4

"Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of witherings, of tarnishings."

― Anais Nin

Renge and Yugi were looking at the chessboard during recess one day. He was munching on a cookie that she had made earlier that day during home economics. He enjoyed her cooking, and he wondered if she would ever make a burger if he asked. He shook those thoughts as she moved her rook to take his bishop. He studied the board and felt a drop of sweat gather on his forehead. Ryou hadn't been kidding that she was good at strategy games.

"Check," she said, studying the board with a keen eye, "you've lasted longer than anyone else I've played against."

Oddly enough, that did make him feel better. He watched as she twitched when the blonde one yelped upon touching his chair. That was happening more often. Yugi held in his slight chuckle as he gave his chair a glare. It was impossible to tell what had caused the series of shocks to happen. Yugi glanced back at the board and moved his king to get out of check. Renge was swift and immediately put him back in it by moving her knight. She rested her cheek on the heel of her palm as she studied their game.

"Is Chono-Sensei giving you problems?" Yugi quietly asked, he had noticed the tension every time those two were in the same vicinity.

"I think I'm giving her problems," Renge said, "apparently her makeup bag went missing."

She had done it, and she would do it again. It was forcing Chono to be nicer to the students because she didn't know who had done it. It was oddly hilarious seeing her restrain herself from taking a student's property or suspending them for minor violations to the rules. The student body wasn't as stressed any more.

"I heard nothing," Yugi stated and her eyes brightened and a grin appeared on her face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said and he let out a soft snort, "checkmate by the way."

"Good game," Yugi said as they both shook on it.

The bell rang before they could talk about other things and Renge returned to her seat after putting away the food she had made. She decided to think about what she needed to do when she got home. Kuriboh had taken to helping her take care of her plants, so it was something she didn't need to worry about. Ryou was happy that they had a third pair of hands to help around, and Bakura seemed to keep his distance when it was around. There was something there. Something she was going to figure out very soon. A piece of paper appearing on her desk made her blink in confusion.

Yugi wanted to play tic-tac-toe? He was going to lose. She was the circle and him the x. They ended up in draws and she found herself a little amused by that. Everyone would think she'd be upset, but no. She liked when someone could be a challenge against her. Yugi was a good friend for that reason.

And other reasons, she just really enjoyed the challenge.

"Don't you have gardening club today?" Yugi asked during lunch, they weren't playing a game but simply eating.

"Yeah, Ayame-Senpai wants to start planting some winter flowers," Renge stated as she bit into her curry bun.

"I'm surprised she got the okay from the teachers," Yugi said.

"She didn't, she just said she was going to do so and nobody argued with her," Renge admitted.

Yugi didn't want to mess with the upperclassman that Renge seemed to adore. He watched as she ate her curry bun and tilted his head in thought. He couldn't think of a time where he saw her eat anything but one of those. She didn't even really eat her creations. He wondered why. Was it psychological, or did food make her physically sick?

"So, what's up with the gold box?" Renge asked in a light tone.

"It's a very important treasure to me," Yugi stated.

"Fair enough."

That was it? He thought she'd push for him to explain, but she just accepted as it was. He was a little nervous about that and she simply tilted her head before finishing off her lunch. Maybe she came on too strong if he was that skeptical of her acceptance.

"Hey, I don't always have to know the ways of the universe," Renge informed him, "nor do I want to."

That was a level of insight that he wasn't used to hearing from her. No, he was more used to the rubber band shot at Jounouchi and the innocent look she gained when he looked around to see who it was that did it. For her to point out that she didn't need answers to everything made him hopeful that she'd keep making sense in the future. That made him show her his treasure.

"Do you promise not to laugh?" He asked, and she tilted her head at him.

"You haven't laughed at the fact that I like to tinker," she pointed out, "so, I'm not going to laugh at what's precious to you."

More sense. He opened the lid to the golden box and she blinked in confusion. It was a puzzle? It was different from the one that she received, and was still sitting on her desk at the apartment. She should really start working on that. Some coffee would go grand with it. She loved tea, but coffee kept her more focused when it came to things like that.

"Thank you," Yugi quietly thanked and she blinked in confusion.

His eyes were a little glassy and she reached up to gently pat his head. He had grown used to the physical contact. He smiled further when she pulled her hand back and kept them to herself. She was just looking at the puzzle pieces, her expression curious.

"It was found in Egypt," he began to explain, his excitement obvious in his voice.

