When I planned for Bakura to deal with Hirutani in Ennead: Season Zero

The screams from the thief before her as the Shadows consumed him, mind, body and soul, did not faze her in the slightest. He was nowhere near her calibre. More concerned with finding the fastest way to his prize and causing as much damage as possible rather than doing the job with speed, dignity and style.

 Not that dealing with a lousy thief had been in her plans for the evening when she had left the house. She had only been seeking to work out what the local area was like around her ‘landlord’s’ new home. When she had run into a local who had been touched by the Shadows, she had thought she might find something interesting. Possibly even useful.

It had not been hard to talk the ticked off teenager out of his bad mood and when she had mentioned she had an interest in games, he had been more than enthusiastic in his wanting to introduce her to a ‘Gamer friend’ of his. Of course he had not expected to come home to a break in.

She had not recognised the victim to start with, not properly. Her anger had been more for the sheer incompetence shown by the thief and the fact that while she did not recognise the victim fully, something in her was screaming at her that she needed to save her.

When she had pulled the girl away from her captor, she realised she recognised her and there was a reason she had needed to save her. The girl she was untying was the one she had been waiting for. The one who had trapped her in the Ring all those years ago.

Part of her wanted to end the threat before it could get off of the ground, especially when the girl, whose name was Yugi if she had heard the boy correctly, had begged her to go and get her Puzzle. However sanity had won out. She had waited three thousand years for ‘Yugi’ to reincarnate. She needed her alive in order to finally be able to get her hands on all of the Millennium Items after they all gravitated to the Pharaoh.

She had not dared hope that the Puzzle itself had been completed though. Not when the Pharaoh seemed so weak and helpless. She had expected to go into the girl’s bedroom and pick up the golden box it lived in. When she had seen that it was finally finished though, her temper had snapped.

She had waited three thousand years for the Pharaoh to reincarnate and complete the Puzzle, three thousand years of watching, waiting and hunting and some idiot had nearly ruined everything! Her own roommate, the demon she had made a deal with back in Egypt had been just a furious.

He had waited three thousand years to destroy the one member of Akhenamkhanen’s family who had escaped his wrath all those years ago. The Pharaoh was his to ruin, torture and feed to the Shadows piece by agonizing piece. No one was allowed to kill her. No one except him and he would take great pleasure out of teaching the moron who had dared to attempt to steal his kill, a lesson.

The brat had not lasted more than a turn and a half before cheating and she was more than happy to allow the Shadows to consume the brute she had been dealing with. He deserved everything he got in her opinion and she had much bigger fish to fry.

Sneak Peek of a Distant Future: Ennead: Battle of the Gods

When the Millennium Necklace had revealed to her that the Pharaoh had been female she had found it incredibly difficult to believe. Every story she had been told, every legend passed down through her family’s history had spoken of the nameless Pharaoh who had given his life to save the world, surrendering everything he had and any chance of making the journey through the afterlife to do so, and who would be reborn when the Shadows once again launched an assault against the world.

Nothing had ever been said of he being a she.

And yet here she was, in all her glory, the nameless Pharaoh, the Queen of Games, here in the museum, looking for answers.

And Isizu was torn as to what to do. She’d seen the future, she’d seen herself telling the Pharaoh and her consort everything they needed to know, that was what she had to do to in order to have even the slightest chance of saving her brother. 

That possibility was remote though, she’d seen the future after all. She knew how everything was going to unfold. The Pharaoh would be told everything she needed to know in order to force her onto the necessary path and then she would compete in Battle City, believing she was on the route to getting her memories back, never knowing that she was on the path to her own destruction.

If Isizu was truly loyal to her Queen, as she should have been, she would have warned her about the danger, told her about the mental and physical torture that was to come, how Marik, Isizu’s patricidal brother, would cause both the spirit of the nameless Pharaoh and the vessel, Mutou Yugi, agony so great that they would wish for death long before it came, but she couldn’t, not while there was a chance that she would get one last chance to save her brother, even if...

She knew the future. By the time he moved onto the Pharaoh, Marik would be guilty of sororicide too.

She was supposed to have faith in the nameless Pharaoh, faith that he would be able to defeat evil and restore balance to the world, but he had turned out to be a she and now Isizu wondered how many of the tales that had been passed down through her family for the last five millennia were actually true.

Was it really possible that this tiny girl was the Pharaoh of the legends? The one who had protected Egypt from so many dangers? The one who had battled Anubis and won? The only one who could control all three Egyptian God monsters at the same time?

