Ancient Memories (Rei no Kaado)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Issun stopped hopping when Kisa ignored him in favor of Anzu. He was rather annoyed that she hadn't really paid much more than a second's worth of attention to him. Most girls at least pretended to pay attention to him for at least a second. After all, you didn't see a little bouncing bugman every day. He decided to leave it for now. For now.

Minato let the three talk, and nudged Ryoji. He began to whisper. "There's something outside the shrine that's got Mokuba in a panic. Whatever it is, I don't think we should leave until it's cleared."

Atsuro stood off to the side. The initial excitement upon meeting Kisa was starting to fade a bit, and he realized just how awkward this situation had to be. She looked almost exactly like Kisara, which, considering this group, made it very likely she was Kisara, at least reincarnated. Which, really, explained why the initial reaction of everyone had been so... shocked was probably the right word in this case.

For Atsuro, though, he was starting to get used to meeting people from franchises he knew. He was starting to learn how to keep his mouth shut, too. So he'd at least been able to react without freaking her out.

[mugenginga]

(OOC: Haha, she hasn't even SEEN the poor guy, and got distracted from looking for hte voice. XD

And guess who forgot to tell their friends that Atem's using Malik's surname? XD)

Ryoji looked over at Minato at the nudge with a look of confusion. Mokuba was...? That Kaiba person's younger brother, he knew that much from the snippets of what he'd overheard, but it wasn't as if he'd met the younger boy. He wondered if it was more he should get but had trouble grasping due to the circumstances before the averted Fall. He gave an attempt at a knowing smile and nodded, hoping his inward annoyance and guilt at not being able to remember as much as people thought he should didn't show.

Kisa gave a deep bow, her hair spilling in front of her face and brushing against the ground from the motion. She quickly striaghtened up and fiddled with pulling her hair out of her face. Anzu looked back towards Atem and Yuugi and snapped her fingers.

"Oh, let me introduce everyone, Kisa-chan!" She began gesturing to member's of their group as she spoke, "Like I told you already, I'm Mazaki Anzu. Those two who can't stop themselves from drooling are Jounouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto," Jounouchi and Honda shot her a glare and wiped their mouths as if to check for the drool she'd mentioned, "Over there is Kihara Atsuro, whom you've already met. The old man over there is Mutou Sugoroku, he's Yuugi's grandpa. Over there are Mutou Yuugi and Atem-"

"Atem Ishtar," Atem said, causing Anzu's eyes to widen in shock. She blinked several times and looked over to Yuugi with a stunned expression. He gave a nervous smile and waved his hand to try and indicate he'd explain later. Atem continued on, "Ryoji's introduced himself right? And you already know Minato-kun?"

Kisa got an embarassed look for a moment and then tightened her lips, "Yes, yes he has," she paused to tilt her head, "I-I'm sorry, Atem-san? But... have we met before?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro just about tripped over his own feet (and thus nothing, because he was standing completely still) when Atem introduced himself. Why was he using that surname? Was he trying to imply he was related to Malik? All that would do was make Malik angrier with him, and they definitely did not need that.

"I-Ishtar?" Atsuro asked apprehensively.

Minato got a bit of a mischievous smile as Atem asked if he and Ryoji had already introduced themselves. That had been quite the meeting...

[mugenginga]

Atem seemed unsure how to respond to Kisa's question. He actually hadn't had much interactions with Kisara even in Ancient Egypt, but if she thought she knew him it was probably a sign of past life memories. Which to be honest, was more than any of them had. His eyes wandered down to his Duel Disk - their similarity to the Dia Danks was unavoidable, so Kaiba probably had the most memories of the lot of them. He was looking up to respond to Kisa and noted she was looking at Atsuro with a somewhat skeptical expression.

"Is there a problem...?"

And it was Sugoroku who stepped forward, "Hey, didn't Atem tell you before? Just because he's got the same surname as that guy doesn't mean he's related! It's probably a common surname in Egypt, that's all!"

Yuugi let out a held breath as Sugoroku stepped forward. Kisa shifted her weight, "Was there a reason you and Mutou-san wanted to talk to me? Arisato-san said you did..."

"Has Kaiba been bothering you?" Atem said, seemingly out of nowhere.

Kisa blinked in surprise, and then looked at Yuugi. She gave a forced giggle, "O-oh, is this because of the rivalry between Mutou-san and S... Kaiba-san?"

Yuugi looked at Atem with a surprised look. Right, they couldn't just... if she didn't remember the past they couldn't just bring it up, "Ah, we just heard that he was giving you a hard time... He's not that bad, really, he's just a little gruff."

"I... I know that," Kisa looked over her shoulder and gave Minato a flat look, "Arisato-san, did they really want to talk to me...?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Well, it looked like the jig was up. Minato shrugged at Kisa's question, and said, "Well, that's what they said..." He wasn't sure how much longer after this he could keep her here. Hopefully Mokuba had gotten whatever the problem was handled.

