Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Girl Trouble ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Girl Trouble

Author: Sean Wright

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh.

This is my first Yu-gi-oh fanfic so bear with me. All of what I know of the subject comes from the anime and it's inspired by the fics that I have read in the last two weeks.

Now for the interesting stuff.

This is a Yami/Yuugi romance. (I can't see them with anyone else.)

I am a firm believer in creative license and I love the unpredictable so this is an A/U fic.

Yugioh is not my thing, I usually write Sailor Moon fics, but I am stepping out of my norm to try this idea. But it's no fun if no one is reading it. So please review, I would like to know what you all think about my first Yugioh fic.

Chapter One

His life points had gone to zero. Yuugi Motou could not believe it. He had been defeated, he the once King of Games, was defeated and this time when it truly did count.

Yami would be so disappointed…He was going to be hurt. Yuugi had unwittingly forfeited his own life by agreeing to play this game, but he hadn't known!

He had been duped, tricked by what he though was an innocent offer from someone who wanted to challenge the former King of Games just for fun.

Yuugi had at first been flattered, but that was not why he wanted to play. He still enjoyed the game, now more than he ever had after his win at Duelist Kingdom. It wasn't fun for him at the any other tournaments after he and Yami were separated. And his defeat against Yami three years ago released him from the burden of the heavy title of King of Games and allowed him to be Yuugi again. So he retired, with the rank of second top duelist in the world, a title Seto Kaiba was could never settle for before he was forced out of the game completely. And Yuugi had been happy with it and his decision.

A decision that had cost him everything.

"Hikari!" Yami bellowed as loud as voice could carry.

"Yuugi!" He heard being called a block over.

"Yug!" from another direction.

Long fingers pushed the soaking wet tri colored hair from his face and back over his shoulders. Frustration and fear in his dark glances. //Yuugi.// He tired their mental link for the hundredth time and again came up with silence. "Hikari!" He yelled again.

He tried not to assume the worst. They would find Yuugi; he just had to believe that. They would find him, safe and sound, if not, this world was going to suffer.

Pushing rain soaked hair from his eyes, Jounochi Katsuya started around the next corner. God, it was really starting the pour. They had been searching for over two hours. Two hours compared to the three Yami and Sugoroku Motou had been looking for Jou's best friend. It was Sunday. Yuugi always went out by himself on Sunday's. It was usually just to hang out at the park or get lost in the library for hours until he went to meet Yami at where ever they chose for a late lunch date.

But Yuugi never made it to their date. Yami said he waited over an hour before finally called home to see if Yuugi was there. Sugoroku became worried and the two went out to look for the boy, Yami went to all the places that Yuugi and he would go to and Sugoroku hit Yuugi's favorite places. After coming up empty, they started calling friends and that brought them all out. Mokuba Kaiba had called the others and they organized heir own search party on the other side of town while Jou, Honda, Anzu and Ryou joined Yami and Sugoroku. The youngest Kaiba brother said that would look at all the gaming shops and had gotten his brother to through about a little weight to have the police involved.

Jou looked up at the towering buildings that surrounded him, it was dark now and the rain continued in a steady downpour.

"Yuugi, I hope we find you soon, buddy."

His cell phone was ringing again. Yami snatched the thing out of it carrier and glared at the Caller ID, it was Mai this time. Yami fought down a growl as he put the thing back in its black leather case unanswered. Yuugi had insisted that they had cell phones. Yami did not understand the reason why since he and Yuugi could communicate through their soul bond. Yuugi had laughed asking him if they could share this bond with all of their friends. Of course Yami said no and then he immediate grasped his Hikari's point. But that did not mean he liked having the noisy little contraption with him, but now Yami was praying that when the little piece of hard black plastic would sound and the voice on the other end would be Yuugi's.

He was praying to every deity he could recall, humbling himself before them all for his beloved to at least turn on his cell phone or just respond to Yami's calls through their link.

"Hikari!" He roared. "Damn it, answer me!" //Yuugi, please, answer me. I fear I shall go mad if I lose you.//

"Yuugi?" A tall, slender girl called from beneath the protection of a bright yellow umbrella. "Yuugi, where are you?" Her blue and white cell phone rang and Anzu pressed the talk button. "Hello?" She adjusted her earpiece as she looked about anxiously.

"Anzu, it's Ryou." The caller identified himself.

"Ryou, have you had any luck?"

