Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Heccubus ❯ Chapter 2

I sighed in exasperation at Atemu's patent distrust of my yami when he arrived to treat Chihiro-san. If he hadn't been so distrustful I wouldn't have to deal with her - and I didn't like her, admired her courage and devotion to her family, but I didn't like her, and I couldn't give her the sort of advice that Bakura could. I didn't really want to know how he'd learned those things either.

 

“Atemu.” I didn't bother to invite him in verbally, and he ignored that little fact to walk in when I stepped aside from the door. “When our client gets here you will be polite, and you will not show any disdain for her based on her choices.”

 

“Tomb robber, I told you that Ryou had to introduce me to this `client' of yours. Let him out.” His contempt for what Chihiro had to do to protect her sister showed in his voice, and his assumptions stung.

 

“Do you really think that anytime I show a spine it takes Bakura possessing me?” Images of how easy it would be to break his body into little pieces filled my head, and only the thought that Yugi would be hurt as well stopped me from acting on them. The sense of almost admiration and approval I got from Bakura at the images didn't help me stop, but reminding myself that Chihiro would be arriving soon did. “And I hope you have the brains not to betray your nature to her - although if you don't I expect Yugi does.” For once I didn't care about being accepted, or about how dangerous Yami could be - besides considering how much I'd been denying to be accepted, even to the extent they offered...

 

“Y-you-” I cut Atemu off before he could stammer anything else.

 

“I hope you studied the spell Bakura sent you?”

 

-If he didn't then I'm sure you are more than capable of casting it Yadonushi-sama, should you wish it. You remember watching me cast it often enough.- On humans and demons, but that wasn't the same.

 

:Maybe, but I haven't studied it, and isn't the point of this for him to earn the money for that plane ticket?:

 

“Yes. I studied it.” Atemu's voice seethed with barely controlled anger and I smiled at that.

 

-Of course it is Yadonushi-sama, I forgot.- I didn't believe that for a second, but it didn't matter; Chihiro was arriving and we didn't have time to talk any more.

 

“Hello Chihiro-san.”

 

“Hello Bakura-san. And who is this?” I knew that normally Bakura met her alone, she was rightfully paranoid about the idea of anyone knowing about this.

 

“Atemu. He has his own secrets, and he doesn't know enough to be a danger to you.” She never appeared in the news or in public really, and I had the feeling that the name she used with us wasn't her real name. “I...can't heal you the way I normally do, because the spirit who gives me these powers is switching hosts. Atemu's spirit is still with him, and can perform the same spells.”

 

“But he can't give me the same advice, can he? And neither can you.”

 

-Does she need more advice?-

 

“No, I'm afraid not. Do you need it at the moment?”

 

“No.” She laughed, a touch of bitterness in her voice. “My stocks are doing great at the moment, and I've got enough time to do all the research I need for that, even if my husband expects me to be nothing but his trophy. And I've got him distracted pretty well for now, he loves that position you suggested last time.” I still couldn't believe the detail with which Yami'd explained the rather demeaning methods she could use to keep her husband's attention on her skills in bed, and off what she was doing with the money he gave her. And he'd seemed to empathise with the way she felt as if she was whoring herself out, and suggested an alternative way for her to think of it. I grew up in England until I was fourteen, even though I learned Japanese at home I certainly couldn't have pulled out the legends of geisha that he did.

 

“I'm glad. How long has it been since the oldest injury that worries you?”

 

“Five weeks this time.” I still couldn't believe she got away with spending a million yen every two months on a `beauty spa' and her husband didn't care. I'd led them through to the room Bakura'd set up for this while we talked, and she began to strip off showing absolutely no sense of modesty. Not that she needed to with her body. Sometimes...I could understand some of what her husband did to her, when the marks were obviously from being fucked roughly, but not when I saw marks like these, marks from a whip, and from whatever he'd used to tie her in place.

 

-That's because you're not really a sadist, he is. Wanting to be rough in bed isn't the same as being a sadist.- I let Yami watch through me as Atemu ran his hands over Chihiro's injuries to heal them. There was something different about the way he touched her body, when compared to the comforting, yet purely platonic way Yami touched her. Atemu seemed to hurt her when he touched her, and he looked as if he was almost enjoying it. One I could call clumsiness, but the other...