If the Pharaoh had looked more like her consort, Isizu would have been happier. A tall, powerful looking male Pharaoh would have been much more reassuring than the short, tiny framed girl that now stood before the tablet, absorbing every detail of it...

Even without the visions she’d had from five thousand years ago, when the Pharaoh had stood before the tablet, she’d sensed the magic that had been loosed and recognised the girl in front of her as the same woman from her visions.

“Oneesan?” The Pharaoh’s consort asked, surprising Isizu, as she’d ‘seen’ the blonde kissing the Pharaoh, and causing her to wonder if it hadn’t been the nameless Pharaoh she’d seen him kissing, but the young vessel, “Are you alright?”

Ennead: Season Zero Chapter 23 Sneak Peak

Yugi didn’t need much coaxing to come and settle at her Grandfather’s side as he settled on the sofa, happy to leave Jou to cook something that was resembling food more and more with every meal. She cuddled into him, relaxing as he hugged her. She had been tense for days after Death-T, still partly convinced that everything that had happened was her fault. Even now, a week and a half later she sought out their company, silently enjoying what had nearly been ripped away from her, but didn’t join in their games and laughter. Tonight was no different.

It was almost, Sugoroku mused as he watched the frustration crossing Jonouchi’s features when Yugi didn’t join him in playing for yet another night in a row, instead watching as he completed yet another chapter of some video game, as if she didn’t think she deserved to have fun.

It hurt to see her like this. Watching her regress into the quiet, shy little mouse she had been pre-Puzzle was painful. He missed the bouncy, happy, energetic girl she had become over the last few months. 

It was partly his fault she had withdrawn so far. When they had gotten to the hospital, he had still been in emergency surgery and the Doctor had told Yugi the truth of his condition. A condition that had been brought on by Kaiba’s ‘Penalty Game.’ He had emerged from the surgery whole and healthy, feeling much better, in fact, than he had for a while but the damage had been done.

Yugi had barely left his side since. He didn’t think he could blame her. He had been just as terrified about losing her as she had about losing him. He had been so afraid that she would not make it. That Kaiba’s malicious games would rob him of the last remaining member of his family. He did not think he could have survived it if he had had to return to the Game Shop, knowing that Yugi was never going to come home.

To know she was safe, that she had made it through the trials she had taken on purely to ensure his safety, eased most of the remaining stress on his heart and made breathing easier. Now if he could just mend her heart, his own would be just fine.

He had tried to reassure her that it wasn’t her fault. That he didn’t blame her for Kaiba’s actions. He had even offered to help her merge his deck and hers into something new, just for her. However she had turned him down, just handing the deck back and shaking her head. A first sign, maybe, of the state she had spiralled into.

He couldn’t help but wonder what the Pharaoh thought. Whether the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle was as frustrated as Yugi’s other friends or whether she felt guilty about what Kaiba had done too. It wasn’t like he could ask his other granddaughter. Not without something happening to Yugi to make her come out.

He was sure that given the right impetus Yugi would be okay but he couldn’t help but worry. He wasn’t quite sure what to do to fix the problem. Normally he would have offered her a game or two from the store to help lift her mood, but he did not think it would help. Not when he didn’t have anything new to encourage her curiosity.

Not till tomorrow at least. He was pretty sure that the new game that was due to arrive in store would at least get her playing again. She wouldn’t be able to help herself. She never had been able to resist the latest releases. From there he was sure her friends could draw her out of her shell once more. Despite their frustration he could see that they only wanted to help her.

Yugi retired to her room early again, leaving a ticked off Jou and a worried Sugoroku behind.

“If she were a guy I’d’ve smacked her by now.” Jou huffed, irritated as he watched her go. “It wasn’t her fault Kaiba was a psycho and the sooner she works that out the better.”

“I have a plan.” The elderly gamer reassured him, smiling slightly at the confirmation of his suspicions. “Just give it a little longer.”

“I hope it works.” Jou replied, shutting down the games console as he did so. “Can I help?”

“Actually you’re kind of vital.” Sugoroku chuckled lightly, “Got something new coming in tomorrow. I’ll be giving you and Yugi freebies.”

“But Yuge’s not playing...” Jou paused, curiosity kicking in, “Wait, how new?”

“Brand new release. Out for sale tomorrow.” He informed the teen, amused by the way the thought of a new game had derailed the blonde.

