Birdhouse in Your Soul

Ever had that quick transition from one normal day to everyone flat out stopped talking to you in one swing in high school?

Natalie did. For one whole week, it hasn't stopped. The only difference is that a company became a huge crowd in a matter of seven days. And the more upperclassmen, the more attention she got.

As soon as she stepped foot in the school grounds it's like everyone stared at her in a different light. But it wasn't the bad kind of thing you would have probably expected. It was more corrupt than that. She went from mystery new girl to...

"Hey, I heard your name is really Natalie and you punched Yugi Mutou. That. Is. Awesome!"

"You're from California? Did that mean you lived in Hollywood?"

"I heard you escaped from prison and came over here, is that true?"

"Hey American beauty! You can knock me out anytime!"

"I never knew you could be such a bitch! ...Wanna hang out?"

Natalie had no idea how in the hell she made it all the way to her homeroom where it was only Mr. Haner writing something on the black board. Startled at her intrusion, he paused and watched as Natalie stomped all the way to her designated desk and stuffed her face into her backpack to let out a scream.

"It's been one week! How long will this last!?"

Mr. Haner had set down the chalk and chuckled, "At least you're in a better position I'm in."

She stared at him incredulously, "Did you lose all your friends in one night?"

"Hey," He shrugged his shoulders, "We all fuck up at one point in our lives." Natalie was one of the only students he knows that he was comfortable to talk around with. But that's because of how different they are from everyone else.

"Because I'm one of the youngest male teachers here, there's this lady who is probably," He paused and counted his fingers, "Ten to twenty years older than me who won't stop hitting on me and has been proposing marriage interviews with me." Sighing he continued, "She has faculty wrapped up around her finger. It's amusing but at the same time it's sad. She's trying to move in the classroom in front of mine!"

Natalie stared at him weirdly before she broke into a mock hurt one, "Oh, you poor poor thing." She walked over to him as she still kept her sarcastic attitude, "Must be tough to be the only heart-throb male teacher here."

"Alright, what happened to you that's making everyone talk?" He raised an eyebrow in amusement, "I heard you punched that little what's his face or did you choke him half to death and you are wanted for assault so you changed your name?"

She stared at him speechless, "People are sick! Why would I ever do such a thing!?"

He raised his hands, "Hey, you know how rumors work." And she rolled her eyes not wanting to talk about this anymore. Everything that the dark spirit had said that night had been made reality. Everyone knew her real first name, though they have not correlated her with the Natalie Larsen that has been assumed missing or dead. Otherwise, she would have a lot to answer for. It won't be long till they find out.

"Class is about to start, Natalie." Mr. Haner had said as he returned to the black board. She went back to her desk as the other students entered. Some had glared at her and the rest had greeted her. She liked those who had glared at her. At least there were still people that weren't such douche bags. She stared off into the distance as the lecture started, knowing that the boy she missed was right across her classroom. It still hurt her but she could no longer express it. Her eyes had cleared out their tear ducts. Though, reason why it hurt her was the fact that he had spent the past seven days coming to school early hoping to meet with her. Early enough so that people won't tease him when they see him hanging around her locker. Another reason why it's been hurting her were the occasional notes he had left for her. The other Yugi and her knew he would do something like that but she had to force herself to stay away.

At that moment, Yugi had been thinking about her. He couldn't help but feel guilty. Although, he could not remember some of things that had happened that night, he remembered all the cruel things he had said to her. He didn't know what had possessed him to say those words. Maybe Shadi was right. Maybe there was another him and that personality had driven her away. A droplet had landed on his notes below him. He let his head rest against his hand to cover his eyes for the moment to let this feeling pass. The worse part about it was that his friends wouldn't let her in as well. It was not their fault. But what could he do? There is no way he could tell them about his other self. Another fearful thought had passed through his head. What if he ended up driving his friends away as well?

"Idol..." They both thought remembering the notes, "Or I should say Natalie, I don't necessarily understand why you did what you did but I'm not mad. I know I've said things that night that say so otherwise and for that I am sorry. There are a lot of things to talk about concerning the millennium puzzle and I think you know what I mean. So, if you could please come to me, it doesn't have to be here at school, but come by at the Grandpa's game shop that way I could properly apologize in person."