 

:Is he a sadist Yami?:

 

-A bit of one, yes. The Penalty Games he inflicted when Yugi first released him should have made that clear.- I knew why my Yami was saddened so much by that; everyone had ignored the evil things Atemu'd done, and made allowances for him and assumed that whenever Bakura was doing something good he had an ulterior motive.

 

“I hope you, or your spirit's new host will be able to do this for me next time.” Chihiro's voice was acid as she wrote out the check.

 

“Of course Chihiro-san.” Once she'd left I turned to Atemu angrily. “Get out! We'll filter your payment into whichever bank account you care to name, but I don't want to see you at the moment.” He seemed taken aback, but he obeyed at least.

 

00()00

 

It was five weeks after Atemu had used the spell I gave him to heal Chihiro that the imp I'd set to keep the safehouse I'd revealed to the Pharaoh in Egypt secure told me that his passport had arrived. Luckily the Ishtars didn't have to move on with the museum exhibit Isis had care of for another month, especially since the spell I'd sent out required an additional spellcaster for each pair. We'd be working with Malik, and the Pharaoh and his midget would work with Isis. Since we'd already negotiated most of the details about where we were going to perform the spell, and with what sort of audience it only took a day to get everything, and everybody together. Hopefully Pharaoh no baka and the little Game King had practised switching places and would still be able to maintain the spell, the way I could with Yadonushi-sama. We'd have a little leeway in switching casters, but not much, and if the switch was fumbled too badly there would be damage to our souls.

 

I let Ryou get to Kaiba's mansion himself - besides he needed to be the one who started casting the spell, another reason I hoped Yugi had at least a little experience with using Shadow Magic himself, even if it wasn't likely considering how reluctant Atemu was to let him fight his own battles.

 

Why he'd decided we should do this in his duelling arena was beyond me, but it gave us plenty of space to work in, and somehow I couldn't bring myself to be surprised that the Pharaoh'd decided to bring all of his groupies to watch.

 

“Atemu. I know my yami told you that Yugi had to be the one to perform the first part of this spell.”

 

“But...aibou doesn't have any experience in using Shadow Magic. How can you ask him to perform a spell of this complexity?”

 

“He has no experience because you never let him get any. And I can ask him to perform this spell because he's the smart one. You did bother to teach him his part of the spell, didn't you?” I was so proud, I hadn't even had to prompt Ryou at all to get him to reprimand Atemu so well. “No, don't even bother trying to answer me. I can't trust you to tell me what I need to know. Let Yugi take over. Now.” When Atemu didn't obey Ryou used another spell I'd found in the Millennium Puzzle, a reason to be grateful for Atemu's terrible relationship with it, to force Atemu out of control of the body he was using. It only worked because he wasn't the original spirit, but Yugi would be able to let him take over later.

 

“What did you just do Ryou?” Yugi sounded so confused. If the Pharaoh hadn't taught him what he needed to know then as far as I was concerned he'd just screwed up his chance at getting a body now.

 

-Yadonushi-sama,- Ryou probably thought it was false respect, but it wasn't, it never had been, -if Yugi doesn't have his part of the spell down cold then they can't try it. I...the only way I could design this spell required incredible risks. I told you about them, right?-

 

:You said it could tear our souls apart if we screwed it up, right?:

 

-Yes. I know you won't, but with Pharaoh no baka's attitude...-

 

:He might have decided he didn't need Yugi to cast his parts.: Disgust edged Ryou's mental voice, and I was glad of it. “I needed to talk to you, so I used a spell Yami taught me that pushes a possessing spirit out of control for a while.”

 

“A spell mou hitori no boku taught you? But why didn't he use it on Bakura? And why not teach me?”

 

“No, Yugi, it wasn't something Atemu taught me, he was too ignorant to find it, it was something my yami taught me. I needed to talk to you about the spell we're going to be casting today. The idiot did bother to teach you how to cast the spell to get him a new body then?” I wouldn't have wasted my time badmouthing the Pharaoh to his ever so loyal hikari, but Yugi looked suspicious anyway.