"No, not personally," the English boy said. He sounded as if he were running. "Honda saw Weevil a half hour ago and Weevil claimed to have seen Yuugi going towards the warehouse district with a strange girl."

"Yuugi, with a girl?" Anzu cried in disbelief.

"I know, Honda did not believe it either. Weevil said he thought it was odd as well. He called out him, but Yuugi did not answer him. He called to him again and the girl told him to leave them alone. He went on to say that the girl grabbed Yuugi's arm and they ran off…"

"Have you told Yami?" She asked quickly.

"The Pharaoh is not answering his phone." Ryou told her. "Ra, we're here…"

In the background she could hear Honda cry out, "Yuugi!"

"My yami said he would find the Pharaoh and bring him here." Ryou was saying.

"Where are you guys?" Anzu turned around and started the other way as Ryou gave her the directions. She rung off and started to run all the way praying that Yuugi was there and he was all right.

"Yuugi." Brown eyes peered into another shadowed entrance. "Yuugi, hey, you in here, buddy?"

"Honda," Ryou shouted from further up ahead.

Reluctantly, Honda turned away from the vacant warehouse and started to where his friend was. He trotted over to the white haired youth who was on his knees in puddle. Honda looked down at what he doing and he fell to his knees sharply. He picked up one of the cards floating in the rain water, his entire body shaking with dread as he stared at the Dark Magician card.

"Yuugi…" His voice broke before he could finish the though. He would not allow himself to finish the though.

Ryou was silently gathering all the cards. His innocent face was soaked, either from tears or the rain, Honda did not know. But at that moment, he envied Ryou's ability to express his emotions so freely.

Wordlessly, Honda helped the pale boy gather up all the cards. Each card, Honda knew almost as well as any of Yuugi's friends. It was Yuugi's dueling deck. His prized deck, with the first cards his grandfather had given to him, the others he had added before he retired and those he had picked up over the years since then.

Yuugi was sitting on the park bench, in his hands the black and gold cards. He shuffled them expertly. He scooped up five and fanned them out for the little kids that had gathered around him and he patiently named each of them for the excited youngsters.

Yami was dueling against Kaiba again and that had the attention of everyone else in the park. But the little kids were far more interested in the little guy and his deck of cards, which he allowed them to touch. Honda had turned, looking for Yuugi when he spotted him there.

"This is the Dark Magician." Yuugi held up his prized card.

Honda moved away from the duel and went to join his friend. Yami had Kaiba on the ropes and ever since he gained his own body, his style of dueling had become ruthless and completely without mercy. Yami always went for the kill, first he toyed with his chosen victim, letting them think they could win and then he came down hard on that unlucky fool like a ton bricks. He was hammering into Kaiba. He had viciously ripped Kaiba's defenses to shreds and rendered Kaiba's most powerful monsters and magic useless. And Yami was now going for the finishing blow. Poor Kaiba, he thought knew what he was getting into when he challenged Yami to this duel. But he never stood a chance and at that moment he finally understood that.

"Yuugi?" Honda stood behind his friend; he laid a gentle hand on the smaller boy's shoulder.

Yuugi looked up at him with a bright smile on his face, "Honda, how's Yami doing?"

Honda glanced back at the two duelists, Kaiba had dropped his hand and the cards fell around him and he followed them to the ground in defeat.

"Yami's won."

Yuugi looked up quickly, his eyes flickered over the two duelists, and his eyes lingering briefly over the defeated figure of Seto Kaiba before he returned his attention to the children. "He always does." He said with a hint of pride.

"Hey," one of the kids grabbed a card from Yuugi's lap. "What's this one called?"

Yuugi took the card and tried not to laugh, "This is a Kuriboh."

The kids looked at the life points and then said. "It's too little, it's not that strong."

Yuugi gasped in mock horror. "Not strong?" He cried in mock horror. "I'll have you know that with this little guy and this-" He picked up two other cards, "-I was able to defeat Pegasus and win at Duelist Kingdom." He looked at his Karibo and smiled, "Yes, he maybe little, but he hides a great strength. So never discount a card because of power. If you are a smart duelist, even your weakest card can become your most powerful one."