"Even if it is a common surname, that's still some coincidence," Atsuro said to Sugoroku. "I'm just hoping that Malik doesn't use this as an excuse to start freaking out at Atem..."

[mugenginga]

Atem crossed his arms and seemed in thought for a moment as Kisa turned away. Yuugi bit his lip for a moment, seemingly in thought, when his eyes widened. One could almost see the light bulb go off over his head. He put a hand behind his head and gave a nervous laugh just as Atsuro questioned Atem's choice of surname to Sugoroku. It was enough to distract Kisa away from hearing Atsuro's inquiry. She looked towards Yuugi with a confused expression.

"I think I know what happened," Yuugi said, "Minato-kun mentioned your interest in Duel Monsters, and I guess he misunderstood my willingness to teach people how to play... It wasn't that urgent..."

Atem blinked and looked over at Yuugi, and the light bulb seemed to go off over his head as well, "Although since you're here?"

Kisa blinked, "O-oh? Was that really all? I thought it was about Kaiba-san..."

Yuugi waved an arm, "Well, I mean sort of? Hey, what's your favorite card?"

Kisa seemed to draw inwards a bit, her shyness taking over her insistant nature from before, "A-Ah, I don't really know the cards that well... I mean, I like Blue Eyes White Dragon, but..."

"There are lots cuter cards, Kisa-chan! Oh, hold on a moment!" Anzu reached into her pocket and pulled out a stack of cards, thumbing through them, "Like Friendship and Petit Angel and Fire Sorcerer... see? You're a girl, you should use more feminine monsters!"

Kisa blinked as Anzu showed her the cards, clearly overwhelmed, but on the plus side distracted. Anzu stopped for a moment, half her cards shoved in a bewildered Kisa's hands, and looked over her shoulder, "Yuugi, Atem-kun! They're selling booster packs here too, right? We should buy Kisa-chan some!"

"Th-that's really okay!" Kisa said.

Anzu turned back towards Kisa and spoke in a lower voice, "Don't mind them. Sooo... do you have a crush on Kaiba?"

Kisa's face lit up like a Christmas tree. Most of the group were staring, unsure exactly where the conversation had gone and wehre to take it from here. THe fact was their group did consist of a bunch of male teenagers and one dirty old man, so it wasn't all that surprising they were lost as Anzu spoke to Kisa.

(OOC: Uh I have no idea how you want to respond? Maybe have Minato take the chance to quietly talk to the group about more serious matters...? XD)

[Firebreath Fishslap]

The conversation took a turn toward Duel Monsters, which was good enough for Minato. It was distracting Kisa well enough that she was definitely not going to go running off soon. The fact that Anzu pretty much had her occupied meant Minato could go talk with both Yuugi and Atem together. He walked over toward them, his expression rather serious.

"I figure I should tell you before we leave," Minato said in a low voice. He glanced toward Kisa. He needed to do this quietly; she was already worried enough about the guy without knowing what was actually wrong with him. "Souji's... well, I don't know how to describe this, but he's not doing well. He fell ill in the middle of the festival, and now he's staying with Izanami for the night."

He sighed. "And he's not the real Souji."

Well, that was a rather blunt way to put it.

Atsuro glanced over toward Minato. He was talking to Yuugi and Atem about something... probably Souji, since as far as Atsuro knew, everyone who hadn't been there when Souji tried to disappear didn't know about his current condition. He had to wonder if now was the best time to tell them about it, though...

He walked over to Kisa and Anzu, grinning. "I heard you mention booster packs?"

Yeah, he was still positively giddy about his Duel Disk.

[mugenginga]

Yuugi's eyes widened, and he opened his mouth. Atem had begun to move as soon as Minato began talking, and he managed to get over to Yuugi and get a firm hand on his shoulder just before Yuugi could get out more than a squeak - one that implied he'd been about to yell. Yuugi winced at the grip and looked back towards Atem with an annoyed look, but Atem had already returned his focus to Minato.

And then Minato said the last part. Atem hung with his mouth open, and Yuugi turned from Atem and spoke in a harsh whisper while the former Pharaoh regathered his thoughts.

"Not the real Souji? You mean Izanagi unmerged?" Yuugi said, worry plastered on his face.

Sugoroku gave an exaggerated glance towards his grandson as the conversation went on, but gave no indication beyond that he was listening. Jounouchi and Honda still stared towards Kisa and Anzu with a bewildered expression. Ryoji blinked and looked over towards Sugoroku from his position behind Minato and nudged him about the time Yuugi asked his question, speaking in a whisper.

"You guys better keep it down, or the old man'll hear."