"Natalie, please don't punish yourself for this. I can talk to Jounouchi and Anzu and they'll understand. Please, Nat, I forgive you and don't want to loose the friendship we have over this."

"I have something for you and I think he's better off in your hands. It's a digital pet. His name is Yu-2. Will you take care of him for me, Natalie?"

And she did. Having that digital pet buzz at her from time to time was the only thing she had of him. It was the only thing for her to be close to him. Natalie had been on autopilot on the way home. Her mind was towards the little thing in front of her. She carried it with her almost all the time. Yu-2 had been eating his dinner and she stared at it funny.

"You sure do eat a lot."

It paused to stare up at her and buzzed. The corner of her lip tugged up to a half-smile, "Y'know you remind me more of the other one. The only difference is that you are surprisingly nice to me."

-bzzz bzzz-

"I've completely lost it. I'm talking to a little digi-pet." She had set it down and rubbed her eyes. It wasn't time for bed but she felt a little drowsy. Yu-2 on the other hand had yawned out loud and made a noise signalling that he was going to sleep. Natalie laid back on her bed and decided to let her eyes rest.

Later that evening...

Music blasted out from her headphones that hung around her neck. The music blared, not just for her, but for the whole world to hear. Her hips swayed as she continued her swag walk. Her arms waved around her to the beat. Then she began to sing not caring that she's drawing attention from everyone else around her.

"If I can't have you!" She sang in English but her accent says that she was clearly in the right place, "I don't want nobody, baby!" She perched onto the rails and perfectly balanced on them as she slid down, "If I can't have you~ Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh~"

Everyone around her seemed to be in awe at the sight. The business men who just got out of work shook their heads at what the younger generation has become with their walk-mans and video game technology. The younger kids who were out and about nodded their heads in admiration and wonder who she was.

"Do you think she some sort of pop-idol?"

"Don't know..?"

"She doesn't look so familiar."

"Maybe she's new."

The dancing girl didn't overhear the whispers around her as she was still in her trance. She carried on walking to her destination. Which was an apartment complex. In that apartment complex, was Natalie, who was sprawled across the floor. She had been stuffing her face with cantaloupe and everything around her was completely shut out. All she did was stare into some eternal void. Hell, she didn't even care about the person who just broke into her home and was now standing over her.

"Natalie." The person spoke and Natalie kept chewing, grabbing another piece and stuffing it into her mouth.

"Natalie." The person spoke again, "What are you doing?"

"Eating melon." She mumbled out.

"I can see that. But why?"

"I'm depressed."

The figure standing over her went ahead to sit down next to her, "Do you want to talk about it?" Before Natalie could even explain anything the person held up her hand, "Wait, hold on, I don't give a shit and this is my favorite part." They stood up, raised the volume to max, and began to sing again, "If you like pina coladas! And get caught in the rain!"

Natalie growled standing up to face her dancing friend, "If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape!"

"Yume!" Natalie unplugged the headphone jack from the walk-man, "Why are you here?"

"To rescue you of course!" She spat back and folded her arms across her chest while pouting, "Now thanks a lot for killing my groove."

Natalie stared at her incredulously, "Rescue me? Dude, you're over a year late!"

This is Yume. Older than Natalie by two years and was as tall as five foot eight. Her hair jet black that trailed down to her knees. Unlike Natalie, she wears more than just eyeliner for her green eyes and her sense of fashion was up to date, even if she were handed a school uniform. As a matter of fact, she had adopted the Egyptian's style of make-up back when they were acting as archaeology students in Cairo, Egypt. Let's rewind back for a moment. Remember Seto Kaiba? Who doesn't. After Natalie had been disqualified from the tournament, she never exactly went back to the hunter society. Who would? After failing to cheat and stealing Seto's rarest blue eyes white dragon, of course you wouldn't go back to your boss. Yume had helped Natalie escaped and had got out of the country and for three years they were involved in a program there in Egypt covering their tracks from the hunters. Unfortunately, they had found Natalie and kidnapped her and other students from their dorms. Yume was nowhere to be found and they had left off on a bad note.

