Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Firemoth ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Xpyne: Woohoo! Another chapter done! I wrote like 9/10 of it a million years ago, but the last couple scenes I played with forever. I wrote them one way, then thought of a plot device I wanted to throw in, in the future, that wouldn't work, so I had to re-write them, eh. But I think I know where this thing is going now.

Yugi: Why do you make me into such a tart? I'm in love with everybody!

Xpyne: ^__^;; What? You're a tart if I say you're a tart. At least you get some action in this chapter.

Solitaire: ::hopefully:: ...Does he?

Xpyne: Action, not "action."

Solitaire: oh. -_- And I demand some under-writing credit here.

Xpyne: ::makes a face:: All mine, go away. You're the one who doesn't like vampies and mermies.

Solitaire: .......... ::goes off to pout, dragging her Seto plushie with her::

Xpyne: Heehee. Well, enjoy!

v * v * v * v * v

Firemoth

by Xpyne

Chapter 5

"Want to play poker?"

"No."

"Blackjack?"

"No."

"Rummy? Craps? Hearts?"

"I don't want to play cards."

"...........Go fish?" Bakura frowned. They always played cards when they had nothing better to do on jobs. Granted, it got annoying when Kaiba rubbed it in his face every time he won, which was almost always. But it passed the time. Kaiba rolled his eyes and picked at his cold turkey sandwich Bakura had made for him. "Well...will you at least go feed the Tracker?"

"....Yeah." The lanky brunette rose, putting his untouched dinner on a white tray and added a glass of water. He walked slowly to the door.

"You know, I made that for you." Kaiba blinked, glancing down at the food as if this was news to him. Bakura didn't look up, now making a house of cards.

"I'm not hungry." The door shut behind him.

Yuugi's head shot up, ears perked. He could hear someone approaching. ...The forcefulness of the soft tread....the length of the stride...the weight of each step resonating off the white-washed drywall in the hallway--it was Kaiba-san. Yuugi stared helplessly at the soiled towel in his hands for a moment, before throwing it under the bed and rising to his feet as a hesitant knock sounded at the door.

"....Come in, Kaiba-san." The door opened, revealing the tall slayer behind it. His black clad form entered, carrying a tray Yuugi could smell turkey on. His eyes lit up. "Ooh, food!" Kaiba nodded. He set the tray on the bed and Yuugi climbed up to sit next to it. "I'm starved!"

Kaiba sat on the other side of the tray and watched as the little Tracker devoured half the sandwich and the vitamin granola bar before coming up for air.

"Thank you, Kaiba-san."

"....Just--just Kaiba is fine." The blue eyed boy brushed his hair out of his eyes, not looking at his companion. "I'm not much older than you anyway."

"Really?" Kaiba-kun was much more interesting than half a turkey sandwich. "When's your birthday?"

Kaiba scowled. [I...I don't know.]

"...."

"I was born June 4, 4097," he recited, as if that would help.

"And I should care why?" Yuugi looked abashed, and took another bite of his sandwich to avoid responding.

[What's he being so nosey for?? What does it matter if I don't know my own birthday? My past is none of his business.] However, he couldn't help the little twinge of guilt he experienced when seeing how the smaller teen had drawn in on himself slightly at his harsh words. Kaiba didn't want to have a conversation. [So why am I still sitting here?]

"....I'm seventeen. So is Bakura." Yuugi didn't respond for a moment, not quite sure what would set the other teen off.

"Wow, you guys look a lot older...." [They are so cool. I wonder if--if they have--] Large violet eyes widened and his head swiveled towards the far wall, pointed ears attentive. "What was that?"

Kaiba diligently concentrated on the silence surrounding them. His brow creased. "I didn't hear anything," he announced, as if that settled the matter.

"No, Kaiba-saa--" the diminutive boy swallowed, glancing up at the brunette from under heavy black lashes. "Kaiba-kun. I heard--there it is again!" Kaiba looked mildly put out. The blue eyed slayer prided himself on his highly acute senses; if he didn't hear a noise, there wasn't one.

".......Perhaps you heard Bakura," he conceded in a clearly doubtful tone. Yuugi frowned. It wasn't like he could announce, "Hey, I have supernatural senses." He worried his lower lip. [What could it be?] Yuugi had learned long ago to fear all slight noises in the night.