Anzu had blinked in surprise to Kisa's reaction. She'd caught bits and pieces of the situation, but she hadn't seen anyone blush that bad since she was last teased about her crush on Yuugi. One could almost see the rainclouds gather above her head as that crossed her mind, but she snapped out of it once Atsuro asked his question.

"O-oh, yeah," she said, her thoughts clearly not immediately on the conversation. She shook her head quickly, "I think they're a few stalls down. Come on Kisa-chan, you should come too! I can buy you one or two if you want!"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato flinched slightly as Yuugi spoke up. Did he have to be so loud?! He glanced toward the rest of the group to make sure none of them had heard when he saw Sugoroku look their way. At the very least someone had noticed. Ryoji's comment reinforced that. He dropped his voice down to a whisper.

"It's more complicated than that. Best I can figure... we fucked up the last time we came here. We broke into the shrine looking for Izanami earlier, and doing that causedthe real Souji and his Persona to become separated. This whole time, we've been talking to the Persona in human form," Minato said. "And now his Persona can't hold his form in this world anymore. He's trying to fade away."

At Yuugi's yell, Atsuro glanced toward the four of them again, but refocused on the situation at hand with Anzu and Kisa pretty quickly.

"Luckily it's New Years. There's sure to be plenty of merchandise still sitting around," Atsuro commented. He really wanted some of those authentic booster packs.

[mugenginga]

Kisa's eyes widened as Anzu grabbed her arm and began dragging her off, her smile put back on her face. Atem turned to watch as Kisa stumbled after her, looking a little taken aback by how energetic Anzu was being but not upset. He frowned after her and her smile. She seemed to be forcing it for some reason.

"Kihara-kun, come on, you too!" She shouted after Atsuro as she dragged Kisa along.

Yuugi looked startled and looked over to his grandfather, who was chasing after Kisa and telling them to slow down. He rubbed the back of his ehad and looked back towards Souji with a concerned look.

"What about Souji-kun, then? If we've been talking to Izanagi, where's Souji-kun? It doesn't sound like he's... there, I mean. It's not like a shared body, right?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Atsuro went running after the two girls, taking great care not to drop his new shiny duel disk as he ran. No need to damage the highly expensive hologram generator, after all.

He was going to open this up and examine the heck out of its components when he got back to the apartment.

Minato watched Sugoroku run off before turning back toward Yuugi.

"No, it's definitely not shared. I think Souji's trapped inside Izanami's shrine," Minato explained. "She told me about these shrines called Alaya Shrines before. I think that her shrine might be one. So wherever Souji is, it's inside there."

[mugenginga]

Yuugi glanced around as the group ran off and then back at Minato, "Then we have to go save him!"

"It's probably not that simple," Atem said. Yuugi turned to look at him, and Atem blinked at the expression in his eyes, "Partner, you know I want to save him as much as you do, but they were in the Shrine before. I don't think Souji's just going to be standing there."

"A soul can't live without a body, Atem," Yuugi said. He looked back towards Minato, "We need to do something."

Ryoji looked in thought, "Izanami governs the afterlife Souji would go to, right?"

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato gravely nodded. "We have to do something, but for one thing, I don't know what we're going to find in there when we go in. Souji was the one who dealt with weird Shinto monsters, not me. I don't know what to expect when we go inside."

He looked toward Ryoji and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?"

[mugenginga]

Ryoji grimaced a bit as Atem, Yuugi, and Minato all turned to him with Minato's question. He shifted the weight between his feet and spoke in a slight mumble.

"Well... if Souji's Izanagi, I mean... not the Persona but the actual god, I don't think he'd die right? His body's gotta be somewhere with how Souji's breaking ap... well, Souji.. you know what I mean," Ryoji shook his head, "As a goddess of the dead wouldn't she be able to get him back to the body? If it doesn't still live, we're out of options either way, right?"

Yuugi looked at Atem, and there was a shared moment of confusion over how Ryoji had stumbled. They appeared to be trying to process the words, and then Yuugi seemed to hit on the meaning of them. However, Minato would have had a chance to respond in the time it took the two shorter teenagers to figure it out.

[Firebreath Fishslap]

Minato considered what Ryoji said for a moment. Izanami leading Souji back...?

"I think she'd only be able to do that if Souji himself was dying. Earlier she said she didn't sense any shinigami around him, so I don't think Souji himself is dying," Minato said. "I mean, we should probably still try, but I don't know if it'll work. Izanami rules over dead and dying souls, not minds. And Souji's Persona's more a part of his mind."

He sighed. "I'm not sure how else we're going to find Souji, though. So I think we should give it a shot. Right now I'm most worried about what'll happen to Souji without his Persona. Personae are pretty large parts of your psyche... I don't even want to think about what'll happen if his Persona fully fades."