Light Amongst Shadows Part 21

To her relief Bakura was right and the conjoined soul fragments in her hand did not go with the darkness. Instead they seemed to dim slightly and clung closer to her.

“It’s alright Imoto-chan.” Oneesan breathed, passing slowly awakening citizens as she raced back to the house where they had left Jou, still keeping the light as close as she could. “You’ll be whole again soon. I promise.”

Jou was clambering down the fire escape when she reached the building and his relief upon spotting her was painfully obvious. “Yuge!” He grinned, sweeping her up and hugging her tightly before kissing her on the cheek, “You did it!”

“Jou.” Her tone made him drop her and back off, even as she gave him a look that was half amusement and half irritation.

“Oops, sorry Oneesan. Wrong Yugi.” He apologised, looking sheepish. “Where’s Yuge? I’m surprised she’s not in...” He trailed off when her face fell. “Oneesan.” His tone was more dangerous now as fear settled in, “What’s wrong?”

“Imoto-chan...” She did not know whether he could see the soul fragments or not, but she presented him with the glowing fragments. “She shattered herself, broke her soul in seven to save the city.”

“No...” Jou shook his head, backing off as he squinted at the object in her hand, half seeing it, “No, she, she can’t be gone.”

“If I can find the fragments, I can bring her back.” Oneesan was surprised at just how calm she was when she told Jou that considering she had been at the point of complete despair only minutes ago. “I hoped...” She sighed. “I hoped part of her soul had come to you. You’re part of her heart after all.”

“I didn’t know what it was.” Jou replied, pulling a glowing fragment out of his pocket, “It was there when I woke up. I figured you’d know what to do with it.” He stared at her, “You’re telling me this is part of Yuge?”

“Yes.” Oneesan nodded, all bar snatching the fragment from Jou and merging it with the two already in her possession.

With a third piece of the puzzle in place Oneesan could feel Imoto-chan’s light start to balance her darkness out, the murderous tendencies egged on by the Shadows that Imoto-chan’s light chased away dying away to be replaced with the much more level headed attitude she had grown into the longer she had been working with her little sister.

“You said seven right?” Jou asked, watching the glowing ball which practically danced in the air as it floated out of Oneesan’s hand and circled them once before hovering between them. “So that’s what? Two?”

“Three.” Oneesan corrected, watching the little ball hover uncertainly between them, “Bakura had a piece too.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Jou sighed, watching the bright light with a measure of both sadness and hope, “Yuge makes friends with everyone. Even people who wanted to kill her not that long ago.” His gaze turned from the ball to the spirit of the Puzzle, “So what? We thinking the other shards are with the rest of the gang?”

“I’m hoping so.” Oneesan admitted, “If they’re not it’s going to be a problem, because Imoto-chan has so many friends I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

“At the beginning is a good place.” Jou grinned at her, “So let’s go get An...” he trailed off when Oneesan’s mobile telephone started ringing. “Bet it’s Anzu.”

“I don’t take sucker bets.” Oneesan flipped open the phone, trying to work out how to answer the new handheld device. Yugi had only gotten the phone yesterday and she had promised Oneesan that once she had gotten used to it, she would teach her how to use it. Not that she had gotten that chance.

“Green button, Oneesan. Always the green to answer.” Jou chuckled, pushing the button for her.

“Yugi!” Anzu’s voice was loud enough that even without Oneesan putting the phone on loudspeaker Jou could hear her.

“Not quite.” Oneesan replied, amusing Jou despite the situation. Oneesan normally came out with that or something similar one of them phoned and it was her who had answered rather than her little sister.

“Oneesan, hi.” Anzu did not even hesitate, “Is it over? I mean we woke up, Honda and I, but there’s these glowing puzzle pieces and...” She trailed off as Oneesan let out a relieved sigh, “What’s happened?”

“It’s a long story, but don’t lose those puzzle pieces. Whatever you do.” Oneesan replied, quickly checking her surroundings and grinning slightly as she added, “Meet us at the Game Shop. We’re about five minutes away and it’s about the same again to Bakura’s place.”

“How did we get to Bakura’s?” Anzu asked, confused.

“More importantly,” Honda sounded just as confused in the background, “Why are we at Bakura’s?”

“I’ll explain it all when you get to the shop.” Oneesan promised, “Just trust me for now.”

“Of course.” There was no doubt in Anzu’s tone. “See you in five.” With that she put down the phone and Oneesan pocketed the device with a rueful expression.

“What?” Jou asked as they headed for the shop, the ball of light almost seeming to lead the way. “Oneesan, what?”

“Anzu’s going to have my head.” Oneesan explained, “I promised her that I would look after Imoto-chan.”

“She won’t hit you.” Jou shrugged, “Shout, certainly, but not hit. Not you. She won’t risk bruising Yuge, especially when she finds out about... should we be getting you to a doctor?” He asked, concerned as he noted the way she kept having to correct her path, “I mean you’re listing to the left and you look pale.”

“Imoto-chan first, then doctor.” Oneesan shrugged, adrenaline the only thing keeping her going at this point. She knew that the moment she had Imoto-chan safe and sound and back in her rightful place, the pair of them were probably going to take a long nap. The others were going to have a heart attack when it happened, but there was nothing she could do about it.

“If you’re sure.” Jou continued to worry as Oneesan once again failed to go straight down the pavement.

“I’ll live.” Oneesan shrugged, “And that’s all that matters. As long as I live...”

“Yuge does too.” Jou realised, “In that case...” Oneesan let out a startled yelp as Jou scooped her up, carrying her bridal style.