"The hieroglyphs are interesting," Renge said, looking at the intricate words and spells written on the box, "whoever solves this puzzle will be granted the knowledge of darkness, huh that's pretty heavy."

"You can read hieroglyphs?" Yugi asked in surprise and she froze for a few seconds.

Right, that wasn't common knowledge.

"I like ancient languages,"she stated, shrugging a bit, "it helps when studying new games."

He didn't see the correlation and she knew that she had been backed into a corner and tried to lie her way out of it. Sometimes she could be the best liar, and other times she was bad at it. He was difficult to lie to, but she would have to. She couldn't say anything about magic, not unless they started dating. That would be unlikely, even if Yugi was incredibly sweet. He wouldn't be the worst partner she could have.

"All right," Yugi muttered and she felt a little guilty.

"Is it actually solid gold?" She asked, still curious. "If so, is it a little squishy?"

"I don't know," Yugi admitted and he saw that curiosity grow a bit and she turned innocent pink eyes his way, "go ahead."

"Thank you!" She squealed in excitement.

She carefully picked up a piece and gave it a small squeeze with her prosthetic hand. If it could bend a bit with her metal hand, with the lesser strength behind it, then it was pure gold. It didn't bend, so it had to be mixed with something else. She studied it a bit more. She thought about platinum because of how strong the metal actually was. Platinum had been used as early as 1200 BCE. So it was possible.

Maybe the gold was already mixed naturally?

She felt the metal of her prosthetic cool and knew that her warming charm was gone. It's what made sure that people didn't notice the lack of warmth. To create the illusion that she still had a normal hand. She looked down and saw a shadow attaching itself to her, curiously weaving around her fingers before wrapping itself around her ring finger. She stared at it for a few seconds. It wasn't going to move, was it? Well, something just proposed to her without meaning to.

They were going to regret that.

"Renge-Chan?" Yugi asked and she was startled out of her thoughts.

"It's not solid gold, I'm thinking that the metal they used was naturally mixed with a stronger one," Renge informed him as she gently placed the piece back in the box, "they found objects with platinum mixed in with the gold decorations of a box found in Shepenupet the seconds burial."

"You really like history," Yugi chuckled.

"If we don't learn from the past we will make the same mistakes," Renge said, "as stated by many people before me."

With what she'd gone through, that she could remember and what she didn't remember, she did have some wisdom mixed in with her chaotic nature. She watched as Yugi looked at the gold puzzle pieces in thought, a small frown appearing on his face. She had a point. She sat back in her chair and he saw an expression that was unusual on her face as she looked towards the classroom windows.

Melancholy.

"What's your favorite flower?" Yugi asked and that melancholy disappeared immediately as she tilted her head in thought before grinning at him and making his face turn a bright red. "My Okaa-San wants to know!"

"Oh it got better," she teased and his face turned a darker red, "I like my namesake…but I really adore sunflowers."

That surprised him. He put his treasure away when lunch ended and she moved back to her desk. She ended up looking out the window during their last class. It was maths, and she was incredibly confident she would be fine not paying attention. She watched as a bird flew through the air and missed that sensation. There wouldn't be any air sports for her to play, not unless she wanted to find a racing room to use. She looked to the side in thought. She could ask Ryou if he wanted to try racing. Bakura would most likely agree for his host. And he would lose immediately. She ran her thumb against the shadow wrapped around her finger and watched as it solidified a bit. She watched as it gained a gold hue. Okay, the shadow was incredibly serious.

Was it aware of her abilities, and that's why?

She gave a mental sigh and decided it didn't matter. No, her messing with the blonde and brunette mattered. Especially with how they harassed Yugi. She heard them start as class ended and she moved to put an arm around Yugi's shoulders, sending the two boys a closed eye smile. She knew it startled them. Good, being feared made sense to her. It was a comfort zone.

"You guys messing with my best friend?" She asked and she missed the way Yugi's eyes widened in surprise.

"Damn," the blonde hissed as she gently released Yugi and stalked up to him with her eyes still closed.

"If you two continue to harass him more bad things will happen," she informed them in a low voice, "we don't want that, do we?"

Yugi noted something. She never put her hands on them. She refused to do something like that unless it was a last resort. Especially if she had to defend herself. The two ran off and Renge turned towards Yugi and gave him a small nod and grin. He smiled back, watching as she hurried out of the classroom to head to her club.

