Bakura: *turns his head sideways so he can read the title* Ancient Mysteries? What the heck!

WSJ: You know, ancient mysteries. The "lost continent" of Atlantis, King Arthur's grave, how the Egyptians built the pyramids...

Yami: *pops up* Oh come on! It was easy! All we did was-

..............

I'm sorry, there seems to have been a temporary loss in connection. Please stand by.

..............

Yami: -and that's all there was too it.

WSJ: O.o; Really? Facinating... Anyway, heed my warning all you readers. ^~ This chapter isn't all it seems. Heavy fore-shadowing abounds!

Ryou: v_v;; Great...

Yami: *blinku blinku* Hey, isn't this close to ending?

WSJ: Actually, yeah it is. A few more chapters, two or three, maybe four, and the Freshmen year at Tokyo U will be over.

Ryou, Yami, & Bakura: O_o; So what next?

WSJ: ^^v Next we move on to what happens during the summer, a little story I like to call Home Sweet Home.

Yami: *has read the rough drafts* Oh for the love of Ra...

WSJ: ^-^v I don't own YGO, Amoura & them are Brood's, Gwen & co are mine. See ya' at the end notes!

()()()()()

The Yamis of Tokyo U: Freshmen

Chapter 16 -- Telepathic Troubles

"....This is the stupidist thing I have ever seen."

"No, the stupidest thing you've ever seen is me! Pink is not my colour."

"Oh pipe down, it's your fault we're in this mess."

"...."

"That's what I thought."

Ishtar stuck his tongue out at Duke, who scowled. "I saw that."

The door to the dorm opened and Malik walked in. His eyes immediately widened and he turned around to walk back out. Ishtar grabbed his arm. "No hikari! This isn't what it looks like!"

Malik frowned and eyed him. "In that case, I don't want to know what you're doing."

Duke's scowl only deepened. "It's his fault anyway." he grumbled, motioning to Ishtar. "He's the one who suggested we peep on the girls..."

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Hey!" Malik pushed himself in between them. "Stop acting like six-year-olds, will you? Now please, someone, give me a rational explenation as to why you are in women's clothing before I loose my sight!"

"I heard that."

The three turned to see Ryou leaning casually against the door frame, an amused smirk on his face and a bundle of lacey garments in one arm. Malik facefaulted, causing Ryou to chuckle. "They're not mine, they're Bakura's. When he first became mortal and had to start worrying about clothes, I bought him several dresses as a joke. Heaven only knows why he brought them to college with him."

"...Sentemental value?"

Malik rolled his eyes. "Will someone please tell me what's going on?!"

Duke was stripped down to his waist, and from there down was wearing a black, A-line skirt and high-heeled boots. He was half-leaning against the wall, because he hadn't quite gotten the hang of how to balance in them yet. His hair was down, and was surprisingly curly. His usual headband had been replaced with a bow, even though he still had his customary dice earring.

Ishtar was wearing tight capris and a pink blouse, and what small bits of his hair weren't held rigidly in place by gel were curled.

Ryou chuckled again and tossed Duke a white lace bra, followed by a box of kleenexes and a purple tanktop. "Duke and Ishtar got themselves into a bit of a jam with the nuns, and need some way to convince them not to murder them."

Duke flinched slightly. "It wasn't my idea!" he insisted again, and Ishtar snorted.

"Right."

Malik blinked, his face in a (O_o;) expression. "So you're cross-dressing?"

Ishtar shrugged. "Sure, why not? If we convince them all that we're gay, they won't be mad at us for peeping in a lustful manner, and will lay off."

"...And you think that will work?"

"Yup! Think about it though, if you were a woman, would you care if a known cross-dresser saw you naked?"

Ryou and Malik blinked, and then said flattly "Yes,"

Ishtar face-faulted. "Oh, well, you'd be wrong, then."

Malik sweatdropped, and Ryou coughed politely. "I'm still not sure why I offered to help..." He handed Ishtar a pair of platform sandles and poked Malik. "How do they look?"

Malik took a good, long look, trying not to choke at the implications of his yami dressing in drag. "Well, they sure look lady-like..." A strange expression came over his face. Of course, if it had been back in Battle City, it wouldn't have seemed so strange. But this was Tokyo U, and the expression was all-out sadism. "But they could use some make-up."

Malik bared his teeth in a grin as Duke and Ishtar shuddered, and Ryou smiled.

It was not a nice smile.

~*~

Months narrowed to weeks, and soon, weeks narrowed to days. Opening night of Tokyo U's production of The Sound of Music came ever closer.