Yeah, Yuugi was the smallest of their tight knit group, but he was the center of it, the very heart that drew them all together. He was their Kuriboh, the little guy that could bring down a giant and if something had happened to him…

No! Honda would not allow himself to think that. They were going to find Yuugi and he was going to be all right, they were going to be all right. Heck, in a couple days they were going to kick back and laugh about this night. Yeah, Yuugi would be back in their midst, taking a ribbing from Jou about how he dropped all his cards and got them soaked. Yami's going to warn Jou off, but there wasn't going to be in maliciousness in his tone. It never was with those two, they both loved Yuugi and that was basis of their friendship. Of course Anzu would chime in, scolding both of them, Ryou would laugh while Bakura scowled. And he, well, he would try to get Yami to teach him how do play Dungeon Dice again. Then Mokuba would come along, bringing some new game in the hopes of beating Yuugi, but it would never get the chance because Yami would be intrigued and then would start learning the rules while he would watch them play. After that it would go down hill for Mokuba and his hopes of finally beating Yuugi, Yami would innocently start coaching both players before just focusing completely on telling Mokuba what to do before he would just move Mokuba out of the way so he could challenge Yuugi. The former King of Games and the current one would make a hash out of whatever it was they would be playing, but they wouldn't stop until one of them one won. And all them would cheer them both on, making fake bets, try to help them cheat each other, or just lay about and relax and let the day go by. It had to happen that way, it just had too…

"Honda." The dark, powerful voice of Yami called to the tall youth.

Ryou was up on his feet already, his hands, were Yuugi's cards. The chocolate-eyed boy looked nervously at the Pharaoh who came to a stop a few feet before them. Yami was looking at them expectantly.

"Have you located Yuugi?" Yami demanded. He address the taller youth at the white haired hikari, known that boy would burst into tears if anyone so much as frowned in his direction attention to Honda. But Honda was not looking at him, Yami grabbed the boy by his shoulders, his grip leaving bruises on the other boy, but Yami was almost beyond reasoning with at that moment. "Honda, where is Yuugi?" He roared.

A strong arm was thrown around Yami's neck and he was pulled off the boy he had just forced to his knees.

"Pharaoh, control yourself." Bakura barked as he yanked Yami back. "The boy had nothing to do with your Hikari's lose. He is trying to help…"

Ryou had dropped to his knees beside Honda. "Are you alright?" he put the cards down on the wet ground as he tried to attend to Honda.

Yami shook the tomb robber off, cold crimson eyes warned the white haired thief to never lay hand on him again or he would suffer a fate worst than anything he could imagine. Bakura stepped back, holding his hands up in a compliance, he could not handle Yami on a good day and the one time tomb robber was not about to tempt this man on a one of his worst days.

Seeing that he was understood, Yami stepped past the two boys on the ground and he restarted his search.

He could feel something here. It was strong and very old. It was taunting him and the dark magic that he controlled so maliciously. Yami stopped. Slowly, he looked to the left and then to the right. He turned sharply in that direction and once again he felt Bakura's hands on him, but this time not trying to restrain him.

"Do you feel that, Pharaoh?" His voice with pitched low to keep the hikari and the mortal from hearing.

Yami nodded.

Bakura dropped his hands and stepped forwards slightly. "What is it? I've never felt a magic like this before?"

"Nor have I." Was the detached reply. Yami moved forward as well. "I sense, something human inside of it."

"Your hikari?"

Yami shook his head, a frown marred his features slight as he concentrated on the feeling.

/…Yami…/

He whipped about quickly, his eyes scanning everything insight as he reached out greedily for the faint voice that lingered in his mind. //Yuugi, hikari, where are you?// He demanded urgently. //Yuugi?// Again there was silence. He tried again and felt nothing. Cold dread wrapped it hands around Yami's heart. //Yuugi, answer me. Where are you? Are you all right?//

Bakura started intently into the darkness. Dark brown eyes narrowed sharply when he felt something in the darkness shift.

"Pharaoh!" He called out sharply.

Yami turned back to his antagonist, he looked to were the other was pointing and relief filled him to his very soul. He ran to suddenly revealed figure, lying face down on the cold, wet tarmac. Yami skidded to a stop and he dropped to his knees and gathered the slight figure up.

The rain had washed the gel from his from his thick tri colored hair and clung to the youth's face and leather jacket. The leather shirt and jacket were ruined, the tight black shirt looked even smaller on the boy in the half light given off by a street lamp. Yami's hands skimmed quickly over Yuugi's body, checking for broken bones and/or blood. Finding none, Yami focused on waking his hikari up.

