13 – The Full Picture

POV Ishizu Ishtar

The past two weeks had been the best of my entire life.

Reconnecting with Toshi, my new job at the museum, spending time together with Toshi, getting to go to college and make new friends, making out with Toshi, helping my brother see the error of his ways, - 1 of 2 complete! Yay! - and, of course, snuggling with Toshi throughout the night.

...Okay, I might be living a "Maiden in Love"'s life right now...But I cannot help being anything but happy with how well things have been going!

Or...I would be. If I didn't have this immense feeling of guilt weighing down my heart. 

See, every time that Toshi tells me how much he cares about me, he calls another woman's name. Sure, it was the very same name that I had given myself all those years ago, but it was still another woman's name. It was not my name. 

The guilt of him not knowing who I was, and the thought of how he would react to finding out I was someone else entirely was quickly eating away at my happy mood.

The biggest problem? Toshi had started to notice something was up. 

At first, I am sure he just thought I was having a mood swing or a bad day, but in the last 2 days, he has been asking me, "What's wrong?" and, "Are you okay?" more and more frequently. 

Toshiaki is astoundingly attentive to my feelings and needs, and I love him all the more for it. 

I also hate myself all the more for lying to him.

Every night when we would sleep together - NOTHING HAS HAPPENED!!! - and he would hold me close, I could feel the slight tension in his muscles. It was like I could sense a question on the tip of his tongue.

That terrified me.

I felt miserable in his comfortable embrace and would have to bite my cheek to prevent myself from just yelling out the truth and being done with it.

He would still love me, even with Rasha being false, right?  

...Right?

...

'I will tell him tonight.' I commit to myself for at least the 4th night in a row.

Anyway, this wasn't the only thing that has been bothering me lately.

A new figure has made his name known in Domino City. A man who wears the guise of Anubis, the Egyptian God of Death and Judgment.

News agencies were having a field day with it. His costume was so striking and unique that simple curiosity pieces have quickly been turned into, "What Anubis Did Today!" columns. 

That, by itself, would not interest me. Duel Monsters has been around for thousands of years. Rookie players rising through the ranks and earning accolades was nothing that impressive to me.

What did draw my attention, however, was his chosen costume and theme. Being a lover of ancient Egyptian history, how could this mysterious person not draw my attention? How could I not be curious of their origins...or their intentions. 

I also really hated not knowing things.

My Millenium Necklace lets me see through the past and potential futures of those I focus on, providing nearly perfect clairvoyance. I also just so happened to have a bad habit of looking into people's pasts whenever I met someone who intrigued or alerted me.

Futures were intangible and, often, changeable, but pasts were as windows into a person's soul. I could learn nearly everything I needed about someone with a single glance at their past. It has gotten to the point where I do it without thinking, like second nature.

I do have strict rules I follow, however. The first is that I never use it on friends or family. That only leads to pain or uncomfortable situations. I generally only use it on potential threats or when I feel scared or cornered. The second is that I will never tell what I see. This information is for me and me alone.

It was hard to describe how it worked...The best I can do is to say that I saw potential wafting off people in multicolored waves. By grabbing a wave, metaphorically of course, and staring deeper into it, I could view from where that wave started to where it would end on its current trajectory. Most had no less than 5 waves on them at any given time.

This was true for every person I have ever met, there are no acceptions. Even Toshi had them originally. 

...I...May or may not have stared at a future where we were married and had 3 children hundreds of times...

*Ahem*

Anyway, the necklace had been given to me after my mother passed away. To say that I was "Gifted it," however, would be incorrect. Millennium Items choose their owners, so when my mother died, I was chosen. This is also the only reason I was made clan head, as our ancient traditions say that only a bearer of a Millenium Item may lead the Tomb Keepers. 

My Millenium Necklace had many other abilities, but none of those were important right now. 

Back to why I was so curious.

With Anubis being someone unknown and seemingly powerful...It was too hard to resist taking a peek in on who he actually was. It wasn't like it would matter to me in the long run. Besides, he was really suspicious and worth investigating!

...This totally wasn't me justifying it. It was worth it if he was a threat! I would just take a peek!

Besides...Knowing a deeply hidden secret always gave me a thrill. Especially when no one else did.  

