My Shining Light Chapter 10: My Shining Light, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

Hi guys. Well I have to say that this is my final chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update. This is a long chapter and plus I was having some problems on the site, but anyway, I really enjoyed writing this story and I want to thank everyone who read my story to the end:

Takashi Kusinagi

Tea- The Chosen One

Mystical Aquafina

Shikon Princess

Lady-Wicca666

Luckygirl777

WhiteAsukalover

portrocks

dancers of the night

Thanks for the great reviews. This story wouldn't be possible without them.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or the songs "Suddenly" by Ashley Tisdale and "At The Beginning". I just own the story.

Chapter 10

It was around three in the morning when they all arrived back at the mansion. Naomi had to go to the police station to find out what they were going to do with Hiroshi and how long he would be convicted for and the others were sitting in the living room. When Tea went to sit down on the sofa, she felt something on her lap and looked down to see Buyo barking happily at her while wagging his tail. She smiled and rubbed his back. It was quiet as everyone still had what happened tonight fresh in their minds. Tea stood up with Buyo in her arms and headed towards the stairs.

"I'm going to bed." she muttered. Everyone was watching her as she walked up the stairs.

"Man, she's really zoned out about this." said Joey.

"Atem, what happened when you found her?" asked Yugi. Atem looked over to others.

"I got there before he could hurt her, but she told me a little while ago that she almost killed him. I've never seen her so emotional before." Just then they heard the door open and in came Naomi.

"Hey, just got back with some news about Hiroshi. Where's Tea?" she asked.

"She's upstairs in her room getting ready for bed." said Yugi. Atem walked over to Naomi.

"So what happened? How long are they going to convict Hiroshi?" he asked. Naomi sighed.

"Well, they have him in a holding cell now and he has to go to trial. Now if he is convicted which I know he will be, then we're looking at forty years to life in prison." Joey whistled.

"Whoa, that's a really long time." Naomi nodded.

"Yes it is. I wanted to talk to Tea about this, but I think she's been through enough for one night. Have her give me a call when she feels up to talking." she said.

"Of course. Let me walk you to the door Naomi." said Solomon. As Solomon and Naomi was walking to the front door, Atem turned back to Yugi, Joey and Tristan.

"You guys, I'm going to go up and check on Tea. She's gonna want to know what's going on right now with Hiroshi." He left to go upstairs to her room contemplating on how he was going to tell her. Surely she would be relieved of the news. He stopped at her door to knock, but when he touched it, he noticed that it was already open and he peeked inside to see that she was laying on her side looking through a box of pictures. He quietly went inside and closed the door. He walked to the side of the bed to see that she was asleep. Buyo raised his head and barked softly when he saw him and Atem put a finger to his lips to quiet him down. Buyo had other plans of his own and stood up and padded over to him wagging his tail and barking some more causing Tea to wake up.

"Mm, Buyo what is it boy?" she asked in a drowsily. She turned to look at what her puppy was barking at when her eyes met with Atem's in surprise. Atem turned back to look at Buyo with a playful glare.

"See, I told you to be quiet. Now look what you've done." he said. Buyo just continued barking and sat on his hind legs with his front paws up in a begging position. Atem laughed and reached into his pocket to pull out a treat to give to him. Once Buyo was content, he turned to look at Tea who was still watching him and came to sit next to her on the bed. He looked at all of the pictures that were scattered on her blanket and picked one up to examine it. A smile appeared on his face at how happy Tea was when she was little and her parents were still alive.

"How are you holding up?" he asked. Tea looked down at her hand that were in her lap.

"I'm fine." she muttered. Atem moved closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"You may say you're fine, but I know deep down that you're just so broken inside. Naomi was just here and she gave us some news about your uncle saying that he could get up to forty years to life in prison. She told me to tell you to call her so she can explain more to-"

"I don't want to talk about this anymore. Please, can we just drop the subject because I really don't care what happens to him. As far as I'm concerned, he's nothing to me and he can just rot in prison for all I care. I feel like I failed for what I wanted to accomplish after what he did." She got up from her bed and stood by her balcony door. Atem sat and watched her as she continued talking.

"I wanted to kill him. I wanted to make him suffer. I wanted him to feel the long agonizing pain and just watch him as he died a slow painful death while his blood poured out of his body and I wanted to enjoy it, but I couldn't even bring the blade to him. I couldn't even put one scratch on him. This is what I wanted to do my whole life if I ever had the chance to face him again, but I was to scared to do it and he knew I was scared. That's why he was taunting and daring me so he could tell me just how weak I was." Atem stood up from the bed and walked behind Tea to put his arms around her waist. They were quiet for a while with no one saying anything being content with the calm silence. Atem was the first to speak.

"Tea, listen to me. If you had went and killed Hiroshi, then it would make you out to be just like him and that's what he was aiming for you to do. It wouldn't bring you happiness and it certainly wouldn't bring your parents back. By not killing him, it didn't show that you were weak, it actually made you out to be the strong person that you needed to be in order for you to finally face him. Don't you worry okay? He will get what's coming to him and he will pay for all of the wrongs he's done and all of the lives that he's taken. I know that it hurts, but you have to live for the future now. That's what your parents would want you to do." As Tea was listening to him, she started crying uncontrollably and Atem turned her around to embrace her into his chest to try and calm her down with soothing words. He brought her back over to the bed to sit and hold her while she cried. After a few minutes by, Tea finally stooped crying and she looked up to Atem with a tear streaked face and he wiped her tears away with his thumb.

