Chapter 11: - A hARROWing Night
"I still don't think this is a good idea."
It was nine o'clock at night and Yugi, who was preparing to leave for his rematch with Shadi, turned and smiled slightly, "Probably not." He agreed far too cheerfully for Joey's liking.
"And you're still going alone." The blonde eleven year old scowled.
"I'm not alone, I have Yami." Yugi pointed out.
"Still…"
"We'll be fine, Joey." Yugi sounded confident, but he didn't look it.
"I still think you should at least take Sakura."
"Shadi turned FIGHT back into a card with little trouble." Yugi shook his head, "You know how hard FIGHT was to contain, you fought her!"
Joey had to concede Yugi had a point. "Your mum's not going to like this. You're supposed to tell her when you go out at night."
"I know, I know." Yugi sighed, his head turning towards where he knew his mother would be, down in the living room. "But if I tell Mum, she'll insist on me taking someone or worse, she'll want to meet Shadi to see if he's a suitable teacher for me."
Joey sniggered at the thought of the guy in the turban from yesterday getting the once over from Yugi's mum. "Well he is a Shadow Mage."
"I know." Joey paused at Yugi's short phrase, looking at his friend properly. From the change in Yugi's voice, he was certain that he was now speaking to Yami, but he couldn't be sure in this light.
"Two games, then you'll be back, right?" He asked.
Yami or Yugi, he still wasn't sure, nodded.
"Try to make them quick, I don't know how long I can convince your mum that that," He indicated the pile of bedding that looked like a person, "Is you. Its hair's not spiky enough to start with…"
"Perhaps we should have borrowed CREATE." Was it Yami who chuckled? He thought it could be…
Joey just shrugged, having heard of CREATE but not actually seen it in action.
"We'll be back shortly." Yes, it was Yami; he'd caught a glimpse of red eyes.
"Be careful." Joey nodded.
"We will." Yami slipped out of the window, climbing carefully down the tree just outside. Joey watched him go, and then closed the window behind him, before sighing and sitting on his bed to wait.
When he'd run away from home after his mum had left and his dad had given him a black eye before vanishing for three days, he'd come to Yugi because he'd been hungry and unable to think of anywhere else to go.
He'd known about the magic even then, after all, he'd first met Yugi and the others while they were chasing FIGHT and Yugi had entered a 'Shadow Game' with those bullies within moments of meeting him, but still, he hadn't expected to be drawn into the magic that influenced Sakura and Yugi's lives as quickly as he had been.
The phone rang.
Joey froze as he watched Yugi's mobile vibrate across the table, the ringing getting more insistent the longer he left it.
Yugi hadn't taken his phone?
He caught it as it fell off the table and answered it quickly; half afraid Mrs Muto would come looking if it wasn't answered quickly. "Muto's phone, Wheeler speaking." He said, wondering how many people had Yugi's number.
"Hey Joey, has Yugi left yet?" It was Tomoyo.
"You just missed him." Joey responded, collapsing on his bed.
"I wanted to wish him good luck." Tomoyo sounded frustrated. "Wait, he left and you have his phone?"
"Uh huh."
"He really did want to go alone…"
"Apparently."
"Give me a call when Yugi gets back, please?" Tomoyo asked.
"No problem." Joey replied, nodding slightly without thinking.
"Thanks Joey." Tomoyo put the phone down and Joey sighed, lying back and staring at the ceiling.
The phone went again.
Joey, grimacing, picked it up. "Muto phone, Wheeler speaking."
"Hey Joey, Yugi gone yet?" It was Tea this time.
He went through the same rigmarole again, and was just about to get ready for bed when the phone went again.
"Hello?" He grumbled irritably at the person on the other end of the line.
"Joey, hey." Sakura sounded worried, "Are you with Yugi?"
"No, he slipped out about five minutes ago."
"You couldn't come out and give me a hand could you?" Sakura pleaded.
"What's the matter?"
"ARROW." Sakura replied, "It's heading towards the school and Yugi asked…"
"I can be at the park in five minutes if you can..." He cut off as she squeaked and released DASH.
"I'll try and lure it that way." Sakura sounded relieved, "Thanks."
"No problem." He got as far as 'No' before she put the phone down.
Well, he had no idea of how he was going to assist Sakura, but being asked, even as a backup assistant, certainly helped his mood, which had been steadily worsening as the evening had gone on, especially since Tea and Tomoyo hadn't really had much to say to him other then to enquire about Yugi.
And he had an excuse for why Yugi would be out of the house.
He rushed down the stairs, careful to make enough noise that he sounded like two people, blurted out, "We're going out, it's an emergency!" as he passed the living room and was out the front door and down the road and round the corner long before Yugi's Mum had reached the front door.
The only problem now, was that he'd have to wait until Yugi got home to go back in.
Or hope that Yugi didn't get home before him…
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"We're here, Shadi."
Yami looked around the empty rooftop.
They were ten minutes early, but he'd half expected Shadi to have been waiting for them long before this.
"Shadi?" Yami demanded when he was no where in sight.
"I'm here." Shadi appeared from no where, startling Yugi and making Yami glower at him.
"I'm ready when you are." Yami stated, going to reassure Yugi, finding himself amused when he found Yugi had already calmed himself down and was ready and waiting.
Shadi looked bemused, then he did something that caused the Millennium Key to glow.
Yugi found himself in control. "Yami?"
When there was no response, Yugi turned to Shadi with a frightened look.
"I warned you that these tests were for you only. Should you be victorious, I'll free the spirit of the Puzzle."
"What did you do?" Yugi demanded, trying to look calm and failing miserably, one hand holding the cord of the Puzzle.
"He's unharmed, I just locked his soul room." Shadi waved off Yugi's concern.
"And you'll free him if I win?"
"Indeed."
"Then I'll play." Yugi nodded, nervous now.
Shadi pulled out a set of scales with the Eye of Horus on them.
Yugi took a step back when he realised that this too was a Millennium Item.
"Running won't help you."
Yugi squeaked as something scaly wrapped around his wrists, claws digging into his arms, holding him in place, bad breath coming from behind, from a creature who game a rattling sound as it breathed, a dying gasp that had him trying not to breathe in, half worried that its breath was poisonous.