Yume was quiet for the moment before she broke out into a giddy smile, "Well, hooray! You're alive!" This caused Natalie to raise an eyebrow in suspicion, "Yeah, thanks for nothing."

"You wanted to know about my private life with Kaiba!"

"You could have just told me that you didn't want to talk about it, Yume!" Natale retorted remembering the argument they had back in Egypt, "You just stormed off and I never saw you again ever since!"

Her friend sighed and sat on Natalie's bed as if she owned it now, "It's fine, I'm over it anyways." Natalie wasn't going to press the issue any further either since she didn't want Yume to freak out on her again. Yume has some sort of bi-polar disorder.

"So, what brings you here in Domino City and what the hell are you wearing?" Yume asked as she took note on Natalie's pink uniform. That's when it clicked and she began to cackle, "Oh, no! Oh don't fucking tell me!"

Natalie sighed, "Yes, I'm back in high school."

"Why!?" Yume giggled, "You already have your GED!"

"I was here because of a certain millennium item... Actually there were three items involved." Natalie explained and this made Yume stop and stared at her in shock, "You're kidding."

Natalie shook her head, "Nope."

"So, where are they?" Yume stood up excitedly looking around, "Let's see it!"

"I don't have any of them."

"You... WHAT!" Natalie covered her ears forgetting that Yume can have a loud voice like Yugi's, "Unbelievable, Nazz, we could have been rich!"

Shrugging, Natalie replied, "Shoulda, coulda, woulda." In all honesty, Natalie did not care anymore (yes, she did). Well she only cared about one of the three. But that didn't mean she didn't care about the boy who had solved it and the stupid spirit.

"Well?" Yume asked.

"Well, what?"

"Tell me everything!"

Natalie chuckled, "Okay, let's start back when I arrived here..." Then she took it back, "Actually, let me tell you what happened with Royaru first."

In return, Yume had given Natalie information as to why Royaru had suspected Natalie of having some sort of knowledge with the shadow games. Yume had no idea why and thought it was ridiculous of Royaru to follow some prophecy about an ancient spirit returns to walk the earth again in search of her king and all the millennium items.

"Okay, let's say hypothetically that you are what they say you are... What is it that they called you again?" Yume asked.

"Sachmis."

"As in Sekhmet? Goddess of war and healing?" Yume shook her head, "Yeah, no, I'm calling you Sek."

Natalie rolled her eyes, "Not you, too."

"Look, Nazz, I don't know what kind of weed you've been smoking here but ancient Egyptian artifacts just don't hold spirits or demons! And no ghost pharaoh killed off Royaru! The tomb must have collapsed!"

"But it didn't!"

"How would you know!? You had fainted!"

Natalie had opened her mouth to speak but stopped when she had nothing to say. She had a point but Natalie was not crazy!

The silence broke when something rang. Natalie automatically went to check on Yu-2, who had woken up from the noise and had made a dookie. Yume had stared at her friend weirdly as Natalie cooed at the little device, "Um, is that some sort of beeper?"

"No, it's a digital pet." Natalie giggled as she gave Yu-2 the option to play his little instrument he had encountered in cyber space, "Yugi gave it to me."

"Puzzle boy?"

"Yeah!" Natalie wasn't really paying attention to her words, "Look, look, look he's playing a trumpet!" She shoved the device at Yume's face who had given the pet a baffled look.

"His name is Yu-2." Natalie introduced.

"U2? Why not call it Bono?" Yume asked pushing the thing away from her face.

"Not the band, you doof!"

Yume gave her friend a fearful expression. It was worse than she thought it was. Natalie has gone bonkers. She instantly regret leaving her at her dorm or took her to Egypt to begin with. All this nonsense of Ancient Egypt and dead pharaohs had made her friend look like an asylum reject. Yume had to get her friend out of here but first... She needed a drink.

"Okay, Nazz, put the toy away and get dressed."