"Thank-you Atem. I know it's going to take a while for me to get over all of this, but do you think that I will ever heal again?" she asked. Atem smiled and held her more tightly.

"Yes you will because I'm going to help you. I'm willing to help you for as long as you need me." Tea smiled and looked down to look at the pictures she left out on the bed.

"I better put all of this away and get to bed. It's late and I don't want to keep you up any longer than I already have." Atem laughed and shook his head.

"I would stay up all night if just to know that you were okay." After he and Tea cleared her bed off, she tucked herself in with Atem leaning down making sure she was comfortable.

"Come to my room if you need anything ok?" Tea nodded and leaned up to kiss him on his lips. Atem put his hand on her cheek to kiss her better and after a minute, they broke away smiling at each other. Atem looked over to Buyo who was walking over to Tea to lay down beside her.

"Protect Tea and make sure nothing happens to her, okay boy?" he said. Buyo barked in affirmation. Tea giggled.

"Atem, I'll be fine. I'll just be sleeping so you don't need to worry." Atem caressed her cheek.

"You know I can't stop worrying about you. I'll see you in the morning ok?"

"Okay." With that, Atem leaned down to give her one more kiss and stood up to leave. He turned and looked at her before he left to see her staring back at him with a smile.

"Goodnight Atem, I love you." she said. He smiled back at her.

"Goodnight Tea, I love you too." Atem left to walk down the hall to enter his room. He walked over to open his balcony door to stand outside and breathe in the night air. Everything that happened tonight was still fresh in his mind. He came back inside to lay down on his bed letting sleep take over hoping that the next day will be alot more better. The next morning, Tea woke with the sun shining in her room. She sat up and looked over to her right to see Buyo sitting up looking at her with his tongue hanging out. He was excited to see she was awake that he pounced in her and licked her face with Tea on her back laughing.

"Okay, okay good morning to you too. Is this how it's going to be with you every morning?" she asked. Buyo just barked happily to her and continued licking her face.

"Alright, we have to be quiet so we don't wake everybody up. What do you say you and me go for a little walk, huh? I'm sure that you have some business to take care of, right?" Buyo wagged his tail and moved to jump of the bed. Tea went to the bathroom to wash and get dressed into a black jean skirt and a black long sleeved polo shirt. When she came out of the bathroom, she saw Buyo jumping and running around in circles waiting to leave. Tea was laughing at her puppy's tactics and opened the door to see him zoom out and run downstairs. As she was walking, she passed by Atem's room to see that he was still asleep. She found a note pad on his dresser and wrote a quick message for him in case he woke up and went to her room. Once she finished, she placed he sticky note on his nightstand for him to find it. Tea looked down to Atem's face and noticed how peaceful he was just sleeping. She lightly touched his hair and stroked it down to rest on his cheek. Then she leaned down to kiss his lips and he mumbled something in his sleep.

"mm...Tea" he whispered. Tea's eyes widened when she heard him say her name. It brought a smile to her face knowing that he was thinking about her even while sleeping. She then remembered little Buyo downstairs and quietly walked out of the room. When she put Buyo's leash on, she opened the door and stepped out to greet the morning. She still couldn't believe that after all of the years of her life that she had suffered, she now has a stable home, friends and her uncle is now behind bars. She walked for about a half an hour with Buyo and came to sit on a bench in the park. She picked him up to sit him on her lap so he could rest his little paws from the long walk.

"Tea?" She turned around in her seat when she heard her name and saw that Naomi was walking towards her from her car. She sat down next to Tea and saw Buyo sitting in her lap.

"Hi, I was on my way over to the house to see you when I saw you sitting over here. How are you doing?" she said. Tea shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm okay. I was just taking Buyo out for his walk." Buyo sat up when he heard his name. Naomi giggled and patted his head until he laid back down. She looked back to Tea who was watching the cherry blossoms on the tree.

"So did Atem tell you about your uncle?" she asked.

"Yeah, and I'm relieved that he got what he deserved, but I can't help but wonder why after all these years would he want to come back if he knew that he was going to get caught. Well I guess it doesn't matter anymore."

"Tea, would you like to talk about this? I mean about what happened." Naomi asked. Tea sighed.

"I guess since you know parts of it already. I might as well tell you everything from start to finish." So Tea told Naomi everything that happened to her parents to how they died to the reason why they were killed. Naomi was shocked at what she was hearing and she now knew why Tea would never open up about her past. After Tea was finished with her story, she had a few tears run down her face.

"Oh Tea, I had no idea that happened. I am so sorry." Tea wiped her eyes.

"Don't be, you were going to find out one way or another, right? It might as well have been now." They were quiet for a while when Naomi spoke again.

"Tea, what exactly happened when you confronted your uncle last night?" she asked hesitantly. Tea had a far away look in her eyes and Naomi was afraid that the next thing that she would say would be the same thing that she was thinking.

"I tried to kill him, plain and simple. I wanted him to suffer just as he made my parents suffer." she said.

"Tea, you know that wouldn't have solved anything, right?" Tea sighed.

"I know, I had this conversation with Atem and he said the same thing. I know that it was wrong and I would have been just like him if I did go through with it, but at the time, I didn't think about all of that. All I wanted was just to bring all of the pain I was going through to an end and for that to happen, I had to get rid of the problem. I was right there with his sword in my hand, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I could try and hurt him, but I couldn't kill him." She felt Naomi's hand on her shoulder and turned to face her.

