Light Amongst Shadows Part 10

“Oneesan?” Jou looked surprised, “Oneesan’s otosan?”

“Yeah.” Yugi nodded, subdued but amused at Jou’s reaction, “Turns out he’s a prat.”

“So what does that have to do with what’s going on?” Jou asked, watching as Yugi steadily gained more confidence on her feet as she took more and more steps.

“Nothing.” Yugi’s reply was too hasty and Jou frowned at her, wondering whether to poke until he had a real answer. Yugi was bad at lying and it was obvious something was going on that she did not want to talk about. When he opened his mouth, however, she spoke again, “Jou, please... leave it.”

The pleading tone to Yugi’s voice caused Jou to drop it. He did not like dropping it, but Yugi did not plead with anyone. Not normally. Something had to have stressed her greatly for her to beg him to leave it alone. Considering that something had something to do with Oneesan’s past, when every other discovery she had made had been excitedly shared with the group, it made him a little nervous.

Still, if Yugi wanted him to leave it badly enough to beg, he was not going to push it.

“Alright, Yuge.” Jou nodded, hugging her carefully, avoiding touching where the bandages rested and grimacing as he felt her trembling against him. Whatever the issue was, it had disturbed her enough that she was a wreck. “Alright, but if you need to talk it out...”

“I know. Thank you.” Yugi pulled away, giving him a small, embarrassed smile as she glanced around for her top. “Have you seen what Bakura did with my clothes?”

“No.” Jou shook his head, “I’ll go and ask. Stay here.”

Yugi poked around the room, trying to find her tops. Oneesan spotted the clothes first and she blanced as she saw the mess that had been made of them. She had not been conscious before Bakura had worked to heal Imoto-chan, so she had not seen how badly hurt Yugi had been for herself. The torn pile of bloody clothes in the corner gave her some idea of how close she had come to losing her little sister for good.

‘Imoto-chan...’ Oneesan hesitated when Yugi turned to look at her, curiosity obvious on her features. ‘It’s nothing. Never mind.’

“You haven’t seen my clothes have you?” Yugi asked, turning back to her search. The spirit of the Puzzle was saved from lying to her little sister by Bakura entering the room.

“There’s clean towels and clothes in the bathroom.” She informed the girl, “Go wash up. We’ll discuss what to do next when you’re finished.”

“Thank you.” Yugi carefully bowed respectfully to her host before darting out of the room, glad to escape without having the conversation turn towards what they had been discussing earlier.

“I’m not protecting you.” Bakura informed Oneesan when the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle nodded to her gratefully, “She doesn’t need to know how badly she was hurt before I reached the plaza. You should be more careful. You lose her, you’re not the only one who gets to wait until she gets reincarnated again.”

She did not need Bakura to remind her of what would happen when Imoto-chan passed on. She was horribly aware of the consequences. She dreaded the thought of returning to the darkness that had held her for so long. However, she often forgot that she was not the only one who would have to wait for her Imoto-chan to reincarnate. Bakura had been waiting just as long, even if she had not been trapped within the Shadows like she had.

Bakura prodded the damaged and bloody clothes into a carrier bag, grimacing as she saw the stain that they left on the floor. “Damn it.” She growled as she shuffled a rug over to hide the spot, “Now I’ll need to get the carpet cleaned.” She glowered over at Oneesan, “If I’d known finding out about the items was going to make you an idiot, I’d have told you years ago.” She snapped at the Pharaoh, “Go and take over from her. The Shadows are still loose!”

Oneesan blinked, realised she had let her little sister vanish from the room without her and vanished into the Puzzle, emerging again in the bathroom to find Yugi was sat on the floor, her back resting against the side of the bath, her head resting on her knees, softly sobbing.

Oneesan sat at her little sister’s side, concern coursing through her as Yugi didn’t immediately respond to her when she put her hand on Imoto-chan’s shoulder. ‘Imoto?’ She asked softly, concern leaking over the link.

Yugi jumped. Her head shot up, giving Oneesan a brief chance to see her little sister’s tears falling before Yugi tried to brush them away with the back of her hand and gave Oneesan a watery smile. “H...Hey Anesan, I won’t be very long. I’m just...” She trailed off, noting the concerned look on her older sister’s face, “I’m okay.”

‘No you’re not.’ Oneesan shook her head slightly, running a spectral hand through the hair of the only mortal she could ever interact with, ‘I’m sorry I’ve brought this down on you.’

“It’s not your fault.” Imoto-chan shook her head, letting out a soft hiss of pain shortly afterwards, “You’re not responsible for what your family did.” Yugi let out a soft sigh, leaning against the spirit of the Puzzle, “I just...” She trailed off.

‘It’ll be okay.’ Oneesan promised her younger self, ‘I’ll stop them. I won’t let them turn Domino into a ghost town and I won’t let them harm you again.’

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” Yugi admitted, “Just because they can’t move forward with their plan for now, doesn’t mean we know where they are or where to stop them.”

‘We’ll work it out.’ Oneesan reassured Yugi, ‘We just need to stay strong.’ She nudged the light half of her soul, ‘Let me take over. You need to rest and the Shadows won’t affect you there.’

“Alright.” Yugi nodded, her head spinning slightly as it had been ever since she had taken over from Oneesan, “Just...be careful? Promise me?”

‘I promise.’

With that Yugi switched them, leaving Oneesan in control of the still aching body. The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle let out a sharp hiss of pain as she got to her feet. Though Bakura had done an awful lot to heal them using life point recovery cards, the body was still sore. Something she was not surprised about but made things inconvenient.

She quickly washed and got dressed, heading downstairs to find Jou was yawning and Bakura was ill amused. “What’s going on?”

“Since I can’t trust you to not get murdered horribly if I leave you alone,” Bakura growled, “You’re coming with me so I can keep an eye on you. And he’s tagging along for the ride.” She gestured to Jou.

“And you’re going to lead us to the bad guys?” Oneesan asked, willing to trust Bakura for now considering everything.

“The runt might have overstepped the boundaries but she had a point.” Bakura shrugged, “As much as I might dislike this, this is my home. I don’t plan on letting it go the same way as my village. I’m going to do what I couldn’t do last time, and you two are going to help me.”

“Go the same way as...” Jou trailed off at the looks he was getting from both girls, “Got it, don’t ask.” He held up his hands in a classic ‘I surrender’ pose.