He could turn his head just enough to see that it was a crocodile like creature…
"That is Ammit, the personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs that humans have committed in life. The hearts of those who are heavy with wrongdoing and fail this test are fed to Ammit. Your soul will feed her well, if you lose this game of truth."
"I won't lose." Yugi's tone was one of bravado.
Shadi dropped a feather onto the scale. "This represents a feather from the wings of Ma'at, if your heart is heavier then this feather, you will die." He put it on the floor, in the middle of them. "Three questions will test your heart."
Yugi gulped but nodded.
"The first question. You come across another of great power, a threat to your own life if allowed to become your enemy. What do you do?"
This was easy; they had such an issue on a day to day basis with Sakura. "I make friends with them if possible and hope that we don't end up fighting one another if not."
Shadi was surprised, but maintained his composure when the scales remained even; having expected a different answer.
"Next question, a girl your own age has fallen into the river, her purse is on the bank full of cash, what do you do?"
"Help her." Yugi's answer was short, said without pause and most importantly, wasn't a lie.
Shadi was unsurprised when the scales remained balanced, considering what he had seen of the child now in the grasp of Ammit, but had had to ask, in case the boy's actions yesterday, when he had saved him, hadn't been a reflection of his true thoughts and feelings.
"Last question." Shadi said, watching the child who nodded shortly, still trying to contain a fear that was all too apparent. Obviously the child was less confident without the spirit around. "An enemy has attacked your family and friends to get to you; you have but two choices; fight and save them at the cost of your own life or flee and save your own hide at the cost of theirs. What do you chose?"
Yugi hesitated, unsure how to answer.
"You have to answer, child." Shadi frowned.
Yugi hissed and cringed in pain as Ammit's claws dug in further, drawing blood.
"You have five seconds, five, four, three…"
"I don't know." Yugi answered, "But I hope I would be strong enough to stand and fight. My friends are worth more then I am."
The scales stayed balanced.
Ammit disappeared.
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"Duck!"
Joey, warned by Sakura's cry and sped up by DASH, ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding being turned into a pin cushion by ARROW's arrow shaped energy bolts, which embedded themselves into the sign he was taking cover under, instead of in his back.
"You alright?" Sakura's scared voice reached him.
"Fine." Joey called back, as Sakura worked out that ARROW was now only a block from the school and watched Joey dart out from under the board, catching ARROW's attention again.
Joey blessed his good luck as he managed to dodge the arrows that the Clow Card shot in his direction...
"THUNDER!" Sakura bellowed.
The canine made from energy leapt at ARROW, who dodged and shot at it. Thunder merely absorbed the energy and leapt again.
ARROW changed tactics, dodging THUNDER and opening fire on Sakura.
Sakura flipped in midair, avoiding being shot herself, but forced to land when the wings created by FLY ended up with holes shot in them.
"Sakura!" Sakura squeaked as something went crashing into her, sending her sprawling, unaware that she'd nearly ended up a pin cushion. Getting to her feet quickly to find that Joey had already darted away, distracting ARROW, THUNDER running at his side.
She watched in surprise as ARROW opened fire and Joey, who hadn't stumbled once in the whole time she'd known him (and alright that hadn't been very long, but still...) suddenly tripped, catching himself before he hit the ground, but falling far enough that the arrows went straight over his head.
THUNDER wheeled around leaping at ARROW who only just managed to avoid the raging electrical beast, only to walk straight into a second lightening blast fired off by someone on one of the nearby rooftops.
"Return to the guise you were meant to be, Clow Card!" Sakura didn't waste any time, sealing ARROW in its card.
Joey watched as the card floated away from Sakura's staff, floated straight over his head and into the hands of the person on the rooftops. "Hey!"
The person started, looking at him for a moment or two and then jumped down behind the building.
Still powered up by DASH, Joey chased him.
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Yugi shook his arms off, rubbing his wrists and staring in surprise at the places where the claws had dug in, when he found he wasn't bleeding anymore, and yet the pain was still there. "How?" He asked, looking up at Shadi.
"The wounds inflicted during these games are of the spirit, not the body." Shadi explained, ill amused by how little the child knew about the games that were a part of the magic that he played with on a regular basis.
"There's one more game?" Yugi asked, nodding his understanding, wondering how Yami was going to react if the Pharaoh was freed from the Puzzle only to find that he was injured from these games.
"That's correct." Shadi nodded.
Yugi yelped and leapt back as a tall, powerful looking fourteen year old appeared in front of him. "U...Ushio..." Yugi squeaked, stepping back further.
"The final test, the test of the soul." Shadi smirked, as the huge teen, who had bullied Yugi for years, stealing his lunch, taking any games Yugi had taken to school to sell or give to his ever expanding group, winning loyalties that would help him later in life, even stooping to physical assaults to get what he wanted when Yugi dared to try to stand up for himself, cracked his knuckles and approached Yugi menacingly.
"Yugi." Ushio smirked as he moved towards the eleven year old.
"Ushio." Yugi felt himself tense up at the all too familiar, rude, method of address, and had to fight the urge to follow old impulses and bow, knowing that Shadi was watching, analysing... testing...
"This isn't the real Ushio." Shadi explained as the fake bully circled Yugi, "He's a memory, summoned by the Shadows to test the strength of your soul and its ability to fight past fear. Defeat him and you win. I'll leave and the spirit of the Puzzle will be free."
"You can't beat me Yugi, you've never been able to stop me taking whatever I want." Ushio sniggered, "And if I'd known you had something as valuable as that," He indicated the Puzzle, "I would have taken it a long time ago."
"I won't let you have it." Yugi shook his head and grasped the chain that hung around his neck. He didn't want to fight, didn't want to hurt anyone, but he would not let Ushio take the Puzzle. It was too precious to him.
"Yugi, Yugi, Yugi," Ushio sounded amused by Yugi's defiance, "You don't have a choice." In a few steps he had crossed the distance between the two of them and had grabbed Yugi by the collar and lifted him off of the ground.
Yugi struggled in his grip, one hand on Ushio's arm, the other still on the chain, "Let me go."
Ushio grabbed the chain.
Yugi's grip tightened.
The eye of Horus on the Puzzle glowed brightly and, with a blast of purple light, Ushio was sent crashing into the fence that blocked off the edge of the roof, leaving Yugi stood there, confused as to what had just happened.