"I'm so proud of you Tea. I know it must have been hard on you, but you were able to stop yourself from doing something that you would have regretted. Don't you worry though, he is getting what's coming to him in jail." Naomi said with a smile.

"Thanks Naomi." said Tea.

"So, how was the carnival with Atem?" Tea blushed when she remembered the night.

"It was okay, I had alot of fun with him. We played alot of games and he won me a stuffed puppy." Naomi had a sly smile on her face.

"Is that all that happened? I could have sworn you told me that you were having feelings for him. Did you tell him?" she asked. Tea had a soft smile.

"Yeah, I did and he felt the same way about me. It was the most happiest night of my life." Naomi squealed and brought Tea into a hug.

"Oh my gosh Tea, you have a boyfriend! I am so happy for you." Tea was trying to push her off of her.

"Okay thanks, now let go of me, will ya?" Naomi laughed and let her go.

"I'm sorry sweetie, I am just so glad that you now have someone in your life that was willing to bring you happiness. Well I have to get going now. Have to get to my office to take care of some paperwork and bring this case to a close." She stood up to take out her car keys and Tea also stood with Buyo with her arms.

"Naomi, does this mean that I won't see you as much now I mean since Hiroshi is in jail?" Tea asked. Naomi turned to her with a shocked look.

"Of course not. We can always talk and see each other whenever you want to. Like I said before, you're like a little sister to me. Plus you and I have to plan a trip to the mall for a girls' day out shopping trip." Tea laughed.

"That's a big relief 'cause it wouldn't have been the same if we didn't talk anymore. I know I was really mean to you these past few years, but I'm glad you never gave up on me." Naomi brought her into an embrace.

"Well someone had to handle the ice princess so it might as well been me. Hey, how about I drop you and Buyo off at the house before I head over to the office?" Tea nodded and they both got into Naomi's car.

Atem was just waking up with the sun in his eyes and looked over to his nightstand to see that it was eight in the morning. He also saw a note stuck on his nightstand nad picked it up to see it was from Tea. He picked it up and read the little message on it.

Atem,

I didn't want to wake you, but I took Buyo out for his walk. I'll be back soon.

Love, Tea

Atem was wondering how long she left so he stood up from the bed and got dressed to go downstairs. He heard the doorbell and saw Yugi open the door to see Joey and Tristan standing there.

"Hey guys, what's up?" asked Yugi. Joey and Tristan stepped inside the house.

"Nothing much, we just thought well since it's Saturday that you guys wanted to go out for breakfast with us." said Tristan.

"Yeah, and after that, we're going to hang out at the arcade today." said Joey.

"Sure, I'll go. What do you say Atem, do you and Tea want to go?" said Yugi. Atem shook his head.

"No, I'm going to wait around here for Tea. She left to take Buyo out, but she hasn't came back yet. Plus, I think I'm just going to hang around here today anyway so you guys go on ahead without us."

"Are you sure Atem? I mean we can wait 'til Tea gets back and then leave." said Yugi.

"Yeah I'm sure. I don't think she'll be up to it anyway." said Atem. They all nodded and turned to leave out the door. Atem went to the living room to see what was on TV while he waited for Tea to come back from her walk. He found a movie to watch, but he wasn't paying attention to it so he turned it off and got up to see Solomon getting ready to leave with his luggage.

"Are you going somewhere Grandpa?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm leaving to go on my trip with my friend Arthur Hawkins to Egypt, remember? I have to meet him at the airport in an hour." Atem was now remembering the trip that Solomon had told him and Yugi about. He was going to a museum exhibit with his friend and it was planned a month ago.

"I'm sorry Grandpa, with everything that was going on I completely forgot that you were suppose to leave today." Atem said. Solomon smiled at his grandson and walked over to him.

"How is Tea doing?" he asked.

"She's doing better I guess. We had another talk last night before I went to bed so I think she'll be fine. Don't worry about anything Grandpa, you just enjoy your trip." Solomon was hesitant at first, but Atem gave him a reassuring look and he gave in and got his luggage to the taxi with Atem's help.

"Alright, I'll be gone for a week so I trust the house in your care." Atem nodded.

"No need to worry, you just have a great time." With that, Solomon got in the taxi and went on his way to the airport. Atem closed the door and went back to the living room. The house was really quiet with everyone gone and he was starting to get a little worried about where Tea was. He knew he shouldn't worry since she wrote him a note, but he couldn't help it. Just then, he heard the front door open and went to see Tea coming inside putting Buyo on the floor. She looked up at him with a smile and he came over to her to kiss her. He broke away slowly to look at her.

"You were gone for a while now." he said.

"Yeah I was. Didn't you read my note I left you?" she asked.

"Yes I did, but the last time you wrote me a note, I was afraid you weren't going to come back." Tea looked at him with a soft look and wrapped her arms around him to hug him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry. I ran into Naomi while I was out and she gave me a ride home." They both went walked into the kitchen to see Buyo sitting down waiting to be fed. Atem went over to the cupboard and took out his dog food him to eat. Once Buyo was taken care of, they went upstairs to Atem's room to sit and rest on his sofa. Buyo hopped up on the bed and went to sleep.

"It's so quiet in here. Where are Yugi and your grandpa?" she asked noticing no one in the house.

"Well Grandpa had to go to Egypt for a week and Joey and Tristan came over and took Yugi with them to go out for breakfast. They said that they were going to spend the day at the arcade so it's just you and me today."

"Why didn't you go with them?" Atem turned to her with a smile.

