to watch over Haruto but it was too late now.

Suddenly his D-Pad bleeped and Kaito pulled it out as they ran. It was Chris? What was he doing calling him at this time. He wasn't due to speak for another week.

"Chris?" he said, glancing down.

"Kaito," Chris said. Kaito frowned. He looked concerned. "Could you check on the Kamishiro twins please?"

"Why? What's happened?" Ken called, dropping back to run next to Kaito.

"Thomas was talking to Rio earlier," he replied. "And he says she was home alone, went to answer the door and that was the last he heard of her. She thought it was Ryoga coming home, apparently."

Kaito stopped in his tracks. "When was this?"

"Half an hour ago," he replied.

"And he's sure Ryoga wasn't there?" Chris nodded. "Alright. We'll go see what we can find."

"What about Yuma?" Ken said.

Kaito bit his lip, weighing up the options. Yuma was in life threatening danger. The twins could have just wandered off. Much as it pained him not to be checking up on Rio when she could be in danger, Ken was right. Yuma needed help.

"We'll save Yuma then check on the twins, alright?"

"I could-"

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," Kaito snapped, glaring at Ken. "You're coming with me whether you like it or not. We'll call you the second we get any information, Chris."

"Thank you."

Within moments they were running again. Whatever had happened, Yuma's danger was more immediate. He needed them more right now. At least the twins could look after themselves most of the time.


Yuma clenched his fists tightly, struggling to figure out a way around the current set up. Charity's combo seemed unbreakable and his life points were slowly but surely being depleted. He couldn't attack without them being negated and taking damage but if he didn't attack her field spell drained his life points further. His spell and traps were locked down and activating them only caused more damage. He was stuck. If Astral was here, or even if he could hear the encouragement of his friends, maybe he'd figure something out, but as it was his mind was blank.

"Damn it," he hissed.

Charity laughed. "You're going to have to struggle for a little longer, there's no surrender."

"Charity." The voice broke through the water and they both turned. "You still feel it, don't you? The new power?"

"Glory…" Charity breathed.

The walls of water tore apart and Yuma found himself staring at Miki's dark shadow. Covering her face was a strange, black and blue mask, formed almost like a splattering of liquid dripping down her face. Her hair had been stained black, all but her green bangs. A black military like coat hung loosely down to her knees and a black and navy tartan skirt blew in the breeze. She looked too delicate to be Miki. She was even wearing heels, ankle boots and long black stockings. The change was so drastic Yuma found it hard to believe it was really her.

"Miki… you gave in?" Yuma said, staring up at her.

Glory sneered. "I'm not the only one. I tried to stop it, but you boys and so damn stubborn there was no stopping it. Now, stand down Charity, or your soul is coming off Ryoga's debt."

Charity hesitated and Glory glared at her and for a long moment there was silence before the waved crashed down and Charity vanished. Yuma frowned and the bridge swung back into position allowing Yuma to hurry off. He stared up at Glory, who tilted her head and met his gaze.

"Why?" he whispered weakly. "Why would you agree to be one of them again? Why would you give up to them?"

"You wouldn't understand," she said, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"Miki!"

"Yuma!"

They turned and found Kaito and Ken running up. Yuma ran over but Ken ignored him and ran straight to Glory. She frowned and glared at him before turning and walking over the bridge.

"Miki!" Ken called, running after her. "Miki what's wrong?"

Yuma sighed and turned away from them as the others came and talked over each other. Kaito frowned and glared at Ken for a moment before returning his attention to Yuma.

"Thank goodness she turned up and stopped it," Kotori said. "What was going on, Yuma?"

"She was really strong," Yuma said. "She said Shark has a debt that-"

"I know," Kaito said. "We know all about it. Your souls were going to be sacrificed no matter how the duel ended."

Yuma stared up at him, stunned by the revelation. There was a sudden thus and they glanced over at the pair of hunters to see Ken on the ground, rubbing his jaw as Glory glared down at him.

"What's wrong with them?" Tetsuo muttered.

"Who knows?" Kaito said. "We need to check on the twins. Apparently no one can get in touch with them. Ken!"

Ken glanced over and after a moment trudged over to them. "I'm really not a threat."

"I won't trust you until we've got this straightened out," he snapped, pulling him over by his collar. Yuma glanced over to where Glory had been but she'd already vanished. "I guess we're not getting any answers from her then."

"She's returned to hunting to pay off Ryoga's debt," Ken snapped. "She's not a bad person. She'd doing this to help him."