"Muto!" Now Ushio was pissed, and the look on his face caused Yugi to freeze in place, as he stomped forward.
"I told you, you can't have it!" Yugi backed up, feeling the power respond to his emotions again.
This time, instead of causing Ushio to go flying, the light that appeared solidified into a monster from the card game, who threatened Ushio with his staff.
Yugi knew this creature, didn't know how he'd called it, but he knew this creature.
The Dark Magician, one of the strongest monsters in his Grandfather's Magic and Wizards deck, stood facing down Yugi's most feared bully.
"I'm not afraid of some trick!" Ushio snorted, moving around the monster.
Yugi didn't know how he'd done it, and he felt sick through and through, as though the appearance of the Dark Magician heralded some illness that sapped his strength, created the worst headache he'd ever felt and made his stomach feel like it was being ripped out, but he cringed into the side of his Grandfather's monster without thinking when Ushio went to take a swipe at him.
The Dark Magician took that as a signal to attack, blasting the thug with a ball of black magic.
While Yugi didn't see the fake Ushio disintegrate into tiny little pieces, the thug's agonised bellow made him cringe and would haunt him for months.
The Dark Magician pulled away from the small Shadow Wielder, examining him properly, raising his staff once again, preparing at strike again.
"No!" Yugi shook his head, feeling too sick to be scared anymore, "Please. Don't attack."
Shadi watched as the Dark Magician considered Yugi a few moments longer, lowered his staff, bowed and vanished, taking the last of Yugi's strength with him.
Fortunately, it was at that exact moment, when the game ended, that the bonds holding Yami's soul room door closed snapped and the Pharaoh seized control with an outraged bellow, "SHADI!"
Shadi was watching him closely. "Your host passed the trials."
Yami was bristling with barely controlled anger. Yugi had passed, but he was unconscious, whatever Shadi had done to him... if it caused any long term damage... "Then you'll leave us alone?"
"For now. I will return when the time is right, but do not worry; I will not test the boy again."
"Leave Tomoeda and don't come back." Yami growled warningly.
Shadi looked amused, and disappeared on the spot.
Yami snarled and examined the roof carefully, but the 'Guardian of the Millennium Items' was gone.
His anger broke when lightening spiked down from a clear sky, landing somewhere around a block away from the school.
Yugi was out of action, but it looked like Sakura was fighting a Clow Card, though he didn't remember THUNDER calling down lightening strikes like that... causing storms, yes, but...
Perhaps they weren't the only ones having trouble...
He wanted to check on Yugi, but if Sakura was fighting, it wasn't safe to leave Yugi's body unattended and he knew Yugi would never forgive him if he didn't help.
He darted down the stairs.
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"Oi!"
The kid in the green robes who had called the lightening froze as Joey got in front of him.
"Where do you think you're going? That card belongs to Sakura." Joey growled.
The Cardcaptor in question arrived moments later, her staff still active, and had to pause to catch her breath. "Joey? Is this?"
"He's the one." Joey nodded, as DASH finally wore off, leaving the blonde feeling tired.
"I'm Li Shaoran." The kid said, glowering at Joey, then Sakura in turn. "The Clow Cards rightfully belong to me!"
"I think you're mistaken." Joey froze at Yami's irritable tone and realised they were just outside the school gates, "The Clow Cards are Sakura's. She released them and it's her duty to collect them all."
Li gave Yami, who was leaning against the wall, looking pissed off, a look that, if it could have killed someone who was already just a spirit possessing someone, would have done. "There's one here too?" He growled, launching an attack on Yami, who had just enough magical energy, after spending most of it trying to break through to Yugi, to put up a protective shield.
A second later, FIGHT was standing between Yami and Li and scowling at the green robed eleven year old. "What do you mean, there's one here too?" Sakura demanded.
"And what gives you the right to claim the Clow Cards as your own, when Sakura's been chosen by the Guardian of the Seal?" Yami followed up with a question of his own.
"The Li family are direct descendants of Clow Reed, the Clow Cards are mine. They're mine by rights, as the last male heir of that line." Li growled, "I should be the one to hold the Clow Cards! I'm the one who needs them to defeat someone like you!" He glowered at Yami.
"Defeat someone like me?" Yami asked, concerned and interested at the same time. Was it Shadi?
"A Mage! With an item like the one that hangs around your neck!" Li scowled, pointing at the Puzzle, "He attacked my family! He put all of them in comas!"
"What?" Sakura's eyes widened and she looked at Yami in shock, wondering if, he too, had that sort of power.
"What sort of Millennium Item did they have?" Joey asked, warily eyeing the Puzzle, relaxed slightly by the knowledge that it was his friend wielding the powerful item.
"How did you escape his attack?" That was what Yami was more interested. Especially if it was something he could use to protect Yugi...
"An eye with that symbol on." Li grumbled, "It reads minds."
It wasn't Shadi then...
"How...?" Sakura asked, biting her lip, wondering how Li had gotten away, and how much of a chance she'd stand against Yugi and Yami if they ever turned on them, not that she thought they would...
"I wasn't home when he attacked. That's why I'm still here." Li answered her unfinished question.
"Give ARROW to Sakura and we'll help you." Yami said, acting tough but too tired to back it up if Li chose to ignore him.
"I'd never trust a Shadow Wielder." Li growled at him. "I will capture all the Clow Cards." He warned Sakura, "And I won't need your help to do it."
"Li..." Sakura's soft tone conveyed her nervousness and concern.
The eleven year old in question gave Yami one last dirty look, then ran off, darting past Joey, who couldn't quite catch him as he passed, and down the nearest alleyway.
"Joey..." Joey went to go after him, only to stop when Sakura called him, turning around to find FIGHT had vanished, Sakura had sank onto the curb stones, her staff turned back into her key, looking half asleep, probably due to the amount of Clow Cards she'd called in such a short space of time, while Yami had slipped down the wall he'd been leant against and looked like he'd fallen asleep where he sat.
"You ok?" Joey asked the Cardcaptor as he checked to see if Yami was actually asleep or just looked it.
"I… don't know." Sakura admitted, thinking heavily about what Li had said.
"Sakura…" Yami started, opening his eyes with effort, then trailed off.
"You won, right?" She shook her head, knowing that she wanted to discuss this new guy with Kero and think things over properly before she even broached the subject with Yugi and Yami.