"I didn't go because I didn't want you to come home and no one was here. Besides, I wasn't in the mood to leave the house anyway and I knew that you didn't feel up to it either." Tea nodded.

"You're right, I'm glad you told them that. By the way, how did you sleep last night?" she said with a knowing look.

"I slept okay." Tea giggled and Atem looked at her in confusion.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Well, when I was coming into your room this morning to put my note on your nightstand, I was watching how peaceful you were sleeping. So I leaned down to give you a kiss and when I pulled back, you whispered my name in your sleep. I just have to know what you were dreaming about to make you call out my name." Atem blushed and laughed nervously.

"Well I guess you can say I think about you even while I sleep." Tea giggled again and leaned up to kiss him passionately. She pulled away with a smile.

"I think it's really sweet and you make me feel so special." Atem chuckled.

"Of course, you're very special to me." Tea had her head tucked into his neck while he brought his arm around her shoulder with the both of them sitting in a comfortable silence. Atem picked up the remote to turn on his TV to see what was on.

"Did you have anything to eat this morning?" asked Atem. Tea shook her head.

"No, I wasn't hungry and Buyo was kinda in a hurry to get outside." she said.

"You're never hungry. It's a wonder how you're able to get through the day. I'm going to go down and make something for the both of us." Atem stood up from his seat with Tea behind him.

"Do you need some help?" she asked.

"No, you just stay here and I'll be right back." He left the room to head downstairs to the kitchen. Tea sighed and looked around Atem's room while she waited. She never noticed before how his room had a dark theme to it, but it brought a calm, peaceful sensation that would make you want to stay inside all day. As she was scanning the room, she noticed a hidden door behind the his bookshelf. Curiosity got to her as she stood up to open it and what she found brought her to a gasp. Inside was a little music room that held a piano in the corner, there was a guitar sitting on the chair and music sheets on a desk on the other side of the room. She walked over to the piano and played a few keys to test it out and then played a few notes from a song she made up in her head.

"That's a nice melody." Tea gasped in surprise and turned to see Atem leaning against the door with his arms crossed. She stepped away form the piano with a nervous laugh and walked over to him.

"I'm sorry, I was just curious to what was behind the door." Atem laughed and walked over to her to wrap his arms around her waist.

"It's alright, I'm actually surprised that you found it. I come in here when I just need to be by myself or when I have something on my mind. I didn't know you could play the piano, you're really good." Tea blushed.

"Yeah, I picked it up from my dad. I would always watch him every Saturday playing the family piano. I'd be so fascinated and hypnotized by the sound of the keys and that's when he decided to teach me how to play. I was about three when I started to learn and it wasn't hard. My dad said that I had a knack for it and if I practiced everyday, I would become a pro in no less than a year so that's what I did. He would give me songs to play to test out how well I've been practicing and whenever I played the wrong note, he would always give me encouraging words to make me keep trying until I got it right. When I played the song all the way through the end, he would pick me up and spin me around to congratulate me and my mom would have a smile and give me a ice pop as a treat for working so hard." Atem looked down to her listening to her story and he kissed her forehead.

"Wow, three years old and playing the piano, that's very impressive." Tea giggled.

"Yeah well, my parents always told me that I was a smart girl for my age."

"Did you notice something Tea?" She looked up to Atem with a confused expression.

"Notice what?" she asked.

"You were telling me about your parents and not once did you mention anything about what happened that day."

"Yeah, you're right. I guess now that Hiroshi is locked away, all I have are the good memories that I had with them so I guess that's all that matters." she said with a smile. Atem smiled back at her.

"Well let's go eat before our food gets cold." He turned to walk out the room with Tea behind him. All of a sudden, Tea started to feel dizzy and her vision began to get blurry. The last thing she heard was Atem's voice before everything went dark.

"You're going to love what I ma-" he turned around to see Tea with her hand on her head and she collapsed on the floor.

"TEA!!" he ran over to her and felt her forehead to feel that she was a little warm. He picked her up bridal style and laid her down on his bed. Then he went to his bathroom to get a wet cloth to put on her head. He couldn't understand why she all of a sudden just collapsed like that when she was fine a minute ago.

"Tea, can you hear me? Tea?" She wasn't responding to his pleading calls so he had no choice but to wait and hope she wakes up soon.

It was very quiet when Tea woke up and she noticed that she was still in Atem's music room. She got up and walked out of the room to see that Atem and even Buyo was nowhere in sight.

"Atem? Atem where are you?" she tried to call out only to find that he was not answering her. She walked out of his room and searched the house for him. She checked every room and opened every door, but she couldn't find him or her puppy anywhere. It was like she was in a haunted house with no one around to answer her when she called. She was downstairs in the living room trying to figure out how all of this happened. She remembered being with Atem when suddenly her vision went black and she woke up here alone. Tea was trying all that she could to wake herself up, but no matter what she did, she was still stuck. Suddenly, she heard what sounded like music coming from upstairs. She got up to walk up the steps and follow the calm melody of what sounded like the piano coming from Atem's room. When she walked inside, the room was still empty and hoped that Atem was in his hidden room. She opened the door to see a person with his back turned to her playing a beautiful melody that was very familiar to her.

"So, you've come to watch me play again, huh?" a familiar kind voice asked. When he turned around, Tea gasped and her eyes widened in disbelief. She couldn't believe that he was standing right in front of her.

"Daddy?" she whispered. Kyo was standing there with a fatherly smile.

"My, look how much you've grown. You look just like your mother." he said.

