Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Brutal Immortality ❯ Chapter Two ( Chapter 2 )

Me: Backies! With another juicy chappie!

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Brutal Immortality

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Chapter Two

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"It…it can't be…!"

Laying before him was a very blonde, very unconscious Jounouchi Katsuya.

Seto's eyes held fear, and shock. How could he be alive? But the answer lay before Seto, as well. A great puffy tail, and pointy, blonde ears.

The boy was an inu-jin.

Seto could not get another thought in. He was tackled by two small, yet powerful bodies. He kicked them off, hissing, and jumped back, his eyes, suddenly, turning red again. But his anger melted into shock. The two boys before him were two more that he would not expect to see.

Mutou Yuugi and Bakura Ryou.

"How is he?" A voice murmured from the shadows. Yuugi and Ryou checked their fallen friend.

"He's still alive," Ryou replied.

The girl stepped from the shadows, and Seto felt sick again. He knew her. Out of all of them, she was the one he least wanted to see.

It was Hanyou.

The reason he felt sick was because she was a female duplicate of his brother. The one thing that could come back to haunt him, now, had.

"Should we dispose of him?" Yuugi asked. They had still not seen Seto's face. He had jumped into the shadows.

"No, I want to, first, see the face of the spawn that has been killing our kind," Hanyou replied. She walked toward Seto.

Seto backed away. Killing their kind? He wasn't killing their kind…was he?

He didn't even know anymore. Like he'd established before, he had no control over his life.

Hanyou stepped closer, and grabbed the collar of his trenchcoat, pulling his eye to meet hers.

Then she gasped and dropped him.

"No…no…you can't be….can't be the one…" Hanyou seemed as scared as Seto himself.

"Hanyou, whats wrong?" Yuugi asked.

"Uncle…" Hanyou murmured.

Seto stepped from the shadows. Yuugi and Ryou gasped.

"How are you still alive," Yuugi asked, shock flaring in his deep violet eyes.

"That answer is obvious, Yuugi. He's a vampire," Ryou glared, "And he's been killing our kind, one by one."

"Listen to me. Whatever you are, I have not been killing you," Seto hissed.

Hanyou did not know what to believe. She's always thought her uncle had been staked in the heart. She never believed him to still be alive. Her eyes shifted around. She shook her head.

"Whether he's been attacking us the whole time or not, he _did_ attack Jou," She finally concluded.

Ryou and Yuugi nodded. They got ready to pounce again, and Seto glared at them, his eyes flashing red. Yuugi and Ryou growled, their bodies' morphing. Seto looked at them strangely.

Suddenly, before him, were two great dogs. One with great white fur, and the other a coat of three colors. Both were growling ferociously. Seto bared his eyeteeth, a great vampire-like hiss escaping his lips. He had to get out of there before the dogs ripped him apart. So, he did something he would have only done in complete emergencies.

His eyes became wide, and crimson red, and he screamed, as great bat wings grew from his back, ripping his shirt. His eyes were blood red, and his eyeteeth hung over his bottom lip. He was pale. He looked more like a vampire than he'd ever wanted to. But he needed to get away, and flight was the only way.

The dogs pounced, and Seto's enhanced reflexes help him dodge. He jumped, just like one of the dogs would, onto a trash can, then up onto the building, before jumping with all his strength and taking flight.

Yuugi and Ryou morphed back to their more human form and watched as the man flew away.

"Hanyou, care to explain?" Ryou asked.

Hanyou watched Seto fly away, "Uncle…"

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Seto landed back at the motel, fatigued to no end. He gritted his teeth as his wings retracted back into his back. His eyes turned back to the dull blue that he was known for, and his eyeteeth retracted back into his mouth. He panted, as he walked into the motel and to his room.

He barely had enough strength to raise his hand so the pad could scan it, but he did, and when the door slid open, and trudged in, and collapsed on the bed.

In his full vampire form, like he'd just been in to escape the dogs, he used a lot of energy. Energy he couldn't afford these days. But it was either escape or get ripped apart. He still couldn't believe that the mutt and his friends were alive.