"Yeah." Yami nodded.
"That's good." Sakura said as Joey gave the spirit a hand to his feet, then offered her a hand up.
They walked in awkward silence for a while, pausing outside Sakura's house for a moment or two before, "Talk tomorrow?" She asked.
"I think we need to." Yami gave her a tiny, reassuring, smile.
"Alright. See you tomorrow." She nodded, and slipped inside.
"Our turn." Yami said, heading for his own house.
"Yami," Joey grabbed his shoulder to stop him, letting go when Yami flinched, "Can you really put people into comas?"
"I don't know." Yami admitted. "Can we not talk about it till Yugi wakes up?"
"He's asleep? I thought you two were playing games with that Shadi guy." Joey frowned.
"Yugi played the games, Shadi did something that stopped me from helping." Yami growled, still annoyed by that. "He won, but he's exhausted." He didn't admit that Yugi had been unconscious before he'd been freed.
"Before school then?" Joey asked, nodding his understanding, even as he wondered how Shadi had managed to stop Yami from helping Yugi.
"Alright." Yami nodded.
Joey snorted, knowing that Yami was probably as worried about the news of a Shadow Wielder who could cause comas as they were, "Come on." He gave the spirit a bit more support, "Let's get you two home. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can sleep."
"Joey…"
"Yes, Yami?"
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
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"Sakura?" Kero asked, worried, as Sakura sank onto her bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, without writing her name on the new card or changing her outfit or anything. He'd never felt her magic reserve so low before… had something worse then the Aquarium incident happened?
Sakura didn't reply for a moment or two, then she rolled over to face the wall and asked, "Am I really the one meant to hold the Clow Cards?"
"What's brought this up?" Kero asked, floating over to the other side of the bed, so he could look her in the face, "I'm the one who decides who's worthy to be the next Master for the cards, and I've picked you." Kero frowned as a thought occurred to him, "What happened? Did Yugi's opponent try and claim them or something?"
"No, no," Sakura shook her head, "There was a boy, Li Shaoron, who claimed to be descended from Clow Reed. He said he needed the Clow Cards…"
"If he's really of the Li clan, he may believe that the cards should be his, but I chose you. You're the only one who can use the Key, or seal the rogue spirits back into their cards." Kero reassured her, "Did he say why he needed them?"
Sakura hesitated.
"What?" Kero growled slightly, taking a tone he didn't use very often when dealing with Sakura but when he did pried answers from her.
"The Li clan, they were attacked, by a really powerful mage, I think he's the only one that escaped."
Kero hissed, thinking of the power it would take to overwhelm the entire family, and kicked the blanket. "And he wants the Clow Cards to take revenge…" Kero's eyes would have widened as the thought that Li's prescience here could bring the attacker here, to Tomoeda, "Did he mention what type of mage attacked his home?"
"Yes…"
"And?" Kero asked, needing the information, so he could warn his two charges about possible dangers, just in case.
"He said they have a Millennium Item, like Yugi."
"A Millennium Item?" Kero demanded, this wasn't good.
"An eye." Sakura nodded, "With Shadow powers and it reads mind. He didn't like Yami very much because of it."
"An eye… so it wasn't the guy Yugi fought today." Kero scowled, if it was more Shadow magic, then there wasn't much he could do about it, "Did Yami know anything? Or the guy they were fighting?"
"I don't know. Yami was exhausted and I don't know what happened to their opponent, the games were over by the time I got there."
Kero growled slightly, "If Yami was exhausted, he'll be asleep by now and we won't get any sense out of him. Go to sleep, we'll think on this tomorrow, ok?" Kero took off, and floated over to the desk, not tired, but knowing Sakura was.
The Cardcaptor nodded, pulling herself out of bed and getting changed into her pyjamas.
"Kero?" Sakura's quiet question went almost unheard.
"Yes, Sakura?" Kero asked, wondering if there was something she hadn't told him.
"Do you think Shadow magic can cause comas?" She asked, pausing in her efforts to pull her top over her head.
"It might be possible. Did the kid say something?" Kero asked, wishing he knew more about that particular strain of magic.
"He said the attacker put his entire family in comas…" Sakura finished hesitantly, finishing getting changed and clambering into bed.
Kero watched Sakura, toss and turn for a moment. "Yugi wouldn't let anything like that happen. Besides you're the Cardcaptor, you can stand up for yourself, right?" Kero tried to be reassuring.
When Sakura didn't reply, Kero gave her a reassuring look, only to find that Sakura's tiredness had caught up to her and she was fast asleep.
Kero felt a bit like a failure. He'd known that if one mage found them, it was likely there would be others, but he'd expected to be able to teach his two charges for much longer then just a month and a half before trouble descended…
Kero paused in confusion, before tapping Sakura on the shoulder.
The Cardcaptor opened one eye and looked at him blearily, "Huh?"
"What happened to ARROW?"
"Li has it." Sakura replied, before falling asleep again.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more information from her tonight he floated over to his 'bedroom' in the bottom drawer of the desk, and curled up on his bed.
Sleep was a long time coming.
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"Muto Yugi! Wheeler Joseph!"
Joey cringed as they stepped through the door, only to find a rather aggravated Ms Muto waiting for them.
"I'm sorry mum." Yami apologised on Yugi's behalf.
"Next time I want a little more information then 'it's an emergency' before you leave the house." She said, not happy in the slightest, "Now go to your room before I ground the pair of you."
"Sorry Muto-San." Joey apologised and watched, with relief as Yami took himself upstairs without too much effort.
"Wheeler-Kun, is everyone alright?" Kaiya asked the blonde she'd taken in, concerned, considering that Yugi was normally willing to stop and talk about what had happened, "No one's hurt, are they?"
"None of us are hurt, but we ran into another mage like Sakura." Joey explained, "And what he said left us all thinking about stuff."
"Like what?"
"Clow Cards and things." Joey was deliberately vague.
Kaiya frowned and would have called him on it if the eleven year old hadn't looked half asleep.
"Go to bed. I'll speak to you tomorrow."
"Yes Muto-San." Joey nodded and headed up.
When he reached the bedroom, Yami was already asleep.