"Well I can't take all of the credit dear." an angelic voice answered. Tea had tears streaming down her face when another familiar person come to stand next to her father.

"Mama?" she said hoarsely. Tsubame looked to Tea with a warm smile when she saw her daughter. Tea walked over slowly to them and reached out a hand to see if they were real or just a figment of her imagination. When she realized that she could feel them, she started crying and her mother embraced her with her father resting both of his hands on their shoulders.

"I know sweetie, it's been so long and you have been through so much these past ten years." said Tsubame.

"I'm so sorry." Kyo and Tsubame turned to each other before looking back at their daughter in confusion.

"What do you have to be sorry for?" asked Kyo.

"I confronted Hiroshi to find out the reason why he killed the both of you and when he told me, I was so angry that I wanted to make him pay. I wanted to kill him and avenge your death, but there was something holding me back and I couldn't do it." Tsubame took a hold of Tea's hands and gave them a little squeeze.

"Tea, listen to me, we were the ones who stopped you. We didn't want our baby girl to become a murderer and take a person's life away even though he doesn't deserve it. Hiroshi is paying for every crime that he has committed in his time in prison and your father and I now have a chance to finally rest in peace." Tea looked down to the floor with a sad frown.

"I guess I understand, but how is it that we're talking like this? The last thing I remember was walking with my boyfriend and the next thing I know I'm waking up to an empty house and then you guys show up." Kyo and Tsubame chuckled.

"I'm sorry princess, but we kind of put a sleeping spell on you. This is actually a dream and it was the only way to reach out and talk to you." said Kyo. Tea was a little disappointed that they weren't really here. She knew that they were gone, but she wished that they could stay with her.

"We also wanted to to wish you a happy birthday. Oh, I can't believe you're already sixteen." said Tsubame. Kyo walked back over to the piano to play another song and Tea followed to sit next to him with Tsubame resting her hands on Tea's shoulders.

"So Tea, have you been practicing on the piano?" asked Kyo.

"Of course, whenever I come near a piano, I just have to play it. I even been writing song lyrics and making up notes to match the words." Kyo turned to look at his wife with a smile.

"See honey, I told you we have a smart girl and I would just like to take a moment to say that she gets all of her wisdom from her father." he proudly said.

"I don't know about that dear, you can be on the loony side sometimes. So I would have to say that our daughter gets her wisdom from her mother." Kyo sighed.

"You always have to be ganging up on me. What did I do to make you do that?" Tea and Tsubame giggled at his dramatic voice. Tea felt like everything was normal again and that there was nothing that could ruin this happy time. Just then, there was a bright light forming in the corner and Tea looked over to her parents in confusion. Kyo and Tsubame turned to look at each other and Kyo stood up from his seat with Tea following him.

"Mom, Dad what's going on?" she asked afraid to know what's happening.

"I'm sorry Tea, but it's time for us to go." said Kyo. Tea gasped.

"No, you can't go please." she said desperately. Tsubame came over and hugged her.

"I wish we could stay sweetie, but we have to go. If it was up to me, I would gladly stay here with you in a heartbeat. It's just the way it has to be." She let go of Tea so Kyo could hug her also.

"Your mother and I love you with all of our hearts and I know that it's hard, but you have a new family and friends that care for you. You just remember that we will always be in your heart and know that were always with you." Kyo reached into his pocket to pull out a golden locket.

"We had planned to give you this on you fifth birthday, but now I think that this is a perfect time to give it to you." He put the locket around Tea's neck and stepped back to look at her and give her a kiss in her forehead.

"You have grown into a beautiful young lady and we are so proud of you Tea." said Kyo.

"Just know that we love you very much sweetie." said Tsubame. She gave Tea one last hug before turning to walk over to the glowing light and Kyo was about to follow when he turned back to Tea.

"I want you to sing one of those songs you came up with one day and when that day comes, know that your mother and I will be there listening to you in spirit." Kyo joined Tsubame over by the light and they stepped into. Tea couldn't move her body as she watched the light take her parents away.

"Don't go." she whispered. The light was starting to shrink and disappear.

"Don't go." she said loudly. They turned back to smile at her one last time.

"DON'T GO!!! she screamed. She ran over to the wall, but she was too late and the light disappeared.

"NO, COME BACK PLEASE!!!" She was pounding the wall in desperation to try and get the wall to open again. The room began to spin and she was starting to get the same dizzy feeling in her head again and then everything began to turn black.

Atem was still trying to get Tea awake, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. He was starting to get worried because she still wasn't responding to any of his calls. It was like she was in a deep sleep and nothing he did could get her out of it so he decided if she didn't wake soon that he would call a doctor. Atem took the cloth off of her head to rinse it again and replace back on her head. Buyo was laying down next to Tea with sadness in his eyes whimpering about what was wrong with his master. Atem came over and rubbed Buyo's head to keep him calm. Suddenly, he heard a low moan coming from Tea and he looked up to her face to see that she was having some kind of nightmare. He walked over to her to try and wake her, but stopped when he heard her mutter something in her sleep.

"Don't...go" she said. Atem was confused on why she would say that and what she meant when she said it. She started to break into a sweat and Atem came over to wake her.

"Tea, wake up." he lightly shook her. She opened her eyes and shot up from the bed.

"No, don't go!!" she yelled.

"Tea, it's okay, it's me." he calmly said. Tea looked over to Atem with wide eyes and the dream still fresh in her mind.

"Where are they?" she asked. Atem was confused as to who she was talking about.

