Battle of the Decks: Time Change?

by Otakugyrl

Pairings: Bakura & Malik; suggested: Kurama & Yuugi and Bakura & Hiei

Disclaimer(s) I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Yuugioh. However, I do own this particular piece of fanfiction. This is a crossover between Yu Yu Hakusho and Yuugioh. Neither of which I own; not that I wouldn't mind owning them.

Dated: 07.01.04

 

 


 

 

Seto Kaiba, CEO of Kaiba Corp, was hosting yet another Duel Monsters Tournament in Domino City. Not being one who enjoys losing, he invited Yuugi Mouto to the tournament in hopes of finally winning against the smaller duelist whom reluctantly agreed to accept the invitation.

It had been fairly calm where he lived in comparison to the last couple tournaments where the boy was often reminded of his gift (or curse) of having a Sennen item given to him by his grandpa. Yuugi, dueling tournament champion time after time, was known as the king of games. And rightfully so. His name appeared in the papers locally and state-wide, reminding the CEO that he had lost to the teenager.

They both had a past together; even as far as past lives, but in this life it was the fact that the first person Seto Kaiba lost to was Yuugi. The worse part, for Seto, was that Yuugi had never dueled in any sort of tournament before going up against himself. Only angering and upsetting the older duelist more.

As usual, the owner of the Sennen Puzzle, Yuugi Mouto, was joined by his caring and often faithful friends to attend the tournament. Katsuya Jounouchi, best friend to Yuugi, had made it to the top six of this particular tournament. Hiroto Honda, once again did not even attempt to enter the competition; being one of Yuugi's friends that does not enter dueling tournaments. Shizuka Kawai does not duel either; however, she came to support her older brother, Katsuya Jounouchi. Mai Kujaku, Ryuuji Otogi and Anzu Mazaki had all came to watch the tournament; not only for their friend Yuugi, but for their own reasons as well.

While Mai, Otogi and Anzu knew how to duel, they preferred not dueling in this particular competition; for their own reasons. Mai secretly came to cheer on Jounouchi, but refused to admit that was the reason. Shizuka also came to support Jounouchi and learn from him; he is her big brother after all. Otogi was there, more or less, just to keep himself occupied; and sign any wanted autographs-- being the arrogant teen that he can be. Anzu, basically went wherever she could with Yuugi, or his Yami, to support him and attempt to get closer with him.

Yami no Yuugi is a spirit to an ancient Pharaoh from Egypt; living inside of the puzzle that Yuugi wears around his neck, held by a thick chain. While the two share the same body, Yuugi's friends like to tease him that he probably shares other things as well. However, what they shared does not concern itself too much with the tournament at hand.

As the competition continued, it boiled down to (as predicted) Yuugi Mouto and Seto Kaiba! The only one's that seemed to be surprised were the few duelists that were experiencing this as their first tournament. Unfortunate for them.

In the shadows of the stands stood two other teenagers (of sorts), well known to Yuugi and his friends. Ryou Bakura and Malik Ishtar. Ryou and Malik are both holders of their own Sennen item; although, while Ryou's held a spirit in it, Malik's did not.

A spirit of a self-proclaimed "Thief King" from Ancient Egypt resided in the Sennen Ring; belonging to Ryou. The owner of the Sennen Rod is the Tomb Watcher, Malik. Although his item did not have a spirit living in it, he did have another personality-- which by this time, Malik had found a way to keep him from showing any time the alter-personality wanted to.

To be more specific, Malik and Yami no Bakura (the spirit of the Sennen Ring) weren't exactly just standing in the shadows. They were engaged in getting as much physical attention from one another as they could; well, as much as possible while their clothing remained in the way. It wasn't until there was a loud announcement over the intercom that they finally turned their attention to the dueling arena.

"And our finalists of the Kaiba Corporation Battle of the Decks Tournament are Yuugi Mouto and none other than Mister Seto Kaiba!"

The fans in the stadium cheered accordingly to whom they favored; Seto received a louder amount of applause. By this time, Malik and Yami no Bakura were now engaged on who would be in control of their rather passionate lip-lock-- ignoring that the duel had already started.

