Just giving out another shout out to MysticTyler who helped out once more for this chapter by suggesting some alterations and new ideas, as well as proofreading.

There was an unusually high amount of chatter in the lunchroom the next day. Upon realizing just what the Golden Eggwich was, I had quickly abandoned the idea of having it as a snack and went back to my original idea of saving it for lunch. The mistake in that made itself apparent, judging from the gossip. I'm sure that if I had actually been trying, I could decipher what they were all saying, but you try caring about your everyday haters when you had a divine sandwich in front of you.

"Hey, witch!" a voice snarled from behind me. With a sigh, I set my sandwich down before turning to see who it was. Three students were there, two from the Obelisk rank and the other from Ra. It was rather odd for them to be over on this side of the lunch room. Sure, it was open lunch, but students of higher ranks never came over to this side. Simply put, Obelisk students stayed to the right, closest to the doors. The Ra students stayed in the middle, and us Osiris students remained on the far end. It wasn't enforced, of course, but it was a student implemented seating arrangement. To further segregate things, I was left in the furthest back corner where no one else went near unless they had a death wish. People like these fools, apparently.

"Is there a problem?" I asked curtly, hoping to get back to my meal and finish it before the lunch hour was over.

"Don't act so nonchalant about it! How did a witch like you get something like the Golden Eggwich?" one of the Obelisk students demanded to know. Without giving me a chance to respond, the Ra student piped up.

"Hey, I bet you she used her weird powers to look into the wrappings or something! Wouldn't put it past her!" he sneered with a wide grin on his face. As if that was a comment to be proud of...

"As a matter of fact, I didn't use my powers. I didn't even get the sandwich myself," I pointed out. I figured that would silence them, seeing how it was a gift and no foul play could have been done. Honestly, I should have known better.

"Oh, so you attacked the student who got it then?" one of my interrogators questioned. I was about to retort with something, probably a threat or something along those lines, when a hand landed on the lead boy's shoulder.

"Is there a problem here?" Kaze asked calmly, taking the trio by surprise. It amazed me in all actuality. After what he told me last night, it was hard to imagine him being so at ease with the people who were just like the ones he dealt with. Although, I suppose being calm in a situation like this would work for the best.

"H-huh? No, no! Right, boys? Just saying hi to our friend over here!" the boy with Kaze staring down at him laugh nervously, turning to his friends for support. They only gave him some stuttering fragments of sentences, which weren't all that convincing. Kaze just shrugged though, probably knowing better than to take the bull by the horns, and let the boy go. The three promptly left faster than I thought was humanly possible. With a sigh, the brunette set himself down at the table beside me.

If he had tried to do this before yesterday, he'd probably get either an earful or the silent treatment, depending on how annoyed he made me. Now, however? Simply put, you don't realize how lonely you truly are until you have someone you could consider your friend. Although, ally may have been more befitting.

"You're late," I remarked casually, seeing how there was no use dwelling on the recent event.

"Hm? Really? I just stopped by the shop to pick up a sandwich. Must have stayed longer than I expected," Kaze muttered to himself with no specific purpose. Speaking of sandwiches... I looked down at the half eaten Golden Eggwich in my hands and then at the sandwich Kaze had in his hand. When he unwrapped it, it revealed a plain hamburger. I'd probably be lying if I said I didn't feel any guilt. Yes, he did give it to me and he had said so, but that didn't change the fact this sandwich was originally his. He could be eating this instead of something as boring and plain as that hamburger. Part of me knew that if I tried to give it back to him, he'd simply return it for whatever reason. At the very least, that was the impression I was getting. "Do those guys bother you much?" Kaze asked, still looking down at his sandwich.

"No, not really. It's more of a group effort, I suppose. You understand, don't you?" I questioned. Kaze gave a small nod in response before returning to his thoughts. I was slightly perturbed by his silence, but I suppose I couldn't criticize. After all, I gave him the silent treatment when he first came. If something was on his mind and was troubling him, however, wasn't it the duty of a friend to help..?

This friend thing was actually more complex than it seemed...

Regardless, I turned to the brunette to start a new topic only to find him in a daze of sorts, staring ahead at nothing in particular. "Kaze?" I reached out and took a hold of his shoulder. At the touch he instantly jumped, as startled as if I had shaken him awake from a dream. "Kaze, are you alright? You blanked out there for a while," I pointed out to him, seeing how he still was out of it.

"There was a duel spirit. It was calling out to me," Kaze muttered before turning to me. "Aki, are your duel spirits alright?" Kaze asked me, taking me by surprise. How was I supposed to know that? Sure, I could tell when they were in physical form or not, but that's simply based upon observation, not insight. Actually understanding the chatter of the spirits, however? I didn't even know people existed that could understand them until Kaze told me about his talent.

I told him as such. Kaze pondered on this for a while, unsure of which action to take. It seemed like he was taking this spirit so seriously, even though he has never seen the card itself before. It's like he was sticking his neck out for a person he'd never even met before. It seemed like such a foreign concept to me.

After a few seconds, Kaze turned around and scanned the ground. While I knew I'd probably be no help, I decided I could try to assist him. I may not understand them, but it'd be easy to spot a card, wouldn't it? Especially when the floor was white tile like this.