The little sixteen year old tilted her head, "Why? Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

-=-

Yugi moved the analog stick with his left hand and tapped several buttons in a sequence with his other. He had defeated the final boss of this arcade game for probably like the fifth time that one session but he didn't seem to notice. It was like he was trying to find some sort of escape within each time he plays. Though, every time he played, his mind was elsewhere and his body worked on autopilot. It wasn't until Jounouchi had stopped him from paying another mindless round with the machine. Jounouchi had offered to buy him something from the snack bar and Yugi only shrugged picking a drink at default. The blonde had noticed Yugi's behavior changed ever since that night. He and Anzu had spend even more time with him but it didn't seemed to work. It did for the first three days but eventually Yugi seemed to withdraw himself. It was as if he had lost hope.

"Yugi." Jounouchi called. Yugi looked over to him in curiosity, "I just want to say that I am sorry."

The short boy's eyes brows had furrowed at his friend's apologetic statement, "What for, Jounouchi-kun?"

"About what had happened between you and Idol." This struck a chord in Yugi as he began to avoid eye contact, "I just want you to know that Anzu and I are really worried about you. We may not know what happened between you two but Yugi you got to let it go, man, she hurt you and it doesn't seem like she's coming back."

"Jounouchi, the reason why she's not talking to me is because I told her to."

"Then what's the problem?"

Yugi opened his mouth to say the words but nothing came out. His thoughts were all over the place and he was getting tired of crying. He just simply missed her. He missed having her over almost everyday. He missed playing with her.

"I don't know, Jounouchi, I just want her back."

Jounouchi frowned at this. When it came to Yugi's safety, Jounouchi will always be there to protect his best friend. But watching Idol hurt Yugi in that way made him feel defenseless and all he could do was be there for Yugi in the aftermath. It's been one week and nothing had changed. He couldn't think of anything else. The blonde let out a sigh, if this is what it takes to cheer Yugi up... Well, let's hope so.

"Okay, Yugi," Jounouchi stood up, "Let's go get Idol back."

Yugi shook his head. A small smile formed on his lips at his friend's behavior, "Jounouchi, I tried that and it hasn't worked."

"What do you mean?" Jounouchi gave him a perplexed look, "You already talked to her?"

"Um... Not necessarily." Yugi stared off to the side in nervousness, "I just sent her notes."

By hearing this, Jounouchi held his sides as he laughed out loud. This made Yugi blush in embarrassment even more. Suddenly, Yugi felt a tug on his arm, "Come on, Yug, man up! We are going to talk to her in person!"

Yugi was then dragged out of the arcade, "Jounouchi! We don't even know where she lives!"

-=-

"Yume, where the hell are we going?" Natalie had her hands behind her head as she balanced on an elevated brick wall. She wore her usual black harem pants. The only difference is that she's wearing open toe sandals and a loose fitting white tank top with a black sports bra underneath.

"Well if you were wearing something normal, we could have gone clubbing." Yume walked in annoyance, "Honestly, Nazz, we are not in Egypt anymore. It's gonna get a little chilly tonight."

"What's wrong with comfort?" Natalie frowned as she hopped from the wall and landed almost with grace in front of Yume, "Okay, bad idea with sandals."

The older one snorted, "Good job, genius, we are going to help out someone to get information." Yume walked around Natalie, who had been blocking her. Natalie followed, "What sort of information."

"Well Natalie, unlike you I happen to find very interesting rumors whenever I go out." She smirked, "So, all this adult stuff or whatever you call it isn't useless. You'd be quite surprised at the amount of information people spill when they're drunk."

"Okay." Natalie replied, "I'm listening."

"Well, rumor has it that Seto Kaiba has been planning something pretty huge." Yume began to explain, "Apparently, some little boy from your high school ripped Seto a new one and so he is seeking revenge."

Natalie stopped walking and her jaw clenched. Yume didn't notice and kept going, "Unfortunately, I did not find this out at a bar but! His little brother doesn't keep his mouth shut. All the grade schoolers know this."

Yume felt the collar of her shirt being pulled to the side, not bothering into asking why Yume is around school children, "What sort of revenge?" This annoyed and surprised Yume as she grabbed Natalie's wrist, "I don't know, Nazz, that is what we are going to find out by rescuing the kid from Domino."

