Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ A Feary Tale ❯ Night One - Two dark, demonic Cats ( Chapter 2 )

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… ;two very large black cats sprang forward furiously, seated themselves on each side of the fire, and stared at him with wild, fiery eyes. After a while, when the cats became thoroughly warm, they spoke, and said, "Comrade, will you have a game of cards?"…..

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#3: Night One - Two dark, demonic Cats#

"This is it? This?!"

Ryou was beside himself. Unlike Seto, who was watching the (once again) freaking out vampire with a stoic look.

"Yes."

"… ..!!" Ryou gestured with his hands, unable to put just half of all he wanted to say into words. "Do you even know what this is?!"

Despite his attempt to stay calm, his voice bordered on a shriek. Seto gave him a 'why-would-I-care?' look. Ryou resisted the urge to rip his head off, just to see if there was anything in it.

Mostly because he knew that Seto would high probably kill him in the attempt.

So instead, he tried to recollect what little was left of his badly shaken nerves ever since he met Seto, and silently counted until ten, before giving it a new try getting into the brunette's thick skull.

"Seto, this is the Muramotou Mansion. That house's cursed! Nobody's ever stayed a night and survived!"

Seto nodded calmly. "That's what I heard."

Ryou gaped at him. "And you still took the job?!"

Seto shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "Sure."

Now Ryou really didn´t know what to say anymore.

"…I don´t understand you."

For a moment, Seto's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"Nobody has said that you have to." Noticing the strangely hurt expression in the young vampire's eyes, he more gently added. "I just want you to spent some time with me. If you want to, you can leave the house whenever you want. I won't hold you."

His emotional, chocolate brown eyes still fixed on Seto, Ryou nodded slowly.

"Alright."

"Fine."

With that, Seto started his way to the front door of the large mansion, determined to find a nice room and make himself comfortable before the evening dawned. With a little bit of luck, Ryou would even decide to stay with him.

Although Seto didn´t want to admit it, he'd grown strangely fond of the shy, white-haired vamp in a very short time. In the few hours he'd known Ryou now, it had already caused a part of him to want to make sure that Ryou's overly passive streak wouldn't cause the young albino to get hurt.

Which was a problem.

Seto's possessive protectiveness could lead the usually controlled brunette to undertake some drastic actions that he normally wouldn't do. Drastic, and extremely risky. That was like Seto Kaiba in his protective mood. He'd have to be even more cautious now.

In the end, he chose a spacious room on the first floor, with a large canopy double bed, a window facing the vast garden, and a large cupboard. Just when he was about to stash the objects he'd requested for his stay into it, Ryou entered the room. Noticing what he was doing, his large, expressive doe eyes lightened up immediately.

"Are you now finally going to let me know what we were dragging around the whole time?"

Seto gave him a calculating look. "Curious, aren´t we?"

Ryou pouted. Despite his best attempts to sound cocky and self-assured, Seto immediately saw through the smaller teen's act. Still, that pout had something to it.

So, silently chiding himself for becoming soft, the brunette nodded and gestured for the albino to come closer. Ryou's eyes grew wide as he saw what had been in the bag. First, there was an extra-secure pair of handcuffs, then what looked like a plane set and third there was a… A mallet?!

Ryou felt seriously inclined doubting Seto's sanity at the sight. The handcuffs, he could understand. Too pushy fiends could be bound by them without having to actually kill them. But the mallet?! -And then the plane… Did Seto expect to have that much free time that he was going to be able to carve?

"Why in God's name did you request that things?!"

Seto grinned at the expression on the other's face. Ryou looked like he was seriously doubting Seto's sanity. Well, maybe he had a right to. After all, not many would get the idea to request an anvil with the fitting hammer (Oh, he still had to show that one to Ryou) when preparing for a stay in a haunted house.

On the other side, when had Seto ever been like all the others?

He smirked at the dumbfounded vampire. "I had my reasons, believe me."

Ryou wasn't very reassured with those words. Instead he gave Seto one of those thoughtful 'looks'.

"Oh, really?"

There was more than a little doubt in his voice. Seto flinched inwardly. The pale youth looked like he was already starting to begin to mourn the fact that he'd decided to stay. Finishing putting his stuff away, he turned back to the waiting albino.

"Yes. I've thought them all over. Each one of them has it's use, trust me."

Ryou still looked unsure. Sensing the other's discomfort, Seto stepped over and laid a gentle, but firm hand on his shoulder. Giving the pale youth an imploring look, Seto said softly.

"Ryou. Please."

