Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ From within the Flames ❯ Bigger Problems and More Questions ( Chapter 3 )

A/N: We really must like you all! We just spent the past three hours writing on another story and now decided to start on this for you. And it's 4:30 in the morning!!

Kathrine: You're just not a regular night owl. I could have wrote this on my own.

JC: Over my dead persona! Who knows what you would have done to Jou!

Kathrine: Guess you haven't read my part yet.

JC: What?

Kathrine: Oh you'll see. (Grins) Now, we decided not to change Gozuborou's name. We will only be using it as past reference anyway and we don't want to confuse ourselves because that's what we think of whenever we think of him.

JC: Hey, at least we didn't call him Nokirgo or something way off base.

Kathrine: Now, we hope yall enjoy this. You finally get Kaiba.

JC: We would also like to thank all of our reviewers because seeing as this is our first fic for YUGIOH we like to hear what people say about.

Kathrine: Yeah, and we are definitely trying to better our editing skills.

JC: I know we suck at it because we don't usually don't do it.

Kathrine: Now enjoy!

Disclaimer: DO NOT OWN YUGIOH!! *_! Don't own any affiliate to Firestarter either. Believe us, it just came out that way!

Warnings: YAOI/Shounen Ai, Dark themes, Implied NCS, Attempted NCS, Character Death. (ONLY A OC!!)

From within the Flames

By Kathrine and JC

Chapter 3 - Bigger Problems and More Questions

Jounouchi was very tired. He had run from the school that afternoon as fast as he could and hadn't looked back. Two boys, Bakura and Marik, had left him feeling nervous and wary, especially the deranged blonde, Marik. He seemed to be very interested in him for no apparent reason. He has to be one of those people that picks out a person for no reason and then makes their life miserable, he had thought at one point of day while dwelling on it.

After fleeing from his newly acquired 'admirer', the blonde had decided to take a tour of the city. He spent eight hours sightseeing and looking about seeing as he hadn't been outside of the Facility since he was four years old. It was only three years before that he had escaped into the 'real world' for freedom so he moved from place to place and he loved to spend time just looking around at the world he'd been stolen from. There was a place he had learned over the three years of freedom was called a strip mall where people usually went to by things and most people his age spent their time. He even had found a few others places he thought to be 'hang-outs' for people his age, teenagers just like him.

No, he thought sadly. Not like me. Everyone else like me is gone. He knew very well about the experiment that his parents had taken part in, willing test subjects for what they believed to be a government project. But they hadn't known that it was truly a private organization that had paid the government not to prosecute them. Yes, money a very powerful thing that could control even the most powerful of men.

There had been six families that had been subjected to the 'treatment' with a special drug that was suppose to make the mothers more fertile and would make pregnancies and giving birth less painful and wearing on the couples who used it. They thought they would be helping others like themselves. They didn't know how wrong they were. In the end, every single one of the families would suffer.

The child would be born without problems and as smoothly as was told to them, but in five years at the earliest things would happen. The child would show signs of disease or illness that was fatal or crippling and the parents only had one hospital to turn to that could help them. The doctors had special knowledge and expedients to help the families, courtesy of Doctor Katsuya. They had medicine to counteract side effects of the experimental drug and they would be like never having anything wrong with them in the first place.

Even Jou's poor sister Shizuka was suffering because of the drugs. They were what were taking away her eyesight and the antidote medication might not even have worked on her because she had successful results as well. She could feel things about people, such as emotions and even see what was true in their souls. But the medication doesn't do any good for people who have the successful results, he thought sourly. He was thankful for the current updates he'd been getting on his sister until four days before he had run away, right before…

Gods, Doc, why did you have to be so nice to me? he wondered. If you had only done your job and nothing else then Pegasus wouldn't have… Shaking off the nearing of old memories, Jou looked down to the ground and frowned at the broken and worn sidewalk. His traveling had brought him to the darker and more torn looking side of the town of Domino. He could tell that this was where the poorer and less fortunate of the people lived, along with most of the darker people as well.

THEY would look for me around here, he thought with a shudder at the chilly late spring wind. It was just a little past dark now and he had to quickly find a place to seek refuge for the night. Maybe I'll go back to the school, at least there I will be warm and safe for a while. That's when he remembered the boy, Yugi, from that morning. I hope he's all right and his friends are with him.

Friends. They were something that Jou had never been able to have, except his littler sister before she was taken away from him. He was too little to have friends and of what small amount he could remember about his mother had her being very over protective. Then she and his father died and it had been only him and Shizuka at the Facility when it came to children. The only other person he could call a friend was Doctor Katsuya and Jou no longer had him either. And it was his own entire fault that the only true father figure that he had while growing up was gone.

