Pale, small, and white, she shivered madly on Yugi's couch, wearing a baggy set of Yugi's pajamas and huddled within a cocoon of quilts. Bandages covered her arms and legs, especially around her torn and twisted right ankle and her head, where a deep cut had been pouring blood earlier. Yugi's grandfather had attempted to convince her to go to the hospital, but when she had a soundless panic attack at the sight of the building they had no choice but to take her back home. There, his grandfather had used every ounce of his medical knowledge gained from his days as an outback archeologist to disinfect and care for her ankle, which he found to have, blessedly, no broken bones.
Yugi sat at her feet now, concerned over the way her blue lips had yet to regain their color. Yami sat with him, eyeing her as well. After Tea had helped her out of her soggy wet dress and into some of Yugi's clothes, her and the boys had left for home for the night at the older man's insistence.
"I can't have you three catching a cold now, eh? You're soaked!" he had said. "Go home and get some good sleep. You can get your camping gear tomorrow."
So now here he was alone (at least, alone besides Yami), with the girl who had yet to make a sound. She watched him as well, blue eyes weary with fear. What was she so afraid of? She looked to be around his age. Could Tea's suspicions be true and something horrible had happened to her in the forest? Yugi didn't want to think about it.
Then her eyes flickered to the spirit of the puzzel for the fourth time that night. Yugi perked.
"What are you looking at?"
But still, she said nothing. Was it possible that she could see the spirit sitting next to him?
"Here we are. This should warm you right up."
Yugi's grandfather appeared by the couch, holding cups of tea on a tray. He handed one to the girl on the couch, who, as always, hesitated, wary of all. In the end, she accepted the cup, sniffing it carefully before taking a careful sip. Yugi accepted his own cup gladly.
"So...um...can you speak?"
Her eyes blinked at him in response, her bluish lips parted slightly. Yami's expression darkened ever so slightly.
"How are we going to find her family if she can't speak?" he said.
"Can you write?" asked Yugi.
Again, she just blinked, except this time she frowned, which on her carefully carved lips turned into a cute sort of pout. Yugi felt a strange warmth in his chest unconnected to the tea he was sipping. Her white hair had been brushed out by Tea, but it still filled out around her head in a wavy, curly mass that reached the middle of her back, and Yugi felt the sudden urge to touch it. He clenched his hands.
A faint hiss came from the kitchen and his grandfather jumped.
"That must be the soup! Excuse me."
And he jostled his way back to the kitchen. Yugi was once more alone with her and her great, deep blue eyes. He fought down the need to squirm.
"Um..." what should he say? Did she even understand what he was saying?
"Yugi, allow me?" asked Yami, finally turning his sharp gaze to him. Yugi nodded and the millennium puzzle shivered and glowed about his chest. When the glow died down, Yami looked out from his eyes, his mind melded into one with Yugi's.
"What should we call you by? Do you know how to write? You can just nod or shake your head. Please, we want to help you."
The girl had flinched horribly when the millennium puzzle had activated, but now she stared at Yami with an intensity Yugi had yet to see. She frowned even more deeply, nearly dissipating her pout.
"Please." said Yami once more, meeting the intensity of her gaze.
Then, to both their surprise, her lips parted and her face softened.
"I.." she croaked. "I don't know."
Both Yami and Yugi leapt in excitement.
"So you can speak!"
"Y-yes?" she looked nearly as surprised as they did.
"Then can you tell us your name? At least your name."
Her voice was soft and as hesitant as all her actions. Yugi had to lean in to hear. "Like I said, I don't know. I don't know..."
A gleam of panic came to her face before she shook herself of it and met Yugi's eye once more.
"W-where am I?"
"Domino City. Do you know where that is?"
The panic in her face fought to return. She clenched her cup and didn't respond as Yugi's grandfather returned with a bowl of soup for both of them. He smiled down warmly at her and her panic seemed to ease slightly.
"I heard a little voice from the kitchen. Was that you?" he asked kindly.
She nodded. His grandfather beamed.
"That's good! Could you possibly tell us where we might take you home, little miss?"
Yugi shook his head. "She can't remember her name. I think there's more to this than we think. It seems like she just now remembered that she could talk."
To this, his grandfather's thick eyebrows lowered dangerously.
"You aren't kidding me?"
Yugi shook his head solemnly. The girl on the couch began to tremble.
"I-I-I'm sorry." She squeaked. "I know I'm suppose to know, you probably need to get rid of me, I'm so sorry—" Hot soup was splashing on her hands. Yugi leaned forward, putting a hand on hers in attempts to calm her before she scalded herself.
"It's fine. We don't mind at all."
"And if you're willing to help out with the shop, you can stay as long as you need to." said his grandfather, his voice warm. Yugi had the sneaky suspicion that his grandfather had become just as taken as he was by her vulnerability.
"Shop? So all those shelves downstairs—you live over a shop?"
Both of them nodded. "And you know our names by now, right?"
She paused, eyebrows narrowed. "Yugi Moto, right? Except..." she turned to his grandfather. "I don't know your name. Everyone just refers to you as grandpa."
"Which is all good and well, seeing as that is what I am. My name is Soloman, but if it's easier for you, just call me grandpa as everyone else does."
She smiled softly, her lips warming to a soft, pink glow from the soup and tea. "Thank you. I...I will do my best."
Yugi thought his heart might burst.
That night, as he laid curled up in his bed, he listened to the thunder rolling outside.
"This storm is very strange," he said out loud. "I mean, the forecast said it was suppose to be clear skies for the rest of the week. They would've noticed a storm this big coming, wouldn't they?"
Yami phased into being besides him, leaning his head back on his arms.
"Indeed. I can't help shake the feeling that it has something to do with that girl."
The girl in question was curled up on a nest of blankets on the couch in the living room. Yugi felt that squirming sensation in his stomach again and turned onto his side, away from Yami.
"Maybe."
"Yugi?"
But Yugi's thoughts were drawn elsewhere, remembering when the girl had shifted her leg at some point and he spied a strange, greenish ring, as though there had once been some cheap jewelry around her uninjured ankle.
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