He pushed the wet golden bangs from Yuugi's face as he cradled him close in his arms. "Yuugi," he tapped the right side of his lover's face with left hand. "Yuugi, wake up. It's Yami. Yuugi, please…"

Ryou had helped Honda to this feet and they both went over to where Bakura stood watching Yami.

Honda rubbed his sore right shoulder as he nodded at them. "How on earth did he find him?"

"The light had concealed the boy." Bakura said quietly. His dark eyes were fixed on the small, helpless boy cradled in Yami's arms.

A puzzled look crossed Ryou's face, but he did not question his yami. He and Honda moved to go aid their friend, but Bakura's arm shot out, prevented them both from going anywhere.

"Bak-" Honda started to protest. The yami looked up at the up at the taller boy, his dark eyes were filled with warning.

"The Pharaoh needs a moment to collect himself." He told them. "When he is ready for us to approach, he will let us know. But for the moment, we will stay as far away from him and his hikari as possible." He dropped his arms and turned his back on the pair sitting in the rain. "Ryou, come. You should inform the others on that little telephone that the Pharaoh has his hikari." And the world was safe for another day. Bakura drew in a sigh of relief.

Ryou glanced back at his smaller friend in the Pharaoh's arms and then he turned to follow Bakura. He stopped and looked at Honda over his shoulder and he asked, "Are you coming?"

Honda was looking at Yami and Yuugi. Yami had been trying to wake Yuugi up, but so far nothing had happened. Yami was now shaking the boy violently, he shouted Yuugi's name before he slapped his face.

Honda started forward, but stopped when he heard Yuugi draw in a deep, gasping breath.

******

Large, lavender eyes stared vacantly up at the into the yellowish light cast down by the lone street lamp. Yami peered worriedly into that sweet angelic face as he pushed the wet hair from Yuugi's face.

"Hikari, aibou." He voice gentle as the one he held unintentionally ignored him. "Speak to me."

Soft, little hands moved up to rest on his chest. He remembered everything and yet at the same time, he couldn't summon a single event from the moment he first drew his deck earlier that day. He remembered holding of cards in his hands, cutting them, playing…but with whom?

Yami.

The hands moved towards the neck. It was tight, constricting in this garment. He couldn't breath. Too tight. So much pain. He had blacked out-hadn't he?

The hands stopped wondering. Something was wrong. He was choking again. He couldn't breath! Something was choking him and hurting him. God, what was happening to him…

"Yami." It came out like a dry wheeze.

"Yuugi," Yami said quickly. "I am right here, I am here, love."

Pain, too intense for words ripped through his body. The memory of it caused the small boy to draw up in a ball and cry.

It was an act of defiance against Yami.

To bring hurt the Shadows.

And ruin its' king.

Yami was the Shadows' King.

Yuugi pulled out of Yami's arms, harsh, jagged sobs tore from the boy's throat as tried to move away from the two things that could cause him even more pain.

He had realized too late that he had been duped. But there was no escape from the game. If he lost, he suffered. If Yuugi forfeited the game then he would be tortured and if by some miracle he won, Yuugi would have still been hurt. His host had been determined to bring some harm to Yuugi no matter the outcome.

Yuugi had lost the duel.

The Dark Magician had been destroyed right before his eyes and Exodia the Forbidden One never had a chance to be formed. The cards drifted slowly from his hands as Yuugi fell to the ground.

He was defeated. He would suffer for his arrogance.

Arrogance?

He did not understand. He just wanted to play...

His arrogance was accepting the challenge. For that he would pay.

Yuugi said no. He was not arrogant. He was offering his hands in friendship. It was never his intention to offend anyone….

He was mocked for his efforts. His explanation was thrown back in his face. Hands grabbed the sides of his head and he started into the most frightening depths of a depravity and then his was thrown to the ground.

Beautiful insanity danced wildly about the boy, mocking him at every turn as pain washed relentlessly over him.

He was down on the ground, reeling from the twisted agony that he had been placed in. His puzzle had been removed from his grasp by cold hands, leaving him alone, cut off from Yami to be sucked further down in his white nightmare.

The psychotic angel danced around him, caught up in the wild abandon she had created for herself.

Yuugi tried to push himself up, but an invisible weight held him down on the ground. He was so cold, shivering in this brilliance that could have rivaled the winter's sun for all the heat it produced. Yuugi closed his eyes, the light was blinding him with its intensity.