Ryou fought the urge to flinch away. His shoulder felt strangely hot where Seto's hand touched him, and the calm, yet turmoil dark-blue eyes made him feel uneasy. Actually, Seto as a whole made him feel uneasy. It was like there'd been a charm placed on him. Ever since he'd first met the brunette, he hadn't left his side anymore. He hadn't even considered the thought of going alone!

Bringing himself to meet Seto's eyes, he watched the emotions displayed in them. They were strange, cold and icy-guarded at one side, yet at the other warm, displaying just exactly what the other felt. Currently, they were trying to look unconcerned, while worry and hope fought a silent battle in them. Ryou felt himself stunned by those eyes.

Sighing silently, he finally lowered his head, nodding his agreement.

"I… I believe you. I don't know what to think about this, but I think that I can to trust you."

Looking up, he was rewarded with catching the flicker of heartfelt gratitude in Seto's vibrant eyes. It was just brief, but so true through and through that it managed to quell Ryou's worries like none of Seto's words ever could.

Seto took a long breath. Still standing close to Ryou, he whispered a barely audible, "Arigatou." into his ears. It was so low that the pale boy, even at their closeness, nearly wouldn't have heard it, yet it still made Ryou's heart miss a beat.

Seto was back to unpacking his belongings.

"I guess, I´ll go and find myself a room then."

Ryou was surprised himself at the secure way his words had come out. Seto stopped for a moment from whatever he was doing to look up and give Ryou one of his typical looks. Strangely enough, the young vampire didn't feel them as cold or discomforting anymore. Just typical Seto.

"Do that."

"Un." Ryou nodded, letting himself silently out of the room. Unlike the brunette, he hadn't brought much with him, only what he was wearing on his body and a small knife just in case. Like all of his kind, the albino vampire preferred travelling lightly packed.

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As it was to be expected, it didn't take for long for Ryou to be finished. Seeing as that Seto still seemed to be either busy or wanting to be for himself, the pale-haired youth settled for making himself comfortable in the giant hall that seemed to serve as the living room, or at least one of them. After lighting a fire in the chimney, Ryou settled down at one of the many plush seats that were assemble and used the opportunity to think his new situation over.

A thing he should've done already a long while ago, if you asked him.

From the very beginning on, Seto's bare presence had caught him by surprise and swept him off his feet (and had constantly kept him there). The vampire shivered lightly, imaging what could've happened if the brunette wouldn't have been so indifferent towards his true nature. Ryou flinched lightly. Ouch. That could have ended painful. Luckily Seto definitely didn't care if his companion was a blood-sucking vampire or not.

Somehow the thought made Ryou feel flattered.

On the other hand, the blue-eyed youth didn't seem to attach great importance to the true nature of anything. Or why else would he have agreed to such a horrid deal? The Muramotou Mansion was the most feard and dreaded haunted house (house, the thing was bigger than the king's castle!) in the whole country. If not the whole continent. Even the citizens of Bllood spoke of the estate with a certain fear in their voices that had the young vampire quickly decide that he'd rather die than risking falling into it's clutches.

Yet here he was, waiting for his uncanny companion to come down and keep him company.

The azure-eyed brunette definitely had to have had a hex placed on him to be so stupid. Sighing, Ryou made himself a little bit more comfortable on his seat, staring into the flames. When had he ever been rational anyway? A vampire who liked watching the sunsets/rises and was allergic to feathers, puh-lease. Not to mention the fact that he got sick at the sight of too much blood at once.

The shortcomings of 'usual' vampiric traits had also been the main reasons for leaving his hometown. The other… How was it said? 'Home is, where your heart is.' But what if you were a creature of the night that wasn't supposed to possess a heart? A still beating one anyway. Did that mean that he wasn't meant to ever find somewhere he felt that he belonged to? Ryou's vibrant, dark-brown eyes turned into a sad frown at that thought. Nonsense! That stupid saying was just as wrong as all those stupid stories told about vampires. A giant load of bull, one more than the other.

It was pure fiction that all vampires were blood-sucking monsters and that sunlight or holy water would burn them. The same with crosses. And garlic? Please. That was simply hilarious. Although that with the stake was right. Who wouldn´t be dead after having a sharpened stake hammered throught their heart?!

And then there still was the flying/bat thing. Ryou sighed to himself again. That was another thing they got true. Although they forgot the mist. Yeah, turning into mist to evade any physical hindrances was very important. Another factor that distinguished Ryou sharply from the rest of the other vampires. While, for others, it was normal to turn into giant bats to fly, Ryou barely managed to sprout a big enough pair of extra wings on his back without collapsing from the pain. About the transformation into mist, he didn't even want to think. Impossible for him to ever dream of. As a vampire, he was a total failure.