"I'm..." he let the words die on his lips. Kaiba's brow furrowed; the diminutive Tracker's eyes were wide and unfocused, his plush lower lip quivering marginally. His voice was faint as he murmured, "I'm not going back...." And then, Kaiba heard it.

A soft click, the displacement of air as something slipped through an air duct. And then the lights went out.

He leapt to his feet and lunged for his sword, only to feel it was not where he had laid it. His blue eyes widened and he inhaled tightly. The whoosh of a cloak, a breath of air, the zing of metal soaring towards him: Kaiba threw up his metal clad forearm to try and deflect the blow he knew was coming, the blow he knew would most likely make it through the half an inch of his armor. A cry was torn from a reluctant throat.

Kaiba dropped to the ground, surprised to say the least. The black haired vampire that had cried out was throwing himself back into the shadows, Kaiba's pilfered sword flung dangerously off course through the air. Yuugi had kicked him hard in the chest, effectively ruining his attempted decapitation of one blue eyed slayer. The sword embedded itself in the wall, shuddering from the force. As its owner rose like lightning, ripping it from the cracking white plywood, another black clad arm snaked around the Tracker's neck. Kaiba felt fury rising in his blood, rushing in his ears.

"Unh!" Yuugi jerked his head to the side and threw up his fist, punching his assailant in his masked face. In the split second during which the vamp was forced to loosen his grip, Yuugi twisted out from under his arms and elbowed him hard enough to make him grunt. Another well placed kick had the vamp snarling and on his knees. The large vampire's gloved hand flew out to snatch at the elusive Tracker only to wrench back as flashing sliver swiped between him and his prey. Kaiba jerked his long katana up to stop its downward slash and redirected it towards the violet cloaked hunter who dodged just in time. He was distracted, however, as he heard a familiar voice cry out. A flash of fangs, a glint of glazed-over emerald eyes, and the thing was attached to Yuugi's throat.

"No!" Kaiba dove at the pair but unearthly strong hands caught his hair and threw him back into a wall. As he saw stars, but all he could think was [Not again; not while I'm here; not to him.] He rolled just in time to avoid a fist that cracked the very wall. Leaping to his feet, he thrust his sword forward with preternatural grace, silently impaling the masked vampire. He whipped his head around to spot the boy he was to protect prying the slender raven haired night stalker off his neck, grunting from the effort of holding the snapping fangs at bay. Green eyes flashing, the long haired male kneed his target in the stomach and shoved him against the wall. One of his long legs shoved its way between Yuugi's and pressed the small teen tightly, pinning him. Flat to the wall, Yuugi had no leverage with which to work. A white hand clamped around his throat with iron strength, strangling him.

A bullet ripped through the raven haired boy's temples. Bakura smirked.

Kaiba froze mid-stride, staring at the equally stiff vampire. The vampire coughed, a wisp of smoke escaping his lips. Kaiba lifted his katana to strike the final blow. But as his blade swung forward, he sliced only air, the vampire fleeing in a rustle of bluish-purple cape. Kaiba whipped around, but the room was empty save Bakura and Yuugi, the latter dropping to his knees and coughing, a hand on his pale column of throat.

"He bit you--" Kaiba cut himself off uncertainly. On the ground, Yuugi shook his head.

"He got a mouthful of leather," he rasped, clamoring to one knee. Bakura grabbed his arm and yanked him to his feet.

"I don't know how they got in, but we need to get the hell out of here," he ordered, rushing into the hallway, towing Yuugi along. Kaiba snatched up his white cloak and brought up the rear, ears pricked and temper flared.

[Why didn't I hear them?!] He growled, tightening his grip on his weapon, alert to any sudden flickerings of shadow. A breath of air quivered behind him and he whirled, his sword catching with a spark against an equally strong blade. Forward, charge, fake left swing upwards, deflected, roll back the blade and--contact. The vampiress hissed, a streak of crimson blossoming on her deathly pale cheek. Kaiba smirked maliciously.

Kaiba attacked again with renewed vigor, a completely human bloodlust over taking him. Adrienne met him blow for blow, round blue eyes narrowed in concentration. Just when he had all but beaten her back, a sweet voice distracted him for the second time that night.

"Kai--!" He ran down the corridor as the red haired vampire pressed herself into the shadows, intent on heading them off. The slayer skidded around the corner that separated him from the others to find Bakura struggling against a broad, looming figure. The slayer had a dagger point pricking his gritted lips as the vampire with hieroglyphics carved on half his face attempted to shove the knife, tip to hilt, down his throat.