So, with that thought in mind, I used a night that Toshiaki had gone over to his friend's house and that I did not work as a chance to go to a local game store tournament that was being held. Based on what I had heard, if there was a place to find Anubis, it would be here. 

I was merely passing the time and looking to slake my a curiosity, so imagine my surprise when something completely unexpected happened. 

"I...I can't read him..."

* | * | *

POV Switch Arakaki Toshiaki

The next week was a blur of happiness due to my new girlfriend, tiredness dealing with school, and thrilling late-night dueling. 

I went as hard as I could with all of my personas while still keeping a stable lifestyle. Nights when I went out, I would stay out longer, making slightly risky excuses backed by the fact that I DID go where I said I did at the start.

I won another tournament earning a further 1k DP and 3 Free Booster Packs, used Anubis as much as possible to stand out more, then cleaned up shop with my other personas until it would have been suspicious for me to stay out any longer.

Everything was going perfectly. Anubis was making waves and I was raking in the Duel Points...but that came with an unforeseen problem.

Anubis? Yeah, he was TOO popular. 

Apparently, news agencies were starved for stories this week. One morning I was scrolling through Moogle News and BOOM. There I was. There Anubis was.

"Who Is The Rising Rookie, Anubis!?!"

I was shocked. Certainly, I had intended to get famous, but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would happen so quickly. 

'Must just be a coincidence...'

Spoiler alert, it was not. 

So, here I was, on every major news network in Domino City just two weeks after I started. They would report on me. Every. Night. Even if I didn't do anything, they still reported on me! 

It started to be difficult for me to leave after winning at shops due to people trying to talk to me. I had several camera crews ready to interview me after winning the tournament, and worst of all, people would follow me for MILES trying to find out who I really was. Apparently, there was a growing pool of Duel Points for whoever identifies me first. 

If I didn't have my cloak and mask, I would have been discovered within that first few days for sure. The other Personas saved me on SO many occasions. Thank the gods I thought of them.

Unfortunately, they did not always save me. I was discovered Thursday night, but, to be honest, it wasn't even my fault. She just got lucky!

...Don't tell Ishizu I said that...

***

Thursday Evening, Just After Winning The Tournament 

I rush into a nearby ally and duck around a trashcan. Changing into my old man persona, I turn and wave my fist in the opposite direction of where I entered. 

In the next moment, a wave of people with cameras rushes through the alley. They pay no attention to the angry old man in the slightest.  

'Another perfect escape.' I think, changing into my teenager delinquent persona once the alley is empty and walking down the street with my shoulders slumped and hands in my pocket. 

I make it all the way back to my neighborhood and switch back to my normal look after ducking into the shadows. I whistle a happy tune as I turn the corner onto our street. I head up the driveway and to the front door-

"I knew it. It was you, Toshi."

'Fucking, Shit!!!' I scream internally as I nearly jump out of my skin in fright. 

Ishizu walks up behind me with crossed arms and a complicated expression on her face.

I look at her and immediately slump my shoulders. 

"Less than two weeks. It took you less than two weeks to find out! Are you part bloodhound or something!?!" I demand with an aggrieved smile as I unlock the door to the house. 

She glares at me.

I chuckle and wave for her to enter. "Wouldn't you rather have this conversation inside?" I ask.

She pauses in thought...but nods after a second. She tentatively walks past me and inside the house. 

No one else is home.

I enter and lock the door. I turn and find Ishizu standing 10 feet away, eyeing me wearily. 

"Who are you, really?" She asks quietly.

I roll my eyes at her.

I transform into my Anubis persona and quickly step towards her. 

She freezes at the sudden change and I move right in front of her. I swing my arms like I am going to grab her, then transform back to normal.

Ishizu screams and tries to hit me, but her swing goes wide as she suddenly finds that I am the normal Toshi she knows and loves. I hold her in my arms and smile down at her with a devilish grin. 

"Asshole." She says and blows a tuft of black hair from her beautiful, dusky face. 

"I am, indeed," I say, lowering my head down and kissing her gently. She stiffens for a moment but then melts into the kiss as she grabs onto me desperately.

After we break from the moment of passion, she pouts at me and demands, "Explain."

I, again, roll my eyes at her. "Don't we both have things to explain, Ishizu?" I ask with a waggle of my eyebrows.