Guess Ms Muto wasn't the only one not getting answers tonight…
It was nine o'clock at night and Yugi, who was preparing to leave for his rematch with Shadi, turned and smiled slightly, "Probably not." He agreed far too cheerfully for Joey's liking.
"And you're still going alone." The blonde eleven year old scowled.
"I'm not alone, I have Yami." Yugi pointed out.
"Still…"
"We'll be fine, Joey." Yugi sounded confident, but he didn't look it.
"I still think you should at least take Sakura."
"Shadi turned FIGHT back into a card with little trouble." Yugi shook his head, "You know how hard FIGHT was to contain, you fought her!"
Joey had to concede Yugi had a point. "Your mum's not going to like this. You're supposed to tell her when you go out at night."
"I know, I know." Yugi sighed, his head turning towards where he knew his mother would be, down in the living room. "But if I tell Mum, she'll insist on me taking someone or worse, she'll want to meet Shadi to see if he's a suitable teacher for me."
Joey sniggered at the thought of the guy in the turban from yesterday getting the once over from Yugi's mum. "Well he is a Shadow Mage."
"I know." Joey paused at Yugi's short phrase, looking at his friend properly. From the change in Yugi's voice, he was certain that he was now speaking to Yami, but he couldn't be sure in this light.
"Two games, then you'll be back, right?" He asked.
Yami or Yugi, he still wasn't sure, nodded.
"Try to make them quick, I don't know how long I can convince your mum that that," He indicated the pile of bedding that looked like a person, "Is you. Its hair's not spiky enough to start with…"
"Perhaps we should have borrowed CREATE." Was it Yami who chuckled? He thought it could be…
Joey just shrugged, having heard of CREATE but not actually seen it in action.
"We'll be back shortly." Yes, it was Yami; he'd caught a glimpse of red eyes.
"Be careful." Joey nodded.
"We will." Yami slipped out of the window, climbing carefully down the tree just outside. Joey watched him go, and then closed the window behind him, before sighing and sitting on his bed to wait.
When he'd run away from home after his mum had left and his dad had given him a black eye before vanishing for three days, he'd come to Yugi because he'd been hungry and unable to think of anywhere else to go.
He'd known about the magic even then, after all, he'd first met Yugi and the others while they were chasing FIGHT and Yugi had entered a 'Shadow Game' with those bullies within moments of meeting him, but still, he hadn't expected to be drawn into the magic that influenced Sakura and Yugi's lives as quickly as he had been.
The phone rang.
Joey froze as he watched Yugi's mobile vibrate across the table, the ringing getting more insistent the longer he left it.
Yugi hadn't taken his phone?
He caught it as it fell off the table and answered it quickly; half afraid Mrs Muto would come looking if it wasn't answered quickly. "Muto's phone, Wheeler speaking." He said, wondering how many people had Yugi's number.
"Hey Joey, has Yugi left yet?" It was Tomoyo.
"You just missed him." Joey responded, collapsing on his bed.
"I wanted to wish him good luck." Tomoyo sounded frustrated. "Wait, he left and you have his phone?"
"Uh huh."
"He really did want to go alone…"
"Apparently."
"Give me a call when Yugi gets back, please?" Tomoyo asked.
"No problem." Joey replied, nodding slightly without thinking.
"Thanks Joey." Tomoyo put the phone down and Joey sighed, lying back and staring at the ceiling.
The phone went again.
Joey, grimacing, picked it up. "Muto phone, Wheeler speaking."
"Hey Joey, Yugi gone yet?" It was Tea this time.
He went through the same rigmarole again, and was just about to get ready for bed when the phone went again.
"Hello?" He grumbled irritably at the person on the other end of the line.
"Joey, hey." Sakura sounded worried, "Are you with Yugi?"
"No, he slipped out about five minutes ago."
"You couldn't come out and give me a hand could you?" Sakura pleaded.
"What's the matter?"
"ARROW." Sakura replied, "It's heading towards the school and Yugi asked…"
"I can be at the park in five minutes if you can..." He cut off as she squeaked and released DASH.
"I'll try and lure it that way." Sakura sounded relieved, "Thanks."
"No problem." He got as far as 'No' before she put the phone down.
Well, he had no idea of how he was going to assist Sakura, but being asked, even as a backup assistant, certainly helped his mood, which had been steadily worsening as the evening had gone on, especially since Tea and Tomoyo hadn't really had much to say to him other then to enquire about Yugi.
And he had an excuse for why Yugi would be out of the house.
He rushed down the stairs, careful to make enough noise that he sounded like two people, blurted out, "We're going out, it's an emergency!" as he passed the living room and was out the front door and down the road and round the corner long before Yugi's Mum had reached the front door.
The only problem now, was that he'd have to wait until Yugi got home to go back in.
Or hope that Yugi didn't get home before him…
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"We're here, Shadi."
Yami looked around the empty rooftop.
They were ten minutes early, but he'd half expected Shadi to have been waiting for them long before this.
"Shadi?" Yami demanded when he was no where in sight.
"I'm here." Shadi appeared from no where, startling Yugi and making Yami glower at him.
"I'm ready when you are." Yami stated, going to reassure Yugi, finding himself amused when he found Yugi had already calmed himself down and was ready and waiting.
Shadi looked bemused, then he did something that caused the Millennium Key to glow.
Yugi found himself in control. "Yami?"
When there was no response, Yugi turned to Shadi with a frightened look.
"I warned you that these tests were for you only. Should you be victorious, I'll free the spirit of the Puzzle."
"What did you do?" Yugi demanded, trying to look calm and failing miserably, one hand holding the cord of the Puzzle.
"He's unharmed, I just locked his soul room." Shadi waved off Yugi's concern.
"And you'll free him if I win?"
"Indeed."
"Then I'll play." Yugi nodded, nervous now.
Shadi pulled out a set of scales with the Eye of Horus on them.
Yugi took a step back when he realised that this too was a Millennium Item.
"Running won't help you."
Yugi squeaked as something scaly wrapped around his wrists, claws digging into his arms, holding him in place, bad breath coming from behind, from a creature who game a rattling sound as it breathed, a dying gasp that had him trying not to breathe in, half worried that its breath was poisonous.
He could turn his head just enough to see that it was a crocodile like creature…
"That is Ammit, the personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs that humans have committed in life. The hearts of those who are heavy with wrongdoing and fail this test are fed to Ammit. Your soul will feed her well, if you lose this game of truth."