Renge came to a stop at the back of the school and Ayame waved at the underclass man. She tossed a pink apron to the white haired teen and she watched the expression. Ayame snickered at the grimace before Renge pulled her blazer off and put the apron on, tying it with a bow. She placed her things next to the side of the building with the other members' things. She rolled her sleeves up to prepare herself to plant some flowers. The other members trickled in and started to fix the soil and water the flowers.

"Oi, Bakura-Kohai, can you plant the anemone?" Ayame called as she helped another third year with an aster.

"No problem, Senpai," Renge confirmed, grabbing the flowers in question.

They had just got them from the store, and she looked at the flower bed in thought. She began to dig and looked back at the flowers, gently releasing them from the plastic container. She blinked when her light was blocked. She gave a mental groan and looked up. An upper class man stood there with a bright blush on his face. She studied him for a few seconds.

She wasn't interested in someone who felt so slimy.

"Not interested," she bluntly informed him before returning to the flowers.

"But I-"

"Still not interested."

He stammered a bit and Ayame took pity on her and motioned for him to leave. He was bothering one of her club members. Renge gently planted the flowers and hummed a tune. She couldn't place the song, but still enjoyed the gentle sound of it. She would have to search through her records…ah right her record collection was gone. She would have to rebuild her music library again.

Ryou would help, and happily at that.

"Man, you didn't even give him a chance to ask," Ayame stated, checking over the newly planted flowers.

"He's a slime," Renge shrugged, "I don't care much for people like that."

That and she had been claimed by an unknown entity. She would be sent to a monastery if anyone found out. She looked to the side and picked up a spare watering can. She would water the flowers before moving onto a few of the azalea and camellias. The rhododendron family made the flowers fairly identical looking. She headed to the track where the water spouts were. Her hair was pushed back from her face and her cheeks got streaked with dirt. She got her water and happily returned to her plants.

Club didn't last long.

Soon she was removing the apron and simply picking up her school blazer. She kept the sleeves of her dress shirt rolled up and simply put her blazer on the top of her school bag. She paused for a few seconds and decided to head back inside, opening her locker and shoving the love letters inside her bag. She slammed it shut and began to hurry home. Her steps had grown heavy and she could feel the strain on her hip. If she didn't rest soon, she was going to tear the skin around her prosthetic's base. She looked at the apartment stairs and made a face as she began to walk up them.

"I hate these stairs," she grumbled as she opened the door to the apartment.

"Did you get in a fight with the ground?" Ryou asked as she stepped inside.

"You should see the ground," she quipped, taking her shoes off and put up a hand, stopping her monster from flying out the front door.

Kuri, the name she had settled for the Kuriboh, nuzzled into the flesh hand that was gently pressed against its face. Ryou watched in amusement as Kuri stopped and flew back, settling on Renge's shoulders. She headed into the sitting area and plopped down next to her cousin.

"Some upper class man tried asking me out," she grumbled and he snorted, "I know right? I thought the love letters were bad."

"Love letters?" Ryou asked, raising a brow.

That's when she looked him dead in the eye and held her bag open to allow all the letters to fall to the ground. He slowly looked down and was surprised by the amount of them. There were going to be so many sad students when they realized that Renge didn't like them back. Or, they were already aware. He picked up a light pink letter and opened it.

"Are they aware that you're a girl?" Ryou asked, reading through the letter that claimed that Renge's red streaks in her hair was a sign of their fiery love.

"Yeah, are you judging them?" She asked in disbelief.

"No!" Ryou quickly denied, his expression horrified.

"I'm messing with you," Renge quietly said as she picked up another letter and handed it to Kuri, "relax."

"What are you going to do?" Ryou asked.

"Become the best crime Lord I can be?" She asked, shrugging a little. "I dunno, ignore them unless they get bold like earlier."

"Someone asked you out?"

"You sound so surprised."

"Have you met you?"

"Yes, and I'm wonderful."

Great, now he wanted to watch some Doctor Who. Judging by her expression, so did she. He motioned towards the letters and they quickly cleaned themselves up, making a neat pile on the coffee table. Renge got up to fetch some tea and a couple biscuits. They were going to marathon what little box sets of Doctor Who they had while going over the letters.

It was bonding of the British kind.

"This is starting to get ridiculous."

Bakura butting in after Tom Baker's Robot finished up wasn't on the agenda. He had a biscuit hanging from his mouth as he glared at one of the letters. She let out a snort, agreeing with him as Kuri hissed at the dark spirit. She ran a hand through the soft fur and Kuri quieted down to a soft pur.

"Damn fur ball," Bakura grumbled and she sent him a look, "fine I won't be rude to the monster."