Kaze found the card first, as I suspected. At least I think it was the card. In his hands was a brown object that was heavily crunched up to a little ball. With a little time put into unfolding the ball, the monster was revealed. Kattapillar, an insect monster of low level and stats. The card was in a pathetic state and the image was slightly worn, but besides that and the crease marks it seemed in well enough condition. "Hey, would you mind..." Kaze trailed off as he held the card out to me. It took me a few seconds to realize what he was implying. He wanted me to use my powers to summon this duel spirit. Not only that, but he wanted me to do it when nearly everyone was already glaring at me for the sandwich. When I realized that, I also realized that it didn't even matter. I was a witch in all aspects, was I not? Why should I be afraid of using my powers for good like this when they all were judging me as corrupt and malicious?

Once I retrieved my duel disk from its resting spot on the seat next to me, I took the card and placed it in the proper slot. In a faint display of lights the small blue caterpillar with a humanoid-like face appeared, subjecting me to view the condition that Kaze has been hearing about. Sure, the card was in decent condition, but that was judging a book by its cover. The spirit was much worse off. Bruises and scratches littered its small body and out of its handful of legs, two on the left were torn clear off. The poor creature instantly shrunk back as far as it could given the length of the table. The spirit translator beside me reached his hand out cautiously, understanding the creature to be frightened. Kattapillar recoiled as soon as his hand drew near, but upon realizing Kaze presented no threat, he relaxed, allowing Kaze to gently stroke his head. After some unintellectual gibberish from the spirit, Kaze nodded and pulled his hand away. It then began slinking over towards me, taking me by surprise.

"Um... hello there... little guy," I said the first thing that came to mind as I awkwardly stuck my hand out, as Kaze had done. Not minding my nervousness, Kattapillar reached out and nuzzled against my hand. The gesture in itself was overwhelmingly heart-warming. I didn't even need to understand its words to feel its emotions of joy and gratitude. That's when the idea occurred to me. I reached my free hand over and picked up what remained of my sandwich before holding it out to the creature. It cocked its head as if not understanding the gift. When I didn't pull the Golden Eggwich away, confirming it was indeed for him, his face instantly lit up. I smiled, without even realizing it at first, as the caterpillar quickly gave another nuzzle against my hand before nibbling contently on the sandwich.

I looked across the table, feeling someone's gaze upon me and saw that Kaze was smiling too. It wasn't directed at the spirit, though. It was directed at me. My face quickly heated up and I turned away once more, hoping to avoid his stare. As I did so, I noticed the time on the clock. Less than two minutes until we were dismissed. Kaze seemed to notice this as well.

"Alright, Kattapillar, it's time for us to get going. Will you be alright?" Kaze asked the small spirit. When Kattapillar gave a nod of approval, I took his card off of my duel disk, causing his form to disappear in the same light he appeared in. After handing Kaze back what I figured to be his new card I began to gather my things for class. In the meantime, Kaze realized that he hasn't even touched his sandwich. A panic mode of sorts set in for him as he began to dig into the burger. He managed to finish just as the bell rang. "You know, we make a pretty good team... don't you think?" Kaze pondered the thought as we began to make our way back to class.

"What do you mean?" I questioned in return.

"I can hear the spirits, and you can summon them. We could help a lot of hurt spirits that way," Kaze clarified his idea. Using my powers for the good of something... was that even possible...? For as long as I can remember, my powers had only been hurting people. When I thought back to Kattapillar, though... We had helped that creature from being abandoned, both on the floor and emotionally. Was it really possible for my powers to be used for the greater good?

When I began to pull myself out of my thoughts, I was already sitting in my assigned seat with Kaze beside me. Once the stragglers finished entering from the hallway, the teacher stood up, deciding to clear his throat before speaking.

"Attention students! We'll be having a pop quiz today," the man called out. Groans and complaints were instantly elicited from the crowd. "If you have been studying the materials, it should be no problem. You all need to learn to think on your toes, as you do in a duel. Partner up with a fellow duelist, sit next to them when you've chosen, and prepare for the exams," the teacher continued.

A partner, huh...? Usually I was left alone without a partner, the odd ball out since our class had an odd number of students. Now that Kaze was here, though... Not only did he even out the numbers, but he accepted and understood me. I turned to face the brunette beside me, ready to ask for his partnership, but a group of girls had already beat me to it. They were a rainbow crowd, so to speak, with someone from every dorm represented.

"Kaze, you should be my partner! After all, I run a Water deck too! Our decks were made for each other!" a blond Obelisk said excitedly, already reaching out and latching onto Kaze's arm to claim him.

"That's right! You and Yumi are just perfect for each other!" one of the girls' henchmen, I assumed, agreed, and the others piped in with their own little comments as well.

"Look, I'm really sorry, but..." Kaze trailed off as he dislodged his arm from Yumi's grip, taking the group by surprise. "You see, Aki and I were going to be partners." The girls' mouths just dropped open, not believing what he said. I wasn't too familiar with these girls, the reason being quite obvious, but based upon Yumi's appearance, they seemed to be quite wealthy. To be denied something was simply preposterous. Thus, I must give Kaze some credit for being able to stand up to them, especially just for me.