"Who are you talking about? Where is who?" he asked trying to calm her down.

"My parents, they were here." She jumped out of bed and went over to the hidden room. When she opened the door, she found that there was no one inside. It was the same way as it was earlier. Tea didn't move for a few seconds and when it reality finally sunk in, she felt moisture in her eyes and her shoulders shake. When she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Atem's worried eyes, she couldn't take it anymore and buried her face into Atem's chest to cry her eyes out. The wall was now broken and all of the anger and the sadness came out all at once. Tea had felt something rise up from her throat and she pulled away from Atem's embrace to run to the bathroom and empty her stomach. Since she closed the door, Atem leaned against the door and waited outside until she was finished. He could still hear her crying inside and was heartbroken to know that he couldn't do anything to help her. Buyo came down and pawed the door to try and open it, but Atem picked him up and sat him on his lap. After almost an hour of waiting, the door was finally open and Tea came out with red puffy eyes. Atem stood with Buyo still in his arms and led her to his bed to sit down and put Buyo down so he could cuddle up to Tea on her lap. He had his arm around her while she rested her head on his shoulder and they both sat in silence for a few minutes. The silence was broken by Tea who raised her head to Atem.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so emotional like that." Atem wiped the remaining tears away from her eyes with his thumb.

"What happened Tea? You suddenly just collapsed on the floor and you wouldn't wake up. I was just about to call a doctor, but when you spoke in your sleep, I had to come over and try to see if you were alright." he said. Tea sighed and looked down to her puppy who had the same worry expression in his eyes as Atem did.

"Well, after I collapsed, I actually woke up in your music room and I was trying to look for you and Buyo, but I couldn't find you anywhere in the house. Then all of a sudden, I heard the piano playing and I came back upstairs to your room and saw that it was my dad playing and my mom came out beside him. They sort of contacted me through the spirit world in a dream so that's why I collapsed like that. It was so great to see them and they looked the same way they did ten years ago. They were telling me that they were okay and now that Hiroshi is in jail, they're resting in peace. They asked me how I was doing while my dad was playing the piano and they were joking around with each other and for that moment, it was like everything was normal. They even wished me a happy birthday and gave me this locket-" she stopped talking when she remembered the locket. Atem stared at her wondering why she stopped talking.

"What is it?" he asked. Tea slowly felt around her neck to reach into her shirt. She already has the heart pendant that Atem gave her for her birthday, but she gasped when she felt another necklace. She pulled it out and saw that it was the locket her father gave her in the dream. She opened it up and saw a picture of her when she was little sitting on top of her father's shoulders with her mother standing beside him under a cherry blossom tree. There was also a little melody playing of her favorite song "Every Heart" as she was looking at the picture and more tears flowed down from her eyes. She turned back to look at Atem.

"I got this from my father in the dream, but I can't understand how it ended up on me when I woke up." Atem was wondering the same thing when he was looking at the locket.

"Well if they had a way to contact you, then they must have found a way to let you have this locket also." he said with a hunch. Tea nodded and held it close to her.

"I don't care how it ended up on my neck, I'm just glad that I have something from them to cherish forever. I wasn't able to have any closure before, but at least I know that they are now resting in peace and that this whole nightmare is over. That's all that matters to me." She looked over to Atem who had a sincere smile and he pulled her in to kiss her lovingly. Tea willingly gave in and felt more tears in her eyes. When they pulled away, Atem kissed all of her tears away and hugged her to his chest. Tea smiled a little as she leaned against him.

"I'm glad that you're in my life Atem. I know I said the day we met that I didn't want you to know anything about me, but I'm so glad that you didn't listen to me." Atem chuckled and kissed her forehead.

"Well, I guess you can say I was determined. I knew there was something about you that I couldn't resist and I had to get to know you I knew that I loved you the moment I did." he said. Tea blushed and smiled at him.

"I love you too." She brought him down to kiss him again with so much passion to show him just how much she meant it and Atem put just as much passion as she was. He slowly eased her down on the bed and continued kissing her. Tea moaned when she felt her head touch the pillow and she ran her hands through Atem's hair when he started kissing her neck. She never felt anything so strong like this before and everything she felt with Atem at this moment was so right to her. They were interrupted by a growl from Tea's stomach and Atem pulled back to look at her with a playful smile. Tea put a hand on her stomach and laughed nervously.

"I guess I'm a little hungry now." Atem laughed.

"Okay, but I better go and heat up our food since I know that's it's a little cold." So he moved up from the bed to take the tray downstairs and heat it up. About two minutes later, he came back with the tray and they sat back on the bed to eat. They spent the day just relaxing and watching movies. It was around six in the evening when Yugi, Joey and Tristan came back from the arcade. Tea was sleeping so Atem went downstairs to go and greet them at the door and found Joey and Tristan arguing over who won a certain game. Yugi looked over to his brother and waved to him.

"Hey guys, how was the arcade?" asked Atem.

"It was cool and we had a great time. How was everything here?" said Yugi. Atem sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, this morning Tea collapsed." There was a whole round of questions asking if she was okay and Atem raised his hands to them to calm down.

"Don't worry, she's fine. She upstairs sleeping right now." They all sighed in relief.

"Well then what happened?" asked Tristan.

"You probably won't believe this, but it was her parents that made her collapse." Yugi, Tristan and Joey looked at him like he had an extra head.

"You're right I don't believe it." said Joey.