“That could work.” Jou nodded thoughtfully.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Ennead Chapter 23 Unused Opening

“I don’t understand why I’m always getting attacked.” Yugi complained as she leant on Honda and hobbled home to the shop after her friends had rescued her from an attempted mugging on the way home from school. “I mean I’m glad it’s me and not you lot, but I always seem to attract the thieves and bullies and then you guys have to come and get me.”

“Face it Yuge,” Jou grinned at her. In hindsight he had quite enjoyed the fight. Once he had been sure Yugi was okay it had been quite therapeutic to punch the guy in the face. “Every so often life demands that you fill your ‘damsel in distress’ quota.”

“What...?” Yugi was confused, still trying to work out how her friends had managed to react before Oneesan could considering that they had not been with her when the mugger had jumped her.

“Your life is basically a shonen anime.” Jou pointed out, “Or it’s playing out like one. And you’re a girl. You might be the lead character, but you’re still a girl. This means every so often, you have to fill your damsel in distress quota.”

“My life isn’t a...”

“Yuge, think about every game based anime we watch.” Jou sniggered, “Your life’s basically on par with some of them. Except for one thing.”

“Oh?” Curiosity piqued her.

“None of them have a female lead. If your life was an anime, you’d be a dude.”

“Jou!” Anzu protested.

“No, no, he has a point.” Yugi allowed, thinking, “I don’t think any of the shows we watch have a female protagonist so they’d probably make me a guy.” She paused, considering it for a moment longer, “Unless they made it as a magical girl anime.”

“Okay, I know you like ‘Starlight Breaker’ Yuge, but if your life was like it, Oneesan would be a morality pet.” Jou pointed out, “And you’d be like, eleven. And a human gundam.”

“Love the order of importance there.” Honda grinned at him.

“It could be worse.” Anzu pointed out, “It could be a love anime where every guy we know is a romance option. And I mean every guy.”

“Eww.” Yugi grimaced, sticking her tongue out, “Eww. Eww. Eww. I am NOT dating any of our teachers.”

“Well the mecha genre’s right out, unless you’re hiding a giant robot somewhere that we don’t know about.” Jou pointed out, “And you suck at sports, so there’s no way they’d pick that.”

“If they were making an anime of my life it would have to be a game based one. I don’t do anything else interesting.” Yugi pointed out, “So either I’d end up being a guy, or the fact people used to think I was a guy would remain a huge plot point.”

“And you’d get to spend the entire first season hiding your gender.” Jou sniggered.

“Yes but who would be the love interest?” Anzu asked with a smirk as Yugi blushed bright red.

“Oh so you do notice guys.” Jou grinned at the embarrassed girl, “Go on. Share. We can’t plan out your future anime without knowing what you go for.”

“You just want to tease her rotten.” Honda shoved him hard enough to make him stagger.

“You do realise this could be considered girl talk, right?” Anzu asked the pair.

“Nah, we just need to know who we’ll be beating up in the future if they hurt Yuge, that’s all.” Jou tried to put a manly spin on it.

“I’d like to point out Oneesan would get there first. There wouldn’t be enough of him left for us to beat up.” Honda pointed out.

“It’s doesn’t matter anyway ‘cause I’m not going to be dating any time soon.” Yugi shrugged, “Now can we please get back to a saner subject?”

“Why not?” Jou couldn’t help but ask curiously, something in him twisting at her words but he didn’t understand what.

“Because dating would be weird if I have Oneesan sharing headspace with me.” Yugi replied, “I mean whoever I date would have to get used to two Yugis. And it’s not fair to drag her on dates with some guy she’s not interested in.”

“And it’s not like Oneesan could wander around if you left the Puzzle at home either.” Jou frowned, understanding.

“Exactly.” Yugi nodded, not mentioning the fact that she didn’t think any guy would be interested in her, considering they had much taller and more developed girls to chase. That and Hirutani had put her off of guys for a long while, “I couldn’t leave her stuck in the Puzzle. It’d be cruel. So again, saner subjects? Please?”

“Okay okay.” Jou backed off, finally noticing that Yugi was rather uncomfortable with the topic at hand. “They wouldn’t introduce your love interest till next season anyway.”

“Wha...?”

“Well we have to be done with season one by now,” Jou grinned at her, “Kaiba and his crazy amusement park would have been the end of season boss. So we have to wait for season two to find out who the love interest is.”

“Would they really end the season before we met the real big bad?” Honda couldn’t help but ask, “I mean we haven’t seen hide or hair of the Thief King and he’s supposed to be Oneesan’s true enemy.”