There was an eerie silence before Natalie began to scream, "YUGI IS IN TROUBLE AND YOU DIDN'T FUCKING TELL ME!" With that she had sped off, leaving a pissed off Yume behind.

"You're going the wrong way, Nazz!" She yelled after her, "And how was I supposed to know since you left that info out!"

Still no reply.

"And who names their child after games!"

Nothing.

Yume groaned, "Dammit Larsen!" And ran after her.

After blindly running around for five minutes, Natalie decided to quit acting like a rabid wolverine and wait for Yume, who was right behind her. The younger girl felt a tug at her ear. Yume dragged her to the right place which surprisingly they weren't too far off, "Over here, little girl, is where the bad guys are."

Natalie stared up at the place while rubbing her ear a bit frazzled. She could smell cigarette smoke emitting out of the bar and inside see a bunch of pool tables and dart boards against the walls. Her expression changed into a glare and looked over to Yume who was eager to go inside, "You bitch, you lead me here just to drink didn't you? Yugi isn't even in there!"

"Don't be quick to judge, Nazz!" Yume smacked the back of her head, "I can see the spikey hair on that kid just by standing here." Then she tugged on Natalie's wrist, "Come on! We got to go get him!"

And they did. They stood in front of a little sixteen year old boy, with hair that spiked towards the front of his skull making it look almost like a mohawk. The bottom layer of his hair was black and the top layer was a dark forest green. His eyes were a bit squinty, his cheeks bore some sort of whisker marks, and he had bucked teeth. The boy almost reminded Natalie of a rat.

Natalie's head tilted over to Yume and gave her a sarcastic look.

"Well, I don't think no one has hurt him yet!" Yume giggled as she pat the very confused boy's head.

"Yume, that's not Yugi Mutou."

The boy moved his head away from Yume's hand, "She's right, my name is Nezumi." Natalie nodded to herself, "That explains it."

"And Yugi Mutou is my classmate but I can't say much here cause these guys will break me at the mention of his name."

Natalie hopped onto the chair next to him and leaned her face towards him. Watching him with narrowed eyes, "And what's a name of a high schooler gonna do to these grown men?"

None of this made any sense to her. Yume came here for information on Seto Kaiba thinking they had gotten Yugi already. But no, it's this kid named Nezumi who obviously knows something. Though, what's a boy like him doing here with these... Natalie looked over to the guys who had stopped playing pool and were watching them. She had recognized two of them from somewhere but where? Nezumi had began to whisper something in her ear, "They knew I was from Domino so they blackmailed me to hang around them to lure Yugi in one day but... They said I'll be set free if I bring them his girlfriend."

Natalie jumped away and noticed that the guys had already surrounded her. Her eyes darted everywhere to look for her friend. There she was downing two shots of whatever clear liquid and had her arm around two males. Natalie's eyes widened...

"Rintama boys?" Natalie had recognized two of them and then she glared at her friend, "You've been hanging out with the Rintama boys?"

"Rintama, Domino," Yume waved her off having another shot, "Cliques or teenage crowds, I really don't give a shit. I'm just using them to get information."

Natalie growled, "Yume!"

"What? Did I do something wrong?" Her friend asked innocently. All Natalie could do was glare as she was overpowered by a bunch of men who smelled bad and held her down. Yume began to choke on her drink and wobbled forward, "Yo! What gives!"

"The boss wants this one to himself for payback and then parade her around the other twerp!" One of the boys, who had his foot over Natalie's back, chuckled out loud. Natalie felt helpless, without any sort of millennium item she couldn't judge or bring down any mortal. She felt so... So...

"Useless!" Natalie growled as she bit onto the guy's leg and elbowed the nearest pair of testicles. She rolled out of the way and punched one of the men who charged at her. Dodging another guy just for him to hit the guy behind her. She neared and grabbed Nezumi by the collar and her drunk friend.

"Let go!" Nezumi struggled, "We are no match for them!"

"Shut up!" Natalie spat and stared at the entrance of the bar and then over to the boys who were already recovering and a few were coming in to help stop them. Natalie had counted five men down and three more coming.