"I won't lose." Yugi's tone was one of bravado.
Shadi dropped a feather onto the scale. "This represents a feather from the wings of Ma'at, if your heart is heavier then this feather, you will die." He put it on the floor, in the middle of them. "Three questions will test your heart."
Yugi gulped but nodded.
"The first question. You come across another of great power, a threat to your own life if allowed to become your enemy. What do you do?"
This was easy; they had such an issue on a day to day basis with Sakura. "I make friends with them if possible and hope that we don't end up fighting one another if not."
Shadi was surprised, but maintained his composure when the scales remained even; having expected a different answer.
"Next question, a girl your own age has fallen into the river, her purse is on the bank full of cash, what do you do?"
"Help her." Yugi's answer was short, said without pause and most importantly, wasn't a lie.
Shadi was unsurprised when the scales remained balanced, considering what he had seen of the child now in the grasp of Ammit, but had had to ask, in case the boy's actions yesterday, when he had saved him, hadn't been a reflection of his true thoughts and feelings.
"Last question." Shadi said, watching the child who nodded shortly, still trying to contain a fear that was all too apparent. Obviously the child was less confident without the spirit around. "An enemy has attacked your family and friends to get to you; you have but two choices; fight and save them at the cost of your own life or flee and save your own hide at the cost of theirs. What do you chose?"
Yugi hesitated, unsure how to answer.
"You have to answer, child." Shadi frowned.
Yugi hissed and cringed in pain as Ammit's claws dug in further, drawing blood.
"You have five seconds, five, four, three…"
"I don't know." Yugi answered, "But I hope I would be strong enough to stand and fight. My friends are worth more then I am."
The scales stayed balanced.
Ammit disappeared.
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"Duck!"
Joey, warned by Sakura's cry and sped up by DASH, ducked and rolled, narrowly avoiding being turned into a pin cushion by ARROW's arrow shaped energy bolts, which embedded themselves into the sign he was taking cover under, instead of in his back.
"You alright?" Sakura's scared voice reached him.
"Fine." Joey called back, as Sakura worked out that ARROW was now only a block from the school and watched Joey dart out from under the board, catching ARROW's attention again.
Joey blessed his good luck as he managed to dodge the arrows that the Clow Card shot in his direction...
"THUNDER!" Sakura bellowed.
The canine made from energy leapt at ARROW, who dodged and shot at it. Thunder merely absorbed the energy and leapt again.
ARROW changed tactics, dodging THUNDER and opening fire on Sakura.
Sakura flipped in midair, avoiding being shot herself, but forced to land when the wings created by FLY ended up with holes shot in them.
"Sakura!" Sakura squeaked as something went crashing into her, sending her sprawling, unaware that she'd nearly ended up a pin cushion. Getting to her feet quickly to find that Joey had already darted away, distracting ARROW, THUNDER running at his side.
She watched in surprise as ARROW opened fire and Joey, who hadn't stumbled once in the whole time she'd known him (and alright that hadn't been very long, but still...) suddenly tripped, catching himself before he hit the ground, but falling far enough that the arrows went straight over his head.
THUNDER wheeled around leaping at ARROW who only just managed to avoid the raging electrical beast, only to walk straight into a second lightening blast fired off by someone on one of the nearby rooftops.
"Return to the guise you were meant to be, Clow Card!" Sakura didn't waste any time, sealing ARROW in its card.
Joey watched as the card floated away from Sakura's staff, floated straight over his head and into the hands of the person on the rooftops. "Hey!"
The person started, looking at him for a moment or two and then jumped down behind the building.
Still powered up by DASH, Joey chased him.
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Yugi shook his arms off, rubbing his wrists and staring in surprise at the places where the claws had dug in, when he found he wasn't bleeding anymore, and yet the pain was still there. "How?" He asked, looking up at Shadi.
"The wounds inflicted during these games are of the spirit, not the body." Shadi explained, ill amused by how little the child knew about the games that were a part of the magic that he played with on a regular basis.
"There's one more game?" Yugi asked, nodding his understanding, wondering how Yami was going to react if the Pharaoh was freed from the Puzzle only to find that he was injured from these games.
"That's correct." Shadi nodded.
Yugi yelped and leapt back as a tall, powerful looking fourteen year old appeared in front of him. "U...Ushio..." Yugi squeaked, stepping back further.
"The final test, the test of the soul." Shadi smirked, as the huge teen, who had bullied Yugi for years, stealing his lunch, taking any games Yugi had taken to school to sell or give to his ever expanding group, winning loyalties that would help him later in life, even stooping to physical assaults to get what he wanted when Yugi dared to try to stand up for himself, cracked his knuckles and approached Yugi menacingly.
"Yugi." Ushio smirked as he moved towards the eleven year old.
"Ushio." Yugi felt himself tense up at the all too familiar, rude, method of address, and had to fight the urge to follow old impulses and bow, knowing that Shadi was watching, analysing... testing...
"This isn't the real Ushio." Shadi explained as the fake bully circled Yugi, "He's a memory, summoned by the Shadows to test the strength of your soul and its ability to fight past fear. Defeat him and you win. I'll leave and the spirit of the Puzzle will be free."
"You can't beat me Yugi, you've never been able to stop me taking whatever I want." Ushio sniggered, "And if I'd known you had something as valuable as that," He indicated the Puzzle, "I would have taken it a long time ago."
"I won't let you have it." Yugi shook his head and grasped the chain that hung around his neck. He didn't want to fight, didn't want to hurt anyone, but he would not let Ushio take the Puzzle. It was too precious to him.
"Yugi, Yugi, Yugi," Ushio sounded amused by Yugi's defiance, "You don't have a choice." In a few steps he had crossed the distance between the two of them and had grabbed Yugi by the collar and lifted him off of the ground.
Yugi struggled in his grip, one hand on Ushio's arm, the other still on the chain, "Let me go."
Ushio grabbed the chain.
Yugi's grip tightened.
The eye of Horus on the Puzzle glowed brightly and, with a blast of purple light, Ushio was sent crashing into the fence that blocked off the edge of the roof, leaving Yugi stood there, confused as to what had just happened.
"Muto!" Now Ushio was pissed, and the look on his face caused Yugi to freeze in place, as he stomped forward.