 

“Bakura, are you pretending to be Ryou again?”

 

“Not you too.” I could feel my host rolling his eyes in exasperation. “I can be nasty about people without Bakura pushing me to be. I just repress an awful lot. I thought we were good enough friends that I didn't have to with you anymore.” That was impressively manipulative. “But you didn't answer my question.”

 

“Yes, mou hitori no boku taught me the spell, but he said he could cast it for me, that I wouldn't need to know it. He was just indulging your paranoia.”

 

“My yami invented that spell, I think he knows more about it than some overbred brat who uses Shadow Magic almost by rote. If you two screw the spell up you'll damage your souls, and that's something you can't heal from. Forget it. You're not casting the spell today.” I liked hearing that, but...

 

-Yadonushi-sama, explain to him exactly what he needs to do, and where the cut-off points are, please. I didn't mention it, but if they screwed the spell up Yugi would be damaged more, then ask if he feels up to switching with the necessary precision. I made the leeway as great as I could...-

 

“Yami wants me to explain to you exactly what to do, and see if you feel up to it. Atemu would come through a failed attempt almost intact, you'd be the one to suffer. Now, listen to me, and make sure your parasite's listening too.” Was that how he thought of me? I thought my help had been enough to repay him at least in part. He explained how the pair would need to work together to cast the spell in excruciating detail, the sort you'd use with an idiot and then Yugi asked for some time to think it over.

 

-Yadonushi-sama, do you think of me as a parasite?-

 

:No, you're a symbiote, I remember how weak I was before I received the Ring.:

 

-And unless you stop repressing you'll get weak again.- I didn't like that idea.

 

:I know, but...:

 

“We'll do it.” Yugi interrupted us, and I had to admit I was relieved.

 

00()00

 

When Yami'd finished the spell - our part anyway - all I felt for a few moments was pain, pain enough to make me scream as nothing had before. I knew that all my friends thought Bakura abused me, for some reason, ignoring me when I said he didn't, but they'd never realised when I'd been seriously hurt because of just how hard it was to hurt me enough for me to react. And I always healed incredibly quickly, although I suspected Yami had a hand in that, especially after I agreed to remember how he made a lot of his money. But I stopped screaming when it stopped hurting, and I could feel my body again - and hear two other people screaming.

 

I looked around, and saw Yugi's friends all gathered around him and Atemu where they were lying curled up on the ground, screaming, Honda seemed to be looking at me accusingly, just because I wasn't screaming. But he wasn't important, not compared to the sight of my yami in the flesh. He was exquisite, the metallic silver hair and eyes looked right on him, even if they would seem unnatural in anyone else it worked well with his pearlescent white skin. But he didn't look at all like my friends had described him in Memory World, instead he looked like a version of me who'd been transformed and refined to perfect beauty, the only thing they'd recognise would be the scar on his right cheek. I had to see what that hair felt like, but when I lifted my hand I saw claws.

 

“What happened to my hand? And my teeth!” I could feel the fangs catching on my lip, might as well ask all the questions at once. “And why are they still screaming, it's stopped hurting.”

 

“To answer your last question first, while the human nervous system is usually efficient for carrying the start of pain to the brain, it is slower to recognise when there is no further cause. They are still hurting, as we are not. As to your appearance Yadonushi-sama, I told you that the spell would destroy your body and build for the both of us a new body based on the shape our souls require to be housed in. If you would be rid of them think of how they will make you stand out, and how that is undesirable as it makes you an obvious target, then will the change to occur. But it will tire you a bit.” I didn't care, I obeyed, staggering a bit as Malik and Kaiba watched - both focused almost exclusively on my yami.

 

:Wish they'd stop that. I'm getting a headache.: But I wasn't going to say that out loud. Yami sighed at that, and looked at me for a moment, then nodded and walked over to the group.

