The Broken Doll

Chapter 7

For the next week, the missing students enjoyed their school life as if it were something to actually be enjoyed! And why shouldn't they? They missed their friends, their teachers, and the normalcy of school life that they took for granted.

As usual, Yuma hung out with his friends during lunch outside. They were enjoying their lunch and the day they had when Yuma noticed something out of the corner of his eye. It looked like a person watching at a distance, not daring to come near but not wanting to leave either. He turned his full attention to the figure, but it was gone.

"What is it, Yuma?" Takashi asked. "Did you see anything?"

"No, I don't think so," Yuma replied. "But it looked like a person was watching."

"Don't worry about it!" Tetsuo clapped Yuma on the back. "How about a duel after school? Just for fun, though, right?"

Yuma grinned at the proposal. "That sounds great!"

~.~.~

Yuma walked home alone after school. His friends all had to go home early, or they just wanted to walk alone. Either way, the boy didn't mind it. He had Astral, who was currently nursing a recurring headache, with him. Neither of them spoke of what happened with Shing at the moment, but it was becoming too heavy to just keep inside.

"Astral, where do you think she went?" Yuma asked suddenly as they passed through the park he and Tetsuo usually dueled in.

"Who?" Astral asked even though he had a good idea who Yuma was talking about.

"Shing, of course! I mean, she just released us and ran off? Doesn't that seem off to you after she was so set on taking over?"

Astral struggled to think of a reasonable explanation, but his headache was making it near impossible to do so. Even though he was constantly massaging the gems on his forehead, the headache wouldn't go away. "I wish I knew, Yuma, but for now we have to get back to finding the Numbers."

"Yeah, I know, but-" Something caught Yuma's eye. He turned his eyes slowly and discreetly to a person sitting on the bench they just walked by. It was the same person in the cloak that he saw during school.

Before the person had a chance to get away, Yuma turned his full attention to the person. The person seemed to flinch.

"Hey there!" Yuma called. "Who are you?"

The person didn't answer. Instead, he or she stood up and ran away. Yuma followed in close pursuit. He was still fairly conditioned from the training he underwent when he was under control, so this kind of exertion was nothing to him. Still, the one he was chasing was much faster than he was, almost inhumanly so. He or she was pulling away faster than Yuma could catch up until he turned a corner. The person was gone.

"Who do you think that was?" Yuma asked. He turned back to go home. 

"Something stopped me from feeling who they were," Astral replied. The fact that his head was pounding from the mental assault Shing dished out wasn't helping any, either.

Yuma looked back to where the person was and shrugged. He would find him or her again, he knew it. After all, this was the second time he saw the person. Who knew how many times that person found him? Or better yet, that person was probably following him around. There were no aggressive movements, though. In fact, when Yuma approached him or her, the person ran away instead of attacked.

He made it his mission to see who that person was under the hood.

~.The Next Day.~

It was a weekend. Yuma was free today aside from a few chores, but he got them out of the way to have the rest of the day to himself. He was alone today. Astral kept to himself in the Key to try and heal his headache and Dark's wound. He walked alone, pretending not to look like he was looking for someone, but his eyes looked around discreetly.

Just as predicted, the person in the hood was watching, hidden in a nearby alley. Yuma was careful not to put his full attention on the person until he was close to him or her. That was when he stopped.

"Hey," he whispered.

The person gasped and turned to run, but the boy caught her by the wrist gently but firmly.

"Don't go. Let's go talk, okay? I want to know who you are."

The person turned toward him, but the hood covered any feature he or she had. "If you knew who I was, you wouldn't want to know me," the person, who was a girl, replied.

Yuma's eyes narrowed in familiarity. "Do I know you?"

The girl shook her head and pulled away. "You don't want to." She turned to run, but Yuma kept his grip tight.

"I want to be your friend."

"My friend?" The person turned away. "If you knew who I was, you wouldn't be saying that."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

The girl shook her head. "Just let me be."

"But why? You look so sad."

"Maybe I want to be sad. It makes me feel better."

Yuma suddenly grinned and pulled her along. "You know what feels better than sadness? Happiness and friendship! Come on, I'll introduce you to my friends!"

The girl suddenly pulled away. Her hands gripped the sides of her hood. "Do you really want to do that? After everything I put you through..."

"What do you mean?"

The girl suddenly pulled her hood down. Her green slitted eyes stared at Yuma sadly. The boy took a step back, and his grip loosened. Seeing this girl, who had him practically enslaved, shook him to his core. Why was she following him? Was she planning on using him for something else? His brain worked on overdrive for a while before finally registering the sadness in her eyes. She wasn't planning anything.

Shing saw the look of shock and fear in Yuma's eyes. That was expected; she kept him enslaved and forced him to assault his friends for her wishes. She looked away from him and wrenched her arm free from his grasp even though he wasn't holding on tightly at all. Pulling her hood up, Shing ran off with tears in her eyes. She was absolutely sure he hated her.

Yuma was surprised at her sudden escape. One second, he was holding her wrist, and the next, his hand was empty. He debated on chasing after her, but she was long gone before he could even give chase. He walked the rest of the way back home.