"They somehow contacted her in a dream and when she woke up, she was so upset and I had to do all that I could to calm her. I think that she's okay now, but I think it's still bothering her. So let's try to keep her in a happy mood, okay?" They all nodded. A half an hour later, they ordered pizza and went up to the game room to sit and chill out.

"Hey, anybody sign up for that talent show next week?" asked Joey.

"Nah, I'm just going to sit and watch." said Tristan.

"Yeah, me too. You Yug?"

"I'm going to be the stage manager for the show." said Yugi. Then he turned to his brother.

"What about you Atem?" he asked. Atem leaned back into the chair wondering.

"I'm not exactly sure if I am going to do anything." he said.

"Why don't you do another duet with Tea? I mean you guys were a blast at the arcade a couple of weeks ago and if you perform again, then no doubt that you guys would rock out the whole school." said Joey. Atem smiled at Joey's idea.

"Yeah that's true, but I don't know if Tea will be up to it."

"Well why don't you ask her?" said Tristan.

"Maybe I will." It was now after ten o' clock and Joey and Tristan had to leave to go home. Yugi decided to turn in early and went to bed. Atem was walking into his room to check on Tea and see if she was still asleep, but he saw that his bed was empty except for Buyo who was still laying on the blanket. He heard the piano playing from his music room and saw that the door was opened and he peeked inside to see Tea humming while playing a few notes. She would stop for a minute to write down some lyrics and then start up again. He walked inside and tapped her shoulder so he wouldn't scare her. She looked up a little surprised that he was behind her.

"Hey, I thought you were still asleep." said Atem. Tea shook her head.

"I was, but then when I woke up, I heard you in the other room with the guys so I decided to play on the piano. I hope you didn't mind." Atem smiled and sat down next to her.

"No I didn't mind at all. Was that a new song you came up with?" he asked.

"Yeah, it was something that I had in my head for a while." she said. As Tea was still playing, Atem was watching her fingers flow across the keys like they were hypnotizing him. He then remembered what he wanted to talk to her about.

"Tea, are you going to sign up for the talent show?" he asked. Tea stopped playing for a second to turn to Atem. Then she looked down to the piano keys again.

"Actually, I'm not sure. I mean I want to, but I'm just a little afraid to sing in front of other people." She leaned her head on Atem's shoulder and he rested his head on hers.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to do another duet with me." Tea was thinking about the time at the arcade when she sang with Atem and it was the best time she had in her life. Maybe singing with him again would give her the courage to get over her stage fright.

"Okay, I think that's a great idea." The weekend went by in a flash and it was now the day of the talent show. Everyone was running around trying to get everything together in the auditorium and doing last minute rehearsals before the show began. Finally it began and there was dancing, comedy, magic tricks and more. Tea was backstage watching the show and was feeling very nervous about performing. Yugi had came over to her to tell her that she and Atem were up next after the guy who was trying to saw the principal in half. She turned around when she felt someone's hand on her shoulder and saw that it was Atem.

"We're going up next." he said. Tea felt a little queasy when he reminded her.

"Yeah, I know." The magic act was now over and the class president Rita came out on the stage.

"I hope everyone is having a great time. Now our next performers will be singing a duet. Please give it up for Atem and Tea." The audience clapped for them with Joey and Tristan cheering the loudest. Atem and Tea walked out on the stage standing behind the microphone they were going to sing in. The person at the piano started playing the song and waited for Tea to begin, but when she didn't, he stopped playing wondering what was wrong. Atem looked over to her and saw that she moved away from her mic and ran off the stage. Atem turned to look at the audience.

"Um, we'll be right back. Slight technical difficulties." he said and ran off after Tea. You could hear alot of murmurs from them as this happened. When Atem went backstage, he found Tea on the floor hugging her knees trembling. He went over and sat down beside her.

"Tea? What's wrong?" She lifted her head to him.

"I can't do this Atem. I'm too afraid to go out there." she said.

"What do you mean? You can do this. It's just like when we sang at the arcade." Tea shook her head.

"Atem that was just a game and I didn't know those people were watching us. I have never sang in front of a crowd let alone a whole audience." she frantically said. Atem grabbed her hand.

"Listen Tea, just pretend that it's you and me at the arcade again. Just watch me the whole time and I promise you'll feel better, okay?" Tea looked down on the floor for a minute before nodding.

"Okay." Atem smiled and they walked back onto the stage back in their places. Atem gave a nod to the piano player and he started the song again. Tea breathed in a shaky breath feeling nervous again, but when she felt Atem's hand and saw him smile at her, she felt better enough to begin.

Tea
We were strangers, starting out on a journey
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing
at the beginning with you

Atem
No one told me I was going to find you,
Unexpected what you did to my heart
Both
When I lost hope you were there to remind me
this is the start

The band began to play and Atem twirled Tea to start dancing with him.

And life is a road and I wanna keep going
love is a river I wanna keep flowing
life is a road now and forever
wonderful journey
I'll be there when the world stops turning
I'll be there when the storm is through
In the end I wanna be standing
at the beginning with you

Tea
We were strangers on a crazy adventure
Atem
Never dreaming how our dreams would come true
Both
Now here we stand unafraid of the future
At the beginning with you

I knew there was somebody somewhere
that made love in the dark
Now I know my dream will live on I've been waiting so long
Nothing's gonna tear us apart

As they were singing, everyone in the audience stood up from their seats and clapped to the song.

Tea was now enjoying herself on the stage with Atem and she hardly ever noticed the audience in front of her.

