A Change of Heart

Chapter 3

(Warning: Mentions of Suicide, do not read if you're sensitive.)

Its been a few hours since my duel against Tsukino, and I had made some progress since then. I looked up, seeing that it had gotten late and the moon was already out. "What do you think, Chochuro?" I asked my sleepy companion, who was curled around my shoulders. "Should we set-up camp or keep moving?" I asked the ferret, who stared at me before hopping off my shoulder and running off. 

"Chochuro!" I shouted and ran after the ferret, who stopped a bit before he continued running. It seemed as if he was leading me somewhere, but where?

I followed after my ferret, but then stopped once I saw Yugi and his friends, "Rin?" Yugi asked and I looked at him, "What're you doing here?"

I shrugged then gestured to Chochuro, who was looking up at me before looking at Yugi, who was looking back at him. "Yugi, who's she?" Asked the girl, who I heard was called Tea.

"This is Rin." Yugi said my name again, "She's Mai's little sister." He said, looking at the star chips on his dueling glove now.

"Mai's little sister?" Tea's eye twitched, "So is she a pompous, bleach-blonde windbag too?" She asked, now giving me a glare.

"No, she's nothing like Mai." Joey said as he got up and threw his arm around my shoulder, making me fidget, "She's the silent-type."

"Uh..." I stared at them blankly, "I'm not silent..." I muttered, puffing out my cheek in annoyance, making Tea suddenly squeal.

"Oh my God!" I stared at her with wide eyes as she suddenly glomped me, "You're so cute!" She squealed, making me flinch at the loudness.

"P-please let go of me..." I mumbled shyly, rubbing the back of my neck as she then let go, pinching my cheeks.

I quickly jerked away from her, rubbing my sore cheek, but then I noticed that a few of them had glum looks, "What's with those looks?" I asked, tilting my head with a frown.

"Mokuba was taken by Pegasus' men, while Yugi had a duel with the 'dark side' of Seto Kaiba." Joey said, making me blink owlishly at the reply. "Uh, I can't explain it. Just take my word for it." The blonde said, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

I just nodded silently before sitting with the others at the little campfire they had, crossing my legs as I shuffled my Zombie deck. I had decided that I'd only use my Zombie-Monster deck up until I gain entry to the castle.

"But, I managed to get a new rare card while we were looking for him." Joey then said, now looking at a card and I smirked faintly, "What's with dat look, Rin?" Joey then asked, making the other's look at him.

I reached into my deck pouch, carefully thumbing through my cards till I pulled one out and showed it to them, making Joey's eyes go wide, "You have a Red-Eyes too?!" He shouted, making me wince and nod.

"Yeah..." I sighed, raking my fingers through my hair, "This one is special to me, it was given to me by my mother and another card was given to me by my father before they were..." I trailed off as Chochuro started to do that hissy-growl he had done earlier when we saw Pegasus.

"What's the matter, Chochuro?" I frowned, picking up the ferret after carefully slipping my card back into my deck pouch, staring at my ferret who was growling at the bushes.

I saw a shadow step out, followed by familiar, fluffy white hair, "Bakura!" Yugi exclaimed and my eyes widened slightly.

"See!" Tea exclaimed, "I told you I've been seeing him!"

"What are you doing way out here, Bakura?" Joey then asked, his eyes slightly narrowed at the white-haired boy, who just gave a small smile.

"Same as you guys, I guess." Bakura replied before looking over to me and giving me a small smile, "Nice to see you again, Rin." He said and I nodded in greeting.