Yugi was currently dangling from the arms of the masked vampire, his eyes huge and pained, clawing at the strong forearm clamped over his mouth and nose securing him. His eyes caught Kaiba-kun's and he saw a rage there, smoldering in its intensity, deadly in its intent. As the slayer moved forward, a flash of crimson locks and black steel blocked his path.

And suddenly, Yuugi could hear the blood pounding in his ears, the pulse racing through the rope-like veins running just beneath the surface of the white arm suffocating him. His own pulse was thready, fluttering too hard and too weakly, its supply already lacking. He felt desperate. All he could see were those flaming, sultry blue eyes, trained on him even as he dueled with the sword wielding vampiress. But a hot fetid breath washed over the elvin shell of his ear.

"Stop struggling, Yugi, you're about to black out anyway....We will take you back into the shadows, where you belong..." the masked vampire named Archane whispered, pained gasps punctuating the slow snicker that followed his words. It took more than a sword's puncture to kill an immortal, but it hurt none the less. And it was more than just this physical pain the masked one would be avenging in his rough treatment of the little human. They thought they could smile at you, offer you a kind word, breathe in your presence, without arousing that fatal love all creatures of the night felt for them. She thought she belonged to Malik, that she could never be his, well this one was Malik's, too, and this one was going to feel his pain and no one would be able to say it was anything but accidental and this one going to suffer. Archane tightened his cruel grasp around the tiny human's slender waist and pressed his arm over the boy's face harder.

Yuugi's chest heaved, trying to force some air into his oxygen-starved lungs even as his captor was steadily squeezing the life out of his middle. His head swam, violet orbs rolling back in their sockets. Blackness was encroaching, swallowing him, just like the vampire had promised.

[NO! --no!......no....... Master Shadi's slut or Nyctomortem's: it doesn't matter, but I....I can't just.....] Yuugi couldn't think, his insides burned, and slowly, slowly, he felt his resistance slipping. His hands, curled fiercely around the arm blocking his mouth weakened. His chest was still heaving, but of its own accord; Yuugi wasn't struggling any longer. The pain was all-encompassing. Vaguely he registered that his arms had fallen limply to his sides. It seemed it was with great difficulty and from across the room that he raised his unfocused eyes, their lids hardly able to lift enough for him to gaze one last time at the slayers who had almost saved him from the darkness he knew he would awake to forever more. He thought perhaps he heard a cry, as though it had traveled slowly through water to reach him.

"...Yugi!..." And he saw smoldering, rage filled orbs the color of sky the second after the sun had set, condemning him for giving up so easily. Filled with the kind of fury and lust that made one shiver.

[....I.....can't....leave him--]

Short yet razor sharp fangs gnashed the smothering arm over Yuugi's face.

Behind their mask, black eyes went wide with surprise, then narrowed with acute pain. Archane struggled to resist the urge to release his prey. He curled long, supernaturally strong fingers into the multicolor haired boy's ribs. Yuugi gnawed and ripped as hard as he could muster.

"Nani?!"

Finally, he flung the small teen from him with a cry, the short fangs ripping a long, jagged strip in his white flesh through his sleeve. Archane disappeared into the shadows as several rounds were fired off into the air where he'd stood. Yuugi hit the wall of the corridor, collapsed with a thud and drew in a pained scream of a breath. He began spitting disgustedly, head spinning. Several seconds passed before he regained his composure enough to take in his surroundings once more.

Bakura lay beside him, wrestling with a powerful vampire, his head thrashing to the side to keep the night stalker's dagger out of his eyes. The tanned slayer was strong, muscles lean and hard, but the power of an undead hunter is immense. The tip of the blade caught his cheek, and the white haired slayer growled dangerously. In a burst of strength he'd thought had left him, Yuugi tackled the huge vampire on top of Bakura-san. He might as well have tapped him on the back of the shoulder and asked him to leave, please. Yuugi pounded with his small fists on the back of the bald vampire's head, straddling his back.

"Leave--him--alone!!" Yuugi shouted as the deadly calm vampire sliced a thin, controlled line down Bakura's face. "I know you're all after me, so just come and get me!" He leapt off the large stalker and tore down the corridor, running blindly. The great stalker paused, glancing in the direction Yuugi had fled. He then leapt to his feet, throwing Bakura from him and disappeared down the hallway in pursuit. Bakura's body was flung into a doorframe and he crumpled, unconscious.