Malik rather enjoyed the fact that there was a chance that the two might get caught; even if he really hoped they wouldn't. The snowy-haired albino, Yami no Bakura, had no problem with 'entertaining' his 'partner' in crime this way; not that he would admit it, but he seemed to get a thrill out of the idea as well.

The main reason the two had come to the tournament was to wait for the perfect opportunity to go against Yuugi and his Yami in order to obtain the Sennen Puzzle. Even after every thing they had gone through, they still had their personal reasons for not liking Yuugi. While they waited, the two took their opportunity to continue fondling each other in the shadows.

Hardly thirty minutes later, the two were interrupted again. This time it was from one of the monsters on the field; a monster that was supposed to be virtual. On this particular playing field, Seto built, the monsters appeared to be real but only the dueling duelists would feel any direct impact from anything that happened on the field.

Somehow, a blast that was aimed for one of Seto's monsters redirected itself in the direction of Yami no Bakura and Malik.

Obvious screams of fear rang throughout the arena.

"Someone! Get on that right away!"

"Are you checking up there?"

"Double check the system!"

"Do you want to get fired? Then DO IT NOW!"

Various commands and demands were directed through speakers and a more advanced-form of walkie-talkies to different Kaiba Corporation employees.

Seto was also demanding various commands, similar to the employee's. "I did not program this to go out of the boundaries! There is no excuse for this! I want to know who was in this arena for the past week and who was the last to test out my program!"

The CEO was obviously furious, hiding his worry for any possible damage his monster may have caused to any fans. He had already checked the sidelines for the safety of his brother, Mokuba Kaiba.

"Look out!" the tri-colored teenager, Yuugi, yelled from his dueling stand.

Yami no Yuugi was had been in control of the body; having a taller and more confident appearance than his host. His warning was aimed at the taller teen, Seto Kaiba. Now Yuugi's monster, Kurama, had attacked again; without any command from anyone to do so.

Fans were quickly leaving the building.

Yuugi's friends, however, remained on the sidelines. Covering their heads or ducking every time a monster decided to attack. There were only three monsters on the field, but that didn't stop them from doing a lot of damage. However, they were now acting of free will and attacking everything within the arena and doing physical damage as well.

The tall blond, Jounouchi, wrapped his arms around his sister; in a form of protection. Honda was whimpering next to Otogi, his arms wrapped around the raven-haired dice-boy; whimpering so much that he failed to notice that Otogi was desperately trying to pry the unwanted arms off of him so that he could protect someone else-- anyone else. Cries of Yuugi's name and for Yuugi's safety seemed to be the only thing coming from Anzu's mouth, besides her clearly heard screams.

"Dammit! WE were the one's supposed to do something! Not someone else!" Malik whined as he stood up. The monsters' attack had hit the stands near them; both of them had moved out of the way of any falling rock and debris, but only to tumble onto the ground.

Malik was still dusting himself off while Yami no Bakura sat on the ground holding his head, cringing at the sounds the arena was filled with. Mostly because he wasn't causing it and it was only pulling him away from his own goal. And the things he wanted.

This did not make for a happy yami.

He finally stood up and moved next to Malik, only to be met with another blast heading towards them. A blast sent again from Yuugi's monster, Kurama.

Yami no Bakura's Sennen Ring that he wore around his neck and Malik's Sennen Rod began to glow and throb in their possession. As the monsters' blast met with the two, their items set off a counter blast sending the entire arena into a bright light and what sounded like a very large explosion.

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"I know I heard something coming from over here!"

"Well then how come I didn't hear anything?"

"Because, you are a moron."

"If we're going to check it out, then we had better hurry."

Four males started running in the direction in the sound that Yuusuke Urameshi heard. Hiei and Kurama were following quickly behind; Kuwabara reluctantly followed, not wanting to be left behind (and not even hearing anything to begin with). It wasn't until Kuwabara sensed something strange that he finally believed Yuusuke and was quick to catch up.

It didn't take the four males long to reach their destination; a wide open space in the middle of the Makai covered in a thick cloud of blue-grey smoke.

"Think we should get closer?" Kuwabara asked while scratching at his head in puzzlement.

He couldn't figure out what it was, but unlike the others he had no youkai in him what-so-ever. And not visiting the Makai often enough, he was unsure if it was even safe. Or worth going after.

"Sure, why not?" Yuusuke called out, already heading closer to the smoke.