Life is a road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep going on

Tea
Starting out on a journey

Both
Life is a road and I wanna keep going
Love is a river I wanna keep flowing
In the end I wanna be stanting
At the beginning with you.

The piano player played a few notes before ending the song with Atem and Tea smiling at each other. Once the song played it's last note, they received a big standing ovation from their performance and they both took a bow. They both went backstage to find Yugi, Joey and Tristan greeting them with applauses. Rita came back out on the stage to talk in the mic.

"Okay, now that we have seen all of our performers, it's time to decide our winner. Under your seats you'll find a card that has the contestants names on them. Everyone will check off one of the names on the card and vote for who you think should be the winner our talent show. In five minutes we'll have the volunteers to come around and collect your voting cards." The audience had a moment to decide who they thought was the best.

"Hey Yug, you got any of those cards on ya?" asked Joey.

"Yeah, here you go." Yugi took out two cards to give to Joey and Tristan and they picked Atem and Tea of course. They gave the cards back to Yugi and he put them in the voting box. Once all of the votes were collected from the audience and tallied up, it was time to announce the winner. Rita came back out with the envelope in her hand and stepped up to the mic.

"Alright everyone, I am about to announce the winner." She opened the envelope and pulled out the paper.

"And the winners are Atem and Tea!" They both had wide eyes as they heard their names and they were not expecting to win, but they went out on the stage anyway and received a big trophy. Everyone in their seats were standing and clapping loudly congratulating them on the best performance in the show. Rita walked over to Tea with the mic still in her hand.

"Tea, as the class president and the person in charge of the talent show, we were wondering if you would sing for us before we end the show. Since you were new to our school a couple of weeks ago, I'm sure everyone would love to hear you sing solo this time." she said. Tea was hesitant to answer.

"Um, I don't know."

"Oh please? It would be so great if you would." she asked with a puppy dog pout. Tea heard everyone begging her to perform again and she turned to look at Atem who gave her a reassuring nod. So she turned back to Rita to give her answer.

"Well alright." she said. Rita squealed and gave her a hug and then she gave her the mic. Atem kissed her cheek and turned her to him.

"You're going to be great. Just remember what I told you and you'll be fine. I'm going to be backstage with the guys watching you, okay?" Tea nodded. She walked over to the piano and sat down. She looked up to see everyone waiting for her to sing and then looked behind her to Atem, Yugi, Joey and Tristan smiling at her. She faced the piano again and noticed that her locket was glowing and smiled knowing that her parents were with her. So she started to play the piano and sing.

Suddenly I, am in front of the lights
Everything, I'm feeling scary and beautiful at the same time
And everyday, I try just to breathe
I want to show the whole world the truth inside of me

Suddenly people know my name
Suddenly everything has changed
Suddenly I feel so alive
In the blink of an eye,

M dreams begin to reign

Suddenly time, it feels like the wind
It changes everywhere I go I'm just trying to fit in
Now here I stand and I'm still just that girl
I'm following my heart in this amazing crazy world

Suddenly people know my name
Suddenly everything has changed
Suddenly I feel so alive
In the blink of an eye
Suddenly I am center stage
Suddenly I am not afraid
Suddenly I believe again
In the blink of an eye it's happening now

As my dreams begin to reign
I want to say love me for me
what's inside

I'm gonna be positive, not run away
So much for you
This is life

Suddenly I am center stage
Suddenly I am not afraid
Suddenly I believe again
In the blink of an eye

My dreams begin to reign

When Tea finished her song, the audience were up on their feet cheering loudly for her and she stood from her seat to take a small bow. Atem, Yugi, Joey and Tristan all came on stage to invite her into a group hug. She turned to look at the window and she could actually see her parents smiling at her before they disappeared. Tea had a tear run from eye with a small smile and turning to give the others a hug.

'Goodbye Mom and Dad, I love you.'

It has been two weeks since the talent show and Tea was outside in the garden sitting against a tree at home writing in her journal on how her life has changed in the past two months. Buyo was running around the yard getting his exercise and she laughed as he tried to chase a butterfly. Just then, she felt Atem sit next to her and wrap his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into his chest to listen to his heartbeat with a happy sigh. He looked down to see her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

"You seem happy." he said. She raised her head to look at him.

"I am. I just feel so complete now that I don't have anything to worry about anymore." Atem smiled and saw her journal that she got for her birthday in her lap.

"You're writing in your new journal now, but where's your other one?" he asked.

"It's in my room. I thought that since I have a new life now, I should write about it in my new journal. I'll never get rid of my old one, but I just think that it's time to move on, you know?" she said. Atem nodded and kissed her forehead.

"I'm so glad to hear you say that." Tea reached down to hold his hand.

"I am so glad that we met Atem. If it wasn't for you, I don't know how my life would be like right now."

"Well, there's no need to think that because we found each other and that's all that matters." he said.

"You're right, my shining light." Atem eyes widened.

"Shining Light?" Tea nodded.

"You helped me find my way out of the darkness and find my way to you." Atem pulled her face to his and kissed her passionately. He brushed his tongue on her lower lip asking for entrance and she gladly gave him permission to enter. They both moaned when they felt their tongues move together. They pulled away from each other and both of them blushed from the passion they shared from their kiss.

"I love you Tea." he whispered.

"I love you too Atem." she whispered back. Then went back to kissing each other with guarantee in their hearts that they will have a wonderful future ahead of them with moments like this together.

Well this is the end. Tell me what you think of this chapter in your reviews. Thanks again for everyone who read my story and left nice reviews. :D