Adrienne whipped around at his words in time to see a vision of vivid red streak around the corner. Her attention halved by the violent slayer bearing down on her with his lengthy katana, she abandoned her defensive stance that had served to give Archane time to escape with the child. Lunging forward, blue eyes nearly luminescent with anger, she swung her blade up to draw his and then raked her steely nails across his exposed chest. One large, pale hand, inexplicably powerful for a human, caught hers.

He loomed over her, his own blue eyes filled with a hatred common to Cruentuses, their bodies locked together in battle. For a moment, they were frozen, staring each other down, the intensity of their glares enough to frighten any sane being. Then she went for the throat.

Kaiba dropped to the floor, letting his sword clatter and her hand go as his forearms crossed, simultaneously rising to shield his neck. But it had been a ruse. The second he had released her white hand, she had disappeared, flying after the Tracker. Cursing, Kaiba sprung from his crouch and made to follow. He stopped dead in his tracks, whirling, when he heard a whisper of vampiric movement. Nothing could be seen in the shadows, but Kaiba didn't need to see to know.

[The wounded one will take Bakura if I leave him. The other three will take Yuugi if I don't.]

Kaiba ran down the end of the hallway, white cloak fanning out behind him; he could smell that all too familiar vampire stench of their unnatural blood and sweat and sickening lust as they stalked their prey. He adjusted the heavy weight of his partner over his shoulder, grunting at the effort of running with the lanky white haired boy. The exit sensors were firing wildly up ahead in the foyer; Yuugi must have run outside. [Damn it, if he is outside, there's no where for him to hide! They will catch him in a matter of minutes.] It was too much to hope the teen had his ret gun with him. Kaiba knew; Yuugi was completely defenseless.

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Yuugi ran as fast as his legs could take him, as hard as his abused lungs would let him. He had no idea where he was headed, but hopefully if he stayed to main corridors he wouldn't end up running into a dead end. A light flashed over head, its UV content causing him to stumble and feel nauseous. The vampires had cut the power somehow, but the building's defenses at least seemed to be independently generated. The light driving back the demons at his heels, he burst through the door ahead of him, intent on putting as much distance as possible between himself and those hunters. His wide eyes were abruptly dazzled by a rush of cool wind and moonlight and he found himself standing outside, surrounded by a never ending expanse of desolate field. No where to run, no where to hide.

"Yuuuugi......." a demonic voice drawled beside him. Yuugi jumped and ran along the side of the barn façade wall, away from that terrible voice.

"Yuugi!" it whispered excitedly, seemingly from the shadows in front of the Tracker. "YU-ugi!"

"!" Soft, slender arms lighted around his slim waist, drawing him into the shadows behind him. "No!" Yuugi cried, flailing out at the body enveloping him. Its arms turned him roughly and drew him to its chest in a vice like grip and Yuugi found himself staring up into pale, iridescent lavender orbs. His breath caught in his throat. A cold, high laugh bubbled from the vampire's cruel, sensual lips. His perfectly arched blonde brow raised in dry amusement.

"Whose blood stains your innocent lips, little Yuugi?" The leader of the Rare Hunters lowered his face so it hovered millimeters above his prey's. His tongue slipped out and ran a slimy, firm stroke over Yuugi's tightly pressed together lips. Lavender eyes flamed with interest. "You drew the blood of a vampire? With your human teeth?" Another insane chuckle escaped his throat. "Impressive."

A gust of icy wind swirled around the pair, the light of the stars fading as if each heavenly candle above had been snuffed. The vampire Malik tensed almost imperceptibly, but pressed as he was in his arms, Yuugi felt it. Goosebumps rose over his flesh and a chill shook his diminutive frame, but at the same time, a dizzying wave of hope swelled in his chest. [Is it possible--?!]

"Let him go."

So quiet he almost missed it--but commanding and utterly fearless. It seemed as if the deep, erotic voice echoed in his mind rather than the air, but he knew by the look on the exotic vampire's face he had heard it, too. Malik hissed, drawing Yuugi to one side and a blunt katana with his free hand. A psychotic grin spread over his visage, even as his eyes darted in the darkness, searching for the owner of that dominant voice.

"Come and make me."

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Kaiba ran out the exit he knew Yuugi must have, seeing as how the defenses had all been tripped. No vampires were in sight, and Kaiba swallowed, panting from his exertions. [Please.....don't let them be gone with him.]