Yuusuke often visited the Makai after finding out that an ancestor of his ruled over a sector of the demon world; and even then he had no idea what the smoke was.

"Che'. They're going to get themselves permanently killed..." Hiei said in disgust at the two.

Sighing, Kurama shrugged, "They haven't yet and I don't think this smoke is going to do it. I do not recognize anything coming from that area, but it doesn't seem to be too dangerous. At least nothing that those two can't handle."

"Hn."

"Yes, we should still follow them. We can have our fun later," Kurama teased, winking at the shorter demon before leaving to catch up with the others.

Hiei blinked a few times before mumbling under his breath. He shook his head before following the kitsune.

Over the years he, too, had gotten closer to the other members of the Reikai Tantei. Then again, all of them had gotten closer to someone in the past few years-- most of them had gotten closer to someone, rather.

After finally arriving at the clouded area they were met with the familiar face of a smiling blue-haired ferry girl.

"Hey! It's Botan!" Kuwabara yelled, waving an arm at the girl on her token floating oar.

Botan smiled at the approaching boys and lowered herself closer to the ground, "Hello there boys."

Kurama smiled softly, "Hello Botan."

Hiei nodded at her; an improvement since their last meeting, while Yuusuke frowned- sensing another mission coming on.

"What's the toddler got me doing now?" Yuusuke remained frowning as he steadily walked closer to Botan.

No matter how many years Yuusuke had known Koenma, he still continued to mock him by his physical form. "

"Koenma-sama wanted me to alert you guys of exactly what you boys were getting into. Although, there isn't too much to go by," she paused for a moment; giving Yuusuke time to slip in some sarcasm. She continued when he failed to take the opportune moment.

"There seems to have been a dimensional break that has effected the Makai; and as far as

we are aware, only the Makai. The strangest thing is that we cannot pinpoint where the visitors came from. You boys are noted, however, to be very careful since the motives of the visitors are unknown; nor how powerful they are."

Cocking an eyebrow, Yuusuke started walking towards the parting smoke; hands in pocket and mumbling something about 'his vacation' and a 'spoiled toddler.'

"Urameshi! Do you think we should just be going in without knowing what's going on?" Kuwabara asked.

Kuwabara wasn't as willing to just jump into anything without knowing what was going on first. Many thanks to a constant reminder from his older sister, Shizuru.

Yuusuke ignored his orange-haired comrade, and continued his steady strides. Once he

reached the most outer part of the area, he stopped. Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara and even Botan were not far behind.

"Malik?! What the hell did you do?!" a voice yelled from inside the smoke.

"I didn't do anything! Besides, it was your item too!" another voice retorted.

"Will you JUST LET GO OF ME?" yet another voice yelled.

As the voices continued and the smoke cleared, Yuusuke and Kuwabara continued to give each other confused glances. Unsure of what to expect, and not sensing any sort of energy-- demon nor human. The smoke didn't take much longer to clear. Instead of a smoke-filled area, there was now a number of teenagers sitting (or standing) with looks of puzzlement, fear or amusement as they looked around their new environment.

There were a few fingers pointed accusingly at each other on who was to blame; most fingers pointed to Malik and Yami no Bakura who were too busy staring at each other to notice a thing. Honda, meanwhile, still had his arms wrapped around Otogi and was pointing a finger at Seto. Yuugi was the first to step away from the area to find out where they were and talk to whom he thought to be 'locals.'

"It's unbelievable that they're not having a hard time in this environment," Botan verbally noted to herself.

Kurama stepped away from the others to greet the approaching boy, showing Yuugi he had no signs to prepare himself against him; unless he felt the need to. There was something about Yuugi, to Kurama, that was trying to make itself known to him, but that same thing also seemed to mask itself. Kurama knew that he had to keep himself prepared, as with any new situation. However, he felt the boy seemed to be no threat.

With a light bow of his head, the boy with tri-colored hair smiled at Kurama; possibly in an attempt to hide how obviously nervous he was. Kurama bowed his head at him as well before opening his mouth to speak.

"Um. So where are we?" Yuugi questioned, unsure of what else to say; he too didn't feel any threat from Kurama.

Then again, Yuugi always seemed to be the type to have faith, hope and trust in nearly anyone and everyone. Both his weakness and strength.