"So, what's your plan?" Nezumi questioned, clearly not having faith in her. Yume leaned against Natalie and waved her finger around, "Whatever you're doing, I follow, Captain!"

Natalie sighed, "My plan of action is... RUN AWAY!"

And that's when they knocked her out.

Natalie's side of the head throbbed in pain as she heard voices in the background and one very close to her. To her right she could feel the warmth of a person's body followed by the sound of their voice calling out her name. Her eyes immediately snapped open as her memory of previous events came back to her. She noticed her wrists had been tied behind her back and she could smell Yume's perfume next to her being in the same predicament as she is... Oh, no...

"This is all your fault."

"Takes you back to the time where we got caught stealing a fake Mona Lisa painting."

"Yume! I am leaving you here!" Natalie growled as she tried to undo the rope. Two of the Rintama boys and the rest of group that were at the bar had taken notice that the two girls had awakened. The only person who was absent was the boy Nezumi. One of the Rintama boys had stepped forward with a grin. His appearance had been disfigured due to the electric burns from last time. The other boy had most of his skin covered but there was a clear scar that showed around his neck and collarbone. Natalie remembered their screams that night. Her stomach dropped at the thought of revenge. Both of them had grabbed her to pull her up and moved her away from Yume, who couldn't do much anyways.

"Hirutani-san has big plans for you, girl!" One of them with a blind eye had stated.

"Yeah! You and that boy of yours are gonna get it tonight!"

Natalie chuckled nervously in between them, "Come on, guys, how about we settle this like civilized civilians and play a game?"

The one on her left squeezed her arm, cutting off blood supply, and growled at her, "We are not falling for one of your damn games!" This made Natalie flinch and frown at them, "Fine... Nobody wants to play with me anyways."

"I do!"

"Yume doesn't count."

"Enough!" They pulled her towards a hook. She then remembered that was where they had tied Jounouchi up. Gulping, she thought that they were going to give her the same treatment... Or worse.

"So, what should we do for the time being?" Sparky, Natalie dubbed, had asked one-eyed willy, "Should we hang her up?"

"No, I've got a better idea." Will had gestured for the rest of the boys to near them and Natalie's eyes had widened as she tried to tear away at the rope, "Don't bang her up too much, boys."

"This wouldn't have happened if it weren't for Hirutani-san and the weapons he gave us!" One of them claimed as they all brought out almost the same color of yo-yos. Yo-Yos. YO-YOS!

Natalie's jaw dropped for the moment as she blinked so many times to see if her eyes are deceiving her. Suddenly, all thoughts of sexual assault and possible rape had gone straight to the trash bin and she finally found her voice, "Are those fucking yo-yos?" She immediately regretted asking the question.

"That's right, girly! And your spikey-haired boyfriend won't pull a fast one on us this time!"

"Pull a fast- HA! HA! HA!" Natalie barked out in laughter with a mock tone, "What are you going to do? Make him do a yo-yo battle with you guys?" Natalie was almost to the point of tears as her abs began to hurt.

Yume just sat there unsure on what to do or think, "I don't understand what is going on. At all."

"I'll tell you!" Natalie shrugged her arm away from Sparky, "This is the most hysterical and stupidest thing I have ever seen!" The electric shock must have given them brain damage. As for the rest of them, they are completely stupid. Natalie felt so ashamed of herself for getting beat up by a gang who used yo-yos. She had been faced with other obstacles worse than this for crying out loud!

"Well, allow me to show you how it's done!" One of them growled as he threw the yo-yo at her direction. Natalie had moved her face out of the way to allow the stupid toy to hit her shoulder but the thing ended up ricocheting and curved to make contact with her cheek.

"Ow!" Natalie rubbed her cheek against her shoulder, "That actually hurt!"

"Now you see why!"

"It's still pretty damn stupid!" She barked out and that only lead her to get hit again in the eye, "Would you quit that!"

"Little girl! We are going to make you scream so that your boyfriend can hear you!"

Trying to recover the vision on her right eye by blinking multiple times, "No." she replied, "One, he ain't my boyfriend. Two, I don't know where he is. Three, there's no point in keeping me hostage, he ain't gonna come."

