Mistakes

Ryo's POV

I was honestly hoping that my life would be different after the Ceremonial Duel, but I guess I was wrong... Well, half wrong.

Before, I was always afraid to make any friends in fear of something bad happening to them... but that changed. I now have Yugi, Marik, Seto, Mokuba, and Cheza as my friends. I just wish the Yamis actually cared. Granted, Marik and I didn't really have a good relationship with Malik and Akefia respectively, but i thought Yami and Joey actually cared about us... I was wrong about that.

Cheza had helped us Hikaris a lot and I honestly don't know how we can ever repay her for all she has done for us. She has protected us the only way she knows how (without hurting anyone else) and she is helping our lights not to dim as fast as they would have otherwise. She has been through so much and I often wonder how she can still be so optimistic through all this.

"It's not me being optimistic, Ryo. It's me knowing that things will get better. We might never forget the heartache, betrayal, and pain that we went through, but as time goes on, we will find ways to live with it all." She said that when I asked her. She has been. Really good to us and I want to find a way to help her in any way I can.

Seto had asked Yugi, Marik, and I to go to his room to talk about something, since Cheza hasn't returned, and the Yamis are out of the mansion like always.

"What is it Seto?" Yugi asked when Seto's door was closed.

"What do you guys think of Cheza's offer to leave Domino City for a while?" Seto asked, his ice blue eyes looking as pained as the rest of us.

"To be honest, I've been thinking that it's a good idea." Marik said, his lilac eyes now filled with a small spark of hope. "If Mokuba is ok with taking over Kaiba Corp for a while, then we can leave and heal as much as we can without any of the bastards at school constantly tearing us down. We can get stronger while we are away so that when we do return, no one can tear us down. Not even our own Yamis."

"I agree." I stated. "And we can even ask Cheza to train us so that we can fight our own battles and Cheza doesn't have to get hurt anymore."

"Why wouldn't I have to get hurt anymore?" Cheza's voice announced her presence as she opened Seto's door.

She looked horrible. She had a busted lip that was healing rapidly, her uniform was shredded, bloodied, and barely covering her chest. Her chestnut colored hair with red, black, white, turquoise, and gold stripes was matted with dirt, semenm and blood caked in. She was limping and her arm was covered in blood and the semen that she must have gotten from her pants and hair. Her shoes were missing and so was one of her socks. Mokuba was right behind her, his dark chocolate brown eyes were filled with worry.

"We were talking about the offer you made to us to leave Domino City for a while." Seto stated while looking at Mokuba. "Mokuba, if we were to leave for a while, would you be willing to take over Kaiba Corp while we were gone?"

Mokuba looked shocked and worried, but nodded his head and said, "As long as you guys aren't gone forever, then I will take over until you get back. I will miss you guys, but I know that this is something you guys need to do."

"Ok then, it's settled." I said, a little happy. "When will we be able to leave, Cheza?"

She tilted her head thoughtfully, her wolf ears and tail coming out, since she was comfortable around us. The tip of her tail was moving from left to right as she thought. "Well," she said. "If we can have Roland call the school and let them know that we will be leaving, and as long as no one else gets word of it, we can leave in two days as the earliest. A week at the latest. Does that sound ok to you guys?" She asked, her currently chestnut colored eyes looking at us curiously.

"Sounds good to me." Seto stated, sounding relieved.

"Me too." Marik said, happily. "But why can't anyone else know?"

I was wondering the same thing. "Yeah, it's not like anyone else, other than the ones in this room, cares about what we do."

Cheza sighed. "I have noticed the looks that the Yamis give you guys, and I fear that they would try to stop us if they found out before we left. And I know that as much as we love them, none of us can stay here for much longer. I fear that if the Yamis were to catch word of our plan to leave, they would try to convince us to stay." Her eyes changes from their chestnut color to a dark blue, telling us that the Yamis  ignoring all of us and not listening to her, affected her as much as us.

Just how much pain has she had to hide over the course of her life?  I wondered to myself. I looked around, and I saw that the others had noticed and were sad that we even had to go through any of this.

"I can make sure only Roland and the necessary people at the school know of you guys leaving until after u leave, if that is what you are worried about, mom." Mokuba said to Cheza with tears in his eyes. He started seeing her as a mother figure since we all moved in with him and Seto. I know she sees him as her son, and has taken care of him as a mother would.

"Thank you, Mokuba. If you can have Roland make the preparations, then we can gather anything that is important to us so that we can leave as soon as possible." Cheza said, her eyes turning green, meaning she was feeling grateful for Mokuba's offer.

"Cheza," Seto started.

"What is it, Priest?" Cheza asked. She started calling us by nicknames when this started. We call her Chaos and she calls Seto Priest, Marik is Tomb, I'm Thief, and Yugi is Heba (since he is the reincarnation of Cheza's twin brother).

"Will you be willing to train us so that we can handle anything when we return?" We all looked at her, pleading with our eyes for her to say yes.

She smiled, "Of course. I was already planning on that."

"Now that this is settled, let's do our homework, pack what we need, and get some rest." Marik suggested. We all nodded, slightly laughing, and headed to our own rooms.

I now finally feel hopeful for what the future holds. I know that things won't be easy, but with my family beside me, the future is finally looking bright.