"You're in the Makai," Yuusuke stepped forward; not giving Kurama a chance to speak.

"The what?" Jounouchi asked as he caught up to Yuugi; his sisters' hand in his and Mai following closely behind.

"He said the Makai. Did you not hear him?" Seto said sarcastically; the others were quickly approaching to find out exactly what was going on.

"I heard what he said..." Jounouchi lowered his voice and mumbled, "I just don't know what it is. Not like you know..."

Whether it was because Jounouchi knew what it was and was in denial or didn't really know what it was --only he knew the answer to that. And as long as Seto was there, he wasn't about to say anything further on it.

"The Makai. It's the demon world, not a very safe for humans... and even for some youkai," Kurama answered calmly.

Yuugi's eyes shifted away from Kurama's eyes, nodding nervously; mentally complaining to himself about his behavior. He was hoping at this point that his Yami was not listening into any of these thoughts; as he often would. Especially the subconscious thoughts he started having about Kurama's appearance; not at all in a bad way.

"Now that we know where we are, how do we get back to where we're from? And how did we get here?" Honda spoke up now; finally letting go of Otogi.

"And where is here?" Otogi questioned; his hand on his hip in his typical 'I-think-I'm-Better-Than-You' pose.

Kuwabara opened his mouth to say something, but stopped as Yuusuke shook his head; knowing he was going to say something to embarrass himself. And in front of strangers? Yuusuke didn't even feel like doing that to Kuwabara--this time.

Regardless of their distant past, they had actually grown to be closer friends than anyone would have thought. Although, that didn't stop Yuusuke from treating the other more-or-less the same when others that the two knew were around.

"We're not sure yet," Yuusuke answered; leaving his answer simple and straight forward. He was still watching the others in preparation for any threat they might cause.

Yuusuke looked around the group making a mental note of every one that was there; if they were a threat he wanted to remember who was there. Besides, he hadn't had a challenge in a while; it might be fun.

Blond male and female, raven-haired male, a tri-colored haired male, two brunette females, brunette male with odd hair, a smaller boy with long raven-colored hair held in a pony-tail and a taller brunette male. Then there were two males in the back, too busy arguing with each other to even pay attention or care to what was going on; a white-haired 'albino' looking male and a blond Egyptian. Kurama looked over the group without any sign that he was doing so.

"Well, the only thing I'd like to know is how we're going to get back," Mai said, standing next to Jounouchi.

Jounouchi looked over to her and nodded in agreement, " 'Sides, we gotta make sure those duel monsters ain't doin' nothing else and hurting anymore innocent people!"

"Everyone got out, and if they didn't there will be some people I need to deal with when I get back," Seto stated.

Mokuba tugged at Seto's gravity-defying trenchcoat for his older brothers' attention. Once he got that he finally spoke.

"Well we don't know how to get back, so we might as well figure out where we can stay or what to do until someone figures something out," he said clearly and almost leader-like. Making more sense than all the questions that were being passed around.

"Actually, I will be figuring out how you will return to your dimension..." a voice echoed.

"Koenma-sama!" rang Botan's voice.

While the four boys all knew who Koenma was, the 'visitors' did not; and were quite surprised (to say the least) on seeing a giant near-transparent head floating in the sky talking to them. And not only a head, but the head of what appeared to be a toddler; with a pacifier in their mouth.

"You can do that here too??" Yuusuke exclaimed, forgetting if he had ever done it before; or just not remembering because at the time he didn't care.

Koenma ignored the remark, "Botan. I'd like you to take our guests to Genkai's Temple. She already knows they will be coming and has already accepted my request that they stay there. Although, that does not mean that you four get to go anywhere..."

Kurama stopped Hiei from saying anything, while Kuwabara stopped Yuusuke from arguing; almost like payback for Yuusuke stopping him from saying something foolish earlier.

"... You four will also stay with our guests. No one is allowed to stray from her Temple, for their own safety. Keep yourselves occupied until I figure out a way to send them back," after Botan accepted his 'request' he vanished.

"What he means is, he'll have someone else finding out how to send them back," Yuusuke mumbled as he kept his hands behind his back, already walking away from the area. Again, not too happy that his plans were interrupted.