"Are you mad because it's cuter than you?" She asked and he decked her metal arm. "That's what you get for forgetting that I've metallic limbs."

"Why did you even lose your limbs?" He grouched.

"Don't know."

It had been a quick answer. She had told the landlord it was an accident, something to do with her parents. A lie? Why was she lying to people that she knew when she didn't? She looked to the side and picked up her tea and looked at the letters before lifting them in the air with her magic and setting it on fire. A glimpse into the girl that the quack was trying to get to show. She got up to play another tape from the Doctor Who box sets.

"So, you killed my psychiatrist?" She asked, changing the topic as she changed the tape to the Ark in Space set.

"Did I?" He questioned and she sent him a sharp look.

"While I appreciate the assistance, don't take my victims in the future," she stated, smirking slightly, "the only reason why I haven't gotten retribution is because you are possessing my cousin."

"The more layers we peel back, the more like an onion you smell," he dryly commented and he felt a sharp sting go through his arm, "whatever."

"So, what do I do if shadows attach themselves to me?" She asked him in a light tone.

He raised a brow and she lifted her hand. Of course, he was able to lay claim to her power. She most likely didn't even know it had happened, he most likely didn't know either. Great, he was going to deal with two idiots messing with his plants. It was odd, but he could've sworn he felt a little protectiveness coming from his slumbering host. Oh, now that was an interesting development.

"Now, what are your plans, Seshen?" He asked.

"I'm going to continue spreading chaos and fuck shit up," Renge stated, "Chono-Sensei would get too comfortable."

"That and your other two victims," he muttered and she smirked a little.

He was aware of her issues with the other students. Bakura and Ryou were quite interested in her school life. She didn't talk about anything other than her classes, which he noted from the healing potions she had put in the kitchen. She was still in contact with a few of her old professors, but he never saw her mail. No one did.

She stood up from the couch, grabbed a sleeping Kuri, and headed to her room. She was ending the conversation on her terms. Bakura noted that she did that a lot. He sat forward and smirked to himself. Amused at the sudden thought that hit him.

She was a coward, and one that refused to admit it.

Renge sat on her bed and watched Kuri sleep. She was tired, but she couldn't sleep. Her eyes were burning and she felt annoyance rising up in her. Damn that dark spirit for messing with her. For messing with her mind. She got up from the bed and covered Kuri with a blanket before plopping down in her chair.

She supposed she could start working on the puzzle gifted to her.

Renge picked up some of the gold pieces of the puzzle and immediately put them down. Even for a chaos witch like herself, the messing with time was unsettling. Whatever this puzzle made when completed shouldn't be there. She rested her cheek against her knuckles as studied the puzzle. She stood up from her chair when she felt someone behind her.

"You should not have that," a man informed her.

She turned to see who had dared to enter her room unannounced. He was an Egyptian man, wearing white clothes and a white turban. His blank blue eyes bore into her and she felt as though he was staring into her soul. She ignored the chill that went down her spine and stood up straighter.

"It was given to me as a gift," she stated, ignoring how her mind screamed at her to either fight or run.

"How strange…"

He held up a pair of golden scales in his hands and she felt the dark magic coming from them. She closed her eyes and stepped back a bit. She refused to take part in any dark magic. She had the right to deny a game or test given to her. Still, she wanted to get a signal to Bakura that someone had made it past him.

"Leave, you are not welcomed here," she informed the unknown man.

"Neither are you." The man informed her and she felt her hackles rise at that.

How dare he?

"So it seems that even death can't stop you," Bakura's cold voice stated and she narrowed her eyes at the spirit.

"You…" the man muttered, trailing off with a look of contempt towards the other spirit.

"Unless you wish to die a second death, leave," Bakura threatened.

The man stood there for a few seconds before looking at the female Bakura. There was a monster behind her on the bed, watching with crimson eyes. So, she was the interruption into destiny that was foretold. He started to melt into the floor and the alarm on her face soon turned to curiosity.

"Don't even attempt it," were the last words he heard from the spirit.

"I wasn't going to," Renge stated, plopping back down in her chair as Kuri went back to sleep, "he doesn't like my puzzle."

"Does it matter?" Bakura gruffly asked and she sent him a look.

A part of her was surprised that he had come to her aid, another wasn't. She doubted that he had always been a part of the dark, that he'd been inclined towards violence. It took quite a bit for someone to be pushed to his level. A part of her would pity him if it weren't for the fact that he wouldn't want it. Still, she didn't trust him.