“And I hope I don’t run into him until seasons four or five.” Yugi frowned, “Or at least he has the decency to wait until Oneesan and I can have a conversation.” She could sense Oneesan’s agreement at that and smiled slightly.

“Next season, Yuge, next season.” Jou ruffled her hair.

“I’m sorry guys, but I have had enough of the anime talk.” Anzu butted in, “Can we please go back to something sane? Like the homework we’re supposed to be doing?”

Author Note: Well, now that I've gone over the goal for the month...

This fic was not what I was intending to write, or, indeed, how I was intending to write it when I first started 'Light Amongst Shadows'. It appears to have decided it did not like the direction I originally planned for it and that it wanted to go in a completely different way. I must admit to not being happy with it. Before it goes up on fanfiction.net (when I finally get that far with the series) it will likely have a complete rewrite. This was the product of a stressed, overbaked and constantly pissed off mind due to heat, work and moving houses. Next time around it might ressemble something like a decent fic. For now here's the basic story for that particular arc and I hope you enjoyed reading it.

In a day or two I will do an info dump on the ShadowSwords, who are an enemy that I came up with purely because I figured that in the anime there had to be other groups of people who were able to conjure the monsters from the tablets. Otherwise why would Pegasus and his cult be practising under Duellist Kingdom?

I meant to get it in the story, but I don't think 25,000 words was enough room and there really was not much space with everything that happened to get in everything I wanted. The story was spread out over too short a time for anyone to get to sit down and discuss anything... Hmmm, maybe I need a bigger build up... something to think about for later on, I suppose.

Light Amongst Shadows Part 28

The monster stepped towards her and Oneesan ripped out the drips before turning and running down the corridor. The minotaur followed, picking up speed as it ran after her. Luckily for Oneesan it did not corner as well as she did, even injured as she was, allowing her to gain ground as it crashed into the walls and pillars at every junction.

“Damn it.” Oneesan snarled as she had to duck behind a different nurse’s station to catch her breath, her side aching from both the bruising Imoto-chan had gained earlier and the exertion as she took great, heaving breaths. “Can’t... Keep...Running...”

It was a good job she had decided that because the monster had decided that it had had enough of going around things and was just going to go through them. It ripped the nurse’s station in two with its huge axe, leaving Oneesan with little to no time to get to her feet and escape.

Left with no choice but to try and fight for her life against a gigantic foe, the Pharaoh blasted it with magic. It staggered backwards, bellowing in pain, but before Oneesan could move, there were shouts from down the corridor and she had to duck behind the remains of the station as the security arrived and put several rounds in the creature.

They seemed to go through the monster, causing enraged cussing to erupt from the men, even as it turned its focus on them. Its prey was cornered after all, it had time for sport.

Oneesan shut the link between herself and her little sister as the monster charged down the corridor and struck at the men. Imoto-chan did not need to hear or see what was happening and she could not bring herself to inflict it on the lighter half of her soul.

She launched herself out of hiding and drew on the power of the item around her neck, feeling an odd disconnect as the dark and dangerous powers of the Puzzle tried to draw strength from a mind that was not entirely coherent. Without a single command the magic seemed to know what she wanted and the Dark Magician appeared at her side, real enough for the men to see him and realise who she was.

“Move!” Oneesan ordered as her most trusted monster built up for an attack.

The men were not foolish. Those who knew the game, knew that the Dark Magician packed a punch. While those who did not saw a man building up a ball of energy and did not want to see what would happen if they were hit by it. The moment they were out of the way the magician struck, its attack striking the beast directly.

The creature exploded into fragments, or rather an image of it did, leaving behind a man in a robe not unlike the ones she had dealt with earlier.

Before she could get any answers from the barely conscious mook, who was being taken into custody, a sharp, agonising pain struck as something stabbed her from behind and her whole world tumbled into darkness.

When she awoke again, it was after the weirdest dream she had ever had, one which involved time travellers, two other ‘Queens of Games’ and a man named Paradox. It was also to find both Jou and her grandfather were at her bedside, waiting for her to wake up.

“Yuge!” Jou looked relieved, barely restraining himself from hugging her, “Thank Kami.”

“What happened?” Oneesan asked, nudging Imoto-chan and wondering who had put the Puzzle back on them.

“According to security someone stabbed you while you were distracted by the huge monster.” Jou stated matter of factly. “One of the ‘ShadowSword’ lot.”