It was then she came to him. So beautiful was this ethereal creature with her frightening mad eyes.

She knelt over Yuugi, settling on his waist and she planted her hands down on both sides of his face. She leaned forward, her shimmering lips just a breath away from his mouth and she smiled. She lowered her lips to touch his, Yuugi jerked his face away, but she merely laughed. She pressed her lips to his cheek; her tongue darting out and she licked her way up to his hairline.

Yuugi tried to scream. Her touch was like fire on his skin; the wet trail she left was burning worst than acid. He thrashed about, trying to push the woman away, but she just laughed in his face.

"Biaw," she said mockingly. "Isn't that what He says to you. Biaw? How possessive of him. Claiming you as his when he never had the right to do so. However, it shall never occur again, pretty one. You now belong to me. Mine from the beginning of time."

"No!" Yuugi screamed. "I will never be yours."

She grabbed his chin in her right hand and forced him to meet her gaze. Madness danced merrily in her eyes as she lowered her lips to his. Just before she touched him, she whispered, "You are not listening to me, sweet one, you have always belonged to me."

A life for the light, she chanted moving down his body. Her searing touch was melting the flesh from him bones, all the while Yuugi was screaming for mercy and begging for his own death. A life for the light, she wanted to bask in it, bathe in his crimson light.

He was screaming in agony and terror. His body was on fire; it felt as if he was dying. He wanted to cry, she told him he could. She wanted to see his tears, but she was not going to stop. Not yet.

The Darkness had to lose his light.

Didn't Yuugi understand that? Why couldn't he believe it when she he was hers?

"He bathes in your soul." Fanatical eyes gleaming as she licked Yuugi's tears from her fingertips. "He basks in your light. But never again, my sweet one." She lowered her head to nuzzle Yuugi's chest. The boy screamed in agony.

Why couldn't she just kill him now?

Cold hands on his face on his face, she leaned down, her painful lips touching his left ear. "You are mine."

"Yuugi." Yami reached for him, but the boy drew away from him.

It hurt to move. It hurt to breathe. His arms and legs were shaking beneath him, his entire body was trembling from the either cold, from pain, or the fear, he could not tell. Somewhere, in the deeper recesses of his mind, something urged him to get out of the light.

Yuugi responded weakly, crawling on his hands and knees until he collapsed in a dimmed lit patch of ground that was not directly in the light or completely surrounded by shadows. He lay there, gasping for breath with the rain falling steadily into his eyes and panting mouth as he sobbed out his misery.

He wanted to go home. He wanted to hide in his ojisan's arms until the pain finally went away. God, his chest hurt. Drawing a single breath was like torture. And compound with everything else that was in pain, cold fire racing all over his exhausted and beleaguered frame. Yuugi felt as if he were dying and he wished he were.

Hands were on him again. His body tensed automatically with fear, but he relaxed just as quickly when he felt the cool warmth emanating from the familiar touch. Warm hands with a slight chill moved over his freezing body, trying desperately to warm him.

Weakly, Yuugi turned his head to see a fall of gold and ruby tinged obsidian. Worried ruby eyes brought Yuugi out of his only personal hell long enough to realize that Yami it was Yami touching him. Relief rushed through the smaller youth, easing his shattered soul and bringing him back from the chasm of his despair. He tried to sit up, to be in Yami's arms and let him take away the horrors and pain that crashed against his terribly weaken spirit. As he moved a sharp slice a pain from his already overtaxed body had Yuugi crying out in agony.

"Honda," Yami shouted. He ripped off his leather trench coat and wrapped in about Yuugi's shivering body. "Flag down a taxi, a bus, anything…Just do it now. We have to get Yuugi home." He scooped Yuugi up and cradled him close. "What are you waiting for?" He yelled at the youth.

It felt as if he were being crushed. Yuugi fought against Yami until the other was forced to put him down. Yet without Yami's support, Yuugi sank bonelessly to the ground.

"Yuugi, please," Yami bent and gently helped him to his feet. "Let me help you. Please."

Yuugi nodded, he didn't have the strength to do much else. His lower body refused to co-operate with him. Red-hot pain was shooting up and down in lower back to the tips of his toes. It was a miracle that he was standing although he wasn't even walking. A slow shuffling, like an aged man would have best described what he was doing.

