If you want to know what Hikari's new look is, look up Medusa Lily from Fate/Grand Order :)

Hikari clutched her cup of what could loosely be called 'coffee' like it was her last. There was coffee in the cup...specifically several shots of strong espresso. However there was enough sugar and syrup to keep any child under ten wired for twelve hours, easily.

As she sipped her unholy concoction (as the barista called it when she started ordering her usual), she began to skim the forums she frequented.

The whole 'gate' thing was new, but it was nowhere near the level of sheer insanity she had to deal with last time over a damn card game. Seriously, Kaiba's obsession with the Blue Eyes set alone was beyond ridiculous.

Now though, people obsessed over the cards because they could be used in Gates to defeat stronger monsters and earn more money in the process. Dueling tournaments had been moderately serious before, but were now literal life and death as being a good duelist was considered a requirement to rank up among the "hunters".

Kaiba could be considered a B or A ranked hunter...if it wasn't for the fact he had a company to run. She highly doubted anyone would let him near an actual gate unless it was by pure accident. At least now he couldn't bitch and moan about magic being fake.

Hikari paused in drinking her coffee to stave off the migraine from the memory of all the arguments she had with him over that matter, before finally giving it up.

As she scoured the forums, she saw a few questions that she couldn't help but answer.

It had been difficult to get her hands on a laptop, as the technology had not taken off for several years due to the components being hard to come by.

Now though, she was able to afford a top of the line gaming laptop as well as hi-speed internet for the store. Her grandfather's game store had a major upswing in clientele due to the fact he sold Duel Monster cards, and it had only gotten busier once she installed the WiFi, which had a password she changed regularly to encourage people to actually buy things other than just the cards.

Solomon might have attempted to put parental control on the computer...but he was well aware he'd need Hikari's help to do so as he wasn't nearly as computer savvy and that she was smart enough to figure out a work around within a week.

As a compromise, she stayed within view of her grandfather during the time she was on the computer, so that he could see what she was doing.

Besides, adult websites were not as much fun to go on when you were too young to actually do anything...never mind the fact she wanted nothing to do with anyone who did want anything to do with someone who had yet to hit double digits.

Once she answered a few questions online, after being paid up front of course since this was a special forum for hunters, she finished her drink and walked home.

She sighed and dodged a gate that opened on her usual route home. Her grandfather made it clear she was not to go near the things until she was fifteen or sixteen at least.

Once home, she put her things up and went to the basement. Originally, it had been used as storage for random junk and old family memorabilia that tended to collect after a while.

Now though, it was her private work-out area. One of the 'perks' if one could call it that to insomnia, was the fact she had plenty of time to practice martial arts. Her grandfather wasn't happy, but she wasn't doing anything illegal and by allowing her to work out allowed her to exhaust her body to the point she was able to sleep without dreams.

The box containing the puzzle was locked up in a drawer, because she wasn't mentally or emotionally ready to deal with Atem right now. Besides, she had enough trouble sleeping as it was.

Hikari was glad at how understanding her grandfather was to her problems. He didn't ask why she now had such terrible nightmares, inability to sleep or why she had a near encyclopedic knowledge of a card game that only came out two years before she woke up in her younger body. He accepted her new quirks completely and did his best to support her so long as her habits didn't become self-destructive.

It was nice, even if she missed her partners in crime.

Some time later...

Hikari had to grin when she saw a certain someone log onto the Monster World forum. Took him long enough to get his own computer.

ShadowsQueen: took you long enough.

ThiefKing: Give me a break, it took me ages to convince my mother to let my sister and I to even have computer access. I already have headaches enough hiding my phone from her, since she thinks we're too young for it.

ShadowsQueen: So you managed to save your mother and twin this time around?

ThiefKing: I swiped the keys from her purse when she wasn't looking. She couldn't find them until the next morning. Amane was so unhappy she missed her recital, but it's worth it.

ShadowsQueen: what about your father?

ThiefKing: Mom divorced him and got full custody after he was busted with high priced stolen items.

Considering his father was the reason he was even in the area and obtained the Ring so young, she wasn't surprised Ryou had dealt with him in a way that couldn't be pinned on him later.

ShadowsQueen: have you contacted Marik yet?

Hikari was pleasantly surprised when Ryou responded with an Egyptian phone number, as well as an e-mail address. She chatted with him for a bit, mostly catching up on the oddity that were the gates and how weird things were now, before she left the forum.

Her next move was to send a rather cheerful e-mail to a crabby tomb keeper. She received a very cranky e-mail back the next afternoon.

Hikari couldn't quite keep the grin off her face as she sent a snarky reply back. It took Marik three more to realize who was on the other end, before the snark contests ramped up to eleven.

It was good to have them back, even if they were physically apart by several countries.

~*~~*~*

Anzu stared at her best friend. Hikari was blissfully snoring on her desk, her hair falling over it just a bit.

When she woke up, the first words out of her mouth were...

"When did you get your hair dyed, and why aren't the teachers complaining about it?"