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They all ended up at the Temple where Genkai was at; without too many arguments or confrontations between any of them. The worse argument they had happened between Jounouchi and Mai; when Jou tried to flirt with Botan. Not only did Kuwabara step in and tell Jounouchi to leave her alone, but Mai stepped up to tell Jou that he shouldn't do it either. When he asked her why, Shizuka stepped up and mentioned that it was because Mai liked Jou and it was inconsiderate of him to do so.

That led to a lot of blushing, stammering and laughter from everyone. Jounouchi remained silent for the rest of the trip to the Temple, Mai was blushing and talking to Shizuka about certain promises and Shizuka was trying to say that it was in her best interested; especially since her brother seemed to be blind to the fact that he had a secret admirer.

While in the Temple, after more 'getting to know you' sessions, everyone started off on their own thing. Yuugi and Jounouchi were dueling on the coffee table while Mai, Shizuka and Anzu watched. Seto and Mokuba were in the corner, away from everyone else; even if Mokuba constantly requested that he go watch the duel. Seto would just look at his younger brother and that seemed to say it all. Otogi had finally pulled Honda to the side to complain (quietly) about his excessive grabbing.

"What are you guys doing?" Yuusuke finally asked; stepping over to see what Kuwabara had left their conversation to go do; or see.

"They're dueling."

"What's that?"

"I dunno, just watch."

"... You've been standing here for the past fifteen minutes, and you don't even know what they're doing?"

"They're using the cards in their hands to battle each other," Shizuka said, looking away from the duel to look at Yuusuke and Kuwabara.

"Ugh! I was so close this time!" Jounouchi said as he pulled his cards back into his hand and started shuffling them. "You've improved, Jou-kun," Yuugi said; smiling at his best friend softly.

Jounouchi grinned at the compliment and finally took notice that Shizuka was now trying to explain how the game worked.

"Y'see. We've each got a deck of cards that have monsters, traps and spells in them. By followin' some rules, we try to lower each others' life points to zero by using these cards..." Jounouchi explained.

It didn't take too long for Yuusuke and Kuwabara had both learned how to play 'Duel Monsters' and were having fun while playing against each other. They each took turns using Jounouchi or Yuugi's deck before finally allowing Kurama to have a try at the game.

Kurama sat down, opposite to Yuugi, and shuffled his cards; a combination of Mai and Otogi's deck that they were both generous enough to allow the kitsune to borrow. Even if the two didn't plan on dueling, they carried their decks with them almost anywhere they went; just in case.

Thirty minutes into the duel, Anzu had complimented Kurama. For a first timer, he was doing excellent; and the game looked like it had only started. Most games wouldn't even last that long for a beginner. However, Kurama hardly needed to ask any questions; he had been paying attention since Yuugi first opened his mouth to talk about the game.

"Wow...you're really good," Yuugi said, offering a smile to the red-head. He was also proud, of himself, for not accepting his Yami's request in dueling for him.

"Thank you," Kurama said softly while laying another card onto the field. He kept his eye on Yuugi; personally impressed with the strategy the boy was using, even if it was just in a game of cards.

By the end of the game, Kurama had won and offered a rematch; offering a two out of three game. Seto, on the other hand, noticed this and now had a dislike for Kurama. Simply because he had beaten his rival when he, in fact, could not.

"Yes, that would be... that would be nice," Yuugi said as he accepted the offer. He blushed and looked around nervously, "But... is there a bathroom I can use first?"

Most of his friends laughed while others seem to look like they almost felt bad for him; not like having to use the bathroom was something unnatural-- unless it was in this world?

"Of course, right this way," Kurama said; standing up and waiting until Yuugi was able to follow him.

"You are a very good strategist," Kurama said as Yuugi followed him. Obviously, it wasn't a far walk, but once they had left the main room Kurama had started to walk slower.

"Oh... Um, arigatou Kurama-san," Yuugi murmured.

'Are you alright, Yuugi?' Yami no Yuugi questioned mentally to his hikari.

'Hm? Ha-hai.'

'You don't have to be embarrassed...'

'About what??'

'Aibou...you don't think I know? I saw where you were looking... '

'... I... I didn't mean ....'

'You don't have to apologize either. You're feelings and thoughts are only natural, right?' Yami's tone was as warm-hearted as it could be, gentle and caring for his other half.