He had a furious grip on Yami's hands. With each step, he feared he would fall and injure his pain-ridden body more, but Yami would never let him fall.

Honda had waved down a cab. Bakura and Ryou said that they would catch the next one and they would meet them back at the Motous' shop. Bakura whispered to Honda that he was taking a risk by getting in the same car as the Pharaoh. Honda said that he could not just leave Yuugi.

It was a long drive through Domino City. Traffic was backed up for miles with people returning to town from the brief holiday. Through the long drive, Yuugi lay against Yami, gasping from pain and shivering beneath the wet coats. Water was running out of his long hair to seep down the back of his neck, chilling him. He hurt and his was uncomfortable and there was little he could do about it. All Yuugi wanted was to go home and die. He would have gladly settled for death if it meant his torture would end.

Yami held Yuugi lightly in his arms, he had tried to rub his hands over Yuugi's arms with the intent of warming him, but the boy had cried out in pain and pulled away from him.

But that wasn't the only thing that prevented Yami from touching his hikari. There was something seriously wrong with his aibou. When he had touched Yuugi's arms, he knew was happening to him. He knew every inch of Yuugi's body intimately, he knew how each limb felt by touch, the weight of his body, and texture of Yuugi's skin. Something had changed it. But until he could get Yuugi to the privacy of his room Yami could only speculate as to what had been done.

He cast his gaze down at golden puzzle that rested in his lap. It was Yuugi's Sennen Puzzle; the damned thing had been choking the boy with its weight. With it gone, Yuugi had begun to breathe a bit easier, however he was still in pain.

He stared silently at the puzzle and the one that hung suspended from his own neck, Yami was perplexed. He could sense Yuugi's puzzle and their link; he had since he saw Yuugi lying face down in that puddle of rainwater. Yet before, when he was searching, he felt nothing.

"We're here." Honda's voice broke through Yami's thoughts.

All other thoughts flew out of Yami's head when Yuugi moved against his arms. The smaller youth turned his pain filled eyes on the Kame Game Shop and he tried to sit up, but Yami took him into his arms, he was careful not to hold him too tight as he moved to get out of the back.

Honda tossed the driver a couple bills. Yami was already at the front door, when he turned to help them. Honda trotted over them just as the second cab pulled to a stop at the curb.

Bakura threw open his door before the car could come to a complete stop. Ryou had to throw the money at the driver since Bakura was dragging him out of the back of the cab. The immortal tomb robber looked quickly at Yami and then to Honda. So the mortal boy had made it there in one piece, the Pharaoh must have been more concerned about his Hikari than Bakura earlier speculated. That could only mean one thing, trouble was coming and it was coming on fast horses.

The front door was thrown open and an anxious looking Sugoroku. He and Yami exchanged a look then the elderly man stepped aside and Yami strode inside with Honda following behind him.

Ryou moved to follow them, but Bakura grabbed the youth's right arm and pulled him back.

"Yami?" The boy said his dark eyes filled with questions.

Bakura shook his head once. His usual sour face was closed off as he stared at the little gaming store.

"We are not going in there, Ryou." He said gravely.

Ryou looked up at his yami in surprise. The ominous expression on his double's face sent a shiver of fear down his spine, but Ryou was not going to be intimidated, not this time. Yuugi was his friend and he wanted to be there for him. Bakura had no right…

"I know that you want to help your friend." Bakura looked down at him, a sad smile graced his face, but he still shook head no. "Something happened to Pharaoh's hikari and whatever it was, it was bad. The Pharaoh will most likely lash out and it will not be a pleasant sight to behold. Nor a safe one."

"Of course he's going to lash out." Ryou pulled his arm out of Bakura's grasp. "He will have every right to be angry. I am angry myself." He turned away from his yami and started towards the door. "If something has happened to Yuugi…"

Bakura raised his hands in defeat. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Ryou glanced back him before he entered the shop. Bakura blew out a breath and looked up at the sky. It had stopped raining, but the heavy dark clouds blocked out the sky, promising more of the drenching down pour.

He closed his eyes for a moment and sighed bitterly.

"Bakura," Ryou called. He stood half in the shadows and the light. The effect was symbolic, but he did not know of what. With a furious shake of his head, Bakura put aside his musings and went to join his hikari. Absently, he prayed that they all made it out of the place in one piece.

NO FLAMES. IF YOU DON'T LIKE THIS, THEN DON'T READ IT.