Then a yo-yo hit her face again.

"Really!?"

Multiple hits around her torso and the same spot on her face.

"I'm going to-!"

Head shot!

Natalie groaned at the dull pain that began to form around her head as she could feel a black eye forming. She felt something dark grow within her. Like the time where she had the millennium scale but this time it was something calling out to her. No, it was trying to grab her and forcefully pull her in. It almost felt like Ammit's dark power but much more. It was coming closer. Please, let her have it. Let it feed off of her hate. Then, she was snapped back to reality when she felt pain at her temple. Her body had collapsed and she bit her lip at the pain.

"You idiot!" They all had stopped, "You weren't supposed to knock her out!"

"What was I supposed to do?"

"Everyone shut up!" A moment of silence.... "Someone is coming!"

They all scattered and left Natalie alone on the ground. She could hear Yume calling out to her in the distance and all Natalie could do was try to lift herself up. She stopped struggling and tucked her knees to her chest to let her arms go underneath her and over her legs. She felt the dark presence again closer this time. Her eyes had been shut due to the pain so she tried to see through her third eye. She shut off other senses to focus on that light that was coming toward her. Grinning she reached out for it, now that her tied wrists were in front of her. Now is time for payback!

"Natalie!"

She opened her eyes to see her hands around the millennium puzzle. Natalie groaned, "Oh, gods of any kind, anything but him!"

"Geez, woman, what happened to you!?" Jounouchi questioned.

She glared up at the two boys, "Something that I am not proud of!" She managed to sit up with the help of Yugi... Which reminds her...

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" She questioned the two. Then she realized where everyone else had gone. What did they do to Yume? And how did they find her?

"We are here to rescue you!" Jounouchi declared as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Yugi on the other hand was too busy wondering who had done this to her. He could feel his heart began to race and feel his anger probe at the back of his head. "This isn't what I wanted..."

Yugi held the back of his head trying to calm down his breathing. He closed his eyes for the moment but his thoughts raced back at him, "Whoever did this... I won't forgive them." It was overwhelming for him.

Natalie was still confused by Jounouchi's statement. How did they find her in the first place? Her eyes set on the third boy who was a feet away from them. She clenched her jaw as she realized this was all a damn set up for Yume and her. And now Jounouchi and Yugi are dragged into this just for Hirutani's revenge. How could she be so stupid!?

"You!" She sneered at Nezumi. Though, it was too late to say anything as they were now surrounded by the boys who had been here to beat her with fucking yo-yos. Jounouchi stiffened and got in front of Natalie and Yugi in a protective manner. Natalie counted the same boys, if not more. They all brought out their yo-yos in a threatening manner and she was confident now that those things won't work this time. Now that Jounouchi is here and he's not tied up.

"Yugi, stay with Natalie!" Jounouchi ordered as the yo-yo gang surrounded them with the toys. If any of them moved they would've get hit by the toy. The boys laughed and walked near us intimidatingly. Jounouchi clenched his fists and held them in front of him as he got into a fighting stance. He figured it was better if he fought them alone. He turned to Yugi and Nezumi, "Get her out of here, I'll stall them."

Nezumi was quick to agree and he grabbed Yugi's wrist, "Over here, Yugi!" but Yugi resisted not wanting to leave Natalie behind. Nezumi ended up dragging him away, "Hurry, Yugi!"

"I can't leave Natalie and Jounouchi!"

Natalie stood up only to get hit in the same eye, "I'm going to kill you all in your sleep." She threatened and then she was pushed to the side and was stomped on.

Jounouchi's eyes widened and he made his way to go help her but was stopped by more yo-yos, "Their attacks are well prepared. We were set up." He announced.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Natalie glared but was hit again. One-eyed Will was above her and he grinned, "Since you like games, let's play this one! Every time you decide to speak, I'll beat you!"

Hirutani stepped forward from the shadows, "Jounouchi, you are trapped like a rat." He chuckled, "One wrong move and one of those yo-yos that surround you will hit you! Just like they did to your friend there."