 

“I know a spell that functions as a painkiller, if you'll allow it. I've used it on myself after a fight, back in Egypt.” Isis didn't seem to believe him, but Atemu apparently heard and stopped screaming long enough to speak.

 

“Let him. He wants to kill me won't hurt.”

 

“But you're the test subject I take it.” Bakura laughed, and cast the spell. Atemu stopped screaming, but he grabbed hold of Yami's arm.

 

“Tomb Robber? What?”

 

“Let me take care of the midget, then we can talk.” Atemu must have conceded because Yami cast the spell that stopped Yugi screaming as well. “Now, what was it you wanted to say?” Bakura was standing, left hand on his hip, the other hanging loosely at his side, head tilted to the left, and Ryou knew there'd be a teasing smile on his lips, from seeing it in the mirror when Bakura'd practised this pose with his body.

 

“You didn't look like that in Egypt.”

 

“No, I didn't. I'm not human, I'm a shapeshifter, and all I really remember about my original form is my colouring, and this scar. Our new bodies were formed from the image our souls held of them, and the image my soul holds of my body is amorphous save for the two things I mentioned, so the rest was taken from Yadonushi-sama's form. For my plan to get my own legal ID to work I need white hair, like his, but I think grey eyes will work.” As he spoke he turned away from Atemu, running a hand through his hair and turning it white like mine, and closing his eyes briefly as he walked over to me. When his skin changed colour, to a shade just a bit lighter than Atemu's, but with a different quality I couldn't understand, I realised how much of it was exposed...he was only wearing a short linen kilt, while Atemu was wearing the full regalia of a Pharaoh.

 

“You don't remember what you looked like in Egypt?”

 

“No, I said I don't remember my original form. The form I used to rob tombs was designed for strength, among other things. And that silver hair was so eye-catching that no one recognised me when I turned my hair black.”

 

“Oh.” Atemu was speechless, and I realised everyone was staring at my yami in lust. I could understand their lust, but...

 

“If you aren't human what are you?” Kaiba interrupted my musings. He was watching Bakura like a cat with a mouse, strange as it seemed to imagine my yami as prey.

 

“I'm a heccubus.” He shrugged, casually and gracefully, ignoring the way everyone reacted to him.

 

“You're a sex demon? Somehow that isn't the surprise it should be.” Malik leered at Yami, and he cast a sidelong glance at him. “Wanna feed on me?”

 

“I'd kill a human if I bedded them too often. But I'd really prefer having a bunch of regular lovers to just whoring around.”

 

“How good are you in bed Tomb Robber?”

 

“Better than any human could be.” Yami seemed to ignore the effect that had. “Yadonushi-sama, you do understand that you can't lie with me, even once, not considering...”

 

“I know.” I smiled at him reassuringly. “I'm going to start getting weak again, aren't I?”

 

“I'll do what I can, but yes. The rest of you, if you want me then decide a schedule among yourselves. You can't afford to bed me more than once every two weeks, and I'd prefer Pharaoh no baka and the Priest a week apart, with Yugi or Anzu following them, if they want to get involved.”

 

“Hey, no fair, I'll be leaving for Egypt in a month.”

 

“You can have me twice a week until then, outside the schedule. And I'll be going to Egypt in five weeks anyway. Atemu, I'll show you where your passport was sent. I'll meet you at home Yadonushi-sama.”

 

00()00

 

I didn't know how the Priest managed to get me first, even before Malik, but then I didn't care either. He was treating me a bit like a woman, taking me out for a meal - steak tatare with some very chocolaty dessert - followed by a movie, a horror about demons. Then, when we got back to his mansion he took me up to his bedroom and fucked me, being more careful not to let me see his body than he was not to hurt me. Not that it really mattered, I healed near instantly from the damage he did, but it illustrated just how sensitive he was about his appearance. Now I was even more convinced that he hid scars of some sort underneath his skin concealing clothes, probably pretty severe scars at that. I'd first suspected it when he asked me how much I charged to remove scars - and if the scars hadn't been bad he'd probably have been able to have them dealt with using plastic surgery.

 

“Why did you bother with dinner and a movie?” I asked the question while I still lay on my stomach, pressing my face into the sheets to give him time to cover himself again.