But he had little time to dwell on that before sleep claimed him.

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"Welcome back," The British voice murmured.

Jou had just come back to consciousness, and he blinked away the blur to see his two friends hovering over him.

"What happened? I why do I feel like a steam roller took a detour over my head?" Jou asked.

"We found out who the vampire is," Ryou said.

"Stop, Ryou, Hanyou said she didn't know for sure if it was-"

"Kaiba," Ryou said.

"Wait… Kaiba _Seto_?" Jou asked.

Ryou nodded.

"Ryou, Hanyou said she didn't think it was-"

"I don't care!" Ryou yelled. He hated vampires. More then any other creature. A vampire killed his mother. And a vampire killed…

Ryou blinked back tears, "He's still a vampire. He needs to be slain."

Yuugi placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder, "I'm sorry about Bakura, Ryou…"

Ryou turned to face him, his nose red, "He was a spirit. He wasn't suppose to die. He was suppose to live. He was suppose to live forever, like me! I hate them. I hate all vampires!"

Hanyou walked in, "Bakura's shadow magic was no match for the vampire that killed him. In regular society, yes, he would have lived, but vampires can kill something's that are said to not die. Like us. In normal society, we would live forever. But Michiko was killed by a vampire."

Ryou sniffed, hugging himself. He and Bakura had just barely started to really show how they felt about each other and then, that horrible night. He could still hear Bakura screaming for him to run. That was the night Hanyou took him in. He was a wreck. Crying, and in shock. For weeks, he neither slept nor ate. All he did was cry, cry for Bakura to come back to him.

Jou frowned, taking Ryou's hand, "He saved you, Ryou."

Ryou closed his green eyes, a few stray tears falling, "Vampires…have taken everything from me. I never knew my mother because of the vampire plague that was spread throughout England. And then, Bakura, the only person I knew I could ever be close with. My _soul_ mate was stolen from me because of a vampire. No. Vampires shouldn't be aloud to live."

Ryou left the room.

Hanyou shook her head.

"I can't kill Kaiba Seto," She said.

"Why not?" Yuugi asked, softly.

"Because he's my uncle."

Yuugi blinked.

"Kaiba Mokuba was my father. Seto watched him grow old. Seto watched him _die_. It was the hardest thing he'd ever had to see. He doesn't want to be a vampire. He's hurting inside. He feels alone. More alone then he's ever felt," Hanyou replied.

Jou bit his lip, "So, when Mokuba died, you were already older then Kaiba?"

Hanyou shook her head, "Seto should have been dead long before my daddy was. But because he was changed into a vampire at the age of seventeen, he never aged. He may have aged one or two years, physically, but everything about him is the same. When I was changed into an inu-jin, I was already forty."

"So, I'm older than you, too?" Jou asked.

"All of you are, but because you were changed before me, you never aged. But you all had each other when you were turned. Seto has no one. He's had no one for three hundred years."

"So, he attacked me last night?" Jou asked.

"Yes, but I don't think he's the one who's been attacking us. There is another vampire in this city," Hanyou replied.

She paced a few steps before turning toward Jou, "Find Seto. Bring him here. He may be the only one who can help us find and kill the vampire who's been killing our kind."

Jou nodded, morphing into his true inu-jin form. He looked like a mix between a wolf and golden retriever. He hopped up on the windowsill, before jumping out. He would let his nose guide him.

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Seto awoke and looked at the digital clock next to him.

"Shit," He grumbled, groggily, late for work again, and knowing subconsciously, that he'd never have to worry about being late again.

He pulled himself out of bed, and took a shower, and got dressed. The regular routine. It never changed. It was like a monotonous dance. Seto looked at himself in the mirror.

"I hate my life," Seto mumbled.

"That's a first, I think," Another voice replied. Seto turned, and Jou stood before him, his tail off to his side, his ears up, and his hands on his hips.

Seto scowled at him, and turned back to the mirror, "How did you get in."