And he didn't trust her.

That was how the world was with the two of them. Renge gave him a sharp look and he took his leave. She sat back in her chair and her eyes wandered over to the puzzle again. She couldn't help but be drawn to it. She picked up one of the pieces and studied it intently. Just what was it that the man was trying to stop her from doing. Why did he believe that it didn't belong to her? It was a gift to her.

She put a piece together and felt something on her real hand. She looked down to see that the shadow that had decided to tag along on her person had moved to the flesh hand. She watched it constrict and writhe, as though something was trying to harm it. She pulled her hand back from the puzzle in thought, watching the shadow relax a bit. It gained a gold hue again and she let out a soft sigh of relief before making a face.

"I should not care about a sliver of shadow," she muttered, more to herself than the shadow.

Kuri flew into her head and she looked at Kuriboh with surprise. It was huffing at her a little and she couldn't help but wonder why. Just what did Kuri have to do with the shadow? She brought a hand up and stopped the ball of fur from flying into her again. She was a little confused, but was a little relieved to see that the monster wouldn't take any crap from anyone. Her eyes widened a little at the tears pricking Kuri's eyes.

"I'm…sorry?" She couldn't help but ask, wondering what had gotten into the monster.

"Kuri!" Kuri said, rubbing up against her face.

It helped her to figure out what was going on with the Kuriboh.

"You're someone's familiar, aren't you?"

Kuri bobbed up and down and she let out a soft sigh. That was annoying, she was hoping that Kuri would end up as her familiar. How cool would that have been? To have a little ball of fur as the one thing that could keep her safe. She leaned back into her chair and Kuri plopped into her lap, purring the entire time.

"Does this person like me or something?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Kuri!"

Well, that was a positive sound. Renge ran a hand through her hair in disbelief. Someone she didn't even know liked her? She wanted to grimace. That was kinda creepy. What was she to do about that? She couldn't deny the person, honestly she wanted to keep Kuri. She looked down at Kuri gently pressed one of its talons against her flesh thigh.

Kuri wanted to tell her something, but she couldn't understand the small monster. It made communication nearly impossible. Kuri let out a soft whine and she knew that the Kuriboh agreed with her on that one. She plopped a hand back down on the fur before turning towards the puzzle. It was going to help distract her, more than rune work would. She felt her prosthetic limbs grow heavy and inwardly sighed. She had so much planned only so much time to work with. She narrowed her eyes as she got two pieces to connect.

She could be incredibly depressing when she wanted to be.

Renge gave up on the puzzle after an hour of not getting anywhere. She was tired and wanted to get some sleep. She had more plans for pranks to dream up, more potions to make the following day to send out for money. She was going to be busy. She plopped down on the bed, Kuri slamming into her side to sleep by her. A soft chuckle came out of her as she brought a hand back and blindly looked around before it settled in the fur again.

Hopefully whoever he was the familiar for was aware that she wasn't going to give the monster up.

"How are you able to sleep through an earthquake?" Ryou asked his cousin the next morning as she walked out of her room with a bleary expression.

"I'm training for when I'm no longer around," she shrugged, not noticing how he flinched in surprise at those words.

"Don't, you'll outlive us all with how spiteful you can be," he pointed out.

"The demon inside of me blushes at the compliment."

He threw his hands up in disbelief and she laughed. His eyes were wide at the honest laugh coming from her because of his reaction. Her shoulders shook as she looked to the side and went into the kitchen to grab something to eat. He sat on the couch, not knowing what to think about his cousin.

"I'm going to be in my room the whole day, working on some potions to send out to certain organizations," She informed him, eating some bread with what looked to be jam spread on it, "don't worry if you don't hear anything coming from it."

He nodded and she slunk back into her lair, closing the door behind her. Ryou supposed he could go hang out with Yugi, that friendship had been surprising to say the least. He was still glad that they had a friend that understood them, and was kind. Ryou spared his cousin's room a quick glance when he smelt the potion she was crafting, and he grimaced a little.

He didn't know how she could stand the smell.

"He's hanging out with Yugi, that's good," Renge muttered to herself when she heard the front door close, "looks like it's just us, Kuri."

Kuri let out a happy sound and floated around the room before grabbing some flowers and bringing them to her. It was paying attention to the skin recovery potion she was making. She accepted them and placed them in the mortar and pestle so she could grind them down. Kuri perched on her shoulder and watched with wide eyes.

It was always happy to keep watch over the chaos witch.