The cast and crew had been radicly surprised when Ishtar and Duke showed up in their new outfits, and true to Ishtar's theory, the nuns had stopped trying to dissect them. Gwen told them, though, that the girls had all vowed to slay them if they so much as stepped outside in men's clothes. This was said half from jest and half from truth, and half because Gwen just wanted to see Duke in a skirt.

Dress rehersal went off with only a few minor problems, most of which could be easily fixed. And then... opening night came.

"I can't do this!!"

Gwen sweatdropped as she watched Serenity pace back and forth back stage. "Sere', you'll be fine! Just calm down..."

"Calm down? Calm down?! Gwen, there's people out there!!"

Gwen chuckled and stood up from where she'd been sitting on the steps that led to the stage. She took Serenity's hand and led her to the corner of the curtain, moving it a little so they could look out. "Yes, there's people. That's a little obvious. But look in the front row."

Serenity did, and her fears immediately abated a little. Her mother was there, along with Mai, Shaadi, and Tristan. Grampa and Mako were chatting about something, probably Duel Monsters, while Ryou relaxed and talked with his father, Shen Bakura. Sencing then watching, the telepath turned and smiled, waving slightly to the two girls.

"You see?" Gwen asked. "Most of the people out there are the ones you love. Or at least," she amended, "The ones in the front row."

Serenity grinned and let the curtain drop back into place, giving Gwen a hug. "Thank you Gwen-chan."

"Hey, no problem," Gwen grinned, hugging the younger woman back. "Now come on, we've still got to get into make-up."

It was about an hour later, during the scene on the gazebo, when things started to go bad. Ryou had had a growing sense of dread all night long, and now it came to a point. It almost seemed to crackle around him, and he was surprised his hair wasn't standing on end.

At first, he thought it was just the all-around weirdness of sensing his girlfriend's aura, but having her lifted and twirled by nothing. He still couldn't sense Takeo's aura at all, and yet he could hear him singing. But it wasn't that... He was sensing something else... Something... bad. It was coming close to the end of the scene, and the time when Takeo and Serenity, as Rolf and Liesal, would kiss. Ryou was all but growling, clutching at the armrests of his chair.

His father glanced over at him, then did a double-take and nudged him in the side. "Ryou," he whispered. "You're glowing. Douse the light."

"Would if I could tou-san." Ryou bit out. "Something's wrong..."

Just as the song was ending and they prepared to kiss, a short figure immerged from back stage. It was Rhian, and she came to stand center-stage, right in front of Serenity. She had her arms crossed and was glowering feircely.

Takeo and Serenity blinked in surprise. "Gretl?" Serneity asked, trying to stay in character.

Rhian let out a short, barking laugh and in a voice entirely not her own said "Gretl? No. My name is Jalila."

Ryou, in the front row, and Yami, Yugi, and Bakura back stage gasped at this. Rhian began to glow, and slowly she morphed into the slightly-off Magician of Faith that Bakura and Joey had encountered in the Shadow Realm and Ryou had seen in his dreams.

People began to scream and run, save for Ryou, his father, and Shaadi, Tristan and Mai, who had seen this sort of stuff before. "Otou-san!" Ryou called over the noise, grabbing Shen's arm. "Keep everyone outside until this is over. If someone calls the police, keep them out too! I don't want any innocents getting hurt."

His father nodded and took off toward the exit, dragging Mai and Tristan along with him. Shaadi cast one last worried look at the white-haired boy before running to catch up. Ryou turned back toward the stage just as Jalila swung her staff around and knocked Serenity through the back of the gazebo set, which collapsed on top of her. Ryou yelled in outrage, and his aura burst out full force around him. He took two steps and then jumped, half-levetating so that he dropped to the ground between Jalila and Serenity, all but shaking in anger.

"Ryou," Joey slid to a stop next to the pile of crashed set that was his little sister and began to shift some of it off her. "I'll take care of Serenity. You handle the witch." Ryou contemplated this, and then nodded solemnly. "Take care of her."

"You know I will."

Ryou fell into a defensive stance, his fists balled. Jalila grinned cockily at him. "So, the little mouse has come out to play! Oooh, I'm sorry, was that your girlfriend?"

"As a matter of fact, it was." Ryou said crisply. "And, if I'm a mouse, you must be the rat."

Jalila snarled at him and with a yell launched herself at him, poised to whack him with her staff. He dodged easily enough, and then threw himself into a flurry of punches and kicks, all of which Jalila either avoided, blocked, or perried with her staff. Suddenly, in a move Ryou had totally failed to anticipate, Jalila spun her staff around and jabbed the un-ornamented end (un-ornamented save a pointed metal tip) into his stomach.