"Yuugi-chan, are you alright?" Kurama asked; snapping Yuugi out of his brief daze as he communicated with his Yami through their mindlink.

"H-hai..." Yuugi again stammered. He couldn't easily tell the other that even though they had just met, he seemed to find every thing about the other appealing. It wasn't just the initial appearance of seeing emerald green eyes meet his own or how kind the other was to him. It wasn't just how he quickly had a sense of respect for him; it was all of that plus some.

Kurama did notice the change in Yuugi's amethyst eyes while he appeared to doze off, though; and for that time he felt the same feeling that he had felt earlier.

After Yuugi came out of the bathroom, he noticed that Kurama was still standing there; he had nearly missed him, at first, it was as if he had nearly camouflaged himself against the wall.

Yuugi smiled and started back, but was stopped when Kurama's arm easily stretched out in front of him; stopping the boy. Yuugi looked up at Kurama, unsure of what to make of his actions. Yuugi was about Hiei's height, so their obvious height difference did make it a bit difficult for the smaller boy to look (and continue looking) at Kurama.

"Um... yes?" Yuugi asked nervously.

"Why are you so nervous?" Kurama asked gently.

Yuugi didn't reply, instead he started to subconsciously play with his Sennen puzzle.

"What is that?" Kurama asked after a few minutes, breaking the unwanted silence.

"This? Oh. This is a gift my grandpa gave me, it's from Egypt..." he said, leaving out the part about the spirit and all the danger that the spirit has gotten him out of. And into.

"Mind if I look at it?"

Reluctantly, Yuugi handed his possession over; keeping his eyes locked with it at all times. Kurama eyed over it a few times. Turning it. Feeling over it. Admiring it. He handed it back to Yuugi with a nod, but subtly walked in front of Yuugi; preventing him from going any further.

Kurama had an obvious interest in the small duelist, "So why are you so nervous? Do I make you nervous?" Some thoughts and past events led Kurama to smirk at the idea.

"I...I..."

"I'm not trying to scare you. You don't have to be so nervous around me," Kurama continued, resting his hand on Yuugi's shoulder.

Yuugi's eyes widened, "You're not scaring me."

"Oh no? Then what is it?"

Yuugi focused at looking at the ground. His feet. The floor. The tiny bug that started to crawl across the floor looking, possibly, for others like him.

"For such a polite young boy, you certainly do avoid things pretty quickly," Kurama said in an attempt to get some sort of conversation going.

Yuugi smiled softly and opened his mouth to say something.

"Yuugi!" Yuugi's eyes widened to see Jounouchi standing at the hallway, “Malik and Bakura are gone!"

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It had been decided, so to speak, that Hiei, Yuugi and Kurama would go looking for the two. Hiei insisted that he went by himself. Yuugi insisted he go, but didn't want any of his other friends to join him. He didn't want any of them to get injured of whatever they would be getting themselves into. Upon that request, Kurama insisted that he went with Yuugi to help and to protect him if need be. He also hoped to have his curiosity and some of his questions answered.

Hiei was in the forest behind Genkai's Temple, easily avoiding any youkai that happened to attempt to come across himself. He was fast enough to easily maneuver himself through the branches and with the help of his Jagan eye he was able to search for Bakura and Malik easier than anyone else could.

Bakura and Malik, meanwhile, were both regretting going into the dark forest. It was causing too much trouble to use their items to keep themselves out of danger. Bakura had already frozen a few youkai in the spots; and of the few youkai he came across that had souls, he stole those too. Unfortunately, for him, his Sennen ring had a limit on how many he could lock in their place. Of course, Malik found this amusing. He could easily manipulate or freeze numerous youkai with ease; for his Sennen rod seemed to have no limit.

"This is your fault!" Malik hissed as he stepped over a fallen tree; grumbling again as he nearly fell.

"MY fault? How is this my fault? You're the fool who decided to go into the forest instead of going the other way!" Bakura growled stepping over the same tree with ease.

"Since when did you do what I say??"

"Since you complained that you wanted to have some say in the things that we do, even if we weren't having --"

"This is different! This is not the same--" Malik paused, "tell me you are not comparing us getting lost to--"

"No!" Bakura exclaimed, not letting Malik finish. He 'hmphed' as he shoved a thick layer of branches out of their way, hoping that maybe they had reached an exit.