As he flew outside, he fleetingly saw a vehicle in the distance he knew must belong to the Rare Hunters, the rumored, highly exclusive clan of deadly vampires for hire. It resembled a 1930s Ford hearse, only three times as large and no doubt heavily armored in all its sleek, gleaming beauty. It couldn't hold his attention, however, as he beheld the spectacle a few yards ahead. A swirling, electric cloud of black fog was being restlessly circled by the four vampires Kaiba had encountered in the safehouse and a fifth he remembered from Yuugi's apartment whom he had thought dead. It was the same strange fog he'd found Yuugi in last night. The same Darkness that had drawn from Yuugi's wrist. Ice blue eyes narrowed with hate.

Slinging Bakura off his shoulder, he grabbed the limp platinum haired teen's wrist and wrenched it towards him, fiddling with the button concealed under his cuff, nervousness clenching his stomach. Finally, the damn thing went off, Bakura's slim body alight with a grid of golden threads. Kaiba scooped him up once more and ran towards the concentrated darkness. The distracted leeches turned too late. Bakura's body was glowing with a greater intensity by the moment, a sound like a camera flash building.

"Fall back, now! Malik can hold his own!" the woman's voice ordered. The five scattered, wisely taking flight from the UV charge building. As the Rare Hunters disappeared, a legion of bats swelled from the unnatural miasma and followed them. The brunette clenched his eyes shut. Bakura's suit went off in his arms in a near explosion of sunlight that burned through the black fog and radiated a quarter mile into the night.

When Kaiba could safely open his eyes again, blinking to try and rid his vision of the spots, all he saw left was a great mass of black leather cloak crumpled on the earth. Dropping a groggily awakening crypt raider on his ass, Kaiba ripped back the rumpled cloak. Beneath it, he revealed two small unconscious forms curled into each others arms, the cloak attached to the slightly larger one. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement.

Kaiba jerked the delicate little Tracker form the Dark fiend's embrace, startled by the vampire's appearance. Frankly, he looked like Yuugi. But definitely a more seductive, powerful, and evil looking version: his small, handsome frame bound in tight black and maroon leather, his apparel a salmagundi of straps and laces that clung to his shapely body like a wet dream. For a moment, all the blue eyed boy could do was remain crouched on one knee, immobile, and stare, supporting the limp Tracker with one arm. Yuugi moaned, stirring. Kaiba drew his sword and raised it. Yuugi's eyes flew open and he threw himself on top of the undead creature. Kaiba only just managed to stop his blade, its deathly sharp edge quivering a hair's breadth over Yuugi's tensed body.

"Damn it, Yuugi, move!"

"No!" His violet eyes flickered to the creature's face, a strange glow illuminating them for an instant before it was gone. But Kaiba had seen.

"He's a vampire," Kaiba seethed, raising his katana. "As soon as he wakes, he's going to try and kill us and drink your blood. Move." [Vampires must die. Especially vampires whom he looks at with that expression in his eyes.]

"He saved my life! Please, Kaiba-kun, I can't just let you--eep!" he squeaked as the body beneath him shifted, a low, arousing "hmm..." escaping the Darkness's pale lips. Kaiba grabbed Yuugi and threw his weight backwards so fast they tumbled several yards out of harms way in an instant. Kaiba's head shot up from his position of being sprawled on top of Yuugi in a cloud of dust, the small teen's fist curled instinctively in his shirt and eyes clenched against the dirt. Kaiba peered up apprehensively from under long chestnut bangs, body tensed to move at the slightest intuition.

But the vampire was gone.

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The Darkness sped along the highway, displeased. True, he had gotten to hold his chosen one again, but his head was spinning from that god forsaken sunblast and his prize eluded him still. He set his jaw, urging his motorbike to accelerate even faster. He wanted to get home. Well, to the hotel room that currently served as such, at least. He had to plan.

It would have been too easy to dispatch of those annoying slayers and abduct the young human right then and there, but one thing had stayed his hand.

["Kaiba-kun."] The slender vampire narrowed his large, angular eyes. [He cares for that murderer....This is going to be more difficult than I anticipated. Hikari-chan, you are everything I have been searching for. I'm in love with you as only darkness can be. But...]

For the kill to be pure, the love had to be returned.