Hikari blinked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

She looked at the long strand Anzu had in her hand, which was a deep, vibrant purple color.

She had a hard enough time growing her hair out to the point it was flat, not spiked to hell and back.

Hikari had a wicked grin as she calmly pulled something out of her bag. Anzu stared as she read the laminated slip of paper.

"Wait...you have written authorization to have purple hair in school?" she said incredulous. That got the attention of the other girls.

"Seriously?!" said one of the more vapid girls.

"Grandpa and I went to the principal and called in most of the teachers to have a chat with them. Considering the number of times they've had to deal with subs calling me out because my hair has three colors and spiked so bad, we came to an agreement. I was allowed to dye it whatever color I liked so long as it was one color and didn't go past the maximum allowed hair length."

Japanese education was very strict, and while purple hair was unusual it was still far more 'normal' than three-toned hair that spiked up like some sort of demented starfish. At the very least it was clearly dyed, and it stayed flat.

Having the written permission curtailed most of the complaints from the usual subs.

"Talk about lucky. My parents won't even let me use make-up," said one of the other girls.

"To be fair, Grandpa doesn't care about what color my hair is, since there's a strong chance I could be a hunter later. Besides, he had a pretty wild youth, and this is relatively tame for a rebellious phase," said Hikari shrugging.

"You're planning to be a hunter? They must be scrapin' the bottom of the barrel to accept shrimps," said Jounouchi.

"It's called a late growth spurt. You should know what that is, considering your brain is clearly waiting for one," she snarked back. This wasn't her Jounouchi and she'd be damned if she put up with harassment.

Jounouchi flushed at the laugh that got. In her defense, she normally wasn't this bitchy but she had a late night having to explain to a hunter team which cards to use during a rather difficult raid.

While she wasn't allowed to become a hunter until she was sixteen, she still had a hunter's account under her screenname. The guild had given her a special account, mostly because of her knowledge of duel monsters and the cards.

Pegasus was equally impressed at her knowledge base, and was openly planning to personally invite her as his guest to dueling tournaments hosted by Industrial Illusions.

When she got home that evening, she found a very expensive car waiting outside. It wasn't the ones Kaiba usually drove, so she allowed her guard to drop, just a bit.

Then she saw Pegasus and a rather pretty woman who was clearly his wife from the matching rings. It took her a second to realize this must be the woman who died last time. He still had the Eye, but he looked much happier.

The look on his face when he realized ShadowsQueen was barely eleven was priceless.

Cecelia was a delightful woman, and took to Hikari very quickly. She kept cooing over her, which was odd but nice.

"So you lost your eye because of a gate, but you managed to find a potion that cured your wife?" said Hikari interested.

"The cancer was terminal, and I had to have my ovaries removed," said Cecelia sadly.

"Losing an eye was worth the price for saving her life," said Pegasus firmly. "Though after she was declared cancer free, I devoted myself to developing the game so that more hunters could survive."

"So why come to me?"

"You have a strong, in-depth knowledge of the game despite your age. Countless hunters credit your advice for saving their lives. I want to see what you can do if properly equipped with a deck," said Pegasus.

"Grandpa won't let me enter gates until I'm sixteen," said Hikari calmly.

"That's what simulators are for. The same technology in the newly developed dueling arenas are also used for simulators for new hunters."

Hikari looked to her grandfather.

"I'll agree to it so long as you keep your grades up and don't actually enter combat before you're fifteen at least."

Solomon knew damn well his grandchild had been spinning her wheels. The sheer number of random hobbies and far too many late nights was testament to that. Letting her play around with holograms and show off her dueling skills was a perfectly acceptable alternative.

Two months later...

Hikari looked at her new uniform. Pegasus was so impressed with her dueling skills that he had allowed her to design her armor and battle outfit.

She didn't have to think too hard on what outfit she wanted, at least with her body being so small as it was.

Pegasus had raised an eyebrow at how quickly she got back to him with her design, but had sent it off for production as promised.

With no hesitation, Hikari donned the hooded cloak, as well as the specialized daggers that went with the outfit. The armor below it looked more like a swimsuit style than anything, but it covered more than enough to be deemed appropriate and the cloak itself covered everything down past her knees. Besides, a pair of shorts would deal with anyone having inappropriate ideas.

The hood itself had some cute cat-like attachments on the top, which made the outfit even more interesting.

Doing a few punches and kicks, Hikari was satisfied with the fit.

She then went to the dueling simulator, which was configured to replicate a gate.

Hikari had to repress a groan, because the second the magic washed over her, she suddenly knew exactly what had caused the anomaly known as Gates to appear in the first place.

She should have known that dumping that much light magic into the Shadow Realm would have consequences. And since she still hadn't found a way to filter shadow magic without being overwhelmed, the gates would continue.

Oh well, this still didn't rate in the top ten messed up situations she had been in because of the Puzzle or the damn God Cards.

Her eyes gleamed as she faced the dragon-type monster. It was time to have some overdue fun.