Instead he was face to face with the short jaganshi; or rather, looking down at him. "Bakura!" Malik whined, "Why did you stop! Oh."

"Can we help you?" Bakura asked sarcastically. In all reality he and Malik both wanted out of this place, they hadn't come across anything that interested either of them. But he also wasn't about to ask anyone for help back.

"Turn around. We're going back," Hiei said flatly. The only reason he had gone after them in the first place was to get out of the Temple and a reason to not give Koenma something to nag about. Besides, Koenma was lucky to have Hiei helping anything of his request without needing any sort of 'persuasion'.

Bakura laughed, "And what makes you think I have to listen to you?"

"Um... Bakura...." Malik said softly, tugging at Bakura's sleeve.

"What?"

"... " He looked up at him with his best attempt at a pout; even if it was a bit out of character for the Egyptian, it still worked. Every time.

Bakura growled, "I guess we could. It's not like he'd be able to force us to go." Bakura knew exactly what the blond was requesting with that look.

Hiei raised an eyebrow at the spirit, Bakura, and started to walk towards the Temple. 'Hn. Not even worth my time after all.' He had hoped that the two of them would be just the opposite of the others, possibly even some sort of challenge.

"As I thought. He wouldn't be able to," Bakura said casually placing his hands on his hips.

Malik smirked, and subtly slid his arm around Bakura's.

"I could always force him to listen... if you had some sort of challenge in mind," Malik said as he casually tapped at the head of his Sennen rod; a playful smirk upon his lips.

"Hn. You cannot force me to do anything," Hiei said calmly. He figured the quicker he could get them to the Temple, the quicker he could be done with the entire situation.

"You don't think so?" Bakura walked around Hiei so that he could stand in front of them. He placed his finger against the black material, "I think I'm forcing you right now. Don't you think?"

Hiei's eyes were wide, but he didn't say a thing; his body frozen. He was, however, mentally cursing at how this could have happened. The ring around Bakura's neck shined brightly as it held Hiei in place.

"Bakura... you didn't make it so that he couldn't talk, did you?"

"No. He can talk. However, I just think he's possibly embarrassed that I was right-- they get like that some times. Speechless," Bakura mocked, tracing his finger up so that it rested under Hiei's chin. He gently lifted Hiei's face, forcing him to look up into his pair of almost equally red eyes.

"Now what?" Malik asked, leaning against the white-haired fiend.

"Whatever I want," Bakura said casually; as if it was obvious.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"I see. So... the spirit of a former Pharaoh would come out whenever you needed him?" Kurama asked, confirming what Yuugi had finally confessed.

"Uh-huh. I guess he thought I was in danger earlier, that's why he showed himself," Yuugi nodded as the two continued walking through the forest. They had searched elsewhere and figured that they might as well search the forest as well.

"So that's what it was that I sensed earlier."

"Huh?"

"Mmn. Nothing."

"Thank you," Yuugi said softly, breaking the unwanted silence.

"Hmmm? Oh, you don't have to thank me."

"Yes. Yes, I do," Yuugi argued.

Kurama reached for Yuugi and gently turned him around to face him, "You really are quite determined aren't you?"

A blush crept up on Yuugi's face, "Sometimes. Ano... But, really. You saved me..."

It wasn't much earlier when they two were confronted with what appeared to be a venus flytrap. Kurama noticed immediately that it wasn't just an ordinary plant. Even though Yuugi had no idea, his Yami felt that it was a threat and therefore forced Yuugi into his soul room so that he could take control of their shared body. While the plant attacked, Kurama easily kept Yuugi out of harms way and took care of the plant; to say the least. The plant was now possibly still eating its own roots and vines, but that wasn't even the biggest problem.

It wasn't until a few more youkai attempted to attack right after Yami no Yuugi had given his host control back of their body. Yuugi had no chance to react to the vines of another plant that had reached out and wrapped its vines tightly around his leg; in an attempt to bring the boy down. Kurama, once again, helped Yuugi and after he had finished taking care of the youkai he insisted on carrying Yuugi. Yuugi blushed and stammered a bit, but declined.

"Yes. I saved you. And right now, you really should not be walking on that leg." Y

Yuugi wanted to insist that he didn't want to cause the other any trouble, but after a few more knowing looks from Kurama, Yuugi gave in.