"The window was unlocked. For being such an advanced society now, we sure don't know how to upgrade motels, do we?" Jou looked around, "Wow, I haven't actually been in a motel in a long time. I use to stay in these all the time when things were normal around here. To get away from my dad."

Jou laughed, mostly to himself, "Why am I telling you this?"

"No clue, mutt," Seto replied. Some things never change.

Jou made a face, "Wow, glad to know that you're still you. Look, Hanyou wants me to take you back to our hide out. She thinks you're the only one who can help us find the other vampire who's been killing us."

"And how am I suppose to help?" Seto asked, turning to the blonde.

"I don't know! You just can, okay?" Jou replied, indignantly.

"Hn. Typical. You never did know much back in school."

"Hey, now watch it!" Jou growled, pointing a finger at him.

"Or what? Jou, your bark was always worse than your bite," Seto answered. Somehow, he felt better then he had in a long time. He'd missed arguing with the dog. Wait…he'd missed the dog? Somehow, that didn't seem right to him.

No, I missed fighting with him…not him, Seto replied to himself.

"Fine, I'll come with you," the brunette said.

"Umm…okay, well the Sun is out…"

"Stupid mutt. Not all things about vampires are true. I can walk in daylight. And I can see my own relfection. And I definitely don't turn into a bat."

"Really? I could've sworn I heard Yuugi talking about you having bat wings last night," Jou replied.

"I did, but they were large bat wings. And I still had a human body. When I use those wings, it's what they call a the `True Vampire.' It was my true form. But I wasn't a bat."

Jou blinked, "Oh…well come on. I s'pose Hanyou is expecting us."

Jou hopped out the window, and Seto followed. He walked down the street with Jou, noticing that Jou had turned into his true inu-jin form. So all it looked like to onlookers was a man walking his dog. Seto could live with that.

Jou led Seto into an alleyway, before turning back into himself. He went and pressed himself up against the back wall, where a scanner came out. It scanned his ears, and the wall folded open.

"C'mon," He whispered, and Seto followed him inside.

Inside was a flight of stairs, that led down to the main chamber, where the inu-jins meet. The main chamber spread into three hallways, leading to six different doors. Six inu-jins per four rooms. The other two rooms were a game room, and a bathroom.

Jou led Seto down to the main chamber.

The inu-jins who sat around Hanyou began to growl and bark. They sensed what Seto was.

"Stop! Stop all of you. Calm down!" Hanyou exclaimed, "The vampire is my relative. I assure you, he's not come to harm us. He's come to help."

Merriam, who was a fiery tempered one, stood, in rage, "No vampire could ever help us! You just wait, we'll all be resting, and he'll turn on us! Just like he did with my brother, Michiko!"

"Merriam!" Hanyou scolded. She walked over to her uncle and hugged him, "Seto, it's been a while."

Seto nodded, "Mokuba would be glad to know you're all right."

Hanyou smiled, "I miss him. I'm sure you do, too."

Seto nodded, and hugged the woman again. She looked so much like her father, and because of that, Seto was glad, and pained. He missed his brother more than anyone could ever realize.

Hanyou released the brunette, "It's so good to see you, uncle…"

The rest of the back gasped.

"How could you be related to him?" Kuri, Merriam's boyfriend, exclaimed, horrified.

"He was my father's brother! He watched as my father died. He never asked to become a vampire!" Hanyou replied. She turned back to Seto, "Come…come to my chambers…we'll catch up…"

She began to walk through her clan, Seto following, watching their every move. They didn't like him. That much was obvious, and he didn't want to die. Not yet, at least.

Hanyou led him into a secret room, which was found behind a statuette, and separate from all the other rooms. The wall that the statuette was built on slid open to reveal the room. She motioned for Jou, Yuugi and Ryou to join them. Jou and Yuugi followed, normally, but Ryou glared at the back of Seto's head.

The wall slid closed. The rest of the clan growled. Hanyou's fingerprints were the only ones which could activate the statuette arm, which had to be pulled to open the wall. They wouldn't know what was going on.

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Hanyou made sure the wall had closed properly, before turning back to Seto and the others.