Ryou sighed for a third time, loudly. By now he really wished for his blue-eyed companion to come down and help him defeat those depressing thoughts. An uncanny, but tempting, Seto was still better than all those down-pushing thoughts.

Far better.

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It was later in the evening that found Ryou and Seto both down in the common room, each silently enjoying the other's company. Ryou hadn't talked much to Seto after he'd finally appeared and Seto didn't seem to feel bothered by it. He didn't like loud chattermouths anyway. In the hallway, an old grandfather clocke stroke midnight.

Seconds later, a loud crashing sound cut through the silence, efficiently startling both sleepy youths. Ryou was the first one to react.

"What?" Turning to Seto, he asked. "Seto, did you hear that too?"

The cool-eyed brunette nodded, though he had the urge to roll his eyes.

"Sounded like it came from my room."

"From your room?" Ryou twitched uneasily. Against his will, old tales about what had happened to those who had dared staying over night in the house replayed themselves in his mind. All those tales were based on assumptions only, nobody had ever dared to spend the night at the Muramotou Mansion and lived to tell about it. It had only been conclusions and assumptions that had been made from the damage on the bodies. The pale vampire felt a shiver run down his spine.

CRASH

At the noise, Ryou jumped. It had been even louder than the first time and sounded like being caused by something sharp. Seto shot him an amused look.

"Scared?"

Ryou resisted the urge to pout. In fact, mainly because, well, he was scared. A bit. Nonetheless, he shook his head.

"About that little noise?" It sounded astoundingly self-secure.

Seto nodded in appreciation. CRASH!! The noised repeated a third time. This time it was loud enough to make the vampire think he saw the pictures shake on the walls. Seto had jumped up from his seat.

"That´s enough!" Shaking his first at nothing in particular, he turned to the stairway that led upwards. "Nobody ruins my room and can think that he comes away with it!"

That said, he turned around and stomped upwards, not caring if his advancing could be heard through the whole house or not.

"……" Ryou stared after him. "……I can´t believe it. ..!"

Didn't that guy think that whatever it was that was being so loud could also be very dangerous? According to the sound, it was something very large partying up there. If it even was just one. There could be two or twenty as well for all they knew. And Seto was just stomping up there not heeding the risk a minimal bit! Ryou shook his head.

"… … Hey, Seto, wait!"

He caught up with the aggravated brunette at the angle of his door. Peeking past him inside, Ryou felt his heart stop. Next to him, Seto growled.

"I can't believe it. Cat hair on my sheets!!"

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In front of them were two man-sized, demonic cats playing tag on Seto's bed. Ryou felt himself pale. The two animals were huge, at least shoulder-height with him, and the most scaring sight he'd ever seen.

They were both - despite their enormous size - looking like normal house cats, (if the evil one himself would have ever decided to keep himself pets,) and radiating off an aura of sheer evil that made the vampire wish to go and hide in the next closet. They had both big, evil, gleaming eyes and possessed each a set of bone white fangs that were each the size of his fingers.

While one had wild-coloured fur that reminded of dry desert sand and off-colour lavenderish eyes that were empathized by the twin marks running from the corner of it's eyes and over it's cheekbones, the other was raven-black and had pupil-less, acidic green eyes. It was a little smaller than the first one and had, alongside an old scar that was running vertically over one half of it's face, many rips in it's ears that told of old fights. Neither looked very nice.

While Ryou was still staring and Seto seething, the black one futilely tried to temp the bigger, sandy one to give up it's prestigious sleeping place (enthroned right in the very middle of the shreds of Seto's bed, taking up as much space as possible) by jumping onto it and paw it mock-playfully. Obviously in the hope of luring it's ally from the warm nest and claiming it itself. The other ignored it ardently, swiping it with a careless motion from the futon and back on the bare floor where it landed with a very un-feline-like loud crash. Seto twitched.

Ryou gulped at his companion's facial expression. Somebody was going to die soon and extremely painfully. The dominant cat stretched comfortably, digging it's long - very long! - claws into the bed sheets and mattress. At the following ripping sound, Ryou twitched as well.

Next to him Seto growled.

Loud.

The two cats from hell looked up, taking note of the pale boy and his seething companion for the first time. Ryou gulped. All the waves of anger radiating from the brunette were making him wonder if it wouldn't be better if he took hide behind the cats. At least he'd be out of Seto's indirect reach then.

Exchanging looks, both cats grinned. Not the usual, stoic cat-grin all creatures of the feline species shared, but two real, thoroughly sardonic smiles. The one on the ground sat up.

"Well, well, well. If that aren't those intruders you mentioned before."