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"Well. That didn't exactly go as planned," Adrienne commented, earning a death glare from Rare Hunters' leader. "Can you count yet, Otogi-kun?" Adrienne was bandaging the entry and exit wounds on his temples. His emerald eyes rolled back in concentration as he attempted.

"Wh-one....tyoo...fft."

"That's enough. Don't worry, the brain damage will be healed by tomorrow." She put up the bandage roll and scissors. "Archane, do you need to be seen to?" she added haughtily, not looking in his direction. In her opinion, he had failed miserably to subdue the Tracker when he had the opportunity. He was cradling his right forearm and leaking dark fluid from his midsection. He scowled at her back.

"I can see to myself, thank you."

"Hmm, yes, you've demonstrated that beautifully."

"I--!"

"Enough," Malik spoke for the first time since he'd materialized from his horde of bats. All the others' eyes went to him, save Rishid, who was driving. Malik drummed slender fingers on one knee. "Darkness wants the little Tracker. I had not foreseen this. I conclude now that this Darkness must have been the original threat--not a pair of pitiful Slayers..." He lifted his bright eyes from the dancing shadows, locking them onto

Pegasus's man, Kimo. "You must have known this. Your failure to disclose such information will cost you your life in the future. It has already cost us our prey, and two nights. We are not prepared to fight another vampire, only slayers. Therefore we must return to our base and load more weaponry. You will be punished accordingly."

"Malik-sama! Please--Lord Pegasus didn't tell me any information! I swear to you, oh great--" Malik rolled his eyes, raising a slender hand to stem the oncoming groveling.

"Yeah. Right. Just be grateful I still have uses for you--your death won't be tonight."

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"How the fuck did this happen?!?!" Kaiba hissed to Bakura, as they gathered the remnants of their equipment from the battered chambers of Safehouse 1045. The tall teen was extremely pissed off.

"I was watching the monitors; there wasn't a sign of them 'til they were already inside the freakin' building," came the low reply. Bakura and Kaiba were both quiet then. They knew what that meant. Nyctomortem's safehouses weren't invulnerable; a determined vamp seemed to be able to slip into any crevice, no matter how tight security was. But every safehouse was equipped with an advanced radar system that could detect and systematically monitor everything from a housefly buzzing a mile away to the changes in the temperature of air within a radial sphere twice the faculty's size. The Slayers within a safehouse might not be able to stop a night stalker's advance, but they would see him coming a mile away and be well prepared for his arrival. All of which meant only one thing: it had been an inside job. Someone at Nyctomortem had manually interfered with 1045's sensory equipment.

Yuugi was waiting patiently, if not somewhat nervously, as the Slayers reloaded various arsenal and punched in twelve security codes on a pad beneath a grey panel.

Kaiba stalked forward, swirling cloak mimicking the current state of his thoughts. He passed by Yuugi without so much as a word, and the diminutive boy hung his head miserably. He figured Kaiba was mad at him for saving the Darkness.

Bakura watched the dismissive behavior of his partner, and the resulting affliction on the Tracker's countenance. [Huhn. Interesting.]

"C'mon, Yuugi," he directed the small one, who dutifully trailed at his heels down the hallway. They passed the point where Yuugi had almost been captured, the blood of both Bakura and the vampires smeared across the once white walls, and he shuddered, quickening his pace to be closer to the white haired boy.

"Is your head alright?" Yuugi asked timidly, noticing the brownish stain of dried blood matting a section of the teen's shimmering platinum locks.

"Don't worry about me, kid. I'll be fine." Silence hung thick between the three as they burst through the enormous doors into the hanger, where their van was parked. "When you made that leech lay off me and chase you--" Bakura paused, not looking at Yuugi. "It was stupid and you jeopardized our mission's entire point: getting you safe and sound to Nyctomortem headquarters." Yuugi gazed down at his boots as he walked. So they were both mad at him. "--But thanks. That guy was about to cut my head off."

Yuugi blinked. The uber-cool, way tough, vampire shooting, bad-ass Slayer was thanking him?? [Whoa.] The tri-colored haired boy smiled shyly, not daring to say anything in return. He clamored into the back of the Vamp Van, Bakura following, as Kaiba slid into the driver's seat, slamming the door behind himself.