She smiled, and motioned toward her bar, "Drink?"

Seto shook his head, "I can't taste human drinks anymore."

"Oh, right." She fixed herself a gin and tonic, and sat down.

Seto looked at Jou, Yuugi, and Ryou, then at Hanyou. He leaned back in his seat.

"So…how did you all…I mean…" He cursed at himself.

Jou grinned, "The great Kaiba Seto is speechless."

"Shut up, mutt," Seto replied.

Jou growled, "Make me, jerk!"

"I could do it," Seto hissed, his eyeteeth growing.

"Yeah, well I could rip you apart just as easily, big shot," Jou replied, his claws showing through his fingers.

"Enough," Hanyou said, sipping her drink.

Yuugi shook his head, "Some things never change."

Hanyou set her drink down, and closed her eyes. She could practically hear Jou and Seto glaring at each other. Yuugi was right…some things never change. Hanyou knew how much her uncle detested Jou. And all of Yuugi's friends. But Jou and Ryou were all of Yuugi's friends who were left.

"When I was young, uncle, six or seven…I was playing…and well…things didn't go as planned…"

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Many years before

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A young Hanyou played out in the open, near the forests where her and her parents lived. She skipped along, picking flowers, and giggling. The forest was only a few meters from her home, but she never saw it coming.

It pounced, biting her, before it ran away. The scream she'd omitted drew her parents out of the house, and Shizuka cried at the sight of the girl, bloody and wounded. Mokuba had picked her up and brought her inside the house, where he called a doctor.

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"An inu-jin is made the same way a werewolf is. By another inu-jin. Of course, only vampires can kill inu-jins, whereas a werewolf can be killed by being pierced with anything pure silver," Hanyou said.

Seto looked at Hanyou, "Why did you keep aging, then?"

"I kept aging because of Daddy. His blood was powerful in me, and we thought for a long time because of that, the inu-jin's curse did not affect me. But when Daddy died, the protection of his blood disappeared. One night, when you were out hunting, I could feel the inu-jin form beginning to overtake me. I had to leave. I couldn't be in the same house as a vampire."

"I don't understand," Seto murmured.

Ryou answered, "The smell of an inu-jin's blood is a vampire's one weakness. If the scent is strong enough, the vampire will attack them."

Seto looked at him. He looked different from the innocent british exchange student he'd once known. No, not really known.

Ryou glared at him.

Yuugi and Jou looked at each other then at Ryou.

Seto blinked at the white haired boy.

Hanyou sighed, "Ryou…stop…I know…"

"No, you don't!" Ryou exclaimed, "I hate all vampires, and that's that. If my scent hadn't have been strong, he'd still be with me!"

Ryou stood, going to stand in a corner.

Seto narrowed his eyes and looked at Hanyou. The female inu-jin sighed.

"A few months after Ryou was turned, he and Bakura were walking together…and…" Hanyou paused.

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A Few Months after Battle City

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Ryou laughed, as Bakura nuzzled his, his hands stroking his hair, and playing with his new dog ears.

"Stop it, `Kura, that tickles," the smaller one replied, his ears twitching. Bakura smirked, kissing his cheek and down his neck. Ryou smiled and moaned, his tail wagging, appreciatively.

Bakura stopped, as he heard a trashcan fall over. He'd noticed he'd pushed himself and Ryou into an alley, to hide Ryou from sight, and to give them some privacy.

"Did you hear that?" He asked. Ryou nodded, "But it was just a trashcan falling over."

The smaller one smiled, and leaned up to kiss his darker half.

Bakura smirked and bent to receive the kiss, when he spotted something behind Ryou. The creature pounced, and Bakura threw Ryou out of the way. The creature tackled Bakura.

"Agh! Ryou, run!" Bakura said, as he struggled under the creature, "Go, now!"

The vampire bit into Bakura's neck, and he yelled. The ring that hung around Ryou's neck burned.

Bakura squeezed his eyes shut, trying, still, to pushed the vampire off, but he was growing weaker. Ryou tried to see what happened next but the vampire was covering his Bakura.