"I told you, you can't have it!" Yugi backed up, feeling the power respond to his emotions again.
This time, instead of causing Ushio to go flying, the light that appeared solidified into a monster from the card game, who threatened Ushio with his staff.
Yugi knew this creature, didn't know how he'd called it, but he knew this creature.
The Dark Magician, one of the strongest monsters in his Grandfather's Magic and Wizards deck, stood facing down Yugi's most feared bully.
"I'm not afraid of some trick!" Ushio snorted, moving around the monster.
Yugi didn't know how he'd done it, and he felt sick through and through, as though the appearance of the Dark Magician heralded some illness that sapped his strength, created the worst headache he'd ever felt and made his stomach feel like it was being ripped out, but he cringed into the side of his Grandfather's monster without thinking when Ushio went to take a swipe at him.
The Dark Magician took that as a signal to attack, blasting the thug with a ball of black magic.
While Yugi didn't see the fake Ushio disintegrate into tiny little pieces, the thug's agonised bellow made him cringe and would haunt him for months.
The Dark Magician pulled away from the small Shadow Wielder, examining him properly, raising his staff once again, preparing at strike again.
"No!" Yugi shook his head, feeling too sick to be scared anymore, "Please. Don't attack."
Shadi watched as the Dark Magician considered Yugi a few moments longer, lowered his staff, bowed and vanished, taking the last of Yugi's strength with him.
Fortunately, it was at that exact moment, when the game ended, that the bonds holding Yami's soul room door closed snapped and the Pharaoh seized control with an outraged bellow, "SHADI!"
Shadi was watching him closely. "Your host passed the trials."
Yami was bristling with barely controlled anger. Yugi had passed, but he was unconscious, whatever Shadi had done to him... if it caused any long term damage... "Then you'll leave us alone?"
"For now. I will return when the time is right, but do not worry; I will not test the boy again."
"Leave Tomoeda and don't come back." Yami growled warningly.
Shadi looked amused, and disappeared on the spot.
Yami snarled and examined the roof carefully, but the 'Guardian of the Millennium Items' was gone.
His anger broke when lightening spiked down from a clear sky, landing somewhere around a block away from the school.
Yugi was out of action, but it looked like Sakura was fighting a Clow Card, though he didn't remember THUNDER calling down lightening strikes like that... causing storms, yes, but...
Perhaps they weren't the only ones having trouble...
He wanted to check on Yugi, but if Sakura was fighting, it wasn't safe to leave Yugi's body unattended and he knew Yugi would never forgive him if he didn't help.
He darted down the stairs.
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"Oi!"
The kid in the green robes who had called the lightening froze as Joey got in front of him.
"Where do you think you're going? That card belongs to Sakura." Joey growled.
The Cardcaptor in question arrived moments later, her staff still active, and had to pause to catch her breath. "Joey? Is this?"
"He's the one." Joey nodded, as DASH finally wore off, leaving the blonde feeling tired.
"I'm Li Shaoran." The kid said, glowering at Joey, then Sakura in turn. "The Clow Cards rightfully belong to me!"
"I think you're mistaken." Joey froze at Yami's irritable tone and realised they were just outside the school gates, "The Clow Cards are Sakura's. She released them and it's her duty to collect them all."
Li gave Yami, who was leaning against the wall, looking pissed off, a look that, if it could have killed someone who was already just a spirit possessing someone, would have done. "There's one here too?" He growled, launching an attack on Yami, who had just enough magical energy, after spending most of it trying to break through to Yugi, to put up a protective shield.
A second later, FIGHT was standing between Yami and Li and scowling at the green robed eleven year old. "What do you mean, there's one here too?" Sakura demanded.
"And what gives you the right to claim the Clow Cards as your own, when Sakura's been chosen by the Guardian of the Seal?" Yami followed up with a question of his own.
"The Li family are direct descendants of Clow Reed, the Clow Cards are mine. They're mine by rights, as the last male heir of that line." Li growled, "I should be the one to hold the Clow Cards! I'm the one who needs them to defeat someone like you!" He glowered at Yami.
"Defeat someone like me?" Yami asked, concerned and interested at the same time. Was it Shadi?
"A Mage! With an item like the one that hangs around your neck!" Li scowled, pointing at the Puzzle, "He attacked my family! He put all of them in comas!"
"What?" Sakura's eyes widened and she looked at Yami in shock, wondering if, he too, had that sort of power.
"What sort of Millennium Item did they have?" Joey asked, warily eyeing the Puzzle, relaxed slightly by the knowledge that it was his friend wielding the powerful item.
"How did you escape his attack?" That was what Yami was more interested. Especially if it was something he could use to protect Yugi...
"An eye with that symbol on." Li grumbled, "It reads minds."
It wasn't Shadi then...
"How...?" Sakura asked, biting her lip, wondering how Li had gotten away, and how much of a chance she'd stand against Yugi and Yami if they ever turned on them, not that she thought they would...
"I wasn't home when he attacked. That's why I'm still here." Li answered her unfinished question.
"Give ARROW to Sakura and we'll help you." Yami said, acting tough but too tired to back it up if Li chose to ignore him.
"I'd never trust a Shadow Wielder." Li growled at him. "I will capture all the Clow Cards." He warned Sakura, "And I won't need your help to do it."
"Li..." Sakura's soft tone conveyed her nervousness and concern.
The eleven year old in question gave Yami one last dirty look, then ran off, darting past Joey, who couldn't quite catch him as he passed, and down the nearest alleyway.
"Joey..." Joey went to go after him, only to stop when Sakura called him, turning around to find FIGHT had vanished, Sakura had sank onto the curb stones, her staff turned back into her key, looking half asleep, probably due to the amount of Clow Cards she'd called in such a short space of time, while Yami had slipped down the wall he'd been leant against and looked like he'd fallen asleep where he sat.
"You ok?" Joey asked the Cardcaptor as he checked to see if Yami was actually asleep or just looked it.
"I… don't know." Sakura admitted, thinking heavily about what Li had said.
"Sakura…" Yami started, opening his eyes with effort, then trailed off.
"You won, right?" She shook her head, knowing that she wanted to discuss this new guy with Kero and think things over properly before she even broached the subject with Yugi and Yami.