His sudden bout of guilt was halted by a sense of danger. He looked up and looked about him, not sure where the strange uneasy had come from. He only got this feeling when THEY were around. Gods, have they founds me? his heart started to race. Taking a quick glance at his surroundings, he noticed that he had walked onto a long street that seemed to separate the more profound and 'cleaner' side of town from its darker counterpart.

At the end of the street was what seemed to be a large park. I might be able to hide out there for a while, he thought instantly as he unnoticeably picked up his pace. He couldn't act like he had seen or heard Them for then They would not waste time following him and would just try to capture him. But the sense seemed to grow, as if warning him. The flame within him was very alert and it told him to get away and fast.

So he did. He ran down the street, not turning back or even attempting to see what was causing his irrational fear. The flame was more than just for his emotions and had always warned him of danger, ever since… NOT NOW! he yelled at himself. He didn't need to think about THAT when he was already running for his life. As a matter of fact, he didn't need to EVER think about that.

He crossed the street, barely missing being hit by a car. The driver honked angrily and yelled obscene comments at him, but he wasn't listening. He ran into the green covering of the park and was unaware of the two pairs of pale violet eyes that were watching him.

*****

" Do you think he knew we were here?" Malik asked. " He sure ran away really fast."

" Nah," Marik shook his head in denial. " He didn't look back here and we didn't make any sounds." They had been following the illusive blonde since they had spotted him at the strip mall around five that afternoon and were surprised to find him spending his day just walking around doing nothing. He wasn't looking for anyone, but did seem to be watching out every once and a while as if someone was to pop out from around corner at any moment.

" He is afraid of something," Malik assessed. " He wouldn't be so uneasy or alert otherwise. The question is, what?" Then he gave a suspicious eye to his lover. " Why do you want to follow him around anyway? I hope your not trying to do anything."

" No!" Marik shook his head instantly. He hated it when Malik got that possessive look in his eyes. He was in one of his moods again. Not even he got as out of hand as his twin-like love when he thought he cheating or something and he was in one of his possessive moods. " He's just the most recent mystery that this town as had in quite some time and I am determined to figure it out."

" Well detective," Malik cut his eyes as lifted a knife that was suddenly in his hand so that Marik could see it. " It better only be that." He then turned down the street. " My sister's gone for a week, visiting an old friend in Egypt. You can spend the night."

Marik sighed. " I sometimes wonder who's supposed to be the darker out of us," he whispered before following after him with a smirk on his lips. " But then again he does get really 'creative' when he's like this."

*****

Jou wasn't even panting when he stopped by a large tree in a secluded area of the park, but his heart was racing. He didn't know whether or not They had followed him. He leaned against the tree and sighed, the flame was gone now, he was safe. I'm probably just being paranoid about everything, he told himself. It was probably a false alarm anyway. But it was then that he felt his flame burning brightly once again and a hand touched his shoulder.

He didn't have time to react before he was shoved up against the tree he had been leaning against and somewhat glazed dark eyes smirked at him. The person grasping his arms so tightly was at least seven inches taller that his 6-foot frame and outweighed him by sixty pounds or more. " Hey there," he grinned stupidly. " I've never seen you around here before."

Jou was frozen. He could smell the alcohol on the man's breath and could see the gleam of lust that accompanied his obvious drunkenness. The flame was burning, trying to get out of the box he encased it in after so many years of learning how to control it. But he could feel the mental box crumbling as his fear increased. He had a pretty good idea what this man wanted from him and it made his stomach churn.

" L-let me go," Jou told him. " Just let go of me."

" But I jus' wanted get ta know ya better," the man tightened his hold of Jou's arms. The boy knew how to fight, but at that moment he was too afraid to even move. This wasn't happening, not this, not THIS. It was too familiar for his liking, to much like when…

" Let me go, gods, let me go," Jou almost begged. The man's hand was moving from his arm, sliding up to his shoulder and then his cheek.

" You have pretty eyes," the man purred into his ear as the rough, callused hand stroked a sweaty cheek. Jou was listening to words, but not hearing him say them. They replayed from a memory long ago, a memory that should have remained buried.

/ Such pretty eyes Jounouchi…/

The blonde closed his eyes in order fight back against the onslaught. The flame was fighting, begging to be released, begging to fight back against the foul person touching Jou. Any longer and the blonde wouldn't be able to stop it, he wasn't sure he wanted to. " You smell like cinnamon," the man told him.

/ …Tasty, spicy cinnamon…/ That damnable scent. He couldn't get rid of it. No matter how many days he didn't bathe or how many hours he would spend trying to scrub it off. The scent was chemically fused with his skin, courtesy of his the one he feared more than anything or anyone else in the world. And now the scent was attracting the same attention as before, the kind he didn't want.

" Let me go," the low whimpered plea escaped his throat and the man heard. He blinked stupidly for a moment before smirking again.

" You sound like a scared puppy," he chuckled.