"It doesn't change the fact that she's hunting souls," Yuma cried. "She has to stop!"

"It doesn't matter anyway," he said. "They've already won."

"No way!" he said, shaking his head. "We're not giving up!"

"Let's just get on with checking up on the twins," Kaito said. "I think they're in trouble."

"Right," Yuma said, running off before stopping. "Uh, I've never seen where Shark and Rio live."

Kaito sighed and pulled Ken along, leading the way for the group. Ken huffed and shoved his hands into his pockets pouting as they went. Yuma frowned slightly. What had happened between Kaito and Ken to get them both so worked up?

"What were you and Miki arguing about?"

Ken glanced at Yuma and frowned. "Sibling things."

"Like what?"

"Like why she was talking to Mother earlier." He frowned and shook his head. "Nothing important. Not as important as finding Ryoga and Rio."


"Wake up." He groaned at the deep voice, trying to forcing his eyes open. "Wake up." A foot nudged his side and he struggled again, finally getting his eyes open. "There we go."

He was staring up into red eyes. He was lying in darkness, a well-built young man above leaning over him, hands on his hips and reddish hair falling forwards over his face. He groaned and closed his eyes again but was nudged again.

"What?" he snapped.

"I was worried about you," the older boy replied. "You're not allowed to die. I will fight anyone who tries to take you from me."

"Who are you?" he groaned.

"Look at me." It was a demand and he frowned, opening his eyes to look up at the redhead. After a moment, the boy frowned and showed him the tattoo in the middle of his chest. Thirty-two? "We've not been able to interact like this before. It's interesting, but humans have so many unnecessary parts."

"You're not human?"

"I'm not entirely sure you are either."

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Do you still not recognise me?" 32 said, reaching down a hand. He shook his head and 32 pulled him to his feet. "How strange. Perhaps the effect of that dark energy hasn't worn off yet. Do you remember who you are?"

He paused and frowned, slowly trying to remember. "I'm…" He glanced down at himself, at the black clothes covering him. "My name is…"

"You don't remember? What about Rio? Do you remember Rio? The thing that bonded us so deeply?"

"Wrath…"

"Sorry?"

He turned to the other boy, who was watching him curiously. "My name is Wrath. And Rio is my sister, the one person who matters in my life. The only person who matters."

"Well, at least that bit's still there," 32 said. "You're name is Kamishiro Ryoga." His arms wrapped around him and he nuzzled into Wrath's neck at shoulder. "My Ryoga."

"Who the hell are you?!" Wrath snapped. "Get off me!"

32 tilted his head, tightening his arms around him. "I will never let you go, Ryoga."

"Hey!" There was a sharp pain in his neck and he yelped, shoving 32 off, rubbing his neck. "You bit me."

"I wanted to see what you tasted like," he said, innocently. He laughed and moved behind Wrath, wrapping his arms around his middle, nuzzling against him again and this time licking the spot he'd just bitten, making Wrath shiver. "What do you expect, it's in my name, isn't it? Marine Biting Dragon and you expect me to play nice?"

Wrath's eyes widened and he spun to face 32 who smiled and leant their foreheads together. "You're…

"That Michael boy was quicker than you, my dear little Ryoga."

"Shark Drake?"

There was a moment of silence between them before Shark Drake stepped back and glanced around. "We should find a way out then, Ryoga."

"Stop calling me that," Wrath snapped.

"I assume this is because you took on that dark energy to save those number hunters," Shark Drake said, glaring at him. "They all had alternate names. Alter egos, I suppose. This must be the phase of coming to terms with yours. Wrath? I like that. It suits us."

"Us?" Wrath snapped.

"We're partners," he said firmly. "At least… Ryoga and I are. As I said, I won't let anyone take my little sharkling from me."

"Shark young are called pups." The correction came from nowhere, just tumbled out and he frowned as Shark Drake flashed a smirk. "So… I am a dark alter ego?"

"Perhaps," Shark Drake replied. He paused and circled him thoughtfully. "You must be the hunter created inside my Ryoga, created by that dark energy."

"Then, I'm not him?"

"In the same why Ryoga wasn't himself when possessed by my darkness. We are the two energies inside of him. So, I would assume that my Ryoga's true energy is around here somewhere. Perhaps if we can find him we can return to the real world."

"Fine. But no more biting."

Shark Drake shrugged. "You don't taste nice anyway. I'm sure my Ryoga will taste much better."


In the Next Chapter:

The Deadly Sins