"Yeah." Yami nodded.
"That's good." Sakura said as Joey gave the spirit a hand to his feet, then offered her a hand up.
They walked in awkward silence for a while, pausing outside Sakura's house for a moment or two before, "Talk tomorrow?" She asked.
"I think we need to." Yami gave her a tiny, reassuring, smile.
"Alright. See you tomorrow." She nodded, and slipped inside.
"Our turn." Yami said, heading for his own house.
"Yami," Joey grabbed his shoulder to stop him, letting go when Yami flinched, "Can you really put people into comas?"
"I don't know." Yami admitted. "Can we not talk about it till Yugi wakes up?"
"He's asleep? I thought you two were playing games with that Shadi guy." Joey frowned.
"Yugi played the games, Shadi did something that stopped me from helping." Yami growled, still annoyed by that. "He won, but he's exhausted." He didn't admit that Yugi had been unconscious before he'd been freed.
"Before school then?" Joey asked, nodding his understanding, even as he wondered how Shadi had managed to stop Yami from helping Yugi.
"Alright." Yami nodded.
Joey snorted, knowing that Yami was probably as worried about the news of a Shadow Wielder who could cause comas as they were, "Come on." He gave the spirit a bit more support, "Let's get you two home. The sooner you get there, the sooner you can sleep."
"Joey…"
"Yes, Yami?"
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
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"Sakura?" Kero asked, worried, as Sakura sank onto her bed and stared blankly at the ceiling, without writing her name on the new card or changing her outfit or anything. He'd never felt her magic reserve so low before… had something worse then the Aquarium incident happened?
Sakura didn't reply for a moment or two, then she rolled over to face the wall and asked, "Am I really the one meant to hold the Clow Cards?"
"What's brought this up?" Kero asked, floating over to the other side of the bed, so he could look her in the face, "I'm the one who decides who's worthy to be the next Master for the cards, and I've picked you." Kero frowned as a thought occurred to him, "What happened? Did Yugi's opponent try and claim them or something?"
"No, no," Sakura shook her head, "There was a boy, Li Shaoron, who claimed to be descended from Clow Reed. He said he needed the Clow Cards…"
"If he's really of the Li clan, he may believe that the cards should be his, but I chose you. You're the only one who can use the Key, or seal the rogue spirits back into their cards." Kero reassured her, "Did he say why he needed them?"
Sakura hesitated.
"What?" Kero growled slightly, taking a tone he didn't use very often when dealing with Sakura but when he did pried answers from her.
"The Li clan, they were attacked, by a really powerful mage, I think he's the only one that escaped."
Kero hissed, thinking of the power it would take to overwhelm the entire family, and kicked the blanket. "And he wants the Clow Cards to take revenge…" Kero's eyes would have widened as the thought that Li's prescience here could bring the attacker here, to Tomoeda, "Did he mention what type of mage attacked his home?"
"Yes…"
"And?" Kero asked, needing the information, so he could warn his two charges about possible dangers, just in case.
"He said they have a Millennium Item, like Yugi."
"A Millennium Item?" Kero demanded, this wasn't good.
"An eye." Sakura nodded, "With Shadow powers and it reads mind. He didn't like Yami very much because of it."
"An eye… so it wasn't the guy Yugi fought today." Kero scowled, if it was more Shadow magic, then there wasn't much he could do about it, "Did Yami know anything? Or the guy they were fighting?"
"I don't know. Yami was exhausted and I don't know what happened to their opponent, the games were over by the time I got there."
Kero growled slightly, "If Yami was exhausted, he'll be asleep by now and we won't get any sense out of him. Go to sleep, we'll think on this tomorrow, ok?" Kero took off, and floated over to the desk, not tired, but knowing Sakura was.
The Cardcaptor nodded, pulling herself out of bed and getting changed into her pyjamas.
"Kero?" Sakura's quiet question went almost unheard.
"Yes, Sakura?" Kero asked, wondering if there was something she hadn't told him.
"Do you think Shadow magic can cause comas?" She asked, pausing in her efforts to pull her top over her head.
"It might be possible. Did the kid say something?" Kero asked, wishing he knew more about that particular strain of magic.
"He said the attacker put his entire family in comas…" Sakura finished hesitantly, finishing getting changed and clambering into bed.
Kero watched Sakura, toss and turn for a moment. "Yugi wouldn't let anything like that happen. Besides you're the Cardcaptor, you can stand up for yourself, right?" Kero tried to be reassuring.
When Sakura didn't reply, Kero gave her a reassuring look, only to find that Sakura's tiredness had caught up to her and she was fast asleep.
Kero felt a bit like a failure. He'd known that if one mage found them, it was likely there would be others, but he'd expected to be able to teach his two charges for much longer then just a month and a half before trouble descended…
Kero paused in confusion, before tapping Sakura on the shoulder.
The Cardcaptor opened one eye and looked at him blearily, "Huh?"
"What happened to ARROW?"
"Li has it." Sakura replied, before falling asleep again.
Seeing that he wasn't going to get any more information from her tonight he floated over to his 'bedroom' in the bottom drawer of the desk, and curled up on his bed.
Sleep was a long time coming.
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"Muto Yugi! Wheeler Joseph!"
Joey cringed as they stepped through the door, only to find a rather aggravated Ms Muto waiting for them.
"I'm sorry mum." Yami apologised on Yugi's behalf.
"Next time I want a little more information then 'it's an emergency' before you leave the house." She said, not happy in the slightest, "Now go to your room before I ground the pair of you."
"Sorry Muto-San." Joey apologised and watched, with relief as Yami took himself upstairs without too much effort.
"Wheeler-Kun, is everyone alright?" Kaiya asked the blonde she'd taken in, concerned, considering that Yugi was normally willing to stop and talk about what had happened, "No one's hurt, are they?"
"None of us are hurt, but we ran into another mage like Sakura." Joey explained, "And what he said left us all thinking about stuff."
"Like what?"
"Clow Cards and things." Joey was deliberately vague.
Kaiya frowned and would have called him on it if the eleven year old hadn't looked half asleep.
"Go to bed. I'll speak to you tomorrow."
"Yes Muto-San." Joey nodded and headed up.
When he reached the bedroom, Yami was already asleep.
Guess Ms Muto wasn't the only one not getting answers tonight…