She freezes completely and then gives a massive sigh of her own. "You knew all along, didn't you? Do you have any idea how much I've worried over this for the last 2 weeks!?!"

"Yes, I do." I say, giving her a "Really?" look.

"Then why did you let me go through that? Why didn't you tell me you knew? Why play along?" She says, tears starting to fall from her eyes. Whether in relief or frustration, it was not clear.

"Because, my lovely Egyptian Princess, trust goes both ways." I wipe the corner of her eyes and lean in to give her another soft kiss. "I have my own secrets, like this one, and I am only going to share them with you if you share yours with me...Besides, you three messed up your names so many times that It would have been hard for me not to notice, even if I didn't already know." I end with a laugh and she growls at me.

"So, what do you say, are you going to trust in me, Miss Ishtar?"

Ishizu nods shyly at that, feeling ashamed not to realize this herself. She grabs my hand and pulls me up the stairs and into my room. She sits on one side of the bed and points to the other side for me to sit facing her. 

The next hour I learn the full story of Ishizu Ishtar. She starts with an apology for not telling me sooner, but I wave it off. We got here in the end, why should it matter how it started?

She holds nothing back and tells me everything she can. She keeps her family secrets, obviously. We would need a way deeper connection for her to divulge everything about the Tomb Keepers, but she still tells me more about them than the anime ever did. Meaning, I know more than the rest of the cast ever will - Except the Ishtar siblings, of course.

Then, it is my turn. I also tell her everything, with only one thing hidden being that I merged with Josh and became a new person. Like her, I would need a deeper connection to share that...If I ever decided to share that at all. I am not sure what the point would be of telling her that this world was just a story to me before Josh came here. That would probably just make me sound crazy or unnecessarily hurt her.

My soul merge is also likely why she couldn't see my past and future any longer, since part of me was not originally from here and beyond what her Millenium Necklace can see. That was my theory at least. I could be wrong.

I DO tell her about how my parents left me a necklace, how I had a sort of awakening 2 weeks ago, how I now have access to the Transmigrator Shop, though I call it the"Duel Monster Shop" to not confuse her more, and how the shop forced me to buy the second necklace. Then I tell her how the two pieces merged together. 

I realize she is staring at me in confusion, so I will the necklace to appear above my clothes. This was something I learned I could do early on - convenient for hiding it with V-Neck shirts!

 Ishizu falls off the bed.

I stare after her in concern, but before I can get up, she tackles me down and hovers right over the necklaces.

"You...You...You're the Keeper of the Forbidden One!" She stammers out.

I nod and respond, "Yeah, but I have no idea what that means or what I can do with these. The letter I got from my dad just said that I should protect them and wait for the keeper to come to me...but it sorta just appeared already on me before I read his warning about possibly dying. When I got the second one from the safety deposit box, it merged with this one, and I kinda figured that made me the Keeper or whatever. My hand passes through it and everything." I explain and show her what I mean.

"Toshi...This...is massive! The world has been waiting for you for over a thousand years!" She says in awe.

"And I have been waiting for you all my life, baby," I answer back with a wink. 

She blushes bright red and hits my arm. "I'm being serious!"

"Oh, I am too," I say and flip our positions. Now she is pinned below me on the bed. 

Her blush increases from the tips of her ears to the valley of her breasts. She visibly shudders under me and her blue eyes stare up at me through sultry lids. Her mouth is slightly open and her hot breath on my neck sends goosebumps down my spine.

'Holy shit, that is fucking dangerous!' I think and lean in to kiss her softly, as much to break whatever spell she was under as it was to remove some of the stimulation from my eyes. 

I move back after a long kiss and smile down at her, trying to bring us back on target. 

"I honestly have no idea what being the Keeper means, but I am willing to learn if you are willing to teach me. It's you and me from now on, Ishizu. I will help you in your goals and with the Tomb Keepers, and you help me with Anubis and this whole Keeper thing. Sound like a deal?" I smile down at her and try to send all the feelings of love I can through it.

It might have worked too well.

"Yeah, sounds great...but I need something else right now." She says in a husky voice and wraps her arms around me to pull my face to hers.

Looks like I failed in bringing us back on track...