“That explains a lot.” The spirit of the Puzzle winced as she tried to sit up, the action pulling on her wounds. Sugoroku pushed her back onto the bed, a gentle but worried smile on his face as he ruffled her hair, obviously worried about her, but being careful not to aggravate her injuries.

“I do wish you had warned me you were getting mixed up with that lot.” The elderly man sighed, “I’ve run afoul of them before.”

“You have?” Oneesan and Jou both blinked at him, confusion obvious.

“Is there anyone you haven’t run up against?” Jou asked the man who treated him like a grandson.

“When you get to my age you find you’ve made a great deal of friends but even more enemies.” Sugoroku replied. “Now, both of you settle down and listen. I suppose I had better explain what I know...”

Light Amongst Shadows Part 27

‘Are you alright, Imoto-chan?’ Oneesan sent the moment she was certain the thief had left the corridor and, most likely, the premises.

“Yes, no,” The spirit of the Puzzle felt the mental equivalent of a shrug from her little sister, “I don’t understand her.”

‘No one does.’ The Pharaoh replied with a small, rueful smile, ‘If we did life would be so much easier.’ Though she was still fuming over Bakura’s threat to her little sister, she could not deny that the thief was complicated. And she owed the woman a debt. If it had not been for the thief, Imoto-chan would still be shattered and either the city would have still been in darkness or she would be dead. Either were unfortunately viable options.

“Yen for your thoughts?” Yugi asked once she had calmed a bit, sending the mental equivalent of a smile and a hug over the link to her elder sister.

‘It’s nothing.’ Oneesan replied, feeling the exhaustion that had claimed Yugi earlier beginning to settle in again, trying to drag her off to sleep, ‘It’s not important, not at the moment.’

“If you need to talk, I’m here, okay?” Yugi offered as Oneesan let her slip into control and she started drifting off. “You don’t have to be alone with your troubles.”

‘Thank you.’ Yugi could sense that Oneesan felt a little reassured at that as that helped her feel better as, unable to fight her body’s exhaustion any longer, she slipped into sleep.

When she awoke again, it was dark and she was all alone. The Puzzle was not with her and her friends had either not been allowed in or had been sent home. She was hooked up to a couple of drips, one of which she was pretty sure contained painkillers since she could not manage to bring her train of thoughts to any sort of sensible station. The other one was a deep red, which suggested it was a blood bag.

Confused as to what had happened while she had been ‘lost’ but unsurprised that she required both bags considering what she did remember, she looked around the room, trying to work out where her Puzzle was. The item was out of reach on the table across the room and while she knew she should stay in bed, something was telling her she would need it and soon.

She slipped out of the less than comfortable hospital bed, still confused as to why something was screaming at her to grab the Puzzle and keep it close, and wobbled carefully across the room. The moment she slipped the chain over her head Oneesan took control.

The spirit of the Millennium Puzzle glanced around warily. Having sensed Imoto-chan’s nervousness, she was not about to leave her little sister in control until she understood what had caused it.

It was not an easy thing to work out, not with the drugs pumping through their shared system and dulling their senses and reflexes. Before too long she realised what it was that had set her little sister off. The Shadows curling under the door frame were growing steadily as she heard something stalking the corridors.

“Do you think they sent something to finish the job?” Yugi asked her elder sister, worried as the Pharaoh moved the stands with the bags to a place that allowed her to hide behind the door.

It was not outside the realm of possibility. Between her and Bakura, everyone who had been at the main base of operations had been dealt with on a more or less permanent basis. However the rest of the mooks, and there had been quite a few, had still been at large when the injuries had finally overtaken them.

She was willing to silently wait it out and ambush it when it entered the room. Though she disliked the idea, she was fully aware that in her drugged and weakened state it was highly unlikely that she would survive a frontal assault and she did not want to get her Imoto-chan killed.

However when a nurse screamed and the creature, whatever it was, let out a monstrous bellow and charged towards something, Oneesan could not wait, she exited the room swiftly and threw a blast of Shadow magic at the huge minotaur like creature. It stumbled, causing it to fall and tumble into the nurse’s station.

“Wha...?” The nurse demanded.

“Run!” Oneesan snarled at her, warily watching the creature who was getting to his feet and watching her with a mixture of caution and hunting instinct. As much as she had hoped Imoto-chan was wrong, it was obvious she was the creature’s prey and she had just leapt into the open.

