"Huh?" Ashleigh asked and had a good look around. Picture frames was barely showing so she clicked her fingers. After a brillant blast of light, her soul room was full with light and showed a summery landscape with a stage full with books, CDs, DVDs, and whatever else was on it. The frames was shown much more. One of them shows the Dancer group that she used to be apart of. Then others showed her wedding day, her children......

Neferhenta walked around the room. "Your friends and family mean quite a bit to you, don't they?" She asked, seeing the pictures.

"I guess so. But I don't want them or anyone to get hurt" Ashleigh said, "And I'm not strong enough to do it. Could that that be the reason why they're getting at me because I'm weak?"

"You're not weak," Neferhenta said, pausing at a picture. "If you were, do you really think that you'd have been accepted into the group of friends you hold so dear?" She moved away to show Ashleigh a framed picture of the girl, Yugi, Anzu, Jonouchi, Honda, Ryuji, Bakura, Mokuba, Melhana, Selena, Mai, Marik, and Kaiba off to the side with a look on his face that made it clear he did not want to be there. What made it even more surprising was the fact that the entire thing was painted.

"Pegasus's daughter painted that picture herself. She was adopted like her twin's brother. I named Yana after her" Ashleigh replied, "Even if they didn't accepted me, I can't protect them like I could protect the town."

Neferhenta sighed. "You're still not weak, genius." She said. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Believe me when I say it. And if you won't, then I'll send you flying."

"Strong in power, but weak in mind. That's why I created Hikari in the first place, so I can become stronger" Ashleigh said as she walked to the picture and touched it.

"You don't need Hikari." Neferhenta said. "You're strong enough as it is. All you're missing is confidence."

"That's what my aunty said Nefe" Ashleigh said.

"Then take her advice," Neferhenta said. "Melhana's been getting me up to date about this century, and in doing so she's told me about your children, Yana and Yuzuki. From what I've heard about them, they take after you quite a bit. If that's the case, then how can you call yourself weak?"

"Then she would've told you that she put me down most of the time" Ashleigh resorted "And she hasn't apologized to me about it." That was a total understatement because that was exactly what Melhana did way back before this point in time.

Neferhenta sighed. "Fine then, consider youself weak. The more you believe you are, the more you really do become weak." She said. "Stop thinking that, and you'll find out exactly how strong you are." With that, she left the girl's mind and returned to her own body, however noncorpeal it may be.

"Aka, your hikari has some serious self-esteem issues." She said.

"That's why I'm here for but in the moment, she's pushing me away and not talking to me anymore. What did you say to her?" Aka asked.

Neferhenta leaned up against the wall. "She was saying that she was weak, and when I tried convincing her she wasn't, she didn't want to hear it." She shrugged. "So I just told her that the more she thought of herself as weak, the weaker she would become."

((found the cause of Ashleigh's thinking. Post 345 on page 14 and post 349 on the same page. I think that what I put there about Ashleigh's broken spirit could be one of the causes of why Aka's there in the first place. Page 30 is when Ashleigh was started to be hunted down.))
Aka sighed.
"It seems that when we go one step forward, she goes two steps back. I can't believe this" Aka said.

Neferhenta was silent for a moment. "When's Ashleigh's birthday?" she asked. "I think I may know how to help that girl get her confidence back."

"May the 10th" Aka replied, "what's your idea?" Mahad looked at the calender.
"But that's at the end of this week!" he exclaimed.

Neferhenta grinned. "Then we don't have much time." She said. "Let's get the gang together. We've got a birthday party to plan."

"I guess that its not a good idea NOT to plan it in here but one of us have to stay here to keep an eye on those two" Mahad said. After a long silence.....
"I stay here" Aka said.

Neferhenta nodded. "I'll go tell Melhana," She said. "Then I'll help Uncle Mahado out in rounding everyone up." With that she left through the wall, making herself completely invisible as she did so.

"I wish I could do that" Aka grumbled.
"Right now, I have to gather everyone. Yana won't be back until her brother is back" Mahad sighed.

Melhana was wiping her face off in the bathroom. She'd decided that it was time for a break for the both of them; Jack because he really needed lunch and some painkillers, and Melhana because Jack's bullheadedness was getting on her nerves. Bad. "Hey Nefe," She said as she sensed Neferhenta enter the bathroom.

"Hey," Neferhenta said. "I've got something to run by you."

Melhana tried smothing her fringe out. It was acting like Atem's again, meaning it was getting in her face. "What?" She asked, abandoning the attempt. Neferhenta told her the plan.

"Hm, a surprise birthday party for Ashleigh," She said, tapping her chin with her index finger. "I'm all for it." She dug into her bag and pulled out her cell phone, hitting Ryo Bakura's number on speed dial.

Yana and her brother Yuzuki walked into the HQ while Nefe was running like crazy.
"What's up Nefe?" Yana asked.

"Can you keep a secret from your mom?" Nefe asked.

---

"Hello?" Bakura asked from the other end.

"Ryo! Nefe and I have a bit of an idea for Ashleigh's birthday..." Melhana said.

"Do I need to be worried?" Bakura asked.

"No, it's not going to be a rerun of the disaster that was Honda's surprise party." Melhana said, remembering the fiasco the previous year when the gang had gotten together to hold a surprise party for Honda at the local lazer tag arena.

"Okay, I'll take your word for it." Ryo replied. "So, what's the plan?"

"Ashleigh's birthday is at the end of the week, so Nefe asked me to help her get the gang together to hold a surprise birthday party for her." Melhana replied.

"Um, ok, sure" Yana replied.
"I make sure of it" Yuzuki grumbled, "Yana isn't very good with secrets."
"HEY! And besides, you realise that its in 3 days time, right?" Yana said.