"What..? How could you-" another one of the henchmen started to protest but Yumi held her arm out, silencing her.

"I don't mean to be rude and go against your wishes, but if you don't mind me pointing it out... that witch almost killed you! She's the one who gave you that burn and cut you up! Don't tell me you've already forgotten!" Yumi spoke with spite in her voice, slightly unnerving me. Sure, people always talked down to me, but never was this intense amount of hate in their voice. What unnerved me even more was what she said. After my duel with Kaze, I instantly forgot about what I had done to him. It'd been a while, so the scratches were hardly noticeable, but peeking out from his Osiris jacket was the burn that Black Rose Dragon had inflicted upon him. That I inflicted upon him... and I never even apologized for it, even though he's been by my side this whole time. He's never brought it up once either.

I opened my mouth in order to say something, whether it would be an apology or a rebuttal, I wasn't sure, but my words fell short. Luckily, Kaze picked up the pieces. "That may be, but it doesn't change anything. Aki is my friend, and so I'll be her partner. Also... I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling Aki a witch. She's done nothing wrong," Kaze spoke without pause, using that same calmness as he did before.

"D-did... did nothing wrong?" Yumi asked, completely flabbergasted.

"Yumi, don't worry about it. He's just a coward! He's using the witch so he doesn't get hurt," one of her friends whispered. With a huff Yumi turned and stormed off, her group following right behind.

"The only cowards are you," Kaze murmured to himself under his breath.

"Kaze, how are you so calm around them...? No matter what you say, you keep a straight face, and then they leave right away," I pointed out, drawing the brunette's attention back to me.

"I'm calm...? I always thought I came off as more curt than calm," Kaze chuckled to himself. As he did, my eyes found their way back to the exposed part of the burn. Even if I apologized, the wound would still remain... But I should still apologize, right? It was only proper.

"Kaze, I just wanted-" I started to say.

"Alright, students, the first rounds will be starting momentarily," the teacher announced. I reluctantly stopped my apology short, knowing better than to talk while the teacher was talking. "In Duel Arena One, we'll have Yumi and Hidaka versus Aki and Kaze. In Duel Arena Two-"

"Hold up, Mr. Sato. If the witch is my opponent, then I'll surrender," a boy spoke out, presumably this Hidaka character.

"If you surrender, you'll automatically get a zero," the teacher said, ignoring the insult as he did. He was also ignoring that it broke our school's so=called 'No Tolerance' policy for name calling and the like. As if any of that really mattered though.

"Ha! I'd rather take a zero than lose my life," Yumi remarked.

"Well, then, we'll have those two versus Ai and-"

"Mr. Sato, we'll surrender too!"

"Is there anyone who will face these two?" the teacher questioned to the class, knowing exactly where this was going. A silence took hold of the room, no one willing to step forward to be our opponents, "In that case... Ms. Izayoi and Mr. Kokoro, I suppose that means you pass by default. Why don't you two take the rest of the day off?" The silence continued as Kaze and I got to our feet and gathered our things. After we departed, however, chatter instantly resumed in the class.

For some unexplainable reason, that little fiasco seconds ago hurt. Not horribly, but it left an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Usually a few students would stand up to duel, even though they'd surrendered either right before damage or right after. They never just plain out surrendered beforehand like that. Things were getting worse than I thought… But… Were my powers really that bad? Kaze and I helped Kattapillar at lunch with my powers, after all. I wondered briefly if telling the other students about the good in my powers would help, but quickly dismissed it. For the time being, until I got better control over my powers, this would just be a secret between Kaze and I.

Reviews:

- 2dayisurday: I was a little iffy about what to do with spacing that section out. If I didn't separate it, you'd be stuck reading a long wall of text, but if I did separate it, there was the chance of people seeing it as a shift in speakers/ect. I can try to keep this in mind for later though if you had some other spacing method in mind.

- Leon: While I haven't been showing the dark side (at least not in actually chapters besides mention), I'm thinking of bringing it in more later than simple mentions. Whether I fit it in or not will depend on how these chapters end up developing.

- XJustified: Answering this question is somewhat a spoiler for the upcoming chapters, I suppose, so I'll answer it in the most nondescript way that I can: I won't be doing anything to Aki's back story that changes it drastically from her cannon one. So take that as you may, I suppose.

Notes:

- I hope no one minds that Kaze is turning into somewhat of a Ruka/Luna with his spirit powers by trying to help them out, but it won't turn into a major plot thing. It still exists, but he won't be full scale doing it much as Ruka does. This is just a certain case where the spirit was in need and close enough, so he helped it. Usually all he does with his powers is communicate with his monsters when he's bored, since it's selective hearing, so to speak, and not many spirits can manage to connect with him. Kattapillar can because those two are near and he focuses out to them, which is a narrow enough range that Kaze can pick up upon.

- If you ever have any ideas/critiques for this story, feel free to let me know (preferably with ideas via PM and critiques via either review or PM), as I'm always open to each. I can't guarantee anything will change/be implemented into the story, but if your idea works, I can try to include it.