All Jounouchi could do was glare at his old enemy. He should have known that Hirutani won't give up so easily. He would stop at nothing to get him back. The thing is, is that Jounouchi had no idea what had happened to Hirutani. He figured some idiot tazed themselves in the rain. Well that's how Natalie explained it. Jounouchi's surprised that Hirutani had made it out okay. It was like Hirutani never got electrocuted.

"Hirutani!" Jounouchi snarled, "You won't get away with this!"

Hirutani chuckled, "I think I already did, Jounouchi," He pointed over to something, "Look over there."

Jounouchi and Natalie looked over to see that Nezumi and some other guy had held Yugi down. The boy tried to struggle free but it was no use. Natalie's eyes widened in horror as Hirutani ordered the boy to grab the hook that they were gonna hold her up with. Now she saw why they saved that thing for. They hooked it up to Yugi's millennium puzzle and released it. The rope that held the pendant applied pressure around Yugi's neck as it hung him up. It cut out his air and Yugi began to choke.

Hirutani chuckled. Pleased with himself as he crossed his arms. He took satisfaction at Jounouchi's helplessness, "Good work, Nezumi." Hirutani praised, "Everything went according to plan."

Natalie got on her knees but the guy above her wouldn't allow it. She looked over at Jounouchi who was trapped and then over to Yugi who had his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

"Please." She pleaded trying to contact the dark spirit.

"Who said you could talk!"

Not caring about the guy's weight above her she continued to beg, "I know you can hear me!" She flinched again, "Let me save you!"

The millennium puzzle glowed as she reached out for it. She felt like if she had the millennium scale back in her grasp. This time she wasn't filled with so much gluttonous thoughts of souls. She was filled with, "Wrath." She whispered as she rolled to the side, tripping the guy above her in the process.

"Why you-" She stopped him as she placed both of her hands on his skull, "Illusion of fear." She cast out loud. The boy's expression quickly changed from anger to down right fright. He scrambled away from her but in his eyes he didn't see a little girl. He saw..

"Lion!" He ran out, "There's a lion in here!"

Hirutani and Jounouchi stared at the boy like if he was insane. This fortunately let those who had surrounded Jounouchi pause the yo-yo attacks and Jounouchi took this golden opportunity to save his friend. He grabbed Yugi by his legs and lifted him up so that it could relieve the pressure around Yugi's neck. Yugi was able to weakly get the hook off and he held onto Jounouchi's shoulders. Jounouchi set him down before he got attacked by yo-yos. He clenched his jaw not realizing how painful these things can be.

Hirutani glared at the sudden outcome, "Damn you, Jounouchi!" He then ordered for all of them to continue to attack.

Jounouchi had his arm over Yugi, "Hirutani, this is nothing! Prepare yourself for my counter attack!"

This made the alpha Rintama boy laugh, "You're all talk, Jounouchi, just look around you!" At least he still had the situation under control. Natalie finally released herself and rolled her eyes at this whole thing.

"Jounouchi!" She yelled, "Use the millennium puzzle! They're just yo-yos!"

The idea sparked in Jounouchi's head faster than he can say, "Time to turn the tides." Yugi had given him the pendant and Jounouchi began to spun it around with a grin, "Let's go, you bunch of apes!" None of them had noticed anything peculiar as they kept throwing their yo-yos at the blonde, not even realizing that the strings were getting attached to the puzzle.

Natalie went ahead to look for the guy who had been hurting her from the beginning. And that was one-eyed willy. She had found him still trembling and grabbed a hold of him who still kept reminding himself that she was a lion, "Where's my friend, you sick fuck!?"

"Please, don't eat me!" He whimpered.

"I'm going to do a lot more if you don't start talking!"

Quivering in fear, he pointed outside, probably to another warehouse. She nudged him, "Take me there."

"W-w-why?"

"In case you decide to lead me to a trap," She grabbed him by the throat, "My hands will be ready." The guy got the idea and he lead the way. Natalie looked back to see Hirutani had rallied up his boys to go against the pair. Her eyes landed on Yugi who was now the dark spirit of the millennium puzzle. He caught her eyes for the moment and nodded in approval. She smirked knowing he'd be okay and took off to find Yume.

"It's still be two days till we say we are sorry."