 

“Mokuba said that's what you're supposed to do when you're on a date.” He'd asked his little brother what to do with me? Or Mokuba had found out about the Priest taking me today and offered the advice? I didn't know how to respond. It was either really cute, or really sad...probably both. The Priest didn't have the faintest idea of how to act in most situations, and I knew I needed to redefine this in terms he was more comfortable with, or he'd keep treating me with the indifference he was using now.

 

“But this isn't really a date. It's a business deal more than anything else. You wanted me in your bed, and I need the energy I get by bedding you. The other stuff was nice, but you were under no obligation to do those things with me.”

 

“You make it sound like you're a whore.” Seto sounded offended, so I didn't let him know how much his behaviour was making me feel like one with his lack of trust, or mention that I didn't have a choice but to take lovers, since I was too scared of ending up like Ryou.

 

“Not quite. I'm not expecting money or anything, I'd appreciate it if some sort of emotional connection formed, but I'm not stupid enough to expect I can get that from everyone I feed on.” I shrugged, still hiding my face and letting him hide his body. If I couldn't get at least a degree of understanding from the people I fed from on a regular basis it wouldn't be any more healthy for me emotionally than the many faceless men I'd slept with back in Egypt. It was fine back then, but in this age of STDs casual sex was a pretty bad idea, not that I could catch anything like that, but if I bedded someone clean, without protection, too soon after I'd bedded someone infected any STD could all too easily be passed on through me. And Ryou was unlikely to approve of my acting like a slut and sleeping around too much.

 

“Then if you want to talk business I have a proposition for you. Get up and look at me.” I obeyed, surprised to realise he was still shirtless and focused on the scars I'd deduced were there, with the dispassion I always used when I was dealing with those who came to me for healing. “Why were you hiding your face anyway?”

 

“You didn't want me to see you naked.” He seemed taken aback...but it had seemed like simple courtesy to me. “You don't want people to know about your scars, do you? And I can take it they aren't on record anywhere?”

 

“No, and I want you to get rid of them for me. You can from what you said when you were plotting to get Atemu a legal ID. If you do then I'll pay for you and Ryou to go to whatever university you want, for up to twelve years, as long as you get good enough grades. Is that acceptable?” I had enough money in the back to pay for university for the both of us without this offer, but...

 

“Define what you mean when you say you'll pay for us to go to university.”

 

“I'll pay your tuition, for wherever you two want to live, including all the utilities bills, I'll supply you with a car to share and I'll have an allowance paid into a bank account for you to use for groceries and anything else you need for your courses.” It was a generous enough offer, even if it probably wouldn't come to what I'd normally charge for such extensive scarring, but I couldn't accept it without consulting Ryou.

 

-Yadonushi-sama?-

 

:What is it Bakura?:

 

-The Priest offered to put us through university if I fixed his scars. How do you feel about that?-

 

:It's up to you, but it would be nice of you to do that for him.: That was enough approval for me to agree to the Priest's terms...or close enough anyway.

 

“Yadonushi-sama will be getting ill soon, will you also provide any medical treatment he needs? My healing won't be enough for him.”

 

“Yes. We have a deal then?”

 

“It will take more than one session to heal your injuries, but yes. Come here so that I can examine them properly, and tell me what you thought I could take at university.” He obeyed, and hesitantly lay down on his back when I patted the bed. “I need to touch you to inspect the scarring properly.” It was only fair to warn him considering how he usually reacted to being touched. When I began to inspect him with all of my senses he answered my question.

 

“I thought perhaps you could get through med school, if you have the grades, it's the only thing I've seen you show any interest in that would be acceptable today.”

 

“Possibly. I'll consider it. I know how much work I'll need to do on you now. I can manage sessions about an hour long with this technique. You need at least fifty sessions, and I'll need to fit you around other obligations.”

 

“I understand. Can you do the first one now?”

 

“Yes, if you want I can do one after each liaison, and we can discuss other times later.”

 

“Please.” He was being unwontedly polite, and I enjoyed it.

 

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