Ryou blinked in sudden surprise. He didn't think one would be able to speak with such teeth. But that wasn't the only unbelievable thing. Where seconds ago a large, pitch-black cat had sat, there was now a sadistically grinning boy. He had black hair as well, long and tied back in a loose braid and a diamond-pattered bandanna. Like his sleeveless vest, it was a bright, blood red. The rest of 'his' outfit consisted out of a set of tight, black leather pants and a sleeveless shirt that was black as well. The green eyes had changed into a more human shape, but retained their maliciousness. Ryou shivered at the look they were giving him.

From the bed, a soft chuckle was heard. Whipping his head around, Ryou already knew what he was going to see. The other cat had become human as well. Though, this one was even odder than the first one, if that was possible. On Seto's bed, in middle of now torn sheets, was a sand-coloured blonde. Snickering, he deliberately took his time stretching, (loudly crackling his knuckles in the movement. The sound alone made Ryou want to jump), before sitting up and grinning brightly at them.

Ryou felt astonished that something that evil could produce something looking that nice and sincere. He didn't let himself be fooled though. In Bllood, one quickly learned that not everything that looked nice, would be nice. This second 'cat' had - aside from his bright-coloured hair - sun-tanned, dark skin and bright lavender eyes with marks under them. They shone with something more than the vampire would have liked to see.

Still grinning at them, the 'cat' stood up, putting a hand nonchalantly onto a ruined bedpost. It seemed that this one and the other cat had decided to play yin and yang with their clothes colouring. Where the first one's was kept in mostly dark, intimidating shades, the sandy-ones were bright, consisting of a light violet vest with a gold chain as his top (sleevless again), a bare midriff and a relaxing shade of yellow for his skin-hugging pants. The only thing they seemed to agree on was the wearing of jewellery. Masses of it.

Watching them with a smirk, the blonde cat-demon spoke.

"You're right, Otogi. It is them."

The black one smirked again. Standing up, he carelessly shifted his position onto the bed (right of where the blonde one sat, Ryou noted.)

"´Told you so, Ishtar." He grinned. "They made the bed nice for us."

´Ishtar´ made a disgusted sound. "I´d rather eat rats than share a bed with you. Anyway," turning his attention back to the two, he smiled apologetically, "Otogi's a bit impolite, I fear. We're here for a reason, you see."

Stepping forward, he extended a (still claw-nailed, Ryou noted) hand towards them. Ryou found it appropriate to slink back at the gesture. He'd seen other cats do the same to their prey before. Noting the vampire's uneasiness, Seto instinctively shoved himself in front of him, blocking the blonde cat-demon's path. Ryou didn't have to see him to know that the brunette was glaring daggers at it. Somehow, he felt grateful for the little protective act, useless as it was. Wrong thought! Ryou slunk a bit more behind the uncanny brunette. The blonde cat grinned.

Drawing his hand back, he said.

"How impolite of me. We didn't even introduce ourselves. I," he grinned, "- am Malik Ishtar. And that," he pointed a clawed finger behind him, "- is Otogi Ryuuji. Don´t mind his manners, he doesn't have any."

A muffled 'hey' came from the bed.

Seto nodded.

"Seto Kaiba and Ryou Bakura."

Malik nodded, his lavender eyes gleaming.

"U-huh. So tell me, Seto Kaiba and Ryou Bakura - are you planning on staying this night here at the mansion?"

Seto jerked his head in an indifferent movement.

"Yes and no. We are staying for three nights." Malik's lips twitched into a grin.

"I see."

Sauntering back over to the bed, he gave them a dark look. "But sorrowfully, I can't agree with you on that." He waved his hand. Somewhere from between the muddled sheets came a loud hiss. Malik ignored it. "You must've already guessed why we were sent here. Our job is to kill you." He smirked at them again. "We could - easily. But that's not the point."

Seto turned his head lightly. "But?"

Malik fixed him with his eyes. "I see you understand. Point is that I'm bored."

At that Otogi's head shot up. "Bored? How can you be bored with playing with mortals?"

Malik didn't deem him an answer.

"It's always the same. We come here, make some noise and rip the intruders into tiny pieces when they come to check on what's going on." He sighed. "What I want is a change." Smirking again, he pointed at them. "And that's where you come into this."

Seto's ice-blue eyes narrowed.

"Your point is? You better make it quick, or else I´ll lose interest and leave you two to your foolish game."

Ryou wondered how the taller teen just could be so cold-blooded. Wasn't he scared of these cat-demons at all?

It didn't seem so.

Malik chuckled.

"Let's play a game."

->Chapter 4…?

PS: Whee~!! A great thanks for reviewing to michew and DemonandGoddess! Thanks a lot for liking this story and letting me know! ^_____^