Bakura began removing his kimono as Kaiba squealed out of the garage and onto the dusty road, leaving the breached and therefore now sealed facility behind them. Yuugi blushed and averted his eyes as black vinyl peeled away to reveal brown, glistening, sculpted torso. Bakura grinned slyly, noticing the pink cheeks of one easily embarrassed Tracker. Stretching overtly, showing off his expanse of lean, muscular chest and stomach, he queried, tongue in cheek, "Squirt--had me those macro lens light-seeking casers, would ya?" Yuugi glanced at him, swallowing, before quickly dropping his eyes and fumbling with the various gadgets near him on bolted in shelving.

"Uh--nani?"

Bakura continued grinning evilly. He leaned over the slender teen, practically crawling into his lap, bare skin brushing against the other as he reached for a strange looking contraption beside the flustered boy.

"These goggles," he offered in way of explanation, slowly slinking back to his previous seat. The van lurched suddenly, rocking violently. "'K--ow!" Bakura was sprawled out on his face, ass in the air. "Watch it, Kaiba!" he scowled.

"Whoops," he deadpanned, sounding anything but sorry. Blue eyes glared murderously at Bakura in the rear view mirror. The white haired fiend's scowl curled in a smirk, wink accompanying it. Yuugi, oblivious to their exchange and clinging onto one shelf's metal beam for balance, was staring at the macro light-casers, or whatever Bakura had called them.

"What is that thing?" he ventured, curiosity overriding his fear that Bakura-san would get naked in front of him. The white haired boy looked up through the mess of spiky locks obstructing his face. "Oh--you're bleeding..." Yuugi trailed off. He hadn't even seen the blood yet, but he could smell it. He turned his face away. He didn't want to see it....didn't want to risk tempting himself. Bakura sat up, brow creased thoughtfully. His hand slid under his mop of hair to touch his cheek.

"Aa. I reopened the nice little cuts that bald Egyptian brute gave me." He wiped at the scratches, one long vertical one, intersected by two shorter horizontal ones, and shrugged. "It's nothing." [But it's something that you noticed before I'd even lifted my face.] He gazed down at the elaborate goggles in his hand. "Oh yeah, this thing." He strapped the gadget onto his head and grinned at Yuugi, earning a laugh from the younger boy. The goggles magnified Bakura's green eyes to ridiculous proportions, making him resemble some sort of tree frog. He picked up his discarded kimono and draped it over his lap.

"What are you doing?" Yuugi asked, peeking at the amiable Slayer over his knees that he rested his chin on. Bakura pulled his white locks back into a messy ponytail to keep them out of his way and clicked a dial on the contraption that turned on a concentrated beam of light. Yuugi watched with interest as the other boy began painstakingly extracting string after string of burnt out bulbs from the folds of black vinyl with tweezer-like tools.

"Since dear Kaiba managed to blow out my entire Apollogrid system, this kimono's now useless for anything but getting me free drinks." Yuugi made a face. He had had enough experience with drinks to last him a lifetime.

Meanwhile, Kaiba was clenching the steering wheel so that his knuckles were white, stewing. He growled, swerving around some rubble spewed across three of the five lanes of interstate. The jarring caused Bakura to jab himself with his tools.

"Fuuuuc..." he mumbled under his breath, shaking his hand in pain. He looked up, glaring at the back of the brunette's head. "OWW," he enunciated loudly. "Watch the insane driving, wouldja? I'm trying to fix what you broke. What on earth possessed you to set off the full charge, for-dire-emergencies-only, far range blast anyway? (There was only four or five of them, you....)" Bakura hadn't really been expecting an answer, so when the silence was broken moments later, he looked up, startled.

"It was a Darkness." Magnified lens got shoved up as Bakura turned to stare at Yuugi, looking for confirmation.

"...You're joking," he said, knowing Kaiba didn't joke. "When the fuck were you planning on telling me?!?! Holy shit, a Darkness?? They're supposed to be legends--myths--whoa, whoa, hold on! Is the Darkness, lemme guess here, after Yuugi?"

Kaiba stared indifferently at the road, his childish resentment of Bakura's "befriending" of Yuugi gone, overshadowed by a much more substantial hatred for the beautiful little vampire.

"Apparently so."

v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v * v

Xpyne: Next chapter, the gang finally gets to Nyctomortem headquarters! Have you been wondering if more characters are going to pop up? Cause they are!

Yugi: ::pets Xpyne on the head:: Isn't she cute? ::gives her a cookie::

Xpyne: Ooh! A cookie! ::munches:: Ruvoo pweeah!

Yugi: ...I think that meant review, please. ^.^;