Ryou gasped in pain and fell to his knees, his shaking hands covering the bloody wound. But it was already healing, although it was draining his energies to do so. Jalila was on the verge of launching a magic attack that, in his distracted and weakened state, would kill him. Someone shouted his name from the other side of the stage, and Ryou blinked, realizing for the first time that Takeo hadn't run with everyone else. "Jalila, whoever you are, you don't get away with hurting Serenity-chan and Ryou like that!"

Ryou formed a question, but it died on his lips. It was like a cloak had been thrown back, reveiling the steel-blue, telepathic aura that was Takeo.

Takeo grinned at Ryou's astonished expression, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "Surprised?"

Ryou quickly got over it with a short nod, and both boys began a wary circle with Jalila in the middle.

Joey watched from his place at the back corner of the stage, where he cradled Serenity's still form in his arms. Bakura and Yami were crouched just back stage, ready to run out if help was required. As it was, the blond and the yami were the only ones to hear Bakura's quiet remark.

"And so it begins..."

~*~

"Please! Everyone, just stay back!"

Mako, who had the loudest voice anyway, had purloined a bull horn from Director-Baka and was trying to keep the police at bay. He had no trouble with the cast, crew, and audience, as they had seen Jalila first hand. The police, unfortunately, were another matter.

Thankfully (or unfortunately, however you choose to see it) he didn't have to hold them back for long. As soon as the last of the cast escaped through the backstage entrance, there was a loud explotion from inside. Shen gulped worridly, and Mrs Wheeler looked like she was about to cry. "Joey and Serenity are still in there!"

(Yes, I know she and Mr Wheeler are divorsed, and she probably would have taken back her maiden name. However, I am lazy at the moment, and don't feel like thinking up one for her. So nyah. :p)

"It's all right, Auntie" Scott assured her. "Ryou wouldn't let anything happen to them."

A second explosion followed the first, this one blowing the entire roof off the drama center. People shreiked and ran as bits of tile and shingles rained down on them. Through the cloud of dust and smoke, three figures spiraled upward. It was too far away to distinguish any features, but one was glowing white, another a dark purple-grey, and the third steel blue. (Of course, Shen and the others knew who they were, but the general public didn't)

Floating a hundred feet in the air, Ryou panted, wiping a bead of sweat off his cheek. He and Jalila eyed each other warily, and then Jalila dived toward him, her staff raised to stab at him again. He threw up his hands, forming a sheild, which she glanced off of. She went spinning end-over-end for a few meters, recovering just in time to dodge the attack Takeo sent her way.

The energy blast crashed into a parked car on the ground, and Takeo gulped in alarm. "Watch your aim!" Ryou yelled as he dove past. He hit Jalila in a flying tackle, and she yelped, turning to hit him with her staff like a cricket bat. He growled and backed away.

"This isn't working!" Takeo said as he and Ryou dodged a dozen magical attacks that Jalila sent their way, though at least three out of seven hit their intended marks, causing the two telepaths to wince in pain. "We need a new stratagy!"

"Any suggestions?" Ryou asked. "Bakura was always the stratagist!!"

Takeo sweatdropped slightly as he threw up a sheild of his own momentarily, breathing heavily from the sheer exhersion. "We're more likely to wear out before she does, so we have to take her out now."

"Right. Wonderful. Great plan." Ryou grit out. "We need help!"

"Yeah, someone's just going to appear."

Ryou wondered for a brief moment how Takeo could be so sarcastic in a situation like this. The other psychic was right though, there wasn't anyone else to help them, so they had to help themselves.

He screamed as another of Jalila's attacks got past his weakening sheild, sending him crashing into the wall of the already demolished drama center. He lay under a pile of rubble and groaned, half-aware that above his head someone, Takeo, he thought, was calling his name.

"Ryou! Onii-san, for shame! You're not giving up?"

At this point, nothing shocked Ryou. Not even the voice of his dead little sister, strangely enough. "But there's no way we can win..." This thought was half-moaned, half-thought, but apparently Amane and whoever else was with her, since he could vaguely sence at least two other auras, got the idea.

"There's always a way to win, you just need to find it." That voice had belonged to Jonathon, Bakura's twin brother.

"She's too strong..."

"Shadows never defeat the light." The third voice was closer, more real and defined, and Ryou was aware, then, of a hand on his shoulder. Whoever it was was feeding him energies, healing the worst of his wounds so he could go on fighting. After what seemed an eternity, he was able to place the aura above him, Fate, who smiled.

"You wished for help?"

"Fate..." Ryou was at a loss for words momentarily. "Why would you...?"