Light Amongst Shadows Part 26

Bakura watched from a distance as the ambulance men loaded the Pharaoh’s host into the back of their vehicle. She had been careful to erase any sign of the Pharaoh’s rampage after she had broken the seal. There should, if she had done her job correctly, be nothing to lead the authorities to the spirit of the Puzzle and her young host. There was nothing she could do about the fact that it looked like a magical ritual had taken place, but at least now it looked like whatever they had been trying to do had backfired and killed them all, freeing the city at the same time.

Working out which hospital the Pharaoh was going to from the look of the ambulance and the crests on the ambulance drivers’ uniforms, Bakura headed after it. She was not stupid enough to assume that all of the morons had all left town, willingly or not. It would be just her luck to go through all of this to ensure the Pharaoh’s name stayed clear, only for one of the mooks to get lucky, find her and finish her off.

Not that part of her did not want to do that herself. The Millennium Puzzle was only up for grabs if Yugi lost a Shadow Game with it as the prize or died. The only thing stopping Bakura’s Zorc merged self from ending the threat that was the Pharaoh, was the fact that she needed the Pharaoh’s name to unseal the Shadows and the demons within.

And the Pharaoh’s name only existed in the memories that were sealed away within the mind of the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. She had tried sealing a part of herself into the Puzzle and carefully hunting for the hidden memories while the Pharaoh was distracted, but that had not worked. She had been searching for six months and still she had found nothing.

She needed the Pharaoh alive and the Puzzle whole. If she killed the Pharaoh’s little sister, neither of those would be possible until the girl reincarnated. It was one of the myriad of reasons she had healed the girl when she had rescued her from the mooks. She needed Yugi alive. Not only because of the Puzzle, the Pharaoh’s memories and the name she had sought after for over three thousand years. But because she owed Yugi a great debt, both in this life and Yugi’s past one, and she refused to go without repaying it.

The ambulance did not take very long to reach the hospital and it offloaded swiftly before shooting off to collect another patient. Bakura slipped in behind the Accident and Emergency team who took charge of Yugi next, following them swiftly and silently, making sure no one else was following.

Obviously Kaiba’s money and influence only went so far when the entire hospital was working under triage conditions, as the Pharaoh’s runt was left in the corridor between Accident and Emergency and the outside world. Insensate to the world around her, Yugi was oblivious as Bakura approached, still cloaked in Diabound’s power. The Puzzle however, flashed in response to Bakura’s presence, even if its wielder was unable to do anything about it.

The two sides of Bakura fought for control for a moment, before Bakura felt her rage multiply and the sane part of her mind was pushed aside by the hatred that had been festering for over three thousand years and the demon who had become a part of her soul.

The darkness radiating from the demon in Bakura’s body caused the girl to force herself to the surface, even if she really should be sleeping. Yugi looked at her blearily, confusion obvious as she tried to get her bearings.

“Ba...Bakura?” She asked weakly before letting out a surprised squeak that was cut off midway through.

“You dare die now,” The pissed off part of Bakura snarled, hands wrapped around Yugi’s throat tightly enough that the girl’s next breath came out as a painful sounding rasp, but no other sound passed her lips, “You dare die now, when I’m so close to breaking free, and I’ll destroy everything you hold dear.”

“Ba...” Yugi choked as Bakura’s grip tightened further, cutting off her airways completely, fear obvious as she tried to raise weakened limbs to defend herself from the thief only for black chains of Shadow magic to appear and bind them to the bed.

“Only I get to kill you. Got it? Not some mooks from some worthless splinter group.” The demon snarled at the girl, who nodded frantically, unable to do much else but humour the crazed thief before her and pray Bakura let her breathe some time soon. “Good.”

With that she released Yugi. The girl took in deep, heaving breaths, trying to make up for the air Bakura had denied her even as the bonds vanished and she tried to push herself away from the thief. She hit the railings on the side of the bed and stopped, still gasping for air.

Frightened amethyst purple eyes flashed ruby red and Oneesan glowered at the thief as she pushed herself sitting. “Get away from us.” Oneesan snarled, raising her hand, aiming to blast their sometimes ally down the corridor.

“I was just leaving anyway.” Bakura smirked at her, “I’m done here.” She started down the corridor, ignoring the daggers Oneesan was glaring at her back, then paused and looked back over her shoulder, “Oh, if you want to know who those losers were, try researching the ShadowSwords. They’re not as secret as they’d like to believe.” With that Bakura left, leaving Oneesan to lay back and settle her little sister’s mind.