Soon, the vampire stood, wiping his mouth, and pounced up a dumpster and onto a building, where he fled.

Ryou stared down at the ring around his neck, which was black, and seemed powerless now. He looked over to Bakura, and screamed. The spirit was laying there, motionless, his eyes open, horrifyingly.

Ryou walked over, slowly, and touched his face, "'Kura? `Kura? `Kura, this isn't funny. You can't die…'Kura!!"

He sobbed, pitifully, holding the man's new body close to him, as he cried, loud, and dreadfully.

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Ryou wiped away the few tears that had fallen, and turned, "Because of me, he died! He died to save me! And I never knew my mother, because she was killed by a vampire. I hate them! I hate them all! And I hate _you_!"

Ryou slunk down, burying his head in his knees and crying. Jou hugged him, whispering soft `shhh's into his ear.

Seto closed his eyes, "Gomen ne, Ryou."

Ryou looked at him, "Nani?"

"Gomen ne," Seto replied, "I'm sorry about Bakura. Not all of us are like that though."

"You attacked Jou!"

"I didn't mean too!" Seto hissed, "I don't know what came over me."

"Jou's strong inu-jin scent," Hanyou answered, "You couldn't control yourself, therefore, it was not your fault. But the vampire who is killing us is use to our scent. He knows how strong it is, and is not effected by it. He is killing us purposely, not because he cannot help it."

Seto looked at Yuugi, "What happened to your other half?"

The brunette cringed at the memory of the taller, more confident Yuugi. The one known as Yami.

Yuugi closed his eyes, "I don't know…he disappeared sometime after I turned."

Yuugi looked saddened, but not as badly as Ryou. Seto suspected Yuugi still had hope that Yami was still alive.

Seto looked to Jou, who was still comforting Ryou. He seemed different. Seto didn't know why. He was still as hotheaded as ever, but he just had a different air to him.

"What about you, mutt?"

Jou stood up; "I got turned right after Battle City. When my father found out, he sent me away to America. He was scared of me. I didn't find out that my sister had married your brother until after Hanyou was born."

That was right, Hanyou was Jou's niece too. Seto had nearly forgotten about that.

Jou suddenly looked sad, "I saw Shizuka only once before she died. I could have spent all my time with her had it not been for my father."

If anyone could relate to any of the other three's stories, it was Seto to Jou's. He felt the exact same empty feeling.

"I know how you feel, Jounouchi," He said to the blonde.

Jou looked at Seto, and nodded, "I know."

Hanyou looked between them, and tapped her chin.

!!!!

Seto stepped, quietly, into the room he saw Jou enter, and saw him leaning on the window sill, and staring up at the moon.

Seto's breath caught in his throat. The moon cast a glow over Jou that made him look beautiful. His hair gleamed like gold, and his eyes sparkled, the honey colored orbs standing out against the moonlight.

Jou turned, and looked at Seto, as the brunette tried to move. He'd forgotten that Jou had super hearing.

"What do you want, Kaiba?" Jou asked.

Seto pulled something out of his coat pocket, "Here. I've been holding onto it much to long…"

Jou took it. It was a picture. A picture of Mokuba and Shizuka, holding up an eight year old Hanyou, all were smiling.

Jou's face softened as he looked at the picture, "Kaiba, you didn't have to…"

"I know, but, she was your sister, after all."

Jou looked up at Seto, before he did something unexpected. He hugged him.

Seto's eyes widened, and got a weird sensation as he hugged him back.

Jou pulled away, flushing, "Sorry."

He looked as Yuugi, Ryou, and a few others filtered into the room.

"It's lights out now, Kaiba," Jou murmured. The brunette nodded and left. Hanyou confronted him.

"You can sleep in my chambers with me. I have an extra mattress. I can set you up on the floor."

"Thank you, Hanyou," Seto replied. He followed her back into her room, and she pulled the extra mattress out from under her bed, and put a pillow and blanket on it.

"There. Sleep well, uncle," She murmured, and got into her bed, turning out the light.