"Fine..."

With a soft smile, Kurama scooped Yuugi into his arms and continued to walk through the darkening forest. Only stopping when he heard two voices not too far away.

"Yami no Bakura!" Yuugi exclaimed. He needn't say anything further since Kurama had already begun to head in that particular direction.

Coming to the clearing he noticed Bakura with his hands running through Hiei's hair while Malik stood off to the side; arms crossed, but smirking.

"So much for hoping that you would possibly beg me to let you go, instead it appears you like being stuck here," Bakura cooed; next to Hiei's ear but loud enough for Malik to hear. He hadn't even noticed Kurama or Yuugi standing nearby.

"And how would you know what Hiei likes or doesn't like?" Kurama asked flatly; a blushing Yuugi in his arms.

Bakura was obviously shocked that Kurama was standing there. He opened his mouth to speak but was quickly interrupted.

"Why of all places did you boys have to come here?"

"Botan?" Kurama asked, turning around to see a disgusted look on the ferry girl's face.

"Koenma-sama sent me here to tell you guys to go back to where the visitors were found, because he found a way to send them back," she said in an annoyed tone; oblivious to the frozen Hiei and that Bakura still had his hand in Hiei's hair, nor the blush on his face.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

"Okay. Now that you're all here, I want the four of you boys to stand back-- you too Botan. You also might want to avert your eyes from staring directly at them," Koenma, or rather Koenma's head, spoke in the same spot he had 'visited' them earlier.

Yuusuke shrugged; he could care less about the entire situation. Except, he was still upset about his broken vacation and swore to every one that he was going to make it up to himself. No one knew how. Kuwabara shrugged, nonchalant about the entire situation by this point. Hiei was relieved that Kurama was too busy talking to Yuugi, in hopes that the two would be able to have another match, to even bother ask about what took place between Bakura and himself.

Seto was grumbling under his breath about intending on finishing the tournament when they got back; possibly denying that this whole situation ever happened.

"Big brother, you know you and Yuugi can finish when we get back..." Mokuba said, not commenting on Seto's insisting that he was going to actually beat Yuugi.

Jounouchi and Mai were at least talking again; actually, Jounouchi was too busy stuttering and making himself look like an idiot to actually talk. Secrets about him liking Mai had floated back to the blond and she was taking full advantage of this.

Bakura was frustrated his plans were interrupted, as was Malik for the same reason.

"Just. Don't. Touch me!" Otogi exclaimed at Honda, stomping away from him in a child-like hissy-fit.

"I don't think he hates you," Shizuka offered to Honda; who was now on his knees in frustration and embarrassment. "

If you want a rematch, maybe somehow you can find a way to come to our dimension," Yuugi offered as he waved while stepping away from Kurama.

Koenma didn't give a warning as the same bright light that circled the visitors earlier re-appeared.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

It was later discovered that a former employee of Seto Corp had come in and messed with Seto's newest battling field creation and somehow also knew about the Sennen items. Due to the former employee's mumbling and that there were three Sennen items in the arena, seemed to have some how cause the dimension change as well as the monsters attacking of their own free will. Seto took care of that incident immediately. No one, not even his brother, knew about what happened to him. After finding out that no innocent bystanders were hurt, he told reporters what they needed to know and left out anything involving the dimension break.

Yuugi was declared the Champion of the "Duel of the Decks" after their match was restarted. Seto was obviously unsatisfied with this. The CEO went to his office and had begun working on improving his creation.

After the tournament, Jounouchi and Mai finally admitted to each other that they cared for each other, but not before Otogi ran by them exclaiming that he was going to put a restraint on Honda if he didn't stop stalking him.

Yuugi and his Yami continued to talk about Kurama in hopes that they would be able to meet him again and learn further about him. Yami no Yuugi let Yuugi know that he also felt something different in Kurama, something that didn't seem normal. This only made the young teen more frustrated that he probably would never be able to find out what that was. Besides, if either of them did find out they'd be sure to share it with each other. They were already discussing the other things they could share. And agreeing to it.

"So if he does figure out a way...?" Yuugi asked mentally to his Yami.

"Yes. If he finds a way."

"Good. We'll share."

"Agreed."