/ Keep crying my puppy…it's all right pup…look so well in pain, my Jou-pup…/

He snapped and the fire broke loose. A burst a strength allowed him to force the man away with a shove as he screamed, " LET ME GO!!"

The man stared in shock as flames burst from the boy's hands and hit the ground. The flames surrounded him, running around him in circles before attacking him from different sides, flowing up his legs as if alive. He screamed out his pain at the agony of his skin burning, the flames sinking past his clothing to the flesh beneath. It ate him as if it was a real creature, taking its time until the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. He hadn't even realized he was on the ground until he was rolling around screaming.

" STOP IT! HELP ME!!" No one came. No one wanted to know what was going on or wanted to get involved. His eyes locked with those of the blonde he had approached, brown eyes wide with horror. He slid to the ground at the tree's trunk and just watched as the fire devoured his whole.

Jou was scared shitless. The fire had never come out so violently or seemed so bloodthirsty before. He was drained from the force of releasing it and didn't even have the power to call it back. All he could do was watch as the fire that was his inner soul's true form burned the drunken man that had attacked him until there was nothing but a charred form left. He couldn't even recognize it anymore. He could tell the flames were pleased with their work as they slithered back across the ground and into his hands from whence they came.

He was breathing deeply from exhaustion, having barely any strength left. He shakily stood, using the tree to help him back to his feet. " Gods…" he whispered as he continued to stare at the form that had been a human being only a minute or so before.

" What have you done?" a cold yet amazed voice asked from out of nowhere. Jou's eyes widened in fear as his snapped to where the voice had come from. On the barely seem sidewalk by large rosebushes was a boy would seemed to be his own age. He had brown hair and strangely familiar blue eyes that held an amazed though still calculating look.

*****

He had seen the blonde boy run by him with amazing speed from where he sat on the park bench. He had been typing, working on his latest project for his company. He didn't care what was going on around him. But he couldn't deny that he'd seen fear written on the boy's face. Not my problem, he told himself. I don't have to waste my time the pathetic people in this town. So he continued on with his work.

He liked to be in the park at night. When stress became to much at the office he would merely leave early and go to the park to work. It was fortunate that it a Saturday because he knew that his younger brother, Mokuba, would be sleeping over at his friend's house. Most people would be concerned with that seeing as his friend was a girl, but they had been best friends for almost seven years so he wasn't worried. The two were just too innocent at thirteen for anything to happen.

Innocence, he thought. I can't even remember when I lost mine. Closing off the thought before it became anything more, he turned his eyes back to the laptop in his… well, his lap. (A/N: *Giggles for no apparent reason*) He still had to finish his diagrams for his new game disk. It was for the new card game, Duel Monsters, so that the players, or duelists, could have a more realistic duel. This is too easy, he thought. Creating things to sell to pathetic kids is all that I do with my life besides run a company and take care f Mokuba. Gods, you'd think that life would have more to it.

" LET ME GO!!" The scream rang out in the night air and the brunette turned his head immediately. What the hell…? Nothing ever happened in the park. Who would dare ruin the serenity of his sanctuary? He closed his laptop and got up, curious as what had happened. It had sounded like someone who was very afraid. That boy…he thought before walking down the path in the direction that the boy had taken.

Only half a minute later another voice rang out, screaming in pain, " STOP IT!! HELP ME!!" This time the voice sounded different, much older and in complete agony. Now he was definitely curious as to what was going on. His need to know caused him to pick up his speed. He found himself on the side of the rosebushes that led to the oak grove in the park. It was really nothing more that six or eight oak trees cluttered together.

Moving around the bushes slowly, he could hear cries of pain and despair getting lower and the disgusting smell of something alive burning was very distinct in the air. He could only wondered what it could be. His eyes finally moved past the leaves and roses, allowing him to see what was going on. What he saw shocked him.

It was a man, or what had been a man, rolling about on the ground, engulfed in flames, before coming to a complete halt. It was obvious that the man was dead. But was got him was that the burnt form was facing towards one of the oak trees where a young boy sat looking completely terrified. He recognized him as the boy from before and then quickly turned his eyes back to the charred corpse. The flames that it was trapped in had moved. It seemed to separate into two different trails of fire that slithered away from its victim and towards the boy.

Gods, is it going to attack him as well? He wondered in shock. But instead of attacking the boy, the flames merely seeped into his hands that were lying somewhat limply at his sides. Nani?! The boy was breathing deeply, as if drained of energy and stood on wobbly legs that looked as if they were about to collapse beneath him. He turned back to look at the form that had been turned to cinders and whispered, " Gods…"

The brunette couldn't help but ask, " What have you done?" the blonde turned to him in fear and shock, honey eyes wide. He wasn't even sure how he could tell his eyes color when the moon was but a sliver of light in the grove from the spaces between the oak branches. It was so strange, but the eyes seemed very familiar for some reason. How can he use fire like that? he wondered. Is he what I think he is?