"Because you hold the Ring. Because you are the Child of Fate. Because you need help, and Jalila needs eradicated." Fate's smile widened somewhat.

From over on their left came Shen's voice, calling out to Ryou. If Ryou had had his sight, he would have noticed several expressions flicker across Fate's face at once, the predominant one being surprise. But as it was, he didn't see and didn't sence her thoughts. "I'm okay dad!"

Fate grabbed his hand suddenly and pulled him upward, toward where Takeo was trying to do his best to hold off Jalila alone. "'Bout time Ryou!" He blinked in surprise behind his glasses. "Who are you?"

Fate had a funny feeling about this boy, this other telepath, this Takeo. Just to be safe, she decided not to reveal too much. "I am Fate." And that was all she said. Takeo stared at her a moment, then shrugged and turned back to the task at hand.

"Takeo, Fate-sama, I have an idea!" Ryou said suddenly. He grabbed Fate by the hand, and Takeo's hand in his other, which he then placed on his shoulder, leaving Ryou one hand free. "Consentrate all your energies on one massive blast."

This had to work. It had to. If it didn't Tokyo U and all the people watching below were as good as doomed. Ryou shut his eyes, as much from habit as the need to keep back the tears. He thought of his father, of Serenity and Joey, of Bakura and Yami and Yugi, all sitting defenceless down below. Hiro, Amoura, Gwen, Malik... Oh this just HAD to work!

Fate's mind was filled with other things, her eyes full of other tears. The family she'd had to leave so early on, the lover she'd never be able to hold again, the son who would never know her... These were foremost in her mind as she lent her own energies to Ryou's massive ki blast.

Takeo's thoughts were on a different course then the other two, entirely. 'Must it be like this? Jalila must die. It's for the best. It's part of the plan... That's what he said. But...' The telepath tried to swallow the tears that were unaccountably making themselves known.

'But Jalila was... my friend...'

The ki ball was released, and Jalila screamed in pain as she was hit. Her eyes sought Takeo's as she began to fade. Both of them knew Jalila was dying, and Takeo turned his eyes away.

Fate took Ryou's hand, neither of them noticing Takeo's tears. "One last spell. Ready?"

Ryou sighed and blew some bangs out of his eyes. "As I'll ever be."

The two concentrated, and began to glow a bright golden colour. The began to rotate slowly, and the glow began to spread. "Erase their minds!" The golden light dispersed in a flash brighter then the sun, and the police, the audience, the cast, everyone except those who had known about Ryou's telepathic ability and Jalila to begin with, and those who counted as friends, began to scratch their heads and wonder what in hell happened.

When the light faded, Fate and Ryou had both gone. Takeo frowned slightly and teleported back to his dorm, mulling over what had just happened.

The True Pharoah was seething inside. Now he'd not only lost Jalila, but the battle as well! His frown deepened and he snapped his fingers. "Rigel, prepare your army. We strike at the heart this fall."

~*~

Joey looked up as a figure appeared through the dust and debris of what used to be the stage of the drama center. He hugged Serenity closer to him, but then relaxed when he saw that it was only Ryou. The white-haired telepath was limping slightly, and his clothes were torn and blood-stained in several places. His face and hair were coated in blood, mostly from a deep gash above Ryou's left eye, which was already beginning to heal itself as Joey watched.

Ryou dropped to one knee, and held out a hand, palm facing Joey. A small sphere of light formed, and whatever injuries Joey had sustained from the collapse of the roof began to knit. He sighed in relief, and then held Serenity's limp, rag-doll form out toward Ryou.

The telepath's face creased in a frown, and he carefully took Serenity, cradling her against him. He began to glow very softly, and the glow spread, healing Serenity's body. She sighed softly and nuzzled closer to Ryou, causing him to smile gently as he stroked her hair.

And Joey could only watch, and try to grip the reality that he was losing his sister.

()()()()()

WSJ: ,^^, Ryou/Serenity fluff 4-eva! Hehe...

Advertisement: If you're a Pegasus-fan, or even if you're not, please go read my fic Brown Eyes. ^^ I plan to write a sequel to it, for those of you that have asked, but I won't be working much on it because of this. *points to YoTU & all its sequels* :p

Chapter 17: Ryou's in bed, resting from his ordeal, and Shen, Amoura, and Joey all come to visit him (not all at once, of course). Shen wants to know who Fate is and why she looks familiar to him, Joey wants to have a man-to-man talk with Ryou about Serenity, and Amoura wants to know if Ryou and Bakura would like to stay the summer with her in France. Hm... Can anyone say "alterier motivations"? :p

God bless minna-san!

(Minna-san means "everyone")