" W-who are you?" the boy asked in a scared, breathless voice.

" A witness to murder," the brunette replied in a cold tone. " Now how did you do that?"

" I-I don't kn-know what you're talking about," the blonde stated with a wary look in his eyes.

" The flames, they turned that man into charcoal and then soaked into your hands," he said in an irritated and curious tone. " How?"

" I-I don't know," the other boy shook his head.

" Bullshit," he growled.

" Look, who the hell are you?!" the blonde demanded, anger coming to his features to accompany is fear. " Who are you to demand answers form me?!"

" I am Seto Kaiba."

*****

Ryou sighed as he sat on his couch after finishing cleaning up after his small dinner. His father was off again on an expedition in South America so he was left home alone once again and didn't need to cook anything grand. His was worried about Yugi because of what had happened with Keith that afternoon and hoped the bully wouldn't cause him anymore trouble.

And that boy, Jounouchi, he recalled. How did he know the school was unlocked? It's too coincidental for him to just show up. It also was quite strange for the blonde to say he had beaten up Keith when he had no bruises or even looked to be injured. Everything's going to be very strange this summer. His eyes then fell on the box that had sat on the table since he'd gotten home.

It was mailed with his name on it, but no return address so he figured it was from his father. He often forgot to place such things on the presents he sent his son from his many travels. Wonder what he got me, he thought idly. Even though he missed having his father around, especially since his mother's death, but he did like to see the many different things he was sent so he could look up on them in his vast library of ancient history books.

He picked up the knife from beside the box and cut the tan-colored tape down the center. He then cut the tape off of the flaps so he could open it completely. Inside was a bundle of white cloth. He lifted it up and began to unwrap whatever was inside of it. Pushing away part of the last sheet of cloth he saw a flicker of gold. He grabbed the metal and lifted what appeared to be a ring from the pile of fabric.

It was quite a strange ring indeed. It was attached to a somewhat thick brown string that seemed very old and had five needle-like pedants attached to a large golden circle. In the center of the circle was carved eye that was definitely not from anywhere in South America. This looks more like ancient Egyptian, he analyzed as he lifted the string so he could put it over his head.

Placing the ring on his neck he was struck with a serge of pain he had never felt before in his life. It was as if half of his soul was being ripped out. He clutched his chest and felt to the ground, screaming out in agony. But then suddenly the pain was gone and everything was all right again. His eyes opened, tears staining his cheeks and he stared at the ceiling from where he was laying.

" W-What h-happened-d?" he wondered out loud, his breathing irregular. He sat up, touching the ring that was now around his neck. For a second he could have sworn that the piece of jewelry had been glowing. Shaking it off, he decided that he really needed to get some sleep. He was feeling so tired he wasn't sure that he could even make it up to his room. So instead of trying the feat of mastering the climb up the stairs, he merely climbed back onto the couch and lay there, allowing the world of unconsciousness to overtake him in an instant.

*****

Brown eyes, suddenly tinted with red, stared at his bedroom with confusion clearly in their depths. He clutched his chest and stared at the ring that had suddenly appeared around his neck one a few seconds before. He felt as if he was missing part of himself, but it had been replaced by something else, something he needed much more. It confused and scared him at the same time. Funny how one could say the great Bakura Tokyame was afraid.

What happened to me? he asked in his mind, knowing no one could give him the answer. He growled as he stared down at the offensive gold trinket he was wearing and tried to take it off. As soon as he touched it he felt a shock go through his system. He pulled his hand back and could see smoke coming from his fingertips. " What the hell what that?!" he didn't even care that he was shouting out loud.

His alarm went off right then and he looked at the clock. Most people would set their alarms to go off in the morning, but he set his off to tell him what time it was at night. And right then it was saying eight forty-five. He had to get to the hospital to stay with his mother. Growling in anger, he shook off the effects of whatever had just happened to him and grabbed his coat from his desk chair. He didn't have time for things like this. He had bigger problems to worry about.

I'm going to find out though, he told himself. This is just to crazy for it to be anywhere near normal.

A/N: How was that for ya? Was the wait worth it? It's 12:30 now and we are finally finished. It took us six hours to write this, cook breakfast for my niece, and then edit this so we guess it came out okay.

JC: Now, we are putting the Siennen Items in here, but I'm not sure how big a part Duel Monsters will play yet. I am definitely thinking about adding them though. ^_^

Kathrine: Now, if we decide to add ALL of the seven items something had to change. The weight balance thingy will be replaced by the Siennen Earring. We have NO idea how to get that in there seeing as we've never seen it play any important role in the show yet.

JC: And yes we actually gave Bakura a last name. Ryo's will be different as well.

Kathrine: It would just be too strange for his last name to be Bakura's first.

JC: Okay so please review. We love how you guys like our work! ^_^